(ICOT 2011) Tourism in an Era of Uncertainty Rhodes Island

Transcription

PROCEEDINGS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
(ICOT 2011)
Tourism in an Era of Uncertainty
Rhodes Island, Greece
27–30 April 2011
EDITORS
Konstantinos Andriotis
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
[email protected]
Antonis Theocharous
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
[email protected]
Filareti Kotsi
Technological Educational Institute of Serres, Greece
[email protected]
©
2011 International Association for Tourism Policy
ISBN 978-9963-9799-3-6
ISSN 1986-4256
Printed in Cyprus
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONFERENCE AIM ............................................................ 10
CONFERENCE TOPICS .......................................................11
COMMITTEES ..................................................................... 12
COMMITTEES ..................................................................... 12
keynote speakers ................................................................... 14
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE................................................ 15
An International Approach To Encourage Responsible
Tourism In European Higher Education ................... 16
The Shadow Economy: Its Effects On The Competition In
The Swedish Restaurant Industry ............................. 28
JOHN ARMBRECHT AND MATS CARLBÄCK ............................ 28
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN ................................ 28
A Quest For Authenticity: Ecotourism Potential In
Kafarhamam, Southern Lebanon .............................. 48
Sustainability Through Knowledge Management: Stimulating
Tacit Knowledge Transfer Using Fuzzy Logic Rules 58
A New Destination For Alternative Tourism; Lycian Way ... 78
CANAN BASTEMUR ................................................................ 78
CIDE RIFAT ILGAZ KASTAMONU UNIVERSITY,TURKEY........... 78
An Evaluation Of Official Government Tourism Websites As
A Knowledge-Based Platform To Improve The
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Development Of Sustainable Tourism ...................... 86
Golf Tourism Development In Cyprus: Opportunities And
Challenges ................................................................. 98
Tourisτ Education As The Medium For Achieving Quality In
The Development Of Local Communities .............. 107
MARINA BOURDI.................................................................. 107
The Relative Importance Of Promotional Activities As
Perceived By Uk-Based Travel Intermediaries About
Turkey ......................................................................115
ALI SELCUK CAN ..................................................................115
How Diverse Is Tourist Youth Market? An Empirical
Research On Interaction With Host Communities .. 124
MARIA JOÃO CARNEIRO AND CELESTE EUSÉBIO ................. 124
The Effect Of Real-Time Congestion Information In A Theme
Park: A Simulation-Based Approach ...................... 135
Cultural Firms, From Artwork Containers To Event Locations:
Critics And Perspectives ......................................... 145
Tourism In Times Of Crisis: Tour Operators’ Responses To
The South-East Asian Tsunami (2004) ................... 156
JESSICA DERHAM ................................................................. 156
Pixalated, The World Of Mass Photography And Its Place In
Tourism ................................................................... 171
The Role Of Web Tourism In Development Of Historical City
................................................................................. 188
Case Study: Yazd Historical City ........................................ 188
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The Impact Of Travel Experience On The Quality Of Life 198
Business At Religious Sites: ............................................... 209
Bless Or Sin? ....................................................................... 209
Community Attitudes: Using The Dit- Achiev Model To
Measure Resident’s Attitudes Towards Developing
Sustainable Tourism ................................................ 218
Managing The Hotel Managers:.......................................... 235
Hrm Practices In Greek Luxury Hotels............................... 235
To Blog or Not to Blog in a Travel Marketing Channel Mix,
Breaking the Myths ................................................. 249
Climate Change Adaptation For Tourism In The Pacific:
Analysing The Policy Environment In Fiji ............. 275
1. Introduction ..................................................................... 276
2. Tourism and Climate Change in Fiji ............................... 276
4. Findings ........................................................................... 280
5. Implications and Recommendations ............................... 283
When Tourism Supports Local Products: The Case Of
Grecotel Creta Palace .............................................. 287
Economic Consequences Of Natural Disasters On A Touristic
Area: The Case Of Fires In Chalkidiki, At 2006 ..... 299
How An Intensive Volume Of Information Technology Affects
The Hotel Clientele Target ...................................... 310
2. The structure of Information technology today ...............311
4. Description of Labor Research ....................................... 313
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Towards A Tolerance Of Ambiguity Model In Greek Tourism
Industry ................................................................... 326
Table 2: Involvement Factor Analysis Results .................... 331
Finally, the correlation between the two factors that capture
Greek CEOs’ involvement towards change ambiguity
and uncertainty is in general medium to low degree
(0,430, ***p<.01). ................................................... 332
Ordinary regression was run in order to examine the impact of
managers’ perceptional, emotional and cognitive
attitudes to their tolerance-of-ambiguity (hereafter
ToA). Regarding, the hypothesis of the paper: ....... 332
H1: Only locus of control, interest and job satisfaction
emerged as significant predictors of CEOs’ ToA..... 332
Coastal Resources Management in Israel ........................... 337
An Assessment Of The Demand For And Supply Of Tourism
Experiences In The National Marine Park Of
Zakynthos (NMPZ) ................................................. 358
Rural Tourism In Bulgaria-Features, Examples And
Tendencies For Development .................................. 373
Factors Influencing Global Tourism Space Of Polish
Tourists:Age And Gender........................................ 383
KRZYSZTOF KASPRZAK AND MATYLDA AWEDYK............... 383
Women ................................................................................ 391
Men
391
Women ................................................................................ 391
Men
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391
Tea and Travel: Motivations of Western Tea Drinkers........ 397
The Origin Of Tourism In Spain, Granada And The Alhambra:
Writers, Painters And Musicians ............................. 413
The Effectivenss Of Destination Marketing In Small Island
Developing States: A Case Study Of The Seychelles
Archipelago ............................................................. 424
Women in hotel management and leadership: Diamond or
glass? ....................................................................... 438
For Or Against The Smoking Ban In Restaurants In Greece?
................................................................................. 451
Climbing Tourists’ Environmental Attitudes: Evidence From
Kalymnos Island, Greece ........................................ 462
Tourist Vs. Supplier: A Value Reaction Analysis ................ 477
Dancing to the Tune of Waves: ........................................... 490
Impact of Maritime History on Tourism in Goa ................. 490
Social Impacts Of Tourism As Perceived By State-Planned
Tourism Destination Residents: The Case Of
Huatulco, Mexico .................................................... 504
Behavioural Patterns Of Spring Break: The Case Of
Acapulco, Mexico ................................................... 513
Dependence On Local Tourism Resources: Advantage Or
Barrier To Change In Rural Tourism? ..................... 521
Optimism Or Denial? .......................................................... 536
Perception Of Climate Change Consequences For Winter
Sport Tourism In Sweden ........................................ 536
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The Conflicting Interactions Among Stakeholders In
Religious And Pilgrimage Sites .............................. 552
Tourism Strategy through Partnership: Rhetoric or Reality?
................................................................................. 566
A Case Example from Australia .......................................... 566
Health regions as tourism destinations: A new approach to
regional development? ............................................ 579
The Use Of Territorial Brands To Stand Out As A Tourist
Destination .............................................................. 595
Sustainable Archaeological Sites: Literature Review And
Research Directions ................................................ 605
Touristic Education In Function Of Sustainable Development
In Kosovo ................................................................ 619
Destination Safety And Crisis Management ....................... 626
Positive Integration Between Tourism And Agriculture:
Comparative Study On Agri-Tourism Between Iida
And Aizu In Japan ................................................... 642
Environmental Control, Wage Inequality and National
Welfare For A Tourism Economy .......................... 654
1. Introduction ..................................................................... 654
2. The Model and Analysis.................................................. 656
3. Simulations...................................................................... 663
4. Conclusions ..................................................................... 666
Towards A Quantification Model: The Impact Of Eco-Cultural
Heritage-Based Mass Tourism In The High Mountains
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Of Sinai Peninsula ................................................... 674
The Impact Of Climate Change On The Skiing Tourism
Industry In Tyrol (Austria/Italy) .............................. 686
The Impacts Of Crises On The Development Of Tourist
Destinations ............................................................. 697
Strategies To Improve Tourism Service Excellence: A South
African Case Study ................................................. 713
The Motivations Of Female Romance Tourism In The Turkish
Coastal Resort Of Marmaris ................................... 726
The Contribution Of Architecture: Applying A Nautical Model
To Alternative Tourism............................................ 738
Host Communities’ Perceptions Of Tourism Development
And Planning In The Kure Mountains National Park,
Kastamonu-Bartin, Turkey ...................................... 748
Can We Promote Accessible Tourism? Yes, We Can. And We
Should ..................................................................... 761
Effectiveness Of Promotion Of Latvian National Tourism
Organisation ............................................................ 773
Sars And Tourism In Beijing And Toronto.......................... 785
The Future And The Political Economy Of Tourism In The
Future: ..................................................................... 795
What Should We Prepare For? ............................................ 795
Locus Of Control Of Professional Tourist Guides .............. 808
Application Of The Destination Life Cycle Concept In
Managing Urban Tourism: Case Of Poznan, Poland
................................................................................. 819
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Social Media In The Tourism Industry: The Online
Face(Book) Of National Tourism Organisations .... 831
Interpreting Online Hotel Reviews: Risky Business........... 843
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CONFERENCE AIM
The twenty-first century has brought new challenges for tourism. Climate
change, infectious diseases, economic crises, terrorism, globalisation, and
entrenched social problems pose threats and create an uncertain tourism
environment that affects destinations and their populations in virtually every
corner of the contemporary world. To keep pace with these challenges,
governments, businesses, communities, and tourism organisations need to
continuously assess environmental factors, to identify future trends and to
examine various response policies and management techniques to
decrease risk and uncertainty. Bearing all these in mind, ICOT 2011 aims
to contribute to the debate on tourism in relation to different aspects of
uncertainty, by stimulating discussion and exchange of ideas between
tourism professionals, academics, researchers, policy-makers, consultants,
practitioners, government officials and postgraduate students from tourismrelated fields.
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CONFERENCE TOPICS
The topics of the conference include but are not limited to the following:
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Climate Change and Natural Disasters
Health Problems / Infectious Diseases / Epidemiology
Economic Crises and Risk
Uncertainty and Risk
Destination Attributes Related to Uncertainty
Role of Uncertainty and Risk in the Tourist Experience
Globalisation Effects
Tourism, Terrorism, Safety and Security
Tourism Development, Policy and Planning
Economic/Social/Environmental/Cultural Impact of Tourism
Community Responses to Risk and Uncertainty.
Resiliency Planning
Sustainable Tourism
Alternative and Special Interest Tourism
Tourism Marketing and Management
Information Technology in Tourism
Negotiation in Tourism
Industry’s Role in Managing Growth Transportation and Tourism
Authenticity and Commodification
Tourism Education
The Future of Tourism
COMMITTEES
CHAIRMAN
Konstantinos Andriotis, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
VICE CHAIRMAN
Dimitrios P. Stergiou, Hellenic Open University, Greece
Antonis Theocharous, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
George Agiomirgianakis, Hellenic Open University
Theodoros Benetatos, IMI University Center, Switzerland
Nikolaos Boukas, European University, Cyprus
Bill Bramwell, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Carla Pinto Cardoso, Fernando Pessoa University, Portugal
Peter Cave, University of Central Lancashire, UK
Noga Collins-Kreiner, University of Haifa, Israel
Keith Dewar, University of New Brunswick-Saint John, Canada
Yuksel Ekinci, Oxford Brookes University, UK
Shi Fangfang, Dongbei University Finance and Economics, China
Aliza Fleischer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Michael Hall, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Lee Jolliffe, University of New Brunswick-Saint John, Canada
Filareti Kotsi, Hellenic Open University, Greece
Cheng Li, Sichuan University, China
Ewen Michael, La Trobe University, Australia
Graham Miller, University of Surrey, UK
Christof Pforr, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
Neil Robinson, University of Salford, UK
Alexis Saveriades, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Pasquale Sgro, Deakin University, Australia
Rodoula Tsiotsou, University of Macedonia, Greece
David Roger Vaughan, Bournemouth University, UK
Natan Uriely, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Kitty Wang, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Craig Webster, The University of Nicosia, Cyprus
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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Konstantinos Andriotis, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Theodoros Benetatos, IMI University Center, Switzerland
Anastasia Mavrothalassiti, Technical Lyceum of Paradisi, Greece
Christos Petreas, Petreas Associates, Greece
Dimitrios P. Stergiou, Hellenic Open University, Greece
Antonis Theocharous, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Shi Fangfang, Dongbei University Finance and Economics, China
Alexis Saveriades, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
Konstantinos Papadopoulos. Cyprus University of Technology
Misela Marvic, Cyprus University of Technology
Fotini Papadopoulou, Cyprus University of Technology
Savvas Sakkadas, Cyprus University of Technology
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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor David Airey
Keynote address: "Tourism Education in Turbulent Times"
David Airey is Professor of Tourism Management at the
University of Surrey where, until he retired from his full-time
position in 2009, he also served as Pro-Vice Chancellor. His
main areas of academic interest are in tourism education and
tourism policy and organisation. He has published and
lectured widely on these topics and together with John Tribe
edited the first international text devoted to tourism education.
He currently co-chairs the UN World Tourism Organization's
Education and Science Council and in 2006 received the UNWTO's prestigious
Ulysses award for his contribution to tourism education.
Professor Arie Reichel
Keynote address: "Tourist Perceived Risk: Something to avoid or desire?"
Arie Reichel is Professor and Dean of the Guilford Glazer
School of Business and Management at Ben- Gurion
University of the Negev in Israel. He is the Founding Dean of
BGU's southern campus at Eilat and the Founding Head of
the Department of Hotel and Tourism Management on Be'erSheva campus. Prof. Reichel has published dozens of articles
in top tourism and hospitality journals, and is also involved
with these journals as either an editorial board member or
blind reviewer for submitted papers. His main current research interest is in
travelers' destination risk perception and means for mitigating such worries from
both organizational and DMOs perspectives, utilizing effective marketing tools.
Prof. Reichel earned his Ph.D. in Corporate Strategy at the University of
Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. After serving as assistant professor at New York
University (NYU) Stern School of Management, he joined Ben-Gurion University in
Israel. He has also taught courses and managed executive training workshops in
France, Jordan and Bethlehem. Prof. Reichel is an active head of accreditation
committees appointed by the Israel Council for Higher Education and has been
recently involved with the development of the Department of Hotel and Tourism
Management in Cyprus University of Technology In Limassol. In addition, he
serves on the supreme academic council of the College of Management of Israel,
and volunteers to serve on the Board of the Institute for the Advancement of the
Deaf in Israel.
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SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2011
17:00 - 19:00 Registration (Rodian Amathus Hotel)
19:00 - 19:30 Konstantinos Andriotis (Cyprus University of Technology),
Dr. Dimitrios Stergiou (Hellenic Open University) & Dr.
Antonis Theocharus (Cyprus University of Technology)
19.30 - 20.00 Keynote Speech
20:00 - 21:00 Welcome Reception
THURSDAY 28 APRIL 2011
08:45 - 09:30 Keynote Speech
09:30 - 11:00 Parallel Sessions 1 (rooms A,B,C,D)
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break
11.30 - 13.00 Parallel Sessions 2 (rooms A,B,C,D)
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee Break
18:30 - 23:00 Tour of Rhodes Old City and Dinner at a Traditional
Taverna
09:00 - 18:00
FRIDAY 29 APRIL 2011
Keynote Speech
Parallel Sessions 1 (rooms A,B,C,D)
Coffee Break
Lunch
Coffee Break
Conference Dinner
SATURDAY 30 APRIL 2011
Optional daytrip - Simi mini cruise
09:00 - 18:00
SUNDAY 1 MAY 2011
Optional daytrip - Tour of Rhodes Island
08:45- 09:30
09:30 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:30
11.30 - 13.00
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:30
15:30 - 16:00
16:00 - 17:30
20:00 - 24:00
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AN INTERNATIONAL APPROACH TO
ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IN
EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION
PILAR ALBEROLA AND INMACULADA MORA
FLORIDA UNIVERSITARIA
(AFFILIATED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA),
SPAIN
Abstract
Responsible Tourism1 is about tourists making environmentally friendly,
sustainable, ethical and respectful choices when travelling minimizing,
therefore, the negative impact of tourism. Not only tourists, but also future
professionals in the sector have a crucial role in the achievement of
responsible tourism. Tourism students, future professionals, must learn to
work within this approach. Unfortunately, in their university studies there
is a lack of specialised training in this matter. In this paper we will present
FORTE (Fostering Responsible Tourism in European Higher Education)
project funded by the European Commission within the Erasmus
Programme. This project aims to create an international team of
professors, students and experts in order to acquire and share knowledge
on responsible tourism. Besides raising awareness of the need to
encourage responsible tourism, the pedagogical methodology followed
throughout FORTE enhanced students’ use of information technologies,
international collaborative work and autonomy, which are essential skills
for future professionals.
1. Introduction
In recent years, the tourism sector has been a fast growing economic
activity in many countries. Tourism creates added value and employment
in the receiving countries and can contribute to a better knowledge or
image of a country. However, the question of whether tourism is developing
in a sustainable way is posed with an increasing frequency.
To achieve a real implementation of responsible tourism, tourists as
well as professionals in the sector play a crucial role. Current students
1
According to the Responsible Tourism Code for the Pacific:
http://www.responsibletourism.org.nz
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(future professionals) must know better their environment and its limits,
they must learn how to work with a responsible tourism approach, but
unfortunately, there is still a need for specialised training in this matter in
the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) programmes. Nevertheless, it is
worth mentioning that some good practices have arisen in responsible
tourism around the world in the past few years (BEST EN, Green Globe,
etc.) This confirms the global willingness of changing the tourism
scenario, as well as a positive growth in quality and quantity of tourism
education.
The labour market also requires professionals with new competences
(skills, open attitudes and an international perspective), to succeed in this
mission it is also essential to give tourism studies an international
approach, contributing to increase students’ training opportunities and
employability.
In this paper we are going to present the experience carried out through
a European project titled FORTE: Fostering Responsible Tourism in
European Higher Education, an Intensive Programme (IP) funded by the
European Commission within the Erasmus Programme. This is one of the
projects developed in the frame of a pedagogical innovation model
implemented at Florida Universitaria, Valencia (Spain) following a
project-based methodology.
FORTE project was promoted and coordinated by Florida Universitaria,
and it was developed in three academic years (October 2008-March 2011).
Direct beneficiaries were 75 students and 20 lecturers in Tourism,
Catering and Hotel Management and Business Management studies from
five European Higher Education Institutions: Florida Universitaria
(Spain), Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Plantjin
University College (Belgium), Kaunas University (Lithuania) and
Rotterdam University (The Netherlands). Furthermore, all the students at
the institutions participating as well as the stakeholders related to the
project topic, were also indirect beneficiaries.
The main objective of FORTE was to create a team of international
professors, students and experts that acquired and shared knowledge in the
field of responsible tourism. This project contributed to increase the
mobility of students and teaching staff in Europe as well as to foster the
multilateral cooperation between HEIs and other agents from the tourist
sector in Europe.
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2. Background
2.1. Responsible Tourism vs. Responsible Tourism Education
Tourism is a major economic activity with a broadly positive impact
on economic growth and employment in Europe. The World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) promotes sustainable responsible and universally
accessible tourism trying to establish a suitable balance between
environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects. The Global Code of
Ethics for Tourism adopted at the thirteenth WTO General Assembly in
1999 sets a frame of reference for the responsible and sustainable
development of world tourism. It draws inspiration from prior declarations
and industry codes adding new thoughts that reflect our changing society
at the beginning of the 21st century.
The European Commission shows its concern about the need for
improvement of the tourism industry from a sustainable and holistic
approach. On the one hand, some conferences have been held to
strengthen the visibility of tourism at a European level and to promote a
competitive, sustainable and socially responsible European tourism, as in
“Towards a Socially Responsible European Tourism Model” held in 2010;
on the other hand, this trend has been supported by several communications,
such as: COM (2001) 665 which states that strategies and measures
designed to upgrade skills in the tourism industry show a trend towards
more holistic solutions based on partnerships and dialogue between
training institutions, the tourism industry and other major stakeholders,
such as public authorities. In 2007 the communication COM (2007) 621
added that some of the principles for achieving a competitive and
sustainable tourism are: take a holistic and integrated approach, plan for
the long term, involve all stakeholders, use best available knowledge and
undertake continuous monitoring. Recently, in the COM (2010) 352, the
Commission sought to drive the attention of those actors who create
knowledge (e.g. universities, research institutes, public and private
observatories) towards the challenges for the sustainability of European
tourism. In line with the Lisbon Treaty, the main aim of European tourism
policy is to stimulate competitiveness in the sector, while being aware of
the fact that in the long term, competitiveness is closely linked to the
'sustainable' way in which it is developed.
Many of the issues and challenges associated with sustainable tourism
development have been analysed by different authors such as Harris,
Griffin and Williams (Harris et al., 2002). There is also an increasing
number of publications dealing with the broad area of sustainable tourism
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development, as Sharpley (2009) supports, since the early 1990s, those
publications have represented the dominant tourism development
discourse in academic, policy/planning and political circles. Despite this, a
lack of consensus over the definition and the way to apply the concept into
a set of practical polices and measures still remains.
Concerning tourism education, different authors also support the need
for including innovative and holistic approaches in education in order to
improve the knowledge and the skills required of the professionals in the
sector. After an intense period of growth and development, tourism
education is in a good position to provide new insights to the operation
and management in the sector and to ensure that students have a range of
knowledge and skills for their career “(…) it is these features that will
make tourism education relevant for the future” (Airey and Tribe, 2005:
506).
The opinion of educators such as Cooper, Ritchie or Messenger, the
UNWTO contents as well as other studies on education, training and skills
development, in addition to the conclusions of government reports and
studies, show that “there are a set of key issues considered critical for
contemporary education and training in tourism” (Edgell et al., 2008: 231).
Significant challenges arise with the new knowledge and skills
required of tourism students, as well as with the types of education and
training programmes necessary to articulate, develop and implement an
integrated framework for sustainable tourism. As Jamal and Jourdan
(2009) argue, the overall sustainability paradigm is cross-disciplinary, and
requires a range of skills, knowledge and tools:
Planning for sustainable tourism requires theoretical understanding of
local-global sustainability issues, technical knowledge to develop and
apply tools for sustainable development and planning and practical
knowledge to make informed decisions (Jamal and Jourdan, 2009: 105107).
The effective management and development of tourism companies
requires people with knowledge and understanding not only of tourism
itself, but of its relationship with the complex world within it occurs and
upon which it impacts. These people may be described, as Tribe (2002)
puts it, as “philosophy practitioners” - individuals who are equipped with
both the practical skills demanded by the needs of the sector and the
capacity for critical reflection and creative reasoning that the (university)
study of tourism can provide (Sharpley, 2011: 28).
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1.2 Pedagogical Innovation through International Projects
Pedagogical innovation in HEIs is essential to prepare students for
their real role in their future careers, Florida Universitaria, has chosen a
project-based methodology as main thread for its overall innovation
programme. Furthermore, it is widely supported that international projects
encourage competences such as communication skills, collaborative work,
ICTs use, autonomy, open attitude and an international perspective that
can contribute to increase students’ employability.
FORTE shares many of the aspects highlighted by Mioduser et al.
(2003) in their research about ICT-based innovation, they define
innovation as:
(…) based on pedagogical practices that promote active and independent
learning processes, provide students with information-handling
competences and skills, encourage collaborative and project-based
learning, address issues of equity and redefine traditional space and time
learning configuration (Nachmias et al., 2004: 295).
Collaborative training will help students improve their performance
when they join the tourism industry as professionals. As Gokhale’s (1995)
explains, companies place increasing emphasis on teamwork within the
workforce. In this sense, Ngeow (1998) states that collaborative learning
should prepare students for the kind of teamwork that will be required of
them in their future workplaces. At university level this collaborative
approach should be developed in real settings, Stacey (1999), following
Bednar et al. (1992), also supports the idea that tasks must be situated in a
real-life context so that the student thinks as an expert would do.
Other benefits students can obtain from collaborative work are
summarised by Wiersema (2000) as follows: students learn by themselves,
learn more, learn interpersonal/social skills, feel more dedicated and
confident, enjoy the class, etc. Consequently, by making students work
collaboratively we are encouraging autonomy and social interaction,
which are two key skills currently required by companies. The advantages
increase when this interaction is developed in an international setting
where oral and written communication skills are improved and topics such
as cross-cultural matters arise.
The convenience of using collaborative work in connection with ICT
tools has been emphasized by authors such as Cobb et al. (1998) or
Bianchetti et al. (2000) who found that with this methodological approach
students' motivation and participation increased. As explained by Harasim
et al. (1995), this panorama represents a new paradigm for teaching and
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learning and provides unique opportunities to support active collaborative
learning. Furthermore, Alavi et al. (1997) claim that working collaboratively
through Virtual Learning Environments can open new possibilities for
establishing partnerships with practitioners in various fields and at
different education levels. Bilbao et al. (2007), after researching on the use
of e-learning for pedagogical innovation, conclude that it improves the
results of students at the same time as students find it useful. Apart from
the advantages outlined above, ICT tools are essential in the development
of international projects, traditional teaching concepts of time and space
disappear when working internationally. ICT tools as Mioduser et al.
(2003: 26) support “break down the walls” of the classroom, as regards
time and space. Finally, thanks to ICT-facilitated collaborative learning
settings, international online learning communities can be created, with
added benefits such as enhancing creative and innovative skills as Aceto et
al. (2010) highlight.
Project-based methodologies focus teaching on learners, involving
them in situations they will be likely to face in the future. Using
Dillenbourg’s terminology (2000) students are not only “active”, but also
“actors”. But not only students are an active part of this pedagogical
approach, as Smith and MacGregor (1992) claim that collaborative
learning includes a variety of educational approaches involving joint
intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. This
scope can be expanded so that also professionals and support
organizations can be involved in the collaborative approach as in FORTE
project.
2.2 Project Description
FORTE is a 3-year Intensive Programme developed with the
collaboration of students, lecturers and professionals from five different
countries. This international project was not devised as an additional
activity in students’ curriculum, but as an integrated part of their course
programme. This fact forced each institution to integrate the topics
covered in FORTE into its syllabus. The integration was implemented
through some related subjects or additional seminars delivered by
professionals, being the project outcomes part of students’ academic
assessment.
Each Higher Education Institution contributed to the project with its
field of expertise, working with its students on one speciality each year.
The first edition, FORTE I, was an introduction to responsible tourism
through the study of concepts such as: sustainability, accessibility, local
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development and corporate social responsibility. The international seminar
was held in Valencia (Spain) in March 2009.
FORTE II was focused on Hospitality Management with the approach
"Innovation and creativity: Future trends in responsible Hospitality
Management", topics such as business communication, human resources,
marketing, logistics and operational management were raised. This edition
took place in Turku (Finland) in April 2010.
FORTE III was about the promotion of responsible tourism through
tourist routes. Participants worked on the following approaches:
environmental, economic, cultural, social and sustainable marketing. It
was held in Kaunas (Lithuania) in March 2011.
A group of 75 students and 20 lecturers from five different countries
had the opportunity to learn and share theoretical and practical experiences
in the field of responsible tourism through an innovative approach. The
lecturers who took part in the project were those who taught modules
related to the topics covered in the project. With regard students, in the
selection process priority was given to those in their final year of Tourism,
Catering and Hotel and Business Management Degrees. Since English was
the communication language, students’ English level was essential to
select the candidates who would take part in FORTE.
The methodological approach was based on students as main actors,
lecturers led them but students were responsible for searching information
and analysing it by means of “experiential learning”. They were also
responsible for constructing their own view on each topic by searching for
information and good practices, European and national policy information,
reference materials, etc.
Fostering collaborative work among students and lecturers in an
international scenario was one of the key aspects of FORTE. In this sense,
organization tasks as well as academic activities were designed to
encourage teamwork in national and international groups. Another
innovative aspect was supporting this methodology by the use of ICTs.
The participants used web 2.0, in particular a BLOG as a supporting
teaching tool, to share information, experiences, opinions, etc.
The BLOG acted as a “project logbook”. It was the IP course’s diary,
in which all the experiences and evidences were collected. At the end of
the IP course, a conclusions section was added within the BLOG, with the
aim of gathering general conclusions and future cooperation agreements
together with the materials used (presentations, photos from study trips,
comments, links, etc).
Despite the fact that different aspects of responsible tourism were
analysed, the methodology followed was similar in the three editions of
Page | 22
FORTE. On the whole, the process followed in each academic year can be
divided into two stages: the first one based on virtual work in the autumn
semester and the second stage, which is the actual two-week international
seminar (Intensive Programme), held each year in the spring semester at a
different partner institution.
Stage one was developed through virtual communication. Before the IP
course took place, students worked in each country on their specialisation
from a national perspective and in their national language. The BLOG
communication contributed to introduce the European dimension in the
learning process. Each institution had to organize students in national
groups choosing one representative per group for posting some of the
messages into the blog. Coordination among partners was essential to have
messages posted on time once lecturers had set deadlines for the different
parts of the online communication. Each university worked on a particular
topic, and posted findings into the blog applying the following pattern:
first, some general information was posted by lecturers and project
organisers. Then, after the participants’ introduction, each group posted
the information they had obtained from research in the field they had to
work on: complete definition of the topic, bibliography used, survey,
results analysis, study about existing policies and finally examples of good
practices.
In the second stage, the actual international seminar took place, five
representative students and two lecturers of each institution travelled to the
designed host university for a 2-week training programme. During those
two weeks, tasks were organised in international groups to encourage
participants’ integration and cross-cultural awareness. The work plan
included lectures and presentations by experts in the tourism sector
(consultants, managers, regional government representatives...), practical
workshops on the contents of the lecture, study trips (to hotels, natural
parks, tourist routes…) and working sessions to reach conclusions on the
topic. During the IP course students had the opportunity to share and build
an international vision on responsible tourism. All these sessions added an
important value to all the participants’ experiential learning.
Expected outputs, were the same in FORTE I, II, and III, although
adapted to the topic analysed: Research on a particular issue related to
responsible tourism, report writing with findings and conclusions at
national level, oral presentations, materials and a final global report.
As regards student’s assessment, participants gained three ECTS; their
evaluation was based on the virtual communication activities, the oral
presentations and the written final report.
Page | 23
In relation with the evaluation of the project itself, the three editions
were assessed by means of satisfaction questionnaires that were completed
by all the parties participating.
3. Conclusions
Considering the relevance of tourism and its constant evolution, we
find that this IP has been an excellent opportunity to increase participants’
awareness of the need to encourage responsible tourism. Additionally,
FORTE has created an ideal setting to get academic staff and professionals
to work together and this experience has also strengthen linkages between
the tourism sector and the Higher Education Institutions.
FORTE’s international approach has contributed to enable students and
teachers to work together in multinational groups, to benefit from special
learning and teaching conditions and to gain new perspectives on
responsible tourism. It has also allowed lecturers to exchange views on
teaching content and new curricula approaches and to test teaching
methods in an international classroom environment. This European project
has also enabled students and teachers’ mobility in Europe helping them
understand new cross-cultural matters.
The implementation of innovative methodologies in FORTE has also
promoted students’ use of information technologies, communication in
English, international collaborative work and autonomy together with an
increase of students’ motivation. These additional skills and competences
students have acquired will improve their possibilities of integration in the
present labour market.
With regard to the participants’ satisfaction, questionnaires show that
95% of respondents were satisfied or highly satisfied with the project at an
academic and pedagogical level (lecturers’ capabilities and expertise,
teaching quality, learning outcomes and social activities). Furthermore,
90% considered that the IP could have a positive influence on their
employability.
To conclude, in the present worldwide situation concerning economic,
social and environmental issues, implementing pedagogical strategies
similar to the ones applied in FORTE is highly recommended.
Albeit things are improving, a change of mentality is still necessary.
The tourism industry should take a step forward incorporating responsible
tourism into daily work. Education in Tourism should integrate this
approach as an element of competitiveness and sustainability and HEI’s
should contribute to make it possible.
Page | 24
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Page | 27
THE SHADOW ECONOMY: ITS EFFECTS ON THE
COMPETITION IN THE SWEDISH RESTAURANT
INDUSTRY
JOHN ARMBRECHT AND MATS CARLBÄCK
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
Abstract
This paper, as part of a research attempt to map and analyse the current
situation regarding the Swedish restaurant industry’s tax situation, is
focusing on the effects tax evasion on the competition. Previous research
has indicated that a large shadow economy sector could lead to unfair
market competition and consequently less development in the sector. The
companies within the shadow sector of the economy, i.e. the companies
that with different methods are trying to avoid paying some or all of the
taxes due to the tax authority, can survive and prosper with lower margins.
Simultaneously tax revenues are decreasing. This is a serious issue in a
country where the tourism is perceived as an important part of the overall
economic strategy. Ultimately the situation could force the serious firms
out of business and inflict the tax paying morale in the society as a whole.
The results are based on a survey of 535 restaurants in Sweden and
indicate that there is a problem not only to survive as a law-abiding firm,
but also that the unfair competition is affecting the whole sector’s progress
and development. The theoretical contribution is based on adding
knowledge, based on industry specific data, to the discussion on the effects
of the shadow economy. Simultaneously, the results could be practically
useful for the development of a more suitable tax system, such as a
presumptive tax system, that could address some of the issues with unfair
competition in sectors with similar problems.
1. Introduction and Background
In most countries a shadow economy and a grey sector as a part of the
overall economy is generally accepted. This sector of the economy is
falling outside the norm when it comes to keeping books, filing returns
and paying taxes due to the authority. It is on the other hand not part of the
underground economy, as this is based on illegal activities.
It is also common that the shadow economy is dominated by entities
belonging to the so called Hard-to-Tax - HTT’s. The HTT's could be
described as individuals and companies that for several reasons are harder
Page | 28
to tax than other entities. This group is actively trying to reduce the tax bill
by different methods of “creative accounting”, tax-evading activities or
undeclared transactions. It could also be that a lack of knowledge or time
will hinder these firms or individuals from paying the right amount of tax
in time. Among others, Thuronyi (2004) argues that most HTT's are found
in sectors with plenty transactions and where the majority of these
transactions are cash transactions (Alm, Martinez-Vazquez, and Schneider,
2004; Pashev, 2005; Smith, 1994; Thuronyi, 2004). Korsell (1997: 2005).
For the Swedish market, Svensson (2008) identified several service sectors
as part of the HTT-sector, including restaurants, hair dressers,
transportation (i.e. taxi) and smaller companies with in the construction
industry. The common factor for all of them was cash dominated trade,
often based on a large number of transactions and a labour intensive
structure.
The HTT-sector is, based on the nature of the activities, hard to analyse
or estimate, as most of the activities are conducted in order to not get
detected. Alm et. al (2004) have made attempts to estimate the size in
various economies and the results have indicated that the shadow economy
in most cases is a considerable part of GDP (Alm et al., 2004; Pashev,
2006). This will in itself be a major issue in any country and as a part of
tax politics, tax reforms and tax objectives, but it could also indirectly
affect the competitiveness within a given industry or possibly a whole
industry compared to that of another country.
If parts of the HTT-industry are faced with a considerable portion of
companies operating in the grey area, market forces could be jeopardised.
Companies that adhere to the rules and regulations will find it hard to
compete with the companies that do not strictly follow the rules, or that
engage in more or less sophisticated methods to avoid paying all taxes due
to the state. By failing to declare all revenue and all labour and instead use
some of the undeclared income to pay black wages, the tax-evading
companies will be able to survive with smaller margins than will the tax
paying entities. Letting some of the revenue fall outside the normal bookkeeping activities will also facilitate the possibility to sell products at a
lower price than the tax paying companies. This will lead to a competitive
advantage for the firms operating with grey methods and is potentially
undermining the whole industry. An uncontrolled industry, where tax
evading activities will have to be a part of the business plan or best
practice, will not only make it more difficult for the serious restaurateur to
stay in business and make enough profit to make it worth while, it could
also lead to raised entry barriers as undeclared money, used as capital
stock, is necessary to enter the arena. The same result could occur if the
Page | 29
bankruptcy rate will go up, due to unfair competition, as this will further
scare off more serious actors interested in the industry (Alalehto, 1999;
Engelschalk, 2007; Sund, 1999)
With a situation of unfair competition and where some companies will
have to operate with considerable higher margins than others to be able to
pay the taxes due, the return on the investment (ROI) will be reduced and
this is could be a discouraging factor for serious entrepreneurs interested
in investing in the industry.
Another danger with a dominating shadow industry is that serious and
well planned tax evasion will draw considerable resources from the
normal business practices and consequently influence firms negatively in
the long run. A worst case scenario could then be that serious business
operators are discouraged from entering or investing in the industry and
the not-so-serious will focus on making black money and not to develop
their business to meet new demands and standards (Smatrakalev, 2006). If
so this may lead to a stagnation of the industry in a time when several of
the former manufacturing countries, like Sweden, will rely on the service
sector to create new employment possibilities and economic growth
(Alalehto, 1999; Engelschalk, 2007; Sund, 1999).
Finally, a sector with a large shadow economy, where tax evasion is
standard, could reduce the tax paying morale as a whole. Studies have
shown that a system that does not fill its purpose could encourage other
sectors or industries to follow suit and it could also have its affect on the
general public (Bird, 2004; Bird and Wallace, 2004; Engelschalk, 2007).
The aim with this paper is to determine whether the shadow economy
is perceived as affecting the competition in the Swedish restaurant
industry and to what extent this is perceived as a problem. Further, the
objective is to establish if the profitability for the companies in this HTTsector is perceived to be damaged by the presence of tax-evading
companies and if this in the long run could hinder the development and
progression of the industry as a whole, as has been identified in other
studies, relating to other countries (Alalehto, 1999; Engelschalk, 2007;
Hjalager, 2008).
The purpose is to build up theoretical knowledge useful for a continued
discussion if the current tax system needs to be altered to address these
issues, or if an alternative system, such as a presumptive system, could be
better suited.
Page | 30
2. Theoretical Framework and Proposition Development
The issue of tax evasion has been a debated and discussed topic in
general as well as in the hospitality industry. As the HTT's often are
SME's (small and medium-sized enterprises) (European, 2010) and the
restaurant business is dominated by SME's, this sector is often part of any
discussions or research projects based on tax evasion and HTT's.
The focus though, and this is not limited to research about the
restaurant industry, is often put on areas such as loss of tax receipt from a
national perspective (Alm et al., 2004; Bahl, 2004), the problems with a
labour force that is paid with undeclared money and consequently will fall
outside the social security net, and more illegal activities such as money
laundering. All these are factors that derive from the governmental
agencies and other official bodies. Compared to a national perspective the
perspective of companies emphasises the discussion the question of unfair
competition as a result of an existing shadow economy (Hjalager, 2008;
Sund, 1999). Indeed restaurateurs themselves and the bodies representing
these firms are considering the competition question equally important to
problems arising on a national scale (see web pages for the Swedish Hotel
and Restaurant Association SHR www.shr.se and the Danish equivalent
www.horesta.dk). The following statement is retrieved from the
HORESTA site:
The competition between companies should not be based on negligence of
current laws and regulations. Evasion of tax and fees and the use of
undeclared labour create an impossible situation for fair competition. It is
therefore important that the governmental agencies have the necessary
resources and tools to implement a control that is aimed to reduce the
amount of tax evasion in the industry. A shadow economy is undermining
the possibility of fair competition for law-abiding businesses.
A study by Hjalager (2008) on the Danish restaurant industry and the
effects in relation to a tax evasion brings up the competition argument as
one important factor, too. She concludes that competitive effects of tax
evasion are similarly important as discussions on the overall tax receipt
and money laundering. The article is also highlighting the effects tax
evasion could have, as companies who sell products and services at too
low prices will distort the competition and the law-abiding companies
could see the market vanish (Hjalager, 2008).
Unreasonably low prices offered by the tax evading companies could
not only lead to a market that is shrinking for serious business owners, it
Page | 31
could also imply that going shadow will be the only way to stay in
business and a vicious circle is created.
Sweden is, just like Denmark, a country with a generally high level of
taxation, something that is perceived as a factor for generating a shadow
economy (Alm et al., 2004; Pashev, 2005; Terkper, 2003; Thuronyi,
2004). And even if the competition issue is left out of many of the
discussion on the subject, both the Danish and Swedish studies bring up
competition as a factor. Korsell (1997; 2005) writes that a biased
competition situation is one of the most serious problems with a shadow
economy of considerable size. If the tax evading companies can finance
their business with undeclared money it will have serious effect on the
law-abiding companies’ possibilities to survive in the market place
(Alalehto, 1999; Korsell, 1997; 2005; Sund, 1999). A worst case scenario
according to Korsell (1997) would be that the serious companies will be
forced out of the market. Svensson (2008) is also mentioning the
competition issue in the analysis of the Swedish cash-handling sectors. A
substantial shadow economy will affect the serious companies’ attempts to
survive in the market place (Svensson, 2008). Based on this we propose
the following proposition:
Proposition 1: The tax evading activities within the shadow economy
as part of the restaurant industry in Sweden is perceived as affecting the
competition in the industry negatively.
The task of "sizing” or estimating the shadow economy is difficult.
Attempts have been made (Alm et al., 2004), but the nature of the activity
- to hide factors from the controlling agency - makes it more like a
guessing game.
Een in this case most of the research has been done on a national level
covering many industries and sectors. Very little has been produced in
terms of industry specific studies. Hjalager (2008) argues that it is difficult
to draw too many conclusions from the results as it is impossible to define
if the increased numbers of audits that result in prosecution from tax
evasion is based on better and tighter control or an increase in tax evasion.
But results from another campaign in Denmark, Hjalager (2008),
cautiously indicate that the sector is growing.
In lieu of longitudinal data sets and detail studies, and based on the fact
that evading activities per definition are hard to detect, the attention will
have to be put on discussions from other countries and the limited amounts
of surveys conducted in Sweden. A study by the Swedish Tax Authority
(Skatteverkets) on cash-handling in businesses showed that a large
proportion of restaurants being audited did engage in tax evading activities
Page | 32
(Svensson, 2008), but as no previous data is available to compare with, the
results will tell little about an increase or decrease.
Countries like Bulgaria, Italy and Poland have introduced various
forms of new taxation systems to be able to tackle a growing black market
(Arachi and Santoro, 2007; Kopczuk, 2010; Pashev, 2005) and Spain
introduced a modulus system earlier on to deal with the issue (Demaeghty,
2010). Based on this, together with the fact that Sweden is a high tax
country we present the following proposition:
Proposition 2: The size of the shadow economy within the restaurant
industry in Sweden is perceived as growing and consequently reducing the
prerequisites for fair competition.
Based on the discussion above, it is hard to estimate the size of the
shadow part of the restaurant industry in Sweden and also how it compares
to the restaurant sector in other countries.
According to research on tax evasion and the shadow economy, the
restaurant sector plays a vital part (Alm et al., 2004; Bahl, 2004; OECD,
2007; Pashev, 2005). The two most important prerequisites for the HTT’s
that creates the shadow economy are a trade dominated by cash handling
and a relatively large amount of transactions (Korsell, 1997; Morrison,
1998; Smith, 1994). Another aspect is that the shadow economy often is
built on SME's, sole traders and micro companies (Arachi and Santoro,
2007; Bird, 2004; Bird and Wallace, 2004). And even if the restaurant
business is not unique in consisting of all these parts, it could probably be
said that it is by far the largest sector where all these factors prevail.
The Swedish Tax Authority’s survey indicated that the restaurant
sector dominated the companies audited and discovered with different
types of discrepancies, intentional or unintentional (Svensson, 2008). The
same fact goes for Denmark, a country with similar underlying
foundations. Hjalager (2008) found that tax evasion, social fraud and
illegal employment were significantly higher in the restaurant industry
than in other business sectors. It also became evident that smaller
restaurants were more prone to tax evading activities than corporate
businesses (Hjalager, 2008). Another important factor presented by
Hjalager (2008) is that both entry barrier and exit cost are low in the
industry, which further adds to the argument that the restaurant sector's
shadow economy is larger than in many other sectors. If we draw
conclusions from the above discussion and assume that the restaurant
industry is one of the worst affected industries in the Swedish economy,
we can then continue the discussion to if the restaurant sector in Sweden is
worse than in other countries or markets. Here, most of the literature is
Page | 33
arguing in the same direction - countries with an overall high taxation
level, a heavy tax burden on individuals and countries - will be more likely
to have a larger than normal shadow economy (Smatrakalev, 2006; Smith,
1994). The underlying factor for this is the incentive. If the tax burden is
perceived as high, the risk taking in conjunction with tax evading activities
could be interpreted as worthwhile, as there is a lot of money to be saved
by not declaring everything (Arachi and Santoro, 2007; Engelschalk,
2004). While there at present are no clear evidence or indications that the
Swedish restaurant industry is worse affected than other similar
economies, the conditions presented in previous studies allows us to
present the following proposition:
Proposition 3: The shadow economy within the restaurant industry in
Sweden is perceived as worse than in other countries and in other parts of
the Swedish economy by the restaurant owners.
If we accept the fact that there is a shadow economy in the restaurant
industry, it is important to look at the implications with such a
phenomenon. There are clear and well researched effects such as a
diminishing tax receipts for the government (Alm et al., 2004; Bahl, 2004;
Engelschalk and Loeprick, 2008), a problematic situation within the labour
market, as some employees will fall outside the social security net
(Morrison, 1998), and the safety aspect, as these issues could be jeopardise
within restaurants in the shadow economy (Hjalager, 2008; Morrison,
1998). The two latter are closely connected to another aspect that is less
discussed in the research literature, but equally important, not at least from
the business owner’s perspective - development and progress.
Companies operating in the shadow sector with the use of undeclared
employees outside normal legal framework will put less effort on the
social welfare of the staff, which will not be covered by insurance and be
under less control from the authorities and the union (Morrison, 1998).
They will also, which leads on to next area, be excluded from training
courses and other measures that will increase the knowledge base in the
company. Hence the enterprises operating in the shadow area could
develop slower as the staff is less trained and could possible have lower
qualifications. Hoffman (2003) writes that the tax evading companies will
not be part of any formal education or training; instead this will take place
imbedded in clandestine tutorial networks.
Further, as the act of evading taxes will take time and effort, the less
serious firms could have problems to uphold normal aspects of the
business. A lot of time will be devoted to fiddle and less time to normal
development of the business. Normal business plans and strategies will be
Page | 34
replaced by strategies relating to tax evasion. A serious consequence of
this will be that the companies in the shadow economy will distance
themselves from the more “normal” business society. They will not be part
of employer’s organisations with all the training and development that this
could include. The staff will not be members of the union and therefore
miss out on certain aspects of the carrier development.
Hjalager (2008) argues that the companies in the shadow sector will
lose out on certifications, environmental labels and as a result form a
permanent sub-market, offering cheap products without any possibility of
development. Razaei (2004) is highlighting another important issue that
could affect the tax evading companies. Companies with under-declared
profit will have problems to obtain finance from banks or other sources as
they cannot show proof of a possibility to repay the money (Razaei, 2004),
and they might also have problems to form alliances with other companies
as they cannot produce figures that shows the actual result. Hjalager
(2008) has identified this on the Danish market where the tax evading
companies will have less access to financial resources for expansion and
professional development. It has gone so far that banks and financial
institutions are reluctant to lend to restaurants which means these
restaurants are trapped in a growth and development trap (Hjalager, 2008).
If the financial institutions are less willing to invest in the sector, it
could also affect the serious companies and also restrict there potential for
growth and development. An overall decrease in risk taking could not only
affect the development side but also the introduction of new concepts and
ideas.
But a large, or relatively large, informal sector could affect the
restaurants business’ prospects in more ways. If the law-abiding
companies find it increasingly difficult to operate according to rules and
regulations it could either be an incentive to cross the line and be part of
the shadow economy instead. A situation with less profitable restaurants,
due to the unfair competition from tax evading companies, could lead to
less money being invested in development and growth or simply reduce
the number of companies operating in the sector, due to low ROI and
growth prospects (Korsell, 1997). This discussion leads us to the final
proposition.
Proposition 4: The shadow economy within the restaurant industry is
perceived as affecting the progress and development of the whole business
segment.
Page | 35
3. Method
Data collection is time and resource consuming. Therefore new time
and cost efficient methods that are easy to administer have been
considered. Web surveys are advantageous since respondents are reached
through a single mouse click. They furthermore allow respondents to
answer to surveys directly at their computer. Distribution can be handled
through e-mails and allows for time and cost savings as data is directly
available to the researcher. Moreover transcription errors and handling of
paper mail is avoided.
This study uses panel data, provided by SHR. The panel consists of all
members from the Swedish restaurant and hospitality industry. Initially the
list included 2167 e-mail addresses. Since the list contained all members
within SHR restaurants obviously not complying with the definition of
SME were removed. Then a pilot study was conducted in late November
2010. The survey was sent out 20 restaurants. The pilot study was finished
in beginning of December. Then the questionnaire was then sent out to all
restaurants on the list (app. 2050).
When receiving the email with a link to the questionnaire, the
respondent first had to read overall instructions. Through clicking on the
link in the mail the respondent was redirected to the online survey. The
survey first introduced relevant areas that would be covered, and stressed
the importance of participation and anonymity of respondents. After
reading the introductory text respondent went on to answer the questions.
After completing the questionnaire the data was sent to a database for
storage. In order to facilitate the handling of large amount of data gathered
from the web survey it was formalized in SPSS without any manual input
process being required. Two reminders were sent out.
4. The Questionnaire
The survey was divided in to three parts. The first part of the survey
was a general part with questions aimed at identifying the types of
restaurants and important information such as turn over, staff, restaurant
size, number of seats and other relevant questions. The second part
intended to focus on the compliance issue for restaurants in Sweden an.
The third part was related to restaurant owners’ perceptions of the
competitive situation. Both the second part and the third part of the survey
were made up with statements regarding the situation in Sweden and the
respondents could answer according to a 5 point Likert scale to what
degree the statement was valid.
Page | 36
5. Sample
In total 535 restaurant owners and managers completed the survey
correct. The restaurants included in the survey were predominantly
independent (83.7%) (Franchise, 15.3%) and privately owned (privately
owned, 82.8%, owned by other company, 17.2%). The sample consists to
a large extent of hotel restaurants (31.4%), lunch restaurants (19.2%) and
concept restaurants (15.2%). Other types of restaurants were café/bar
(6.1%) fast food restaurants (5.7%) gourmet restaurants (9.5%) seasonrestaurants (summer/winter restaurant) and roadside-restaurants (0.8%).
Most restaurants included in the survey are established ones having
operated on the market for more than three years (77.6%). Only 10.8% of
respondents have been on the market for less than one year. Quite as
expected most restaurants were also located in larger municipalities with a
population greater than 75000 inhabitants (37.9%).
Concerning the characteristics of the restaurants included in the survey,
most restaurants had less than 10 employees (56.4%) including the
manager/owner (0-5 employees, 32.8%; 6-10 employees 25.6%). A share
of 41.3% had more than 10 employees distributed on: 10- 20 employees,
20% and more than 20 employees, 21.7%.
6. Non-response Analysis
In the Table 1 below non-response rates from the study are outlined.
Following Fan and Yan the relevant stages of non-response to draw
conclusions on the survey quality are: survey delivery, survey completion
and survey return.
Table 1: non-response analysis
emails sent out
wrong e-mail address
survey/e-mail delivery (1)
wrong person
no restaurant
vacation or maternity leave
survey/e-mail delivery (2)
survey completion
survey return
Page | 37
number
2167
84
2083
30
54
77
1922
537
535
percent
100,0%
3,9%
96,1%
1,4%
2,6%
3,7%
88,7%
27,9%
27,8%
7. Results and Analysis
Proposition 1: Even if the competition issue is less debated, research
has highlighted one important factor relating to tax evasion and the
problems related to this (Alalehto, 1999; Hjalager, 2008; Korsell, 2005;
Sund, 1999). In this study as well, the proposition;
The tax evading activities within the shadow economy, as part of the
restaurant industry in Sweden, is perceived as affecting the competition in
the industry negatively is supported by the results in this study, it is
possible to cautiously draw the conclusions that the shadow economy is
more important than previously has been anticipated. 41% of the
respondents agreed fully with this statement while just above 37% agreed
to some extent. Three thirds of the respondents experienced the tax
evasion as a problem in the sector, at the same time as 2.1% did not see
tax evasion as an issue at all.
Table 2: Proposition 1
Statement
Undeclared money is a
problem in the restaurant
industry
Agree
fully
Agree
partly
Neither/nor
Disagree
partly
Disagree
fully
41%
37.2%
14.2%
5.5%
2.1%
Proposition 2: According to several studies done in previous years the
size of the shadow economy and the tax evading activities are on the
increase. While it per definition is difficult to “size” the shadow economy
one assumption would be that the industry actors would know the with of
the problem and the relative size of the economy
The results from this survey show a mixed result and the proposition:
The size of the shadow economy within the restaurant industry in Sweden
is perceived as growing and consequently reducing the prerequisites for
fair competition is only partly supported.
Only 5.6% of the respondents agreed fully that the shadow economy is
growing and 8.5% agreed partly to this statement. The fact that 60.3% did
not have an opinion could indicate a lack of knowledge or add to the fact
that this is a sensitive issue (see Table 6).
On the statement concerning the shadow economy's effect on the
individual company’s possibilities to grow the results are more
unanimous. As shown in Table 91.0% agree fully or partly to this
statement.
Page | 38
Statement
The shadow part of the
sector is growing
The future of my business
could be affected
negatively if the shadow
sector is growing
The shadow sector affects
the competition in the
industry as a whole
Tax evasion leads to lower
prices for the guests
Agree
fully
Agree
partly
Neither/ Disagree Disagree
nor
partly
fully
Total
5.6%
8.5%
60.3%
20.1%
5.4%
100%
61.6%
29.4%
5.3%
3.0%
0.8%
100%
55.0%
31.9%
10.1%
2.8%
0.2%
100%
36.7%
25.7%
17.9%
9.5%
10.3%
100%
The same fact relates to the statement indicating that the shadow
economy is affecting the competition issue in the industry as a whole.
Only 3.0% of the respondents disagree to a certain extent to this statement,
consequently the industry views this as a large problem that could hinder
the development of the whole sector.
Even the issue that tax evasion is affecting the pricing structure in the
industry is supported by the respondents. 62.4% of the respondents agree
fully or partly with this statement. An unfair pricing structure could lead to
unfair competition and force the compliant companies to work with lower
margins and less profit.
As a concluding remark, the results indicate that the shadow economy
is affecting the competition in the industry, while there is less certainty
about the growth of tax evading activities and other related unserious
business practices.
Proposition 3: The restaurant industry is often singled out as an
industry more prone to tax evading activities than other sectors (Korsell,
2005). While few studies have been conducted to prove this conception,
the pure characteristics of the industry, with plentiful cash transactions and
a lot of transactions in general in combination with a labour incentive
structure, lead to the proposition: The shadow economy within the
restaurant industry in Sweden is perceived as worse than in other
countries and in other parts of the Swedish economy by the restaurant
owners, which is only partly supported by the results (see Table 7). The
statement stating that the Swedish restaurant industry should be worse
affected by the shadow economy than other countries was not supported
by the results. 41% disagreed strongly or partly with this statement while
53.7% did not have an opinion. The issue with the restaurant industry as
more affected than other industries in Sweden is more supported. 54.9%
Page | 39
agree fully or partly with this proposition while 32.2% voice no direct
opinion.
As a conclusion, the restaurant industry is perceived as worse affected
than many other industries in Sweden, but the sector in Sweden in not
perceived as inferior compared to a comparable industry in other
countries.
Statement
The restaurant industry
is more affected by
unserious business
owners than other
industries
The Swedish restaurant
industry is less serious
than in other countries
Agree
fully
Agree
partly
Neither/
nor
Disagree
partly
Disagree
fully
Total
18.4%
36.5%
32.2%
8.6%
4.2%
100
%
2.1%
3.3%
53.7%
20.7%
20.3%
100
%
Proposition 4: Finally, the fact that a large or predominant shadow
sector could affect the progress and development of an industry as a whole
is mentioned in the literature, even if few attempts are made to analyse it
in more depth.
The proposition: The shadow economy within the restaurant industry
is perceived as affecting the progress and development of the whole
business segment, is supported very strongly in this survey (see Table 8).
Only 3.8% of the respondents disagree strongly or partly with the
statement that a firm's future could be affected by an increase in the
amount of unserious businesses in the industry. At the same time 77.2%
agree fully or partly that other companies involved in tax evading
activities could hinder the development of one’s own business.
Statement
My company’s future can
be negatively affected if
there is an increase of less
serious businesses in the
industry
Companies not declaring all
their income could affect
the performance of my
company.
Page | 40
Agree
fully
Agree
partly
Neither
/nor
Disagree
partly
Disagree
fully
61.6%
42.3%
Total
29.4%
5.3%
3.0%
0.8%
100%
34.9%
13.3%
6.5%
3.0%
100%
8. Discussion
The shadow economy and tax evading activities are perceived to have
serious impacts on the competition in the Swedish restaurant market. A
situation with unfair competition can lead to an inefficient industry with
resulting low tax revenue, both in terms of income tax revenue and receipt
of social security payment. The industry perceives this as important, which
may lead to a situation where companies, operating outside the acceptable
net, work with lower margins and lowers prices. The competitive situation
becomes increasingly fierce for complying companies. By using
undeclared staff, non-complying firms reduce the social security costs, by
many viewed as the heaviest tax burden, and create different cost-bases
that affect both pricing structure and profitability. A consequence could be
that possibilities for compliant companies are undermined and they feel
encouraged to migrate to a less serious business conduct, a scenario where
best praxis is more related to creative tax evasion rather than to sound
business strategies.
