Central Business Districts Versus Regional Shopping Centers - Tourism Essay Sample

Hypothesis#1: Sense of Place

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In the recent decades, the model of sense of place has gained popularity, especially in urban design, architecture and environment psychology. The sense of place changes a unique space to place with distinct sensual characteristics and behaviors of certain people. It is the relationship between man and the environmental features. Today there is increased interest among researchers to discover the impact the environment has on peoples lives. In Vancouver, a city on the banks of River Colombia in the United States and one of the largest cities in Washington, tourists, investors, and businesses have found the place appealing due to a sense of place. According to researchers, a sense of place is a collection of unique qualities and characteristics affecting cultural, visual, social and environmental aspects of a location (Snepenger et.at, 2013). Therefore, if you are reconsidering to revisit a particular area your sense of place will play a great role in your decision. Mostly the qualities of an environment depend almost exclusively on human behavior patterns, safety, and physical attractiveness.

Some theories have been used to elaborate the sense of place. For instance, sense of place has both emotional and descriptive aspect of environment experiences. Therefore, based on the cognitive theory it is an emotional connection between a place and people. The setting is composed of both social and physical parameters, and as a result, the relationship between people and a given location is mutual. On the other hand, the theory of attitude has three dimensions of place. It suggests that peoples feelings about a place are signs of emotional dimension, their beliefs about the same setting shape their cognitive element, and eventually their function about the same site marks the behavior aspect of the place. Last but not least, the attachment theory emphasis on emotional communication with the interaction site (Rashid & Mohammad, 2012). Under attachment theory place sensitivity expresses the positive emotional dependency between the visiting party, the location, and neighborhood units such as social groups and individual personalities.

Hypothesis27: Attitude towards Shopping

Shopping is among the pervasive leisure activities especially for tourists in the main cities and developed countries. For instance, in Vancouver, they are some large shopping centers giving any visitor a chance to have a tangible experience away from home. In fact, visitors and residents share vibrant shopping space giving them room for social bonding. People learn from each other in the process revealing their culture as the practice is driven by personal motivation, lifestyles, and values. Due to the urge of attracting people in various areas establishing shopping centers continues to experience increasing competition from bigger malls and centers as well as online shopping. For instance, in Vancouver, the government is preserving and revitalizing their traditional business localities due to their architectural implication and the fact that they are a desirable location for different stores likely to attract more buyers from all corners of the world. Some of the features will influence shoppers in their decision to revisit a given shopping center.

As businesses and tourists hubs continue to develop new means of attracting more visitors they have to consider the attitudes of the targeted segments. Among the factors to consider is the convenience of shopping which includes the ease of getting in and out of the center. Also, the availability of entertainment facilities will play a huge impact as some shoppers perceive shopping as a leisure activity (Kemperman, Borgers & Timmermans, 2013). For this reason, the traditional shopping districts are gaining popularity in the modern society due to their ability to give the shoppers feeling of special event entertainment. Security is also another factor buyers use to reconsider their decision in revisiting a particular area. However, all investments and improvements should meet determinants of customers satisfactions at any given time. Indeed, there is a positive relationship between centers improvements, services provided, growth in sales and visit rates.

References

Kemperman, A. D., Borgers, A., & Timmermans, H. J. (2013). Tourist shopping behavior in a historic downtown area. Tourism Management, 30(2), 208-218.

Maitland TAFE Management Project Group. (2011). Central business districts versus regional shopping centers. Maitland, N.S.W.: Management Advanced Project Group 2.

Rashid, N. R. N. A., & Mohammad, N. (2012). A discussion of underlying theories explaining the spillover of environmentally friendly behavior phenomenon. Procedia-Social and Behavioural Sciences, 50, 1061-1072.

Snepenger, D. J., Murphy, L., OConnell, R., & Gregg, E. (2013). Tourists and residents use a shopping space. Annals of Tourism Research, 30(3), 567-580.