Posts By / dbuhalis

Supporting the Global Society Restart Tourism

BU Challenges, BU research, BU2025, conferences, COVID-19

Supporting the Global Society Restart Tourism

Academia is not just about teaching students or writing papers. It is about engaging with the widest range of stakeholders, creating and disseminating knowledge and create solutions for the global society. It is all about RELEVANCE and IMPACT, especially at the time of CRISIS. JOIN US ON THESE WEBINARS in the next few days where ever you are and engage in the conversations towards #RestartTourism #ReigniteTourism

GREECE Thursday 18 June 14:15 LondonTime / 16:15 Greek EMEA.gr time IN GREEK

Η πανδημία του COVID-19 και ο ελληνικός τουρισμός

Dimitris Basiliou, Michalis Toanoglou, Dimitrios Buhalis

BRAZIL Thursday 18 June 16:00 Brazil time / 20:00 London time BRAZIL on LiveTur DATASHOW BRASIL IN PORTUGUESE

Impactos do uso das tecnologias de informação na atividade turística durante e pós pandemia

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis with Dr. Luiz Mendes Filho and Dr. Alexandre Augusto Biz

IRAN Sunday 21 June London time 18:30 pm – 20:30pm / Tehran, Iran 10:00pm – 12:00am (GMT+430)

Mohammad Shirkavand discussion – Connecting Cultures & Preserving Heritage: Create Future by Connecting Minds

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis to talk about ”How eTourism could help the industry to survive after the crisis

NEW ZEALAND Wednesday 24th June 21:30-22:30 London Time / Thursday June 25th, 8.30-9.30AM NZ time

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis Smart Tourism in the New Era of Tourism

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington School of Business and Government | Ōrauariki

Tourism Review Journal is raised to Q1 in SCIMAGO Journal Rankings

BU research, BU2025

Tourism Review Journal is raised to Q1 in SCIMAGO Journal Rankings
Tourism Review Journal, the most established Journal in tourism on its 75th Volume,
edited by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is raised to Q1 in SCIMAGO Journal Rankings for
Business, Management and Accounting
Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
Social Sciences
Geography, Planning and Development
The latest Scimago Journal Ranks (SJRs) are out for first quarter of 2019
https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21100248909&tip=sid&clean=0
 
Journals have been ranked according to their SJR and divided into four equal groups, four quartiles.
Q1 comprises the quarter of the journals with the highest values.
 
Tourism Review https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/tr
 

New publication about Dining alone: improving the experience of solo restaurant goers

BU research

Next time when you dine alone, perhaps on a business trip, remember this new publication.

Brown, L., Buhalis, D. and Beer, S. (2020), “Dining alone: improving the experience of solo restaurant goers“, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 1347-1365. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2019-0584

Purpose-Solo travel for leisure and business is increasing. It is therefore timely to conduct research into the experiences of solo tourists. This paper aims to explore one aspect of the solo tourist experience that can be challenging, that of dining alone. This topic has received little attention in the tourism or hospitality literature. Design/methodology/approach-A qualitative approach was adopted and narrative inquiry was selected as the optimum route to obtain detailed and rich accounts of the experiences of solo diners. In-depth interviews of 27 solo tourists were conducted with varying socio-demographic characteristics.

Findings-This study shows that though travelling alone is prized by participants, dining alone, especially in the evening, is often discomfiting. Discomfort is caused by the perceived negative judgement of others and is mitigated by the use of various props such as books and mobile phones. A research agenda is put forward on the aspects of the solo tourist/diner experience.

Practical implications-The paper concludes by asking what can be done to ameliorate the solo dining experience and provides some recommendations to hospitality operators to support this market and improve competitiveness and profitability. The paper shows that inclusive environments can attract multiple market segments and agile restaurants can develop both solo and plural dining experiences.

Originality/value-This paper addresses a topic that has received limited scholarly attention as well as industry engagement despite the growth in solo travel.

