The driving force of the tourism industry is represented by the attractions at destination. Travelers have no reason to visit destinations that have nothing to offer. Tourism research has demonstrated that attraction studies are necessary in the understanding of the elements that encourage people to travel. Achieving the goal of measuring destination attractiveness requires the understanding of its components and their relationships. There are two ways of examining attractiveness: by studying the attractions or by exploring the attractiveness perceptions of those who are attracted by them. As competition among tourism destinations increases and tourist funding decreases, it is of vital importance to understand how the inventory of existing attractions at destination relates to the perceptions that travelers have of those attractions. Tourism literature provides only a limited number of studies addressing destination attractiveness. Those studies focus exclusively on the measurement aspect of attractiveness and ignore the analysis of its components. The purpose of this study was to generate a new measurement tool for destination attractiveness and to examine the relationship between its elements. The principles of regional analysis, tourism planning, and tourism attraction research provided the foundation for a measurement and hypothesis testing model. This model is based on the assumption that tourism is a system, which is a function of supply and demand interaction. Four attraction dimensions - tourism services and facilities, cultural/historical, rural lodging, and outdoor recreation - were found to represent the attractiveness portfolio of the destination. According to the findings, no correlations were found between demand and supply importance of the four dimensions. Among demand representatives, market segments perceive and value attractions in different ways. The study explored the attractiveness evaluation of eight tourist regions and discovered correlations between demand and supply indicators. Additionally, it was established that the overall regional measures of demand and supply destination attractiveness explain the economic benefits of tourism in the same region. Among the contributions of this study is the development of a model that allows the simultaneous empirical assessment of demand and supply indicators of destination attractiveness. The findings of this study provided important implications for the development of robust tourism plans, promotional strategies, and resource allocation policies. / Ph. D.

This research studied a possible strategy to attract Nicaraguan people to visit Taiwan as tourists. Taiwan is known as East Asia’s sole island bisected by the Tropic of Cancer. Undoubtedly, it is rich in tourism resources; it’s developing its destinations, theme and lifestyle as well as health and fitness tourism. Taiwan has great potential in ecological travel such as bird watching, and whale and dolphin watching, and theme travel like festival tourism, cultural tourism and medical/recuperative tourism. Now with firsthand experience, Taiwan has shown me fascinating places of unique splendor, beauty and traditions. As a Nicaraguan citizen, I have sympathized and shared similar experiences with my countrymen (Nicaraguans) while living and studying in Taiwan. They have manifested great interest in traveling. Undoubtedly, Nicaraguan people are willing to visit, know, and explore places, especially Asian countries. As a result, we did interviews to a focus group of Nicaraguan students, first-time Nicaraguan visitors and a diplomat to study whether my countrymen would choose to travel to Taiwan as tourists. In the interviews, we found common themes, categories and patterns that suggest to us that Nicaraguans would choose Taiwan as a tourist destination. Providing affordable tourist packages to these visitors would give the opportunity to have access and channels to travel to Taiwan. This in turn, led us to suggest a way to attract Nicaraguan visitors to travel to Taiwan as tourists. Keywords: Tourism, Nicaragua, Tourist attraction, Tourist destination, Destination image

The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa is an animal-based tourist attraction that needs to offer a competitive product in order to remain relevant and to meet its various mandates. Functioning within the experience economy it strives to stage experiences that satisfy the motivations and expectations of its visitors. The study aimed at determining who visits the zoo, what motivates them to visit the zoo as well as what their expectations are and whether the zoo meets their needs in this regard. It also aimed at determining whether or not different demographic groups had different needs and whether their specific needs were being met. The study employed two self-administered questionnaires, using convenience sampling, whereby visitors entering and leaving the zoo where requested to complete the questionnaires. The data was analysed using SAS 9.2 programme and a further G-Test for goodness of fit was performed to determined dependency between race demographic and response. A total of 572 entry questionnaires and 293 exit questionnaires were completed. The two largest demographic groups that visit the zoo are white and black visitors who responded as a relatively homogeneous group. It was concluded that there were not responses in these two groups that indicated dependency between race and response. For the smaller demographic groups some of responses indicated a dependency between race and response but these form a small component of the zoo’s visitors. A high revisit and referral intention are good indicators of visitor satisfaction with 279 indicating their intention to revisit and 277 to recommend the zoo to family and friends. This study emphasises the importance of understanding the motivations, expectations and satisfaction of demographic groups as part of effective experience management. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Tourism Management / unrestricted

