Cultural and Tourism Innovation in the Digital Era

The recent years have seen a digital transformation of the cultural tourism sector and the interpretation of cultural heritage, through the use of emerging and immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Although this transformation has brought important advantages, it may also challenge the authenticity of the offered experience. This paper aims to explore the different and conflicting scholarly debates on authenticity and technology, which lie at the intersection of three fields, namely tourism studies, heritage studies and ICT and which may also have consequences on the actual applicability of such technologies in cultural tourism. An examination of the concept of authenticity in the aforementioned disciplines is provided, through an analysis of how the concept has evolved in each of the three disciplines. The paper also highlights their differences and points of convergence and discusses the challenges and implications created by the identified discrepancies between the different stakeholders involved in cultural tourism. Finally, suggestions will be offered on how the discussed challenges and implications can be addressed in light of the new needs of cultural tourism in the digital era.

The Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion has a rich tangible and intangible cultural heritage with great potential as driver of local development and tourist attraction. However, in many cases this heritage is not sufficiently well known or appreciated by local communities and visitors. This situation may be due to the absence of appropriate digital initiatives to promote a better knowledge of the history, features and location of the heritage sites. In this context, and taking advantage of the possibilities offered by digitalisation, the GEOARPAD project has been developed as a joint action between Galician and Portuguese institutions (Cultural heritage of the Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion: Enhancement and Innovation. Ref. 0358_GEOARPAD_1_E). As part of the INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal 2014–2020 programme, its objective is to promote the identification, classification, protection and dissemination of the Euroregion’s cultural heritage.This article aims to present the process of creation of the Heritage Information System of the Galicia-North of Portugal Euroregion. Firstly, it describes the methodology that guided the semantic and geographic harmonisation of the cartography of Galicia and the North of Portugal. Secondly, it shows the result of the georeferencing of heritage sites in Galicia and the North of Portugal, which constituted the basis for the Heritage Information System. Thirdly, it presents the web application containing the system and explains its potential use for heritage management and the promotion of cultural and digital tourism. Finally, it introduces a digital atlas designed in order to make the Euroregion’s cultural heritage visible and enhance its use in primary and secondary schools.

Cultural tourism industry has become a new economic growth point for China, with the rising consumers’ demands for cultural experience and cultural creativity. The cultural tourism policies in China advocate the accelerating integration among cultural tourism, design, digital technology and cultural innovation. Digital technologies, such as the Internet, 3D digitization, AR (Augmented reality) and VR (Virtual reality), are increasingly applied to the conservation of cultural heritage and cultural tourism. Digital technology can systematically record the knowledge and technical skills of cultural heritage through three-dimensional digitization, digital data processing and storage, archival management, and then convert them into shareable and reproducible digital forms. In China, the digital transition of ancient village heritage conservation is still in the stage of data compilation and theoretical exploration. This study is based on a digital conservation project, that aims to establish the big data and cloud service platform for the conservation of Chinese ancient village heritage. After a critical analysis of successful cases on digital conservation, this paper will present and discuss the theoretical framework of the digital transition of ancient village heritage conservation, as well as more adequate strategies to better utilize the date for tourists’ experience and heritage knowledge dissemination.

The rise of new business models grounded on shared content and experience has made it necessary for tourism destinations to adopt appropriate tools for the construction and promotion of their identity starting from sociality, emotions, interaction and connectivity. Based on this premise, the primary hypothesis of this paper is that storytelling practices applied to tourist destinations represent a fundamental tool in the construction of a destination brand’s identity. This paper aims to study the key factors and co-narrative practices in the destination management processes of Matera. It is the Italian town that has been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and European Capital of Culture (ECC) 2019. It constitutes an exceptional testimony of an ancient cave civilization. In our study a qualitative approach was adopted. 25 in-depth interviews with stakeholders were conducted and five main themes were identified in the content analysis of the results: image and storytelling, branding and communication, value co-creation through networks, digital communication, and sustainability, effects of tourism development and the ECC event. The research findings reveal important information. They could be useful for the Matera DMO to face with success the post ECC event phase and consolidate the gains in the medium-long term.

Undoubtedly, during last decade festivals and events consist a growing industry globally. Various researches argue the festivals and events can affect positively the economy, society and culture of a destination. As a result, destinations around the world have developed events and festivals to improve local economy but also to increase social cohesiveness. Regarding the latter, it has been argued that festivals can be approached as small communities. This concept is part of the broader sense of communitas sentiment or as referred to in the international literature, the sense of community (SOC) and is directly linked to the development and building of resilient social ties or describe the perception of belonging that makes the participants feel positive and safe. Current research paper aims to present relative literature regarding SOC and its significance to the festival tourism experience. Specifically, it seeks to explore the theoretical background based on the thorough exploration of international literature on issues such as: (a) the factors that influence the sense of inclusion in the festivals society (SOFC) and (b) the importance of SOFC to the festival success and visitor loyalty. It can be considered as the first part of an ongoing research on the SOC and SOFC issues that can expand the relative knowledge of festival managers and organizers in order to support actions and policies that strengthen community building through festivals and events.

The organisation of a big event, according to literature, is a strategic choice for a destination since it allows the promotion of the territory fostering its relaunch, the increase of its attractiveness and the construction of a strong destination image. Among big events the election of the “European Capital of Culture” must be mentioned, since it represents a good marketing tool able to promote the selected city key factors, to activate important tourist flows and reposition the destination image. They are important processes also for the effects they have on the local community who hosts the event, and is involved in accelerated cultural exchanges in a context that often is being redefined. In particular, this paper presents the start of the empirical study on the case “Matera European Capital of Culture 2019”: it focuses on the impact on tourism, on local people involvement and the value created by the big event on the perception and the culture of welcome. For this analysis, a qualitative and quantitative methodology was applied through the use of survey tools as face to face questionnaires that involved tourists, citizens and tour operators of Matera.

