Mimi Li

A missing link in understanding revisit intention - the role of motivation and image.

ABSTRACT This study addresses two gaps in the research on tourist revisit intention: the impact of the pre-visit psychological factor of travel motivation and its relationship with destination image. Path analysis is adopted to examine the relationships among destination image, travel motivation, and revisit intention in a rural tourism context. A causal relationship is detected between three motivation dimensions, two image dimensions, and revisit intention. All three motivational constructs (intellectual, escape, and belonging) exert a significant influence on the cognitive dimension of image, whereas only the motivation construct of escape is significantly related to the affective dimension of image. A causal relationship is also identified between the affective dimension of image and revisit intention.

Segmenting Chinese outbound tourists by perceived constraints.

ABSTRACT This study examines travel constraints experienced by Chinese outbound tourists. Four constraint factors are identified from visitor data collected in 2006: structural constraint, cultural constraint, information constraint, and knowledge constraint. Information constraint is identified as a factor unique to outbound tourists from China. Among the four constraint factors, structural constraint is the most dominant. Four clusters of visitors are therefore identified: culturally constrained, structurally constrained, absence of sufficient information, and knowledge constrained. The four clusters are distinct in terms of their destination loyalty. The characteristics of each segment are given, and the practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Cross-cultural tourist research: a meta-analysis.

It is widely recognized that tourism is becoming more and more international as a result of globalization, and since the 20th century, marketers have confronted increasingly multicultural marketplaces. This trend necessitates cross-cultural research in the hospitality and tourism area. The current study provides a state-of-art assessment of journal publications on cross-cultural tourist research. In this study, various aspects of cross-cultural tourist research are reviewed, addressing conceptual and methodological issues associated with the extant research. Existing studies are largely limited to English-speaking countries and data equivalence issues were not addressed properly, which may lead confounding explanations. It is suggested that future studies should be grounded in solid theoretical foundation and employ a more rigorous research design.

A Model of Event–Destination Image Transfer

The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical understanding and empirical examination of the psychological responses of tourists attending a mega-event hosted in a tourism destination. A conceptual framework—the event–destination image transfer model—was developed from an extensive literature review and related theoretical discussion. A survey was conducted in Shanghai during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo to test the model. The findings show that the event image directly and positively affected the destination image, providing empirical support for the image transfer theory. Tourists’ psychological responses—their overall attitude and behavioral intentions toward the destination—were positively and significantly affected by the destination image. However, the direct effect of the event image on tourists’ overall attitude toward the destination was statistically non-significant due to the mediation effect of the destination image.

Distance-segmented rural tourists.

This article uses travel distance to segment rural tourists in a tourist destination in the U.S. Midwest. A distance decay pattern was identified, with more than half of the respondents traveling from a location within 200 miles of the destination. The differences in the socio‐demographic, trip‐related characteristics, and destination activities of these tourists were examined across distinct distance segments. Among other findings, the study revealed that tourists from within a 50‐mile radius participated in most of the activities, and those traveling between 200 and 600 miles made up the majority of business travelers. These two segments also had a higher participation rate in the recreational activities than did the other distance segments. The findings of the study show that simple variables such as distance travel remain viable for destinations, particularly those in the rural area, to understand the tourists for segmentation purpose.

A spatial–temporal analysis of hotels in urban tourism destination

Abstract This study investigates the spatial associations of urban tourism phenomena by using GIS and statistical methods to examine the relationships between hotels and land use types, attractions, transportation facilities, and the economic variables of the tertiary planning units in which the hotels are located. Hong Kong is used as an example. The study first introduces the spatial characteristics of hotels and attractions development in Hong Kong. A geographical information system is then used to map hotels and investigate the characteristics of the land use, attractions, and transport facilities around hotels. The spatial relationships are then analyzed with a set of logistic regression models. The results reveal that commercial land type and the number of attractions around hotels are significantly related to the distribution of upper-grade hotels in Hong Kong. The determinants vary over time and the spatial structure changes accordingly. The analysis is important theoretically as it enriches the methodologies for analyzing the relationships between hotels and urban structure, and for conceptualizing and identifying tourism functional zones. It is important for practitioners as it provides useful information for selecting sites for hotels.

Diffusion Patterns and Knowledge Networks: An Inductive Analysis of Intellectual Connections in Multidisciplinary Tourism Studies

ABSTRACT This article presents an inductive citation analysis to examine diffusion patterns and knowledge networks in the economic, geographical/environmental, and socio-cultural domains of tourism research. Articles typical of these specializations were selected from the latest issues of Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Tourism Management, to begin with the tracking of major sources of knowledge for research in a sub-domain. Citation data collection followed a theoretical sampling approach for a scrutiny of three “generations” of intellectual connections. Analyses and sorting of subjects and coauthorship networks were facilitated by ATLAS.ti. Diffusion patterns are visualized through “pointed and high” versus “thick and flat” tree diagrams for these subdomains. The study also describes knowledge networks typically embedded in the coauthorship patterns of the major sources. While the study lends to discussions on intellectual connections, this set of inductively derived results should be read in caution of the research design, the behavior of citation, and the perspectives of the authors.

A Subcultural Analysis of Tourism Motivations

Culture has been proposed by marketing theorists as one of the underlying determinants of consumer behavior. This trend necessitates cross-cultural inquiries in tourism. However, investigations into tourism motivation are scarce and have only used nationality or ethnicity as proxies to define culture. The study reported here aimed to fill this gap. Three subcultural groups were identified based on the grid–group cultural theory and their cross-cultural differences and similarities in tourism motivations were examined. It was revealed that in the grid–group dichotomy of cultural types, the dimension of group had a greater influence on individuals’ tourism motivation than grid. The theoretical contributions and limitations of this study are discussed and future studies are proposed.

Developing A Measurement Scale for Event Image

The main purpose of this study is to measure and explore the dimensionality of the event image by using the case of 2010 Shanghai World Expo. After literature review, this study used Keller’s framework of brand image as the conceptual base, followed the free associations method to identify the preliminary items, adopted expert opinions to further revise the items, used the exploratory factor analysis to explore the underlying structure of the event image, and adopted the confirmatory factor analysis to further validate the measurement scale. Finally, five dimensions including 17 items were extracted. They are labeled as Benefit, Facility, Service, Theme, and Event Content. The results of the current study were relatively consistent with some conceptual frameworks and to some extent confirmed previous empirical studies, which could provide useful implications for both future research and industry practice.

Impact of Tourism Openness Across the Taiwan Strait: Perspective of Mainland Chinese Tourists

Shangzhi Qiu, Mimi Li, Zhuowei (Joy) Huang and Ning Dang3∗ School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 17 Science Museum Road, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 104 Huff Hall, 1206 South Fourth St., Champaign, IL, USA Department of Tourism, School of Business, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai, People’s Republic of China