ny Sun

A systematic review of China’s outbound tourism research

Purpose This paper aims to identify the changes of researched destinations along with the Approved Destination Status scheme to investigate the development of research problems, and to track the changes of research topics in the context of the development of China’s outbound tourism. The research methods and applied theories are also identified and analyzed. Design/methodology/approach Three large databases, namely, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost and Google Scholar, were selected to search for published articles (i.e. 107 empirical articles and 15 review/policy articles) related to China’s outbound tourism. Thereafter, the retrieved articles were categorized and analyzed. Finally, a theoretical framework was provided for future studies on China’s outbound tourism. Findings The major findings indicated that the main topics related to China’s outbound tourism included market segmentation, travel motivation and travel behavior. One or two theories are generally applied to investigate a certain topic. The most common research methods are interviews and a questionnaire survey. Research limitations/implications Future studies are suggested to apply more theories to investigate one topic. A single theory can also be applied to investigate different topics. Adopting different and innovative research methods, such as online interaction observation, can also be considered. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature through an in-depth qualitative assessment of China’s outbound tourism literature, comparing researched destinations with the Approved Destination Status policies, and reviewing articles based on research.

An Investigation of Gen-Y's Online Hotel Information Search: The Case of Hong Kong

The Internet has made searching for hotel room information and making online reservations common practices among hotel guests. Despite constantly changing consumer behavior and widespread application of online hotel information sources, limited studies have been conducted to examine the online sources used frequently by customers and the related attributes of such sources. As such, drawing from an online questionnaire survey with 205 respondents, findings in this study indicate that there are no socio-demographic effects on future purchase intention of Generation (Gen) Y travelers. Moreover, websites of suppliers (e.g. official websites of hotels), travel intermediaries (e.g. Hotels.com), and social media (e.g. TripAdvisor) are the three major types of websites used by Gen Y hotel guests. Travel intermediary websites are often used to search for hotel information, whereas social media websites are used to make reservations. Based on these findings, implications for hotel managers are discussed.

Exploring price fluctuations across different online travel agencies A case study of room reservations in an upscale hotel in Hong Kong

The Internet has changed the traditional behavior of customers when purchasing tourism-related products, especially when reserving hotel rooms online. Online travel agencies (OTAs) that offer Web-based hotel room reservation services have proliferated in recent years. This study explores fluctuations in hotel room rates offered by OTAs, a topic that has yet to be fully explored. The results show that ‘last-minute sales mode’ is less frequently adopted among different OTAs at present. Moreover, these agencies even charge the same room rate regardless of the hotel rating (e.g. 5-star, 4.5-star, or 4-star). Furthermore, bundle pricing is more cost-effective than purchasing separate items. Finally, most OTAs have failed to keep their promise of a ‘best rate guarantee’. These findings can help hotel managers improve their strategic management, ensure rate parity among various OTAs, and assist customers in reserving hotel rooms online.

An updated comprehensive review of website evaluation studies in hospitality and tourism

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the prevalence and trend of experimental research in hospitality and tourism. Hospitality and tourism researchers have long been encouraged to increase their use of experimental designs. However, a solid support for such advocacy is lacking, and the present paper fills in this research gap. Design/methodology/approach – By using a systematic approach, this study reviews 161 tourism and hospitality articles and conducts content analysis based on certain criteria including journal outlets, Social Sciences Citation Index journals, years of publication, contexts, disciplinary foci, experimental designs, settings, number of independent variables, number of studies per article, manipulation methods, manipulation check, research subjects, sample size, subjects per experimental condition, statistical analyses and provision of effect size. The criteria between hospitality and tourism publications are also compared. Findings – Findings show that the number of experimental publications has significantly increased over the past decade, especially in hospitality publications. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement in applying the experimental design in hospitality and tourism research. Research limitations/implications – Researchers in hospitality and tourism are recommended to report manipulation check results and the effect size of statistically significant results, as well as to devote more effort to knowledge accumulation and methodological advancement of experimental designs. Originality/value – This study is the first to review experimental research in hospitality and tourism. The findings of this study provide significant implications and directions for hospitality and tourism researchers to conduct experimental research in the future.

Educational technology in hospitality management programs: adoption and expectations.

