Tourism Commons^™

Savannah Hockey Classic Attendance Motivation, Chris Hanna, Chris R. Barnhill, Gregg Rich, Amy Rundio, Christina Gipson

Journal of Tourism Insights

The Savannah Hockey Classic has become a very successful annual university club hockey team tournament. The 21^st edition of the tournament was held in January 2020 in Savannah, Ga. featuring the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Florida, Florida State University, and University of Georgia club hockey teams—the same teams that have comprised the tournament for many years. This study utilized Personal Investment Theory (Braskamp, 1986) and the SPEED scale (Funk, Filo, Beaton, & Pritchard, 2009) for attendance motivation assessment. Social interaction motivations were significantly higher for county residents, spectators attending with friends, spectators attending with family, and past …

Incentives To Join Associations: The Case Of Agritourism, Jing Li, Carla Barbieri

Journal of Tourism Insights

Agritourism is a rapidly growing tourism sector due to the farmers’ need to increase their revenues and the public desire to reconnect with local food systems. Yet, agritourism development posits an additional burden to farmers who may not possess the business skills and resources required to serve visitors. In this scenario, associations emerged to provide business or technical assistance to agritourism farmers. However, these associations have been experiencing a decline of their membership body over the last decade, which is affecting the quality of their services. Although explanations on such decline are not available, it is plausible due to a …

Temple Stay As Transformative Travel: An Experience Of The Buddhist Temple Stay Program In Korea, Susan L. Ross, Jungyun (Christine) Hur, Jamie Hoffman

Journal of Tourism Insights

The burgeoning tourism niche called temple stay, which originated in Korea, has been marketed to Koreans and internationals as a means for travelers to become immersed in cultural heritage, learn about Buddhism, and find one’s “true self” by spending a few days to a week as a guest in a living, operational Buddhist monastery. Although this tourism segment is gaining wide-spread appeal, the temple stay phenomenon has received relatively little scholarly attention outside of Korea. The handful of papers identified on the subject that are written in English, refer to this phenomenon as constituting various segments such as rural tourism, …

An Exploratory Examination Of Perceptions Of Impacts To A Coastal Destination: Tourists Versus Locals, Eric Frauman

Journal of Tourism Insights

Do tourists believe they positively or negatively impact the destinations they visit, particularly those that rely on coastal nature and heritage-based environments to attract visitors? How do tourist’s perceptions compare to residents, and what additional insight might this information provide for destination management organizations (e.g., Convention and Visitors Bureau’s) and local government officials? Furthermore, how do residents perceive their own impacts to the communities they live in? As such, this exploratory study, unlike previous studies, compared tourists and residents perceived impacts to a coastal destination. Statistically significant mean differences were found across the social, economic, and environmental condition impact items …

Economic Impact Of Small Scale Event To The Local Economy: Case Of Canfield Fair, Sungsoo Kim, James Dombrosky

Journal of Tourism Insights

This study examines the economic contribution of the Canfield Fair on the local community. The fair accounted for $13,419,332 in new money generated in the local economy and total expenditures of $16,874,927. Out of this total, $9,578,936 was generated from out-of-town visitors, versus $7,295,991 from local attendees. The initial amount of $9,578,936 spent by visitors created direct, indirect, and induced impacts within the local economy. The direct effect of this spending as estimated by an IMPLAN input/output model was $8,166,956, with $2,880,940 and $2,371,436 as indirect and induced impacts respectively, for a total aggregate effect on local earnings of $13,419,332.

Applying The Holistic Conceptual Conservation Framework For Sustainable Tourism, George Alexakis, Larry Rice

Journal of Tourism Insights

The tourism and hospitality industry has not always followed sound environmental stewardship. Increased awareness among tourists worldwide has prompted sustainabilit­y discourse encouraging long-term systemic approaches to planning and development. The research article proposes a holistic conceptual conservation framework that shows how a united tourism and hospitality industry can curtail the processes of environmental destruction and collectively offer authentic touristic experiences. Visitors can fully experience tourist destinations through integrated ecotourism, ethnotourism, and other related tangential offerings alongside those of larger tourism and hospitality providers. The conservation framework hypothetically strengthens the customer loyalty of tourists towards all industry operators and related practitioners, …

Festival Attendees’ Perceptions Of Green Hotel Practices, Jason D. Oliver, Alex Naar, Erin Harris

Journal of Tourism Insights

Lodging managers and festival organizers have an incentive to understand how festival attendees perceive hotels with green practices in place. Lodging managers that understand how to segment, target, and position their offerings to festival attendees, including sustainable practices, can maximize financial gains from festivals. Festival organizers have related interests: they want to minimize negative impacts on the physical environment and maximize positive customer experiences on- and off-site. To provide insights into festival attendees’ perceptions of green hotel practices that may assist both sets of stakeholders, the manuscript presents the results of a survey of convenience samples from two food festivals. …

Jamaica's Tourism: Sun, Sea And Sand To Cultural Heritage, Copeland A. Stupart, Robert Shipley

Journal of Tourism Insights

Traditionally, Jamaica has been seen and promoted as a sun, sea and sand, winter get-away with foreign-owned, multinational corporations (MNCs) having a controlling interest. Coupled with this, the policies adopted by the state to encourage tourism infrastructural development protected the interests of the MNCs and were seen by many Jamaicans as not being in the best interest of their country. As a result, high levels of resentment existed and at times boiled into open conflict between tourists and the Jamaican working class who viewed tourists as ”confused white people.” While efforts were made to promote Jamaica’s tourism internationally, little was …

Surfing As Adventure Travel: Motivations And Lifestyles, Zachariah Reynolds, Nancy M. Hritz Dr.

Journal of Tourism Insights

The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the adventure traveler’s lifestyles, values and travel motivations. An understanding of the lifestyle and attitudes of today’s adventure traveler can aid tourism marketers in designing messages tailored to this unique target market. Differences and similarities between genders and the age cohorts of Generation Y, Generation X and Baby Boomers were examined. Across the sample most participated in a “traditional” type of sport before migrating to an adventure activity and they also engaged in more than one type of adventure activity.

Across the sample, the participants traveled in order to …

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, …

Examining The Use Of Rv Travel Forums For Campground Searches, Jill Fjelstul, Kimberly Severt

Journal of Tourism Insights

The aim of the present study is to explore how RV travelers use online travel forums in their campground search. The identification of such variables will assist campground owners and operators in their marketing strategies, competitive positioning, and improving the overall experience for the RV traveler at their chosen campground and destination.

Spring Break: Pulling In The Student Market, Sheila A. Scott-Halsell, Wanlanai Saiprasert

Journal of Tourism Insights

Spring Break is big business for many tourism destinations. Although many students are budget conscious, by sheer volume, they make a noteworthy financial impact on a destination and the local community. To better understand what pulls current domestic Spring Break travelers to their destination choice, a study was conducted evaluating the importance of Spring Break destination attributes in students’ trip decisions. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted which reduced 24 pull attributes to four core Spring Break decision making pull factors. The core factors identified are: Destination Attributes, Financial, Accessibility, and Uncertainty Avoidance. Further analysis demonstrated only limited significant differences in …