How relevant is tourism research

One of the definitions of the term myth is ‘an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution’ (see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/myth). Before we are criticized for suggesting such an irreverent thought might apply to tourism academia, readers must recognize that organizations and industries often operate using shared collective myths (see Meyer and Rowan 1977). Institutionalized rules and processes function as myths that provide legitimacy. The question of interest in this paper is not in the context of the quality of tourism academic research output, which is addressed by other papers in this research probe section. Rather, of importance is enhancing understanding of the extent to which our collective knowledge, legitimized through publishing in peer reviewed academic publications, is proving of value to industry stakeholders, an axiom that appears to be largely unquestioned and unproven.

Australian student reactions to U.S. tourism advertising : a test of advertising as public diplomacy

A study among Australian college students gauged their reactions to a television commercial produced for the U.S. Commerce Department to bolster sagging tourism numbers among international visitors. In addition to using traditional measures applied to tourism advertisements, the student also concluded items to measure attitudes toward the U.S. government and its people Pre- and post-viewing results indicated that while the Hollywood-movie-themed commercial was not well received by the Australian students as a tourism message, it did result in more favorable attitudes toward the U.S. government, though not the U.S. people. The findings lend partial support for the potential of tourism advertising efforts to exert a "bleed-over effect" in terms of their contributions to overall attitudes toward a country, regardless of whether viewers plan to visit the country whose travel advertisements they see.

Australian student reactions to US tourism advertising : a test of advertising as public diplomacy

A study among Australian college students gauged their reactions to a television commercial produced for the US Commerce Department to bolster sagging tourism numbers among international visitors. In additional to using traditional measures applied to tourism advertisements, the study also included items to measure attitudes toward the US government and its people. Pre- and post-viewing results indicated that although the Hollywood-movie-themes commercial was not well received by the Australian students as a tourism message, it did result in more favourable attitudes toward the US government, although not the US people. The findings lend partial support for the potential of tourism advertising efforts to exert a 'bleed-over effect' in terms of their contribution to overall attitudes toward a country, regardless of whether viewers plan to visit the country whose travel advertisements of which they see.

Consumer-based brand equity for Australia as a long haul tourism destination in an emerging market

Purpose: Although the branding literature emerged during the 1940s, research relating to tourism destination branding has only gained momentum since the late 1990s. There remains a lack of theory in particular that addresses the measurement of the effectiveness of destination branding over time. The purpose of the research was to test the effectiveness of a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) for a country destination.---------- Design/methodology: A model of consumer-based brand equity was adapted from the marketing literature and applied to a nation context. The model was tested by using structural equation modelling with data from a large Chilean sample (n=845), comprising a mix of previous visitors and non-visitors. The model fits the data well. Findings: This paper reports the results of an investigation into brand equity for Australia as a long haul destination in an emerging market. The research took place just before the launch of the nation’s fourth new brand campaign in six years. The results indicate Australia is a well known but not compelling destination brand for tourists in Chile, which reflects the lower priority the South American market has been given by the national tourism office (NTO).---------- Practical implications: It is suggested that CBBE measures could be analysed at various points in time to track any strengthening or weakening of market perceptions in relation to brand objectives. A standard CBBE instrument could provide long-term effectiveness performance measures regardless of changes in destination marketing organisation (DMO) staff, advertising agency, other stakeholders, and budget.---------- Originality/value: This study contributes to the nation-branding literature by being one of the first to test the efficacy of a model of consumer-based brand equity for a tourism destination brand.

Bahrain skills gaps study : tourism, construction, and education skills plans

The tourism, construction, and education plans and skills strategies (embedded in project reports) were developed as part of a nation-wide comprehensive research project covering current, emerging and future skills deficiencies and requirements in Bahrain’s labour market. The research covered the majority of economic sectors and activities in the Kingdom and will serve as a basis for formulating industry and occupational outlooks as well as career guidance and awareness activities by academic and training institutions across Bahrain. It will provides foundation work for industry skills councils in order to conduct and achieve a uniform system of occupational standards across industries, occupations and job levels.

Impacts and opportunities : resident's view on sustainable development of tourism in regional Queensland, Australia

Tourism development is a priority for rural and regional areas of Australia. The challenge is how to develop the tourism industry in a sustainable manner. As part of a larger project investigating community perceptions of opportunities, strategies and challenges in regional sustainable development, this article explores participant's views and opinions of tourism development. Through purposive sampling, 28 local community leaders and residents in the Darling Downs region in Queensland, Australia, participated in four semi-structured focus groups. This paper focuses on two of these focus groups, where tourism was a critical issue. Participants were generally positive about the tourism industry and its impacts on their community, although they expressed several triple bottom line concerns about economic, environmental and scoial issues. Four key themes emerged: appropriate land use management, limited resources and ageing/insufficient infrastructure, preservaation of community heritage and lifestyle, and regional conflict. Residents supported sustainable tourism development and wanted to be more actively involved in decision-making, demanding greater transparency - and true engagement - from local government.

