INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) Published online December 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.760 Towards an Understanding of International City Break Travel Gerard Dunne1,*, Sheila Flanagan1 and Joan Buckley2 School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Faculty of Tourism and Food, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland Department of Management & Marketing, University College Cork, Ireland ABSTRACT This paper explores city break tourism and, in particular, the distinctive characteristics of this form of travel The city break is examined and compared with other types of trips The research follows a sequential mixed methods approach involving both a visitor survey and in-depth interviews The findings show the international city break trip to have a number of distinctive characteristics These are summarised into five main areas (5 Ds) — duration, distance, date flexibility, discretionary nature and destination travel party These distinguishing features provide a useful insight into one of the most important yet least examined travel segments in tourism research Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Received April 2009; Revised 30 October 2009; Accepted November 2009 Keywords: city break, trip characteristics, secondary holiday, discretionary trip INTRODUCTION T he focus on cities for leisure breaks, particularly international leisure breaks, has become a contemporary travel phenomenon that has resulted in the enhancement and *Correspondence to: Dr Gerard Dunne, Tourism Marketing Lecturer, School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Faculty of Tourism and Food, Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1, Ireland E-mail: gerard.dunne@dit.ie An earlier version of this paper was originally presented by the author at the Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference, 16-17 June 2009, Dublin This was also published as part of the Proceedings of Contemporary Issues in Irish and Global Tourism and Hospitality rejuvenation of many urban areas throughout Europe Cities are moving centre stage, providing a leisure experience that is both diverse and immediate According to IPK International’s European Travel Monitor, European city tourism grew by 20% in 2005, compared with an increase of just 3% in sun and beach holidays (Freitag, 2006) However, while urban tourism in general has received increased academic interest over the past two decades (e.g Buckley and Witt, 1985; Jansen-Verbeke, 1986; Ashworth and Tunbridge, 1990; Ashworth, 1992; Law, 1993, 2002; Page, 1995; Mazanec, 1997; Judd and Fainstein, 1999; Pearce, 2001; Hall and Page, 2002; Wöber, 2002 and Selby, 2004), analysis of the specific visitor groups that make up urban tourism demand has been less forthcoming With a few notable exceptions, little research specifically relating to city break travel currently exists Indeed, most of the commentary on the subject has tended to emanate from industry sources or consultant reports Little academic research explicitly addressing city break travellers and city break trip taking currently exists This indicates a significant gap in the urban tourism knowledge base CITY BREAKS — A DISTINCTIVE TYPE OF TRIP A city break represents a distinctive type of holiday, one that Trew and Cockerell (2002, pp 86) define as, ‘a short leisure trip to one city or town, with no overnight stay at any other destination during the trip.’ This definition importantly highlights the ‘city only’ nature of the trips and provides a basis on which to segment such visitors Indeed, segmenting visitor markets along the lines of type of trip can be very effective, particularly for destination management bodies Such breakdowns generally Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 410 offer potentially more valuable data than traditional socio-demographic classifications which, as Bieger and Laesser (2000, pp 56) point out, are ‘increasingly less helpful for the segmentation of guest groups.’ As researchers begin to recognise the significance of type of trip in understanding visitor behaviour (Hudson, 1999; Bloy, 2000; Sung et al., 2001), it has become more important to focus attention on the characteristics of different holidays and highlight the distinctiveness between them Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) describe type of trip (including aspects such as travel party and duration) as being a crucial factor in people’s travel decision process Examining the city break trip in terms of its distinctive elements is therefore both useful and important in the context of urban tourism research GROWTH OF CITY BREAK TRAVEL There are a number of factors that can be attributed to the rising popularity of city break holidays in Europe First, the increased availability of low cost air travel with its emphasis on short haul, point-to-point journeys is undoubtedly a significant contributor This development has made a wide range of city destinations accessible at lower cost Second, there is the increased tendency of Europeans to take additional but shorter holidays This is an important characteristic according to Trew and Cockerell (2002) who point out that in some European countries, the overall leisure intensity — i.e the proportion of the population travelling at least once a year — is reaching a ceiling At the same time, the total number of trips taken per market continues to grow, as people opt for two or more trips a year in place of, or in addition to, their main annual holiday Another reason for the growth relates to people’s changing perception of cities as travel destinations For contemporary travellers, the city has increasingly become viewed as, not just an entry, exit, or transit point, but a desired destination in its own right Finally, the increasing role of the Internet in the travel decision-making process has also contributed greatly to the city break phenomenon The ease with which people can access information and make bookings online has greatly facilitated this form of travel The Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd G Dunne, S Flanagan and J Buckley uncomplicated nature of most city break trips (the majority consisting of just two components, transport and accommodation) reduces the risk element commonly associated with booking holidays online These factors have all contributed to the steady growth of ‘city only’ holidays and have resulted in city break travel delivering much welcome intra-regional traffic at a time when Europe’s market share of global tourism is falling The city break phenomenon has helped to popularise and regenerate several European cities, breathing new life into many beleaguered post-industrial urban economies It has also given rise to a number of ‘new’ city destinations that have emerged in response to the enthusiastic demand for additional city break locations Tallinn, Bratislava and Riga are among a new group of cities in recent years to have established themselves on the European city break travel map The value of this form of tourism is not lost on the product providers within the cities themselves Accommodation suppliers in particular appreciate the propensity of city break travellers to book rooms at weekends, thus complementing the weekday occupancy that they traditionally receive from business travellers In addition, the all–yearround arrival pattern commonly associated with city breakers is seen as a significant positive factor for businesses that operate in such a seasonal industry CONCERNS IN RELATION TO CITY BREAKS The city break phenomenon, although generally welcomed by urban tourism destinations, has nonetheless received a measure of criticism from certain quarters in recent years Some of this relates to the type of tourists commonly attracted to this form of travel, particularly where low cost airlines are involved For example, in recent times, residents and homeowners of Deauville in Normandy tried to stop the arrival of cheap Ryanair flights from London, believing that such a development would encourage an influx of downmarket, short break travellers to their traditionally upmarket resort town Similar criticisms have also been raised in other destinations, particularly in a number of emerging Eastern European cities where stag Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Towards an Understanding of International City Break Travel parties and other relatively invasive forms of tourism account for a significant proportion of the city break traffic One of the most pressing issues relating to city breaks concerns the impact the phenomenon is having on regional and rural tourism There is a fear in some quarters that popular city destinations are ‘taking’ potential tourists from more traditional non-urban holiday areas This is certainly the case in Ireland where significant dissatisfaction exists among regional tourism bodies at the perceived loss of business because of the increasing popularity of Dublin city According to a report by the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) on visitor