Small towns are usually affected by a low growth rate, as they cope with economic decline owing to ageing societies, depopulation, depleting tax base, businesses moving away, low community spirit and indolent governance [Jamieson (ISC Cultural Tourism 1993 – International Scientific Symposium (10th General Assembly Sri Lanka). ICOMOS, 1993)]. In the contemporary and ageing society, small towns remain the cradle of young generations who are flocking to metropolis and the uncomfortable bed of old generations who are negatively affected by transport and health issues. Food traditions, folklore and craft industries may be leading businesses but community memory is sometimes failing and citizens do not always and fully hope in resurgence thanks to micro-businesses of intangible culture, which is considered as a fragile and vulnerable asset [Mallik et al. (ACM J Comput Cult Herit 4, 2011)]. Are there governance poles? Good Queens are governance with first-best solutions as regards multi-stakeholders’ engagement and resources (also taking into account the merger opportunity); focus on heritage or creativity as perfect symbiosis with communities, tourists and any other stakeholders; place marketing and branding in order to optimize flows without over-crowding [Baker (Destination branding for small cities. The essentials for successful place and branding. Creative Leap Books, 2007)]. Evil Queens are governance with opposite solutions as regards the above-mentioned issues. The aim of the paper is to classify a sample of Italian small towns for their governance of heritage and creativity (contemporary arts here included), with focus on tourists’ flows, community engagement, public and private efforts (and spending) for culture and creativity, and marketing and branding as regards both heritage and creativity. Between Good and Evil Queens, Half-good Queens can play the Prima Donna Role.

Culinary culture has always been the longest-surviving part of a culture and tradition since it reflects daily life styles, religious beliefs, habits, traditions and customs. Gastronomy tourism has become a major and rapidly growing component of the attractiveness of tourism destination in recent years, as it is another treasure of cultural heritage. Greece boasts a fascinating gastronomic culture, thanks to a plethora of artisanal products, distinctive regional cuisines of over 4000 years of cultural heritage. This paper explores the basic principles of gastronomic tourism and investigates the way Greek Gastronomic tourism should be managed, in cooperation and coordination with both public and private tourism stakeholders, through carefully designed promotional activities in a variety of distribution channels.

The immense growth in popularity and the universal acceptance of the Olympic ideals has led, amongst others, to an increase in all aspects of Games participation, organization, complexity and cost. Increases in the number of sports, disciplines and events, as well as competing nations, athletes and attending media, have led to a quadrupling in numbers and requirements in all Games-related areas. These increases have affected not only the number of technical officials, workforce, security, volunteers, accommodation and transport, but most notably the number and size of venues and their standards. Through literature review this paper discusses the key factors in connection to the increasing scale and scope of the Olympics and outlines the underlying problems, whilst simultaneously shedding light on the diverse and controversial attributes ascribed to sports venues, which impede their post-Games management.

Cultural routes as a product of cultural tourism are a lever of economic, social and environmental development of a place. When combined with other forms of tourism, they are a powerful tool for the development of a region, which may contribute to the prolongation of its tourist season. But is the local community (residents, cultural operators and local businesses) prepared, both in infrastructure and in a context of mood and interest, to contribute to the realization of cultural routes? On the other hand, who are the actors involved in the development of cultural routes in Greece? Cultural routes differ from the tours. The cultural routes are a trigger for visitors to follow a humane path in the way and time of visit that links, links and highlights the interrelated elements of the region within a central theme that invites simultaneously the successive discovery of historical and modern life and culture. In this context, monuments and cultural sites promote the perception of a living social space by approaching the visitor as a person with a fervent interest in an environment of encounter and conflict of various ideologies and identities that concern the past and present. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact that the cultural routes have on the sustainability and development of traditional settlements. This has occurred through an extensive cover of the existing literature review. The outcome is that cultural routes have a particular impact on the preservation of cultural heritage. For this reason there is a need to focus on the creation and development of such routes but also to conduct a case study research so to examine the effects on some of the existing routes.

This article examines the transition of the promotion of Hotels and Travel Agencies in Greece from the printed to the digital age. To this end, a significant number of printed publications and, respectively, a significant number of sites are being examined in the period from 2000 to 2019. The collected advertising data are analyzed and transformed to assume suitable form for the execution of the respective machine-learning algorithms provided by the Weka Project. This inquiry seeks to compare the versatility of print and digital communication and, indirectly, to draw conclusions, at a practical level, the effectiveness of these two means of communication. However, the comparison of these two instruments is not limited to the wording of the differences and possibilities observed between them, but also to the conspicuousness of these differences in relation to marketing theory, the transition and, ultimately, its evolution from the conventional to his digital speech. Thus, in spite of the use of logical “polygraphism” expressed by complex image and text reading (in advertisements and webpages) or even logic of “visual sociology” for the scientist, the theoretical framework of the study is based on “hotel marketing” whose content is constantly enriched by “digital marketing”.

Social networks jostle the terms of tourism communication. The presence of hotels on the web was, first, disrupted by the arrival of TripAdvisor and Booking.com. Recently, the platform of Airbnb has become a giant in the field of communication and the sales of accommodation. Faced with this reality, the traditional types of accommodations must adapt to a competitive environment where the client-tourist has become increasingly influential by providing opinions and comments and overall by the growth of the sharing economy where price and experience are important elements. The development of small hotels in Morocco (riad, guest house and cottages), with what they offer both in terms of experience and authenticity for tourists, has subtracted significant market share to hotels. They are more under the mercy of a clientele eager for experience and sharing and very present on social networks and new platforms for sales of tourist rentals. A successful environment requires sharing experiences and information between virtual traveler communities. Also, the success of the Booking.com and Airbnb platforms is based on a technological innovation that uses artificial intelligence in a kind of nonconformist economic model that disrupts the traditional rules and laws in the field of tourist accommodation. This study carries out an analysis of hospitality offer and its evolution in the last 10 years in a disruptive environment. The study reveals the strategies of hospitality management in Essaouira using data from the online platforms of Booking.com and Airbnb and shows the evolution of the management to include the collaborative and sharing aggregators.

Ever since Quick Response (QR) Code was invented in 1994, it has been adopted in various industries with soaring popularity. In recent years, it was considered as a user-friendly and dynamic tool for education. Increasing numbers of teachers have employed QR code in lectures to stimulate interest, strengthen understanding and enhance satisfaction. This paper examines students’ satisfaction to QR code usage in university classroom lectures. University students of tourism program in Macau were invited to complete a self- administrated questionnaire. Among them, 162 valid samples are chosen. Students’ attitude towards QR code usage and their satisfaction level were measured. The results of students with different demographic characteristics were evaluated. The result provides insights for academia and teachers in higher education institutes for interactive and innovative teaching plan which would enhance student’s satisfaction.

