This paper describes Natural Language Processing techniques to extract patterns of destination image formation from Social Media postings. In a pilot study, we show how Twitter postings can be mined to uncover travel motivations and values for various travel destinations; we also explore the mental representations that underly these values and motivations. While this pilot study is subject to limitations, the results demonstrate that Twitter data is a compelling source of information about travellers and destinations.

This research analyzes the relationship between backpackers´online activities related to brands by identifying benefits (functional and experiential) that they seek and the impact of those benefits on the eWom generated during their travel journey.

This paper presents comprehensive knowledge regarding dark patterns in OTA websites. The study further examines how hotels use dark pattern tactics as a marketing tool to influence consumers’ buying behavior in OTA websites by adopting stimulus-organism-response theory. The paper develops propositions and identifies potential moderators.

본고는 중국의 장편 기행문을 고전 문학 교학에 어떻게 적용시킬 수 있을지 그 가능성을 모색한 연구이다. 기존 대학 강의에서 이미 다루어지고 있는 장르가 아닌 기행문을 선택한 이유는 여행이라는 매력적인 주제를 통하여 대체로 난해하게 여겨지던 중국 고전을 학습자에게 보다 흥미롭게 전달하기 위함이며 또한 수백 년 전 문인의 여정을 따라가다 보면 그 속에서 문학 교육뿐만 아니라 언어ㆍ역사ㆍ문화 교육으로 자연스럽게 연계가 가능하기 때문이다. 본론에서는 교학에서 주로 다루게 될 宋 代 기행문인 『入蜀記』와 『吳船錄』을 소개하고 효과적인 학습을 위해 사용하게 될 몇 가지 웹사이트를 살펴본 후 향후 강의에 직접 활용이 가능하도록 학습 지도안을 예시로 작성했다.

최근 미시적 규모의 연구가 증가하며 기존보다 세밀한 공간 단위의 데이터에 대한 요구가 증가하였지만, 현재 접근 가능한 대부분의 공간 데이터는 행정구역 단위를 기반으로 집계되어 제공되고 있다. 따라서 고해상도 공간 데이터를 얻기 위해 기존의 공간 데이터를 세밀한 공간 단위로 전환하는 연구가 활발히 진행되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 다양한 공간 데이터의 융합을 통해 직장인구를 건물 단위로 추정하는 알고리즘을 제시한다. 개별 통행의 목적지를 건물 단위로 추정하는 건물선택 알고리즘은 영역내 삽법과 대시메트릭 매핑을 기반으로 하며, 보조 데이터를 통해 건물별로 가중치를 정의한 뒤 이를 기반으로 통행의 목적지를 추정하였다. 본 연구는 통행을 기반으로 하며 기존의 내삽법에 비해 높은 정확도를 보이는 새로운 인구 추정 모형을 제시하고, 쉽게 접근할 수 있는 다양한 데이터를 결합하여 고해상도 데이터를 생성한다는 점에서 의의를 지닌다.

본 연구는 소셜 네트워크 서비스 중 한 유형인 플리커를 이용하여 궤적 데이터를 생성하고, 서울을 방문한 관광객의 이동 특성을 분석하였다. 연구에는 2015년 1월 1일 부터 2017년 12월 31일까지 서울을 방문한 1,476명 관광객이 게시한 플리커 사진 39,157건을 활용하였다. 연구기간 내 서울을 방문한 관광객은 1회 방문시 평균 5.12일을 체류하며, 약 1.27회 방문한 것으로 나타났다. 서울방문 관광객의 첫 방문지는 종로･남산, 신촌･홍대, 이태원 순으로 나타났으며, 주 목적지는 종로･남산이며 주로 인접 지역으로 이동하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구에서 활용한 데이터와 방법론은 관광행태 분석을 효율화하고, 다각적 분석을 가능하게 하는데 기여할 것으로 판단된다.

