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The aim of this study is to examine Chinese football fans' sense of belonging to the virtual communities of their favorite European teams and their intention to visit Europe and watch a live match. Drawing on a survey of 488 Chinese football fans, the findings reveal that ideal self-congruence, brand identification, and the ability of virtual communities affect fans' sense of belonging. Finally, sense of belonging influences fans' travel intentions, and a positive attitude toward the destination and city strengthens the positive relationship between sense of belonging and the intention to travel.

Cultural tourism destinations, such as cultural quarters, have become an important part of postmodern society because tourists are more interested in cultural tourism than they have been in the past. The purpose of this research is to examine tourists' cultural quarters revisit or recommendation intentions. Building on self-congruity theory, this research incorporates a "cultural contact" variable into symbolic consumption in the tourism destination brands model to examine tourists' cultural quarters revisit or recommendation intentions. In total, 400 Taiwanese tourists were recruited. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the proposed model. The results demonstrate that ideal self-congruence, brand identification, lifestyle congruence, and cultural contact influence tourists' satisfaction, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. In addition, cultural contact positively moderates the relationship between satisfaction and intentions. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed in the context of the cultural tourism literature.

Luxury hotels might hesitate to operate in a more environmentally friendly way because they worry such practices will harm their performance. However, hotels can have a significant impact on the na...

To examine tourists' intentions to revisit and recommend a cultural tourism destination, this study incorporates an “on-site activity involvement” variable into the Mehrabian-Russell model. We draw on a survey of over 500 tourists. Our findings reveal that aesthetics, service staff excellence, and playfulness affect tourists' satisfaction, which in turn affects their sense of belonging. In addition, sense of belonging positively influences tourists' behavioral intentions. Finally, on-site activity involvement moderates the influence of satisfaction on sense of belonging. Several implications of the study are identified, and avenues for future research are suggested.

As luxury products have become increasingly accessible to middle-class consumers, many gastronomic tourists might be interested in dining at luxury restaurants when traveling. The purpose of this s...

This study incorporates a “food image” variable into a luxury value-attitude-behavior model. The aim is to examine Taiwanese tourists’ attitudes toward luxury restaurants and purchase intentions, i.e., to dine at luxury restaurants while traveling for tourism purposes. A total of 361 participants were recruited to complete the questionnaires. The results indicated that the perceived functional value, perceived symbolic / expressive value, and perceived hedonic value may influence consumers’ attitudes toward luxury restaurants, which, in turn, may affect their purchase intentions – to dine at luxury restaurants while participating in tourism activities. In addition, a destination’s food image moderates the relationship between attitude and purchase intentions. The managerial implications of this research are discussed.

Tourism trade shows that are open to the public as well as to buyers and sellers are an emerging channel for the promotion of products to potential tourists. However, few studies have explored the influence of environmental stimuli on nonbusiness visitors' emotions. Moreover, the moderating effect of visitors' expectations remains understudied in the context of trade show management. To address this issue, this study reports on research derived from 611 respondents at a Taiwanese tourism trade show through a modified Mehrabian–Russell model. Structural equation modeling of the data shows that positive emotions positively influence behavioral intentions, but negative emotions do not negatively influence behavioral intentions. Among the three stimuli (i.e., information rate, service staff quality, and atmospherics), only information rate and service staff quality positively affect positive emotions and negatively affect negative emotions. The results show that visitors with high and low trade show visit expectations react differently to environmental stimuli at trade shows.

The purpose of this research is to examine how consumers’ attachment to luxury restaurants and their emotional ambivalence contribute to their reservation session abandonment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, the moderating effect of luxury consumption goals (e.g., self-presentation motives, status consumption, and need for uniqueness) is examined. A total of 408 participants completed questionnaires, and the results reveal that luxury restaurant attachment significantly influences consumers’ emotional ambivalence, which in turn causes them to not complete their reservation sessions. Furthermore, the moderating effects of status consumption and need for uniqueness are supported.

This research examines the influence of restaurant stimuli (i.e., chefs, service staff, other customers, food quality, and atmospherics) on diners’ emotions and loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In teppanyaki restaurants, chefs take orders from diners, prepare food in front of diners, and serve dishes to diners. Although the importance of chefs has been acknowledged by scholars, empirical research on the influence of chefs on diners has been scarce. To augment the literature on how chefs influence diners, this research incorporates “chef’s image” into an extended Mehrabian-Russell model (M-R model) to conceptualize diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. A total of 308 diners from Taiwan were recruited. After examining their completed questionnaires, this study found that chef’s image, service quality, and food quality can affect the positive and negative emotions of diners. Moreover, other diners and restaurant atmospherics affect only the negative emotions of diners. Both positive and negative emotions can affect diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In addition, the managerial implications of this study are discussed.