THE ISSUES IN METHODOLOGY AND DATA INTERPRETATION IN STUDIES OF TOURIST ATTRACTIONS' ATTENDANCE Lukáš Nekolný Abstract Attendance belongs to the main quantitative indicators of tourism which is one of the most important sectors of human activites. Knowledge about number of visitors has substantiation in scientific research and in destination management. In this case it is essential to combine the sustainability and the economic benefits. The number of visitors (visits) is important regarding to education and media. Therefore the use of comparable methodology is appropriate before interpretation of corresponding data. The aims of this thesis after analysing methodologic risk issues are to create the recommendation and to compare data of tourist attractions. The main points of recommendation we can mark are to compare individual attractions regardless of the ownership structure and to separate counting of tour routes and counting of visitor numbers with season tickets without distorted coefficients. All these issues are completed through the model cases from zoos - one of the most visited tourist attractions. Keywords: tourism, attendance, tourist attraction, methodology, interpretation, zoo

To work out this diploma thesis on the theme Marketing study of selected tourist attraction the author has chosen Castle Klášterec nad Ohří. The castle is the most important attraction in the town Klášterec nad Ohří and one of the most visited monuments in the Czech Republic. The castle is a tourist target of almost 20 thousands visitors every year. The task of this thesis is to analyze existing application of marketing tools of this attraction. To resolve this issue will be used the following analysis: analysis of marketing mix, environmental analysis, segmentation of visitors, turnout analysis of visitors and SWOT analysis. The aim of this thesis is, based on the data found out in the analyzes, to make up a concept of further development of Castle Klášterec nad Ohří for the next period which could lead to increase its attractiveness. The diploma thesis is devided into four chapters. The first chapter is devoted to basic concepts of tourism and marketing. Based on the quotes in this chapter, is made the analytical part which applies the knowledge to marketing activities of castle.

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-13T12:58:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Cassio_2015.pdf: 50463029 bytes, checksum: 3e081d13ce2e1960deb8cdbbaca8e4f5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-13T12:59:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Cassio_2015.pdf: 50463029 bytes, checksum: 3e081d13ce2e1960deb8cdbbaca8e4f5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-13T12:59:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Cassio_2015.pdf: 50463029 bytes, checksum: 3e081d13ce2e1960deb8cdbbaca8e4f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-13T12:59:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 OLIVEIRA_Cassio_2015.pdf: 50463029 bytes, checksum: 3e081d13ce2e1960deb8cdbbaca8e4f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-19 / Não recebi financiamento / This is on the assumption that the planning of tourist destination, based on the assumptions of sustainable development should focus on and highlight its tourist attractions, since these enterprises are responsible for promoting the movement of visitors. The organization of tourist attractions impacts the fate of competitiveness in the tourism market. This dissertation has the general objective to complement the methodology called "Method for Construction, Design and Project Implementation Circuits and Tourist Attractions" SEBRAE-SP (2011) with regard to formatting sustainable tourist attractions. The data that support the ideas presented here and the structuring of the methodological complementation were collected from bibliographical and documentary research. The end result is the production of a methodological complementation with a practical and operational approach to self solution format, where the micro and small business segment of the tourist attractions is able to implement on your property the procedures proposed in this work. This methodological complement consists of three stages of development of tourist attractions (interpretation, diagnosis and intervention) that is built on five strategic axes of analysis (product characteristics, physical structure, security, management, promotion and marketing). It is expected that, by contributing to the analysis of formatting sustainable tourist attractions, can be created subsidies for the planning process of tourism destinations, in order to increase the quality of leisure activities and experiences offered, as well as guide professionals who work directly in the management of these tourist facilities. / Parte-se do pressuposto que o planejamento do destino turístico, com base nas premissas do desenvolvimento sustentável, deve focar e ressaltar seus atrativos turísticos, uma vez que esses empreendimentos são responsáveis por promover o deslocamento de visitantes. Assim, a organização dos atrativos turísticos impacta na competitividade do destino no mercado turístico. Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo geral a complementação da metodologia denominada “Método para Construção, Estruturação e Implementação de Projetos em Circuitos e Roteiros Turísticos” do SEBRAE-SP (2011) no que se refere à formatação de atrativos turísticos sustentáveis. Os dados que subsidiam as reflexões aqui apresentadas e a estruturação da complementação metodológica foram coletados a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. O resultado final é a apresentação de uma complementação metodológica, com uma abordagem prática e operacional no formato de auto solução, onde o micro e pequeno empresário do segmento de atrativos turísticos seja capaz de implementar em sua propriedade os procedimentos propostos neste trabalho. Esta complementação metodológica é composta por três etapas de desenvolvimento de atrativos turísticos (interpretação, diagnóstico e intervenção) que está alicerçado em cinco eixos estratégicos de análise (características do produto; estrutura física; segurança; gestão; promoção e comercialização). Espera-se que, ao contribuir para a análise da formatação de atrativos turísticos sustentáveis, possa-se criar subsídios para o processo de planejamento de destinos turísticos, no sentido de incrementar a qualidade das atividades de lazer e as experiências oferecidas, bem como orientar os profissionais que atuam diretamente na gestão desses equipamentos turísticos.