distribution in Ireland, between 2000 and 2005, the number of nights spent by international holidaymakers in Dublin increased by 39%, while the number of bednights spent in the rest of the country declined by almost 11% (ITIC, 2006) This highlights a fundamental change in the spatial spread of visitors in Ireland and one which is clearly worrying the country’s tourism authorities However, a critical question seems to be whether or not cities are actually ‘taking’ visitors from other regions, or whether it is just a case of fewer people wishing to visit rural or regional destinations Another criticism commonly levelled at city break travel relates to the green issue Significant attention is now being focused on airlines, particularly low cost carriers, in terms of their contribution to carbon emissions globally Non-essential, supplemental trips such as city breaks are increasingly being disapproved of by a growing environmental lobby As governments begin to levy green taxes on the transport sector, and as people become increasingly aware of their carbon footprint, it will be interesting to see if this has an impact on the demand for city break travel METHODS In examining the distinctiveness of the international city break market to Dublin, it was decided to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods Within the combined methods design, a sequential triangulation approach, as outlined by Miller and Crabtree (1994), was considered particularly suitable This consists of conducting two phases to the Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 411 research project, with the results of the first phase essential for the planning of the next A quantitative study was undertaken first (Phase One), which provided essential data in relation to the characteristics of city break visitors and their trips, in addition to information necessary to carry out the second phase Phase Two involved an in-depth qualitative analysis that examined aspects of city break visitor’s consumer behaviour Both phases combine to provide a unique insight into city break travel characteristics and behaviour Phase One involved a face to face survey carried out in Dublin where 1000 overseas visitors were intercepted over a 12-month period at locations across the city centre From this sample, two main visitor cohorts were identified and separated These were city break holidaymakers (n = 379) and non-city break holidaymakers (n = 416) The former were defined as leisure visitors who were visiting the city only The latter consisted of leisure visitors who were visiting Dublin as part of a wider holiday (i.e the city was just one part of their trip) Having isolated both visitor segments, it was possible to carry out a comparative analysis This proved very useful in identifying distinctive characteristics and features of the city break market It should be noted that only commercial city breaks were considered; therefore, people visiting family and friends were not included In addition, only those who visited the city for the entirety of their trip were deemed to be city breakers (as per Trew and Cockerell’s definition) Phase Two consisted of 40 in-depth interviews with city break visitors to Dublin The purpose of this phase was to uncover insights from ‘thick descriptions,’ in the visitors’ own words, in relation to their travel behaviour These thick descriptions, as outlined by Geertz (1973), consist of detailed information about the process being examined from the viewpoints of the participants in the process Drawing on data from Phase One, it was possible to develop an accurate sampling frame based on the characteristics of city break visitors to Dublin The interviews were carried out at three locations around the city, at different times of the year and at different times of the week Interviews lasted between 25 minutes Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 412 and hour, and were recorded They were later transcribed and subsequently analysed using a qualitative approach involving data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing/verification, as outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994 ) From this, a number of themes connected to people’s travel behaviour emerged The detailed information collected from the interviews consisted of data not just relating to the interviewee’s city break but also to their last main holiday This allowed direct comparisons to be made in relation to people’s wider trip-taking behaviour In analysing the results from both phases of the research, a number of distinctive features of city break travel became apparent These were characteristics that emerged from both the quantitative and qualitative data sets and were categorised into five main areas These are conveniently referred to as the Ds of city break travel Although primarily relating to the situation in Dublin, they are reflective of city break travel in a wider context also THE Ds OF CITY BREAK TRAVEL The five characteristics (5 Ds) will now be discussed in an effort to shed light on the factors that make city break trips distinctive as a type of holiday The five specific features are: Duration, Distance, Discretionary nature, Date flexibility and Destination travel party Duration The first distinctive feature relates to the length of the trip The findings in this research support the common view (Law, 2002; Trew and Cockerell, 2002) that city breaks generally consist of short-stay trips The results from Phase One show how city break visitors stay for noticeably shorter periods compared with other leisure tourists — 55% stated their trip consisted of three nights or less — compared with just 6% for non-city break holidaymakers However, it would be wrong to assume that all city breaks are short breaks; clearly they are not Some people come on city based holidays for longer durations, and indeed, there is evidence to suggest that longer city break trips are growing faster than average (Trew and Cockerell, 2002) However, in general, the findings Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd G Dunne, S Flanagan and J Buckley show most city breaks being short, usually three nights or less The results point to three main explanations for this First, city breaks tend to be secondary trips, often supplementing a person’s main holiday In this regard, they tend to be of a shorter duration as they are complementing rather than replacing a bigger trip Second, as Burtenshaw et al (1991) and Law (1993) point out, many people are able to see and experience what they want, in most cities, in a few days This was confirmed in the Phase Two interviews where a number of people, although generally indicating their approval with Dublin as a destination, also pointed out that a few days or a weekend in the city was adequate to satisfy their city break requirements It’s a nice city and we’ve really enjoyed it but in the end of the day the three days is enough, we’ve seen what we wanted to see (James, London) This was echoed by people who visited the city for concerts or sports games which, by their nature, tend to be short-term events The third reason relates to the international trend towards shorter, but more frequent leisure trips This trend has been one of the most significant developments in European travel in recent years, and the city break phenomenon is testimony to this Cities, as destinations, lend themselves easily to short break travel For time-pressed travellers, cities can be reached directly, reducing or eliminating transfer issues commonly associated with longer holidays In addition, attractions and amenities are generally clustered or located close together, resulting in little time spent moving around the destination Thus, for many people, cities represent the ideal short break holiday destination Distance The second distinctive characteristic relates to the distance people travel to take such holidays City break visitors tend to come mostly from nearby source markets This fact is very much evident in Dublin where 80% of the city break market comes from Britain, a statistic that is much higher than the overall figure for British holidaymakers into Dublin (50%) Urban tourism demand in many other Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Towards an Understanding of International City Break Travel European cities follows a similar trend Because of the limited duration of most city break trips people don’t like to spend much time getting to and from the destination The increased availability of low cost point-to-point flights has improved matters greatly in this regard Page (2002) refers to the development of regional air services outside the main national gateways as having contributed significantly to the rise of secondary urban trips Cheap frequent access from a range of airports in neighbouring markets has been a key feature of most city break destinations For example, the number of air routes into Dublin is highest from Britain Ryanair alone flies to 17 different British airports from Dublin The impact of this cheap air access is reflected in the