Tourism and Travel Commons^™

Geotourism Destinations - Visitor Impacts And Site Management Considerations, Ross K. Dowling, David Newsome

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Geotourism is becoming a well established form of tourism based on the geological environment. It offers a new form of sustainable tourism which is more holistic than previous niche forms of tourism. However, with more people than ever visiting natural areas worldwide, the cumulative impacts of visitors on geological sites is increasing. This paper surveys visitor impacts and site management at geological sites which are geotourism destinations. We describe geotourism which is the engine driving the core activities of conservation, education and sustainable development in geoparks. We then outline some lessons learned from management in dealing with visitor impacts at …

Revitalizing Ban Kaset Puttana Village Through Community-Based Tourism, Sairoong Dinkoksung, Mehran Nejati

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

There has been a boom in health tourism. A growing number of tourists travel to other countries for preventive and rehabilitative care and seek detoxifying, destressing and healthy activities. Based on a community-based tourism project, this study aimed to explore the possibilities of developing health tourism in Ban Kaset Puttana, a village located in the suburban area of Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand. The one-year project based on participatory action research covered the entire process of forming thematic alternative health tourist products by employing the concept of natural-based health care. The project was then followed by 10 semistructured interviews with local …

Assessing The Character Of Place To Guide Geotourism In Montana: A Case Study Of Whitefish And White Sulphur Springs, Montana, Michael E. Tipton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 2007 the governor’s Montana Tourism Advisory Council adopted the Montana Tourism and Recreation Charter. Its guiding principle of geotourism pledged to sustain and enhance the character of the places that the people of Montana call home. How can the state’s efforts to keep this pledge be assessed when “character of place” has never been clearly defined or understood in detail? To keep this pledge, and chart the future of geotourism in the state, it was important to clarify what is meant by character of place and identify the full range of present and potential problems that threaten the integrity …

The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2017, James V. Koch, Robert Mcnab, Vinod Agarwal, Barbara Blake-Gonzalez, Kelly Brown, Chris Colburn, Vicky Curtis, Steve Daniel, Chip Filer, Elizabeth Janik, Timothy M. Komarek, Lead Hampton Roads Class Of 2017, Feng Lian, Sharon Lomax, Janet Molinaro, Ziniya Zahedi

Economics Faculty Books

This is Old Dominion University's 18th annual State of the Region report. While it represents the work of many people connected in various ways to the university, the report does not constitute an official viewpoint of Old Dominion, or its president, John R. Broderick. The report maintains the goal of stimulating thought and discussion that ultimately will make Hampton Roads an even better place to live. We are proud of our regions many successes, but realize that it is possible to improve our performance. In order to do so, we must have accurate information about "where we are" and a …

Competency-Based Training In Aviation: The Impact On Flight Attendant Performance And Passenger Satisfaction, Latoya Gibbs, Lisa Slevitch, Isaac Washburn

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2017), over one billion tourists traveled the globe in 2016. In spite of this increase of travelers, airlines are faced with declining levels of customer service and quality of customer experience (American Customer Satisfaction Index [ACSI], 2012). Frontline service employees, like flight attendants, create a critical impression of the service which affects customer perceptions and satisfaction. Nevertheless, many unknowns exist about what creates such impression and how it can be improved. In particular, no study has investigated the effects of Competency-Based Training (CBT) on flight attendants’ performance and consequently passengers’ satisfaction. …

The Right Message To The Right People: Developing Effective Crisis Response In Cruise Travel, Bingjie Liu

ICHRIE Research Reports

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to provide insights into developing effective crisis responses within the cruise industry. Particularly, this study tested the effects of different crisis responses on individuals’ safety perceptions and cruise travel intentions. This study also tested how individual characteristics; such as past cruise experience and demographic characteristics, may affect the communication outcomes.

Originality/Value

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this study applied crisis communication theories to a cruise travel context. The findings of this study can be directly applied to develop effective crisis responses for hospitality practitioners, which exemplify the essence of translational research.

Relevance of the …

Understanding Pro-Environmental Behaviours Of National Park Visitors, Kourosh Esfandiar

ECU Posters

Visitors’ inappropriate behaviour (e.g. littering) will impact nature-based tourism sites such as National Parks which play critical roles in mitigating climate change. This study examines what are the antecedents of national park visitors’ pro-environmental behaviours? Is there any difference between individualistic and collectivistic nations in terms of PEB amongst national park visitors? This study proposes using “An Integrated Pro-environmental personal norms Model (IPM) as the proposed research model based on Schwartz’s NAM to examine the above questions.

Hyperlink Connectivity Of Wa Tourism Websites, Hossein Raisi

ECU Posters

This poster shows the network of hyperlink connectivity between tourism websites in Western Australia. The network has 1515 websites and 6059 links. Network analysis was used to analyse the network from different perspectives. The analyses showed the main properties of the network such as very low connectivity, the hierarchical structure of the network, high clustering, tendency to link to geographically proximate organisations, and low acknowledgment between the websites. WA tourism websites need to create more links to each other to become more visible on the internet.

Social Sustainability: The Role Of Ecotourism In Regenerating Cultural And Environmental Histories In Rio De Janeiro, Nia Mcallister

Pomona Senior Theses

Ecotourism is a rapidly growing global export industry that aims to uphold the ethics of responsible tourism by engaging with local communities and encouraging environmentally conscious travel. With existing critiques of the greenwashing of ecotourism and the tendency for tourism agencies to exploit host communities, I advocate for participatory community-based models of ecotourism. This thesis explores both the material and conceptual benefits of community-based ecotourism through the critical examination of community-based ecotourism projects in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Focusing on the implementation of ecotourism in of some of Rio de Janeiro’s peripheral communities, areas that are impacted by social and …

Pricing Decisions During The Fifa 2014 World Cup: São Paulo And Rio De Janeiro, Albert A. Barreda, Sandra Zubieta Zamudio, Han Chen, Marina Cassilha, Yoshimasa Kageyama

ICHRIE Research Reports

Purpose: This report explores the host destination’s response to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The study establishes how the hotel Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of two of the main cities in Brazil reacted to the World Cup.

Originality/value: Exploring Brazilian hotel revenue managers’ responses to a major sporting event in Latin America is the main contribution of this research report.

Relevance of the topic: Several business sectors in the travel and hospitality industry experience distinctive positive and negative performance for hosting mega-sporting events. The findings of this research report will be helpful for hotel revenue managers who regularly propose strategic …

A Consumer-Based Brand Equity Model For The Luxury And Upscale Hotel Sector, Hairong Shan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Luxury and upscale hotels, in common with businesses in other service industries and more broadly, seek to develop a strong brand that will contribute to a long-term competitive advantage. However, research on consumer-based brand equity in luxury and upscale hotels is limited. Therefore, the current research, based on fundamental theories of brand equity development established in the packaged goods and the service industries including hotels, has developed a consumer-based brand equity model for the luxury and upscale hotel sector.

A mixed methods research design was employed. A qualitative study was first conducted using focus groups with the data being content …