The study aims at demonstrating cultural differences between American and Chinese in terms of customer's perceptions and satisfaction of crowded environment within the context of restaurant setting.It has been noted that culture has a substantial impact on customer's affection and judgment, and crowding in service environments is a critical antecedent of customer's satisfaction.Considering the two main theme, this study examined how the cultural difference plays a role in predicting customer's satisfaction within the crowded restaurant setting.With the use of customers from the two different cultures in an experimental study, participant's responses to similarly crowded environment in a restaurant were compared.It is revealed that customer's perception of crowdedness negatively influences their satisfaction, but the relationships vary depending on customer's cultural background.Cultural difference in predicting customer's satisfaction also appears to be substantial. .
What was planned as a special thematic issue on Asia’s hospitality and tourism marketing has resulted in a fine collection of nine articles on the Chinese consumers. The wisdom of contributors and reviewers alike is strong recognition that, while an emerging market only a few years ago, Chinese tourism–its outbound market in particular–is becoming a major driving force of change in the global marketplace. Today’s outbound annual demand from China is more than 30 million person trips, as compared to less than six million only 10 years ago. Today’s outbound departures are 80 percent financed by personal funds, while 10 years ago it was less than 50 percent. The global tourism marketplace will continue to witness growing consumer demand brought about by an evolving economic and social structure. However, the world has yet to be prepared for it. Ideological, psychological, social, and cultural barriers remain on the part of hosting communities to accept and embrace the Chinese tourists, albeit their governments and businesses are eager to roll out welcoming mats. Yet, how much do international tourism organizations know about their Chinese guests and consumers? Even if they think they do, the source of their information can be ideologically biased and historically dated. Outside China, informed literature about the Chinese consumers, scholarly and
ABSTRACT Satisfaction analyses have long been undertaken and in various ways, but the elaboration of strategic positioning options on the basis of satisfaction ratings has been fairly neglected. We report the results of a satisfaction study of major Alpine ski resorts, where we first identify the factor structure of overall satisfaction through confirmatory factor analysis and then present the relative positioning of skiing areas on these attribute factors in a bi-dimensional space by applying the technique of correspondence analysis. We interpret the results for two different segments (under 25 years of age, and over 50 years), thereby demonstrating the necessity of including satisfaction scores in strategic positioning decisions.
ABSTRACT The unprecedented volume of data captured by modern hospitality firms during the co-production of the service experience can be used to create economic value. In this article we provide a set of frameworks grounded in the cross-disciplinary literature in information systems, strategy and marketing, to conceptualize what data-driven initiatives will align best with different firm strategies and value propositions. The first framework enables a disciplined industry analysis by enabling joint evaluation of the theoretical repurchase rate, degree of customizability of products and services, and degree of unobtrusive data capture that characterizes a given firm's value proposition. The analysis then moves to the individual initiative's level and offers guidance as to how to identify and prioritize these specific data-driven initiatives. This process starts with identifying the key transaction processing systems in the organization and inventorying the data they capture and store. After envisioning possible initiatives that leverage these data, the methodology suggests a way to prioritize projects to ensure that only those offering positive returns are implemented. A case analysis is used to illustrate the use of the proposed frameworks.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this work is to elucidate how perceived risks and customer value are related, and to explore the internal composition of this relationship. Functional value found to be negatively affected by financial, functional and physical risks, whereas conditional value is negatively influenced by temporal risk. Furthermore, emotional value found to be negatively affected by psychological risk, whereas social value is negatively influenced by social risk. Finally, exactly epistemic value is affected by psychological risk. Finally, this study provides a new shape of the "structural" relationships among six perceived risks and five types of customer value.
ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore the attitude of the Mainland Chinese holidaymakers, their interest in the tourism and hospitality features of New Zealand, and the impact of socio-demographic variables on their travel motivation. The findings should assist the marketing strategies to promote tourism and hospitality product of New Zealand to the Mainland China. A survey questionnaire using Leisure Motivation Scale was designed originally in English, and then it was translated into Chinese Language (Mandarin) before being administered. The study was undertaken in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou–the top three Mainland Chinese cities with highest trend to travel abroad. The analysis involved descriptive statistics; independent sample t-test and ANOVA. The influence of five different demographic variables such as gender, educational level, income level, marital status and age are considered. Overall the study shows the significant features of the attitude of Chinese travellers and how demographic variables influence their attitude. The study explores sparsely researched specificities of influence of socio-demographic variables of Chinese holidaymakers in relation to tourism activities and features of New Zealand.
