https://research-methodology.net Necessary knowledge to conduct a business research Sun, 18 Feb 2024 14:38:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://rm-15da4.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-logoBRM-32x32.jpg https://research-methodology.net 32 32 https://research-methodology.net/plogs-tourist-motivation-model/ Sun, 24 Jul 2022 10:21:08 +0000 https://research-methodology.net/?p=67623 Plog’s tourist motivation model (1974) is a popular framework widely referred to in tourism studies. According to the model tourists can be divided into two broad categories: allocentrics and psychocentrics. Allocentrics usually choose exotic destinations and unstructured tours and vacations they prefer to get involved with local culture to a great extent. Psychocentrics, on the other hand, choose familiar destinations and they usually engage in tourism via packaged tours in a conventional manner (Plog, 1974). The terms of allocentrics and polycentric were later replaced by Plog (1974) to the terms of venturer and dependable respectively, in order to make them more ‘reader-friendly’ (Hudson, 2008). Plog’s (1974) Psychographic Personality Types Source: Hudson (2008), adapted from Plog (1974) and Plog (2002) As it is evident from figure above, according to Plog’s tourist motivation model the majority of tourists can be classified as mid-centric, i.e. they do not belong to neither psychocentric or allocentric categories. Plog’s (1974) Psychographic Personality Types has been criticised for being difficult to be applied because individuals may travel motivated by different factors in different occasions (Hudson, 2008). In other words, an individual may choose an exotic destination for tourism and get closely involved with local culture, yet it may not be appropriate to brand the individual as allocentric because the same person may purchase a conventional tourism package the following year. References Hudson, S. (2008) “Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective” SAGE Publications Plog, S.C. (1974) “Why Destination areas rise and fall in popularity” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Quarterly, Vol.14, Issue:4 Plog, S.C. (2002) “The power of psychographics and the concept of venturesomeness” Journal of Travel Research, Vol.40  ]]> https://research-methodology.net/brief-literature-review-on-unique-characteristics-of-tourism-industry/ Sun, 24 Jul 2022 10:03:59 +0000 https://research-methodology.net/?p=67617 The literature review has established viewpoints of other authors about unique characteristics of tourism industry. Literature review has revealed the following unique characteristics of tourism industry as summarised by TSA project in 2008: Firstly, the tourism is not an industry. The rationale behind this viewpoint relates to the idea that tourism comprises a wide range of individual businesses in a wide range of areas such as catering, transportation, entertainment, manufacturing and others. However, this viewpoint is not shared by all authors and many prominent authors in the area of tourism such as Webb (2009), Solomon and Rabolt (2009) and Rajagopal (2010) still refer to tourism as an industry. Secondly, in tourism consumers come to products. It is not possible to import tourism products and services or to provide them to customers through other channels and this point can be specified as an important distinctive feature of tourism industry from other industries. Thirdly, in tourism location is a part of the product. In tourism industry it is difficult to make a clear distinction between the value of a tourism destination and a wide range of products and services offered in this destination. In other words, tourism interconnects many separate businesses into a single entity (Schiffman et. al., 2012).   Moreover, according to literature review findings there are range of systems that can be applied in order to characterise tourism destinations. For example, a system proposed by Pearce (2005) identifies six different labels in tourism industry and explains characteristics of each label. Label Emphasis Characteristics and examples of the system Activities Physical Listings, profiles, GIS approach Settings Physical Public management agencies use of zones using a biophysical basis Facilities Physical Micro-environments and service escapes: the immediate physical features of the tourist space Service Social Personnel: the characteristics of personnel in the service…]]> https://research-methodology.net/types-of-tourism-and-tourists/ Sun, 17 Jul 2022 12:22:44 +0000 https://research-methodology.net/?p=67489 Different types of tourism can be specified as visiting friends and relatives, religious tourism, social tourism, cultural tourism, hedonistic tourism, special interest tourism, business tourism, health tourism, educational tourism, scenic tourism and activity tourism (Swardbrooke and Horner, 2007). Swardbrooke and Horner (2007) argue that tourism needs to be classified as activity rather than industry. However, this viewpoint can be subjected to criticism because a wide range of activities related to tourism have positive implications to national economies from financial viewpoint, therefore tourism is larger than merely being an activity. Type Numbers Adaptation to local norms Elite Rare Adapts fully Off-beat Uncommon Adapts well Unusual Occasional Adapts somewhat Incipient mass  Steady flow Seeks Western amenities Mass Continuous Expects Western amenities Charter Massive Demands Western amenities  Smith’s typology of tourists Source: Smith (1977) Alternatively, types of tourism and tourists are divided by King and Hyde (1989) into the following six psychographic type: New indulgers mark a type of tourists who try to escape stress through engaging in new tourism experiences. Tourists belonging to this category tend to be experiential