While meanings of leisure have been widely studied from Western perspectives, to date, few researchers have explored the meanings of leisure in non-Western cultural contexts. However, in an era of globalization, it is particularly significant to explore leisure experiences of people from non-Western cultures. This study is then designed to investigate the role leisure plays in a Chinese culture context. Specifically, Chinese university students’ leisure experience and the values they ascribe to leisure in relation to their lives as a whole is examined. Their ideology of work and its impact on leisure participation is addressed in particular. In a Chinese university, criterion sampling method was first applied to recruit Chinese students who could provide information-rich stories about their leisure participation. Snowball sampling method was also used to find more information-rich cases for this exploratory study. 11 participants were engaged in this study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted to discover leisure experience of these students. Data analysis was guided by a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand the participants’ perceptions and meanings of their leisure experience. The data analysis resulted in three major themes. The first theme “Valuations of Work” addressed that the students placed high valuation on work and their life was ruled by work. The second theme “Two Spheres of Leisure” illustrated the students’ ideology of leisure and its impact on their leisure experience. The last theme “Causes for the Subordinate Role of Leisure”revealed two underlying causes that shaped the subservient role of leisure in the students’ daily lives. The emerged themes reflected that the students’ lives were centered around work; and they gave little consideration to their leisure participation. Holding such work-leisure ideology, the students’ leisure participation cannot always contribute to their well being. Therefore, this study advocates the implementation of leisure education in China, which may facilitate the Chinese people to build a balanced and healthy life style.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the experiences and meanings of tourism employment for Muslim women in the Middle East, including the positive and negative aspects of this form of employment. The study was conducted in Oman, which was the research site and cultural setting for this study. The theoretical paradigm that guided this study was social constructionism. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was also used for this study in order to interpret and analyze the collected data into themes. A combination of convenience sampling and snowball technique was used to recruit participants for the interviews, resulting in a total of 9 interviews being conducted with local Muslim women working in the Oman tourism industry. The data were collected through open-ended interviews conducted face to face, using a semi structured interview format. The analysis process led to the development of seven themes. The seven main themes related to finding work in the tourism field, facing negative attitudes, challenges of tourism work, dealing with negative attitudes and challenges, the importance of tourism work in women lives, an expanded vision of tourism work, and implications for social change. The study revealed that the idea of women’s tourism work as exploitation is complex and multi-layered in Oman. Although there were some indicators of exploitation for the Omani tourism workers in this study, this form of work was also shown to be a source of benefits and form of empowerment for women. Further, the study revealed that tourism employment could also be seen as a site for women’s resistance, particularly for Muslim women seeking to change attitudes towards women, and to create a new society.

Immigration has become a common phenomenon of modern society in numerous countries around the world, including Canada. Despite this, tourism research has mainly focused on specific behaviours of travellers from a particular country (nationality) without considering the possibility that a nation may comprise unique sub-cultures of varying ethnic groups as a result of immigration. This study explores the influence of new Canadians’ home culture on their travel lifestyle and behaviours. A survey of European (n=128) and Asian (n=99) recent immigrants in Ontario was conducted to explore this relationship. More specifically, the project investigates the connection between the respondents’ region of origin and their travel lifestyle preferences in terms of their attitudes and opinions toward travelling as well as their travel interests. The information about the respondents’ demographic characteristics, past travel experiences and information search behaviour was also collected. The data were then analyzed using factor analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, chi-square test and cluster analysis. The results show that there are differences between the two groups in respect to their travel lifestyle, past travel experiences, and media used for planning a vacation. Cluster analysis based on immigrants’ reported travel lifestyle identified four distinct segments: High Familiarity Seekers, Low Interest Travellers, Independent Spontaneous Travellers, and Highly Engaged Travel Planners. The study concludes that region of origin has a strong influence on travel lifestyle and behaviour of new Canadians. Hence, the growing migrant population in Canada should not go unheeded as potential market segments, and marketers should acknowledge that consumers in countries with diverse multicultural backgrounds need differentiated services and products.