holiday arrivals statistics, which show growth in air travel to Dublin far exceeding that of ferry services As Table shows, there has been a significant shift in mode of entry by British visitors over the period of 1997 to 2007 The figures highlight a swing of 36% from sea to air transport Low cost airlines have had a huge influence on this shift Table Route of entry % from Britain (2007 versus 1997) Air Sea 1997 (%) 2007 (%) % change 39 61 75 25 +36 −36 Source: Fáilte Ireland Market Trends (Britain) Clearly for time-pressed city break visitors, fast, direct air access is a hugely attractive option In Dublin’s case, this is reflected in the large number of city breakers coming from Britain For these visitors, Dublin represented one of the most easily accessible overseas city destinations available to them It was cheaper to come here than what it is to go to my work, and it was quicker I mean it takes me an hour-and-a-half to go to my work, whereas I mean I couldn’t believe it, it was 50 minutes We left home at a.m in the morning and arrived here at 7.52 a.m I mean it’s incredible, I couldn’t believe it for 70p each way — I mean that’s much less than I pay going to work Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 413 Although I know the taxes bring it up but still it’s amazing (Ruth, Glasgow) Discretionary nature Another significant feature of city breaks is the discretionary nature of the trips During the visitor interviews, respondents were asked about their trip-taking patterns in the previous year in order to examine how the city break fitted in with other trips (if any) they had taken The findings showed that people had generally taken the city break as an additional trip to their main holiday There were only a few cases where the Dublin city break was considered the principal, or indeed only, holiday of the year This supports Page’s (2002, pp 121) assertion that ‘many urban holiday trips are secondary trips, complementing the traditional summer-long annual holidays which are coastal-based.’ In most cases, the trip was viewed as a discretionary break, and for some, an opportunistic one This is reflected in the short decision time that was evident with many of the trips The survey results show almost 60% of city breakers booked their accommodation less than weeks before their trip compared with 37% of non-city break holidaymakers, indicating what Swarbrooke and Horner (2007, p 77) note as ‘the increasing popularity of last minute purchases of tourism products.’ For most people, city breaks were conceived and acted on in a relatively short period of time, with the Internet playing a significant role in this behaviour The influence of situational factors was also found to contribute to the discretionary nature of city break trip taking These are factors which Belk (1975, pp 158) refers to as ‘particular to a time and place of observation and which have a demonstrable and systematic effect on current behaviour.’ Evidence from the interviews shows that the genesis of many city break ideas can be traced to particular circumstances that people faced, or situations that arose in people’s lives These proved to be quite diverse; however, all had a similar outcome, in that, taking a city break was considered an appropriate response to the particular situation they faced For example, one interviewee explained how a family bereavement was the catalyst for his trip to Dublin: Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 414 Well to tell you the truth it came about because I lost my brother a couple of weeks ago I just needed to get away, clear my head like I went to a travel agent and just said I need to get away for a couple of days — and so she suggested here In some cases, the city break was organised by a third party, and as such, the decision often came down to a simple question: ‘do I join this trip or not?’ Once this decision was made, respondents often had very little other input into the trip, except to participate This usually differed from people’s main holiday situation where the initial generic decision of whether or not to take a trip was, in many cases, already made For most people, the main holiday was an annual ritual, therefore the decision-making tended to focus less on whether to go and more on where to go By contrast, city breaks were usually less predetermined and as such the decision-making was more discretionary in nature The decision process did not tend to follow distinctive stages as commonly outlined in the tourism literature For example, the conventional view is that people first decide on whether or not to take a trip — what Hodgson (1983) calls first order questions — and then subsequently choose what kind of trip to take (second order questions) However, for many city breakers, these decisions were made concurrently In other words, people often came upon a good city break deal or were introduced to one and decided to ‘go for it,’ and as such were making first and second order decisions simultaneously I saw the special offer for the flight and that I suppose started me thinking And then because we had free time and no real commitments we decided why not (Fred, Bristol) This reflects impulsive or opportunistic decision-making behaviour that is very much linked to the discretionary nature of the trips It also shows the strength of special offers and deals when discovered by people at particular times Advertisements for cheap flights, in particular, were found to stimulate demand in a number of cases Date flexibility The fourth distinctive feature of city break travel relates to the lack of seasonal bias Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd G Dunne, S Flanagan and J Buckley Table Timing of visit by type of holidaymaker Winter Spring Summer Autumn Total % of city break holidaymaker (n = 379) % of non-city break holidaymaker (n = 416) 17.2 23.2 34.0 25.6 100 4.3 14.9 43.3 37.5 100 associated with the trips Table shows findings from the survey that highlight the difference in arrival patterns between city break and non-city break visitors to Dublin Such a demand pattern can be partly attributed to what Burtenshaw et al (1991) point out as the relatively minor role weather plays in city-based tourism The findings show that 17% of city breakers to Dublin arrived during winter months compared with just 4% of noncity break holidaymakers However, besides weather, the disparity in arrival patterns can also be attributed to other factors For example, the secondary nature of city breaks means most are taken outside of peak periods Sometimes these trips are centred around events such as concerts, sports games and exhibitions These are generally spread throughout the year and as such the city break visitors who attend them contribute to the development of a year-round city destination Yes, I suppose the concert was the main reason for coming (to Dublin), we are big fans and we did not want to miss it (Christina, Rotterdam) This non-seasonal demand pattern is a crucial feature and one that makes city breakers an attractive market for urban tourism businesses Destination travel party The final characteristic of city break travel concerns the composition of the travelling unit One of the most interesting findings in this regard was the small number of travel parties that included children The survey results show most people travelled to Dublin with either a spouse/partner (60%) or a group of friends (19%) in contrast to just 13% visiting Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Towards an Understanding of International City Break Travel with their family (including children) These results concur with previous studies which show a high proportion of urban tourists travel without children (Flanagan and Dunne, 2005; British Tourist Authority and English Tourist Board, 1988; Trinity Research, 1989) Three main factors emerged as the principal reasons why children are not well represented in city break travel parties First, a high proportion of city breakers did not have children The findings show that many of the groups were made up of single people travelling together (friends, affinity groups, stag/hen parties, etc), or couples who either did not have children or whose children had left home (empty nesters) For all these people, ease of mobility was a key factor in their choice of trip They were not tied to the school calendar and as such were more flexible with their travel plans This allowed them to avail of special travel offers which tend to be more plentiful and financially rewarding during school term Childless travellers can also usually take trips without a lot of preplanning, which means they can often make decisions more speedily and spontaneously For such people, city breaks represent a very attractive travel option The second reason relates to people who had children at home, but who used the city break trip to escape the stresses and pressures of parenting This was particularly evident in the interviews where a number of couples described their trip to Dublin as a chance to take a break from their children We have