to a greater extent compared to alternative type of tourists discussed below. Anti-tourists are independent, unconventional type of tourists who prefer to explore tourism destinations alone. Anti-tourists usually do not want to be associated with ‘regular’ tourists and they tend to emphasize authenticity of their tourism activities. Big spenders prefer luxury, and therefore they expected extensive and intensive services with their tourism experiences. Big spenders are the main target customer segment for many businesses in tourism industry. New enthusiasts lack experience in tourism. This particular psychographic type of tourists tends to be highly energetic, prefer socialisation and physically demanding recreational activities. Dedicated Aussies/Kiwis are reluctant to travel outside of their home countries for chauvinistic reasons, limited budget and other reasons. Sense of safety…]]> https://research-methodology.net/ict-in-tourism-and-hospitality-industry-literature-review/ Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:08:57 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5566 Information and communication technologies (ICT) have had tremendous impact virtually all industries and sectors, as well as, specific business businesses processes. The impact of ICT on businesses relate to the facilitation of communication with organisational stakeholders, serving as an effective sales channel, providing an effective platform for engaging in marketing and others. Literature review is a “systematic, explicit and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating and interpreting the existing body of recorded work produced by other scholars” (Khan, 2008, p.41). Importance of conducting literature review in this paper can be explained in a way that it allows to present the most notable data about various important aspects of ICT in tourism and hospitality so that this data can be referred to during the case study analysis.   ICT in Tourism and Hospitality Sector Parsons and Oja (2013) mention online reservations systems as one of the greatest impacts of ICT on tourism and hospitality sector. Major travel companies such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Thomas Cook, as well as, medium and even small sized tourism and hospitality firms have online reservation functionalities on official company website. Online reservation capabilities provide substantial cost saving opportunities for businesses in tourism and hospitality sector that otherwise would have been spent on human resources making reservations in a manual manner. Moreover, according to Mihalic and Buhalis (2013), while the majority of businesses in tourism and hospitality sector have adopted various components of ICT to certain extent, there are substantial differences between businesses in terms of extent and nature of adoption of those components. In simple terms, Mihalic and Buhalis (2013) argue that some tourism and hospitality organisations have effectively included ICT to the sources of competitive advantage, whereas opportunities offered by ICT are yet to be used by others.   Importance of ICT to Small Hospitality Companies…]]> https://research-methodology.net/distribution-channels-in-tourism/ Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:30:57 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5556 Distribution channels in tourism can be divided into two levels: national and international. In national level, domestic market is served by large tourism operators and retail travel agents. In international level, on the other hand, tourism distribution may involve tourism operators, retail travel agents, as well as, wholesalers. According to Moutinho (2011) tourism distribution channels involve supplier products to be public (consumers) through channels members. Mourinho specifies individual parties in each category in the following manner: Supplier products Channel members Public Transport Accommodation Insurance Entertainment Tours Specialised services Tour operators Travel agencies Cross suppliers Suppliers Other Individuals Groups Organisations Tourism services, distributors and target population Source: Moutinho (2011) Mohapatra (2013) also discusses various aspects of distribution channels in tourism presented in above, and observes an interesting tendency in relation to these channels. Namely, according to Mohapatra (2013), the share of online sales transactions through these channels have been consistently and rapidly increasing compared to the volume of offline sales transactions during the two decades. However, Mohapatra (2013) fails to refer to any official statistical data to back up this claim.   References  Mohapatra, S. (2013) “E-Commerce Strategy: Text and Cases” Springer Group Moutinho, L. (2011) “Strategic Management in Tourism” CABI]]> https://research-methodology.net/ecotourism-and-branding/ Wed, 12 Feb 2014 00:11:32 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5551 Brands operating ecotourism services can be divided into two categories: brands offering ecotourism services as the only type of service and brands that offer ecotourism along with alternative types of tourism. Communication and branding are critical success factors for new product development. However, communication and branding efforts directed towards ecotourism can be vastly different compared to communication and branding efforts associated with many other products and services due to a set of unique aspects of ecotourism. Usually, ecotourism brands position their services as nature related tourism. Major ecotourism brands aim to target their customer segment though communicating their marketing message via various channels. Generally, profile of ecotourists in Europe can be described as middle-age to elderly experienced travellers who are opinion leaders with high education and within higher income bracket (Global Ecotourism Factsheet, 2006). Major ecotourism tour operators in the UK targeting this customers segment include Travel Corporation, Thomas Cook Group plc, TUI Travel plc, Acromas Holidays ltd, Trailfinders Ltd, Holidaybreak Ltd, Portman Travel Ltd and others. The most popular ecotourism destinations include Annapurna area in Nepal, Mayan sites in Belize, Galapagos Islands, Kenya, Australia, Peru, Brazil, South Africa and others.   