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The concept of experience economy states that customers seek experiences whether from products and services. Tourism is at the forefront of the experience economy because tourists are looking for staged experience encompassing the four realms (entertainment, educational, esthetic and escapism). The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the effects of the experience economy on tourists’ word-of-mouth (WOM) in Chengdu cuisine through satisfaction and memory.

In total, 397 valid data were collected from the tourists who have experienced the ethnic cuisine in Chengdu. A partial least-square structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the research model.

The empirical results indicated that esthetic is the antecedent of the other three realms of experience economy; esthetic, educational and entertainment experiences influence satisfaction; four realms of experience economy influence memory; and satisfaction and memory ultimately influence WOM.

The findings of this study provide practical implications for operators of ethnic restaurants in designing their restaurants and menus, travel agencies in planning the tour itinerary and governments in using ethnic cuisine for destination marketing.

This study is a pioneer in studying the experience economy in the ethnic cuisine. It has identified the relationships between four dimensions of experience economy of ethnic cuisine, tourist satisfaction, memory and WOM toward ethnic cuisine in a tourist destination. It has also integrated the senses of Chinese cuisine (“sight,” “smell” and “taste”) into the measures of esthetic experience for studying experience economy in ethnic cuisine.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between the dimensions of motivation, perceived authenticity and satisfaction of tourists visiting the Mor Hananyo Monastery as a heritage site.

The quantitative research method was implemented to test the proposed structural model. Accordingly, a self-administered questionnaire was applied to 341 tourists visiting the monastery of Mor Hananyo between April and May 2019. First, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to ensure the scales’ construct validity; then, the covariance-based structural equation model was established to test the research hypothesis with the help of path analysis.

The results showed that all motivation dimensions influence the objective authenticity perception of tourists. Heritage and ancestral motivations influence the constructive authenticity perception of tourists. However, the effect of educational motivation on the same variable was insignificant. Furthermore, only heritage motivation affects the existential authenticity perception of tourists.

The results of this study demonstrate that tourist satisfaction has causal relationships with travel motivations and authenticity perceptions. Additionally, although tourist satisfaction has been accepted as an essential and extensively discussed subject in the tourism literature, this study is the first to examine the structural relationships of travel motivations (ancestral, heritage and educational motivations), authenticity perceptions (objective, constructive and existential authenticity) and tourist satisfaction in the monastery context.

Education is seen to be a key ingredient in today's wine marketing and an important tool for the winery in attracting and maintaining its consumer base in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Wine education therefore plays an important part in the health and future of the industry: ‘Wine education plays a key role in converting the occasional wine drinker into a dedicated wine appreciator.’ (The Australian Grapegrower and Winemaker, 1996). Until recently wine research has focused on the specialisms and technicalities associated with winemaking and neglected the importance of research activity into the motivations and behavioural patterns of the wine consumer. This paper will report on the findings from the initial qualitative research process. The exploratory stage involved identifying and conducting key informant interviews with owners or managers of wineries with an education focus in the Swan Valley and Margaret River wine regions. Focusing on the provision for consumer education within wineries in Western Australia, the research aims to identify current awareness levels amongst Australian winery owners into the value and importance of education to the wine tourist. Demandby wine tourists for educational provision within the winery setting was also examined.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumption values (CV), destination cues (DC), nostalgia and attitude in the selection of destination for educational tourism, and the mediating effect of destination image (DI).

The research applied descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling techniques. The study tested the reliability and validity of the measurement model through CFA, Cronbach’s α and inter-correlation analyses. This research applied the structural equation model to examine the relationship between the research variables using 250 foreign students.

The results of data analysis support the stated hypotheses. All the direct relationships were significant and positive. However, DI found a partial mediating role among the relationships. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

From this research the tourism researchers, policymakers and managers of the respective higher learning institution may develop a complete understanding of the antecedents of attitude formation of the edu-tourists which were not even studied before from the perspective of educational tourism.

To date, there have been few empirical studies examining the attitude of the edu-tourists in the selection of a destination for educational tourism. Therefore, understanding the purpose of CV, DC and nostalgia in a tourist’s decision-making operation, and their theoretical relationship, will make both scientific and practical contributions.

According to the theory of push and pull factors, the current work aims to present two objectives: (1) to detect what attributes drive senior tourists to travel to the Azores islands, the role played by lecturing activities (LA) as push factors and their influence on the island's offer (pull factors) are analysed; and (2) to understand the personal and contextual barriers of tourists to provide information to the agents who form part of the tourism supply process on the island.

The data has been processed using the statistical package SmartPLS version 26. Using an exploratory methodology based on structural equation modeling (SEM) structural equations applied to small sample sizes, a tentative model has been generated to define the drivers of tourism for elderly people who visit the islands.

The research study reveals that LA are the key factor in completing the offering of tourist destinations in the Azores. Educational packages should be made available to senior tourists. Likewise, several tourism barriers, such as flight times, cost of the trip, concern about the safety of destinations, type of accommodation, language difficulties and medical and health care should also be revised by tourism authorities and flight stakeholders with regard to the Azores Islands.

The reduced sample has made the results impossible to show greater predictive power.

The role played by push factors, such as lecturing or educational activities, and pull factors, such as the tourism offering by the island, allows us to envisage educational packages based on the preferences of senior tourists, such as attending lectures on the history of the Azores, gastronomy (traditional food), active ageing flora, and interesting facts and legends of the islands.

As a push factor, social interaction has become the main motivation among senior tourists. Such tourists have conveyed not only their desire to meet other tourists but also their interest in socialising in tourist activities, relaxing and visiting other new places.

