Smart Tourism as a Driver for Culture and Sustainability

Film and television production has increasingly resulted in ways to promote destinations which leads to an increase of visitor numbers to such sites, and in turn expanding the concept of screen-induced travel in academic discourse. This study begins with a review of the literature which shows that tourism induced by film and television is a phenomenon of global significance. However, the screen tourism experience is still an emerging area of study which implies that its future research agenda might well focus on a range of themes and needs. Among themes and needs the authors aim to explore the psychology of film tourism, media consumption and innovative technologies which provides a clear example of the early stages of cross disciplinary study, which also highlight the need to apply rigorous methodologies for the development of screen based tourism. Evidence suggests these methodologies should lead to (i) improve the measurement of impacts and legacy for selected sites, destinations and their communities; (ii) the identification of factors and criteria for the selection of destinations for film and TV production; (iii) the detection of the most relevant trends within screen tourism; and (iv) the potential complementarities between screen tourism and other niche tourism segments in Europe and around the world. The literature review is focused on the screen tourism paying as special attention to the UNESCO sites and destinations which are the target of the EU Funded Project FAMOUS (Film festivals And MOvie tourism at Unesco Sites). The Project has been chosen as the research case study as an example of best practice aimed to develop a methodology based upon the integration between the tourism industry and film and TV productions and Movie Festivals which aims to develop a ‘smart movie tourism product’ based upon itineraries where communities and relevant stakeholders are actively involved from the beginning of the process. In this context selected UNESCO sites and destinations are promoted as cases in line with sustainability development principles.

In the last years, the amount of data and the possibilities of its analysis have risen rapidly. Leading retail businesses are able to work with complex sources of data, embrace intelligence tools and generate better outcomes. Tourism industry is becoming smarter; however, because of its fragmented nature and small size of tourism businesses, it lags behind the other industries. Today’s destination management organizations (DMOs) are struggling with several challenges and have difficulties in adapting to new market conditions. Within the smart tourism concept, the big data analytics is seemed to be a promising tool for overcoming the challenges. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to find out the possibilities of overcoming challenges of today’s DMOs based on the analysis of current state and best practices of big data analytics in tourism destinations. The analysis is based on multiple case studies, with the main focus on Central Europe. The paper presents a conceptual view on big data analytics and concludes that the application of big data analytics allows DMOs to better define destination boundaries, understand the needs of today’s tourists, effectively manage destination stakeholders and be more competitive and sustainable.

The objective of this paper is to present the results of a desk and field explorative analysis aimed to provide insights and models for realizing entrepreneurial skills curriculum in all cycles of a pre-university education system, and also in higher education schools in a developing country context, such as Albania. In doing this, the authors focus on comparing a US model of content entrepreneurship with entrepreneurial competence in the official curriculum of Albanian Education. In this sense, this paper is a support to the development of entrepreneurship competence and tourism development, as an integrated way in the implemented curriculum, especially for the pupils of pre-university education in Albania.

Purpose The aim of this paper is to verify whether the nature of the relationship between a tourist destination and tourist enterprises operating within its territory can be defined as co-evolutionary. This paper derives from the continuation of previous researches of ours about the topic of destination management and destination governance. Design The theoretical background of this paper is based on the following research question: within the framework of the international tourist scenario, are there tourist hospitality models designed as a prototype of co-evolution between the tourist destination and its territory? Methodology To this purpose, we conduct an extensive literature review on articles and papers dealing with innovation adoption, published in the last 41 years, i.e. from 1976 to 2017. We run content and structural analysis on the collected data. Originality The analysis perspective which is considered the most appropriate to qualify the nature of the relationship among a given tourist destination and its tourist enterprises is the co-evolutionary perspective. Findings The co-evolutionary process implies the identification of a governance body able to exploit and enhance the systemic resources made available by the territory and to inspire the management approach of the different tourist enterprises. Limits The absence of specific case studies represents a limit of the present paper. Hence, with a view to a subsequent future research, we will continue the proposed analysis by enriching it with empirical evidence, which will be useful to foster the debate on the subject matter and for the related entrepreneurial and management implications.

The paper will present the conceptual and analytical framework for the research on the development potential of archaeological heritage in Istria County, Croatia, through sustainable tourism. Starting from the comparative analysis of the European as well as regional and national best practice in valorization of this specific category of heritage, the authors will propose the innovative research methodology and the most appropriate models of sustainable valorization of archaeological heritage, such as the eco-archaeological parks, open-air museums and interpretation centers, living history programs, cultural routes and educational paths, as well as community digs and practical workshops as models of participatory heritage management which would involve the local community too. The research included a hybrid methodological approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods and interviews with all interested stakeholders (local community, visitors, experts). The main aim of the research, conducted in the framework of the project ArchaeoCulTour (The Archaeological Landscape in Sustainable Development of Cultural Tourism in Vrsar Municipality), was to develop a successful innovative strategy for sustainable cultural tourism growth in the most developed Croatian tourist region, Istria, characterized by abundance of archaeological sites, which are unfortunately still not adequately valorized, presented and interpreted. The preliminary analyses indicated the lack of comparative thinking in this area as well as the need to use and promote the European best practice in development of sustainable cultural tourism destinations, proposing the models to present the regional archaeological treasure in the most proper way.

