This article focuses on tourists' perception of health risk among tourists who intend to travel to developing countries. It examines the relative importance tourists assign to this risk. It unveils the factors that shape health risk perceptions and explores the relative role of each factor in shaping tourists' perception. With a sample of 232 and a self-administered questionnaire, the study interviewed visitors at a travelers medical clinic before their trip. Using ordered logistic regression, the results show that health risk perception ranks relatively high against other types of risk perception. The study unveiled the relative contribution of the various determinants to the overall travelers' perception of health risk. Furthermore, three groups of perception-type hierarchy were discovered, representing levels of importance and tourists' potential behavioral control: first, difficult-to-control environmental components; second, partially behaviorally controllable by the tourist; third, fully behaviorally controlled types of health risks perceptions.

Using the carrying capacity value stretch (CCVS) model incorporated into nominal group technique (NGT) methodology, this paper investigated a rural community's determinants of socio-cultural carrying capacity perceptions in the wake of rural tourism development. The case of Kibbutz Yiron in Northern Israel was used to detect the tourism impacts, to evaluate to what extent rural tourism in this community is violating its limits for acceptable change and what necessary steps should be taken in order to mitigate existing, and to avoid future negative impacts? Results of this study support previous tourism impact studies. However, they are unique in their interpretation of carrying capacity measures in a qualitative and multidimensional manner. Based on the analysis of perceived intolerable, "current and expected" tourist impacts, these results can guide planning and policy oriented benchmarks for socio-culturally sustainable rural tourism. Copyright (c) 2006 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

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Attempting to uncover the factors that generate risk perceptions, the literature so far has been looking primarily at sociodemographic determinants. Significantly less attention has been given to cultural constructs as possible explanatory determinants. This exploratory paper aims to show within the cultural framework how being a religious tourist shapes one's range, characteristics, and relative importance of travel-related risk perceptions. The study used Haredi women (a community of ultraorthodox religious Jews living in Israel) as a case study and nominal group technique (NGT) embedded into a value stretch model as an integrated methodology. Results show that unlike what was initially postulated, Haredim share risk perceptions common among nonreligious tourists but they are more concerned with travel logistics and physical conditions. However, religiously induced risk perceptions are surprisingly minimal due to zero risk tolerance. Consequently, operation management issues are discussed to offer risk-reduced travel to groups with special risk perception characteristics.

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