Ak1277 International Tourism Management | Assessment Answers

“How is the behaviour of particular tourist types in Auckland shaped by their gender, age, group orientation, nationality, physical ability or other criteria? Can any unexpected behaviour be observed?”

Auckland Art Gallery – Observation topic, we been to Auckland Art Gallery to observe that what type of tourists come and visit art gallery, what they do, how they interact.

Task the evaluation

Group of two will visit a location, observe what’s going on and then evaluate their observations.

(1) Relates to understanding the tourists’ behaviours and any theory from the literature;

(2) Applying it to specific situations; and

(3) Critiquing some of the theory if applicable.

Answer:

Introduction

In the present era, the tourist behavior is one of the most important aspects which influences the activities of tourist destination (Cohen, Prayag & Moital, 2014). In this manner, there are many factors which affect the behavior of tourists at the particular tourist destination such as nationality, age, and groups’ orientations (Fratu, 2011). In this context, the present report is based on the observation of tourist behavior in Auckland Art gallery, New Zealand. In this regard, with the help of several studies, the analysis on different type of tourists such as young people, families and foreigner are done. Along with this, their behavior on particular situations at tourist destination are critical evaluate. Hereby, the unexpected behavior from the tourist has also been analyzed for understanding the impact of tourist behavior in shaping the other tourists’ behavior on tourist destination.

Tourist destination and type of tourist

The Auckland Art gallery is one of the top tourist destinations in Auckland city which attract the large number of tourists with the exclusive collection of art pieces (Heart of the City Auckland, 2017). The art gallery consists above 17000 artworks by including modern, historic and temporary art pieces and more than 1376 paintings, statuette and print collection and many more activities for encouraging creativity in the visitors (Auckland Art Gallery, 2018). In this context, as per the art gallery visit, it has been seen that there are many families with the children were visiting the gallery and many youngsters also give their attention to modern art pieces. Apart from this, there are many foreign tourists which explore the art collection of the art gallery. Due to this, the Auckland Art gallery is the centre of the attraction for tourists and attracts more tourists in New Zealand. Therefore, it is the many chances for changing tourist behavior in the art gallery

Observation of Auckland Art gallery and unexpected behavior

According to the analysis of Auckland Art gallery, the interaction of youngsters and families in the art gallery is quite low because both parties are involved in their own visit. Due to this, they do not help each other. Further, the local tourists do not effectively interact with the foreign tourists due to their busy schedule and different patter of living. Here, some people from the opposite culture like eastern countries feel uncomfortable for visiting and observing the art gallery because they have to interact with people with different language so they face problems related to understanding the art pieces of gallery and feel embarrassing. In this context, Jalilvand, Samiei, Dini &Manzari (2012) asserted that the attitude of tourist plays significant role in the creation of tourist destination image among the tourists. The attitude of the tourist can be positive or negative. The positive attitude enhances the collaboration in the tourists and negative attitude creates the unsupportive environment in the tourist destination. Hereby, the behaviors of travelers are influenced by the social factors of the country (Meng, 2010). Here, it was found personality of local tourists is quite different from the foreign tourists which again differs in case of families and individuals. Due to this, the social class of New Zealand travelers influences the personality of the traveler and shape the tourism of Auckland Art gallery (refer to figure 1). Thus, the social interactions of tourists are imperative for enhancing the travel experience of both interacting tourists. This is because if the tourists cooperate to each other at a specific tourist destination then their satisfaction towards travelling on that particular destination gets enhanced.

Figure 1: Factors affects the travelers’ behavior

(Source: Moutinho, Ballantyne & Rate, 2011)

According to several studies, the cultural difference shapes the behaviour of tourists where it might be possible that people from different background want to know about those with opposite culture (Reisinger & Turner, 2012). Apart from this, it depends on the country from which visitors are coming. For instance, people from China were facing relatively high issue when they were interacting with tourists from USA. However, this difference was observed in case of gender because families were quite supportive inspite of difficulties in term of term of understanding the language of each other. For example, it was observed that children of families from different nations were trying to interact with each other and accordingly it was also helpful for interaction of families from different culture and countries (Barutçu, Do?an & Üngüren, 2011). Even though, the nationality of the travelers has great impact on the shaping of tourist behavior on tourist destination (refer to figure 1). Yet, in the observation of Art gallery, it is found that the cultural difference to the tourist is negatively affects the interaction of foreign tourist with local tourist. Owing to this, in the Auckland Art gallery the local tourist does not give attention for solving the problem of overseas travelers. Nonetheless, the cultural differences are helpful for tourist destination to attract the large mass of travelers through the supportive host travelers. At this juncture, Reisinger & Turner (2012) commented that the travelers from different nations react differently for a particular situation. Therefore, the cultural differences of the tourist influence their behavior for another traveler at a tourist destination.

The age group of the tourist has great impact on their behavior because the need of every age group is different and influences their perception for tour destination (Pearce, 2013). In the same manner, the Auckland Art gallery provides the several activities such as gallery games, holiday workshop and creative learning centre to encourage the learning of creativity in the children (Auckland Art Gallery, 2018).In this regard, the travelers’ perception is significant for enhancing the reputation of the tourist destination because the travelers share their perceptions to their friend and family members and refer their favorite tourist destination to them (Chen, Chen & Lee, 2011).Therefore, the art gallery focuses on enhancing the travelers experience in the gallery through offering learning of creativity enhancement. Due to this, many families change their perception for Auckland Art gallery and give priority to it for their favorite tourist destination.

