Due to its growing application in various industries as a marketing tool, the travel industry is increasingly perceiving the potential of virtual reality (VR) in the tourism arena. Although VR has ...been widely discussed in practice management research, there is, however, little knowledge on how VR technology can be applied in themed tourism environments. Hence, in this study, we use the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to empirically study how visitors express their inner values and meanings through VR-themed tourism. We invited 26 respondents to participate in a VR-themed tourism experience, and we organized our results based on three key themes. First, characteristics of VR-themed tourism such as 'freedom of virtual reality', 'escapism of virtual reality' and 'anxiety of virtual reality' were summarized. Second, an objective consensus map was created using the 'conservative', 'average' and 'optimistic' calculation procedures. Third, we determined the relevance of the integrated linking constructs. We found that 'imagination' and 'fantasy dream' have the highest relevance value, followed by 'illusion' and 'illusionary situation'. These themes could thus provide new insights into the possible intertwined integration and complexity of 'virtual' and 'physical' issues that may arise when tourists experience VR-themed tourism.
Recent studies show that hospitality and services can, if attractively designed, elicit positive responses from guests or customers. Although responses are individual and highly subjective, Fuzzy ...Quality Function Deployment (FQFD) may provide a competitive advantage to those who are able to read and interpret customers’ responses and needs in terms of hospitality services. This study introduces an integrative framework of Kano's model and FQFD applied to Taiwanese Ban-Doh banquet services. Kano's model with fuzzy sets was used and integrated into the FQFD method to show the relation between service attributes and customer responses. Kano's model categorizes service attributes into three major groups: Must-be, One-dimensional and Attractive. The findings of a case study involving six senior Ban-Doh chefs and 80 guests who attended Ban-Doh banquets are presented. By focusing on the quality of service characteristics that satisfy customers, this study enables service providers and managers to determine the extent to which they can prioritize the improvement of service design in Ban-Doh banquet services to satisfy customer expectations.
•This research provided an integrated framework to assess the Ban-Doh industry.•FQFD and the fuzzy Kano categorization were performed to offer competitive benefits in service designs.•The final weights of importance (convergence value) of service designs were determined.•The research generated the short-term, mid-term, and long-term developmental strategies for the Ban-Doh industry.
This study adopts a quality function deployment (QFD) model combining Keller's brand knowledge to generate a brand revitalisation model for offering a remedy to cure and activate old and mature ...brands. To address the uncertainty and vagueness of consumers' opinions, this study evaluates the consumers' needs for QFD through a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Moreover, most research assumes that attributes are independent; however, brand knowledge and brand management techniques possess the problems of interrelationship and interdependence among attributes; thus, this study utilises the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) method to solve these problems. The advantage of the proposed analytical model is that it adds quantitative precision and fine-tuning to an otherwise qualitative decision-making process, and it can determine the current problems of brands, making old and mature brands to be energetic and powerful. Hence, by utilising this fuzzy QFD model, the case company will maximise the lifetime values of its customers by meeting customers' needs exactly and thus rejuvenate its brand.
This study aims to explain consumers' expectations regarding the culture of temple streets and cultivates an identity system for local culture. The Kano model with fuzzy linguistic concepts was ...applied to the field observation of temple street festivals and the semi-structured interviews of local cultural directors, scholars of cultural centres, government officials, and cultural industry operators with data on traditional cultural elements. The findings show that "Religious temples", "Custom activities and events", "Local cultural industries", and "Specialty and gourmet food" have a symmetrical impact on both satisfaction and dissatisfaction in proportion to the extent of traditional cultural element fulfilment. "Local stories" do not increase overall satisfaction if traditional cultural elements are exceeded but cause dissatisfaction if they are not fulfilled. Moreover, outer "Tangible", middle "Behavioural", and inner "Intangible" factors of attractive, one-dimensional, must-be quality transformed into contemporary image designs are amiably illustrated. These results provide a direction for managing satisfaction and a performance guideline for each activity in the process of creating temple street experiences that can increase satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction.
Tourism experiences in natural landscapes are considered an integral component of tourism value. Tourism experiences can also create a link between an individual and his or her spiritual needs. Thus, ...this study aims to utilize an effective approach to interpret individual, subjective human experiences in natural environments using interpretive structural modeling. This technique is used to build a hierarchy-based model and determine the mutual relationships among the enablers of tour value. In addition, this study uses the Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis to analyze the degree of influence of these factors and their degree of dependence on each other. To collect the empirical data, questionnaires were distributed to visitors at Grand Gangshan, a tourist destination in northeastern Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The results show that particular enablers (Internet marketing, the establishment of sales locations and planning for travel information services) have a high degree of influence and exhibit low dependence. These enablers require a great deal of attention because of their strategic importance to tourism development. The approach employed in this study provides a very useful tool for travel authorities to use to differentiate between the independent and dependent variables affecting tour value and to identify the relationships among those variables. Using this approach will allow the actors in this industry to focus on the most important variables for promoting the visitor experience in natural settings.
