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Mallorca is a traditional mass tourism destination that promotes golf tourism development in order to fight tourism seasonality and increase the tourist's average expenditure. Through a longitudinal study, the paper aims to analyze golf demand and its evolution; to evaluate the seasonal and economic impact of this type of tourism and to elaborate a prospective estimation of future trends.

The research was based on 1,271 personal interviews with golfers, 470 in 2005, 401 in 2001 and 400 in 1997, all conducted between March and September. 45 interviews with golf course managers were also conducted in order to obtain information related to future trends.

Golf tourism demand remains stable with minor changes with respect to profile of the players and seasonality. However, some changes have been identified: demand has stopped its growth rates; the use of tourism packages as a way of traveling and in the hotel use as accommodation has declined; the importance of the internet as a marketing channel and of the availability of low cost flights to choose a tourism destination has increased; and finally, a stagnation of the economic impact of golf tourism has been revealed.

This work advances the knowledge of golf tourism evolution. However, it probably suffers from the fact that it has been conducted in a specific destination. Therefore it would be convenient to compare the results with other destinations to generalize patterns.

The results emphasize the need for a multi‐product destination development approach in order to fight seasonality and the limitations to rely exclusively in a single segment.

This paper helps tourism destination managers review their destination marketing diversification strategies by taking into account the results obtained in Mallorca, one of the most important tourism resorts of the Mediterranean.

The purpose of the research is to conceptualize a model of tourist satisfaction at the destination level which can serve as a background for designing a universal, parsimonious, short and easily applicable measurement instrument.

The conceptual model was developed on the basis of existing theoretical and empirical research in the fields of marketing and tourism.

The model includes eight latent constructs, with tourist satisfaction being the central one. The analysis of the antecedents (quality, image, value, and costs and risks) of customer satisfaction provides insights into the processes underlying the creation of satisfaction, while the outcome constructs (complaint behavior and loyalty) indicate the consequences of (dis)satisfaction.

Designing a parsimonious and easily applicable measurement instrument imposes some limitations with respect to the number of constructs and measured variables included. The inclusion of additional constructs/variables should provide a more comprehensive insight into customer satisfaction and a more solid basis for strategic decision‐making but at the same time it is likely to reduce the model's transparency and universality.

The results of a continuous customer satisfaction monitoring should serve as an input for a trend analysis and strategic discussions regarding the development of a tourist destination. The ultimate goals of monitoring satisfaction include identifying strategic objectives at the destination level, preparing tactical and operational plans and ultimately increasing the competitiveness of a given destination.

Achieving customer satisfaction should be one of the most important goals of every DMO and, to our knowledge, a few universal cause‐and‐effect measurement instruments/models have been developed to support this goal. The proposed model provides a basis for the continuous monitoring and improvement of the competitiveness of a given destination.

The purpose of this paper is to help to understand the influence of the media and political issues in the perceptions of Turkey as a tourism destination. The study is conducted from the perspective of Spanish people.

The research is based on the responses provided to a web survey. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlations.

The views of the Spanish people on the Turkish political situation were not found to be related to the perceptions of the destination, except for those regarding Turkey's candidacy to the European Union. However, an indirect relationship between the political views and the perceptions of the destination through the influence of the former on the image of the host community is proposed. Television and the written press are determined as the most significant information sources, other than word of mouth and experience.

The research points to the fact that political views regarding the country may not affect the perceptions regarding that destination. However, certain political issues seem to have a greater effect on the perceptions of the destination. Therefore, for conclusive evidence a more extensive investigation is required.

The difference between the destination's image and the political views of the country is of practical interest to developing countries, which are dependent on tourism, but generally suffer from political instability and image problems.

The dichotomy between different perceptions regarding a country is investigated. Moreover, the importance of the media in creating perceptions of a destination is analyzed.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a broader knowledge of the concept of cognitive age and its use as a variable when segmenting the market of people aged over 55.

A proposal for measuring this variable was developed, the dimensions used being: actions, interests, feelings, health, thinking and expectations. A personal survey of 400 individuals aged over 55 who had been involved in some tourist travel in the last year was undertaken.

A principal component analysis resulted in the extraction of a single factor labeled “cognitive age”. The outcome of the cluster analysis undertaken was the establishment of two segments, i.e. active livers and stable passives. The technique of multiple correspondence analysis reflected differences both in motivations for tourism and in the behavior as tourists of the two segments.

It should be pointed out that there were insufficient repetitions of the methodology to indicate reliably whether it is consistent and that difficulties were encountered in gathering information from the group investigated.

The results obtained permit it to be stated that cognitive age enriches knowledge about senior tourists; hence, it seems to be of interest to take it into consideration when establishing marketing strategies directed towards this group.

After its overview of the various methodologies relating to cognitive age, this investigation is one of the few applications of this criterion to segmentation of senior citizen tourists undertaking journeys of longer duration. Furthermore, it is the sole piece of research so far undertaken to investigate its usefulness in an individualized manner.

In this paper, the aim is to discuss and analyze seasonality of demand within the rural tourist market of North Portugal and corresponding destination marketing implications.

The data (n=2280) were collected through a large‐scale survey in the context of a study of the rural tourist market in North Portugal, from 1998 to 1999.

Results reveal statistically significant differences between those coming in the high versus low season, concerning tourist profile, travel behavior, motivations and perceptions of the destination.

The study results may only be valid for the specific rural region studied, which would make replication studies in other rural destinations desirable to take more generalizable conclusions.

Understanding seasonal market differences and confronting them with the destination's resources may contribute to the development of more attractive products and correspondingly to the destination's ability to attract and satisfy different types of tourists in different seasons of the year. The capacity to thereby improve the destination experience in the eyes of its tourists and to also manage demand, avoiding excessive crowding in the high season and eventually sub‐optimal use of resources in the low, may be an important step for maintaining a sustainable tourism business in rural areas.

The paper aims at contributing to the discussion of how to cope with seasonality of tourist demand, considering particularly the specificity of rural destinations and the global aim of sustainable destination development.

The paper seeks to provide insights into network‐based perspectives of farm attractions, evaluating their effectiveness for destination development. The specific purpose is to uncover relationships between entrepreneurship, network marketing and management strategies, and sustainable tourism policies.

Qualitative case‐study method generates holistic understanding of complex networks and networking activities. In‐depth interviews allow exploration of entrepreneurial processes.

Cross‐comparisons reveal network effectiveness related to common goals shared among network members. Benefits such as problem solving, information dissemination, and opportunities to learn were important for members of a specific network, but may be undermined by individual entrepreneurial aims and differences.

The results concern a mature destination but the approach might be used for similar work in other sectors and settings. The network models should be assessed for destination planning in other parts of Europe, especially emerging tourism regions.

Identified patterns and issues generate ideas for policy makers for current practice; with the need for public policy to work with, seek to build on, and support existing enterprise initiatives, rather than developing new collaborations.

The paper contributes to debates on visitor attraction marketing with a focus on a theory of co‐operation in marketing networks. Many studies focus on specific types of attractions or tourist destinations, or specific strategic approaches.

This chapter presents the potential of exhibition areas operated by consumer goods companies as a method of relationship marketing for corporate branding. Exhibition areas can provide visitors with opportunities to understand corporate brands. In order to clarify the roles of exhibition areas in corporate strategies, we conducted enterprise investigations of three Japanese companies, Sony, Nikka Whisky, and Toyota. Although we would like to propose that operating exhibition areas might be effective for marketing, the results show some differences among the companies in visitors’ data and their purposes. We should first question whether this method is suitable for each company in consideration of their view of corporate branding.