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... are a number of information distribution models proposed for the tourism sectors which address different aspects of information involved in tourism. The most notable of these is from Sheldon (1997), which identified the organisations involved in tourism information exchange, and the content of information items (see Figure 3). This model looks at both research information within tourism and consumer information. Previous research for the STCRC Decipher project has customised the Sheldon model for application to regional tourism organisations, local government, and small tourism firms. An adaptation of this model, for application to VICs, is an outcome of this research and is presented in Figure 5. The model identifies both the external knowledge management and information processes and the VIC’s internal systems. Sheldon (1997) utilises three main agents within the model of tourism information exchange: suppliers, travel intermediaries and travellers/visitors (consumers). Product information, schedules, fares, rates, availabilities and bookings are all types of information sought by consumers within the model. In turn, this information is supplied by the intermediaries or directly by the suppliers. This model then completes the feedback loop by demonstrating the need for information to flow from consumers back to suppliers in the form of research information (travel patterns, needs and wants), and information to facilitate services such as bookings. It also takes into account the broader tourism environment, incorporating government agencies and tourism organisations which are both suppliers and consumers of information. Research by Carson and Adams (2004) employed a knowledge strategy framework developed by Trussler and later adapted by Andrews (2002) (see Figure 4). The framework suggested that knowledge management capacity could be diagnosed through the leadership, cultural, infrastructure, technological and continuous improvement characteristics of VICs. Elements of the framework can be described in detail, allowing opportunities for improvement to be identified. Within this framework, capacity for change was identified as one of the components of culture; a success factor within knowledge management ...
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Tagungsdokumentation zum Dorfladen-Symposium der Hochschule Harz am 16.11.2023 auf Anregung des Ministeriums für Arbeit, Soziales, Transformation und Digitalisierung des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz.
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... Although the topic of tourist information search has been widely discussed in the literature (see, e.g., Murray 1997, 1999;Fesenmaier and Vogt 1998;Bieger and Lesser 2004;Gursoy and McCleary 2004;Hyde 2009), there is little evidence of research on the role of tourist information offices as external information sources and particularly on their capacity to meet visitors' expectations. Some studies analyze the influence that these offices have on tourists' travel behavior, length of stay, and expenditure (see, e.g., Deery et al. 2005;Deery et al. 2007;Fesenmaier 1994;Fesenmaier, Vogt, and Stewart 1993;Gitelson and Perdue 1987;Perdue 1986Perdue , 1995Tierney 1993). Others discuss the nature of the information exchange process, focusing on the quality of the encounter between staff members and clients (Wong and McKercher 2011), analyze the information quality effects of traditional versus online media used by TIOs on visitor experience (D'Ambra and Mistilis 2008) or the changing nature of information provision from face-to-face to virtual visitors, and develop a taxonomy of visitors' information needs and tasks (D'Ambra and Mistilis 2010). ...
... As discussed by Ladhari (2008), over the past 20 years a great deal of industry-specific research has been devoted to the development of a set of measures to assess service quality, alternative to the traditional SERVQUAL model Berry 1988, 1991), SERVPERF model (Cronin and Taylor 1992), or to other general methodologies (e.g., Groonroos 1984). In the tourism sector, different scales have been developed for the hospitality industry (see Knutson et al. 1990;Saleh and Ryan 1991;Getty and Getty 2003;Akbaba 2006), but also for intermediaries (Hudson, Hudson, and Miller 2004;Lam and Zhang 1999) and tourist offices (D'Ambra and Mistilis 2008; Deery et al. 2005;Deery et al. 2007;Fesenmaier 1994;Fesenmaier, Vogt, and Stewart 1993;Gitelson and Perdue 1987;Perdue 1986Perdue , 1995Tierney 1993). More recently, the attention of researchers has been focused on developing appropriate quality scales for e-travel services (see, e.g., Ho and Lee 2007) and website evaluation models (for a review of these models, see Law, Qi, and Buhalis 2010). ...