One important domain has been evolving along parallel pathways in tourism studies which is community-based tourism (CBT). This poses significant challenges to those interested in community health tourism and their building infrastructures, research and practice in the sustainable development design and environmental management facilities in the sector of health tourism. An assessment capability is taking place for project management, monitoring schemes and actions that promote innovation at Health Tourism’s construction infrastructures to minimize outdoor pollution threats next to community health centers from brownfields (i.e. waste water units and associated sanitary units, landfills etc.). This paper is presenting an integrated framework based on a comprehensive and analysis of the community health centers and sustainable design facilities in health tourism related facilities. The study reveals not just common ground and differences that might be anticipated, but also important sustainability dimensions that are lagging or require much greater attention, such as environmental management, sustainable designs, monitoring and public health protection of tourists. A preliminary framework of “sustainable community-based tourism” (SCBT) is forwarded that attempts to provide innovative operational solutions in Health Tourism’s facilities. Critical directions are presented making useful conclusions to progress research and development in sustainability-oriented practices towards more effective sustainable designs and operational management of tourism facilities in Greece and the surrounded Mediterranean region.

The article presents selected, more important definitions of innovation in an enterprise, paying attention to those of them which emphasize its immaterial character. It describes models of the innovation process, concepts of the innovativeness system and models of the innovative activity of a firm. It was found out that the elements of these objects are a coherent entirety. The principle of the presented research approach is the paradigm assigned to Schumpeter of merging various activities within the innovation process. It turned out, however, that an attempt to implement such a broad programme, namely the invention and the imitation of innovation, often ends in failure. The reason is that we cannot recognize the tools of analysis and define the determinants of the innovation process in the comprehensive Schumpeterian approach, however, we can resolve these issues by studying each fragment of this processes of innovative character. The aim of the article is to present the concept of the dichotomy of the innovation process in an enterprise and indicate the way of using it in practice. Two autonomous processes, crucial for the development of innovativeness, are distinguished in this concept, namely the process of innovation invention in its immaterial form and the process of innovation implementation which has got material and immaterial character. In the strategy of an organization it is necessary to define the object and the scope of analysis, at the same time considering the level of innovation ability of an enterprise; in a creative industry they may specialize in creating ideas, designing novelties and offering innovative projects to an appropriately selected target group. Traditional firms should develop and implement these projects in practice to the benefit of customers. It should be emphasized that the choice of the subject of innovative activity determines the innovation ability of the organization, the ability to manage innovative projects and the use of modern (agile) management methods, as well as management pragmatics. The article is of theoretical and empirical character. To achieve the aim and verify the theses, following research methods were used: literature analysis, impact factor analysis, professional conversations with experts.

During the last two decades, value creation has been considered as a central topic for discussion. Various studies have focused on variables that affect the value creation process, such as service quality and customer satisfaction. Others have emphasized the measure of the value created. However, the literature is still not fully articulated and the measurement systems are traditional. Accordingly, we conducted a meta-analysis of value creation in service by addressing the following questions: What is value creation? What are the indicators mobilized in value creation literature in service? This literature review covers a period from 1996 to 2017. The objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of value creation, as well as to conceptualize this concept in service based on the commonly cited indicators.

The scope of the paper is to examine the qualitative characteristics of a new touristic and cultural industry emerging in Athens, that of producing alternative tourism cultural Tours. The paper uses the case study of innovative and alternative cultural Tours to explore the following research questions: The characteristics of a new entrepreneurial culture that was formed in times of economic crisis and of a simultaneous increase in tourist demand in Athens To which extent these new touristic products follow cultural consumer trends. The methodological approach of the paper was organized as follows: First, there is a brief description—based on data taken from secondary research—of a number of data for Tourism in Athens. Such information demonstrates, on the one hand, the quantitative recovery of Athens as a tourist destination and, on the other hand, a number of quality changes in the characteristics of tourism offer and demand of the city. Then, there is a presentation of the methodology of the qualitative field research, by opinion inquiry Interviews involving key informants, the producers of cultural tours in Athens. Finally, there is an analysis of the research results and the main conclusions in relation to the research axes set.

The objective of this research is to investigate the innovative factors and their effect on maximizing the efficiency of the services provided by the hotel accommodation. This paper is a literature review about hotel innovation. There is an urgent need to provide a unique differentiation of hotel products and examine the added value by providing innovative ideas to services to improve tourist experience. This paper is an introduction of new innovative ideas for further research and development of issues related to hotel services. The competitive environment is increasing and the solution for hotels is to be competitive and work under a systematic strategic using innovative ideas and create personal products for each customer for a unique stay. Being different and competitive is not only an idea but a choice to succeed.