New Paper Published:  Buhalis, D., Parra López, E.,  Martinez-Gonzalez, J.A., 2020, Influence of young consumers’ external and internal variables on their eloyalty to tourism sites

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New Paper Published:

Buhalis, D., Parra López, E.,  Martinez-Gonzalez, J.A., 2020, Influence of young consumers’ external and internal variables on their eloyalty to tourism sites, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Vol. 15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100409

Download FREE before April 11, 2020 https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1acJm_,51~BCpGT

Highlights

  • Demonstrates the high use of electronic commerce by young people.
  • Discovers the great potential of online influence of young people.
  • Verifies the greater causal influence of internal variables on e-loyalty.
  • Shows the positive influence of online purchase intention on e-loyalty.
  • Presents a practical causal model of purchase intent and e-loyalty.

Abstract

This study analyzes, in a generational context, the influence of young consumers’ external and internal variables on their e-loyalty to tourism sites. Using a large sample and employing structural equations (PLS), a new model is generated that includes two external variables (site design and eWOM) and two internal variables (trust and satisfaction), to which the intention to purchase online is added. These variables are very important in e-commerce and tourism, and they have not previously been studied jointly. The results show that the impact of consumers’ internal variables is greater than the impact from external ones. Moreover, the proposed causal model is practical and can be easily applied by tourism companies to improve site e-loyalty in the context of market orientation. The Importance-Performance Analysis (IPMA) carried out shows the importance of satisfaction over other variables.

https://www.academia.edu/42033437/Buhalis_D._Parra_L%C3%B3pez_E._Martinez-Gonzalez_J.A._2020_Influence_of_young_consumers_external_and_internal_variables_on_their_eloyalty_to_tourism_sites_Journal_of_Destination_Marketing_and_Management_Vol._15_https_doi.org_10.1016_j.jdmm.2020.100409

New article published Stamolampros, P., Korfiatis; N., Chalvatzis, K., Buhalis, D., 2020, Harnessing the “Wisdom of Employees” from Online Reviews,

BU research

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.02.012

Download FREE Now https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1aSE6aZ3ER7Ql

The informational value of online employee reviews in tourism and hospitality research and practice. Online reviews can complement existing approaches offering access in a pool of opinion highly representative of the industry. The results of our analysis reveal that the unstructured form of reviews through topic analysis can efficiently capture important topics for employees and is in agreement with previous literature. As such it opens new avenues for researchers and practitioners since the intangible and heterogeneous nature of tourism and hospitality services can be measured with more direct data sources available to the decision makers, than cross-sectional questionnaires.
An interesting insight for managers in these industries is that the adaptation of management practices and improvement initiatives needs to be adjusted vertically (across business units) rather than horizontally (across the organization). The results of the analysis also provide an argument against the “one size fits all” approach (Hom, Lee, Shaw, & Hausknecht, 2017) in the management of service employees across tourism and hospitality industries and as such the incorporation of insights from satisfaction surveys in managerial practices need to be adjusted accordingly.

Opportunity to Contribute to two new books :Smart Cities and Sharing Economy CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS

BU research, Research news, research staff

Contribute to two new books :

Smart Cities and Sharing Economy CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS

Published by Goodfellow Publishers

Smart Cities: Co-creating experiences, challenges and opportunities |
Editors: Dimitrios Buhalis, Babak Taheri, and Roya Rahimi https://easychair.org/cfp/SC1

The Sharing Economy: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges
Editors: Babak Taheri, Roya Rahimi, and Dimitrios Buhalis https://easychair.org/cfp/SE1

Important dates:
Abstract Deadline: 15th Jan 2020
Chapter Submission Deadline: 12 June 2020
Feedback deadlines: 8 August 2020
Submitting revised chapters: 30 October 2020
Review by editors: October to December 2020
Submitting final chapters: 18 December 2020
Submitting to Publisher: 12 February 2021

Action required – Guidelines for proposal submissions:

  • A 500-1,000 word proposal
  • Title page: title of the paper, full name of the author(s), affiliation and contact information
  • One diagram describing your contribution to the topic.
  • A short bio (around 150-250 words) for each author
  • Soft copy as Word document attachment should be uploaded to the links

_____________________________________________________________________Smart Cities: Co-creating experiences, challenges and opportunities
Editors: Dimitrios Buhalis, Babak Taheri, and Roya Rahimi
https://easychair.org/cfp/SC1

This book will provide a new insight for the current issues and opportunities on smart cities and related concepts in the next generation of urban evolution. It will provide a better understanding of city services but also the enhancement and evaluation of locals’ (and visitors) experience and city decision making processes by creating liveable environments and business solutions. The book will serve as a main reference point for smart cities researchers, scholars, students and practitioners state-of-art knowledge depository on marketing management (and related areas e.g., urban studies) from a new modern perspective within the smart cities.