The Internet in Tourism sector is a constantly evolving information flow tool for both tourists and businesses that use it. Everyday billion of citizens are connected to the Internet so as to search for information and make reservations for an upcoming trip. At the same time, more and more businesses are active in the Internet, seeking not only better communication with customers, but also optimizing their services both internally and externally. This research has been compiled to examine how hotels use new technology trends and the Internet in order to interact with their customers. Kefalonia Island was selected as the case study for the current research project. Hospitality industry is analyzed, by presenting the Digital Functions, as well as the necessary tools for the proper operation of a hotel. A Data analysis of the existing internet presence of Kefalonia hotels was carried out in two stages. Firstly, we carried out a research on their official websites. The second stage of our research was completed with the use of a questionnaire in order to explore the use of the digital media by the island’s hotels. The entire research process, including all stages of research, both the questionnaire and the web data retrieval from Hotels Websites, as well as the observation of the websites and Social Networks of hotel businesses, contributed to form a comprehensive view of the Internets’ penetration and new technologies, in the hotel industry of Kefalonia Island.

The main objective of this research is to analyze the way hotels communicate themselves through social networking tools, their use in the tourism industry and their role as a strategic tool. The first part of the study focuses on the concept and the definition of tourism, the various types of tourism, tourism worldwide and more specifically tourism in Greece. The second part analyzes the concept of marketing in the tourism industry, online marketing and advertising, the importance and use of social networking tools in the tourism industry, different social networking tools and their advantages. In the last section methodology and results are analyzed. The respondents of the research were hotel managers, from various departments of 4∗ and 5∗ hotels from Crete.

Europeana provides APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for both end users and content providers, in an effort to enable stakeholders (institutions and private developers) to build their own applications, leading to an increasing number of projects that are built around the Europeana API and are run by various cultural/touristic institutions and companies. However, due to the large volume of digitized cultural artifacts there is not enough qualified human resources available to provide manual indexing This problem affects Europeana, where the search results following a user query are often mixed with partially or totally irrelevant items which are linked in some way with the search input keywords due to incomplete/incorrect or ambiguous metadata. In order to properly address the challenges described above, we propose the use of automated, intelligent techniques that allow the interpretation and classification of digital cultural artifacts and the refinement/ranking of search results. We apply a mixed approach using Web architectures for implementing a user-friendly search engine and a Deep Learning model that performs image classification in order to achieve an improvement in the relevance of the search results from Europeana.

This article examines the development of printed hotel and agency advertisements in Greece. The aim of this study is, firstly, to record the key points in which the visibility and promotion of hotels and agencies is focused; secondly, to map out their shifts in time; and, third, to link the observable (textual and visual elements of point of view) with the historical context in which they are referred in order to relate the projected material and reality. The theoretical framework (i.e., logging) moves on one hand to that of “polygraphism”, as expressed by the complex reading of image and text and, on the other, to that of “visual sociology”. The empirical material of the study consists of 117 hotel advertisements, covering the period from 1883 to 2019, as well as 59 agency advertisements covering the period from 1907 to 2019. The collected data are analyzed and transformed to assume suitable form for the execution of the respective machine-learning algorithms provided by the Google Vision API that detect objects and faces, read printed and handwritten text and build valuable metadata. To conclude, the combination of hotel and agency advertisements is intended to give to this study the sense of “market,” in which different forms of service interweave to reveal the breadth of an “industry”.

Event spectating being the core motive for the passive sport tourism form has departed from the traditional live attendance to a more holistic sport participative experience. Increasingly, passive sport tourists play a crucial role into forming the received experience when interacting with crucial components of the event, athletes and peripheral services. There seems to be an effort from sport event owners and protagonists to engage visitors to an enriched spectating response based on technology and sport specific infrastructure that takes competition to a new leisure dimension. The present study focuses on the dimensions of this development as met throughout the corporate sport events suppliers, venues and organizers to produce understanding on the role of technology in the event visiting enrichment. The analysis engaging industry’s technological expressions as well as sport venue cases where technology becomes the most competitive element, highlights and forecasts alterations to be met in the passive sport tourism experience overall. Data analytics and social media interaction become the initiating point for product formulation guiding sport and venue partners to design experiences derived from visitors expressed preferences through technological means. In addition, the use of social networks seems to increase the sport tourism markets as well as to reach market segments that would be difficult to identify, leading to the further development of passive sport tourism in total. Sport events and venues are accepting a new role as an extended technological and commercial stage where business, sport, tourism, technology and marketing partners are met to upgrade the spectating experience, though raising questions over the intrinsic value of sport competition.

Museums are a key factor for the development of (especially cultural) tourism and their online presence has become an important dimension of their operation. The paper studies the efforts of archaeological museums in Northern Greece to adapt to the digital era by deploying the appropriate means and practices, which help them to increase their web presence and to enhance their attractiveness at national or international level. The paper is organized in three parts. First, it discusses the concept of museums’ digitalization and the interaction between tourism and the particular cultural organizations. Then, the paper analyzes the content of selected museums’ websites along particular axes and attempts to provide an insight into the ways through which the particular cultural organizations address the public and try to maintain or to reinforce their relationship with their audiences. Various dimensions of the websites were investigated regarding: the content, organization, format and usability; the availability of information about the provided services; the inclusion of photo/video galleries or hyperlinks; the announcement of thematic exhibitions and cultural activities or events; the provisions for contact/access information and the capacity of interaction with the public. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the findings of the investigation into the museums’ websites and by designating the need for their quality improvement.

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the adoption of a blockchain technology can facilitate improvements in the governance and management of tourism businesses and what are the opportunities, risks and benefits by adopting this technology to create new marketplaces. Innovation adoption has been widely debated among scholars in order to identify variables and models that boost adoption processes within touristic firms. Although tblockchain is still at an early-age of development, it is also beginning to influence the tourism sector through cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and decentralized applications. Given the importance of intermediaries in tourism sector, systems that will maintain these professional figures facilitating the transactions between the parties are being developed. This conceptual paper intends to propose a discussion on the potentiality of the application of blockchain in the tourism sector. It also suggests a number of research directions that have not been adequately investigated yet. In particular, scholars do not seem to have caught all the implications of this innovation adoption, especially for SMEs in tourism.

