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(1 - 4 of 4)

Title: Liminal ecologies : backpackers, expatriates and the production of Koh Tao, Thailand
Creator: Zukas, Nathan Johnson
Date: 2009
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Exploring winery visitors in the emerging wine region of Wisconsin and Minnesota
Creator: Lee, Jenni
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "One increasingly popular type of agritourism that has great potential to contribute to local economies is winery tourism. In part this is due to the development of cold hardy grape varieties being grown in the northern United States. As wineries in northern states represent a still-emerging tourism industry, it is critical that they develop effective strategies to attract new visitors. To do this, they need to understand winery visitors' characteristics and their behaviors at wineries. To...
Show more"One increasingly popular type of agritourism that has great potential to contribute to local economies is winery tourism. In part this is due to the development of cold hardy grape varieties being grown in the northern United States. As wineries in northern states represent a still-emerging tourism industry, it is critical that they develop effective strategies to attract new visitors. To do this, they need to understand winery visitors' characteristics and their behaviors at wineries. To facilitate such understanding, this study profiled winery visitors based on their wine-related characteristics (wine consumption behavior, wine involvement), winery experience (satisfaction, primary winery activity), and socio-demographic factors. It also explored sequential relationships among winery visitors' pre-trip characteristics (motivation, wine involvement), on-site experiences (perceived value toward winery attributes), and post-trip evaluations (satisfaction, place attachment, winery loyalty). Winery visitors in Wisconsin and Minnesota were sampled by winery personnel on-site using a protocol designed by the author. Visitors were asked to provide their e-mail addresses and a week after the contact information was collected, a post-visit online survey was emailed to them. With completed surveys, a cluster analysis was used to classify winery visitors into three groups. Factors that most contributed to these group differences were wine consumption behavior, wine involvement, and satisfaction. The groups revealed varying amounts of wine purchases and levels of winery loyalty. In addition, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results showed that leisure-motivated and medium to low wine-involved winery visitors perceive more extensive values in their winery experience. Winery visitors' satisfaction and place attachment were predominantly influenced by perceived social, wine-quality, service and aesthetic values which ultimately led to winery loyalty. The study contributes theoretically to winery tourism knowledge by including winery activities in addition to conventional wine consumption characteristics. Furthermore, evaluating the on-site experiences of visitors based on perceived value as well as the relationship among antecedents and consequence behaviors contributes to experience-economy research in a winery tourism context. Winery owners stand to benefit from this research by now being able to target key visitor groups that contribute the most to winery revenue, as well as being able to design winery experiences that are most valued and contribute to positive post-visit evaluations. Limitations are discussed and future research suggested."--Pages ii-iii.
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Title: Constructs and mechanisms of personally-delivered interpretive programs that lead to mindfulness and meaning-making
Creator: Noh, Eun Jeong
Date: 2014
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Many cultural tourism sites, regardless of the context, provide regularly scheduled interpretive programs and other interpretive materials such as signs, brochures, and audio devices. Interpretation is particularly important in cultural tourism settings because cultural tourism includes historical, cultural and/or heritage elements that can be impacted negatively by human influx and behaviors. Given this, within cultural tourism settings, interpretation is used to impart messages about the...
Show moreMany cultural tourism sites, regardless of the context, provide regularly scheduled interpretive programs and other interpretive materials such as signs, brochures, and audio devices. Interpretation is particularly important in cultural tourism settings because cultural tourism includes historical, cultural and/or heritage elements that can be impacted negatively by human influx and behaviors. Given this, within cultural tourism settings, interpretation is used to impart messages about the cultural resources themselves, their values, and their management (Benton, 2011). The purpose of this study is to understand tourists' meaning–making processes resulting from their participation in personal interpretive programs by identifying the mechanism(s) of mindfulness and meaningfulness related to cultural resources within cultural tourism settings. Many researchers (Ballantyne, Packer, & Falk, 2011; Ham & Weiler, 2007; Tubb, 2003) have conducted empirical studies about the expected outcomes of interpretation (cognitive outcomes [e.g., tourist knowledge gain], affective outcomes [e.g., tourist satisfaction], and behavioral outcomes [e.g., intention to revisit or engage in prosocial behavior]). However, these outcomes may not be sufficient to explain the value and benefits of the interpretation experience to the visitor. Furthermore, they do not focus on explaining how these outcomes are generated through a visitor's personal experience, and what mechanisms underlie these three categories of outcomes. Thus, this study investigated the underlying mechanism(s) that tourists use to generate meanings and values for cultural resources. Within a constructivist paradigm, the data were collected through direct observations and 59 in–depth interviews about participants' meaningful experiences gained from the personal interpretive programs at the Secret Garden at Changdeokgung in Korea. Examination of study participants' narratives about their experiences during their guided tour uncovered five themes — resources, personal context, program features, stories, and interpreter — that included categories associated with the guided tour (program features, stories, and interpreter), and other factors not related to the guided tour (resources and personal context) as facilitators of meaning-making. Among the six categories of elements (themes), only three themes (program features, stories, and interpreter) included some elements that were critical to helping tourists become mindful during the tour. The findings showed that meaningfulness about a place or a resource may or may not be generated as a result of the personal interpretive tours, at least not immediately, even if tourists are mindful. The personal context theme was highlighted as a crucial cue for study participants to develop meaning during the tour.This study is one of few to investigate tourists' meaning–making processes resulting from their participation in personal interpretive programs by identifying the mechanisms of mindfulness and meaningfulness related to cultural resources within a cultural tourism setting. Several theoretical propositions were made based on the study results. The implication of this research is that interpretive managers and interpreters who are familiar with the tenets of meaning-making and the process of transformative learning should be better able to create programs that help tourists' have meaningful experiences. Specific managerial implications associated with personal interpretive program within a tourism setting and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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Title: Understanding the push and pull motivations and itinerary patterns of wine tourists
Creator: Popp, Leanna
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This research was designed to identify the wineries and other locations that wine tourists visit during a day trip to Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula and the motivations contributing to travel decisions. Though wine tourist motivation has been examined in varying contexts, the observation of travel patterns in an emerging wine region such as the Leelanau Peninsula has yet to be understood either independently or in relation to motivation. The research questions of this study sought to identify...
Show moreThis research was designed to identify the wineries and other locations that wine tourists visit during a day trip to Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula and the motivations contributing to travel decisions. Though wine tourist motivation has been examined in varying contexts, the observation of travel patterns in an emerging wine region such as the Leelanau Peninsula has yet to be understood either independently or in relation to motivation. The research questions of this study sought to identify itinerary patterns of wine tourists, the information sources that impact wine tourist itineraries, the factors that motivate wine tourists, and the relationship between motivations of wine tourists and itinerary patterns. This study was implemented over a period of seven days at wineries in the region. To effectively identify both wine tourists' motivations and itineraries, survey and map-diary instruments were used. Motivation was identified in terms of push and pull factors. Maps developed from the results of the map-diaries report visitation to all locations and road use between attractions, revealing distinct patterns. The survey results show that the most important motivations were to taste wine, get away, purchase wine, and relieve stress. Tourists that were highly motivated by both push and pull factors visited the most wineries, and those that more were motivated by factors specific to wine visited more wineries than those motivated by non-wine specific factors. Implications for wine tourism research in emerging wine destinations, and the destination marketing and tourism planning strategies of winery operators result from this study.
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