a young son — he’s one and a half and he’s into everything at the moment Jane’s mother took him for these few days It’s great to just get the break (Brian, Nottingham) A city break was seen as ideal in many ways for this purpose — the short stay nature of the trips along with the ease of access made travelling easier in terms of arranging childminding Interestingly, these people saw the city break as an adult-focused holiday centred on themselves By contrast, the main holiday was seen as a chance to spend time with their children The third reason, for the lack of children, relates to the child-unfriendly perception of Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 415 cities as destinations A few of the interviewees commented on the lack of things to for kids in Dublin or the difficulty in keeping them amused, while others claimed they would never bring their children to a city for a holiday CONCLUSION Distinguishing between the types of trips people take can be a very useful exercise for tourism researchers Such an approach focuses on the nature of the trip — its principal characteristics — and as such offers potentially more valuable visitor behaviour data than other approaches By studying the different characteristics of various holidays, a greater understanding of trip-taking behaviour is possible Certainly this is the case with city breaks where, up to now, little empirical data in relation to the nature of these trips has existed As the changing structure of trip taking by Europeans continues to influence the growth of city breaks, the need for up to date information on this visitor market has become more pressing This study has shown that the international city break trip has a number of distinguishing characteristics These are encapsulated in five main features (5 Ds), duration, distance, date flexibility, discretionary nature and destination travel party The findings in this regard show city break trips to be generally short in duration (usually less than three nights) involving mostly short haul flights from neighbouring countries In addition, they tend to be secondary trips that people often use to supplement a main holiday They are also likely to be taken throughout the year and are mostly made up of couples or groups of friends Uncovering these characteristics provides a better understanding of city break trips and in particular their distinctiveness compared with other types of holidays The ability of city breaks to provide a quick, short escape from the routine of daily life shows them to be fulfilling a significant role in today’s cash rich, time poor society In addition, the findings highlight some interesting themes in relation to the role of a holiday — particularly in terms of its social function For example, some trips were viewed as opportunities to build on Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 416 personal relationships, often between partners, while others provided a more hedonistic function in which the holiday was viewed as a chance to regress or behave in a manner that would be socially out of character in the home environment Such differences are interesting to observe and highlight the value of viewing holiday-taking in its wider social context Looking forward, it is not certain if cities will continue to enjoy the appeal they today Given the increasingly negative economic environment that tourism faces, it will be interesting to see if secondary trips such as city breaks manage to sustain the type of popularity they have experienced up to now Further research into this area would be very useful It would be particularly beneficial to see how people’s perception of discretionary leisure travel changes in recessionary times For example, will city breaks come to be viewed as an unnecessary luxury in harder economic times or is it possible that people may turn to such trips as a cheaper alternative to their main holiday? In order to remain competitive in the years ahead, city tourism suppliers will need to have a clear understanding of this important visitor group and be able to respond to the specific requirements they present For this, comprehensive knowledge of city break travellers and the trips they engage in will be crucial REFERENCES Ashworth GJ 1992 Is there an urban tourism? 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Continuum: London; 112–136 Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Towards an Understanding of International City Break Travel Pearce DG 2001 An integrative framework for urban tourism Annals of Tourism Research 28(4): 926–946 Selby M 2004 Understanding Urban Tourism: Image, Culture and Experience I.B Tauris: London Sirakaya E, Woodside AG 2005 Building and testing theories of decision making by travellers Tourism Management 26(6): 815–832 Sung HH, Morrison AM, Hong GS, O’Leary JT 2001 The effects of household and trip characteristics on trip types: A consumer behavioural Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 417 approach for segmenting the U.S domestic leisure travel market Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research 25(1): 46–68 Swarbrooke J, Horner S 2007.Consumer Behaviour in Tourism Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford Trew J, Cockerell N 2002 The European market for UK city breaks Insights 14(58): 85–111 Trinity Research 1989 The UK Short Break Holiday Market Trinity Research: Manchester, UK Wöber K 2002 City Tourism 2002 Springer Verlag: Vienna Int J Tourism Res 12, 409–417 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Supply-Side Perspectives on Ecotourism in Northern Thailand employees are included (i.e., employees in the surveyed location as well as all other business locations), the number jumps up only slightly to 9.1 people Only 9.2% of surveyed businesses employ more than 20 people The customers of travel agency businesses in Chiang Mai are largely from Western Europe, North America, or Australia When asked to list the top five countries of origin for their customers in an average year, travel agency businesses listed the United Kingdom the most often (64.7% of the time), followed by the United States (62.3%), France (52%), Australia (43.7%) and Germany (36.3%) Three-quarters of surveyed businesses not list a single Asian country in their top five customer markets This is interesting considering that Asian countries constituted in 2007 the top five markets among the 14.46 million international tourist international arrivals to Thailand as a whole, with 39% coming from one of five Asian countries: Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China and Singapore (TAT, 2009) Even though Malaysia represents the largest source of inbound tourists to Thailand, only 11.3% of travel agency businesses surveyed listed it in their top five customer markets There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy between national tourist arrivals and the customer base of Chiang Mai travel agency businesses First, it could be the case that a majority of Asian tourists in Thailand travel on package holidays arranged by foreign, or at least-Bangkok-based, tour operators Second, Chiang Mai tends to attract more ‘Western’ tourists than the rest of the country For instance, though tourists from the United States made up 4.3% of all international arrivals in Thailand in 2007, they represented 13.4% of all tourists in Chiang Mai province (TAT, 2009) Similarly, albeit less pronounced, French and German tourists represented 2.4% and 3.7%, respectively, of international arrivals in Thailand, but accounted for 7.3% and 7.5% of foreign tourists visiting Chiang Mai The five Asian countries listed above, which account for 39% of international arrivals in Thailand, make up only 25% of arrivals in Chiang Mai (TAT, 2009) On average, surveyed businesses operate 4.8 tours of their own, while selling 3.3 tours on behalf of other companies Only 10.6% operate Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 631 more than five different tour packages of their own, while 22.8% of businesses sell more than five tours on behalf of other companies However, despite operating and selling a small number of tours, Chiang Mai’s travel agency businesses operate and sell tours that feature a large range of activities and sites (Table 1) In light of the tourist attractions normally associated with northern Thailand, and the Chiang Mai vicinity specifically, it is not surprising that the activities most often featured in tours operated and sold by travel agency businesses include either outdoor, naturebased activities such as elephant riding, elephant shows, visits to orchid and butterfly farms, bamboo and whitewater rafting, and jungle trekking, or activities associated with cultural tourism, such as visits to Buddhist temples and ‘hilltribe’ villages, Thai cooking lessons, and traditional Thai dinner ceremonies known as khantoke Moreover, the most popular activities — in particular, elephant riding, visits to ‘hilltribe’ villages, rafting, and trekking — are commonly packaged together as part of single full-day tours in which many