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In the mid-seventeenth century, as the first full atlas of East Asia became available on the European book market, a dramatic shift took place in textual and visual representations of the Far East. The atlas, titled "Novus Atlas Sinensis" (1655), was the product of a cooperation between Joan Blaeu, who headed one of Europe's foremost commercial publishing houses, and Martino Martini, a prominent Jesuit missionary to China. This study shows how the Martini-Blaeu atlas thoroughly challenged the worldview of late Renaissance audiences by tracing and reconstructing a series of displacements that facilitated its production process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the idea of Singapore's repute as the 'Liverpool of the East' and the depictions of Britain's maritime empire in Asia. It does so via two important cruises related to the British Empire. The first is the Royal Tour of 1901 and the second cruise was the Empire Cruise of 1923 to 1924. By examining the reception afforded to both royal and naval visitors, this article argues that we have insights into what it meant for Singapore as a port city in a British maritime and imperial network. This article explores how Singapore was depicted as a maritime hub through these tours and concludes with a reflection that similar descriptions still hold a place in modern descriptions of Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism in Southeast Asia is a very popular past time activity with strong government support for tourism within Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. These destinations consist of Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand, as well as others by Malaysian tourists. Therefore, it is of interest to examine the travel behavior of Malaysian tourists who visit these destinations for tourism. The impetus this research is to better understand how a select group of tourists from Malaysia perceive their experiences factors influencing motivation. The purpose of this study is to explore the involvement of Malaysian tourists towards a select part of Southeast Asia: Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 394 usable surveys were collected from a sample of Malaysian tourists in the city of Kuala Lumpur. The study identified that Malaysian tourists are mostly young well-educated adult females with a high level of involvement in tourism and tend to travel alone or with families. Involvement to travel and the selection of the travel destination were multi-faceted. Malaysian tourists indicated high motivation to revisit and recommend Singapore and Bangkok to friends and relatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the travels of Mir 'Abd al-Latif Khan, an itinerant scholar and merchant from Iran, across the Indian Ocean from Basra in the Persian Gulf to Calcutta in the Bay of Bengal in 1788 during the waning of the Mughal Empire and the onset of East India Company rule in India. In his book of travels Tuhfat al-'Alam (Rarity of the World), written in Hyderabad in 1802, 'Abd al-Latif draws upon longstanding Mughal views of the wondrous nature of Southeast Asia, tinged by colonial notions of the sublime, to cast the Burmese Empire and its forest landscapes as the edges of the Mughal world. Through the narrative of a journey to the realm of a universal sovereign and ideal Persianate king, a padishah and a rajah, reigning over the city and the wilderness, 'Abd al-Latif surveyed the Burmese Empire as a vast forest kingdom, a land of dense jungles of teak, herds of wild elephants, and rich mines of precious stones, a mythical littoral region of exotics and strange customs, a distant half-known world on the frontiers of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a postcolonial analysis of the representation focusing "Images of the West" by Munshi Itesamuddin (1827) whose era marks the advent of the British Colonialism in the subcontinent whereas he stands an eyewitness to the events that subverted the power-relations between the colonizers and the colonized. The travelogue aims at re-presenting the worldview of the Indians, especially Muslims, not only to the West but to the fellow citizens as well. Viewed in the context of the colonial times, it is a kind of Representation by a South Asian Muslim traveler whose perceptions entail a latent aversion of the West. Unlike his claims in the very text, Itesamuddin appears to have carried out representation of the West in his travelogue which is colored by the socio-political, cultural, religious and literary traditions of the South Asian society he came from. The primary focus of this study is to analyze the discursive practices which pre-existed Postcolonialism and were later replicated, adopted and adapted by the colonized to write back to the West. The term representation, its differing connotations, facets and multipronged interpretations have been explored and the above work has been analyzed in the light of all these aspects. Munshi Itesamuddin employs various techniques and methods such as stereotyping, labeling, erasure, objectification and metonymic ways of representation to carry out the portrayal of his Western Others. Unlike Orientalism however, there was no single narrative governing his interaction with the West which he considers as cultural, racial, political, social and religious Other of the East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the theory of world systems and the revisions that come with further research. He mentions the work of sociologist Janet Abu-Lughod on world systems, a world system based on a circuit in the 8th century based on records from the Korean Buddhist monk Hye-ch'o goring from China to India, and a second one in the Islamic Empire of the 10th century outlined by the geographer al-Muqaddasi .