The interaction between culture and consumption of immigrants is an important research area in a number of fields including consumer behaviour, marketing, and ethnic studies. This article offers a specific look at issues related to the impact of acculturation on dining-out behaviour of Chinese immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada, and the influence of individual factor of acculturation process (i.e., ethnic identification, length of residence, and age at immigration). This study focused on the similarities and comparisons between recent Chinese immigrants who have been in Canada for ten years or less and established Chinese immigrants who have been in Canada for more than ten years, in terms of their dining-out behaviour in the Greater Toronto Area. There were two samples, the recent Chinese immigrants and the established Chinese immigrants in this study. Snowball sampling was applied to recruit the total 30 participants (15 of each sample). The author started to recruit from two participants of each sample among her friends and relatives and asked the interviewers to recommend another two qualified participants. Semi-structures, in-depth interviews were employed in this study to explore the impact of culture, levels of acculturation, ethnic identity, situational factors of ethnic identification and dining-out behaviour. The interviews were audio-recorded by permission and conducted in the participant’s preferable language (in English or in Mandarin Chinese). Data analysis was guided by several previous conclusions and model in the literatures and conducted in both qualitative (coding) and quantitative (SPSS) methods. The findings resulted in some major conclusions. In terms of similarities, it is found that recent Chinese immigrants and established Chinese immigrants obtained restaurants information mostly from friends and relatives. They also searched on internet for other’s reviews, menus, and printable coupons. Secondly, result showed that Chinese immigrants perceived that because they have a long history of food, Chinese people are more willing to try different types of food when immigrated to Canada. Thirdly, situational factors such as peer influences played more significant role on dining-out decision making and self ethnic identifications than parental influences. In terms of differences, data indicated that among Chinese immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area, recent Chinese immigrants had stronger ethnic identity to their original culture, and dined out more frequently than the established Chinese immigrants. Future, the result suggested that the highest level of Chinese ethnic food purchasing behaviour were reported by highest ethnic identifiers (ones who identified themselves as more Chinese). However, there was another important factor that influenced the levels of acculturation in dining-out behaviour more greatly than the length of immigration: the age at immigration. The study found that Chinese immigrants who immigrated at early age had the highest level of acculturation and identified themselves as more Canadian, while ones who immigrated at late life had the lowest level of acculturation and identifies themselves as more Chinese. The findings reflected the impact of culture and consumer acculturation in dining-out among Chinese immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area and could potentially contribute to the marketing implications to both ethnic and mainstream restaurant marketers. This study also gives some future thoughts on the exploration of more variables at individual differences, as well as other perspectives of research conducting such as from psychological or economic perspective.

The purpose of this research is to explore the communication and interaction between westerners and Chinese people in western bars in the touristic town of Yangshuo in southern China. Yangshuo is worldly famous for its breath-taking Karst Mountains, rice fields and water buffalos. It has attracted millions of visitors annually, both domestic and international. The tourist center of Yangshuo consists of a main street, West Street, and many other small streets around it. In recent years, bars and night clubs have been established, bringing a more modern and western atmosphere to the main tourist streets that are paved in marble and lined with ancient buildings. This research is focused on bars, western bars in particular, as a unique setting for intercultural communication and interaction. First of all, this research introduces a background of intercultural communication definitions, the link between bars and tourism in China, as well as international tourism in China. With the goal of understanding the intercultural phenomena in bars through conversations and observations, I explored the role of bars in the community, the social and intercultural situations in bars, and the reflection and outcome of those communication and interaction. Field work was conducted in July and August 2010, by using both qualitative and quantitative research methods: questionnaire survey and ethnographic participant observation. I was able to obtain a broad perception of the subject as well as detailed description from participants, including myself. A broad range of literature related to bars and spaces in leisure and tourism, as well as in the fields of intercultural communication, intercultural host-guest relationship in tourism, tourism and cultural understanding, and tourist experience were reviewed. The gaps in the literature were identified. Limited research was done by addressing the actual situations of intercultural communication and linking the social and intercultural theories with actual practice, especially in a tourism context. Also, the role of western bars, as a new form of recreational, cultural and social space in China needed more attention. Chapter four and five present major findings of this research. Informants were divided into five groups: western tourists, local westerners (westerners who have become residents), Chinese tourists, Chinese students studying English in Yangshuo, and local residents. Preliminary findings from questionnaire survey indicate that westerners and Chinese people have difference reasons for visiting Yangshuo and going to bars. Bars have both social and recreational functions for westerners but are of less interest to and have more limited functions as attractions to Chinese tourists. Local residents have the least interest in western bars but Chinese students often go to them, mainly to practice English with foreigners. Detailed analysis of qualitative data suggests intercultural communication and interaction have difference purposes and styles for the different groups. Students, locals who work in the bars and local westerners have most contact with western tourists. Chinese tourists tend to interact with westerners in non-verbal ways, such as in games and photo-taking. Language is a major communication barrier but westerners made more effort to overcome this, reflecting both desire and need as visitors in a foreign land. The research findings can seek theoretical explanation through many social and intercultural theories. They suggest tourist-host interaction and communication has been overrated, especially when tourists are travelling in a different culture. The level of contact and cultural understanding is relatively superficial, but more meaningful than mere commercial exchanges. The trend of globalization and cultural homogeneity was well recognized by both cultural groups. The acknowledgement of cultural difference and interaction between customers should be encouraged and facilitated in bars, in order to create an authentic bar experience and nurture effective intercultural communication.

