Guest editorial

Citation

Correia, A., Kozak, M., Gnoth, J., Fyall, A. and Andreu, L. (2014), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 8 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-08-2014-0067

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Volume 8, Issue 4

Advances in tourism marketing

Following the success of the 5th Advances in Tourism Marketing conference (ATMC) held in Faro, Portugal, in October 2013, a number of journals, including the International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, reached out to attract the best papers presented at the conference and to offer special “section” status to those that successfully navigated a rigorous double-blind peer review process; this, in addition to the review process, was conducted for all papers submitted to the conference in the first instance. This special section on the theme of Advances in Tourism Marketing brings together four papers that collectively offer a variety of new insights into the domain of tourism marketing and continues the tradition of the ATMC series of opening doors for new and emerging researchers to publish in some of the leading journals in the field. In addition to the editors of this special issue, all of the papers featured in this special section have benefitted from the input and advice of many attendees of the conference, the reviewers of the conference papers and the journal submissions, as well as the coordinating editor. It is, thus, hoped that each paper offers readers an interesting and critical insight into the area under investigation and perhaps serves as a catalyst for future studies in the wider domain of tourism marketing.

The first paper explores an area that one could argue has been researched in depth in recent years is that of customer loyalty. However, few studies have actually examined the phenomenon via the use of tangible indicators, i.e. purchase. In this regard, the aim of the first paper in this special section, “Exploring Effects of Hotel Chain Loyalty Program”, is to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of a hotel chain’s loyalty program from a behavioral perspective. With debate ongoing as to the cost-effectiveness and high cost of implementation, this study uses a single-statistical, dynamic performance–behavior Dirichlet model based on the Stated Preference Theory, to determine the frequency of purchase and hotel choice. The study blends hotel choice and purchase frequency in a performance assessment process, monitoring results through several key performance indicators. Data were extracted from the hotel’s customer relationship management (CRM) system with the findings indicating quite clearly that loyalty was not evident toward a particular hotel. Rather, the findings prove that loyalty is evident toward the hotel chain with a key outcome being the need and importance of consolidating the hotel Group’s loyalty program to continuously improve the segmented offers.

The second paper, “Driving First-Time and Repeat Spectators to a Motor Sport Event”, continues the theme of loyalty by providing an interesting study on the differences in expenditure and satisfaction levels between first-time and repeat spectators to a motor sport event in Sardinia, Italy. In addition, the paper explores spectators’ intention to return and to recommend the host destination. Through the use of a structured questionnaire, data were collected at the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship in Sardinia, with 210 interviews conducted in total. Interestingly, the findings of the study demonstrate that first-timers spend more and are more satisfied than repeaters with the latter expressing higher expectations second time round and a slight loss of excitement as compared to the first-time experience. That being said, repeaters are more likely to return and to recommend the destination.

The third paper, “Creative Tourism: A Preliminary Examination of Creative Tourist’s Motivation, Experience, Perceived value and Revisit Intention”, also focuses on repeat visitation through an examination of tourist consumption psychology in the context of creative tourism destinations. The study was conducted in three creative destinations in Taiwan, namely, Meinong, Shuili and Yingge, via the use of an on-site survey with 417 questionnaires collected in total. Interestingly, the findings of the study prove that the on-site tourism experience was the single most influential antecedent of revisit intention. Such a finding contributes to the further development of creative tourism products and services that encompass authentic local culture and art in the enhancement of the tourist experience.

The fourth and final paper in this special section continues the experiential theme through an examination as to whether emotions can be considered as a suitable variable to segment visitors at a museum. The paper “Emotions and Visitors’ satisfaction at a Museum” also analyses the extent to which emotions influence visitor satisfaction and the extent to which this depends on objective measures, or not, as the case may be. Once again, a structured questionnaire serves as the research instrument with data collected at the national Museum of Archaeology. Although no significant differences were identified between both segments based on socio-demographic characteristics that cluster with the higher positive emotions, it was found to demonstrate perceiving a higher level of attractiveness and uniqueness at the museum, in addition to being more satisfied. Although the study is site-specific and fails to explore the causes of emotional responses, the study adds to the growing corpus of literature on emotions as a tool for segmentation and positioning.

In conclusion, each of the four papers featured in this special section offer evidence of some of the emerging areas of interest to those with a passion for researching tourism marketing with loyalty, repeat visitation, experiences and consumer emotions likely to remain core areas for research scrutiny as the domain of study matures and attracts a greater diversity and depth of academic research studies.

Alan Fyall, Antónia Correia, Juergen Gnoth, Metin Kozak and Luisa Andreu

About the authors

Alan Fyall is a Orange County Endowed Professor of Tourism Marketing Graduate Program Coordinator based at University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.

Antónia Correia is a Professor based at European University, Laureate International Universities, CEFAGE, Lisbon, Portugal.

Juergen Gnoth is a Professor based at University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Metin Kozak is based at Dokuz Eylul University, Foca, Turkey.

Luisa Andreu is based at University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.