Last month, Salford Business School’s Dr Sean Chung and Dr Michael Evans presented at the 13th AHTMM (Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management) Conference sharing their respective recent research in this space.
Sean’s research
Exploring what persuades someone to visit a place like Komodo National Park
Sean’s latest collaborative research, co-authored with Professor Usep Suhud and Dr Doni Sugianto,centres on, ‘Outside the Dragon’s Domain: What Drives Tourists to Visit Komodo National Park?’. The paper asks a deceptively simple question: what actually persuades someone to visit a place like Komodo National Park?
Komodo is not an easy destination to reach on a whim. It’s remote, conservation-sensitive, and for most potential visitors, entirely unfamiliar first-hand. That makes it a rare and valuable setting for tourism research, because travellers have little choice but to rely on digital information — reviews, social media, official campaigns — to decide whether the trip is worth it.
Sean’s study looked at two distinct communication pathways. The first is electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM): the reviews, recommendations and social posts generated by other travellers. The second is destination publicity: the official marketing and promotional communication put out by destination managers themselves.
Using the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, he, alongside his co-authors, tested how each pathway shapes visit intention — eWOM through destination preference, and publicity through destination image.
Survey data from 230 Indonesian respondents, analysed through structural equation modelling, supported all four hypothesised relationships. The standout findings:
- eWOM’s influence on destination preference was strong (β = 0.92) and preference in turn strongly predicted visit intention (β = 0.77)
- Destination publicity also mattered, shaping destination image (β = 0.58), which then fed into visit intention (β = 0.31) — a real but comparatively smaller effect
At first glance, this might suggest peer-generated content (eWOM) matters more than official destination publicity since the coefficients are noticeably stronger along that pathway. But this should be read with some caution: the sample skewed young, with 72.2% of respondents aged 17-25. This is a demographic that leans heavily on peer opinion and social platforms when forming travel decisions, which may inflate eWOM’s apparent influence relative to an older or more diverse traveller base. It’s also worth noting that this isn’t necessarily a limitation so much as a useful signal in its own right, as this age group likely represents a large share of Komodo’s future visitor pipeline, so understanding what currently sways them matters for long-term destination planning, even if the relative weighting might look different in a broader sample.
Key takeaways from Sean’s research
The takeaway for destination managers isn’t to abandon official marketing in favour of chasing reviews. It’s that peer-generated and destination-generated communication do different jobs, and both are needed.
Encouraging genuine visitor content while continuing to invest in campaigns that showcase what makes Komodo distinctive gives protected-area destinations the best of both levers, that is, supporting visitation without losing sight of conservation goals.
Michael’s research
Paper 1: Culture, Care, and Constraint: Rethinking Leadership in African Hospitality (Awarded the best conference paper)
Leadership in hospitality is not universal; it is shaped by culture, workplace expectations and economic conditions. Research on small hotels in South Africa conducted by Michael and co-authors, supported by comparisons with Ghana and Kenya, shows that effective leadership is culturally embedded, relational and constrained by business realities.
Drawing on Hofstede’s collectivism and power-distance dimensions, alongside the Afrocentric philosophy of Ubuntu, the study found that employees often accept clear authority but expect it to be exercised with dignity, fairness, care and moral responsibility. A further qualitative study of four hotels in East London identified four themes.
- First, hierarchy earns legitimacy through respectful communication, transparent decisions, and clear explanations.
- Second, benevolent leadership expressed through empathy, flexibility, and personal support builds loyalty and trust, but cannot offset low pay, long hours or insecure employment.
- Third, employee voice is often indirect. Staff may raise concerns through supervisors, meetings or anonymous channels, reflecting respect for hierarchy rather than disengagement.
- Finally, relational trust improves commitment and retention, yet economic needs remain decisive; employees may value caring managers and still leave for better wages or conditions.
In conclusion…
Regional comparisons reveal both common ground and variation. Collectivism and respect for authority are important across all three countries. Ghana places greater value on formal recognition, Kenya favours more participatory and entrepreneurial leadership, while South Africa reflects a paternalistic-humanistic model strongly influenced by Ubuntu.
The study therefore calls for culturally intelligent leadership that balances authority, compassion, communication and economic realism. In small hospitality firms, sustainable trust depends on aligning humane management with fair, workable employment conditions.
Paper 2: Greening from the Ground Up: Sustainability in Africa’s Small Hospitality Businesses
Sustainability debates in tourism often focus on multinational hotel chains, yet small hospitality businesses, boutique hotels, guesthouses, cafés and independent operators collectively form a substantial share of the sector and have significant combined environmental and social impacts. A comparative study, conducted by Michael and co-authors, examined how these businesses adopt sustainable practices in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
The study identified uneven progress across the three countries:
- Kenya shows the strongest adoption, supported by regulatory frameworks, government backing and an established ecotourism identity
- In South Africa, sustainability is mainly market-driven, as businesses use environmental responsibility to strengthen branding, competitiveness and appeal to eco-conscious travellers
- Ghana’s progress is slower, largely because of limited awareness, weak infrastructure and insufficient institutional support, rather than a lack of willingness
Common practices include solar energy, LED lighting, water conservation, waste reduction, recycling, local sourcing and guest education. These initiatives provide environmental benefits while also lowering operating costs, improving customer satisfaction, building loyalty, strengthening community relationships, and differentiating businesses in competitive markets.
Key takeaways from Michael’s research
The analysis draws on value co-creation and the resource-based view. Value co-creation emphasises the participation of customers, employees and communities in shaping sustainable hospitality experiences. The resource-based view highlights how internal capabilities, knowledge, partnerships, and distinctive organisational resources can generate long-term competitive advantage.
Despite these opportunities, adoption is constrained by high initial investment costs, limited finance, managerial skills shortages, small workforces, weak policy enforcement, inadequate incentives and uncertainty about returns.
The study recommends targeted subsidies, accessible training, capacity-building, stronger regulation, consistent enforcement, and closer cooperation among governments, businesses, customers and communities.
Overall, sustainability is presented not merely as an ethical obligation or branding strategy, but as a vital foundation for resilience, survival, competitiveness, and inclusive tourism development across Africa. Its central argument is that tourism’s green transition depends on supporting thousands of resource-constrained small entrepreneurs.