Journal of Travel Research

This article is the first in a two-part series that presents the results of comprehensive, practical, primary research on ecotourism markets. The assessment provides information on markets, trip characteristics, motivation, product preferences, and overall demand. This part focuses on market and trip characteristics, including party size, spending, preferred season, and trip length.

This article outlines reasons for an increasing interest in the development of ecotourism in China and considers the nature of ecotourism giving Chinese examples. The economic and environmental advantages and difficulties in developing ecotourism are discussed and illustrated by circumstances in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, China, an area of rich biodiversity. Tourism planning is also discussed in this context.

There is a surprising lack of understanding of visitors' perspective on the experience of visiting a heritage site. Previous studies used quantitative approaches that did not shed light on visitors' perspectives, terms, and meanings. Drawing upon the tradition ofphenomenology, this exploratory study used qualitative research methods to examine college student visitors' perspectives on heritage sites they had visited. Respondents' experience was multidimensional: they emphasized activities in which they had engaged, their companions, site personnel they had encountered, and information learned during their visits. The results suggest a need for more careful site management (including the physical environment and site personnel) and changes in marketing, advertising, programming, and site missions. Further research on visitor experiences using phenomenological and qualitative approaches is needed.

Community solidarity is considered a definitive quality of many rural towns and one that could be dramatically influenced by accommodating tourism development. Previous research indicates that tourism brings people from different cultural backgrounds into a community. In this exploratory study, evidence indicates that tourism development changes residents' relationships to one another and to their community. Five propositions are discussed concerning the impacts of rural tourism: community diversification, delineation of social boundaries, conformity to an ideal town image, shared image as a source of bond ing, and a shifting basis of community solidarity.

This study examines lodging marketing managers' methods of value addition, improvements in service quality, application of service guarantees, and overall commitment to the satisfaction of lodging consumers through service. A total of 250 marketing directors in various hotels, motels, inns, casinos, and resorts were interviewed using a self-administered mail questionnaire. Ninety-five usable questionnaires were returned, and the data were analyzed using a multiple discriminant analysis in SPSSX routine. The findings indicated that service marketing and value addition through services were valued by lodging marketers in specific market segments. This information holds serious managerial implications for marketing managers in all segments of an increasingly competitive lodging market.

The purpose of this research is to present a method of target market selection developed for the downhill skiing industry of Colorado. A two-dimensional system for strategically classifying alternative markets on the basis of existing sales and incremental sales potential is proposed. Using a regression model of Colorado ski visitation, the 205 nonresident areas of dominant influence (ADIs) in the continental United States are classified.

Correlation analysis is used to examine the association between Plog's instrument, underlying theoretical constructs, and actual travel behavior. Cross-validation of Plog's model was achieved through three personality trait measures and a modified Nickerson scale. This study broadens the behavioral foundations of psychographic research within the travel literature.

This article investigates private campground profit centers to determine which contribute significantly to the campground's gross revenue. A rank ordering shows overnight campsite rentals producing the largest contribution and certain recreational services generating the least. Retail store sales are a complementary service that contribute significantly. In addition, the spending patterns of separate segments of the camping population are compared by their contribution to profit center revenue. Findings show overnight campers contributing the most revenue support and seasonal campers contributing the least.

This study examined differences in response rates and data reliability between two self-responding expenditure survey designs containing 16 and 9 expenditure categories, respectively. Four test indicators were used: initial response rate, overall usable response rate, number of group expenditures per day, and average daily group expenditures. These results suggest that using 9 instead of 16 expenditure category scales may produce equally reliable economic estimates and reduce visitor burden, therefore potentially increasing overall response rates and reducing survey costs.

This report provides a synopsis of the types of information and search tools that are currently available to individuals who want to use the Internet for tourism research purposes. It provides a listing of search tools and web sites that appear to be especially useful in this regard. The article also outlines a set of critical issues that should be addressed to make the Internet a more effective and efficient research instrument for tourism researchers. These issues relate to credibility, ownership, dynamism, and access challenges that the tourism research community could play a significant role in addressing.

While a number of studies have measured or determined the images that potential visitors have of tourist destinations (Crompton 1979; Embacher and Buttle 1989; Gartner 1989; Gartner and Hunt 1987; Gartner and Shen 1992; Goodrich 1978; Hunt 1975; Reilly 1990), few have looked at the tourism image that local residents have of the destination area. It might be expected that the image that the host population has of its home area would be important because of its relationship to two aspects of tourism development: (1) it may influence political support for efforts to promote and develop tourism, and (2) it may influence the organic image developed in potential visitors via the information provided by host residents to friends, relatives, and business associates.

In this study regression techniques were used to investigate the relationships between (1) members of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents and the population of all eight states and territories of Australia, and (2) members of the American Society of Travel Agents and the population of all 50 states and the District of Columbia of the United States. In both cases the relationship is essentially linear, permitting a simple calculation of a by-state expected per-agency value. Simple illustrative examples are given of possible com petitive use. The per-agency value for Australia is close to 11,000; for the United States it is nearly 16,000. The significance of this difference is briefly discussed.

The State of Kuwait has become well known since the Persian Gulf War. The country has tourism potential because of the international awareness arising from that conflict. This research compares the image of Kuwaiti tourism sights as perceived by Kuwaiti university students and English-speaking foreigners living in Kuwait. The findings show that the sample groups have different perceptions of tourism attractions and that neither group is very impressed with the attractions.