Using the Behaviour Change Wheel to Design an App to Change Tourist Behaviour and Increase Dispersal into Regional Areas

Currently, many tourism destinations are experiencing greatly reduced tourism due to COVID-19. In order to ensure that regions that wish to engage in tourism can share the benefits of it more equally, and to prevent the predicted future problem of overuse of popular areas once pre-COVID visitor numbers resume, an app to encourage tourists and leisure-seekers to change their behaviour and disperse into regional areas has been developed. The Behaviour Change Wheel was used to define the problem, find suitable intervention functions and design methods of delivery that could increase tourists’ capability, opportunity and motivation to disperse farther into regions. The Huon Valley of Tasmania, Australia, was used as a research area. Our application of the Behaviour Change Wheel methodology determined that active engagement in logistic, value-based, and social information has the greatest chance of changing behaviour in this region and a list of Behaviour Change Techniques has been developed and considered in the design of a gamified travel app.

The Changing Nature of the Mice Sector in South Africa Due to Covid-19

The purpose of the study is to explore the changing nature of MICE tourism in South Africa due to COVID-19. Based on a series of interviews conducted with representatives of the MICE industry in various sectors, including incentive, conference, and meeting, venues, and associations, the study found that while the shift to virtual events was adopted by many, there are substantial costs involved and significant learning required for their successful execution. Further, the study found venues to be among the most affected owing to the restrictions placed on visitor numbers and the need to adapt to the virtual environment. Moreover, virtual events were perceived as temporary plasters, with live to return once restrictions on the industry are lifted. The study concludes that virtual and hybrid events are valuable in the continuity of MICE tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research is one of the very few studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on MICE events and reveals the subsequent changes, in theory and practice, to MICE tourism.

Management of Quality, Satisfaction, and Loyalty of Rural Destinations

Tourism is a major global industry that, in its heyday, has become significantly concerned with quality and related themes, satisfaction and loyalty. This chapter aims to identify the factors that influence the quality of a rural destination and the associated visitor satisfaction and loyalty. These factors in turn have an impact on destination management, but also other stakeholders such as tourism entrepreneurs in the destination or residents. In 2020, tourism has undergone significant changes due to the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For instance, travel abroad was regulated through government regulations, which caused an increase in demand for rural tourism. As the author's research has shown, some quality factors have undergone significant changes. Even the quality management to achieve visitor satisfaction and loyalty has proven to be very important, especially in the sense that by gaining loyalty at this specific time, it can ensure that visitor numbers are maintained even after the pandemic period when the return of and high growth in overseas travel is expected.

The underground city: the tourism potential of water and sewage infrastructure: the example of Poland

Industrial tourism and technical facilities are a fast-growing branch of tourism that contains areas of great growth potential. The article deals with one of them. The tourist potential of water and sewage infrastructure in selected Polish cities was analysed and assessed. The study covered 11 cities of diverse socioeconomic potentials around the country. For each city, data were collected that had various levels of detail with regard to visitor numbers, tourist types, facilities made available, events and other special celebrations. For supplementary data, unstructured interviews were also conducted with relevant employees identified in businesses. The analysis showed the studied form of tourism to have very high tourism potential. The work focuses on factors and features accounting for its currently low level of development. It is also emphasised that, based on current tourism trends, it should be expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years, and thus warrants further research.

Túrázók a Pilis és a Visegrádi-hegység területén: a megközelítés problémája - Hiking in the Pilis and Visegrád Hills: the problem of access

A természetjárás növekvő népszerűségét a Covid19-járvány világszerte felerősítette. Legnagyobb mértékben az úgynevezett egynapos, zömében a nagyvárosokhoz közeli desztinációk látogatottsága és így terhelése nőtt meg, illetve megemelkedett a személygépkocsival megtett utazások aránya is. A Pilisi Bioszféra Rezervátum területén végzett, látogatószámlálással egybekötött kérdőíves felmérés eredményei alapján kimutatható többek között, hogy az ismertebb helyszínek esetében nem számít a jó tömegközlekedési összeköttetés, sokan választják az autót. A saját gépkocsival érkezők növekvő aránya egyrészt a természeti értékek károsodásához, másrészt a helybeliekkel kapcsolatos konfliktusokhoz vezet. A felerősödő problémák szükségessé teszik a látogatómenedzsment-eszközök átgondolását, a desztináció megközelíthetőségének és belső közlekedési rendszerének a felülvizsgálatát, valamint a természeti értékek és helyi közösségek érdekeit előtérbe helyező mobilitástervezést. The growing popularity of hiking has been boosted by the Covid19 epidemic worldwide. The largest increases in visitor numbers and thus pollution have been in the so-called one-day destinations, mostly in the peri-urban areas, and travel by car has also increased. The results of a questionnaire survey in the Pilis Biosphere Reserve, which included a visitor census, show, among other things, that good public transport connections are not an important factor for the more well-known sites, and that many people choose to travel by car. The increasing proportion of visitors arriving by private car leads to both damage to natural assets and conflicts with locals. These growing problems call for a rethink of visitor management tools, a review of the destination’s accessibility and internal transport system, comprising overall mobility planning which prioritises the interests of natural assets and local communities.

