Gary McCain

Legacy tourism: the search for personal meaning in heritage travel.

Abstract In recent years, the existence and nature of the heritage tourism market has attracted substantial attention in the tourism industry. There appears to be a sub-segment of the heritage market that consists of tourists who have a personal connection with their heritage beyond a general relationship of collective ancestry. Those that travel to engage in genealogical endeavors, to search for information on or to simply feel connected to ancestors and ancestral roots are categorized as legacy tourists. This paper describes the heritage tourism market, discusses distinguishing characteristics that identify legacy tourists, and emphasizes to tourism managers the importance of recognizing and responding to this segment.

Guiding tourists to their ancestral homes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce measures of the motivation of tourists who travel to their ancestral homes. A set of learning exercises is presented for students and managers to apply understanding of these motives to tourism strategies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a brief review of the literature of heritage tourism and the special segment concerning travel with genealogical objectives. Survey data on motives to seek out ancestors are provided with learning exercises to link motives to tourism planning.Findings – Data on the importance of multiple motives are presented with analytical measures of their overall importance levels and of differences between US and UK samples.Research limitations/implications – The motivational variables and data collection are primarily exploratory, focusing on samples that are interested in genealogy and heritage tourism. Further research could certainly be expanded to cover broader populations of tourists and genealogists.Practical ...

Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery: Re‐enactment Event Tourism as Authentic Heritage Travel

Abstract Heritage tourism has evolved to include study of sub‐segments who travel to attend and participate in historical event re‐enactments. In the US, the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific coast and back again is being commemorated from its point of departure to its end. This paper is an exploratory study of a sample of re‐enactment tourists who attended three of the Lewis and Clark events. The role that re‐enactment tourism plays in heritage tourism is examined and preliminary findings on perceptions of nostalgia and authenticity of the re‐enactment products and events are presented. Preliminary managerial benefits and suggestions for host communities are provided.

Choice Criteria Model for Selecting Live-case Marketing Research Class Projects

This article provides a two-stage model for selecting clients for live-case marketing research class projects. After research design requirements have been met, the impor tance and probability of benefit to students, clients, instructors and the institution can be calculated to derive a weighted expected value score for potential projects. Ex amples are evaluated.

Case study: promoting design automation by rural manufacturers

Purpose – This paper describes a cooperative endeavor between a state university and a federal agency to modernize design automation among rural manufacturers. It concerns efforts to infuse leading‐edge design technology into rural product development.Design/methodology/approach – Boise State University established a rapid prototyping (RP) laboratory and conducted an information campaign targeting Idahos design and manufacturing sector. About 12 rural companies participated in a program supported by a federal grant wherein they received solid modeling and RP services while developing a product.Findings – Significant unfamiliarity about benefits of solid modeling and RP persists amongst Idahos rural manufacturers. When exposed to the potential of these technologies, manufactures readily move to adopt them into their new product development processes. Those companies adapting design automation improved their capability to bring products to the marketplace more rapidly and with greater market success.Pract...

“It was the Trip of a Lifetime”: Viking Ancestors, their Descendants and their Legacy Tourism Motivations and Behavior

One tourism segment consists of those whose family history leads them to travel to visit the sites of their ancestors’ origin. Of specific interest in this study are people who have an interest in Norwegian ancestry. Coincidently, Norway also wants its sons and daughters to come home, targeting those with “with Viking ancestry.” Primary research objectives were to determine the motives for and importance of travel to ancestral homes, differences in this motivation for varied subsamples, and develop insights into legacy tourism that will serve tourism managers. Survey respondents of Norse ancestry in the United States and the Shetland and Orkney Islands of Scotland were recruited from meetings and activities of cultural and historical societies. Norse Scottish Islanders indicate “quest” as more important than U.S. Norse groups since Scottish islands are more proximate to the Norwegian homelands. Top motives for all groups (both Norse and those not of Viking descent) are “personal connection”, “connection with place”, “intellectual challenge”, “obligation to ancestors”, “discovering continuities”, and “completing the circle”. Overall, Norse descendant motives resemble descendants of other populations.

Selecting Live-Case Projects for the Advertising Class

Marketing educators increasingly use live-case projects in their course in order to provide a more meaningful learning experience. However, the use of such live-cases can provide several undesirable side effects. The purpose of this paper is to provide a decision framework for effectively incorporating live-case projects into the advertising class.