Linking Regenerative Travel and Residents’ Support for Tourism Development in Kaua’i Island (Hawaii): Moderating-Mediating Effects of Travel-Shaming and Foreign Tourist Attractiveness in Journal of Travel Research
“Leaving the place behind, better than before” is the regenerative state-of-mind approach to reset, rethink and move forward, beyond sustainable tourism. Despite growing global attention, empirical evidence supporting tourism developments through regenerative travel remains extremely rare. Moreover, rampant incidents of travel-shaming across tourism destinations undermine foreign tourist attractiveness, ultimately affecting residents’ support for tourism developments. To address this overlooked and potential research gap, the present study develops and tests a holistic moderated-mediation model of resident’s support for tourism development, involving regenerative travel, travel-shaming and foreign tourist attractiveness. Drawing on study data from 463 islanders in Kauai (Hawaii) and the use of structural equation modeling via Mplus, the study provides pioneering evidence on the effects of regenerative travel on residents’ support for tourism development, under moderating-mediating influence of travel-shaming and foreign tourist attractiveness. The present study implications extend to the development and validation of a new scale for regenerative travel. The study findings offer strategic insights and directions for imagining new business models, resources, and relationships within regenerative tourism in the post-pandemic world.
This honest review talk and Q & A from Francis is part of the students strategy module with the university. Alton Towers and Staffordshire University have a successful partnership which is 6 years strong, and this talk is just one of the many opportunities the students get.
Francis started the meeting by giving brief information about his career background and history. He explained about his transfer from a humble Ski Resort in Australia to the theme park giant that is Alton Towers. Francis believes that Merlin is a “Juggernaut in the visitor attraction industry”, but what gives them the competitive advantage?
The group was taught how important the delivery of the Merlin product can be to being one step ahead of competition. From guest experience and satisfaction to how immersive and impressive the theme park looks, Francis covered how important these high standards are to staying on top. However, he also explained how the core values of the company can sometimes get lost. For Alton Towers, ‘joyful’ should be the absolute minimum that guests get out of their day.
Merlin is primarily driven through marketing and Francis revealed to students just how competitive the tourism industry can get. “Business isn’t cozy” – (Francis Jackson 2022) Gaining the competitive advantage can be brutal, companies can use aggressive war-like tactics to overwhelm their competitors. For Alton Towers: third parties, new and innovative products and tactical marketing are all major factors in their strategy to stay on top and be a world class destination.
As the talk came to a close, Francis gave some advice for students as future leaders. Tourism is one big turf war and Francis let students know this. He explained how academic studies and knowledge mixed with heart and passion will make for amazing opportunity and can take you anywhere you want to go.
By Prof Jon Fairburn – Lead for Business and Management UoA
Business and Management research has been highly rated by peers and stakeholders in the HE sector. Our work is interdisciplinary and highly collaborative with members in several research centres across the University. Our research has focused on:
Emerging markets
Inequalities, employment and welfare
Innovation and leadership
The results
4* research is defined as ‘Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.’
3* Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which falls short of the highest standards of excellence
As a group of Applied Researchers we are especially pleased to have our work so highly rated on impact (our Environment statement documents many examples of this) including work at the local, regional, national and international level. We have made extensive contributions to the tackling austerity, economic development in the Balkans and environmental justice nationally and internationally as well as a range of projects for sustainable businesses. In terms of Impact we are now ranked 17th in the country.
106 units were submitted to the Business and Management panel and Staffordshire Business School now ranks joint 51st in the sector overall.
I’d like to say a big thank you to all of the staff submitted to the unit, the team at RIIS including Tim Horne, Jackie Reynolds, Cathal Rogers, Emma Davies, Holly Hoar, Yolanda Granja-Rubio. For research and review Ema Talam, Sarah Beighton and Bella Reichard. Thank you also to Deans and senior managers during the REF period including Susan Foreman, Peter Jones, David Williamson, June Dennis, Hazel Squire and Angela Lawrence.
Studying Visitor Attraction & Resort Management opens up a wide range of roles for students from working on rides at Scarefest, to working in the hotels over the Christmas period. This allows me to gain new and exciting experiences in a fast paced industry, which also allows us to network with industry specialists. As part of the course students complete 10 weeks of paid placement with Alton Towers Resort. Placement is important for studying Visitor Attraction & Resort Management, as this allows students to apply the theory learnt in lectures to practice. There are a range of modules in Visitor Attraction & Resort Management; for example business based modules such as Human Resources, Operations management, to more creative based modules e.g. Brand Me presentations and Strategic Management, where students get to design and market a theme park.
