Battlefield tourism in Turkey : an empirical analysis of British ex-colonial event attendance

This paper explores the influence of visitor satisfaction on intention to recommend event attendance. The Anzac Day commemoration at Gallipoli, Turkey, an event that has become increasingly popular in recent years and provides the backdrop for the current study. Some 20,000 people travel to attend this event. Data was collected from 331 attendees while they were in transit from Gallipoli to Istanbul on 25 April 2007. The analysis of this data was undertaken using factor analysis as a basis for identifying model constructs to be tested using structural equation modelling. Findings suggest that the constructs relating to the ceremonies held at Anzac Cove and Lone Pine and the experiential and emotional aspects of the event were significant predictors of event satisfaction and subsequent recommending behaviour. The implications of these findings for events in general and the success of the Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli are discussed.

Battlefield tourism - Anzac day commemorations at Gallipoli : an empirical analysis

This thesis used theoretical constructs of personal values, emotions, motives, event components of ceremony, transport and amenities to develop an empirical model that provided an understanding of the experiential components of the event and the antecedents associated with attendance, satisfaction and recommending behaviour of the Anzac Day Ceremonies at Gallipoli.

Exploring the conceptual boundaries of diaspora and battlefield tourism: Australians' travel to the Gallipoli battlefield, Turkey, as a case study

Historical tourism resources associated with diasporic communities and battlefields would at face value appear to have little in common. On closer inspection, however, diaspora and battlefield tourism share several elements in common. These commonalities are explored in greater detail, with an eye to investigating battlefield tourism sites indelibly linked to the birth of modern nations, where it is argued that there is a particularly blurred boundary between these two forms of tourism that must be recognized. 

The Gallipoli battlefield, Turkey, provides the contextual anchor for this discussion in suggesting that a key reason Australians travel to this foreign place to is to find out what it means to be an Australian. The prominence of this battlefield in the psyche of Australians is borne out of the involvement of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) in the First World War campaign that commenced at what is now known as Anzac Cove at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. This campaign was the first united action of the fledging Australian nation bought together through federation in 1901.

Qualitative data collected from Australians visiting the Gallipoli battlefields in Turkey during 2010 is used to explore whether the experiences of those traveling to battlefields strongly associated with nation building legends and stories resemble those of diasporic tourists in seeking to return to their homeland. Emerging from the analysis, the confines of the blurred boundary between diaspora tourism and battlefield tourism is discussed in detail and an associated research agenda is proposed that aims to further clarify the scope of these concepts in relation to the broad spectrum of heritage tourism resources.

Pre- and posttrip factors influencing the visitor experience at a battlefield commemorative event : Gallipoli, a case study

Battlefield tourism is a major component of national and international tourism. This article sets out to provide a holistic understanding of the preevent factors influencing attendance at an event commemorating a famous World War I battle and to follow the cycle through to gain an understanding of what postevent factors influence event satisfaction and how this translates into recommending behavior. The Anzac Day commemorative event at Gallipoli, Turkey, provides the backdrop for this study. A two-step process was used to gather information from Australians partaking in the Gallipoli commemorations in 2007. A preevent questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of respondents while they were in transit from Istanbul to Gallipoli for the commemoration. In total, 482 preevent questionnaires were obtained. Step two of this process saw an exit questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of participants on the return journey to Istanbul, resulting in 331 completed postevent questionnaires. The pre- and postevent datasets were separately analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) where appropriate. The findings highlight the role of various event attributes, most prominently the ceremonial and experiential aspects of the Anzac Day commemorations, in encouraging visitor satisfaction and further flow-on effects for recommending behavior.

Anzac day commemorations at Gallipoli and the economic effects of attendance

Battlefield tourism is a growth sector of the tourism industry. This type of tourism is encouraged by the host countries due to its positive economic impact. For Australians, Gallipoli is the most visited battlefield site, in particular on Anzac Day. The attendance at Gallipoli is anticipated to reach a phenomenal number of 50,000 participants at the centenary of the campaign in 2015. It is important to understand the economic impact of the event to justify to the policy makers of the host country Turkey that holding such an event is in their national interest.