This paper aims to (a) present the opinions of the priests of Lesvos on the current situation of religious tourism in Lesvos, (b) explore the potentials and prospects for the further development of religious tourism and (c) formulate policy proposals for its systematic development. The exploration of the research objectives was carried out by contacting a quantitative research, the questionnaires of which were distributed among all the priest of Lesvos. The survey was contacted in February 2017, using the inventory method and the data collected were based on descriptive and inductive statistics. The investigation showed that Lesvos, as a religious destination, has been developed to a significant extent but, it still has many prospects of growth. The survey highlighted the need for the implementation of an integrated strategic planning for local tourism development, which through targeted actions will cover the basic strategic directions for further development of religious tourism in the Island.

Dark Tourism represents an extension of cultural tourism, once it was necessary to innovate this tourism typology justified by a decrease in demand. This change, was verified in the tourist experience level, that is, to provide unique moments in the cultural level, through the experience, so that it could be the option for a greater number of tourists in the destination. Dark Tourism sites include concentration camps, inactive prisons, serial killers homes, cemeteries, and all other venues that meet the standards of death, tragedy and suffering (Biran et al. 2011; Braithwaite and Lee 2006; Dunkley et al. 2011; Kang et al. 2012; Light 2016, 2017; Podoshen 2013; Podoshen et al. 2015; Stone and Sharpley 2008, 2009; Stone 2012; Yan et al. 2016; and Zhang et al. 2016). In Portugal there are some sites associated with the practice of Dark Tourism, although this is not yet sufficiently explored. The main objective of this investigation is the evaluation of Dark Tourism potential in the city of Porto. Partial objectives are: proving the existence of a market niche in Porto associated to Dark Tourism; understand if the city of Porto has tourism resources and tourism demand, able to develop a tourism experience within the Dark Tourism offer; and to sensitize the Destination Management Organizations (DMO’s) in Porto to the opportunity of this market, through 178 questionnaires, applied to tourists/visitors in the city of Porto. This research confirmed some objectives, variables and proposed fields.

The recent commercialization of public art in Europe has placed Street art in one of the most powerful artistic sectors of the creative industry. The contracting of street artist for wall paintings by the public, private and academic sectors, has promoted the artist itself, and has generated a public acceptance of these creative resources. This institutionalization of the urban art movement in Europe has led to a museum recognition status of these spaces, which has resulted in the official declaration of outdoor museums such as Brussels, Portugal or Paris. Moreover, it can be seen as the development of public art proposals that give color to neighborhoods, providing Europe with uncountable, highly creative and innovative public spaces. As a result, the European Union street art industry produces annually over 180.000 new works, playing an active and vibrant role in urban environments by modifying the perception of its surroundings. The unique style, energy and innovation of street art has also a huge potential to be re-used and inspire other Cultural and Creative Industries, being in fact a vital economic driver for most CCIs. However, the numerous online collections of street art photographs are poorly managed and inefficiently catalogued, making content difficult to repurpose and reuse by potential users for their needs. Besides, street art photographs do not truly reflect the transformative nature of the wall paintings surrounding environment.

Agrotourism is a tangible reality of at least fifty (50) years of age in the developed countries of Europe and a new experience of almost twenty-five (25) years for the Greek economy and society. This is a “new reality” that is different in the Member Countries of the European Union than in Greece. The first ones are based on the entertainment of the tired city man, while Greece, with agrotourism, aims to “stimulate rural income”, highlighting its cultural stock. The two afore mentioned different starting points are those that can predict the future of agrotourism in the country and unleash positive developmental or non-developmental progress. The Greek experience and reality has so far proved that agrotourism is moving within a framework that defines it: the protection of the natural environment, the respect for folk architecture and folk tradition, the revival of old rituals, the sincere human contact, and others which the people of Greek-European cities have to benefit. “Those who want to enjoy peace, tranquility, simplicity and nature will find themselves in their element,” say those who have spent the days of their holidays on a “farm”, and this is what some of the agrotourism organizers in our country declare. Although this approach does not “highlight” the whole range and content of agrotourism, this view has few fans at the moment and seems to constantly gaining new friends. Initiatives and actions to promote agrotourism in Greece have been manifested in many regions. However, most initiatives and actions have been promoted in the past for the consolidation and expansion of agrotourism in the country and, of course, due to European structural programs and to the opportunities offered by Leader I, II and Leader +, although the applications so far show that the “agrotourism idea” in Greece is still going through the first, we would say—steps.