PROVISIONAL AND INDICATIVE LIST OF CHAPTERS (SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!)
Ch 1. Introduction to Smart Cities: Co-creating experiences, challenges and opportunities
Ch 2. Co-creating smart experiences (defining co-creation of value and related concepts in contemporary age)
Ch 3. Current challenges for smart cities, tourism and urbanisation (challenges in cities which leads to need to smart cities opportunities)
Ch 4. Value co-creation in smart cities (defining smart cities and related concepts)
Ch 5. Digital transformation (in relation to smart cities and digital world)
Ch 6. Smart sustainable environment and cities (CSR and sustainability)
Ch 7. Smart people (Human capital: issues and opportunities in smart cities)
Ch 8. Smart economy (Investment: issues and opportunities in smart cities)
Ch 9. Smart mobility (Transportation: issues and opportunities in smart cities)
Ch 10. Smart living (Community engagement: issues and opportunities in smart cities)
Ch 11. Smart governance (Politics and government engagement)
Ch 12. Smart Business models, co-creation of experiences and smart cities
Ch 13. Smart trends in the tourism and hospitality industry
Ch 14. The Smart future: stakeholders, catalysts, opportunities and challenges
Ch 15. Case studies (this chapter will have a case study for each of 14 chapters)

_____________________________________________________________________The Sharing Economy: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges
Editors: Prof. Babak Taheri, Dr. Roya Rahimi, and Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=se1

This book will focus on the sharing economy from a marketing and managerial perspective and will explore implications area of tourism marketing and management, services marketing and urban studies. It will encourage new theoretical and empirical development on sharing economy studies in the service industries field and offers a new insight to indicate potential research opportunities and areas of interest different aspects of sharing economy. Target readership will be higher level undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG).

PROVISIONAL AND INDICATIVE LIST OF CHAPTERS (SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!)
Ch 1. Introduction The Sharing Economy: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges
Ch 2. Exploration of service platforms and marketplaces (defining platform services, adventuristic start-ups)
Ch 3. Sharing economy (defining sharing economy and related concepts)
Ch 4. Application of co-creation of value: Two-sided markets (locals vs. visitors)
Ch 5. Gig economies (defining gig economy and related concepts)
Ch 6. National culture and sharing economy (matchmaking, and studies within other culture/context)
Ch 7. Overarching theories on sharing economy (e.g., social exchange theory, complexity theory, norm activation model, etc)
Ch 8. Models of platform-based sharing economy businesses (defining customer lifetime value (e.g., business to customer model; P2P: peer to peer model, etc.); plus for-fee models (e.g., Uber, Airbnb) or no-fee models (e.g., TripAdvisor, Instagram, Wikipedia)
Ch 9. Big data and digital marketing (the importance of digital marketing within the sharing economy)
Ch 10. Operations management in sharing economy (operations and process in sharing economy)
Ch 11. The law of sharing economy (regulations, licensing, roles of state governments etc)
Ch 12. Ethics and sustainability in sharing economy (CSR and sustainability issues)
Ch 13. Future of sharing economy
Ch 14. Case studies (this chapter will have a case study for each of 13 chapters)

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis will contribute to The European Conference on Aging & Gerontology EGen2019

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Professor Dimitrios Buhalis will contribute to The European Conference on Aging & Gerontology EGen2019

December 07-08, 2019 University College London (UCL), London, UK

The European Conference on Aging & Gerontology (EGen) is run in partnership with The Bartlett Real Estate Institute at UCL, The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) at the University of Michigan, USA, and the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka University.

