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38 attractivity
their location at the bishop's seat. Annual
meetings of Christian organisations and associations
as well as national and regional church
meetings have variable locations. From this one
can recognise that for the tourist the religious
event is the religious attraction and not the
variable location.
Further reading
Park, C.C. �1994) Sacred Worlds:An Introduction to
Geography and Religion, London: Routledge.
Rinschede, G. �1992) `Forms of religious tourism',
Annals of Tourism Research 19: 51±67.
ÐÐ �1999) Religionsgeographie, Braunschweig:
Westermann.
VukonicÂ, B. �1997) Tourism and Religion, Oxford:
Elsevier Science.
attractivity
GISBERT RINSCHEDE, GERMANY
Attractivity is a quantitative measure of the ability
of a destination or facility to draw tourists. It is
often used in the context of gravity models,
although analysts use the concept in other tools as
well. Regardless of the specific tool, the concept is
normally used as a variable in a model to explain
or forecast visitor levels.
There are four basic approaches to measuring
the attractiveness of a region : simple exogenous,
complex exogenous, inferred exogenous and
endogenous. Simple exogenous refers to the use
of a single variable, such as the number of hotel
rooms, to represent the attractiveness of a
destination. The complex exogenous approach
combines two or more descriptive variables, such
as mean hours of sunshine and mean high
temperatures, into a single composite index. Both
of these measures require the analyst to select the
relevant variable�s) and, in the case of the
complex exogenous approach, to specify how the
variables are to be combined.
The inferred exogenous approach takes a
different tack. This method is based on the
revealed preferences for destinations, either
through comparing visitor levels or through a
survey ranking alternative destinations. The
endogenous approach defines attractivity as a
statistically estimated coefficient in a visitor forecasting
model. Ultimately, the choice of the
approach to measuring attractivity is a function
of the purpose of the study, the data available and
the analytical abilities of the researcher.
See also: attraction
Further reading
Cesario, F.J. �1973) À generalized trip distribution
model', Journal of Regional Science 13: 233±248.
�Use of endogenous approach to measuring
attractivity.)
Ellis, J.B. and Van Doren, C.S. �1966) À comparative
evaluation of gravity and systems theory
models for statewide recreational flows', Journal
of Regional Science 6: 57±70. �Classic reference for
trip forecasting; includes examples of complex
exogenous attractivity indices.)
Ewing, G.O. and Kulka, T. �1979) `Revealed and
stated preference analysis of ski resort attractiveness',
Leisure Sciences 2: 249±76. �As an
example of inferred exogenous approach, identifies
potential problems and suggests solutions in
the approach.)
attribution theory
STEPHEN SMITH, CANADA
When misfortune occurs, such as when a holiday
experience turns out badly and/or a tourist
receives a personal affront, there is a need to
explain or account for the problem. Attribution
theory is directed at understanding how people
account for, or explain, problematic events. The
negative event prompts individuals to ask why did
this happen and, further, perhaps identify who or
what is responsible for this sequence of events. The
answers to these questions are important to
researchers, since explanations which are finally
located at the door of the tourism business or
organisation could have long term consequences
for profitability and repeat visitation.
The rich literature on attribution theory in
psychological inquiry is usually seen as beginning