Even though LA are relatively common among university students and those with bachelor's degrees, educational packages for senior tourism are now gaining in popularity. Better socio-economic conditions worldwide and easier access to education for mature people have allowed them to expand their knowledge by travelling to exotic destinations such as the Azores. This paper links that interest with barriers to travel as well as to the Azores' rich touristic offering.

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether relationships with media figures can impact the psychological and sociocultural adjustment of educational tourists.

The article uses the qualitative method of autoethnography to provide a highly personalised account of the first author’s relationships with podcast hosts during his time as an educational tourist, in order to fulfil its previously mentioned purpose.

An analysis of the author’s narrative account demonstrates how he formed parasocial relationships (PSRs) with his favourite podcast hosts. These relationships increased self-efficacy, reduced stress and provided a sense of social support, which, in turn contributed to psychological and sociocultural adjustment.

By demonstrating how relationships with media figures can impact their psychological and sociocultural adjustment, this article argues that research on educational tourists should explore their PSRs, in addition to their other kinds of friendships which have already been examined.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential for environmental and social impacts from university-level educational travel programs.

This study analyzes the sites visited by 17 education travel programs to the Westfjords (Iceland) from 2014 to 2016. It uses a geographic information system (GIS) project to examine the potential for environmental and social impacts from these programs on local communities and environments. It compares them with similar data on general tourism to the region.

The results reveal that educational travel programs visit sites that are generally in moderately sensitive areas environmentally and socially. They visit different sites from general tourists and sites that are more sensitive environmentally and socially.

The research area was limited to the Westfjords of Iceland, and thus, the results may not apply globally to all educational travel destinations.

These findings suggest that education travel programs carried out by and for universities the potential to have negative effects on the locations they visit. Universities need to design their educational travel programs so as to limit such impacts to host environments and communities and explicitly educate student participants about sustainable travel behaviors.

This is the first study to combine GIS with several environmental and social metrics to assess impacts from educational travel programs. Further, it is the first study to map the frontstage–backstage continuum as a quantitative metric.

The purpose of this research is to understand how educational tourists in Northern Cyprus perceive and respond to the concerns associated with climate change.

A qualitative method was employed and the data gathered from educational tourists enrolled in tourism planning and sustainable tourism courses in Northern Cyprus and analyzed using the content analysis technique.

Four major themes emerged in this study including “weather changes”, “human-induced causes”, “collective responsibility” and “waste management and recycling”.

Climate change-related issues among educational tourists have received little attention in the literature. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by examining educational tourists' perspectives and reactions to climate change in Northern Cyprus.

Several studies in management science have called for a better understanding of the experience economy approach to develop wine tourism. Few studies, however, have analysed experiential dimensions in the context of French wine-growing regions. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the difference between what wine tourism providers consider relevant in their market offer and what customers expect from their wine tourism experience. A new categorisation of wine tourists’ expectations based on Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) four realms model and Quadri-Felliti and Fiore’s model (2012) are developed.

A mixed methodology, qualitatively analysing 17 semi-structural interviews with the main wine tourism stakeholders in the Alsace region in north-east France and quantitatively analysing 233 questionnaires on wine tourists’ expectations and behaviours are adopted.

The study reveals a difference between experiential offers predicated on an educational approach and the explicit expectations of wine tourists (combining aesthetics, conviviality and authenticity, whose central focus is an encounter with the winemaker). Overall, the findings point to a need for greater inclusion of the experiential aspect in the offer designed for wine tourists.

The study identifies a gap between the educational dimension that professionals tend to promote in their offers and the real expectations of wine tourists who express more interest in the aesthetic dimension provided by an attractive visit environment and an enjoyable experience. At the heart of the authentic experience for wine tourists is meeting the winegrower, making authenticity a major factor.

The purpose of this research is to empirically examine the critical factors that are influencing international students’ perception in the selection of a destination for education tourism.

This research seeks to develop a comprehensive framework embedded with service quality, destination image and spirituality behavior. The data were collected by administering a self-administered questionnaire to a sample of 220 respondents who were studying at the universities in Peninsular Malaysia. The constructs and items used in the questionnaire were adapted from the literature review. This research applied confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The outcome of this research indicated that there is a substantial relationship between service quality and the choice of a destination for education tourism. This research also explored that destination brand image significantly relates to the selection of a destination for education, tourism when the destination loyalty variable plays a strong mediation role. Interestingly, the direct relationship between spirituality behavior and selection of destination was not significant. On the other hand, a significant relationship was discovered between spirituality behavior and choice of destination when the tourists’ intention plays as a mediating function.

First, the limitation is in the scope of this study, as only five constructs were examined. Future research may include other types of variables in exploring the antecedents of destination selection for education tourism. Second, the sample size was only 220 and respondents were restricted to only a few universities. Future research should be done on a bigger sample size and on more diverse sample.

Managers of the respective higher learning institutions need to focus on tourists’ satisfaction by providing a memorable experience. International students who have satisfactory experience with the respective higher learning institutions will spread a positive word of mouth about the destinations to other prospective foreign students. Today, tourists have a strong urge to see the spiritual side of their liveliness. Policymakers need to offer services with the comportment of the spiritual settings in their respective educational environment to extend the spiritual experience toward international students.

There is a need for more research on how to build a comprehensive model for selection of a destination in educational tourism. The results of this empirical research are of particular significance to policymakers, as it better informs them as to how best to use the antecedents in designing the destination choice for education tourism to establish it as more practical regardless of the diverse spiritual beliefs.

This research is one of the initial attempts on part of the researchers in Malaysian education tourism context where spirituality has been taken into consideration.