Gregory B. Willson

The business of D-Day: an exploratory study of consumer behaviour.

In this exploratory study the symbolic aspects of heritage tourism are considered from a consumer behaviour perspective. A qualitative study was conducted of key tourist sites in the Normandy D-Day landing region of France. Museums, cemeteries, gun batteries, beaches and plinths comprise the key significant sites of tourist visitation to the region. Using two seminal consumer behaviour models, Holt’s four metaphors of consumption and Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry’s ‘Sacred and Profane’ dichotomy experiences and perceptions of five academics and their interaction with site visitors were compiled, compared and interpreted using key concepts of authenticity and verisimilitude favoured by MacCannell. The result confirms the a priori hypothesis that economic imperatives are at odds with perceptions of quality and sacredness, leading to the commodification of otherwise venerable sites. A number of ‘quality determinants’ used to determine experience were also gleaned, namely historical significance, gravitas, ambience, number of exhibits, quality of exhibits, authenticity of exhibits, aesthetics in display and perceived respect in display. With due consideration to the criteria visitors used to determine experience quality, experience engineering can to some degree counter what appears to be an inversely proportional economic/quality dynamic.

Hyperlink network analysis of a tourism destination

Hyperlinks critically impact the online visibility of a tourism destination and the effectiveness of information flow between tourism organizations and enterprises on the Internet. This study investigates the hyperlink network of the tourism industry in Western Australia. Network analysis is applied to explore, analyze, and visualize this network of 1,515 tourism websites. Several dimensions of network structure are examined, and the results indicate that the hyperlink network of this destination has a very sparse, centralized and hierarchical structure, and that the websites tend to form communities based on their geographical locations. Public tourism organizations and information services play a central and significant role in the destination network. The key implication for organizations and the industry as a whole is that education about the instrumental importance of hyperlinks could increase interconnectivity and therefore industry performance.

Terminal illness and tourism: a review of current literature and directions for future research

ABSTRACT This research note explores the contributions of scholarly research into terminal illness and tourism. Through a review of previous health tourism research, our search found very limited extant literature on tourism and life-threatening and terminal illness. Specific areas where research direction is needed include a reconceptualisation of health tourism to include notions of ill-health and its implications for the tourism industry; greater understanding of the lived experiences of travellers with life-threatening or terminal illness; and consideration of the notion of care and the needs of those providing palliative care during travel. The identification of these gaps in current knowledge provides an opportunity for further development of a research agenda for ill-health and tourism, which will have substantial implications both for academia and for the medical and tourism industries.

Favourable and unfavourable attitudes of young female residents toward middle eastern male tourists

The main objectives of this study are to explore the attitudes of young female residents in the Cisarua sub-district of West Java Province in Indonesia, towards Middle Eastern male tourists. The study seeks to confirm that this attitude is not a single variable. The authors found difficulty in inviting women who had an experience in contract marriage. Therefore, for this mixed-methods study a projective technique was applied involving young female residents aged 14 to 19 years. For the qualitative stage, data were taken by interviewing 90 participants and analysed using content analysis. The results were adapted into quantitative indicators. For the quantitative stage, data was collected using a survey with 199 usable questionnaires. The authors analysed the data using exploratory and confirmatory factor (structural equation model) analyses. The findings indicate that attitudes of young female residents towards Middle Eastern men are not a single variable: the first variable is a favourable attitude towards Middle Eastern men with two dimensions – benefit to the host and benefit to the tourists. The second variable is unfavourable attitude towards Middle Eastern men, consists of two dimensions – tourists as a villain and tourist as a lust seeker.