international tourists in Chiang Mai participate Coupled with the small number of tours operated and sold on average by individual travel agency businesses in Chiang Mai, the large number of businesses and available tour activities hints at a lack of consolidation among Chiang Mai travel agents and tour operators In short, agent and operator business in Chiang Mai is characterised by a dispersion of trade across hundreds of small, independent businesses that operate and sell tours which are limited in number, but filled with a wide range of activities TRAVEL AGENT AND TOUR OPERATOR CONCEPTUALISATIONS OF ECOTOURISM In order to explore how ecotourism is conceived and packaged to international tourists in Thailand, travel agency businesses surveyed for this research were asked several questions that assessed their conceptions of ecotourism For example, businesses were asked whether or not, in their opinion, particular tour activities and sites qualify as ecotourism (Table 2) Additionally, businesses were asked to rate the importance of various components to their Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 632 N Kontegeorgopoulos and K Chulikavit Table Activities/sites included in the tours operated and sold by Chiang Mai travel agents and tour operators Percentage of businesses (N = 300) Activity/Site Elephant riding Elephant show ‘Hilltribe’ village Bamboo rafting Orchid or butterfly farm Trekking (one-day) Whitewater rafting Trekking (overnight) Golden Trianglea Doi Suthepb Handicrafts center Doi Inthanonc Temple Khantoke dinnerd Thai cooking lessons Snake farm Monkey show Ping River cruise Chiang Mai Night Safari Buffalo farm Cycling All terrain vehicle driving Chiang Mai Zoo Massage or spa treatment Museum/art gallery Rock climbing Golf Birdwatching Shooting range Cabaret show Neither operate nor sell tours with activity/site Operate own tours with activity/site Sell (but not operate own) tours with activity/site Both operate and sell tours with activity/site Average percentage of all tours with activity/site 3.7 4.3 4.0 6.0 9.7 10.7 18.0 12.7 6.0 5.0 14.0 7.0 9.0 7.0 16.7 21.3 23.7 15.1 22.7 37.0 26.0 27.3 32.3 23.4 36.7 31.7 49.3 48.5 44.5 92.3 22.4 21.7 20.3 18.0 19.3 14.7 11.7 13.3 19.0 23.0 19.7 20.3 22.3 18.0 9.3 14.0 12.7 13.4 14.7 9.3 10.0 7.7 15.0 10.0 13.3 5.7 11.3 7.0 7.0 1.0 38.8 40.0 43.3 45.3 38.3 46.3 47.3 47.3 41.3 34.3 34.3 41.0 37.7 49.7 53.7 37.0 37.0 46.8 38.0 31.3 46.0 48.3 32.7 47.8 30.7 46.3 26.7 30.8 36.8 4.7 35.1 34.0 32.3 30.7 32.7 28.3 23.0 26.7 33.7 37.7 32.0 31.7 31.0 25.3 20.3 27.7 26.7 24.7 24.7 22.3 18.0 16.7 20.0 18.7 19.3 16.3 12.7 13.7 11.7 2.0 58.5 57.4 54.5 51.7 48.0 46.8 45.8 45.4 44.5 42.3 36.0 35.7 34.8 30.0 28.2 22.3 20.9 18.7 14.6 14.2 13.3 11.7 11.6 11.5 9.0 8.8 8.6 7.4 7.0 1.4 a The Golden Triangle is a traditional opium growing region that lies at the confluence of the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos b Doi Suthep is a mountain at the top of which lies a famous Buddhist temple c Doi Inthanon is a national park located approximately 60 kilometers from Chiang Mai town, and named after the highest mountain in Thailand d Khantoke is a traditional northern Thai dinner, usually accompanied by a show featuring traditional Thai dancing general understanding of what ecotourism entails (Table 3) Several observations can be made regarding the conceptualisation of ecotourism among Chiang Mai’s travel agents and tour operators It is clear, for example, that a large number of businesses count, as ecotourism, certain tour activities that are clearly cultural in nature A total of 88.3% of travel agency Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd businesses believe that visits to Doi Suthep, a Buddhist temple that dates back to the a fourteenth century, usually or always qualify as ecotourism The exact same percentage of businesses believe that visits to ‘hilltribe’ villages, a tour activity motivated by an interest in interacting with the cultural ‘Other’ (Cohen, 1989; Hayami 2006), usually or always qualifies as Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Supply-Side Perspectives on Ecotourism in Northern Thailand 633 Table Qualification of specific activities and sites as ecotourism Percentage of respondents (N = 300) Activity/site Doi Inthanon ‘Hilltribe’ village Doi Suthep Trekking (overnight) Trekking (one-day) Elephant riding Birdwatching Bamboo rafting Elephant show Orchid/butterfly farm Chiang Mai Zoo Chiang Mai Night Safari Whitewater rafting Cycling Golden Triangle Ping River cruise Rock climbing Buffalo farm Snake farm Monkey show All-terrain vehicle driving Golf Shooting range Never Not usually Sometimes Usually Always Mean SD 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 2.3 1.0 2.7 2.0 3.3 4.0 1.3 0.7 3.0 2.7 3.0 8.0 10.7 11.0 9.0 20.3 22.7 1.7 1.7 4.0 3.0 3.0 2.7 5.7 4.3 3.3 4.7 6.0 5.7 5.3 7.3 6.3 5.7 13.0 10.7 12.3 13.0 14.0 19.0 21.0 4.0 9.3 7.0 13.0 14.3 15.0 13.7 15.3 13.3 14.3 13.3 14.7 22.0 20.3 18.0 21.7 30.7 23.0 25.3 25.7 34.3 23.0 26.0 43.0 43.3 42.3 37.0 39.3 47.3 35.7 47.0 47.3 51.7 50.7 50.0 48.0 48.0 48.7 48.0 37.0 43.7 39.7 38.0 31.7 26.3 23.3 51.0 45.0 46.0 46.3 42.7 34.3 42.7 32.3 33.3 27.3 26.7 25.7 23.3 23.7 24.0 22.0 16.3 14.7 12.0 12.3 11.0 11.3 7.0 4.43 4.30 4.29 4.25 4.20 4.12 4.11 4.05 4.05 3.98 3.91 3.88 3.87 3.87 3.84 3.81 3.51 3.46 3.30 3.28 3.22 2.89 2.71 0.68 0.76 0.82 0.84 0.84 0.81 1.00 0.86 0.92 0.89 0.97 1.00 0.88 0.88 0.96 0.93 1.01 1.11 1.16 1.17 1.10 1.31 1.25 SD, standard deviation ecotourism Compared with activities, such as trekking, that are closely related to interactions with and experiences in natural environments, the higher rank of activities that are driven by an interest in culture or history illustrates the importance of culture and cultural tourism to travel agency businesses’ conceptions of ecotourism Overall, the view of ecotourism held by agents and operators is expansive and flexible, where a very large number of activities and sites qualify as ecotourism Though activities such as all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riding, golf and shooting at a firing range are ranked lowest among all activities listed, it is still telling that 42.7%, 37.6% and 30.3%, respectively, of respondents believe that these activities, widely recognised as having little to with even the broadest definitions of ecotourism, usually or always count as ecotourism (Table 2) These three activities, furthermore, are the only ones among 23 activities or sites Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd listed in the survey that are not considered by at least half of all travel agency businesses to usually or always be ecotourism By considering virtually every activity that takes place outdoors as ecotourism, Chiang Mai’s travel agency businesses essentially go well beyond even the most flexible and inclusive category of ‘soft ecotourism,’ which is ‘associated with a high level of services and facilities to mediate encounters between venues and potentially large numbers of visitors more casually engaged with the natural environment’ (Weaver and Lawton, 2007, p 1170) When asked whether they consider themselves an ecotourism company, exactly threequarters of surveyed businesses stated yes (specifically, 57.3% stated ‘probably’ and 17.7% stated ‘definitely’) With so many activities qualifying as ecotourism to so many businesses, one could reasonably expect the majority of travel agency businesses in Chiang Mai to consider themselves a part of the ecotourism Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd SE, standard error Contributes financially to environmental conservation Promotes conservation awareness Provides education to tourists Teaches tourists about Thai culture Provides authentic experiences Provides education for community members Provides employment Provides fun experiences Involves locals in decision-making Takes place in rural locations Provides adventurous experiences Produces profits for businesses Involves human interaction with animals Takes place in remote locations Involves only certain kinds of tourists Component 0 0 0.3 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.7 2.0 2.0 7.7 Not at all important 0 0.3 2.0 1.7 1.0 1.7 4.3 4.0 3.3 4.7 3.3 9.0 8.7 17.0 A little important 3.3 7.3 11.3 13.7 11.3 17.7 16.0 21.7 24.3 25.0 26.3 31.3 39.7 42.3 46.0 Somewhat important 42.7 42.7 57.0 53.7 63.7 52.3 62.0 54.7 51.3 54.7 51.7 51.0 37.0 37.0 22.3 Very important Percentage of respondents (N = 300) Table The importance of specific components to definitions of ecotourism 54.0 50.0 31.3 30.7 23.3 28.7 20.0 18.7 19.7 16.7 17.0 13.7 12.3 10.0 7.0 Extremely important 4.51 4.43 4.19 4.13 4.09 4.08 4.00 3.86 3.85 3.84 3.80 3.74 3.49 3.44 3.04 Mean 0.033 0.036 0.037 0.041 0.037 0.042 0.039 0.045 0.046 0.043 0.045 0.044 0.052 0.050 0.057 SE (4.44–4.57) (4.36–4.50) (4.12–4.27) (4.05–4.21) (4.01–4.16) (4.00–4.16) (3.92–4.07) (3.77–3.95) (3.76–3.94) (3.76–3.92) (3.71–3.89) (3.65–3.82) (3.39–3.59) (3.35–3.54) (2.93–3.15) 95% confidence interval 634 N Kontegeorgopoulos and K Chulikavit Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Supply-Side