Photographing and Tourists Perception

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8, Number 3 (2009) Photographing and Tourists Perception Fawwaz Alhammad Faculty of Planning and Management, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan E-mail: dr.falhammad@bau.edu.jo Tel: +962779874308; Fax: +96253530464 Ali Hysat Faculty of Planning and Management, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan E-mail: hyasat@hotmail.co.uk Tel: +962779874308; Fax: +96253530464 Torki Al-Fawwaz Zarqa College, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan E-mail: torki32@yahoo.com Tel: +962779874308; Fax: +96253530464 Khalid Alnaif Zarqa College, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan E-mail: kalneif@yahoo.com Tel: +962779874308; Fax: +96253530464 Abstract Photography is an effective method that provides a unique insight to tourists' behaviour. Nir (1985) investigated photographs that were taken during the period of 1850-1862 by British and French photographers of the Holy Land in Palestine. The researcher concluded that:French tourists were interested in religious monuments, while the British were interested in historical monuments. Thus, this study will aim to clarify tourists' perception by focusing on the subjects they photograph. A study had been conducted where data was obtained from 800 European tourists namely, British, French, German and Italian. The study concluded that tourists from different nationalities have different interests in different monuments. The results of this study do not agree with Nir's (1985) conclusion regarding the differences between British and French tourists, the study found that British tourists are interested in religious attractions beside other attractions. Keywords: Tourists' Perception, Middle East, Marketing, Photographing and Tourism Marketing. 1. Introduction There has been substantial growth in demand for tourist attractions, particularly in Europe (Richards, 1996). This growth calls forth the attention of researchers to understand the phenomenon of the tourist demand perspective and to clarify how heritage is experienced. Researchers in the tourism field have paid little attention to the Middle East area, (Schneider and Sonmez, 1999: 539) despite this area including a significant number of attractions. The vast majority of these studies investigated the effect of tourism on the local community (Brand, 2001a; Brand, 2001b; Shoup, 1987; Shoup, 1985), while other studies have investigated the effect of tourism 380 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8, Number 3 (2009) on the economy (Beirman, 2002) and the environment (Hawkins and Roberts 1994). A review of related literature leads to the conclusion that photography and its role in understanding tourists' perception and experience have not been researched broadly enough. Understanding tourism behavior is critical to academics and practitioners in the tourism field. Using various approaches and methodologies, researchers in the tourism field have attempted to understand tourists' behavior and perceptions. One of these attempts was the (Nir, 1985) study, its intent was to understand tourists' perception by analyzing photographs taken by visitors. The current study is going further by extending the study sample and targeting the actual tourists to look deeply into this phenomenon. 2. Literature Review Researchers adopted different approaches to study tourists' behaviour. Some researchers focused mainly on perception and motivations. For instance, Seddighi (2000) investigated the inter-cultural differences in perceptions of travel agents concerning the impact of political instability on tourism. Two thousand travel agents in six major European tour-generating countries (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland) were targeted through questionnaires. These questionnaires attempted to clarify how travel agents from different cultural backgrounds perceived the impact of political instability on the tourism industry. Reisinger and Turner (1997) stated that cultural differences can be identified in tourist behaviour, with issues such as “cultural values, social behaviour, attitudes, perceptions, needs, expectations, beliefs, norms, motivation, verbal and non-verbal behaviour” (p. 141). The majority of researchers focused on verbal behaviour. In other words, focusing on the verbal explanation of tourists' experiences and feelings. Perception, in general terms, means the process through which individuals see the world around themselves. In academic terms, it is “the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world” (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1987: 174). It was argued theoretically that the perceived performance of a product (goods or services) is a direct determinate of customer satisfaction (Tse and Wliton, 1988). Statistically, perception has a direct effect on customer satisfaction (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982). After an extensive review of the stream of studies relating to destination image; four literature reviews have been identified that have relevance to this study and destination image - Chon (1990), Echtner and Ritchie (1991), Gallarza et al., (2002) and Pike (2002). They concluded that the majority of studies have been conducted at the country level without specific travel context, which may increase the ambiguity. Moreover, there have been very few attempts to employ qualitative methodologies for better understanding and insight into tourists’ behaviour. Instead the majority of studies have employed quantitative techniques to operationalize the targeted phenomena. Numerous researchers across a number of fields and disciplines have studied tourists' behaviour (e.g. Todd, 1999; Poria et al, 2004; Apostoclakis, 2003; and Baloglu and McCleary, 1999). The majority of researchers interviewed tourists and discussed their feelings, perceptions and satisfaction. Few researchers attempted to understand tourists' behaviour by looking at their actions, instead they asked the participants to describe their experience. However, one of these attempts to look into tourists' behaviour is Nir's (1985) study. He was one of the first researchers who investigated European tourists’ responses to heritage attractions. The photographs that had been taken of the Holy Land over the period 1850-1862 by British and French photographers were examined in order to explore the cultural predispositions reflected in the photos of these and other photographers who worked in the area during the same period. He found that the French were interested in “monuments” linked to the catholic traditions. Whereas, British nationals, were more inclined to photograph natural and "non-artistic" subjects that did not relate directly to religion. Nir's study demonstrates (Reisinger and Turner 1997: 141) notion about non-verbal behaviour 381 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8, Number 3 (2009) as described earlier. In addition, it has been conducted on only two cases namely, British and French tourists; while four cases are preferred for an inter-cultural comparison (Chick, 2000). Furthermore, the findings of this study may be limited to the sub-group of Heritage Tourists namely, Professional Photographers. Thus, the current study builds upon Nir's (1985) study by focusing on actual tourists instead of Professional Photographers, also by extending the sample to include four nationalities instead of two. 3. Methodology This study follows a quantitative methodology to investigate what the European tourists photograph during their visit to Jordan. The study focuses on determining if tourists from different European countries are interested in different monuments. Preliminary interviews with some visitors classified the subjects tourists normally photograph into four categories: religious monuments, local people, nature and historical monuments. A sample of 800 tourists were chosen randomly from four European countries (UK, France, Germany and Italy) 200 from each nationality. The study had been conducted in the summer of 2008. The tourists had been interviewed at Amman Airport, before their departure from Jordan. The first step was asking the tourists about their nationality, and then if they were from the targeted nationality they were invited to participate. 676 tourists (85%) agreed to participate namely, 195 British, 151 German, 170 Italian and 160 French tourists The participants were asked to identify what they photographed during their visit. The data was subject to analysis using chi-square test for independence. Chi-Square for independence is a nonparametric technique used to study relationships between two categorical variables (i.e. nationality with photographing). It has been chosen because there is no parametric alternative technique. 4. Analysis and Discussion The chi-square test for independence had been used to determine if tourists from different nationalities were interested in different monuments. Tourists were asked to identify whether they were interested in photographing local people, nature, religious or non-religious monuments. Nationality variable consisted of four categories, while each photographing variable consisted of two categories (yes, or no). Thus the only test that can investigate the relationships between the two categorical variables (one of them more than two levels) is Chi-square for independence. The results of chi-square test for independence are presented in table 1. 4.1. Natural Monuments The value of the Pearson Chi-square for natural monuments is 17.1, with an associated significant level of 0.001. Since the significant level is smaller than 0.05; the differences of the tourists’ interests in their photographs of natural monuments can be considered significant. This means that the proportion of package tourists who photographed natural monuments differs significantly among national groups. As shown in table 1 British and Italian package tourists were more interested in photographing natural monuments than French and German. 