Tourism Management Studies
Year:2017 | Volume:12 | Issue:38 |Papers Count:6

This study considered the concept of perceived value from an Islamic perspective and examined the effect of perceived value of pilgrimage destination on foreign Muslim tourist satisfaction. This survey is a descriptive type research and 153 samples were selected using convenience sampling method. To determine validity, confirmatory factor analysis and for testing hypotheses structural equation modeling was used. The research findings indicated that perceived costs including perceived monetary value, perceived risk, time and effort spent have a negative effect on the tourist satisfaction while perceived benefits including perceived quality, efficiency, emotional value, social value and Islamic physical/ non-physical attributes have a positive effect on tourist satisfaction. The moderating role of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between Islamic non-physical attributes value and tourist satisfaction was high while the role of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between Islamic physical attributes and tourist satisfaction was low.

The present study investigates the influence of self-congruity and functional congruity in determining attitudes toward tourists, intention to do sustainable tourism and willingness to pay a premium for such offerings. To examine the hypotheses, a convenient sample of 300 students in Isfahan Province was surveyed. Data analysis was done using Structural Equation Modeling and the results indicating the self-congruity (including actual and ideal congruity as well as functional congruity) strong positive effect on attitude toward sustainable tourism. Furthermore, functional congruity and image congruity have a positive and strong effect on attitudes of sustainable tourism and subsequently, the attitude affects the willingness toward sustainable tourism. The results also indicate that the influence of functional congruity is stronger than image and Ideal image congruity plays more important role than actual image congruity, as well. Ultimately Managerial implications of results have been discussed and avenues for future research have been presented.

The rural-urban relationships have a considerable effect on rural settlements. Cities are centers of capital accumulation and social flows. In contrast, rural settlements are also considered as tourism centers of urban residents as it provides an opportunity to use rural natural potentials which bring economic prosperity and development for them. In this research, it has been used descriptive–analytical method. The sample population includes 165 households using Cochran method. It has been used structural model and path analysis to analyze the relationships among variables and also to identify the affecting aspects of rural-urban relationships on rural tourism. The results of path analysis model indicate that increasing rural-urban relationships have led to the development of second homes, jobs and economic development in rural settlements and play an important role in increasing their satisfactions as well.

Over the past two decades, international tourism has developed rapidly and has a significant economic importance. This study investigates factors affecting tourism demand in the Caspian Sea littoral states. Panel data method during the period of 2000-2013 has been employed. The results indicate that the per capita income, real exchange rate and trade liberalization has a positive effect on tourism. Also, other obtained results of this research show the economic instability has a significant negative effect on tourism demand. Regarding the significant potential for tourism development in this area, it is recommended while having the policy to promote tourism, paying particular attention to factors affecting tourism demands in the shoreline countries of Caspian Sea.

In this research, the Geosite of Sahoo Mountain has been investigated using Geosite Assessment Model (GAM) which considers providing sustainable planning and natural heritage management and rendering them to tourism targets. It is based on previously- mentioned assessment models and proposed to evaluate the geo sites through two groups of main values and supplementary value. In the general assessment of Shahoo Mountain, the geo sites including Ghoori Ghal'e Cave, Sirvan Valley and Ravansar Spring got the high score of 20.5, 16.75 and 16.5, respectively and were identified as the best geo sites for geo-tourism purposes. The results show that they involve almost suitable scientific-educational and aesthetic value; however, they are not in good conditions in terms of tourism values of the studied regional geo sites. Also, from a conservation perspective, no active protection is done and as they are unknown, they become safe. Finally, it can be said that besides other natural and cultural values of Shahoo Mountain, it can provide an appropriate perspective to develop sustainable development of geo-tourism.

Researchers believe that information resources have a significant influence on tourism destination image. Accordingly, this research attempts to investigate the influence of information resources on destination image and as a result, travel intention. Data was collected through a questionnaire and was analyzed by structural equation modeling using SPSS 22 and AMOS 18. The statistical population includes all the internal tourists who visited Khorramabad Province during the period of research. A sample of 221 tourists was selected by convenience sampling approach. Reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's Alpha. According to structural analysis, it is determined that information resources of tourists have a significant influence on their cognitive-emotional image. Further, the cognitive image was effective on emotional image. In addition, cognitive-emotional image has significant influence on overall image. Finally, overall image had significant effect on travel intention of tourists.