This conference brings together all disciplines to discuss in a holistic way one of the greatest challenges humanity currently faces: the ageing of the population.

https://egen.iafor.org/speakers/ #EGen2019 #ageing

See the programme http://iafor.org/archives/conference-programmes/egen/egen-programme-2019.pdf

NEW PAPER: Buhalis, D., Harwood, T., Bogicevic, V., Viglia, G., Beldona, S., Hofacker, C., 2019, Technological disruptions in Services: lessons from Tourism and Hospitality, Journal of Service Management,

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NEW PAPER: Buhalis, D., Harwood, T., Bogicevic, V., Viglia, G., Beldona, S., Hofacker, C., 2019, Technological disruptions in Services: lessons from Tourism and Hospitality, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 484-506

https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0398

Purpose

Technological disruptions such as the Internet of Things and autonomous devices, enhanced analytical capabilities (artificial intelligence) and rich media (virtual and augmented reality) are creating smart environments that are transforming industry structures, processes and practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore critical technological advancements using a value co-creation lens to provide insights into service innovations that impact ecosystems. The paper provides examples from tourism and hospitality industries as an information dependent service management context.

Design/methodology/approach

The research synthesizes prevailing theories of co-creation, service ecosystems, networks and technology disruption with emerging technological developments.

Findings

Findings highlight the need for research into service innovations in the tourism and hospitality sector at both macro-market and micro-firm levels, emanating from the rapid and radical nature of technological advancements. Specifically, the paper identifies three areas of likely future disruption in service experiences that may benefit from immediate attention: extra-sensory experiences, hyper-personalized experiences and beyond-automation experiences.

Research limitations/implications

Tourism and hospitality services prevail under varying levels of infrastructure, organization and cultural constraints. This paper provides an overview of potential disruptions and developments and does not delve into individual destination types and settings. This will require future work that conceptualizes and examines how stakeholders may adapt within specific contexts.

Social implications

Technological disruptions impact all facets of life. A comprehensive picture of developments here provides policymakers with nuanced perspectives to better prepare for impending change.

Originality/value

Guest experiences in tourism and hospitality by definition take place in hostile environments that are outside the safety and familiarity of one’s own surroundings. The emergence of smart environments will redefine how customers navigate their experiences. At a conceptual level, this requires a complete rethink of how stakeholders should leverage technologies, engage and reengineer services to remain competitive. The paper illustrates how technology disrupts industry structures and stimulates value co-creation at the micro and macro-societal level.

NEW ARTICLE The impact of online reputation on profitability

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NEW ARTICLE

Anagnostopoulou, S., Buhalis, D., Kountouri, I., Manousakis, E. and Tsekrekos, A. (2019), “

The impact of online reputation on hotel profitability”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,  https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2019-0247

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of online customer reputation on financial profitability.

Design/methodology/approach

Online reputation is captured by extracting the most recurring textual themes associated with customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, expressed within positive vs negative online guest reviews on Booking.com. Latent semantic analysis is used for textual analysis. Proxies of overall financial performance are manually constructed for the sample hotels, using financial data from the Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) database. Ordinary least squares is used to gauge the effect of online customer reputation on financial profitability.

Findings

Empirical findings indicate that recurring textual themes from positive online reviews (in contrast to negative reviews) exhibit a higher degree of homogeneity and consensus. The themes repeated in positive, but not in negative reviews, are found to significantly associate with hotel financial performance. Results contribute to the discussion about the measurable effect of online reputation on financial performance.

Originality/value

Contemporary quantitative methods are used to extract online reputation for a sample of UK hotels and associate this reputation with bottom-line financial profitability. The relationship between online reputation, as manifested within hotel guest reviews, and the financial performance of hotels is examined. Financial profitability is the result of revenues, reduced by the costs incurred in order to be able to offer a given level of service. Previous studies have mainly focused on basic measures of performance, i.e. revenue generation, rather than bottom-line profitability. By combining online guest reviews from travel websites (Booking.com) with financial measures of enterprise performance (FAME), this study makes a meaningful contribution to the strategic management of hotel businesses.