To elucidate the above matters, a methodology which relied upon a questionnaire based survey was utilized. The questionnaires were distributed and collected on buses going to Gallipoli on the eve of the Anzac Day in 2007. The respondents were travelling to Gallipoli to partake in the Anzac Day ceremonies. The 482 responses collected were then analysed for expenditure and duration of the visit which provided the basic data for economic impact estimation. From these responses it was possible to estimate the economic impact of the event.

Australian waterfalls as tourism attractions

For a largely arid country with generally low relief, Australia has a remarkably large number and variety of waterfalls. Found mainly near the coast, close to where most of the population lives and near the major tourist resort areas, these landscape features have long been popular scenic attractions. As sights to see and places to enjoy a variety of recreational activities, waterfalls continue to play an important role in Australia’s tourism, even in seaside resort areas where the main attractions are sunshine, sandy beaches and surf. The aesthetic appeal of waterfalls and their value as recreational resources are recognized by the inclusion of many in national parks. Even here, demands of visitors and pressures from developers raise serious problems. This paper examines the way in which waterfalls have been developed and promoted as tourist attractions, demonstrating their importance to Australian tourism. It considers threats to the sustainable use of waterfall resources posed by power schemes and, particularly, by the tourist industry itself. Queensland’s Gold Coast is selected as a case study, and comparisons are made with other areas in which waterfalls have played important roles as tourist attractions, especially the Yorkshire coast of northeast England. The discussion draws largely on an examination of tourist literature from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, including holiday brochures and guide books, as well as other published sources, together with field observation in various parts of the world

Destination Positioning Slogans - Analysis of Themes used by New Zealand Regional Tourism Organisations

A significant gap in the tourism and travel literature exists in the area of tourism destination branding. Although brands have been used as sources of differentiation in consumer goods markets for over a century, academic research attention towards destination branding has only been reported since the late 1990s. Three important components of the brand construct are brand identity, brand position and brand image. While interest in applications of brand theory to practise in tourism is increasing, there is a paucity of published research in the literature to guide destination marketing organisations (DMOs). In particular there have been few reported analyses of destination brand positioning slogans. The focus of this paper is on destination brand position slogans, which represent the interface between brand identity and brand image. Part of a wider investigation of DMO slogans worldwide, and in keeping with the conference location, the paper focuses on analysis of slogans used by New Zealand RTOs. The slogans are examined in terms of the extent to which they have been limited to ephemeral indifference. In other words, have they stood the test of time and do they effectively differentiate through a meaningful proposition? Analysis of the slogans indicates very few could be characterised as memorably distinctive. This reflects the complexity involved in capturing the essence of a multi-attributed destination in a succinct and focused positioning slogan, in a way that is both meaningful to the target audience and effectively differentiates the destination from competitors offering the same benefits.

Tourism Destination Preferences: A Longitudinal Analysis of Consumer Decision Sets

There have only been a small number of applications of consumer decision set theory to holiday destination choice, and these studies have tended to rely on a single cross sectional snapshot of research participants’ stated preferences. Very little has been reported on the relationship between stated destination preferences and actual travel, or changes in decision set composition over time. The paper presents a rare longitudinal examination of destination decision sets, in the context of short break holidays by car in Queensland, Australia. Two questionnaires were administered, three months apart. The first identified destination preferences while the second examined actual travel and revisited destination preferences. In relation to the conference theme, there was very little change in consumer preferences towards the competitive set of destinations over the three month period. A key implication for the destination of interest, which, in an attempt to change market perceptions, launched a new brand campaign during the period of the project, is that a long term investment in a consistent brand message will be required to change market perceptions. The results go some way to support the proposition that the positioning of a destination into a consumer’s decision set represents a source of competitive advantage.

Waterfalls : resources for tourism

While very few waterfalls may be regarded as tourism destinations, many are attractions. This paper discusses waterfalls within the theoretical frameworks developed by economists and geographers in the field of recreation and tourism. Examples are drawn from various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with Jamaica examined as a case study. Here, as in many tourism areas, although visitors usually choose their destinations for reasons other than the appeal of waterfalls, these landscape features play important roles as attractions. Often associated with ecotourism, waterfalls help to diversify the tourism product and spread the benefits as well as some of the associated problems of tourism to less developed areas.