Tourism, Convention and Event Management Department Theses and Dissertations

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/2367

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Assessing the Importance and Value of Events for Indianapolis Using Willingness to Pay
(2023-08) Burke, Michael; Pierce, David; Liu-Lastres, Becky; Sherman, Geoffre
Having the support of the local community is vital to having events go well. This study is needed to better understand the value of the current events and event types to be able to bring better events to Indy. This study used the contingent valuation to measure the willingness to pay for a variety of events held in Indianapolis and then assessed the difference between them while including identity and quality of life factors as additional variables. An online questionnaire was used to gather responses for all the variables. Event type and sports identity were significant variables impacting the willingness to pay to attend.
Understanding In-Person Fighting Game Event Amenities Through the Kano Model
(2023-08) Mechelin, Kyle Joseph; Pierce, David; Mirehie, Mona; Sherman, Geoffre
Though often misunderstood, esports can be defined as simply as competitive video gaming (Hamari & Sjoblom, 2017). Esports events have grown into a notable sector of the sport tourism industry. Jenny et al. (2016) described the esports industry as “the convergence of culture, technology, sport, and business” (p. 4). These in-person events can draw a global audience of competitors and fans and have filled some of the largest stadiums in the world. This study explores how competitors perceive the importance of features and amenities offered in the context of in-person fighting-game tournaments. This study adopted a quantitative approach, utilizing the Kano model, which is a user design research method that assesses how users value different features of a product. This model has recently been popularized in tourism and sports research settings, laying a foundation for further event research with the model (Gregory & Parsa, 2013; Pierce et al., 2020). The Kano model asks on each item twice and categorizes each feature into four categories based on the user responses. Based on the available research, twelve survey items were compiled and included in the survey. Of these items, the results found that the prize money and spectator space are performance features, meaning the more the tournament organizer can invest in them, the more satisfied attendees will be. The results also uncovered that practice space, an event livestream, bonus events, non-monetary prizes, famous players, and merchandise are attractive features, which are features that users will be delighted to see but will not be dissatisfied if the feature is missing. While the esports industry has become highly lucrative, mistakes made when entering the field have grown costly and can even ruin a brand or destination’s reputation. As the esports industry continues to grow, this study will lay a model for impactful investments to create a satisfying and exciting tournament experience.
Exploring Sustainable Travel Behavior for Generation Y and Z
(2023-06) Bao, Huilin; Liu-Lastres, Becky; Cecil, Amanda; Wang, Suosheng
Since the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly hit the world, the tourism industry has been impacted in every conceivable area. Environmental issues are recognized and considered essential to solve especially in the tourism industry. It is unavoidable that tourists bring both positive and negative impacts to a destination. Meanwhile, the tourism industry is eager to return to its pre-pandemic tourist numbers and levels of spending that traveler previously engaged in. The young generations, specifically Gen Y and Z, play an important role in the tourism market, and they often embody a mindset that takes into consideration issues of sustainability. However, they are not as active as expected in practicing sustainable travel behaviors. Sustainable tourism development and "green" travel practices are becoming increasingly necessary. The main purpose of this study is to identify the gaps between Gen Y and Z's intentions and their behaviors regarding sustainable travel. This study developed and tested a conceptual framework to understand this dynamic. This study identified two gaps: (a) the behavior-intention gap, which exists between Gen Y & Z's intentions and their behaviors in sustainable travel, and (b) daily life and sustainable travel gap, which is the gap between individuals’ daily sustainable habits and sustainable travel behaviors. The results of quantitative study indicated the factors contributed to the gaps included: (1) individuals who have bachelor’s degrees are more likely to conduct sustainable travel behaviors; (2) individuals who have daily sustainable habits; (3) individuals who have higher perceived consumer effectiveness. The implications of the study provide suggestions for destinations to promote sustainable travel and ways to encourage more sustainable traveling choices by travelers.
Adrenaline, Fear or Curiosity? Exploring Individuals' Motivations to Engage In Adventure Tourism
(2022-12) Bufkin, Alexa Renee; Liu-Lastres, Becky; Wang, Suosheng; Cecil, Amanda
Adventure tourism is a fast-growing niche sector within tourism. This study aims to identify the primary motivations and constraints for individuals participating in adventure tourism. Emphasis was put on adventure participants' travel pattern behaviors (local residents/ tourists) and the new factor of COVID-19. Only some studies have examined constraints within adventure tourism, including motivations, travel, and COVID-19. A total of 240 individual's participated in a 10-15-minute survey that focused on 37 motivations and constraints pulled from previous literature. The findings highlighted personal improvement and destination experience as the key motivators to participate in adventure tourism, while traveler anxiety was the key constraint holding participants back. It also gave insight into how adventure tourism continues to be popular despite the pandemic.
A Statewide Hallmark Event: The Exploration of Participants' Perceptions and Emotions
(2022-12) Nyhuis, Millie Kathleen; Krohn, Brian; Liu-Lastres, Becky; Fu, Yao-Yi
The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay was a one-of-a-kind event that involved over 2,000 participants from all 92 counties. The event was created to invoke community pride and connectivity. The purpose of this study is to understand the emotions and perceptions of participants in a state-wide Hallmark event. To achieve the purpose of this study, this research studied the perception and emotions of the participants of the state-wide event. Participants filled out an online survey with questions related to their sense of community, perception and emotions of the event. Four different scales from previous research were used in the survey. A total of 490 participants responded to the survey. Normality and nonparametric tests were performed. The results of the tests showed an increase in positive affect after the event than before. Most of the perceptions of the event were shown to be relatively similar based on proximity and population of the counties. Showing that no matter the population of the community, perceptions of the event could be very similar.