Digitalization has penetrated air transport industry conquering airlines and airports as well. Air services are now accessible easily and conveniently through user friendly online distribution channels that carriers are continuously developing. Customer oriented digitalization has been promoted to meet the new patterns in consumption, as well as the demand generated by the profile customization in products and services provided by the airlines. This paper aims to highlight the benefits from the digitalization of air services, focusing on airline distribution channels. Literature review and some business oriented perspective are developed to define the context of the digital transformation process and the potentials that arise for the company itself, for its passengers and its partners, in order to depict the evolution in air services distribution channel strategy, through the rapid digital transformation (DX) that airlines experience during the last decade. Digital transformation maturity concept is developed as a practice to define the level of a company’s digital completion and integration, emphasizing its application in the airline environment. Additionally, the paper underlines in detail the potentials for the airlines upon digital transformation distribution channels evolution, when it comes to revenue maximization, cost reduction, additional revenue opportunities, branding and loyalty issues. These multiplier benefits appear in the context of an integrated organizational environment of a company with concrete commercial strategy and financial planning, focusing on consumer oriented digital tools to offer its customized products.

In the sharing economy sector, users, providers, governments, sites and established businesses, have found themselves wondering about its present and its future. This research is conducted to ascertain the factors that affect a business on the sharing economy sector. With a tourism sectoral approach and examples, the author tries to find some answers about where the business opportunities may be in the sharing economy, identify its key underlying components and discuss some legislative issues.

GoFit (Go Functional Improvement and Tourism) program was conceived as an educational tool for experts in sport and exercise science. Its goal is to teach experts important skills to support tourists on the development of healthy habits when they are less busy and more open to suggestions over adapting new healthier habits. The GO Functional Improvement & Tourism (GO FIT) project addresses the gap in learning programs between HEI’s exercise and health experts with both educational and clinical expertise in collaboration with tourism manager’s specialists. The authors discuss the way the GO FIT project is conceived and designed so as to develop a new learning program, by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through the development of a web platform and a multimedia application. This transdisciplinary approach for exercise, health and tourism experts aims to achieve relevant and high quality skills and competences in designing the appropriate program for tourists and helping them to adopt a new healthy lifestyle.

Tourism destination websites contribute significantly to the competitiveness of a tourism destination. Websites and mobile technology are their main digital marketing contributors by providing tailored and up-to-date information. Since limited research has been done about non-commercial travel websites, this study aims to identify whether selected Peloponnese destination websites apply integrated quality as a mean to raise their brand competitiveness.Methods: A content analysis was performed in order to assess the destination websites quality performance. The used website quality assessment consists of a set of 42 parameters covering content and usability characteristics. The selected tourist destination websites were chosen according to two criteria: (1) their ability to provide at least two options in language Greek and English and (2) their main destination will be either Peloponnese or a region of it.The results: The analysis of the data revealed that tourism destination websites average performance level was weak. In total they seemed to perform better in content than in usability. According to the result, leading quality indicators of destination websites found to be the audience, the page load time and advertising. However, there is still room for improvements with relation to information accuracy, access, navigation as well as interactivity.Conclusions: As indicated by the results, there are elements to the selected destination websites that may be improved targeting an excellence quality performance. The destination websites will keep on playing a basic role in tourism communication, thus quality excellence should ensure the optimization of tourist experience and increase the intention for visiting these destinations.

The innovative project for development of the Russian part of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus which will expand and lift to higher level range of resort, overall health and tourist services in the specified region is developed. Planned with taking into account the aspects of green logistics, a high-speed passenger railway line will be the transport basis of the project. Connecting the resort cities of Anapa and Sochi, it will take over the bulk of passenger traffic directed along the considered part of the coast. The intermodal transport-technological system will coordinate long-distance rail and air transportation to the region with local sightseeing and tourist transportations made by the motor transport. By means of the water transport sea walks and excursions to picturesque objects of the nature at the coast will be carried out. Further development will be gained by all forms of tourism in the considered region: cultural, historical, spiritual, medical, sports, gastronomic and wine.

This study aims to provide an empirical examination of tourist’s general incentives for participating in special events and their motives in the sub destinations they choose. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a questionnaire was used to obtain data from travelers in Spetses, a well-known islanding sub-destination of Athens. The tourist behavior of the proposed relationships is tested using ANOVA–MANOVA and cluster analysis. The findings indicate that tourists have various motives for visiting a sub-destination and those motives are not only related to entertainment aspects of the visit, but also akin to the participation to a special event and driven by social motives and needs. It seems that special events play a significant role in distinguishing tourists based on their motives and should be used as a segmentation criterion in sub-destinations. Once identified, these segments are able to be targeted by particular tailored marketing strategies.

The main purposes of this paper are to investigate the push and pull factors that influence the tourists’ decision to travel to specific destinations and to identify their connection to the individual organizational characteristics of the trip and to the tourists’ demographic profile. To do so, a primary quantitative survey was conducted by means of a structured questionnaire filled in by tourists who arrived at the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” (as an intermediate or final destination) in the course of May–June 2018. The sample of the survey consisted of 769 individuals selected by Purposive Sampling (Iosifidis, Th., Qualitative methods of research and epistemology of social sciences. Tziola, Thessaloniki, 2017), the nationalities and countries of provenance of whom are ranked among the main tourism markets of Greece. The data analysis was conducted with the use of SPSS24 and its statistical processing yielded intriguing results as to the push and pull factors affecting the decision-making process of modern tourists undertaking a trip with specific characteristics. The findings contribute to the understanding of the decision-making process of the modern tourist and partially confirm earlier as well as recent theoretical approaches and relevant researches regarding the motivation of tourists (Mohammad et al., International Journal of Business and Management, 5(12), 41–50, 2010; Kruger and Saayman, South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 40(1), 93–102, 2010; Mutinda and Mayaka, Tourism Management, 33, 1593–1597, 2012).