Philoxenia is a term that defines the culture of hosting in a way that gives priority to the guest not only concerning his needs but also concerning a genuine meeting among host and guest and the cultures they represent. Philoxenia ensures the framework for the sustainability of tourism development and is identified with its principles: the participation of the host society in tourism activity, preservation and respect for its cultural identity, respect for the natural environment, experiencing authenticity and a state of being like a local, for the tourist. Reference is made to the revival of the Delphic idea at the early 20th century as an experiment to bring together different cultures within the European continent in a multi-level meeting and feast. Philoxenia must be the main non-material component, the dominant idea that will penetrate all services, every single action or attitude in Tourism. This philosophy of tourism inevitably introduces to Total Quality Management and enhances the tourist product. As far as it concerns the Hotel sector quality service cannot be fragmented and in part, cannot be focal, it must be holistic. The Hotel product is made up of a set of products and services, but concerning the customer’s perception is an holistic product. Finally, Philoxenia leads to the creation of a Tourist Culture in the meaning that Tourism as an economical sector, under these rules and principles becomes a cultural factor towards sustainability and development.

The article reveals the specificity of small museum forms that have developed over the past decade. The case of the small peripheral Urals city Irbit analyzed in the context of the cultural urban environment. The opportunities to form museum cluster in Irbit identified, strengths and weaknesses of prospective cluster development discussed, and recommendations for small museums further development offered, with special attention paid to logistics, technical equipment and infrastructure issues.

The main objective of this paper is shed light on a neglected topic of Tourism Research: That of the destination decision making of tourists, when they decide on visiting a sub-destination within a primary one. The key characteristics of those tourists and their unique perceptions of value are unveiled, by juxtaposing them against the corresponding characteristics and value perception of tourists that visit the same destination as a main and primary one. The factors that have to be taken into consideration when measuring the image of a destination as a sub-destination, are examined. A self-administered questionnaire is used, whereas the location of the survey is the island of Aegina, an important and well known sub-destination of Athens, in Greece. The results indicate that there are significant differences between our two main groups of tourists, as hypothesized, even in their perceptions of value. This paper is viewed as one of the very first attempts to empirically test the criteria and reasons tourists decide to visit a sub-destination. A number of implications for the practice of marketing of tourism destinations are being developed, mainly by identifying the target markets that visit a sub-destination. The understanding the reasons for visiting sub-destinations and the value that tourists derive from their visits, enables the development of solid marketing programs, targeted at the enhancement of the experience of tourists in sub-destinations.

Tourism, the last decades, has shown a rapid growth in international level and this has created the necessity for diversification and enrichment of tourism products of each destination. Due to the resulting competition between tourism destinations, the tourist product should be strengthened and viewed respectively. Although tourism has been based from antiquity until today on spare time, nowadays presents a morphological evolution and an expanding outline of its species, one of which is the thermal spa tourism, as an alternative form of tourism. This study moves in the context of a socio-semiotic perspective regarding the history of the use of thermal spa in Greece from antiquity until today and their contribution to the current tourism development. The aim of this study is the emergence of the rich natural wealth in Greece regarding the number of thermal spa by the possibility of utilizing all sources with corresponding benefits to the economy, development and tourism. Historically, the thermal spa tourism, flourished as a remedy while today has diversified by expanding its use as a means of well-being resulting economic benefits. The research question raised from the fact that in Greece, due to the volcanic soil of many regions, there is an abundance of spa from which the largest percentage remains untapped by the state. According to data from the Institute of Geological and Mineral Exploration there are 822 sources of spa in Greece. Today from 752 sources, they are used the 348 (42%) in a large or small degree and officially recognized are 77 of them. The geographical distribution of spa is as follows: Central Greece 156, Thessaly 57, Epirus 56, Macedonia 115, Thrace 25, Peloponnese 114, Islands 229. Looking at the available statistics, everyone can realize the dynamic that tourism presents internationally, initially as an economic phenomenon, and secondly as a tourist attraction. The economic impact of tourism development is influenced by a variety of factors such as: (a) the type of facilities for the convenience of tourists and activities with the aim of attracting tourists, (b) the creation of a “consumption” to the guests for spending money, (c) the level of economic development of the host country. Given the above and the fact that the health is a determing factor in a society, the state should turn on strengthening these alternative structures and forms of tourism to the benefit of not only the individual but also of society as a whole. Something which should be answered is why the structures of thermal spa in Greece have not been sufficiently developed while they could be a means of promoting the country, but also of developing and covering part of the unemployment. Based on the current bibliography has been found that the sustainability of the thermal spa depends on requirements of the Ministry of Health and the existing legal framework as well as the Ministry of Tourism. It is deducted from the municipal enterprises the possibility of flexibility and adaptation to modern needs for healing and wellness. Apparently, as in modern society, as opposed to antiquity, in thermal tourism has incorporated the concept of profit, which hinders the purpose of thermal spa. It is proposed, therefore, the formulation of a proposal for a flexible institutional framework, in order to operate as many thermal spa as possible for the benefit of the individual and not only.

This research aims to understand the profile and the type of tourists that visit islands with protected areas such as national parks or Natura 2000 areas. For this reason a study was implemented in Zakynthos Island during the summer 2013. The questionnaire-based survey involved 2981 participants and the results revealed the tourists’ profile, their social-demographic characteristics, their environmental awareness and the degree of their recreational satisfaction. The results of this survey could help local authorities to understand the perceptions of tourists. Visitors’ profile and preferences analysis is crucial for the compilation of a strategic plan, as well as for the implementation of an adapted environmental policy. The design of a model for the sustainable development of the island by integrating the environment and the awareness of tourists and of the local communities would be the next goal.