Perspectives on Ecotourism in Northern Thailand sector of the overall industry Of course, this is understandable from a marketing perspective as well, because Chiang Mai’s travel agency businesses estimate, on average, that 56.2% of their customers express an interest in ecotourism It is clear that many owners, managers and staff members believe genuinely that their firms are ecotourism companies, likely because they operate and sell tours that feature what are believed, in their minds at least, to qualify as ecotourism activities Chiang Mai agent and operator conceptualisations of ecotourism both confirm and challenge existing definitions commonly found in the ecotourism literature Prevailing notions of ecotourism are confirmed in the priority placed by businesses on conservation and education when asked to rate the importance of specific components (Table 3) Out of the 15 components measured, the top four all involve either conservation or education This coincides with the frequent focus in ecotourism definitions on conservation and education, the second and third most frequently cited features of ecotourism (‘nature-based’ being the first) according to a thorough content analysis of 30 ecotourism definitions (Donohoe and Needham, 2006) On the other hand, with only 7% of businesses believing that it is extremely important that ecotourism involve only certain kinds of tourists, the findings of this research contradict the idea held by some authors (Diamantis, 1999; Mastny, 2001) that ecotourism represents a selective and specialised market not open to mass, conventional tourists Further, while cultural respect and cultural education are included as components of ecotourism by some authors (Zeppel, 2006; Honey, 2008), few definitions of ecotourism prioritise culture to the same extent as travel agency businesses At the very least, many scholars of ecotourism would not consider visits to Buddhist temples and ‘hilltribe’ villages as salient examples of ecotourism THE IMPORTANCE OF ECOTOURISM TO TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESSES In addition to providing information on what they consider the most significant components and examples of ecotourism, travel agency businesses also answered several survey quesCopyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 635 tions related to the importance of ecotourism For instance, the survey asked travel agency businesses to estimate the importance of ecotourism to particular tourist markets (Table 4) In order to assess the importance of certain attributes normally associated with ecotourism in the literature, travel agency businesses were also asked ‘how important are the following items when you sell or organise a tour?’ (Table 5) Judging from the large proportion of all tours offered and sold by Chiang Mai travel agency businesses that feature ecotourism (or at least nature-based) activities (Table 1), it is clear that ecotourism is important to the tourism industry of Chiang Mai As Table indicates, travel agency businesses also clearly think of ecotourism as a preference of ‘Western’ tourists rather than of tourists from Asia and the Middle East This partly explains why such a high percentage (75%) of businesses claim to be an ecotourism company; considering that Western Europeans, Americans and Australians serve as their top customer bases, travel agency businesses obviously benefit from claiming to provide ecotourism experiences This also explains why 95.7% of surveyed businesses believe that Thailand should promote ecotourism By a wide margin, ‘safety’ is the most important attribute of the tours put together, sold, and operated by businesses (considered extremely important by 56.3%), followed by ‘rest and relaxation’ (35.7%), and ‘fun’ (30%) In addition, when asked to rank the importance of six specific characteristics to the tours that they sell or operate, 64% of travel agency businesses chose ‘safety’ as the most important, followed in frequency (as the selection as the single most important characteristic) by ‘authenticity’ (14.7%), ‘impact on business profits’ (7%), ‘adventure’ (6%), ‘impact on the environment’ (4.7%), and ‘comfort’ (3.7%) As businesses dealing with paying customers, travel agency businesses are understandably concerned much more with the safety of their tours than their environmental impact This perhaps explains why consideration of the environmental impact of tours seems comparatively low, with over one-third (37.7%) of businesses ranking the ‘impact on the environment’ as the least or second least important Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr N Kontegeorgopoulos and K Chulikavit 60.0 61.7 59.0 27.7 18.3 23.0 18.3 18.3 22.7 21.0 22.3 6.0 3.3 4.3 2.7 4.3 4.04 4.03 4.03 3.20 2.99 2.93 2.91 2.80 0.039 0.037 0.038 0.049 0.047 0.056 0.049 0.060 (3.96–4.12) (3.95–4.10) (3.95–4.10) (3.10–3.30) (2.89–3.08) (2.82–3.04) (2.81–3.00) (2.68–2.92) characteristic (among the six listed above) of the tours that they sell or operate Aside from ‘degree of benefits to the natural environment,’ other attributes usually associated with ecotourism, such as ‘natural authenticity,’ ‘education about the environment,’ and ‘education about animals’ rank low in importance (Table 5) The low relative ranking of ‘education about animals’ is especially indicative of internal inconsistencies when it comes to conceptualizing ecotourism, because elephant riding is not only considered by 81.6% of travel agency businesses to usually or always qualify as ecotourism (Table 2), but is also the single most popular activity included in all tours operated and sold in Chiang Mai (Table 1) At the same time, however, the low ranking of environmental impact belies some of the other findings of this research, namely that 84.7% of travel agency businesses believe that the environmental benefits associated with their tours make up a very or extremely important tour attribute (Table 5), while 75% believe that they are ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ an ecotourism company; the latter figure would seem to indicate a high priority placed by many businesses on the environmental impact of tourism Nevertheless, it appears that the importance of environmental factors and ecotourism values to the actual design and delivery of tours in Chiang Mai is at best mixed, and at worst marketed and communicated at a level that exceeds the actual importance of environmental values to travel agency businesses 0.7 1.0 1.0 15.0 19.0 24.7 21.0 19.7 0.3 0 2.3 3.7 7.0 6.0 13.7 16.3 16.3 17.7 49.0 55.7 41.0 52.0 44.0 Very important Somewhat important A little important Not at all important Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd SE, standard error North America Europe Australia Japan Rest of Southeast Asia Thailand (domestic) East Asia (China, Taiwan, and Korea) Middle East CONCLUSION Tourist market Percentage of respondents (N = 300) Table The importance of ecotourism to various tourist markets Extremely important Mean SE 95% confidence interval 636 This paper has discussed the ways in which travel agents and tour operators in Chiang Mai, Thailand conceptualise, prioritise and supply ecotourism Based on quantitative data collected through surveys of 300 (out of 602) Chiang Mai travel agents and tour operators, it is clear that activities which, in theory at least, represent ecotourism are popular and easily accessible components of the tours sold and operated by what TAT calls ‘travel agency businesses.’ The availability of so many naturebased activities to tourists visiting Chiang Mai mirrors the large range and diversity of tour Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd SE, standard error Safety Rest and relaxation Fun Degree of benefits to the natural environment Comfort Quality of food Natural authenticity Education about Thai culture Cultural authenticity Education about the environment Degree of benefits to Thai or ‘hilltribe’ cultures Adventure Price Novelty Education about animals Attribute Table The importance of specific tour attributes 0 0 0.3 0 0 0.7 0.7 0.3 0.3 1.3 Not at all important 0.3 0.7 1.3 2.0 1.0 1.3 1.7 1.7 0.3 3.3 0.3 3.3 6.7 A little important 4.7 9.3 10.3 14.0 14.0 12.0 12.7 16.0 16.0 15.0 18.7 21.3 29.7 29.0 28.3 Somewhat important 39.0 54.7 59.0 56.0 52.7 61.0 61.0 55.0 58.7 59.0 56.0 51.0 50.0 43.3 47.3 Very important Percentage of respondents (N = 300) 56.3 35.7 30.0 28.7 31.0 26.0 25.0 27.3 25.0 24.3 24.3 23.7 19.7 24.0 16.3 Extremely important 4.52 4.26 4.18 4.12 4.12 4.12 4.1 4.08 4.08 4.06 4.03 3.94 3.88 3.87 3.71 Mean 0.034 0.036 0.036 0.039 0.043 0.037 0.038 0.041 0.037 0.039 0.041 0.046 0.042 0.048 0.050 SE (4.45–4.58) (4.18–4.33) (4.11–4.25) (4.04–4.20) (4.04–4.20) (4.05–4.19) (4.02–4.17) (4.00–4.16) (4.01–4.16) (3.98–4.14) (3.95–4.11) (3.85–4.03) (3.80–3.97) (3.78–3.97) (3.61–3.81) 95% confidence interval Supply-Side Perspectives on Ecotourism in Northern Thailand 637 Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 638 offerings in general While a number of activities are predominant in the typical tour