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The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes toward VolunTourism of students of Humber College, Toronto, Canada, who had engaged in VolunTourism excursions within the context of study abroad programmes or were about to embark on such a programme. The paper attempts to make a connection between altruistic travel motivations and the applicability of VolunTourism experiences on resumes in pursuit of differentiation in the job market.

The sample frame for this paper consisted of two groups of students who, at the time of the study, had participated in a curriculum-based study-abroad programme featuring VolunTourism components in the past five years (post-study) or were confirmed to embark on a trip shortly thereafter (pre-study). The surveys comprised a mixed-method approach. Quantitative and qualitative information was gathered through anonymous online surveys and personal interviews.

The responses obtained in personal interviews reflect the results obtained in the online surveys. Students who sat down for a personal interview were enthusiastic and supportive of VolunTourism. Three-quarters of the interviewees were 25 and younger. None of them had previously participated in study abroad programme, but they did have previous volunteering experience through high school curriculum or personal engagement. Besides their enthusiasm for doing good, students believed VolunTourism to enhance their image and increase their competitive advantage in the job market.

The surveys do not explore the impact of short-term VolunTourism opportunities in general but are focused on specific curriculum-based programmes. The bulk of participants came from the Tourism Management programme, whose familiarity with Niche, Eco and VolunTourism products could potentially have created a bias towards their experience and the usefulness of such excursions with respect to their career aspirations. Participants had travelled to a variety of destinations, influencing the comparability of the impressions.

Commercial tour operators can direct their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts at giving back to its key profit generators, thereby offsetting the negative impacts that such vacation models entail. Students have pointed to the availability of many willing hands that populate the beaches of All-Inclusive Resorts, and it appears that they would happily participate, were pre-organized VolunTourism excursions readily available. The obligation for tour operators is clearly to maintain authenticity and integrity and not to capitalize on this new opportunity for pure revenue generation.

Travellers are obligated to treat VolunTourism opportunities with respect and sincerity, to combat the negative stigma of careless self-gratification and self-promotion attributed to this type of travel. VolunTourists must be vigilant, demand transparency from VolunTourism providers and not fall prey to “green washing” strategies, allowing monies to subtly flow out of destinations and into the pockets of corporations.

This paper explores the complexities surrounding short-term VolunTourism experiences and their impact on students and young professionals. It narrowed in on the co-existence of altruistic motives in serving destination communities, and the expectation of acquiring skills to further expand resume credentials. The paper was inspired by recent market developments, wherein high-end tourism services providers were seen to be offering one-day volunteering excursions to their clientele. The question that presented itself was to investigate if there is an emerging trend towards personal social responsibility, whereby students and young professionals emulate behaviours modelled by industry leaders, and it appears that this is the case.

The paper aims to analyze cognitive attributes affecting the overall destination image perception of British, German and Russian tourists toward Antalya, a well-positioned mass tourism destination in the East Mediterranean region dominated by an all-inclusive (AI) system.

The paper is an empirical study using a structured questionnaire conducted in the summer of 2018 with 274 British, 179 German and 231 Russian tourists departing to their respective source markets from Antalya International Airport. The mean values are used as performance and correlation coefficients of the relationship between each cognitive image dimension and overall image evaluation is used to express importance.

The paper provides empirical insights that these three nationalities prefer Antalya as an AI holiday destination for different reasons and that each nationality demands attention to different factors of the destination for improvement or preservation.

This study provides specific recommendations for AI destinations such as Antalya for the German, British and Russian source markets. When other source markets or types of destinations are considered, the findings of this study should be re-considered. Utilization of the original and modernized importance performance analysis (IPA) plot interpretations in this research reveals a deeper understanding of current findings and provides a new perspective for further research and guidance for destination managers and marketers.

Utilization of both original and modernized IPA plot interpretation in this research not only reveals a deeper understanding of current findings but also provides a new perspective for future studies and guidance for destination managers and marketers.

Unlike the majority of destination image research, this study of destination image based on individual nationalities enables tailor-made destination image development according to diversified importance and performance of destination attributes affecting the overall destination image for each nationality.

The case of Passeiertal/Val Passiria illustrates how typologies of governance forms help to differentiate cases with concentrated authority from cases with an even distribution of power. In particular, it exemplifies how the interplay between DMOs and powerful private businesses can improve the competitive position of a destination. First, Passeiertal/Val Passiria has managed to develop a common strategy in collaboration with the biggest private player. Second, the whole destination is positioned with the themes driven by the player. The case also shows that property rights theory and principal agent theory may provide useful explanations as to how sustainable destination governance can be improved in situations of significant power asymmetries.