As part of our course, this week we attended the Hotel & Hospitality tour and Q&A session with the Alton Towers reception, housekeeping and leisure team to discuss the operations behind the hotels. Visits are important as it allows students to learn on the job, students have the amazing opportunity to talk directly to heads of departments and apply this to our assignments. For example, In year 1 students undertake a Hotel and Hospitality module. From the Q&A session students were able to ask “How does Alton Towers compete with their competitors?” and “How do hotels use capacity management to keep the hotels profitable?”.
Attaining a degree with Staffordshire University “can help fast track your career at Alton Towers to help progress to a managerial role” the Head of Front of office exclaimed. With a degree, students can learn the theory behind resort strategy and allows students to go in any direction in the future. With being a student in a small group of individuals, this helps differentiate yourself from other more traditional courses. As this is the only course in the country that allows students to attain a degree and work in conjunction with one of the UK’s most popular theme park.
He holds Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Marketing from the British University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He possesses corporate experience of more than eighteen years, and teaching experience of more than four years. He has designed and delivered Digital Marketing Professional courses supporting 38 entrepreneurs and marketing practitioners to develop and execute digital marketing strategies including SEO, PPC search and display campaigns, social media and email campaigns.
Dr Joe Hazzam has extensive experince of digital marketing and also publishes research on this theme
Before joining Staffordshire University, he has served as Lecturer and the Head of the Marketing department at The British University in Dubai, and as an adjunct Lecturer at University of Wollongong Dubai. He is a Certified Practising Marketer from the Australian Marketing Institute. He is a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the Australian Marketing institute.
His research portfolio includes several research papers published in the top-tier marketing journals such as Journal of Strategic Marketing and Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice among others. His scholarly interests are broadly within the field of international and digital marketing. He is particularly interested in the development of cross-cultural, digital and social media marketing capabilities that may play a role in improving customer experience and organisational performance.
Moreover,
he is an expert in data analysis using SPSS and AMOS statistical packages,
Structural equation modelling and multi-group moderation analysis, Search
engine marketing including search engine optimisation and pay per click search,
display google campaigns, Social media campaigns including Facebook business
manager and LinkedIn, Email campaigns using Mailchimp and constant contact,
Website optimisation using WordPress content management system.
He holds Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Marketing from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Malaysia. He possesses corporate experience of more than seven years, and teaching experience of more than five years. He has worked in different capacities at leading multinational corporations such as the British Council, Nestle, the Coca-Cola Company and Marriott Hotel.
#Digital marketing specialist
Before joining Staffordshire University, he has served in senior academic positions at University of Westminster in Tashkent, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Webster University, SZABIST University, and UCSI University Malaysia. He had been a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA).
He has published more than twenty research studies in reputed academic research journals. He has also presented his research papers in leading international and national research conferences.
Moreover, he has been providing trainings on quantitative and qualitative research-based tools like SPSS, AMOS, R, Mplus, SmartPLS and NVIVO. He is a proficient user of digital marketing tools like Power BI, Alexa and Tableau. His research interests include digital marketing, marketing analytics, tourism marketing, technology management, and consumer psychology
Heather Wingfield – Second year Visitor Attraction and Resort Management Student
On Friday the 28th of January the second year Visitor Attraction and Resort Management Students had the opportunity of presenting a Visitor Attraction to members of the senior leadership team at Alton Towers Resort. As part of the Business Development and Sales Management module we were tasked with creating a feasible visitor attraction in just ten weeks! Working in small groups we designed everything from logos to rollercoasters and even the small details of the operational features.
The group I worked in created the Highlandia Resort. This would
be Scotland’s first indoor theme park, located in Livingston, aimed at the
family market. Week one consisted of deciding which of our dream rollercoasters
we wanted to put into our theme park, from there we developed six themed areas,
14 food and beverage outlets and a yearlong event schedule. After completing
several placements at the Alton Towers Resort and visiting many theme parks
over our lifetimes this didn’t feel like a university assignment!
By week four we had decided upon the basics for the Highlandia Resort and began to use our knowledge acquired from the first year of our degree to write a 2,000-word feasibility report. This report consisted of market research, a competitor analysis and even a marketing strategy for our theme park!