When marketing an island destination for tourism, ethical and moral issues must be considered, particularly given that the way in which a nation is promoted can have a profound impact on its residents and the type of tourism and tourists it attracts. In this article, I examine this challenge as it is faced by Timor-Leste, a young island nation attempting to grow its tourism sector. I investigate the possibility of developing a marketing campaign that avoids the commodification of paradise and, instead of adopting a "3s" (sun, sea, and sand) approach to marketing, begins from a "sense of place" as understood by local residents, through analyzing their desired representations of paradise, culture, people, and personality. The article concludes with describing a marketing campaign developed in collaboration with tourism stakeholders in Timor-Leste that demonstrates the potential for an Indigenous stakeholder-led approach to marketing an island nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the characteristics in the hosting experiences of foreign sojourners in Macao. In-depth interviews with 20 sojourners reveal that different strategies in hosting visitors, including the way sojourners prepare for hosting, attract guests with selective destination information, and design itineraries, are used. Such strategies are related to the way they use the local tourism space, shaped by their personal interest, previous leisure pattern, and their unhurried exploration of the destination. The findings are discussed with regard to literature on both visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and sojourners in tourism. The study draws attention to understanding sojourners as important agents in tourism and the importance of their hosting experience in destination management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Volunteer tourism, as an alternative to mass tourism, has grown significantly since the 1970s, sparking a growing research interest in the subject. However, little research has been conducted about Asian volunteer tourists. The purpose of this study is to compare the strength of perceived behavioral control with self‐efficacy to predict volunteer tourists' intentions within the theory of planned behavior. Meta‐analysis is also used to examine the effect size of the independent variables derived from the theory of planned behavior. Study results indicate that self‐efficacy is a stronger predictor than perceived behavioral control in predicting volunteer tourists' future behavioral intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents a criticism of the graphic novel travelogues of Canadian cartoonist Guy Delisle. Topics include the cosmopolitanism exhibited by a number of the characters, a description of the countries, and the relationships between a cosmopolitan attitude and a sense of locality.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of visiting the Gobi Dessert in Mongolia during spring.

The goal of this study is to analyze which strategies Asian officials and marketers have adopted in order to combat stereotypes, negative perceptions, and crises in order to repair destination images and bring back visitors. The study includes qualitative content analyses of news reports, press interviews, and campaigns in order to uncover media policy, strategies, events, and marketing initiatives used since 2008. The conceptual framework used was the “multi-step model for altering place image”, which offers three types of strategies to use in order to repair a destination’s negative image during and after a crisis: source, message, and audience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study develops a model of relationship marketing to empirically investigate: (1) the effect of relational bonds (financial, social and structural) on customer emotions; (2) emotions on relationship quality; and (3) the ultimate effect of both relationship quality and emotions on customer loyalty. Data were collected from a survey of 284 loyal guests at five-star hotels in Bangladesh and examined their perspectives as end users using structural equation modeling (AMOS 21).The emotion, which is considered to be an important construct here is used never before to investigate the loyalty of the customers in five star hotels in Bangladesh. Findings imply the need of relational bonds in service firms especially in hotels business, to increase the positive emotions of customers which in turn increase the relationship quality between the hoteliers and the customers so that more loyal customers are introduce in the five star hotels in Bangladesh and make the hotels pursuit more competitive advantage, and long-term profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies some major economic, social and environmental effects of gaming-related tourism in Macau, the world's largest gaming location in respect of casino turnover. The main types of effects of casino development are typically those associated with growth machine theory. The paper also identifies major threats to the sustainable development of Macau as a gaming/tourism destination, arising from a narrow industrial base, competing destinations, community alienation, and what is referred to as the 'China factor'. The paper discusses the types of strategies that are required if Macau tourism is to counter these threats and develop successfully as a 'World Centre of Tourism and Leisure'. It is argued that Macau can most effectively achieve this goal if it develops its tourism and gaming industries to be consistent with the key attributes of a creative city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timor-Leste is the newest Asian nation, achieving independence on May 20, 2002, and, after petroleum and agriculture, tourism is considered a strategic sector for its national economic development. The previous literature suggests that new destinations should explore the potential demand for diaspora members to visit or revisit friends and relatives in their homeland as a niche market and an opportunity for tourism development. This is because diaspora members abroad can spread information about the attractions of homeland locations as well as invest directly in building the tourist facilities needed in such locations. Timor-Leste is quite an unstudied country as a tourism destination, especially from the demand perspective. Thus, this study intends to contribute to a better knowledge of diaspora members as potential tourists visiting Timor-Leste. In particular, using data from 362 questionnaires applied to Timorese diaspora members residing in Portugal, Indonesia and Australia, the aim of this study is to explore this niche market by identifying and analyzing their characteristics, including their cultural identity, place attachment, expectations, and motivations related to a potential (re)visit to their homeland in Timor-Leste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses sources on the history of geography and cartography at the Perthes archival collection at the Forschungsbibliothek Gotha research library of the Universität Erfurt university in Gotha, Germany. The history of the archives is considered along with the use of sources from the archives in reports in this issue on whaler William Scoresby Jr., manuals for 19th-century travelers to Asia and Africa, and the relationship between Swiss historian Emil Göldi and French historian Henri Coudreau.

