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Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the food delivery sector to boom as people continue to rely on services provided by online catering platforms (OCPs). However, because of the nature of sharing economy employment, gig workers’ contributions went largely ignored until intervention from institutional governance. This study aims to explore the impacts of labor market transformation after the Chinese Government issued guidance to promote gig workers’ welfare as a focal case. Design/methodology/approach Focus groups and the Delphi technique were used to explore associated impacts on OCPs and gig workers based on governance theory. Findings Results show that institutional governance negatively affected OCPs’ operating cost structure but sustained gig workers’ welfare. The dual effects of market mechanism and institutional governance in the sharing economy are needed to be balanced for labor market transformation. Research limitations/implications Long-term equilibrium can be fulfilled, given the growing food-related demand for the market mechanism. Social reciprocity is expected to be realized through institutional governance for gig workers’ welfare. Originality/value This study suggests that moving from market governance to stakeholder governance, as mediated by state governance, could transform gig workers’ labor structure in the gig economy. This study presents an integrated governance theory to enhance the epistemology of institutional governance.

Senior tourism is a rapidly growing market in China, and global players have begun to attract senior tourists from China using diversified ways to help boost the industry in different destinations ...

Drawing upon the underdeveloped literature on online food-delivery (OFD) services, this exploratory study investigated how OFD services impact hotel catering businesses. Methods of focus groups and...

This review provides novel and timely insights into research in the field of diaspora tourism. The principal originality of this work lies in capturing the full extent and richness of research on this topic by looking beyond tourism journals and the term “diaspora tourism” to situate the review in a broader social science research domain. It also adds to the small number of systematic syntheses of existing research on diaspora tourism by addressing both the geographical dimensions of diaspora tourism and the superdiversity of diasporas. Uneven research coverage exists between diaspora tourism studies across disciplines and continents, reflecting the superdiversity of diasporas and creating challenges, as well as opportunities for theoretical and methodological discussion and convergence as the topic matures. Future research can address these issues through research on irregular immigrants with diverse immigration histories, cross-continental comparative studies, and longitudinal methods.

While private social dining has emerged as a new activity in the sharing economy, associated research is limited. This study aims to conceptualize tourists’ private social dining experiences by incorporating the concept of the experience economy with the sharing economy. Thematic analysis of 29 interviews unveiled a hierarchical framework, beginning with a personalized experience and leading to sensory experience before ending with emotional experience in private social dining settings. Seven identified emotional experiential domains were then situated within a four-quadrant framework to address how private social dining can enrich the four original experiential domains of the experience economy (i.e. entertainment, education, esthetic, and escapism) to trigger tourists’ emotional pleasure. These results lay a theoretical foundation for future studies and provide practical implications for the development of food tourism.

Airbnb is one of the most successful sharing platforms, providing informal, long-term accommodations globally. China is considered the fastest growing market in the domestic and global tourism indu...

This study examined conflict in family trips taken by young adult children and parents and the causes of such conflict. A three-step analysis of the data derived from netnographic and interview app...

The economy has suffered unprecedentedly during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the shared accommodation sector. This study aims to discover the pandemic consumer behavior model for the recovery of the sector as well as investigate the economic resilience of tourists’ behavior to prevent and control the normalized pandemic. Most of the resilience literature discussed the level of economic and industry revitalization. There are relatively few studies on the individual level of tourists’ resilience. Therefore, we applied the adjusted theory of planned behavior with pandemic-related intrinsic factors to construct the research model, which is analyzed by the SEM approach. The results show that perceived risk affects tourists’ perceived value, trust, and behavioral attitude when repurchasing shared accommodation during the pandemic. The repurchase intention is indirectly affected by the behavioral attitude and perceived value. We concluded that the perceived risk of the pandemic could be resilient with respect to the perceived value, trust, and behavioral attitude for the repurchase intention of the shared accommodation for the sector to recover.

Real-time online courses (RTOCs), a new online learning mode, have been developed because of a longitudinal suspension of classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. We explore an information model to review the learning process and outcomes of RTOCs, which conducted educational activities via social media. Results show that social media can be a potent mediation factor with the moderation of structural differentiation to facilitate online learning outcomes. Conclusions imply that the life-changing impact of COVID-19 has caused an evolutionary online education mode that can be hybridized with face-to-face education and massive open online courses to flourish education approaches and pedagogies.

This research was designed to identify halal-friendly travel motivation factors and unearth their role in Muslim customer retention process in Korea. Qualitative and quantitative procedures were us...

