Destinations: tourists’ perspectives from New Zealand

Date
2013-06-30
Authors
Pearce, DG
Schänzel, HA
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract

Although tourists are frequently cited as the central focus of much destination management activity little is known about how they regard destination management. Through a series of focus groups with guests at youth hostels in three locations in New Zealand, this study provides empirical evidence as to whether tourists consider destinations need to be managed; why destination management is needed; what it should involve; and what differentiates good destinations from poor ones. Their views are then compared with destination marketing and management strategies in the three locations to assess how well current practices match the tourists’ perspective. The tourists’ responses endorse the need for destination management and show a broad appreciation of why destinations should be managed. The participants see a need for destination marketing, value the provision of information and acknowledge the importance of visitor management. However, they strongly expressed the view that destinations should not be over-managed, raising the question of where the boundaries lie between effective destination management and over-management. The factors which differentiate good destinations from poor ones might be grouped under two broad themes: those associated with tourists’ motivations and expectations and those related to a range of destination attributes. Comparison of the focus group participants’ views with the strategies and plans of the three destinations reveals a degree of concordance but also emphasizes that consideration of their perspective alone is critical but insufficient for comprehensive destination management which needs to take account of the views of all stakeholders.

Description
Keywords
Destinations , Destination management , Destination strategies , Destination plans , Focus groups , Tourists
Source
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. Volume 2 (3), Pages 137–145
Rights statement
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in (see Citation). Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version was published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version).