This development is certainly also affected by the size and growth of
the shadow economy. As mentioned earlier, it is hard and dubious to
“size” both the current size and the growth of the shadow economy.
Hjalager (2008) found indications that the shadow economy was growing
in Denmark and audits by the Swedish Tax Authority indicates similar
estimations (Svensson, 2008). But these results should be interpreted with
caution - the attempts are after all to identify shadow activities, developed
to avoid detection.
The results from this study show that there is an uncertainty within the
industry whether the shadow economy is increasing or not. While
respondents are uncertain about the growth situation, it is clear that any
growth within the shadow part of the economy will damage companies
working with accepted business practices. This situation casts its shadow
over the industry as it may deter new business from entering and current
ones from trying to initiate growth activities.
The results also proof that tax evading activities reduce prices charged
to customers and create a price competition, not based on efficiency
performance but on efficient tax evasion. In an industry where margins
and profitability are regarded as low (SHR, 2010), this could further
decrease the possibilities for complying companies to survive and be
profitable.
The “sizing” problems makes the comparison of the shadow economy
within a country and with other countries difficult. Results from this
survey are relaying that the problem is perceived as great in the restaurant.
Page | 41
This relates to the fact that all the prerequisites are there; cash, plentiful
transactions, labour intensity and so forth. In order to ensure the
development of an industry and to attract more serious businessmen and
investors this could send out wrong signals. Few serious businesses invest
in an industry that perceives itself as worse than other sectors when it
comes to tax evasion.
The results also indicate that the problem in Sweden is not regarded to
be worse than in other countries. This contradicts previous ideas, that
countries with high tax burden, as Sweden, have more sincere problems
than others. But in interpreting these results, other factors such as morale
and the efficiency of the tax authority will have to be considered. In
countries where an economical crime such as tax evasion is treated
seriously, the opportunity cost could be high and could therefore affect the
size and the effects.
The results in this study show that there is a considerable shadow
economy within the Swedish restaurant industry and this is affecting
competition and progress. Non-compliant restaurants are less prone to
adhere to regulations, certificates and other standardisation procedures
which may lead to a dual market. One, with compliant companies,
following rules and regulations, train and educate the staff and another
operating under completely different parameters - with untrained staff
without any social security and with working conditions that does not
follow any health and safety regulations.
Data indicates that this is the situation in Sweden today. Less trained
staff, reduced adherence to regulations and less money available for
official growth (non-compliant companies will save up undeclared money,
which could be difficult to invest), could eventually impair the industries
potential for growth and development. If the compliant restaurants face a
threat from non-compliant it could lead to fewer investments by compliant
restaurants and by investors as well. Another issue is that an unfair
competition, due to tax evading activities potentially affects serious
businesses’ possibilities to stay on the rights side of the line and
consequently the tax morale, in the industry and in the country.
Without companies that follow the regulations and employ staff on full
contracts, the industry will not grow organically, and this is an industry
where the unskilled labour is dominating already. Few aspiring, young
entrepreneurs with ideas would like to invest their talent in an industry
perceived as unserious with a development and growth that is considered
slow or non-existing. Less investments and new talent could then speed up
the downward spiral.
Page | 42
9. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
Conclusions are primarily limited to Sweden. Moreover results are
based on data from a part of the sector not necessarily complying with the
definition of the Shadow Economy. An assessment of the shadow
economy is furthermore constrained by transparency problems.
Nonetheless the results are based on data from a considerable part of
the Swedish restaurant industry. As such the results should be valid for a
discussion regarding tax systems and tax policies in Sweden.
Based on the findings in this study it is interesting to further look at the
other factors that can enhance the discussion regarding a possible shift to a
different tax system, a system that could improve the tax compliance level,
reduce the tax compliance cost for both the tax authority and the tax
paying entities.
One way would be to look at the compliance issue from the tax paying
entities in order to identify the cost of compliance and the actual resources
used to comply with a tax system that at least in Sweden, must be
described as fairly complex. If the efforts to comply is drawing valuable
resources from the normal day-to-day routines in the running of the
company, this could possible affect each company’s willingness to
comply.
It would also be advantageous to look at to what extent the Swedish
restaurant industry is part of the Shadow economy and if this sector is
worse than others in producing erroneous and incorrect returns. Because if
this sector is part of this grey area, it is jeopardising the foundations for a
competitive industry. If the general consensus in the industry is that the
restaurant industry is a part of the shadow economy and it is growing, it
will be more complicated for serious business owners to stay in business
without the aid of creative accounting and this could further strengthen the
calls for a revision of the current tax system.
10. Conclusion
This study points out that the Swedish restaurant industry has an issue
related to the shadow economy and tax evasion. The results show that the
shadow economy is perceived as affecting the competition issue in the
industry as well as the possibilities for growth and development. Even if it
is hard, based on this survey, to evaluate the actual size and growth of
such shadow economy, the fact that it is there could lead to further
depreciation of the necessary parameters for development. Serious
Page | 43
business owners find it harder to survive; new entrepreneurs and investors
could be scared away from an industry with these characteristics.
In a country like Sweden, with a high tax level, and in an industry with
many HTT's, could this put question marks on the efforts and intentions to
develop this sector. While before, alternative taxation regimes like
presumptive taxation were viewed as solutions for developing nations or
economies, the scholarly discussion is now taking a stance that this could
be a tool even for advanced economies like Sweden, to come to terms with
problems described in this paper.
Even if taxation ultimately will be a political issue, with all sensibility
connected to political decision, the theory around presumptive taxation
presents tools and possibilities to come to terms with tax evasion, at least
in some perspectives.
If we accept the fact that the results of this study indicate that the
problem is there and that the competition issue, in this case unfair
competition, could undermine the industry’s potential for healthy growth
and development, a presumptive taxation system could rectify certain
problems.
A presumptive taxation system, such as the Spanish modulus-system,
the Italian studi di settore-system or the French forfait-system, reduces the
possibilities for tax evasion and could by that improve the prerequisites for
fair competition. As these systems are based on pre-determined parameters
rather than the actual declared results as a basis for taxation, the incentives
and possibilities to withhold taxes are reduced.
As several scholars argue, a well defined presumptive tax system could
erase several of the competition issues raised and presented in this study.
Acknowledgements
The publication was made possible due to the generous support of the
Besöksnäringens Forsknings- och Utvecklingsfond, and with help from SHR, CFT
(Centre for Tourism) at School of Business, Economics and Law, University of
Gothenburg and Phica HB.
The final version of this paper benefited from the contributions of Dr.
Konstantin Pashev, New Bulgarian University, Dr. Tommy D. Andersson, School
of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Björn Arnek, SHR
and Conny Svensson, Skatteverket.
The authors acknowledge equal contribution to this article.
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Page | 47
A QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY: ECOTOURISM
POTENTIAL IN KAFARHAMAM, SOUTHERN
LEBANON
LATIFA ATTIEH
MODERN UNIVERSITY FOR BUSINESS AND SCIENCE, LEBANON
Abstract
The Mediterranean region is recognized as a global center of plant
diversity. Lebanon falls within the identified center of this region.
Lebanon is the cradle of many endemic species, the disappearance of
which would be a loss to science. Ecotourism, a form of alternative
tourism, has been systematically used around the world as a protective
tool to preserve endangered plant species and promote sustainability. In an
attempt to document the environmental richness of the country, an
inventory of wild edible plants which are traditionally consumed in the
southern regions of Lebanon is developed. The methodology adopted for
the development of such an inventory included open interviews with
villagers whose indigenous knowledge of edible and medicinal plants is
the cornerstone to the paper’s viability. The study results in the
documentation of a total of 46 wild edible vascular plants and 30 species
of local medicinal uses in Kfarhamam, southern Lebanon. The study
affirms the integral role that ecotourism plays as an advocate of nature.
Furthermore, it sheds light on the various drawbacks of such endeavour.
The study concludes that ecotourism is seen as a valued partner in the
conservation and sustainable use of Lebanon’s unique environmental,
botanical and cultural heritage. The ecotourism activities to be established
will inspire visitors with the extraordinary diversity of rare and unusual
plants that can be grown only in Lebanon in addition to a wide unique
collection of medicinal plants.
1. Alternative Tourism and Ecotourism: Scope and
Definition
In an attempt to surpass the rapidly changing tourism environment,
destinations all over the world are searching for alternative pathways of
tourism experiences. In the past decade or so, the tourism industry has
taken major shifts toward goals of economic and ecological sustainability,
local participation, and environmental education (Stronz, 2001).
Page | 48
The myriad calls for a more sustainable world urged ministries of
tourism to change their agendas and plan for “greener” initiatives. “Nature
tourism denotes all tourism directly dependent on the use of natural
resources in a relatively undeveloped state, including scenery, topography,
water features, vegetation and wildlife” (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1996: 1920). Ecotourism is also seen as a different facade of alternative tourism
that is becoming popular in tourist markets worldwide (Butler and
Menzies, 2006).
There exists a common debate among tourism researchers about the
exact definition of the term Ecotourism (Buultjens, Gale, and White,
2010). Orams (1995: 5) defines Ecotourism as “tourism which is based on
the natural environment and seeks to minimize its negative impact on that
environment”. Others imply that “the spread of ecotourism into remote
areas often coincides with regions of high biological and scenic value that
are still the traditional homelands for surviving groups of Indigenous
peoples” (Zeppel, 2006).
Both alternative tourism and ecotourism are endeavours that assist
third world countries in converting their tourist images into more
“sustainable” ones. However, there has been skepticism around the ability
of these countries to prove their ability in switching to alternative
ecotourism. This is mainly due to common problems that the third world
tourism sectors suffer from such as political instability, lack of
governmental control, potential loss of local resources, inequality in profit
distribution, and possible environmental degradation amongst others
(Pleumarom, 1999; Brohman, 1996).
This paper depicts a real-life example of ecotourism attempts in one of
the smallest countries around the globe: Lebanon. The area under
investigation lies strategically on the crossroads of three countries
(Plaestine, Syria and Lebanon). It is an area renowned for a spectacular
flora heritage and has the virtue of enjoying a favorable Mediterranean
climate; an advocate of nature. Equipped with such a tool, Lebanon has a
grand opportunity to exploit the natural richness of its rural areas and
convert it into tourism opportunities that will boost its economy and
enhance its image.
2.
Ecotourism: Pros and Cons
Though the concept of ecotourism is still a vague one, the potential
contribution of ecotourism to the third world countries is perceived as grand.
Internationally, the demand for Ecotourism is on the rise. More specifically, in
2004, Ecotourism demand was estimated to be growing “at three times the rate
Page | 49
of the tourism industry as a whole” (Buultjens, Gale and White, 2010: 500).
The arising popularity of ecotourism is due to the various favorable financial
and environmental outcomes generated from ecotourism activities.
Additionally, it is fundamental that tourism planners identify and include the
traditional ecological knowledge so that the socio-cultural heritage of
indigenous communities is not only protected but also enhanced (Butler,
2007).
Ecotourism provides communities with a wide array of benefits. The
implementation of ecotourism programmes offer employment opportunities
through the direct involvement in tourism via arts and crafts industry, cultural
tours design, joint ventures of cultural tourist programs, bush food tours or
camping trips and many others (Altman, 1992). Benefits associated with
ecotourism include nourishment of the local economy, wildlife preservation
and protection of endangered species, appreciation of natural resources and
encourages local investment (Kelkit, Celik and Esbah, 2009). It is rather
fundamental for the communities of rural areas to conserve the socio-cultural
values of their environment. Furthermore, Plants, animals and ecosystems are
fundamental to the attachment of Aboriginal people to the land and the sea.
Hence, Ecotourism is perceived as an effective tool that assists local
communities in conserving their social and cultural heritage. In fact, the use of
edible and medicinal plants is essential for the diffusion of cultural knowledge
from generation to generation without altering its cultural essence
(Sydney.com, 2010).
On the other hand, there exist several challenges that threaten the
feasibility of the discussed alternative tourism initiatives in the third world
tourism sectors. These include: the explicit need for effective training
programs for visitors and the locals, the possible lack of coordination between
the different community parties in addition to marketing and packaging
limitations (Notzke, 1999). Needless to say, a lack of governmental control
concerning the political and social problems that could negatively affect the
environment is adversarial (Isaacs, 2000). Other problems include the lack of
control of local resources, pollution and environmental degradation (Brohman,
1996). Also, there is a great possibility that the locals would face difficulties in
attaining ecotourism accreditation (Buultjens, Gale and White, 2010).
3. Ecotourism in Lebanon
Whether in the bible or in the epic of “Gilgamech”, the lush green
landscape of Lebanon is again and again assertive. Central located in the midst
of desert dominated countries, Lebanon has been through the ages a
destination for all those who yearn at indulging themselves in the splendors of
Page | 50
nature. It has become then imperative on decision makers and takers alike of
this country to try to restore this economical niche.
Similar studies of ecotourism initiatives in the third world countries
revealed a great economic performance of eco-tourist activities including eco
sightseeing, hiking, bird watch, bush medicine amongst others. Lebanon can
benefit from benchmarking techniques to prepare its rural areas for such an
undertaking. Beyond any doubt, revamping Lebanon’s national treasures will
have a myriad of fruitful repercussions on several economic, social, natural
and cultural levels.
4. Materials and Methods
The use of wild edible plants constitutes an indispensable component of
the Lebanese culinary heritage and a celebrated healthy dietary pattern in the
Middle East. The Lebanese identify their cuisine as distinctive and expressive
of their cultural identity (Hwalla and Tannous, 2008; Yazbeck, 2009).
Previous studies on the Lebanese flora are few if not minimal. However,
the majority of these secondary resources acknowldged Lebanon’s unique
flora richeness. The paper is based on a study conducted by Attieh, Rivera,
Alcaraz and Obón (2010) in “Kfarhamam”, a miniature village in southern
Lebanon. Other primary and secondary data including climate, flora, fauna,
population, and history information was obtained from various reports and
previous studies and was supported by literature review, field observations,
and discussions with the locals.
Methods employed included open interviews in an ethnobotanical style.
The interviews were conducted with 16 villagers, who possess a huge
knowledge of plants and their uses. The sample consisted of 8 men and 8
women, aged between 48-94 years (average 71). 20 interviews were
conducted in an interval of 6 months, each one involving more than one visit.
In total, 16 people were interviewed. The interviews were constructed
informally on field with the purpose of formulating a complete list of the
medicinal, aromatic and edible plants used in the area. During the interviews,
informants answered questions about plants’ common names, medicinal and
edible uses of plants, parts used, frequency of uses and habitats. The
interviews were followed with a second phase of the field work where a draft
list of species, names and uses was discussed with all of the interviewees to
verify the previously collected information (Attieh, Rivera, Alcaraz and Obón,
2010).
The secondary data of the paper was studied on a global database of
Gathered Food Plants for comparison and analysis. This database is based on
500 references, and includes 300 localities and zones, 12,900 species and
Page | 51
34,000 registers. For the identification of plant samples, several resources
were consulted such as Mouterde (1966; 1970; 1983), Post (1980), Tohme and
Tohme (2007), Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (2009), and Zurayk and
Talhouk (2009).
5. Locale of the Study
Located in the Arqoob region in the Hasbaya District in Southern
Lebanon, Kfarhamam is 117 kilometers away from Beirut, and around 850
meters above sea level. The population is estimated to be 3,500 inhabitants of
which only a very small minority resides in the village (Figure 1). The locale
of the study, though has been neglected for numerous years, enjoys a one of
kind virgin land characterized of a wide collection of medicinal and edible
plants.
Figure 1: Location map of Kfarhamam (33º 20’ 35,33” N and 35º 40’ 42,13” E, altitude
799 m)
Page | 52
6. Results and Discussion
The study resulted in a remarkable collection of 46 wild species of
vascular plants that are consumed in Kfarhamam. Among the 46 species
found, a total of 30 are characteristic of the traditional diet in the
Mediterranean area. In addition, 30 different species presented local medicinal
uses (Attieh, Rivera, Alcara, and Obón, 2010).
Further, the same study recorded 42 different medicinal uses. These range
between plants which act as natural healers of minor symptoms to those which
are used to fight chronic diseases. To mention some: Salvia fruticosa presents
antimicrobial properties in addition to Portulaca oleracea L. and Centaurea
iberica Trevir. ex Spreng. which are anti-inflammatory and have wound
healing activities. Batal and Hunter (2007) underline some health benefits of
Portulaca oleracea as easy to digest, lowers cholesterol, beneficial for the
heart, and effective in treating constipation and stomach ache. The plant’s
leaves are usually eaten raw in salads. Eyngium creticum, another appreciated
plant species grown in the area, has potential anticancer properties, anti-poison
effects, and is usually used for the treatment of allergies, asthma, digestive
tract disorders and inflammation. Moreover, Malva nicaeensis, when boiled,
has shown effectiveness in treating coughs, wounds, and skin diseases in
Israel, the Golan Heights and the west Bank region (Jeambey, Johns, Talhouk
and Balal, 2009). Matricaria recutita L. and Anthemis chia L., are used by the
village’s inhabitants as sedatives (Attieh, Rivera, Alcaraz and Obón, 2010).
Interestingly, the study revealed two species which have cancer healing
properties. These are: Allium porrum L. var. kurrat (Schweinf. ex K. Krause)
Seregin and Opuntia engelmmanii Salm.-Dyck ex Engelm. The genus Allium
has been mentioned in a number of publications as medicinal plant used to
treat cancer (Hsing et al., 2002; Galeone et al., 2006).
7. Ecotourism Potential of the Area
Lebanon, a “cradle” of endemic and native species, has more to offer to its
tourist body than a mere cultural and nightlife getaway. In this small territory
of 10,452 Km2, nearly 2,600 plant species grow in a spontaneous state (Tohme
and Tohme, 2007). This richness of the Lebanese flora is essentially due to the
general moderate climatic conditions of the country. The restoration of many
of the endangered plant species not only serves at protecting Lebanon's plant
biodiversity but would also promote sustainable eco-tourism.
Many of the neighbouring countries are no match compared to the plant
biodiversity in Lebanon and didn’t have their existing biodiversity sufficiently
explored, described or even employed in a tourism project. The existing flora
Page | 53
heritage in southern Lebanon constitutes a major opportunity for the locals of
the southern villages to revive their areas both economically and socially. The
untamed plants of these areas has wildly proliferated in the last decade due to
the political instability that stroke the region. Today, the only witness to the
negligence of such natural repertoire is the mere view of plants carpeting the
fields of the villages. Thus, tourists searching for a gateway from
modernization can find a wild sanctuary of flora in these remote villages of
Lebanon.
A vital role that Eco-tourism can play is that of being an advocate of
sustainability. Consequently, Ecotourism fosters biodiversity reservation and
enhances rural development (Abdus Salam, Ross and Beveridge, 2000).
Correspondingly, Ecotourism encourages the engagement of local
communities in Ecotourism activities that create new job opportunities which
in turn boost their economical situation (Barkin, 1993).
Myriad resources are imperative to the success of an ecotourism spot. The
most significant of these are environmental, economical, and social factors
(McDill, Silva, Finley and Kays, 1999). Possible ecotourism ventures that can
be established in Kfarhamam range from simple sightseeing tours to
comprehensive cultural heritage tours. The latter are walking tours in
“Kfarhamam” in the heart of southern Lebanon highlighting the heritage of the
local southern people. Visitors can taste plant-based food and learn about the
traditional medicinal, cultural and folkloric uses of plants.
8. Conclusion
“The relationship between tourism and conservation can be a symbiotic
one” (Abdus Salam, Ross and Beveridge, 2000: 3). The exquisite melange of
ethnobotany and ecotourism contributes to the conservation of the Lebanese
biodiversity and its fauna and flora in a natural state, while at the same time
providing opportunities for education and recreation.
There is an urgent need for documentation of traditional knowledge related
to cultural heritage of Lebanon. Similarly, ethnobotanical research should be
extended to other areas of Lebanon in order to preserve the traditional
knowledge associated with plants and make it available for future generations
as well. A pilot study would be more feasible and provide a preview of the
whole project. In this capacity, ecotourism programmes can fill this gap and
prime the country for a nation-wide scaled enterprise. Furthermore, these
programs not only do they conserve the biodiversity of Lebanon, but they also
promote Lebanon as a sustainable Ecotourism destination and as the sanctuary
of every nature-lover in the whole globe.
Page | 54
To conclude, the design of medicinal and edible plants tours, however a
small-scale attempt, they will nourish the ecotourism industry of a country
whose gold mines and oil wells is tourism.
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SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT: STIMULATING TACIT
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER USING FUZZY LOGIC
RULES
SPYROS AVDIMIOTIS
ALEXANDER TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE,
GREECE
Abstract
It is widely accepted that effective knowledge management is an
imperative factor for tourism organizations to attempt and achieve
sustainable development. It is also widely accepted that knowledge should
be transferred and used among employees and departments for stability,
innovation and product differentiation. Although the importance of
knowledge transfer has been acknowledged and thoroughly studied by
scientists since the last quarter of the 20th century, tacit knowledge
received less attention owing to the fact that it is very difficult to be
codified and transferred. The primary aim of the paper is to study the
stimulation extent of tacit knowledge transfer and dissemination in the
hotel, the core of tourism activity, where tacit knowledge is constantly
created but yet not easy to be communicated among staff members.
1. Introduction
Sustainable tourism and Knowledge Management are well-accepted
concepts in the contemporary tourism literature. In practice, the concept of
sustainable development is increasingly discussed as tourism activities
continue to impact economically, socio-culturally and environmentally on
destinations and the industry itself (Dwyer, 2005; Weaver and Lawton,
2006), while knowledge management is considered the key factor in the
process towards innovation and competitiveness.
However, the practical penetration of sustainable development at the
organization level does not appear to extend much beyond a fashionable
concept (Cooper, 2006; Dwyer, 2005; Frazier, 1997; MacLellan, 1997;
Mowforth and Munt, 1998; Weaver, 2006; Wheeller, 1993). In other
words, the concept of sustainable development (i.e., the equal emphasis of
economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions in tourism
Page | 58
decision making process) is more or less ignored by the tourism industry,
assuming that firms, at large, are faced with difficulties to adopt
sustainability related measures (Ahmed and Dwyer, 2010). The lack of
appropriate knowledge management may be considered as one of the
major barriers to adopt sustainability-related practices across the tourism
industry (Baggio and Cooper, 2008; Dwyer, 2005; Weaver, 2006).
Delving, furthermore, into the bibliography, Hislop, Newell, Scarborough
and Swan (1997) pointed out that knowledge articulation occurs in
networks of organizations attempting to innovate and build upon
knowledge. They identify two major types of networks: “Micro level”
networks existing within the firm and “Macro level” inter- organizational
networks. Focusing on the Micro level networks, active knowledge
transfer and distribution of tacit and explicit knowledge allows tourism
firms to learn, respond and adjust flexibly and quickly to the constantly
changing landscape of tourism, remaining competitive and, therefore,
sustainable (Dwyer and Edwards, 2008).
Towards this direction, Ahmed and Dwyer (2010) argue that effective
knowledge management (acquisition, dissemination and responsiveness to
knowledge) is an imperative factor for tourism organizations to attempt
and achieve sustainable development, acknowledging that knowledge is
the backbone of innovation and competitiveness and the most valuable
asset of businesses balance sheet, in general.
2.
Knowledge Transfer Factors
Cummings and Teng (2003) argued that the precise definition of
successful knowledge transfer is the ability to absorb the useful pieces of
knowledge, adjust them to the company’s needs, scopes and personnel
skills and use them appropriately. According to Argote and Ingram (2000),
Nonaka (1994), transferred knowledge should be customized and
thoroughly adjusted to the specific characteristics, tools, routines of the
company and personnel abilities. Knowledge could be considered as
puzzle pieces which must be pieced together within the framework of a
company. Knowledge receivers should have the ability to identify, pick
and use the right pieces of knowledge in order to build the company’s
intellectual capital. This constant transformation and evolution of
knowledge defines Nonaka’s internalization of knowledge, during which
the knowledge worker acquires the sense of ownership, commitment and
use satisfaction, investing, at the same time, personal time, ideas and
already acquired knowledge. The important question that needs to be
answered is under which circumstances the knowledge worker will
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transfer his knowledge to the less experienced, enriching the actual
knowledge capital contributing, at the same time, to the company’s effort
to innovate and apply sustainability measures.
Davenport and Prusak (1998) and Szulanski (2003) identified the
factors of transfer stickiness, arguing that lack of psychological factors
such as trust, state of relationship, willingness to communicate, adoption
of responsibility and source reliability along with organizational structure
factors, such as motivation, structure, leadership, information and
communication technologies, could constrain the knowledge transfer
process, weakening the organization intellectual capital.
3. Tacit Knowledge Transfer in Tourism
The literature, among the plethora of definitions regarding Knowledge
Management, has developed two major categories of knowledge: a)
Explicit and b) Tacit. Explicit knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is
written and for that reason, easy to share, criticize, prove and transfer
(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1991), while tacit knowledge, according to
Davenport and Prusak (1998), cannot be found in written forms, being
tightly bonded with emotions and experience. Polanyi (1966) wrote in The
Tacit Dimension, “we can know more than we can tell” (p. 4), arguing that
tacit knowledge is subconscious, hence impossible to transfer (Choo and
Bontis, 2002). Aadne, Krogh and Roos (1996) argued that the basis of
knowledge is the tacit one, while Polanyi (1969) underline, that explicit
knowledge rises from tacit which has been understood and codified.
Inkpen and Dinur (1998), Cavusgil, Calantone, and Zhao (2003) proposed
that knowledge is a concrete spectrum moving from tacit to explicitness
and reversely, according to its content, while Boisot (1998) argues that the
achievement of competitive advantage and innovation depends in the
extent of transformation of tacit knowledge to explicit.
Haldin-Herrgard (2004) contacted a literature review discussing the
tacit knowledge, from 1958 to 2002. The review resulted in 149 different
synonyms (epitomes) used, among them the most frequent were, intuition,
skills, values, behavior, insight, mental models, practical intelligence,
know-how, etc. All these synonyms and phrases were used to underline
that tacit knowledge management is based on abstract meanings, practices
and competences, the common approach and understanding of which will
reverse in a significant extent the chaotic conditions of communication
between the knowledge workers.
Knowledge management and knowledge sharing has been the subject
of many scientific researches during the last few decades, but, as Shaw and
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Williams argued in 2009, in tourism, it is still an emerging agenda.
Tourism, as one of the most important pillars of global development, with
massive social, environmental and economical impacts, is a field where
knowledge is the cornerstone of flexible management, constantly trying to
anticipate the needs of the guests. This whole dynamic structure of
experience building is widely based on those who can combine tacit
knowledge and experience with explicit (written) knowledge that can be
easily acquired in learning organizations.
4. Fuzzy Logic
The foundations of the Fuzzy Logic theory, were developed in 1965 by
Lotfi Zadeh, questioning the sufficiency of the Boolean Logic of true or
false and introducing the notion of partially true or partially false, covering
the “middle grey” zones in the process of problem solving or decision
making. This binary method of evaluating a fact or a state is based on the
Aristotle’s logic, using only the two arithmetic digits of I (true) and O
(false), dissuading the recognition and the evaluation of all intermediate
values between these limits. On the other hand, Fuzzy Logic takes into
account all possible ranging values, offering the possibility of
simultaneous evaluation of the ranging states between the I/O limits,
corresponding to a degree, or a part of truth. The theoretical structure of
Fuzzy Logic facilitates a more “natural” manner of data-processing,
offering at the same time the possibility to the decision maker to adjust the
evaluation rules to the specific characteristics of internal and external
environment. In other words, the Fuzzy Logic’s main concern and scope is
to represent, manipulate and draw inferences from statements that are
imprecise, vague or fuzzy.
For example:
• The description of a human characteristic as healthy.
• The classification of people by age such as old.
• The classification of certain objects as large.
• A rule for driving such as “if an obstacle is close, then brake
immediately”.
In the sentences above, terms such as healthy, old, large, close,
immediately, are fuzzy in the sense that they cannot be sharply and
commonly defined. However, as humans, we do make sense of this kind of
information and use during all the levels of the decision making process,
by classifying the degree of being healthy, old, large etc, in subsets, in a
given set of people under given circumstances or variables (NguyenWalker, 2002). These sets are characterized by a membership degree
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function which maps the percentage of truth-based on personal and,
therefore, subjective criteria- into the interval [0-1]. In order to confront
the problem of diverse- uncommon and subjective classification of values
into specific datasets, the tool of Fuzzy Rules was developed to represent
and exploit this algorithm of human thinking. Fuzzy logic with fuzzy rules
has the potential to add subjective reasoning capabilities to decision
making processes by using verbal terms and mapping the knowledge mainly the tacit - of humans. Fuzzy Rules have two distinctive parts, the
IF (hypothesis) and THEN (inference) part, i.e. “If the room gets hotter,
then spin the fan blades faster”, where the temperature of the room and
speed of fan blades are both imprecisely defined quantities and hotter and
faster are both fuzzy terms. Defining these terms by using Fuzzy Logic,
we could develop (exponential) rules such as “if the room gets a
temperature more than 26 degrees, then you should increase the blades
spin speed by 10%”.
Fuzzy logic systems had been widely used in Multi-Criteria Decision
Making Processes, in control development systems, regarding aircrafts,
vehicles, air-conditioning systems and so on, quite successfully during the
last decade. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the development
of rules based on fuzzy logic could effectively affect the knowledge
transfer mechanism in a hotel, taking into account that the whole process
of knowledge transfer within the sector seems to be linear, unstable and
complicated.
5. Business Rule Set Up
Focusing on the business rule set up, Cohen (1995) considers that a
rule is a relationship that allows individuals to fulfill an action under the
appropriate conditions. The process of responding to these conditions can
be either automatic or deliberate and conscious. On the same issue,
Hodgson (1994-1995), defines rules as patterns of thought or behavior,
which can (or cannot) be adopted, either consciously or subconsciously,
by individuals. Hodgson shows that the main characteristic of rules can be
defined by the logical structure of condition and action: in circumstances
X, do Y. The formal rules’ contribution to the organization is to specify
tasks and decision competencies for organization members, regulating
hierarchical relationships and work procedures. According to Winter
(1995b), rules do not define how individuals or teams should do their
work, or even how to improve it, but to impose the appropriate normative
framework regulating organizational behavior facing numerous
organizational constraints. The setup of Fuzzy Logic rules in the
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organization, on the other hand, not only contributes to the overall
behavior regulation, but it provides the basis for effective and operative co
operation between individuals and teams, increasing the volume of
communication and trust among them, by giving a mathematical value to
common subjective notions, leaving no space for misapprehensions,
disputes and misunderstandings. According to Gilbert and Cordey-Hayes
(1996) and Nonaka (1994), tacit knowledge can be developed or
assimilated into core routines of the organizations. Therefore, the
establishment of a fuzzy logic normative framework can play a critical
role in articulating, amplifying and transferring new knowledge which can
be created by the interrelation between structural behavior and routines of
individuals and teams.
While the establishment of fuzzy logic rules in industrial production
and multi criteria decision making process has been a rapidly emerging
issue, in tourism it is still in the state of mitosis, mostly owing to its
particular characteristics.
According to Zadeh (1965) there are five basic conditions, where the
methodology of fuzzy logic is considered as an essential and valuable tool:
(a) The difficulty to create a structural model of the functional activities,
(b) The significant role of tacit workers who tend to refuse transferring
their acquired knowledge to the less experienced ones, weakening the
knowledge capital of the organization, (c) the constant and complex flows
of data and information into the system, (d) The use of observation as
criterion for the location of contingent problems, and (e) the general
fuzziness of the used notions that determine the system. Tourism is
fulfilling all the above conditions, being a quite sophisticated, global and
interdisciplinary phenomenon, depending almost exclusively on the
human factor, with massively complex flow of data and information
among stakeholders. At the same time, the gain of experience and the
enrichment of emotions that, according to Christou (2004), constitute the
overall outcome of the tourism services, are also a fuzzy notion,
determining and proving at the same time, that fuzzy logic could be a key
factor for the acquisition, adjustment and transfer of knowledge, within the
tourism system.
6. The Research Model
The primary aim of the paper is to investigate the stimulation extent of
tacit knowledge transfer and dissemination among staff members in a
hotel, where the guesses, hunches, imaginings and passion, as forms and
expressions of tacit knowledge, could be converted to explicit knowledge.
Page | 63
In order to achieve this, we use the tool of Fuzzy Logic, combined with
the development of a certain dynamic set of rules, built and based on
democratic management structures, where constant dialogue is taking
place, starting from the top management to the front line personnel. The
hypothesis on which the research was based is “the development of rules
based on fuzzy logic is positively correlated with tacit knowledge transfer,
within the organization”.
To prove the accuracy of the hypothesis, a model was developed
(schema 1) in which the most important factors of knowledge
development, with the new factor of the development of sets of rules based
on fuzzy logic, were correlated. There were also correlations of this factor
with the absorptive capacity and the overall effectiveness of knowledge
transfer, as defined by Szulanski (2003).
Figure 1: The overall hypothesis
In more detail, the factors chosen to be correlated with the
development of fuzzy logic rules, towards knowledge transfer are (i) Trust,
(ii) Communication, (iii) Motivation, (iv) Leadership, (v) Organizational
structure, (vi) Perceived use of knowledge, (vii) ICTs, (viii) Already
acquired knowledge, (ix) Networking and (x) Knowledge codification. For
each factor a sub hypothesis was built, aiming at the research analysis of
the main hypothesis, regarding the contribution of Fuzzy Logic based
Rules to tacit knowledge transfer.
7. Research Method
For research purposes, a basic scientific model was developed, in
which the most important factors of knowledge development, along with
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the new factor of Fuzzy Logic based Rules (FLbR), were correlated. There
were also correlations of FLbR with the absorptive capacity and the
overall effectiveness of knowledge transfer, as it was defined by Szulanski
(2005). The primary research was conducted during the second half of
2010, realizing 160 semi structured interviews in 80 four and five star
hotels, in Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Athens and Rhodes, employing more
than 20 employees each. For the acquired data, a description analysis was
conducted. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated, by the use of
internal consistency. The factor α (coefficient alpha) is a useful tool for the
estimation of the internal consistency. The Cronbach α factor was used for
that reason. The highest scored variables were used for further statistical
processing, using the method of factor analysis, a test that explores
relationships among data. Factor analysis also explores which variables in
a data set are most related to each other. In other words, it is a form of
multivariable analysis that takes a large number of factors and variables
aiming to identify a minimum number of factors that explain possible
interrelations among them, by reducing the number of variables and
detecting structure in the relationships among the elements in the analysis.
Regarding the correlations, the Pearson Index was used showing the
volume and the degree of correlations between the variables. For the
multiple regression analysis, an equation was developed, resulting to the
determination of the most important factors of successful knowledge
transfer in a hotel, using the tool of development of Fuzzy logic rules, in
the hotel.
The structure of the questionnaire was based on reference items
determining each independent variable of effective knowledge transfer as
shown in Table 1.
8. Research Findings
The aim of the present research has been to clarify what fuzzy logic is,
how this can be formulated into rules and what their contribution is to the
operation of hotels. According to the main results of the research, with the
development of rules based on fuzzy logic, there is an improvement
mainly in trust, communication, leadership effectiveness, staff members’
motivation, and the already existing accumulated knowledge. Moreover,
the perceived use of information is more effective, while the efficiency of
the administrative structure is increased. More specifically, the trust is
significantly influenced, mainly because the rules of fuzzy logic improve
personal competence and increase the employees’ professionalism, a fact
that finally creates a strong climate of trust in the hotel environment.
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Table 1: References of items per variable
Communication
3 Items based on Becerra and Gupta (2003); Hansen, Nohria and
Tierney (1999)
Trust
5 Items based on Levin and Cross (2004)
Motivation
5 items based on Bock, Zmud, Kim and Lee (2005); Brachos,
Kostopoulos, Soderquist and Prastacos (2007); Cummings and Teng
(2003)
Leadership
5 items based on Christensen (2002); Levinson, Kita, Haun and
Rasch (2002); Lovelace, Shapiro and Weingart (2001); Sveiby
(1996), Vera and Crossan (2004)
Organizational
3 items based on Birkinshaw et al. (2002)
Structure
Perceived use of
7 items based on Hansen, Nohria and Tierney (1999); Levin and
Knowledge
Cross (2004); Szulanski (1996)
ICT
7 items based on Papoutsakis (2006); Tippins and Sohi (2003)
Existing
4 items based on Kyriakopoulos and de Ruyter (2004)
Knowledge
Codification of
5 items based on Reagans and McEvilly (2003)
Knowledge
Business Network
Camisσn and Forιs (2007); Mowery, Oxley and Silverman (1996);
Reagans and McEvilly (2003)
Knowledge
12 items based on Bennet and Gabriel (1999); Cohen and Levinthal
Acquisition
(1990); Galvin (1996); Kohli and Jaworski (1990); Lane and
Lubatkin (1998); Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995); Sinkula (1997);
Szulanski (1996); Zahra and George (2002)
Knowledge
9 items based on Bennet and Gabriel (1999); Galvin (1996); Kohli
Dissemination
and Jaworski (1990); Lane and Lubatkin (1998); Nonaka and
Takeuchi (1995); Zahra and George (2002)
Responsiveness to
8 items based on Bennet and Gabriel (1999); Galvin (1996); Kohli
Knowledge
and Jaworski (1990); Lane and Lubatkin (1998); Nonaka and
Takeuchi (1995); Sinkula, Baker and Noordewier (1997); Szulanski
(1996); Zahra and George (2002)
9 items based on Pierce, Kostova and Dirks (2002); Szulanski (2003)
Effective
Knowledge
Transfer
In addition, communication becomes more effective, as messages
transmitted among members are more well-defined and clear. This
improvement is observed not only on departmental level but also on the
entirety of the business.
Motivation is also enhanced as the targets are well-defined and clear
and the efficiency rating of personnel is less subjective and more
trustworthy. Moreover, the realization of the goals as these are formed by
the rules of fuzzy logic, are a prize, both financial and moral, for staff
members, while, additionally, motives for collaboration and exchange of
expertise are developed owing to better coordination and increased
teamwork in the workplace.
Page | 66
The development of rules significantly helps in better understanding
knowledge (perceived usefulness) and information. These are more
effectively utilized and much more easily transferred from staff to third
parties.
With the development of fuzzy logic rules, the administrative structure
seems to become more democratic and open, ways to improve labor
efficiency are promoted, the efficiency rating of personnel is improved,
innovatory action is encouraged, while the possibility of decision making
in common among staff members is also increased. Of course, it must be
pointed out that not any change and adaptation of rules brings positive
results in case the flexibility and effectiveness of administrative structure
are not increased.
Moreover, with the development of fuzzy logic rules, the business
leadership team has a clearer role to play and if it cooperates with the
employees it is more democratic and the decisions and measures it takes
can be rationalized. The commitment of employees and departments in
achieving the goals of the hotel is greatly facilitated, the collective and
personal responsibilities are successfully clarified to a great extent,
individual initiative and innovation are encouraged as well as the spirit of
teamwork and cooperation within the hotel.
The already existing accumulated knowledge is significantly fortified,
as with the development of rules innovation can be enhanced (the staff
search for ways to accomplish their duties as defined by their job
description rules); nevertheless, staff members with rich experience are
reluctant to share their expertise, mainly on practical matters, with
members of the lower ranks of the hierarchy. On the contrary, knowledge
is more easily shared among member with less experience.
Concerning the three factors, i.e. codification, networking and use of
information and communication technologies, the results are more
negative than positive.
More specifically, networking with other enterprises does not seem to
be influenced almost to any extent from the development of rules, since
neither the assimilation of knowledge received from external entities, nor
the transmission to them are favored. Only cooperation and networking
within the firm and among departments are encouraged.
The codification of knowledge through rules of fuzzy logic is feasible,
since it is possible for automatic processes of control of the effectiveness
of the employees’ performance to be applied. On the other hand, the rules
neither contribute to the precise job-description of employees, nor to the
Page | 67
creation of a well-documented guide to solving the problems arising in a
hotel.
Finally, the communication and information technologies can support
the development and dissemination of the rules, through the creation of an
electronic data base to be used in solving problems that may arise in future
in the hotels, to contribute to the better coordination of separate
departments of a hotel and, more generally, if the right facilities exist, then
the rules can be transmitted to the staff members of the firm with the use
of electronic computers. Yet, with only the rules as a base it would not be
possible to develop a means sufficient to check the personnel and the
departments of the hotel; nor this can fully describe the work content of
departments and employees as well as the limits of their responsibilities.
Finally, the executives are worried and intensely doubt about the final
usefulness of such an electronic guide in the administration and the
personnel of the hotel, as well as if it is possible to disseminate it within
the business. The main reason for such reservations is the fact that the
rules are extremely dynamic and change their content and structure very
quickly.
Besides, the acquisition of knowledge in a hotel is facilitated with the
development of the rules of fuzzy logic, mainly because the detection of
the appropriate source of information is easier and the creation of a
common base of perception of this information is enhanced. Moreover, to
the appropriate and effective reception of knowledge contributes the fact
that through the rules members of the staff communicate better and more
often among themselves both at a professional as well as at a social level.
In addition to the acquisition of knowledge, the rules of fuzzy logic
facilitate the dissemination of information as they create conditions of
effective communication and elevated confidence. Nevertheless, it must be
noted that the rules do not induce to more effective and substantial use of
the facilities and means of information, a fact that makes difficult the
dissemination of knowledge.
Regarding the response to knowledge, the development of rules of
fuzzy logic contributes mainly to more immediate response and adaptation
to new knowledge, as well as to the localization and the immediate
response to complaints or change in the staff’s attitude that may arise.
Moreover, the immediate response in managing crises that may arise in a
hotel is achieved; the existing knowledge is used in a very efficient way,
while, at the same time, proposals to improve sales and customer service
before and after sales are increased.
Finally, with the development of rules of fuzzy logic, the knowledge
transfer factor is greatly facilitated, mainly because the rules help to solve
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problems that may arise during the transmission of information, facilitate
decision making in the hotel, contribute to better understanding of
demands and competencies of personnel, as well as the limits of their
actions, lead to the personnel feeling more competent and confident to deal
with potential problems, they improve the climate of cooperation and trust
in the hotel, assist to better communication, contribute to the processes of
evaluation of the present and new knowledge to be followed and,
moreover, help in bolstering the importance of lifelong learning in the
hotel.
Referring to the main factors under investigation, more specifically:
acquisition of, dissemination of and response to knowledge, the results
have shown that these are influenced mainly by the degree of
improvement of personal competence of employees, whether there is trust
among members of staff in a hotel, by the degree in which communication
is improved among departments, as well as to whether the content of
knowledge and the way this is passed to third parties as a result of the
application of rules of fuzzy logic.
The credibility of the questionnaire was checked using the coefficient
alpha (α), to calculate the internal coherence of the scale. The Cronbach α
delivers clear results of the variables used, as shown in the following table.
For the factors (i) Trust, (ii) Communication, (iii) Perceived Use of
Knowledge and (iv) Dissemination, which achieved coherence averaged
over 0.70, there is high internal coherence and credibility, therefore these
factors will be further more statistically analyzed using the factor analysis
method, which demonstrates the validity of the construction. More
specifically, the factor of TRUST represents a high value of Keiser Meyer
Olkin index (0,861) in level of importance of 1%, proving that the
coherence of data is very high. Therefore, the variables of “personal
pertinence”, “professionalism” and “trust culture” were created.
The factor of communication, has also achieved high value regarding
the Keiser Meyer Olkin index (0,828) in level of importance of 1%. The
variables formulated after the process, were “Overall Communication
Improvement” and “Departmental Communication Improvement”.
The factor of Perceived Use of Knowledge had Keiser Meyer Olkin
index value at 0,762. According to the Factor Analysis process, the
variables formulated were “Understanding and Transfer of Knowledge”
and “Knowledge Usefulness”.
The factor of knowledge dissemination had Keiser Meyer Olkin value
of 0,730 determining the creation of the factors “Trust and
Communication” and “Infrastructure and culture of knowledge transfer”.
Page | 69
The following Figure represents the strong correlations found, between
the aforementioned independent variables and the depended variables of
“acquisition”, “dissemination”, “responsiveness” and “Knowledge
Transfer Effectiveness”
Figure 2: Factor correlations
The process indicated a strong correlation between the depended
variables of “Acquisition”, “Dissemination”, “Responsiveness” and
“Effective Knowledge Transfer” and the independent variables (as the
result of factor analysis) “Personal Pertinence”, “Professionalism”,
“Departmental Communication Improvement” and “Understanding and
Transfer of Knowledge”, with the Pearson indicator varying from 0,312 to
0,424.
Proceeding to the Multiple Regression Analysis, an equation was
formulated in order to verify the most influential factor of tacit knowledge
transfer.
Eff_kn= bo + b1 * ind_com_ence+ b2 * prof_lism+ b3 *
trust_se_cul+ b4 * total_impr_comm+ b5 * com_tion_m+ b6 *
compr_trans_kn+ b6* it_use_ex
Where: Eff_kn is a dependent (false) variable which was extracted
from the mean values scored from questions regarding the effective
knowledge transfer in a hotel, ind_com_ence independent (false) variable
extracted from the mean values scored from questions regarding that factor
“personal Pertinence”, prof_lism independent (false) variable extracted
from the mean values scored from questions regarding that factor
Page | 70
“professionalism, trust_se_cul independent variable expressing the degree
trust culture is created as a result of Fuzzy Logic Rules development,
total_impr_comm independent (false) variable extracted from the mean
values scored from questions regarding that factor “overall communication
improvement”, com_tion_m independent variable expressing the degree
of overall communication improvement as a result of Fuzzy Logic Rules
development, compr_trans_kn independent (false) variable extracted
from the mean values scored fom questions regarding that factor
“Understanding and Knowledge Transfer”, it_use_ex independent variable
expressing the degree of knowledge usefulness as a result of Fuzzy Logic
Rules Development.
The following Table demonstrates the first example of regression between
the independent and dependent variables.
Table 2: Regression analysis
1. Personal Pertinence
2. Professionalism
3. Trust Culture
4. Overall communication improvement
5. Departmental Communication
Improvement
6. Understanding and knowledge
Transfer
7. Knowledge Usefulness
1
2
3
.000/(5,364) .000/(26,728) .000/(28,600)
0,027*/(2,234) ,052/(1,960) ,000/(5,132)
,493/(,688)
,941/(,074)
,996/(,005)
,087/(-1,725)
,018*/(2,401) ,066*/(1,859)
-,774/(-,288)
The important variables in 5% level of importance were (i) Personal
Pertinence and (ii) Understanding and Knowledge Transfer. In the second
model of regression, the variable “Understanding and Knowledge
Transfer» was statistically insignificant (p= 0,066, p>0,05). In the 3rd
model of regression, only the statistically significant variable of “Personal
Pertinence” was included.
Regarding the overall evaluation of econometric models and from what
has been written before, it becomes obvious that the rules of fuzzy logic
contribute to a great degree to the improvement of personal competence of
employees, as well as to the enhancement of trust among members of staff
in a hotel, factors that finally influence and define the degree of
effectiveness of the transfer of knowledge and information in a hotel.
Page | 71
9. Conclusion
Malhorta (2002) argues “The best information environments will take
advantage of the ability of IT to overcome geography but will also
acknowledge that the highest bandwidth network of all is found between
the water fountain and the coffee machine” meaning that the assignees and
the face to face meeting are by far the most important channels for
generating, reusing and transferring knowledge. Santoro and Bierly (2006)
support the argument that knowledge transfer is an inherently social
processes of the workplace in many ways, not easy to formalize, codify,
visualize and express, highly dependent upon interactions among team
members (Joshi, Sarker and Sarker, 2007). Tacit knowledge is considered
as the “body of the iceberg” of the intellectual capital, which, according to
Druker (1993), is the most valuable asset of the organization. Hence, the
initial scientific question is the exploitation manner of tacit knowledge,
acknowledging the fact that the key factors of tacit knowledge transfer
process seem to be mostly psychographic. The intangibility of tacit
knowledge must be handled with also intangible factors, such as
communication, trust, perception, etc. Researchers such as Malhorta,
Drucker Polayni, Nonaka, Szulanski, Konno, Darroch and many others,
agree that tacit knowledge depends on the extent of communication, trust,
ability to express and culture. This research paper argues that the
development of rules based on fuzzy logic could strongly improve
communication and individual pertinence, enhancing the level of trust,
knowing that trust is a key factor of tacit knowledge transfer.
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A NEW DESTINATION FOR ALTERNATIVE
TOURISM; LYCIAN WAY
CANAN BASTEMUR
CIDE RIFAT ILGAZ KASTAMONU UNIVERSITY,TURKEY
Abstract
Lycia was a civilization that is located between Fethiye and Antalya Bays
known as Teke Peninsula in Turkey. Lycian Way is a 509 km old trading
route. Garanti Bank, one of the most important banks in Turkey, which
arranged a project competition to reveal the values of Turkey in 1996 and
the project of “Lycian Way” was selected first. This is the first ancient
trade way converted to trekking route. In this study case, described what
the European Cultural Route is, the examples from over the world are
given, the tourism values of Lycian Way are analyzed. When Lycian way
accepts as one of European Cultural Routes, it will be the first route has the
whole criteria in Europe. Additionally, the advantages of being included
European Cultural Route are explained, made preparations for this process
are mentioned and suggestions are presented.
1. Introduction
Lycian civilization was one of the most developed civilizations and its
history extends back to BC2000. The Lycians formed the world's first
democratic union in response to the possibility of war with Rhodos. This
civilization lived south west of Turkey between Fethiye and Antalya bays
known as Teke peninsula today (Akurgal, 1998). This region generates
15% of tourism revenues from the tourism income of Turkey. Sea, sun,
sand tourism and cultural tourism take precedence. Alternative or special
interest tourism activities started to develop. Lycian civilization was
developed through city planning and trade which is why they created a
trade route. Lycian way is a 509 km antique trade route that connects 18
antique cities with one another. Garanti bank, one of the most important
banks in Turkey, sponsored the establishment of the Lycian Way with the
aim of showcasing Turkish values to the world. (Clow, 2000). A number
of projects were submitted for approval and the project created by British
citizen Kate Clow was selected. This antique trade route was marked
according to international trekking routes standards. In 1999, it was
opened as a trekking route for alternative tourism. In this study,
Page | 78
information about Lycian Way is given, alternative tourism and special
tourism activities on the way are determined, European Cultural Route is
defined, examples are given from Europe, the advantages of being as
European Cultural Route are explained and the nomination of Turkey as a
cultural route is proposed (Okyanus, 2010).
2. Information About Lycian Way and Its Tourism
Values
Lycian Way is a trekking route that can be done special interest
activities. It takes about a month to trek this route. The best seasons for
trekking are spring and fall. Especially April - May, September and
October. Some of sections are hard, others are easy. In general, walkers
divide the route into two parts. In this way they complete the route over
two different fifteen day tours. Some tourists staying near the route, go on
trekking excursions. Besides being an alternative route itself, the Lycian
Way includes many additional special interest and many alternative
tourism activities. Including: Bird watching, scuba diving, cycling, yatch
tourism, wreck tourism, paragliding, rafting and riding are some of the
tourism activities. One of the most beautiful 10 long distance trekking
routes in the world to Sunday Times. Along the way, you can see camp
sites, hotels and guesthouses. The Lycian way starts from Fethiye
Hisarönü, is 23 stages and finishes in Antalya Kemer. The way runs
parallel with the shore, that’s why there are lots of places to swim
(Akurgal, 1998)
Although Lycian Way has not accepted as a cultural route yet, the way
was marked by Kate Clow and volunteers with international standards.
Sometimes on the way, these marks disappear but no one get lost. Way’s
maintenance is done by supporting organizations and volunteers every
year (Sarı, 2007) Antique cities on the Lycian Way;
• Sdyma, Pinara, Letoon, Xanthos, Patara, Phellos, Antiphellos,
Appolonia, Letoon, Xanthos, Aperlai, Simena and Kekova (Clow,
2000)
• Different tourism activities can be done on the Lycian Way. All
antique cities on the Lycian Way are worth to see with their
historical, environmental and mythic specialities. It opens cultural
tourism activities. The edge of classical tourism approach, places
are below to swim along the way;
• Kabak Bay, Faralya (Butterfly Walley), Patara, Kaş, İnce Burun,
Sıcak Peninsula, Kekova, Finike, Mavikent, Çıralı, Tekirova,
Page | 79
Phaselis, Ölüdeniz, Adrasan, Finike, Gökkaya Bay, Kesmeboğa
Brook and other unnamed bays (Umar, 1999).
Turkey with 3000 endemic plant species exceeds the total number of
Europe endemic plants that is 2750. Especially Antalya is the most
important region with 600 endemic plant species. Liquidamar orientalis,
known as sweetgum that grows up in Lycian region and Asparagus
Lycicus are endemic plants decreasing day by day (Davis, 1988).
Endangered species were determined in 1985. The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) prepared “Red List” for the endangered
species. Both of the plants mentioned above are on the list. These species
on the Lycian way visits generally by nature photographers, landscape
architectures and botanists. Additionally there are lots of wetlands, reeds
and greenlands on the way because of the that 103 different bird species
are found on this way is determined by IBA (Important Bird Area). Also
bird-watching tours can be done on this way. There are two national parks
on the way; Olympos Bey Mountains National Park and Patara National
Park. These are important recreation area. Patara known as St. Nicholas
birthplace is a point of religious tourism. 74.200 tourists visited Patara and
Demre in 2010. Patara is also sea turtles’ known as “caretta caretta”
nesting area. Butterfy Valley is the first-grade natural site located in the
Baba Mountain is one of 100 protected mountains by reason of endemic
species, is closed to all types of construction (Anonymous c). This area
includes 100 ha of organic argriculture and a beautiful stream of waterfalls
pooling into the sea from here. Mount Baba is also one of the best places
in the world for paragliding can be done. There are more than 80 kinds of
butterflies. Tiger butterflies are the most common type found there. This is
a favorite place for nature photographers (Unal, 2010). Scuba diving and
wreck tourism are widespread Kaş and near. Gök Cave in Finike is the
deepest place diving before in Asia. Uluburun Wreck exhibited in the
Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archeology and Gelidonya Wreck
completed excavation the first are only few tourism attraction on the way.
One of the other tourism alternatives is bicycle tourism arranged by
Ölüdeniz Rotary Club. Camp tourism, water sports and riding near
Kayaköy are the other tourism activities can be done on the way. Lycian
way is not only trekking route but also is a route that lots of tourism
activities can be done while the tourists walk (Ozbey, 2002)
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3. Methodological Approach
As the information about study case was collected, it was benefited
from literature survey, source research and statistics. So as to the most
important approach was travel to the study case. Besides Lycian way was
walked in 35 days and photographed, interviewed with local people and
tourists. 320 tourists came to the Lycian Way in 2010 with an aim to walk
the whole the route 1200 people. It started to known in 2003 but still a few
people are informed. Travel agencies has just started to prepare package
tours to this region. 234 tourists were interviewed next year. The main
question is “What kind of activities will you do while you are trekking on
the Lycian Way”. This question asked the start point of the Lycian Way,
Hisarönü. 58% of them come to the region only trekking, 25% are to swim
somewhere different, 20% are for scuba-diving and wreck tourism, 31%
are for the survey of flora and fauna, 28% are for bird-watching, 25% are
for cultural tourism, walking in antique cities, 22% are for climbing, 23%
of them are for the other activities like para-gliding, parasailing, yacht
tourism, cycling and camp tourism. Additionally 67% of surveyed
participants are very satisfied, 21% of them are satisfied and 4% of are not
satisfied. When the reason of dissatisfaction was asked to the 4% of
tourists, their answer is generally about accommodation. There are a few
hotels in comparison with pensions and camp sites on the Lycian way.
Therefore tourist are not eager to stay camp sites are not satisfied. 18
antique cities, 42 bays, 2 national parks, 2 protected areas, 12 wreck areas,
7 yacht marinas and 11 camp sites visited. 11 special and alternative
tourism activities were done. 80 different butterfly species and 103 bird
species are defined, also 2 endangered plant species on the red list are on
the Lycian Way (Anonymous d). The details about that are given previous
section.
4. European Cultural Route
The European Institute of Cultural Routes was formally established as
a non- profit association under an agreement between the Council of
Europe and Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. It is intended as an instrument
for continuing the work carried out by the Council of Europe Secretariat
over the last ten years. Accordingly, it has been given a number of specific
tasks in relation to the Cultural Routes programme. In particular, it has the
job of processing the many proposals for new themes and activities that
arrive almost daily with a view to submitting them to the Advisory
Committee. At the same time, being responsible for ensuring the
Page | 81
continuity of the Cultural Routes programme, it monitors the programme
network; which involves evaluating their work and co-ordinating and
advising the partner organizations with a view to furthering their projects,
setting new objectives and establishing inter-network links. It also task of
actively exploiting the programme archives for the purposes of an
information and communication policy aimed at selecting data about the
work of its partners and disseminating it both to professionals and to the
general public. It does this by arranging with public and private publishers
for the publication of written, audiovisual and multimedia material
(Kulözü, 2009). The Council for Cultural Co-operation established three
main objectives for the Cultural Routes programme:
• to make European citizens aware of a real European cultural
identity;
• to preserve and enhance the European cultural heritage as a
means of improving the surroundings in which people live and as
a source of social, economic and cultural development;
• to accord a special place to cultural tourism among European
leisure activities.
