Billion-dollar disasters are projected to increase at a statistically significant rate of 5% annually. Crises affect the viability and lucrativeness of tourism business and implicate destinations in the process. Crisis preparedness is vital to improving outcomes and reducing consequential effects in the tourism industry-a key contributor to socioeconomic progress and infrastructural development worldwide. The study was an exploration of the strategies used for crisis preparedness to reduce business interruptions and improve the image of destinations affected by large-scale natural disasters and human-induced crises. A multiple case study was conducted based on the cycle of preparedness framework. Data were gathered from organization documents and semistructured interviews by telephone with 6 executives of 6 destination management organizations located in the south and west regions of the United States. Transcribed data were coded and then validated via member checking, revealing 3 themes: organizational preparedness, operational preparedness, and strategic communication. Specifically, possessing a crisis mindset, predetermining crisis risks and responses, and managing information to safeguard the reputation of tourism organizations and destinations were attributed to preparedness at the local and organization levels. Tourism and hospitality professionals may benefit from devising crisis plans, establishing rapport with crisis leaders and teams, and partnering with the media to promote positive perceptions and travel behaviors of tourists. Implications for social change include identifying strategies to limit the impact of crises on individuals and communities to improve the perceptions of safety of a tourist destination after a crisis and thus enhance its economic growth.

Experience economy is about different industries which try to create experiences and activities for their customers. Previous researchers have been putting experience economy together with sports, electronic sports and destination development for example. Experience economy can be connected to different destinations and industries. This qualitative study connects experience economy to South of Öland, based on their current situation. The aim of this study is to explore the potentials of experience-based tourism in south of Öland as a way to develop the attractiveness of the region. This stud is examining the stakeholders of Mörbylånga, a municipality in South of Öland and their target groups in order to see how the south of Öland can develop the region as an attractive destination by using their resources effectively. In order to give Mörbylånga a recommendation of how they can improve their destination attractiveness and also to provide a theoretical contribution with a conceptual model based on tourism experiences

This research investigates Destination Management Organisation (DMOs) in China, and looks at their functions and their adoption of Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs). A two-stage questionnaire survey has adopted to achieve the pre-determined aims of the research. Finally, ninety-three DMOs took part in the first stage survey and thirty-four DMOs were involved in the second stage survey. The key findings from the research are as follows. (1) Irrespective of their nature and level, Chinese DMOs attached most importance to the functions of “economic-driver”, “marketing” and “coordination & collaboration”. (2) DMOs attached a second level of importance to the functions of “operator”, “administrator”, “statistics” and “training”; however, particularly at municipality and city levels; also Chinese public DMOs paid more attention to these aspects. (3) Chinese public DMOs, particularly at provincial and city level, placed more emphasis on the functions of “regulator” and “legitimacy”. (4) Chinese higher-level public DMOs paid less attention to the function of “public awareness”, “funding” and “international relations”, however they did performed much better than non-public lower-level DMOs to these tasks. (5) Chinese governmental DMOs at higher-level, and private DMOs, were the best at adopting PMSs in their organisations. (6) The PMSs of Chinese DMOs paid greatest attention to measuring the aspects of “visitor”, “earning” and “marketing”, and medium levels of attention to the aspects of “stakeholder”, “operation” and “event”, and relatively low attention to evaluating their performance of the aspects of “employment” and “innovation” in their organisations. Finally, a refined PMS model that could be adopted by Chinese DMOs in the future was developed at the end. Based on the above findings, the refined model aimed to measure the performance of “stakeholders”, “employees” and “customers” by assessing the outcomes of the aspects of “management” and “marketing” for Chinese DMOs. The refined PMS model was developed and based on the top-down operation system that currently existed in China and was supposed to pursue every major aspect of the system for each stakeholder in the DMOs.

Background: The tourism industry and especially those that market destinations, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), face challenges to meet generation Y, with an uncertainty of how to do it. DMOs need to be adaptable to an everyday changing market in order to attract visitors to their destinations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how destination marketing organizations can market their destinations to reach domestic tourists within the population of generation Y. Method: A literature review was made in order to explore previous research regarding DMOs’ marketing strategies and tourists’ information search behavior. The literature review has been used in order to make hypotheses and a research model which lay the foundation for the design of a survey to test the hypotheses. An interview guide, based on the literature review, was made to address potential tourists and get deepen understanding of the field. Contrast and compare have been made between potential tourists’ opinions and the theoretical part, in order to draw conclusions on the subject. Results and conclusions: Results of this study have shown that for the chosen population, generation Y, are search engines and DMOs’ websites seen as the best way to reach tourists. DMOs have high possibilities to be seen on the web (their website and social media sites) if they actively use search engine optimization. Social media sites are also important, but in a different way, and DMOs need to work harder and cleverer on these sites to market their destinations.

Background: It has become easy for tourists to visit different countries and cities for vacation due to the globalized world one live in today. Because of the consumers desire to travel and the tough competition among cities, emphasis have been put on city branding with the aim of making a consumer chose a specific city to visit instead of competing ones. In order to create a strong city brand it is important to look at the tourists’ expectations of a city, to get an understanding of what is expected from the consumer and what a city brand should work on in order to get satisfied visitors. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain what attributes of a city brand that impact the overall expectation of a potential consumer. Methodology: This is a quantitative study analyzing the 313 answers of conducted questionnaire. The authors have used both a simple and a multiple linear regression to test seven different hypotheses. Conclusion: This research shows that there are six attributes that has a positive impact, these six can explain 77,7% of the overall expectations towards a city brand of a consumer. These attributes are; infrastructure, attraction, uniqueness, expected enjoyment, value for money and word-of-mouth. Expected enjoyment and value for money were the most important attributes when people decide on a trip. Key Words: City branding, destination branding, place branding, expectations, tourism.