Competition in Ecotourism Competition in ecotourism is intense with tour operators if various sizes competing with each-other. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) the number of international tourist arrivals exceeded one billion in 2012, and it is forecasted to reach 1.8 billion mark by the year of 2030. Company name Number of outlets % share of outlets Thomas Cook 777 19.0 CGL 360 8.8 Midlands 102 2.5 TUI 866 21.2 Flight Centre 90 2.2 Bath Travel 65 1.6 STA Travel 51 1.2 Hays Travel 44 1.1 CGL managed services and franchises 40 1.0 Other ABTA outlets 1385 33.9 Non-ABTA outlets 267 6.5 Travel agencies in the UK…]]> https://research-methodology.net/ecotourism-design-elements/ Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:51:43 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5546 Generally, design can be defined as “realisation of a concept or idea into a configuration, drawing, model, mould, pattern, plan or specification (on which the actual or commercial production of an item is based) and which helps achieve the item’s designated objectives” (Business Dictionary, 2014, online). Design of products and services is a separate science in marketing to be approached in a serous and responsible manner. Design process for new products and services involve the stages of initial research, concept formulation, initial design, development, construction of a prototype, engineering, and production. However, the extent of applicability of design process described above is highly limited towards ecotourism primarily due to the fact that it is highly difficult to develop new ecotourism destinations from the scratch. Accordingly, the key features of design elements of ecotourism are vastly different from the key features of design elements of the majority of products and services. Key features of ecotourism design elements can be specified as genuineness of nature environment, specific wildlife, pure ecosystem with accessible interpretation trails, level of excitement of its nature phenomenon, ecolodge, cultural immersion of local people, and historical heritage. The level of relevance of these key features to customer needs is discussed in the following part of the report.   Ecotourism Design Elements and Customer Needs The following table illustrates the relevance of ecotourism design elements to customer needs: Key features of ecotourism design Discussions Genuineness of natural environment Ecotourists have high levels of interest in genuine nature places such as forests, national parks, marines, etc. Specific wildlife Higher levels of wildlife such as animals living in a free habitat have serve as effective attraction for ecotourists Ecosystem Ecosystems can be explained as self-sustaining communities within natural settings (Schmitz, 2007) and they represent a major point of interest for ecotourists Ecolodge…]]> https://research-methodology.net/ecotourism-benefits-and-value/ Mon, 10 Feb 2014 08:50:19 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5541 Tourism is one of the largest industries in the global scale and its increasing popularity has resulted in emergence of independent forms of tourism such as leisure tourism, business tourism, sports tourism, medical tourism, ecotourism, food tourism, religious tourism etc. Ecotourism can be defined as “tourism to places that is designed to the protection of the environment or at least minimise damage to it, often involving travel to areas of natural interest in developing countries or participation in environmental projects” (Dictionary Reference, 2014, online). Ecotourism is also known as ethical tourism, ecological tourism and nature-based tourism. Main differences of ecotourism from traditional tourism relate to travels only to natural destinations, constructions of environmental awareness, reducing detrimental impacts of tourism to the local communities and the environment, and respect for local cultures.   Benefits of Ecotourism Understanding differences between customer needs and wants in an appropriate manner is important in order to fully appreciate the benefits of ecotourism to customers. Needs are essential for people for physical and social survival and they include food and water, clothing, accommodation, security, communication, love etc. Wants, on the other hand, can be explained as “the cultural manifestation of those needs” (Andrews, 2007, p.72). In simple terms, both, highly educated individuals with substantial income and floor-level factory employees with minimal income have a need for adventure and recreation. However, while highly educated individuals with substantial income might want to satisfy this need by engaging in ecotourism, floor-level factory employees with minimal income might want to satisfy the need for adventure and recreation by only attending a local park. There are various benefits of ecotourism to individuals engaged in ecotourism, to host destinations of ecotourism, and to the society and environment in general. Ecotourism offers a set of advantages to customers, i.e. individuals engaged in ecotourism…]]> https://research-methodology.net/longleat-safari-park-swot-analysis/ Fri, 03 Jan 2014 00:49:59 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5260 Longleat Adventure and Safari Park, owned by Owned by Longleat Enterprises Limited has been operating from April 1966 and comprises more than “15 fabulous