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Whitepaper about Immersive Technologies in Tourism and state of the art application cases and best practices within the field of museums, art, destination marketing, virtual events and much more.
In this report the philosophy of the Conscious Destination is discussed. Also the bounderies of the hospitality domain and the core themes (as defined by CELTH) of Conscious Destinations will be described. These themes are: “Living environment”, “Human capital”, “Organising Capacity”, “Smartness” and “Leisure offer”.
This conceptual paper develops and justifies a pro-active, design-driven approach to sustainable destination development. Using insights from design science, it helps explain the limited practical usability of concepts such as the Tourism Area Life Cycle, by noting that these often focus on an aggregated ‘topological’ level of destination design, while a focus on experiences and product development on a ‘typological’ and ‘morphological’ level is key to constitute change. The ‘Tourism Destination Design Roadmap’ is introduced, its potential to scrutinise ‘visitor flows’ is explored as well as ways in which it can contribute to developing desirable qualities in a destination, while minimising negative impacts. The paper concludes by highlighting its conceptual contribution and identifying directions for future research.
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Collaborative approaches to destination design require conscious and reflexive stakeholder involvement in activities and decision making. Design science studies such participatory processes by observing design teams in practice. From these observations, scientists have identified design strategies and processes that design teams use to support their work in identifying problems and developing solutions. Observing design processes in tourism destinations provides an opportunity to identify successful co-design strategies for destination design. This study presents three key co-design strategies based on data collected from five living labs in five destinations. Each co-design strategy is presented with a recommended use, suggestions for stakeholder involvement, and activities to develop solutions efficiently and effectively with the available resources. Together, the strategies provide a framework to optimise decision-making in relation to shaping destination design processes, and to validate processes and outcomes.
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Purpose: This study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set out to show whether these motivations influence the cultural activities that the tourists want to participate in and whether their interest in specific cultural activities determines their destination choices. Furthermore, the mediating role of activities in the relationship between cultural motivations and destination choice was also assessed. Design/methodology/approach: An online panel survey collected responses from 1,530 potential cultural tourists across South Africa. Hypotheses were tested, using structural equation modelling. Findings: The results show that tourists' motivations for cultural tourism influence their likelihood of participating in specific cultural activities. Cultural tourism is shown to be influenced by more than learning and includes entertainment, relaxation, novelty and escape dimensions. There also seems to be a difference in the activities engaged in by destination type. For example, tourists likely to take part in indigenous cultural tourism activities are more likely to do so at hedonic destinations. Practical implications: This paper contributes to the understanding of cultural tourism activities, aiding destinations in attracting cultural tourists. Destinations need to develop activities that match visitor motivations, increase satisfaction and encourage visitors to return. Originality/value: The paper increases the understanding of cultural tourism in South Africa and underlines the importance of communities in providing distinctive tourism activities. The study also has an important social dimension, highlighting the role of social status in cultural tourism consumption and destination selection.
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In the era of social media, online reviews have become a crucial factor influencing the exposure of tourist destinations and the decision-making of potential tourists, exerting a profound impact on the sustainable development of these destinations. However, the influence of review valence on visit intention, especially the role of affective commitment and reputation (ability vs. responsibility), remains unclear. Drawing on emotion as a social information theory, this paper aims to elucidate the direct impact of different review valences on tourists’ visit intentions, as well as mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions. Three experiments indicate that positive (vs. negative) reviews can activate stronger affective commitment and visit intention, with affective commitment also playing a mediating role. Additionally, destination reputation significantly moderates the after-effects of review valences. More specifically, a responsibility reputation (compared with an ability reputation) weakens the effect of negative valence on affective commitment and visit intention. This study provides valuable theoretical insights into how emotional elements in online reviews influence the emotions and attitudes of potential tourists. Particularly for tourism managers, review valence and responsibility reputation hold practical significance in destination marketing.
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The general aim of this research project has been to examine this phenomenon of tourism flow switching and consider the factors driving the geopolitical instability that can compromise destination security. On a more practical level the research has also examined what the reactions of Dutch tourists are to security threats affecting their tourism decisions and looked at the development of preventive measures against attacks by destinations and travel organisations. Finally, the research on the regional geopolitics of the MENA and European areas have together with the attitudes of Dutch tourists towards destination security been used as inputs into a scenario planning process involving the steering group of tour operators who originally commissioned this research, as participants. This process has focussed on macro environmental analysis, identification of key uncertainties, and the development of resilient strategies for the future.
This paper presents four Destination Stewardship scenarios based on different levels of engagement from the public and private sector. The scenarios serve to support destination stakeholders in assessing their current context and the pathway towards greater stewardship. A Destination Stewardship Governance Diagnostic framework is built on the scenarios to support its stakeholders in considering how to move along that pathway, identifying the key aspects of governance that are either facilitating or frustrating a destination stewardship approach, and the required actions and resources to achieve an improved scenario. Moreover, the scenarios and diagnostic framework support stakeholders to come together to debate and scrutinise how tourism is managed in a way that meets the needs of the destination, casting new light on the barriers and opportunities for greater destination stewardship.
