Ratios of Tourist Experience: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Management

Publication Date

2005

Abstract

Much like Charles Dickens’ prelude to A Tale of Two Cities, stories tourists give of their destination experience tend to develop from an amalgam of positive and negative encounters. To understand best and the worst experiences researchers often consider using qualitative data to extract insights. Several approaches for analyzing self-report feedback on performance exist, yet the most frequently used approach asks tourists to provided written accounts of critical incidents, positive and negative experiences, that occurred during their destination visit. A content analysis of comments from 987 visitors was used to generate an overall account of the destination. Ratios of best and worst experiences with different attributes provide a report of strengths and weaknesses for industry action, and offer a template for destination researchers intent on describing experienced-based performance.

Comments

This article was originally published in Tourism Analysis. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is unavailable for download through ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Tourism Analysis

Rights

Copyright © 2005 Cognizant Comm. Corp.

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