Business Commons^™

Economic Forecast Of Grand Rapids, Mi, Zachary Fillmore

Honors Projects

The purpose of this report is to analyze the current state of the Grand Rapids, MI economy, as well as provide a ten-year forecast of the city’s economic condition. Economic forecasting is the process of predicting the future condition of an economy using the combination of several indicators. The indicators being used for this report will include population growth, economic production, wages, industry specific production trends, unemployment rates, home values, occupancy rates, rent forecasts, education, and tourism. From intensive research and data analysis, a snapshot of the economic condition of Grand Rapids in ten years will be displayed. Additionally, several …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Da Nang, Vietnam As A Tourism Gateway City, Patrick J. Holladay, Anthony W. Dixon, Minh C. Nguyen, Bao L. Nguyen, Shuangyu Xu, Kate Price-Howard

Journal of Tourism Insights

Da Nang, Vietnam is referred to as a gateway city because of its use as a regional entry point to multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites and other extra-regional interests proximate to the city. This research addresses Da Nang tourism stakeholders’ interest in the capitalization of Da Nang’s current position as a tourism gateway city. Interviews were conducted with government officials, resort general managers, travel agency personnel, museum directors and members of academia who were all from Da Nang and knowledgeable of the industry. This study concludes that embracing and developing Da Nang’s position as a gateway and hub is important …

Frequency And Use Of Online Travel Sites When Planning A Leisure Vacation, John Salazar, Nancy M. Hritz, Catherine Moorman, Kelli Brunson, Anton Abraham

Journal of Tourism Insights

The growth of online travel agencies has modified how consumers explore possible vacation choices by allowing greater access to the travel and tourism supply chain. This growth also empowers potential travelers to be more discerning when purchasing travel products and services by giving them the opportunity to align their preferences (i.e., price, value, amenity, etc.) with the multiple product offerings available to them via online travel retail sites. This research explores a visitor’s frequency of using online travel sites when planning a leisure vacation and if similarities exist in how frequently these sites are used in the planning process. It …

Travel Motives And Golf Tourists: An Exploratory Study, Chris Brown, Yuri Feito

Journal of Tourism Insights

Over the past 25 years the concept of sport tourism has taken on numerous forms and broadened tourism and sport research tremendously. Hui, Wan, and Ho (2007) indicated that the global tourism industry has become increasingly competitive, and golf tourism, as a subcategory of sport tourism, has received more recent attention within the tourism industry. Thus, it is becoming more important for golf courses and golf destinations to identify the variables which attract and retain their golfing clientele. The identification of common characteristics and travel motivations among golf tourists could provide useful information to golf destination marketers in targeting their …

Effects Of Climate Change On Tourism In The Mid-Atlantic, Joshua Carroll Ph.D., Allison Brennan, Ashley Huff, Mary Kate Thornburg

Journal of Tourism Insights

Climate change is having significant impacts to many facets of everyday life, and the commercial recreation and tourism fields are many times at the forefront of these impacts as consumers are faced with making difficult decisions with discretionary income. Understanding how these impacts are changing the way people engage in recreation and tourism activities is essential to maintaining successful business and providing satisfying opportunities for consumers.

This paper will provide information from surveys with commercial recreation and tourism providers across the mid-Atlantic region. Summary information will describe their perceptions of how climate change is: affecting their business; having significant impacts; …

Las Vegas Versus Macao As Diversified Travel Destinations, Carlos Siu Lam, John Crossley

Journal of Tourism Insights

Events and festivals can help attract people to a destination, and this study was to examine how events and festivals can build and diversify tourism. With their programs of pleasurable activities and entertainment, events and festivals have a historical trajectory of delivering development outcomes such as economic restructuring and tourism revenue generation. In addition, events and festivals can provide an opportunity for a leisure, social, or cultural experience that is outside the normal range of visitors’ choices. Furthermore, events and festivals can raise market awareness and boost the local economy.

Based on secondary data from books, research papers, and websites, …

Revising A Summer Internship Course Using Student Evaluations, Holly B. Perry, Lynda J. Sperazza

Journal of Tourism Insights

Internships play an important role in a university curriculum because they allow students to gain practical experience and explore possible career paths. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the summer internship experience from the students’ perspective to determine whether they achieved course learning outcomes. We objectively examined the course evaluations from students who completed their summer internships within a recreation and leisure studies program. Student responses (n = 29) to the 14 self-appraisal items in their course evaluation were the central focus of data analysis. Our primary research question was, “In what KSA [knowledge, skills, attitudes] areas …

Tourism, Agriculture, And Identity: Comparing Grenada And Dominica, Velvet Nelson

Journal of Tourism Insights

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between agriculture and tourism in the promotion of economic identity at the turn of the twentieth century and again at the turn of the twenty-first in the case of two Eastern Caribbean islands: Grenada and Dominica. From the beginnings of export-oriented agriculture in the Caribbean until recent decades, agriculture was the dominant economic activity in the islands. Consequently, the economic identity of these islands has also been tied to their agricultural produce. Initially the emphasis placed on sugarcane cultivation in the region gave rise to the idea of the “sugar …

Do Travelers Support Green Practices And Sustainable Development, Patrick Tierney, Mercedes Hunt, Pavlina Latkova

Journal of Tourism Insights

A 2007 survey of managers from RCRA members found strong motivational support for green practices. These and other findings suggest there is broad support for green practices among resort managers. However, it is unclear the level of traveler support for eco-friendly practices. Study objectives were to: Investigate consumers’ attitudes toward environmentally responsible or green practices in the travel industry; identify green practices they’ve undertaken while traveling; explore factors influencing traveler adoption of green practices; and provide implications for the travel industry. In spring 2008 an intercept survey of travelers visiting the California Welcome Center at Pier 39 in San Francisco, …