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To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists' behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness, destination image and motivation. Word of mouth is likely to influence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.

The study has utilized self-administered questionnaire survey and the target population are the visitors that came to FRI Aquarium. The survey period was from August 2012 to September 2012. Total of 179 responses were collected during this period.

This study demonstrates that destination awareness, motivation and WOM are factors that influence the tourist to visit the FRI Aquarium. Interestingly, destination image however, has shown insignificant relationship with tourist visitation. WOM also found to be has a full mediating effect for awareness towards tourist visitation. For example, before visit, visitor may require some information beforehand and word of mouth is a direct medium to transfer the information. A key implication for FRI Aquarium is that it might be wise to assess such variables for their marketing strategies.

First, the sample was obtained from one marine aquarium in Malaysia. The comparative studies between aquariums are important to understand if there are any similarities and differences. It would be better to conduct the survey in other local aquariums such as the Underwater World, Langkawi and the KL Aquaria, Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study is relevant to further investigate the factors that will influence the visitor visitation. Thus, future study should gather data from those who had visited the aquarium several times. This approach might improve the destination image results, which in this study shows insignificant relationship. That said, acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a new direction of future research.

FRI Aquarium is suggested to create more awareness to the public by placing an advertisement via mainstream and social media. Hence, FRI Aquarium is suggested to design environmentally marine life oriented educational programs in order to motivate and encourage more visitors to visit the place.

In sum, this paper conjectures that an understanding of factors that influence the tourist to visit the marine tourism destination are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the findings help to understand how these factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the long-term economic sustainability of the FRI Aquarium in marine tourism.

Zimbabwean tourism, whose draw-card is wildlife, has been on the decline since land invasions that occurred in 2000. Due to the farm invasions, wildlife-based tourism is no longer a viable option. In cases where traditional industries are declining, cultural tourism has been found to be an effective alternative source of revenue. Cultural and heritage tourism represents a growing special interest market whose demand is very high; however, this sector is yet to be sufficiently explored in the empirical context of Northern Zimbabwe. The purpose of this paper is to explore the development potential of the sector.

A quantitative methodology was applied in this study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to 500 international tourists who visited Northern Zimbabwe’s cultural and heritage attractions between October 2013 and February 2014. Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 19.0 was employed in data coding and analysis. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and one way analysis of variance were used in this study.

On the whole, the study found that there is potential to develop cultural tourism as an alternative for tourism growth in Northern Zimbabwe. Results showed that there exists a certain demand for cultural and heritage tourism in Northern Zimbabwe and should be developed. Cultural and heritage tourists’ spending is high per visit, despite the fact that Zimbabwe is an expensive destination. The intention to repeat visitation was found to be significant with the age, level of qualification and nationality of respondents.

The findings provides insights for cultural and heritage tourism managers in Northern Zimbabwe and similar places around the country to invest in this special interest tourism. The development of cultural and heritage tourism will contribute towards the diversification of the seasonal and threatened nature-based tourism in Zimbabwe. With a better understanding of the motivations, trip behaviour characteristics and perceptions of Northern region, this paper presents insights that are important in developing the cultural and heritage tourism sector. Research on tourism growth in Zimbabwe has predominantly focused on nature-based tourism, suggesting a clear relegation of the contribution that cultural and heritage resources can make towards tourism growth; thus, this study provides a significant contribution in the Zimbabwean context with regards to literature.

This paper aims to investigate the preparedness of regional destinations for new and developing markets (NDMs) focusing on service provision and cultural considerations.

In-depth interviews using semi-structured questions and quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken with regional tourism-related stakeholders to investigate NDMs, levels of preparedness for these markets, perceptions on service quality and host and visitor culture.

Regional tourism operators and organisations within the case study were not well prepared for NDMs such as China and India. There was a strong desire to present a local experience with services that reflect the Australian culture, rather than replicate the visitors’ culture. Levels of awareness for the services preferred by NDMs and the intention to cater specifically to these preferences was found to be inconsistent. Key challenges include market diversity, staff training, limited resources and inadequate infrastructure. Resource allocation to address these challenges may not be a high priority, impacting NDMs’ preparedness and regional tourism growth.

