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The scholarship on the economics of individual sports is scant relative to that of team sports. This study advances sport management scholarship, particularly sport economics, by using consumer-theory modeling to estimate Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view purchases. Our generalized linear models show fan preferences for certain weight classes, star fighters, outcome uncertainty and comain event quality factors as well as scheduling preferences for holiday weekends. The popular notion that The Ultimate Fighter reality series served as the impetus for the UFC's growth is supported in part. The study concludes by showing how the modeling results impact firm revenue generation via fight card characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explores the central elements comprising memorable tourism experiences. It does so by adopting a sequential data collection process along three main successive travel stages: (a) pre-, (b) during, and (c) posttravel. Findings suggest that while participants vividly recalled the process of collecting and negotiating information for travel planning as well as interactions with others, what they most recalled posttravel (i.e., once their travels were over) were unique and unexpected personal experiences that differentiated their experiences from others’ experiences. The implications of such findings for the understanding of memorable tourism experiences are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the broad conceptualization of shopping malls as placeless, malls increasingly serve as popular tourist attractions and yet remain significantly under investigated in the tourism literature. With this in mind, this study investigates tourists' lived experiences and their implications for understanding contemporary manifestations of place and placelessness. It focuses specifically on shopping malls in Seoul, South Korea and adopts a phenomenological perspective to address two research questions: first, are there particular features that give rise to tourists experiencing shopping malls as placeless? And second, notwithstanding placelessness, what is the appeal of Seoul's malls to tourists? Findings propose that malls can be understood as a negotiated reality between the forces that create placelessness and those that enhance the appeal of malls. The study affirms contemporary notions of placelessness as symbiotic with experiencing place; reaffirming space as a production of human intention where social and cultural changes manifest themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the representation of the Islamic past in contemporary Spanish and Portuguese tourism by examining tourism websites for two comparable national monuments: the Alhambra in Granada, Spain and Silves Castle in Silves, Portugal. The examined representations privilege a particular historical narrative and perspective of the Moorish expulsion, as well as a separation from the Islamic past during the creation of both nation states. In particular, both nation states' Islamic past is largely reinvented in such a way that it appears to have had little impact on the nations themselves. The implications of such narratives for the contemporary advancement of an inclusive European identity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking to contribute to ongoing investigations of diverse contexts of tourism consumption, the current investigation explores the meanings genealogical tourists attribute to their lived experiences and contextualizes those findings within larger social approaches to the human dynamics that drive contemporary tourism. Taking an interpretive turn, it proposes genealogical tourism as reflecting contemporary tourists' call for diversity of leisure interests and opportunities as well as their desire for a full range of varying intimacies, intensities, and complexities in their tourism lived experiences. In particular, it reveals tourism as a reflexive response to a sense of loss that underpins modern society, assisting in reaffirming both a generational sense of the self and a self-recognition that one has one's own perspective on the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representation of cultural Others in tourism texts is an important concern. Thus far, analyses of mass-mediated tourism representations have focused on promotional materials produced by for-profit agencies or by governments charged with encouraging development through tourism. Lacking have been assessments of materials produced by non-profit brokers with humanitarian missions. This study interrogates the promotional literature of one such agency, Semester at Sea (SAS), to determine whether its representational practices differ from the mainstream. Grounded in postcolonial theory and employing content, semiotic, and discourse analysis, it argues that although SAS embraces a mission of promoting crosscultural interaction and global citizenship, the program nevertheless continues to (re)produce hegemonic depictions of non- Westerners, asserting a Western superiority ideology by polarizing the West and the Rest into binaries of modern-traditional, technologically advanced-backward, and master -servant and decomplexifying the globalization process by presenting the non-West as exotic, culturally pristine, and filled with happy natives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate the social forces that shape tourists' motives in consuming cannabis while on vacation. The underlying premise of this paper is that cannabis consumption in tourism is driven and influenced by the wider process of the normalization of cannabis use in Western societies and, therefore, should be examined in this context. Using a grounded theory approach, this