Disability Tourism Dollars in Western Australia Hotels

As the Western Australian hotel sector continues to look for new opportunities, people with disabilities are being acknowledged as a consumer group with considerable revenue earning potential. The authors report on findings from the initial stages of a three- part methodology aimed at investigating current awareness of and provision for the disability issue within the Western Australian hotel sector.

Tourism in the Egyptian Red Sea Area: A Responsible Development Approach

Egypt has always been a world-renowned tourism destination of antiquity. A government policy of product diversification attempts to disperse tourists more evenly in the country. The Egyptian Red Sea coast is therefore targeted as a new tourism development zone. The author identifies the new development patterns in the Egyptian Red Sea area and discusses the potential tourism impact on the coastal environment. It is recommended that a responsible development approach be adopted for coastal and marine tourism in the Egyptian Red Sea area

Dive Tourism: Evaluating Service Quality

Through the application of importance- performance analysis (/PA), the author investigated the conceptualization and measurement of service quality for tour operators in the scuba diving industry Findings from a study of consumer perceptions of service quality as they relate to a dive tour operator in Western Australia revealed the core service quality dimensions hat need to be improved for the operator and demonstrated the values and relative simplicity of the importance-performance analyses for dive tour operators generally

The Role of Theme Parks in Tourism

Although the theme park has been a major tourism destination in the United States, little research has been done in this industry. The growing economic significance and competition of the theme park industry ensure that the study of theme parks will emerge as a more popular research topic in the years to come. The authors review related articles and identify potential research topics in the theme park industry.

Tourism: Who Needs It?

Is tourism economically beneficial? If so, who benefits? How much of the money generated through tourism can be channeled into other projects so desperately needed by the community without harming the local tour market? Will tourism continue to grow forever, or is there an end in sight? The authors discuss how tourism will change in approaching the next century: and how people will change if tourism is to remain such an important economic facto

Standards for Tourism Management Success: U.S. National Park Managers

National park managers are the subjects in the fifth segment of a study examining the skills and abilities needed to be successful tourism managers. The authors discuss these skills and their impact on successful tourism management.

Tourism Professionals Profile: Theme Park Managers

Theme park managers are a unique group of tourism managers. Their perspectives on effective tourism management skills and abilities differ from some public sector tourism managers. The authors present the results of a study focusing on theme park managers and compare these results with those of other tourism manager groups

A New Vision: U.S Travel and Tourism Industry

Greg Farmer, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, envisions a new proactive role for travel and tourism in the U.S. He has written this article especially for the FIU Hospitality Review.

Prospects of the Hong Kong Tourism Industry

Suggestions for future planning are offered to Hong Kong tourism practitioners and policy makers on the basis of estimated tourism demand, 1998 to 2007. The authors give an overview of the historical background of the Hong Kong tourism industry and use formal tourism forecasting techniques to estimate this demand.

Biometrics for Hospitality and Tourism: A New Wave of Information Technology

The technologies that empower biometrics have been around for a number of years, but until recently these technologies have been viewed as exotic. In the not too distant future biometrics will be used to regulate internal processes and to improve services in the hospitality and tourism industries. This paper provides an understanding of the current use of biometrics in general and its practical value for the future in hospitality and tourism. The study presents a review of current practices of biometrics with special reference to the hospitality and tourism businesses, addresses key issues imposed by this technology, and identifies business and marketing implications for these industries.

Exploratory Study of the Download Speed of Leading University Hospitality and Tourism Department Websites Worldwide

Increased broadband penetration (BP) rates around the world have encouraged web designers to include more web content and additional functions on their web sites, thereby enhancing the richness and playfulness of the information. However, it is often very difficult for web surfers who are still using narrowband connections to access such web sites. Many university web sites target international audiences; therefore their download performance should be considered, as it may directly influence the user experience. This exploratory study examined 331 university hospitality and tourism department web sites in 37 countries. The empirical results showed that entry web pages of universities in Asia, with a medium BP rate (mid-BP), have the slowest download speeds, and those in Australia and New Zealand perform the best. The adoption rate of the Cascade Style Sheet (CSS) in Asia is relatively lower than that of other regions.

Tourism Management Profiles: Implications for Tourism Education

Studies of state tourism directors and convention and visitor bureau directors show that there is a need for organized tourism management educations. The author discusses these studies and how they can be used in the development of tourism management education.

Quantifying the Impacts of the Recent Economic Crisis on a Regional Tourism Industry and Economy

The purpose of this study is to explore the accuracy issue of the Input-Output model in quantifying the impacts of the 2007 economic crisis on a local tourism industry and economy. Though the model has been used in the tourism impact analysis, its estimation accuracy is rarely verified empirically. The Metro Orlando area in Florida is investigated as an empirical study, and the negative change in visitor expenditure between 2007 and 2008 is taken as the direct shock. The total impacts are assessed in terms of output and employment, and are compared with the actual data. This study finds that there are surprisingly large discrepancies among the estimated and actual results, and the Input-Output model appears to overestimate the negative impacts. By investigating the local economic activities during the study period, this study made some exploratory efforts in explaining such discrepancies. Theoretical and practical implications are then suggested.

Looking At Residents’ Attitudes towards Spring Break Tourism in Texas through the Lens of Community Attachment

The growth of spring break tourism in many destinations has become problematic, predominantly due to the excessive behaviour of college students. This paper examines residents’ attitudes toward spring break tourism in South Padre Island (located in Texas, USA) through the lens of community attachment. By understanding the attitudes of residents of the host communities, tourism planners and policy-makers can create policies to shape the character of tourism according to the residents’ needs. The findings suggest that, at this point in time, community residents perceive that the benefits of spring break tourism benefits exceed its’ costs. Also, the short and intense season of spring break tourism allows residents to better deal with social costs.

Tourist See Tourist Do: The Influence of Hollywood Movies and Television on Tourism Motivation and Activity Behavior

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Hollywood movies and television (movies/TV) on US viewer’s motivation to travel to and participate in activities featured in Hollywood movies/TV productions. A survey was administered in an online format to a convenience sample of 433 respondents via Qualtrics. Factor analysis, correlation, and regression was employed to explore relationships between the variables. Findings identified a profile of Hollywood movies/TV viewers, sources of information used to determine destination choice, and level of involvement among viewers of Hollywood movies/TV productions. Additionally, this study explored the relationships between Hollywood movies/TV productions, tourist motivations, and the propensity to participate in activities featured. Findings indicate that Hollywood movies/TV productions have a positive impact on viewer involvement and that movie/TV related tourism is likely to be affected by movie and TV viewing preference and destination image. The results identify that the predictor “TV viewing behavior” is the strongest predictor of entertainmentmotivated tourism, followed by “destination image” and “movie viewing behavior.” Findings also indicate that “destination image” is the strongest predictor of movie-related activities and that the image portrayed in a movie does influence the viewer’s inclination to visit and participate in activities featured in a movie.