The Role of Niche Tourism Products in Destination - Repository ...

esearch questions commenting on their appropriateness and applicability. Thus, responding to Chambers (2007a) plea for critical
research within a business context.
The final exploratory paper, presented here, that uses in depth interviews was Paper 11. Selected yoga tourism operators were
interviewed to gain an insight into the size and nature of their operations; the key components of the yoga tourism package;
consumer expectations; their target market and marketing and promotional techniques.
3.4.3 Primary Research – Repertory Grids
Repertory grids (Paper 6) were employed, as an interviewing technique, to allow the identification of key constructs that three
festival experts found within their own professional environment. The repertory grid is a technique for identifying the ways that a
person construes (interprets/ gives meaning to) his or her experience. It is underpinned by Kelly’s (1955) ‘Personal Construct
Theory’. Two festival directors were from large festivals occurring at different times of the year and the third expert was working in
festival and event strategic policy at a national level. This technique is more experimental than other qualitative techniques and has
had limited application within tourism research (Canning and Holmes, 2006; Jansen- Verbeke and Rekom, 1996; Coshal, 2000).
The key benefits identified in the use of repertory grids is the pragmatic value to the festival community and government policy
makers in offering meaningful data; the robust nature of the data they yield and importantly the bridge they create between the
desire for quantitative data, whilst dealing with issues more suited to qualitative methodologies (Canning and Holmes, 2006).
3.4.4 Primary Research – Case Studies