In this article we intend to show the importance of the work of Camilo Castelo Branco in the promotion of literary tourism in Porto. Literary tourism, being focused on the lifestyle and identity of local communities, local tourism will be a tourism that proposes activities based on local identity and memory and takes into account the preservation of available resources. Therefore, we may ask: What is the role of literature in the valuation of tourism? Can literary tourism define the course of tourism in a specific territory? What is the role of the literary work of Camilo Castelo Branco in the Porto city tourism? Firstly, we intend to clarify the importance of this interdisciplinary research—literary tourism and Camilo Castelo Branco’s work. Next, we would like to focus that a wider value of competitive bids is a valuable asset for tourism development, since the tourist value of a destination depends largely on its ability to affirm itself as a national and international brand. The methodology to follow will be based on the analysis of the available bibliography leading to the consolidation of the idea that Camilo Castelo Branco is an author of the nineteenth century, whose work remains current and may constitute an indispensable tool for the promotion of literary tourism in Porto.

Shopping tourism is becoming more and more important in the tourism value chain. Shopping is already a determining factor in the decision to travel and the choice of destination. Due to social, cultural and economic changes around the world, there are new patterns of consumption and purchasing behaviours. The general objective of this study is to compare data between the two largest and important Portuguese tourist cities, Lisbon and Oporto, in the context of shopping tourism. The specific objectives are to interpret the factors that influence the intention of spending in the destination and to investigate the role of the attributes of purchases in the behavioural intention in the context of the destination. To answer the objectives of this research, a questionnaire was created and applied to 1097 tourists/visitors, in the cities of Lisbon and Oporto. Of the 1097 respondents, 606 answered the questionnaire regarding Lisbon and 491 answered the questionnaire applied in Oporto. In both samples, total expenditures and purchases increase for those who perform more purchases due to the Tax-free system. Total spending and purchases increase for those who agree more with the fact that the Tax-Free system allows to spend less money on purchases, what happens in both samples, and that Lisbon is a competitive shopping destination due to the Tax-Free system, which evidently happens only in the Lisbon sample. In the two samples, the “service side” positively influences the “reliability of the products” and “credibility”.

Tourism plays an important role in the development of small towns. However, small towns often lack resources and opportunities to fully develop their tourist potential. Pieces of evidence from various countries show that networking is one of the most effective ways to increase small tourist destinations’ competitiveness. Our study aims to identify the features of small destinations’ network cooperation based on the case of the Association of Small Tourist Towns of Russia (ASTT). The empirical part of the research is based on a combination of methods, including local authorities’ survey and a set of structured interviews with destinations’ stakeholders. The results of our study show that even though ASTT aims primarily at developing joint marketing activities, in reality most of the association’s efforts are aimed at lobbying small towns’ interests at the federal level. We found strong evidence that participation of a small town in ASTT (inter-destination network) has a positive influence on the willingness of local authorities to develop tourism clusters (intra-destination network).

Changes in the international landscape of tourism, along with the economic crisis and new developments in Greece’s economic activity, brought to the table the need for new proposals in the tourism sector that include planning from the start of the tourist product with the emergence of every advantage for each region—region separately. However, in order to be successful, this promotion should include a clear plan, objectives, analysis of the external and internal environment, timetables for implementation and monitoring of the results. It is, therefore, a tool for tourism development, such as Strategic Marketing Planning (Middleton, Marketing in travel and tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 2001). The strategy, as Michael Porter (1980) says, is advised to do different things than your competitors or to do the same in a different way. The present study focuses on the semiotic analysis of Greece’s spot, Greece 365-day destination, which is on the official website of the Greek National Tourism Organization ( www.visitgreece.gr ). The semiotic analysis of the spot briefly presents the theoretical, methodological tool of the research, as well as the context of the research (goal, corpus of analysis, case study). The originality of the research is because it studies with semiotic analysis the structures of significance of the strategic planning of the Greek Tourism Organization and the spot of Greece on the official website of the Greek National Tourism Organization. The question that arises in the context of a semiotic analysis is a why analysis. It is known that language is not socially innocent, as the words are invested with associative charges (Greimas, Semantique structural. Recherche de method. Larousse, Paris, 1966). The language translates numerous information and ideological messages (Greimas, Structural semantics. Method search. Patakis, Paris, 2005). The authors suppose, therefore, that the two kinds of texts have a relationship not only conceptual but also ideological, which is expressed in linguistic terms with conscious or non-legislative choices (Boklund-Lagopoulou, The dynamics of points. Fields and methods of a socio-legislative. Observer, Thessaloniki, 1986).

This study consist a specific case study of the Skyros Half-Marathon in 2018, which defined as a small-scale sport event, taking into consideration that there have been less previous empirical evidences for spectators’ attending small-scale sport events in Greece. Hence, this survey aims to contribute by presenting further empirical evidence and develop an overarching framework in order (a) to recognize the satisfaction factors of small-scale sport event spectators’ and (b) to explore the factors that influence spectators’ attitudes to re-visit the sport event’s destination and attend the same small-scale sport event. The results of this work provide practitioners with valuable information to assist them understand the heterogeneity of sport crowds’ attitudes and behaviors and its patterns become important for the implementation of a strategic plan, which can be considered by the organizing committee of such sport events, individuals and local authorization organizations, in order to increase the number of potential sport tourists, both participants-athletes and spectators-visitors.

The current global socio—economic environment has modified the way modern cities operate and interact with citizens and visitors. In such an environment, developing and constantly reshaping the city’s branding is crucial, in order to meet the former’ needs and to attract the latter. Fulfilling both these conditions require a mix of quantitative and qualitative goals to be achieved, while changes occur in global tourism trends, leading cities to an ongoing effort of connecting their branding with specific cultural aspects or experiences a visitor can live. Current research studies aim to expand our understanding on how city branding is shaped. It investigates how a desired city branding can be cultivated or gradually developed in a structured and planned. “Culture” and “cultural branding” are studied, taking into consideration that it can incorporate both a city’s historical background as well as its present character and ongoing evolvement. Moreover, cultural identity can convert a single visit into a life experience by deepen emotions and expanding the bond between visitor—city destination. The study will reveal the importance of “culture” when city branding is developed, taking into consideration both city’s viability and touristic promotion. Literature review on city’s branding and cultural branding is conducted, while Hydra is used as a “destination” case study. Hydra has a long and rich cultural history, while it was one of the first Greek islands having mass tourism. Following Hydra’s modern culture, a new “city branding” will be proposed targeting on promoting the island to the global, touristic environment but moreover to the development of a unique “identity” capable to differentiate the island in the Mediterranean era.

