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This paper presents the UE‐Eurostat methodology to design and implement a system of surveys of inbound tourism. It has been thought for the homogeneisation of the information systems of the EU countries and for the development of the cooperation in the field of tourism statistics between the European Union and other relevant extra‐Europe regions. Furthermore, the methodology wants to give a common framework of analysis for the collection and processing of comparable statistics at each territorial level. The general research process has been split up into nine fundamental steps which represent the stages a researcher has to follow in order to obtain reliable data on visitor flows, visitors' and trip characteristics, consumption behaviour and opinions and impressions on the trip and the visit. It has been implemented for closed areas (areas with political borders, e.g. a country, geographical borders, e.g. a island, artificial borders, e.g. a museum, a theme park, an archaeological area) and open areas (a macro‐region, a region, a single tourist destination, e.g. a city, or tourist site, e.g. a square).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether providing additional prompts in a visitor expenditure survey results in higher reported expenditure.

Respondents to a self‐completion survey of event visitors were randomly allocated either an aggregated or disaggregated expenditure format in a quasi‐experimental design. ANOVA is used to identify significant differences in mean reported expenditure to the alternative formats.

The research finds that provision of additional prompts in the expenditure module of a visitor survey results in higher reported expenditures in half the expenditure categories and, most importantly, in total expenditure.

Collection of accurate visitor expenditure data is critical to estimation of the economic benefits of tourism and special events. Over or under estimation of direct expenditures associated with an event may have implications for future investment in the event by public and/or private agencies.

Very few field tests of this fundamental issue in measurement error have been reported in the tourism literature. The few reported examples have tended to report results inconsistent with a priori expectations, although they have been based on very small sample size and therefore are limited by low power. This study is based on a large sample size and produces results consistent with a priori expectations.

The exponential growth in the number of visitors and the mass-tourism mobility patterns in natural areas are causing serious issues such as traffic congestion, crowding in car parks, pollution, high noise levels, and traffic accidents. In order to redress this situation, demand management policies that propose more sustainable transportation systems are crucial. In this chapter, the authors summarize extensive research carried out in Teide National Park (Canary Islands, Spain), the most visited national park in Spain, one of the most visited in the world, and a clear example of a natural area under pressure from mass tourism. The authors present the current situation of the natural site and three scientific contributions based on a survey combining revealed and stated preferences that analyzes visitor preferences with regard to the use of sustainable transportation systems. The first study analyzes visitors’ preferences regarding the implementation of a public bicycle-sharing system. The second study explores visitors’ willingness to pay to reduce the environmental impact of their visit and the potential implementation of a shuttle-bus service. The third study investigates the recreational economic value of the site. The chapter provides useful information for decision-makers who need to address problems associated with the unsustainable visitor mobility and reports results that can be extrapolated to other natural parks with similar characteristics and high inflow of tourists.

This paper aims to deepen the current knowledge of seasonality by investigating visitors’ intentional and behavioural patterns during peak and off-peak seasons. It compares the variation in several key behavioural factors, namely, duration of stay, party size, revisit intention, spending and breakdown of spending in different sectors in hospitality and tourism including entertainment, restaurant, accommodation and transportation. Moreover, this research expands the understanding by examining the effectiveness of two innovative strategies of offering a digital app and organising a unique event to tackle seasonal imbalances through stimulating visitors’ intention to change their timing of visit from peak to off-peak periods.

The author initially used a Delphi approach to gather experts’ opinion on the two scenario settings: event organisation and a trip planner app. The scenarios aimed to potentially encourage visitors to change their visit time to off-peak seasons. Then, using a quantitative survey, the travel habits and spending behaviours of 310 participants were captured. Furthermore, the survey assessed their intention to travel during off-peak seasons in response to the implementation of the two innovative strategies.

The results revealed that although the number of visitors who travel in off-peak seasons may be lower, their daily spending is higher than peak season visitors. In addition to total spending per day, the duration of stay, part size, quality of accommodation and re-visit intention of visitors indicated significant variation between peak and off-peak seasons. According to the statistical analysis’ results, organising events (including festivals) proves more effective in encouraging visitors to travel during off-peak seasons compared to digital innovation (i.e. a trip planner app). This finding is in line with the tenets of the Jobs-to-be-Done Theory of innovation.