The present research concerns both tourism and the tourists’ behavior who visit areas of Greece that offer outdoor recreational activities. Its purpose was to investigate the motives and the involvement of tourists on vacation. 3070 tourists participated in the survey. The results indicated that the demographics had affected the investigated factors. The research proposes many and important options in outdoor recreational activities in Eastern Macedonia & Thrace. These choices revealed from the preferences of the tourists in this area. At a theoretical level, this study is expected to help in developing tools for measuring tourism experience and practically to direct advertising costs for public and private operators by presenting the advantages of the region and tourists’ selections. From all the above interventions, the indirect and immediate beneficiaries will be the tourists of the area to whom the research ultimately aims as its final recipients.

Social media have established themselves as the prominent tool enabling touristic destinations, National Tourism Organizations and online travel agencies to influence the choices of potential tourists as well as their daily travel schedule on site. This paradigm shift is complemented by user generated content which is also considered to be extremely influential albeit not always reliable and has created a monstrosity of available data both in depth and scope on the supply and demand side of the touristic business. Notwithstanding the availability of this repository of big data, the answer to the question of what is the preference and the attached perceived significance of using specific social media platforms and National Tourism Organization proprietary media still remains vague. We thus investigate the nature of the usage of social media platforms and its perceived importance reaching the conclusion that although potential tourists seem to prefer the official touristic marketing portals of NTO’s they simultaneously perceive the content as less useful than that of other social media platforms. This implies that NTO’s must update their marketing portals more often and possibly rely more on intermediate thematically focused microsites which can link to their main marketing portals.

The case study deals with the examination of internet marketing communication of all Destination Management Organizations (36) in Slovakia. It identifies the current status and outlines the possibilities for its further development. The study applies the results of primary research, gathered during the months of October 2017 to January 2018 and analyzes the ways of internet marketing communication investigated in Destination Management Organizations (DMOs). The study divides them into five categories, which are characterized. The results of the research point to the fact that only 17% of DMOs in Slovakia is currently actively involved in the use of well-known and available internet marketing communication tools. The same share (17%) use these tools sufficiently, with approximately 33% of DMOs are acting poorly and the sites promote weakly, 28% being significantly less active in internet marketing communication, and around 5% are totally inactive, and are not using any internet marketing tools at all. It means that in Slovakia there are still unused opportunities for better promotion of individual regions in the tourism market, which are outlined in the study. It applies theoretical methods of investigation and methods of descriptive statistics.

Background: Nowadays, a growing number of people trust the Internet to buy new products and services as they are able to conduct online research before they make a purchase and find the best deals. The challenge for hotel businesses is the ensureness of an effective online service environment to meet customer needs and expectations, since they are more informed, connected and demanding. The main goal of this study is to investigate the preferences of online hotel customers on service quality and their purchase intentions. Methods: The sample consisted of 540 internet users who had visited a hotel webpage in less than one year, 260 of whom were men (48%) and 280 women (52%), and their age ranged from 20 to 64 years old (Μ = 35, SD = 9.9). Data collection was performed through an electronic questionnaire, which was based on WebQual of Loiacono et al. (2007). The results: According to the responses of online users, significant differences were identified between browsers and purchasers in the quality dimensions of usefulness and complementary relationship, as well as in purchase intentions. The reason of hotel booking and the source of information also significantly influenced the perceived quality of customers. Greater level of satisfaction was found in high experienced online purchasers who conduct frequently online purchases. Correspondingly, purchase intentions were found to be affected only by the frequency of online purchases. Finally, a positive strong correlation was found between the overall perceived quality and purchase intentions. Conclusions: The results of this study are considered important for the hotel industry, providing valuable information about the particular needs and motives at a level of their quality preferences in an online hotel environment as well as their purchase intentions. Therefore, hotels need to place their emphasis in the customization of their websites, in order to provide high quality customer service experience.

Background: Recent technological innovations which adapted from tourism sector have a decisive impact on the traveler experience. The rapid growth of the Internet usage, confirms that websites consist a critical competitive resource for tourism firms. In this dynamic environment, it is important for online travel agencies to fully understand what aspects of the website affect the perceived quality and to provide web services that fulfil online consumers’ needs. The main goal of the study was to investigate the effect of perceived quality on customers’ overall satisfaction, and purchase intentions of online travel agency services. Methods: The sample consisted of 346 internet users who had visited an online travel agency in less than one year, 192 of whom were women (55.5%) and 154 men (44.5%), and their age ranged from 18 to 62, with the majority of participants belong to the age category of 18–25 years old (26.6%). Data collection was performed through an electronic questionnaire, which was based on WebQual of Loiacono et al. (2007). The results: Results indicated that among all the quality factors, the ease of understanding, response time, and the website intuitive operation (ease to use and navigation) emerged as the most important. Quality perception was significantly different in terms of gender, age and educational level. Also, the perceived quality needs and purchase intentions were different for browsers and purchasers. With regard to the Internet user profile, the annual amount spending on online booking, the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website, seemed to influence the perceived quality. Correspondingly, purchase intentions were found to be affected by the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website. Finally, a positive correlation was found between the overall perceived quality and purchase intentions. Conclusions: The results of this study are considered important for practitioners in the online travel sector, by identifying significant factors that affect online consumers’ willingness to purchase and will also contribute to building the concept of online travel agency quality performance.