Creative, culture tourism and place-making : Istanbul and London film industries

During the last decade many cities have sought to promote creativity by encouraging creative industries as drivers for economic and spatial growth. Among the creative industries, film industry play an important role in establishing high level of success in economic and spatial development of cities by fostering endogenous creativeness, attracting exogenous talent, and contributing to the formation of places that creative cities require. The paper aims to scrutinize the role of creative industries in general and the film industry in particular for place making, spatial development, tourism, and the formation of creative cities, their clustering and locational decisions. This paper investigates the positive effects of the film industry on tourism such as incubating creativity potential, increasing place recognition through locations of movies filmed and film festivals hosted, attracting visitors and establishing interaction among visitors, places and their cultures. This paper reveals the preliminary findings of two case studies from Beyoglu, Istanbul and Soho, London, examines the relation between creativity, tourism, culture and the film industry, and discusses their effects on place-making and tourism.

New media services : ratings and recommendations websites in the travel and tourism industry

The travel and hospitality industry is one which relies especially crucially on word of mouth, both at the level of overall destinations (Australia, Queensland, Brisbane) and at the level of travellers’ individual choices of hotels, restaurants, sights during their trips. The provision of such word-of-mouth information has been revolutionised over the past decade by the rise of community-based Websites which allow their users to share information about their past and future trips and advise one another on what to do or what to avoid during their travels. Indeed, the impact of such user-generated reviews, ratings, and recommendations sites has been such that established commercial travel advisory publishers such as Lonely Planet have experienced a pronounced downturn in sales ¬– unless they have managed to develop their own ways of incorporating user feedback and contributions into their publications. This report examines the overall significance of ratings and recommendation sites to the travel industry, and explores the community, structural, and business models of a selection of relevant ratings and recommendations sites. We identify a range of approaches which are appropriate to the respective target markets and business aims of these organisations, and conclude that there remain significant opportunities for further operators especially if they aim to cater for communities which are not yet appropriately served by specific existing sites. Additionally, we also point to the increasing importance of connecting stand-alone ratings and recommendations sites with general social media spaces like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and of providing mobile interfaces which enable users to provide updates and ratings directly from the locations they happen to be visiting. In this report, we profile the following sites: * TripAdvisor, the international market leader for travel ratings and recommendations sites, with a membership of some 11 million users; * IgoUgo, the other leading site in this field, which aims to distinguish itself from the market leader by emphasising the quality of its content; * Zagat, a long-established publisher of restaurant guides which has translated its crowdsourcing model from the offline to the online world; * Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree site, which attempts to respond to the rise of these travel communities by similarly harnessing user-generated content; * Stayz, which attempts to enhance its accommodation search and booking services by incorporating ratings and reviews functionality; and * BigVillage, an Australian-based site attempting to cater for a particularly discerning niche of travellers; * Dopplr, which connects travel and social networking in a bid to pursue the lucrative market of frequent and business travellers; * Foursquare, which builds on its mobile application to generate a steady stream of ‘check-ins’ and recommendations for hospitality and other services around the world; * Suite 101, which uses a revenue-sharing model to encourage freelance writers to contribute travel writing (amongst other genres of writing); * Yelp, the global leader in general user-generated product review and recommendation services. In combination, these profiles provide an overview of current developments in the travel ratings and recommendations space (and beyond), and offer an outlook for further possibilities. While no doubt affected by the global financial downturn and the reduction in travel that it has caused, travel ratings and recommendations remain important – perhaps even more so if a reduction in disposable income has resulted in consumers becoming more critical and discerning. The aggregated word of mouth from many tens of thousands of travellers which these sites provide certainly has a substantial influence on their users. Using these sites to research travel options has now become an activity which has spread well beyond the digirati. The same is true also for many other consumer industries, especially where there is a significant variety of different products available – and so, this report may also be read as a case study whose findings are able to be translated, mutatis mutandis, to purchasing decisions from household goods through consumer electronics to automobiles.

An integrated approach to tourism planning in a developing nation : a case study from Beloi (Timor-Leste)

In this chapter we present a case study set in Beloi, a fishing village located on Ataúro Island, 30 km across the sea from Díli, capital of Timor-Leste (East-Timor). We explore the tension between tourism development, food security and marine conservation in a developing country context. In order to better understand the relationships between the social, ecological and economic issues that arise in tourism planning we use an approach and associated methodology based on storytelling, complexity theory and concept mapping. Through testing scenarios with this methodology we hope to evaluate which trade-offs are acceptable to local people in return for the hoped-for economic boost from increased tourist visitation and associated developments.

Xiamen Hai Cang tourism project : landscape planning and design of five islands

International practice-led design research in landscape architecture has identified the need for addressing the loss of biodiversity in urban environments. China has lost much of its biodiversity in rural and urban environments over thousands of years. However some Chinese cities have attempted to conserve what remains and enhance existing vegetation communities in isolated pockets. Island biogeography has been used as the basis for planning and designing landscapes in Australia and North America but not as yet in China, as far as we know. A gap in landscape design knowledge exists regarding how to apply landscape ecology concepts to urban islands of remaining biodiversity being developed for heavy Chinese domestic tourism impacts in the future. This project responded to the demands for harbour-side tourism opportunities in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, by proposing a range of eco-design innovations using concepts of patch, edge and interior to interconnect people and nature in a Chinese setting.