In the early Spring of 2020, Mardi Gras celebrations were not hampered by the impending pandemic. The weather was perfect; mild and comfortable. Celebrations continued throughout January and February.  In March, however, much like the rest of the country, the threat drew closer to home. On March 9th, the first reported case of COVID-19 was announced in Louisiana. By March 16th, all schools were closed and by March 23rd, a stay-at-home initiative was enacted. For a state like Louisiana, with a distinct cultural tradition of gathering, it was devastating to the community. Four hundred fairs ..read more

A UX (User Experience) researcher is an individual that is responsible for connecting customers of a product with the people who make and run an organization. They talk to customers (also called users) and through qualitative and quantitative methods they discover what the needs of the users are with the purpose of improving a product. Examples of qualitative methods are interviews and ethnographic observation (observing a person “out in the wild”). Quantitative methods involve anything that has to do with measuring with numbers, such as surveys or usability studies (which are steps that users ..read more

COVID has forced many of us to work from home while limiting social interactions and travel. To fill social and travel voids, many people have welcomed pets into their homes. In fact, pet ownership experienced an 11% growth since COVID began with 9% being new dog owners. These new pet owners will return to travel. They will likely bring their pets with them at times. This means vacation destinations will likely experience an influx of new pet owners bringing young, and often less trained, pets with them. This essay introduces the concept of anthrozoology, includes an assessment of a recent hot ..read more

A UX (User Experience) researcher is an individual that is responsible for connecting customers of a product with the people who make and run an organization. They talk to customers (also called users) and through qualitative and quantitative methods they discover what the needs of the users are with the purpose of improving a product. Examples of qualitative methods are interviews and ethnographic observation (observing a person “out in the wild”). Quantitative methods involve anything that has to do with measuring with numbers, such as surveys or usability studies (which are steps that users ..read more

In the early Spring of 2020, Mardi Gras celebrations were not hampered by the impending pandemic. The weather was perfect; mild and comfortable. Celebrations continued throughout January and February.  In March, however, much like the rest of the country, the threat drew closer to home. On March 9th, the first reported case of COVID-19 was announced in Louisiana. By March 16th, all schools were closed and by March 23rd, a stay-at-home initiative was enacted. For a state like Louisiana, with a distinct cultural tradition of gathering, it was devastating to the community. Four hundred fairs ..read more

A UX (User Experience) researcher is an individual that is responsible for connecting customers of a product with the people who make and run an organization. They talk to customers (also called users) and through qualitative and quantitative methods they discover what the needs of the users are with the purpose of improving a product. Examples of qualitative methods are interviews and ethnographic observation (observing a person “out in the wild”). Quantitative methods involve anything that has to do with measuring with numbers, such as surveys or usability studies (which are steps that users ..read more

COVID has forced many of us to work from home while limiting social interactions and travel. To fill social and travel voids, many people have welcomed pets into their homes. In fact, pet ownership experienced an 11% growth since COVID began with 9% being new dog owners. These new pet owners will return to travel. They will likely bring their pets with them at times. This means vacation destinations will likely experience an influx of new pet owners bringing young, and often less trained, pets with them. This essay introduces the concept of anthrozoology, includes an assessment of a recent hot ..read more

Many Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) are allocating funds toward research to inform decisions on strategy. Studies often seek to understand the motivations, behaviors, interests, and perspectives of the great range of people with whom a DMO interacts. Formal studies are often expensive and time consuming, but this research-based approach to tourism management is important to the planning process, as data allows DMOs and destination stakeholders to proceed with a certain level of confidence. Supplementally, DMOs can also incorporate an anthropological perspective into every aspect o ..read more

INTRODUCTION All researchers realize early in their careers that they stand on the shoulders of giants in their field. The field of tourism is no different. No matter how effective I am in accomplishing my goals as a tourism researcher, I will never be able to distinguish my successes from those whose work I continue. In regard to tourism, all of us who work in the realm of destination management are continuing to build upon historical knowledge bases. As tourism is an amalgamation of many distinct fields (e.g. business, sociology, economics), we are not only building on existing knowledge ste ..read more

Destinations International’s 2019 DestinationNext Futures Study stresses the importance of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) adopting “community-driven destination development” that aligns economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This shift in strategic focus from transactional sales and marketing to destination stewardship involves strong collaboration with the community. For some DMOs, refocusing on stakeholder engagement for better community alignment is easier said than done. David Peacock of The Future of Tourism podcast has suggested that the difficulty might stem fro ..read more