Advances in Hospitality and Leisure: Volume 13

Recent theories on emotion suggest that a limited set of core feelings are the cornerstone of subjective experiences. The article proposes to bring this perspective more deeply into the study of tourist experiences and behavioral intentions. It argues that two distinct categories of positive feelings are of particular importance when analyzing the experiences of travelers. The first category reflects feelings such as happiness, pleasure, and satisfaction. The second category reflects feelings such as engagement, interest, and absorption. With questionnaire data from 505 visitors to two popular sites in Northern Norway, the current study investigated the degree to which visitors’ on-site feelings of happiness and engagement predict intentions to revisit to, or recommend to others, the destination. Results showed that engagement, but not happiness, predicted the visitors’ intention to revisit. Engagement further predicted intentions to recommend the site to others. Feelings of on-site happiness also predicted recommendation intentions. The implications of the theoretical perspective and empirical results presented in the article are discussed.

The tourist experience has matured in its body of literature, but researchers still debate the best way to measure and define the concept. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare memorable and on-site tourist experiences from theoretical, empirical, and methodological perspectives. A review of the literature is used to identify and describe the next evolutionary research step which is the quality-of-life (QOL) aspect of tourism experiences. It is argued that the evolving focus on QOL attributes is fueled by the theories and concepts of service-dominant logic. The paper argues that value (co)created on all sides of the equation (e.g., customer or company) must be considered when carrying out research. The paper also finds that different value outcomes for the individual customer occur in both on-site and memorable experience contexts. The findings contest an earlier theoretical argument, suggesting that memorable tourist experiences provide more value than on-site tourist experience.

Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process, this study aims to identify organizational and market factors that prevent hoteliers from adopting greener management systems. This study first constructs a list of critical factors based on expert judgments reported in the literature and the responses from a select group of experienced managers. Then, the list is further refined by six hotel managers who consolidate the factors, which results in four categories explained by 20 items. Subsequently, this study draws from surveys on an expert panel consisting of 20 study subjects who are familiar with hotel operations. The survey results show that hoteliers’ abilities to create a greener image are the most important factor influencing the managers’ decisions to adopt environmentally friendly management schemes. Nevertheless, their motivation of adopting a green strategy seems to be associated with a marketing strategy, instead of generic environmental stewardship.

The Paris Agreement signed by 195 countries and the European Union in December 2015 provides a global framework for mitigation and adaption strategies in face of climate change. The hospitality industry is hungry for resources, in particular energy, but also directly affected by changes in the environment – whether operating a ski resort in the Alps or a coastal retreat, whether a restaurant sourcing its food locally or organically, the effects of climate change are felt first-hand. Thus, the agreement has direct implications on the future of the industry. The authors argue that a new era of climate-adaptive hospitality is starting. The chapter is conceptual in nature. The author’s assumption is that the construction of climate-conscious identity is caused by the public opinion on climate change on the one hand and climate-adaptive solutions that affect guest during their vacations, on the other hand. The development of a climate-consciousness among guests and employees is crucial to create a climate-adaptive hospitality industry. A definition for the concept of ‘climate-adaptive innovation’ is suggested.

The popularity of adventure activities in leisure and tourism is escalating, yet little is known about how personality and perceived constraints can prevent consumption of such activities. The aim of this study was to test a model of the mediating role of psychological constraints in explaining the relationship between personality and interest in adventure activity participation. Based on a questionnaire survey of 1,324 respondents, a quantitative analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out. The results show that personality does influence psychological constraints, which in turn have a significant negative effect on adventure activity participation. Increased knowledge about the constraints to adventure activity participation can contribute to realizing the full development potential that lies in adventure consumption in leisure and tourism. Implications of the research can prove valuable in both leisure and tourism marketing and management.

This study aims to explore the influence of environmental education on perceived eco-innovativeness and behavioral intention in the context of farm tourism that embraces the concept of sustainability. It conducts a series of on-site surveys in a farm which supplies a variety of recreational activities along with environmental educational programs. The survey lasted for two-and-a-half months and resulted in 620 useful responses. To achieve the study aim/purpose/objective a theoretical model entailing environmental education, perceived innovativeness and behavioral intention is first constructed. Then structural equation modeling is performed. The study found that environmental education has both direct and indirect impacts on revisit intention and environmental education strongly influences guests’ perception of eco-innovativeness. However, perceived eco-innovativeness does not affect the revisit intentions. Implications and suggestions for future study are provided as concluding remarks.

This research looks at the significance of friends and relatives as an information source for consumers planning holidays. Recent research has largely ignored friends and relatives as destination information sources and has focused instead on the Internet. Two categories of friends and relatives are identified, friends and relatives who live in a destination and friends and relatives who have visited a destination of interest. An exit survey of 1,203 tourists departing a major international destination in Australia found that while the Internet was an important source of information, friends and relatives were as important, if not more, regardless of country of origin and age. These findings indicate that information from friends and relatives and the Internet are complementary rather than exclusive in the minds of consumers.

This research examines the lodging experience in the context of environmentally friendly hotels by discovering the underlying guest segments. A mixed-method approach is deployed, which first reveals three lodging experience dimensions entailing, functionality, hedonism and social responsibility via in-depth interviews. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey is conducted which gathers responses from 326 guests staying at seven certified green hotels. A cluster analysis based on green lodging experiences is performed that evokes three distinct guest segments labeled as (1) spontaneous guests, (2) active guests, and (3) devoted guests. The study notes that social responsibility is the most important lodging experience across the three resultant segments. The study also finds about 31% of respondents tend not to pay much attention to green lodging operations. It leads to a suggestion that the implementation of green operations may be accomplished in a way not notably compromising certain service expectations by those not profusely aspiring of the notion of green operations. Even though meeting the needs of core customers is a vital task.

Despite being endowed with rich culture and beautiful historic monuments, tourism performance in India has been low. The aim of the paper is to focus specifically on the role of key institutions, i.e., the Central (Federal) and State governments that drive tourism policy development and implementation in India. As tourism policy development and implementation in India has not been well documented and understood, this paper provides an analysis of these institutions. These institutes are critical due to their role in policy making, budget allocation and project implementation in the tourism domain. This paper also helps in highlighting the key factors behind low international tourist arrivals in India.

An increasing number of environmental threats towards tourism landmarks have significantly raised public concerns about tourists being environmentally responsible. Negative ecological consequences from tourism-related activities have triggered the growing usage of environmental-focused events such as Earth Hour as a means to promote pro-environmental behaviour. Despite their size, increasing holiday behaviour and their marketplace dominance within the next decade, students’ environmental beliefs and their interest in participating in environmental-focused events such as Earth Hour is relatively unknown. This academic limitation and potential theoretical and practical implications provide the impetus for this study. Based on a sample of 410 students, three environment belief factors of students were determined. Further, students’ concerns for the environment were derived from the environmental vulnerability factor. Students’ beliefs do not directly impact their decision to participate in environmental-focused events or their awareness of the theme of Earth Hour. However, environment vulnerability influenced students’ intention to participate in future Earth Hour events. Recommendations are made, while future research opportunities are also outlined.