Introduction Globalization not only increases human mobility, but changes the relationship between international migrants and their country of origin. With improved transportation systems and new technologies, migrants can stay connected to their homeland in multiple ways. In the past, it was costly and time-consuming for migrants to "keep in touch" with their homeland. Thus, the ability to assimilate into the culture and lifestyle of the mainstream society was important (Alba & Nee, 2003; Portes & Zhou, 1993). At the same time, migrants and minority groups also form ethnic enclaves (e.g., Chinatown, Little Italy) where they can maintain the culture and traditions of "home" and preserve a part of their cultural identity (Portes & Manning, 1986). Contemporary migrants, however, live in a transnational social field (Louie, 2006). They can easily communicate with their friends and family back home. Even if they reside in rural areas, most goods from the old country can be found in the new country. Migrants can shop online for the groceries, books, fashion, beauty products, kitchenware, etc. from their homeland. They can listen to hit songs in their native language, keep up with the major news events, follow the newest TV series, cheer for their favorite sports teams, watch live election results, and more—almost as if they have never left. Traveling back to the homeland is one important way for migrants to main transnational ties (Haller & Landolt, 2005). This type of travel is commonly known as diaspora tourism (Coles & Timothy, 2004), VFR tourism (Uriely, 2010), and roots tourism (Maruyama & Stronza, 2010). Migrants may visit the homeland for various reasons, including: leisure, business, local food, culture and heritage, quest, retain ties, finding oneself, roots-seeking, personal identity, connection with place, obligation to ancestors, recovery of social identity, and family togetherness (Kluin & Lehtom, 2012; Li & McKercher, 2016; Murdy, Alexander, & Bryce, 2018; Ray & McCain, 2012). Given that contemporary migrants can engage in transnational practices in the host society, and take part in various types of leisure activities that are related to the culture and lifestyle of "home," the question is: do migrants still feel the need to visit the homeland in person? Or since everything is readily available, they do not need to go back as often as before. On one hand, participating in transnational leisure activities may strengthen their attachment to the homeland and increase their longing to return. On the other hand, the accessibility of homeland goods, services, culture, and relationships through global networks may decrease the desire and frequency of traveling back to the homeland. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between transnational leisure activities and motivation to visit the homeland. Specifically, do migrants‘ transnational leisure participation and involvement influence their diaspora tourism motivation? Literature Review Transnationalism refers to the interconnected lifestyle and social experience of immigrants maintaining multiple ties with their home and host societies (Basch, Glick-Schiller, & Blanc, 1994). Transnationalism could be sustained through different types of activities, including economic, political, social, familial, religious, and cultural activities. Although leisure activities have not been a focus of transnationalism research, some cultural transnational practices overlap with leisure activities. The Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles study (IIMMLA) found that 8.1% of second-generation immigrants participated in organizations associated with their parents‘ country of birth, and 48.7% watched TV or listened to the radio in their parents‘ language at least once a week or more (Rumbaut et al., 2008). The Immigrant Second Generation in New York study (ISGNY) revealed that ethnic music is very important to West Indian immigrants, and they listened to more ethnic music. Chinese-Americans, however, might listen to some Cantonese pop, but usually not traditional Chinese music (Kasinitz et al., 2008). Within leisure research, most studies on the leisure activities of immigrants employ the theory of acculturation. The focus was not on transnational leisure, but on immigrants‘ leisure participation within the mainstream culture of the host society. Many studies examined the effect of acculturation on immigrant leisure, be it participation, perceived benefits, motivations, or constraints. Floyd and Gramann (1993) compared Mexican- and Anglo-Americans to determine if the former‘s outdoor activity patterns and site visitation would be similar to the latter, based on different levels of structural assimilation. Shaull and Gramann (1998) also examined Hispanic- and Anglo-Americans to determine the impact of cultural assimilation on one‘s perceived benefits of outdoor recreation. They found a strong Anglo-conformity pattern in Hispanic-Americans‘ perception of nature-related benefits, while family-related benefits were less prone to the impact of cultural assimilation. Another study by Walker, Deng, and Dieser (2001) compared the motivations of Chinese-Canadians and Euro-North Americans for outdoor recreation. Their findings indicated that acculturation influenced the recreation motivation of Chinese-Canadians, both directly and indirectly through self-construal. The relationship between acculturation and leisure was also examined in Yu and Berryman‘s study (1996) on immigrant adolescents, which revealed a positive relationship between acculturation and recreational activities, and a negative relationship between acculturation and perceived barriers. A similar relationship was found in Scott, Lee, Lee and Kim‘s (2006) study of Korean migrants. They identified some constraints (i.e., lack of English proficiency and fear of discrimination) that varied by one‘s level of acculturation, while the biggest constraint, time, was not influenced by acculturation. Stodolska and Santos (2006) were the first to propose the concept of "transnational leisure," and they defined it as "leisure that is maintained by transnational migrants to foster their ties with their countries and communities of origin" (p. 162). Huang, Norman, Ramshaw, and Haller (2015) identified different