The poles of tourism attraction in Greece are specific and usually are large islands, with special infrastructure and leisure facilities. Nowadays, mass tourism is intense in our country. The factors that explain the development of this form of tourism in our country are the natural environment, the cultural wealth, the good climate, the kind hospitality and the rich history. This type of tourism has many negative effects on the economy, the society, the culture and the environment. In order to face the impacts, sustainable tourism development should be promoted through the development of alternative forms of tourism. Alternative tourism escapes from the standards of mass tourism and has more prominent features, such as contact with nature, avoiding shared destinations and tourist packages, sport, respect for the environment, etc. This article will study the contribution of tourism to economic, social and cultural issues as well as the environment of the island Kalymnos. On the island climbing tourism and diving tourism are developing. The island of Kalymnos is an important attraction for climbers because it is considered to be the best destination due to the existence of steep rocks in many parts of the island. Climbing tourism has contributed significantly to the prolongation of the tourist season during the autumn months. Kalymnos ranks first in climbing destinations worldwide with 80 climbing fields and 2500 climbing routes. Along with climbing, an attempt is made to develop the diving, since the island of Kalymnos has four diving routes, but so far it is at an early stage. Kalymnos has the ability to create a diving park. The diving park is directly linked to tourism development, but also to the protection of marine biodiversity. At the present article, an effort will be made to explain how alternative forms of tourism could help to improve tourism and local economy—identifying relevant problems—and, finally, some conclusions will be drawn.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of tourism paradox on cities in relation to tourism activities and the protection of natural and cultural resources for sustainable city tourism with the help of tourism equinox. It primarily relies on qualitative research to understand the main features of tourism paradox and tourism equinox taking the physical and environmental aspects of urban environments into consideration. The findings indicate that tourism equinox encourages the development of city tourism to sustain local cultures, traditional lifestyles and industries, seeks to utilize the resources and the environment in a sustainable way. In addition, it demands an awareness of the needs of local people, respect and appreciation for culture and the environment, and achieves a balance between development and conservation. Cities have suffered from uncontrolled tourist development and tourism paradox during the last few decades. The results of this study will help to avoid tourism paradox in urban destinations, where the travelers consume the natural and cultural resources that are necessary for tourism activities. Therefore, the shaping of cities today is important especially to the tourists of tomorrow. New approaches to solve this problem and to establish healthy sustainable urban destinations with the help of tourism equinox are becoming more important than ever.

Greece has been building its image in a systematic way since the founding of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (henceforth GNTO) back to the late 20s, when tourism began to evolve into a strong pillar of the Greek economy. Through the campaigns the GNTO has launched over the past 60 years, it has decisively shaped the country’s personality, and it has used the country’s symbols to reflect its brand values. In the realm of destination branding, a destination brand is often built in accordance with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which takes us upwards from the satisfaction of basically physiological needs to self-actualization ones. In this study, we use this pyramid-shaped methodological tool to introduce the brand building methodology into the creation of the e-branded content. Social media posts and e-newsletter teasers promote Greece all over the world and help build the country’s identity. Using pyramids for every type of tourism we analyse Greece’s assets in concert with each sector, till we reach the top where the brand essence is formed. We end up showing that images and texts work together in order to lure the potential visitors and to make them feel that what is being shown as a tangible asset, and then described as a quality, now starts to be woven into an experience, a feeling or a wish. From this point upwards, all the promotional material used serves the sole purpose of helping visitors reach the top of the pyramid, and conquer the destination’s brand essence.

Tourism in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic needs correctly set growth objectives for its long-term development in the digital era. The key to understand the current competitive situation in the tourism market of the two countries is the fact that in contrast to the people making decisions within the European market, many service producers continue thinking locally. This development is largely influenced by digitalization of distribution channels, accessible offer and travel experience. This is the reason why international competition influenced by digitalization must be taken into account when the objectives of tourism development are being set on the national level. On the one hand, these objectives must be based on the tourism offer in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and on the other hand, on the current and anticipated demand. Also, the objectives must respect the competitive position of the two countries in international tourism. The quantitative aspect of tourism objectives is reflecting the growth rate predicted by the UNWTO for tourism in the world and in Europe and the performance of tourism on the national level. The aim of this paper is to highlight the interconnection of goals in tourism and examine the reasons of the slow tourism growth and the structural problems of growth connected with specific position of the capital cities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In our analysis of the domestic and foreign source markets, we use time series of Czech and Slovak tourism statistics.

The effort to balance social and economic interests has always been a critical issue for the post-Games usage of Olympic venues. The planning, the construction but also the selection of the post-Games usage of a facility is a socioeconomic and most notably a political issue since it concerns how the public inherits capital goods and assets from mega-events. Using an instrumental case study approach this study explores the 2014 Sochi Games to critically examine how an authoritarian regime deals with its Olympic facilities pre and post-Games, and provides useful insights regarding the interrelationship between motivation for hosting, architectural philosophy, costs and post-use. Data has been collected through literature review; published academic studies were the principal source and official reports and releases, conference minutes and proceedings, directives and guidelines of official bodies and relevant news coverage were additionally used. According to the analysis mega-events in non-democratic settings are predominantly used as landmarks of strategic importance, offering legitimatization for megalomaniac developmental agendas, which result in the creation of large-scale facilities with more symbolic than functional qualities. Furthermore, since in non-democratic states the mechanisms of accountability and the institutional constraints are weaker (or absent) instances of corruption and extensive cost overruns are bound to occur.

Greece, as a top Mediterranean destination, has seen a rapid increase in tourist arrivals during the economic crisis, remaining a strong ‘player’ on the European market. Costa Navarino resort in Messene presents a promising as well as daring private initiative effort in the direction of developing and promoting sport tourism as an upgraded tourism promise. Focusing on sport tourism, especially in golf and quality leisure tourism seems to depart from the ‘four S’ tourism product type. The aim of the research is to examine the development and practices of sport tourism within a resort environment especially examining the ‘elite’ sport tourist as suggested at Weed’s sport tourism participation model. The case study approach has been applied focusing on this enormous sport tourism development in need to deeply examine the uniqueness of the case. The results highlighted that the new development largely based the core product on the ‘elite’ side of the sport tourism spectrum through the creation of luxury facilities and the provision of high quality sport infrastructure such as golf and specific profile events. Focusing on developing quality active sport participation in the resort setting, Costa Navarino aims to establish the site as a destination for elite sports tourism.