In recent years, the number of papers on how tourist use social media is increasing and is still being discussed. The main aim of this study is analyze the state of art by identifying the most important issues related to Social Media Analytics and Smart Tourism (SMAST) and offer some guidelines for future research through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The methodology used is based on collect, synthetize and analyze works published between 2014 and April 2018. This work is based on 45 papers obtained from three electronic databases, the result of this paper obtained twenty issues based on SMAST classified in four categories: (i) methodology of research, (ii) type of analysis, (iii) tourism current issues and (iv) social media type or platform. Furthermore, the top three of most popular issues obtained consist in: (1) works based in literature review, theoretical approach or explorative analysis; (2) Travel information, search or electronic word of mouth (eWOM), user-generated content (UGC) and (3) Social media activity analytics. The conclusion of this work emphasizes that the use of data generated by users in social networks and Smart Tourism are topics of great interest for researchers in tourism; challenges, opportunities and emerging approaches in SMAST are also presented.

Social media marketing is a connection between brands and consumers, offering a personal channel for user centered networking and social interaction. The research employs constructs adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model, integrates them with other constructs and investigates factors affecting Greek consumers’ acceptance of social media marketing in the hotel industry. The conceptual model is tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The study identifies six factors that directly or indirectly influence intention to perform Social Media Marketing Activities. These factors are: Perceived ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Permission Based Acceptance, Fear about social media marketing, Social media Use, and Attitudes towards marketing with social media. The model raises fundamental issues that hotel managers, decision-makers and social media specialists should take into account to increase customers’ intention to perform social media marketing activities, like booking, using social media applications.

Touristic services are traditionally provided by businesses such as hotels, taxis or tour operators. Recently, an increasing number of people suggest temporarily sharing what they own (for example, their home or car) or what they do (for example meals or excursions). This type of allocation is referred to as ‘exchange economy’. It is not restricted to tourism and can be found in many areas of social and economic activity, although tourism has been one of the areas most affected. Sharing goods and services among people is not new. However, the development of the Internet and, consequently, the creation of on-line platforms has made sharing easier than ever. Over the last decade many management companies of such platforms have appeared on the market. A well-known example of a platform is one in which people can book an accommodation (Airbnb). The economy of the exchange has had a positive impact on tourism, as well as a negative one. Its supporters believe it provides easy access to a wide range of services that are often of higher quality and more accessible than those provided by traditional business partners. The paper has made a wide examination on the case of Airnbn in Greece and based on the existing literature it seems that there are some factors which differentiate it from traditional hotels, which is the interaction with the local culture. However, there is a need for further research on it.

The evolution of web along with the technological explosion in web technologies and social networks has made internet a “place” where someone can post his/her tourist digitalized experiences easily, while these are made available and accessed worldwide almost instantly. In addition, such information is usually associated with features related to users’ location and temporal position. This rapid development gives the motive for the creation of smart cities and corresponding smart tourism ecosystems. In this work, a density-based spatial clustering method is applied on posts from photo-sharing social media, to analyze geo-tagged data emanating from an urban area. The aim of this research is mainly to reveal the most important spots in well-known landmarks inside an urban area, and explore the visiting tendencies of tourists of these spots. The proposed method was applied on the city of Athens, and our results are presented using data from the Flickr photo-sharing web service.

Tourism is a major export industry for many countries and cities (Romão et al. 2015), a context in which the city of Porto is increasingly included as an anchor destination in the Northern Region of Portugal. Also, the city of Porto has been reinforcing its position as a smart tourist destination by betting on the digital channels of dissemination of its heritage, resources and tourism products, on the one hand, as well as in communication channels with its real and potential demand, in different stages of the tourism experience, before, during and after. The intervention of the most important Destination Management Organizations in the region is crucial. The Regional Tourism Entity of Porto and North, regarding the distribution of the interactive tourist shops of Tourism, namely at the Airport, and also Porto Council’s Tourism Department, concerning the support to the activity of companies in technological area and diversification of interaction in its primary communication channel, “visitporto.travel”. This study intends to present a qualitative approach to the consideration of Porto as a Smart Destination, through the content analysis of conducted interviews with researchers related to the sector, information technology entrepreneurs and responsible for the main regional and municipal DMO’s.