Keywords

Quantitative content analysis Online hotel reviews EWOM Hotel reputationLatent semantic analysis Hotel performance

New paper published : Yao, B., Qiu, R., Fan, D., Liu, A. and Buhalis, D. (2019), “Standing out from the crowd – an exploration of signal attributes of Airbnb listings”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2019-0106

BU research


New paper published : 

Yao, B., Qiu, R., Fan, D., Liu, A. and Buhalis, D. (2019), “Standing out from the crowd – an exploration of signal attributes of Airbnb listings“, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2019-0106

 

Airbnb signal attributes and competitiveness

Abstract

Due to product diversity, traditional quality signals in the hotel industry such as star ratings and brand affiliation do not work well in the accommodation booking process on the sharing economy platform. From a suppliers’ perspective, this study aims to apply the signaling theory to the booking of Airbnb listings and explore the influence of quality signals on the odds of an Airbnb listing being booked. A binomial logistic model is used to describe the influences of different attributes on the market demand. Because of the large sample size, sequential Bayesian updating method is utilized in hospitality and tourism field for the first attempt. Results show that, in addition to host-specific information such as “Superhost” and identity verification, attributes including price, extra charges, region competitiveness and house rules are all effective signals in Airbnb. The signaling impact is more effective for the listings without any review comments. This study contributes to the literature by incorporating the signaling theory in the analysis of booking probability of Airbnb accommodation. The research findings are valuable to hosts in improving their booking rates and revenue. In addition, government and industrial management organizations can have more efficient strategy and policy planning.

New paper published: Rihova, I., Moital, M., Buhalis, D. and Gouthro, M. (2019), “Practice-based segmentation: taxonomy of Customer to Customer (C2C) co-creation practice segments”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,  https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2018-0096

BU research, Events

New paper published: Rihova, I., Moital, M., Buhalis, D. and Gouthro, M. (2019), “Practice-based segmentation: taxonomy of Customer to Customer (C2C) co-creation practice segments“, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,  https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2018-0096

Abstract

This paper aims to explore and evaluate practice-based segmentation as an alternative conceptual segmentation perspective that acknowledges the active role of consumers as value co-creators. Data comprising various aspects of customer-to-customer (C2C) co-creation practices of festival visitors were collected across five UK-based festivals, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews with naturally occurring social units (individuals, couples and groups). Data were analysed using a qualitative thematic analysis procedure within QSR NVivo 10. Private, sociable, tribal and communing practice segments are identified and profiled, using the interplay of specific subject- and situation-specific practice elements to highlight the “minimum” conditions for each C2C co-creation practice.

C2C

Unlike traditional segments, practice segment membership is shown to be fluid and overlapping, with fragmented consumers moving across different practice segments throughout their festival experience according to what makes most sense at a given time. Although practice-based segmentation is studied in the relatively limited context of C2C co-creation practices at festivals, the paper illustrates how this approach could be operationalised in the initial qualitative stages of segmentation research. By identifying how the interplay of subject- and situation-specific practice elements affects performance of practices, managers can facilitate relevant practice-based segments, leading to more sustainable business. The paper contributes to segmentation literature by empirically demonstrating the feasibility of practice-based segments and by evaluating the use of practice-based segmentation on a strategic, procedural and operational level. Possible methodological solutions for future research are offered.

C2C

New Research Article: Peters, M., Kallmuenzer, A.; Buhalis, D., 2019, Host-Guest Value Co-Creation in Hospitality Family Firms,

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NEW RESEARCH ARTICLE – download for FREE :

Peters, M., Kallmuenzer, A.; Buhalis, D., 2019, Host-Guest Value Co-Creation in Hospitality Family Firms,

Current Issues in Tourism, Vol.22(16) pp. 2014-2033

https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1437122

#cocreation #value#sme #entrepreneurship #hospitality #family #marketing

The hospitality industry is dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).They are often led by entrepreneurs who face the challenge of simultaneously managing business decisions and their own wellbeing. The competitiveness of tourism destinations often depends on these entrepreneurs and therefore understanding their motivations and work patterns is critical. Research on individual wellbeing increasingly builds on the concept of quality of life (QoL). Hospitality and tourism literature so far predominantly focused on investigating QoL for tourists and residents, rather than for entrepreneurs’ QoL, even tho