The importance of the SME sector is undeniable, as a driving force for growth, innovation and competitiveness, but also as an essential employer or contributor to local and national budgets. The efficiency and dynamism of the SME sector are closely related to the ambitions and motivations of the founding entrepreneurs, in pursuing growth and consolidation goals. Most researchers, however, consider that, unlike large firms, entrepreneurs of the new small venture are constantly challenged to reconcile economic and financial objectives with other non-financial goals (recognition, lifestyle, family and community, etc.) and this may create significant discrepancies between the company’s actual performance and the expectations of the entrepreneurs. These facts are probably more obvious for the new venture in tourism, where lifestyle goals often distress obtaining financial and commercial performance. In our research, which analyzed a significant number of tourism businesses included in the Entrepreneurship Database Program, we tried to answer to some questions regarding the main financial targets of the entrepreneurs, the average profit margins considered satisfactory by the new entrepreneurs, or if there is a specificity of tourism enterprises compared to the other areas. We have tried to address how financial and business growth objectives are associated with the entrepreneurial lifestyle expectations, especially in the early-stage development of the firm, in the so-called new venture.

The primary objectives of this research were to determine: (a) whether the organizational culture (OC) is implemented in a luxury tourist resort, (b) the relationship between the OC factors and the business performance [managers’ satisfaction regarding certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)] of the luxury tourist resort. To examine the purpose of this quantitative study design, descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation were used. A sample of 166 full-time staff of the luxury tourist resort, were surveyed using 39 items in a questionnaire. The results suggested that the OC is implemented to a great extent by the luxury tourist resort while there was a strong and positive relationship between OC and business performance of the luxury tourist resort (managers satisfaction regarding certain KPIs). This study may help tourism managers to further understand OC.

This manuscript, through a pilot field research in Athenian hotels, seeks to weigh the novel ReSCulture (Rewards Systems Culture) questionnaire, which measures the impact of specific elements of employee rewards systems on cultural change processes in hotels. The manuscript will begin by presenting and briefly analyzing a series of central theoretical issues upon organizational culture change and rewards systems. The conceptual synthesis and grouping of those issues led to the emergence of eleven complex and specialized hypotheses which are examined through the one hundred eleven variables/items of the ReSCulture questionnaire. Τhe pilot nature of the research led to the adoption of descriptive statistical analysis of the data gathered through the “convenient sampling” method of a restricted number of participants. However, the methodological value of the article is to weight and enhance the reliability of the ReSCulture questionnaire. It was found that the pilot ReSCulture questionnaire was difficult to completing. Specific elements of the questionnaire were considered as very or less important/useful in achieving the research objectives. Indicators-precursors of the results of the later-main research was also formulated. This paper contributes to the development and the improvement of the novel ReSCulture questionnaire suitable for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The main near future research is expected to provide useful measurement scales that can be adopted in other scientific research and equip hotel executives with a detailed guide of specific and specialized elements/variables of a rewards system that can strengthen or obstruct organizational culture change.

Modern marketing is customer-oriented and investigates how to contact and promote the sale of its products and what products are best suited to meet its needs. The quality of products and especially of services depends mainly on the way they are offered by employees. Deficiencies in the quality of products and services lose importance to customers when the willingness of employees to offer them is genuinely positive, while well-organized businesses receive plenty of complaints when employee behavior is cautious and bureaucratic. Internal marketing promotes products initially to employees, and when they are convinced of the value of products, they offer them to customers. Internal marketing is not only for front-line workers but for all company staff. For example, in a hotel the maid may not meet the client but must show personal interest in the cleanliness of the room and the excellent operation of his equipment. If the maid did not find a burned lamp reading lamp for the third day, the customer will feel that the hotel is not interested in the accommodation conditions. Τhe aim of this paper is to analyse the case of internal marketing practices and how it can be used so to leverage the quality of the services provided from a hotel. This is a literature review which relies on the most recent publications. The final outcome is that there is a need to pay more attention on the personnel of Greek hotels and to have some well-established policies on this issue. Furthermore, the paper makes a recommendation for future quantitative research so to examine the views of the employees on the internal marketing practices and policies.

The aim of the article is to present the concept of the analysis determinants of the work time system in the enterprise and the display of tools this analysis as well as the presentation of empirical research results. Work time analysis still remains a poorly recognized issue of economic analysis. The basic research problem is the identification of the organizational gap, which can be described as the difference between the working method used in the company and the employed working time system, as well as indication of the possible ways of the gap elimination. A thesis, assuming the correspondence between the working time system and the working method, was adopted. In support of the thesis, the empirical part of the article presents the results of research in the form of a case study. It describes and assesses work time systems together with identified methods of work in the coking and hotel industry enterprises. The economic analysis results were supplemented with opinions of the management staff and employees, being used to improve the existing working time system. The research methods were used to implement the indicated purpose: the analysis of the prior research results, economic analysis, the elements of ergonomic analysis, interview and questionnaire.

The scope of this study is to examine the firm specific determinants of cash holdings which the Greek hotel industry and whether firm size is a crucial factor that impacts cash holding decisions. Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) present several distinct characteristics relative to larger firms such as higher information asymmetries and limited access to financial markets and external financing. Thus, SMEs face a different financial environment leading to different motives for holding cash reserves relative to their larger counterparts. This fact may be even more important for hotel firms which operate within a capital intensive sector. For this reason we selected a large sample of hotel firms (1201 firm-year observations) and separated them between SMEs and large firms over the period 2003–2016. Empirical evidence documented that SMEs with higher leverage, net working capital, lower total assets, tangible assets and distress risk tend to keep higher cash on their balance sheet in order to sustain their viability and finance daily operations. On the contrary, larger hotel firms which are more profitable and hove more tangible assets tend to hold more cash. In total, evidence support the precautionary motive of cash holdings in a higher extent for SMEs rather than large hotel corporations.