This study aims to analyze and construct the hospitality value co-creation system of dining services for mobility-impaired persons (MIPs) by using a specific technological platform in small and medium restaurants (SMRs). The hospitality industry should take action to provide improved services to MIPs. The service-dominant logic, the methodology of service experience engineering, and research approaches in ethnography, content analysis, action research, and service design were applied to implement a hospitality co-creation service system. The result is shown in quality function deployment (QFD). The Friendly Restaurant app was developed by a social enterprise working with MIPs and SMR operators to improve the dining experience of MIPs in SMRs guided by QFD. This app comes from the hospitality co-creation system to offer a list of barrier-free restaurants, menu design, information on accessible facilities, and taxi services for various types of MIPs.

This research proposes the spacetime scale to derive a space tourism economic model based on the General Relativity Theory. The space curvature is considered in the economic model analogized to a physic theory to expand the horizons of tourism economics. The deductive reasoning and analogy methods were adopted to propose the spacetime scale for space tourism economics, accommodating the conventional economic models of near-flat space commodities on the earth. Conclusions suggest conquering our perception acceptance from linear time to curvilinear spacetime for space tourism economics.

This study investigates how a sharing economy shapes family travel in accommodation service. This study draws on a data source composed of a literature review and in-depth interviews with f...

This study aims to explore and analyze the impact of hotel chefs’ organizational commitment (ORC) and occupational commitment (OCC) on job-related outcomes, namely, job satisfaction (JS) and employee creative performance (ECP). This study also investigates the mediating role of JS within the conceptual framework. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were then employed to examine the hypotheses using AMOS. The results showed that nine out of eleven sub-hypotheses are supported, and one was partially supported. One sub-component of ORC has an impact on ECP, and three sub-components of OCC impacts on hotel chefs’ ECP. Bootstrapping methods and Sobel testing were also employed to investigate the mediation effects of JS. Four out of five hypotheses were supported, and one was partially supported. Job satisfaction was found to be a mediator between the two unique types of commitments and ECP.

This study aims to investigate the development of Airbnb in China from the perspective of hospitality leaders by identifying the positive and negative effects of Airbnb development in the country.,A qualitative approach was adopted to explore the current development of sharing accommodation service in China. Focus group discussions were conducted with the managers and top executives of hotels in China.,Most of the participants affirmed that the experience of local culture and authenticity are the advantages of staying in this type of informal accommodation. From the viewpoint of hoteliers, traditional accommodation is necessary to rethink their strategies by providing authentic experiences. By contrast, Airbnb service may not seamlessly fit into Chinese culture. The result also indicated that there is a need for government to regulate the informal accommodation platforms.,This study provides views towards Airbnb from the traditional accommodation sector in Mainland China, which can contribute to the future regulation of informal accommodation services.,Chinese market is the leading sector in tourism industry. With the popularity of Airbnb development around the world, Airbnb is still in a developing stage in Mainland China. This study is based on 45 hoteliers and industry professionals in China, who share their views on Airbnb development and how it should move forward. The findings of this study shed light on the informal accommodation service and its future directions in China.,爱彼迎在中国的未来：酒店业领导者的行业观点,这项研究旨在从酒店业领导者的角度调查Airbnb在中国的发展, 以确定Airbnb在中国发展的正面和负面影响。,本文采用定性方法来探索中国共享住宿服务的当前发展。研究组与中国酒店的经理和高层管理人员进行了焦点小组讨论。,大多数参与者表示, 当地文化和真实性的体验是住在Airbnb这种非正式住宿中的优势。从酒店经营者的角度来看, 传统的住宿业需要重新考虑他们的经营策略, 为顾客提供真实的体验。相比之下, Airbnb的服务可能无法无缝融入中国文化。结果还表明, 政府需要规范非正式的住宿平台。,该研究提供了中国内地传统住宿业对Airbnb的看法, 这有助于未来对非正式住宿服务的监管。,中国市场是旅游业的主导市场。Airbnb在世界范围内不断普及, 而它在中国内地市场仍处于发展阶段。参与研究的45位中国酒店业者和行业专业人士, 分享了对Airbnb开发的看法以及其之后的发展方向。这项研究的结果阐明了非正式住宿服务在中国的未来发展方向。,El futuro de Airbnb en China: perspectiva de la industria desde el punto de vista de lideres hoteleros,Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar el desarrollo de Airbnb en China desde la perspectiva de lideres hoteleros, mediante la identificacion de los efectos positivos y negativos del desarrollo de Airbnb en el pais.,Se adopto un enfoque cualitativo para explorar el desarrollo actual del servicio de alojamiento colaborativo en China. Se llevaron a cabo discusiones de grupos focales con los gerentes y altos ejecutivos de hoteles en China.,La mayoria de los participantes afirmaron que la experiencia de la cultura local y la autenticidad, son las ventajas de alojarse en este tipo de “alojamiento informal”. Desde el punto de vista de los hoteleros, es necesario que el alojamiento tradicional, repiense sus estrategias proporcionando experiencias autenticas. Por el contrario, el servicio de Airbnb puede no encajar perfectamente en la cultura China. El resultado, tambien indico que es necesario que el gobierno regule las “plataformas informales” de alojamiento.,El estudio proporciona puntos de vista hacia Airbnb desde el sector de alojamiento tradicional en China continental, que puede contribuir a la futura regulacion de los servicios de “alojamiento informal”.,El mercado chino es el sector lider en la industria del turismo. Con la popularidad del desarrollo de Airbnb en todo el mundo, Airbnb aun se encuentra en una etapa de desarrollo en China continental. Este estudio se basa en 45 hoteleros y profesionales de la industria en China al compartir sus puntos de vista sobre el desarrollo de Airbnb y como deberia avanzar. Los resultados de este estudio arrojan luz sobre el servicio de “alojamiento informal” y sus futuras direcciones en China.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the accommodation experience of customers in the budget hotel sector – a less explored but rapidly expanding sector in the hospitality industry. This study investigates the effects of such experience on customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a quantitative approach and draws on a comprehensive data set (N = 414) by using a quota sampling approach. The context of the study is the Chinese market, where budget hotels and the number of mass tourists (inbound and outbound) have increased tremendously. Findings This study identifies a behavioral pattern that differs from trends reported in prior studies. The finding shows that the relationship between customer experience and behavioral intentions is mediated by customer satisfaction, which similarly mediates the relationship between perceived value and behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications The results provide significant implications for hoteliers in the budget hotel industry by calling for a differentiated marketing approach for this segment of customers. Furthermore, the study provides insights into the accommodation behavior of Chinese mass tourists. These findings can serve as reference for international budget hotel practitioners, especially those involved in hotels that target the increasing number of travelers from China. Originality/value The budget hotel sector is the first accommodation choice for many Chinese mass tourists. This study is the first to conduct a systematic exploration of the behavioral patterns of customers toward budget hotels in this context. Moreover, this study adopts a holistic approach by adopting an experiential view in measuring the overall experience of customers in budget hotels.