This study contributes by conceptualising the mechanism of seasonality and its impacts on subsectors of tourism and hospitality. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the few empirical research that compares the behavioural patterns of visitors including their average spending per day between peak and off-peak seasons. Previous studies focused on specific regions or sectors, whereas this research investigates visitors’ behaviour on a broader scale to provide more comprehensive view. Furthermore, this study is novel due to practising an outside-in approach through investigating the effectiveness of the two innovative strategies aimed at addressing seasonality in the hospitality and tourism industry from visitors’ point of view.

Drawing upon an analysis of resident and visitor survey data and Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) press releases in 2012, the purpose of this paper is to understand the tourism destination image for this tourist historic city produced by these three key stakeholder groups in Macau.

This is achieved using a new stakeholder analysis tool, developed from previous studies, which compares the perspective of the MGTO, the city’s destination marketing organization, with that of its residents and visitors. This study examines the perceptions that residents and visitors have about the general images projected and generated in Macau.

This research highlights the multiplicity of images and producers of images in Macau.

The lesson from this case study is that public sector agencies need to acknowledge more clearly the tourism planning role of the host community in particular. The possibility of detecting disconnections and misalignments of shared destination imagery by residents and visitors has implications for the public sector in Macau and other destinations in relation to managing and developing a destination and contributes to a greater understanding of stakeholders and sustainable tourism development overall.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between culture-based tourism development and cultural sustainability in the established tourism destination of Gold Coast, Australia. It seeks to contribute to the debate on local development and tourism through evaluating the development of the newly-born Gold Coast Chinatown.

Two types of analysis were developed for this study. The first one aims at assessing the general features of the case study site. It was done by the urban analysis of the precinct, the count of the shops associated with the identification of their function (e.g. retail, services, etc.), street visual survey, and the assessment of ethnic expression/representations. The second analysis aims at assessing place-attachment, development impacts and cultural attitude. It was done by questionnaire surveys.

The analysis evidences mainly two findings. First, tradition, authenticity or ethnicity are not perceived as key drivers, and tangible pre-requisites do not appear as a priority for a culture-based tourism development. Second, correlation studies show the longer the length of residence the higher is the attitude towards positive perceived economic impacts and positive cultural attitudes. It is the opposite of what is usually found in literature review. As such, it challenges the concept of cultural sustainability, and helps us to reconsider the weight of the evaluative factors of community attachment, development impact and cultural attitude in tourism development.

The recent creation of the Gold Coast Chinatown not only raises the question of the rationale of what is usually recognised as a community-based settlement, hence its cultural foundation and the legitimacy of transfer of cultural models, but also the processes at stake between cultural sustainability and tourism development. To the knowledge, no publication exists on this case study.

Many reviews on the internet are contributed their time to evaluate which are largely transparent generally; however, How are these information valuable and useful to visitors before making a purchasing decision? As the reason, there is a need to understand the distal path of visitors concern. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of both perceived useful and valuable motivations on visitors’ willingness to buy in the distal paths.

Web questionnaire survey.

Visitors’ confirmation was the beginning to impact the intention to buy through only one distal path, perceived value (PV) and satisfaction.

Even though the author tried his best to design and implement thoughtfully for this research, there are still some limitations. First, the results could be influenced by self-selection bias. The sample of respondents surveyed in this study consisted of young adults (58.90 percent were between the ages 21 and 25 years old), the majority of whom (54.79 percent) were students. Therefore, in the context of this study, the visitors surveyed were young and able to easily access information online. The phenomenon has been, proved by Hsu (2013), found, it still needs to explore further. Second, perceived usefulness did not have a significant impact on satisfaction which consistent with Tao et al. (2009) result. The data represent the response’ feeling for now; it needs to be explored further. Third, it would also be worthwhile to investigate any obstacles, such as believable (Cheung et al., 2012) that might reduce the intentions to buy of visitors. Finally, recommendations and promotions have also been found to influence visitors’ further purchasing behavior, such as extra buy (Tsao, 2013). These phenomena are worth investigating in future research.