Traditional Versus Immersive Video-Based Referee Training Methods and How They Affect Situational Confidence Levels in Intramural College Basketball Officials
(2022-09) Feller, Kevin Arthur; Krohn, Brian; Pierce, David; Sherman, Geoffre
The number of sports officials around the United States and world has been slowly declining. The average age of sports officials keeps rising year over year, meaning younger officials are leaving their jobs at a high rate. The goal of this study was to compare training methods, traditional and immersive video-based, specifically RefReps training, to see how this training method affects officials’ confidence level at performing their duty as college intramural basketball officials. The study included college level intramural basketball officials from different universities in the United States (N = 34). A pre-test survey asking about confidence level was administered to each participating official prior to training for the upcoming intramural season. A control group (N = 13) used the university’s traditional training as their only form of training, while the test group (N = 21) trained using RefReps immersive video-based training. A post-test survey was given with the same confidence level questions for the participants to answer. The results showed that the RefReps group showed a greater increase in confidence in their ability to possess the most extensive knowledge of the rules compared to anyone else at the game and an increase in confidence in their ability to determine if a foul or violation had been committed.
Post Pandemic Reflection: The Changing Role of the Event Designer/Planner
(2022-05) Kramer, Savannah Kay; Cecil, Amanda; Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Shonkwiler, Erica
This study is to assess the potential changes COVID-19 has had on the event, tourism, and hospitality industry; specifically, how the skillsets of event professional have changed. While the event, tourism, and hospitality industry is ever changing, COVID-19 vastly shifted roles, responsibilities, and jobs for event professionals. So far, few studies have been conducted to identify the potential changes in skillsets that current and future event planners need to be prepared for their job. Using data from event professionals via focus groups and a survey, this study identifies these new or heightened skillsets. The findings provide useful information for current event professionals in addition to educational programs who can adapt their curricula to best prepare future event professionals.
Examining the Impacts of Robot Service on Hotel Guest Experience
(2021-05) Jain, Namrata Rajendra Kumar; Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Fu, Yao-Yi; Mirehie, Mona
The aim of the study is to assess the impact of robot service on hotel guest experiences. Application of technology in tourism and hospitality services is growing each day. Using robots in hospitality establishment is becoming more and more popular, mainly because it can help cut down the labor costs, increase efficiency and reduce human contacts. Very few studies, however, have been done on examining customer experience regarding robots used in the hotel. Social media sites such as TripAdvisor are popular platforms where people share their first-hand experiences. Hence, this study focuses on studying the reviews of robotic hotels. Using the software Leximancer, reviews were studied and categorized in different themes to understand if the presence of the robot would create positive or negative experience for customers. The sample of the study included total of 2383 reviews related to robotic hotels from TripAdvisor from January 2011 to October 2020. The findings highlighted the major themes as Room, Robot, Hotel and Staff and their relationship with the ratings. It also provided insights into the contribution of robot service to consumer’s hotel experiences.
Millennials’ perception of destination attractiveness
(2017-12-18) Johnson, Cori Lee; Ogbeide, Godwin-Charles; Bahamonde, Rafael E.; Cecil, Amanda
Past studies are focused on measuring competitiveness factors that are significant to a destination, while lesser focus is provided to capturing specific tourists’ attractiveness factors. The purpose of this study was to explore Millennials’ perception of destination attractiveness (DA) and their propensity to visit a destination. The objectives of this research include 1) To explore the perceptions of the millennial tourist when deciding on visiting a destination, 2) To determine which destination attractiveness factors are significant to the millennial tourist, 3) To identify Millennials propensity to visit a destination and 4) To explore other preferences that affect propensity to visit a destination. To accomplish the purpose and objectives, millennial college students and recent graduates from multiple universities in the USA were surveyed. A total of 103 Millennials participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of this study will contribute to the existing knowledge in the areas of Millennials’ propensity to visit a destination and their perception of destination attractiveness.
The Influence of the Indy International Festival on Visitors' Attitudes Toward Diverse Cultures
(2016-04) Chu, Yung-Tsen; Wang, Suosheng; Fu, Yao-Yi; King, Carina Chern Chern
In this era of globalization, people have more opportunities to meet many ethnic groups in their daily lives whether it is in schools, in the workplace, or even in the private sector or in government. Interacting with people from other countries can enhance our knowledge of cultural diversity and provide us with an international perspective. There are many ways of enhancing cultural understanding such as attending international festivals. While research on festivals is fast growing, study on visitors’ attitudes toward diverse cultures is relatively unexplored. This paper used a visitor attitude scale, a modified M-GUDS-S, to investigate visitors’ behavioral, cognitive, and/or affective components of diversity attitudes. The research was conducted at the 2014 Indy International Festival and focused on measuring visitation frequency, stay-time at the event, similar event participation, cultural interest, and overseas travel experience contributing to any observed differences on visitors’ attitudes. Also, the visitors’ intention to travel overseas after attending this festival was investigated. A total of 195 visitors was surveyed on site with 176 providing usable data. The findings suggest that international festivals play an important role in improving visitors’ awareness, appreciation, and acceptance of diverse cultures. Specifically, visitation frequency, the time spent at the event, and personal interest in cultures have significant influence on attitudes.

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