This study investigated the views of travelers’ choices of informal accommodations, Airbnb in Hong Kong from the perspectives of three stakeholders. A qualitative approach was applied, both interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. A total of 69 participants shared their views on why users choose Airbnb over traditional hotels. The findings highlighted that hoteliers and Airbnb users presented different rankings on the determinants of accommodation choice. The implications of the destination image and the population density were discussed. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for any city/country where has a similar cultural background and population density.

Social media, online review and photo posting have created an impact on hotel guest experience. This study explores how tourists capture their experience on memorable hospitality services via each ...

This study aims to understand the small tourism business owner’s entrepreneurial motivation in different stages of destination development. Using a qualitative approach, 46 entrepreneurs who owned ...

• Support for creativity was only connected to three out of five stages of the creative process, namely, idea preparation, verification of artwork, and creative performance.

The fast growth of the Chinese economy has transformed Chinese outbound tourism into one of the major players in the tourism industry worldwide. However, Chinese outbound tourists may still encounter travel constraints in some countries, such as Japan, which has had a close and complicated relationship in history with China. This study adopted the qualitative approach by applying focus group and in-depth interviews to investigate and triangulate the travel barriers affecting Chinese outbound travel to Japan. The findings indicated that domestic nationalist sentiment played a key constraining role in influencing Chinese outbound travel decision-making, followed by current political factors, while quality products and service, as well as social environment encouraged tourists to travel. This research also found that visitors and non-visitors have perception differences in terms of travel barriers and attractiveness of travel.

The importance of experiential learning in hospitality and tourism education is widely noted. Effective learning can only be achieved by well-guided practice in the real world. Learning by doing is widely manifested in the hotel and tourism programs of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In this study, we explored the role of the service-learning subject in hospitality education. Through analyzing students’ reflective journals, we found that, of all learning outcomes, teamwork and leadership had the highest number of reflections, followed by (a) developing cultural sensitivity and (b) identifying, defining, and resolving relevant problems. This real-life service-learning subject is highly valuable to students because it provides students with unique learning opportunities that are scarce in traditional classrooms.