purchased by tourists — 10 different activities, several of which could be considered ecotourism, are featured in the tours operated and sold by over 90% of businesses surveyed — there is little standardisation or even predictability in the supply of tourism services generally and ecotourism activities specifically, because they are furnished in Chiang Mai in a scattered fashion by hundreds of small, independent and recently established enterprises Travel agents and tour operators surveyed for this research conceive of ecotourism in an expansive manner, whereby, a large number of activities qualify as ecotourism In fact, for many businesses, all that seems to matter when determining what constitutes ecotourism seems to be whether or not an activity takes place outdoors In this way, the argument made by ecotourism critics, both abroad (Wheeller, 2005; Mowforth and Munt, 2009) and in Thailand (Pholpoke, 1998; Shepherd, 2002), that ecotourism is merely a buzzword seems partly corroborated It would be unfair and inaccurate, however, to claim that travel agency businesses not see the difference between on the one hand, pursuits clearly in the realm of nature-based tourism, such as trekking and bird watching and, on the other, activities that few could plausibly characterise as ecotourism, such as target shooting, (ATV) riding and golf In other words, although there are some contradictions and inconsistencies in the way that travel agency businesses in Chiang Mai conceptualise ecotourism, they nevertheless prioritise (in their definitions of ecotourism) certain goals such as conservation and education which, along with a basis in nature, are widely recognised as the three most important components of the ecotourism concept (Donohoe and Needham, 2006) This paper makes several contributions to the study of supply-side perspectives on ecotourism First, this study contributes to our knowledge of how ecotourism is defined in the Thai context In Thailand today, ecotourism is translated either as gaan tong tieow cheung anoorak (‘conservation tourism’) or gaan tong tieow cheung niwet (‘ecological tourism’) This would seem on the surface to imply that the Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd N Kontegeorgopoulos and K Chulikavit core values that matter to scholars of ecotourism outside of Thailand seems also to matter to Thai agencies, businesses, and academics However, even though this study confirms that travel agency businesses in Thailand indeed identify certain common ecotourism elements such as conservation and education as being the most important, there is also a greater emphasis placed on culture and the inclusion of many locations, activities, and categories of tourists This inclusive approach towards ecotourism among travel agency businesses corroborates the work of both Weaver (2002), who discusses the ‘soft’ nature of ecotourism in Thailand, as well as Kontogeorgopoulos (2004), who indicates that ecotourism in Thailand involves many conceptual, operational and spatial links to the conventional mass tourism industry At the very least, this study confirms the point made by several authors (Cater, 2006; Cochrane, 2007) that there is a need to examine how particular circumstances and contexts shape the theory and practice of ecotourism at the local and national levels Second, though not mentioned thus far in the paper, it is important to note that one of the original goals of the research was to examine whether a relationship exists between the dependent variables of conceptualisation and importance of ecotourism and numerous independent variables such as company age, size (total number of employees), clientele (percentage of customers that are ‘walk-in’ versus package tourists) and function (travel agent, tour operator or both) Multiple linear regressions were run using the entire dataset, but this revealed virtually no statistically significant relationships between the independent variables and the ways in which travel agency businesses viewed, prioritised or classified ecotourism The uniformity, or more accurately randomness, of agent and operator approaches to ecotourism in Chiang Mai reflects the diffuse nature of the industry itself, where activities considered ecotourism are offered not by a handful of large niche firms, but rather by a great number of small, independent companies with no particular specialisations In many ways, therefore, this study provides a snap shot of an industry in its nascent stage, where low barriers to entry and Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr Supply-Side Perspectives on Ecotourism in Northern Thailand high rates of turnover result in a profusion of operators and a lack of significant conceptual variation based on observable differences among companies On a positive note, the diffuse nature of the ecotourism market in Chiang Mai, not to mention the low barriers to entry and the high rate of national ownership, indicate that ecotourism in northern Thailand provides tangible economic benefits in terms of ownership and employment opportunities Lastly, an important lesson offered by this study is related to the difference between nature-based tourism and ecotourism As several authors have noted, ecotourism is a subset of the broader category of nature-based tourism, which includes any tourism that utilises natural resources Ecotourism, as it has come to be defined by the majority of scholars, takes as its starting points an interest in nature and the use of natural resources, but extends much further to include considerations of tourist motivation, ethical conduct, conservation and impacts on the community As such, it is impossible really to know whether something is actually ecotourism unless one measures short-term environmental impacts, community perceptions, and tourist attitudes and behaviours In theory, Chiang Mai’s travel agency businesses conceive of ecotourism as embodying many of these components, but in practice, what qualifies as ecotourism to these businesses is almost any activity that takes place outdoors, from nature-oriented activities like trekking, to cultural activities like visits to ‘hilltribe’ villages, to adventure tourism activities such as rafting Without conducting research on the actual practices of tour operators, it is difficult to say whether surveyed businesses promote ecotourism — which embodies a set of principles and is defined partly by its impacts — or merely nature, adventure or cultural tourism, all defined more by the activities of tourists than by the immediate or lasting impacts of those activities For this reason, the question of whether or not certain activities such as trekking or elephant riding should be classified as ecotourism remains debatable and can only be answered by comparing the practices of tour operators against either the guidelines established by such institutions as TAT and the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 639 Association, or the definitions established in the ecotourism literature Ultimately then, this study demonstrates the need for more research on 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Hall CM, Boyd S (eds) Channel View Publications: Clevedon; 263–272 Wood M 2002 Ecotourism: Principles, Practices and Policies for Sustainability UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics: Paris Zeppel H 2006 Indigenous Ecotourism: Sustainable Development and Management CABI: Wallingford, England Int J Tourism Res 12, 627–641 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH Int J Tourism Res 12, 642–645 (2010) Published online March 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.776 Research Note Destination Image Differences between Visitors and Non-Visitors: A Case of New York City WooMi J Phillips1,* and SooCheong Jang2 Apparel, Design, and Hospitality Management, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, USA Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION This note discusses the influences of previous visits on tourists’ destination images The cognitive and affective images of New York City (NYC) appear to change in certain directions after visiting The results also found that city images have a significant influence on tourists’ visit intention However, previous visits to NYC did not play any moderating effect between destination images and visiting intention Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd estination image has been known as a critical influence for tourists’ destination choices (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999; Chen and Kerstetter, 1999) Image can be formed through various sources In particular, a previous visit to the destination is an influential factor in forming the destination image (MacKay and Fesenmaier, 1997; Baloglu and McCleary, 1999) Differences in cognitive image (CI) and affective image (AI) — two components of destination image — exist between visitors and non-visitors (Baloglu, 2001) In turn, images based on previous visits would influence tourists’ travel destination choices differently New York City (NYC) receives 