Guiding Concepts
Featured How Much Do Tourists Value Sustainable Tourism Attributes in Discrete Choice Experiment?: A Meta-regression Analysis View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jaime Blazquez Valeron, Carmelo J. León, Eugenio Diaz Fariña
Sustainable tourism has gained significant interest, but research knowledge specifically on tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) needs to be more cohesive. This paper weaves the conceptual foundations of tourism and leisure with the social and natural sciences, constituting a crucial path toward a more nuanced understanding of sustainable tourism. This study conducts a systematic review and meta-regression analysis to synthesize evidence on marginal willingness to pay for sustainable attributes based on 47 discrete choice (DCE) papers. The findings reveal that tourists are more inclined to pay for sustainable product features related to nature, the environment, and local communities. Furthermore, the study delves into tourism practices and reveals possible mitigations for the impact on daily life in tourist areas. WTP estimates increase with more attributes and larger samples, while payment vehicles and sustainability status of attributes significantly influence willingness to pay. These findings provide novel evidence to guide research design and highlight sustainable features that align with tourists' preferences. This meta-regression equips tourism academics and professionals with crucial knowledge to promote sustainability by incorporating it into offerings with demonstrated consumer value. The constantly evolving nature of the tourism and leisure sectors demands a re-evaluation of existing paradigms, with it being imperative to consider novel approaches, concepts, and frameworks to drive new research, models, and practices such as this meta-regression.
Osun Osogbo Festival Stakeholder Typologies and Participation in an Indigenous Cultural Event View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adenike Adebayo, Adesola Osinaike, Ade Oriade
Festivals and events is a growing sector that plays a growing importance in placemaking, sustaining culture and contributes significantly to the visitor economy (Wallace and Michopoulou (2019); Evans, 2012; Getz, 2017; Meyrick, 2015). Getz et al., (2010) explains that festivals are unique, as they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, have multiple potential goals to satisfy, and a plethora of stakeholders to involve. There is a growing interest in how festival organisation can preserve and promote anthropological and cultural heritage, animate specific attractions or entire cities, improve destination awareness or image, provide a competitive marketing advantage, and increase economic benefits. The role of stakeholders in contributing to successful events is viewed as critical in terms of balancing competing claims and managing event impacts (Getz, 2017)—increasing the positive and decreasing the negative (Reid & Arcodia, 2002). Understanding stakeholder engagement is critical to its success. Miller & Oliver, 2015; Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997; Tiew, Holmes, & De Bussy, 2015; Van Niekerk, 2016; Van Niekerk & Getz, 2016) stressed that the understanding is still poor and there is a growing interest in stakeholder identification and mapping. The research objectives are twofold. First, the research seeks to explore stakeholder participation at the Osun-Osogbo festival. Second to examine the extent to which the community members own the folklore. The data collection was done using the interpretivist phenomenological approach to collect data from twenty-four (24) stakeholders of the Osun-Oshogbo festival. Stakeholders interviewed were government officials, the private sector, academics and community members.
Beyond Place-based Tourism: Framing Iberian World Heritage Universities through Co-branding and Online Identity View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Germana Torres, Claudete Oliveira Moreira, Marianna Sigala
Analyzing tourist destinations through management and marketing strategies allows tourist attractions to improve, reposition, or rearrange activity performance as new collaborative products. A comparative study on the Iberian World Heritage universities' digital promotional strategies contributes to the understanding of best practices through destination benchmarking – evaluating and regulating performance (supply/push) – and bench learning – maintenance of high tourist satisfaction levels by offering services that meet visitors' expectations (demand/pull). Additionally, the assessment of destination branding through TripAdvisor review – revisit intention and electronic word-of-mouth recommendation – gives insight into product performance. To reply to the research question, How do the Iberian world heritage universities shape their destination brand? the study draws a parallel analysis resultant of qualitative research: participant observation, digital media and social network analysis, as well as case study research. After conducting the theoretical review, visiting both properties, collecting onsite data, and characterizing the (co-)brands digital presence grounded by preceding research, the study reveals compelling knowledge on what aggregates, differs, and functions as influencing practice for both assets – management systems, tourism offerings, promotional communication strategies, and consumption culture – even though more profound acknowledgment on perception, attachment, and emotional impact on communities' lacks understanding. Overall, the study demonstrates how destinations rearrange within rebranding efforts to compete within tourism preferences, strategically reposition amongst demographically defined tourist profiles, recreate online identity, and refresh destination image through digital presence, co-branded solutions, and communication technology initiatives.