types of transnational leisure activities by second-generation Chinese-Americans, and categorized them into four types: ethnic events and festivals, ethnic social clubs and organizations, ethnic media and pop culture, and Internet-based activities. As these previous studies were qualitative in nature, there is a need for more quantitative research so as to compare and identify different patterns of transnational leisure (e.g., level of involvement, frequency of participation) and examine how transnational leisure relate to other variables. Methods This study aims to examine the transnational leisure involvement and travel motivation of diaspora tourists. Specifically, overseas Chinese residing in North America (i.e., the USA and Canada) was selected as the target population. The service of a reputable and reliable international online survey company was obtained to reach out to this specific population of interest. Data collection took place from December 2016 to January 2017. A total of 808 responses were gathered. A questionnaire was developed based on previous literature. A list of transnational leisure activities with 19 items was developed based on the work of Huang et al. (2015). The transnational leisure involvement scale was adapted from the works of Kyle, Graefe, Manning, and Bacon (2003) and Kyle, Bricker, Graefe, and Wickham (2004). The scale consists of 14 items and three dimensions: Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression. As there are many types of transnational leisure activities, respondents were first asked to go through the list and indicate their frequency of participation in each activity. Next, they were asked to think about "these activities" as they answered the leisure involvement scale. The measures for diaspora tourism motivation was developed based on Poria and colleagues‘ scale for heritage tourism motivation (2004; 2006a; 2006b), Kluin and Lehto‘s (2012) scale for family reunion travel motivations, and Li and McKercher‘s (2016) qualitative study on diaspora tourists. The last section of the questionnaire will be used to collect demographic information. Findings EFA was conducted to explore if transnational leisure activities can be categorized into different types. Three items were removed due to double loading (i.e., Sing Chinese songs in the karaoke, Online shopping for Chinese/Asian items, and Connect with friends and relatives in China through social media). Factor 1 consisted of 3 items that are basic common activities in migrant life, and was labeled "Basic" transnational leisure (i.e., Eat Chinese food, Shop for Chinese/Asian groceries, and Celebrate Chinese holidays). Factor 2 consisted of 7 items that are related to pop culture and internet-based leisure activities, and was labeled "Media-based" transnational leisure (e.g., Listen to Chinese songs and music, Watch Chinese drama, Visit websites related to Chinese or Chinese-American culture, and Read/watch the news related to China). Contrary to the individualistic nature of the activities in Factor 2, Factor 3 consisted of 6 items that are more likely to be group activities, and related to social clubs events and activities (e.g., Attend events hosted by Chinese ethnic organizations, Participate in Chinese cultural activities, Play Chinese board or card games, Attend Chinese concerts/performances, and Follow Chinese/Chinese-American sports players or teams). Thus, Factor 3 was labeled "Event-based" transnational leisure. Respondents‘ participation in these activities was measured on a 5-point scale of frequency, from 1=Never to 5=Always/Everyday. Overall, "Basic" transnational leisure received the highest mean score (M=3.82), while the means for "Media-based" (M=2.86) and "Event-based" activities (M=2.62) were lower. Although the mean scores in Factor 2 and 3 were not high, it should be noted that the nature of these activities are different. Chinese migrants can "Eat Chinese food" every day, but they cannot "Attending Chinese concerts" every day. Therefore, the mean scores for "Event-based" activities were the lowest. Moreover, ANOVA was conducted to compare five migrant generation groups (e.g., first-generation migrants who were born in the old country and relocated to a new country and second-generation migrants are native-born in the new country). The second generation had the lowest level of participation, while the first generation and 4+ generation had the highest level of participation in most types of transnational leisure activities. Correlation analyses further revealed that the frequency of "Media-based" activities and "Event-based" activities were positively correlated to the number of homeland trips, while the relationship between "Basic" transnational leisure and number of homeland trips was not statistically significant. Lastly, CFA was conducted to confirm the underlying dimensions of Transnational Leisure Involvement: Attraction (6 items), Centrality (4 items), and Self-expression (4 items). EFA was conducted to identify the dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation. The 11 items loaded on one of two factors: Chinese Culture (6 items) and Family Heritage (5 items). Multiple regression analyses were conducted, with the three dimensions of transnational leisure involvement as independent variables, and the two dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation as dependent variables. It was found that Attraction and Centrality would influence respondents‘ motivation for Chinese Culture, while Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression would influence respondents‘ motivation for Personal Heritage. Discussion Results showed that transnational leisure involvement is useful in understanding the activity patterns of different migrant generations. Specifically, the relationships between transnational involvement and diaspora tourism motivation were consistently positive, which provides an effective means of segmenting diaspora tourists. Transnational leisure activities are good opportunities for homeland destinations to connect with diaspora tourists prior to their travel. Other than direct promotional activities, transnational leisure provides an alternative way to increase diaspora tourists‘ level of engagement and frequency of travel to the homeland.