The aim of the thesis is to summarize and valorize the offer of tourism products in the region Zlín. The introductory part of the thesis judges the tourism of the region as a whole. It describes the statistical data of the tourism, the main projects of the tourism and the main tourist attractions of the region. The main part of the thesis consists of the analysis of the tourist offer. Tourist attractions and products of tourism are described separately for each tourist area and they are divided into different categories. Accommodation and additional services are rated as well. The conclusion of the thesis includes the comparison of the areas, SWAT analysis of the region as a whole and a draft of new tourism products.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-26T14:50:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MichelleMilhorancaMSchneider_parte1.pdf: 2926389 bytes, checksum: 0e0ced1c809b6a8e0a550002d0a6545a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-20 / Ilha Grande National Park is a grounding of discussions presented in this dissertative work, it is located in the region northwest of the state of Paraná and southwest of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is formed for an archipelago with hundred flat islands that associate to swamps regions, floodplains and floods of plains in the Paraná River, making an extension approximately 140 Km, and represents about 40% of area not dammed of this river, being a witness of the natural features of the islands and floodplains existing of Paraná Basin, whose main specific objective of handle is contributing to the regional development, spreading and encouraging the economic use, ecologically sustainable of the local biodiversity and valuing the historicalcultural base of the region. The objective of this dissertation is presenting a discussion of faced reality from of the researches perfomed like of the tourism projections for the Park through the municipalities south matogrossenses that territorialize with itself. Besides, this has like main objective to combine the analysis of the public politcs nature´s conservation through of the implementation of the Conservation Unity and Tourism by economic recovery of the same nature. Noticed that all the municipalities researched have irregular leisure areas and housing near on the bank of the Paraná river and also the planning of the touristic activity is foundationed in politics of economic development especially with great expectations of public organs and the local population. Proposes of this way a reflection about the possibility of a relation more harmonious between the touristics practicals and in your natural resource, like also the maintenance of the locals societies / O Parque Nacional de Ilha Grande é a base das discussões apresentadas neste trabalho dissertativo, ele está localizado na região noroeste do Estado do Paraná e na sudeste do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul. É formado por um arquipélago com centenas ilhas planas que se associam às regiões pantanosas, várzeas e planícies de inundação do rio Paraná, perfazendo uma extensão de aproximadamente 140 Km, e representa cerca de 40% da área não represada deste rio, sendo um testemunho das características naturais das ilhas e várzeas existentes da Bacia do Paraná, cujo principal objetivo especifico de manejo é contribuir para o desenvolvimento regional, difundindo e incentivando o uso econômico, ecologicamente sustentável da biodiversidade local e valorizando a base históricocultural da região. O intuito desta dissertação é apresentar uma discussão da realidade defrontada a partir das pesquisas realizadas, bem como das projeções turísticas para o Parque através dos municípios sul-matogrossenses que se territorializam com o mesmo. Além disso, este tem como principal objetivo conjugar a analise das políticas públicas de conservação da natureza através da implementação da Unidade de Conservação e do Turismo pela valorização econômica da mesma natureza. Constatou-se que todos os municípios investigados possuem áreas irregulares de lazer e de habitação ás margens do rio Paraná, e também que o planejamento da atividade turística está alicerçada em políticas de desenvolvimento econômico, especialmente com grandes expectativas dos órgãos públicos e da população local. Propõe-se desta forma uma reflexão sobre a relação entre as práticas turísticas e o ambiente, considerando a manutenção das sociedades locais

