Martin Fontanari and Alexandra Kern
No tourist segment is at present marked by such a massive expansion of offers like the ones of spa tourism. Today, only in Germany more than 350 medicinal baths and spas try to…
Abstract
No tourist segment is at present marked by such a massive expansion of offers like the ones of spa tourism. Today, only in Germany more than 350 medicinal baths and spas try to position themselves on the market highly demanded “self‐payers” (see Deutscher Heilbäderverband 2002, p. 257–573.). Even outside the spas, the offer of health‐tourism develops dynamically. The demand‐side oft he market for health‐tourism services is very promising and has initiated a world‐wide mobilization health‐conscious tourists. To be actually perceived in this very growing market, suppliers — particularly medicinal baths and spas — which have a rather “traditional” image — must distinguish themselves with a clear profile. Moreover, capital projects or business promotions require clear decisive factors towards specialization and how to position oneself in the long‐term. Last but not least it remains to be answered how medicinal baths and spas should be presented on the market at the level of tourism destinations or countries in order to differ from other spa destinations. Of course, these questions are not only a challenge for medicinal baths and spas in the German‐speaking countries. Particularly in Eastern Europe where today huge amounts of money are invested into the infrastructure of health‐tourism, a basis for long‐term support factors as well as for decision taking factors are required to align the specific offer with the needs of selected target groups. For this complex setting of tasks the European Tourism Institute (ETI) has developed a well‐aligned instrument for data‐collection, data‐evaluation and data‐analysis which makes possible consistent decisions on product development and product positioning for the individual spas well as for marketing on the regional or state level. Therefore, the comparative analysis of spas takes into consideration the needs of the market as well as the specific design of offers and the attractiveness of locations.
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Hans‐Ruedi Müller and Martin L. Fontanari
Zusammenfassung Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse des “Workshop 2” verdeutlichen, daß intensiv nach einem gemeinsamen Verständnis zur strategischen Tourismuspolitik in Abgrenzung der…
Abstract
Zusammenfassung Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse des “Workshop 2” verdeutlichen, daß intensiv nach einem gemeinsamen Verständnis zur strategischen Tourismuspolitik in Abgrenzung der Felder Tourismuspolitik (policy) und — Strategie gesucht und dieses Verständnis in den genannten Modellen festgehalten wurde. Trotzdem haben gerade die Fallbeispiele gezeigt, daß jede spezifische Situation verschieden handzuhaben ist und deshalb auch unterschiedliche methodische Ansätze zur Analyse der Fallstudie herangezogen worden sind. Auch konnte die Begriffsverwendung von Tourismus‐politik und Strategie nicht immer eindeutig zugeordnet werden. Ein allgemein gltiges Rahmenmodell — wie in Kapitel 3 und vier aufgezeigt — ist deshalb nur erschwert im Detail darstellbar. Zur Notwendigkeit einer strategischen Tourismuspolitik ist insgesamt eine große Übereinstimmung festzuhalten.
Levente Nádasi, Sándor Kovács and Andrea Szőllős-Tóth
Overtourism has been identified as a significant global problem with numbers of negative externalities. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the establishment of a…
Abstract
Purpose
Overtourism has been identified as a significant global problem with numbers of negative externalities. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the establishment of a standard that objectively measures the extent of tourism to produce a dynamic ranking of selected European settlements, as there is a lack of studies using sophisticated statistical methods to analyse secondary data on overtourism.
Design/methodology/approach
The 28 selected sites, studied according to their involvement in overtourism, were ranked using multi-criteria decision-Mmaking Methods between 2014 and 2023. Rankings were calculated by VIKOR, TOPSIS and MMOORA, and an aggregate ranking was created by using the cross-entropy optimization. Additionally, the annual changes in the rankings were presented graphically using principal component analysis on a two-dimensional space, referred to as the “sites' space.” Finally, the sites were clustered into three distinct groups based on their level of overtourism: less, medium and more. This was achieved through the use of the K-means algorithm.
Findings
Following the onset of the pandemic in 2020, there was a notable decline in overtourism. However, following the year 2021, the numbers began to rise once more, and by 2022, they had returned to their pre-pandemic levels. Among the methods, MMOORA demonstrated the most effective performance in comparison to the optimal ranking.
Originality/value
The applied methods with novel rank aggregation could also shed light on the most relevant indicators to overtourism. These included the number of nights spent in paid accommodation per population, the number of overnight visits per population and the number of air passengers.
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Floriana Fusco and Guido Migliaccio
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the financial structure of Italian cooperatives in the period before and during the crisis (2004-2013), in relation to two discriminating…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the financial structure of Italian cooperatives in the period before and during the crisis (2004-2013), in relation to two discriminating factors. At this end, it focuses on two research questions: What financial dynamics the Italian cooperatives have involved before, during and after the 2008 crisis, that is, in the decade 2004/2013? Are there statistically differences between business sectors and geographic area?
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data on AIDA database have been used. The financial structure is assessed using two ratios: the financial leverage ratio and quick ratio. The final sample consists of 1,446 cooperatives. The trend and exploratory analysis, analysis of variance and Tukey-Kramer post-hoc test have been used.
Findings
The financial structure of cooperatives has not been substantially affected by the crisis in any geographic area and business sector, by virtue of resilience of their business model. Moreover, these two factors produce statistically significant differences in the financial structure of cooperatives.
