Tony S. M. Tse

Are Short Duration Cultural Festivals Tourist Attractions

This paper examines the value of short duration cultural festivals as tourist attractions, with special emphasis on their role in attracting and retaining international tourists. The study examined visitors to three festivals held in Hong Kong during spring 2004. Relatively few tourists attended these events. Moreover, most were unaware of the festivals prior to arrival and about 80% made the decision to participate only when in the destination. Tourism attraction systems’ theory reinforces the importance of awareness building prior to departure and suggests that in-destination awareness creation is ineffective in generating demand for these types of events, especially among short stay tourists. However, the costs associated with creating awareness in generating regions may not produce sufficiently valuable results, given the small window of opportunity for participation and the specialist nature of the market.

Is Intention to Return a Valid Proxy for Actual Repeat Visitation

Intention to return is often used as a surrogate measure for actual repeat propensity, especially in loyalty studies. A direct, predictive correlation is assumed to exist between intention and actual repeat visitation rates in accordance with the principles of the theory of planned behavior. However, the existence of such a relationship has rarely if ever been tested empirically in a tourism context, and as such, the validity of this assumption is open to question. This article examines that relationship through an analysis of secondary data provided by a number of National Tourism Organizations. Two tests are conducted, one using longitudinal data from 30 markets that visited either Hong Kong or New Zealand, and a second one using cross-sectional data from 152 markets that visited 16 destinations. The study determined that no statistically significant correlation exists between intention and actual repeat visitation rates, primarily because intention is typically measured as a vague aspiration and not in a probabilistic manner.

The Forces Shaping China's Outbound Tourism 推动中国出境旅游的力量

The study of outbound tourism in China has been dominated by the consumer approach, and individual travelers have been the focus of research. This article adopts an alternative approach to studying outbound tourism in China by analyzing the macro‐environment. It is found that socio‐economic and political factors play important parts in shaping the outbound international tourist flows from China. The market‐driven economy and state control are two key dialectic forces in the macro‐environment in China promoting and checking the outbound international tourist flows. The analysis shows that while the state lets market forces exert its influence, it will maintain the ultimate control and will not hesitate to intervene the market to ”correct„ the development path of outbound tourism because of its political significance. 中国出境旅游研究一直是以消费者研究方法为主导，以旅游者为研究重心的。本文尝试采用另一种研究方法，即通过分析宏观环境来研究中国出境旅游。本文发现社会经济和政治因素对中国出境国际旅客流量的形成有重大的影响。市场导向经济和国家管制能够促进和抑制出境国际旅客的流量，是中国宏观环境中两股关键而又对立的力量。本文分析表明，中国虽然没有对市场力量的影响进行干预，但基于出境旅游的政治重要性，仍然会维持终极控制，并会毫不犹豫地干预市场，以纠正出境旅游的发展道路。

Motivation and satisfaction of mega-business event attendees: the case of ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that examined the factors of motivation and satisfaction of mega‐business events, using the ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong as a case study.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a structured questionnaire developed by the authors and distributed by the event organizer to registered attendees.Findings – Empirical findings showed that the respondents attended the event mainly for business and networking opportunities. Overall, they were satisfied with Hong Kong as the location for the ITU Telecom World 2006. Additionally, there were no significant differences in perception between overseas and local attendees in all but two attributes.Research limitations/implications – The major limitations of this case study are the low response rate and the fact that the results would be limited to this sector of activity.Originality/value – The findings should be of use to related practitioners and policy makers to set more pragmatic pla...

What do hospitality students find important about internships

The study reported herein aimed to determine the importance and value of internships in the hospitality industry to students so that academic institutions, receiving organizations, and the students themselves can better prepare for placements in the future. Content analysis was applied to the placement reports submitted by 279 students at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management in the authors home institution. Based on a simple counting of placement attributes mentioned by the students, the analysis yielded nine themes. How the findings can be used to enhance student satisfaction with internships and how the enhanced internship experiences can help solve career problems are discussed.