Introduction In an age of rapid development at the information technology front, the viability of ‘smart travel destinations’ is increasingly becoming a reality (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2014, 2015). Advances in mobile technology have allowed travel destinations to leverage the location-based wireless tracking capabilities afforded by 3/4G telecommunication networks, Bluetooth connectivity, GPS and Wi-Fi networks (Choe & Fesenmaier 2017; Eriksson, 2002). The benefits of these wireless tracking technologies include precise information on spatial behaviour (Edwards, Dickson, Griffin, & Hayllar, 2010), relevant location-based services (LBS)(Pedrana, 2014), navigational services (Eriksson, 2002), as well as recommender services (Tussyadiah & Wang, 2016). With this kind of data available to them, destination management organisations (DMOs) are able to develop more customise tourist engagement strategies which will help them communicate specifically tailored results to tourists (Edwards & Griffin, 2013). While the focus of current tourism research has been the benefits of these wireless tracking technologies (WTTs) to the destination, little research has been done to examine tourists’ perceptions of these technologies. The current exploratory study will investigate tourist perceptions of three prominent kinds of WTTs with differing levels of control at a travel destination: (1) wireless tracking only (WT only; low control); (2) Wi-Fi wireless tracking (Wi-Fi WT; moderate control); and (3) application-based tracking (App; high control). Theoretical development The current study applies the Expectancy-Value Theory in examining tourist perceptions of WTTs at a travel destination. The Expectancy-Value Theory suggests that motivation for a behaviour is determined by the desirability of the outcome i.e. benefits to the tourist (Sparks, 2007). In the context of this study, perceived personalisation and perceived innovativeness serve as benefits to tourists. Perceived personalisation is defined as the ability of a DMO to recognize and treat its tourists as individuals through personal messaging, targeted banner ads, special offers on bills, or other personal transactions” (Imhoff, Loftis, & Geiger, 2001). Perceived innovativeness reflects the degree to which a new product is seen to possess new and unique attributes and features (Fu, Jones, & Bolander, 2008). Studies have shown that perceived personalisation and perceived innovativeness positively impact on attitudes toward the product (Baek & Morimoto, 2012; Fu & Eliott, 2013), which in the context of this study relates to both the WTT itself as well as the destination. However, mere presence of WTTs can often provoke concerns about manipulative intent (Lee-Wingate & Xie, 2010) and privacy (Shilton, 2009). Inferences of manipulative intent is defined as tourist perceptions that a company is attempting to persuade via inappropriate, unfair or manipulative means (Campbell, 1995). Privacy concerns refer to the degree to which a tourist is worried about the potential invasion of the right to prevent the disclosure of personal information to others (Baek & Morimoto, 2012, p. 63). Inferences of manipulative intent and privacy concerns have been found to negatively impact on attitudes toward the product (Lee-Wingate & Xie, 2010; Shilton, 2009). Thus, the ability of a travel destination to emphasise the pros and minimise concerns for the cons of WTTs will result in more positive attitudes towards the WTT as well as the destination, which in turn, will positively impact on intention to visit the destination (based on arguments in tourism research suggesting that both attitudes toward products and the destination itself may have an impact on intention to visit e.g. Elliot, Papadopoulos & Kim 2011; Lee & Lockshin 2012). The hypothesised model for this study can be seen in Figure 1. Methodology The conceptual model was tested using data from the United States via the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. A total of 750 responses were acquired but only 615 were included for analysis (responses were excluded due to incomplete data or straight-lining). A between-subjects experimental design was implemented respondents viewing a stimulus for either (1) wireless tracking only (WT only; low control); (2) Wi-Fi wireless tracking (Wi-Fi WT; moderate control); or (3) application-based tracking (App; high control). A pretest of the stimulus confirmed the levels of control proposed by the researchers. Respondents were first told to imagine their next travel destination and were then shown a stimulus. In the WT only condition, respondents were told that the destination was tracking the movement of tourists when their smartphones wireless, Bluetooth or mobile reception was turned on. In the Wi-Fi WT condition, respondents were informed that the destination would track tourists logged on to the destination’s Wi-Fi network. In the App condition, respondents were notified that the destination has an app system which allows the destination to track tourists and send them personalised push notifications. The difference between these three conditions was the level of perceived control that tourists had over the tracking of their location within the destination. Respondents then rated the WTT and destination with regards to inferences to manipulative intent, privacy concerns, perceived personalisation, perceived innovativeness, attitude toward the WTT, attitude toward the destination, and intention to visit the destination. The measures for each of these scales were chosen for their reliability and relevance to the current study. Structural equation modelling then examined the hypothesised relationships for significance. Results and discussion Exploratory and factor analysis was conducted to ensure the unidimensional of the scales. Composite reliabilities ranged from 0.70 to 0.95 and the average variance extracted scores ranged from 0.70 to 0.87, suggesting strong internal validity for all scales. All measures were also tested for convergent and discriminant validity which were both supported. Then, the hypotheses were examined using a multigroup analysis with structural equation modelling in AMOS 22. The