Globally, tourism organisations are directing marketing efforts towards NDMs. However, ill-preparedness for these markets can lead to low levels of tourist satisfaction, reduced re-visitation and fewer positive word-of-mouth recommendations, all of which negatively impact tourism growth and development. Limited research has been undertaken in this area; thus, this study aids in identifying areas of focus for regional preparedness, service provision and resource allocation for existing markets and NDMs.

This article proposes a model for benchmarking tourism quality of life (QoL) that is practical and affordable to implement by communities of all sizes. The model is tested on a group of 30 mountain towns in the Appalachian region of the United States.

An existing model measuring resident QoL from Roanoke, Virginia, is discussed and a new model for tourist QoL is proposed. Both models employ secondary data from free sources to calculate a practical, affordable and quantifiable QoL index.

Analysis of the data indicates the Appalachian mountain town with the highest tourist QoL score is Lynchburg, Virginia, with a composite QoL index value of 128, followed closely by Charlottesville, Virginia, with an index of 126 (where an index of 100 = the US national average).

A tourist QoL model has practical value because it can be used by local policymakers to benchmark their region's QoL, make comparisons with other destinations, and ultimately, as a tool to help market their community – all using free and readily available data.

This case study adds value to the hospitality and tourism literature by sharing the Roanoke QoL model for the first time with the academic and practitioner community and extends its methods to propose how a tourist QoL model would work. It also addresses the research gap noted by Uysal et al. (2016) who observed a dearth of tourism research studies that utilize objective measures.

In an age when a tourist’s gaze is more involved in the daily lives of locals, it is evident that traditional food markets are being rediscovered as a space for recreation. Yet, the pressure of tourism development may result in retail gentrification to the point of losing the sense of local identity. Focusing on the “boutiquing” process at Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, this paper aims to measure the physical change in the marketplace, to understand merchants’ attitudes towards tourism development, and to differentiate merchants based on their responses to these changes.

Two main research methods were used: comparative mapping of the business mix and in-depth interviews with merchants. The first method was used to characterize the physical change in the market, and the second method was used to examine merchants’ attitudes and responses to tourism development.

There has been a significant physical change in the business mix of the market, with displacing mainly of traditional uses. A strong link between the merchants’ responses to tourism development and their stall ownership status has found.

The limitations of the study lie in its nature as a qualitative study of a case study; there is difficulty in generalizing and drawing universal conclusions.

Add to existing knowledge regarding merchants’ responses in traditional food markets to tourism development in the context of retail gentrification.

Following COVID-19, the emphasis on tourism development has shifted to rural tourism and eco-destinations for preventive practice of the three Cs – confined spaces, close contact and crowded spaces. Given the potential growth of rural tourism destinations, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is conceivably the first to provide empirical evidence for rural tourism development post-COVID-19, and this study aims to examine the relationship between the potential development of rural tourism destination competitiveness alongside the inherited, created and supporting resources as perceived by domestic tourists.

This study sampled 172 respondents who were all domestic tourists in Malaysia. A partial least square (PLS)-structural equation modeling approach was used to evaluate the developed model, with PLS estimation and hypothesis testing performed using WarpPLS software.

Interestingly, the findings indicate that rural tourism destinations in Sarawak derive competitive advantage from factors that are closely associated with urban destinations (i.e. created and supporting resources), whereas rural-related factors (i.e. inherited resources) are not perceived as a contributor to their competitive advantage.

The findings will assist tourism planners in constructing a deployable rural tourism destination competency index to develop policies and programmes that address specific tourism or rural development objectives in Malaysia and beyond.

The value of present study lies in its examination of the tourists’ perspectives on the factors that provides addition to rural competitive advantage, with an emphasis on a relatively new and contentious post-COVID-19 topic, namely, rural tourism destinations.

The purpose of this paper is to discern the intra‐regional visitation patterns of wine tourists. Exploratory research was conducted in two branded wine regions, to conceptualise the spatial movement of wine tourists in a theoretical construct.

Information was obtained from a random sample of 214 visitors to 25 wineries in two branded wine regions in South Australia. Data were collected by means of face‐to‐face interviews using a highly structured questionnaire at each of the winery cellar door venues.