ABSTRACT Using collaborative relationships to generate sustainable strategy is becoming a key paradigm in destination marketing practice and literature. However, there has been insufficient empirical research dealing with this issue. This paper examines Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) executives' attitudes toward collaboration with stakeholders in destination marketing and executives' assessment of collaborative performance levels of the various community entities. Key attitudinal and performance variables were identified through a literature review of previous empirical research in the area of interorganizational collaboration. Quantitative data were collected through a Web survey with CVB executives who have Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) membership. The results reveal that there is a varying degree of collaborative efforts between CVBs and community entities. Consistently, CVBs appear to attach the highest level of importance to collaborating with the tourism industry, which, according to CVB executives' assessment, exhibits the highest level of collaborative efforts. The results serve as a starting point for understanding the relationships between CVB and community organizations and entities through providing quantitative support for the importance of balanced partnership in the collaborative processes of destination marketing.
ABSTRACT In the face of competition for limited vacation and leisure time, meeting planners and membership associations have traditionally been interested in how to attract new members and enhance attendance at organizational conferences. This study empirically investigates members' intentions to attend organizational conferences using an accessibility-diagnosticity framework (Feldman and Lynch 1988 Feldman, J. M. and Lynch, J. G. 1988. Self-Generated Validity and Other Effects of Measurement on Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73(3): 234–49. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Findings suggest that post-attendance attitudes are the most important factor predicting intentions to (1) attend a future conference and (2) recommend the conference to others. Furthermore, what one has heard about the conference (i.e., the buzz) and one's perceived congruence with the values of the organization are also found to be important when predicting attendance intentions. Implications and conference planning strategies are discussed.
ABSTRACT It is essential for U.S. travel industry leaders to learn more about the characteristics and needs of the Mainland Chinese visitor as these travelers have high expectations for the quality of the tourist product and services. This empirical study profiles 351 Mainland Chinese tourists traveling to the United States uncovering their travel habits, preferences, satisfaction levels, motivations, and what will retain the traveler for future visits, as well as identifying why the traveler would not return to the destination. Results suggest that industry leaders focus on ways to reduce or eliminate travel barriers as many new competitive travel opportunities become available to the Mainland Chinese traveler. Marketing implications are detailed and analyzed.
ABSTRACT The debate regarding the relationships between tourism economic benefits and associated environmental costs, including transport related impacts, are issues of concern to destination based tourism marketers and tourism and hospitality educators. The global climate change discussion and the media focus in the E.U. on the links between aviation and associated emissions and fossil fuel consumption have captured the attention of global tourism associations. The definition of tourism sustainability is being redefined though the application of life cycle management (LCM) principals. Destinations, in spending millions to encourage people to travel, may some day be scrutinized for their eco-efficiency and will need to consider the use of ‘LCM thinking’ and related green communication objectives as suggested in this paper.
ABSTRACT Yearlong droughts and water shortages have affected several Australian areas and industries, highlighting old concerns about the future of water provisions. While these issues represent a potential difficulty for many enterprises, to date little is known about the views on water consumption and water conservation of business owners and managers, particularly hospitality operators. This study explores these dimensions from a sample of 158 predominantly small and medium enterprises located in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, Australia. The findings indicate that while operators are clearly aware of the importance of water for their businesses, for the most part it is not among their main current concerns. Operators' written comments emphasize the contentious nature of water usage in the hospitality industry, with many accepting sacrifices in monetary and initiative terms, while many others oppose any government intervention in encouraging operators to save water, or increasing water prices.
Product attributes of rural tourism are inherently green, and have the potential to appeal to the increasingly overstretched consumers who are in search for a personalized response to their need for physical, emotional, and social appreciation in a simpler environment. The same consumers also become more independent, involved, and discriminatory in the destination selection process. Despite their rich green assets, rural communities face marketing challenges in both financial and human resource terms in the highly competitive tourism marketplace. This study introduces a five-step practical tool that rural destinations can affordably use to engage in a critical marketing task of identifying viable segments of driving market. The tool was developed by applying the geographic concepts of distance decay and clock directions to examine the tourists' movement from their generating places to a rural destination. The tool's validity was statistically tested in exponential, logarithm, inverse, and cubic regressions. The study addressed a practical need for rural communities to gain a greater benefit from consumer demands for green products and services, and illustrates the importance of understanding the tourists' movement patterns in developing effective marketing programs.
ABSTRACT Adoption of consumer-generated media (CGM) and social networking applications has been reportedly rapid and impacts on the travel industry are assumed to be tremendous. CGM such as blogs, reviews and podcasts provide great opportunities for travel marketers. In order to be able to respond to CGM developments, travel marketers need to better understand what drives CGM use in different markets. Using secondary data from various sources, this paper outlines national differences in adoption speed and usage patterns for four major origin markets: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and China. Based on the existing technology adoption literature, the information is summarized and analyzed with respect to forces which could drive these differences, mainly focusing on cultural dimensions, media landscapes, infrastructure development and information needs due to specific travel behavior characteristics. The results reveal interesting differences in these four markets and suggest that many factors stimulate CGM adoption. The findings imply that travel marketers need to adjust their CGM-based marketing strategies to the particular circumstances present in a visitor market.