attractions, including the new multi pound Jungle Kingdom and Longleat House, one of the most stunning stately homes in Britain” (About Longleat, 2013, online). The following table illustrates Longleat Safari Park SWOT analysis: Strengths Lack of competition in the UK High quality of customer services Affordable prices for Longleat Hotels Weaknesses Not possible to reach the park by public transport “Mercedes Destroyed by Monkeys at Longleat Safari Park” and some other similar videos on YouTube demotivating people to attend to park Opportunities Increasing ranges of services Possibilities of attracting sponsors Increasing ranges of animals Threats Negative impacts of various environmental groups Visitors being attacked by animals Environmental changes posing risks for animals in Longleat Safari Park    ]]> https://research-methodology.net/thorpe-park-swot-analysis/ Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:39:01 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5255 Thorpe Park is one of the most popular theme parks in the UK and it belongs to Merlin Entertainments Group, the world’s second biggest visitor attraction operator with more than 30 million visitors annually and about 13,000 employees (Merlin Entertainment Group, 2013, online). Merlin Entertainments Group management have specified its mission statement as ‘The delivery of memorable experiences to our millions of guests underpinned by the very highest Health & Safety standards’. Besides Thorpe Park, Merlin Entertainments Group portfolio includes a range of famous entertainment brands such as Legoland, Chessington World of Adventures, Madame Tussauds, Heide Park, The London Eye, Warwick Castle, Sea Life, Alton Towers, Gardaland, and London Dungeons (Merlin Entertainment Group, 2013, online). SWOT analysis can be used in order to represent relevant secondary data in an appropriate format to assist in decision-making. SWOT analysis can be explained as a “review that helps planners compare internal organisational strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats” (Boone and Kurtz, 2013, p.46). The following table illustrates Thorpe Park SWOT analysis Strengths Greater ranges of ages of target customers (not only children) A  wide range of rides Effective website design World-famous rides such as SAW, STELTH, and COLOSSUS Weaknesses High level of seasonality Geographical location not far from Chessington World of Adventures and Windsor’s Legoland Expensive prices Opportunities Introduction of new, innovative rides Increasing ranges of services Formation of strategic collaborations with other companies in catering and entertainment industry Threats Injuries to customers due to technical or other faults Further increasing influence of indirect competition – video games Negative impacts of relevant government legislations   References Boone, L.E. & Kurtz, D.L. (2013) “Contemporary Marketing” Cengage Learning Merlin Entertainments Group (2013) Available at: http://www.thorpepark.com/misc/merlin-entertainments.aspx      ]]> https://research-methodology.net/failure-of-plans-in-tourism-reasons-and-consequences/ Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:29:58 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5251 Failure of plans in tourism industry, like any other industry is not a rare occasions. Plans may go wrong as a result of the impact of external environment, as well as, mistakes and shortcomings taken place in planning process. Shortcomings during the planning process resulting the in the failure of plans may take place in the following manners: Mistakes may occur during the first stage of planning process, which is study recognition and preparation. For example, management may decide to conduct relevant study on regional levels, when the scope of the study necessitates data collection on the national level, thus compromising the quality of the plan from the outset of the planning process. Moreover, individuals responsible for tourism planning may fail to formulate SMART objectives. In this case, objectives may be too vague and lack deadlines, and it would be not possible to assess the level of achievement of these objectives in an appropriate manner. Shortcomings planning process can also take place during the stage of survey of existing data. Specifically, such shortcomings may involve collection of outdated data, collection of irrelevant data, collection of data from biased and unreliable sources etc. Arguably, implementation of new surveys can be specified as one of the major stages in tourism planning process that accommodates the most mistakes. Such mistakes may be caused due to the incompetence and the lack of previous experiences and they may involve selection of inappropriate data collection tools, sampling mistakes, and others. Analysis of secondary and primary data can be mentioned as another stage in the planning process in tourism where mistakes can happen possibly resulting in the failure of the plan. Mistakes in data analysis may involve failure to identify common patterns within the information provided by survey respondents, failure to achieve a required level of depth…]]> https://research-methodology.net/planning-process-for-tourism-industry/ Tue, 31 Dec 2013 00:19:24 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5247 Planning process for tourism industry comprises the following stages: 1. Study recognition and preparation. The first stage in planning process is associated with the recognition of the need for the strategy in order to obtain and/or increase competitive advantage to contribute to long-term growth. Depending on available budget and a range of other factors, studies may be planned to be conducted on local regional or national levels. 2. Setting of objectives or goals for the strategy. Goals and objectives need to be formulated according to SMART principle, where the acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. 