• In order to make the concept of Cultural Routes easier to
understand for the public and for those suggesting projects, the
CDCC formulated the following definition:
• “The term European Cultural Route is taken to mean a route
crossing one or regions, organized around themes whose
historical, artistic or social interest is patently European, either by
virtue of the geographical route followed or because of the nature
and/or scope of its range and significance.” “ Application of term
European to a route must imply a significance and cultural
dimension which is more than merely local. The route must be
based on a number of highlights, with places particularly rich in
historical associations, which are also representative of European
culture as a whole.” (Boo, 1990). For a theme to be eligible for
the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes Programme, it must
satisfy all of the following criteria:
• Themes must be representive of European values and common to
several countries of Europe.
• Themes must be researched and developed by groups of
multidisciplinary experts from different regions of Europe so as
to ensure that the activities and projects which illustrate them are
based on consensus.
• Themes must be illustrative of European memory, history and
heritage, refer to at least one of the three topics in the general
Page | 82
•
•
•
•
•
conceptual framework proposed by the programme (peoples,
migrations, broad currents of civilisation) and contribute to an
interpretation of the diversity of present-day Europe.
Themes must lend themselves to cultural and educational
exchanges for young people and hence be in line with the Council
of Europe's ideas and concerns in these fields.
Themes must permit the development of initiatives and
exemplary and innovative projects in the field of cultural tourism
and sustainable cultural development.
Themes must permit the implementation of long-term multilateral
co-operation projects in various fields of action through the
setting up of multidisciplinary networks located in several
Council of Europe member states (Unal, 2010).
Cultural Routes in Europe are blow.
St. Martin of Tours- 2005, Mozart Ways- 2004, Schickhardt
Itenary- 2004, Don Quixote Route- 2007, The Phoenicians Route2007, The Via Carolingia- 2007, Transromanica-2007, The Via
Regia-2006, The Santiago Pilgrim Route- 2004, The Via
Francigena-2004, The ways of St. Michael-2007, St.Olav Ways2010, The network of Cluniac Sites-2006, The European Route of
Cistercian-2010, Viking and Normans, European Heritage-2004,
Hanseatic sites, routes and monuments- 2004, The Pyrenean Iron
Route-2004, The Iron Route in Central Europe-2004, The Legacy
of al-Andalus-2004, Castillan Language and Sefardic People in
Mediterranean Areas-2004, European Jewish Heritage Route2005, Parks and Gardesn, Landscape-2004, Fortified Military
Architecture in Europe-2004, European Routes of Migration
Heritage-2007, The Routes of Olive Tree-2006, Iter Vitis-2008,
Prehistoric Rock Art Trail-2010, European Cemeteries Route2010, Thermal Heritage and Thermal Towns-2010 (Anonymous
b).
5. Result and Suggestions
29 cultural route has been determined since 1987 by the Council of
Europe. Some of them were marked and opened trekking. In spite of the
fact that Turkey has not been accepted yet, the Lycian way was marked
with international standards and opened in 1999. Turkey’s second cultural
route is a religious rote named St Paul Way (İbrahimov, 2006). The notion
of European Cultural Route has not been known enough. Information was
given to Tourism and Culture Government and the other institutes related
Page | 83
to this theme and researches were started. It is supported by these
academic studies. There are lots of advantages accepted as a European
Cultural Route for the region and also Turkey. These advantages are
below:
• To provide a control and evaluate according to the environmental
protection principals of Europe Council every year.
• To advertise to the route throughout Europe countries.
• To accept this route as a common cultural heritage.
• To provide Grant funds for restoration and conservation studies
of antique cities on the route.
• To research flora and fauna on the route and to support to win
scientific qualification.
• To give a free trip chance to the tourists trekked the same route
more than one by giving certificated.
• To increase the number of qualified tourists come to the region
by advertising of Turkey and the Lycian Way in Europe.
• To vary alternative tourism diversities out of classical tourism
approach and encourage the activities for the cultural tourism.
• When the Lycian Way is accepted as an European Cultural
Route, it will be international importance also. These are;
• It will be the first route which have all criteria in Europe.
• It will be the fourth longest route in Europe.
• It will be the route with the most special interest activities in
Europe.
• It will be the route with the largest number of antique cities in
Europe.
References
Akurgal, E. (1998). Anadolu Kültür Tarihi. Tübitak, 42-45.
Anonymous a (2010). Tourism Highlights 2010 Edition, UNWTO,
http://www.unwto.org/facts/eng/highlights.htm.
Anonymous b Web Site: http//Santiago-cosmostela.net.
Anonymous c Web Site: http://www.lycianfederation.co.uk/.
Anonymous d Web Site: UNWTO, 2009. Facts & Figures,
http://www.unwto.org/facts.menu.
Boo, E. (1990). Ecotourism: The Potentials and Pitfalls, WWF,
Washington DC, 21-23.
Clow, K. and Richarson, T. (2000). Lycian Way,15-21.
Davis, G. (1988). Non-consumptive Wild-life-Oriented Recreation, 54-56.
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İbrahimov, A. (2006). Geographical Perspectives on Globalization of
Tourism and the Situation of Turkey, Aegean Geographical Journal
Kulözü, N. (2009). St. Paul Yolu ve çevresinin rekreasyonel ve Peyzaj
Potansiyeli Üzerine Bir Araştırma, 77-100
Okyanus, A. (2010). Lycian Way ,23, Garanti.
Özbey, F.R. (2002). Sustainable Tourism Development in Glabalization
Progress, Glabalization and Sustainable Development, International
Scientific Conference, Book 4, 135-150, Varna.
Sarı, H. (2007). Likya Yolu Raporu, 4.
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Dai. Bşk. (2001).
Umar, B (1999). Lycia, İnkılâp Kitapevi, 47-53.
Ünal, S (2010). Tiltaneke, Likya Yolu-Ortadoğu,67-70, Siyah Beyaz.
Ünal, T. (2010). Turizmin Gelişmesinde Çevrenin Önemi, Çevre Sorunları
Vakfı, Turizm ve Çevre Konferansı, 5, Önder.
Yücel T., Türkiye Coğrafyası TAKE Yay, 68, 198.
Yerli S. V.(2000). Batı Akdeniz Bölgesindeki Deniz Kaplumbağalarının
Korunmasına Yönelik Yönetim Planı İlkeleri. Çevre Bakanlığı, Çevre
Koruma Genel Müdürlüğü.
Yıldız University (1991). International Symposium on Architecture of
Tourism in the Mediterranean, Policies, Planning, Design, İstanbul,
263.
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AN EVALUATION OF OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT
TOURISM WEBSITES AS A KNOWLEDGEBASED PLATFORM TO IMPROVE THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
MARIA DO ROSÁRIO BORGES
UNIVERSITY OF ÉVORA, PORTUGAL
CELESTE EUSÉBIO
UNIVERSITY OF AVEIRO, PORTUGAL
NUNO CARVALHO
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF COIMBRA, PORTUGAL
Abstract
The development of sustainable tourism is a very extensive domain of
work and characterized by many complex challenges that increase with
the global market pursuit to become more competitive. A knowledgebased platform is essential for policy makers and managers in order to
support responsible decision making at different levels. Tourism is an area
of increasingly intensive production and consumption of information. The
main purpose of this study is to analyze if Portuguese public
organizations, operating in the tourism destination of the Alentejo, use
official tourism websites to transfer knowledge with a view to sharing data
and information about the overall scope of sustainable development
issues. It was used the content analysis research technique to evaluate the
set of characteristics of information content within official websites. The
results indicate these organizations are not very committed to using
official websites as a knowledge-based platform to share information.
1. Introduction
Today there is no doubt that the development of sustainable tourism
requires more knowledge, engagement and closer cooperation between
stakeholders, at different levels. A suitable and continuous learning
environment should be promoted. In this context, different tools can be
used, being the internet a multi-functions instrument with several
Page | 86
capabilities to sustain different goals; one of them is to promote the
knowledge transfer.
The studies published about online systems in the tourism sector focus
mostly on e-commerce and marketing strategies in the perspective of B2C.
Few empirical researches to determine the role and quality of government
websites as a knowledge transfer tool have been conducted. In this field Li
(2010) evaluated the internet tourism information of 30 local
government’s official tourism websites in China. Additionally, some
international institutions have already developed some strategies to
improve learning platforms within websites. However, few studies analyze
the role of the government tourism websites as a knowledge-based
platform to improve the development of sustainable tourism.
The main of this study is to analyze the official government tourism
websites in order to verify if they have been used as a knowledge-based
platform. To accomplish this objective, firstly a literature review regarding
tourism knowledge transfer and development of sustainable tourism was
undertaken. Secondly, a brief characterization of the Alentejo region was
carried out. Further the methodological approach used in this research will
be presented, followed by presentation and discussion of results. Finally,
the paper ends with some conclusions and implications.
2. Theoretical Overview on Development of Sustainable
Tourism and Knowledge Transfer
Sustainability can relate to almost all types and scales of tourism
activities and environments (Saarinen, 2006; WTO, 2004), but there is also
growing criticism of the ideas, concepts, practices, and its usability as far
as sustainable tourism development is claimed to be effective (Hunter,
1995; Liu, 2003; Sharpley, 2000). In 1987, sustainable development was
defined in Brundtland Report as development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs (WCED, 1987). Despite the many initiatives that have
emerged up to the present day to promote that philosophy of development,
with the great commitment of several international institutions (e.g. the
EU, UNWTO, UNESCO, UNEP) and some leaders countries, the desired
goals within tourism activities are still far from being achieved.
The development of sustainable tourism includes the active
participation of numerous stakeholders with clearly distinguished
responsibilities and information needs, at different times and levels of
specification. Commercial and policy decisions should be based on a
knowledge-based platform as the tourism sector shows more consistent
Page | 87
growth and development (Cooper, 2005; Jafari, 1990), and also because
challenges are becoming more complex to manage. “Knowledge
dissemination among tourism stakeholders is vital to the overall
development of tourism” (Hung et al., 2010: 519). Players need
knowledge to predict occurrences and have an up-to-date and professional
attitude in their daily work. A proactive attitude when facing the specific
dynamics of the tourism system, with new perspectives and new ideas,
makes them stronger in the global setting of growing competitiveness.
According to Baggio and Cooper (2010) the starting point for innovation
to be translated into practice is to understand how destinations capture,
share and use knowledge.
Although the concept of a knowledge-based platform appears logical,
the most appropriate procedure or methodology to create and use it is not
yet defined (Scott and Laws, 2006). This is a crucial pillar in tourism
dynamics competitiveness, either in the context of organizations acting
individually to achieve their goals or jointly with other actors sharing
common purposes at the destination level.
There are several reflections on knowledge sharing applied to an
organization or to a group level of analysis, such as industry clusters,
learning regions and inter-organizational knowledge networks (Michael,
2003; Pechlaner et al., 2002). But as far as tourism is concerned, the most
appropriate analytical scale of analysis for knowledge sharing is the
destination, considering an inter-organizational perspective (Scott and
Laws, 2006). Effective knowledge sharing in destinations is very
important if it is borne in mind that visitors’ demand for total quality of
experience that must be assured by supply agents in a chain of articulated
services. Pan et al. (2006) advocate that it is important to define clusters of
knowledge as a competitive strength. They also argued that knowledge
sharing in the tourism sector is problematic: geographical dispersion of the
agents and customers; generally poor market intelligence systems;
differences between the market intelligence needs of distribution channel
members and destination operators are not yet established.
Although some efforts have been made to classify tourism knowledge
(Scott, 1999), there is no widespread use of categorization systems to
identify knowledge requirements (Pan et al., 2006). These authors stated
that development of such a system “would be of great practical and
theoretical value to tourism”.
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3. Characterization of Alentejo
The literature review highlights that a knowledge management strategy
is an important pathway to enhancing a competitive position in any
tourism destination. The study case involved several state tourism
organizations operating at tourism destinations of the Alentejo, in
Portugal. For stakeholders in the Alentejo region to act in a context of
sustainability, they need at least to know basic concepts and what are the
main issues related to the concrete application of national and international
principles regarding sustainability in tourism destinations.
Different data on supply and demand for tourism in the Alentejo
tourism region confirm that this tourism destination is at an early stage of
its life cycle. This reality has the advantage of promoting a proactive
attitude in defining the best strategies to achieve a competitive position in
the following stages and also to avoid mistakes resulting from bad tourism
policy decision-making, as has occurred in the development of other
tourism destinations. The success of Alentejo tourism services depends on
the adoption of sustainability principles and measures by the various
stakeholders. The literature review proves that a decision-making process
within a knowledge management strategy is a competitive advantage for a
tourism destination. The Turismo do Alentejo, Alentejo tourism office,
aims to achieve excellence for tourism services based on a sustainable
development dimension but, considering the focus of the analysis that is a
tremendous challenge. The Alentejo has an area of 31,551.2 km² (33% of
the mainland Portugal) and 753,407 inhabitants (7.5% of the mainland
Portugal). But in 2009, the Alentejo region represented only 3.9% of the
overall Portugal accommodation capacity and only 3% of all overnights
(INE, 2010).
The overall accommodation capacity of the Alentejo region increased
between 2002 and 2009 as did the number of overnights. Despite the
accommodation capacity is higher in Alentejo Litoral, Alentejo Central
records are more expressive. The main reasons lie on the fact that city of
Évora, within Alentejo Central, is a world heritage site, as recognised by
the UNESCO and also because this city is the Capital District of Alentejo
region.
This study will focus on official government tourism websites in order
to verify if they have been used as a knowledge-based platform. To
accomplish this objective two dimensions of a knowledge management
Page | 89
program presented by Clark and Scott (2006: 123) were followed. For the
technology dimension, this study focuses on the internet and specifically
on official government tourism websites at national, regional and local
level. Today, websites are one of the most widely used technological
infrastructures for communication, due to the multiple advantages offered.
Some of their several features, highlighted by the authors mentioned,
make them one of the most effective tools to promote and facilitate
knowledge transfer. As has already been mentioned earlier in this article
the aim is to verify if websites serve as tools to transfer knowledge about
sustainable development in tourism. Therefore, for the content dimension,
the focus regarding availability of data and information research is related
to the development of sustainable tourism. To accomplish this objective
five relevant terms related to the development of sustainable tourism “sustainable”, “sustainability”, “sustainable development”, “tourism and
sustainable development” and “tourism” - were analyzed. The method of
content analysis was used.
The approach presented by Altinay and Paraskevas (2008) concerning
content analysis was used in this research. The content analysis method
suggested by these authors divided content analysis into two broad
categories: conceptual and relational. Conceptual analysis, the only one
developed in this article, was presented “as identifying in a text the
existence and frequency of concepts, whether in simple words or in
phrases” (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008: 128).
All public organizations with some level of responsibility in tourism
development in the Alentejo region (NUT II) were selected to participate
in this research. In Table 1 are all the 65 public organizations that have
been identified in accordance with the aims of this study. These
organizations belong to the national, regional and local level.
The study was conducted in the month of February 2011 and in March
all the results were reviewed. It was found that 64 of the overall 65
government bodies have a functioning website. Therefore, the content
analysis comprises the assessment of 64 official government tourism
websites.
The conceptual analysis was oriented to identify the existence and the
frequency of five concepts on the webpages. The units of text classified
were “tourism”, “sustainable”, “sustainability”, “sustainable development”
and “tourism and sustainable development”.
In the case of national, regional bodies and the two local tourism
enterprises with specific responsibilities to act in tourism, the availability
of data and information related to the following words and terms was
considered: “sustainable”; “sustainability”; “sustainable development”;
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“tourism and sustainable development”. At the local level, the word
“tourism” was also included because town councils act in many other
areas besides tourism.
Table 1: Public organizations analyzed in this study
Level
Public Organizations
Area of Intervention
National
Turismo de Portugal, I.P.
Portugal
Territory under the Nomenclature
Turismo do Alentejo, E. R. T. of Territorial Unit for Statistics
Level II (NUT II)
Turismo de Lisboa e Vale do
Lezíria e Vale do Tejo
Tejo
Regional
Alandroal, Barrancos, Moura,
Turismo Terras do Grande
Mourão, Portel and Reguengos de
Lago Alqueva — Alentejo
Monsaraz
Alcácer do Sal, Grândola,
Turismo do Alentejo Litoral
Odemira, Santiago do Cacém and
Sines
Town council
58 municipalities
Local
State-owned company
2 municipalities
Total
N
1
1
1
1
1
58
2
65
Within each site the search function was used to verify what the
outcomes of the research were, regardless of what language they arose in
(Portuguese, English, French and Spanish). At each step the word or
concept was introduced to compile results into frequencies.
5. Results by Geographic Level
5.1. Conceptual Analysis of Government Tourism Websites
at National Level
At the national level, Turismo de Portugal, I.P. is the only central
public authority responsible for the promotion, development and
sustainability of tourism activities. As a result, this national tourism
authority defines the national tourism strategy. This Institute is integrated
within the Ministry of the Economy, Innovation and Development and
gathers together all the institutional competencies related to improving
tourism activities, considering both sides of supply and demand for the
tourism sector. Turismo de Portugal’s mission is “enhancing and
developing tourism infrastructures; developing human resources training;
supporting investment in the sector; coordinating Portugal’s domestic and
international promotion as a tourism destination; and regulating and
inspecting betting activities” (Ministério da Economia e da Inovação,
2007: 2694). There are other Ministries and Institutions that develop
Page | 91
policies with consequences for the tourism sector, such as transport,
environment and culture, but they do not have exclusive competence in
matters of tourism. However, at the national and regional level, the study's
aim is to focus on organizations which only have direct powers for the
development of the tourism sector.
Research done on the internal functionality of the site revealed the
following outcomes: 14 frequencies for “sustainable”; 11 frequencies for
“sustainability”; 12 frequencies for “sustainable development”; and 12
frequencies for “tourism and sustainable development” (Table 2).
Table 2: Outcomes for the national tourism authority analysis (frequencies)
Tourism and
Sustainable
sustainable
Organization Tourism Sustainable Sustainability
development
development
Turismo de
-14
11
12
12
Portugal, I.P.
Despite the importance of this national tourism in improving tourism
activities in order to achieve the development of the destinations, the
content analysis revealed that its official tourism website is used very
modestly for disclosing information about the development of sustainable
tourism. Comparing these results with the reality given at the local level
(see Table 5) the effort made by the national organization to disseminate
data and information on these issues is lower in quantity.
5.2 Conceptual Analysis of Government Tourism Websites
at Regional Level
At the regional level in the Alentejo four regional tourism bodies were
identified that aim to contribute to the objectives of national tourism
policies, ensure the development and valorization of tourism resources and
monitor tourism supply. Table 3 displays a brief description of the
organization´s mission included in the study.
Table 4 displays the results of the research done on the internal
functionality of each website. No reference to data and information was
found about concepts, issues, principles and practices regarding
sustainability in tourism destinations. The conceptual analysis confirms
the lack of information about the complex issues and processes concerned
with the development of sustainable tourism.
Page | 92
Table 3: Brief description of Alentejo regional tourism organization
Organizations
Names
Turismo de Lisboa e
Vale do Tejo
Territorial Bases
Mission
The priority is the development of
NUT III: Lezíria do Tejo
tourism of its geographical area,
aiming at the balanced exploitation of
NUT III: Alto Alentejo
its historical, cultural and natural
NUT III: Alentejo Litoral
tourism
potential,
within
the
NUT III: Alentejo Central
guidelines and directives of the
Turismo do Alentejo,
tourism policy defined by the
E.R.T.
government and multi-annual plans of
NUT III: Baixo Alentejo
State and municipalities that form the
area.
Turismo Terras do
Municipalities: Alandroal,
The priority is the development of
Grande Lago Alqueva Barrancos, Moura, Mourão,
tourism of its geographical area,
— Alentejo
Portel e Reguengos de Monsaraz aimed at sustainable utilization of
tourism
resources,
within
the
guidelines and strategies of tourism
Municipalities: Alcácer do Sal,
Turismo do Alentejo
Grândola, Odemira, Santiago do policy set by the Government and the
Litoral
annual plans of central government
Cacém e Sines
and at the local level.
Source: Ministério da Economia e da Inovação, 2008
Table 4: Outcomes for the Alentejo regional tourism authorities (frequencies)
Tourism and
Sustainable
Tourism Sustainable Sustainability
sustainable
development
development
Turismo do
-0
0
0
0
Alentejo, E. R. T.
Turismo de
Lisboa e Vale do
-0
0
0
0
Tejo
Turismo Terras
do Grande Lago
-0
0
0
0
Alqueva —
Alentejo
Turismo do
Alentejo Litoral
-----(*)
(*) Official website not found
The results reveal that there is an absence of commitment of public
organizations at the regional level to inform and educate their partners
about the matter under review, despite their mission responsibility in
sustainable utilization of tourism resources on the geographical area. It can
be inferred that these bodies do not recognize the importance of
dissemination of information on these subjects to the various players or
else they use other tools and methods to promote learning, communication
and dialogue among tourism stakeholders in their domain of influence.
Page | 93
5.3 Conceptual Analysis of Government Tourism Websites
at Local Level
At the local level the issues of tourism are planned and managed within
the town councils, who assume responsibilities in many areas that
contribute towards keeping the territories organized. Town councils are
local authorities which pursue the personal interests of the resident
population in the district municipality. They act in different areas of
planning and development of a society in close collaboration with central
and regional bodies, such as education, transport, sports and tourism,
among others. At the local level in the Alentejo (NUT II) fifty-eight town
councils were identified to conduct the study.
Despite this organizational setting, in the Alentejo region there are
only two local public tourism enterprises that are dedicated exclusively to
the issues of tourism activities. They represent the interests of tourism for
each municipality and are directly related and managed with the support of
town council bodies. They aim to promote and enhance local development
and manage tourist facilities and services. The websites of the two
organizations were also taken into account in the analysis.
Research done on the internal functionality of the websites revealed the
outcomes shown in Table 5.
Table 5: Outcomes for the Alentejo local authorities (frequencies and average)
Local Level
N.º of
NUT III
Websites
15
Alto Alentejo
14
Alentejo Central
5
Alentejo Litoral
14
Baixo Alentejo
12
Lezíria do Tejo
60
Total
Tourism
N
Sustainable
Sustainability
Average
Sustainable
development
Tourism and
sustainable Total
development
Average
N
Average
N
N
Average
168
40
1330
477
300
11.20
2.86
266.00
34.07
23.75
26
5
172
115
149
1.73
0.36
34.40
8.21
12.42
40
7
21
75
51
2.67
0.50
4.20
5.36
4.25
24
4
161
25
79
1.60
0.29
32.20
1.79
6.58
19
5
5
1
13
N Average
1.27
0.36
1.00
0.07
1.08
277
61
1689
693
592
N
2315
--
467
--
194
--
293
--
43
--
3312
Within each group of town councils (territorial bases NUT III), it was
found that the websites have the same physical structure in the majority of
organizations. It was found that this characteristic influenced the results
obtained.
Since the local councilhas responsibilities in different areas, the
homepage of the site was also checked to see if there is a direct link to the
theme "tourism", in addition to the terms considered at other levels. The
2315 “tourism” results are justified, sometimes, by the links that appear
Page | 94
linked to the various activities of tourism offices, which are local services
in Portugal, under the responsibility of town councils.
The frequencies have a large discrepancy when comparing the five
groups of local councils within the NUT III. Alentejo Litoral, with a
smaller number of websites (only 5), displays a higher number of results in
all categories (1689) occurrences in comparison with other geographic
areas. It represents 50.9% of all classified texts. It is assumed that this is
justified by the fact that in this region the most recent tourism investment
projects are being developed, and are expected to have a significant impact
on the region. In contrast, “Alentejo Central” with the higher overnight
rate only accounts for 61 results in total (1.8%). Another piece of evidence
has to do with the fact that the two concepts together (“tourism and
sustainable development”) do not represent a higher number of results;
only 43 occurrences in total of the all NUT III (1.3%). However,
“tourism” or “sustainable development” by itself presents a greater
number of occurrences, respectively 2315 (69.8%) and 293 (8.8%).
6. Conclusion
Considering some of the significant values obtained in the conceptual
analysis, it appears that the data and information about the development of
sustainable tourism is not as much as was desirable. The results show
significant differences concerning knowledge transfer among the public
organizations analyzed at the different regional levels, considering website
as a tool of communication and learning. At the national level the results
are scarce. At the regional level official websites contain no data or
information about this topic. Despite the high number of results obtained
at local level, the majority of data and information seems to be disjointed
from the central issues of sustainable development.
Considering the above analysis, it can be said that public organizations
do not use official websites to transfer knowledge with a view to sharing
data and information about the complete range of sustainable development
issues for tourism. In this scene it can be deduced that Portuguese national
bodies are not aware of the importance of building a network of
knowledge with accurate information. In conclusion, the content analysis
within official websites evidences the lack of an organizational knowledge
management strategy in the context of sustainable development for
tourism activities. In order to overcome this situation it is necessary to
develop a policy, a strategy or a knowledge-based agenda for tourist
information concerning the development of sustainable tourism.
Page | 95
In this article, content analysis was done only in the domain of
"conceptual analysis". It would be important to complement it with the
"relational analysis" in order to analyze the type of information related to
sustainable development of tourism disseminated through websites.
In order to increase the knowledge is this field it seems pertinent to
extend this analysis to other regions of Portugal and other bodies, not
official, who also operate in the tourism sector. At the international level it
would also be appropriate to compare the public official websites of
several different countries (or destinations) with better levels of
performance within sustainable levels. Also to make a more exhaustive
benchmarking of the various successful web-based knowledge platforms
can improve the effectiveness of these instruments as a key tool for
sustainable development.
References
Altinay, L. and Paraskevas, A. (2008). Planning Research in Hospitality
and Tourism, Oxford: Butter-Heinemann.
Baggio, R. and Cooper, C. (2010). Knowledge transfer in a tourism
destination: the effects of a network structure. The Service Industries
Journal, 30(10), 1757-1771.
Clark, S. and Scott, N. (2006). Managing Knowledge in Tourism
Planning. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism,
7(1), 117-136.
Cooper, C. (2005). Managing Tourism Knowledge: Concepts and
Approaches. London: Channelview.
Hung, K., Li, C., Pan, B. and Petrick, J. (2010). Knowledge Dissemination
in Tourism Education: a Case of Tourism Marketing. Journal of Travel
and Tourism Marketing, 27(5), 519-532.
Hunter, C. J. (1995). On the need to re-conceptualise sustainable tourism
development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 3(3), 155-65.
Instituto Nacional de Estatística INE (2010). Estatísticas do Turismo 2009.
Lisboa: INE.
Jafari, J. (1990). Research and scholarship: the basis of tourism education.
Journal of Tourism Studies, 1(1), 33-41.
Li, Z. (2010). An Evaluation of the Internet Tourism Information of Local
Governments´ Official Tourism Websites, Paper presented at 1st
International Conference on E-Business and E-Government, ICEE
2010, May 6th to 8th, in Shanghai, China.
Liu, Z. (2003). Sustainable Tourism Development: A Critique. Journal of
Sustainable Tourism, 11(6), 459-475.
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Michael, E. J. (2003). Tourism micro-clusters. Tourism Economics, 9(2),
133-145.
Ministério da Economia e da Inovação (2008). Decreto-Lei n.º 67/2008, de
15 de Outubro, Diário da República, I.ª Série, N.º 200.
Ministério da Economia e da Inovação (2007). Decreto-Lei n.º 141/2007,
de 27 de Abril, Diário da República, I.ª Série, N.º 82.
Neuendorf, K.A. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. California:
Sage Thousand Oaks.
Pan, G. W., Scott, N. and Laws, E. (2006). Understanding and sharing
knowledge of new tourism markets: the example of Australia’s
inbound Chinese tourism. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality
and Tourism, 7(1-2), 99-116.
Pechlaner, H., Abfalter, D. and Raich, F. (2002). Cross-Border Destination
Management Systems in the Alpine Region-The Role of Knowledge
Networks on the Example of AlpNet. Journal of Quality Assurance in
Hospitality and Tourism, 3(3/4), 89-107.
Saarinen, J. (2006). Traditions of Sustainability in Tourism Studies.
Annals of Tourism Research, 33(4), 1121-1140.
Scott, N. and Laws, E. (2006). Knowledge sharing in tourism and
hospitality. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism,
7(1-2), 1-12.
Scott, N. (1999). Tourism Research in Australia. Gold Coast: Cooperative
Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism.
Sharpley, R. (2000). Tourism and Sustainable Development: Exploring the
Theoretical Divide. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(1), 1-19.
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987).
Our Common Future. Oxford: University Press.
World Tourism Organization (WTO) (2004). Indicators of Sustainable
Development for Tourism Destinations: a Guidebook. Madrid: WTO.
Page | 97
GOLF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CYPRUS:
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
NIKOLAOS BOUKAS AND GEORGIOS
BOUSTRAS
CENTER FOR SUSTAIANBLE MANAGEMENT OF TOURISM, SPORT
AND EVENTS (CESMATSE)
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY CYPRUS, NICOSIA, CYPRUS
ALEXANDROS SINKA
CYBARCO LTD, CYPRUS
Abstract
This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of golf tourism
development in Cyprus through analysing different views of
representatives regarding tourism from various perspectives such as
tourism planning, policy, and sustainable development. For this study a
qualitative and interpretive approach was applied through empirical
analysis of documents regarding golf tourism development in Cyprus and
in-depth semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders of the island
related to golf tourism. The findings reveal that, indeed, the development
of golf tourism in Cyprus is an opportunity for the island’s tourism
revitalisation but at the same time it is associated with a series of problems
that are related mostly to environmental and sustainability concerns. The
paper concludes by providing suggestions for the solution of possible
problems and gives insights on how responsible bodies should act
accordingly to neutralise any undesirable impacts.
1. Introduction
The overdependence of Cyprus on mass tourism, the continuing
decrease of tourism demand, the unbalanced tourism development with
high concentration on only some coastal areas, the concentration on only
some basic markets (i.e. British), and the global economic crisis that
highly affected/s the hospitality industry of the island, are only some
major problems that make Cypriot tourism not being as competitive as in
the past in the hierarchy of the Mediterranean destinations (Archontides,
2007;
Sharpley,
2002).
These
problems
emerged
the
Page | 98
suggestion/application of a series of measures to address the existing
situation and direct towards actions for the attraction of a ‘higher
spending’ clientele, highlighting thus the need for the island’s tourism
development with emphasis on quality (Archontides, 2007). One of the
new forms of tourism introduced to achieve this goal is the attraction of
golf tourists to the island. In this respect, the tourism policy aims to
reposition the country in the global tourism market through the
development of a number of world-class golf courses, creating therefore
demand for a desirable market. Yet, even if the construction of golf
courses is a solution for the economic recovery of the island such a
solution could face many challenges regarding the long-term sustainability
of the island.
This paper aims to examine the opportunities and challenges of golf
tourism development in Cyprus through the analysis of different views of
officials and stakeholders regarding tourism and from various perspectives
such as tourism planning, policy, and sustainable development. Moreover
the paper shades light to the advantages and disadvantages of transforming
Cyprus into a golf destination by constructing a series of golf courses in
the island. Finally, it provides a framework with solutions in regards to
golf tourism development, and gives insights on how tourism policy
should act accordingly to neutralise any undesirable impacts of such a
development.
2. Golf Tourism: Significance, Definition and Concepts
Golf tourism belongs to the form of sports tourism. Golf is considered
as a significant tourism activity and its size is notable. According to
Tassiopoulos and Haydan (2008) golf tourists are the largest market
concerning sports. Readman (2003) argues that there are 60 million golfers
in the world who travel to participate in golf activities. The dynamism of
golf as a sport can be noted by the fact that there are 32,000 golf courses in
140 countries in the world (Hudson and Hudson, 2010). In terms of
revenues, Markwick (2002) argues that approximately €14.5 million is
spent by golfers every year. In this regard, these numbers signify the
importance of golf tourists as a significant niche market.
Golf tourism includes those people who travel to a destination for
partaking golf activities for non-commercial purposes, professionals as
well as their fans (Readman, 2003). Behind the activity of golf there is a
whole industry. Hudson and Hudson (2010) call this industry as ‘golf
economy’. They argue that the industry includes the golf facility
operations, golf course capital investments, golf supplies, and media
Page | 99
tournaments, association and charities. These are the core products of golf
activities. Though, they add that aside the golf economy there are other
industries that are enabled because of golf such as hospitality, tourism, and
real estate. Therefore, golf is a great contributor of direct and indirect
income and under certain circumstances (i.e. appropriate management) can
contribute positively to the growth of tourist destinations.
The adoption of golf as a form of tourism development may result to
positive and negative impacts for a destination. Undoubtedly, the most
advantageous impact related to golf tourism is the contribution to the
development of an area as well as the growth of the destination and the
provision of employment and economic prosperity (Butler, 2005; Hudson
and Hudson, 2010). Furthermore, golf tourism can be developed in areas
that are degraded and thus can contribute positively to their rejuvenation
(Palmer, 2004). For warmer destinations golf tourism could be an
appropriate option for minimising the seasonality problems and can lead to
the harmonisation of tourist flows during the whole year and not only the
peak period (summer months) (Markwick, 2000). Finally, by its nature
golf tourism is an exquisite form of tourism development and attracts a
desirable clientele in terms of profile: travellers who are high spenders,
with incomes, quality oriented, and many times repeat visitors (Correira et
al., 2007; Tassiopoulos and Haydan, 2008).
On the other hand, golf tourism may create negative results for the
destination. These negative impacts have mostly two main aspects: a
sociological one and environmental one. Regarding the first, Hudson and
Hudson (2010) argue that because of its nature as a ‘superior’ activity
targeted at people with high purchasing power, golf tourism supports
elitism. Further, the authors also mention that golf tourism may contribute
to the creation of traffic. The second aspect may be considered as more
important. In this regard, golf tourism requires large areas of land and
water for maintenance of the grass’s quality (Dodson, 2005). Additionally,
golf tourism may create disturbance to the landscape and ecosystem, while
fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that are used for keeping the quality of
the grass in high levels (according to the needs of golfers) may contribute
to the long-term pollution of ground water (Markwick, 2000; Hudson and
Hudson, 2010). Therefore, golf tourism may seriously harm the ecosystem
of the host destination.
Both the advantages and disadvantages of such a development raise
queries about the appropriateness of golf tourism for increasing the
competitiveness of a destination. It is obvious that through structuring golf
courses a destination may enrich its tourism product and therefore become
more attractive. Yet, no one can deny that indeed golf tourism has serious
Page | 100
negative impacts, most of them of environmental nature. In this view, such
a development could create a great risk and for this reason analyses of the
opportunities and challenges for destinations are necessary to be
implemented.
3. Method
For this study a qualitative and interpretive approach was applied
(Denzin and Lincoln, 2005) for analysing the opportunities and challenges
of golf tourism development in Cyprus through focusing on different
views of officials and stakeholders regarding tourism and from a series of,
sometimes, contradictory perspectives such as tourism planning, policy,
environmental planning, and sustainable development. Firstly, a literature
review was undertaken on golf tourism development generally and in
Cyprus in order to identify the history of golf tourism in the island. The
findings were also assembled in a document which served as the basis for
further investigation through empirical analysis based on records,
documents and reports on golf tourism in Cyprus. Further, four in-depth
semi-structured interviews were conducted with principal representatives
related to the development of golf tourism on the island. Specifically, the
respondents were representatives from four main Cypriot
authorities/bodies: a representative of the hotel sector; a representative of
the construction/development company which specialises in golf tourism;
an official from the tourism policy of the island, and; an official from the
environmental bodies of Cyprus. For the analysis an interpretive approach
was applied in order to understand the meanings, dimensions and effects
of golf tourism on Cyprus. The coding of data used a standard protocol of
qualitative analyses (Miles and Huberman, 1994) identifying themes such
as ‘opportunities’ and ‘challenges’ from texts and interviews. Themes
were compiled and interpreted and are presented at the results section of
the study.
4. Results
Golf tourism in Cyprus. The construction of golf courses in Cyprus can
be identified in three main chronological periods (Archontides, 2007). The
first period begun in 1993 where the Cyprus Council of Ministers
established a policy which allowed the constructions of golf courses as
well as the introduction of 750 bed-spaces in their areas. At that time,
incentives for such a plan were not considered so attractive by investors
and hence there was a relatively weak interest. In 2005 the policy
Page | 101
regarding golf courses construction was updated. Golf courses’
construction was considered as a more mature idea for the readjustment of
the existing tourism product of the island and for the development of
property and tourism. Finally, in 2009 the policy was reviewed and
finalised until today. This policy mentions the construction of 14 golf
courses in the unoccupied areas of Cyprus (four already constructed). Each
golf course’s developer should pay €5 million as a licensee fee. Moreover,
the environmental concerns where underlined and the decision taken was
that for golf watering and operations no water should be used from the
governmental water and draining system. Instead, all the amounts of water
should be extracted and produced by renewable means of energy. Today
four courses operate in Cyprus and they use their one desalination plant as
advised by the policy standards.
Opportunities from golf tourism development in Cyprus. As mentioned
above, golf activities are an attractive option for diversifying and already
mature product such as Cypriot tourism. According to the respondent
representing the tourism policy, golf tourism could lead to the qualitative
development of the island’s tourism because it can attract a more desirable
demographic profile of clientele, other than that of the usual mass tourists
met on the island. As the representative mentioned, golfers are higher
spenders so the island can have significant revenues from a lower number
of tourists every year.
Moreover, the respondent representing the construction of golf courses
added that by structuring golf courses in the island there is product
enrichment with attributes that can operate also during the winter months.
As such, golf courses can bring more tourists during the winter (non-peak
period) to Cyprus to participate in golf activities. This is also justified by
the official of tourism policy. The respondent added that this was one of
the basic aims that led to the partaking of the decision to adopt golf
tourism on the island. The respondent continued that since the basic
clientele for golf are people from northern countries -where playing golf
during the winter is prohibited because of the extreme cold weather
conditions- there is an opportunity for Cyprus to attract travellers from the
north for short trips and weekends in order to participate in golf activities.
Given the mild weather conditions that exist on the island during the
winter and considering that winter months are a period where the
dominant form of tourism (mass tourism) is not met, there positive
contribution to the economy with more revenues a well as a balanced
tourist flows’ fluctuation. The findings come in agreement with the theory
and the same strategy has also worked successfully in other sunny
Page | 102
destinations such as Malta, Crete and Spain (Archontides, 2007;
Markwick, 2000).
Another opportunity for the island is the fact that through the
implementation of golf tourism there is a product-mix enhancement
especially for the hospitality industry as well as enrichment of the broader
hospitality sector. Indeed, as mentioned by the respondent representing the
hotel sector of the island, the development of golf courses was
accompanied by construction of hotels and food-service businesses.
Additionally, many of the existing hotels had/need to have an overall
service enhancement and improvement in order to target and satisfy the
more demanding markets who are quality oriented such as golf tourists.
Therefore, this form of tourism contributed to the overall upgrade
(aesthetic and operational) of the services provided by the hotels.
Finally, the respondent of the construction side of view added that
because of the golf courses more activities for conventional non-golf
tourists are obvious making this way the existent tourism product more
attractive and competitive. Furthermore, special promotional tactics have
been adopted in order to attract golf tourists and stimulate repeat visits
such as discounts and access to more ‘golf rounds’ contributing also to the
increase of the tourism demands.
Challenges from golf tourism development in Cyprus. On the other
hand, there are also some challenges that are associated with golf tourism
on the island and need to be considered before, during and after planning
and implementing golf activities. For the case of Cyprus the most
challenges that such a development as golf tourism result, are related
mostly to environmental concerns. While Cyprus has been facing a water
shortage for a number of years the construction of golf courses as a
solution for the economic recovery of the island, may lead to an inveterate
ecological disaster. Therefore, the main challenge that all respondents
noted for the case of Cyprus was that two main resources that are
necessary for the delivery of a ‘qualitative’ golf tourism product lack on
the island: water and land. According to the representative of the
environmental bodies, maintaining 14 golf courses needs vast volumes of
water and given that Cyprus faces constant dry summers there will be a
problem in the short and long-term. The environmentalists argue that for
all the suggested golf courses there is need for water that equals to 1/6 of
the average quantity of water in all the water tanks of the island
(Cyprusgreens, 2010). Regarding space limitation the same respondent
argued that land in Cyprus is already limited because of the occupation of
its northern part. He stated that it would be probably wiser to use the land
for activities other than golf courses in order to generate more wealth to
Page | 103
the weak agricultural economy of the island. On the other hand, the
construction side of view explained that golf not only limits the
agricultural activities of locals but it also adds to their economy since
hospitality companies’ offer local products to more tourists.
Undoubtedly, this debate raises the question regarding the number of
golf courses that were allowed to be constructed. The representative of the
tourism policy mentioned that in order for Cyprus to be a competitive golf
tourism destination an adequate number of golf courses should be
constructed. Of course, the environmentalists do not agree and they
believe that the fewer golf courses the better sustainable development of
the island.
Another challenge that golf tourism may face is related to the use of
individual desalination plants. The representative of the environmental
bodies stated that despite the fact that existing golf courses use water from
their individual desalination units, still desalination plants need much
energy and hence harm the environment. The representative of the
construction sector opposes that indeed desalination plants are costly
investments and they use much energy, but still companies try to use
renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar energy.
Finally, a last challenge could be the future cooperation of golf
establishments and the broader hospitality industry. For instance
Yacoumis (2005) suggests that golf course development is actually a real
estate development since several residential estates are constructed next to
each golf course. The respondent from the construction company
mentioned that not only private estates are built but also significant
hospitality companies that support tourism. Moreover, there is a synergy
among golf establishments and hotels since golf activities are available for
everyone. In this regard, the relationship between the hospitality sector
and the management of golf courses is harmonic.
5. Conclusion
The findings of the study highlighted insights that all stakeholders that
deal with the development of golf tourism in Cyprus need to consider.
Initially, as the representative of tourism policy suggested, someone needs
to think that there is no development without cost. For this reason any type
of development has advantages and disadvantages that should be analysed
carefully based on the long-term sustainable development of the island’s
tourism product. For this reason, a systematic and periodic monitoring of
golf activities by all the responsible stakeholders including
environmentalists is imperative. This needs high levels of coordination
Page | 104
and effective planning. Yet, golf tourism is not a case that has to do only
with tourism development but also a sensitive environmental matter that
needs specific knowledge regarding ecosystems, water management and
so on.
Further, despite the use of individual desalination plants may sound an
appropriate solution, a central desalination plant that would provide water
to each golf course would be a better option regarding the more effective
control of the water and the minimisation of lost amounts of it. However,
this case is a great investment and needs further consideration. In addition,
the use of best management practices from other similar case studies (i.e.
Malta) always in harmony to environmental indicators and sustainable
standards would be also another option for dealing with the
aforementioned challenges. The introduction of a certification system that
would assess the quality in all levels of planning and implementing golf
courses, would lead also to that direction. Still the common variable in this
case is the voluntary cooperation of all interested parties and the very
efficient management of any operation.
References
Archontides, Y.K. (2007). Review of Cypriot Tourism: Through a Series
of Articles, Interviews and Speeches. Athens: A.A. Livani [in Greek].
Butler, R. (2005). The influence of sport destination development: the
example of golf at St Andrews, Scotland. In: Higham, J. (ed.) Sport
Tourism Destinations. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK:
275-282.
Correia, A., Barros, C.P. and Silvestre, A.L. (2007). Golf tourism repeat
choice behaviour in the Algarve: a mixed logit approach. Tourism
Economics, 13, 111-127.
Cyprusgreens (2010). Water and golf courses, Press release,
http://www.cyprusgreens.org/golf.htm (accessed 19 June 2010) [in
Greek].
Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (2005). Introduction: The discipline and
practice of qualitative research. In N.K. Denzin and Y.S. Lincoln
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage:
1-42.
Dodson, R.G. (2005). Sustainable golf courses: A guide to environmental
stewardship. New Jersey: Wiley.
Hudson, S. and Hudson, L. (2010). Golf tourism. Oxford: Goodfellow
Publishers Limited.
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Markwick, M.C. (2000). Golf Tourism development, stakeholders,
differing discourses and alternative agendas: the case of Malta.
Tourism Management, 21, 515-524.
Miles, M. and Huberman, A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd
edition). London: Sage.
Palmer, C. (2004). More than just a game: the consequences of golf
tourism. In: Ritchie, B.W. and Adair, D. (eds.) Sport tourism:
Interrelationships, tmpacts and tssues, Channel View Publications:
Clevedon, (pp. 117-134).
Readman, M. (2003). Golf Tourism. In: Hudson, S. (ed.) Sport and
adventure tourism. Oxford: The Haworth Hospitality Press, (pp. 165201).
Sharpley, R. (2002). Rural tourism and the challenge of tourism
diversification: the case of Cyprus. Tourism Management, 23, 233-244.
Tassiopoulos, D. and Haydam, N. (2008). Golf tourists in South Africa: A
demand-side study of a niche market in sports tourism. Tourism
Yacoumis, J. (2005). More golf courses - Just a license to print money?
CyprusMail, http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/more-golf-coursesjust-licence-print-money (accessed 15 June 2010) [in Greek].
Page | 106
TOURISΤ EDUCATION AS THE MEDIUM FOR
ACHIEVING QUALITY IN THE DEVELOPMENT
OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES
MARINA BOURDI
SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN
TOURISM ADMINISTRATION, GREECE
Abstract
A core strategy for the emergence of a tourist destination is the provision
of quality services, which largely depends on the human resources and is
the most significant aspect of the tourist product’s competitiveness. This is
primarily based on professionalism and personal attitude and also on the
total image of the culture levels of a local community’s residents as well as
that of all the area’s professionals involved in the tourist trade. It is either
way based on the level of tourist education, but it is established with the
development of a Tourist Consciousness which may spread to all persons,
even in remote local societies, when approached via school, which is
known to shape characters and consciousness.
1. Introduction
Our times’ social data and their extensions have placed tourist traffic
among the basic human needs and actions, exhibiting a constantly
changing trend in the tourist market with regard to the tourist product on
the one hand and the constantly increasing demands of passengers on the
other hand. At the same and under certain provisions, tourism functions as
one of the main productive development factors for countries, boosting
national economies.
And it is only natural, given that tourism is a financial, social and
cultural activity taking place on local, national and international levels and
showing constantly increasing trends during the last decades. This means
that tourist activity plays a particularly important role and this is why it is
cautiously approached internationally.
Representatives of Governments, businesses and United Nation’s
specialists in issues regarding the tourist sector, have issued an
announcement (September 13th 2005) titled: “Harnessing Tourism for the
Millennium Development Goals” which stresses that the tourist sector may
Page | 107
have a stronger effect on reducing poverty and boosting financial and
sustainable development, preserving the Environment, intercultural
understanding and peace among Nations. For these reasons, they call
Organizations, States and any interested parties to certain actions. Among
others, they suggest that the following should be performed:
• Show greater attention to tourism’s cultural and social aspects;
• Focus their attention to the critical role tourism can play in small,
insular developing areas and other areas which base their
economy on it, forging suitable alliances with other financial
activities;
• Develop the human resources’ skills, in particular for poorer
populations, in the provision of quality services throughout the
production chain of tourist services.
2. The Hellenic Case
In our country today, the tourist sector is perhaps the most significant
financial activity, as according to official data it amounts to approximately
17% of the GDP, creating until recently and on an annual basis over
800,000 working positions and showing constantly increasing trends
(6.3% in 1998). Prime Minister Mr. G. Papandreou announced in the
annual General Assembly of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises
(Athens Concert Hall, May 4th 2011) that one in five Greeks is directly or
indirectly employed in the tourist sector. And it is only natural, given that
the tourist sector has a substantial effect on several other sectors of
economy such as construction, production of food and drinks, financial
services, facility maintenance, cultural industry etc. We can also add to the
above that a particularly large number of persons work part-time,
increasing the total number of the tourist services human resources. His is
also confirmed by the state Organization of unemployed allowances
(OAED) who recently published for January 2011 (03-03- 2011) that the
percentage of part-time employees of the tourist sector is 30%.
3. Quality Development and Competitiveness
The quality development of tourism is achieved through factors such as
environmental management of natural and man-made resources,
prominence of cultural heritage and finally the services offered which are
related to the transfer, accommodation, eating, entertainment and
innovative activities expanding vacation and leisure tourism.
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At the same time, the traditional tourist model of our Mediterranean
area offers almost the same products in the core tourist item production
sections, minimizing its margins of differentiation or restructuring. In
addition, competition is constantly increasing and price negotiating
abilities among tourist goods producers (tour operators), mediators and
sellers is limited. Thus, the only differentiation tool lies in the quality of
services, which mainly depends on human resources. This is the most
significant aspect of the tourist product’s and tourist destination’s
competitiveness, as it is primarily based on professionalism and personal
attitude. It is also confirmed by the degree of coverage marked in the
indirect needs of travelers.
After all, showcasing the quality of services and the tourist image of a
destination is a basic qualification of countries receiving tourists and an
investment, reinforcing the tourist product’s competitiveness. This is why
Public and Private Bodies have repeatedly stressed the need for further
differentiation and development.
4. Human Resources and Local Societies
A core development and emergence strategy for a tourist destination is
not only the provision of quality services but also the professionalism of
people involved in the tourist sector and the total image for the culture
levels of the residents, particularly those involved in the various tourist
activities. This is why international bodies active in improving tourism
quality stress the need for a holistic social approach and the design of the
tourist product by all the professionals in an area (Towards Quality Rural
Tourism, 1999).
A particular problem is noticed in several part-time employees who do
not originate from the tourism sector, since they often exhibit inexistent or
insufficient tourist training. Although this may be “covered” by the
support of well-trained personnel forming the core of employees and
essentially determining the total quality of tourist services, it still causes
reactions with negative consequences.
The above depend on the general Tourist Culture, which must spread
in all the personnel of local societies, in order for them to be able to utilize
the tourist opportunities of their land, effectively apply them based on the
principles of sustainability, evaluate the good and bad practices and
finally, essentially contribute to the Country’s tourist development. This is
based on the level of tourist training and Tourist Consciousness. Tourist
Consciousness (Koltsidopoulos, 2001: 25) is the sum of actions which
contribute to the best possible service of tourists and the creation of a
Page | 109
pleasant impression from the area they visited. Tourist COncsiousness is
an expansion of Tourist Culture and should characterize all citizens
coming in contact with travelers on a daily basis.
5. Studies and Research
According to the study of the World Travel and Tourism Council
(Newspaper Naftemporiki, 13-12-2004), tourism has benefits to offer to
societies which, among others, shall receive measures for the following:
…employment and coverage of training needs…, utilization of human
resources required to develop the tourist sector, investing on human
factors…
In general, it is reported that: utilizing tourist specialties, in
combination with caring for the development of a Tourist Consciousness,
mainly for the professionals in every field and the society in general, do
not only help promote the tourist product, but may become the starting
point to develop the quality of services provided by a Country. In this
manner, improving the quality of human resources active in tourism,
contributes to society becoming acquainted as a whole with the Greek
culture, the value of natural wealth and the rich folk tradition, in order to
further appreciate, protect and showcase these unique competitive
advantages.
Thus, persons residing in developed or developing tourist areas should
have a wider culture and be familiar with a broad spectrum of tourist
issues, a basic point of which should be the Tourist Consciousness. This
simply means that all professionals, businessmen and employees in the
public and private sector as well as the residents should adapt their
insufficient tourist behavior, which includes conscientiousness, to the
needs of the local tourist market, as they would expect themselves from
any area they would visit.
The above are also confirmed by various researches. Indicatively, we
mention the “KAPA RESEARCH” research which was performed in April
2007 on a sample of residents from the counties of capital Athens and
Thessaloniki, titled “Trends of the Greeks’ Tourist Behavior”. When asked
about what should be the three top priorities of the Ministry of Tourist
Development, participants ranked as first upgrading the quality of tourist
services by a percentage of 55.1% and improving behavior towards
tourists by 48.4%. Unfortunately, both results showcase the lack of Tourist
Consciousness.
International research also rings an alarm bell with regard to our
Country’s international competitiveness in the sector of Tourism. A
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typical example is found in the annual report of the World Economic
Forum: The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011, which lists
Greece in the 29th position (year 2010) in the general competitiveness table
(22nd in 2007 and 24th in 2009), mainly because of its drop from the 1st
position in 2007 to the 17th one in the identified priority sector index and
despite the increase of the tourist infrastructure index from the 9th to the 5th
position during the same three-year period. In particular regarding the
“human resources” index, our country ranks 59th in relation to its previous
43rd position! And it is only natural, since Greece occupies the 62nd
position with regard to education and training and the 56th with regard to
specialization, an issue which can certainly be changed via education,
upgrading at the same time the product offered.
6. The Role of Education
As it is understood, there is a particular need to create Tourist Spirit
and Tourist Culture, which shall refine Tourist Consciousness, so that a
double benefit can be achieved. On the one hand locally, with the
simultaneous support of promoting the specialized tourist product of each
area and on the other hand, in the entire region, with the quality offer by
human resources which at the same time creates additional tourist
development and despite the current financial conditions, may respond to
the requirements of future consumers.
After all, the Declaration on World Tourism, on “Human Resources”
(Declaration II, Paragraph 2nd) which was compiled in Manila in 1980
states among others that:
• Professional training and the constant updating of technical skills
in the sector of tourism are basic principles not only for recipients
but for society as a whole.
• Professional capacity largely depends on the quality of the basic
General and Technical education.
• Man is the center of the development process in tourism.
• The tourist product quality is a determinative factor shaping the
tourist image of a country.
For the above, the conference insists on the significance of planning
the human resources’ training and encourages endeavors to develop the
Tourist Consciousness, in order to facilitate and encourage communication
among visitors, the residents of the infrastructure areas and the personnel
of tourist enterprises.
In particular in our country, knowledge in tourism issues has been
limited to certain specialties of the Professional Secondary Education
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(Law 3475/2006), the school units of which can be found in a limited
number in areas which are mostly developed tourism-wise. The outcome
of this is that Tourist Education does not reach all persons and social
layers, that is, the entire education realm. Since tourist destinations do not
only include Athens, Rhodes, Crete or Mykonos, but also remote areas
which are “non-privileged in tourism” with immense competitive
advantages of development, the way in which tourism issues shall be
introduced in local societies allowing the spreading of knowledge in the
entire country should be examined in depth. It is also stressed here that
non-developed areas tourism-wise face larger problems with regard to the
quality of services offered and human resources, which cannot be
developed using the methods of apprenticeship.
If we also take into consideration that each school community is a
small society shaping characters and consciousness for tomorrows’
citizens, school, as a direct body spreading knowledge and behaviors, can
contribute decisively in the endeavor to showcase and optimize the issues
mentioned above.
In addition, all students will benefit largely from the knowledge and
experience in tourism issues, a sector they may be called to support
indirectly, as employees in different tourist sectors, offering their services
to traveling tourists, such as e.g. transfers, financial services,
communication, Public Sector etc. After all, all professional bodies
constantly remind us that only via the development of tourist knowledge
and Tourist Consciousness can we upgrade the quality of Greek tourism
and balance the operation of the business chain. It is known that the higher
the level of Education and culture in a country, the higher index of tourism
and services the country can offer to travelers.
7. Creation of Tourist Consciousness
Given that creating behaviors and changing the attitudes of persons
daily coming in contact with tourist customers is the most central factor
for the upgrade of a tourist destination, with regard to both quality and
competitiveness of the tourist product, firstly we attempt to form a
suggestion, which includes the integration of tourist knowledge in actions
or courses in the school units covering the entire country, that is, the entire
spectrum of Secondary Education at least.
Actions may be related or combined with General education
courses, such as History, Geography, Literature courses etc. or with
specialized courses such as Technology, Finance, Environmental
Education etc. or with issues related to tourism via studies and/or
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interdisciplinary, inter-thematic theses or even through projects (Bourdi,
2007), which are now provided by schools’ institutional framework.
The issues of the rich tourist science shall regard basic elements
and principles of tourism, tourist transfer, tourist market operation etc. and
their expansions, allowing students to enrich their knowledge of the tourist
process. Via certain courses, the concepts of Tourist Culture, Tourist
Consciousness and in general Tourist Education shall be promoted and at
the same time, experiencing the natural and cultural resources of each area
shall be reinforced.
Actions and courses included in the Detailed Studies Program
shall be taught by educators experienced in tourism, who among others,
shall be able to approach in their teaching classes issues related to the
Tourist Science and develop the Tourist Consciousness of tomorrow’s
Greek citizens. t is worth noting here that what we discuss in the current
suggestion require discussion and meticulous processing with all related
bodies.
8. Conclusion
In conclusion, today’s competitive environments and modern tourist
requirements set as top priority that education graduates should have wide
knowledge through an educational system directly linked with the tourist
needs of their country. In this way, they may contribute to the requested
qualitative upgrade and sustainable development of tourism, in the
preservation and protection of the natural environment and in the salvage
and promotion of national wealth. Also, having as main concern the
satisfaction of tourists, may contribute in a regional and local level of
already developed or developing tourist areas, on the one hand the increase
of tourist income and on the other hand social coherence by avoiding
removing persons from their homelands.