COLLABORATIVE PLANNING FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE HAJJ

Every year, millions of Muslim worshippers visit Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj which is the fifth and final pillar of Islam. Mecca hosts more than 2,300,000 people from around 183 different countries and cultures every year. In 2016, these numbers were forecast to grow to 2,500,000 in 2020. This goal, however, has not been achieved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has forced the government to severely reduce the number of pilgrims in 2020 to just 10,000 people. Ultimately, this situation is temporary and visitor numbers should continue to rise. Tourism, especially religious tourism such as the Hajj, is expected to boost the economy and create new jobs for Saudi youth in the services sector. Yet, despite the many benefits of the pilgrimage, the Hajj itself has several severe adverse environmental impacts. The activities of Hajj generate considerable solid and liquid waste, use large quantities of scarce fresh water and produce high levels of greenhouse gasses (GHGs).

Influx: Architecture responsive to conditions of flux

<p>Milford Sound is extremely vulnerable to visitor fluctuation. The vertical landforms and pristine natural landscape attracts over 500,000 tourists to the site each year. Due to the remote location and restrictions on developing accommodation in National Parks, Milford Sound is a day-trip-destination. This generates high volumes of tourists that arrive and leave at the same time, causing congestion and immense pressure on the facilities and the surrounding natural landscape at Milford Sound Village. Although the small township is built for visitors, the current visitor facilities do not respond to daily and seasonal visitor fluctuations. The buildings are at capacity at peak time and are empty and underutilised at low times. This has significant implications for the experience of the site, there are increasing reports of visitors feeling crowded (Booth, 2010). The unresponsive built fabric also impacts the state of the surrounding natural environment by preventing natural processes and ecosystems from thriving. With visitor numbers on the rise (McNeill,2005), Carey (2003) questions how many people can “they continue to pump into a destination before you start to remove the attraction from the destination”. Situated alongside resilience thinking, flux is a topic of heightened relevance within architectural thinking, yet it has received very little attention. This thesis proposes responsive approaches to accommodating flux, through ‘static’ architectural forms. By introducing a series of hybrid and connected structures, architectural form is developed symbiotically with function, as a means of exploring operative forms of architecture. Architectural responses to flux have been primarily researched through design. The design outcome is a connected network of visitor facilities that acts as an ‘instrument’ in the landscape, reorganising the flow of visitors. Six concrete pavilions, connected by pathways, collect and disperse visitors along the site, encouraging an immersion experience in the World-Heritage listed natural environment. The architecture is constructed of buried, floating, carved and balanced elements. This thesis presents an example of architecture that creates an experience of engaging with the landscape and not with the crowds.</p>

Influx: Architecture responsive to conditions of flux

<p>Milford Sound is extremely vulnerable to visitor fluctuation. The vertical landforms and pristine natural landscape attracts over 500,000 tourists to the site each year. Due to the remote location and restrictions on developing accommodation in National Parks, Milford Sound is a day-trip-destination. This generates high volumes of tourists that arrive and leave at the same time, causing congestion and immense pressure on the facilities and the surrounding natural landscape at Milford Sound Village. Although the small township is built for visitors, the current visitor facilities do not respond to daily and seasonal visitor fluctuations. The buildings are at capacity at peak time and are empty and underutilised at low times. This has significant implications for the experience of the site, there are increasing reports of visitors feeling crowded (Booth, 2010). The unresponsive built fabric also impacts the state of the surrounding natural environment by preventing natural processes and ecosystems from thriving. With visitor numbers on the rise (McNeill,2005), Carey (2003) questions how many people can “they continue to pump into a destination before you start to remove the attraction from the destination”. Situated alongside resilience thinking, flux is a topic of heightened relevance within architectural thinking, yet it has received very little attention. This thesis proposes responsive approaches to accommodating flux, through ‘static’ architectural forms. By introducing a series of hybrid and connected structures, architectural form is developed symbiotically with function, as a means of exploring operative forms of architecture. Architectural responses to flux have been primarily researched through design. The design outcome is a connected network of visitor facilities that acts as an ‘instrument’ in the landscape, reorganising the flow of visitors. Six concrete pavilions, connected by pathways, collect and disperse visitors along the site, encouraging an immersion experience in the World-Heritage listed natural environment. The architecture is constructed of buried, floating, carved and balanced elements. This thesis presents an example of architecture that creates an experience of engaging with the landscape and not with the crowds.</p>

The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program

We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’ habitat and visitor proximity to the goats impacted goat behavior. We also considered the goats’ behavior toward visitors, use of retreat space, and whether the visitors’ interaction style, specifically, how the visitors groomed the goats, was predictive of changes in the goats’ behavior. We conducted 29 hr of focal follows on 7 domestic goats (Capra hircus) at Lincoln Park Zoo, and analyzed data using mixed effects models. We found that goats preferred to be in the visitor yard as visitor numbers increased, and goat behaviors did not change as visitor numbers increased to the maximum allowed (16 people). There were no differences in rates of conspecific aggression or affiliation based on visitor presence or visitor interactions. However, there was a decrease in feeding and increase in self-maintenance behaviors specifically while visitors were in close proximity and interacting with goats. Furthermore, visitor-directed behavior, specifically head tossing, was more common when visitors groomed goats in an improper way. Overall, this study demonstrates that domestic goat welfare was relatively unaffected by the simple presence of visitors when maximum visitor limits were in place and retreat options were available, but that goats were sensitive to visitor interaction styles. These findings support the idea that domestic goats may be appropriate candidates for human-visitor interaction programs under specific conditions.