goodness-of-fit indices for the structural model was deemed acceptable (χ²/df=1.67; RMSEA=0.03; CFI=0.97; NFI=0.94; IFI=0.90) (model comparisons revealed no significant differences at a model level suggesting that the model applied across the different groups). The results of the path analysis revealed five hypotheses which were fully supported (H1a, H2a, H3a, H3b and H6b). The remaining six hypotheses (H1b, H2b, H4a, H4b, H5 and H6a) were only partially supported with significant parameter estimates noted for either one or two of the conditions. The full result of the path analysis can be seen in Table 1. The results suggest that inferences of manipulative intent significantly decreased attitude toward the WTT, highlighting the need for destinations to be transparent about the reasons for tracking tourists. Specifically, the concealed tracking of tourists’ movements was particularly damaging to attitude toward the destination. Privacy concerns also negatively impacted on attitude toward the WTT for all conditions, but surprisingly privacy concerns appeared to significantly increase attitude toward the destination under the App condition. A potential explanation for this is the fact that despite potential for privacy infringements, tourists possess control over usage of the application, thereby moderating the ability of the destination to track them. However, this result warrants greater investigation in future studies. Perceived personalisation was noted to positively impact on attitudes toward the WTT and destination suggesting that tourists positively regarded the benefits of personalisation that the WTT afforded them. Further, perceived innovativeness appeared to positively impact on attitude towards the WTT for the App condition, but more interestingly, positively impacted on attitude toward the destination for the WT only condition. This may potentially suggest that while tourists did perceive manipulative intent in the wireless tracking of their whereabouts they also perceived this to be an innovation. Theoretically, this study extends the tourism literature with regards to the installation or application of wireless tracking technologies. It highlights the aspects that appeal to tourists as well as the concerns that they may have. From a managerial perspective, the results suggest a need for transparency as well as the empowerment of tourists to choose the degree to which their whereabouts are tracked within the destination. It offers further insights into which technologies are best suited to be leveraged in order to develop stronger tourist engagement at the destination. The implications of these results apply to destination managers, marketers as well as policy makers. A successful balance between obtaining valuable information about tourists and providing them with a choice whether or not to be tracked is crucial in ensuring favourable perception of the travel destination.

This research was conducted with the aim to reveal the influence of online travel communities on tourism destinations choice, with the focus on the Russian tourism market. The preliminary results indicated that social media has significant influence on consumer behaviour and decision-making process of Russian travellers. Still, there is additional activity of Russian tourist market actors is needed to more fully use the opportunities of online travel communities.

There has been a heated discussion worldwide over tourist deviances that disrupt lives of local residents and cause damage to companies, city authorities, and the natural environment. Previous studies primarily turn to discrepancies in the cultural and educational background between tourists and local residents to explain such phenomena. Nonetheless, the possibility of people inclining to misbehave simply because they are away from home has rarely been investigated. In this study, we seek to examine factors rooted in the nature of tourism that are accountable for such phenomena. According to the definition by UNWTO (1995), one of the key characteristics of tourism is the displacement of usual environment. Tourism, therefore, is inevitably associated with surroundings of unacquainted others residing in the unfamiliar environment. Following the social control paradigm, previous studies have revealed that people are more likely to enforce social control on in-group members than on out-group members (Nugier, Chekroun, Pierre & Niedenthal, 2009). We further propose that psychological closeness between people and surrounding others would have an impact on their expectation to receive others’ social contrail and consequently their intention to engage in the counternormative behavior. Using an experimental study, we found that participants in the travel condition, compared with those in the home condition, feel less close to surrounding others and are more likely to misbehave. Such effect is mediated by the perceived social control. Implications for organization and companies in the tourism sector are drawn to prevent the spread of tourist misbehavior. Limitations and future directions would also be discussed.

The hotel industry vs. online travel agencies: forever foe? The rise of Online Travel Agency (OTA) conglomerates such as Expedia and Priceline has forced the hotel industry to find ways of working with, or avoiding, an increasingly powerful channel for room distribution, and an increasingly relevant set of brands for consumers (Zhang, Denizci Guillet, & Kucukusta, 2015; Lee, Denizci Guillet, & Law, 2013). Although strategizing how to work with different electronic distribution channels has been studied, very few of them have addressed hoteliers‘ perceptions of OTAs, and how OTAs are affecting the industry. In this exploratory research, we sought to investigate the state of current and possible future relationships between OTAs and the hotel industry, from the perspective of diverse hoteliers in the U.S. Using a grounded theory method (Charmaz, 2014; Corbin, Strauss, & Strauss, 2014) that advises to maximize variety to increase the chances of finding new distinctions through a method of ‗constant comparison‘ between data sources, we interviewed eight highly accomplished hotel industry professionals in the U.S., mostly