4.2. Religious Monuments The value of the Pearson chi-square for religious monuments is 83.1, with associated significant level of 0.00. The significant level is smaller than 0.05, therefore, the difference of the tourists’ interests in their photographs of what they think are religious monuments differs among national groups. This means that the proportion of package tourists who photographed religious monuments is significantly 382 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8, Number 3 (2009) different among different national groups. As shown in table 1 British tourists are the most interested in photographing religious monuments followed by Italian, French and then German tourists. 4.3. Non-Religious Monuments The value of the Pearson chi-square is 23, with significant level less than 0.05, therefore, the differences in the tourists’ interests in their photographs of non-religious monuments differs among national groups. In other words, the proportion of package tourists who reported that they photographed non-religious places more than other monuments is significantly different among different national groups. From table 1, we can see that about 25% of British and Italian tourists are interested in photographing non-religious monuments, while only 10% of French tourists and 5% of German tourists had this interest. 4.4. Local People The value of the Pearson chi-square is 20, with significant level smaller than 0.05, therefore, European package tourists’ interested in photographing local people differs significantly among different national groups. British tourists are more interested in photographing people, as much as 20% of them reported that they do photograph people more than the other monuments. 15% and 12% of German and Italian package tourists respectively photographed local people while only 3.4% of French did. Table 1: Chi-square Test of Differences in Photographing Among European Package Tourists. Nature monuments % n 37.4% 79 20% 41 34.5% 72 18.9% 41 Value Sig Level 17.1 .001 Religious monuments % n 63.4% 133 7.4% 15 52.1% 108 20.6% 45 Value Sig Level 83.1 .000 Non-religious monuments % n 26% 55 5% 10 24.8% 52 9.7% 21 Value Sig Level 23.0 .000 Local people % n 19.5% 41 15% 31 12.7% 26 3.4% 8 Value Sig Level 20.0 .000 Nationality British German Italian French Pearson Chi-square Moreover, British, Italian and French tourists are more interested in religious monuments, while German tourists are more interested in natural monuments and local people. British tourists are more interested in photographing than other nationalities while Germans are less interested in photographing. Nir (1985) is one of the first researchers who studied European tourists’ responses to world heritage in the Middle Eastern countries. From what they photographed Nir found that the French were interested in religious monuments while the British were interested in non-religious aspects of world heritage. The results of this study revealed that the British are more interested in religious monuments than the French. First of all, Nir (1985) targeted professional photographers who may have had distinct interests or behavioural differences from the typical package tourists. Furthermore, Nir followed qualitative methodologies; while this study employed more quantitative techniques, subsequent to the initial qualitative study, and the current argument is based on representative samples. Finally, Nir’s study focused on photographs that had been taken between 1850-1862 (about 250 years ago). This represents photographer's perceptions and interests at that time. At that time maybe a minority of people, particularly professional photographers, were interested in photography. However, recently the revolution in photographic technology may have expanded the interest in taking photographs. Thus the results of the current study represent a better understanding of European package tourists’ perspective. 383 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 8, Number 3 (2009) 5. Recommendations This study provided significant evidence for the existence of visitation patterns among European tourists. Researchers in the tourism field are invited to investigate tourists from other regions such as Asia, America and Africa; in terms of photography and the perceptions of those visitors. The current study found significant intercultural differences in terms of tourists' interests in different monuments. Additionally, the study does not agree with Nir's (1985) study in terms of the differences between the British and French tourists. Thus researchers in the tourism field are encouraged to study photography more deeply and in other attractions to build a solid theory for tourist perception. The results of this study throw light on the issues that maybe relevant to practitioners particularly in Jordan. Decision makers may utilise the results of this study in order to establish market segmentation strategies. There is a need to establish different marketing strategies to different nationalities. For each nationality, there must be a targeted approach to that nationality that emphasizes the monuments and attractions the visitor will want to see. Also, the results of this study can be considered for promotional programs and product development. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] Apostolakis, A. (2003) ‘The Convergence Process in Heritage Tourism.’ Annals of Tourism Research 30, (4) 795–812. Baloglu, S. and McCleary, K. 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