Analysis of blogs and microblogs: a case study of Chinese bloggers sharing their Hong Kong travel experiences.

Blogs and microblogs became popular in recent years among people who would like to share their travel experiences online. This is a phenomenon which marketers are interested in but know very little about. This exploratory study analyzes blog and microblog contents created by mainland Chinese visitors sharing their Hong Kong experiences, with the objective of gaining insights into how bloggers communicate their travel experiences and how this could help market a destination. Three hundred blog posts and 300 microblog posts are analyzed. Research results indicate a generally positive image of Hong Kong as a destination among the mainland Chinese bloggers. The study also profiles the bloggers by their usage pattern and identifies opportunities for using the social media for destination marketing purpose. While the case study is about Hong Kong, the research method and blogging patterns identified would also apply in other destination situations.

A Review of Chinese Outbound Tourism Research and the Way Forward

Outbound tourism from China has been the subject of many empirical studies conducted over the last two decades. These studies have collectively analyzed a wide variety of situations. The large volume of findings illustrates researchers’ keen interest in Chinese outbound tourism, the existence of diverse research areas, and also the craving to understand this very important market. The barriers to understanding this market are related to its cultural background, language, and governmental intervention. This study integrates the empirical findings and discussions in 80 papers on Chinese outbound tourism. The aim is to identify the main areas of research interest, analyze how they are related in terms of tourism framework, critically evaluate the research areas, and explore future directions. The study advocates future Chinese outbound tourism research to be more concerned with the source market where the main causal factors of tourist flows are located; the social impacts of Chinese outbound tourism on its own people and destinations; and the legal and ethical aspects of the outbound tourism.

Chinese Outbound Tourism as a Form of Diplomacy

In China, outbound tourism is a manifestation of soft power and is inextricably linked with politics. The Chinese government is seen to be exercising control and influence in shaping its outbound tourism development so that tourism is developed in line with the countrys political agenda. To comprehend Chinas outbound tourism, it is as important not only to know the consumer needs and wants, but also to understand the policy and politics. There is ambiguity in Chinas outbound tourism policy, and it lies not so much in the consumer area but in the politics and how tourism is treated as a form of diplomacy. The policy and politics often pose difficulties and barriers for those destinations that would like to develop the Chinese market. The present paper examines the political roles of Chinese outbound tourism and the impact of politics on tourism, using cases from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. It was found that China uses outbound tourism to add clout to its soft power in dealing with diplomatic issues in the respective countries and regions.

China's outbound tourism as a way of ordering

This article reviews the development of motivational theories underpinning the study of tourism and discusses the limitations of such an approach. The actor–network theory is used to show how beliefs, politics, laws, government agencies, and pressure groups in China interact to create outbound tourism as a new way of ordering. The analysis highlights how a hitherto nontraveling culture suddenly becomes a traveling culture and how outbound tourism has been accommodated, justified, institutionalized, and allowed to flourish in China. Tourism is analyzed as a social phenomenon concerning a complex interaction of heterogeneous objects in the formation of a dynamic network and ordering of human and non-human objects.

Revenue management : resolving a revenue optimization paradox

Purpose – The objectives of this study are to investigate the relationship between hotel room demand and room rates, and to find a viable solution for the optimal room rate that maximizes the total profit.Design/methodology/approach – There are various studies in the literature on how room rates affect profitability, and how the optimal room rate that maximizes the total revenue can be determined. Most of these studies assume an algebraic relationship between room rates and room demand, and obtain the optimal solution by applying calculus to the revenue or profit function. This study adopts the alternative approach of using a model with a demand function that has been shown to be a superior causal forecasting model in some markets, and develops a new method to optimize the total profit.Findings – The traditional method of applying calculus to the profit function based on a causal forecasting model leads to unrealistic solutions. This gives rise to the paradox that, on the one hand, there is a superior cau...