executives, across a variety of roles. Two of our informants were owners/operators of a large hotel management group (Interviewees 1 and 2), one was a former C-level executive at a major hotel brand (Interviewee 3), one was a senior executive at a midlevel regional hotel brand (Interviewee 4), one was the owner/operator to two family-run independent hotels (Interviewee 5), one was the owner of an independent, luxury hotel online services provider (Interviewee 6), one was the manager of a mid-level major brand hotel (Interviewee 7), and one was the owner of a hotel real estate investment company (Interviewee 8). The interviews were semi-structured on: the influence of OTAs on their business, and the hotel industry in general and current strategies for working with, or competing against, OTAs. The interviewees were guaranteed full anonymity, and the resulting 60-75 minute conversations were fully transcribed. Based on the grounded theory design, we followed gradual phases of data analysis: a preliminary open coding phase where concepts are associated with a line-by-line reading of transcripts; a focused coding phase where a limited number of concepts are chosen for further analysis; and an ‗axial‘ coding phase where concepts are systematically related to each other. During the open coding phase, this study‘s authors individually did initial code generation. They then came together to select the primary themes that emerged during focused coding, and worked together to relate the chosen themes to each other, and to key contextual variables such as industry role, hotel size, and hotel category. The impact of OTAs The first consistent perception of OTAs from every corner of the hotel industry is that they ―are not going away‖ (Interviewees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8). The interviewees noted that OTAs first came into the picture post 9-11 when the market was down. Back then, hoteliers ―signed up for OTAs without thinking about any future impacts‖ (Interviewee 5), and ―did not anticipate how disruptive they were going to be, because the original OTA model was to sell distressed or unusable inventory‖ (Interviewee 1). The negative perceptions of OTAs were widespread, with the use of terms such as ―necessary evils‖, ―evil empires‖, and ―Frankenstein‖ (Interviewees 4 and 5). The hotel industry ―sold its soul‖ to OTAs (Interviewee 1), we [hoteliers] are idiots‖ (Interviewee 8) and ―we hate them all.‖ (Interviewee 5). The interviewees expressed that OTAs have had an unexpectedly significant and negative impact on the hotel industry and their business, ―dramatically changing the landscape of hotel business‖ (Interviewee 8). With a marketing budget far larger than that of many hotels, OTAs have successfully convinced consumers to book on their websites for speed, convenience, choice, and loyalty points, and made them believe – incorrectly, according to the interviewees – that they can get the cheapest rates there. The negative view of OTAs has led to a predominantly zero-sum view of the hotel- OTA relationship. OTAs have consolidated to develop a large network of suppliers, and they have been taking more direct business away from hotels, according to the interviewees. As such, the main impact of OTAs on the interviewees‘ hotel bookings was increasing costs due to commission fees to the OTAs, which ―drive up the customer acquisition cost, [which is why] profit hasn‘t gone up in proportion to the revenue increase‖ over the years (Interviewee 6). All but one interviewee mentioned the term ―rate parity,‖ whereby hotels and OTAs have to offer the same room rates on their respective websites. Nonetheless, one interviewee expressed discontent about OTAs‘ practices of rate parity, because hoteliers have ―no clue what they‘re selling [my inventory] for, especially when hotels are packaged with other travel products‖ (Interviewee 5). To minimize this negative financial impact, hotels try to increase direct bookings as much as possible from their members by offering extra features such as mobile check-in, or better rates available only to them. This ‗closed group‘ offering is also practiced by OTAs through which their loyalty program members can also be offered more favorable pricing or terms. The interviewees mentioned that the impact of OTAs is larger for independent than for chain hotels because independent hotels have no ―big distribution channel, and it‘s a way for [them] to be visible‖ (Interviewee 8). However, OTAs are more expensive for independent than for chain hotels, as the latter can leverage their large size to negotiate better terms with OTAs. The OTA commission rates at the interviewees‘ hotels ranged between 6% and 28%, with the highest rate being for independent hotels. Four interviewees pointed out that hotel location and service/price level influence the degree to which OTAs are utilized. That is, OTAs‘ booking volume is higher at resorts, and at hotels at or near airports with a high guest turnover. OTAs‘ booking volume is also higher for hotels with limited service (economy or budget hotels) than those with higher levels of service/price (luxury or upper scale hotels). The former, as compared to the latter, are akin to ―soap on a shelf‖ (Interviewee 8) because they are not distinctive in the consumer‘s mind, and consumers who choose to stay at the former are typically price-elastic. Although the majority of bookings at major chain hotels are still generated by direct bookings, what concerns the hoteliers most is that the percentage of bookings by OTAs has been ―growing at a double-digit rate for many years‖ (Interviewee 3). This makes the interviewees feel that ―OTAs take customers away‖ from their hotels (Interviewee 8). Strategic response of the hotel industry Although all the interviewees acknowledged and worried about the negative financial impact of OTAs, the only consistent strategy for coping with OTAs was to divert bookings to more cost-effective channels such as direct booking, or ―limit visibility over premium dates as much as possible‖ (Interviewee 8). They responded that they use or have to use most or all major OTAs (e.g., Expedia, Priceline), simply because these are prevalent and most familiar to consumers today. The response to the perceived OTA threat varied, depending on the respondent‘s role in the hotel industry. The REIT investor (Interviewee 8) and the major brand executive (Interviewee 3) displayed the purest zero-sum view of the relationship. The REIT investor believed the best response is to strengthen the bargaining position of hotels and win back lost revenue, expressing that hotels are ―letting other people take all this money…we‘re stupid.