Climate change has been referred to as the ‘greatest challenge to the sustainability of the global tourism industry in the 21st century’ (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO, 2008). As a result, climate change is one of the most widely discussed environmental and sustainable development topics today. The winter tourism industry has been repeatedly identified as being vulnerable to climate change. The implications for winter tourism include a lack of snow in winter sport destinations, increased snowmaking and operational costs, shorter winter sports season, decreased visitation, and the potential for a loss of ski area operations. The intent of this study was to understand the adaptive behaviours of skiers/snowboarders taken in response to climate conditions. More specifically the objectives of this research were: to examine how skiers/snowboarders have responded to changing snow conditions in the past as well as how they may react in the future, to understand the role of substitution (time, place, activity) within specific behavioural responses to both past and future snow conditions, and to examine the extent to which activity commitment and place loyalty influence climate-induced behavioural change. Skier/snowboarder surveys were distributed at seven resorts in the New England states of Vermont and New Hampshire during the winter months of February and March 2010. A total of 572 surveys was collected and analyzed. The research findings revealed that skiers and snowboarders in New England are very loyal to their preferred winter resorts and are extremely loyal to the New England region. Only a small percentage of respondents said that they would travel outside New England to find better snow conditions. The level of a skier’s/snowboarder’s involvement in the sport, as well as their level of destination loyalty were also found to be important determinants of substitution behaviors. As climate change causes more significant changes to the mountain landscape and snow conditions, understanding how different tourist segments react to climate change and related environmental change is important for various tourism stakeholders: ski resort managers, nearby communities and also states that are dependent on this winter tourism revenue.

Imposing the principles of sustainable development on medical tourism is vital to maintaining the three pillars of a strong nation, namely, the environment, the economy, and the local community. The three research objectives of this thesis are: 1) to determine the primary factors that motivate foreign patients to travel abroad for medical services; 2) to define the role that stakeholders play for developing the medical tourism sector; and 3) to develop an implementable framework for establishing a sustainable medical facility. These objectives help lay the foundations for a medical tourism facility that would respond well to the future demands of international patients, and would remain competitive with other medical facilities in the global market while also improving local quality-of-life and remaining within ecological constraints. Therefore, this research adopts a case study methodology to examine a framework developed through the literature review to determine how it fits in reality. In addition, this research provides a starting point to define further the primary roles of the medical tourism network for developing the medical tourism sector.

Volunteer tourism, a sub-sector of the tourism industry, is growing at an accelerated pace subsequently creating socio-cultural, political, cultural, and environmental impacts. Current tourism literature suggests volunteer tourism provides opportunities for participants to facilitate building relationships with like-minded volunteers and encourages consciousness-raising experiences (McGehee & Santos, 2005). Furthermore, volunteer tourism has been shown to foster cross-cultural understanding between participants and hosts (Raymond & Hall, 2008; McIntosh & Zahra, 2008). However, researchers question the laudable aims of volunteer tourism; indicating the presence of this type of tourism creates social and power struggles within local destination communities (Guttentag, 2009, Sin, 2010). Higgins-Desbiolles (2006) claims the transformative capacities of tourism are overshadowed by industry attributes of tourism. To use tourism as a positive engine for social, cultural, environmental, and political change, it would be necessary to promote touristic experiences that encompass a transformative ethos. My exploration of organic volunteering within this thesis illuminates the transformative capacities of these touristic experiences and contributes to the expanding horizons of volunteer tourism literature. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores experiences of organic volunteering and what these experiences mean to the volunteers. Gadamer’s (2004) hermeneutic phenomenology provided me the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the meaning of organic volunteering experiences studied in Argentina. Using interviews and participation observation, I explored meanings of organic volunteering, while I also considered volunteers’ historicity, or pre-understandings, of these experiences. Data analysis revealed the emergent essential structure of “Opening to living in interconnectedness.” Interconnectedness within organic volunteering is embodied in six essences of reconnecting, exchanging knowledge, being in nature, bonding with others, consciousness-raising, and transforming. My research reinforces what many organizations’ claim; volunteer experiences improve global citizenship and participants desire to become more involved in future activism upon their return home.

