Svetlana Stepchenkova

Internet Addiction: Metasynthesis of 1996–2006 Quantitative Research

This study reports the results of a meta-analysis of empirical studies on Internet addiction published in academic journals for the period 1996-2006. The analysis showed that previous studies have utilized inconsistent criteria to define Internet addicts, applied recruiting methods that may cause serious sampling bias, and examined data using primarily exploratory rather than confirmatory data analysis techniques to investigate the degree of association rather than causal relationships among variables. Recommendations are provided on how researchers can strengthen this growing field of research.

Destination Image: A Meta-Analysis of 2000–2007 Research

Determining destination image is a complex task, and the construct is often subjectively assessed. No standardized system of analysis exists to determine destination image and its related components, resulting in a variety of techniques and strategies being used. This study provides a comprehensive review of conceptual and empirical research on destination image published between January 2000 and October 2007 with the aim of identifying current and emerging trends in the area of destination image studies. Meta-analysis of 152 articles that discuss various strategies for destination image assessment summarizes the state of destination image research and examines new destination image assessment approaches. The findings are contrasted to earlier destination image reviews where appropriate.

Facilitating Content Analysis in Tourism Research

The article proposes a new methodological approach to facilitate content analysis of electronic textual data in a more efficient and transparent way. The textual data are processed iteratively by two software products, CATPAC and WORDER. This approach permits smoothing of the original textual data, identification of the variables of interest, frequency count of the occurrences of these variables in the texts being processed, storage of frequency results in general purpose statistical packages, and subsequent dimensional reduction of word-frequency data by means of factor analysis. Application of this methodology is illustrated on three examples of destination-image studies, which cover content analyses of open-ended responses to e-survey questions, texts from tourism Web sites, and newspaper articles. Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed research technique, its contribution to tourism studies, and the place of the approach within the quantitative paradigm of content analysis are also discussed.

User-Generated Content as a Research Mode in Tourism and Hospitality Applications: Topics, Methods, and Software

The rapid growth of information generated by consumers of tourism and hospitality services calls for a systematic review of how user-generated content (UGC) has been applied in tourism and hospitality research. This study surveyed 122 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings that used UGC as a data source. The study investigates (a) the scope of the tourism and hospitality issues that are addressed using available UGC; (b) the methods that have been applied to UGC data to achieve research objectives; and (c) the software that has been used to collect UGC and extract information from large UGC data sets. The study also presents the emerging topics and challenges in UGC research.

Chinese Outbound Tourists’ Destination Image of America Part II

This study compares the U.S. destination image of four groups of Chinese travelers with different travel horizons. The authors attempt to explore new and effective ways of comparing qualitative image information using methodological approaches from other disciplines. Specifically, they introduce and examine the concepts of destination image richness, evenness, and dominance, analogous to such concepts in biology as species richness, species evenness, and species dominance. Furthermore, the pattern of destination image distribution for the four groups is also explored from a perspective of a power law distribution often used in economic analyses. The obtained results partially support the travel horizon proposition. By applying ideas from other disciplines to the study of destination image, the authors hope that this study contributes both to the image literature and interdisciplinary research on tourism in general.

Chinese Outbound Tourists’ Destination Image of America

This study was designed to obtain a collective mental picture of the United States as a travel destination among Chinese long-haul outbound travelers. In addition to identifying major features and components of the America travel brand, the authors also attempted to map the links and associations among various image components and sketch an associative network. Findings of this study revealed that overall, Chinese outbound tourists’ perceptions of America are highly urban, featuring advanced economic development, an open and democratic system, high technology, and big cities. Most American destinations and attractions Chinese tourists can think of are located on the East and West coasts. By analyzing the data from multiple perspectives and using various tools, the authors also hope to contribute some methodological insights on how to make sense of a large amount of categorical image data.

Destination Image as Quantified Media Messages: The Effect of News on Tourism Demand

This study proposes to quantify media messages about a tourist destination in the form of time series and then use these series as variables representing a qualitative factor of destination image in models of tourism demand. Quantified media messages, or Dynamic Destination Image Index series, are obtained applying content analysis methodology to media materials that reflect news volume, topics raised about the destination, and favorability of coverage. The methodology of quantifying media messages is demonstrated using articles about Russia published in three influential U.K. newspapers—the Times, the Guardian, and the Independent. To test whether media messages account for variance not captured by traditional econometric variables, the series were used in models of total and leisure U.K. arrivals to Russia for the period of 1993-2007. Four DDII-Russia news series were found to be significant factors in consumer destination choice.

Cultural Differences in Pictorial Destination Images Russia through the Camera Lenses of American and Korean Tourists

Destination photography communicates images that shape and reshape destination perceptions of past and potential tourists and, consequently, influence their decision-making process. Using theoretical underpinnings provided in works on culture, this exploratory study examines whether destination photographs taken by tourists and posted on social-network websites are reflective of culture to which those tourists belong. Content analysis of American and Korean photographs of Russia posted on Flickr and in Korean travel blogs, respectively, was followed by chi-square and co-occurrence analyses of destination attributes, as well as geospatial analysis of image locations using ARC GIS software. Although the core of Russia’s destination image—urban, contemporary, architecturally interesting, and spacious—is similar for both cultural groups, the study found differences in the way that American and Korean tourists represent Russia as a destination. These differences are discussed from the perspective of tourists’ respective cultures.

Climate change discourse in mass media: application of computer-assisted content analysis

Content analysis of mass media publications has become a major scientific method used to analyze public discourse on climate change. We propose a computer-assisted content analysis method to extract prevalent themes and analyze discourse changes over an extended period in an objective and quantifiable manner. The method includes the following: (1) sample selection; (2) preparation of the text segments for computer processing; (3) identifying themes in the texts using exploratory factor analysis; (4) combining identified themes into higher order themes using confirmatory factor analysis; (5) using factor scores to interpret themes obtained from public discourse; and (6) tracking the main themes of public discourse through time. We apply the proposed methodology to the analysis of the articles published in the New York Times on climate change during the period from 1995 to 2010. We found a gradual decline in the volume of material within the “Science” topic and an expansion of themes classified under the “Politics” topic.

Attractiveness of the United States as a travel destination for the Russian tourist in the era of strained bilateral relations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the attractiveness of a global tourism destination when the country of that destination and the country that provides the source market are in a situation of political and economic conflict. In this study, the USA is the vacation destination, and Russia is the tourism generating region. Design/methodology/approach In May 2015, 18 Russian tourists from a large regional urban center participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews. The interviews took place in the situational context of strained bilateral relations between the USA and Russia over events in Ukraine, Crimea, and Donbass, as well as economic sanctions that had been in effect for almost a year at the time of the interviews. Findings Respondents expressed substantial interest in vacationing in the USA despite their strong disagreement with USA international policies. While domestic tourism offerings were evaluated as inferior to those of other international destinations, patriotic sentiments with respect to domestic tourism were registered. Practical implications Brand USA is still very attractive to the potential tourists, especially such components as major cities, entertainment, oceans, beaches and resorts, as well as the vastness of its national parks. The absence of information with respect to travel to USA was noticed by all respondents. Originality/value The study is conducted in a situation of ongoing conflict between the two countries and explores how the feelings of animosity toward the USA influence the desire of Russian tourists to vacation in the USA.