We indicatively mention that the unparallel natural wealth and
cultural inheritance of our country cannot be evaluated or function as a
financial starting point and incentive of a developing course, unless there
is the necessary Education and promotion of Tourist Consciousness, a
basic qualification for the people of a country receiving tourists, by
specialized educators in one of our largest financial sectors.
References
Bourdi, M. (2007). I Prooptiki tis Diepistimonikotitas stin Epaggelmatiki
Ekpaidefsi. In Proceedings of the 2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference of
Page | 113
Education,
October
19-20,
Ioannina,
Hellas,
http://ipeir.pde.sch.gr/educonf/2, (Accessed: 16-03-2011)
Koltsidopoulos, G. (2001). Tourismos. Athens: ELLIN
European Communities - Tourism Unit. (1999). Towards Quality Rural
Tourism for Official Publications of European Communities.
Brussels: OOPEC
Kapa Research. Taseis Touristikis Symperiforas. (02-05-2007).
www.traveldailynews.gr/columns/article/1438. (Accessed: 05-032011)
Organismos Apasholiseos Ergatikou Dunamikou (2011). Statistika
Ianouarios
2011.
OAED:
www.oaed.gr/pages/SN_1316.pg.
(Accessed: 03-03-2011)
World Economic Forum (2008). The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness
Report. WEF
Report. WEF
Report. WEF
World Tourism Organization (1980) Declaration for World Tourism in
Manila. Madrid: W.T.O.
World Tourism Organization (2005). Harnessing Tourism for the
Millennium Development Goals. Madrid: W.T.O.
World Travel and Tourism Council (W.T.T.C). (2004). Quality Services in
Tourism. Naftemporiki Newspaper (Accessed: 13-12-2004).
Page | 114
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF
PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES AS PERCEIVED BY
UK-BASED TRAVEL INTERMEDIARIES ABOUT
TURKEY
ALI SELCUK CAN
UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON, UK
Abstract2
This paper primarily focuses on exploring the relative importance of
promotional activities for travel intermediaries. The research sample was
drawn from the UK-based travel intermediaries that organise tourist tours
to Turkey in the official web site of London Turkish Promotion Office.
Data was collected through self-completed questionnaires and analysed
through the quantitative method. In relation to the promotional activities of
travel intermediaries, personal selling and advertising emerge as the most
frequently applied promotional methods. Of all promotional items,
brochures have been found to be the preferred promotional tool, followed
by online selling and Internet advertising. Furthermore travel
intermediaries still give relatively more importance to personal selling
through the office in order to disseminate their message to the consumers.
1. Introduction
As one of the fastest growing elements, tourism is considered to be one
of the world’s most important economic activities (Bosselman, Peterson,
and McCarthy, 1999). Since the tourism economy has become very
important not only for developed countries but also for developing
countries, most tourism Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs)
have directed their marketing efforts especially towards promotional
activities in order to increase their market share. Tourism promotion is a
convincing communication regarding the variety of tourism destinations
and their service offerings. Promotional communication is undertaken to
achieve a desired level of tourism demand by delivering the right
messages through the right channels to affect those audiences who
influence demand. International tourism can be promoted individually and
2
This research was sponsored by Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey.
Page | 115
collaboratively in a range of ways by a variety of organizations such as
tour operators, travel agents, airlines, resorts, conventions and visitor
bureaus, hotels, and DMOs (Crouch, 1994).
“Experiences show that even when tourists travel individually, they
usually contact with their travel agents for some kind of information about
their intended destination” (Cavlek, 2002: 490). Travel agents are
generally responsible for the distribution of tour operators’ tourism
product to final customers and they seldom organise a tour. On the other
hand, tour operators combine the various components of tourism product
through the “tourism value chain” and they can sell tours directly to the
consumers or through the travel agent in the tourism distribution channel
(Buck, 1988; Holloway, 1994; Sheldon, 1986). In other words, tour
operators operate as an intermediary between suppliers in the travel
industry and consumers, by negotiating with suppliers and designing
package tours which they then sell to consumers (Sheldon, 1995). During
this process, it is incumbent upon tour operators to promote a tourism
destination product. Tour operators can employ a wide range of media
such as television and radio commercials, newspapers advertisements,
posters, and brochures called as promotional activities in order to convey
their message to an identified target market.
The promotional efforts are the most important elements being
considered for travel intermediaries as a main communication channel
between a destination and consumers since they influence the travel
decision making process. However, relatively little is known regarding the
relative importance of promotional activities in tourism industry since the
general marketing cliché is accepted for these tools. In this regard, the
main aims of this paper are to gain some understanding of UK-based
travel intermediaries’ perception of importance of various promotional
activities on Turkey and to make suggestions for tourism destination
marketers and policy-makers.
2. Literature Review
Tourism destination marketing has conventionally been oriented
towards the promotion activity (Ritchie and Ritchie, 2002). With reference
to McCarthy and Perreault (1990: 365), promotion is “communicating
information between seller and potential buyer to influence attitudes and
behaviour” of its audiences. It is generally known that promotion
encompasses four chief components: advertising, publicity and public
relations, sales promotion, and personal selling.
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Good promotion is costly but helpful and successful in larger markets
(Hollier, 1997). In this regard, the achievement of the destination
marketing directly depends on the effective advertising campaign
(Mohsin, 2005). Advertising can arouse a desirable destination image in
the minds of consumers that leads to an action (Pike, 2004) as well as
ameliorates negative image depicted by other media sources (Waitt, 1996)
by informing, persuading, and reminding consumers. Although advertising
is valuable especially for building awareness through reaching a broad
audience rapidly (Jobber, 2007), it is “impersonal and cannot be
persuasive as can company salespeople” (Kotler et al., 2008: 713).
However, it can be said that advertising has influential effects on
consumer behaviour in terms of getting attention, stimulating interest,
creating desire, and achieving action. It is generally assumed that
advertising, especially broadcast ads, gives tour operators a chance to
disseminate their message to a wider audience. On the other hand, the
brochure is generally accepted as the most widespread type of destination
advertising tool “to promote virtually all tourist destinations” (Wicks and
Schuett, 1993) especially for the package traveller because of its some
features such as being interesting and pleasant. Its usefulness is also
important in relation to image formation and destination choice (Molina
and Esteban, 2007).
Public relations or publicity can be considered as one of the most
important factors that influence the image of a destination to build
awareness in the public place and preferable attitude towards the
destination’s product. According to Jobber (2007: 646) public relations
can be defined as “the management of communications and relations to set
up helpfulness and mutual understanding between an organisation and its
public”. With publicity, tour operators can send their message about
tourism products or destinations to a larger audience freely by getting free
space or news in the media. Publicity can be an influential instrument for
creating awareness and reinforcement for the reputation of the tour
operator and/or a destination. In addition to publicity, the field of public
relations also includes corporate advertising, seminars, publications,
lobbying, and charitable donations.
Sales promotion offers a strong type of incentive for the consumers to
encourage their purchase while advertising offers a reason to buy (Kotler
and Keller, 2006). With reference to McCarthy and Perreault (1990), sales
promotions can generally be implemented rapidly and hence, obtain
results faster than advertising. It is often designed to get action of target
audience by giving information about destination. It includes consumer
promotions, discounts, and trade promotions.
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Personal selling including travel trade shows is debatably considered
the most successful means of inspiring a channel of communication with
consumers (Pike, 2004), “particularly in building up buyer’s preferences,
convictions, and actions” (Kotler et al., 2008: 714). It encompasses two
way personal communications between sellers and potential customers
whether face-to-face, by telephone or through other methods and
furthermore provides instantaneous feedback - which helps salespeople to
adjust.
As using quantitative research allows the researcher to seek the causes
of social phenomena such as UK-based travel intermediaries’ promotional
activities about Turkish tourism market, a quantitative approach is adopted
in this paper. The research sample is drawn from the UK-based tour
operators and travel agents that organise tourist tours to Turkey in the
official web site of London Turkish Tourism Promotion Office
(www.gototurkey.co.uk).
The primary data was collected through self-completed questionnaires
developed by the researcher after a review of marketing literature.
Promotional activities were categorised under four titles as advertising,
public relations and publicity, sales promotion, and personal selling. All
the other promotional activities were classified under these headings.
Another question was aimed to understand how many countries/
destinations travel intermediaries are conducting their businesses with.
After that, tour operators were asked to rate the importance attached to the
promotional activities when they promote Turkey as a tourism destination
to visit based on a Semantic Differential scale that ranged from 1 to 7
(1=extremely unimportant and 7=extremely important).
Questionnaires were sent to the respondents via e-mail and post, the
posted versions including one first-class stamped addressed envelope. Of
131 sent, 47 acceptable responses were returned with a response rate of
33.6 percent in the period from October to November, 2008. However, 44
questionnaires were accepted for the analysis since 3 of respondents stated
that they are not organising tourist tours to Turkey anymore. The data
were analysed through SPSS 16.0 for Windows. In this regard, descriptive
statistics including mean and standard deviation values were calculated for
items related to the importance of promotional activities. Statistical
significance was employed at p=.05 in the research. Croncbach’s alpha
was employed in order to check the reliability of the instrument designed
to measure the importance of promotional activities excluding the profile
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of participants. The alpha was found to be internally reliable as the
coefficient is .923, which is higher than the acceptable level of .80. The
direction of a relationship between numbers of destinations that tour
operators operate and promotional elements was tested thorough the Mann
Whitney U test.
4.
Results
In relation to promotional activities, the relative importance of personal
selling and advertising are higher than sales promotion and public
relations/publicity for travel intermediaries (Table 1). “Brochures”,
“selling on the Internet”, and “Internet advertising” are assessed as the
most important promotional elements for travel intermediaries in order to
convey their messages to target audience. Additionally, “personal selling
through the office” and “print advertising” such as ads in magazines and
newspapers are also seen as a valuable promotional activity.
As a non-personal communication method, advertisement can be costeffective to disseminate messages, either to build a brand preference
(Kotler and Keller, 2006) or to inform consumers about specific features
of a destination. The findings from this study reveal that the brochure is
the most commonly applied advertisement method among travel
intermediaries. Internet ads and print ads are also crucial after brochures.
While the mean of brochures is 6.21, the means of Internet ads, print ads,
broadcast ads, and outdoor ads are 6.00, 5.38, 3.34, and 2.98, respectively.
Furthermore, whereas the minimum and maximum values of brochures
vary from 3 to 7, those of other promotional tools vary from 1 to 7. The
brochure has also the minimum standard deviation value of 1.240 to other
advertising tools which means that the importance of the brochure as an
advertisement method comparatively does not differ much among tour
operators and travel agents to promote their product. Although Wicks and
Schuett (1993) suggest that the brochure is a small part of the decision
making process for individuals using them even if it is essential, this
research findings show that it is not only vital for travel intermediaries but
also capturing an essential part of their promotional activities. On the other
hand, broadcast advertising on a TV or a radio is a less applicable
promotional activity than print advertising by travel intermediaries. The
possible reason for this result might be that even though TV and radio
commercials enable travel intermediaries to reach wider audiences, the
former has high cost and the latter lacks visual images. However, print
advertisements in a magazine or newspaper can give much more
comprehensive tour information to a targeted audience and can also
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successfully communicate user and usage imagery (Kotler and Keller,
2006). The findings of this research show that the least employed
advertisement item is outdoor advertising since it is experienced in public
space during daily activities not on purpose of access any media.
Table 1: Default Descriptive Statistics Output for Promotional Activities
Min. Max.
Advertising (based on 1-7 scale)
Broadcast advertising (TV, radio etc)
1
7
Print advertising (magazines, newspapers etc)
1
7
Internet advertising
1
7
Outdoor advertising (billboard etc)
1
7
Brochures
3
7
Public relations and publicity (based on 1-7 scale)
Corporate advertising (with Turkish tourism consulate etc)
1
7
Publications -placing free news, articles etc1
7
Lobbying
1
7
Charitable donations
1
7
Sales promotion (based on 1-7 scale)
Consumer promotions
1
7
(discounts, coupons, lottery etc)
Trade discounts (travel agents discount etc)
1
7
Personal selling (based on 1-7 scale)
Personal selling through the office
1
7
Selling on the Internet
1
7
Trade shows and tourism exhibitions
1
7
Direct mail
1
7
Telemarketing
1
7
Mean
4.782
3.34
5.38
6.00
2.98
6.21
3.705
4.15
4.76
2.83
3.08
4.00
SD
2.243
1.752
1.414
2.006
1.240
2.308
1.921
1.961
1.911
3.71 2.212
4.29
4.822
5.95
6.05
4.26
4.88
2.97
2.348
1.696
1.287
2.108
1.824
2.060
As a mass-promotion technique, public relations and publicity still
represents merely a little part of the general marketing budgets of many
firms (Kotler et al., 2008). Thus, travel intermediaries give comparatively
less emphasis to it than advertising. Within public relations, travel
intermediaries emphasize the importance of placing news, getting space in
the media (M=4.76) and corporate advertising with Turkish Tourism
Council of London (M=4.15). In this regard, Turkish destination marketers
should give importance to familiarity tours for travel intermediaries in
order to provide them with information and news.
With regard to sales promotion, trade discount is relatively more
essential than consumer promotion for UK-based travel intermediaries
since their mean ratios are 4.29 and 3.71, respectively. It means that travel
intermediaries give relatively higher importance to push strategy than pull
strategy. By doing this, tour operators can influence retailer or wholesaler
tour operators and travel agencies to pass the package tour and to promote
it to final customers.
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Since Internet is commonly used by British tourists, many travel
intermediaries have given strong emphasis to online marketing. In this
regard, online selling or “selling on the Internet” (M=6.05) have emerged
as the highest relative importance of personal selling activities. Direct mail
(M=4.88) is the third important promotional activity in relation to personal
selling. These tools offer travel intermediaries a low-cost, efficient, and
speedy alternative to reach the target market. Furthermore, travel
intermediaries utilize better flexibility and immediacy of the Web to share
low-fare offers straight with consumers (Kotler et al., 2008). These
marketing efforts generally aim to take straight, instant and accessible
consumer response rather than brand and image building.
On the other hand, tour operators and travel agencies still give high
importance to selling through the offices as a traditional way of reaching
customer and selling tourism product (M=5.95).
5. Conclusions
This research aimed to investigate UK-based travel intermediaries’
perceived importance of promotional activities about Turkey by collecting
data from primary information sources. This topic is valuable for
researchers as the promotional activities of travel intermediaries play an
essential role in travellers’ decision making process. Hence, this study has
both practical and theoretical implications.
From a theoretical standpoint, existing promotional literature is a little
challenging in terms of tour operators and travel agencies’ promotional
policies to compare the findings of this research because there has not any
empirical research conducted in tourism sector about them before and
hence, general assumptions are taken into consideration for them in other
studies. However, this research brings fresh empirical findings to tourism
marketing literature for the first time in relation to the importance of
promotional tools for travel intermediaries.
The findings of the research suggest that personal selling and
advertising are the most preferable promotional tools for UK-based travel
intermediaries in relation to Turkey as a single destination to travel.
Within all promotional items, brochure is found to be the most commonly
employed promotional tool. Furthermore, the study findings suggest that
travel intermediaries give strong emphasis to new types of promotional
tools such as online selling and Internet advertising. On the other hand, as
a conventional way of promotion, personal selling through the office has
still retained its importance for travel intermediaries.
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With regard to public relations and publicity, this research finding
suggests that travel intermediaries give relatively less emphasis to it than
other advertising tools. Placing news in the media and corporate
advertising with the Turkish Tourism Office are seen as vital public
relations and publicity activities by UK-based travel intermediaries.
Therefore, Turkish destination marketers should invite travel
intermediaries’ representatives to Turkey in order to provide news to them
by showing them the destination attributes of the country closely.
Furthermore, the DMO of Turkey should give importance to its corporate
advertising activities with UK-based travel intermediaries to meet their
needs and expectations.
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HOW DIVERSE IS TOURIST YOUTH MARKET?
AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON INTERACTION
WITH HOST COMMUNITIES
MARIA JOÃO CARNEIRO AND CELESTE
EUSÉBIO
Abstract
This study analyses the heterogeneity of youth market regarding the
intensity of social contact with host communities. In order to accomplish
this objective a visitor survey was undertaken with a stratified sample of
university students. A hierarchical cluster analysis was undertaken to
identify homogenous groups, and three clusters have emerged: (i) “the
more sociable”; (ii) “the moderately sociable”; and (iii) “the less
sociable”. Chi-square and Anova tests were carried out to characterize the
clusters. Results reveal that the less sociable student tourists are those who
have the lowest interaction level with hosts and who visit more frequently
the countryside. In contrast, the more sociable student tourists are more
likely to visit cities, to undertake cultural activities and to have more travel
experience. The paper ends with some implications and recommendations
designed to improve the social contact in tourism.
1. Introduction
The youth tourism market is widely recognized as an important
tourism market segment (Richards, 2007; WTO, 2002; 2008). It has been
increasing in the last decades, and already accounted for 20% of all the
international trips in 2008 (WTO, 2008). Several studies reveal that
interaction with host communities is an important element of the tourism
experience and that interacting with host communities is a major travel
motivation of the youth market (Mintel, 2009; Richards and Wilson, 2003;
Richards, 2007). Additionally, research also highlights that this market is
heterogeneous regarding motivations and travel behavior (Kim and
Jogaratnam, 2003; Kim et al., 2007). However, no specific study has been
done to analyze the heterogeneity of the youth market concerning the
intensity of the interaction with host communities.
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The purpose of this study is to analyze the diversity of the youth
market regarding the intensity of the interaction with host communities in
several contexts. Specifically, this study aims to identify market segments
with different levels of interaction with hosts and to characterize the
identified segments concerning travel experience, travel behavior and
socio-demographic profile. In order to accomplish these objectives the
following steps were developed: first, a brief theoretical overview on
social contact in the youth market was undertaken; and second, an
empirical study was undertaken with a stratified sample of university
students. A total of 434 questionnaires were collected using a face to face
approach. In order to identify homogeneous segments of university
students regarding the level of interaction with hosts, a hierarchical cluster
analysis was undertaken. To characterize the segments that emerged from
this analysis chi-square and Anova tests were carried out. The paper ends
with some implications and recommendations designed to improve the
social contact in tourism. Suggestions for future research in order to
increase knowledge in this field are also presented.
2. Social Contact in the Youth Tourism Market
Identifying the youth tourism market remains difficult, first of all
because there is no consensual definition of youth. However, those having
between 15 and 24 or 26 years old, are frequently considered to be young
(Mintel, 2009; WTO, 2005). According to the World Tourism
Organization (WTO), in 2008 the youth tourism market already accounted
for 20% of the international trips worldwide. Additionally, young tourists
are travelling more often (Richards, 2007), what makes this market more
attractive.
Students represent a major segment of this market. Research on the
students’ market focuses on different topics. Some of these studies focus
on motivations to travel. Kim et al. (2007), for example, carried out a
research in order to identify dimensions of travel motives among the
university students of three universities located at the Great Lakes area, in
the United States. Kim and Jogaratnam (2002) try to examine whether
there are significant differences between two groups of American college
students. They compare the motivations of Asian and domestic American
College students.
Another line of research in the field of the students’ tourism market
encompasses the characterization of the students’ travel behavior. In this
scope, Xu et al. (2009), besides comparing the motivations and attitudes to
travel of undergraduate students from the United Kingdom and China, also
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compare their travel behavior. As far as travel behavior is concerned, the
two groups are compared in several features such as preferences for
tourism activities, and likelihood of using specific kinds of information
sources, accommodation, and transportation.
Other researchers tried to identify the factors that influence students’
destination choice. Thrane (2008), for example, analyses the impact of
vacation motives, trip specific motives and socio-demographics on the
destination choice of students of a university college located in Norway.
Another study, undertaken by Phau et al. (2010) specifically aims to assess
the influence of organic and induced information sources in destination
image and in the intention of choosing a destination to visit.
Only limited research on the student market has focused on the
interaction with residents of tourism destinations. The literature is
consensual concerning the crucial role that the tourist-host interactions
play, both in tourist and host satisfaction (Murphy, 2001; Reisinger and
Turner, 1998; Yoo and Sohn, 2003; Andereck et al., 2005; Sinkovics and
Penz, 2009; Zhang et al., 2006). However, despite the relevance of this
interaction in the development of tourism destinations there are
considerable research deficiencies in this field (Yoon and Sohn, 2003).
Additionally, the main focus of the research in this field has been on the
influence of tourist-host interactions on host perceptions of tourism
impacts and hosts attitudes towards tourists (e.g. Andereck et al., 2005;
Sinkovics and Penz, 2009; Zhang et al., 2006; Weaver and Lawton, 2001).
A limited number of studies analyze the influence of host-tourist
interaction on tourist satisfaction (Murphy, 2001; Reisinger and Turner,
1998; Yoo and Sohn, 2003). Moreover, a limited number of studies
analyze the heterogeneity in the tourism market regarding tourist-host
interaction. As Yoo and Zohn (2003) state, it is very important to explore
how tourists establish contact with local residents. However, no specific
studies of tourism market segmentation, particularly on the youth market,
based on tourist-host social relationship are known.
Being the tourist-host social contact a personal encounter that takes
place between a tourism and a host (Reisinger and Turner, 2002), several
factors may influence this encounter. The kind of tourism destination,
travel experience of hosts and tourists, characteristics of tourists and hosts
(e.g. socio-demographic profile, cultural background; rules of social
behavior and status), the perceived benefits and costs of contact by both
tourists and hosts, travel behavior of tourists and travel motivation, emerge
in the literature as the most important factors that may influence the social
contact that tourists established with hosts (Crompton, 1979, Eusébio and
Carneiro, 2010; Murphy, 2001; Pearce, 1998; Pizam et al., 2000; Powell et
Page | 126
al., 2009; Krippendorf, 1987; Reisinger, 2009; Reisinger and Turner,
2003, Sinkovics and Penz, 2009;Uriel and Richel, 2000; Yoo and Sohn,
2003).
The intensity of the encounters between tourists and hosts and their
results may also vary across the contexts where tourist-host encounters
take place (Eusébio and Carneiro, 2010; Reisinger, 2009). De Kadt (1979)
highlights the following three main contexts as the most important: (i)
when tourists obtain goods and services from hosts; (ii) when tourists and
hosts find themselves side by side, for example on commercial
establishments or at tourists attractions; and (iii) when tourists and hosts
came face to face to exchange information, ideas and knowledge. Some
studies (e.g. Reisinger, 2009) reveal that the intensity of social contact
between tourist and host varies across the context in which it occurs.
Additionally, the studies undertaken in this field also suggest that touristhost interaction is, frequently, brief, formal, temporary and non-repetitive
(Pearce, 1998; Reisinger, 2009).
3. Methodology
A questionnaire survey was carried out among a sample of students of a
University located at the Centre of Portugal - the University of Aveiro. In
2009, when the study was carried out, this university had about 11,000
students, including both undergraduate and graduate students. A sample of
480 students of this university was selected using a stratified sampling
approach method, based on gender, level of studies and area of studies.
The questionnaire was designed to obtain information about the students’
socio-demographic profile, travel experience, travel behaviour and interaction
with residents of tourism destinations. Respondents were asked to provide
some data about their socio-demographic profile (e.g. age, marital status, place
of residence). Students also had to describe their travel behaviour during a
travel undertaken in the last three years, where they spent, at least, 24 hours at
a specific destination. They had to provide information about that destination,
the transportation and accommodation used, the travel group, the use of
package travel, and activities carried out at the destination. Questions on travel
behaviour, especially those concerning activities, were created based on
literature review of youth tourism (e.g. Richards, 2007; Xu et al., 2009).
Finally, respondents should report the frequency of interaction with residents
of the host destination, in several contexts (e.g. in the street, in nature places,
in monuments). In order to indicate this level of interaction they had to use a
5-point Likert type scale from 1 “very rarely” to 5 “very frequently”. The
questionnaire was directly conducted by the researchers in April and May of
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2009. A total of 434 questionnaires were completed, yielding a response rate
of 90%.
A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify homogeneous
segments of students concerning the frequency of interaction with residents of
destinations. Anova analyses and chi-square tests were applied to test the
existence of statistical significant differences among the clusters in terms of:
frequency of interaction with hosts, socio-demographic profile and travel
behaviour. All the assumption of chi-square and Anova analyses were tested,
and only the analyses that met these assumptions are considered.
4. Discussion of results
4.1. Sample Profile and Travel Behavior
The sample was quite balanced in terms of gender, and the majority
was Portuguese (95.1%) and single (93.2%). Their average age was 22.6
years and most of them (60.0%) lived in a city. University students from a
wide range of level of studies (undergraduate, master and PhD) and areas
of studies (e.g. telecommunications, arts, management, economics,
language and culture) were interviewed (Table 1).
Regarding tourism destinations selected by university students
interviewed in this research, there is a great balance between destinations
already visited and destinations never visit before. Only a quarter of
students interviewed use a package tour. Beach and city are the type of
tourism destination more visited (representing 39.4% and 39.6% of the
destinations visited, respectively). The students travel in big groups (about
7 persons in average), mainly with friends (54.6%) and relatives (46.1%).
The average length of stay is about 7 days. During this period several
tourist activities were carried out by these tourists, being visiting nightlife
places (56.0%), visiting gardens (51.4%), observing nature (50.2%),
visiting historic sites (49.5%), going to the beach (46.8%), visiting
shopping centers (45.8%), visiting monuments (37.0%), visiting museums
(32.6%), and practicing other sports (31.5%) the activities more practiced
(Table 1).
4.2 University Student Tourist-Host Interaction
The literature review suggests that the social contact between tourists
and local residents tends to be brief, temporary and non-repetitive (Pearce,
1998; Reisinger, 2009). The results present in the Figure 1 also reveal that
university students did not frequently interact with hosts. In a scale
ranging from 1 “very rarely” to 5 “very frequently”, food and beverage
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establishments and nightlife animation places were the places where
university students reported a higher frequency of interaction with hosts
(higher than 3.25). On the other hand, the frequency of interaction between
university students and hosts was especially low in events and monuments
(lower than 2.45).
Table 1: Sample profile and travel behavior
Socio-demographic
profile and
travel behavior
Gender
Male
Female
Marital status
Single
Married
Other
Nationality
Portuguese
Other
Place of residence
Town
Village
City
Level of studies
Undergraduate
Master
Other
Age
Travel behavior
Destination
Portugal
Foreign country
Type of destination
Beach
Countryside
City
Mountain
Previous visits
Number of previous visits
Length of stay
Travel Group (number)
N
%
207
227
47.7
52.3
399
22
7
93.2
5.1
1.7
410
21
95.1
4.9
92
79
256
21.5
18.5
60.0
216
94
126
428
49.5
21.6
28.9
248
184
57.4
42.6
170
36
171
44
216
195
430
335
39.4
8.3
39.6
10.2
50.0
Mean
Std.
Dev.
22.65
5.01
5.76
6.83
7.25
8.02
5.35
11.89
Travel
behavior
Package travel
Yes
No
Travel group
Alone
With the family
With friends
With other persons
Tourist activities carried out
Golf
Visiting theaters
Visiting amusement parks
Visiting museums
Visiting nightlife places
Visiting gardens
Visiting historic sites
Visiting shopping centers
Visiting casinos
Visiting protected areas
Visiting historic villages
Health treatment
Going to the beach
Bicycle riding
Participating in religious events
Participating in fairs and exhibitions
Observing nature
Participating in aquatic sports
Walking trails
Camping
Visiting monuments
Practicing other sports
Attending cultural events
Figure 1: University student-host interaction’s level in several contexts
Page | 129
N
%
115
317
26.6
73.4
8
199
236
42
1.9
46.1
54.6
9.7
6
40
104
141
242
222
214
198
44
124
88
15
202
57
22
67
217
77
124
53
160
136
31
1.4
9.3
24.1
32.6
56.0
51.4
49.5
45.8
10.2
28.7
20.4
3.5
46.8
13.2
5.1
15.5
50.2
17.8
28.7
12.3
37.0
31.5
7.2
4.3 Clusters of University Students Based on Interaction with
Hosts
Students were segmented, according to the frequency of interaction
with hosts, using a hierarchical cluster procedure. The frequencies of
interaction with hosts in the several contexts considered in this study were
used as input variables of the cluster analysis. The Wards’ method and the
squared Euclidean distance were adopted to carry out the cluster analysis.
Three clusters emerged from the empirical study carried out: cluster 1 “the more sociable” -; cluster 2 - “the moderately sociable”; and cluster 3 “the less sociable”. Taking into consideration the statistical significant
differences among the clusters, the cluster 1 - “the more sociable” includes those who are more likely to interact with hosts in the majority of
the contexts considered in the study, namely: monuments, events, other
commercial establishments, and in the street. This cluster is the biggest
one and represents more than one third (39%) of the sample. These
students correspond to those who are more likely to undertake the majority
of the activities considered in the study. This is especially true regarding
cultural activities such as: “visiting museums”, “visiting monuments” and
“attending cultural events”. It is interesting to notice that, although this
cluster only comprises 33% of the respondents, more than 40% of the
students engaging in each of the cultural activities belong to this cluster.
The students belonging to this cluster are also more likely to visit cities
than other kind of destinations. The “more sociable” also reveal to have
higher leisure travel experience in the last three years (5.5 trips in average,
compared to 4.0 and 3.7 trips in the other clusters). This is also the group
which has done more leisure trips to foreign countries in the last three
years (2.1 trips in average compared to 1.3 and 0.9 trips in the other
clusters).
In contrast to the cluster 1, the cluster 3 - “the less sociable” corresponds to the students who are less likely to interact with the hosts of
the destination visited in the majority of the contexts considered, namely
in F&B establishments, other commercial establishments, places of
nightlife animation and nature places. These are also those who engage in
less activities at the destination, although they stay approximately the
same time as the other two groups at the destination visited. It is
interesting to notice that people in this group are more likely to be visiting
the destination for the first time than people in the other groups (cluster 3
encompasses about 45% of the first time visitors). Worth of notice is also
the fact that “the less sociable” students are the students who tend to visit
more countryside destinations (69% of the students visiting the
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countryside belong to this cluster). These two features, as well as some
findings regarding the cluster 1, suggest that the interaction with residents
may be related to the number of previous visits to the destination and to
the type of destination. This is also the cluster which tends to use more the
private car. This may also be related to the type of destination being
visited, with the countryside destinations having less access through other
means of transport.
Finally, the cluster 2 - “the moderately sociable”, represents neither
those who interact more with residents in the several contexts of tourism
destinations nor those who interact less. Nature places correspond to the
only context where this segment is the one who interacts more with hosts.
Students belonging to cluster 2, comparing to students in other clusters,
are more likely to visit the beach (49% of the students visiting the beach
belong to this cluster) and to carry out some activities such as going to the
beach, bicycle riding and doing aquatic sports. It may be observed that
although this segment only represents 28% of the sample, more than 42%
of the students who carry out each of the three activities above referred,
belongs to this cluster. This segment is also that which encompasses a
higher percentage of repeat visitors (about 36%).
The segments identified do not differ in terms of several features
concerning travel behavior, such as: the mean of accommodation used, the
size of the travel group, being integrated in a package tour or not, and the
duration of stay at the destination visited. Similarly, almost no significant
differences are noticed among clusters concerning the socio-demographic
profile. The only difference perceived in this scope refers to the age of
respondents. Students of cluster 1 are the oldest ones. No differences are
found concerning gender or marital status.
5. Conclusions and Implications
The present study suggests that the frequency of interaction with hosts
is a useful tool for segmenting the student market. When segmenting this
market using this basis of segmentation it was possible to identify different
segments with a different frequency of interaction with hosts of tourism
destinations. Results suggests that, in the student market, the frequency of
social encounters with hosts is not likely to be related so much with the
socio-demographic profile of the students, but much more with their travel
behavior. As far as the travel behavior is concerned, the type of destination
visited, the activities carried out, and the number of the previous visits
done to the destination, seem to be some of the variables related to the
frequency of interaction with hosts.
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Social encounters with hosts seem more likely to occur in cities, and
when students undertake cultural activities. In contrast, they are less likely
to occur in the countryside. In the present study, beaches are places where
students tend to interact more than in the countryside, but less than in a
city.
Findings provide important contributions for those engaged in tourism
development. The places where the interaction with residents is more
likely to occur seem to correspond to those where there are more people
and to places where there are more opportunities for interacting with hosts.
This suggests that more opportunities for interacting with hosts must be
created in the countryside, for example, by developing guided tours that
include the visit to the premises of establishments that provide tourism
services (e.g. wine cellars, farms). It is also of major importance to create
opportunities so that students may interact directly with residents of the
countryside, either by watching them doing some activity and talking with
them about this activity, or by listening the explanations of certain
residents about the region being visited and its specificities. It is also
worth to explore more deeply the opportunities of interaction in beach
destinations, where young people are likely to be more relaxed and, thus,
perhaps, more willing to interact with residents if opportunities are
provided.
The relationship between repeat visitation and the frequency of
interaction with hosts also highlights, once more, the importance of
creating strategies for increasing the loyalty of students in relation to the
destination visited. Hence, as observed, students repeating their visit to the
destination tend to interact more with residents, perhaps as a consequence
of feeling more comfortable in a relatively familiar atmosphere or, also,
due to the desire of a more deep exploration of the destination.
Some limitations of the present study are its limited scope in terms of
the group of students surveyed. Extending the scope of this study in future
research, namely by replicating this study in other universities and with
other groups of youth tourists, would be very useful. It would also be very
important to analyze, in future research, whether the satisfaction with the
travel is related to the frequency of interaction with residents.
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THE EFFECT OF REAL-TIME CONGESTION
INFORMATION IN A THEME PARK: A
SIMULATION-BASED APPROACH
C HING -S HU C HIU , Y U -H SIN L IU , R ONG C HANG J OU
NATIONAL CHI NAN UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN
Abstract
This study set out to investigate the effects of providing visitors with realtime congestion information on average visitors’ waiting time and average
waiting time per unit attraction visited. A simulation-based theme park
model was built. Factors including different percentages of information
possession within a contained group, individual visitors’ preferences,
attractions’ popularity and the number of visitors in the theme park are
considered and tested in the model. A set of simulation experiments was
conducted and tested. Results obtained should shed some light on the
potential of providing real-time congestion information in theme parks to
visitors.
1. Introduction
With information communication and technologies (such as PDA,
smart-phone, and so on), different types of real-time information deemed
most relevant can be instantaneously searched and shared among the target
public. Such as ATIS (Advanced Traveler Information System), with
advanced communication technology, makes road users can access real
time information anytime anywhere (in the car, at home, in the office or
outdoors) as the reference of choosing transportation modes, travel trips
and routes. Real-time information (such as traffic congestion) for travelers
in car to make route choice is like real-time information (waiting length)
for visitors in theme park to make attraction choice.
The applications of route choice study also indicated that: due to the
inference of individual differences and preference for the customary
path/mode, travelers with information may not make switch directly
causing by the information they received (Mahmassani and Chen, 1987;
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Emmerink et al., 1995; Tatineni et al., 1997; Mahmassani and Jou, 1998;
Yanagita and Suzuki, 2008).
The main purpose of the theme park problem is to maximize the
overall satisfaction for the consideration. Congestion information is
considered by providing information to guide visitors to choose other noncrowded attractions. Therefore, in this study, we assume that for the
visitors in the theme park, the inference of the real-time information is not
absolute on making attraction-choice. Visitors’ preferences for the
attractions must also be considered.
Attractions within theme parks are varies and frequently lined up with
various amounts of visitors (hundreds to thousands per hour, dependent on
its popularity and time of the day or year). Individuals’ preferences are
difference from one to another and the preferences to the attractions are
different for each individual. Thus, the variance of visitors’ preference and
popular attractions are considered in this study. In the pass research, two
of them are considered separately but not simultaneously (Kawamura et
al., 2003, Kawamura et al., 2004, Kataoka et al., 2004). The main
objective of this study is to discuss how the real-time information affects
the overall satisfaction under the considerations of the visitor’s choice
behavior and the exit of popular attractions.
The most important reason for the congestion in the theme park is the
population. If there are too much visitors in the theme park at the same
time, it must cause congestion. Control the population in theme park is a
special issue. It was discuss in this study.
Because uncertainties exist on individuals’ preferences, it’s hard to
receive mathematically analytical solution. Computer simulation is used
to model the theme park. This paper is organized as follows. Section 1
the simulation model is set up. Section2 show how visitors’ choice
behavior works. Section 3 a simple example of theme park model for the
simulation model is illustrated. Section 4 the results from the simulation
were explained. Final section is the conclusion.
2. Simulation Model
The basic component of the theme park includes attractions (A), plaza (P),
road, the entrance (En) and exit (Ex). All the components (i) have two static
attributes, sci and sti which represent their characteristics. sci is the service
capacity of the component i, that means the maximum number of visitors can
be served at once. sti is the service time of the component i, that means the
time visitors served by the component i. Figure 1(a) shows an example of
simple small theme park.
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In the theme park, visitors visit attractions through road and plaza. Causing
the length of all roads in the theme park is the known and fixed, the distance
matrix (dij) of the network can be used directly in the model. Therefore, the
network can be simplified as Figure 1 (b). pji is the preference value for visitor
j to attraction i means the preference degree. The value of pij is set to be
between 0 and 1.The bigger the value, the more the preference. If a visitor i
like attraction i more than others, the value of pij will be the largest for visitor i.
Figure 1: (a) simple network for theme park. (b) the simplified network for theme park
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
P
A
A
P
En
Ex
(a)
En
Ex
(b)
The dynamical procedure of the simulation is as follows. Let t be the time
step of the simulation. The visitor j has dynamical attributes as follows.
csj : current station for visitor j
nsj : next station for visitor j
mtj: the total moving time for visitor j
rmtj: the rest moving time for visitor j from current station to the next
wtj: the total waiting time for visitor j
ptj: pass time for visitor j during attraction
rptj: the rest pass time for visitor j in current attraction
vtj : the number of attraction visited by visitor j
qnum j :the queue length for visitor j in the current station
Qul(i) is the queuing length for attraction i at time t, means the number of
visitors waiting to be served by attraction i at time t. First-In First-Out is the
priority order for the queue. Until the attraction is available, the earlier visitor
has the priority to get in the attraction than a later one.
At each time t, the visitor in the theme park must be walking, waiting or
being served. No one can walk and wait at the same time. The dynamical
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procedure of our simulation is based on this assumption. There are only three
situations for each visitor: waiting, walking and being served.
Situation 1: Walking
Once the visitor j comes in the theme park at time t, the csj should be the
entrance, and he/she decides where to go (nsj), then walking to nsj. The
mowing time is decided by the distance matrix, d(csj,nsj) and rmtj (remain
moving time) is set to be d(csj,nsj). As time pass, the rmtj reduce by time step.
Visitor j transfers his situation to waiting if the following condition is satisfied.
rmtj = 0
(1)
Otherwise, the waiting time of visitor j is updated.
mtj=mtj+1
(2)
Situation 2: Waiting
The condition indicated that the visitor has reached the next station. At the
same time, nsj is changed to be csj. If Qul(csj) not equal to 0 (means that there
are some other visitors waiting for the attraction) or the facility is on work,
visitor j joins to queuing length, qnum(j)= Qul(csj)+1.
As time pass, the visitor will be served if the following conditions are
satisfied.
rpt(csj) =0
(3)
qnum(j)≦sc(csj)
(4)
Otherwise, waiting time for visitor j will is updated.
qnum(j)=qnum(j)-sc(csj)
(5)
wtj=wtj+1
(6)
Queuing length is updated when condition (3) is satisfied but (4) not.
rpt(i) (remain pass time) means the rest time to serve visitors for attraction
i. As rpt(i) reach 0, means that the facility is back to attraction i and ready to
serve. Once the visitor j be served, qnum(j) is set to be 0.
Situation 3: Being served
Service time for attraction i is known and rpt(i) is set to be st(i) when
visitor j transfer to situation 3. Visitors are served until the facility finish.
As time pass, when rpt(i) reach 0 (the time the facility finish), csj is delete
from the visit list of visitor j. The number of attraction visited by visitor j is
updated.
vtj = vtj+1
(7)
If rpt(i) is not equal to 0.
pt(j)=pt(j)+1
(8)
After being served, the visitor j choose the next station again and
transfer to situation1: walking.
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The visitors leave the theme park when all attractions are visited or
limit time is reached. When limit time is reached (attractions do not serve
anymore but those whom being served), visitors in queue choose new next
station (exit) and walk again. The system will not stop until all the visitors
leave the theme park. The pseudo-code for simulating theme park is
shown in Figure 2.
3. Choice Behavior
The procedure of next_station is decided on visitors’ choice behavior.
In this study, the choice behaviors of theme-park visitors are separated
into two kinds. One is no-information and the other one is withinformation.
Real-time information provided here is the waiting time for all
attractions at that time (which is obtained from the number of visitors
waiting for the attraction in the theme park).
No-information
As the name implies, it means that the visitors did not receive any
information about the waiting lines. Therefore, visitors’ choice behavior is
based on the preference level for the attraction to choose. That is
mentioned in the literature (Yanagita and Suzuki, 2008) of greed
algorithm. Select one of the highest preference from all attractions that
haven’t been visited is the choice-behavior model for visitors without
information.
With-information
That is, when the visitors need to choose, they must first receive the
information about the current line of all attractions. Visitors can make
choice depend on the information they have. However, as shown in
introduction, even if the visitors know all the attractions’ waiting time,
visitors don’t necessarily choose the current one with shortest waiting
time. Individual preference is also one of the most important factors for
the choice behavior of visitors. Therefore, if an attraction with shorter
waiting time but lower preference for the visitors, they may choose to wait
for the one with a little longer but higher preference. Thus, in this study, a
choice behavior model constructed with individual preference and waiting
time is used. As shown in equation (9).
0
if attraction i is visited
(9)
uij = {
p ji / [sti × qul ( i ) / sci ]
otherwise
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Visitors with information choose the one with maximum value ( uij )
depend on equation (9). sti × qul( i ) / sci is the waiting time for attraction
i.
Figure 2: The pseudo-code for simulating theme park
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
procedure Theme-park
initialize();
while (t < tmax) do
visitor_activity();
t=t+1
end while
output result();
end procedure
procedure visitor_activity()
for each visitor j do
i ← csj
situation←
←1
if condition 1 is satisfied (rmtj = 0)
situation←2
csj← nsj and i ← csj
if i is the exit, situation←
if t > limit time, visitor i go to the exit
else
rmtj← rmtj-1 and mtj← mtj+1
end if
situation←
←
if t > limit time, visitor i go to the exit
if condition 3 and 4 are satisfied
situation←3
else if condition 3 is satisfied
qnum(j) is updated
else
wtj← wtj+1
end if
situation←
←
if (rpt(i)← 0)
vtj = vtj+1 and ptj = ptj+1
call next_station()
situation←
else
rpt(i)← rpt(i)-1
end if
end for
end procedure
4. Problem Setting
Here, we construct a small basic network as shown as Figure 1(b). The
distance matrix is obtained from Dijkstra’s algorithm (the shortest path from
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node to node). A simple model is tested in this study. The number of
attractions is 20 and the length of all the link/road (connect each node) are the
same (set to be 30). The service time and service capacity for all attractions are
set to be 15 and 10, respectively. The preference value pji for visitor j were
randomly obtained from the range as shown in Figure 3. There are more
visitor have larger preference on big number of attraction. The percentage of
visitors who receive real-time information is set to be (0.0, 0.1, 0.2,
0.3,…,1.0). Visitors whom received information were randomly assigned. The
number of visitors n = 2000, 3000, 4000, …, 10000.
Figure 3: The range of pij for attraction i
The termination time tmax=6000, the limit time=5,000 (while t>5000, all
visitor should not be served anymore). The simulation is carried out 50 times,
and all results are shown as average of all trails.
5. Results
At first, average WT is focused. WT is average waiting time for all visitors
in the theme park. Average WT means the average WT for all trails.
1
WT = ∑wt j
(10)
n j
As shown in Figure 4, we can find it directly that when the population
increases the average WT will increase. This is reasonable that the number of
attraction is consist, more population means you have spend more time to wait
for the attraction you want. Besides, we can see that when more than 5,000
visitors in the theme park, the average WT was about 4000 and did not
increase. The cause of this result is due to the overall system operating time is
set to 5000 (limit time). As long as limit time reached, all queues in the theme
park were cancelled. Thus, even if the population grow, it will not result in
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increased average WT. Note that this doesn’t mean that the population can be
increased without limit. Visitor satisfaction is not just limited to waiting time,
also includes the number of attractions visited (vtj).
Thus, the satisfaction index ‘average WT/VT’ was used in this study. VT
is the average number of attractions visited for all visitors. WT/VT is the
average waiting time for one attraction visited.
1
VT = ∑vt j
(11)
n j
Figure 4: The Y axis indicates the average WT. The X axis is PI, where ‘PI’ is the
percentage of visitors who receive information
Figure 5: The average WT/VT vs. population
Figure 6: The Y axis indicates the average WT for one attraction visited. The X axis is
VT. ‘VT’ is the average number of attraction the visitor i visited.
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From Figure 6, we can know that the average waiting time for one
attraction decreases as PI increases with large population. Also know that
when population less that 4,000, the utility of information provided in not
caused by a significant increase. That might be said that the number of
population is affordable to the theme park proposed in this study (it means
visitors can visit most of attractions in the park). In addition, when the rapid
increase in the population, provide some information can effectively reduce
the average WT per unit attraction. When the ratio of information provided
exceeded 30%, it can’t have better feedback to the overall system. In this case,
providing 30% is the most effective and economical for the operator.
From another perspective, the relationship between the population and
the average WT is shown in Figure. Regardless of the ratio of PT, when the
population in the park more than a certain number (in this case, it’s 5,000), the
average WT is about 80% of total time spend in the theme park (the rest time
were spent on walking or served by attraction).
6. Conclusion
In this study, a simulation model was built to simulate the behaviour of
visitors in the theme park and showed how the ratio of information providing
and the scale of population affect visitors’ satisfaction. Visitors’ choice
behaviour and preference differences were considered in the model. A
satisfaction index ‘average WT/VT’ was used in this study. A simplified
theme park was applied to test. Though, the system is simplified, the results
are worth considering. Providing information is not meaningful as the
population is small. The performance of proving information will be displayed
with a large number of the population. In the future, the simulation model
proposed here can be applied to a much more real system and more about the
visitors’ choice behaviour should be considered in the model.
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Page | 144
CULTURAL FIRMS, FROM ARTWORK
CONTAINERS TO EVENT LOCATIONS: CRITICS
AND PERSPECTIVES
VALENTINA DELLA CORTE
UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES ‘FEDERICO II’, ITALY
CLELIA CASCELLA
UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
IRIS SAVASTANO
UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES ‘FEDERICO II’, ITALY
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyze the cultural firms evolution, in terms
of strategic management, in a global era. As regards the methods, we
propose a methodological approach based on the combination of Resource
Based Theory and Service Dominant Logic, according to which
“customers do not buy goods or services: they buy offerings which render
services which create value” (Gummeson, 1995: 250). According to this
perspective, cultural firms have to favor interaction of internal/external
resources (territorial factors and firm specific resources) with the
internal/external network (including customers and trade actors). In this
process, customer becomes a strategic resource: he/she is involved in
cultural activities (i.e. edu-tainment) and becomes value co-producer and
co-creator. Those cultural activities have to be connected to territory, here
conceived as important instruments of competitive advantage in
international competition.
1. Introduction
This paper is a real challenge, both from a theoretical and a practical
point of view. Firstly, it tries to examine both strategic management and
marketing with reference to cultural firms, that are very specific in their
nature, both for their offer and for their specific context. In fact, cultural
attractive factors are part of a very difficult scenery, in which the static
cultural museum seems not to be attractive any longer. In our opinion, in
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order to guarantee a long-run competitive advantage of the cultural firms,
it needs suggesting new strategies, more managerial tools and practices
and much more differentiated offers.
In particular, Italian context deals with heritages, museums and
monuments, in terms of conservation and protection rather than in a
modern fruition optic. Strategic management and marketing are nowadays
necessary in a hypercompetitive context where competition is global in
this sector and mainly based on service innovation (both through
information and communication technology as well as of service quality).
The museum is, in fact, a real firm in an wider system, intended to
provide a plurality of functions, such as cultural activities and services of
composite kind (Bagdali, 1997). The service provided by museums has
been changing over time, together with the evolution of objectives to
which these organizations were allocated during the time. So, currently, in
our reinvented perspective, cultural firms have two different kinds of
activity: 1) the traditional ones (i.e., their conservative function and their
exhibition “nature”) and 2) the innovative ones, suggested by the
managerial perspective, and implemented in order to satisfy the increasing
and changing demand, characterized by deep changes in size and contents.
The first two functions are due to basic services of the museum offer,
while the third one (Solima, 1998; 1995) develops a series of activities
aimed not only to a museum’s enrichment, but also to an increase in
profits (Baldassarre, 2009). According to this perspective, we can imagine
that this “third activity” can mean a lot of different things, for example we
can suggest the museum as more than artwork container becoming
location of events or the customer as active factor in the value production
and creation process. In this regard, we want propose a combined
theoretical and managerial approach between Resource Based Theory
(RBT) and Service Dominant Logic (SDL). According to the first one, the
cultural firms need to follow up their current resources, as for example
their suggestive and attractive rooms where entertainment/edu-tainment
activities can be organized. By the other hand, in the SD perspective, the
consumer - as value co-producer and co-creator - becomes a strategic
(internal) resource to achieve a long-run competitive advantage.
2. Theoretical Background and Model Proposal
To preserve and increase their own competitive advantage, also
cultural firms (museum, archeological sites, etc.) show the need of
implementing business schemes more and more closer to a managerial
perspective, through which they can propose a much more differentiated
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offer. So cultural firms have to try to attract customers, offering a cultural
experience, totally innovative respect to the traditional business schemes,
and involving the customers in a process of value creation through events
organized into the cultural firms and connected to the identity of territory
in which they are located. Therefore, our research hypotheses are:
1. the cultural firms (including museums) need to revisit and enlarge
their offers, becoming more than artworks containers;
2. events organization can be considered a relevant factor in the
overall cultural product offered by the size (museum) and the
museum itself can become a location for events;
3. to achieve this goal it needs to individuate all resources and
competences able to generate competitive advantage.
To check the research hypotheses, our theoretical framework have to
draw, at the same time, from Resource-Based Theory (RBT) (Barney,
2006a; 2006b; 2002; 1991; 1986) and from Service-Dominant Logic
(SDL) (Vargo, 2004; 2006; 2008a; 2008b; Mele and Della Corte, 2010). In
fact, through the first one we can single out, for each site, the internal and
external (i.e. connected to the territory) strategic resources: in fact,
according to this theory, each firm is totally plunged in a dense network of
relationships and the being a member of a specific network is very
precious source of opportunities. Through this network system, in fact, it
is possible to share resources and competencies, activating a process of
value co-creation: the adoption of a strategy shared by a lot of other actors
could be a useful factor to organize new cultural experiences for the
costumers.
Besides, according to the SDL, “customers do not buy goods or
services: the buy offerings which render services which create value”
(Gummeson, 1995: 250.) In this context, the “value in use” (Della Corte,
Savastano and Storlazzi, 2009) becomes more and more important, such as
the value that is created by the costumer when he/she is involved in
activities of cultural firms. This value can be transformed in a real value
for the firm (in terms of competitive advantage) through a process of coproduction (Vargo and Lusch, 2004: 11). In other words, the value is cocreated and coproduced by the different involved actors, including the
customers who so become actors and users.
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4. The Proposed Model
We here propose a new business model for cultural firms useful
to develop much more differentiated offers (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Different forms of innovation in cultural offers
As it can be drawn by the figure, the participation of costumers is one
of the most important innovation factor and successful firms are able to
develop the right capabilities to co-opt customers’ competences (Prahalad
and Ramanswuamy, 2000) and knowledge. In this optic, innovation can be
conceived as any change deriving from co-production and interactive
process, put forward by specific competences of different nature (Tax and
Stuart, 1997). This approach can lead to a differentiated cultural offer,
through the organization of cultural activities, events that involve the
customer in education and entertaining activities (so called edu-tainment),
in which the costumer is not only addressee of information, but becomes
an active factor in the learning process, for example through his/her
involvement in lab activities, the reading and commenting passages or
participation in meeting tempered by specialised, etc. These changed,
enhanced by ICT, have also influenced the induced level of the marketing
process (which is the phase were the customer has to be caught even
though through an interactive process), since they have pushed to a more
intense attention to the experiential phase: the visit has to reminded and to
leave a special sign in visitors as an experience, made of knowledge,
emotions and new sensations. The last factor mainly refers to cultural
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firm’s capacity of interacting with other key actors in the sector and in the
destination, both cultural and tourist. In this direction, starting from the
model proposed by Della Corte, Savastano and Storlazzi (2009), we
propose a further model which focuses on the more traditional and
innovative factors.
The proposed methodological approach therefore proposes a combined
use of internal and external factors: by a side, cultural firms must to
interact both with other firms (external network) and customers (internal
resources) and, by the other side, they must propose innovative factors
because through them it is possible to turn the customer into a strategic
resource. Compared to the literature, our methodological approach is very
innovative. It proposes an operative strategy that can easily and fruitfully
be implemented both in public and private firms. Furthermore, our
interdisciplinary approach seems interesting both for researchers and
managers, being a valid instrument for the decision making.
5. An Empirical Study: MADRE and MAC Museum
In order to understand the change of the museum management in
recent years, this study analyzes two cases: the MADRE Museum3 of
Naples and the MAC Museum of Lyon4, comparing the most innovative
approaches characterizing them. Both museums have different
characteristics and life cycle, although they are both known on a national
and international context, especially for the plurality of services they
provide. According to the studies carried out, the analysis emphasizes
various elements that characterize the firm management and the strategic
resources that sustain a competitive advantage in international context. In
particular, the analysis become with the MADRE’s offer distinguishing
between traditional and innovative factors marking. Among the traditional,
we find: art exhibitions of known or emerging artists and the museum
visits proper to this kind of entertainment. In regard with the most
innovative approaches of a museum offer, the event management is a way
to attract an ever wider public5, improving the auto-generated profits and
optimizing the operative costs. In strategic management terms, it comes
3
MADRE Museum was born in 2005 and is aimed at promoting, diffusing, provisioning and
preserving the contemporary visual works of art.
4
MAC Museum of Lyon was born in 1984 with the purpose of being totally artists’ disposal
and contributing to both the knowledge and research progresses and works diffusion.
5
Cocktails at the museum, children's workshops, book presentations, seminars, concerts,
theater aim at changing the museum perception, from a place of storage to a place to live,
allowing a cultural growth.
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out, among the traditional approaches: horizontal integration strategies,
with which the museum management aims at entering in the current
market to increase the turnover and, consequently, the visitors, through
educational workshops, themed events, exhibitions, etc.. As regards more
innovative strategies, instead, a series of elements comes out: first, the
MADRE has a public private partnership governance (PPP) with twelve
private companies6. The choice of avail itself of the fundraising through
the sponsorships seems strongly innovative. Finally, the innovative
strategies include partnerships and co-operations as strategic resources for
the competitiveness into the museum sector, although it’s still in a
development phase. As regards the main marketing activities, on an
induced level, the study emphasizes that the product is characterized by
additional services provided to the visitors in order to assuring them a
pleasant visit (library, cafeteria, bookshop), according to the other services
(accommodation, care, museum hall and technical services). The
“traditional” promotional policy of MADRE takes place through:
advertising, leaflets, brochures, TV, radio, catalogues, reviews, internet
and call centre. The membership represents another way to promote and
communicate because it aims at creating a museum supporters community
through the purchase of a MADRECard, which gives visitors special
benefits and privileges. The most innovative promotional approach is the
one linked to the non-conventional forms: the word of mouth is the main
knowledge mean for the 40% of the public7. The website has a strategic
function in promoting, communicating and informing because it’s
organized as a sort of virtual museum, in which the exhibition events’
documentation is very relevant8. The placement presents lots of innovative
factors, thanks to a constant research of different ad speaks and untypical
instruments, aimed at reaching different possible catchment areas; the
MADRE’s box office delivers both tickets and advance sales through
electronic prints. Finally, in reference to the marketing policies, on an
organic level, the servicescape is very important because it represents the
visitor’s first impression and influences his cultural firm considerations. In
terms of relationship, the MADRE cooperates with specialists and other
museum institutions allowing to have lots of benefits both on the offer and
on the promotional level and assuring improvement in reputation.
6
In 2004, the Campania Region created the Donnaregina Foundation, which assign to
SCABEC the whole museum services management and the exhibition and cultural activities
carrying out, leaving the Direction’s scientific responsibility with the museum.
7
“2007-2009 MADRE’s activity report”, information provided thanks to the MADRE’s
coworkers and the SCABEC partners.
8
On the website you can find real virtual tours and a huge and spectacular catalogue of the
museum.