Greece is one of the richest countries in biodiversity and ecosystem diversity. Protected Areas and National Parks may constitute a key driver of sustainable development and economic revitalization of these areas. An important tool to attract visitors and provide environmental awareness to the public is Internet. Indeed, the quality of a website plays an important role on perception the visitors or potential visitors acquire about the management body of the protected area. In this paper, we make an analysis of the 26 websites of the National Parks that own a website and provide the concluding remarks on the electronic presence of national parks in Greece.

Creative tourism has recently emerged as an evolved, interactive and integrated form of cultural tourism. Active participation of tourists in creative and learning experiences characterizes the shift from traditional cultural tourism to creative tourism. Tourists are no longer mere consumers and spectators of tangible and intangible cultural attractions, but active co-producers and co-creators of their experiences. Tourist destinations have increasingly developed creative tourism strategies to enhance competitiveness and for urban regeneration. The growth of creative tourism can be associated with the diffusion and use of advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). While such dynamics have been largely addressed in literature, there is still little understanding of the impact of smart technology (e.g. internet of things) on cultural and creative tourism industries. Academic works, in particular, tend to focus on isolated smart technology applications for creative attractions and cultural heritage. In the light of recent smart tourism developments, this paper explores the current trends in creative tourism to find elements of convergence with smart tourism. In doing so, the paper focuses on the role of technology, the business context and the social dimension as key components of the emerging smart creative tourism phenomenon. The need for an all-encompassing approach to smart creative tourism development is finally suggested by proposing some potential lines of further research.

The dynamics of tourism in the global economy define a series of realigning with social and political implications. Changing trends and demand in tourism are proof that this is a “heavy industry” for development at national and regional level especially at traditional destinations. The development of tourism benefits from an effective policy scheme. The development of the tourism product in Greece during the last two decades was heavily based on the model of mass tourism. The product diversification pursued through special and alternative forms of tourism needs a coherent developmental policy in order to gain a competitive advantage in the international tourism clientele. The aim of the research is the examination of the reactions expressed within the central government structure regarding a potential sport tourism development on the traditional tourism destination of Crete as part of a rejuvenation strategy. The analysis produced valuable insight into the role of government in policy making for the development of sports tourism. The study extends to the examination of related stakeholders interaction with the central tourism making mechanisms proving that the process of sport tourism development is a challenging process.

Preserving a locality’s environmental and social assets in a highly competitive era becomes the challenging new reality for leisure and tourism management. The appealing concept of sustainability early dictated strategy shifts for the viability of developments at the tourism sector when operating in a fast changing leisure industry. The present study, seeks to utilize the established principles of sustainable development, to be adjusted particularly to the sport tourism function. Using empirical investigation amongst key sports federations, the study aims to map and distinguish processes through which the sport function can realistically establish a sustainable environment for sport tourism-related services. Through interpretations produced from the identified environmental policies, the study aims to reveal the level and nature of sustainable considerations included in the organizational procedures of international sports bodies. In-depth content analysis of policy documents and regulations aims to enlighten their perception of sport development in relation to natural protection as well as the priority given to ecological sports behavior. The parameters deriving from a substantial sample of environmental protection policies as found in the sports leading structures help to guide an effective generalizable sustainability platform, affecting the wider spectrum of sport tourism related activities.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the professional burnout and job satisfaction among physical education teachers who work in local sports organizations of Attica region in Greece. Questionnaires were distributed in 9 municipalities of Attica region and 120 physical education teachers were purposively selected to respond. The research results show that on the one hand, gender isn’t correlated with burnout, while age had a small but statistically significant relationship with burnout. On the other hand, men appear more satisfied than women. It was also found that organizational features affect both burnout and job satisfaction. In other words, role ambiguity reduces burnout and increases job satisfaction, while role conflict increases burnout and reduces job satisfaction. Finally, it is was observed that employees exhibited low burn out and high job satisfaction. These results confirm other studies that pointed out physical education teachers’ low levels of burnout and high levels of job satisfaction.

The aim of the present research is to explore the associations among the Emotional Intelligence, Job satisfaction and perceived job performance in hospitality industry. A survey instrument that included measures of job satisfaction, emotional intelligence and job performance was used to collect information from hotel employees. A case study method was used for the purpose of this research and 166 questionnaires from a hospitality organization were collected and analyzed. The findings revealed that the ability of an individual to regulate emotions and his mood has a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction as well as on his performance. Moreover, appraisal of emotions in others and social skills had also a positive impact on job satisfaction and performance.

Airport ground handling executives and airport employees’ trainers in most cases need to improve their pedagogical skills in order to train employees to meet airports’ quality objectives. The scope of this article is to suggest efficient training on the job methods in order to assist airport instructors and executives in their on the job training skills. Thus, to improve employee’s satisfaction and ultimately, to increase their performance. Firstly, an examination of the theoretical approach is made on Quality Circles, Greek Tourism Industry and Greek Airport Facts and Figures and results of secondary research. Then examines employees’ training methods and suggests the findings of an empirical research approach for trainers and executives—via Field Study—in five Greek Airports. In particular, suggests as training scheme that focus on employees’ Soft Skills, such as Imagination, Innovation and Adaptability (IM.I.A.).