ABSTRACT Very few topics within business literature have elicited so much interest among both academia and practitioners as that of the benefits for a firm to manage long-term and profitable relationships with customers. A consequence of this surging interest is the tremendous growth in the use of electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) systems. eCRM systems provide firms with a sustainable competitive advantage in a cluttered and highly competitive marketplace. In this regard, the authors develop a research framework incorporating various technical, organizational, and environmental factors that influence the hospitality organizations' adoption of eCRM systems. The implications of this conceptualization, as well as its contribution to hospitality research and practice are substantiated. Finally, conclusions are drawn and directions for potential future research in this area are discussed.
ABSTRACT In the study, a brand personality scale for use in the restaurant industry is developed and tested. As part of our analysis we propose a modified version of the original Brand Personality Scale (BPS) developed by Aaker (1997) Aaker, J. L. 1997. Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34: 347–356. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Our objective was to modify the Aaker scale to possess greater relevance for the restaurant industry. In order to test the modified scale, six brands from both the quick service and casual dining segments were assessed utilizing an 18 item scale. The results indicated that the modified scale was efficient in that it was able to explain as much variance between restaurants as the larger scale. In the analysis we highlight managerial implications of the findings, and note areas for future research.
ABSTRACT This article presents a meta-review of 30 academic articles that have been published about China's outbound tourism market. The articles have been categorized into three research streams: market overview, destination specific from secondary data, and destination specific from primary consumer data. Implications for future research are included.
ABSTRACT Environmental sustainability in tourism has received significant attention among destination managers and researchers alike. Yet the range of measures proposed to reduce the environmental footprints of tourists at a destination remains limited to measures taken at the destination, as opposed to marketing measures which aim to attract truly green tourists. The potential of using green tourists as a market segment, however, has not been established. We review published profiles of green tourists and assess the managerial usefulness of this segment using theoretical criteria of segment attractiveness. Results indicate that much is known about the distinctive characteristics of green tourists. Very little, however, has been done to assess whether green tourists are substantial enough to represent a useful target market, whether a customized marketing mix can be designed, whether they can be reached through specific communication channels and whether green tourists can be identified repeatedly. These results provide a clear direction for future research into the green tourist market segment, which is essential for a marketing-oriented approach to sustainable tourism to be successful.
This study investigates first, the influence of self-esteem on the consumer's involvement with eco-friendly product seeking. Second, it seeks to demonstrate the extent to which the consumer's involvement in eco-friendly travel destinations, their demand for variation in eco-friendly tourist destinations, and their desire for unique eco-friendly travel destinations influences their willingness to spend more on these types of products. Results indicate that self-esteem plays an important role in consumer involvement in eco-friendly travel destinations. Environmental involvement and uniqueness seeking have a positive relationship with willingness to pay more; however, the relationship between product involvement and variety seeking and willingness to pay more demonstrates otherwise. It appears that a consumer education on eco-friendly travel destination needs to be strengthened in order to create changes in consumption patterns.
ABSTRACT Destination marketing systems are a key technology for destination marketing, however many have failed due to a lack of tourism operators' participation. This study uses a multiple case study research design to investigate how inter-organizational relationship theories of dependency, agency and trust apply to a destination marketing system, a non-transactional distribution technology. In particular, destination marketing and branding is found to be a cause of goal conflict, which influences hidden action and hidden characteristic problems, as well as influencing dependency. This is a new understanding of how goal conflict applies in destination marketing relationships. Results inform on key issues for destination marketers in managing their relationships with tourism operators, as well as in developing and implementing policies to manage destination marketing systems.
ABSTRACT This paper investigates the notion of “intra-cultural variance” among Chinese tourists/leisure markets. The concept of “intra-cultural variance” in tourism and leisure studies has been under-researched to date, often being located under the umbrella of “cross-cultural” research (Kim & Prideaux, 2005; Tai & Tam, 1996; Tse, Belk & Zhou, 1989). In order to demonstrate the relevance and significance of the “intra-cultural variance” concept in tourism/leisure marketing, particularly within the growing Chinese markets, this paper studied two Chinese markets: namely Mainland Chinese and Singaporean Chinese in Queensland, Australia. This study employed a qualitative approach, utilising tourists/leisure marketing materials in the respective markets. Based upon content and semiotics analyses of 323 marketing materials for Mainland Chinese market and 329 for the Singaporean Chinese market, this paper identifies current marketing themes in each group. It further elaborates comparative elements in the two markets, providing recommendations to the industry marketers. It is finally argued that the concept of “intra-cultural variance” in the Chinese markets has significant marketing implications and continuing research on the notion is essential.