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According to this case analysis and the strategic studies, we can use the
RBT approach in a SDL perspective in order to understand which
MADRE’s resources allow to conceive and implement strategies able to
improve the museum performance in terms of efficiency and efficacy,
being source of competitive advantage. Among the principal strategic
resources, we find: 1) the museum’s huge artistic and cultural patrimony;
2) human resources’ competencies and skills; 3) the event management; 4)
the fundraising; 5) partnerships with other institutions. Proceeding with
the empirical analysis, we study also MAC’s Museum, distinguishing
between traditional and innovative factors. It emerges that: art exhibitions
of young artists and temporary exhibitions which alternate themselves
with the ordinary ones are considered as traditional factors, including the
French museum circuit membership through which the MAC gains higher
competitive advantage than its European direct competitors. Among the
innovative factors, we have to consider different aspects. First, it’s a place
which can be chosen as location for the creation and exhibition of the
artists’ works. The museum can be transformed for each art project
because it provides a mobility system which allows to change ways and
scenery and to present a new museum in each exhibition. The event
management is very important in order to improve the activities and
services provided and the visitors satisfaction9. Visitors can also use
iPhone and Bluetooth to consult the works10. In addition, the website gives
the possibility to make virtual tour and to create personal works galleries,
Continuing the traditional strategic factors analysis, the Mac presents a
totally public governance11; it adopts a concentration strategy (through a
mono-business development) and a horizontal integration strategy through
the cooperation between local cultural business working to carry out an
even more integrated and complex museum offer12. With regard to the
9
Among the principal events and activities: meetings, conferences, launches, cocktails,
dinner; theater events; photography courses for lovers, painting courses and educational
workshops for children; films.
10
Technological resources have a fundamental role: with a wireless connection, each visitor
can connect his device to the museum’s main server and obtains his favorite multimedia
contents registering his own preferences. The selected informative contents may also be
downloaded later then the visit using the website and the user is easily identified by an
uniquely identification, such as through the mail.
11
The MAC is a local museum in ward of the Lyon city.
12
The MAC also carries out: a PPP with the city of Shanghai, which allows collections (or
part of them), information, promotional and advertising materials exchanges; cultural
exchanges with resource centre and libraries of other contemporary art museums, but also
with art centre, foundations, art schools and universities. These different integration
initiatives are linked to the territorial branding, seeing that museums networks have a
strategic role in the territorial marketing of the city of Lyon.
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strategic innovative factors, the MAC acts a costleadership strategy aimed
at gaining a competitive advantage by reducing its economic costs below
the cost of all of its competitors: a firm pursuing this strategy can provide
a complex of services less expensive than those provided by its
competitors. Finally, among the innovative factors, the museum acts cooperations and agreements with the other actors in the sector, even on a
vertical level13. ùAs regards the main marketing activities, it’s necessary to
explain them distinguishing between traditional and innovative marketing
policies. For an induced level, it comes out that the museum product is
characterized by additional services provided for the visitor in order to
assure him a pleasant visit14 and which are in charge of the museum,
except for the library and the bar, which are in license. As regards the
price policies, the MAC adopts a penetration policy and tariffs are
established during the year in partnership with the city of Lyon. The
promotional policies are carried out through traditional channels15, as well
as the sales means16. Referring to the innovative aspects, on an induced
level, it’s necessary to emphasize the no-conventional marketing forms:
the word of mouth, the website for virtual tours; the sophisticated
technologies, which allow visitors to connect directly, with a personal
device, to the main server, in order to obtain the multimedia contains of
interest. On an organic level, the traditional factors include: partnerships,
economic resources, advertising and promotional materials; the
participation at the France museums’ network have considerable profits
and benefits in terms of quality and image. In innovation terms, the MAC,
in its organic phase, emphasizes the servicescape by transforming
environments for any art project and showing each exposure as a new
museum. The MAC analysis emphasizes various resources which can be
sources of competitive advantage. Using the RBT approach and applying
the VRIO framework, the study points out that the main sources of
competitive advantage are: 1) the cultural and artistic patrimony; 2) the
human resources’ skills; 3) the fundraising (sponsorship and gifts; 4) the
advance technology as MAC strategic resource and distinctive competence
allowing the museum to use high specific instruments as iPhone or
Bluetooth; 5) the geographical location; 6) the partnerships; 7) the event
management.
13
These kind of financing came from the public sector, particularly from cities, regions and
the State.
Additional services include bar, documentation service, bookshop, cloak-room, box office,
library and car-parking.
15
The traditional channels are advertising, brochures, catalogues, website and call centre.
16
Tickets are sold by the box office directly.
14
Page | 152
6. Conclusions and Proposals
This paper highlights a very important issue in an emerging sector: that
of the cultural firms. As it can be drawn, there important implications,
both theoretical and managerial. As regards the first aspect, the new key of
innovation for these firms is the development of interactive activities with
customers, according to a process where clients are an integral and
relevant actor in starting and developing innovative ideas and activities.
The museum rather than the heritage site must become “alive” to be
successful, to remain impressed in the visitor’s head and to be concrete
attraction factors for firms. This confirms other researches (Della Corte
and Savastano Storlazzi, 2009), mainly based on the idea that innovation
can favour an integrated process of value co-creation among different
actors. The so created system adds value to the cultural firm itself, which
therefore benefits from common and shared resources. In managerial
terms, the research results represent a way to push managers in charge of
the leadership of cultural firms towards a highly business and
strategicoriented approach. This however, pays for the governance systems
in various countries, which are also strictly bound to the public rather than
private nature of the property. The central issue is that, in spite of the
governance configurations, innovative approaches within the fields of
strategy and marketing should be adopted.
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Page | 155
TOURISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS: TOUR
OPERATORS’ RESPONSES TO THE SOUTH-EAST
ASIAN TSUNAMI (2004)
JESSICA DERHAM
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA
Abstract
Although significant research has been completed in the field of crisis
management for destinations, limited research has focused on tour
operators. This paper focuses on tour operators as a specific sector of the
industry, and aims to identify what form of crisis management strategies
were utilised during a large scale natural disaster. An adapted model of
Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) and Ritchie’s (2004) frameworks have been
applied to Australian based tour operators in the context of the Indian
Ocean Tsunami (2004). This permitted an exploration of the challenges,
actions and strategies employed by these operators.
1. Introduction
The tourism industry is regularly faced with challenging situations, a
reality that highlights the necessity of crisis management practices for both
destinations and stakeholder groups. Faulkner notes that research into how
the industry adjusts to a disaster situation has not received significant
attention in the literature, “even though it is arguable that all destinations
face the prospect of either a natural or human-induced disaster at some
time in their history” (2001: 332). Ritchie (2009) has also made a
significant contribution to the field of crisis management and argues that
research to date on the issue lacks a theoretical and conceptual focus, with
more work required on developing and testing models within the tourism
field. In particular, Ritchie (2009) notes that only few researchers have
tested Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) Tourism Disaster Management
Framework (TDMF), and encourages researchers to develop and test the
model.
This study aims to provide an understanding of the complex issues
surrounding crisis management of one particular stakeholder group (tour
operators), an identified gap found from the literature which has not been
researched previously. The findings from this study aim to contribute to
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the existing crisis management literature, as well as providing an insight to
the tourism industry, and can be transferred to suit the needs of individual
tour operators.
2. Crisis and Disaster Management for Tourism
According to McKercher and Hui (2004) disasters are described as
either natural events, such as a tsunami, or human induced events, such as
terrorism. It is argued that due to the unpredictable nature of a disaster,
lack of control is a key feature (Faulkner, 2001). Cioccio and Michael
(2007) argue that control requires the necessary resources to adequately
manage a disaster, to which many organisations, particularly small
businesses, do not have access to. The value of developing contingency
plans is also not recognized by some tourism operators, as illustrated by
Cioccio and Michael’s (2007), in their study on the 2003 bushfires in
northeast Victoria (Australia). Their findings revealed that tourism
operators in the affected bushfire region considered practical experience
more valuable than contingency planning measures.
Both the lack of resources and value operators place on developing a
contingency plan have both become key barriers to forward crisis
management planning. However, as Beirman argues, “there are cases
where the scale of a natural disaster is so vast it is beyond established
emergency contingencies” (2003: 10-11). Agreeing with Beirman (2003),
Henderson (2007a) further notes a crisis cannot always be forecasted.
Many other scholars do argue the importance of developing contingency
plans to assist in crisis management preparedness (Ritchie, 2009; Murphy,
2008; Faulkner and Vikulov, 2001; Quarantelli, 1986).
As the tourism industry faces the challenges of falling visitor numbers,
lower employment numbers and a decline in profits (Laws and Prideaux,
2005), research is showing the importance of both pre-planning and
managing a crisis throughout all its stages. As a result, theoretical
frameworks have been developed which examine the various stages of a
crisis. Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) Tourism Disaster Management
Framework (TDMF) (Figure 1), was the first tourism specific framework
developed in the late 1990’s, and is one of the most frequently quoted in
the literature (Henderson, 2007a). It explores the various stages of a crisis
which includes: Pre-event, Prodromal; Emergency, Intermediate,
Recovery and Resolution (Faulkner, 2001). Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001)
TDMF has been applied by numerous scholars as a case study approach
within the field of crisis management in tourism (Faulkner and Vikulov,
2001; Miller and Ritchie, 2003; Prideaux, 2003; Henderson and Ng, 2004;
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Peters and Pikkemaat, 2005; Huang, Tseng and Petrick, 2007; Paraskevas
and Arendell, 2007).
Ritchie (2004) expanded on Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) (TDMF)
utilising a strategic and holistic approach for both the planning and
management of tourism crisis/disasters. The Crisis Disaster Management
Framework (CDMF) outlines three core stages: prevention and planning,
implementation, evaluation and feedback. Each stage provides specific
strategies which can be implemented with flexibility, a core advantage of
the framework. Paraskevas and Arendell (2007) consider one weakness of
the framework is that it is quite generic; whilst Armstrong (2008)
highlights that it does not distinguish between individual businesses and
Destination Marketing Organisations.
These weaknesses are in need of being addressed through adapting
such frameworks by the use of case study research. To date, no study has
applied Faulkner’s and Vikulov’s (2001) TDMF and Ritchie’s CDMF to
tour operators and a large scale disaster, two key gaps this discussion will
address. Recent studies on the Bali Bombings, and the Indian Ocean
Tsunami further support this need, with acknowledgment that these
communities were particularly vulnerable to any type of hazard,
particularly as no formal proactive planning strategies had been developed
(Gurtner, 2006). This vulnerability is evident with more than 50,000
natural catastrophes reported worldwide over the past one hundred years,
with a total of four million lives lost (Glaesser, 2006). This equates to an
average of 40,000 lives lost per year. The IOT04 as a single event
accounted for more than 250,000 lives lost (Burnie, Coyne, Gilpin and
Simons, 2007), and has been described as the worst on record (Ichinosawa
2006 and Margesson, 2005).
3. The Tsunami Experience
The Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004) has been acknowledged by
Francesco Frangialli, the Secretary-General of the WTO as "the greatest
catastrophe ever recorded in the history of world tourism" (World Tourism
Organisation 2005). It is estimated that up to 225,000 people lost their
lives (Henderson, 2005), with eight countries affected. Of those countries
Thailand, India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka suffered extensive damage to
their tourist destinations (Robertson, Kean and Moore, 2006). The
Tsunami was reported to have created waves of up to 17 metres, with an
earthquake magnitude of 9.0. The financial cost of the disaster is predicted
to have reached $US 11 billion dollars, which considers short-term relief
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and long-term reconstruction, as well as humanitarian needs (Walls,
2005).
Figure 1: Tourism Disaster Management Framework
Source: Faulkner and Vikulov (2001: 338)
Page | 159
Thailand was the "tourism epicenter of this tragedy” (World Tourism
Organisation, 2005), affecting a range of Thai coastal destinations. In
these regions, 5000 people were reported to have lost their lives; of those,
2000 were tourists (Henderson, 2005). Revenue from foreign tourists
declined by 99.4% in Phang Nga, a major tourism province in Thailand,
and 79.2% in Phuket. As the region of Phang Nga was almost completely
destroyed, the significant downturn in foreign tourism revenue was to be
expected. However, Phuket only sustained a limited amount of
infrastructural damage, with reports 90% of hotel rooms in Phuket were
available for tourists (Birkland et al., 2006).
As Phuket was not largely affected by the Tsunami in terms of
infrastructure damage, the decline can only be associated with the tourist
perception that Phuket was in fact badly damaged by the Tsunami and was
unsafe to travel to (Birkland et al., 2006). Rittichainuwat (2006) found that
negative travel advisories were responsible for influencing tourists to stay
away from destinations in Thailand affected by the Tsunami, including
Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga, even though business was returning to
normal, with both infrastructure and facilities restored. As a result of both
the travel advisories and media attention, destinations were perceived to be
unsafe to travel to (Rittichainuwat, 2006). The Phuket situation
demonstrates that perceptions of danger may themselves have serious
consequences for a destination.
A lack of disaster planning was further identified as a key problem in
post-tsunami research. Kelmen’s et al. (2008) study on international
tourists found a need for disaster awareness information to be readily
available to both the local population and visitors in locations affected by
the Tsunami. Ingram et al. (2006) partially agrees, noting a need to address
pre-existing vulnerabilities, however considers reactive policies to be
understandable in post disaster situations, due to the urgency required at a
time of crisis.
A qualitative approach was selected and deemed the most appropriate
for this research as it provided a richer in depth investigation (Jupp 2006;
Berg, 1989). Through the use of interviews, interaction with the
participants allowed the opportunity to follow up on any important points
raised, which were relevant to the research. Here the application of
Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) TDMF framework and Ritchie’s (2004)
CDMF were used to guide the design of the study, which is considered a
deductive research approach (Neuman, 2006), however the emergent
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themes and contribution to crisis management research are inductive.
Combining these two approaches has been noted to have advantages over
simply applying one, as it allows for a more conclusive and convincing
answer to the research question and objectives (Saunders, Lewis and
Thornhill, 2003).
To apply Faulkner’s and Vikulov’s model to Australian tour operators,
semi-structured in-depth interviews were completed with senior
management from six leading tour operators in Australia using an
interview guide adapted from their DIRE grid methodology. All of the
operators involved in the study conducted tours in the regions represented
by the Tsunami. Senior management was specifically targeted due to their
knowledge of the company’s operational strategies and those used to
prepare and respond to the IOT04. This included CEO’s, as well as
operational and product managers.
The interview guide addresses the six crisis management stages of the
framework, ensuring its applicability to tour operators. The data was then
analysed using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) three stage process: Data
Reduction, Data Display and Conclusions Drawing and Verification. Data
reduction allows conclusions to be drawn and verified or in this case
study, a verification of the adaptability of Faulkner’s and Vikulov’s (2001)
conceptual framework to tour operators and the tsunami (Miles and
Huberman 1994: 11). Using the six stages in the framework and interview
schedule as the collection tool, the data was labeled and organised within
each of the following six categories; Pre Event, Prodromal, Emergency,
Intermediate, Long Term Recovery and Resolution.
In this section the research findings of the case study in relation to an
adapted version of Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) TDMF framework,
which also takes account of Ritchie’s (2004) CDMF framework will be
discussed. Each stage of the TDMF will be addressed in detail, including
the Pre-event stage, Prodromal, Emergency, Intermediate, Long Term
Recovery and the Resolution phase.
5.1 Pre Event Stage
The first phase of the TDMF, according to Faulkner and Vikulov
(2001), includes any action taken by the industry to minimise the impact
of a potential crisis. From the research findings, it appears a very limited
number of Australian tour operators implemented Faulkner and Vikulov’s
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(2001) recommended pro-active measures to assist in effective
management of the Tsunami. This is consistent which similar studies
which have investigated the level of crisis preparedness of tourism related
enterprises (Runyan 2006, Anderson 2006, Cioccio and Michael 2007,
Ritchie and Miller 2004, De Sausmarez 2003, Prideaux 2003, Faulkner
and Vikulov, 2001).
The importance of developing contingency plans to assist in crisis
management preparedness has also been noted by a number of researchers
(Ritchie, 2009; Murphy, 2008; Henderson, 2007a; Faulkner and Vikulov,
2001; Quarantelli, 1986). However, in this case, only half the operators
interviewed acknowledged having a developed crisis management plan.
Tested experience of senior management was noted by one operator as a
more effective tool to respond to a crisis. This is consistent with Cioccio
and Michael’s (2007) findings on the 2003 bushfires in North East
Victoria (Australia), where the tourism operators in the affected bushfire
region considered practical experience more valuable than contingency
planning measures.
The barriers to developing pre-event measures are thought to be
associated with the outsourcing of tours to locally based ground operators,
which reduces the control of the head offices in Australia. In addition, the
unprecedented size and scope of the IOT04 is argued to be difficult to
prepare for, and therefore might not be an appropriate case study to
assume the applicability of the elements of the TDMF/CDMF.
5.2 Prodromal Stage
The second phase of the TDMF is the immediate response taken by the
operators to prepare for an imminent disaster. This includes the activation
of warning systems and communication tree, relocating resources and
securing facilities. From the research findings, it was found that no
warning was provided of the Tsunami to the Australian tour operatorsof
this study. Prior to December 2004, no warning systems had been
developed for the IOT04 (Synolakis, Okal and Bernard, 2005). For
obvious reasons, the lack of warning system acted as a barrier to alert
destinations and other tourism stakeholders, including tour operators, of an
impending tsunami.
Media reports were found to be the most common type of
communication to inform the Australian tour operators of the Tsunami. As
Ritchie and others (2004) note, crisis communication is concerned with
providing consistent and up to date information. However Murphy and
Bayley (1989) highlight that the media has a reputation for providing
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misleading information on the severity of a disaster. In their case study on
the Mount St Helens volcanic eruption in 1980, it was found the “media
coverage intensified the confusion during the fire-fighting period”
(Murphy and Bayley 1989: 43). Hall (2002) argues that the public
understanding of the severity of a disaster is for the most part constructed
by how the media reports it. Without accurate, up to date information on
the Tsunami, it was difficult for the Australian based tour operators to
make informed decisions. The media was therefore relied upon for
providing timely information, as the operators could only identify the
severity of the Tsunami through the media’s reporting.
5.3 Emergency Stage
The third phase of the TDMF includes the action taken once the crisis
has hit and emergency procedures that need to be implemented. This
includes the communication strategies employed, methods taken to control
public relations and most importantly ensuring the safety of any tourists in
the region/s affected by the crisis. The study found more than half the
Australian tour operators confirmed they had clients in the affected
countries at the time of the Tsunami. However, due to the lack of
communication through the emergency stage, concerns are raised as to
when contact was made with these clients. One operator noted it took five
days to get in touch with sub-contractors on the ground.
Due to the lack of communication with some sub-contractors, specific
regions affected by the Tsunami could only be verified through the
information provided by the media, tourism organisations and the
government, all of which have a reputation for providing inconsistent
messages (Ritchie et al., 2004). The research also found that the Australian
tour operators ability to make contact with their on-ground operators
varied significantly. While some operators noted they were able to contact
ground staff immediately, others had great difficulty for a number of days,
making any form of communication. Reliance on local operators for
information was also a key research finding.
Of those tour operators who did have clients in the Tsunami affected
regions, Thailand was found to be the most common destination. Thailand
is a popular tourism destination which was featured extensively in the
Tsunami news reports world-wide, however only 20% of Phuket’s hotels
were severely damaged (Henderson, 2007b). As McConnell (2003) argues,
it is not the facts which define the crisis, but the perception of people. This
was proven in a study completed by Miller and Ritchie (2003), whose
research found consumers perceived the whole of the UK to be closed due
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to the 2001 foot and mouth disease. This present study found similar
research findings, with clients having the perception the whole of Thailand
was affected by the Tsunami. To overcome this perception,
communicating with clientele was a high priority for some operators, so
clients could be kept well informed of the facts of the crisis. Other
operators decided to delete whole destinations from their itineraries, which
has dramatic consequences for the viability of those regions.
From these results, it can be concluded that the Australian tour
operators were not well prepared in any sense for such a large scale
disaster, with the reactive measures identified supporting this finding.
Therefore, the application of Faulkner and Vikulov (2001) suggested crisis
management measures were minimal, as few of those recommendations
had been implemented by these members of the industry.
5.4 Intermediate Stage
The fourth phase of the TDMF/CDMF focuses on the recovery of the
destination or, in this case, the tour operator affected by the crisis.
Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) model suggests recovery after a crisis
through the Intermediate stage requires an effective media communication
strategy, along with restoring facilities and conducting an audit of any
damage. As tour operators in this study primarily used subcontractors,
conducting an audit of the damage in the affected regions was only
feasible for those operators who either sent representatives into the
regions, or had locally based offices. Obtaining a clear picture of the
infrastructural damage, including what hotels and airports were still
operational, was noted by some tour operators in this study as a challenge.
From the analysis of the research findings these difficulties may have been
linked with communication barriers with suppliers, or simply the suppliers
themselves unsure of what the situation is. Such barriers resulted in
deferred bookings to a number of destinations.
Effective re-allocation of resources, or in this case deferring travel and
offering alternative itineraries to clients was the most common approach
taken by the tour operators in the intermediate stage to manage this crisis
situation. Collaboration with stakeholders, including their customers, was
on a reactive basis, making key decisions as information was presented,
rather than utilising developed disaster specific strategies, which was
noted by Faulkner (2001) and Ritchie (2004) as an integral part of the
intermediate phase.
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5.5 Long Term Recovery Phase
The fifth phase of the TDMF and CDMF focuses on the long term
recovery of the tour operators. Faulkner and Vikulov (2001) note the long
term recovery stage as a continuation of the previous stage (Intermediate),
addressing items which could not be attended to, including the restoration
of business and consumer confidence. Continued consultation with both
internal and external stakeholders should also still be present. In line with
Faulkner’s model, consultation with both internal and external
stakeholders continued, which included regular in house meetings.
Various challenges were identified by the Australian tour operators. As
Faulkner and Vikulov’s (2001) framework highlights, a key response to
any challenge should be to debrief and promote the revisions of disaster
strategies. The tour operators in this study support this framework, as
some noted that there was debriefing amongst staff. The discussion,
however, of pre-developed disaster strategies, which the framework
implies, was only noted by one of the tour operators. Reactive strategies
were the more common approach to deal with challenges which arose,
including perception.
Perception was noted by a number of tour operators to be a key
challenge throughout the long-term recovery stage. The media are
considered one of the most important stakeholders for restoring consumer
confidence when a crisis enters the long-term recovery stage (Ritchie,
2004). The media were also found to be one of the most common
stakeholder groups thought to influence consumer confidence, although
only a selective number of Australian tour operators considered using the
media to assist in rebuilding confidence.
5.6 Resolution
The sixth and final phase of the TDMF/CDMF is the point when
routine operations have been restored, or a new improved state has been
established through reviewing crisis management policies and plans and
assessing their effectiveness (Faulkner and Vikulov 2001; Ritchie 2004).
Overall, the research found that the Tsunami caused minimal disruption to
normal business operations of the interviewed operators, therefore only a
limited number of operators reviewed the effectiveness of their crisis
management tools.
Ritchie (2004) notes that a crisis can cause permanent changes to the
operating environment of an organization, as well as the creation of crisis
management teams and updating contingency plans. It was found that
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none of the tour operators reported any permanent changes to the
operating environment in light of the IOT04, although greater awareness
was acknowledged. Through offering a diversified product, operators were
able to shift marketing efforts to other destinations unaffected by the
Tsunami, which limited the need to make any permanent operating
changes.
6. Conclusion
This case study has tested an adapted version of Faulkner and
Vikulov’s (2001) (TDMF) and Ritchie’s (CDMF) on the IOT04,
specifically with tour operators. In particular, the results have provided an
insight into how Australian based tour operators’ prepared for and
responded to, the IOT04, which has previously been noted as a gap in the
literature (Faulkner and Vikulov, 2001; Ritchie, 2009). An analysis of
phases one and two of the framework revealed that a lack of a warning
system acted as a barrier to alert the tour operators in this study of the
IOT04. Consequently reactive strategies were more commonly used by
participants, with few considering pre-existing strategies.Both Faulkner’s
(2001) and Ritchie’s (2004) frameworks recommend the use of proactive
measures, including the development of a contingency plan. Although half
of the operators did acknowledge having a crisis management plan, only
one reported conducting risk assessments for potential disasters and using
the manual to guide their response to the Tsunami. These findings reveal
that the development of proactive measures and risk assessment was not
considered for the majority of the participants.
In phases three and four of the TDMF, the Emergency and
Intermediate phases, the key challenge identified was the lack of
communication through the emergency stage. This was more common
with those operators who used sub-contractors and therefore relied on
contacts for up-to-date information on the Tsunami disaster. These
problems are suggested to have made it difficult for the operators to
identify the regions and tour groups affected. A further challenge was the
perception of consumers who believed whole countries were affected by
the Tsunami, in particular Thailand. The Australian based tour operators
reacted to this perception by deleting destinations. Although this was
reacting to the demand of their clients, in turn it would have consequences
for the regions removed from itineraries.In phase five and six of the
framework, none of the tour operators reported any change to how they
managed their business, beyond acknowledging a greater awareness of
Tsunamis’. As the operators interviewed offered a diversified product, it
Page | 166
was reported that they focused their business on destinations not affected
by the IOT04.
It is recommended the TDMF be tested on other disasters, in order to
further test its applicability to tour operators. The TDMF and CDMF are
both also recommended to be tested on other sectors of the tourism
industry, including accommodation operators, airlines and travel agents.
Studies are then able to be compared from sector to sector, to identify the
management strategies which are viable versus those which are lacking.
Further research will contribute to a wider acceptance of implementing
crisis management strategies into all tourism operations. In turn, this could
reduce the impacts a crisis may have on a destination, and any stakeholder
groups who rely on related tourism income.
References
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industry: Preparedness, personnel and postscript. Tourism
Management, 27, 1290-1297.
Armstrong, E.K. (2008). Destination recovery after natural disasters - A
case study of the recovery of the ACT tourism industry after the 2003
bushfires. PhD thesis. University of Canberra: Canberra.
Beirman, D. (2003). Restoring tourism destinations in crisis: A strategic
marketing approach. UK and USA: CAB International.
Berg, B. (1989). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. 3rd
Edition, Needham Heights, MA, Allyn & Bacon.
Birkland, T.A, Herabat, M.E.P., Little, R.G. and Wallace, W.A. (2006).
The Impact of the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on Tourism
in Thailand Earthquake Spectra, 22(S3), S889-S900.
Burnie, D., Coyne, C., Gilpin, D. and Simons, P. (2007). When nature
turns nasty.1st ed. Readers Digest Association, London.
Cioccio, L. and Michael, E.J. (2007). "Hazard or disaster: Tourism
management for the inevitable in Northeast Victoria.' Tourism
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De Sausmarez, N. (2003). Malaysia's response to the Asian financial
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Page | 170
PIXALATED, THE WORLD OF MASS
PHOTOGRAPHY AND ITS PLACE IN TOURISM
KEITH DEWAR
UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK-SAINT JOHN, CANADA
Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of using visitor-employed
photographs in a number of ways to assist tourism planners and
marketers. Two thousand nine hundred photos taken by 103 tourists from
one urban destination were analysed using NVivo software
(http://www.qsrinternational.com/#tab_you). The photos were treated to
an image content analysis using 7072 tags. These tags were combined
and categorised with content analysis in several ways to explore the
possibilities of providing usable data and interpretations. The findings
assist in determining what visitors are interested in and which attractions
are most popular for visit. Finally to determine how this computer
program performs in helping to select the most appropriate images for
use in marketing and advertising. The results show the program
succeeded in providing a usable analysis that detailed a span of sites
within the destination of value to the tourism planner and marketer. The
process was also capable of showing which sites where most popular.
1. Introduction
This exploratory research investigates a type of organic visitoremployed photography (VEP) and its value in determining the tourist’s
interests when visiting a destination (Garrod, 2009; Haywood, 1990;
MacKay and Couldwell, 2004). A secondary goal is to determine the
effectiveness of the computer program Nvivo (QSR International, 2011) in
analysing image content to meet the primary goal of the paper.
The vast increase in the number of photographs being taken as a result
of the inexpensive digital camera is providing new sources of information
for destination management/marketing organizations and tourism planners
(Lee, 2010). From this material, it is suggested that tourism organizations
can support if not replace surveys and similar more expensive and timeconsuming process to determine more precisely what the visitor does and
is interested in during their visit. A case destination was chosen to explore
Page | 171
ways of extracting data useful to the tourism industry particularly in those
areas where budgets are small and human resources limited.
The Senseable City Laboratory at MIT (Senseable City Lab, 2011) has
done considerable work on the use of digital imagery in large cities using
very sophisticated programming and computer facilities. Although it may
be less feasible for small urban areas and rural destinations the ideas and
outcomes provide an excellent framework for future studies. Their studies
of Rome (Girardin, Fiore, Ratti and Blat, 2008) and Florence (Girardin,
Fiore, Blat and Ratti, 2007) show the value of such methods in detail. The
present research looks at finer detail in a small geographical area using
less sophisticated technology and basic content analysis easily available
and useable for local planners and tourism organizations.
The use of content analysis in several forms provides creative ways to
analysis individual photos, photo related text, and groups of photos that
make up images of places (Grovers, 2005; Pennington and Thomsen,
2010). Both the general analysis of photographic images and the more
specific image content analysis is valuable but often very theoretical and
difficult to understand unless the person spends considerable time learning
jargon and procedures. Time is often a limiting factor for many regional
and local tourism organizations. This means that small less sophisticated
tourism destinations will not have access and may find the interpretations
difficult or not related to the “day to day” operations of their business.
Sophisticated studies use colour, shape, percentage coverage, date and
time stamps to break down and analyse photos. However simple semantic
description of the content of the photos may be more useful for many
organizations and businesses and provide information sufficient to
understand and improve service to the visitor (Tuppy, 2010). The current
study uses this latter approach to determine what information can be
extracted from the available image base.
The selected case site is the city of Saint John, New Brunswick,
Canada. It is a good example of a small poorly resourced regional and
local tourism organizations and has a large number of small and very small
tourism business. This industrial and port city (population 130,000) has a
healthy tourism industry accounting for 280 million dollars in 2010. Most
tourists arrive by car. Approximately 85 cruise ships visit each season
(June to November) accounting for 120,000 passenger visits. The industry
is definitely seasonal with late May to mid October being considered the
main tourism season (Tourism Saint John, 2010). Conventions, sports
tournaments and meetings account for a smaller off season visitation.
This study concentrates on the visual information collected and tagged
using Nvivo software in an attempt to provide a simple easily
Page | 172
understandable system for tourism stakeholders to learn what the visitor is
doing in the area, a problem that still often eludes investigators?
(Ashworth, 2011). It is about the visitors “gaze” using “organic” images
and does not deal with the vast array of “induced” visual media presented
by the supply side of the tourism industry (Gunn, 1972). It is about what
the visitors sees through the lens and how this can assist in providing more
appropriate output media and build a positive image of place.
2. Method
The method concentrates on simple media content analysis (Tuppy,
2010). Each photo tells a story and the various elements within the photo
together portray the visitor’s interests and are chapters in that story. A
software program Nvivo 9 was selected to assist in the evaluation of the
photographs. With well over 100,000 visitor taken photos available of
Saint John, the search was restricted to the period Jan. 1, 2008 and
October 15, 2010. One hundred and three photo sets taken by visitors were
analysed. This constituted 90% of all photo taken by visitors during the
time period and uploaded on two major photo storage and display systems,
Flickr and Picasa as well as a smaller number found on five of the most
used travel blog sites. For a photographic set to be considered it had to
have more than 3 photos of the Saint John metropolitan area and less than
75. In all 2912, individual images were analysed. Average pictures coded
per visitor was 26. Close-ups/portraits of the travelling group were
ignored.
Using Nvivo each photo was examined and “tagged”, that is, all the
major points of interest were individually selected and catalogued as
different nodes (tags). The tags were placed in subjectively selected
categories based on the city’s known tourism attractions and the visual
content deemed of interest/importance to the creator (visitor) that may not
be seen by the industry as important.
The photos and tags were often accompanied by a caption or
occasionally by a blog entry that provided complementary text information
on the photo’s content and added additional useful information about
visitor interest and thoughts. These text blocks were linked to the photo
and analysed separately use content analysis and displaced as “word
clouds” (Figure 5). The average number of catalogued “tags” per photo
was 2.5 with the total number of tags was 7072. The catalogued tags were
divided into 13 nodes and 73 subnodes. Figure 1 illustrates the analytical
process using main nodes then breaking out the SJ Scenic node into 13
Page | 173
sub-nodes, then to the actual images. As well cluster analysis was
performed on the text to supplement the word clouds and visual material.
3. Results
The generated results showed which sites were most important
determined by the number of photos taken and the number of tags
registered. Figure 1 shows that the major attractions appear to be
architecture (17%), marine environments (16%), Saint John uptown (17%)
and Saint John scenic views (11%). Together these four nodes account for
61 percent of the total pictures taken. This is not a surprising result. First
Saint John was completely destroyed by fire in 1877 and rebuilt in brick
and stone in late Victorian vernacular. The City has therefore one of the
largest concentration of this architectural style outside of the United
Kingdom. A 16 block area has been designated as a historic site and name
Trinity Royal (trinityroyal.com, 2011). Within this 16-block areas are
single-family dwellings, duplex and apartment buildings from the period
as well as government and commercial properties. The areas easy access
from the cruise ship terminal, the main street and its historic designation
make it a natural area visit. The marine component is also important. Saint
John is an ice free port at the confluence of the Saint John River and the
Bay of Fundy, part of the Atlantic Ocean. As a result there is an extensive
marine component including the river, two harbours, several light houses,
historic harbour defences, cruise ship terminal, container port, gas and oil
refining and transfer facilities, and an extensive waterfront walkway
system that together give a nautical texture to the entire uptown.
The “SJ Scenics” is a more general category referring to general large
scale views of parts of the city. The most photographed item in this
category at 23% is Reversing Falls. Reversing Falls is the city’s tourism
icon. The Falls (more correctly described geomorphologically as a rapids)
is a geological phenomena and the rapids change direction with the tides.
This is because parts of the Bay of Fundy have the world’s highest tides at
16 metres, but in Saint John spring tides can reach 9 meters (Parks
Canada, 2010).
The “Other” category clearly shows the eclectic nature of the photos
that people take. This category can be seen as specifically interesting to
planners and marketers because if reflects niche markets that might be
further exploited or planned in a different way. Some examples of what
appears in this category include 7 photos of City of Saint John police cars,
7 of car license plates, a photo of Canadian paper currency, and several
images of street side flower pots.
Page | 174
Figure 1: Node analysis, N=2912
SJ Scenes, N = 1500, Sub Nodes
Reversing Falls
City Market
Market Square
4%
5%
Harbour Front
4%
28%
5%
Kings Square
5%
7%
Saint John Visitor Digital Photos, N = 2912, Selected Nodes
2%
SJ Scences
Signs
1%
5%
3%
7%
11%
Architecture
Uptown
5%
5%
Marine
Entertainment
6%
6%
17%
6%
14%
9%
Carlton Martello
Tower
Irving Nature Park
12%
Loyalist
Cementary
Fort Howe Hill
Bay of Fundy
Moose
Cruise Ship
Art
Culinary
Heritage
Accommodation
16%
17%
Wildlife
Other
The “Moose” subnode may puzzle some readers. The Canadian Moose
(Alces alces) is the largest member of the deer family and a common large
mammal in the Province of New Brunswick. Perhaps more importantly
(certainly too many) is that it is the name of a locally brewed beer,
Moosehead (http://moosehead.ca/home/). This family owned business is
an important contributor to the city’s art and culture community as well as
the entertainment component of the city. One of their contributions is a
large bronze statue of a bull moose situated in the uptown area. It is a great
favourite with visitors and having ones picture taken with the moose is
This exploratory research investigates a type of organic visitor-employed
photography (VEP) and its value in determining the tourist’s interests
when visiting a destination (Garrod, 2009; Haywood, 1990; MacKay and
Couldwell, 2004). A secondary goal is to determine the effectiveness of
the computer program Nvivo (QSR International, 2011) in analysing
image content to meet the primary goal of the paper.
The vast increase in the number of photographs being taken as a result
of the inexpensive digital camera is providing new sources of information
for destination management/marketing organizations and tourism planners
(Lee, 2010). From this material, it is suggested that tourism organizations
can support if not replace surveys and similar more expensive and timeconsuming process to determine more precisely what the visitor does and
Page | 175
is interested in during their visit. A case destination was chosen to explore
ways of extracting data useful to the tourism industry particularly in those
areas where budgets are small and human resources limited.
The Senseable City Laboratory at MIT (Senseable City Lab, 2011) has
done considerable work on the use of digital imagery in large cities using
very sophisticated programming and computer facilities. Although it may
be less feasible for small urban areas and rural destinations the ideas and
outcomes provide an excellent framework for future studies. Their studies
of Rome (Girardin, Fiore, Ratti and Blat, 2008) and Florence (Girardin,
Fiore, Blat and Ratti, 2007) show the value of such methods in detail. The
present research looks at finer detail in a small geographical area using
less sophisticated technology and basic content analysis easily available
and useable for local planners and tourism organizations.
The use of content analysis in several forms provides creative ways to
analysis individual photos, photo related text, and groups of photos that
make up images of places (Grovers, 2005; Pennington and Thomsen,
2010). Both the general analysis of photographic images and the more
specific image content analysis is valuable but often very theoretical and
difficult to understand unless the person spends considerable time learning
jargon and procedures. Time is often a limiting factor for many regional
and local tourism organizations. This means that small less sophisticated
tourism destinations will not have access and may find the interpretations
difficult or not related to the “day to day” operations of their business.
Sophisticated studies use colour, shape, percentage coverage, date and
time stamps to break down and analyse photos. However simple semantic
description of the content of the photos may be more useful for many
organizations and businesses and provide information sufficient to
understand and improve service to the visitor (Tuppy, 2010). The current
study uses this latter approach to determine what information can be
extracted from the available image base.
The selected case site is the city of Saint John, New Brunswick,
Canada. It is a good example of a small poorly resourced regional and
local tourism organizations and has a large number of small and very small
tourism business. This industrial and port city (population 130,000) has a
healthy tourism industry accounting for 280 million dollars in 2010. Most
tourists arrive by car. Approximately 85 cruise ships visit each season
(June to November) accounting for 120,000 passenger visits. The industry
is definitely seasonal with late May to mid October being considered the
main tourism season (Tourism Saint John, 2010). Conventions, sports
tournaments and meetings account for a smaller off season visitation.
Page | 176
This study concentrates on the visual information collected and tagged
using Nvivo software in an attempt to provide a simple easily
understandable system for tourism stakeholders to learn what the visitor is
doing in the area, a problem that still often eludes investigators?
(Ashworth, 2011). It is about the visitors “gaze” using “organic” images
and does not deal with the vast array of “induced” visual media presented
by the supply side of the tourism industry (Gunn, 1972). It is about what
the visitors sees through the lens and how this can assist in providing more
appropriate output media and build a positive image of place.
The method concentrates on simple media content analysis (Tuppy,
2010). Each photo tells a story and the various elements within the photo
together portray the visitor’s interests and are chapters in that story. A
software program Nvivo 9 was selected to assist in the evaluation of the
photographs. With well over 100,000 visitor taken photos available of
Saint John, the search was restricted to the period Jan. 1, 2008 and
October 15, 2010. One hundred and three photo sets taken by visitors were
analysed. This constituted 90% of all photo taken by visitors during the
time period and uploaded on two major photo storage and display systems,
Flickr and Picasa as well as a smaller number found on five of the most
used travel blog sites. For a photographic set to be considered it had to
have more than 3 photos of the Saint John metropolitan area and less than
75. In all 2912, individual images were analysed. Average pictures coded
per visitor was 26. Close-ups/portraits of the travelling group were
ignored.
Using Nvivo each photo was examined and “tagged”, that is, all the
major points of interest were individually selected and catalogued as
different nodes (tags). The tags were placed in subjectively selected
categories based on the city’s known tourism attractions and the visual
content deemed of interest/importance to the creator (visitor) that may not
be seen by the industry as important.
The photos and tags were often accompanied by a caption or
occasionally by a blog entry that provided complementary text information
on the photo’s content and added additional useful information about
visitor interest and thoughts. These text blocks were linked to the photo
and analysed separately use content analysis and displaced as “word
clouds” (Figure 5). The average number of catalogued “tags” per photo
was 2.5 with the total number of tags was 7072. The catalogued tags were
divided into 13 nodes and 73 subnodes. Figure 1 illustrates the analytical
process using main nodes then breaking out the SJ Scenic node into 13
sub-nodes, then to the actual images. As well cluster analysis was
performed on the text to supplement the word clouds and visual material.
Page | 177
The generated results showed which sites were most important
determined by the number of photos taken and the number of tags
registered. Figure 1 shows that the major attractions appear to be
architecture (17%), marine environments (16%), Saint John uptown (17%)
and Saint John scenic views (11%). Together these four nodes account for
61 percent of the total pictures taken. This is not a surprising result. First
Saint John was completely destroyed by fire in 1877 and rebuilt in brick
and stone in late Victorian vernacular. The City has therefore one of the
largest concentration of this architectural style outside of the United
Kingdom. A 16 block area has been designated as a historic site and name
Trinity Royal (trinityroyal.com, 2011). Within this 16-block areas are
single-family dwellings, duplex and apartment buildings from the period
as well as government and commercial properties. The areas easy access
from the cruise ship terminal, the main street and its historic designation
make it a natural area visit. The marine component is also important. Saint
John is an ice free port at the confluence of the Saint John River and the
Bay of Fundy, part of the Atlantic Ocean. As a result there is an extensive
marine component including the river, two harbours, several light houses,
historic harbour defences, cruise ship terminal, container port, gas and oil
refining and transfer facilities, and an extensive waterfront walkway
system that together give a nautical texture to the entire uptown.
The “SJ Scenics” is a more general category referring to general large
scale views of parts of the city. The most photographed item in this
category at 23% is Reversing Falls. Reversing Falls is the city’s tourism
icon. The Falls (more correctly described geomorphologically as a rapids)
is a geological phenomena and the rapids change direction with the tides.
This is because parts of the Bay of Fundy have the world’s highest tides at
16 metres, but in Saint John spring tides can reach 9 meters (Parks
Canada, 2010).
The “Other” category clearly shows the eclectic nature of the photos
that people take. This category can be seen as specifically interesting to
planners and marketers because if reflects niche markets that might be
further exploited or planned in a different way. Some examples of what
appears in this category include 7 photos of City of Saint John police cars,
7 of car license plates, a photo of Canadian paper currency, and several
images of street side flower pots.
The “Moose” subnode may puzzle some readers. The Canadian Moose
(Alces alces) is the largest member of the deer family and a common large
mammal in the Province of New Brunswick. Perhaps more importantly
(certainly too many) is that it is the name of a locally brewed beer,
Moosehead (http://moosehead.ca/home/). This family owned business is
Page | 178
an important contributor to the city’s art and culture community as well as
the entertainment component of the city. One of their contributions is a
large bronze statue of a bull moose situated in the uptown area. It is a great
favourite with visitors and having ones picture taken with the moose is a
“must do” for many tourists.
3.1 Visitor Demographics
Demographic information about the photographer was somewhat
harder to obtain but some was available for most visitors at least in
minimal form. Although most photographic sites used had a “profile” page
many people had only partly completed them. However, enough
information was available to extract useful information (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Demographics of Photographers, N=111
Age
Cases
Country
Middle
Young
Senior
ND
54
24
18
15
Male
Female
Couples
Family
Group
54
42
10
3
2
ND
US
Canada
International
Travel Experience
51
35
20
5
ND
10+
5
3
4
2
1
6 to 9
46
19
15
13
9
4
3
1
The demographic data provided is based on those that did provide data;
information gleamed from blog entries, and examination of photos. Age
was particularly problematic with less than 10 visitors actually give a birth
date or age. Therefore, a general age range was subjectively determined
from the actual photographs or other related text. Young was considered
approximately 15 to 35, middle age from 36 to 54 and senior 55 and over.
Gender was much easier to determine from the photographs, profile
names, and general text. Besides male and female, three additional
categories were added since some cameras where used by more than one
person. A couple refers to two people travelling together. In the case of
Figure 2 there were 9 heterosexual couples and one gay couple detectable.
Where there were several people apparently using the camera and their
connections were not clear or obviously “friends” then the term “group”
was used for unspecified multiple users. The remainder were clearly
families and recorded as such.
Page | 179
Figure 3: Arrival Mode and Image Source
Transport
Car
42
Flickr
Cruise Ship
33
Picasa
ND
26
ND
Bus
3
Trip Advisor
Bus Tour
3
Travel Pod
Air
2
Skyscrapter
Bicycle
1
Travel Buddy
Motor bike
1
Source
43
41
9
8
4
1
1
In many photos, it was possible to determine how the visitors arrived
in Saint John. Figure 3 gives a breakdown of arrival modes. Subjectively
this breakdown fits the pattern suggested by personal communication with
the business community and the researchers 10 years experience with
Saint Johns tourism industry.
A shortcoming apparent and discussed by Girardin (2007: 6) is the
question of the representativeness of the sample of photographers
available on public websites. If one is going to use photographic images in
planning and marketing understanding the users of digital technology
needs to be understood. This study did not have the resources to examine
this in detail however; a small informal study was conducted on the last
two cruise ship days of the year. Passengers from the Queen Mary and
Carnival Victory as well as other visitors in the area on those days were
interviewed by the researcher at Reversing Falls and in the uptown area.
Fifty-nine people with cameras were interviewed. The findings were
interesting and point to an area where more research needs to be done. Of
the 59 interviewees only 16 used the Internet to upload and/or store
photos. Facebook was the major site used with 6 other sites being used by
some interviewees. Interestingly the age of the photographers showed that
older people were greater picture takers. Only one young person and one
“senior” with the other 14 were all in the middle age category (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Use of Internet to Store and Display, N=59
Use Internet for
Site Used
Approximate Age
Photo Uploads
16 of 59
Facebook
10
Young
1
Other
6
Middle
37
Senior
21
Origin
US
UK
Canada
Other
28
19
6
6
Texts and captions are also very useful in the development of a
narrative about what tourists think of the city. It is possible to analyse this
text in a number of ways but one of the simplest and visual is the “word
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cloud”. The visual models are becoming common and provide a quick data
reference of value to researchers (Hearst and Rosner, 2008; Rivadeneira,
2007).
4. Discussion
The proliferation of the digital camera and the subsequent ability to
upload to storage and display systems for public viewing gives the tourism
professional and tourism marketer a unique opportunity to see what the
visitors gaze really is. It is a chance to change and improve the quality of a
destination as well as to clearly present the site to specific markets and
match destination expectation to visitor perception.
The cheap and easily copied images of the visitors’ travels tell a story
in pictures as did earlier photographs. The story now, however, is more
detailed and complete since more closely taken photos in time and space
show a more continuous story. The metadata on almost all the photographs
shows pictures being taken every few minutes as a tourist strolled around
the area under study. The supportive captions and blog entries added rich
detail and greatly enhance the narrative.
4.1 Word Cloud and Cluster Narrative
The simple word/tag cloud (Figure 5) mimics closely the results from
the photo tag analysis. Reversing Falls is visited by most tourists because
of its icon status and scenic views. On ones way to Reversing Falls a side
trip for some is Fort Howe Hill which was seen from the uptown
Boardwalk, particularly its “Hollywood” style sign and the small military
blockhouse. Once at the top of the hill there are spectacular views of the
city and inner harbour.
In the Uptown area, visitors go to City Market established in 1869 and
Kings Square set aside in 1784 making it one of the oldest public parks in
Canada. Along the way to Kings Square up Kings St. they photograph the
Hooper sculptures beside Barbour General Store or perhaps outside the
Market Square entrance. Only a few however notice that the Market
Square Sculpture is also a clock.
Those with a little more time and curiosity about the city turn off King
St. and stroll through the 16 block area of Trinity Royal Historic District.
They visit Trinity Anglican Church, photograph the residential buildings
of the period along Grenville St. and perhaps visit the Church of Saint
Andrews and St. David. Walking back to King St. they may go by the
cruise ship terminal.
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The cruise ship terminal and more importantly the ships themselves
attract the attention of visitors. For those that are cruise ship passengers a
photo of “their” ship is an important souvenir. For those visiting the city
on the day a ship is in it is also a major attraction.
Few visitors leave the uptown and Reversing Falls area. Those that do
are most likely to visit the Carleton Martello Tower National Historic
Park. The interior of which has several displays depicting the life of
British garrison soldiers between 1814 and 1870 as well as activities that
occurred here during the first and second world wars.
It should also be noted what is not apparent from the analysis. First
there are very few pictures of the New Brunswick Provincial Museum
located in the Market Square shopping area and what few photographs
there are, are almost all of the building’s exterior. There is a good reason
for this; photography is forbidden in the Museum.
Figure 5: Cumulative Word (Tag) Cloud (N = 34,606, N1 = 301(top 301 only displayed),
Total number of words found of the 301 searched, 17,606)
bay
A n g l ic a n ( 4 6 ) a r c h i te c t u r e ( 4 6 )
B r u n s w ic k
c r u is e
g ro u n d (7 3 )
(2 0 8)
d o c k (7 3 )
d e t a i l( 4 9 )
h a rb o u r
i n f o r m a t io n
(11 1 )
jo h n
in n e r (1 8 0)
(5 11 )
k in g
m a rk e t
n ature (6 8)
p a rk
r i v e r (16 4 )
s h ip
(20 9 )
b o a t (10 6 )
(1 0 7 ) b o a rd w a lk (6 8 )
( 1 2 8 ) b u i ld i n g b u r ia l( 6 3 ) C a r l e t o n ( 6 5 )
(2 0 8)
ro o m (5 3 )
(4 5 9)
p u lp ( 5 7 )
fa lls
(33 6 )
(2 06 )
(44 3 )
( 1 4 4 ) lik e ( 5 1 )
ir v i n g
f o r t(1 1 3 ) fu n d y ( 9 7 )
h o w e (99 )
in d i v i d u a ls
( 1 5 1 ) i s la n d ( 5 1 ) j e t ( 6 3 )
lo y a lis t (1 1 9 )
M a r t e l lo ( 8 6 )
m ill ( 4 8 )
m o o se (7 5 ) m u s e u m (6 9 )
r e v e r s in g
(4 6 7)
(44 1 )
s c e n i c ( 6 7 ) s c u lp t u r e s ( 5 4 )
s q u a re
u p to w n
t o u r( 8 2 ) t o w e r ( 1 0 1 ) t rin it y ( 8 9 )
( 1 4 0 ) c lo c k ( 5 3 ) c o a s t ( 6 5 )
h ill( 8 2 ) h o o p e r( 7 4 )
in t e rio r ( 7 7 )
s a in t
s ig n
b ridg e (66 )
c h u rc h
(3 2 9)
s y m b o l ic ( 5 8 )
tid e
(1 12 )
(33 5 ) w ater(6 4 )
4.2 Nvivo Software
As part of this study, the researcher selected a software package to
assist in the management and analysis of the photos collected as well as
the associated references, blogs and caption information. The program also
can associate the collected with academic articles and other tourism
databases related to the subject. The program proved useful with a
relatively short learning curve for the basics. It is, however, a large
complex program and requires considerable effort in time to learn all its
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nuances. Many readers will also agree that these complex programs not
used on a regular bases often have to be relearned the next time they are
needed.
The program did not quite live up to its advertising in one important
area. It suggested it could handle large databases. It however struggles
with databases of 800 megabits and more on the average computer. The
basic problem is in opening and time to manipulate data. Opening fails 3
times out of four in the work done on this project after approximately 800
megabits where in the database. This meant the program had to be closed
and reopened repeatedly before the database became available. The
company reports they are working on this issue and future updates will
solve the problem. The word cloud feature also does not provide for the
flexibility to add percentages or actual numbers after the words or to
deselect superfluous words.
4.3 Geographical Accessibility
The data provided real “visual narratives” of the visit to the study area.
It was easy to follow the visitor and gain an insight into where they went,
what interested them, how long they stayed and their thoughts regarding
the uptown area. There were clear site choices of interest, Kings Square,
Reversing Falls and the Hooper Sculptures being the most photographed
and commented on. It was also observed that the pattern of picture taking
was similar for the vast majority of the visitor in timing and place. This
begs the question: are the most photographed sites simply sights of
convenience or are they truly of high interest? Hooper’s sculptures
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hooper_(sculptor) and Kings Square
are within a few hundred meters of the cruise ship terminal and major
uptown parking areas making them easily accessible. Reversing Falls, the
city’s icon is 30 to 40 minutes away if one walks or 10 minutes by car/taxi
however it has icon status so is a “must see”. So what part does simple
accessibility play? The main bank of Hooper Sculptures was originally in
the City’s main post office building which was in an industrial area some
distance from the city centre. It was rarely photographed or visited. Now
in its new location it is one of the most photographed sites in the city. The
sculptures are endearing and allow for a certain level of interaction. This
issue then offers a dilemma to marketers. Do we provide images that
mimic the most photographed sights or should we also provide images of
suspected high value that are not as easily found or for some other reason
less visited, such as the Loyalist Burial Ground, Loyalist House, or
Rockwood Park? Planners also need to examine the accessibility issues
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and determine the value of spending on making the sites more accessible.
Since the sites cannot be moved then signage, maps, and related material
need to be developed that raise visitor’s awareness and better motivate
them to visit.
4.4 How Representative is the Sample?
Another question that became apparent as the photos were analysed; is
this a truly representative sample of visitors to the city? Certainly general
observation would suggest that the majority of visitors observed over the
past five years in the study area carry cameras. However, how many
upload these to public accessible Internet sites? What percentage used the
sites chosen by the researcher? Are the demographics and
socio/psychological profiles of the participants the same or different than
those who do not take pictures or upload them to publicly viewable sites.
A few studies address this issue however (Lo, McKercher, Lo, Cheung,
and Law, 2011) provide interesting detail for a specific demographic,
Hong Kong residents. Their findings would suggest that although use of
Internet storage and display sites is still relatively low it is growing and
marketers would be unwise to ignore this group. Girardin et al. (2008) also
discuss this problem and suggest further research to determine the size and
importance of such a market segment is needed
The researcher as an afterthought conducted a small pilot study of
visitors at the end of the tourism season. The days chosen were the days on
which the last two cruise ships were in the Saint John port. So 90% of the
57 visitors interviewed where from these ships ... again biasing the sample.
The results did however provide some interesting results comparable to Lo
(ibid.)
Of the interviewees only 16 of the 59 uploaded photos to the Internet.
The vast majority uploaded to the Facebook social network and where
largely unavailable to researchers. Only 6 uploaded to sites that were more
publicly available. None uploaded to the sites used by the researcher to
prepare this study. The approximate age groups showed a high percentage
of those in a middle age bracket not surprising considering the time of
year. It was a little more surprising to see the number of those most likely
over the age of 55 who took, sorted and kept photos. It is often suggested
that “older people” are less technically savvy. This was not the case with
this group.
A group not formally interviewed were those without cameras visible
on the days of the interview. However, there were a number of young
people, teenagers on school vacation with the Queen Mary cohort. Five of
Page | 184
these where approached and an impromptu group interview held (as they
waited for their parents to take pictures of reversing falls). They were
asked if they owned a camera/smart phone that could take pictures, they
all did, but none had brought them on the tour with them. Why? Answered
varied, too much trouble, forgot, let my parents take the pictures, nothing
of interest to take pictures of, were all put forward as reasons.
One of the questions in the short interview was how they managed
their pictures. Besides the 16 who uploaded to the internet the results were
interesting. Twenty-five visitors had no real storage system and they just
“dumped them on their computer”. Most of this group also suggested they
rarely if ever looked at them again. Two middle aged women suggested
they never took them off the camera, one professed she did not even know
how to do it. She had over 1000 photos stored on the camera and when it
was full, she simply deleted the older ones. She did show friends using the
camera view screen. The remaining group did make some minimum
grouping and storage attempt.
There was a small group of 5 individuals with high-end equipment that
saw photography as a hobby and carefully indexed and stored their
material on line or on either off line storage systems or both.
What emerges from this work and general observation would suggest
that there are definite segments. Specifically:
• Hobbyists, those who consider photography a central reason for
travelling
• Sharers, people who like to share with others their unique
experiences but do not consider themselves “photographers”
• Collectors, people who like to take photos because it is the “thing
to do” with little thought of future use
• No carers, people who do not or rarely take photos
Regardless of the concerns with this exploratory study, it has yielded
findings of value to the tourism planner and marketer. Geographically the
photos taken by the 103 photographers are in a very closely defined area
within the city, constituting the uptown core and the outlier of one icon,
Reversing Falls.
Sixty-one percent of the photos deal with the fabric of the uptown.
Architecture is the single most photographed. Combined with the general
uptown scenic’s, the marine environment and associated Saint John River
suggest that it is the towns age and structure that most attract the visitors
gaze. All other categories form 6% or less of the total photographs.
Page | 185
5. Conclusion
The use of photographic image analysis offers a tool that should be
used to complement the standard survey formats now used by most
destination marketing organization and local and regional tourism offices.
This work clearly shows the photos provide a visual narrative of time
spent in the small city of Saint John. There is nothing to suggest that this
model could not be adapted to any defined tourism area with equally good
results. Do you want to add a little bit about your findings.
The Nvivo software package chosen to assist in the analyses proved
adequate but had considerable difficulty opening with visually based
databases larger than 800 megabits. With the fast paced changes in the
digital technology it is quite likely that newer versions of this package as
well as competitor software will make the technique of photo content
analysis easier and faster in the near future.
References
Ashworth, G. and Page, S.J. (2011). Urban tourism research: Recent
progress and current paradoxes. Tourism Management, 32(2), 1-15.