The Auckland Art gallery has a refreshing cafeteria for the relaxation of tourist after exploring the art gallery and recharge them for next explorations of the gallery (Auckland Art Gallery, 2018). This helps in shaping their positive behaviour because they get additional facilities in order to meet their requirement in an effectual manner. This proves to be effective in attracting more visitors. However, some unexpected behaviour might be observed in case of specific visitors. In this context, Horner & Swarbrooke (2016, p.3) asserted that the services offer from the tour destination should adopt the appropriate marketing strategies to attract tourist and enhance the popularity of destination. This shows that appropriate promotion of tourist services is crucial so as to grab the attraction of visitors and influence them to access good quality of services.

The Auckland Art gallery is located on the busiest location in Auckland surrounded by the large universities. Many of the institutions have walk-in difference from the art gallery. Due to this, in the total visitors of art gallery, there are 70% tourists are under the age of 35(Wilson, 2017). Thus, youngsters are one of the main visitors for the art gallery. However, it was found that youngsters are curious to know about the historic beauty and other related information. This facilitates to generate the positive attitude and assists people to get the information about the specific tourist destination (Auckland Art Gallery, 2018). Nonetheless, it also depends on the physical ability of visitors and accordingly their requirement related to food and other related facilities (Devesa, Laguna & Palacios, 2010). At this juncture, the spacious hall of Auckland art gallery makes it necessary for visitors like families and youngsters to eat properly by using cafeteria and related services.

The learning affects the tourist behavior towards the tour destination (refer to figure 1). Owing to this, the Art gallery attracts great amount of visitor through learning of imagination. For this purpose, Auckland art gallery provides information related to cultural heritage of New Zealand which revives the attraction of visitors that may promote interaction between each other. At this juncture, group orientation plays an important since is combines all types of tourists in a group and persuade then to interact with each other.

Abbreviation theory

There are many factors which affect the tourist behavior towards the destination as the age of tourist, nationality, attitude and group orientation. In the same manner, the understanding of tourist behavior is necessary for enhancing the satisfaction of tourist and for attracting large mass of tourists. In this context, Jiang, Gretzel, & Law (2010) asserted that the abbreviation theory is helpful for understanding the behavior of tourists by analyzing the influencing internal and external factors (Orth et al. 2012).In this regard, in the internal factor reflects the impact of personal attribution on the tourist behavior and the external factor analyzes the other situational factors which affect the behavior of tourist (Juvan & Dolnicar, 2014). In the same manner, with the help of abbreviation model, Auckland Art gallery find out the significant reasons from the destination and travelers which influence the tourist behavior.

Figure 2: Factors affects the tourist behavior in Auckland Art gallery

On the basis of above diagram, the separate activities for different visitors at the Auckland Art gallery negatively affect behavior of particular tourist type. This is because of these separate activities prevent the interaction between the different group of visitors. In this context, the separate activities for the family tourist in the art gallery prevent them to communicate with single tourist. This reflects that specific tour activities should be integrated in order to collaborate visitors and shape their positive behaviour so as to promote the learning. However, sometimes visitors who are not getting different activities at tourist destinations do not like to visit that particular place. According to the case study, the local tourists do not interact with the foreign tourists. Due to this, the tourists do not effectively communicate with each other. Although, the less interaction between each party might make the attractiveness of tourist destination low. This in turn will have negative influence on the existing tourists.

Cognitive dissonance theory

The cognitive theory helps to understand the tourist behavior on the basis of tourists’ perceptions in term of attitude, service quality, involvement of visitors and destination image (Cohen et al. 2014). For this purpose, involvement of visitors depends on their nationality, culture and support provided by the tourist destinations. In this manner, the way of information exchange between the tourists and respective organization influence the tourist perception and force them to change their intend behavior (Kah & Lee, 2016). Thus, the information sharing methods of tour destination have impact on the customer behavior. In the same manner, case of Auckland Art gallery reflects that the behavior, belief, personality and attitude of different tourist type persuades the other tourists’ behavior. Owing to this, it is necessary to create healthy environment in the art gallery through which visitors can adopt the positive behaviour so as to learn more about the specific tourist destination.

As per the above discussion on the different tourist behavior theories, the Attribution theory is more helpful for better understanding of factors shaping the tourists’ behavior. This is because it focuses on both internal and external factors separately. In this regard, the attribution theory enhances the learning of Auckland Art gallery's management to the understanding of that aspect which influences the customer behavior (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2012). However, the Cognitive dissonances theory identifies each factor in an individual manner. In this context, Juvan & Dolnicar (2014) stated that the Cognitive dissonance theory is helpful for firm management in the decision making. Therefore, both theories are applicable in the case of Auckland Art gallery but through the different perspective. 

Concclusion

On the basis of the above report, it has been concluded that the particular tourists’ type shapes the behavior of other tourists in the organization. Furthermore, the family visitor and individual visitors have different behavior at Auckland art gallery. At the same time, the local and foreign visitors also have different individual behaviour in the art gallery and influenced each other behaviors. It can also be concluded that personality, attitude, interaction, communication, nationality and physical abilities play important role in shaping the behavior of tourists towards the particular destinations.

References

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Auckland Art Gallery, (2018). Explore Art & Ideas. [Online]. Available at:< https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/art-ideas/explore-art-and-ideas >. [Accessed on 1October 2018].

Auckland Art Gallery, (2018). Families ignite young imaginations [Online]. Available at:< https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/visit/families>. [Accessed on 1October 2018].

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