9.5 million international and 37 million domestic visitors (NYC and Company, 2008) Many of their domestic visitors are repeat visitors from adjunct cities who travel by automobile or train (NYC and Company, 2009) for short trips, whereas the international visitors are mostly from Canada and European and Asian countries Considering many of the domestic visitors are repeat visitors, there are significant portions of the US population who have not been to the city As it is the most visited US destination by Received 12 November 2009; Revised 25 January 2010; Accepted 26 January 2010 Keywords: destination image; cognitive and affective image; previous visit; New York City *Correspondence to: W J Phillips, Apparel, Design, and Hospitality Management, NDSU Dept 2610, North Dakota State University, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108, USA E-mail: woomi.phillips@ndsu.edu D Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Destination Image Differences 643 international visitors (NYC and Company, 2008) and receives a steady growth in visitors from overseas, it is foreseeable that the city will continue to receive more visitors in the future Thus, NYC destination promotion should be approached in two different ways depending on tourists’ visit history For tourists who have visited the destination in the past, promotion should focus on reminding them with updates about the destination and on persuading them to revisit the destination On the other hand, promotions should also aim to provide accurate information about the destination for perspective tourists who have never visited the destination (Mill and Morrison, 2002) Thus, understanding the differences in destination images between visitors and non-visitors could provide NYC marketers some practical suggestions for successful marketing strategies This study aims to add empirical evidence to existing literature on destination image differences and the effects on tourist visit intention, and to detect any moderating effects of previous visits on the relationship between destination image and visit intention METHOD Data were collected from the faculty and staff of a major university in a Midwestern state in the USA using a self-administered questionnaire Twenty-three cognitive measurement items (Dann, 1996; Chen and Hsu, 2000; Beerlie and Martin, 2004) and four AIs (Russel and Snodgrass, 1987) of NYC were measured Visiting intention (VI) and previous visit to NYC were also queried A total of 749 usable responses were collected and used for analysis Sixty per cent of the respondents had experience visiting NYC at least once, while 40% had never visited the city Twenty-three per cent of the past visitors had been to NYC within the previous three years FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Table shows the CI and AI that are significantly different between visitors and non-visitors from an independent sample t test Ten cognitive items (CI 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 20 and 22) revealed that visitors to NYC had Table Image differences by previous visit and image influences on visiting intention Means Destination images Total Visitor Non-visitor CI 1: historical sites and museums CI 2: architecture and buildings CI 5: nice summer climate CI 6: suitable hotel accommodations CI 7: personal safety CI 9: acceptable level of hygiene CI 10: easy to get to CI 11: low-cost place to visit CI 13: inexpensive goods and services CI 14: convenient airline schedules CI 17: many restaurants CI 18: variety of cuisines CI 20: variety of fairs, exhibits and festivals CI 21: high-quality car rental facilities CI 22: reliable public transportation AI 1: unpleasant–pleasant AI 2: sleepy–arousing AI 3: gloomy–exciting AI 4: distressing–relaxing 6.14 5.99 3.96 4.96 3.82 4.05 4.97 2.56 3.17 5.34 6.11 6.23 5.22 4.34 5.49 4.95 5.58 5.40 3.60 6.28 6.08 3.84 4.85 3.92 4.18 5.11 2.40 3.04 5.44 6.20 6.33 5.34 4.24 5.66 5.15 5.69 5.56 3.74 5.95 5.88 4.13 5.12 3.69 3.90 4.78 2.83 3.40 5.21 6.01 6.10 5.08 4.48 5.27 4.66 5.44 5.15 3.40 t value **4.56 **2.71 **−2.92 **−2.77 **2.09 **2.75 **3.10 **−4.04 **−3.39 **2.71 **2.37 **3.01 **2.71 **−2.58 **4.51 **5.16 **3.34 **4.69 **4.60 F test 32.13** 38.83** 51.80** 21.70** 87.59** 63.46** 31.84** 30.20** 62.95** 30.88** 11.04** 6.85** 41.71** 6.51** 29.79** 514.78** 155.68** 267.70** 190.91** ** p < 0.01 CI, cognitive image; AI, affective image Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Int J Tourism Res 12, 642–645 (2010) DOI: 10.1002/jtr 644 statistically higher mean values (e.g CI 1: visitors = 6.28 and non-visitors = 5.95, t = 4.56) than non-visitors, meaning that visitors hold a much better image of NYC than non-visitors Three major categories of improved images are variety, accessibility and safety Visitors perceived the city highly on the variety of historical sites and museums, architecture, restaurants, cuisines and events Visitors also perceived that the city is easy to get to and get around with convenient airline schedules and reliable public transportation Even though personal safety fell on the negative side of the scale, the image improved significantly after visiting (non-visitor = 3.69, visitors = 3.92, t = 2.09) The image of cleanliness changed from negative (non-visitors = 3.90) to positive (visitor = 4.18), showing a significant difference (t = 2.75) Interestingly, non-visitors had a better image on five items (CI 5, 6, 11, 13 and 21) than visitors Both visitors and non-visitors perceived the city as an expensive place (CI 11 and 13) However, visitors found it even truer after their visit, while non-visitors still hope that the city is not as expensive as they have heard The differences in the perception between visitors and non-visitors showed to be significant (CI 11: t = −4.04, CI 13: t = −3.39) Images of the summer climate, hotel accommodations and car rental facilities also worsened after visiting the city After perceiving all other products and services as affluent and varied, non-visitors might have thought it to be the case with the hotel accommodations and car rental as well However, these services did not meet the visitors’ expectations All four AIs improved significantly (t values ranging from 3.34 to 5.16), as shown in the table Even though the non-visitors did have positive images of pleasant, arousing and exciting, these images improved by visitors significantly Both visitors and non-visitors rated negatively on distressing/relaxing (3.60) Generally, the city was not perceived as relaxing, which, however, was improved by visitors but still on the negative side of the scale This study suggests destination images can change in either direction, positive or negative The majority of NYC images improved with visitation The positive images got even better after visitation The negative images also changed in the positive direction Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd W J Phillips and S Jang However, they remained on the negative side of the scale Images also could change in the opposite direction Especially, those images that were perceived poorly by the general population were exacerbated from visitation For example, the expensive image of the city became more evident upon visitation to the city A pattern can be read from this Visiting the city made the positive images more positive and negative images more negative Visitation enhances images people have originally before the visit In this sense, the actual visitation to the city acts as a step for confirming tourists’ beliefs For city marketers and developers, this brings good and bad news It is easy to enhance the positive images but hard to improve their negative images during the tourists’ visit Since a tourist destination is typically evaluated both positively and negatively (Milman and Pizam, 1995), it will be very unrealistic to try to have an all positive image for a destination The marketing efforts should be focused on enhancing the positive images more than improving the negative ones This study also found that all CI (F values ranging from 6.51 to 87.59) and AI (F values ranging from 155.68 to 514.78) have significant influences in explaining the VI at the 0.01 level, as shown in the last column This confirms the notion that destination image is a critical influence on tourists’ decisions Even though this study shows the significant influences that destination images have on tourists’ VI, the results of the hierarchical regression shows (table is not shown here) that previous visits not have any effect on the level of impact destination images have on VI This result may be related to the specific destination of this study NYC is one of the most well-known and visited tourist destinations in the US Most of the people already have a great deal of knowledge about the city through various information sources Forty per cent of visitors to NYC indicated that they found their information through the internet (US Department of Commerce, 2008) Gaining more information through actually visiting the 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