Tourist information offices (TIOs) are an important external information source in the tourists’ decision-making process. Assessing the quality of TIO information services implies measuring both technical quality, that is, the outcome of the service performance, and functional quality, that is, the quality of the whole delivery process. The article presents a methodology to correlate and combine mystery shopping and customer satisfaction research in order to assess the overall performance of TIOs at destination and discusses the effectiveness of this approach compared with a separate application of the two methods. The study is part of a project aimed at providing local authorities and TIO office managers in the mountain areas of Italy and Austria with an integrated and user-friendly tool to monitor the quality of information delivered to tourists both before and during their visit, evaluate the management of information services and make benchmark comparisons in the future.
... They represent an important tool for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), primarily for promoting local tourism products and services (Ballantyne et al. 2009). Recent studies (Andereck & Vogt 2005, Deery et al. 2007, Lee et al. 2007) have pointed out that local visitor centres are key providers of en-route information and are effective in supporting and even changing tourists' trip plans. Tourists who stop at a VIC, in fact, are more likely to use the information obtained to assist their contingent travel decisions (Li et al. 2002). ...
... Principal users of VICs are independent travellers who generally seek novelty and variety and are therefore more inclined to make spontaneous, on-site travel decisions (Ballantyne et al. 2009), differently from organized-mass-tourists who use packaged tours for increasing familiarity, comfort and safety (Cohen 1972). One of the strong points of VICs, if compared with other travel information sources, is the direct engagement with travellers, who value the opportunity to speak to local people about their travel ideas and expectations (Deery et al. 2007). ...
... Other studies have investigated the role of VICs in influencing general travel behaviour (Fesenmaier & Vogt 1993;Lee et al. 2007) or specifically the length of stay and expenditure (Fesenmaier 1994;Tierney 1993); some pointing out the reasons for stopping and the most important attributes and services of information centres (Perdue 1995), which may differ between highway centres and local centres (Fesenmaier 1994;Lee et al. 2007). Types of information obtained (Deery et al. 2007;Ballantyne et al. 2009), perceived quality of information (Mistilis & D'Ambra 2008), and information use (Park & Hwang 2004) have also been considered, but the relation between such information and the stage of travel decision they pertain to has not yet been investigated. Moreover, most of the previous studies collected data through surveys with tourists and centre staff, but none of them have analysed data arising spontaneously from the face-to-face interactions between tourists and visitor centre staff, without the interference of the researcher. ...
Visitor Information Centres (VICs) represent an important tool for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in promoting local tourism products and services. Recent studies have pointed out that VICs are still key providers of en-route information despite the growing use of Internet and mobile technologies, and are effective in supporting and even changing tourists’ trip plans. The research presented in this paper investigated unexplored aspects of the interaction between VICs and their visitors, which are: the type of questions asked (i.e. information, recommendation or confirmation), their level of specificity, the most frequent objects of inquiry and the query sequence. A corpus of face-to-face questions from a local VIC in New South Wales, Australia, served as the data. Results show that the questions asked are very specific and have a strong geographic component. The findings help in better understanding the contemporary role of VICs as well as their management for effective information provision, and also provide insights into tourists’ en route decision-making behaviour.
... In the context of visitor information center staff, the challenge is to make this tacit knowledge explicit within the center, perhaps through personal communication or by way of maps, information sheets, or brochures. This is important, as the quality of customer service, facilities, and information provided by visitor information centers is likely to influence not only visitors' length of stay and choice of activities, but also their decisions to use other information centers in adjoining regions (Ballantyne, Hughes, Deery, & Bond, 2007;Deery et al., 2007). ...
... A preference for local information was evident across all types of information-general information, specific information about activities and/or attractions, and information about accommodation. These responses support previous studies (e.g., Deery et al., 2007) that state provision and marketing of localized information, recommendations, and services is a key responsibility of visitor information centers. Results also lend credence to arguments by Sheldon (1993) and Hyde and Lawson (2003) that the independent and spontaneous nature of many visitors' trips necessitates access to local information at destinations. ...
... This flexibility and multiplicity of functions may in itself account for their popularity. Ballantyne,Hughes,and Ritchie 789 As reported in Ballantyne and Hughes (2004) and Deery et al. (2007), access to friendly, knowledgeable staff was also considered important. Responses indicate that visitors value being able to access personal, current, and accurate tourist information from staff. ...