study suggests four umbrella groups of motivations to consume cannabis while traveling: experimentation, pleasure and diversion-seeking, quest for authenticity, and accessible purchasing. Each category is illuminated and discussed, respectively, in the light of four theoretical explanations: loosening of social control, the leisure behavioral continuum, shaping and manifestation of social identity, and smuggling as a deviant career. Given the lack of previous research, it is suggested that these explanations can be viewed as an initial framework for further investigation of this under-explored topic. The paper concludes by examining several theoretical and epistemological issues revolving around the relationships between cannabis use, tourism and everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have criticized the phenomenon of heritage tourism, arguing that it is driven by nostalgia, the desire on the part of heritage tourists to relive a glorified, misremembered version of the past; however few studies have examined the actual experiences of heritage tourists. Employing a framework of heuristic inquiry, this study explores nine tourists' experiences traveling along the Route 66 National Historic Corridor, using methodological techniques of in-depth active interviewing, personal reflection, narrative inquiry, and photo elicitation in order to begin to evaluate the explanatory power of nostalgia theory in this context. Study participants identified various meaningful elements of their travel experiences, including historical education, interaction with diverse landscapes, interaction with hosts, and personal growth; however, their experiences did not appear to be characterized by nostalgia, as it is conceptualized in the tourism literature. The study thus emphasizes the importance of considering tourists' interpretations of their experiences when generating theory about tourism phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A culturally and ethnically diverse U.S. population not only reflects changing park and recreation demographics, but also reflects changing interpersonal communication issues; particularly, intercultural communicative behaviors within public recreation spaces. To better understand such issues and behaviors, this exploratory study tested significant relationships between park and recreation practitioners and Latino and African American park users' perceptions of intercultural communication competence and conflict negotiation strategies. Overall, findings indicated that park staff was shown to perceive Latino park users as possessing less intercultural communication competence than Latino park users were shown to perceive of themselves; conversely, park staff was shown to perceive African American park users as possessing more intercultural communication competence than African American park users were shown to perceive of themselves. In addition, intercultural conflict negotiation strategy differences were found to exist between park staff's perceptions of Latino and African American park users, and the park users' perceptions of themselves. Such findings call attention to the notion that park and recreation practitioners can not underestimate the influence that one's racial and ethnic background has on interpersonal communication behaviors. Recommendations for park and recreation practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the economic efficiency of a sample of Portuguese hotels for the period 1998-2002 is analyzed with data envelopment analysis. The efficiency scores of the hotels analyzed are decomposed into technical and allocative efficiency by using outputs, inputs, and input prices. A range of managerial and economic implications arising from the study is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the political dimensions of American evangelical pilgrimages to Israel by using the methodological technique known as data triangulation. Based on evidence from primary and secondary data, the article illuminates (1) how tourism is used by pilgrims to promote their theological visions that have some political ramifications to the host country and (2) how the political circumstances in the state of Israel engender a noteworthy relationship between an extreme right party from Israel and the pilgrims. The findings regarding the political dimensions are organized around four functions achieved by using data triangulation. In so doing, this article attempts to provide new theoretical insights regarding the philosophical premises and the purposes traditionally related to the use of data triangulation in tourism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural products play an important and critical role in representing and circulating mass mediated public culture. An examination of one such cultural product, cartoons, and their representations of tourists' interactions with hosts reveals an understanding of what is perceived as cultural differences among populations as well as inappropriate intercultural communication. The authors examine The New Yorker cartoons in order to advance a conceptual and theoretical discussion regarding intercultural communication and tourism. Specifically, they ask how cartoonists represent the intercultural interaction of American tourists in southern Europe. Using framing theory and analysis, the authors seek to understand how popular and humorous representations of intercultural communication between tourists and hosts intersect with contemporary critiques of tourism. The subsequent exploratory analysis suggests three frames: the world is ours to use, cultural commoditization, and the gaze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Cannabis Usage in Tourism: A Sociological Perspective" that was published in a previous issue is presented.