The interaction between culture and consumption of immigrants is an important research area in a number of fields including consumer behaviour, marketing, and ethnic studies. This article offers a specific look at issues related to the impact of acculturation on dining-out behaviour of Chinese immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada, and the influence of individual factor of acculturation process (i.e., ethnic identification, length of residence, and age at immigration). This study focused on the similarities and comparisons between recent Chinese immigrants who have been in Canada for ten years or less and established Chinese immigrants who have been in Canada for more than ten years, in terms of their dining-out behaviour in the Greater Toronto Area. There were two samples, the recent Chinese immigrants and the established Chinese immigrants in this study. Snowball sampling was applied to recruit the total 30 participants (15 of each sample). The author started to recruit from two participants of each sample among her friends and relatives and asked the interviewers to recommend another two qualified participants. Semi-structures, in-depth interviews were employed in this study to explore the impact of culture, levels of acculturation, ethnic identity, situational factors of ethnic identification and dining-out behaviour. The interviews were audio-recorded by permission and conducted in the participant’s preferable language (in English or in Mandarin Chinese). Data analysis was guided by several previous conclusions and model in the literatures and conducted in both qualitative (coding) and quantitative (SPSS) methods. The findings resulted in some major conclusions. In terms of similarities, it is found that recent Chinese immigrants and established Chinese immigrants obtained restaurants information mostly from friends and relatives. They also searched on internet for other’s reviews, menus, and printable coupons. Secondly, result showed that Chinese immigrants perceived that because they have a long history of food, Chinese people are more willing to try different types of food when immigrated to Canada. Thirdly, situational factors such as peer influences played more significant role on dining-out decision making and self ethnic identifications than parental influences. In terms of differences, data indicated that among Chinese immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area, recent Chinese immigrants had stronger ethnic identity to their original culture, and dined out more frequently than the established Chinese immigrants. Future, the result suggested that the highest level of Chinese ethnic food purchasing behaviour were reported by highest ethnic identifiers (ones who identified themselves as more Chinese). However, there was another important factor that influenced the levels of acculturation in dining-out behaviour more greatly than the length of immigration: the age at immigration. The study found that Chinese immigrants who immigrated at early age had the highest level of acculturation and identified themselves as more Canadian, while ones who immigrated at late life had the lowest level of acculturation and identifies themselves as more Chinese. The findings reflected the impact of culture and consumer acculturation in dining-out among Chinese immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area and could potentially contribute to the marketing implications to both ethnic and mainstream restaurant marketers. This study also gives some future thoughts on the exploration of more variables at individual differences, as well as other perspectives of research conducting such as from psychological or economic perspective.

Tourism and adoption are separate subjects, which are both well-studied. Studies that look at adoption and tourism together are hard to find. Generally, these studies are written from a social work perspective rather than a tourism perspective. Works by Muller, Gibs and Ariely (2003); Passmore (2005); and Sachdev (1991) are examples of these types of studies. However there is a small amount of research written from a tourism perspective, which focuses on adult adoptees that travel back to their homeland to explore their roots. Amongst tour operators, these types of tours are known as Adoption Homeland Tours and cater specifically to adoptees to show them the place and culture of their biological roots. As Sachdev (1992) points out, “since the professionals have only recently directed their attention to the phenomenon of search and reunion between adoptees and their biological parents, research studies are exceedingly limited” (p. 54). This study aims to address this under-represented area of tourism research by providing a baseline understanding of the subject as understood through a phenomenological perspective and bring forward the term “Adoption Homeland Tours” to the academic community. Moreover, this study aims to explore the meanings adoption homeland tourists attribute to their experiences and to contextualize the findings within broader academic approaches towards understanding dynamics which influence adult adoptees’ understanding of self through tourism experiences.