Peters, M., Kallmuenzer, A.; Buhalis, D., 2019, Host-Guest Value Co-Creation in Hospitality Family Firms, Current Issues in Tourism, Vol.22(16) pp. 2014-2033 https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1437122

ugh being key stakeholders in the hospitality industry. Therefore, this study explores the factors influencing hospitality entrepreneurs’ quality of life (“HE-QoL”) and how these relate to business growth. Results of a 380 hospitality entrepreneurs’ survey identify six distinct factors of HE-QoL. Two groups of HE-QoL are identified with significant differences in fitness level activity, entrepreneurial competencies and business growth. Findings lead to recommendations to reduce stress to improve HE-QoL, and to develop entrepreneurial competencies, which help to cope with entrepreneurial challenges. Tourism destinations and politics can support hospitality entrepreneurs in these actions by creating conditions that foster social exchange in regional communities and trust in political and economic stability.

Keywords: quality of life, business growth, wellbeing, entrepreneurship, hospitality

Dr. Daisy Fan received “Best Paper of the Year 2019 for Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research (JHTR)”

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Dr. Daisy Fan received “Best Paper of the Year 2019 for Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research (JHTR)”

Congratulations to Dr. Daisy Fan together with all the other co-authors who has received the “2019 Outstanding JHTR Best Paper of the Year” in the Awards Banquet, 26 July 2019 at the ICHRIE summer conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The JHTR Editorial Review Board considered all of the papers published in 2018 and the paper entitled “Analyzing the Economic Sustainability of Tourism Development: Evidence from Hong Kong” was voted the very best of the best.

Reference:

Qiu, H., Fan, D. X. F., Lyu, J., Lin, P. M. C., & Jenkins, C. L. (2019). Analyzing the Economic Sustainability of Tourism Development: Evidence from Hong Kong. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 43(2), 226–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348018777046

 

 

NEW PUBLICATION Fan, D., Buhalis, D., Lin, B., 2019, A tourist typology of online and face-to-face social contact: Destination immersion and tourism encapsulation/decapsulation, Annals of Tourism, Vol.78,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102757

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NEW PUBLICATION Fan, D., Buhalis, D., Lin, B., 2019, A tourist typology of online and face-to-face social contact: Destination immersion and tourism encapsulation/decapsulation, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.78,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102757

Download from https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ZQH0aZ3ER7eS

Highlights

•Information communication technology has changed tourists’ perceptions and behaviours.
•Tourists use technology to connect with home while experiencing the destination.
•The study adopts a qualitative approach and results are based on 51 in-depth interviews.
•A six-fold tourist typology is established to portray tourist behavioural patterns.
•A contact–immersion nexus is developed to indicate the tourist attachment tendencies.

Abstract

The sense of tourism encapsulation/decapsulation is increasingly determined by the level and type of connectivity enabled by advanced Information Communication Technology (ICT). This study explores tourists’ online and face-to-face social contacts and their effects on travel experiences. A six-fold tourist typology is established, namely: Disconnected Immersive Traveller, Digital Detox Traveller, Diversionary Traveller, Dual Zone Traveller, Daily Life Controller and Social Media Addict. A contact–immersion nexus is also developed to indicate the attachment tendencies of different tourist types between their home and away zones. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords

Online social contact
Face-to-face social contact
Contact–immersion nexus
Tourism encapsulation/decapsulation





New publication: Job Satisfaction and Employee Turnover Determinants in High Contact Services: Insights from Employees’ Online Reviews,

BU research

NEW PAPER: Stamolampros, P., Korfiatis, N., Chalvatzis, K., Buhalis, D., 2019, Job Satisfaction and Employee Turnover Determinants in High Contact Services: Insights from Employees’ Online Reviews, Tourism Management,  Vol.75, Dec. pp.130-147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.04.030

Abstract

We explore a special case of electronic word of mouth that of employees’ online reviews to study the determinants of job satisfaction and employee turnover. We perform our analysis using a novel dataset of 297,933 employee online reviews from 11,975 US tourism and hospitality firms, taking advantage of both the review score and text.

