Special Topics in Tourism
Influence of The Secondary Information Sources on the Gap of the Tourist Image
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Josefa D. MartÍn Santana, Asunción Beerli-Palacio, Julo Rufo-Torres
The main objective of this work is to develop and empirically validate a model that allows us to explain how the different sources of secondary information that tourist can be exposed to before visiting a tourist destination influence the gap in image (pre- and post-visit). For this, we have proposed a classification of secondary information sources according to their greater or lesser information content and whether the tourist actively searches for or is passively exposed to the information contained within these sources. Furthermore, in the model of the image gap, we have also taken into account the perceived quality of such secondary information sources. The research has been carried out using a sample of 411 tourists in Tenerife, which represents one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain. The results reflect that the greater the number of secondary information sources with high information content and the less active the search, the greater the gap in the cognitive image. In contrast, sources of low information content and passive exposure generate a greater gap in the cognitive image. Moreover, the perceived level of quality of sources of information which are actively searched for negatively influences the cognitive image gap, while the perceived level of quality of sources to which tourists are passively exposed positively influences the cognitive image gap.
Personality and Traveling Behaviour
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Noelia Medina, Josefa D. MartÍn Santana, Diego R. Medina Muñoz
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of tourist personality on travel behavior in order to define communication strategies for each personality trait. The theory used to describe personality is the “Big 5” with its five broad personality dimensions–extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, and the personality trait referred to as sensation seeking. The travel behavior was explained with the variables travel arrangements, traveling companions, type of accommodation, type of board, tourist expenditure, number of leisure trips, selection of tourist destination, repetition of leisure trip destination and leisure trip length. The research has been carried out using a sample of 450 tourists on Gran Canaria, one sun and beach destination of Spain. According to the results, personality traits influence on travel behavior, and this may explain the necessity of using personality as segmentation criteria besides socio-demographic characteristics traditionally used in touristic studies. This global comprehension of our tourists´personality traits and their influence on their tourist behavior could be of interest for destination managers and touristic suppliers who provide tourist leisure activities.
Measuring Tourism Sustainability at Local Level: The Case of Lanzarote
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Javier Mendoza Jiménez
The term sustainability can be defined as a blend of the word “sustain” and the word “ability.” Plenty of the research and the strategies to measure it have focused on the first part, understanding sustainability as a sort of a maintained state that can be reduced to a single number or indicator. However, sustainability (and the necessary abilities to achieve it) evolves through time and space. Therefore, more dynamic system to measure it are needed, adding qualitative indicators to the traditional quantitative ones and considering the role of different stakeholders. In this study, we take the case of the island of Lanzarote to present the results of a methodological proposal for measuring tourism sustainability at local level, thus introducing the territorial variable, which has had little attention in this field. The proposed indicator system is structured in four quadrants: the quantitative part, including a set of international and comparable indicators extracted from recognized international methodologies like UNEP and UNWTO (2005) and the European Tourism Indicator System (European Union, 2016) and a set of local indicator selected from local strategic documents; and the qualitative part, including the perceptions of stakeholders using an Importance Performance Analysis of both, the 12 issues of a sustainable agenda as defined by UNWTO (2004) and local variables. The results provide a useful tool for the decision-making process allowing comparison on the views of the different stakeholders, making easier to adapt the future strategies to those.
