The many ways tourists can travel both to get destinations and within destinations are systematically reviewed Some of the topics considered include air travel, driving, walking, taking cruises, and using public transport. A central theme of the chapter is that the travel mode can govern and shape the entire experience or be the holiday experience itself. Case studies of self-drive tourists are used to illustrate the theme of the importance of how tourists travel.
This study emphasizes the intersection of two topics: the breaks or gaps in the life trajectory of Chinese citizens which may facilitate travel behaviour, and the analysis of forces which may constrain this activity. To understand the future possibilities for Chinese gap time tourism, the present survey expands on Wu, Pearce, Huang, and Fan's [(2015). Gap year in China: Views from the participants and implications for the future. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(2), 158–174] earlier netnographic work. The researchers document the demographic characteristics of Chinese potential gap time holiday takers, their preferred style and their perceived constraints. Respondents preferred relatively short breaks during their early career for their gap time. They were predominantly constrained by a culturally distinctive hierarchy of concerns that differed from those found in western studies. In order, the constraints were financial and time issues, lack of travel companions, social responsibility obligations, personal skills and safety concerns, and competing interests. The role of heuristics was suggested as further addition to the literature. Small increases in the percentage of tourists involved in gap time activities from China could have substantial consequences for preferred destinations. Implications to seize the market are thus offered.
The final chapter of this volume seeks to interpret and explain key dimensions of Asian outbound tourism. Initially the challenge of employing culturally sensitive theoretical lenses is tackled. Cautious and at times sceptical assessments of the mobilities paradigm, critical pragamatism and specific micro approaches are offered. A selection of key lenses for future study is made. Major forces affecting Asian outbound tourism such as the digital world and low-cost air carriers are reviewed. The strategic issues facing destination managers and communities are highlighted. Managing the adjustments for mutual well-being between tourists and the communities they visit are stressed and extracted from the chapters in this book.
The reproduction of social relationships in a rural tourism destination is examined through a micro-sociological lens that explores residents’ everyday interactions. Interaction ritual theory is adopted as the theoretical foundation. Zhinan, a mountainous village in Hangzhou, China, which initiated tourism in 2014, is the study site. Two rounds of focus groups and interviews were conducted with village residents. Qualitative inquiry shows that, under the influence of tourism, residents’ daily interactions consist of three interaction rituals, that is, rural living rituals, tourism operation rituals, and event and festival rituals. Due to the distinct ingredients, these rituals unfold differentially and engage different social actors. They complement each other in the co-construction of rural social relationships that have symbolic, emotional, collective, and normative connotations. This study provides in-depth, contextualized understandings of rural residents’ interactions and relationships, and draws practical implications for sustainable development of rural tourism destinations.
Entertainment is a feature of some tourism settings and acts as a key pull factor for visiting certain destinations. Research-based studies about entertainment and the tourist experience are, however, rather limited. This study pursued this research opportunity and explored international tourists’ experiences in an iconic performance-based entertainment, the Impression Sanjie Liu in southern China. More than 350 tourists’ spontaneous reviews posted on TripAdvisor were analyzed through Leximancer software. It was found that international tourists were generally positive toward the culturally distinctive style of the entertainment. Despite the challenge of comprehending meanings and the language, they were impressed with the grand spectacle, the performances of many people, and the context. The disruptive behavior of other tourists, particularly the domestic Chinese tourists, troubled some international tourists. Implications for both academic research and the tourism entertainment industry are offered.
The study in this chapter, using bibliometric analysis, assesses all the tourism journal publications that used netnography in 2005_2015. Netnography is found to be suitable and insightful for studying emerging or niche markets. The role of researchers and the ethical issues required during a netnographic study are specially discussed.
Small tourism firms (STFs) established and operated by local families can be an engine of sustainable rural tourism. This paper stresses the intimate intertwining of family and business in rural STFs and conceptualizes their entrepreneurial success as a combination of business performance and family well-being. Integrating the resource-based view and network embeddedness theory, relationships among the STF owners’ dual social networks (family and industry networks), entrepreneurial resource acquisition, and entrepreneurial success are proposed and tested with a sample of 276 STFs in rural China. The empirical analyses reveal that (1) compared with tangible and knowledge-based resources, the owners’ acquisition of psychic resources has the strongest effect on entrepreneurial success; and (2) although industry networks provide more diverse access to entrepreneurial resources, family networks are superior in facilitating psychic resource acquisition, thus are especially important to the entrepreneurial success of rural STFs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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