Kelly MacKay

Pictorial element of destination in image formation

Abstract This study integrates theories from tourism destination choice, advertising, and landscape aesthetics to examine how content of promotional visuals affects destination image construction and interpretation. Three iterative phases of visual stimuli selection, focus groups, and a questionnaire were used. Results of the study indicated three landscape perception elements and four dimensions of image were projected by visuals. Analyses of covariance results supported landscape perception elements as significant predictors of image. Familiarity with the destination was significant across all image dimensions. Focus group results associated destination familiarity with affective evaluation of visuals and lack of familiarity with cognitive evaluation. Implications are discussed for image theory, marketing practice, and future research.

An Exploration of Cross-Cultural Destination Image Assessment

The propensity of destinations to use the same visuals to lure tourists to their destinations, and the variety of cultures represented by target market countries, heightens the issue of meaning plurality in destination image perception. This article proffers multidimensional scaling analyses as a technique for examining cross-cultural image perception and provides an example to illustrate how the number and interpretation of image dimensions may differ between two cultures.

Using Visitor-Employed Photography to Investigate Destination Image

Given the dominant use of visuals in destination image promotion and the call for more pluralistic approaches in tourism analysis, the purpose of this research note is to illustrate the utility of visitor-employed photography (VEP) to elicit tourist destination image. An image study conducted at a heritage site provides an example of VEP applied in this context. Challenges associated with using VEP mainly were logistical (for visitors) and resource based (for researchers). Benefits to using this method for image assessment were high response rate (95%), unprompted visitor-generated themes and visuals, and enjoyment expressed by respondents. The VEP method provided highly visual records of what best captured the visitors’ images of the site, which then can be compared to pictures used in current promotional efforts. Results provide initial support of the usefulness of VEP to generate images of a tourist attraction and to facilitate meaningful practical and theoretical integration of visitor-determined images with destination-determined images.

Relationships between Travel Information Search and Travel Product Purchase in Pretrip Contexts

This study adds to understanding the relationships between travel information search and product purchase behaviors by examining online and offline information search and purchase behaviors. A conceptual model of travel planning was developed from case-based vacation planning theory. Results indicated travel information search and product purchase commitments in the pretrip stage are different, travel information search and product purchase vary by travel product categories in the pretrip stage, and travel experiences influence travel information search and product purchase for certain travel products in the pretrip stage. This study suggests that travel-planning theory is strong in explaining complex travel behaviors.

Building on strengths and resilience: leisure as a stress survival strategy

Exploring the ways in which leisure contributes to managing, relieving, or counteracting stress has become an increasingly popular area of study in recent years. Findings from a multi-year study of stress and coping among diverse residents of a western Canadian city are reported in this paper. In particular, the key findings presented are specific to the role of leisure in stress-coping, with an emphasis on those that are relevant to guidance and counselling. The participants in the study included: (a) Aboriginal individuals with diabetes, (b) individuals with physical disabilities, (c) older adults with arthritis, (d) gays and lesbians, and (e) a group of professional managers. Grounded in a qualitative framework, data were collected using a focus group method, while phenomenology was adopted as the analytical framework. Our findings demonstrated leisures role as a palliative coping strategy. This strategy incorporates two elements: a positive diversion or ‘time-out’ from stress-inducing situations and thoughts, and a context for rejuvenation and renewal. Leisure also provided opportunities for promoting life balance, whereby the intentional creation of a leisure space became an oasis for personal renewal (physical, psychological, emotional) that facilitated resilience and the capacity to proactively cope with or counteract stress. Implications of the findings for guidance and counselling are discussed.

The Organization of Information in Memory for Pictures of Tourist Destinations: Are There Age-Related Differences?

Older adults are a key leisure travel market segment. As a growth market for the travel industry, it is imperative to understand how older travelers respond to pictures and illustrations in destination advertising used to prompt the destination selection decision. This study investigated age-related differences in memory for pictures of tourist destinations. After receiving encoding instructions, 90 younger and 90 older adults viewed four pictures of tourist destinations and later recalled the content of the pictures. With destination familiarity and education variables statistically controlled, there were no age differences found in pictorial memory performance. Implications of, and possible explanations for, the results are discussed.

Gender-Based Analyses of Coping with Stress among Professional Managers: Leisure Coping and Non-Leisure Coping

Despite the growth of leisure and stress-coping research, gender-based analyses of leisure stress-coping have been performed rarely. The purpose of the present study was to examine how female and male managers cope with stress, using data collected from a series of focus groups. The focus group questions were designed to elicit information about the range of methods these individuals used to cope with stress and the contribution of leisure (generally and leisure travel in particular) to this process. The results demonstrated that female and male managers rely on a broad range of coping methods—including leisure specific strategies—as life-survival techniques. Although sharing a number of common stress-coping themes (e.g., socialization through leisure, deflecting stress-inducing thoughts through leisure, feeling rejuvenated through leisure, leisure as personal space, humour/laughter, spiritual coping, altruistic leisure coping, leisure travel), there also were themes unique to female managers (e.g., preventative role of leisure/exercise) and male managers (e.g., playing hard in leisure). These unique gender-based variations in stress-coping appear to be linked to differences in life circumstances and stressors women and men face in work, domestic, and leisure domains, and the gendered nature of womens and mens life experiences.

Understanding Vacationing Motorist Niche Markets

This article builds on the travel market segmentation research by examining outdoor recreation, sightseeing, and cultural activities as tourism niche markets. Unique to this research is the replication analyses using Manitoba and Arizona as the cases. Results suggest that the nature of a vacation appears to be different across generally accepted niche markets in two distinct vacation destinations.

Online Information Search Strategies: A Focus On Flights and Accommodations

ABSTRACT The problem of the research was to understand information search strategies that individuals utilized in online travel product purchases. Two products, flights and accommodations, were selected to examine each products explanatory variables in online purchase behaviors. The results indicate online flight purchasers utilize direct information sources and focus on transactional attributes. Online accommodation purchasers utilize various types of sources; and they focus not only on transactional, but also informational and branding attributes. The study results support the constructive consumer choice processes theory and suggest some marketing tips for the airline and lodging industries.

An examination of residents’ support for hunting as a tourism product

Abstract As new forms of special interest tourism are developed and continue to expand, more traditional tourism activities, such as hunting, are in decline. Public perceptions about hunting have the potential to alter or cease some of these traditional tourism activities. Understanding resident perceptions of and support for hunting when it is a major tourism product for a destination is necessary to engender support for the activity and maintain its tourism profile and important economic contribution. A province-wide survey was conducted that examined residents’ attitudes and normative influences toward hunting as a tourism product. Results from over 1300 respondents suggested that residents have a slightly positive attitude toward hunting when it is for tourism and economic purposes. Although referent groups were less influential than residents’ attitudes in predicting support for hunting, businesses that benefit from hunting-based tourism were viewed as more influential than the tourists themselves. Results are discussed according to residents’ level of support for hunting (high, medium, low) and indicate the underlying beliefs that drive their respective attitudinal and social influences. Implications for marketing and communication are provided.