Skiing heavily relies on specific weather and environmental conditions to make participation both feasible and enjoyable. The lack of published research on the relationships among ski activity, weather, and climate is, therefore, surprising, especially in light of mounting evidence regarding climate change. The analyses of the influence of daily weather variations on daily ski lift ticket sales at two Michigan ski resorts presented here appear to be the first of their kind. Results suggest that weather variables such as minimum and maximum temperature, snow depth, and wind chill do indeed have a statistically significant impact on downhill ski lift ticket sales. The regression models developed could be used by outdoor recreation and tourism providers for both short-term decision making and longer-term planning and management activities, in particular those involving consideration of climate change and potential adaptation strategies.
Despite the obvious influence of weather conditions on golfing activity, the relationships between participation in golf and specific weather variations have rarely been considered in the empirical literature. Given the increasing evidence to support global climate change, quantification of historical relationships between participation and weather conditions is a vital prerequisite to modeling the potential implications of changing weather patterns for participation in outdoor activities such as golf. The purpose of this article was to determine the influence of weather variations on daily golfing activity at three golf courses in Michigan. Multiple regression analysis revealed that variations in maximum temperature and precipitation had statistically significant influences on daily golfing activity in all the models developed. Fluctuations in other variables, including minimum temperature, public holidays, consumer confidence, and the price of gas, also emerged as significant, but not consistently so across all the models. The results presented highlight both the problems and opportunities associated with modeling the relationships between outdoor activity participation and weather conditions. While the models constructed do identify interesting relationships between the variables tested, they also illuminate the difficulties in accounting for the myriad of influences on outdoor activity participation in a quantitative setting. Nevertheless, the analyses should be of immense utility to outdoor recreation and tourism planners and managers for both the short-and long-term planning and management of their enterprises. Models of present-day relationships between activity participation and variability in climatic, economic, and other relevant factors could aid in short-term decisions regarding issues such as purchasing and staffing requirements. When combined with scenarios of future climatic, economic, and other conditions, they could also be used to inform choices regarding the expansion of existing facilities and diversification into new geographic and/or activity domains.
Since destination image is accepted as an important element of destination management, destination management organizations (DMOs) commonly engage in destination image studies. The majority of published image studies have focused on measuring the image of a particular destination at a point in time. Destination image is prone to change but this aspect received little attention due to lack of studies measuring image change over time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the change in the image of a destination over a period of time using the same instrument on the same sampling destinations. A large scale and longitudinal market survey data gathered by the Michigan Regional Travel Market Survey were analyzed for the purposes of this study. The findings indicated that Michigan had an image change between 1996 and 2002 since the image of the most image dimensions recorded significant improvement in these markets. Potential reasons, managerial implications as well as limitations and future research suggestions are provided.
Projection of the potential impacts of climate variability and change on tourism destinations is heavily dependent on the ability to first model present-day relationships between tourism activity and weather conditions. However, current understanding of these relationships is often based more on assumption and anecdotal evidence than hard empirical data. In particular, models that function at the same fine temporal and spatial scales as variations in weather characteristics typically occur are especially lacking in the literature. This article focuses on the processes and associated challenges underlying the development of Web-based decision-support tools designed to enable tourism enterprises in Michigan to project the potential impacts of climate variability and change on their businesses. An absolutely essential component of this study was the engagement of tourism stakeholders in model development. However, this process was fraught with difficulties, from industry members' perceptions of the relevance and importance of the issue, to the acquisition of appropriate data and development of useful and comprehensible tools. The models constructed enable tourism stakeholders to more rigorously evaluate the vulnerability of their enterprises to future variability and change in Michigan's climate, thereby encouraging them to consider suitable adaptation strategies in a more timely and proactive manner.
Although fall color touring has long been pursued by the traveling public and promoted by destinations, it has been the subject of extraordinarily little research. This article helps fill this knowledge gap and assists destination marketers seeking to more effectively attract this market niche. Analyses of data from a telephone survey of households in the Great Lakes region indicate that marketers who wish to attract fall color tourists should promote a wide range of ancillary activities in addition to foliage viewing and target primarily older individuals in nearby markets.
has a PhD in Parks Recreation and Tourism from Michigan State University (2002). The focus of his research is to understand gaming behaviour and casino visitation patterns. He has led various research studies related to gaming and recreation in Michigan. He currently teaches at CHN University in Leewarden, in The Netherlands. Donald F. Holecekis the Director of Travel Tourism and Recreation Resource Center at Michigan State University. The focus of his research is tourism marketing. The centre conducts and sponsors research studies related to travel and tourism in Michigan. AbstractThe US population is aging and those aged 65 years and older constitute an important segment of the population. One-half of those aged 65 years and older participated in casino gaming in 1998 (approximately 16 million), and this number is expected to increase with the increasing number of casinos and the growing number of the elderly. In reality, casino gaming already attracts a large number of elderly people. However, research on the elderly, who participate in this activity for recreation, is less visible in the academic literature. Furthermore, much of the literature on gaming has been traditionally focussed on addiction or the economic and social impacts of casino gaming development on local economies. As recreation providers, there is also a need to focus on ways to make this recreational activity worthwhile and thereby contribute to the well being of this growing population who likes to gamble. The focus of this study was to examine the casino trip characteristics of elderly Americans to two of the largest casinos in Michigan. The results of this study will be useful for casino operators and marketers who want to understand the characteristics of this lucrative segment of the gaming population.
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