To inspire visitors, information of reviews can be posted by offering positive or negative suggestions (e.g. good or bad experience); managers should improve their products or services from the suggestions of reviews and need to consider the distinctive influences of various aspects of reviews when promoting products and devising e-marketing strategies. Marketers should recruit and filter reviews to write positive suggestions of their own products or service. IS practitioners should post the reviews might need to provide more detailed information (e.g. the reasons of like or dislike). The posted information from reviews should be accurate, particularly aiming at visitors who are motivated by reviews’ suggestions. All proposed measures are particularly important for visitors with sufficient reviews effects. Greater transparency of reviews might be achieved by more explicit reviews information (e.g. via like or dislike statements).

The result provides a basis to generate concrete advice for owners about reviews concern to enhance visitors’ PV. It seems sensible to pursue two strategies: first, enhance the visitors’ PV to trigger motivation forward, and second, inspire the visitors to progress smoothly in the visiting stage.

The results of the expectation-confirmation theory applied to reviews recommendations how important to employ for enterprises. These reviews were either directly given by experienced users or at least validated with their help to visitors. Therefore, the value is building the distal bridge between visitors and customers through online general reviews.

The Forest of Dean attracts relatively low numbers of staying visitors and low visitor spend. The paper aims to explore the image of this destination and identify the potential to visit along with any underlying factors that may deter visitors.

A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather and analyse responses to an online survey. Respondents offered a range of words and pictures from which they were asked to select those they felt best represented the destination, and also then asked to explain their selection. Quantitative data were also analysed for frequency of occurrence. A content analysis of qualitative data was conducted to generate destination image clusters of the Forest of Dean.

The findings show there is a very positive and unique image associated with the Forest of Dean among previous visitors, with many expressing an intention to visiting the area again.

Although response rates are relatively low, and results are heavily concentrated on actual visitors, the research provides very broad ranging and meaningful data that have offered a deeper and richer insight into the image of the Forest of Dean.

The paper has provided important data from which new competitive brand image strategies can be developed for the destination. The paper also provides a first step towards a comprehensive image analysis for the Forest of Dean, from which future promotional strategies can be developed.

Many visitor guides promote UK rural destinations on their superb scenery, relaxation, outdoor leisure activities, quality accommodation, locally‐sourced food, a range of attractions and a full calendar of events and festivals. To date there has been very little research carried out on UK rural destination brands and no academic research carried out on the image or branding of the Forest of Dean as a unique rural destination.

The purpose of this paper is to show that in a time of dramatic social change and progress in information communications technology, surveys and analysis were used to identify residents' lifestyles and their views and attitudes toward public libraries.

Two series of surveys were conducted in suburban/rural cities of Japan in 2004 and 2006. The first survey was across all local residents, and the second among library users. The results of these surveys were analyzed in depth, and different lifestyle groups were identified. Library use by each of these groups was investigated in detail.

The findings demonstrate that those who positively appreciated the various benefits of the public library tended to be frequent/regular visitors and to belong to the “Group of ‘actively striving’” and the “Group of ‘respecting others’” in the 2004 survey, and similar types of group in the 2006 survey. In addition, the 2006 survey also showed that the visitors include those who were not necessarily conscious about library services, and 10 per cent of the respondents were not much interested in them at all.

The results demonstrate that the libraries acquire new user groups according to their service innovations. However, it was found that people have already started to utilize search engines on the internet, regardless of the presence/absence of the corresponding service in the library to acquire various types of information.

This paper re‐examines the traditional understanding of the user profile of public libraries, and demonstrates a tool to help identify changes in use and users.

This paper has two main aims: to show responses like yes or very likely for inbound visitors returning to a destination can lead to misleading and unreliable information; and to clarify the kind of information that should be collected.

Responses from Taiwan's inbound visitors relating to returning are examined to see what can be learned. Modeling is used to extract meaningful quantitative information from data.

Modeling shows that survey responses about return are inconsistent. Although 95 percent of non‐visiting‐friends‐and‐relations (VFR) leisure visitors indicate returning, this is not consistent with a retention rate of 90 percent. A retention rate of 33 percent is consistent with the observation that 70 percent of person‐visits are first‐visits. However, 33 percent retention is not consistent with over 95 percent of visitors returning. Conventional questions are yielding highly unreliable information and, therefore, data collection should be changed.

Relations between vague questions and return trips have been established. This research provides new evidence of the need for return data to include information allowing estimation of volume and timing of return.