Leadership and cultural values are found to be better predictors of high employee satisfaction, while career progression is critical for employee turnover. One unit increase in the rating for career progression reduces the likelihood of an employee to leave a company by 14.87%.  Additionally, we quantify the effect of job satisfaction on firm profitability, where one unit increase leads to an increase between 1.2 and 1.4 in ROA. 

We do not find evidence supporting the reverse relationship, that growth on firm profitability increases job satisfaction. The feedback to management in employee reviews provides specific managerial implications.

Highlights

•We use online reviews to evaluate job satisfaction and employee turnover factors for tourism and hospitality firms.
•297,933 employee review ratings and texts for 11,975 U.S tourism and hospitality firms from Glassdoor are analyzed.
•A recent extension of probabilistic topic modeling the Structural Topic Model (STM) is used for the text analysis.
•A one unit increase of the rating for career opportunities decreases the likelihood of an employee to leave by 14.87%.
•An increase by one star in the overall rating of a company is linked with an increase between 1.2 and 1.4 of ROA.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis at the WTO Forum: Facing the Demographic Challenge Through Tourism and Innovation

BU research

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis addressed the World Tourism Organization Forum: Facing the Demographic Challenge Through Tourism and Innovation in Segovia, Spain, 26 March 2019.

The meeting was opened by the Prime Minister of Spain, HE  Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of the Government of Spain and Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Professor Buhalis contributed to the Round Table focused on Tourism, Sustainability and Territorial Redistribution

Moderator: Cristina Gallach, High Commissioner for Agenda 2030 of the Government of Spain

  • Alvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, Director General of Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero
  • Damià Serrano, Director of Experience Marketing and Research at the Catalan Tourism Board
  • Elena Gil, Global Big Data Director at Telefónica and CEO at Luca
  • Violeta Matas González, Responsible for the Tourism Area of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces

Professor Buhalis in his intervention he explained the need for the creation of digital hubs that will enable innovations in rural areas and minimise the distance from the global centres through technology. Creating innovative products and services through facilitating a bottom up approach to empower entrepreneurship and support sustainable development will enable the repopulation of rural and peripheral areas. Smartness and agility will empower the development of innovative ecosystems that can address different market segments and create resources for all stakeholders.

New article by Angela Smith, Derek Robbins & Janet E. Dickinson 2019,Defining sustainable transport in rural tourism: experiences from the New Forest

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New article by Angela Smith, Derek Robbins & Janet E. Dickinson 2019,
Defining sustainable transport in rural tourism: experiences from the New Forest
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Volume 27(2), Pages: 258-275 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2017.1401633

ABSTRACT

Transport policy agendas have long sought to bring about more sustainable transport at tourism destinations. Whilst there are examples of successes, it remains unclear what inroads have been made towards creating a sustainable transport future. Policy directions have evolved over a number of years and in many tourism destination contexts, it is far from clear what a desirable transport future looks like. When translated to implementation, the aims of initiatives can be unclear and baseline measures inconsistent, making success difficult to judge. This paper analyses how sustainable travel has been implemented in practice at a destination level. The focus is rural tourism and data are derived from a specific case, the New Forest National Park, UK, where a wide range of transport initiatives have been implemented since the Park’s designation in 2005. The study adopts a social practice theory perspective. Data are derived from a visitor survey, interviews and observations. It finds there is scope to improve sustainable transport provision at destinations through understanding visitor practices, but limited scope to influence meanings associated with visitor travel and travel skills. Policy meets the needs of some visitors more than others.

KEYWORDS: Rural tourism, sustainable travel, social practices, national parks

Author information

Angela Smith is a PhD student with a background in transport planning. Her research uses the experiences in the New Forest National Park to analyse transport practices and relative sustainability.

Derek Robbins is a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University. Trained as a transport planner his research interests include the relationship between transport and tourism, tourism and climate change, sustainable transport policy and the cruise industry.

Janet Dickinson is a professor at Bournemouth University. Her research interests focus on tourism and climate change, the sharing economy, social representations and time.

Funding

New Forest National Park Authority.