Finding the balance between economic development and preservation of the natural environment is a challenging yet important task. This is a particularly pressing issue in the case of China, because it is the largest and fastest growing market for tourism. The purpose of this research is to examine Chinese tourists' participation in nature-based, tourism activities by incorporating tourists' environmental concern—measured by a revised New Environmental Paradigm scale—into a tourism constraint-negotiation model. The responses of 409 Chinese tourists show that environmental concern will positively affect tourists' motivation, which, in turn, will affect their negotiation strategy and ultimately their participation behavior. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed in the context of the tourism literature.

Highlights\ud \ud •\ud Tourists’ teppanyaki restaurant dining experience is examined.\ud •\ud A chef’s image has a positive influence on experiential value.\ud •\ud Interaction with other customers positively influences experiential value.\ud •\ud Service quality has a positive influence on diners’ experiential value.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine diners’ luxury restaurant consumption behavior by incorporating diner expectations into a modified Mehrabian–Russell model. Consumers dine at luxury restaurants for reasons beyond fulfilling basic needs. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to diners’ emotions and loyalty toward luxury restaurants. Design/methodology/approach – To examine the proposed six hypotheses, qualitative and quantitative studies were performed. Following exploratory qualitative research, 310 consumers who dined at Taiwan’s five-star hotel restaurants were recruited for the main study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings – The results show that restaurants’ stimuli influence diners’ positive and negative emotions (organisms), which, in turn, affect their loyalty toward luxury restaurants (responses). Furthermore, customers with different levels of expectation react differently to stimuli. Practical implications – This study offers new empirical support for the proposition that diner expectation plays a role in building customer loyalty and, thereby, shades both theoretical and managerial understanding of the luxury restaurant consumption process. Originality/value – This study conceptualizes diners’ loyalty toward luxury restaurants (e.g. revisiting and recommending luxury restaurants) by examining the influence of restaurants’ stimuli, diners’ emotions and customers’ expectations toward luxury restaurants. Additionally, this study offers some managerial implications for practitioners.

Highlights • This paper examines tourists’ loyalty toward cultural quarters. • A model of the symbolic consumption of tourism destination brands is used. • Self-congruence affects tourists’ loyalty. • Brand identification does not affect loyalty. • Lifestyle-congruence affects tourists’ loyalty.

This research’s purpose is to examine the factors that affect pet owners’ decisions when taking pets to participate in tourism activities. Unlike tourist travelling alone, pet owners must consider their own circumstances as well as the constraints their pets place on them. To narrow the gap in the literature, 568 Taiwanese dog owners who have included their pets in tourism activities were recruited. The results from structural equation modeling show pet-associated constraints will negatively affect owners’ behavior. On the other hand, motivated owners who are attached to their pets will still include their pets in tourism activities if they have the needed negotiation strategy.

•Chinese fans’ intention to travel to Europe to watch a live match is examined.•Sense of virtual community (SOVC) positively influences intentions to travel.•Destination attitude moderates SOVC’s influence on intentions to travel.

In recent years, some upscale restaurants have invited guest chefs to provide diners with cuisines that are out of the ordinary (e.g., new menus and/or dishes that use unique ingredients) for a limited period of time (e.g., Cheshes, 2015; Naylor, 2010). As suggested by Cheshes (2015), when executed successfully, this collaboration can bring new cuisines to diners without having them travel far, can allow chefs to learn from one another, and can help restaurants explore new opportunities without taking on too much risk.\ud Although the use of guest chefs by high-end restaurants is on the rise, scholars have not explored the impact of guest chefs and this phenomenon’s implications to the hospitality literature. Kuroshima (2010), Pratten (2003a; 2003b), and Zopiatis (2010) suggested that chefs are crucial to restaurant performance. The existing literature on restaurants has emphasized service quality and atmosphere; nevertheless, relevant studies on chefs have been scarce. To contribute to the hospitality literature, the current study incorporates “perceived restaurant-guest chef fit” into Deng and Li’s (2014) image transfer model to explore a recently growing phenomenon and to provide practitioners with suggestions on how to use guest chefs effectively.

Promoting new membership programmes can be a rewarding, yet challenging task for hotels. However, high-performance sales teams can improve consumer perceptions of new membership programmes in the market and allow hotels to remain competitive. Few studies have explored how hotel sales personnel approach the task of selling new membership programmes, and studies examining the moderating influence of market orientation are also rare. The current study contributes to the hospitality sales management literature by using the goal orientation theory to examine the new membership programmes sales performance of 168 salespeople. ‘Market orientation’\ud was included as a variable that could moderate salespeople’s performance. The results show that learning goal orientation and performance-prove goal orientation positively influence salespeople’s performance, but performance-avoid goal orientation\ud negatively influences sales performance. Furthermore, hotels’ levels of market orientation (high or low) can moderate the relationship between goal orientation and sales performance.

As modern individuals place increasing value on tourism and have an increasing attachment to their pets, it is important for scholars, practitioners, and other relevant parties to determine whether pet owners will plan to have their pets accompany them when travelling for tourism purposes. Based on an analysis of 458 dog owners, this study's results provide support for the application of the TPB model in the context of this subject. The findings of this study on the influence of pet attachment on owners' attitudes and intentions shed new light on the existing literature and contribute to tourism literature and practices.