Minkyung Park

Measuring Underlying Meanings of Gambling from the Perspective of Enduring Involvement

This study explores the underlying personal meanings of gambling behavior from the perspective of enduring involvement and considers the relationships among gambling and gender, level of participation, and illusion of control. Based on a self-administered survey of gambling visitors to Black Hawk, Colora, the study found three underlying factors of gambling involvement: (1) self-identity, (2) pleasure/importance, and (3) centrality. The study also found gender differences in gambling involvement, suggesting that male participants tended to view gambling as a form of self-enhancement or self-expression more strongly than did female participants. Management and research implications drawn from these findings are discussed.

Casino Gaming and Crime: Comparisons among Gaming Counties and Other Tourism Places:

Casino gaming has spread across America, but its impacts remain unclear. This study extends research about crime impacts of gaming development in rural communities, addressing whether tourism growth leads to an increase in crime, or whether crime is an inherent by-product of gaming tourism. Using a sample of rural Colorado counties, this study compared crime effects in casino gaming counties, ski counties, natural resources access counties, and cultural tourist attraction counties. In contrast to conventional wisdom, this study found that ski counties had a significantly higher property crime rate than did gaming, natural resource access, and cultural tourist attraction counties. Results also suggest the presence of interaction effects between tourism types and growth levels, affecting crime rates. These results provide valuable information to communities considering tourism alternatives for economic development, and they also inform public policy.

Measuring the Experience Economy of Film Festival Participants

Abstract Building on Pine and Gilmore’s experience economy concepts and recent related travel research, this study newly investigated the relationships among the experience of film festival visitors, their satisfaction, and their behavioral intention. In particular, the study focused on how an escapist experience and traveler satisfaction mediated the effects of the other experiential dimensions on behavioral intention. The data supported the proposed theoretical relationships among the constructs and the applicability of the experience economy scales to festival management. The results also validate a mediating role of the escapist experience between the tourist’s perceptions of festival performance and behavioral intention toward future film festival participation.

Resident Quality-of-Life in Gaming Communities

Research about resident quality-of-life in gaming communities has been conducted in a variety of rural and urban settings, and in communities that offer an array of different types of gaming industry and gambling entertainment opportunities. Two types of research are common: assessments of residents’ attitudes toward current and future gaming tourism developments and their impacts, and measurement of tangible and intangible community impacts (economic, social, cultural, institutional) associated with gaming tourism development. Varying levels of perceived quality-of-life have been associated with respondents’ roles in a community (citizen, government official, business entrepreneur) and in the gaming industry. Because questions about public health and safety are also politically important, one area of special research emphasis has been the perceived and actual impacts of crime in gaming communities. Consideration of quality-of-life issues in gaming places brings to the forefront personal and collective values, civic participation, institutional performance, local governance processes, and the preservation of valued social, cultural, and environmental qualities of a community. Such research also has an applied focus, informing planning and policymaking in community tourism development settings.

Heritage tourism within a capital city: symbolism and dissonance

Tourists visiting the National Mall and Memorial Parks, an urban park located in the capital of the US, Washington, DC, are predominantly engaged with monuments, memorials, museums, and other historic sites. Current challenges facing this heritage destination are linked to significant deferred maintenance that has negatively impacted the visual appeal of popular sites, facilities, and green-space. Using a mixed-methods approach framed within symbolic interactionism and cognitive dissonance, researchers examined the meanings visitors attributed to the destination, comparing national and international tourists. National tourists were more likely to indicate that the visit evoked strong emotional responses ranging from pride to embarrassment, consistently noting that maintenance shortcomings reflected poorly on their country as a whole. The findings inform destination management in capital cities.

Exploring influential factors that explain the probability of visiting a destination: the case of state travel information inquiry groups.

Despite the importance of inquiry groups who requested travel information to the destinations in tourism marketing, little is known about the mechanism of how they are converted and what factors influence the inquirers to be converted to visitors. This study explores the state travel information inquirers to understand explanatory factors that influence the probability of visiting a destination after acquiring travel information. Using a logistic regression analysis, the study found that various explanatory factors affected the probability to visit a tourism destination among travel information inquiry groups. Further, the study indicates that in-state residents and short-distance visitors from adjacent states were more likely to visit after having inquired tourism information. This finding supports the idea that the resident segment is a more cost effective market and marketing activities that target these groups could be a good promotional strategy. The study results are expected to help tourism practitioners justify their advertising efforts and promotion budget, as well as develop better advertising and management strategies for converting more travel information inquirers into visitors.

Past Experiences with Gambling and Its Impact on Benefits Sought: A Case Study of Gambling Travelers to Black Hawk, Colorado, USA

Abstract The study, based on gambling travelers to Black Hawk, Colorado, was carried out to examine the influence of past experiences with gambling on benefits sought. An underlying premise was that our perception on gambling needs a shift to see gambling as a leisure activity. Results showed that different gambler groups (infrequent, moderate, and frequent gamblers) had different demographic characteristics. Results also revealed that, overall, gambling travelers did not travel for the sake of gambling itself. Rather, among other things, such benefits as “enjoyment” and “relaxation” were most highly sought by them as found in other types of pleasure- and outdoor-oriented travels. However, authors revealed that past experiences with gambling influenced the “self-expression” dimension benefits significantly.

Grappling with Growth: Perceptions of Development and Preservation in Faster- and Slower-Growing Amenity Communities*

Abstract Amenity-rich rural communities attract tourists, retirees, second-home owners, and others whose values are often assumed to conflict with those of longtime residents. While prior research has examined attitudinal differences across types of residents, questions about the effects of community growth on residents’ attitudes remain unanswered. This study examines whether and how seasonal and permanent residents differ within and across towns experiencing different rates of growth, and the implications of differences for attitudes toward community development and preservation. Results showed that permanent residents (both short- and long-term) perceived community development initiatives as more important to maintaining future quality of life than did seasonal homeowners. Further, community growth rates had statistically significant effects: residents of slower-growth towns attributed higher importance to both development and preservation initiatives than did residents of faster-growing towns. Growth rate was thus a stronger predictor of attitudes toward both development and preservation than resident type.

Bridging risk management perceptions and processes: the case of the National Mall and Memorial Parks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze two studies pertaining to the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington DC, to gain a better understanding of risk management perceptions and processes as applied to urban cores that consistently host tourists and special events.Design/methodology/approach – The first study is a qualitative analysis of open‐ended commentary that addresses issues pertaining to safety and security to garner an overarching sense of risk management perceptions that National Mall visitors have when considering these parklands. The second study involves participant observation, quantitative documentation and analysis of specific risk management processes utilized during the 2007 National Independence Day Celebration.Findings – The findings of the first study suggest that personal safety is viewed as paramount and that visitors are not overly worried about the threat of terrorist activity, as illustrated by the strong feelings of displeasure towards access obstructions and b...