Garrod, B. (2009). Understanding the Relationship between Tourism
destination Imagery and Tourism Photography. Journal of Travel
Research, 47(3), 332-345.
Girardin, F., Dal Fiore, F., Blat, J. and Ratti, C. (2007). Understanding of
Tourist Dynamics from Explicitly Disclosed Location Information.
Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium
on LBS & TeleCartography.
Girardin, F. C., Dal Fiore, F., Ratti, C. and Blat, J. (2008). Digital
Footprinting: Uncovering Tourists with User-Generated Content.
Pervasive Computing, 7(4), 36-43.
Grovers, R. and Go, F.M. (2005). Projected Destination Image Online:
website content analysis of pictures and text. Information Technology
and Tourism, 7, 73-89.
Gunn, C.A. (1972). Vacationscape: Designing tourist environments.
Austin: University of Texas.
Haywood, K. (1990). Visitor-employed photography: an urban visit
assessment. Journal of Travel Research, 29(1), 25-29.
Hearst, M. and Rosner, D. (2008). Tag Clouds: Data Analysis Tool or
Social Signaller? Paper presented at the 41st Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences.
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Lee, D.H. (2010). Digital Cameras, Personal Photography and the
Reconfiguration of Spatial Experiences. The Information Society: An
International Journal, 26(4), 266-275.
Lo, I. S., McKercher, B., Lo, A., Cheung, C. and Law, R. (2011). Tourism
and online photography. Tourism Management, 32(4), 725-731.
MacKay, K.J. and Couldwell, C.M. (2004). Using Visitor-Employed
Photography to Investigate Destination Image. Journal of Travel
Research, 42(4), 390-396.
Parks Canada (2010). National Marine Conservation Areas of Canada.
Retrieved
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http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/amncnmca/systemplan/itm2-/atl_e.asp.
Pennington, J. and Thomsen, R. (2010). A Semiotic Model of Destination
Representations Applied to Cultural and Heritage Tourism Marketing.
Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 10(1), 33-53.
QSR International. (2011). Nvivo9. Retrieved March 27.
Rivadeneira A., G. D., Muller M. and Millen D. (2007). Getting Our Head
in the Clouds: Toward Evaluation Studies of Tagclouds. Paper
presented at the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems.
Senseable City Lab (2011). Senseable City Lab. Retrieved April 16, 2011,
2011, from http://senseable.mit.edu/
Tourism Saint John (2010). Saint John on the Bay of Fundy. Retrieved
March 27, 2010, from http://www.tourismsaintjohn.com/
trinityroyal.com (2011). History Of Trinity Royal. Retrieved April 17,
2011, from http://www.trinityroyal.com/history.cfm
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from https://tuppy.com/articles/content-analysis-of-media.html
Page | 187
THE ROLE OF WEB TOURISM IN
DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORICAL CITY
CASE STUDY: YAZD HISTORICAL CITY
ALIREZA ESTELAJI AND HADI SADEGHIAN
ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY, IRAN
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to study the position of hotel websites in
one of the most important counties in Iran, as it pertains to tourism. Yazd
City(located in the center of county), known as the driest major city in
Iran, and also having recognition as the “sister” of Venice, Italy, has great
potential for attracting many tourists in Iran and abroad. Hence, this article
will compare the situation of hotel websites in Yazd County with standard
indexes and use the qualitative-quantitative methodology. The data
extracted has come from documents of the Organization of Cultural
Heritage and Tourism in Iran, while the qualitative data has been achieved
with content analysis from the websites. The result of this research shows
that in many cases, the existing situation is not very suitable for the
attraction of web users or improving the tourism. The result of this
research may help the managers and authorities of tourism to come to a
better solution.
1. Introduction
Moving from simply broadcasting information, to letting customers
interact with the web site allows the tourism organization to engage
consumers’ interests and participation(increasing the likelihood that they
will return to the site), to capture information about their preferences, and
to use that information to provide personalized communication and
services (Ibid).
On the other hand, since the launch of commercial internet in the early
1990s, many researchers have noted the potential of the World Wide Web
in business, and advocated incorporating the internet into the tourism
industry (Burger, 1997; Clyde and Lanfriend, 1995). The rapid
development of information, along with the internet in particular, has
dramatically changed the tourism industry (Ho and Lee, 2007). Tourism is
undergoing significant changes and at the same time, facing new
Page | 188
challenges that call for new perspectives. At least two dimensions of this
change can be identified:
• New forms of tourism, characterized by the tendency to depart
from mass tourism.
• The diffusion of information and communication technologies,
with a pervasive effect on the creation, production and
consumption of the tourist product (Stamboulis, 2001: 35).
In the last five years, we have witnessed centuries-old business
formulas for success being overturned by those willing and able to exploit
communication capabilities of the internet and the information storage
capacities of the World Wide Web. The internet provides a fundamentally
different economic environment for doing business; the key differentiator
being rapid communication of information, globally accessible, and at a
good cost (Bacchus and Mulina, 2001: 589)
The data extracted has come from documents of the Organization of
Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Iran, while the qualitative data has been
achieved with content analysis from the websites. The result of this
research shows that in many cases, the existing situation is not very
suitable for the attraction of web users or improving the tourism. The
result of this research may help the managers and authorities of tourism to
come to a better solution.
2. Theoretical Overview on Yazd historical city
Yazd county has origins of over three thousand years and an area of
131575 km2. It has a semi-warm and dry climate in summer. During the
winter season, the weather is dry and cold. The county is ripe with human
industry and resources and has a rich cultural heritage, which boasts about
four thousand tourist attractions. Of these attractions, are many historical
sites. Islamic architecture and cultural treasures like handicrafts, cloths,
local food, and other traditions are tourist favourites as well.
Yazd County is also ranked fourth in tourist attractions in Iran
(http://www.hamtanab.com/showarticle.aspx?cat=18&id=1589;
http://www.caravanhotel.com/).
On the other hand, Yazd City is located in the central desert of Iran It
has a warm, dry climate and one of the more historical cities, famous for
the first, sun-dried brick in the world. The UNESCO organization has
titled the city of Yazd as the ‘sister’ city of Venice (Italy). Meanwhile
Yazd is known as the first adobe city in the world.
Page | 189
3. Methodology
There is used to the quantitative- qualitative analysis methodology in
this research by regarding to the objects that is the valuation of the content
of hotel websites in Yazd County.
To achieve this, first the international indexes being extracted is done
in researches and then compared with the information in the hotel websites
of Yazd county. The information in demand for these hotel websites in
Yazd has been extracted via the Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization in Iran.
4. Results
As it has been mentioned in the methodology section, hotel websites in
Yazd state have been evaluated by their required indexes. One of the
issues worth noticing in this research is to consider how much internet
space should be given to the users and consumers for services in the Yazd
hotels. To answer this question, we prepared a list of hotels in Yazd
County via Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. Then, it
was determined that among 42 hotels in Yazd county, we have only 12
hotels with independent websites for information and services (28/6
percent of the hotels had websites
The main subject in this research is related of this problem that to what
extend the hotel websites is matched with international indexes. These
indexes have been shown in Table 1.
These indexes have been divided into 6 main categories, which has its
own index. In general, we will use 21 indexes for evaluating the hotels’
website space, which the results will be noted below:
Among the 21 indexes (with the exception of star-hotel indexes, which
has been evaluated seperately) HD (Hotel descriptions) and TN
(Telephone Number) index had the highest frequency in the websites’
space, while RP (Reservation policies) and TR (Transportation) indexes
had the lowest frequency (Graph 1). As regards to the highest scores for
each hotel, Tehrani comes in number one, (score of 16) by having the
required standards. Next, is Dad and Laleh hotel (score of 15), Karvan
hotel (score of 12), Moshir, Safayie hotels (score of 11), Mehr hotel (score
of 10), Azadi hotel (9), Sonnati (8), Adib (6), and finally, coming in last is
the Atlas and Fahadan hotel with scores of (5). (Graph2)
Page | 190
Table 1: List of categories and indexes
Group
Index
-Photos of hotel features
1-hotel Facilities Information
- Hotel descriptions
- Hotel facilities
-Guest room facilities
- Hotel location map
-Room rates
2-Reservation Information
- Check rates and availability
-Online/Real-time reservations
- Reservation policies
- View or cancel reservations
-E-mail address
3-Contact Information
- Telephone number
- Address
- Fax number
-Transportation
4-Surrounding Area
-Airport information
Information
-Main attractions of the city
-Up-to-date information on the site
5-Website Management
-Multilingual site
-Site map (hyper links to other pages of the site)
-star of hotels
6-Hotel Star Category
Source: Rong (2009).
Graph 1: Frequency of indexes
Page | 191
Graph 2: Sum scores
As for finding the position of each indicator in hotel websites, we have
come to this result: PFH(photos of hotel features) indexes exist in almost
every hotel except Fahadan and Azadiand users can look at the photos of
hotel facilities in websites. It is clear that this index can be a better
definition, and be an incentive for vacation and tourism (Graph 3). The
other index is HD (Hotel description). The Safayie hotel doesn’t have it,
while the rest do have it (Graph 4).
Graph 3
Graph 4
In case of the HF (Hotel facilities) index, the Azadi andAdid hotels,
they do not have this index in their websites, nor do they have certain
information about the hotel and its facilities (Graph 5). In the case of GRF
(Guest room facilities) Safayie, Mehr, Adib, and the Sonnatihotels, they
didn’t have any information about the facilities of guest rooms (Graph 6).
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Graph 5
Graph 6
It is worth to mention that inquiring information about hotel guest
rooms will for force hotels to use them.
Their index is HLTP (Hotel location maps)but, unfortunately just two
hotels had it. Nowadays, this Geographical Information is one of the
clearest and most necessary in such websites, even though 83 percent of
our hotel websites didn’t have it (Graph 7). The PR (Room rates) index is
one that seems to be necessary for all users and necessary for choosing
users also. The fact that Adip, Fahadan, Azadi, Karvan, Karveh, Atlas
hotels and 50 percent of other websites studied, didn’t have the room rate,
which is clearly a basic default for hotel websites (Graph 8).
Graph 7
Graph 8
The CRA (Check rates and availability) didn’t have suitable standards
of indexes like those of the Safayie, Tehrani, and Laleh hotels (25 percent)
of hotel websites have this possibility for checking rates and availability
(Graph 9). In the OR (Online/Real-time reservations) index, 50 percent
Page | 193
didn’t have this ability to reserve online required services. While, Mehr,
Dad, Safayie, Karvan, Tehrani, and Laleh hotels have this service in their
websites (Graph 10).
Graph 9
Graph 10
The RP (Reservation Policies) index did not have service in any of the
hotels nor did it show any information about policies and regulation in its
website (Graph 11). The V-CR index (View or cancel reservations) existed
only in hotel websites of Karvan, Tehrani, and Laleh. Only these three
offer their users the opportunity for reserving or canceling their
reservations.
Graph 11
Graph 12
As mentioned before, this county has been defined as one of the most
attractive, as far as tourism is concerned. This index is very for the
attraction of tourists whether near or abroad.
In continuing, 3 indexes in relation of website management groups
have been evaluated, so the UIS (Up-to-date information on the site)index,
with the exception of 5 hotels (Adib, Mehr, Fahadan, Karvan, and Atlas)
Page | 194
has been prepared in the rest of the hotels (Graph 20). The MS
(Multilingual site) index in Sannati, Mashir, and Fahadan gives service in
the Persian language and in English with the rest (Graph 21).And, finally,
the SM (Site map) index exists only in two hotels: Mehr and Dad (Graph
22).
Graph 20
Graph 21
This last index shows the categorization of hotels according to their
star rankings. Among the 12 hotels, 4 hotels were “4-star”, 5 hotels were
“3-star”, 2 hotels were “2-star”, and the remaining hotel was 1-star.
Graph 22
5. Conclusion
After the results of the analysis, and comparing the contents of the
hotel website indexes, the end result is that still few hotels had the proper
materials that would be needed to give adequate service to the public.
By mentioning this issue, I find it important because the issue with the
hotel websites suits the county’s needs for the attraction of more tourists
Page | 195
and even the possibility to become a fantastic, tourist destination. If they
want to raise their position, I would say it is necessary to improve the
management and condition of the websites and the services they offer. It is
clear in these conditions that we give the opportunity for decision-making
and use our potential for attracting more tourists into the county.
By considering the strengths and weaknesses in each of the hotels in
their services, only then can we boost the productivity and offer better a
better product to users.
Using websites in traditional hotels in Yazd historic city since 2002
cause increasing in foreign tourism inter into city from 11000 tourism in
2002 to about 20000 tourism at the end of year of 2010.
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Page | 197
THE IMPACT OF TRAVEL EXPERIENCE ON THE
QUALITY OF LIFE
CELESTE EUSÉBIO AND MARIA JOÃO
CARNEIRO
Abstract
Improving quality of life (QOL) is one of the main aims worldwide.
However, few researches have been undertaken in order to assess the
impact of tourism on tourists’ QOL. This paper extends previous research,
first, by assessing, the tourism impacts on several dimensions of the
tourists’ QOL - physical health, psychological features, social relationships
and environment - using an adapted version of the WHOQOL-BREV
scale. Then, a model to analyze the influence of several factors - sociodemographic profile, travel motivations, travel behavior and travel
satisfaction - on this impact is tested using Multivariate Regression
Analyses. Travel motivations, type of tourism destinations, activities
carried out during the trip and the travel group emerge as the most
important determinants of tourism impacts on QOL. Additionally, the
results reveal that the influence of each determinant differs among the
dimensions of QOL. Finally, implications for improving QOL through
tourism and implications for future research are discussed.
1. Introduction
Research on quality of life (QOL) has been increasing in the last
decades as a consequence of the growing interest on this subject. Tourism
has a high potential to enhance several dimensions of the quality of life, of
both tourists and host communities. However, the research on the QOL in
the field of tourism is very limited, and has been restricted, almost
exclusively, to the assessment of the benefits that tourism provides to
residents of the tourism destinations (e.g. Andereck and Nayupane, 2011;
Cahhabra and Gursoy, 2009). As far as tourists are concerned, many
studies aim to analyze the satisfaction with tourism trips and the impact of
this satisfaction in future behavior (Chi and Qu, 2008; Liburd and
Derkzen, 2009; Yoon and Uysal, 2005; Yuksel et al., 2010), but only a
few studies (e.g. Micalkó et al., 2009; Moscardo, 2009; Neal 2000, Neal et
Page | 198
al., 2004; McCabe et al., 2010) consider the QOL of tourists in itself and
permit to assess the tourism impact on the QOL. Additionally, the majority
of these studies do not allow analyzing how different factors influence
tourism’s impact on several dimensions of quality of life.
The present study aims to extend previous research on the field of the
QOL by assessing the tourism impacts on several domains of the tourists’
QOL. Another objective of the study is to provide a deeper understanding
of the factors that influence this impact of tourism on the specific domains
of the QOL.
2. Theoretical Overview on Tourism Impact in the Quality
of Life
QOL has been usually associated to good life (Andereck et al., 2007;
Liburd and Derkzen, 2009). It has been considered a measure that
expresses the person’s satisfaction with his(her) life, including
contentment or fulfillment with the experiences of the individual in the
world (Andereck et al., 2007), and the individuals’ assessment of their
“position in life” taking into consideration the “context of the culture and
value systems in which they live” and “their goals, expectations, standards
and concerns” (The WHOQOL Group, 1995). Considering the definitions
of QOL that have been suggested across the years, several researchers (e.g.
Constanza et al., 2007) advocated that QOL should be assessed using both
objective and subjective indicators.
Sometimes QOL was identified, wrongly, with just health features
(Pukeliene and Starkauskiene, 2009). Although these features, including
the lack of diseases in general, or the inexistence of a disability,
correspond to very important issues in this scope, QOL encompasses far
more than these issues’ sphere. Economic conditions and access to
equipment and infrastructures have also been widely seen as important
features of the QOL (Abdel-Ghany, 1977; Fleck et al., 1999). As well
remarked by Liburd and Derkzen (2009), although the several dimensions
of the QOL are related to the connection between the individual and the
community, there are specific dimensions of the QOL that are more
specifically related to this issue and, therefore, to network creation, to
belonging to groups (Liburd and Derkzen, 2009) and social relations
(Abdel-Ghany, 1977). QOL also encompasses a wide range of other
factors such as elements related to freedom, happiness, independence and
spirituality (Abdel-Ghany, 1977; Constanza et al., 2007).
The most used scale to assess QOL - WHOQOL - and its short
versions (e.g. WHOQOL-BREF) (Chen and Yao, 2010; Fleck et al., 1999)
Page | 199
have considered factors related to several domains of the QOL, such as:
physical and independence issues (e.g. pain, energy, mobility, dependency
on medication or treatments); social relationships (e.g. personal
relationships, social support); psychological issues, spirituality and beliefs
(e.g. self-esteem, feelings, personal beliefs, religion) and environment (e.g.
financial resources, environment at home, means of transport).
Recognizing the prominent role of WHOQOL on assessing QOL, a shortversion of the WHOQOL-BREF will be used in the empirical study
carried out in this paper.
It is largely recognized that population’s quality of life do not depend
only on financial matters. Tourism has an important role so that all
individuals and societies achieve this objective. However, little research
has been conducted to analyze the relationship between tourism and QOL
(Neal, 2000; McCabe et al., 2010; Moscardo, 2009). In this field, the
majority of studies have focused on the consequences of tourism for QOL
of the host communities (e.g. Andereck and Nayupane, 2011; Cahhabra
and Gursoy, 2009). A small number of studies have concentrated on
analysis of the impacts of tourism on QOL of individual tourists (Micalkó
et al., 2009; Moscardo, 2009; Neal 2000, McCabe et al., 2010). Although
there is very little research in this domain, the results of studies published
reveal clearly that tourism may have both positive and negative impacts on
QOL of tourists (McCabe et al., 2010; Moscardo, 2009). Moscardo (2009)
highlights, through a qualitative study, that tourism can contribute, for
example, for improving health, human capital, self-esteem, and social
capital, but the tourism also contributes, for example, for exposing the
tourist to health risks and for the emergence of feelings of incompetence
generated by negative travel experiences.
The magnitude and nature of impact of tourism on QOL of individual
tourists depend on several factors. Traveler’s satisfaction with tourism
experience (Neal, 2000), socio-demographic profile, e.g. age, household’s
size, education and income level (Micalkó et al., 2009), travelling habits
(Micalkó et al., 2009), type of tourism, type of tourism activities carried
out in the tourism destination, composition of travel group and social
interaction are only some of the factors suggested in the literature that may
influence the impact of tourism on tourists’ QOL. However, despite the
importance of the population’s quality of life has been recognized both in
research and political spheres (Michalkó et al., 2009), few studies analyze
the factors that influence the impact of tourism on QOL of tourists. In
order to extend the literature in this field an empirical research will be
presented in the next section.
Page | 200
In order to identify the factors that influence the impact of tourism on
QOL of tourists a survey of tourists was carried out. The population of this
study was composed by residents of a Portuguese urban area (Aveiro) who
had done at least a tourism trip in the last three years. A stratified sampling
approach, based on gender and age, was adopted. During March and April
of 2010, 350 questionnaires were distributed having been collated a total
of 337, which represents a response rate of 96%.
The questionnaire was elaborated based on a review of literature on the
following subjects: travel experience, motivations to travel, travel
behavior, social contact in tourism, perceptions of tourism impacts on
QOL, satisfaction with trips and socio demographics (e.g. Crompton,
1979; Eusébio and Carneiro, 2010; Fleck et al., 1999; McCabe et al., 2010;
WTO, 1995). The questionnaire consisted of 18 questions categorized in
five groups: sample definition (number of tourism trips undertaken in the
last three years, age and gender); travel experience (number of domestic
trips and international trips undertaken in the last three years); travel
behavior (type of tourism destinations, tourism activities carried out, travel
motivations, travel group, level of social contact with host communities,
satisfaction with travel experience), tourist’s perception of tourism impacts
on QOL. A 5-point Likert scale from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly
agree” was used in order to evaluate travel motivation (19 items) of the
respondents. Regarding travel behavior, a 5-point Likert scale, ranging
from 1 “never” to 5 “very frequently” has also been used in order to report
how frequently certain behaviors (e.g specific destinations, travel group
composition, type of tourism activities carried out and level of interaction
with host communities) occurred. In order to analyze the tourist’s
perception of tourism impact on QOL an adapted version of the
WHOQOL-BREF scale, with 1 item representing QOL as a whole and 24
items representing several dimensions of QOL - physical health,
psychological, social relationships and environment - was used. These
perceptions were measured through a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1
“strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”. The questionnaire also included
one item, measured trough a 5-point scale ranging from 1 “very
unsatisfied” to 5 “very satisfied”, to assess global satisfaction with the
tourism trips. The questionnaire ends with questions related to the sociodemographic profile of respondents (e.g. nationality, marital status,
education level and income).
SPSS software (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version
17.0) was used to analyze the data. Firstly, descriptive analyses were used
Page | 201
to profile respondents in terms of socio-demographic profile, travel
behavior and perceptions of tourism impact on QOL. Secondly, two
Principal Component Analyses (PCAs) were used to extract the main
factors of travel motivations and tourism activities carried out in
destinations. Additionally, Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the
reliability of QOL dimensions (physical health, psychological, social
relationship and environment). Finally, four multiple regression models
(one for each domain of the QOL - physical health, psychological, social
relationship and environment -) were used to identify the factors that
influence the impact of tourism on QOL of individual tourists. These
models integrated 26 independent variables categorized into eight groups:
socio-demographic profile (gender - dummy variable -, age, education
level - dummy variable - and household income per capita); travel
motivations (factor loading of the four factors - knowledge, novelty,
escape, socialization - that emerged from the PCA analysis of travel
motivations); travel frequency (number of domestic trips and number of
international trips in the last three years); frequency of travel to some kind
of tourism destinations (frequency of travel to beach, to countryside, to
urban destinations and to mountain); tourism activities carried out (factor
loading of factors that emerged in PCA of tourism activities carried out cultural activities, nature activities, training activities, recreation activities
and nightlife animation activities -); travel group (frequency of travel with
family, frequency of travel with friends, frequency of travel alone and
frequency of travel in package); tourist-host interaction level and overall
satisfaction with tourism trips undertaken in the last three years. The
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and the Stepwise Regression Procedure
were used to obtain the regression models. Further, the multivariate
regression assumptions (normality of error term, homogeneity of variance,
multicollinearity and linearity) were analyzed.
4. Analysis and Discussion of Results
As far as the socio-demographic profile is concerned, the sample is
quite balanced in terms of gender (54% were female), the majority of the
respondents are married (45%) or single (41%), employed (47%) or
students (20%), have a monthly household income of [500, 1000[ (24%)
or [1000, 2000[ (32%) and have high education (30%) or secondary
education (39%). Respondents have an average age of 41.9 years old and
lived in households of 3.0 persons, in average.
Page | 202
4.1 Tourism and QOL
As referred in the methodology, in the present study the tourism impact
in four domains of the QOL was assessed, and Cronbach’s Alpha was used
to analyze the reliability of each of these domains. The four domains of
the QOL considered in the study were:
• physical health (α=0.841): encompassing items such as decrease of
dependence on medication, decrease of physical pains, increase of
mobility and increase of energy;
• psychological features (α=0.822): including, for example, increase
of positive feelings, of ability to concentrate, and of self-esteem;
• social relationships (α=0.618): encompassing items such as
improvement of the personal relations, increase of the support from
friends;
• environment (α=0.862): including, for example, increase of the
financial resources, improvement of the home environment,
improvement of the access to transports.
When asked about the tourism impact on their quality of life,
respondents are likely to consider that tourism has a higher impact on the
QOL as a whole (3.61 in a scale from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly
agree”), than in the specific domains of the QOL (Figure 1). As far as
these domains are concerned, respondents felt a higher impact of tourism
in psychological features (3.29) and social relationships (3.17), and a
lower impact on physical health (2.83) and environment (3.03).
Figure 1: Tourism impact on the QOL domains and on the QOL as a whole
Impact of tourism on
physical health
psychological features
social relationships
environment
overall QOL
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Tourism impact on the domains of QOL
Page | 203
4.5
5
4.2 Factors that Influence the Impact of Tourism on the QOL of
Tourists
The results of the multiple regression models presented in Table 1
reveal that no multivariate regression assumption (normality of the error
term, homogeneity of variance, linearity and multicollinearity) is violated
Although these models do not have very high explanation values, the
results highlight interesting features.
Regarding the impact of tourism on physical health of tourists (Model
1), only eight of the 26 independent variables are significant at the α ≤
0.05 level, contributing to explain 26.4% of the model’s variance. Three of
these variables are the factors obtained in the PCA analysis of travel
motivations (knowledge, escape, socialization). Additionally, the
frequency of travel to countryside destinations, the frequency of training
activities and nightlife animation activities carried out, and the frequency
of traveling alone and in package tours have a statistical positive impact
on physical health of tourists.
Concerning the psychological domain of QOL of tourists, the results
presented in the Table 1 show that the travel motivations are the most
important determinants, indicating that when tourists undertake trips to
expand their knowledge, to know new things, other cultures and new
people (novelty), to escape and to socialize, they are more likely to obtain
psychological benefits. There is also a positive influence of the frequency
of cultural activities carried out in destinations on the impact of tourism on
the psychological domain of QOL of tourists.
The Model 3 presented in the Table 1 reveals, clearly, that seven of 26
variables included in the model have a positive impact on the social
relationships of tourists. The motivation (knowledge, novelty and
socialization) emerge, again, as the most import factors in this scope. The
frequency of travel with friends and of travel in package tours also have a
significant positive impact in this domain of QOL of tourists. The negative
relationship between the frequency of travel to beach destinations and the
impact of tourism on this QOL domain reveals that, although requiring
more additional studies to better understand this kind of relationship, this
kind of tourism destination does not seem to stimulate the social
relationships of tourists.
Finally, the Model 4 attempts to explain the impact of tourism in the
environment QOL domain. This regression model is also significant
(F=14.576; α=0.000) and explains 28.8% of the total variance. The
variables included in this model also reveal that travel motivations are the
most important factors that influence the impact of tourism on the
Page | 204
environmental domains of QOL of tourists. There is also a positive
relationship between tourism activities carried out in the destinations
(training activities and nightlife animation activities) and the tourists’
perception of tourism impact on the environment QOL domain (Table 1).
Table 1: Factors that influence the tourism impact on the QOL domains (physical
health, psychological, social relationships and environment) - regression models
MODEL 1
Dependent variable
Impact of tourism on physical health
Independent variables
Motivations
Knowledge
Escape
Socialization
Type of tourism destinations
Frequency of travel to countryside
Tourism activities carried out
Training activities
Nightlife animation activities
Travel group
Frequency of travel alone
Frequency of travel in package tour
Model diagnostics
R
2
Adjusted R
Standard error
F-statistic (α)
Normality: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (α)
Multicollinearity
Tolerance (all variables)
VIF (all variables)
MODEL 3
Dependent variable
Impact of tourism on social relationships
Motivations
Knowledge
Novelty
Socialization
Type of tourism destinations
Frequency of travel to beach
Travel group
Frequency of travel with friends
Model diagnostics
R
2
Adjusted R
Standard error
F-statistic (α)
Normality: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (α)
Multicollinearity
VIF (all variables)
Page | 205
Beta
0.136**
0.293*
0.243*
0.147**
MODEL 2
Dependent variable
Impact of tourism on psychological
features
Motivations
Knowledge
Novelty
Escape
Socialization
Beta
0.205*
0.167*
0.129**
0.262*
0.115**
0.192*
Cultural activities
0.176*
0.124**
0.112**
Travel group
0.165*
0.536
0.264
0.729
12.673(0.000)
0.050 (0.069)
≥ 0.80
≤ 1.50
Beta
0.258*
0.159*
0.211*
-0.141**
0.138**
0.128**
0.469
0.201
0.899
11.883 (0.000)
0.049 (0.074)
≥ 0.80
≤ 1.50
Model diagnostics
R
0.469
2
Adjusted R
0.202
Standard error
0.799
F-statistic (α)
11.909 (0.000)
Normality: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (α) 0.038 (0.200)
Multicollinearity
≥ 0.70
VIF (all variables)
≤ 1.50
MODEL 4
Dependent variable
Impact of tourism on environment
Motivations
Knowledge
Escape
Socialization
Training activities
Nightlife animation activities
Travel group
Model diagnostics
R
2
Beta
0.312*
0.182*
0.250*
0.119**
0.119**
0.165*
0.126**
0.537
Adjusted R
0.288
Standard error
0.695
F-statistic (α)
14.576 (0.000)
Normality: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (α) 0.028 (0.200)
Multicollinearity
≥ 0.90
VIF (all variables)
≤ 1.50
The results obtained in this research reveal, as is suggested in the
literature (e.g. Micalkó et al., 2009), that the impact of tourism on several
QOL domains of tourists depends on travel motivations, and travel
behavior of tourists, namely on the type of tourism destinations, tourism
activities carried out in the destinations and travel group.
6. Conclusion
This study analyzed the impact of tourism on four domains of QOL
(physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment) of
individual tourists and the factors that influence this impact. The results of the
study support that tourism enhances the QOL of tourists, being the domains of
QOL associated with psychological features and social relationships, the
domains more positively influenced by tourism. Additionally, the multivariate
regression models estimated reveal that travel motivations, type of tourism
destinations, tourism activities carried out in the destinations and travel group
composition are the factors that have a higher influence in the impact of
tourism on QOL of tourists.
Although the present study is a small case study, it has highlighted
important issues in order to better understand the relationships between
tourism and QOL of the tourists. The results are small in scale, but used
reliable measures, revealing that a range of further studies are possible, using
these measures. As is suggested by McCabe et al. (2010: 772), “research of
this type could make a strong contribution to national and international health
and social care policies and enhance the interdisciplinary reach of tourism
research into the wider social and health sciences”. On the other hand, the
results of this study are of utmost importance to travel industry managers,
helping them in planning, policy and decision making processes. Additionally,
the measures used in this study can be used to analyze and periodically
monitor the impacts of the tourism industry on the QOL of its consumers.
Despite the contributions of this study, its scope is limited in terms of scale
and only some factors that influence the impact of tourism on QOL of
individual tourists were analyzed. In reality, many other factors may exist
which could influence the impact of tourism on QOL (e.g. length of stay,
emotion and personality of tourists). The influence of these factors should be
analyzed in future studies. Additionally, it is also suggested that additional
validation studies across several travelling populations and in various
international cultures should be conducted.
Page | 206
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in Tourism; hospitality and leisure, (pp. 92-113), Turkey: Detay
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Page | 208
BUSINESS AT RELIGIOUS SITES:
BLESS OR SIN?
FANGFANG SHI
DONGBEI UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS, CHINA
Abstract
Many sacred sites around the world have become visitor attractions,
accommodating millions of tourists as well as pilgrims every year. High
volume of visitations means huge economic potential and not surprisingly
business has permeated into the sacred space. It is important to find out
how visitors think of such commoditization, as their patronage is
significant to the livelihood of many religious sites. This research
investigated visitors’ attitudes toward commoditization at Chinese
Buddhist sites based on 34 in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that
the respondents’ attitudes were various, ranging from aversion, tolerance,
acceptance, and enjoyment to mixed feelings and differentiation. It was
found that their attitudes were linked to their judgment of the nature of the
business, and it was possible that the respondents’ age, profession, life
stage, religious background and level of Buddhist knowledge might
account for their different views on commoditization at Chinese Buddhist
sites.
1. Introduction
Religious sites attract a large number of visitors from all over the
world (Gladstone, 2005); in addition to pilgrims, whose number is
estimated at about 250 million each year (Jackowski, 2000), there are
other tourists who visit these sites for various purposes. The economic
potential of religious tourism has been recognized and exploited by many
stakeholders including governments, entrepreneurs, retailers and religious
institutions. In particular, the business opportunities with the souvenir
trade have been well taken and the variety of souvenirs available has been
increasing: in addition to the official religious items and relics that have
been sold for centuries, innovative entrepreneurs and retailers also produce
Page | 209
devotional items and other various articles that could be considered as
kitsch, taking away a degree of authenticity from the souvenir or religious
item (Shackley, 2001). The creative effort can also be seen in the
commoditised souvenirs that include physical fragments of religious sites
(Shackley, 2001), such as bottled water from Lourdes, boxes containing
earth from the Mount of Olives, or cans filled with Holy Land air
(Shackley, 2006).
However, tourism development is not only an opportunity, but also a
challenge, as it brings economic benefits as well as management problems,
which demands a balance between accommodating tourists’ needs and
maintaining the normal religious function and spirit of place. On the one
hand, with consideration of the lucrative tourism revenues, some religious
groups are willing to tolerate ignorant profane visitors with indiscreet
behaviors (Baedcharoen, 2000). At the same time, some caretakers of
religious sites view tourists as potential converts and may engage in
proselytization (Olsen, 2006), which leads to the missionary challenge
arising from the integration of the traditional religious focus and secular
interests (Nolan and Nolan, 1992). Shackley (2001) thinks that in many
cases the economic benefits of tourism to religious sites outweigh the
negative impacts associated with tourism development, especially for
those sites without steady incomes.
On the other hand, in spite of the economic benefit of religious
tourism, there is some perceived incompatibility between religion and
economics and between the material and the spiritual (Vukonic, 2002;
Zaidman, 2003). The consumption or indulgence related to tourism is
regarded by some theologians as debasing the spiritual nature of travelling
(Vukonic, 1998), and because of this some religious groups are very
cautious with tourism development, though many site managers encourage
visitation to generate funding for maintenance and preservation (Stevens,
1988; Griffin, 1994; Willis, 1994). While religious items and souvenirs
have been sold at sacred sites (Houlinhan, 2000; Olsen, 2003), religious
authorities and some academics have shown disapproval of vendors and
entrepreneurs who reproduce and sell versions of devotional items and
other religious articles, viewing them as tourist trash or religious kitsch.
As a result, some managers of religious sites try to distance themselves
from any trace of commoditization on site due to their concern for the loss
of meaning caused by commoditization of religious rituals and artifacts
(Vukonic, 1996; 2002).
In 1979, an English Tourist Board study suggests that though tourism
is a helpful source of revenue for cathedral maintenance and repair,
sensible management should be applied to ensure that ‘the religious
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atmosphere and activities of cathedrals are spoiled neither by the tourists
themselves nor by commercialism; and that the presence of tourist visitors
in cathedrals provides an opportunity to engender a spiritual experience’
(1979: 94). Similarly, some governments have also become aware of the
importance of sensitive development in Buddhist sites to avoid dilution of
the sanctity of the site and other adverse impacts brought about by
commoditization (Hall, 2006).
2. The Paradox of Business at Buddhist Sites in China
China is home to over 13,000 Buddhist temples (China Internet
Information Centre, 2004). Due to their historical and cultural
significance, many Buddhist sites are listed as cultural heritage at
municipal, provincial or national level in China; some are even inscribed
as World Heritage Sites, e.g. the Longmen Grottos and the Historic
Ensemble of the Potala Palace. In recent years, many of these Buddhist
sites have been vigorously promoted as cultural tourism destinations and
the subsequent tourism development has tainted the sacred sites with overcommercialization (An, 2005).
Despite of the popularity of commoditization at Buddhist sites, there is
apparent incompatibility between the Buddhist austere ideal and pursuit of
wealth. According to Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha warns that
aspiration for material things is a distraction from pure and lofty pursuits.
As the Za ahan Sutra records, money and treasures are fetters that bind fast
and pollute the mind. Moreover, the pursuit of wealth is shallow and
meaningless, as in the long run, people are not rewarded for accumulating
wealth for themselves (Kieschnick, 2003). Buddhism also disapproves of
people who enjoy material comfort in this life. Yielding to even a modest
desire for possessions is dangerous, because without control people’s
obsession with the quest for wealth can never stop. Za ahan Sutra suggests
that even one obtained everything in the world, he/she would not be
satisfied (Kieschnick, 2003). In a word, all the Buddhist sermons,
ontological treatises and monastic regulations denounce indulgence in
sensual pleasure and condemn the material world as an illusory distraction
(Kieschnick, 2003: 4).
Attempts have been made to justify this conflict between acclaimed
principles and contrary acts by seeking leeway in the interpretation of
established doctrines and texts. In the Mahisasakavinaya, for example, the
Buddha says that different regions have different standards of purity, and
that if a given practice is not appropriate for a particular region, then it
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should be adapted to local customs, thus leaving ample margin in the
interpretation of monastic regulations (Kieschnick, 2003: 5).
In addition, regarding the contemporary commercial operation of
Buddhist sites typified by the Shaolin Temple, supporters argue that
Buddhism is to save everyone but not to separate itself from the secular
world, and the engagement in secular activities is to achieve this end.
Moreover, it is contended that the commercial activities are effective in
promoting the Buddhist culture and boost further growth (Yu, 2007).
Putting aside the opinions of businessmen, academics and theologians,
it is important to find out what visitors think of this phenomenon, as they
are important stakeholders of religious sites, and their patronage has
significant impact on the livelihood of many religious sites. It is the aim of
this study to investigate visitors’ attitudes toward commoditization at
Chinese Buddhist sites.
An interpretivist approach was taken to this study. The field research
was carried out at three Buddhist sites in China with different levels of
commoditization, i.e. the Potala Palace Ensemble in Lhasa, Tibet, a world
heritage site and international visitor attraction, the Wutai Mountain in
Shanxi province in China, a national cultural heritage which attract mainly
domestic tourists and pilgrims, and the Lianhua Temple in Panjin, a small
town in Northeast China, which mainly serves as a Buddhist centre for
local people.
34 in-depth interviews were conducted to collect visitors’ views on the
commoditization at Chinese Buddhist sites. Only Chinese nationals were
included in the sample to eliminate the influence caused by cultural
differences on visitors’ attitudes. A purposive sampling strategy was
employed to include respondents of different genders, age groups,
religious backgrounds, educational levels, and professions due to these
factors’ possible influence on consumers’ attitudes toward
commoditization at sacred sites. Thematic analysis was conducted to
analyse the data.
4. Results
The 34 respondents had a good mixture of different demographic
characteristics, including 16 female and 18 male participants, aging 18 to
67, with different religious backgrounds and diverse professions, including
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education, business, medicine, art, public administration, IT, retirees and
students.
The respondents’ attitudes toward commoditization at the Buddhist
sites were various, ranging from aversion, tolerance, acceptance, and
enjoyment to mixed feelings and differentiation. Some respondents, who
were all young single female beginner Buddhists, resented the
commoditization at the Buddhist sites, stating that it was incompatible
with the religious atmosphere of the sites and was disrespectful to the
Buddha. They were disappointed to find that sacred Buddhist items were
traded as secular goods and the price could even be bargained. Some
respondents, most of whom were married with children, showed a more
tolerant attitude in the understanding that the commoditization was a result
of the market economy and tourism development, and that some local
people had to make a living from it. There were also unconcerned
respondents, who accepted the commoditization as it was, saying that as
long as the merchandise was outside the temple/palace, it did not bother
them. At the same time, a couple of respondents took pleasure in the
leisure opportunity created by the commoditization. It was noticed that
these respondents were inexperienced travellers and their daily activities
were repetitive (one was a student and the other was a housewife).
What’s more, some mature Buddhist respondents had mixed feelings
for the commoditization, acknowledging both its positive effects in
creating income for the sites and triggering interest in Buddhism in lay
people, as well as its adverse impact on the holy ambience of the Buddhist
sites. Some senior Buddhists differentiated retailers by their purpose of
businesses, claiming that it was good if their main purpose was to benefit
people, but was disgraceful if their main purpose was only profit. In much
the same way, they also made a distinction between the businesses run by
the Buddhist sites and those run by private retailers, where the former
were considered as places aiming to circulate Buddhist knowledge and
meet the needs of their visitors, while the latter were regarded as moneyoriented businesses taking advantage of the Buddha.
The negative attitudes toward commoditisation of the respondents were
understandable. Since the core business of religious sites is the provision
of a ‘focus and facility for those who wish to worship, pray or meditate’
(Shackley, 2001: 7), such commoditisation appears to be inappropriate and
dilute the sanctity of the sacred place. Prabhu (1993) suggested that an
essential condition to enhance the visitor experience at sacred sites is the
exclusion of merchants whose main aim is to turn a profit, as the spiritual
purposes of religious sites can be mitigated by crowds of hawkers,
salespersons and beggars (Orland and Bellafiore, 1990; Shackley, 2001).
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On the other hand, the unconcerned and more positive attitudes of
some respondents could also be explained. Shackley (2006) traced them to
pilgrimage experience. She noticed that though it has been an intellectual
trend to condemn commoditisation at sacred sites (Greenwood, 1989;
Vassallo, 1979; Houlihan, 2000), such disapproval usually comes from
people who are unaware of the emotional experience of the pilgrims
during their visit to the sacred site. In reality, ‘it is perfectly possible for
the visitor/pilgrim to have an authentic religious experience at the sacred
site by visiting the place of apparition, attending Mass and prayers and
rounding off the visit by the purchase of religious souvenirs that may
appear to be tasteless ‘kitsch’ (Shackley, 2006: 99).
Moreover, an analysis of the respondents’ perspectives and attitudes
toward commoditization revealed that their opinions were mainly based on
their judgement of four aspects of the businesses, which the researcher
summarised as ‘why’, ‘where’, ‘who’ and ‘how’. ‘Why’ referred to the
primary purpose of the business—was it to benefit people or to make
money for oneself? ‘Where’ referred to the location—was it in the temple
or separate from the site? ‘Who’ was concerned with the owner of
business—was it run by the temple or by private lay vendors? ‘How’
referred to the sales practice—did it involve bargaining in commercial
sense or a sense of religious ritual?
Exploration of the relation between the demographic characteristics of
the respondents, their travel experience, level of Buddhist knowledge and
their views on commoditization indicated that it was possible that these
factors could impact the respondents’ views on the commoditization at
Buddhist sites. It appeared that the older respondents, especially those
married with children, showed more tolerance than the younger single
respondents, perhaps because they had more sophisticated life experience
and tended to be more lenient. In addition, inexperienced travellers whose
normal life was tedious tended to enjoy the lively environment created by
the commoditization. At the same time, senior Buddhists were disposed to
distinguish things by their purpose and nature, while lay respondents and
beginner Buddhists were apt to judge by direct impression. In short, age,
life cycle stage, profession, travel experience, religious background and
level of Buddhist knowledge might have contributed to the respondents’
different views on the commoditization at these Chinese Buddhist sites.
5. Conclusion
This research investigated the attitudes of visitors toward
commerlisation at Chinese Buddhist sites. It was found that the
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respondents’ views on commoditization at the Buddhist sites were various,
ranging from aversion, tolerance, acceptance, and enjoyment to mixed
feelings and differentiated attitudes. Their opinions were mainly based on
the purpose, location, owner and sales practice of the business. It was
possible that their various attitudes had been related to their different age,
life cycle stage, profession, travel experience, religious background and
level of Buddhist knowledge.
The results suggest that in order to minimize the potential negative
effects of commoditization, the scale and location of retail businesses
should be controlled and relocated in such a manner that they will not
create a commercial atmosphere that overwhelms the religious ambience
of the Buddhist site. This issue should also be considered in the planning
and development of all Chinese Buddhist sites as visitor attractions.
Visitor facilities should be arranged in a prudent way to be incorporated
into the holy atmosphere of the sites. Possible solutions may include
separation of the commercial area and the religious site, or limiting the
number and location of auxiliary businesses. In addition, as the research
revealed that visitors’ views on the sale of religious souvenirs were related
to their understanding of the nature of the retail business, it is suggested
that the purpose and ownership of the retail business be communicated to
its customers.
It is recognized that this study is subjected to a few limitations because
of the small sample size and non-probability sampling strategy. In
addition, all respondents in this study were Chinese to Buddhist sites in
China. Overseas visitors were excluded from the sample to avoid possible
influence of cultural distance. In future research, visitors of different
nationalities to different types of sacred sites should be examined to gain
more comprehensive understanding of visitors’ attitudes towards
commoditization at sacred sites.
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COMMUNITY ATTITUDES: USING THE DITACHIEV MODEL TO MEASURE RESIDENT’S
ATTITUDES TOWARDS DEVELOPING
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
J ANE F ITZGERALD , S HEILA F LANAGAN
AND K EVIN G RIFFIN
DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, IRELAND
Abstract
The DIT-ACHIEV Model is a destination management tool designed to
guide and encourage a destination towards true sustainability and mitigate
the negative impacts of tourism. The research is jointly funded by
Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency and Fáilte Ireland (the
Tourism Development Agency in the Republic of Ireland) under Ireland’s
National Development Plan. As a high level project goal, the
identification of usable and practical indicators for sustainable tourism is
of considerable benefit to both government agencies and tourist interests
in the determination of management objectives for an area. The final
output of the research project will in fact be a methodological best
practice model and action-focused toolkit for operationalising such a
model of sustainable tourism indicators (the DIT-ACHIEV Model of
Sustainable Tourism Management). One of the Irish destinations chosen
as a case study to pilot / test this Model is Carlingford in County Louth, a
small rural and relatively undeveloped tourism destination. The objective
of the current study is to refine, adjust and proof the Model methodology
so that it can be applied in any (Irish) tourism destination. The main focus
of this paper will be on learnings from one aspect of the research - an
extensive survey carried out among residents in Carlingford, detailing the
community response and attitude towards developing a sustainable
tourism product through planning and policy implementation at a
community level.
1. Introduction
As well as providing services to tourists, residents also play an
important role in influencing the tourist’s behavior and enhancing their
overall experience. Key to the success of tourism in a destination is the
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level of local buy-in and ownership, particularly for small destinations
who may find it challenging to fully realise the potential offered by
tourism in that area. A strong community base will guide the mitigation of
economic, social, environmental and cultural impacts on the destination.
The purpose of piloting this DIT-ACHIEV Model in the Carlingford and
Cooley Peninsula is to test its use in an Irish tourism destination, with the
objective to refine and adjust its methodology so that it can be applied in
any Irish tourism destination.
The DIT-ACHIEV Model is a tourism destination management tool
designed to guide and encourage a destination towards a broad range of
activities which will encourage movement towards true sustainability and
mitigate against the negative impacts of tourism. The Model recognises
that tourism is an important source of revenue, investment and
employment throughout towns and cities in Ireland. It is particularly
important in rural regions given the unique selling point provided by the
beauty and character of rural Ireland and must be managed correctly and in
a sustainable manner to ensure its success and longevity.
International, national, local, public and private organizations have all
embarked on efforts to provide measures of nature’s and society’s longterm ability to survive and prosper together, as well as to guide planning
and policy making (Tsaur et al., 2005). These all suggest that community
level success of the tourism industry depends greatly on the participation
of the local residents and their support is essential for its successful
development. Additionally, the resident’s understanding of the importance
of engaging in sustainable tourism development within the destination will
ensure the longevity of tourism, providing benefits to community residents
as well as to those visiting the area.
One of the Irish destinations chosen as a case study to pilot the Model
was the Carlingford and Cooley Peninsula in County Louth. A small, rural
and relatively undeveloped tourism destination, Carlingford and Cooley
Peninsula has grown substantially in recent years, and achieved the
accolade of Ireland’s European Destination of Excellence (EU sponsored
EDEN Award) in 2008. The main focus of this paper will be on learnings
from an extensive survey carried out among residents in Carlingford and
the Cooley Peninsula, detailing the community response and attitude
towards developing a sustainable tourism product through planning and
policy implementation at a community level.
In order to explore the current challenges and future opportunities
through the involvement of the local community in Carlingford and the
Cooley Peninsula, the implementation of the Model at community level
will be focused on in the next few sections, presenting challenges and
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issues which have arisen. The difficulty encountered when engaging the
public will be discussed, as will the lessons learnt from these experiences.
In addition the opportunities which have emerged will also be discussed.
2. Project Background
The DIT-ACHIEV Model for the Sustainable Management of Tourism
has been developed by the School of Hospitality Management and
Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology. The Model comprises six Fields
of Interest, the initials of which, lead to its name:
• Administration,
• Community,
• Heritage,
• Infrastructure,
• Enterprise and
• Visitor.
The 6 Fields of Interest are sub-divided into between 3 and 6 Sub
Fields, each of which consists of between 1 and 3 Indicators. Each of the
33 resultant indicators was extensively examined and evaluated using
various methodologies, so that the model represents a robust range of
measures which can be universally applied to any tourism destination.
Figure 2: DIT-ACHIEV Model
Selman (1999) proposes that indicators are desirable instruments and /
or measuring rods to assess and monitor progress towards sustainable
development. Mindful of this attitude, it is proposed that the final
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indicators in the DIT-ACHIEV Model provide a transparent method for
testing the level to which a target area is being sustainably managed. This
broad range of indicators measures issues such as integrated planning,
monitoring, evaluation and measuring of performance. The Model cannot
be successfully implemented without intimate knowledge of the study
area; hence local organisations are key in site selection and other
implementation related aspects of the Model.
3. Guidelines on the Development of Indicators
A main objective in initial design of the Model was to identify
indicators that would have the broadest possible applicability. The extent
to which the resultant testing was able to confirm the universality of the
Model with only very minor alteration evidences the rigour and forward
thinking adopted in its initial development.
The identification of appropriate indicators required consideration for
the wide spread of tourism activities. The process began with a list of 211
candidate indicators - having eliminated parameters which were deemed to
be entirely unfeasible or impractical. This was then reduced to a
manageable group following a number of procedures. This iterative
process reduced the list to the 33 indicators demonstrated in Figure 1.
The refining process involved consultation with a broad range of
experts including: tourism and environmental managers at all levels,
planners, enterprise development professionals, heritage and arts
professionals, community based practitioners, tourism industry personnel,
scientific experts and expert academics, in addition to consideration of
academic and professional literature. The following guidelines for
indicator development and best practice were also consulted:
WTO indicator development guidelines (WTO, 2004).
UNEP guide: Making Tourism More Sustainable: a Guide for
Policy Makers (2005).
The VICE Model (TMI, 2003).
Getting it Right: Monitoring Progress towards sustainable tourism
in England (DCMS, 2001).
EU MEANS criteria (European Commission, 1999).
OECD’s ‘Pressure-State-Response’ framework (OECD 1993) and
EEA Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework
(Smeets and Weterings, 1999).
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Having considered the various frameworks and experts, a number of
characteristics of indicators emerged for the development of this Model.
Cognisance was taken of various indicator types as espoused by Putnam:
Environmental condition indicators,
Environmental performance indicators (which includes the
following two classifications),
- Management performance indicators,
- Operational performance indicators (Putnam, 2002)
Indicators were also chosen which would assess conditions, trends and
performance. In order to make the Model as accessible as possible,
consideration was given to the assertion by Morrissey et al. (2006) that “A
degree of simplification is a prerequisite . . . to provide information in a
form of practical use to decision-makers and understandable to the
community” (Morrissey et al., 2006: 49). Where possible, the selected
indicators also consider: accuracy, bias, age, verifiability and
completeness (Putnam, 2002). Finally the following overarching principles
of indicator applicability were established and then taken into account:
Valuable indicators must consider long-term collecting of data.
Indicators do not have to be specifically tourism related once they
can be used to indicate a healthy state of tourism.
Indicators must assist in indicating data which is useful and
consistent.
Indicators must indicate change over time
Indicators must assist in demonstrating movement (‘to’ or ‘from’)
relative to specified targets (Butler, 2006)
In the implementation of the Model, these five principles have been
highly useful in illustrating the key characteristics of indicators.
4. Implementation of DIT-ACHIEV Model
Early indications are that the DIT-ACHIEV Model will provide the
Irish Tourism Industry with a valuable tool for making its product and
management far more sustainable. The methodology used to implement
the Model has evolved from recommendations by Goodey (1995) and
Denman (2006), blended with the WTO suggested steps for Indicator
Development (2004).
Goodey suggests that a local network of interested parties is required
to achieve sustainable tourism (1995). Denman proposes that a multiinterest working group should be created and wide public consultation is
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necessary for sustainable tourism. Both of these activities have been key to
the success of the project to date.
Two key challenges have been identified in this methodology. Firstly,
the correct structures through which organisations can work with others
towards more sustainable tourism must be established from the beginning,
and thereby develop and drive policies and actions. Secondly, a process
must be employed which embraces sustainability in its broadest sense, and
thus, identifies the strategic choices that need to be made.
4. Piloting the Model
In considering the metrics for selection of sites where the model would
be tested, three fundamental requirements emerged for the potential
destination(s): range and extent of physical tourism product; level of
stakeholder involvement / engagement and; understanding of challenges to
sustainable tourism. While the purpose of the project is to improve the
sustainability of a potential destination by quantifiably and qualitatively
considering the tourism product, a related objective was to examine
whether or not the Model could be implemented at a local level. Thus, to a
certain extent, the objective was to examine whether sustainable tourism
can be led by local organisations and not solely by external ‘expert’
agencies and forces.
The initial proposal was to test the Model in a single destination.
However, due to the high caliber of applicants, and the potential benefits
of broadening the testing process, it was decided that their level of
enthusiasm and capability regarding the project could be capitalised upon.
It was therefore decided to expand the parameters and work, with two
destinations. A number of destinations were short listed and invited to
present their case to an expert panel containing members of the project
team, international experts, and representatives of the funding agencies.
The final destinations were chosen following a competitive public tender
process. The criteria used in the selection process were based on:
• Future sustainability of the existing tourism product.
• Easily defined area boundaries.
• Exhibits defined sites of tourism interest.
• Tourism management organisation willing to partner the research
project.
• Has tourism management and organisational capacity.
• Has identified team commitment from the destination for a
medium-term project.
• Has community representation and participation.
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• Has a traditionally strong tourism offering.
• Has an identifiable knowledge of fields of interest and
sustainability issues in general and specific to the location.
• Has a level of commitment to this project and evidence of past
achievement(s) in similar fields.
Following this highly competitive public tender process, the sites
chosen to pilot the Model were:
Killarney as a major tourism destination and;
Carlingford and Cooley Peninsula as a minor tourism destination.
(See Figure 2)
Figure 2: Location of Test Sites
While Killarney in the southwest of Ireland is one of the country’s
major tourism destinations, Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula, located
north of Dublin possesses a more modest but emerging tourism product.
This is a young coastal destination with emphasis on environmentally
focused activity, both water and land based. Again, tourism in this location
is highly tuned to the environment, and sustainability is foremost in the
minds of local actors. This paper focuses on the experience in Carlingford
where the project has been underway since January 2010 - building on the
learnings gained in Killarney, where the Model-testing project began a
year earlier.
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5. Implementing the Model with Stakeholders and Actors
In Carlingford, the project team established a steering committee
which included: the team which bid to attract the project; a number of
other relevant organisations including the project funding agencies. Setting
up this committee, and its regular meeting was paramount to the success of
the project.
The research began with numerous public consultations to ensure the
identification of issues related to sustainable tourism and to foster
community participation. Subsequently (as per Denman’s model), a
situational analysis was performed after the consultations; this is relatively
straightforward process since many of the Model’s indicators rely on
information already available from existing sources such as environmental
measurements, information on water, waste, energy, transport,
examination of local cultural, landscape and employment statistics 17. The
main gaps in the development of a situation analysis result from data gaps
which are not populated by any national or local data. These gaps are
destination specific visitor information, data on resident perceptions and
business practices. In order to capture this information, visitor, resident
and business surveys (Research Methodology B, C and D in Figure 3)
have been developed. The Resident Survey in particular is quite unique as
it provides a useful insight into the community perception of, and
involvement, in tourism.
6. Resident Participation in Tourism Planning
In general, the attitudes and opinions of local residents are rarely
recorded / documented, and even more so when one focuses on a theme as
specific as tourism. Factors that have been shown to influence resident’s
perceptions and attitudes regarding tourism include the type and extent of
host-guest interaction, importance of the industry to the community, extent
of individuals’ reliance on the industry, and the overall level of tourism
development in the community (Murphy, 1985). Community participation
(which can mean a level of control, ownership or influence) is increasingly
being regarded as fundamental to the effectiveness of the planning and
17
The complex involvement of multiple agencies in the collection of the various data to
populate the indicators has raised many issues regarding governance and data
management. However, to streamline the applicability of the Model, where possible,
ease of access to datasets has been a key influence on the adoption of particular
indicators.
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management of tourism. If locals perceive that the benefits are greater than
the costs, they are inclined to be involved in the exchange and, thus,
endorse future development in their community (Allen et al., 1993)
thereby enhancing economic, commercial, socio-cultural, and political
activity in the area. If the local community does not support tourism, they
often cite issues such as noise pollution, increased cost of living, traffic
congestion etc as reasons for opposing tourism development. Therefore
implementing a sustainable tourism development plan in a destination will
ensure that the negative impacts of tourism are kept to a minimum, with
the benefits overriding the drawbacks for the whole community, including
those directly and indirectly involved in the industry.
Figure 3: DIT-ACHIEV Model - Research Methodologies
In the past, local community participation in the decision making
process of tourism development has often been lacking which has resulted
in aspirations for tourism development dissipating amongst the
community. Local communities have often been viewed simply as the
beneficiaries of tourism development, rather than as essential partners and
integral players in the process of achieving such development. In 2004
Gursoy and Rutherford conducted a study which revealed that host
community backing for tourism development is affected directly and / or
indirectly by nine determinants of residents’ support: the level of
community concern, ecocentric values, utilisation of tourism resource
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base, community attachment, the state of the local economy, economic
benefits, social benefits, social costs, and cultural benefits.
