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This study examined the effects of sociodemographic, travel-related and psychographic variables on travel expenditures. The travel expenditure categories examined include lodging, meals and restaurants, attractions and festivals, entertainment, shopping, transportation and total expenditures. The results of the study provide a more comprehensive and holistic picture in the search of travel expenditure patterns based on multiple independent variables. This study reveals that, among the three groups of variables examined, income and trip-related characteristics were the most influential variables affecting tourism expenditures. Discussions and implications are also provided based on the study results.

The article provides an analysis of scholarly contributions to 11 hospitality and tourism refereed journals for the years 2002-2006. It presents the top 100 programs as ranked by instances of publications across 11 journals for a recent five-year period. For the five-year period, results indicate Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the top position based on sums of instances, authors and articles. Secondly, the researchers updated, modified and extended a previous study published by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research for similar information for the years 1992-2001. Following the update, an additional 15-year aggregate snapshot of research output for top producing institutions provided a top 18 over the last 15year period. Next, researchers provide an updated analysis by contribution and world region among the specific journals with results indicating a large growth in the number of articles produced in Asia going from 6% of all publications over the former 10-year period from 1992 through 2001 to near 15% of published articles over the past five-year period from 2002 through 2006. The article concludes with suggestions for the extension of similar studies and provides implications for hospitality and tourism educators.

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Numerous studies have been conducted on consumers' information search prior to arrival at a destination. This study attempts to continue to fill a research gap focusing on travellers' information search behaviour for services not only before the trip but in transit to the destination and once at a destination. In particular, the research explores service-related decisions before and during a trip, the sources of information utilised, which include locals residing at a destination, and how demographic and trip purpose characteristics influence decision-making. Using the results of this study, practitioners and academics alike can design effective strategies for marketing to travellers.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore an organization-wide philosophy of hospitality in a hospital setting. Design/methodology/approach -An exploratory case study method approach matched the research purpose. First, a hospitality centric philosophy (HCP) was defined from the literature review. Next, a triangulation of unstructured visits, structured visits and key informant interviews is used to further explore a HCP in one organization. After this, the hospitality centric programs (HCPr) supporting the HCP are defined, identified, described and classified. Findings -A fairly distinct HCP viewed as a method for enhancing service excellence was in place and supported by top management. The hospital aimed to offer hospitality to patients on par with the hospitality experience offered to hotel guests. A department of hospitality services, a service excellence council, a director of service excellence, and an external hospitality advisory board were in place and met regularly. Further, many formalized HCPr had been created for the execution of the HCP. Practical implications -The researchers believe that an effectively managed HCP can be modified by culture to enhance the service excellence of the patient/guest experience in hospitals and in the hospitality industry. For hospitals, further enhancements can be realized through developing and executing hospitality centric goals aligned with the performance metrics beyond traditional competition boundaries, such as a hospital seeking to deliver a service experience on par with a hotel. For more traditionally defined hospitality businesses, the extreme context of a hospital where the importance of hospitality is magnified due to treating and caring for sick guests offers a different frame of reference for learning. This new frame of reference can lead to more cutting edge ideas for refining and customizing the service design and delivery. For both hospitals and hospitality businesses, putting in place an HCP with the appropriate organizational support through HCPr allows for more precise information and thus improved service outcomes. Originality/value -An HCP is defined and acknowledged as a distinct organization-wide philosophy for enhancing service excellence that is applicable across industries. An HCP is demystified through investigating hospitality centric goals, identifying organizational support teams that solely consider HCP, and through further specifying examples of HCPr for activating the HCP. Finally, the study suggests hospitality centric service excellence (HCSE) as a higher distinction of service excellence outcome that is more likely to be achieved through a HCP.

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This study examines the role of hospitality service quality in a third place for the elderly using a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) setting. The study builds from the relational theory of third places testing the causal relationships among resident needs, place meaning, and loyalty outcomes. The study extends the theory by applying it to the CCRC context through using data that were collected from 157 CCRC residents in the southeastern portion of the United States. The proposed relational third-place model using the construct of place meaning was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results indicated that resident needs (tangibles, instrumental support, and emotional support) positively influenced place meaning, and in turn place meaning positively impacted resident loyalty outcomes. Through the relational theory of third places, the CCRC is a meaningful place to residents, and CCRC residents are loyal to the community. Most importantly, the results of the study identified that service quality strongly impacted place meaning in the CCRC. Theoretically, the study provided valid and reliable support suggesting that the construct of place meaning is applicable to the CCRC setting. Practically, this study provides empirical support for the importance of providing a rich hospitality service culture through strengthening instrumental support, emotional support, and tangibles. In this way, management should establish a culture that is rich in hospitality and service through the enhancement of tangibles, empathetic and interactive staff care. Finally, this rich culture will lead to enhanced place attachment as supported by this exploratory study.