3. Survey of existing data. The survey of existing data or secondary research can be done through analysing relevant information available on wide range of tourism reviews websites, newspapers, magazines, books and other online and offline published materials. The types of data that need to be collected from these sources include, but not limited to patterns of tourist behaviours, availability and quality of accommodation, impacts of environmental factors, social and cultural characteristics of tourism destinations etc. Importantly, the survey of existing data should cover all three directions: the state of issues at present, projected changes in the state of issues, and outline of principles for monitoring for the future. 4. Implementation of new surveys. New surveys are conducted in order to obtain fresh data and/or fill the information gap in relation to the tourism industry. Surveys can be conducted through online or offline questionnaires or interviews. When conducting the survey it is very important to select respondents i.e. sample group members from amongst target customers for tourism destinations. 5. Analysis of secondary and primary data. In case of questionnaires, data analysis can be done through representing collected information in bar-charts, pie-charts etc. In case of interviews, on the other hand, data analysis may involve finding common patterns…]]> https://research-methodology.net/characteristics-of-strategic-planning-for-tourism/ Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:41:12 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=5242 The term of tourism can be defined as “the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs” (Gunn, 2002, p.9, as taken from Mathieston and Wall, 1982), and tourism has been assessed as the largest industry in the global scale. Tourism provides both, economic and non-economic benefits to any given country. Economic benefits of tourism to a national economy is straightforward and it is associated with creation of new jobs, decrease in the levels of unemployment, stimulation of production of products and services to be consumed by tourists and others. Non-economic benefits of tourism, on the other hand, include facilitation of cultural exchanges, contribution to the levels of knowledge, and facilitation of communication. Strategy can be defined as “the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals” (Campbell et al., 2012, p.12, taken from Chandler, 1962). Accordingly, strategic planning can be explained as “the process of developing approaches to reach a defined objective” (Axson, 2010, p.25). Tourism industry has become more competitive than ever before, and therefore the importance of strategic planning for tourism industry is greater than ever before. The primary aim of the tourism industry relates to the achievement of adequate balance between the interests of public and private sectors. Three general principles of planning for tourism can be specified as anticipation, regulation and monitoring. Anticipation involves making projections about the future state of the tourism on the basis of relevant secondary and primary data. Regulation, on the other hand, is closely associated with the levels of regulation of tourist and affiliated organisations…]]> https://research-methodology.net/issues-of-quality-in-managing-a-tourism-organisation/ Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:09:53 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=1483 “Tourism is the world’s largest industry and makes a major contribution to the economies of most developed and developing countries” (Claire and Haven-Tang, 2005, p.1). At the same time, tourism organisations are facing a set of significant challenges they have to deal with in order to ensure their long-term growth. Specifically, quality management can be highlighted as one of the most important challenges for tourism organisations, and the importance of this challenge is increasing with ever-increasing customer expectations. Although the importance of quality in terms of long-term business growth in tourism organisations is widely understood by industry researchers and practitioners, yet no clear and universal recommendations exist regarding how the quality management aspect of the business can be improved in efficient ways. This article critically analyses the significance of quality management within the context of managing a tourism organisation. The article starts with discussions about the importance of managing quality in a tourist organisation, followed by a brief analysis of challenges in ensuring a high quality. Moreover, specific strategies are also described in this paper that tourism organisations can use in order to improve quality management.   The Importance of Managing Quality in a Tourism Organisation Managing quality is crucially important for tourism organisations along with other types of businesses. The significance of the quality management issue for tourism organisations has dramatically increased in recent years due to the highly intensified level of competition in the industry caused by the globalisation, low barriers for entering into the industry and a range of other factors. Moreover, “service quality is an intangible, but crucial area of interest to travel service providers” (Morais and Chick, 2005, online) because it is one of the most efficient bases for creating competitive edge in the marketplace. A great level of dedication to such an approach has enabled…]]> https://research-methodology.net/food-tourism/ Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:39:10 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=1162 The definition of food tourism is straightforward and there is no dramatic contrast among various definitions offered by various authors. A