The purpose of this paper is to review the many negative implications of crime for tourism in the Caribbean, with particular regard to the economic costs, the loss of long‐term investment and the impact of illegal drugs.

The paper provides an analysis in three sections: The first section provides a preliminary discussion on problems of crime and criminal activity in the Caribbean especially as they relate to tourism. The second main part singles out certain areas of concern, namely, economic costs, long‐term investment dampening, illicit drugs, gangs, indirect costs, and youth as the primary perpetrators of crime in the region. The final section offers policy considerations towards halting the impact of crime and criminal activity on Caribbean tourism performance.

The paper concludes that Caribbean governments have to do more to protect their most important industry, and recommends a combination of both hard and soft policing measures and educational programs targeting youth, which emphasise the avoidance of criminal behaviour.

The paper advocates an integrated approach in order to address the issue of crime in society and also the central questions as to how to punish criminality and how to address its root causes.

The paper identifies marketing implications for tourism destinations, especially in relation to the perceptions of a given destination.

This paper attempts to capture the essence of the key elements needed to master tourism in the Caribbean. The author uses his eight years (1994‐2001) hospitality and tourism management and research experience in the Caribbean in writing this paper. He also uses information gathered by participating in ten major hospitality and tourism regional conferences and some 175 elite interviews he conducted with stakeholders of Caribbean tourism during the last three years. The paper analyses the importance of tourism to the Caribbean, key tourist destinations, challenges, sustainable development and community involvement. In conclusion, the author recommends product diversification and well‐planned community participation in tourism development for the Caribbean. The paper also calls for well‐coordinated efforts by all stakeholders to ensure sustainability of tourism development in the Caribbean.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between service orientation, customer service training and employee engagement of firms in the hospitality sector of the tourism industry.

A total of 231 responses from 13 large all-inclusive hotels in Jamaica are analyzed by using structural equation modeling.

Overall, service orientation positively affected customer service training and employee engagement. In addition, customer service training positively affected employee engagement. Furthermore, the results indicate that customer service training mediates the relationship between service orientation and employee engagement.

This study builds on the conceptual literature of engagement and adds to the limited empirical studies to date to highlight the importance of service-oriented culture and training activities on employee engagement.

The findings of the study generate an increased understanding of the importance of an engaged workforce and of specific customer service training practices that can foster engagement. This study also highlights that managers should be supportive of training and development activities within a broader context that considers specific desired workplace performance from employees.

The knowledge gap related to many frequently used organizational practices reported as having an impact on engagement is addressed. Addressing this problem extends existing literature and provides an evidence base for human resource managers and professionals in service organizations, specifically in hospitality firms.

Tourism activities inherently include the liminoid state of mind that impels people to go out of ordinary behavior, some of which is inversionary. The purpose of this paper is to explore travelers’ cruise behavior as related to their needs while entering and experiencing a cruise trip.

A total of 395 vacationers were sampled and surveyed about their selected top three factors for cruising, motivations for cruising and needs while cruising. The sample was grouped into inversioners and rejuvenators to see if there was any evidence of liminoid behavior in cruising needs and what they may be.

The results show that the important reasons to choose cruises for vacation are aligned with past literature showing that people choose cruises for vacation mostly for the good value of the food and beverage bundled with good climate, entertainment appropriate for quality time with family and for rest and relaxation. In addition, the results on motivations to go on a cruise show that lower-level needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs have more importance than the higher-level needs.

The current study was conducted on an online platform. Future research with panels of cruise travelers across all the stages of liminoid behavior, before, during and after a cruise trip, may provide valuable findings in terms of changes in needs and motivations.

The inversionary tendency of cruise travelers implies for the cruise industry the need to create an alternative (or inversionary) routine restoring the basic needs, while still providing enough opportunities for self-actualization that may foster balanced travel experiences for human growth and development. Providing a more balanced product and service offering may be strategic for the cruise companies because the activities geared for higher-level needs may provide memorable experiences and hence induce consumer loyalty after the trip is completed.

The focus on eating and drinking during cruises may be providing cruise travelers with instant gratification during the span of the cruise. However, the consequences for the individual travelers, the industry, destinations and the environment may not be as gratifying. For a more responsible tourism, cruise travel may need an image makeover highlighting different packages within a cruise to better align with the desired needs of different segments of cruisers.

The study contributes to the understanding of the second or “transition” stage in liminal theory in tourism and is one of the first to examine the liminoid state of mind using a basic-needs approach for studying cruise traveler needs. Further, it contributes by exploring liminoid behavior of a group of people in the context of the same type of travel, cruise, rather than investigating liminoid behavior across different types of travel, thus allowing segmentation possibilities for the cruise industry.