Spatial interaction models represent a class of models that are used for modeling origin destination flow data. The interest in such models is motivated by the need to understand and explain the flows of tangible entities such as persons or commodities or intangible ones such as capital, information or knowledge between regions. The focus here is on the log-normal version of the model. In this context, we consider spatial econometric specifications that can be used to accommodate two types of dependence scenarios, one involving endogenous interaction and the other exogenous interaction. These model specifications replace the conventional assumption of independence between origin-destination-flows with formal approaches that allow for two different types of spatial dependence in flow magnitudes. (authors' abstract) / Series: Working Papers in Regional Science

To explore the destination images of Thailand as a tourist destination from the point of view of Swedish Generation X tourists in Västerås by examining their satisfaction/dissatisfaction and behavioral intentions after traveling to Thailand. To test the theoretical DI formation and interrelationships of those components. A qualitative research approach with in-depth interviews to collect empirical date derived from respondents’ first-hand experiences. Destination Image Theory was used as a background and Content Analysis Approach was used to analyze data.  Thailand was perceived positive and negative by Swedish generation X tourists in Västerås. They were satisfied with their stay at Thailand. After traveling to Thailand, most of them would like to revisit Thailand, but few of them want to travel to new destination. All of them are willing to tell friends or relatives about their experiences in Thailand.

The Chinese outbound tourism market has experienced rapid growth over the past few years. This noticeable development provides the background and rationale for the study that identifies the travel behaviour of Chinese tourists, and the expectation and perception regarding South Africa. Based on the findings, some recommendations for marketing strategies and implementation are given, in addition to suggestions for future research directions in this field. The theoretical discussion focuses on concepts of travel behaviour. Travel behaviour, including travel motivation, decision-making process, and destination choice are then presented in more detail. The development of the Chinese economy and Chinese outbound tourism are also presented and discussed. The empirical research focuses on the travel behaviour of Chinese outbound tourists. The goal here is to determine and analyse the travel behaviour of tourists, outbound from Beijing, and their views on South Africa as a tourism destination. To accomplish this, the empirical research is designed from the quantitative perspective, and the data was collected by fieldworkers at the Beijing International Airport, using intercept surveys. This helps the researcher to understand the needs, motivation, and behaviour of the Chinese outbound tourists and assists the researcher in analysing the marketing strategy of South Africa as a tourist destination. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Destination image is acknowledged as a key factor in destination choice and visitor satisfaction. However, despite thirty years’ research from a variety of perspectives into destination image and image formation, the impact of actual visitation has been largely neglected and understanding of the processes involved in that change is therefore limited. Visitor experience is increasingly recognised as being unique to the individual, leading to calls for research strategies taking into account the visitor’s perspective. This study uses a phenomenological approach to investigate visitor-destination interactions, capturing visitors’ lived experience as expressed in their holiday narratives. Applying a double hermeneutic approach to analysing interview data, this study outlines the elements of destination experience and shows how the meaning encapsulated in the individual’s destination image is mediated by his/her stock of knowledge, the particular combination of predispositions, motivations and characteristics, as well as by their in-destination interactions and encounters with people and place. It develops the ideal typifications of Gourmet, Grazer and Gourmand to help explain the complex and dynamic interaction between visitor characteristics and behaviour and extends our understanding of the role of other tourists in destination experience by illuminating tourist-tourist interactions and revealing the compromises necessitated by the presence of other tourists. By generating insight into the complex and dynamic interaction between anticipations, motivations and predispositions, and the way in which this interaction affects the visitor’s experience of people and place in a destination, the study has demonstrated the utility of the phenomenological approach in understanding visitor interactions. It has also resulted in a model which explains the processes whereby the visitor makes sense of his/her experience and transmits that experience to others. This can be used by academics and practitioners to further understand the benefits and attractions of existing destinations and to predict the attraction of potential destinations, as well as to promote greater understanding of tourist-host interactions among destination industry providers.

In the contemporary tourism industry, the competitive game is between destinations. Tourism operations struggle to remain competitive on the international market and their success depends to a large extent on other complementary and competing tourism organizations at the destination. It is the sum of the total tourism offerings at the destination which determines its attractiveness. This research explores tourism collaboration process as a means of generating destination competitiveness. The focus of the research is on the enhancing factors which contribute to the success of the collaboration and to the development of quality tourism products. The research studies the case of Biking Dalarna, a collaboration of different organizations at five biking destinations in Dalarna, Sweden. Its purpose is to develop biking tourism in the region and to make Dalarna into Sweden’s leading biking destination. It is a qualitative research; the empirical data was collected through in depth interviews with representatives of six Biking Dalarna member organizations. The qualitative data collected from the participants provides inside look into the members reflections and experience of collaborating. The findings of this research demonstrate how collaboration has improved the biking product in Dalarna and promoted solutions to development problems. The research finds the good relationship between the collaborating actors and the involvement and leadership of the regional tourism management organization as the most contributing factors to the success of Biking Dalarna. The research also suggests that a third desired outcome of collaboration, improved marketing attributes was yet to be achieved in the case of Biking Dalarna.