The term ‘authenticity’ is becoming increasingly precious in this world full of hyper reality. Authenticity has been an important attribute of the tourism industry as well as the food sector. This study explores diners’ perception of authenticity of Cantonese cuisine, with Shang Palace of the Kowloon Shangri-La Hong Kong as the study base. This study draws on a triple data source, composed of in-depth interviews, online comments and participant observations. Systematic content analysis performed using NVivo 10 leads to findings that food, ambience, and environment, as well as staff members, are important factors that influence customers’ perception of authenticity in the restaurant. Comparative analysis of the data confirms the importance of customers’ knowledge and experience of Cantonese cuisine as a factor that influences their perception.

This research first develops a conceptual model to link relevant concepts in psychology and tourism research to each stage of the long-term memory (LTM) system. It combines insights from mindfulness, positive affect, and quality of conscious experience to understand how tourists encode information; research in short-term memory and working memory as well as social identity to address the consolidation of information; and concepts of remembering, false memory, and storytelling to highlight information retrieval. Next, focus groups were conducted to examine how practitioners are helping tourists encode, consolidate, and retrieve their memories in the context of this model (Study 1). Finally, in-depth interviews were conducted to complement the practitioner’s perspective by reflecting the tourist’s voice that is relevant in each stage of the LTM system (Study 2). Overall, this research connects findings from the practitioner’s viewpoint with the tourist’s voice to present a framework of memory manage...

Emerging Airbnb accommodations provide a unique sharing economy platform where\ud tourists can co-create their travel experiences with different participating groups. However,\ud limited research has been conducted to understand the social contact of guests in the Airbnb\ud accommodation. This study explores the social contact of Airbnb guests during their stay and\ud identifies three types of contact during such stay, namely guest–host, guest–community, and\ud guest–guest contacts. In each contact, the contact activities, intensity, and impacts, as well as\ud attitude toward contact are discussed. A social contact model for Airbnb guests is then\ud established. Theoretical and practical implications are provided accordingly.

Despite increased concerns about the negative economic impacts of tourism on host communities, insufficient attention has been paid to assess tourism’s economic sustainability. This article aims to develop and validate a framework for assessing economic sustainability from the perspective of local stakeholders. In-depth interviews with 12 major stakeholders and telephone surveys with 1,839 Hong Kong citizens were conducted. The tourism economic sustainability construct consisted of three dimensions: economic positivity, development control, and individual welfare. The reliability and validity of the dimensions were confirmed by the data of subsamples. The links between sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes toward tourism economic sustainability were evaluated. This article enhanced our understanding of tourism economic sustainability by expanding the measurement from the macro-level to the micro-level. Using the study setting in Hong Kong, it transcends previous analyses by providing a context to learn from ongoing controversies about the effects of tourism on the host communities.

Drawing on the literature examining women intrapreneurship, Chinese guanxi and tourism, this article critically explores a theoretical framework for understanding guanxi influences on women intrapreneurship in a non-western and highly patriarchal destination. Through a qualitative analysis of women managers from twenty-four medium and large tourism firms in China, the study provides evidence of Guanxi as socially embedded personal relationships for the exchange of favors, enabling women managers to initiate specific types of women intrapreneurship initiatives in their organizations. The findings reveal how the women managers draw on three forms of guanxi (external, within and back-stage) to display intrapreneurial actions as well as the firm-specific factors that constitute important determinants of women intrapreneurship. The managerial implications for encouraging and supporting women intrapreneurs are critically examined.

The Shaolin Monastery annually attracts millions of visitors from around the world. However, the overcommercialization of these sacred places may contradict the values and philosophies of Buddhism. This study aims to comprehensively understand the balance between commercialization and sanctity, engaging with 58 Chinese practitioners and educators in seven focus groups. Participants articulated their expectation to avoid overcommercialization, and they discussed the conflicts between commercialization and sanctity to further explore on how to mitigate overcommercialization. Based on the study findings, a balanced model of religious tourism development is proposed, and specific recommendations are offered to sustainably manage religious sites. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The purpose of this article is to present a study which explores the origin of applied creativity in the culinary industry, in Taiwan. A total of 36 Chinese and Western cuisine chefs from five-star hotels and top restaurants were interviewed to provide the data from this study. The findings indicate that the role of applied creativity in the culinary industry has played a key role in culinary change and evolution in Taiwan. Culinary creativity has its own distinct characteristics, such as time limitations and market acceptance, which are acquired through building blocks of professional skills and experience. The study contributes to understanding the role of applied creativity in the culinary industry.