ABSTRACT Educational technology has been widely adopted to support students’ learning. However, existing literature provides fractional pictures of the current adoption and expectations of educational technology in hospitality programs in higher education. This study examines the perspectives of hospitality management students on educational technology adoption, its advantages, their concerns and expectations regarding the integration of educational technology. The findings reveal flexibility as the main advantage of educational technology, while the need for stronger self-motivation is the main concern. Students expect more adoption of multimedia in education, while the current adoption of social software suffices their expectation. Also, different technology adoption is recommended to satisfy lower and upper classmen respectively.

Chinese hotel guest perception of international chain hotels under the same hotel brand in different travel destinations: The cases of intercontinental and Sheraton

A qualitative approach was employed to examine how Chinese hotel guests perceive international chain hotels in different travel destinations (i.e. China and abroad) under the same brand. A total of 13,204 reviews were retrieved from online hotel review Web sites, namely DaoDao.com and Ctrip.com. Content analysis of the reviews showed discrepancies in the perceptions. Chinese favoritism toward the West affected the perception of hotel service quality. Empirical results revealed the belief that hotel services in Western cities and Hong Kong are better compared with those of hotels in China. However, the perception in terms of location, rooms and facilities, cleanliness, and value was mainly affected by the experience during the actual hotel stay. No noticeable influence of Chinese favoritism was found.

Online Feedback and Attraction Management: An Exploration of the Critical Factors in Effective Operations

The objective of this study was to identify the critical factors about which future visitors to attractions want information, based on online reviews. An NVivo-based content analysis was conducted using 4831 traveler reviews posted on Tripadvisor.com. In total, seven critical factors were identified: environment (e.g. hygiene and cleanliness); experience (e.g. being in good order, overcrowding); location and/or transportation (e.g. subways); price, purpose (e.g. taking photos); target group and suitability (e.g. with/without children); and time. The findings provide guidance for attraction managers on how to make an effective and efficient response to negative reviews on social media channels and how to identify and meet future customer needs. This study supports the attraction industry to improve service quality and attract more visitors in future.

An Investigation of Hotel Room Reservation: What Are the Diverse Pricing Strategies Among Competing Hotels?

In the age of e-tourism, the Internet makes hotel room rates more transparent to customers. It is widely known that hotel room rates fluctuate frequently. However, no prior study has been conducted to investigate the pricing strategies of competing hotels. To address this deficiency, the current study examined this issue. Findings indicate that hotel room rates are low and steady during early reservation period (e.g., 2.5 months). However, during the last 10 days before the check-in date, hotel room rates fluctuate the most, indicating that hotels are currently adopting diverse pricing strategies. Results also show that the best reservation time period to obtain the best available rate is 30–20 days of advance purchase. Moreover, last-minute offers rarely exist among the investigated hotels. These findings can provide hotel managers with insights about effective pricing strategies and strategic management, enabling them to inform the customers about the best reservation time period to obtain optimal room rates.

Exploring human resource challenges in China’s tourism industry

ABSTRACT Traditional human resource challenges are productivity-oriented, whereas the current ones are human-oriented, with the ultimate goal of enhancing organisational productivity. The most recent human resource challenges generally include labour cost and the Generation Y work force, among others. But, the main human resource challenge that the tourism industry in China, at present faces, is labour shortage. In order to comprehensively understand the human resource challenges in the Chinese context, particularly in the southern part of China (i.e. Guangdong province), this study investigates the issues through focus group interviews. The present study also identifies the underlying reasons that lead to these challenges and provides possible solutions to cope with these challenges in the following four aspects: staffing, employee development, compensation, and governance.

Channels for Searching Hotel and Travel Information

Tourists are increasingly relying on different channels to search for hotel-related and travel-related information. However, the gravity of importance and the performance of these channels are not clear. Thus, this study evaluates the importance and performance of these channels and identifies the factors that affect the use of these channels. The findings indicated that tourists regard international online travel agencies as the most important channel for searching hotel information. By contrast, they regard social media sites as the most important channel for searching travel-related information. Significant differences were found in the web search skills and information search behaviour of tourists. The results can provide practical implications for hotel and tourism practitioners in targeting tourists more accurately.