This study investigated various aspects of the gambling engaged in by Ontario casino employees. Five casinos participated in the study, which involved a survey sample of 934 employees and an interview sample of 21 employees. The study found that the casino employees exhibited rates of problem gambling that were over three times greater than rates that past studies have found in Ontario’s general population. The employees’ problem gambling was primarily explained by employees who increased their gambling after beginning their jobs and employees who were attracted to their jobs because of prior gambling involvement, although neither of these characteristics was especially common overall. The increases and decreases in gambling that some employees experienced after beginning their jobs were precipitated by a variety of workplace influences associated with the employees’ exposure to gambling; their exposure to patrons; their exposure to the casino work environment; and the existence of training, regulations, and resources. The prevalence of problem gambling and other behavioural gambling patterns also were found to relate to numerous employment variables, such as department and shift. Based on all of these results, various policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided.

The contributions of heritage attractions in cultural plans and economic development have long been recognized in the academic literature. However, despite the involvement of museums in such initiatives, there is little written on these issues from the perspective of the museum itself. Museums are important institutions that fulfill many functions in today’s society. While they have long been known as centers of education, cultural preservation and community, museums are increasingly being called upon in new ways that are outside their traditional preserves, including their position as one of the main attractions for cultural tourism. Museums and other cultural sites are the focus of many tourism and cultural plans being used to stimulate economic development. Nevertheless, the museum literature continues to focus on internal issues such as access, authenticity and conservation, with little discussion on the presence of tourists and tourism in the museum. This study aims to add to the existing body of knowledge concerning museums as a tourist attraction by examining curator perceptions of tourism in their museum, in light of their position in cultural and economic plans.

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.

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 intent of this study is to determine if the process of creative destruction is underway in a rural community located in Newfoundland and Labrador and to identify why this development sequence has or has not occurred. Three objectives underlie this study. The first is to determine at what stage Ferryland is situated in the Model of Creative Destruction. The second is to explain the community’s current stage in the model. The third objective is to provide recommendations for this community on its future development potential. These objectives were fulfilled through data collection that included: participant observation, content analysis of newspapers, and a review of relevant documents, key informant interviews, and resident and visitor surveys. This mixed method study concluded that the community of Ferryland is in the stage of advanced commodification in Mitchell’s (2009) Model of Creative Destruction. Three reasons are identified for its current state. First, the community lacks a tourism champion. Secondly, human capital shortage in Ferryland has created a lack of workers. Lastly, the actions of local stakeholders are not driven solely by the motivations outlined by Mitchell (2009). They are also underlain by the desire for pleasure; a motivation that does not appear to have encouraged fast-paced development. Furthermore, Ferryland is a community on a much smaller scale, which may have lessened perceived impacts and scale of development. Based on these conclusions, it is recommended that the Ferryland Tourism Committee creates a long-term plan for tourism that incorporates opinions of local residents.

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.

Abstract This study explores decision making amongst ski area management. In particular, it examined how ski area managers are challenged by the risk and uncertainty as a result of weather and visitor activity patterns. Prospect theory suggests that response to uncertain conditions may not result from the application of rational thought processes (Tversky & Kahneman, 2000). Instead, decision makers may fall victim to any number of seemingly arbitrary rules or processes as they attempt to deal with uncertainty. Ski operations in southern British Columbia were chosen for study because of the importance of ski operations to the economy of this region as well as the challenging and variable weather events they have recently experienced. For example, this area hosts international and regional visitors as well as major events like the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympic Games events. As a result, there is considerable interest in creating ski conditions that are of international calibre. However, the Vancouver and the Coast Mountains faced a weather anomaly of warm, wet weather in January 2005. Nearby regions experienced equally problematic weather conditions the following December. The task here was to discover how ski area managers were coping with the uncertainty created by variable weather patterns. This study utilized qualitative methods. In total, 16 ski area managers participated in semi-structured interviews between the months of November 2006 and March 2007. Interviews were conducted within three British Columbia tourism regions: Vancouver and Coast Mountains, Thompson Okanagan, and Kootenay Rockies. The most common weather disturbances to selectively or entirely impact ski operations were high winds, cold temperatures, avalanche hazards, and lightning. Managers used both rules and tools to deal with the uncertainty created by weather conditions. In terms of rules, they often relied upon heuristic strategies (cognitive rules of thumb) to help with decision making. They tended to open and close at the same time each year for example. Often these heuristics were based on historical weather data and skier visitation rates. Many managers reported being unaffected by existing biases in their decision making or falling victim to escalation of commitment (often reported in decision making studies). These managers also relied on a variety of tools to reduce uncertainty during decision making. These tools included the use of management teams, reliance on experience and individual expertise, historical weather and skier data, and reliance upon business models. For example, most of those interviewed reported extensive efforts to enhance operational sustainability. They focused on diversification (of winter products and year round activities), slope development (summer grooming), snowmaking, and environmental sustainability initiatives. In each case, the goal seemed one of reducing uncertainty in an inherently uncertain situation. Industry and market trends were impacted by improved ski technology and the increasing popularity of internet and last minute holiday bookings.