Purpose This study aims to construct an integrated social entrepreneur system in the rural area of Hengshan, Taiwan, that could benefit four stakeholders, namely, tourists, business, community and government. Two social entrepreneur cases demonstrate a mutually beneficial situation of lowering the structural unemployment rate, returning young human capital to villages and innovating rural tourism through the activism of service science. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative approach was applied to data obtained from 12 research projects spanning three years. Service experience engineering (SEE) methods were used to conduct a service design for social entrepreneurs in an integrated service system. The service system aimed to innovate rural tourism through the activism of service science. Findings SEE methods explain a series of service design processes that helped our research team start up two social entrepreneur projects as service prototypes to offer service innovation based on cultural creativity to innovate rural tourism. These two social entrepreneurs in rural tourism offer job opportunities to young people and senior citizens alike. In addition, an integrated service system of interdisciplinary knowledge, multi-stakeholders and local resources fulfills various requirements of stakeholders to promote sustainable rural tourism. Research limitations/implications Real action studies are limited in the research on social entrepreneurs. This case study provides research insights into service science and calls for action in practice to change the future of a local village. The results provide the philosophy and knowledge of service science that social entrepreneurs of rural tourism can use in the village. Designing service innovation for rural tourism has shaped its vision toward a sustainable tourism system. Originality/value Few studies have shown that social entrepreneurs could innovate rural tourism. The present study presents an action case through the activism of service science.

This study aims to construct a typology of hotels’ strategic configurations based on the Butterfly Effect in the event of the Ice Bucket Challenge in the Chinese hotel industry. We employed the BDS test and analogy inference method to infer the strategic configurations and strategic configuration matrix of the hotel industry based on the chaos theory. The strategic configurations and configuration matrix of the hotel industry were identified through the Ice Bucket Challenge and Butterfly Effect, which correspond to the chaotic and deep regularities/attractors of the chaos theory. The implication for hotel operations is to survive and surpass this complex system and dynamic competition under the strategic configurations and configuration matrix, which entails cooperation in the industry structure and pursuit of the blue-ocean strategy, a way to work in a marketplace that is free of competitors, through a strategy of service innovation.

The budget hotel sector in China has rapidly developed in the past decade. However, very little is known about consumer behavior in this sector. This exploratory study addresses this knowledge gap by adopting a mixed method of in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. It specifically aims to explore the dimensionality of customer experience with budget hotels and to further examine the influencing factors for customer satisfaction. The results of exploratory factor analysis reveal four factors or dimensions of customer experience, namely, tangible and sensorial experience, staff aspect, aesthetic perception, and location. Multiple regression analysis shows that these four factors significantly influence customer satisfaction in a positive manner.

This study aims to investigate how the sharing economy has redefined the meaning of work in the food delivery sector. We conducted in-depth interviews with 50 food delivery workers in the sharing economy to identify their work goals and then performed an empirical investigation into the mechanism between the meaning of work, work engagement, and career commitment. Seven work goals were empirically found to fit a bidimensional conceptualization of work goals of intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. Using an instrument developed via qualitative analysis, we found that the relationship between the meaning of work and career commitment varies across dimensions of the meaning of work. Intrinsic orientation was found to generate work engagement and career commitment effectively. The obligation norm appeared to carry unique meaning in the sharing economy. These findings theoretically expand the current understanding of sharing economy employment and provide practical implications for hospitality businesses and the legal sector.

•The study developed and validated the measurement of social contact.•It also refined the measurement of perceived cultural distance.•Quality of contact had a negative effect on perceived cultural distance.•Effects of different quantity of contacts were revealed.•Implications contributed to the theoretical and empirical realms.

Experiential learning is an effective education method used to bridge the gap between classrooms and the real world. Given the much applied nature of the discipline, scholars and practitioners emphasize the value and importance of experiential learning. This study reports on a case of experiential learning to a convention and meeting management class at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A total of 30 undergraduate students were given a task to organize a real conference for the school. The process of conducting an experiential learning course of conference organization is discussed. Student feedback on the learning experience of organizing a real event is analyzed. Implications and suggestions for enhancing students’ learning experiences via experiential learning courses are provided.

This study investigated the case of Xinpu persimmon dye product/service using local agricultural resources to extend the value of persimmon from a rural to a global market. The Xinpu persimmon dye product/service has become a new booming cultural creativity tourism specialty based on the value-added processes coming from, first, the agricultural industry of persimmon; second, the agro-processing industry of dried persimmon and third, the cultural creativity tourism industry based on the Taiwanese Hakka culture. Persimmon is a major agricultural product of Xinpu, which is a Hakka town in Taiwan Hsinchu. Unused persimmon skin was extracted to create natural dyes that are then used to color fabrics in accordance with Hakka traditional designs. At present, the local Xinpu community operates a Xinpu Persimmon Dye Workshop, which offers a platform for tourists to experience the unique Xinpu persimmon dye culture and enables persimmon farmers to promote the local culture. The value co-creation model is discussed...