Blackstock (2005); Kontogeorgopoulos (2005); Swarbrooke (1999);
Taylor (1995) and Wyllie (1998) as cited in Simpson (2008) highlight
potential problems that can occur where communities are heavily involved
in tourism initiatives. Communities may become subject to external
pressures, issues of governance and structure, conflicting stakeholder
agendas, jealousies and internal power struggles, and the growth of
artificial hierarchies and elites may occur, diminishing or under-mining
potential benefits to the community. To avoid such negativities and to
ensure that the long term effectiveness of planning and management will
be achieved (rather than undesirable solutions being imposed from the top
down), it is hoped that including and facilitating the local community in
these processes will ensure its success. Changing the ways in which local
stakeholders perceive their role in the tourism industry requires the local
community being given sufficient opportunity and incentive to develop a
bottom-up planning and management process to bring about the necessary
changes in perception. When the local community has a clear stake in this
process, particularly in terms of receiving the financial and social benefits,
there is a greater chance of them committing long-term to the process of
developing a truly sustainable tourism industry.
7. Implementing a Resident Survey
In the DIT-ACHIEV resident survey a core set of questions have been
identified which are directly related to the indicators being investigated.
These will remain constant in all areas where the survey is undertaken, but
if a local organisation / agency wishes to seek responses on other issues,
the questionnaire can be adapted / altered to suit. A number of
methodologies were tested in undertaking this vital research element of the
Model.
In the initial development of the Model, a postal survey was utilised to
complete the resident survey. This proved to be reasonably successful, but
in order to achieve representative results it proved costly in terms of postal
and printing charges. In Killarney, an online community survey was
piloted, with the support of all local community organisations. It was
thought that this would be useful in a number of ways, not least being the
elimination of data-entry costs, but also anonymizing the data collection,
and theoretically making the whole process more immediate by
streamlining its administration. However, despite claims that Ireland is
now in the information age, encouraging the local population to complete
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a web-based survey proved to be very difficult. Multiple techniques were
employed, ranging from distributing flyers to houses and businesses, emailing various local databases, using Facebook and other social media,
adverts in local papers and on radio and even the local library dedicating a
computer terminal for people wishing to complete the survey. Finally, to
be fully inclusive, printed versions of the survey were distributed from the
outset. Despite all of these measures (and a very attractive family prize) it
took considerable effort to achieve a statistically representative completion
rate.
8. Some Findings from Carlingford
It is important to note that tourism in Carlingford has not been
developed to the extent of other popular destinations in Ireland, such as
Killarney. In larger destinations, tourism may dominate the economy and
the incomes of many individuals. While tourism in Carlingford is noted to
be an important industry for the area, it is not as deeply rooted a core
industry as it may be in other destinations. The importance of tourism
development therefore may not be as apparent to some residents as other
industries.
However, the results of the Resident Survey carried out as part of the
DIT-ACHIEV Project show that residents in Carlingford have a very
positive attitude towards visitors to the Carlingford and Cooley Peninsula
and consider their relationship with tourists to be good (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: How residents describe their relationship with tourists
Source: DIT-ACHIEV Resident Survey
While carrying out the resident survey in Carlingford, a two-pronged
approach was taken: local individuals were trained as interviewers and
also a group of postgraduate students from Dublin Institute of Technology
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undertook a number of days of surveying. The purpose of this dual
methodology was both pragmatic and methodological in nature. The
student participation assisted the local population to achieve their target
number of completed surveys, but also their results acted as a means of
testing and validating the findings of the local volunteers.
Four hundred and eighty two residents of the Carlingford and Cooley
area successfully completed questionnaires for this survey and the findings
were generally very positive. Results show that residents feel tourism is a
positive force in improving the quality of leisure and recreation facilities,
encouraging participation in local cultural activities while also leading to
the improved appearance of public places. Overall, the impact of tourism
on the locality is perceived to be largely positive (see Figure 5) One
respondent for example stated that tourists ‘make a positive contribution to
the local economy and it is only right that we share our beautiful area!’
Figure 5: the impact of tourism on the Carlingford and Cooley Peninsula
Local awareness of amenities is heightened when residents see visitors
arrive to experience the beauty of the area. The hospitality and friendliness
of locals adds to the visitor’s overall experience so it is important that the
residents are involved in the local tourism industry to ensure that it will
continue to grow.
As well as developing tourism in the area, residents also show a great
deal of enthusiasm towards learning about other cultures and interacting
with the tourists, valuing new ideas and friendships resulting from tourists
coming to Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula. One comment from the
survey was: ‘I think it’s brilliant that we live in such a wonderful place
that can provide lovely holidays. The tourists are always saying they hate
to leave, but I never have to’.
This interaction can result in benefits such as tolerance and
understanding, fostering a cross-cultural communication that can promote
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understanding between host and guest (Mathieson and Wall, 1984). Also,
the act of presenting one’s culture to outsiders strengthens the idea of what
it means to live within a community, thus increasing identity, pride,
cohesion, and support. (Besculides et al., 2002)
The highly positive view of residents is exemplified in the following
selection of findings:
Table 1: Key findings from Carlingford Resident Survey
82% of residents state that locals and visitors have a positive
relationship, while only 2.5% see the relationship as negative.
85% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the
statement: ‘All things considered, visitors make a positive contribution
to the quality of life in Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula’.
93% of respondents state that tourism has a positive impact on the
local economy and 83% claim that tourism has a positive impact local
business development.
In the survey, residents were asked to agree or disagree with various
negative statements relating to tourism in the area. Figure 6 shows that
while a small number of respondents indicated negative attitudes towards
tourism, (i.e., that tourism may cause increased levels of litter and traffic
congestion), results generally showed few negative attitudes. An area
where there was some evidence of dissatisfaction amongst residents which
was noted in additional comments was with groups of stag and hen parties
who stay in the town typically for one or two nights, generally at the
weekend. Similarly, residents were asked to agree or disagree with
positive statements towards tourism. While overall there was a high level
of agreement to the statements, it was revealed that some residents believe
tourism has led to increased cost of living and residents are not
encouraged to participate in planning (see Figure 7).
Hill walking is a major attraction in Carlingford and the Cooley
Peninsula. While this is a very positive and attractive amenity to have,
there was some evidence of concern that people who participate in this
activity do not spend much time or money in shops and restaurants in the
town. Most of them bring a picnic and leave as soon as their walk is over.
The tourism benefit in this respect is not apparent to the residents.
Although the results from the Resident Survey were very positive,
while implementing the Model, the project team encountered significant
difficulty engaging the public and it was quite a challenge to achieve the
required numbers of completed surveys. Willingness to participate was
less evident than in Killarney (the larger of the two destinations) and
enthusiasm in the project was not as apparent. This may result from a
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smaller local team of volunteers in Carlingford which in turn led to local
knowledge and awareness of the project being low. In Killarney however,
the research was championed by the CEO of the local Chamber of
Tourism and Commerce, who could dedicate resources to the project. In
Carlingford the challenge was surmounted by considerably extending the
timeframe, the use of multiple communication channels and most
importantly the use and support of local networks. Key lessons were
learned throughout the process of engaging the public which can be
employed in the future when implementing the project in other
destinations. These lessons include:
• Advertising is key
• Use of local networks is vital
• Consultation / steering group / public meetings need to be held at
different times of the day and different days of the week.
• Targeting of specific groups for follow-up is useful
• Local ‘champions’ are vital.
Figure 6: the level of agreement with negative statements
9. Conclusions
Residents of Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula understand and
appreciate the benefits of tourism to the area but it is very important to
stress the importance of local participation in ensuring its sustainability in
the future.
Numerous public meetings were required to ensure a successful public
consultation process. This was achieved through various advertisements
and communication methods, but was ultimately the result of cooperation
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with local community networks and the local project partners. Great
difficulties were also encountered during the resident surveys - again the
ultimate success of the survey can be attributed to the local community
already involved and their enthusiasm for the project18.
Figure 7: the level of agreement with positive statements
A paradox regarding sustainable tourism and community involvement
has emerged. The low numbers attending public consultations, and the
difficulty of encouraging locals to participate in the residents’ survey,
could be construed as apathy towards sustainable tourism in Carlingford
and the Cooley Peninsula. Conversely, those who attended the public
consultations were very enthusiastic and actively participated in the
process. Similarly the majority of residents who completed the survey
provided comments indicating a desire to support the implementation of
sustainable tourism management in the area. This paradox is exemplified
by the willingness of certain members of the community to become
intrinsically involved in project, for instance the visitor surveyors who
agreed to survey over the course of a year and increased their involvement
throughout the project to contribute more than initially agreed.
The relationship between the community and tourism is obviously very
complex. This is demonstrated by the possible apathy regarding public
consultation and the survey processes, contrasted by the positive
perception of tourism in the resident survey results. It could have been
18
Similar involvement of community in the collection of the visitor surveys was crucial
and proved to be one of the most positive successes of the project methodology.
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presumed that the disinterest in the processes would correspond to
ambivalence towards tourism, yet this is not the case as evidenced in the
residents’ survey results.
Perhaps the future challenge is to channel this positivity into greater
community involvement in the sustainable management of tourism. It has
been posited by the research team that the lack of engagement by many
may indicate a lack of experience by communities in the process of
development. It would be hoped that once this project demonstrates the
value of participating, that future iterations of the Model will be taken
more seriously by the local population.
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MANAGING THE HOTEL MANAGERS:
HRM PRACTICES IN GREEK LUXURY HOTELS
CHARALAMBOS GIOUSMPASOGLOU
UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE, UK
Abstract
This paper explores the current HRM practices employed in the
international hospitality industry. More specifically it investigates four
key HRM areas regarding the work of General Managers (GMs) in luxury
(4 and 5*) hotels in Greece namely: recruitment and selection; training
and development (focused in managerial competencies); performance
evaluation; networking and communication. The dynamic and complex
nature of the management function in global hospitality business today
and the realisation that what works effectively in one country may not be
as efficient in another, has led management scholars and practicing
managers in continuous efforts to enhance their understanding of this
context and its effects on international (hotel) managers. This paper
focuses in the Greek context since the country is among the most popular
tourist destinations in the world. The author argues that managerial work
and HRM practices in Greek luxury hotels cannot be unaffected from the
strong national context, despite the great pressures for standardisation and
homogenisation with the international hospitality industry standards. A
qualitative research was conducted in 16 luxury (4 and 5*) city and resort
hotels in four popular destinations: Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete and
Rhodes. In total 32 GMs and their assistants participated in this country
case study. The research tool included in-depth semi-structured
interviews, the employment of a Personal Competencies Framework
(PCF) questionnaire, non participant observations and collection of
company documents related to managerial work. All data were
triangulated in order to enhance the validity and reliability of this study.
The research’s findings indicated that the ‘base requirements’ of
managerial work in Greek luxury hotels appear to be similar and
compatible with the international industry HRM standards. What actually
changes is the level of formality exercised in managerial and HRM
practices. A key theme that emerges from this study is the critical role of
the hotel’s ownership status. As a concluding point it can be argued that
both divergence and convergence contextual forces co-exist and shape the
GMs’ work in Greek luxury hotels. Further research is needed to fully
understand and appreciate the effects of those forces in GMs’ work.
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1. Introduction
Hospitality and tourism were among the first internationalised
industries in the aftermath of World War Two (Nickson, 1998; Nickson
and Warhust, 2001). From the early stages of internationalisation in the
1950s, a plethora of empirical studies (i.e. Nailon, 1968; Hales and
Nightingale, 1986; Nebel and Ghei, 1993) suggests that work in hotels
poses multidimensional challenges for hotel unit general managers
(GMs), especially in luxury establishments where there are tremendous
pressures for service quality, customer satisfaction, effective people
management and outstanding (financial) performance. All these targets
must be achieved for a ‘perishable’ product (Archer, 1987) that is
consumed at the time and place (hotel) is produced. Hotel managers must
predict and face successfully the constant external environment changes
which affect to a certain degree their sensitive product. Managing the
hotel managers from an HRM perspective, has been a controversial area,
with opinions concentrating in two opposing poles: one view assumes that
all managers should adapt the same practices and behave the same
manner (the ‘global’ approach), while others suggest that contextual
factors such as national and organisational culture, influence managerial
work.
Building on managerial work and comparative HRM studies, this paper
argues that luxury hotel GMs in Greece, face ongoing HRM dilemmas in
using similar practices with MNCs, and simultaneously behave differently
than their international competitors due to a series of contextual factors
such as structure, ownership status, local and national culture.
2. Managerial Work in Hotels
The profile of the modern hotel unit GM, has been largely affected
from the multinational (MNC) hotel chains, operating worldwide. The
early adoption of internationalisation in the hotel industry came initially
from U.S. hotel companies, who took the lead and moved across borders
for supply and demand reasons; that was to satisfy the needs of American
travellers as other trades internationalised (Nickson, 1998; Thompson et
al., 1998). Since the early 1980s a growing number of these original
American operators were acquired by U.K. based companies, and
simultaneously other European and Asian companies began to compete on
more broadly international scales (Segal-Horn, 1994; Thompson et al.,
1998). The transformation of the sector in a truly globalised industry
occurred after a prolonged period of mergers and acquisitions during the
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1990s. This brought changes in the adopted growth strategies of many
hotel companies who were now competing on a global basis (Price, 1993).
While the hotel industry was traditionally dominated by individually
and/or family owned properties it can be argued that it is heavily
influenced by international/multinational hotel companies (Litteljohn,
2003). In this globalised environment, the development of international
hospitality managers is seen as being of critical importance for hospitality
MNCs. Thus, since the early 1990s, the rapid growth of international hotel
chains and its effects on managerial work, have drawn the attention of
researchers (i.e. Nebel et al., 1995; Gilbert and Guerrier, 1997; Ladkin and
Juwaheer, 2000). The personality characteristics required of the
international hotel managers include people and interpersonal skills,
adaptability, flexibility and tolerance, cultural sensitivity and intercultural
competence followed by emotional maturity, industry experience, and
self-confidence (Shay and Tracey, 1997; Feng and Pearson, 1999; Kriegl,
2000). International etiquette, demonstrating an understanding of
international business matters, the ability to work with limited resources
and effectively manage stress were judged to be relatively important,
while functional and technical skills were rated as the lowest priority for
managers. Research also indicates that in an international hospitality
organisation building managers’ cross cultural skills may be far harder but
more important than developing their functional and technical skills (Shay
and Tracey, 1997; Kriegl, 2000).
A consequence of the rapid internationalisation, were the efforts to
establish generic competencies frameworks for hotel managers. The
competencies movement in hotels appeared in the early 1990s, when a
growing number of tourism and hospitality courses aimed to meet the
demands of a volatile and changing world (Umbreit, 1993) took up the
challenge to prepare students by developing and enhancing the
management competencies and skills needed to operate successfully. This
movement has been supported by the industry’s growing demand for
suitable qualified managerial staff. Research conducted to identify the
right mix of competencies has use a number of frameworks like Katz’s
hierarchical competency model or Sandwith’s (1993) competency-domain
model, which builds on Katz’s (1974) model and groups competencies
into five areas (Conceptual-Creative; Leadership; Interpersonal;
Administrative; Technical). It can be argued that the vast majority of the
competencies models within the hospitality context (i.e. Baum, 1991;
Brophy and Kiely, 2002; Lockwood, 1993; Christou and Eaton, 2000;
Chung-Herrera et al., 2003; Kay and Russette, 2000; Tas, 1988) fall in the
behavioural approach which assumes that those models can be universally
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applicable regardless the manager’s background. This is no surprising as
this industry is considered as ‘results-oriented’ and superior performance
is believed to be the key to achieve organisational goals. In addition, the
development of managerial competencies frameworks, required the
carefully designed use of HRM functions such as recruitment and
selection, training and development, and performance evaluation, in order
to ensure that the candidates achieve the desired results.
Furthermore, over the past forty years the international hospitality
industry has expressed considerable interest in what has come to be known
as ‘best practices’. The concept of best practices suggests standardisation
and homogenisation of the organisation’s human resources through the
employment of universally applicable managerial practices; this idea has
been extremely appealing for the rapid growing international hospitality
industry during the 1980s and 1990s (Nickson, 1998). There are
arguments however (Marchington and Grugulis, 2000; Purcell, 2001) that
a single practice or set of practices would emerge as ‘best’ in any sense of
the word, particularly in globalised organisations. During the past decade
IHRM studies argue that ‘a best practice is not best unless it incorporates
contextual elements in its application’ (Von Glinow et al., 2005: 398). In
addition GMs nowadays operate in multiple and different contexts
(Dierdorff et al., 2009); the term used to describe this complex
environment is ‘Polycontextualisation’.
Despite the economic significance and global spread of the
international hospitality industry, the majority of hospitality management
literature reflects what has happened in the US and the UK since the early
1980s. The ignorance of hospitality managerial work in different contexts
has created a gap in the extant literature. Dierdorff’s et al. (2009)
categorical model of work context, certainly adds value to the argument
that in order to understand managerial work in hotels, researchers need to
think and work outside the Anglo-American context. Boyacigiller and
Alder (1991) argue that this bias in theory development is the result not of
an inherent belief in the superiority of U.S. management but of
parochialism - a lack of awareness of alternative contexts, models,
research and values. As a result the cultural context is often ignored in
management research and universality is assumed (Thomas, 2008).
Recently, a number of scholars have challenged the assumption that
management theories formulated in one country are applicable universally,
and have demonstrated in their research that management theories
applicable in one country cannot be generalised directly to other countries
(i.e. House et al., 2004; Javidan et al., 2005). In addition, only recently
have studies focused on what is happening in the rest of the Europe or the
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world (i.e. Agut et al., 2003; Blayney, 2009; Christou and Eaton, 2000;
Jauhari, 2006). This was made possible through the contribution of a
steadily growing number of overseas students in the U.S. and U.K.
business schools who deliver hospitality programs. The most popular
forms of research used to study the hospitality industry outside the AngloAmerican context, is the use of country case studies (i.e. Agut et al., 2003;
Christou, 1999; Kim, 1994) and studies within the context of the
international hospitality business (D’Annunzio-Green, 1997). Despite the
relatively slow progress, hospitality research persistently reflects the
Anglo-American universalist approach to management.
3. The Research Profile
The research that conducted as part of a PhD Thesis, served mainly
two aims: first to explore the HRM practices used to help GMs’ exercise
their roles and competencies in Greek 4 and 5* hotels; and second to
investigate the interplay between context and HRM practices regarding
managerial work.
In total 16 hotels with 32 participant senior managers (16 GMs and
their immediate assistants) were chosen - representing 4 and 5* 1in
Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes and Crete. The 16 establishments selected
for this research, represent two broad hotel types operating in Greece - city
and resort. Basic prerequisite for the participant hotels was to be holders of
4 or 5* official rating that is accredited by the Greek Chamber of Hotels.
The ownership status of each hotel (family; local chain; national chain;
multinational chain) was also considered. The luxury hotels in the selected
geographical regions were then shorted / filtered by using the following
two criteria:
I. As a minimum standard the city hotels should provide TV and air
conditioning in room and, restaurant and parking facilities. Additionally
for resort hotels they should have outdoor swimming pool.
II. All participant hotels should have more than 150 rooms. This
happened in order to ensure that only medium to big companies would be
researched. This aimed to a) compare hotels with similar organisational
structure, and b) allow replication in other European countries with similar
size and structure hotels.
The hotel selection process followed in this research was dictated by
the structure of the luxury hotel industry in Greece: given its nature and
geographical spread (approximately 1,150 establishments all over Greece)
a decision was made to limit the destinations in the most representative
and popular places for city and resort hotels respectively. A three-part tool
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followed by a cover letter explaining the aim of the interview was used, in
order to serve the needs of the research. The first part examined
demographic data of the company and the participant; the second part was
a 14 question semi-structured in-depth interview; and the third part was
the Personal Competencies Framework (PCF) Questionnaire, originally
developed by Dulewicz and Herbert (1999). Additional qualitative data
sources derived from non-participant observation (field notes) and
company documents.
A major methodological concern for this study was to produce valid
and reliable outcomes. A research protocol was used as recommended by
Yin (2003). The case study protocol contains procedures and general rules
that should be followed in using the research instrument/s and is
considered essential in a multiple-case study (Yin, 2003). It was created
prior to the data collection phase. In addition, during the data collection
tests for the quality of research were employed (Construct and External
Validity, Reliability); these tests were followed by the use of two different
triangulation methods namely Data and Methodological triangulation
(Denzin and Lincoln, 2003).
4. The Research Findings: Three Types of Luxury Hotel
GMs
Three different managerial profiles in luxury hotels in Greece emerged
from this research, regarding the key HRM areas used to help GMs
develop their managerial roles and competencies. The first labeled the
‘native’ GM, is employed in family and local hotel chains, which represent
the vast majority of Greek 4 and 5* hotels (Hellenic Chamber of Hotels,
2010). This is a typical SMTE (small-medium tourism enterprise) owned
and essentially co-managed by the leader of the family surrounded by
relatives in various positions. Then, the ‘glocal’ GM, is found in Greek
national hotel chains; this type of hotel is a former family business - led
very often by a charismatic founder - which expanded gradually its
operations nationwide. In addition, this type of hotel has adapted to a
certain degree the organisational structure and standards of a multinational
hotel chain; there is still however moderate involvement of the owner (or
his family) to the management of the company. Finally, the ‘Greek global’
GM, is found in multinational hotel chains; this hotel type is a foreign
brand name, franchised in most of the cases by a Greek businessman.
There are only a few cases that the management of the company belongs
to the parent company. In this type of hotel, the organisation, structure and
standards are dictated by the parent company; there are however some
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variations / deviations due to the Greek socio-cultural context. For
example, the standard operating procedures are adapted to the local
working patterns and legislation.
The ‘native’ GMs are males between 55-65 years old, speaking on
average two foreign languages and have at least a hospitality first degree.
Employers in this category are in favour of the ‘old school’ (over 50-55
years old) for two main reasons: they value more the experience,
reputation and seniority than qualifications; in addition ‘near retirement’
GMs may cost less in the payroll. The recruitment is conducted mainly
through recommendations and ‘word of mouth’, and rarely with internal
recruits; the selection process is usually conducted by the owner and in
most of the cases is based in subjective criteria (i.e. personal references,
reputation and salary). There are limited options for training and
development in this type of hotel, and very often is up to the GMs’
discretion to recommend which programme to attend. In most of the cases,
there is no time allocated for training and development activities, in the
GMs daily schedule. The job roles performed by the GMs are focused on
what Mintzberg (1973) describes as ‘figurehead’, the person who is there
to inspire and lead the staff; they also find the time to communicate with
customers and listen carefully to their views. The communication
competencies are perceived as the most valuable for successful operations
and management. Thus, high contact intensity with various stakeholders
(i.e. owner, subordinates, suppliers, customers) is a key aspect of
managerial work. GMs in family hotels go through an informal
performance evaluation - in most of the cases conducted by the hotel
owner - based primarily on the overall financial performance, and
secondarily the levels of customer satisfaction and quality. This type of
GMs puts great emphasis in networking, and they work very hard to build
networks and a good reputation on the local/regional/national market.
Their overall relations with the owners can be described as ‘tolerable’
since the GMs are often faced with unrealistic demands on behalf of the
owners. Overall, the level of the owner’s involvement (and his/her family)
in the GMs’ work in most of the cases is high (Hofstede, 1980;
Trompenaas, 1993). The Greek context is dominant here, with the ‘ingroup collectivism’ dimension to dictate the relationships between the
owner, the GM and their subordinates (Papalexandris, 2008).
On the other hand, ‘glocal’ GMs employed in national and franchised
MNC hotel chains, are males between 45-55 years old, speaking on
average two foreign languages and have very good educational attainment
including a hospitality first degree and postgraduate studies. This
professional background includes the ‘primary’ departments of a
Page | 241
medium/big size hotel (Food and Beverage, Front Office - Reservations);
in addition, sales, finance and contracting background is a prerequisite for
this type of GMs. GMs’ recruitment is conducted through personal
recommendations or internal candidates with experience in various hotels
of the chain; ‘head hunters’ are rarely used for high profile candidates.
Since the recruitment process does not involve a large number of
candidates, two or three selection interviews take place with senior
managers from/in the Head Office; during the final interview the owner is
also present. Throughout the year there are moderate opportunities for
training and development; the GMs are free to choose between in-house or
outsourced programmes, in Greece and/or abroad. Their job roles are
focused on leadership (employee motivation/inspiration) and
entrepreneurship (help business grow). The leadership competencies is
their primary concern, they value however the remaining managerial
competencies (PCF) as integral parts of their competencies framework
(Chung-Herrera et al., 2003). This is reflected in their performance
evaluation, a formal procedure that takes place once or twice a year
depending on the type of the hotel unit (city-resort). The primary targets
are mainly financial and the maintenance of high quality standards; there
is however a reference to the ‘performance’ of the GMs in areas such as
communication, leadership and inter-personal relations. The GMs
‘secondary’ competencies are evaluated through peer reviews, customer
satisfaction questionnaires and ‘mystery guest’ audits. Although there is
intense networking activity within the corporate limits, GMs maintain
their contacts outside the company; in addition, their reputation is mostly
heard within the corporate limits. The owners - who in most of the cases
occupy the position of the managing director or chairman of the board have a moderate to low involvement in the GMs’ work, mainly at strategic
level. There are however cases of interventions in GMs’ work when
owners have personal interest, i.e. they ‘strongly recommend’ the selection
of a particular candidate. It is important to note here that the owners know
personally all of their GMs, and maintain regular communication. High
contact intensity with key stakeholders inside (owner, senior managers,
immediate subordinates, repeating clientele) and outside (local authorities,
tour operators) the hotel unit is deemed critical for the manager’s job. It
can be argued that, in this type of business Greek context meets corporate
culture: the Greek hotel national chains are structured and managed
according to the multinational hotel chain model; the Greek context is
however evident everywhere and it is very often the case that ‘favours’
and deviations from the standards occur when is about relatives or friends
(Broome 1996; Fukuyama, 1995; Triandis et al., 1968). On the other hand,
Page | 242
it can be argued that this type of business has embodied the Greek context
characteristics in the best way, so their GMs can use it in order to improve
performance and efficiency.
The ‘Greek global’ GMs, are middle aged (45-55 years old) males with
impeccable educational background. They speak on average two
languages - including the hotel chain’s parent country language (in case it
is not English). Their professional background includes a sales and finance
orientation, although they understand hotel operations very well. The
recruitment is conducted internally or through the use of ‘head hunters’
who are aiming at high profile recruits. The selection process is rigorous
and involves at least three interviews. There are many opportunities for
training and development in Greece and abroad on a regular basis. The
GMs’ roles in this type of hotels are focused in entrepreneurship and
finance - based on Mintzberg’s (1973) typology, decisional roles. Their
annual performance evaluation is multi-dimensional, lots of emphasis is
put however in achieving agreed (financial) targets. This corresponds to
their preference in the results-orientation competencies cluster.
Networking is very important within the corporate limits; outside these
limits the GMs maintain only those contacts necessary to ‘do the job’.
Their reputation is synonymous with hard work and what is actually on
their resume. The Greek culture is something that they cannot ignore especially in the case of foreigners - the corporate culture however is this,
which determines their behaviour. The above profile refers to Greek
nationals working in managed Multinational hotel chains. The fact that a
such a small number of foreign nationals work as luxury hotel GMs in
Greece (less than ten in 2007) may lead to the following arguments: first
that a pool of Greek GMs who satisfy the high standards of the
multinational hotel chains exists in the country; and second that the Greek
context is posing difficulties that foreign nationals cannot cope with
(Broome, 1996).
Table 1 summarises the findings of this research in relation to HR
practices used for managing luxury hotel unit GMs; the three different
profiles identified for Greek luxury hotel GMs are not exclusive and
provide a generic context for discussion in this field.
5. Conclusion
This paper discussed the influence of the Greek context on managerial
and HRM practices for luxury hotel GMs. The Greek context affects to a
large extent managerial work in family and local chain hotels; on the other
hand national hotel chains rely on international standards and practices
Page | 243
and exercise management in a manner that incorporates both local and
international influences. Multinational hotel chains are preoccupied from
strong corporate cultures, which prevents from any local/national culture
influences. Based on the research findings, three distinctive groups of
luxury hotel GMs where identified: the ‘native’ GM; the ‘Glocal’ GM; and
the ‘Greek Global’ GM. This categorisation emerged from the hotel’s
ownership status, and to some extent reflects the ‘global - local’ question
on managerial work.
Table 1: The GMs’ profile in 4 and 5* hotels in Greece
Manager & Company
The ‘Native’ GM
The ‘Glocal’ GM
Type
(Family /Local Chain)
(GR Nat. Chain &
MNC franchised)
GMs’ characteristics
Average Age
55-65
45-55
Sex
Male
Male
Education
HE Graduates
HE Graduates &
Postgraduate Edu.
Professional
All Departments
All Departments
Background
(Emphasis in F&B)
(Emphasis in
Finance, Sales &
Contracting)
Recruitment &
Recommendations
Head Hunters
Selection
& Internally
Training &
Sporadic - GMs’ own
Moderate to High
Development
discretion
Opportunities
Job Roles
“Figurehead”
Leader &
Entrepreneur
Competencies
Emphasis in
Leadership
Communication
Role of reputation
High in local /national
market
Formal Annual
(1 or 2 times)
Moderate outside
High inside
High in national
marker
Ownership level of
involvement
Role of Culture
High to Moderate
Moderate to Low
The ‘GR Global’
GM
(MNC managed)
45-55
Male
HE Graduates &
Postgraduate Edu.
All Departments
(Emphasis in
Finance, Sales &
Contracting)
Head Hunters
& Internally
High
Opportunities
Leader &
Entrepreneur
Results
Orientation
& Leadership
Formal Annual
(1 or 2 times)
Low outside
High inside
High in regional /
international
market
Low
High
Moderate
Moderate to low
Performance
Evaluation
Role of Networking
Informal Annual
High
It is hoped that research of the interplay between managerial / HRM
work practices and context will be investigated in different organisational
and national contexts.
Page | 244
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TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG IN A TRAVEL
MARKETING CHANNEL MIX, BREAKING THE
MYTHS
LEO HUANG PENG
NATIONAL KAOHSIUNG UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN
Abstract
This study explores travel blog marketing channel differentiated strategies
and the performances of marketing channel from the travel agency
practitioners’ perspective. Evaluating the external environment forces of
adopting a travel blog marketing channel and discerning the motivations
for investment are crucial for active multiple marketing channels. A twostage research design was adopted; this first stage develops three-round
Delphi research. The second stage explores a quantitative survey-Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM). Finally, those findings provide innovative
qualitative and quantitative approaches for setting up the optimal business
model of travel blog marketing channel in travel agencies and demonstrate
the variety of travel blog marketing channel strategies.
1. Introduction
With the appearance of the Internet as a new distribution channel in
recent years, the intermediation function that travel agencies have assumed
until now is changing (Alvarez, Martin and Casielles, 2007). In an
increasingly competitive market place, tourism products require an
effective channel strategy to reach their target tourist and local markets
(Smith, 2007). From the travel agency practitioners’ point of view, the
marketing channels are much more diversified, still have high risk, and
incur significantly differentiated efficiency. The growing number of
marketing channels makes it difficult for travel agency practitioners to
control their inventory as well as not be confused by different types of
marketing channels’ efficiencies. Successful organizations need to take
advantage of all potential distribution channels in order to reach their
target markets (Buhalis, 2000).
The continuing rise of the Internet as a communications tool for travel
organizations presents challenges for travel marketing activities and
tourism enterprises that use blogs as part of their business strategy. Blogs
that are interlinked with or integrated into a supplier’s website may
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therefore contribute to an online booking at the later stage of a traveler’s
online information search and travel planning behavior (Schmallegger and
Carson, 2007). Blogs in particular have also proliferated rapidly in the last
few years and are growing in popularity (Pan, MacLaurin, and Crotts,
2007; Mack, Blose, and Pan, 2008; Tussyadiah and Fesenmaier, 2008). It
is clear that blogs will continue to develop both as a medium for telling
people about trips and as a source of information for potential travelers
(Carson, 2008).
Some research has been conducted concerning blogging issues in
tourism and other retailing businesses (Lin and Huang, 2006; Thevenot,
2007; Schmallegger and Carson, 2007; Carson, 2008; Lundberg, 2008;
Mack et al., 2008), yet there lacks research exploring related issues in the
travel industry. Ironically, there appears to be no empirical or theoretical
development of the travel blogging channel strategic model for the travel
agency industry. Relatively little attention has been given to considering
how travel agency practitioners perceive a travel blog’s effectiveness and
reasons for investment. A critical effective evaluation system is lacking for
developing an optimal channel strategic model to allow practitioners to
appropriately allocate a company’s resources and make the right strategic
decisions.
2. Literature Review
Different marketing channels are known to have their own strengths
and weaknesses in delivering varying types of services or products.
Traditional marketing channels are often differentiated as broadcast media
or print media (Chauduri and Buck, 1995). For travel agencies, the
emphasis is still on the traditional marketing communication channels
such as print media (Ozturan and Roney, 2004) and telephone (Kim,
Hwang and Fesenmaier, 2005). On other hand, more and more consumers
continue to gain information through the Internet while nevertheless
preferring to use traditional distribution channels and still appreciate
things done the old, traditional way (Lang, 2000; Kim, Lehto and
Morrison, 2007; Nishimura, King and Waryszak, 2007).
Travel and tourism are now among the most popular subjects on the
World Wide Web, and it is likely that they are also popular in the
blogosphere as well (Heung, 2003), with a vast number of sites dedicated
to hosting travel blogs. Web blogs in general have become among the
more popular forms of online consumer-opinion platforms (Wenger,
2008). Travel blogs are also hosted on commercial websites such as guide
books and travel agencies (Carson, 2008). The growth in travel blogs and
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new trends in blogging technology have facilitated the introduction of
electronic marketing, which promises to provide new ways of impacting
and serving consumers in the future travel market. In Taiwan, more and
more travel blogs have been set up, not only to open up new marketing
channels, but also to create a revolutionary business model for future
profit.
3. Enhancing the Competitive Advantage Under External
Environment Forces
Firms facing competitive environments have to make use of a large set
of channels for minimizing risks (Coelho and Easingwood, 2005). The
more aggressive companies tend to scrutinize the environment more
acutely in search of new opportunities and are more likely to respond
proactively to environmental changes (Coelho and Easingwood, 2008).
Moreover, external factors might have an impact on the design and
development of their business model (Leimeister and Krcmar, 2004).
Therefore, with the rapid growth in the number of travel blogs, more travel
agencies are eager to build up their own travel blogging marketing channel
in order to acquire competitive advantages.
From a tourist’s perspective, blogs are a source of information that
allow for the sharing of opinions and/or providing recommendations on
which trip decisions can be based. Travel blogs may not only be useful as
a source of information for consumers (Puhringer and Taylor, 2008), but
also for travel agencies’ practitioners. In fact, blogs are seen as being free
from external censorship and hence blog authors are know for telling the
real story (Wenger, 2008). They engage prospects at a deeper level than
other electronic media through which individuals and organizations
present opinions or information about specific topics (Cox, Martinez and
Quinlan, 2008).
Travel blogs include a range of information which may be very useful
for consumers and travel service suppliers, but the helpfulness of blogs as
a marketing channel depends on how the consumers view and trust an
online source (Mack et al., 2008). Therefore, travel agencies developing
new channels must adapt to this new environment where the major
external environmental forces stem from Porter’s Five-Forces-Model such
as competitors, market conditions, etc. It is good business sense to monitor
what is being said about your travel agency’s service or product in the
blogosphere. Although Walle (1996) argues that a key strength of travel
agencies is their ability to continuously provide personal information and
advice to travelers, travel agency practitioners still need try to explore how
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the travel blogging channel can be effectively developed as comparative
competitive advantages under external environment forces.
4. Internal Motivations for Investment in Travel Blogging
Channels
The structure of the marketing channel reflects the different market
segments drawn to or targeted by each operation and the relative
importance of them. Researchers (Law, Leung, and Wong, 2004; Bennett
and Lai, 2005; Jun, Vogt and Mackay, 2007) take both views into
consideration in that traditional and e-commerce distribution channels
supplement each other so as to serve travelers to their greatest satisfaction.
The choice of direct or indirect sales and the selection of appropriate
marketing channels essentially involve a tradeoff between market
coverage and cost (Pearce and Tan, 2002). In order to increase market
share, becoming more technologically orientated is inevitable. Thus,
combining traditional marketing channels with e-commerce, such as travel
blog channels, makes it possible to optimize consumer convenience and
increase their scope to a wider audience, in addition to overcoming some
of the limitations which arise when using traditional marketing channel
alone as a shopping tool.
Several factors have contributed to the emergence of blogs. First, they
can be started with very little, and very inexpensive, editorial content yet
are capable of exerting extraordinary influence. Second, blogging software
is inexpensive or often free and easy to use. Finally, low bandwidth
requirements and Web-hosting fees keep the ongoing infrastructure costs
of maintaining a blog very low (Madden, 2005). Travel blogs have also
been used by travel agencies and staff in a number of ways: (1)
Information/promotion of travel services and activities. (2) Personal
comment on professional issues. (3) Travel platform blogging for a
general audience or aimed at participants. Travel agency practitioners may
develop multiple channel strategies in response to different target markets.
Those travel blogs channel builders’ needs to provide beneficial channel
travel products and services in order to retain existing customers and to
attract potential viewers.
Travel blogs can also create the brand name of products and build up
the publicity of a company, facilitate global marketing, add transition rates
through online platforms, obtain personal data from individual consumers
(Kajewski, 2007), focus on a specific niche (Lee, Hwang and Lee, 2006),
provide a lower cost due to labor savings, offer multiple choices in travel
services, and market travel products freely. In short, the main reasons for
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investment in travel blogs are that they are cheap, they are easy to use and
require little training, knowledge sharing, and learning improvement, they
develop contacts/networks, and they create “an R&D centre that is always
open” (Garcia, 2006). All these trends lead travel agency entrepreneurs to
wonder whether blogs can generate meaningful revenues or, for that
matter, offer a legitimate alternative to the business models of existing
travel agencies.
5. Developing Differentiated Strategies through the Travel
Blog Channel
Adding values for customers, employees, and owners has become a
central theme in strategic management for hospitality companies. Hence,
hospitality managers face increasing challenges in developing new
resources, implementing effective and efficient strategies, and attaining
high market performance. These changes in the marketplace have forced
firms to seek new opportunities to differentiate their products and services
(Singh, Jackson-Veron and Cullinane, 2008). Furthermore, many online
businesses are searching for new Internet brand strategies that might assist
them in creating their distinctiveness while engaging customers (Simmons,
2007). Three strategies are used to locate relevant blogs: (1) To use the
search term. (2) To locate entries. (3) To locate special interest websites
(Carson, 2008). Concisely, a blog can be differentiated from a website,
because it is easier to create and update, and blogging is viewed as an
integral part of a company’s management strategy (Wyld, 2008).
Successful i-branding depends upon targeting customers with unique
messages, unique functionalities, and unique content. When customers
enter an organization’s website, they typically do so in order to find
content on a given topic or to undertake a particular transaction (Ibeh, Luo,
and Dinnie, 2005). The more a travel agency can acquire good e-word of
mouth and create effective i-branding strategies, the more likely customers
will prefer to shop through the travel blog online. E-word of mouth as a
substantial source of strategic information can be used for the
development of a number of business strategies, such as enhancing visitor
satisfaction through product improvement, solving visitor problems,
discovering what visitors say about their experiences, analyzing
competitive strategies, and monitoring the image and reputation of a
company (Litvin, Goldsmith and Pan, 2008).
On a practical level, travel agencies try to effectively engage in blog
marketing with businesses so as to develop e-business competence and estrategies (Puhringer and Taylor, 2008). Although the opportunities to use
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blogs for direct product distribution may be more limited than
communication and promotion functions, blogs can be extremely useful as
part of a defensive strategy in the tourism and hospitality industry
(Schmallegger and Carson, 2007). This includes generating positive
publicity and providing responses and counter arguments to negative
comments as a way of damage control (Price and Starkov, 2006). Different
strategies have different requirements for success, and it follows that a
performance evaluation should be tailored to strategic orientation (Olson
and Slater, 2002). Performance measurement systems also improve the
strategic competitiveness of organizations (Chenhall, 2005).
6. Seizing the Expected Performance through a Travel
Blogging Channel Strategy
The important role of distribution needs to concentrate on offering
consumers value-added services (Lang, 2000; Coelho and Easingwood,
2005), with profit and growth frequently used as criteria in the context of
measurement (Hyder and Abraha, 2004). Managing for competitive
advantage in a multi-channel environment means that managers are
involved with customer interactions across multiple channels (Ganesh,
2004). Existing literature has plotted the increasing use by consumers of
online recommendations or e-word of mouth (Bickart, 2002). With the
Internet playing an increasingly prominent role in marketing activities, the
importance of travel blogs has certainly become evident. Moreover, travel
blogs can be incorporated into travel agencies’ marketing strategies.
Blogging as a way of promotion is often considered as a cheaper
marketing activity than traditional advertising (Schmallegger and Carson,
2007).
Even though some channels generate lower sales, any one channel
should not be neglected, but rather used to maximize retailer efficiencies
in meeting their customers’ needs, because channels can compliment each
other (Johnson, Yoo, Rhee, Lennon, Jasper and Damhorst, 2006)
Eventually, channel loyalty and the channel’s ability to attract switching
customers become the main components of sales channel performance
(Gensler, Dekimpe and Skiera, 2007). This is seen as an alternative
purchase channel that should be capable of presenting satisfaction as
customers’ expectations. Therefore, more channels suggest better service,
which often leads to greater loyalty (Neslin, Grewal, Leghorn, Shanker,
Teerling, Thomas and Verhoef, 2006). A well-formatted, frequently
updated, and informative blog will certainly: (1) Generate buzz and
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interest; (2) Encourage repeat visits to the blog and associated websites;
(3) Increase page ranks with the major search engines (Wyld, 2008).
Travel blogs generate revenue through links to direct booking
platforms (Sharda and Ponnada, 2008), and many tourism professionals
believe that companies should actively monitor the blogosphere on a
constant basis and look for company-related comments. Doing so is an
effective way to detect what is being said about one’s own company and
competitors (Schmallegger and Carson, 2007). Particularly, marketing
planners may need to carefully consider the competitive advantage
opportunities achievable through the integration of i-branding and e-word
of mouth. This is what makes Taiwan’s travel agency sector an ideal
setting to study the determinants of adopting a travel blogging marketing
channel strategy, in order to promote a high level of branding image. A
successful travel blog mechanism of a travel agency needs to adopt a
strategy that targets market share, given its impact on the organization’s
performance. Ultimately, the potential contribution to an organization’s
goals by adopting a travel blogging marketing channel will be a major
aspect influencing marketing channel management.
7. Objectives of This Study
The topic of travel blogs, a developing and essential marketing channel
in the tourism industry, is a scarcely studied arena (Huang, Chou and Lin,
2010). There are some related studies that help better our understanding of
the various uses of blogging strategic theory and business model issues,
but few are related to the travel agency industry. This study examines the
travel blogging marketing channel in particular, analyzing the optimal
strategy for travel agencies. Research outcomes should shed light on
understanding how travel blogging strategies can create maximum profits.
Consequently, there are four specific objectives of this study.
(1). Conduct a qualitative approach on the target travel agencies. Their
responses provide much better insight into the external environment
forces, internal investment motivations of adopting a t-blog marketing
channel, and the travel blogging channel performances.
(2). Identify the underlying determinants of adopting a t-blog
marketing channel strategy for travel agencies to discover better practices
for upgrading channel effectiveness and pursuing competitive advantages.
(3). Conduct a large-scale survey on the target population, including
General Travel Agencies (GTAs) and Tour Operator Travel Agencies
(TOTAs), which are the prominent travel agencies in Taiwan. Their
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responses provide much better insight into the optimal travel blog
marketing channel model of travel agencies.
(4). Provide meaningful methods to practitioners or marketers of travel
agencies to increase the t-blog marketing channel’s ability to attract
floating customers, thereby achieving economies of scale.
8. Methods
To fulfill the objectives of this study, qualitative interviews through a
Delphi study research design are adopted that focus on primary travel
agencies in order to obtain more in-depth information and to identify the
critical variables. As there is no previous research on travel blog channel
issues in Taiwanese travel agencies, exploratory research is employed
herein. Both primary and secondary data are therefore essential. This first
stage also tries to discern the variables relating to external environment
forces, internal motivation for investment, differentiated channel
strategies, and travel blogging channel performances. Thus, the paper uses
a three-round Delphi survey method. Based on the above investigative
design, a research framework develops competitive advantages through a
travel blog marketing channel framework (see Figure 1). The second stage
involves a quantitative survey used to reconfirm the variables. Finally, an
optimal model for the travel blog marketing channel strategy is built. An
attempt is made to discover better practices for adopting this channel mix
mechanism in the channel development of travel agencies. Lastly, a
quantitative survey is conducted on 163 travel agencies.
External
Environment
Forces
Organization
Characteristics
Developing
Differentiated Strategy
Seizing the Expected
Performance
Internal
Motivations for
Investment
Figure 1. Developing Competitive Advantages through a Travel Blog Marketing
Channel Strategy Framework
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8.1 Sampling
The first stage adopting a Delphi survey in the beginning was
conducted on 11 primary travel agencies focusing on the travel blogging
marketing channel in Taiwan’s travel market, including: Set Tour
(www.settour.com.tw), Lion Travel (www.liontravel.com.tw), Royal
Jetway
Express
(www.royaljetway.com.tw),
Star
Travel
(www.startravel.com.tw), Dragon Tours (www.dragontr.com.tw/), China
Times Travel Service (www.cts-travel.com.tw), Artisan Tour
(www.artisan.com.tw), Uno Tour (www.unotour.com.tw), Perfect Tours
(www.perfect.com.tw), Spring Wind (www.springwind.com.tw) and
Ocean Star (www.oceanstar.com.tw). The panel of experts was recruited
using a snowball technique in the first-round Delphi survey, which is a
judgment sampling technique utilizing the researcher’s ability to locate an
initial set of respondents with the desired characteristics. These individuals
are then used as informants to identify other potential respondents with the
desired characteristics. This type of sampling technique is considered
appropriate for exploratory research when ideas or insights are sought
(Churchill, 1999). In this manner the initial respondents are identified
through the researcher’s personal networks. They are then asked to recruit
respondents on the researcher’s behalf, and likewise this set of respondents
executes the request for operating the next set of respondents (Schoefer
and Ennew, 2004). This survey was carried out over a three-month period
from July 2009 to September 2009. This study group consists of 11 final
snowball sampling target experts who are directly involved with travel
agency management plus practitioners, including 11 major travel agent
CEOs. A three-round Delphi study using the above 11 experts in the field
of blogging channel management was thus used to develop, validate, and
prioritize a baseline list of potential evaluation criteria of the optimal
travel blogging channel strategic model dimension.
The second stage set up a specific mail questionnaire survey and
obtained valid response data from 163 travel agencies, representing about
10.88% of the target population. The sample population size is 1,498. It
includes members from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung - all
primary cities in Taiwan. This survey was carried out over a two-month
period from October 2009 to November 2009. Stratified random sampling
techniques are used to improve the sample generality and several criteria
have been put into place: First, the respondents include members of Travel
Quality Assurance Association, Taiwan, R.O.C. Second, only members
who are from General Travel Agencies (GTAs) or Tour Operator Travel
Agencies (TOTAs) were chosen for this survey. Both the GTA and TOTA
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members include Taiwan’s major travel agencies, according to their
capital assets, the number of professional managers, and the scope of
business. Third, based on Taiwan Bureau administration data, the
questionnaires were sent to, and collected from, the above-identified
survey GTA and TOTA members list. If the chosen respondent does not
match any one of the above criteria, or is unwilling to participate in the
survey, then the next immediate random sampling unit was approached
and interviewed.
8.2 Data Analysis
The first stage adopts a three-round Delphi survey, combining both
qualitative and quantitative approaches and using experts in the field of tblog travel marketing channel and marketing channel management. In
order to improve the indicators’ validity, convergence, consensus, and
concordance, four criteria have been put into place: (1) the standard
deviation value of each attribute is not greater than 1; (2) the value of a
mean score rounded down 0.4 or rounded up 0.5 in units is equal to the
value of the mode; (3) the value of the quartile deviation ranges from 0 to
0.6, with less than 0.6 indicating strong consensus, 0 indicating a perfect
consensus; and it ranges from 0.6 to 1, with 1 indicating no consensus
(Holden and Wedman, 1993); and (4) Kendall’s W coefficient of
concordance has a value of W ranging from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating no
consensus, and 1 indicating perfect consensus between lists (Schmidt,
1997). If any attribute does not match two of the four above criteria, then
the next round of the Delphi survey is begun. The results of the qualitative
interviews corroborated these findings, in that most interviewees agreed
that the t-blogging channel is an effective marketing tool for travel
agencies, does contribute to their performances, and that their sales had
increased as a result of a multi-channel mix. The experts’ data were then
analyzed, ending with results in Table 1.
The second stage uses a quantitative survey that discerns the dimension
variables. Data are initially analyzed using univariate descriptive statistics,
including frequencies and mean ratings, while a factor analysis reconfirms
these 4 external environment forces’ attributes, 4 internal motivation for
investment attributes, 4 differentiated channel strategy attributes, and 4
travel blog marketing channel performances attributes that are used.
Finally, deleting one attribute of internal motivation for investment
dimension and any others of those attributes is recognized through a
preview of the literature, condensed in the Delphi survey process, and
reconfirmed from factor analysis in order to determine whether any
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underlying dimensions or factors do exist. The Principal Component
Factor Analysis with a varimax rotation is then applied. A reliability
analysis is also used to assess the interval consistency of the variables
retained in each dimension. We adopt the linear structural relationship
(LISREL) to build up the optimal travel blog marketing channel strategy
model using the external environment forces, internal motivation for
investment, differentiated channel strategy, and channel performance
dimensions’ correlations.
Table 1. Three-Round Delphi Result of Travel Blog Marketing Channel Strategy Model
Number : 11 / Response Rate: 0.92
Dimension
External
Environment
Forces
Internal
Motivations
for Investment
Developing
Differentiated
Strategy
Seizing the
Expected
Performance
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Factor
Mean
Mode
S.D.
Q.D.
Ranking
4.82
5
0.40
0
1
4.73
5
0.47
0.50
2
3.82
4
0.40
0
3
3.73
4
0.47
0.50
4
4.82
5
0.40
0
1
4.73
5
0.47
0.50
2
4.55
5
0.52
0.50
3
4.18
4
0.40
0
4
3.55
4.91
4
5
0.52
0.30
0.50
0
5
1
4.82
5
0.40
0
2
4.09
4
0.30
0
3
3.82
4
0.40
0
4
4.82
5
0.40
0
1
4.73
5
increasing sales (P4 )
encouraging repeat visits to
4.18
4
the blog and associated
websites (P2)
improving page ranks with the
3.64
4
major search engines ( P3)
Total Kendall’s W =0.63
0.47
0.50
2
0.41
0
3
0.50
0.50
4
increasing blog users (e3)
threat of substitute channels
(e4)
competitive intensity from
industry incumbents (e2)
bargaining power of buyers
(e1)
increasing customer
relationships (m1)
strengthening promotion
effectiveness (m 2)
expanding distribution
channels (m 5)
improving external censorship
(m 3)
reducing R&D cost (m 4)
building a brand image (S4)
offering a superior product
(S3)
exploring customer-specific
solutions (S2)
developing new products (S1)
generating buzz and interest
(P1 )
Kendall’s
W
0.81
0.69
0.74
0.66
8.3 The Instrument
The questionnaire instrument consists of five parts. The first part
includes four external environment forces attributes. The second part,
internal motivation for investment, is measured by four attributes. The
third part consists of four differentiated channel strategy attributes. The
fourth part makes up four attributes of travel blog marketing channel
performances. The final part is designed to gather general information
relating to those channel players of travel agencies. All of these attributes
are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (extremely
unimportant) to 5 (extremely important). These attributes are developed
from information in the first-stage survey through the Delphi study. A
pilot test is conducted to assess the reliability of these 4, 4, 4, and 4
attributes in each of the 4 different dimensions. Thirty members of multichannel players in Kaohsiung were interviewed. Some questions’ wording
was rephrased after the pilot test in order to better clarify the text.
9. Findings
The results of the two-stage analysis yield several insights that confirm
previous findings and shed light on the future of travel agencies enhancing
their competitive advantage through travel blogging marketing channel
differentiated strategies under several external environment forces.
9.1 What is an Optimal Travel Blog Marketing Channel
Strategy Model?
A travel blogging marketing channel is built on a platform that is able
to realize internal motivation for investment and also seeks the best
channel mix by setting up a differentiated strategy. The marketing channel
includes the functions of generating buzz and interest, increasing sales and
page ranks with the major search engines, and encouraging repeat visitors
to the blog or associated websites.
9.2 How do External Environment Forces Impact the Travel
Blog Marketing Channel?
Through a travel blog, a travel agency’s marketing managers or sales
team can quickly target the customer as a key method for gaining a
competitive advantage. Marketers gain insight from every customer
interaction and use online tools to create and build long-term, one-to-one
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relationships under the increasing growth of blog users. Seizing any
opportunity helps highlight special target customers around one’s own
travel blogs and allows a travel agency’s t-blogs to be a channel for
casting a spotlight on their performance and ideas. Adopting an
appropriate strategic model is a key source of competitive advantage and
mitigates the threat of substitute channels from travel blogging channels.
Specifically, travel agency practitioners can decrease the bargaining power
of buyers, and hence the indirect sharing of travel blog experiences is used
as a powerful way to reduce external environment uncertainty regarding a
travel product or service being intangible. Findings indicate that a blog is
an external censorship on marketing activities and is able to push forth
successful marketing channel strategies of travel agencies, reduce external
risk, and adopt efficiency motives, in order to build competitive
advantages. Table 2 shows that four factors are deemed as offering
external environment forces that have important elements as their
classification: competitive intensity from industry incumbents, threat of
substitute channel, bargaining power of buyers, and increasing blog users.
These four factors account for over 73.07% of the variation in the data. All
four-factor scales have a Cronbach alpha of 0.71.
9.3 Does the Travel Blog Marketing Channel Realize the
Internal Investment Motivation?
Travel agency practitioners faced many questions that impinge upon
how to build up a travel blogging marketing channel under profitable
investment considerations. They often face difficulty in finding the right
details about all aspects of channel management, and then they try to
gather an optimal marketing channel mix from various channels. Many
major travel agencies are aggressively investigating travel blogs by
utilizing one of a variety of marketing channel strategies to lure travelers
to book and shop at their websites. Travel blogs are likely to have an
increasing influence on word-of-mouth communication, the strengthening
of customer relationships, promotion effectiveness, improving external
censorship, and reducing R&D costs. Therefore, in order to have a
business advantage against their competitors, travel agencies may try to
expand their marketing channel by employing travel blogging so as to
maximize yields. Indeed, travel agency practitioners should take the lead
in understanding and harnessing the emerging travel blogging marketing
channel, rather than be driven by the adoption of channel strategies by
their competitors. These four factors account for over 75.44% of the
variation in the data, which are increasing customer relationship,
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strengthening promotion effectiveness, reducing R&D cost, and improving
external censorship. All these four factors have higher loads of more than
0.3. Those factor scales have a Cronbach α = 0.73 and are also shown in
Table 2.
9.4 What is a Differentiated Strategy through a Travel Blog
Marketing Channel?
Blogs as one channel in the marketing mix are not controlled by travel
agencies, but instead run by travel users. More specifically, to a for-profit
travel agency, a blogging marketing channel can be seen as producing
direct performances and making indirect improvements in the e-branding
image. Hence, the usefulness of travel blogs as a crucial marketing
channel depends on the travel users’ view and trust toward the blogging
contents in order to develop an e-brand image. Some travel agencies have
developed differentiated strategies to offer a superior product and
customer-specific solutions. Though a travel blog may not attain abundant
revenues in the short term, its role has successfully been played out in the
R&D development of differentiated and new products or services. Travel
blogs should not be ignored as one of many channels available for
maximizing revenue. Eventually, the practical implications of the travel
blogging marketing channel for practitioners must be critically understood
to make use of it in which executives not only can engage directly with all
their internal communications within companies, but also indirectly build
up a differentiated position within all competitors. Those above four
factors are diminished through factor analysis in which the four factors
account for over 77.45% of the variation in the data and have a Cronbach
α = 0.78 (see Table 2).
9.5 Are there Clearly Defined Performances in a Travel Blog
Marketing Channel?
Consistently monitoring allows managers to quickly respond to critical
comments from blogs, possibly diffusing potential negativity. The most
important thing is that these feedbacks help evaluate a firm’s own
performances and compare the firm to competitors’ customer satisfaction
levels, while helping to improve one’s travel blogging marketing channel
performances. For travel agency practitioners using the blog marketing
channel to source profits, the effectiveness of travel blogging may be
strengthened through several points: increasing sales, page ranks with the
major search engines, and generating buzz and interest. Finally, blog
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exposure attracts e-browsers and helps design an appropriate blog
mechanism that meets e-users’ preferences in order to lure them to reparticipate in travel blogging or associated website activities.