Visitor information centers are primarily responsible for promoting local tourism products and services; and consequently, have direct impacts upon the economic, social, and recreational well-being of the region in which they are located. Research highlights the importance of tailoring center facilities and services to meet the needs and interests of the traveling public, yet there are few studies specifically designed to pinpoint visitors' information requirements. This study was conducted during the mid-year school holidays and explores tourists' use and perceptions of 18 Australian visitor information centers in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, and Northern Territory. It uses Pearce's (2004) Four Plus model to explore the functions of centers, identifies features that tourists regard as important, and provides an insight into the information needs and travel planning practices of those who use visitor information centers.
... Queensland VICs treat their websites as part of their business strategies [16]. However, this research found that visibility, a vital part of any online strategy, had been ignored by Queensland VICs. ...
Visitor information centres (VICs) are one major information resource for visitors both before arrival at their destination and during their visit, and use of the Web as a new information dissemination channel by VICs is now widespread. However, the issue of the accessibility of VIC websites may be overlooked. The homepages of websites from 66 Queensland VICs were examined to find out whether the posted information could be easily accessed by disabled tourists. Each homepage was analysed in terms of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) web accessibility by using Bobby Online Free Portal in January 2005. The majority of VIC website homepages were found to fail one or more of the W3C web accessibility measures which means disabled users may have substantial problems when accessing Queensland VIC websites. Possible reasons that could have contributed to the low accessibility rating of Queensland VIC homepages are discussed. Several suggestions on how to improve the accessibility of VIC websites are then offered.
... The other reason customer service is so important is that the way you greet and interact with visitors sends powerful messages that can influence whether people stay in your town/region or choose to travel elsewhere. As an example, Deery et al. (2007) asked visitors who had decided to extend their stay in Victoria why they had changed their plans. The majority (70%) responded that their decision to stay longer was a direct result of conversations with VIC staff. ...
This manual was devised to help overcome the professional isolation often experienced by staff working in Australian VICs (Visitor Information Centres). It is specifically designed to facilitate the sharing of ‘best practice’ approaches to information dissemination, customer service, staff training, sign and exhibit design and evaluation. Material is based on research in the areas of visitor studies; interviews with thirteen VIC managers; and surveys conducted with approximately 407 visitors at 18 VICs in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The manual is written in a non-academic style and is designed to be used by managers, staff and volunteers. It includes photographs, discussion questions and checklists to enable you to evaluate and improve your services and facilities. The manual concludes with four case studies designed to describe examples of ‘best practice’ in more detail (see Appendix A).
There have been recent calls to reconceptualize tourist decision-making models. This study presents evidence for a model that depicts on-site tourist decision making as a socially embedded (discursive) performance in which frontline tourism staff members play key roles. Such performances aim to achieve tourism experiences that serve the multiple interests of participants in the decision-making process. Interviews with frontline staff in Canterbury, New Zealand, revealed a “performance” in which a complex set of discursive skills, interpersonal strategies, and service attributes were displayed. Together these generate—via conversation—socially embedded environments of trust that, in turn, lead to outcomes optimized for decision-making effort, decision justifiability, and the avoidance of negative emotions. Findings are discussed within the framework of the “discursive action model,” which highlights a process that has appropriate tourist experience, deemed authentic, as its goal.
Volunteer involvement in visitor centres has received little attention by tourism researchers despite the critical role staff play in welcoming tourists to a destination and promoting tourism activities. The community function of visitor centres – of which volunteering is part – has also been underplayed in previous research. Using data from a survey and interviews with visitor centre managers in Australia, this paper investigates the rationales for staffing visitor centres with volunteers and/or paid employees and, related to motivations for volunteering, the factors influencing the attractiveness of visitor centre volunteer programmes. The dominant rationales for involving volunteers are need, community involvement, visitor experience, and the personal qualities and motivations of volunteers. Visitor centre volunteering is attractive because of location and local pride, interactions with tourists and social relationships with other volunteers, and the reputation of the visitor centre and its volunteer programme.