A conceptual theory regarding winery visitation sets (VSs) was developed. Discernable spatial visitation patterns to wineries result from the dynamic interaction of visitors’ needs and the incumbent winery profiles that exist in a hierarchy within a wine region. The grouping of sequentially visited wineries in the three‐tier hierarchy form specific VSs of wineries. Winery profiles are initially determined by visitation incidence: the most visited Regional Centre Point (RCP) winery is followed by sequentially less visited regional profile (RP) wineries and a third tier of regional attribute (RA) wineries. Visitation pattern trends are identifiable and differ between first‐time and repeat visitors.

It is possible to detail the market segmentation of wine tourists quite accurately in terms of their psychographics and demographics and favoured visitation patterns within the branded wine region. This will also provide important insights into the balance of winery and cellar door roles in the region and confirm the “optimal” number of wineries required to fulfil the needs of the ever‐increasing numbers of wine tourists.

This paper is of value to academic researchers, wine industry practitioners and travel and accommodation providers alike as it provides the foundation for a conceptual theory to explain the discernable intra‐regional visitation patterns of wine tourists to the cellar doors of wineries.

It is generally accepted that repeat visitation represents an attractive, cost-effective market segment for most destinations. Given such importance, an analytical model is proposed and tested. Our model prescribes a direct, causal relationship between pull motivations, travel satisfaction, intention of repeat visit, and repeat-visit behavior. Two hundred and two survey questionnaires are collected using a systematic sampling technique. Factor Analysis is employed to reduce 14 motivational attributes to five factors. The results of the logistic regression analysis reveal that the factor ‘local food and beverages’ and tourists’ overall satisfaction level are insignificant predictors of repeat visitation. However, the rest of the variables such as climate, attractions, and facilities are significant. Implications of the results for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between international tourists' demographics with travel motives to Uzbekistan through the utilization of push and pull theory.

This study utilized a convenience sampling technique to collect data from 563 international tourists visiting Uzbekistan. Chi-square test of independence (χ²) was employed to test the association between visitors' demographics and travel motives.

The results illustrated that nationality and frequency of visitations of the international tourists to Uzbekistan were statistically associated with their travel motives. In terms of gender, age, marital status and religion, no significant association with travel motives was established.

The statistical test and instrument for data collection might limit the generalization of this study to represent the whole population of international tourists in Uzbekistan.

The findings of this study show that in order to develop tourism in Uzbekistan, businesses and practitioners should consider segmenting tourists based on their national background to serve their needs and preferences. As tourist's visitation frequency plays a role in their travel motives, the product and service quality of tour packages must be improved and monitored.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights for businesses, managers, practitioners and policymakers to understand international tourists' motives to Uzbekistan to formulate better policies and tour packages.

The purpose of this paper is to use the experiential view of consumption to better understand the nature of the motivations of the wine tourist in a congested wine region environment. It also aims to determine the impact of travel antecedents such as the perceived characteristics of the wine region, information sources utilised, and previous knowledge of the region and its products on the destination decision‐making process and ultimately the visitation motivations.

Information is obtained from a random sample of 304 respondents from 12 wineries representing all size groups situated on the Paarl Wine Route (PWR) in South Africa. Data are collected through the use of a self‐administered, highly structured questionnaire, self‐completed by respondents at each of the winery cellar door venues.

The most important characteristic of the entire winescape is the region's scenic beauty. Other high impact characteristics are the friendly people and their hospitality, overall ambience and the diversity of wine estates. These factors point to hedonic behaviour in a highly social context and primarily a search for enjoyment/pleasure, mainly by first‐time visitors. The dynamic of first‐time and repeat visitation plays a key role in visitors' wine tourism behaviour. The decision to engage in wine tourism is generally impulsive, even spurious, the visit duration short and the motivations guiding the visitors' behaviour predominantly hedonic in nature.

The impact of the natural landscape underlines the premise that an experiential research approach can yield valuable insights and sheds new light on the fact that a memorable experience for a wine tourist does not only evolve inside the winery's cellar door. In the process it exposits what could be unique selling points for marketing differently positioned wine regions.

This study is of value to academic researchers, travel and accommodation providers and wine industry practitioners alike as it highlights important aspects of wine tourism behaviour with regard to the actual (underlying) motivations that drive them to visit cellar doors in a wine region.