typical definition of food tourism would is like a “visitiation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production regions are the primary motivating factors for travel” (Buhalis and Costa, 2006, p.137). To make it more simple, it can be stated that food tourism is travelling to other destinations in order to consume their food. First of all, there is a consensus among the vast majority of authors the works of whom have been studied as a part of literature review that the topic of food tourism is not new. At the same time, “yet it is such an integral part of the experience that it is only in recent years that it has become a subject of study on its own right” (Hall and Sharples, 2003, p.1). Gretzel et al (2010) link this recent rise of popularity of food tourism to technological advancement in general, and the increasing role of internet in particular, by stating that once it became easier for people to get information of various types from internet including culinary and cuisine of other nations, more and more people started to travel to other countries for the sake of trying their food. Moreover, some authors have offered explanations about the growth of food tourism by stating the importance of the tourism destination. Specifically, it has been stated that “as the motivation to experience food and while travelling growth, destinations with appropriate levels of food and wine resources are able to develop increasingly sophisticated food and wine experiences, which may lead to the emergence of gourmet tourism” (Chen, 2009, p.165) Among a…]]> https://research-methodology.net/importance-of-symbolism-and-consumption-in-relation-to-events-and-tourist-destinations/ Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:00:04 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=1030 Symbol has been defined by Smith (2009) as a material object, written sign or something invisible that is used to represent something else. “The idea of ‘binding a matter with the matter’s image” is one that speaks to a more visceral aspect of symbolism and suggests a dimension of relational meaning for symbols that can play no comparable role in our understanding of a simple phonetic latter in the modern sense” (Scranton, 2010, p.47). According to Brodskaya (2007) in literature symbolism can be in forms of damnation, salvation, and reincarnation. Currently symbols are used for commercials purposes as well by many companies through associating their brands with a particular symbol or logo. Consumption can be interpreted as buying, using and interpretation of things (Aldridge, 2003) and in this sense it is a different term from a traditional economic definition of consumption. “Consumption involves consuming ideas, images on television and in advertisements” (Bocock, 1993, p.33). There are debates about the role and scope of the notion of consumption, but generally, many researchers agree on the current meaning of consumption in a way that modern identities are structured around the experience of consumption (Dunn, 1998). An interesting point relating to the issue of consumption is that it is very difficult for people to distinguish their ‘true’ and ‘false’ needs. True needs are air, water, food, sleep, and sex, without which it is impossible to live and people have to ‘consume’ them regularly, whereas ‘false’ needs are the ones created by marketing professionals, which makes people want to ‘consume’ their products or services. For instance, thirst for Coca Cola is a ‘false’ consumption need created by marketers. This is possible because people tend to express their desire through their consumption patterns. For example, if an individual desires to become a senior level executive,…]]> https://research-methodology.net/ecotourism-source-socio-economic-inequalities/ Fri, 22 Jun 2012 06:37:59 +0000 http://research-methodology.net/?p=485 Introduction Tourism has been one of the biggest and the most profitable industries in 20th century and this industry is moving towards the new level in 21st century with new variations and services included. Ecotourism is one of the variations of tourism that has been attracted mixed opinions from business academics and practitioners alike. Ecotourism can be defined as “travel to enjoy the world’s amazing diversity of natural life and human culture without causing damage to either” (Tickell, 1994, p.ix) On one hand, there are authors who argue that ecotourism is beneficial to tourists and local society in many levels pointing to learning opportunity for tourists and economic benefits to ecotourism destinations along with a range of other perceived benefits. On the other hand, there are others who point to the occasions were people were misplaced, local nature damaged, as well as socio-economic inequalities as the negative effects of ecotourism. Wearing and Neal (2009, p.6) mention two main facets of inequality as travelling to unspoilt natural environments and experiencing natural environment as the purpose of the travel. Emerging around 1980’s, ecotourism is believed to be related to nature-based, environmental education and sustainable development. However, there are some people who are highly sceptical about the benefits of ecotourism, and claim that it produces socio-economic inequalities.   The Benefits of Ecotourism Development Ecotourism offers range positive impacts for tourists, host destinations, and the science and environment in general. The impact of ecotourism on the designated areas where ecotourism has been promoted is not only a marginal activity to finance the protection of the environment, but is also a major industry of the national economy. Tuohino and Hynonen (1991) mention the fact that due to rapid growth of the ecotourism in areas like Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nepal, the local communities are also benefiting…]]>