Isabella Bird’sUnbeaten Tracks(1880) has often been read as a quest-narrative into the unknown interior of Japan, which centres on the resolute individualism of the female travel persona. This essay will instead regard Bird as a representative figure, insofar as (like other contemporary Victorian travellers) she is the beneficiary of newly established networks of trade, transport and communication in South-East Asia. I compare her journey with that of Rudyard Kipling, who undertook a similar Asian version of the Grand Tour in 1889, recounted inFrom Sea to Sea(1899). Focusing on Kipling’s idea of the “bandobast”, a Hindi word adapted into English to mean “systematic arrangement”, I explore the mutual interdependence of Victorian representations of Japan with other East Asian cultures, particularly China. Instead of contrasting masculine and feminine modes of response, I show how their overlapping itineraries allow engagement with the multicultural cosmopolitanism of the major cities of the region, and examination of the impact of aggressive Western expansionism in the final decades of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces an important body of ethnographic, biological, and unpublished archival materials deriving from a collecting expedition to Turkestan undertaken from April 1893 to November 1894 by American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860-1936). Beyond summarising the localities he visited in Turkestan, and the current organization and usefulness of his collections for research, the paper attempts to interpret Abbott’s unpublished archival correspondence to assess his collecting focus, biases, and purposes, as well as his perspectives on contemporaneous events in Turkestan and in the neighboring Russian-controlled border areas (today’s Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) into which he also briefly traveled without permission. The results of Abbott’s work are having a positive impact on the anthropology, museums, and regional studies right into the 2 1st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines changing conceptions of the Himalaya in nineteenth-century Bengali travelogues from that of a sacred space to a spatial metaphor of a putative nation-space. It examines sections of Devendranath Tagore's autobiography, written around 1856–58, before discussing the travelogues of Jaladhar Sen and Ramananda Bharati from the closing years of the nineteenth century. The article argues that for Tagore the mountains are the ‘holy lands of Brahma’, while Sen and Bharati depict the Himalaya with a political slant and secularize the space of Hindu sacred geography. It contends that this process of secularization posits Hinduism as the civil religion of India. The article further argues that the later writers make a distinction between the idea of a ‘homeland’ and a ‘nation’. Unlike in Europe, where the ideas of homeland and nation overlap, these writers imagined the Indian nation-space as one that encompassed diverse ethno-linguistic homelands. It contends that the putative nation-space articulates the hegemony of the Anglo-vernacular middle classes, that is, English educated, upper caste, male Hindus where women, non-Hindus, and the labouring classes are marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Companies who have delivered unexpected services or products will have problems because of the negative word-of-mouth diffusion arising from dissatisfied customers. With the aid of the Internet, every single negative experience can be distributed to millions around the world in just one second. This study focuses on the content analysis methodology and investigates the behaviors of hotel guests who stayed at hotels in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia; the guests made complaints on the TripAdvisor website. In this study, three main constructs are explored: inferior quality of hotel facilities, inadvertence towards the orders of guests, and inappropriate comportment of hotel staff. TripAdvisor was chosen for this study since it is the largest travel review website, and reviews for Kuala Lumpur luxury hotels were selected as this location is one of the most visited places in the world. Interestingly, dissatisfied guests who spread negative electronic word-of-mouth have been significant challenges for hotel management. Despite the significant importance, relatively little content has been written about how guests use the Internet to share their experiences. Thus, this study sheds light on the importance of online reviews by hotel guests to provide better hotel services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Travel and travel narratives are not only important in the study of cross-cultural encounters but also central in the sociopolitical and historical imaginaries and structures of societies, especially in the case of the maritime Malay world. This study examines the place of travel in the strategies of Malay world elites in the context of colonial expansion. The travels and mobility of the elites from the Johor polity, which was divided as a result of the 1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty and the indirect delineation of British and Dutch imperial spheres, highlighted not only their engagement with different conceptions of region, world, and modernity and their networks, but also how the history of colonialism in the Malay world region is inextricably linked to the making of the modern world-system and contesting circuits of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]