Aise KyoungJin Kim

The Multiple Assessment of Interpretation Effectiveness: Promoting Visitors’ Environmental Attitudes and Behavior

Interpretation has been recognized as a useful tool in managing visitor behavior in nature-based tourism areas. This study explores a multiple assessment approach to identify the strengths and weaknesses of site-based interpretation in influencing multidimensional aspects of attitudes and behavioral intentions toward local environmental issues. Visitors to the Lulworth coastal area in England were studied using on-site questionnaire survey data. The results of the research highlight that the effectiveness of interpretation varied in relation to a number of different aspects of responsible environmental behavior and local conservation issues. The findings also reveal that it fostered visitors’ awareness of and their support for management policies but its impacts were limited to site-specific responsible behavior related in this case to geological and environmental conservation.

Tour guides as agents of sustainability: rhetoric, reality and implications for research

Abstract Some authors and researchers have argued that tour guides are well-placed to foster sustainable tourism outcomes by, for example, communicating about and connecting clients with the natural and cultural environment and its values (via nature and heritage interpretation), and conveying, monitoring and role-modelling appropriate visitor behaviour in these environments. However, research that has contributed to assessing or enhancing the sustainability outcomes of tour guiding has been limited. Moreover, tour guides have had limited exposure to the use of theory, tools and techniques for optimizing the visitor experience and visitor-environment interaction within a sustainability framework. Not surprisingly, then, findings to date suggest that guides may not be fully realizing their potential to communicate and role-model sustainability in their tour content and practice. With the ever increasing pressure for tourism to enhance its cultural and ecological sustainability, this paper presents a timely examination of the theories and research that have been and can be used to harness tour guides as agents of sustainability. After examining some of the challenges that constrain research in this area, avenues for future research are presented that are both theory-driven and responsive to the realities and expectations placed on tour guides.

Determinants of Tourist Behaviour in Coastal Environmental Protection

Abstract This study examines visitors’ willingness to support management policies regarding local environmental conservation issues. In particular, it explores the relative impacts of various antecedents on different types of specific behavioural intentions. Visitors to the Lulworth coastal area in England were studied using on-site questionnaire survey data. Results of the research highlight that most visitors had positive environmental attitudes and support for management policies related to specific responsible environmental behaviour, such as ‘not climbing the cliffs’ and ‘removing beach litter’. However, multiple regression analyses indicate that certain types of attitudes were not always the most important factor in explaining environmental behaviour. Other individual background factors, such as age, gender, environmental involvement and interpretative experiences, had different impacts on two types of specific behavioural intentions. This study suggests that management actions can be substantially improved by examining tourists’ perceptions of management policies and identifying which tourists are willing to engage in the types of conservation topic and the types of behaviour.

Toward a framework integrating authenticity and integrity in heritage tourism

While authenticity as a research concept has been widely studied in the tourism field, integrity remains a concept only prominent in heritage conservation. Through a critical review of the concepts of authenticity and integrity in tourism and heritage preservation areas, this study aims to propose a framework in which authenticity and integrity are seen as a dialectic and integrated unity. In the framework, the interactive mechanism between authenticity and integrity is elaborated. The framework highlights the value of both authenticity and integrity; it comprises all tangible and intangible elements that are interconnected to culture continuity, which connects the past to the present, and links the individual parts to the whole of a cultural heritage site.

Exploring the value of an ethnic restaurant experience: a consumer perspective towards Korean restaurants

ABSTRACT Ethnic food consumption experience has become an important means of generating awareness and understanding of a tourist destinations identity and gastronomic culture. Recent research addresses the need for a better understanding of consumers’ perceptions of ethnic restaurant attributes in influencing the consumer decision-making process and improving proactive responsiveness to the current market changes. This study aims to examine the effects of cultural background-based consumer segments on cognitive and emotional perceptions, specifically regarding their Korean restaurant experiences in terms of three dimensions: gastronomy, culture and health. A patron survey was carried out with 256 consumers in Korean restaurants in Adelaide, Australia. The results of the study show that a majority of respondents were more likely to place a greater value on the gastronomic (e.g. taste, variety of food) and health dimensions of Korean food and dining attributes rather than on cultural attributes. Additional findings indicate that there were different levels of cognitive perceptions and emotional responses towards Korean restaurant experiences between Australian and Asian diners. This study suggests that the individual characteristics, such as consumer cultural background, can be a valuable indicator for developing new products and marketing strategies which appeal to different market segments’ distinct preferences for ethnic restaurant experiences.

Understanding ethnic food involvement-based markets and their travel preferences

Abstract This study aims to examine Australian consumers’ ethnic food involvement, with a specific focus on Korean food. It will also explore the effects of ethnic food involvement on consumer perceived food attributes and their preferences for specific food-related travel activities, targeting Korean food. Using a Korean restaurant patron survey, the findings of the study identifies three distinct market segments – “Korean food lovers”, “low-involved novices” and “taste-oriented diners”. It also found that Australian consumers’ food perceptions and travel preferences are significantly affected by their level of past involvement with Korean food. Such findings can be useful to allow destination marketers to target the local residents’ decision-making process at the early stage of their trip planning as food tourism positioning strategies.

Australia’s Food Tourism Experiences and the Korean Market

Abstract This chapter addresses the emerging trends in Australia’s food destinations and analyzes different demands for this experience from a Korean tourism market perspective. Tourism Australia’s report on the international market research was analyzed, and the findings indicate that four main food experiences were sought by Koreans. A sense of landscapes plays an important role in enhancing their local food experiences. Multicultural food, health conscious markets, and food shopping are also crucial for developing Australia’s competitive advantage in this area. This chapter suggests marketing implications and directions for future research to explore cross-cultural gaps in food culture and behaviors from the perspectives of Asian tourism markets.