The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (UDP) is a World Heritage Site known for its cultural San heritage and its natural beauty, which is advertised as a world tourist attraction. Tourism is a debatable issue with regards to its negative and/or positive impacts on rock art along with commodification aspects. Negatively, visitation of sites increased natural deterioration of the site, the art and challenges for cultural resource management. While increased awareness of rock art conservation is a positive aspect through tourism and developments, contributes optimistically. San heritage is unique, defining our cultural identity and has the power to encourage national unification. The aim of this project is to assess the complexities of tourism developments and its immediate impacts at different rock art sites in the UDP through an analysis of management and conservation methods. The monitoring of these mentioned methods applied is important as it evaluates the effectiveness of past techniques and provides suggestions for other rock art sites. The current conditions at nine study sites in the UDP were investigated under three main criteria; deterioration of the sites and paintings through natural and human impacts, tourism developments and management. Data collection followed principles such as; site mapping, narrative recording, graphic documentation, and is represented in evaluation tables. Results concluded that common management methods were implemented at sites to provide standard conservation practices, but every site had room for improvement. The results have led to the formulation of recommendations that can be applied at other rock art sites and can contribute to future management and conservation protocols. The study highlights the unique demands made on rock art sites by tourism and concludes with final comments and recommendations. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MA / Unrestricted

Inicialmente, é apresentado um debate sobre as Mediações Culturais e suas implicações nos processos de construção de sentido. Entendido enquanto universos simbólicos que orientam as interpretações e projeções práticas dos sujeitos sobre o mundo que o cerca, o conceito de Mediações Culturais e a reflexão acerca das características da experiência turística vêm a compor os princípios teóricos que permitem pensar: em que medida as representações sociais de atrativo turístico influenciam nos sentidos atribuídos ao local, tanto por aqueles que produzem os produtos turísticos quanto por aqueles que os consomem? Diante dessa problemática, o método da Análise de Discurso é utilizado para desvelar os pilares simbólicos sobre os quais se ergue o conceito de Atrativo Turístico. Nesse processo analítico, a concepção de atratividade do espaço urbano é revelada. Uma concepção que remete a sentidos fluídos, diante dos quais a palavra torna-se insuficiência representativa, solicitando uma narrativa interpretativa alicerçada em outras formas expressivas. Finalizando, assim, com o aporte da antropologia visual e a constituição de uma narrativa imagética sobre a atratividade de Buenos Aires. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-19T19:00:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Priscila Gayer.pdf: 10007126 bytes, checksum: ff08c7989d06c74a4044d8f6752dfbae (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-19T19:00:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Priscila Gayer.pdf: 10007126 bytes, checksum: ff08c7989d06c74a4044d8f6752dfbae (MD5) / The first subject introduced is concerned with the Cultural Mediation and its concrete implications in the structuring of meaning process. Throughout the theory s arrangements presented, the cultural mediations are understood as symbolic boundaries which shape people s conceptions and actions. In addition to this perspective, the discussion of tourist experience s characteristics is articulated to develop a theoretical ground in order to raise the main research problem. Thus, the investigation proposal set aims at elucidating the influence s dimension of the Social Representation of Tourist Attraction in the meanings produced by the tourist and by the ones who produce the tourist interpretation about the place to be lived in the tourism context. Regarding these issues, the symbolic background that feeds the conception of tourist attraction was brought to light. The Discourse Analysis was fundamental to achieve this result and, beyond it, the method used permitted another concept to be found out: the urban space attractivity. This last term express the fluid meanings existents in everyday life, the ones which words can not fully reach. Due to the word s insuffiency to symbolize this sort of significance, the image is applied as a proper resource to expose the attractivity of Buenos Aires and, for that matter, the Visual Anthropology is worthy.