‖ From the major brand perspective, the best response was consolidation (getting bigger) to have better leverage in complex OTA negotiations, and to have more capital for marketing campaigns and technology development. For the more ―independent‖ respondents there was more scope to react by working with OTAs at some level. The single hotel manager and the independent hotel owner both used the metaphor of ―playing the game‖ to survive in the new era: ―You‘d better play ball with them if you want a presence online‖ (Interviewee 5). For an independent hotel, ―Expedia is my franchise website‖ (Interviewee 7) because OTAs are ―doing things that I could never do as an independent‖ (Interviewee 5). In particular, they emphasized the necessity to understand and master the digital marketing landscape of social media, review sites, search engine optimization, daily deal sites, and a good online presence on their own websites, expressing ―You gotta fish where the fish are‖ (Interviewee 4). Independent and small hotels do suffer from higher OTA commissions, but can also work in their favor in terms of preferred placement in hotel searches and referrals from OTAs. The technology service company‘s, (Interviewee 6) key strategic response was to gain control over customer data, because customer email addresses are particularly important for ―retargeting and email marketing to get guests back for zero costs‖ but is difficult to obtain when receiving bookings from OTAs. Some interviewees were able to see other potential strategic responses that were promising, but not yet pursued widely. One example was ‗bundling‘ products and services along with hotel rooms in new ways (Interviewees 1, 2, 4, 5, 6), similar to Airbnb‘s recent pivoting of offerings. Recognizing that part of the success of OTAs comes from customer convenience, some interviewees thought that innovations such as eliminating check-in (Interviewee 4) would help hotels cope with the new pressures. The regional hotel chain executive and the hotel management company owners perceived that changes to the physical product offered by hotels were needed to compete with Internet providers, especially Airbnb, saying that hotels need to ―rethink the long hallway‖ and the ―300 square-foot rooms‖ (Interviewee 4). This same executive saw significant barriers to innovation in the hotel industry. ―We [hotel industry] are definitely trying…but we are capital heavy, labor heavy, slow to innovate‖ (Interviewee 4). Discussion Our exploratory findings suggest that hoteliers, across a variety of hotel industry roles, had an almost uniformly profoundly negative, zero-sum view of the OTA relationship. While not dismissing the very real concerns and profitability pressures of the hotel industry, we are concerned that these perceptions may lead hotel industry players to not pursue or develop the relationship between them and OTAs in more mutually beneficial ways. The strategy of choice right now is to simply compete directly with OTAs, which is not a strategy that has necessarily worked for other traditional industries when digital intermediaries have entered their space, especially highly fragmented ones with many service providers such as the media and retail industries (Grossman, 2016). This view of the relationship does explain the relative lack of innovation about how to maximize the benefits of this relationship for both sides. In contrast to the zero-sum view, we would point to an alternative theory such as coopetition (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 2011). The theory of co-opetition points to two simultaneous processes: the cooperation required to ‗create the pie‘, or create value for all parties; and the competition to ‗divide up the pie‘ or capture the value created. Success in co-opetition comes from ‗changing the game‘ by developing new partnerships with four related parties: customers, suppliers, competitors, and complementors that offer ancillary services. In our data, we saw some tentative recognition of co-opetition possibilities in each of these four categories. For new customer relationships, we saw some desire by hoteliers to improve customer convenience and value, beyond simply increasing loyalty rewards. Some hoteliers recognized that OTAs have succeeded in part because of the consumer convenience and value proposition is a superior one. For new supplier relationships, there is limited recognition that new kinds of hotel products might be needed, supplied by non-traditional sources as in the Airbnb case, or by construction partners when building new hotels. Hotels have traditionally worked with complementors by bundling rooms with various travel services such as gaming or meals, but OTAs and Airbnb now offer similar services, making it difficult for hoteliers to differentiate themselves. Thus, there is an opportunity for hoteliers to creatively rethink their relationship with complementors, which none of our respondents mentioned. Despite the negative perceptions, our respondents reported some possibilities for new relationships with their OTA competitors, by using digital marketing techniques to their own advantage. To take an example, instead of having a booking war against OTAs, Red Lion Hotels strategically decided it would partner with Expedia in 2016. When customers see Red Lion hotel rates on Expedia sites, they see both a loyalty member rate, which is lower, and a non-member rate. Even if they are not part of Red Lion‘s loyalty program, customers can still book the loyalty rate and are then automatically enrolled as Red Lion members – thus enjoying member benefits while at the same time also earning points with Expedia. To complete the enrollment, the customer‘s email address is then sent to Red Lion ―which is a big deal because the online travel agencies don‘t