Tourist railways: A staffing dilemma

The number of tourist railways and museums is increasing throughout the world. With many of these attractions staffed largely by volunteers it is becoming increasingly important to understand how to attract, train and retain these volunteers. This exploratory study seeks to establish what motivates people to volunteer at tourist railways. Analysis of in depth interviews with fifteen volunteers at three tourist railways within a 250 kilometre radius of Brisbane, Australia, indicated that often motivation to volunteer goes beyond the altruistic and egoistic motives that are frequently cited in the literature. This study found that many volunteers at tourist railways are also motivated by feelings of nostalgia. As the population ages and fewer people have had contact with the railways of yesteryear, a new challenge arises for organisations, to find an alternative stimulus to attract volunteers to tourist railways and museums.

Recovery of the Cypriot tourist industry following the Turkish invasion 1974

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Extending the GUIDE@HAND Tourist Guide Application with QR Codes for Museum Learning

The following paper attempts to encompass the opportunities for applying QR codes for museums and exhibits through the example of the Hungarian Museum of Environmental Protection and Water Management (Esztergom, Hungary). Besides providing interactivity in the museum for the mobile phone generation through the utilization of a device and a method that they are familiar with, it is important to explain how and why it is worthwhile to “adorn” the exhibits with these codes. In this paper we also touch upon the technical issues of how an existing mobile phone application can be incorporated into and used for the presentation of the museum.

Mobile Exploring of the Bulgarian Iconography through QR Codes in the GUIDE@HAND Tourist Guide Application

The following paper presents an application of QR code marking of digital iconographical collections for their outdoor mobile access and exploring through the GUIDE@HAND audio tourist guide.

Az észlelt kultúraszemélyiség és hatása az ország turisztikai és üzleti célpontként való megítélésére (Investigation the effect of perceived culture – personality (CP) on the evaluation of the country as ideal business/tourist destination)

A kutatás fő célja annak vizsgálata, hogy egy adott kultúra észlelt személyisége milyen hatással van az ország ideális turisztikai, illetve üzleti célországként való megítélésére. A kultúraszemélyiség koncepciójának bemutatása után a kultúraszemélyiség-skála (culture personality, CP) fejlesztésének kezdeti eredményeit, majd a kultúraszemélyiség dimenzióinak vizsgálatát részletezik a szerzők. A skálakialakítás során – kvalitatív eredményeiket felhasználva – egy ötvenegy tulajdonságpárból álló szemantikus differenciálskálát fejlesztettek ki és teszteltek. Jelen cikkükben összehasonlítják Franciaország és Magyarország észlelt kultúraszemélyiségét, vizsgálva a magyar és a francia válaszadók véleményének hasonlóságait és különbségeit. Eredményeik azt mutatják, hogy nemcsak az egyes kultúrák személyiségét észlelik eltérően a válaszadók, de ugyanazon kultúra személyiségének bizonyos jellemzőit is eltérően ítélik meg. _____ The main purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of perceived culture – personality (CP) on the evaluation of the country as ideal business/tourist destination. After introducing the concept of culture-personality, initial results of our CP scale development are discussed, and dimensions of culture-personality will be examined. As a result of the scale construction procedure – based on our extensive qualitative studies –, a 51-item semantic differential scale has been developed and tested. Similarities and differences of perceived culture-personalities of France and Hungary among Hungarian and French respondents are described.

A turizmus magyar vonzerőiről (Hungarian tourist attractions)

A hazai turizmus gyakorlatával kapcsolatos vizsgálatok tapasztalatai nyomán az egri Eszterházy Károly Főiskola (EKF) turizmusmenedzsment-kurzusának oktatói célszerűnek ítélték a témára vonatkozó tananyag fejlesztését. A cikk szerzői azt remélik azonban, hogy az utóbbi munka egyes megállapításai minden, a gazdasági földrajz, a turizmus (idegenforgalom), a térségfejlesztés valamely szegmensével foglalkozó szakembernek, kiemelten: vezetőnek – s több más gazdasági ág illetékeseinek – az érdeklődésére számot tarthatnak, ezért ezekről jelen cikkben is beszámolnak. _____ In this article the authors reviewed first the different types of tourist attractions (destinations) and they analysed the common evaluation methods of their attractiveness (e.g. the possibilities and limits of the tourism statistics). Then they tried to display the existing information on the main Hungarian attractions and their attractiveness. In this study revealed that there exist no generally recognized list of the most visited attractions, and the real measures of their attractiveness are not known either. The authors emphasize that shaping a comprehensive concept on the above mentioned issue would highly contribute to the elaboration of a successful and achievable tourism strategy, thus it would be of great importance.

How Do Tourist Guides Add Value to An Ecotour? Interpreting Interpretation in the State of Amazonas, Brazil

In Ecotourism, interpretation by a guide creates or shapes the experience for the tourist, differentiating one episode from another. As such, the guide S interpretation adds value to the tourism product and contributes to the visitor S experience. This paper discussed the role of interpretation by guides in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, finding in them patterns from which lessons may be drawn. Given the intangibility of the Ecotourism product, this paper argues that it is the guide who defines the quality of the product. The guide may draw the tourist toward or away from sustainable practices, and significantly contributes to the success or failure of the escotouristic venture. The State of Amazonas in Brazil already has guides, but this study questions their education and training in interpretive skills as well as their professional organization and working conditions

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.