Search results

The aim of the current study is to use a city case study from Costa Rica to evaluate the Nash equilibrium point and Anna Karenina Principle in relation to community-based tourism (CBT), collaborative destination marketing (CDM) and strategic destination branding (SDB) – all of which require similar facilitators and suffer from similar inhibitors.

The study combines a case study approach with in-depth interviewing of local business stakeholders as the aim is to reveal a specific event in a specific setting.

In-depth interviews with local tourism product and service suppliers provided evidence that numerous deficiencies stem from the lack of collaborative destination marketing and branding in Costa Rica. This undermines the Nash equilibrium, namely successful CBT marketing and branding.

The results support the theory that the success (i.e. Nash equilibrium) or the failure situation (i.e. Anna Karenina Principle) in CBT – similar to CDM and SDB – depend on similar critical factors, including a shared vision, all-inclusive stakeholder involvement and participation; and cooperation and collaboration.

Results indicated an urgent need for governments, donor organizations, universities and NGOs to partner to collectively develop campaigns and educational and training programs for human and social capital development.

This study integrates sustainable tourism, tourism development, poverty alleviation, community-based tourism (CBT), collaborative destination marketing, strategic destination branding (SDB), Nash equilibrium and Anna Karenina Principle to explain the successful application of community-based tourism, which has not been previously reported.

The purpose of this study is to explore potential reasons that might explain why locally owned tourism firms cheat the use of backward economic linkages that (when used) might otherwise maximize the economic benefits of the tourism industry for locals.

For this exploratory qualitative case study research design, 25 face-to-face interviews were conducted with various tourism business owners and managers in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

The findings indicate that while the participants felt that tourism business' economies of scale could be improved if all locally owned businesses purchased within the tourism supply chain they themselves were purchasing outside of the supply chain. This behavior was characterized as a result of a non-cooperative market.

The major implication from the study is a trend that emerged from the data that seems to detect a tragedy of the commons scenario that is rooted in game theory. This scenario provides insight into a problem where tourism business owners and managers indicate an understanding of the value of using local network linkages, but instead cheat the system. A limitation of the study is that case studies may only be generalized to theoretical propositions and not to similar contextual situations.

Mainstream tourism literature has provided quantitative assessments that determine the direct, indirect, induced, and multiplier effects of local links between industries, sectors, and different producers that are used in the tourism supply chain. Findings from these studies indicate that local areas economically benefit when these links are actively used. However, not extensively addressed is identification of why (when most individuals know they may all benefit from the use of said linkages) cheat the system.

This study investigates the growing global interest in organic food by examining the relationship between consumer spending patterns and the variety of organic product categories within shopping baskets. Expanding on prior research on intrinsic motivations for choosing organic products, this paper introduces differences between consumers based on their spending levels and the quantity and type – fresh vs processed – of organic products they purchase.

A descriptive analysis was conducted using data from an online panel survey in Spain, targeting regular consumers of ecological products. A total of 627 respondents were surveyed (e = 4%, N.C. = 95%; p = q = 0.5). Consumers were segmented based on the quantity of organic product categories in their baskets. The data were analysed using cross-tabulation, t-tests, and one-way ANOVA to identify significant differences in spending and product variety.

The study identified significant differences in spending patterns and in the variety of organic products purchased between the eco-consumer segments – essential, mindful and super – characterised by the variety of product categories in their shopping baskets. These findings align with global trends in eco-friendly consumption, providing a nuanced understanding of consumer behaviour in the organic food market.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the impact of the variety of organic product categories within a shopping basket as a segmentation factor. The research contributes a novel perspective to the literature on organic food consumption by highlighting how the count and type of products influence consumer segmentation and spending behaviour.