8th CPTHL Symposium - Istanbul, Turkey (1-5 June 2013)

I have recently attended the 8th Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure symposium, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey. The event was a 'boutique' symposium in that it attempted to attract fewer, higher quality papers. A total of  34 papers authored by academics from 22 countries were presented (Australia, New Zealand, Italy, USA, Canada, Portugal, Turkey, UK, Israel, Belgium, South Korea, Thailand, Iran, Spain, Austria, China, Taiwan, Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Brasil, Japan). Academics from 19 countries attended the Symposium.

The onward journey was an eventful one. It started well with me getting an upgrade to business class :-). Thank you British airways! As it is a short haul flight, the seating plan is the same as in economy but there's no one sat in the middle seat. The food is much better though. I enjoyed a nice fillet steak with Dauphinoise potatoes.

On arrival in Istanbul, after waiting more than 1 hour for my suitcase (and I had a priority tag on it!), I was taken to the Hotel. It wasn't a smooth ride tough. There was a big protest in Istanbul going on located in and around Taksim Square. The hotel sits next to the square which meant that the car could not get to the front of the hotel. Apparently there were many hundreds of thousands on the streets (probably true given the sheer number of people one could see). The car had to drop me off around 300 meters from the hotel and then I was picked up by a representative of the travel agency who walked with me to the hotel. This is how busy it was!

While being driven to the hotel, a lot of damage was visible. Here are some pictures. 

(Broken glass at a bus stop)

(Burned cover of a building site)

After arriving at the hotel, I joined the welcome cocktail. The hotel is located on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus. The sunset view was very beautiful to watch.

On the afternoon of the 2nd June I presented the paper that brought me to Istanbul. This is the abstract of my presentation: 

A Review of Tourist Satisfaction Research: 2000-2012

Miguel Moital

Events & Leisure Academic Group, School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom.

Girish Prayag

Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, College of Business and Law, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Scott Cohen

School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current state of tourist satisfaction research, thus contributing to understanding contemporary developments in the area. The literature review focused on identifying the main themes and issues covered by tourist satisfaction studies published between 2000 and 2012 in the three top tourism journals (Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management and Annals of Tourism Research). Papers which explored tourist satisfaction in any meaningful way were selected for inclusion in the review. This resulted in the in-depth analysis of a total of 76 articles. The main themes identified in the review were the predominance of quantitative research, a pro-satisfaction bias and the study of satisfaction in the context of loyalty. In reviewing the process and content aspects of tourist satisfaction, the review found that a number of heuristics (the mental processes used by consumers when making satisfaction judgments) have been researched and different perspectives with regards to what tourists evaluate have been employed. Finally, the review also found that tourist satisfaction studies have examined satisfaction differences across sectors, products and tourist characteristics, with an emphasis on the latter.

I managed to deliver my presentation within the allocated 15 minutes. A lively discussion ensued with participants making suggestions or asking for additional information.

There were many interesting presentations throughout the symposium and most attracted a lively discussion.

On the evening of the 3rd of June there was a Gala dinner where we could taste a wide range of Turkish food. A Belly Dancer was hired to perform for us:

The Best paper winners were also announced during the dinner:

Arch G Woodside Best Paper Award

Steven Pike- Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Arch G Woodside Silver Award

Brent W. Ritchie - P. Monica Chien - Bernadette Watson

University of Queensland, Australia

Arch G Woodside Bronze Award

Giacomo Del Chiappa - University of Sassari & CRENoS, Italy

Carlota Lorenzo-Romero - University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

María-del-Carmen Alarcón-del-Amo - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

During my stay, I had the chance to taste many of the traditional Turkish dishes. Here are some pictures:

When walking around the Taksim Square area, one could see a lot of damage, and the cash machines were specially targeted by protesters. Here is one of the worst damaged ones that I saw:

One thing that I found very interesting was the cleaning of the streets after the protests. With so many people, it is not surprising that the streets were full of litter. However, what was surprising was that the citizens cleaned the streets themselves. Many of the protesters carried bin bags and collected the rubbish themselves:

Despite the ongoing protests, I never felt too insecure. I found the protesters well behaved and respectful. This was my second trip to Istanbul and I will definitely return if I can.