All-inclusive hotels have been evolved as an attractive holiday choice for several travelers due to their ability to provide a relaxed holiday with predetermined costs and full amenities. Previous studies on that specific feature of hospitality firms have examined the motivations of travelers behind that choice, yet there is scarce evidence regarding the satisfaction of all-inclusive visitors and whether income and family size are significant determinants of their satisfaction. The study utilizes a large survey of “all-inclusive” visitors summing up to 1600 questionnaires for the exploration of the factors determining tourists’ satisfaction. This research adjoins the existent bibliography by exploring some additional determinants not examined by previous studies such as the size of the family and the income level of the travelers. Empirical evidence indicated that the factors of convenience and economy of resources were impacting customer satisfaction positively along with previous positive experience of visitors. Nevertheless, empirical evidence seem to differentiate when the impact of income and family size is taken into consideration. Specifically, the previous all-inclusive experience, convenience and economy of resources seem to be highly significant only for families with children while the same factors were insignificant for families without children. Finally, the same factors were highly and positively significant for low income visitors and start to become insignificant when examining the medium and high income groups. These evidence provide useful policy implications for hotel managers which offer all-inclusive packages, in order to improve their services and target adjust their tactic strategically based on customer characteristics.

Background Internet and specifically corporate websites are perceived as a powerful and effective marketing tools in tourism. The adoption of new technology-based features is key to a successful digital experience for customers. Integrating both technological and marketing elements, electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) covers all aspects of the customer’s online experience throughout the entire transaction cycle. The study aims to explore eCRM implementation in sport tourism hotels in the Peloponnese region by evaluating hotel website performance.Methods Data collection was accomplished through open source research, by observing, exploring and analyzing the content of website pages of hotels in the Peloponnese that provide sporting facilities. Web analysis used 44 criteria grouped into eight eCRM dimensions and three eWOM dimensions adopted by literature review.The Results The final sample consisted of 62 hotels located in the Peloponnese. The critical success factors in the eCRM were found to be security, business content, navigation, payment, interactivity and web policy, with web policy serving as the highest predictor of excellent performance. Some major deficiencies of eCRM performance appeared to be the absence of effective search engines, help mechanisms, Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sections, and interactive services such as chat messaging. Respectively, considering their eWOM implementation it was found that those dimensions with the highest predictor importance were intimacy and interaction. For various hotels, data analysis revealed several deficiencies in promoting their properties through Facebook such as the absence of regular updating of wall posts, direct chat options, as well as brand introduction and/or originality stories.Conclusions As indicated by the results, hotel managers should take advantage of the dynamic online environment by developing a clear eCRM and social media strategy to improve customer engagement. In return, this integrated digital investment, will help hotels to gain an intimate knowledge of customer needs and buying intentions by creating two-way communication channels.

The study intends to assess whether the importance of the attribute “service” increases according to the value that the camper is willing to pay in a glamping unit in Oporto Metropolitan Area. This objective lies in the need to redefine the offer of camping, as a form of tourism based on the specific interest of nature and determined by the temporary and movable enforceability of the accommodation facilities, which leads to a natural evolution, from its basic and humble approach, to become a valued tourist experience (Brooker and Joppe, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 20, 335–351, 2014). In the Oporto Metropolitan Area, camping is represented by 12 campsites, in which the study takes place, which intends to identify the importance attributed to a new concept. The concept of glamping reduces the negative effects identified by some camping users by keeping all the positive charge that coats it. The most important trend in the development of camping tourism is the ever-increasing choice of the concept of glamping (Cerović, Innovative management of camping accommodation, 13 OP-H, 55, 2014). The camping offer, suffering the impacts of the major European trends, is moving towards differentiation and rediscovery of new market segments. In increasingly urbanized societies, where lifestyles are complex and individualized, the time spent in a simple way in communion with nature is becoming increasingly a trend. Combined with this reality, the typical nostalgia of camping that appeals to the simple lifestyle, but with the possibility of meeting with nature and with other campers is requiring more and more comfort and sophistication in the facilities. Innovation and differentiation are the main strategies for this “product” to escape from the declining phase where it is located. Data was collected through an original questionnaire, obtaining a convenient sample of 201 campers. The results obtained confirm that the importance attributed to the service of a glamping unit increases according to the value that the camper is willing to pay.

Due to the rapid changes in the business and tourism environment, including globalization and technological innovations, traditional forms of competitive advantage are considered to be inadequate. Increasing competition requires the development of the ‘internal’ potential of each organization, with the result that human resources and their management are now regarded as one—a new sector of strategy that is considered vital to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the tourism industry. The training and development of staff and executives in the Tourism sector, through which employees acquire skills and knowledge, are recognized by the most important and main functions of Human Resource Management in the tourism industry. It is important to mention that training and development is even more important on luxurious hotels, since the customers are very demanding and they have high expectations from how the personnel will treat them. The aim of the present research effort is twofold: initially it is attempted through the bibliographic review, the extended review of the concepts of Human Resource Management and consequently the Education and Development of Personnel and Executives in Luxurous hotels in Greece and then to make suggestions for future research. The outcome of this literature review is that there are some training and development programs on Greek luxurious hotels. However, there is the need to develop formal programs on training and development since most of the hotels have informal approaches on such policies. The companies which will formalize this process are expected to gain from the leverage of their service quality and from higher customer and employee loyalty.

Development and implementation of proper utilities in a sustainable tourism environment poses significant challenges on many fields, and involves issues such as stakeholders interested in community ecological tourism; public health protection of tourists; environmental protection and construction infrastructures; research and practice in a sustainable development design; effective construction designs; tourism marketing; geo informatics utilities for public health protection and efficient construction materials in the sector of community ecological tourism. The specific intensity and nature of these challenges, however, vary from place to place. Moreover, particular geographical areas, such as the Mediterranean Sea, lakes and coasts have their own specific problems and challenges. In this paper specific actions for public health protection in ecological tourism facilities, public health’s pollution control and innovative construction infrastructures are investigated, in order to minimize associated hazards. A useful framework is presented based on a comprehensive analysis of the community ecological tourism facilities and sustainable design facilities associated with public health. Important principles that should underlie any approach to sustainable ecological tourism with useful activities for the tourists are also examined. Useful conclusions related to how sustainable ecological tourism might be achieved are also made and implications on operational management of tourism facilities and sustainable designs in Greece are discussed.