normally share such information with partners‖ (Schaal, 2016b, p. 1). Looking across all four categories of new co-opetition relationships, however, we see little evidence of coordinated, systematic strategies for pursuing them in the hotel industry. For the hotel industry to respond to the rise of today‘s OTAs, and the other technology companies that might enter the industry in the future, we suggest that hotels will need to transcend their negative, zero-sum views of the OTA relationship and actively experiment with new co-opetition relationships. In addition, the hotel industry should also continue to improve the effectiveness of its traditional responses to OTAs, including their loyalty programs and brand loyalty initiatives. Several interviewees acknowledged that consumer behavior is changing and consumers today are not as brand loyal at they used to be. Research results echo the same phenomenon. For example, Wollan, Davis, De Angelis, and Quiring (2017) found that 71% of 25,426 respondents in 33 countries said ‗loyalty programs do not engender loyalty‘; 77% ‗retract their loyalty more quickly than they did three years ago‘; and 61% said they ‗switched one brand to another in the last year.‘ Decreasing brand loyalty is also apparent for hotels. MBLM (2017) found that consumers have the least ‗brand intimacy‘ (emotional bond with a brand) with hotel brands compared to those of other industries such as automotive and retail. Similarly, Oracle Hospitality (2017) found that 58.7% of survey participants (8,000 in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Japan, U.K. and U.S.) stated that they do not belong to any hotel program. The Global Traveler Study (2014) also found the diminishing meaning of ‗loyalty to one hotel,‘ as 66% of their 4,618 respondents in the U.S., U.K., Germany and China are members of 1-4 hotel loyalty programs, while 15% are members of 5 or more programs. Despite the decreasing numbers and the questioned value of such programs, hoteliers are still trying to make consumers loyal to their own brand by enticing them to join their loyalty program. This effort is to increase direct bookings and compete with OTAs by offering ‗member-only‘ incentives such as member discounts, or additional perks such as free late check-outs, free meals, or free upgrades. However, these incentives may exacerbate the already increasing costs for hoteliers, particularly if they are attracting consumers who are price sensitive and would not book directly unless they get something back. While the interviewees mentioned their efforts to increase direct bookings through loyalty programs, none referred to the cost of those programs. Given the changing consumer behavior toward becoming less loyal to brands, it stands to reason for hoteliers to re-consider their loyalty programs. Conclusion Hoteliers are fighting intermediation and trying to push direct bookings. This is nothing new for them since they have been doing it with traditional travel agencies for years. Yet, bookings with traditional agencies remain strong, and OTA bookings continue to grow. It seems that it might be time for hoteliers to quit fighting intermediation, and embrace the ―good‖ that it can bring by adopting a co-opetition mindset, while also creatively thinking about brand loyalty programs and what they might bring to that mindset – if anything. In the zero-sum perception of OTAs, however, we found little space for innovative thinking about how to create new offerings through new partnerships, or loyalty programs. While existing OTAs, and emerging OTAs such as Airbnb, are personalizing services for customers, offering new services that are bundled with rooms, and new products with a new population of room suppliers, the hotel industry‘s response is to simply copy what the OTAs are doing and apply it to their own online bookings. We urge the hotel industry to move beyond this response, and be equally creative in finding new co-opetition opportunities that speak to the traditional strengths of the hospitality industry and its experienced professionals.

This research examined whether the (in)congruence between the geographical distance between the viewer and the destination, and the dynamic distance experienced via zoomin and zoom-out affects the recommendation likelihood of the travel destination. Specifically, when the viewer’s motivation is utilitarian (e.g., travelling for work), we expect the congruence effect (H1): a higher recommendation likelihood when the geographic distance is congruent with the dynamic distance; that is, the viewer is more likely to recommend the travel destination when the destination is geographically far away from (close to) with a zoom-out (zoom-in) view. By contrast, when the viewer’s motivation is hedonic (e.g., travelling for fun), we expect the incongruence effect (H2): a higher recommendation likelihood when the geographic distance is incongruent with the dynamic distance; that is, the viewer is more likely to recommend the travel destination when the destination is geographically far away from (close to) with a zoom-in (zoomout) view. We test these ideas in an experimental study.

Previous research has found that taking photos during travel for the purpose of sharing with others via SNS (social networking sites) induces self-presentational concerns, which can decrease engagement and enjoyment of the experience. However, the previous studies have defined travel engagement and enjoyment too narrowly and failed to consider the heterogeneity in terms of the importance of photo-taking. While some travelers are reluctant photo takers and regard taking photos as a bother, others place more importance on photo-taking than sightseeing, and may therefore find it difficult to enjoy the travel experience without taking photos. To address these deficiencies, we modeled not only negative, but also positive relationships between photo-taking and travel engagement and enjoyment. The results showed that when taking photos, travelers who regard photo-taking as important were more engaged in the experience and enjoyed it more than travelers who regarded photo-taking as less important. Thus, this study provides a theoretical contribution to research on travel engagement.