Before we knew it, it was week ten. We had compiled our theme park into a 15-minute presentation for the judging panel, we were joined by Kate McBirnie, Head of Guest Excellence at Alton Towers Resort. After many rehearsals we began our presentation, a nerve wracking yet rewarding experience. We knew our product inside out and presented it while the judging panel enjoyed afternoon tea with a Scottish twist! After the presentation we felt very proud at what we had been able to achieve in just ten weeks, but also a little bit sad that it was all over! This module has definitely been my favourite on the Visitor Attraction and Resort Management course, on what other degree do you get to design your own theme park?!
FdA Visitor Attraction and Resort Management is a unique course taught in partnership with Alton Towers Resort, part of the World renowned Merlin Group. It includes 20 weeks paid work experience, and the opportunity to top up to a BA (Hons) degree in your third year.
We are currently exploring the use of Playmobil.pro with learners and are now in a position to be able to run playful, creative bespoke workshops with your students (and staff). These sessions range from icebreakers, team building, students modelling their futures, event overviews and timeline journeys and lots more.
Playmobil.pro is based around the iconic Playmobil figure, which has served as an educational toy encouraging imaginative play, now it is being used by adults in the frame of a professional context. Playmobil.pro is a complete modelling system for professionals, and by applying a playful pedagogy, great facilitation, and specific methodology the Playmobil.pro kit can be used in a wide range of fields.
Interested? Contact us and we will give you a demonstration and explore how we can use it with your students.
Dr Bharati Singh has a chapter “What can young Social Entrepreneurs tell us about Environmental Leadership? Perspectives from Brazil and India” in Rethinking Leadership for a Green World edited by Andrew Taylor published by Routledge.
Vanessa Oakes and Adam Bronstone also have a chapter in the same book – The ‘Interesting’ Case of EU Commission Leadership and the Emission Trading Scheme in in Rethinking Leadership for a Green World edited by Andrew Taylor published by Routledge
Dr Bharati Singh and Vanessa Oakes both have chapters in this new book
Carol Southall has a chapter in a new book with Dr Cai – Cai, W. and Southall, C. (2021) Managing Sexuality for Gay and Lesbian Parents in Heterosexual Family Holiday Spaces: Setting an Agenda for Research in Vorobjovas-Pinta, O. (Ed) Gay Tourism: New perspectives. Bristol: Channelview
Etherington D and Jones M (2022 forthcoming) Political Economy of the Inclusive Labour Market Welfare through Work Revisited in P McGurk and J Ingold eds Employer Engagement: Making Active Labour Market Policies Work, Bristol Policy Press
Daguerre A and Etherington D (2022) Austerity, the Covid Crisis and Welfare Policies under the Conservative Government in Martin Powell and Hugh Bochel eds Conservative governments and social policy Bristol Policy Press (contract signed with publishers to deliver this chapter).
Beel D and Jones M, ‘City region limits: questioning city-centric growth narratives in medium-sized cities’ Local Economy 36, 3-21 doi.org/10.1177/02690942211015778
Etherington D and Jones M (2022) The Challenges of Levelling Up in England’s North Midlands: Post-Covid Precarity in Stoke-on-Trent to be submitted to Local Economy
Dodds K, Broto VC, Detterbeck K, Jones M, Mamadouth V, Ramutsindela M, Varsanyi M, Wachsmuth D and Woon CY (2022) ‘10th anniversary of Territory, Politics, Governance: achievement and prospects’ Territory, Politics, Governancehttps://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2022.2038446
Fred Nyakudyais working on a paper “How do institutions affect entrepreneurs in South Africa” for submission to the Technological Forecasting & Social Change
Fred Nyakudyais working on a paper “The effect of gender and resources on entrepreneurial activity: Evidence from the UK East Midlands region. For submission to the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research
Other outputs
EtheringtonD, Jones M, Harris S, and Hubbard S, (2021) Powering up or reducing inequalities? Assessing the impact of benefit cuts and withdrawal of (Furlough) support on Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire University/Citizens Advice Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent, http://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/7031/1/
Etherington D, Jones M, Harris S, and Hubbard S, (2021) Post COVID-19 Crisis and its impact on Poverty and Destitution in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire University/Citizens Advice Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent. https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/6403/
Book review byDuncan Adam of The Politics of Social Inclusion and Labor Representation: Immigrants and trade unions in the European context. Connolly, H., Marino, S. & Martinez Lucio, M., 15 May 2019, New York: Cornell University Press. 200 p. forthcoming in Transfer
Visiting Professor Mark Gregory gave a speech at the NHS Conferederation entitled “Identifying how health impacts economic and social outcomes – A bottom up view from Stoke-on-Trent”
M A Wasim & K Mitchell “The role of technology in student learning and engagement: the case of the webinar” for Springer’s series Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics (EBES conference proceedings).
