Running head: DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOURIST SATISFACTION 1

Digital Photography And Tourist Satisfaction

Student Name

Institutional Affiliation
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOURISM SATISFACTION 2

Digital Photography And Tourism Satisfaction

My experiences at the Auckland beach and bay plenty were memorable judging by Tung

& Ritchie (2011) outlines of affect, expectation, consequentiality, and recollection. Indeed,

digital photography has also posed to be a problem to enhancing a memorable experience

especially since it makes residents to behave differently and disorients tourists to traveling

without seeing (Scarles, 2013). In the end, it is vital for a more qualitative and diverse approach

such as that of expectancy disconfirmation and performance to be used when looking into tourist

satisfaction.

Comparison of My Experience with Those Outlined by Tung & Ritchie (2011)

Summary of My Experience

My best tourist experience was in Auckland where I saw beaches and many people from

diverse backgrounds. The kindness and friendliness that was exhibited in Auckland even with so

many people from multicultural backgrounds surprised and equally challenged me. Noticeably,

the experience in the bay plenty (Tauranga) is also one of my best tourist experiences. The bay

plenty goes down as my best experience as it was there that I first saw large ships, it was,

therefore, an enjoyable and educative experience for me. My worst experience was in India when

I visited the Himachal. Himachal has a very rugged landscape and although there were

wildebeests, I was so much scared of them because we were tracking. In the end, I even fell

down from the track and fractured my leg and I had to stay in my bedroom throughout the rest of

the trip.

Connection of My Experience With The Proposal of Tung & Ritchie (2011)

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOURISM SATISFACTION 3

Creating memorable experiences is the essence and the raison d’etre of the hospitality

industry (Tung & Ritchie, 2011). Tung & Ritchie (2011) posit that the characteristics of

memorable experiences are affect, expectations, consequentiality, and recollection. Affect are the

positive emotions or feelings associated with the experience such as happiness and excitement;

expectations are the fulfillment intentions for the visit which may exceed what the tourists had

planned for; consequentiality is the attachment of importance to the outcome of the trip; while

recollection refers to steps taken by the tourists to remember and reflect on the tourist experience

(Tung & Ritchie, 2011). Regarding affect, I must admit that I had a very exciting experience in

Auckland although Himachal was largely frustrating. I expected to have a very educative

experience at Himachal especially since we would be tracking, this, however, was not the case as

the trip fell short of my expectations. As Tung & Ritchie (2011) assert that consequentiality is

necessary for a memorable experience, this was evident in the bay plenty where I had a very

educative experience seeing the large ships for the first time. On the other hand, recollection is

also vital for a memorable experience. Apart from recollecting through the reflection above, I

took photos and videos, and I must admit that I would like to visit the bay plenty and Auckland

beach again.

Digital Photography And The Ease of Taking Photos Has had A Negative Influence on The

Tourist Experience

Traveling Without Seeing

Indeed, the tourism industry has not been left behind as digital photography, and the ease

of taking photos are affecting the industry negatively. Admittedly, tourists tend to travel without

seeing and in the end, they also avoid some sides of nature that they think would not offer a

pleasant photography experience (Scarles, 2013). This is detrimental to a memorable experience.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOURISM SATISFACTION 4

A memorable experience should not only satisfy on affect and expectations but also

consequentiality (Scarles, 2013). This brings the need for tourists to divert their attention from

just taking photos of living the moment. If this is done, then the tourist experience will be

enhanced as tourists will not only have pictures to show for experiences but also memorable

stories and a willingness to revisit the attractions.

Presence of Photographers Alters Behavior of Residents

It is important to note that taking photographs is associated with a level of fakeness as the

subject has to pose in a particular way and create a smile even when they are clearly not happy

(Scarles, 2013). This factor also holds when tourists take excess photos in their experiences. The

native residents of the areas they visit are forced to alter their behavior as they seek to portray a

more photo-friendly facial expression or behavior (Scarles, 2013). For sure, this is detrimental to

the tourist experience as the tourists are not able to learn well about the residents' culture and

therefore enhance the satisfaction quality of consequentiality.

Tourist Satisfaction

Tourist satisfaction has been a much-debated topic in the tourism arena as stakeholders in

the industry delve deep into finding ways of enhancing the tourist experience. A typical

definition of tourism satisfaction is to have one's expectation met or exceeded. Although this

may be true, the definition is vague and does not exhaust the diversity of tourism satisfaction

well enough.

One of the best ways of looking at tourist satisfaction is by being guided by the thought

that different tourists have different ways of looking at a problem (Chang, 2008). It is only right

to argue that tourists do not have similar perceptions which are why judging their satisfaction on
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND TOURISM SATISFACTION 5

the mere grounds of fulfilled expectations is wrong. On the other hand, it is best to look at tourist

satisfaction from a qualitative point of view as opposed to quantitative (Bowen & Clarke, 2002).

This is in light with the school of thought that it is better to understand the underlying issues or

comments behind the tourists experience as opposed to whether the experience met his/her

expectations or not (Bowen & Clarke, 2002).

In addition to expectations, Bowen & Clarke (2002) insist that tourist satisfaction is best

assessed in terms of performance of all players, expectancy disconfirmation which is the

difference between expectation and performance, attribution, stability, as well as equity. In this

regard, it is clear that defining tourist satisfaction from an expectation point of view provides an

inadequate description.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the assessment and definition of memorable experience and tourist

satisfaction is one of the most debated concepts in the tourism industry. This is mainly due to the

diversity of tourists which makes it harder to assess each of the experiences and satisfaction

thoroughly. However, by looking at memorable experience concerning affect, expectations,

consequentiality, and recollection, I was able to assess my experiences, and notably, the trip the

Auckland and bay plenty experiences were memorable. On tourist satisfaction, a more diverse

and qualitative approach is more effective if all the broad concepts of tourism satisfaction are to

be looked into.

References

Tung, V., W. & Ritchie, J. B. (2011). Exploring the essence of memorable tourism experiences.

Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1367-1386.

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Bowen, D. & Clarke, J. (2002). Reflections on tourist satisfaction research. Journal of Vacation

Marketing, 8, 297-308.

Chang, J. C. (2008). Tourists’ satisfaction judgments: An investigation of emotion, equity, and

attribution. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 32 (1), 108-134.

Chen, C., C., & Petrick, J. F. (2013). Health and wellness benefits of travel experiences: A

literature review. Journal of Travel Research, 52(6), 709-719

Kim, J. H., Ritchie, J., R., & McCormick, B. (2012). Development of a scale to measure

memorable tourism experiences. Journal of Travel Research, 51(1), 12-25.

Nawijn, J., Mitas, O., Lin, Y., & Kerstetter, D. (2013). How do we feel on vacation? A closer

look at how emotions change over the course of a trip. Journal of Travel Research, 52(2), 265-

274.