Research limitations/implications
The study takes into account only the cooperatives that survived the crisis, so, presumably, the strongest. Moreover, another and more ratios should be considered at the end to have a more complete view on the financial dynamics.
Originality/value
The literature on resilience of cooperatives is still not very rich. Moreover, this work analyses and integrates aspects and approaches that are not usually considered together.
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Luis Juarez-Rojas, Aldo Alvarez-Risco, Nilda Campos-Dávalos, Maria de las Mercedes Anderson-Seminario and Shyla Del-Aguila-Arcentales
It is essential to understand how the countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals have managed to recover or not based on the competitiveness of the tourism industry…
Abstract
It is essential to understand how the countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals have managed to recover or not based on the competitiveness of the tourism industry during the pandemic stage. It is necessary to evaluate the policies implemented by each government to maintain the competitive performance of their industries. This chapter proposes a comprehensive review of the policies implemented in the 10 most visited countries according to UNWTO data. Most of these policies are geared toward economic and financial flexibility strategies for companies and individuals in the industry under study. The effectiveness of these policies is evaluated with statistical information extracted from a unified UNWTO database to reduce biases in the effectiveness analysis. Finally, concluding remarks are offered on the effectiveness of the policies and their contribution to the sector's recovery.
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Paolo Boccagni, Luis Eduardo PéRez Murcia and Milena Belloni
Rita Markauskaitė and Aušra Rūtelionė
It is known that a conflict exists between consumers’ materialistic and green values. Previous research has focused on values conflict consequences. Antecedents of consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
It is known that a conflict exists between consumers’ materialistic and green values. Previous research has focused on values conflict consequences. Antecedents of consumers’ materialistic and green values conflict remain understudied. This study aims to explore the antecedents of consumers’ materialistic and green values conflict.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory type research design was applied. Overall 22 interviews were conducted with consumers that had materialistic and green values conflict. The transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using content analysis with Maxqda software.
Findings
The findings demonstrate consumers' negative attitudes towards consumption, understood as consumerism. Results indicate that value conflict is related to unpleasant emotions such as guilt, anxiety, helplessness and remorse. Guilt is the most prominent emotion associated with the conflict of values. The study identifies dissonant information, environmental knowledge, social norms, impulsive buying and mindfulness as antecedents of materialistic and green values conflict.
Originality/value
The novelty of the study is the antecedents of the materialistic and green values conflict. This study makes a valuable contribution to the academic discourse on sustainable consumption, consumer materialism and green values by providing a deeper understanding of the values conflict experienced by consumers who hold materialistic and green values. The main significance of this study is that it provides valuable insights from qualitative research into the antecedents of the conflict between consumers' materialistic and green values.
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Mehwish Rasool, Muhammad Hamid Murtza, Muhammad Imran Rasheed, Aliana Man Wai Leong, Fevzi Okumus and Jingyi Bai
This study aims to investigate the nexus between information technology (IT) competency, supply chain agility and supply chain performance in the hospitality industry. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the nexus between information technology (IT) competency, supply chain agility and supply chain performance in the hospitality industry. The authors examine the association of IT competency and supply chain performance through supply chain agility while considering the boundary condition role of risk management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data via a questionnaire from 302 full-time hotel and restaurant managers in Pakistan.
Findings
Study results reveal a positive association between IT competency and supply chain performance while supply chain agility mediates this relationship. In addition, risk management is identified as an important boundary condition that moderates the direct and indirect relationships between IT competency and supply chain performance.
Originality/value
Study results reveal an important association between IT competency and supply chain agility contributing to the scholarly discussion on supply chain issues in the hospitality sector.
研究目的
本研究旨在探讨信息技术能力(IT能力)对供应链绩效的影响, 并分析风险管理导向和供应链敏捷性在这一关系中的调节作用。
研究方法
本研究采用结构方程模型分析, 通过问卷调查收集数据, 以评估IT能力、风险管理导向、供应链敏捷性和供应链绩效之间的关系。
研究发现
研究发现, IT能力显著提升供应链绩效。风险管理导向和供应链敏捷性在IT能力与供应链绩效之间起到正向调节作用, 增强了IT能力对供应链绩效的积极影响。
研究创新
本研究扩展了关于信息技术与供应链管理之间关系的理论, 强调了风险管理导向和供应链敏捷性的重要性。研究结果为企业在提升供应链绩效时如何利用IT能力提供了实用指导。
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Nazan Colmekcioglu, Denitsa Dineva and Xiaoming Lu
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical synthesis of research conducted within the hospitality and tourism industries in response to the impact of the COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical synthesis of research conducted within the hospitality and tourism industries in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, identify key perspectives and themes relating to the recovery and resilience of the two sectors and put forward recommendations that help address organizational and consumer behavior changes produced by the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a critical reflection approach to identify, select and synthesize relevant research based on which recommendations are drawn.
Findings
This study offers a contemporary framework discussing three distinct themes that emerged from existing research regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality and tourism industries: management, marketing and consumer behavior.
Practical implications
This study offers operational, practical and actionable recommendations for organizations about how to adapt and recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by guiding the industry in sustaining long-term resilience.
Originality/value
This study provides a critical and current synthesis of selected literature and theory that discuss key implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the recovery and resilience-building of the hospitality and tourism sectors.