As tourism grows dramatically worldwide, the tourism research becomes more and more important. Theoretically, tourism practitioners such as tourism business and government leaders would apply and appreciate the value of tourism research to their work. However, very little research reported the tourism practitioners' usage and perceptions toward tourism research. This study examined the perceptions of tourism business and government leaders in Tainan, Taiwan, toward tourism research in general and the possible creation of a university tourism research center. Additionally, this study identified important variables relevant to Taiwan tourism research services that would be most beneficial to the Tainan area.; The survey found that a significant difference between tourism business leaders and government tourism leaders with regard to perceptions concerning the role and benefits of tourism research. Generally, government tourism leaders appear to have more positive perceptions and attitudes toward tourism research than tourism business leaders. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the size of tourism businesses and their leader's perceptions concerning the role and benefits of tourism research.; A significant difference was found between tourism business leaders and government tourism leaders with regard to perceptions concerning the establishment of a university tourism research center. The “size” of a tourism business was also significantly correlated to the tourism business leaders perceptions concerning the establishment of a university tourism research center. In addition, “location”, “reputations of research faculties”, “the quality of researchers' proposals”, “clearly defined objectives and schedules of the research proposal”, and the “proposed center's experience and knowledge about tourism research”, and “price” were important factors identified among most survey participants when considering contracting with a tourism research center.
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