M A Wasim & K Mitchell “Investigation of higher education teacher adoption of Microsoft teams: managing behaviour through online delivery and promoting positive usage” for Springer’s series Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics (EBES conference proceedings).
John Middleton, Paul Southon and Jon Fairburn are working on a paper for PETRA with the working title “Environmental provisions in trade agreements”
Ema Talam has won a bid to produce a literature review on ‘the potential of R and d tax credits to support the Creative industries’ for the West Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
Prof David Etheringon with Dr Luke Telford submitted to the British Academy under the small grants schemes The UK Government’s levelling up agenda in the Covid-19 era: Assessing the lived experience of poverty in ‘left behind’ Stoke – awaiting decision
Phd/DBA completions
PhD: Arbresh Raveni (10-2020). Fiscal Policy in small open economies in transition, with particular reference to Macedonia. Supervisor Prof Geoff Pugh
PhD: Berat Havoli (04-2021).Determinants and Economic Consequences of the Cost of Government Borrowing: With Particular Reference to Selected European Transition Economies. Supervisor Prof Geoff Pugh
PhD: Simon Milosheski (08-2021). The Detection and Quantification of House Price Bubbles for (i) United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany (ii) a Panel of East European countries. Supervisor Prof Geoff Pugh
DBA: Andrew Stephenson (03/2021). Using the Net Promoter System Methodology to Deliver Cultural Change in Retail Organisations: Impacting both the Customer and Employee Experience. Supervisor Prof Geoff Pugh
Research seminar series (recordings) organised byEma Talam
Visitor Attraction and Resort Managment student, Lewis, describes his experience of studying the unique course at Staffordshire University
Hello!
I’m Lew – or
Lewis for long.
I’ll be honest, I’ve absolutely no clue how I’ll cram one of the most amazing and craziest experiences of my life into 500(ish) words, but I’ll give it a try!
Studying Visitor Attraction and Resort Management (VARM) was a total life-changing experience for me. I’d always subconsciously known that I’d work in theme parks somewhere down the line, but it’d never occurred to me until I was around 15 just how much was out there in terms of careers. They’ve always been really amazing places for me especially growing up. They bring out a real carefree happiness in everyone and that’s resonated with me for as long as I can remember.
Before university I was incredibly lacking in confidence in a whole host of ways, and I don’t mind sharing the fact that I was going through a very negative period of my life (don’t worry I’m not going to bore you with a sob story!) I really found my calling in the build up to uni and during it, and it’s been great to finally find exactly what it is I want to do in the long run, massively build my confidence and meet some fantastic people in the process.
Making lifelong friends at University was never an expectation for me, but the close nit nature of things made it so easy for all of us to get along and grow through things together – and without sounding like a walking-talking cliché, It’s really like one huge (crazy) family. I’ve been lucky enough to study and work alongside some absolutely amazing, passionate and genuine people and couldn’t be prouder to say I’ve been able to do that with them.
For me – Support in education is key. I’ve had times along the road where it felt as if teachers don’t care or don’t want to understand their students, but that couldn’t be further from the case with VARM. The ‘family’ feel of the course absolutely extends out to the lecturers who have never once stopped trying to push me and everyone else to get where they want to be.
Because of this course I’ve had some insane opportunities I never could’ve imagined, from being a Christmas Elf, spending Halloween in a spooky alien filled sewer, helping with website redesigns, conducting talks to school groups, managing social media, and even working with someone I really admire on an anniversary for my favourite rollercoaster– It’s been everything I wanted it to be and more.
Here are my few pieces of advice and bits I’ve learnt along the way :
– Showing
you care goes a long way. Enthusiasm is never bad as long as you’ve got good
intentions and truly want to do the right thing.
– Make
friends, don’t ‘network’. Genuine connections are the best connections.
– Forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations is usually the best way to boost your confidence.
– Whatever it is, just do it. Stopping and thinking before doing something is great, but don’t let overthinking and worrying about what people might think get in the way of making yourself happy.
Thanks for
reading my little bit.
Realistically
no amount of words can sum up the feelings, experiences and funny stories I’ve
got from this course, but hopefully I’ve done it some justice. I really can’t
imagine my life without it.
(How are you
supposed to end these sort of things?)
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