With the distinguished natural and cultural tourism resources, Tibet is undoubtedly a desirable travel destination both domestically and internationally. With the newly opened Qinghai-Tibet railway to Lhasa in July 2006, Tibet tourism development was boosted markedly due to the increased accessibility and affordability. This study evaluates the impacts of the increased accessibility achieved through the Qinghai-Tibet railway on tourist travel decisions for, and experiences in, Tibet from travelers’ perspectives. The relative importance of the train journey in comparison with the destination experience at Tibet is also examined. A destination choice framework is proposed based on a review of previous literature. It is applied in this study to understand tourists’ travel destination choice of Tibet. A questionnaire survey was designed as the major primary data collection method to collect travelers’ perceptions on the train journey and Tibet tourism. Conducted on the train to and from Lhasa of Tibet, a total of 187 questionnaires were collected, including 82 for the pre-visit sample and 105 for the post-visit sample. Important destination choice factors for Tibet are identified in this study. The findings also support the importance of the railway on tourists’ destination choice of Tibet and in the overall travel experience of Tibet. Expectations and satisfactions with the destination are also compared to indicate possibilities for further destination development in Tibet. This study improves the understanding of both the supply and demand sides of the tourism industry in Tibet. Both practical implications and academic implications are presented based on the major findings of this study. Contributions of this study and future research opportunities are discussed.

Events have been recognized as one of three contributors to destinations. Event tourism has become a new tourism alternative in recent years. This research examines the relationships between the marketing and organizing of a recurring hallmark sport event and the marketing of a tourism destination hosting the event in terms of how their marketing strategies can be coordinated for multiple benefits. The specific purposes of this paper are: (1) to look at the destination marketing and the event marketing strategies during and after a recurring hallmark sport event by the destination marketers and the event organizing committee, (2) to examine the stakeholders relationships in destination marketing and sport event marketing for multiple benefits, and (3) to develop an incorporated destination marketing model in sport events that is relevant to China. The results of the research reveal both applicability and incongruence between the two contexts in terms of the organization structure, stakeholders and their relationships, and strategic integrated planning procedures. In addition, the finding of this research supports the view that coordination of event marketing and destination marketing could generate more benefits for both event and destination organizations. However, there currently is no significant integration, especially in the planning procedures in the case of Xiamen. The researcher - by referring to the literature and the situations in Xiamen - thus proposes three strategies for considerations in future integration, and formulates a tentative integrated planning model in the context of China.

This study is an exploratory examination of the perceptions of chefs affiliated with Relais & Chateaux properties in Canada with respect to their relationships with suppliers, the importance of local ingredients in menu design, and other issues associated with their work as chefs in some of the top restaurants in Canada. Their understanding of the concept of “culinary tourism” is also explored. For the purpose of this study, culinary tourism is conceptually defined to be “any tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates, or consumes branded local culinary resources” (Smith and Xiao, 2006, p. 4). Data for this study were obtained from three sources: (1) a closed-ended questionnaire, which inquired about acquisition, production and consumption issues associated with restaurant chefs (2) in-depth personal interviews with chefs that enabled the researcher to gain a holistic view of the role and results of chefs interaction with local food producers, and (3) a content analysis of Relais & Chateaux menus that served as a template to how chefs brand producers in their restaurants. A total of 11 chefs completed the survey and were interviewed between the months of June, 2007 and August, 2007. The comments by the chefs in the interviews were classified into 9 themes. The themes that emerged include producer relationships, producer communication, local ingredients, cuisine, restaurant staff, culinary tourism, knowledge of clientele, culinary products and Relais & Chateaux brand. The interviews resulted in a number of insights into chef relations with local food producers as well as the potential of culinary tourism as a tourism experience provided by Relais & Chateaux chefs. Chefs spend considerable time and effort facilitating relationships with local producers in order to create quality. These chefs expressed the importance of quality and relationships with local producers while highlighting the need for communication among properly trained waiters. Chefs used both menus and guests’ interaction with waiters to communicate the use of local ingredients in their restaurants. The chefs focus on local affiliations to products as a way to promote local producers. However, once relationships with a local producer are developed, some chefs maintain that relationship even if the move out of the area. Many chefs reported that increased interaction among culinary tourism stakeholders, at a regional level, was needed in order for regional producers to brand their products in the market place. With this it was recommended that bi-yearly meetings involving restaurateurs, producers, farmers and artisans is needed to better network their product offerings. In each case, the goal of the Canadian Relais & Chateaux chef is to improve upon the branding of Canadian food ingredients. The research revealed the positive impact that this group of chefs has had in promoting grass roots food products for an increasingly popular tourism market. Findings of this research suggest that chefs are involved in the production, education, facilitation and communication of local ingredients in the restaurant setting which raises issues of their role in the branding of local food ingredients for the culinary tourist in order to promote a healthy culinary tourism product. The study concludes with suggestions for further research in this area.