► This research provides an interpretive hierarchy-based model. ► MICMAC analysis was performed to analyze the tour values. ► The top-level variables have weak driving power and strong dependence. ► The independent variables have high driving power but little dependence.
This study uses the means-end chain (MEC) approach with fuzzy conceptualization and incorporates Kano's model to elicit perceptions of nostalgic experiences and to explore preferences for Sung Chiang ...Battle Array (SCBA) cultural festivals. We provide a hierarchical value map that fuses attribute-consequence-value chains and Kano's model to distinguish the relationships between the factors of nostalgic experience and tourist satisfaction. Fuzzy linguistics is adopted to address the ill-defined nature of tourists' linguistic judgements so that they can be interpreted for the proposed MEC. By applying the 'laddering' technique to interviews with 178 tourists, the resulting linkages strengthen the ability to probe outcomes and values and to derive a cognitive representation of nostalgic meanings. The findings of this research imply that, overall, tourists experience three different dominant perceptual orientations for nostalgic experiences in SCBA cultural festivals: 'Learning and the challenge of a new experience', 'Culture and art appreciation', and 'The link between history and emotion'. The study's findings have implications for researchers and practitioners interested in nostalgic tourism.
This study explores the opinions of an expert panel on factors affecting the attractiveness of forest recreation tourism in Taiwan. Twenty-three determinants of destination attractiveness were ...selected by reviewing the relevant literature. The relative importance of these determinants was analyzed by a panel of experts using the Analytical Hierarchy Process method. Results show that the uniqueness of forest landscapes and scenery and special climate phenomena are two of the most important attributes determining the attractiveness of forest recreation tourism. The reliability and convenience of access to forest recreation sites owing to their remote location are also highly evaluated. The provision of high-quality accommodation and cuisine is considered an essential component to enrich visitors' recreational experience in forest settings. The major implications for both the public and private sectors to achieve long-term sustainability are threefold: ensuring sustainable use of natural environment, enhancing the reliability of access modes to the destination, and improving the quality of lodging facilities and catering services. Together these three requirements can help create socioeconomic sustainability in remote forest communities with limited alternative employment opportunities.
Understanding the perceptions of the authenticity attributes of heritage attractions is important for tourism management because heritage attractions have traditionally been divided between those ...with a primary aim of providing entertainment and others for which conservation and issues of authenticity are pre-eminent. This study establishes a systematic relationship among the concepts of staged authenticity, authenticity attributes, and heritage design requirements based on domestic visitors' experiences in historical streets. Fuzzy judgement is used to determine the vague cognition of authenticity attributes, and fuzzy quality function deployment and the fuzzy expert system are used to determine the intensity of authenticity attributes to develop heritage design requirements. The results contribute to a better understanding of visitors' perceptions and valuations of heritage design requirements in the historical streets of Taiwan's tourist attractions. The study's findings provide prioritised heritage design requirements, including the requirements of a unique experience, substantial feeling, a pleasant experience, and spiritual characteristics, which can be used to determine interesting directions for heritage design.
Though previous research has developed an evaluation measurement for place attachment, it has ignored the interdependence of the criteria and subcriteria associated with that evaluation tool. Because ...it is challenging for researchers to digest the multi-criteria messages presented in place attachment and to understand the multiple place attachment terms, this study adopts the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) model to identify the characteristics of place attachment, and categorizes these characteristics into three dimensions, namely personal context, community context, and environment context. Using the FANP model, an empirical survey was conducted that included the collected survey data of 187 respondents from the Meinong region of Taiwan to determine the typical features of place attachment. Our research results demonstrate that, with respect to successful community involvement, familiarity is essential for place attachment. As familiarity establishes social ties with the setting, one's emotional attachment to the location or environment increases. The ability to define clear priority weights for personal, community, and environment contexts is one of the benefits of using the FANP method to evaluate place attachment. Accordingly, the findings regarding these three contexts raise issues about the role of local government and self-efficacy in place attachment in Taiwanese environments.
► We provide a hierarchy value map and fuzzy linguistics on store image. ► Five values were be used in the hierarchy value map. ► The perceptual orientation: Eye-catching poster→Visual ...satisfaction→Satisfaction. ► A–C–V model: fashion, appropriate, and enthusiasm led to the value of feeling image.
This paper discusses how the uses of a means-end approach with fuzzy conceptualization in eliciting consumer requirements provides a better understanding of the consumers’ perceptual orientation toward store image. We provide a hierarchy value map that fuses attribute–consequence–value (A–C–V) chains and fuzzy linguistics to effectively and efficiently understand store image processes and consumer satisfaction. A fuzzy set is also adopted to address the ill-defined nature of the consumer linguistic judgments required in the proposed means-end chain. The findings of this research imply that, overall, consumers are most concerned with the dominant perceptual orientation of store image, that is, eye-catching poster→visual satisfaction→satisfaction and display with theme→recommendation to others (willingness to talk to salesperson)→satisfaction (happiness).