Public-private Destination Management Organizations are considered to be one of the best destination management formulas to guarantee the sustainable and competitive development of tourism. Furthermore, they give greater weight to the private sector in decision-making, since the latter is part of the destination management structure. These organizations are characterized, in theory, by lesser dependence on the public sector in budgetary terms, which is deemed to alleviate the finance and funding problem faced by destination management. Hence, it is interesting to know which of the world’s biggest city-destinations manage tourism through a public-private Destination Management Organization and to examine the legal, organizational, functional and financial structure of such entities, thus assessing their suitability in accordance with the provisions of scientific literature. Ascertaining the views of these entities themselves about different sources of finance and public-private collaboration can help us to understand the results obtained.

Organizational culture and business philosophy have been shown to affect the performance of an organization. It is imperative for executives to know the organizational culture of the business in which they work to develop the corresponding strategic goals that will improve the performance of the hotel business and give it a competitive advantage over its rivals. (Belias et al. 2016b, c). In order to achieve an excellent customer service it is necessary to know the characteristics of the customer of the hotel business. Services that do not meet customer expectations will prove to be unsatisfactory, so the customer can look for these services in other competing businesses. This is very important in the case of five star hotels in Greece. Of course, as it is revealed on this paper, there is still a need for further research on this topic.

This manuscript resumes a systematic four-year scientific work, aiming to present the synthesis of the ReSCulture (Rewards System Culture) variables, which will be able to investigate and analyze in depth the role of rewards systems in processes of organizational culture change in the hospitality industry. In line with the above- mentioned main objective, the literature review will summarize the codification of the international theory regarding: organizational culture and the processes of changing it (Cooperrider and Whitney 2005; Burnes 2009; Kotter 2012; Stavrinoudis and Kakarougkas 2016a, b), the obstacles to cultural change (Lozano 2012; Cameron and Green 2015; Kakarougkas and Stavrinoudis 2016) as well as the five interrelated and interdependent groups of elements that constitute a rewards system within an organization (Caudill and Porter 2014; Hall-Ellis 2014; Stavrinoudis and Kakarougkas 2017a). Through the conceptual synthesis of the findings of the two theoretical strands, eleven specialized and complex hypotheses have been emerged, which are being investigated by one hundred eleven ReSCulture variables.

The paper examined the case of the impact of HRM on the development of an effective culture on hotels, based on material gathered from the existing literature. From the findings it is certain that HRM and culture are interacting each other. What is important is to understand this relationship in the framework of hotel management in Greece, having in mind that there is not any similar past research. Nonetheless, the existing research provides evidence that most of the HRM departments on Greek hotels seem not to develop effective policies and practices so to leverage their corporate culture. This is surely a weakness from the side of the hotel managers, owners and executives. The authors have concluded that there is a need to further investigate this framework with a future empirical research.

With the increasing relevance of the use of Internet to contemporary world, online spaces are outstanding as a fruitful field for research. In this context, netnography, also known as online ethnography is emerging as a method progressively used in tourism research. However, as netnography is still a recent method, it lacks further understanding and exploration of its use in the context of tourism studies. Thus, this study aims at identifying the challenges in using netnography as part of the research process in tourism. By describing online ethnography as one of the phases of a mixed-methods study, it addresses how challenging can be finding online groups and reaching the right audience, dealing with the amount of online data and applying complementary methods and triangulation in the context of a Ph.D. thesis in tourism. Finally, this study reflects on strategies to overcome those issues in order to contribute to a diversified methodological discussion in tourism academia.

Cultural megaprojects are complexes of a number of buildings with cultural functions that have required considerable investments from public administrations. They are intended to renew the image of a city through their avant-garde architecture and to constitute a new motor for economic and tourist development. Their governance models differ, but their management structures are usually made up mostly of representatives of the public sector that has financed the mega project. In this paper, there is an analysis of three cases from Spain whose future sustainability is under political and social discussion.

The aim of the present research is to explore the issue of earnings predictability of a sample of hospitality firms before and after the burst of financial crisis in the Greek economy in 2011. Earnings predictability is considered as a prominent feature of accounting quality and has several implications for investors. For this reason we utilized a sample of organizations registered on the Greek chamber of commerce during the fiscal years 2004–2007 (pre-crisis period) and 2011–2013 (post-crisis period). Those firms were operating on the hospitality and food services sectors, leading to 343 observations for analysis. Regression analysis pointed out that the cash flow component of earnings is a more significant determinant of future earnings relative to accruals. Also the persistence of the cash flow component of earnings has decreased after the burst of the crisis and this is attributed to the lower levels of earnings predictability during that period. Our study adds to the existing literature on earnings predictability and persistence of the hospitality industry, suggesting fruitful policy indications.