Travel agencies adopt travel blogs in a strategic way to identify and
monitor trends in a travel market, evaluate products or service standards,
measure the performance of associated products or collaborators, and
analyze competitors. For travel agency practitioners it is essential to
evaluate the performances of travel blog marketing channels on their
revenue management practices and determine how to benefit from them.
Four factors are included in the channel performance dimension: increase
sales, encourage repeat visits to the blog and associated websites, improve
page ranks with the major search engines, and generate buzz and interest.
The four factors account for over 70.77% of the variation in the data and
have a Cronbach α = 0.70 (see Table 2).
Table 2. Summary of Travel Blog Marketing Channel Strategy Model
Model Construct Dimensions
External
Environment
Forces
Factor Eigen Cum.
Loading value Pro.
%
0.70
0.80
threat of substitute channels (e4)
3.83
0.82
0.76
bargaining power of buyers (e1)
3.71
0.78
0.82
4.09
0.80
0.99
4.45
0.68
0.87
4.31
0.71
0.88
3.77
0.88
0.80
improving external censorship
( m3)
3.67
0.84
0.87
developing new products (S1)
4.05
0.83
0.85
solutions (S 2)
4.20
0.79
0.84
4.26
0.72
0.70
building a brand image (S4)
4.53
0.58
0.96
increasing sales ( p4)
encouraging repeat visits to the
blog and associated websites (p2)
improving page ranks with the
major search engines (p3)
4.34
0.71
0.80
4.23
0.69
0.78
4.09
0.80
0.71
4.07
0.72
0.98
( m1)
Internal
effectiveness ( m2)
Motivations
for Investment reducing R&D cost ( m )
4
Developing
Differentiated
Strategy
offering a superior product (S3)
generating buzz and interest (p1)
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Std.
Dev
competitive intensity from industry
3.99
incumbents (e2)
increasing customer relationships
Seizing the
Expected
Performance
Mean
1.90
Cronbach’sα
47.36
0.71
10.3
73.07
1.59
39.72
0.73
1.43
75.44
1.94
48.59
0.78
1.16
77.45
1.78
44.61
0.70
1.05
70.77
10. Model and Hypotheses
The conceptual framework of this study is divided into external
environment forces, internal motivation for investment, developing a
differentiated strategy, and seizing the expected performance of travel blog
marketing channel (see Figure 2). It also summarizes the travel blog
marketing channel strategy model tested herein.
0.71
increasing
customer
relationship (m1)
0.71
strengthening
promotion
effectiveness (m 2)
bargaining power of
buyers (e1)
0.63
competitive intensity
from industry
0.70
External
Environment
Forces (E)
incumbents (e2)
0.38
increasing blog users
(e 3 )
0.68
0.63
2
threat of substitute
channels (e4)
Internal
Motivations
for
Investment
(M)
0.46
(t=3.54)
0.49
improving external
censorship (m3)
reducing R & D
cost (m4)
0.44
(t=3.52
)
developing new
products (S1)
0.57
Developing
Differentiated
Strategy (S)
0.65
exploring customerspecific solutions(S2)
0.68
0.85
(t=5.1
3)
0.59
offering a superior
product (S3)
building a brand
image (S4)
0.58
0.58
Seizing the
Expected
Performance
(P)
0.58
0.57
generating buzz and
interest (P1)
encouraging repeat visits
to the blog and
associated websites (P2)
improving page ranks
with the major search
engines (P3)
increasing sales
(P4)
Figure 2. Travel Blog Marketing Channel Strategy Model
Antecedents
Some studies are directed toward assessing the relative correlation
among external environment forces, internal organization motivation,
strategy selection, and performance of marketing channel mix. The idea is
that a blog from the outside world can be very damaging to corporations.
Both customers and competitors can affect organizational strategies (Cox,
Martinez and Quinlan, 2008) and external environmental uncertainty
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positively influences the choice of various channel strategies (Leimeister
and Krcmar, 2004; Coelho and Easingwood, 2005). Multi-channel strategy
designs must consider the characteristics of the target market (Coelho and
Easingwood, 2008), the firms’ motivation (Huang, 2006; Cox, Martinez
and Quinlan, 2008), and the environment (Coelho, Easingwood and
Coelho, 2003; Huang, 2006). Finally, different strategies follow that a
performance evaluation should be tailored to strategic orientation (Olson
and Slater, 2002). Performance measurement systems also improve the
strategic competitiveness of organizations (Chenhall, 2005).
Research into the antecedents of travel blog marketing channel
strategies consequently includes external environmental forces and
internal motivation. Additionally, channel performance is positively
associated with the differentiated strategy. Therefore, this study proposes
the following hypotheses.
H1. There is a positive relationship between external environment
forces and developing a differentiated strategy.
H2. There is a positive relationship between internal motivations for
investment and developing a differentiated strategy.
H3. There is a positive relationship between developing differentiated
strategy and seizing an expected performance.
11. Correlation Analysis and Confirmative Factor
Analysis
This study uses several statistical techniques, including a confirmatory
factor analysis, correlation analysis, and a linear structural relationship
(LISREL). A structural equation is implemented to test the model and the
hypotheses previously stated. The set of variables initially corresponding
to each theoretical construct is subject to examining the item-to-total
correlation and exploratory factor analysis (Churchill, 1979; Reisinger and
Turner, 1999). After the first-stage and second-stage analyses, the entire
set of variables is subjected to confirmatory factor analysis to verify unidimensionality. Specifically, a measurement model is estimated in which
every variable is restricted to load in its a priori specified factor. Those
factors themselves are allowed to correlate (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988).
A confirmatory factor analysis is then conducted for all four constructs
and their indicators. Table 3 represents the means, standard deviations, and
inter-correlations for 16 indicators of the 4 dimensions. The correlation
among each construct is significant at the 0.05(*) level.
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12. Reliability Test
The second stage in the measurement validation involves computing
the coefficient alpha for each set of measures to test reliability. Cronbach’s
alpha is most often used to test the reliability of a multi-item scale. The
cutoff point is generally 0.6 (Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black, 1992).
Because all of the α values are between 0.70 and 0.78 and all are above
0.7, the constructs in our model are therefore very reliable (also see Table
2). The evidence suggests that our scale shows adequate measurement
properties.
Table 3. Correlation Matrix
Mean S.D.
e e e e mmmms s s s p p p p
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
bargaining power of buyers (e 1) 3.71 0.78 1
competitive intensity from
industry incumbents (e2)
3.99 0.70 0.50 1
**
4.09 0.80 0.20 0.22 1
*
**
threat of substitute channels
(e4)
3.83 0.82 0.41 0.45 0.16 1
** **
*
increasing customer
relationships (m 1)
4.45 0.68 0.12 0.22 0.24 0.26 1
*
**
** **
effectiveness (m 2)
4.31 0.71 0.21 0.24 0.38 0.21 0.58 1
** ** *
*
**
improving external
censorship (m3)
3.67 0.84 0.27 0.31 0.21 0.38 0.20 0.18 1
** **
*
** *
*
reducing R&D cost (m4)
3.77 0.88 0.30 0.25 0.31 0.31 0.27 0.29 0.43 1
** **
*
** ** ** **
developing new products (S1) 4.05 0.83 0.21 0.20 0.29 0.23 0.28 0.24 0.27 0.25 1
*
**
*
**
**
**
*
*
solutions(S2 )
4.20 0.79 0.28 0.27 0.28 0.23 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.22 0.56 1
** **
*
** ** ** *
*
**
offering a superior product
(S3)
4.26 0.72 0.22 0.31 0.22 0.28 0.35 0.30 0.24 0.27 0.48 0.58 1
** **
** ** ** *
** *
** **
building a brand image (S 4)
4.53 0.58 0.21 0.29 0.24 0.21 0.34 0.40 0.27 0.20 0.34 0.39 0.43 1
*
*
** *
** ** *
*
** ** **
generating buzz and interest
(P1)
4.07 0.72 0.25 0.41 0.28 0.33 0.31 0.27 0.39 0.26 0.36 0.29 0.34 0.30 1
*
**
** ** ** *
** ** ** ** ** **
encouraging repeat visits to
the blog and associated
websites (P2)
4.23 0.69 0.21 0.29 0.41 0.25 0.24 0.28 0.26 0.29 0.26 0.28 0.29 0.24 0.33 1
** ** ** **
*
** ** *
*
** *
*
*
improving page ranks with
4.09 0.80 0.32 0.28 0.37 0.26 0.21 0.35 0.25 0.27 0.26 0.30 0.30 0.24 0.30 0.43 1
the major search engines (P3)
*
**
** *
** ** *
*
** ** ** ** ** **
increasing sales (P4)
4.34 0.71 0.26 0.27 0.39 0.23 0.40 0.53 0.24 0.28 0.21 0.23 0.27 0.32 0.28 0.45 0.36 1
** ** ** ** ** ** **
** *
*
*
** ** ** *
Significant at the 0.01 (**) level / 0.05(*) level
Page | 266
4
13. Overall Model Fit
The relationships among the variables are assessed simultaneously via
correlation analysis. The correlation matrix is used to understand the
relationship patterns among external environment forces, internal
motivations for investment, developing a differentiated strategy, and
seizing the expected performance in a travel blog marketing channel
strategy. The Lisrel method has been described as being well suited for
modeling, testing, and development. The model fit assessment approach is
involved, using several diagnostics to judge the simultaneous fit of the
measurement and structural models to the data collected for this study.
The goodness-of-fit index (GFI) for the overall model is 0.91 and the
adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) is 0.90. Other diagnostics include
RMR=0.07, IFI=0.98, CFI=0.98, and RMSEA=0.05. This model has a
normed fit index (NFI) value of 0.93, which means that 93% of the
observed-measure covariance is explained by the composition model. The
structural model results in Table 4 show that the overall structural model
fit is within an acceptable level.
Table 4. Structural Model Results
Model Parameter
Path
Coefficient
T
Value
Hypothesis
Testing
Endogenous constructs
External Environmental Forces (E)
Developing Differentiated Strategy (S)
Internal Motivations for Investment (M)
Seizing the Expected Performance (P)
0.46
3.54*
0.44
3.52*
0.85
5.13*
Indicators
H1:
supported
H2:
supported
H3:
supported
Criteria
Normed Chi-square (Chi-square/df)
1.41
2
GFI
0.91
0.9
AGFI
0.90
0.9
RMR
0.07
0.1
IFI
0.98
0.9
CFI
0.98
0.9
RMSEA
0.05
0.08
NFI
0.93
0.9
With the path exceptions from mutual disclosure to four main
dimension relationships, three hypothesized paths are supported at the 0.05
significance level. In the initial hypothesis, mutual disclosure is found to
Page | 267
be significantly related to the external environment forces and developing
differentiated strategy relationships (path coefficient = 0.46, t = 3.54).
Thus, this result indicates that H1 is supported. The internal motivations
for investment are positively related to the developing differentiated
strategy (path coefficient = 0.44, t = 3.52). Thus, the result supports H2.
The developing differentiated strategy is also positively related to seizing
the expected performance (path coefficient = 0.85, t = 5.13). Thus, the
result also supports H3.
14. Management Implications
As travel blogs are becoming more popular as a marketing channel,
some management implications emerge. These implications include
increasing efficiencies, the effectiveness of a multiple channel mix, and
decreased risks of marketing channel investments. Travel blogs can be a
powerful source of marketing and R&D tools, while on the other hand can
be a source of negative feedback from travel users. Compared with other
transaction channels, travel blogging contains a lot of information, is much
more interactive, can be customized, and constantly creates highly tailored
travel product or service.
Most Taiwanese travel agencies are still small-to-medium sized
enterprises. These travel agencies would not benefit by building a brand
image to sell their intangible products or services. For demonstrating their
travel products or services, this means the possibility of exceptional media
exposure. The travel blog mechanism helps to form brand images and
project them onto reviewers. Often such images represent what those notyet tourists want to be or have and what they want to experience or
achieve. The images are important, because they transpose a
representation of travel products into the potential tourist’s mind and give
reviewers an image and somehow decrease the intangibility of travel
products.
It is often difficult, however, to increase sales volume on the travel
blogs by e-marketing activities. The travel blog marketing channel, for
some travel agencies, does not increase sales abundantly, because those
marketing channels have not yet emerged as significant sales channels, but
they must be prepared in case their importance takes off. Travel agencies
achieve relatively high transaction rates from blog channels rather than
sales’ talk in traditional marketing ways. In fact, a travel blog marketing
channel offers enormous business opportunities to promote products and
increase revenue as e-commerce is burgeoning. Some travel agencies
could develop a t-blog marketing channel mechanism structure combat the
Page | 268
threats facing it. This study offers several implications for practitioners in
the travel related industry as noted below.
• Travel blog platforms play an increasingly important role in the
traveler decision-making process. Travel agency practitioners need
to learn how to manipulate, and not be dominated, by this powerful
marketing channel.
• Firms should seize the opportunity to attract travel opinion leaders
from the blogosphere and let those bloggers be a part of their
company in order to cast the spotlight on their target market.
• Travel agency practitioners might differentiate their value-added
products sold through the travel blogosphere, which in turn can
help build brand loyalty.
• Strategic-use travel agencies recognize the insights gained through
blogs and generate differentiation from your competitors.
15. Conclusion
The travel blog marketing channel has become one of the most
increasingly popular social media areas, and a travel blog, though still in
its initial phase and a small segment of the total Taiwan travel market, is
expected to grow by leaps and bounds between the traditional and ecommerce transactional models. Travel agency practitioners believe that
the travel blog wave profoundly has affected the travel market and is a
low-cost medium for information sharing in the travel marketing channel.
Consequently, more and more travel agencies are determining just how
they are going to participate in, or compete with, this new marketing
channel within the market. Therefore, it is very important to explore the
determinants of adopting travel blog marketing channel strategies and
business models in the travel agency industry.
This study offers a conceptual overview of travel agency practitionerfocused travel blog marketing channel strategies based on the results of a
three-round Delphi survey from Taiwan’s major travel agencies. The
findings of this study should be useful to the travel agency practitioner in
making decisions in order to effectively exploit the differentiated
marketing channel strategy for acquiring maximum profits. The study also
identifies a portable business model of travel blog marketing channel
nodes that are most important for the travel agency marketing channel mix
and offers forecasts regarding the optimal differentiated strategy model of
a travel blog marketing channel that is of greatest importance. Future
research needs to address other profitability opportunities in the travel
blog marketing channel strategy model.
Page | 269
16. Limitations of the Study
There are clearly limitations to the research approach followed in this
study. As with any case study, the findings cannot easily be generalized to
other travel-related industries. First, the first-stage qualitative survey is
based on respondents from 11 main travel agencies or experts running
travel blog marketing channel experiences. Hence, random data collection
sampling techniques cannot be used, prompting several limitations in the
results. Second, the snowball sampling is a non-probability approach that
may lead to sampling bias. Third, the second-stage quantitative survey has
a relatively small sample size that may not necessarily represent all
Taiwan travel agencies, hence limiting the general applicability of the
findings.
Despite the limitations mentioned above, undoubtedly the contribution
of this paper is in offering travel agency practitioners a way to build their
own marketing channel strategy model with much simpler models that are
specific to their own operations. This probably makes it easier to articulate
the main relationships among external environment forces, internal
motivations for investment, developing a differentiated strategy, seizing
the expected performance, and to define appropriate marketing channel
performance measures. Another future research possibility is to extend this
model to other travel-related industries, so as to compare the marketing
channel strategy of travel agencies with the performance of other related
industries.
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CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION FOR TOURISM
IN THE PACIFIC: ANALYSING THE POLICY
ENVIRONMENT IN FIJI
MIN JIANG
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA
EMMA WONG
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY, UK
LOUISE KLINT AND TERRY DELACY
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA
DAVID HARRISON
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, FIJI
DALE DOMINEY-HOWES
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA
Abstract
Tourism is the largest export sector and a major employer for most Pacific
Island countries including Fiji. Pacific tourism is highly vulnerable to
climate change impacts due to its close connections to the environment and
climate itself. This paper evaluates the conduciveness of Fiji’s policy
environment for tourism adaptation to climate change by analysing how its
policies (both explicit and implicit) in climate change, tourism,
environmental and disaster management address tourism adaptation types
(technical, business management, behavioural, policy, and research and
education) as well as characteristics of Small Island Developing States
(SIDS) that make them especially vulnerable to climate change. The paper
concludes that Fiji does provide a reasonably conducive policy
environment for its tourism to adapt but some important adaptation issues
still remain as policy gaps. Based on these identified policy gaps, the paper
Page | 275
makes a number of recommendations for Fiji to further develop its tourism
adaptation policies and strategies.
1. Introduction
As the largest export sector, a key contributor of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), and a major employer for most Pacific Island Countries
(PICs), tourism is crucial to regional social and economic development
(SPTO, 2007). Climate change is an important long-term threat to Pacific
tourism (DeLacy et al., 2010). Featuring Small Island Developing States
(SIDS), characteristics ranging from limited natural resources to limited
funds and human resource skills make those PICs especially vulnerable
(Sem and Moore, 2009; IPCC, 2007; Méheux, Dominey-Howes and
Lloyd, 2007). PICs are highly vulnerable to sea level rise as well as
numerous other natural disaster types (SPREP, 2008). As a climate
dependent industry, Pacific tourism is highly sensitive to climate change
impacts as the physical attributes of destinations are altered,
compromising the levels of enjoyment and comfort of tourists (Becken
and Hay, 2007), and consequently, influencing the levels and patterns of
travel.
In order to assist the tourism sector to adapt to climate change, we have
reviewed and analysed the existing relevant policies in PICs. The policy
analysis aimed to understand how existing policies contribute to the
resilience of Pacific tourism to climate change, and based on which, make
recommendations on tourism adaptation policies and strategies.
This paper discusses the policy analysis for Fiji, enabling a
comprehensive understanding of the existing policy environment,
identifies policy gaps, and helps assess the vulnerability of the destination
to climate change. Results may help inform future directions of climate
change adaptation policies and strategies for the tourism sector.
2. Tourism and Climate Change in Fiji
2.1 Tourism in Fiji
Fiji comprises 332 islands, of which one third are inhabited with a total
population of 837,271 including 56.8% of Fijian and 37.5% of Indian
ancestry (FIBOS, 2009). Nasinu and Suva City (capital) are the two major
towns in Fiji (FIBOS, 2009).
Tourism, together with sugar and remittances are the three main
income-generators for Fiji economy (CIA, 2010). While traditional
exports like sugar have been experiencing declines in their share of GDP,
Page | 276
tourism is now the largest source of economic growth, investment and
foreign exchange earnings (Government of Fiji, 2006), representing 20%25% of GDP (AusAID, 2009; Harrison, 2010) and 31% of total
employment (ESCAP, 2008).
Fijian tourism has grown significantly. In 1999, the country hosted
409,955 visitors generating gross tourism earnings of approximately 559
million Fiji dollars (F$m). However, both the number of visitors and
tourism earnings decreased by about 30% in 2000 as a result of the
military coup. Fiji’s tourism has since recovered to reach total visitor
arrivals of 548,589 and earnings of 823 F$m in 2006. Due to the Global
Financial Crisis (GFC), Fiji’s tourism experienced a slight drop in 2007
and 2009, while 2008 reported an impressive growth in both visitor
arrivals and earnings.
Enjoying a tropical South Sea climate, Fiji has a broad variety of
natural, manmade cultural attractions including beaches, mountains,
jungles, resorts, golf courses, museums, cultural centres, and temples
(STDC, 2007). Its top five tourism areas are Natadola to Vuda, Coral
coast, Suva, Mamanuca, and Lautoka/Rakiraki (STDC, 2007).
2.2 Climate Change Impacts on Tourism in Fiji
Tourism is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts due to its close
connections to the environment and climate itself (IPCC, 2007; Simpson et
al., 2008). Similar to other Pacific SIDS, Fiji confronts climate change
issues and vulnerabilities including sea level rise leading to coastal erosion
and coastal inundation, warming sea surface temperatures leading to coral
bleaching, increases in frequency/intensity of tropical cyclones, floods,
scarcity of water resources, EI Niño related drought, declining crop
production, and increased incidence of diseases such as dengue fever and
diarrhoea (Government of Fiji, 2005; STDC, 2007; GEF et al., 2009).
Climate change will have direct and indirect impacts on Fijian tourism.
Coastal deterioration via beach erosion and coral bleaching are two of the
major issues for Fiji’s tourism and will expectedly cause a decrease in the
tourism destination values (Fiji Ministry of Tourism et al., 2006; NIWA
Research, 2007). Sea level rise and more intense tropical cyclones pose a
risk to tourism infrastructure that is mainly coastal-based. With water
supply being a key concern (Fiji Ministry of Tourism et al., 2006),
droughts and temporarily reduced water availability will further exacerbate
water shortages and competitions (GEF et al., 2009).
Studies have shown that climate change mitigation policies may
impact on tourism demands and flows as increases in the cost of long haul
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travel will reduce Pacific destination’s competitiveness, and green ethical
impacts on consumers may also affect long haul air travel differentially
(DeLacy and Lipman, 2010).
3. Policy Analysis Approaches and Methods
To assist the tourism sector to adapt to climate change requires an
understanding of the destination’s vulnerability and resilience.
Accordingly, a policy analysis was conducted to examine how policies in
Fiji hinder and/or facilitate tourism adaptation to climate change. The
assessment of conduciveness of the policy environment will help identify
policy gaps and inform the future directions of adaptation policies and
strategies.
3.1 Methods
The key objectives of the policy analysis were:
• To create an inventory of policies to Fiji’s tourism climate change
adaptation;
• To examine the policy-making environment that provides the
context for future policy recommendations;
• To examine the policy-making mechanisms that would inform how
future policy recommendations can be implemented;
• To identify policy gaps, i.e. adaptation issues that are yet to be
addressed, by studying how existing policies contribute to (or
hinder) tourism adaptation to climate change; and
• To provide input into the evaluation of adaptive capacity of the
tourism sector.
Four key policy areas were analysed including climate change,
environment, tourism development, and risk and disaster management.
The concept of explicit and implicit adaptation processes by Hall and
Higham (2005) was adopted. The explicit policies were those that were
wholly or partly formulated with the intention to address climate change
and implicit policies were those that were formulated with the intention to
address issues other than climate change, but had relevant components.
The policy analysis looked at five types of climate change adaptation
that were relevant to the tourism sector, as identified by Scott et al. (2008):
• Technical - changes made to physical infrastructure or provisions;
• Business management - changes made by the private sector in their
businesses;
Page | 278
• Behavioural - behavioural changes made by tourists or
communities;
• Policy - changes in government plans or strategies; and
• Research and education - initiatives to strengthen the understanding
of climate change and adaptation, explore adaptation options, and
educating communities.
Policies were also examined against the characteristics of SIDS that
make them especially vulnerable to climate change risks. These have been
highlighted by Sem and Moore (2009) as: limited size, limited natural
resources, natural hazards, water, low economic resilience, population
growth and density, infrastructure, and limited funds and human resource
skills.
Figure 1 illustrates how the policy analysis was undertaken by
integrating the elements of policy process, adaptation types, and SIDS
characteristics. The framework allowed each policy to be judged as to
whether its objectives had been met, were in progress or delayed, or were
not met.
Figure 1: The PT-CAP Pacific Tourism and Climate Change Policy Analysis
Framework
3.2 Data Collection
Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The use
of multiple sources helped assure the conformability (or objectivity) and
credibility of findings (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). Face-to-face semi-
Page | 279
structured in-depth interviews (average 40 minutes in length) were
conducted in Fiji between 20 October and 6 November 2009. Interviewees
included individuals, who were highly involved in the formulation and/or
implementation of policies identified, or were highly knowledgeable about
those policies. Interviewees were identified based on publicly accessible
information on the internet, and the research team’s professional network.
A snowball sampling technique was used where interviewees
recommended other individuals to be interviewed (Patton, 2002). A total
of 26 interviews were held representing seven stakeholder groups ranging
from government, industry and other organizations (Table 1). Interviewing
was stopped when the data saturation point was reached (Minichiello et
al., 1995) and the themes emerging from the interviews started to repeat
themselves.
Table 1: Sample of primary data collection in Fiji
Stakeholder group
Number of interviews
Government
6
Intergovernmental organization
1
Supranational organization
4
Tourism industry
2
Donor/development organization
4
NGO
6
Research institute/university
3
26
TOTAL
4. Findings
A total of 23 policies were identified as potentially pertinent to climate
change adaptation for tourism in Fiji of which eight were explicit climate
change policies and 15 were implicit. Explicit climate change policies are
briefly addressed as follows.
4.1 Explicit Policies
Fiji ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) in 1993 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 helping Fiji
put climate change on its agenda. The National Climate Change
Committee was formed in 1998, as a result of the implementation of the
Pacific Islands Climate Change Assistance Programme (PICCAP). In
2005, the Initial National Communication was prepared and, following
this, a number of explicit climate change policies were developed. The
establishment of the Carbon Trading Technical Team aims to assist Fiji
Page | 280
take advantage of the carbon trading opportunities under the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM).
While the Climate Change Policy: the Framework 2007 and National
Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) reports 2008 provided general
guidance for Fiji in developing climate change policies, several tourism
specific projects or plans have been incorporating climate change issues
into the sectoral policies as highlighted in Figure 2. The Tourism
Development Plan 2007-2016 identified climate change as a risk and the
need to understand climate change impacts on the tourism sector (STDC,
2007). The Hotel Sector Energy Efficiency Project of the Renewable
Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) explicitly addressed
both climate change and tourism although with a focus on mitigation. A
GEF funded tourism adaptation project was developed in 2006, but
unfortunately remains inactive with a four year delay of funding approval
since its initial stakeholder workshop. The summary report of the
workshop, however, identified a wide range of possible adaptation
measures for tourism as well as adaptation barriers that exist in the current
policy setting of Fiji (Fiji Ministry of Tourism et al., 2006).
Figure 2: Mapping out the explicit climate change policies in Fiji
4.2 Policy-Making Environment
The Department of Environment (DOE) is the government agency that
drives the climate change agenda in Fiji. Since its establishment in 1993,
the DOE has been situated in a number of ministries among which it has
been upgraded once to a Ministry level (DOE, 2009). After the 2006
change in government leadership, for instance, it used to be part of the
Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, and then
Page | 281
the Ministry of Lands, Mineral Resources and Environment, and now it is
currently under the Ministry of Local Government, Urban Development,
Housing and Environment (DOE, 2008; DOE, 2009).
There is also a National Climate Change Country Team (NCCCT) in
place chaired by the DOE. This team had been dormant until recently
partly due to the lack of proper coordination of DOE with other relevant
key stakeholders (Interview notes). In February 2011, it was reactivated to
lead the formulation of a national Climate Change Policy. Consisting of
representatives from various sectors of both central and local government
agencies including the tourism department, NGOs, private sector, crop
agencies, and other relevant development partners, the NCCCT will act as
a coordinating committee for Fiji’s climate change projects and the main
platform to provide guidance and policy advice on all matters related to
climate change.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) is the government agency
responsible for formulating and implementing tourism policies. In 1994, it
was at a ministry status, but it has since been moved to a sub-department
under the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Tourism and Communications.
DOT is now included in the newly re-established NCCCT and will
hopefully be more involved in climate change policy making. Another
government agency is the Fiji Visitor Bureau, which is the national
tourism office promoting and marketing Fiji as a tourism destination. Fiji
Island Hotel and Tourism Association (FIHTA) is the key industry
organization for Fiji’s tourism whose members account for more than 80%
of total room inventory in Fiji.
4.3 Policy-Making Mechanisms
The policy-making mechanisms in Fiji involve participatory and
consultation processes through which policies are negotiated and
developed with involvements of relevant stakeholders across government,
industry, communities, and other organizations. Foreign or international
development agencies such as the UN and AusAID play an indispensable
role in Fiji’s climate change policy agenda by providing funding and
assistance in the policy-making process. Indeed, half of the explicit
policies identified received financial assistance from UNDP through the
GEF. Among these, the tourism adaptation project was inactive because of
the delay in funding approval by the GEF. There is a Development
Partners for Climate Change roundtable in place, which includes a group
of Suva based donors, major organizations, and other partners working in
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climate change. The roundtable holds meetings once every 6-8 weeks to
coordinate different climate change initiatives.
4.4 Policy Gaps
The policy analysis shows that Fiji has been making effort in providing
a reasonably conducive policy environment for its tourism sector to adapt.
Notwithstanding the positive developments, Fijian tourism still has a long
way to go towards optimal climate change adaptation. The Fijian
government shows an intention to integrate climate change into sectoral
policies but it is yet to be mainstreamed into the tourism sector. Table 2
indicates how explicit and implicit policies have addressed tourism
adaptation types and SIDS characteristics in Fiji. Most of the initiatives
were policy-level adaptation and research and education was the second
adaptation type relatively well addressed in the current policies. Positive
signs were observed that the significance of climate change and tourism
development has been recognized by the government at the policy level,
research is encouraged and funded to strengthen the understanding of
climate change and adaptation, and awareness programs are undertaken to
educate both government people and communities. While these provide a
good foundation for further actions, other aspects of adaptation
particularly technical, business management and behavioural adaptations
need to be more comprehensively addressed.
With respect to SIDS characteristics, the issue of limited funds and
human resources gained best coverage across policies followed by the
issue of limited natural resources. On the contrary, the limited size and
population growth and density are the two that seem neglected and less
addressed by the existing policies.
5. Implications and Recommendations
The policy analysis allowed a comprehensive understanding of the
existing policy environment for tourism adaptation to climate change in
Fiji. The existing policy environment is generally conducive for tourism to
adapt to climate change, although the sector needs to deal with challenges
in raising awareness, building financial and human resources capacities,
and ensuring policy implementation.
To address the tourism adaptation issues that still remain policy gaps in
the current policy environment of Fiji, a number of recommendations are
made as below:
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• Raise awareness and understanding of tourism’s vulnerability to
climate change, and incorporate climate change into tourism sector
planning;
• Provide or seek sufficient funding to undertake and implement the
tourism adaptation projects that demonstrate adaptation initiatives,
investigate climate change impacts on the tourism sector, and
explore adaptation options;
• Strengthen the public private partnership in tourism adaptation to
climate change and develop adaptations in technical, business
management, and behavioural aspects that are weakly addressed in
the existing policies; and
• Improve coordination of climate change adaptation between sectors
and government agencies, and take more measures to deal with
weakly addressed SIDS characteristics in the existing policies such
as limited size, water, low economic resilience, population growth
and density, and limited funds and human resources skills.
Table 2: Identified policies pertinent to tourism adaptation to climate change and the
corresponding adaptation types and SIDS characteristics addressed in Fiji
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Page | 286
WHEN TOURISM SUPPORTS LOCAL PRODUCTS:
THE CASE OF GRECOTEL CRETA PALACE
D IMITRIS M. K ALAITZIDAKIS
GRECOTEL CRETA PALACE, GREECE
Abstract
A series of innovative ideas regarding a 5 star resort hotel’s in Crete,
Greece, food and beverage program, offer additional choices regarding
breakfast, dinner, wine lists, a la carte restaurants, room service and bar
operations, inspired by the traditional Cretan diet, with exquisite taste and
high nutritional value.Coupled with a series of participatory activities that
familiarize guests with local products and traditions surrounding food, add
a strong identity and create an added value to the Cretan tourist product.
These innovative approaches have been met with guest satisfaction as
indicated by the 30% repeaters rate and the hotel’s rankings in external
evaluations. This example showcases how tourism can promote local
products and support local economy at times of global economic
uncertainties while engaging guests in local culture and tradition.
1. Introduction
The Mediterranean, once the world’s top tourist destination has been
loosing its 40 year dominance in the world tourist market due to the
emergence of new destinations, consumer need and search for alternatives,
the Mediterranean’s slow, uncoordinated and often hesitant development
of new tourist products, seasonality and sporadic regional political
upheavals (Apostolopoulos and Sönmez 2000).
A series of recommendations both from the academic literature as well
as from various regional or international organizations call for a redefinition of the typical sun and beach tourist product and a shift towards
innovative and sustainable practices that respect and preserve the
environment and the local heritage, culture and tradition, while providing
high quality services.
The aim of this paper is to present one such practice from a 5 star
resort hotel in Crete, that incorporates local traditions relating to food into
the resort tourist product that not only enhance the traveler’s experience,
promote healthy dietary habits, engage guests in the local culture and
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tradition, but also promote local agricultural products, support local
economy and create identity and an added value to the tourist product
2. Grecotel Creta Palace
Grecotel is the leading hotel chain in Greece operating resort hotels in
major Greek destinations. Grecotel is synonymous with quality and has
high brand awareness. In 1992, it was the first Mediterranean hotel group
to create an environmental and cultural department partaking in environmental audits and programs that enhanced community involvement and
the protection of local species. Grecotel contracts Greek suppliers who
produce eco-friendly and organic products (Diamantis 2000).
Grecotel Creta Palace is a 5 star resort on the northern shore of the
island of Crete, Greece, near a 30.000 citizen town, Rethymno. Ιt has 344
rooms and bungalows and 275 members of staff, with a very low turn-over
rate. The majority of guests are Central and Eastern Europeans (33% from
Russia, 20.80% from Germany, 13.59% from Ukraine), 4.79% are Greeks
(Table 2.1), with a high repeaters rate (30%) and an average stay of 11.2
days. It has received numerous awards for guest satisfaction, popularity
and environmental awareness, the most recent being the 2010 TUI Umwelt
Champion award. The resort has a long tradition with gastronomy that
over the years has evolved to a unique food and beverage (F+B) program
inspired by the Cretan diet that offers additional choices of exquisite taste
and high nutritional value to the typical luxury resort hotel menus.
3. The Cretan Diet
Cretan men of the 60’s had the lowest incidence of heart disease as
well as the highest longevity in comparison to populations from 6 other
countries and another population from Greece (Corfu), in the study of
Keys (1970), “the 7 countries study”. These findings created a huge
interest in the scientific community that pinpointed the diet as a major
contributing factor to good health that continues today. Although the term
Mediterranean diet is being used to refer to the diet characterized by the
use of olive oil in the olive producing countries of the Mediterranean
(eg.Trichopoulou 2001), however it has been argued that since different
Mediterranean countries have different diets result of their different
religions and cultures, it should be used in plural, “Mediterranean diets”
(Simopoulos 2001).
The diet of Crete in the 60s, still followed by old people in the villages,
was very simple. Whole grain breads and barley rusks (double-baked
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bread cut in pieces in order to last), pulses, fresh fruits and vegetables
predominate. Olive oil was used in large amounts in daily food
preparation. Home made cheese and yoghurt were the main protein
sources. Little fish and meat was consumed once a week and on major
Christian Orthodox holidays. Desserts as we perceive them today were
rare, mostly home made pies, with honey instead of sugar, and fruit
preserves, sun-dried fruits like figs and raisins. Red wine was consumed
moderately during meals.
Different destinations provide opportunities for international travelers
to sample local specialties as part of their traveling experience and the
importance of food to the tourist experience is shown by the recent
emergence and continuous growth of Culinary Tourism (ICTA 2010).
However, the association of Cretan diet with good health and longevity
presents a competitive advantage over other destinations. This remarkable
characteristic has not yet been exploited by the tourist industry to its full
potential, but has been incorporated in the F+B program of Grecotel Creta
Palace for twenty two years now.
4. A Strategic Plan for the implementation of a F&B
Program Inspired by the Cretan Diet in Grecotel Creta
Palace
A strategic plan was designed to incorporate the Cretan diet into the
F+B program that covers the whole spectrum of ARRIVAL-STAYDEPARTURE (Figure 1).Upon ARRIVAL there is a warm and authentic
Cretan welcome with a wine and fruit basket, tsikoudia, the local spirit,
and Greek goodies, the first encounter of the guest with the place and its
traditional products. The guest will enjoy his wine in his balcony with the
sea breeze and a spectacular sunset Tsidkoudia, will make the guest relax
from the incoming journey and the tasty products will make him notice a
difference in quality. Traditional desserts will win him not only for their
taste but more so when he finds out during his stay that they got their
name, lichnarakia, from their resemblance to the Minaon oil lamps.
During STAY, additional choices to typical resort ones have been
incorporated in the pre-paid by the guests Package Meals namely
breakfast, dinner and a special theme evening, and in the optional A la
carte Departments.
The typical hotel choices for breakfast are either the English breakfast
or the American type buffet. Grecotel pioneered in this field two decades
ago by introducing an enriched buffet in its hotels in Crete with the inclusion of traditional Cretan products of high nutritional value. This novelty
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PARALLEL SUPPORTING ACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
ACTIONS
ADULTS
ARRIVAL
"Warm - authentic
welcome"
FIRST GUEST'S
ACQUAINTANCE
with Cretan
traditional products
Wine / fruit basket
Tsikoudia(the local spirit)
Cretan "goodies"
CHILDREN
WEEKLY HOTEL'S ACTIVITIES PROGRAM
Guest finds it, on arrival, in his room, on his language
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES PROGRAM
INFO COCKTAIL WITH GUESTS
Very useful for firstcomers
BREAKFAST-CRETAN
"REPEATERS" COCKTAIL
The "loyal" guests
PACKAGE
ACTIVITIES ( CULTURAL PROGRAMS )
TRADITIONAL CRETAN CORNER
ADULTS
MEALS
CHILDREN
BUFFET DINNER
S
T
A
Y
PRESENTATION ABOUT THE "CRETAN DIET"
ORGANIC GARDEN IN FRONT OF CHILDREN'S CAMP
TRADITIONAL CRETAN COOKING LESSONS
not from a proffesional chef but from a " housewife "
from the Housekeeping department
BIO COOKING LESSONS
based on the "healthy Cretan Diet" in the form of a game
TRADITIONAL CRETAN THEME EVENING
DAY TIME RESTAURANT
Traditional breads basket with
"Cretan Caviar",the black olive spread
and extra virgin olive oil
The housewife demonstrate the secrets
of her home cooking
The vegetables used are hand picked
from the organic garden
Traditional Starters and Salads
BEVERAGE LIST
Traditional mountain herbal teas
A LA CARTE
FOOD & BEVERAGE
DEPARTMENTS
It give us the chance to familiarize guests
with Cretan life style, values and culture
CRETAN OLIVE OILS PRESENTATION AND TASTING
FINE DINING RESTAURANT
Exclusive Cretan wines
SPECIALTY RESTAURANT
AGRECO, Best Organic Restaurant
A unique Culinary experience
Cretan Thematical Wedding Menu
IN ROOM...PRIVATE DINING
aditional choice for Cretan breakfast
aditional choice for Cretan menu
GUESTS BECOME
DEPARTURE "PORT OF DEPARTURE"
"AMBASSADORS"
OF CRETE
GUESTS PROMOTE
AT
"CULINARY DIPLOMACY"
THE CRETAN PRODUCTS AND LOOK
HOME
FOR THEM IN THEIR COUNTRY
LOCAL FARMES CHEESE
PRESENTATION AND TASTING
HOTEL BOTANICAL GARDEN TOUR
NATURE'S PHARMACY
Presentation of mountain herbal teas and tasting
KALIMERA KRITI
You are invited to order Greek Coffee & Loukoumades
CRETAN WINE PRESENTATION AND TASTING
ITINERARY OF TRADITIONAL
PRODUCTS AND TASTES IN RETHYMNO
ARTS AND CRAFTS ITINERARY IN THE
HISTORICAL CENTER OF RETHYMNO
CELEBRATING THE GREEN EARTH DAY
I learn the organic vegetables, I draw them on paper ,
I identify them in the garden and I take care of them
was followed by other hotel entrepreneurs in Crete and this enriched
breakfast buffet has come to be known as “Cretan Breakfast”, a term that
has not yet been incorporated in the international literature.
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STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOOD & BEVERAGE PROGRAMM OF GRECOTEL CRETA PALACE INSPIRED BY THE CRETAN DIET
A Cretan Corner has been added to the Breakfast Buffet with the
following: Local mountain herbal teas. Various traditional breads. Local
cheeses (mizithra, anthotiro, xinomizithra, graviera (P.O.D), kefalograviera), all products of local producers. Home made sigklina with eggs or the
lighter sfouggato (scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes). Local smoked
pork (Apaki) and local sausages. Local yoghurt and home made fruit
preserves, jams and marmalades. Desert choices include rizogalo (a local
milk and rice pudding), various cheese pies (lihnarakia, sarikopites,
mizithropitakia) and other traditional treats (xerotigana and anevata). A
local delicacy that may seem odd to the uninitiated, graviera cheese with
honey, or apaki with home made sour cherries preserve. Cretan breakfast
is also available for room service orders with extra charge choices (eg.
Mizithra, a local soft fresh cheese with honey, graviera the cretan
‘gruyere’ P.O.D cheese with honey, dakos, apaki, sfouggato).
For dinner, the guest can have an authentic traditional night with
products and recipes of the traditional Cretan cuisine, accompanied with
fine quality Cretan wine from local varieties cultivated since Minoan
times. In addition to the special Cretan night there is a Cretan Corner in
the daily dinner buffet with a large variety or traditional vegetable, meat
and fish dishes. Vegetable dishes include artichokes, stuffed vegetables, a
variety of olives, a variety of wild greens, raw or boiled, a vegetable mix
with olive oil and tomato sauce. Meat dishes include a meat pie, specialty
from Chania, antikristo-meat in the way of Anogia-, a mountainous area of
Rethymno, kid meat with artichokes in an egg and lemon sauce, pork with
wild greens, chicken with okra, snails with zucchini and potatoes, or in a
frying pan with rosemary, or with chondro (sun-dried milk and wheat
chunks- an important source of proteins). Fish dishes include octopus with
rice, or with fennel and potatoes, fried red mullet dressed with rosemary,
and home-made vinegar, salted cod fish with leek and potatoes, seaweed
salad.
The question in any hotel is how to make most use of the a la carte
departments, particularly in a 5 star resort that has six of them. Usually,
Day Departments are located by the pool or near the beach, and in the
warm summer weather, salads are very popular with the guests, ideal for a
light lunch. In our Day Department three Cretan salads are served:
a) Cretan dakos, the most representative dish of Crete. Made from
Crisp dried barley rusks with fresh grated tomato, local white (feta)
cheese, oregano from Mt Psiloritis and Agreco extra virgin olive oil.
b) Greek salad…Cretan style, with organic tomatoes, sea salt, crispy
vegetables, traditional bite-size barley rusks, soft sour cheese, Agreco
extra virgin olive oil.
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c) Fresh spinach and rucola salad with graviera cheese, Apaki
(traditional smoked pork) and home-made vinegar.
These three dishes must compete with the well recognized Greek
dishes, Greek salad, tzatziki and aubergine spread and three international
choices namely Caesar’s salad, seafood salad and mozzarella with tomato.
The 3 salads used here are just 3 examples from a large repertoire (Greek
food writer Myrsini Lambraki cites thirteen Greek salads in her books).
Figure 2 shows the relative price index, with the Greek salad being
100, as well as number of orders, percentage of guests’ preferences,
percentage of sales mix and percentage of cost mix, contribution margin,
and percentage contribution margin mix, for year 2010 for the 3 Cretan
salads versus Greek (4 dishes) and International choices (3 dishes),
individually and as a group. 16.65% of guests preferred the Cretan salad
while the well known Caesar’s salad had 14.08% guest preference. 7.01%
guests preferred the Cretan dakos compared to 9.04% that preferred the
signature dish mozzarella and tomato.
Figure 2: Salads and starters in Day Restaurant. Cretan (3 dishes) versus Greek (4
dishes) and International (3 dishes)
The Apaki salad had a 3.70% guest acceptance. The famous Greek
salad was the most popular dish with 25.69% preference. As a group, the
Cretan traditional salads were 27.36%, the Greek choices 41.13% and the
international 31.51%. the Cretan traditional choices contributed by 26.18%
to the total starter and salads revenue, for year 2010, the Greek choices by
32.70%, and the International choices by 41.12%. The Cretan traditional
choices contributed to the total contribution margin (selling price minus
food cost) by 27%, the Greek choices by 34.10% and the International
choices by 38.91%. More specifically, the spinach, rucola and apaki salad
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had the second highest contribution margin per order, 13.39 euros, while
the Cretan salad, the fourth, 11.52 euros.
The old-fashioned bread and butter, an unhealthy choice due to the
white bread and the high in saturated fat butter has been replaced by a
traditional breads basket, Agreco extra virgin olive oil and an extra choice,
a black olive tapenade (spread) named “Cretan Caviar” for its color and
texture. This name was coined to upgrade olive oil in the minds of the
serving staff, who, in 1989 when it was first introduced, seemed reluctant
and uncomfortable to serve it, thinking of it as inferior to the imported,
packaged and more expensive butter (everybody in Crete has at home
huge quantities of olive oil, in bulk).
For desert, sfakiani pitta and chocolate mousse made with extra virgin
olive oil impress with their taste, presentation, originality and moreover
with their high nutritional value.
At the hotel bars, the guest can enjoy the entertainment program
drinking tsikoudia, or one of the traditional herbal teas like dictamus
(Origanum dictamus), malotira (Sideritis syriaca), sage (Salvia
officinalis), and a 40-herbs-flowers-fruits-and-seeds-mix, Sarantadendri,
for a peaceful night’s sleep. Even in the high gastronomy restaurant (fine
dining) home made pasta (skioufihta) with olives and anthotyro cheese,
dish inspired by the Cretan diet, meet standards of high gastronomy
accompanied well with wine from the recently recognized Cretan
vineyard.
Another novelty associated with the resort is the organic farm Agreco
in a nearby location. Its specialty restaurant, another choice for the resort’s
guests, provide a unique gastronomic experience with character-ristic
Cretan dishes like symbetherio -a mixed vegetable dish in fresh tomato
sauce-, a variety of organic vegetables stuffed with rice and aromatic herbs
presented in ceramic platter, snails with potatoes and courgettes, free range
chicken with okra in fresh tomato sauce, in a unique rural environment.
There are also Cretan theme wedding menus, with the organic lettuce,
golden anthotiro cheese from Anogia, extra virgin olive oil, local vinegar,
walnuts and pomegranate salad of fertility, to cite one example. Agreco
was voted the best organic restaurant in the world in 2009 by Vanity Fair
Magazine UK.
Dishes inspired by the Cretan diet are also available for private dining,
like the Grecotel ‘meze’ collection, the fresh-green spinach and rucola
salad, the filet of pork stuffed with anthotiros (a local salted hard cheese)
and aromatic herbs from the mountains of Crete. The Cretan Dessert
“sfakiani pita”, a homemade flat pankcake filled with cheese, a specialty
from Sfakia, south of Chania, is served with a creative touch, with home
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made quince preserve and pine nuts, that goes well with the red desert
wine of Toplou monastery.
5. Parallel Suppoting Actions and Activities
In our experience the inclusion of traditional choices in the hotel’s F+B
program cannot not succeed on its own to win customers’ preference.
Firstly, adequate description is required. Then appropriate support from
the staff, both cooks and food supervisors is mandatory. Furthermore, in
the a la carte departments the waiters must be well trained in order to
explain and at the same time promote in a friendly manner the Cretan
choices. This is particularly important in days of multiple arrivals when
most guests will come in contact with the traditional products for the first
time, or during the Cretan theme nights. Since guests come from different
cultural backgrounds and lifestyles they need to be educated on the high
nutritional value of these local products, their beneficial effects on good
health and longevity and local culture and traditions, in order not only to
enjoy but also to appreciate what they eat and connect with Cretan culture
and heritage that surrounds food. Thus, a 7 step support system has been
devised for the successful promotion of the diversified F+B program as
follows:
a) DESCRIBE: A description accompanies each Cretan dish. For
example “cretan dakos”, the most representative dish of the famous
"healthy Cretan diet" (Crisp dried barley rusks with freshly grated tomato,
local white (feta)cheese, oregano from Mt. Psiloritis and Agreco extra
virgin Cretan olive oil).
b) LABEL: All Cretan choices are distinctively labelled with the icon
of the island and the motto Cretan diet, to live longer, in all printed menus
and buffets.
c) Add a SHORT STORY: Not only to create interest but in order to
communicate the cultural aspect, for example in the description of THE
GRECOTEL “MEZE” COLLECTION, THE FOLLOWING LINE HAS
BEEN ADDED: The quickest way to discover the traditional starters (The
philosophy of Greek eating is to spend a long time at the table, eating and
drinking little by little, while talking about everything under the sun).
d) PROMOTE: All food departments’ front staff, cooks, food supervisors and waiters are well trained to encourage guests in a friendly manner
to try the Cretan choices and answer questions about their ingredients and
method of preparation.
e) INFORM: Guests are informed on the resort’s weekly activities
program found in their room, in their own language. They can also be
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informed in various other opportunities during their stay either from the
resort (eg. info cocktail and repeaters cocktail), from their tour guides or
from various announcements posted centrally. Information regarding
children’s and adolescents’ activities are posted separately
f) EDUCATE: A presentation on Cretan diet is performed weekly by
the General Manager. The Cretan cuisine Cooking lessons are not
performed by professional chefs but from a house-wife from the housekeeping staff. We take this opportunity to communicate the values of
Cretan culture and way of life by talking about the family, respect,
patience, the principles that guided local rural economy in the 60s and 70s
when little money was available and home economies were self-sufficient
with their vegetable gardens, olive groves, free range chicken, a couple of
goats and lambs and so on.
g) INVOLVE/ENGAGE guests in authentic Cretan experiences with
participatory activities. Since most tourists in Crete are not the typical sun
and sea seekers but are interested in culture, history and people, it is
possible to inform and familiarize them with the Cretan way of life and
Cretan products with a series of supporting activities.
According to professor Kafatos of the University of Crete Medical
School, Cretans owe their good health and longevity to their traditional
diet. This diet is simple and includes mainly olive oil that provided one
third of daily energy intake. The rest was provided by cereals, mainly in
the form of bread, pulses, vegetables, fruits and rarer eggs, cheese, milk,
meat and fish in small quantities, with moderate consumption of red wine
with every meal (Psilakis, 1997). Olive oil is the sole source of fat in
Cretan traditional cuisine with its beneficial effects on both health and
taste.
The financial advisor of Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, Mr
Frangakis, stated that “General managers and tourist guides are ambassadors of Greek tourism as they are the first to meet the visitors of our
island. If they use the power from this position they could communicate to
the foreign visitors easily and correctly the great importance of Cretan diet
and the value of the local products”. In this light, a series of activities were
developed. In collaboration with Gaea Ltd and α food-specialist, an olive
oil tasting seminar has been developed based on international standards of
the International Olive Oil Council, with information on olive oil and its
significance in Greek culture, tradition and diet.
In the activity KALIMERA KRITI, guests enjoy traditional coffee, or
tsikoudia and a local treat, loukoumades, in the traditional coffee-house
(caffeneion) of the resort. Named from the Greek word kalimera, (the
morning greeting = have a nice day) that according to former Vice Mini-
Page | 295
ster of Tourism, Angela Gerekou, “solidifies everything that Greece is and
everything that Greek tourism should be. That is, the optimism of a brand
new day, a brand new start, the cordial greeting and welcome, the warm
hospitality, the happy mood, the expectation of an unforgettable tourist
experience, the sunlight, the warm climate, attitudes of people and
characteristics of places that can be found nowhere else but in this
country”.
Nature’s pharmacy, an activity that familiarizes guests with the various
local herbs and their natural properties regarding health and longevity. The
herbs can also be seen in the resort’s botanical garden.
The wine presentation and tasting will help guests discover the quality
local wines and the Cretan vineyard. Local farms Cheese presentation and
tasting give guests the opportunity to learn the different local cheeses,
from small local producers, taste them and appreciate their unique taste.
Free range sheep feed on the unique Cretan flora with various aromatic
plants give milk and consequently cheese a unique taste.
Even children, in the resort’s children’s camp with its own organic
vegetable garden, during the Celebrating Mother Earth activity learn the
local vegetables and their nutritional value through activities and games.
During Bio-cooking, an activity performed by the General manager and
Grecoland staff, children prepare simple tasty recipes from the traditional
Cretan diet in a form of a game.
The beneficial effect of the Mediterranean diet in health cannot be
attributed to a single agent, food, or ingredient. It’s the combination that
produces the beneficial effect. A characteristic example of a complete and
healthy meal is a Greek salad (olive oil, feta cheese, fresh tomatoes,
oregano, olives, onions) with a slice of bread (Trihopoulou 2011).This is
why cretan dakos is described here as the most representative dish of the
Cretan diet, a more complete meal since barley rusk (double-baked bread)
is its basic ingredient. For many people in Crete especially during the
warm summer cretan dakos makes an ideal lunch. Easy to prepare, tasty,
light and healthy. It can be prepared even by children especially when
mom is at work, a healthier choice than the usual children’s snacks. And
most importantly, it is particularly economic, since a full portion (6 pieces)
costs 0.95 euro. These activities will allow children to open up to new
foods and tastes so that when they visit the resort’s restaurant or any a la
cart department, they too can experience and enjoy the Cretan dishes.
Following these unique experiences both gastronomic and cultural,
guests become “Ambassadors” of Crete and its products in their countries.
This “gastronomic” diplomacy supplements the marketing of Cretan
traditional products abroad. According to the president of the Cretan
Page | 296
Association of General Managers many tourists are interested in the local
products and want to know if these can be found in their countries Moreover, guests would want to come back to a country and a destination with
dietary habits that contribute to good health and longevity.
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
This case study shows that it is possible to incorporate additional
choices inspired by the Cretan diet in a resort hotel’s food and beverage
program and educate guests to appreciate it. Our example could be
followed by any other resort in the region provided that the parallel
activities are also included. The person who could initiate such an effort
could be the Food and Beverage Manager, the Executive Chef, or the
General Manager depending on their studies, life experiences and personal
interest in good healthy food.
Before the initiation of the project, tree steps are essential. Firstly,
Research of local products and traditional recipes, or Recollection of
culinary experiences of the past, is required, depending on age and place
of origin of the initiator. Then suppliers need to be located, businesses
small or large, traditional or modern, individual producers, local cooperatives etc. Finally evolution of traditional dishes is recommended,
lesser the recipes, mostly their presentation. For example, Sfakiani pitta, is
traditionally served plain or with honey, while here is served with quince
preserve and pine nuts.
The benefits are multifold. For tourism, a strong identity and added
value to the tourist product. For the guests, enhancement of their travelling
experience, promotion of healthy dietary habits. For the local products,
supplementation of their marketing abroad through mouth-to-mouth
advertisement when guests go back to their countries. Stimulation of local
economy and support of local producers at times of global economic
uncertainties. For the environment, reduction of food miles and the
resort’s ecological footprint, both steps towards sustainability. And finally
for the person who initiates this effort, personal satisfaction and pride for
serving guests products of high quality and nutritional value and of
carrying on Crete’s long standing cultural traditions. Several studies have
shown the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet in general and the
Cretan diet in particular to good health and longevity. At times of global
uncertainties that threaten the world’s economy and the world tourist
market, this competitive advantage could be used to create strong identity
and an added values to the typical sun and beach tourist product.
Page | 297
References
Apostolopoulos, Y. and Sonmez, S. (2000). New Directions in
Mediterranean Tourism: Restructuring and Cooperative Marketing in
the Era of Globalization. Thunderbird International Business Review,
42(4), 381-392.
Diamantis, D. (2000). Ecotourism and Sustainability in Mediterranean
islands. Thunderbird International Business Review, 42(4), 427-443.
ICTA (2010). What is Culinary Tourism? Retrieved from www.
culinarytourism.org
Keys, A. (1970). Coronary heart disease in seven countries. Circulation 41
(supplement): 1-211.
Psilakis, N. (2006). Deciphering the Cretan diet. Kritiko Panorama,
16:169-179 (in Greek).
Psilakis, M.N. (1997). To kritikon edesmatologion, Cretan traditional
Cuisine, Heraklion:Karmator (in Greek).
Robinson, P. (2008}. Local Food, an Opportunity for Tourism, retrieved
from www.insights.org.uk
Simopoulos, A.R. (2001). The Mediterranean Diets: What is so special
about the diet of Greece. The Scientific Evidence. Journal of Nutrition,
131:30655-30735
Trichopoulou, A. (2001). Mediterranean diet: the past and the present.
Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovasular Diseases, 11(4), 1-4.
Trichopoulou, A. (2011). Eleftherotipia, Gourmet, 30-4-2011 (in Greek).
Page | 298
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF NATURAL
DISASTERS ON A TOURISTIC AREA: THE CASE
OF FIRES IN CHALKIDIKI, AT 2006
SIMEON KARAFOLAS
TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WESTERN
MACEDONIA, GREECE
Abstract
The study examines the economics of large scale catastrophes in the case
of fires in Chalkidiki, Greece, in 2006. Those fires were of the most
important ones in the last years and were developed during the tourist
period in the area of Kassandra where especially SME’s develop their
activities. The study examines the consequences on the basis of companies
affected by this catastrophe. The consequences of disasters are recorded as
the result of damages suffered by companies. As a consequence, however,
the loss of activities not performed for the rest of the season by those
companies and even the definitive closure for some of them should be
recorded. To these effects, one should also add the loss of state tax
revenue because of activities not carried out. The study examines the cost
of damages in the area of agricultural activities and the cost of
infrastructures for rehabilitating the damaged area. The study also
examines the financing of damages and the rehabilitation of the destroyed
area.
1. Introduction
On 21 of August 2006 the most serious, till then, fires in Greece begun
at the prefecture of Chalkidiki, (administratively, Greece is divided in 54
prefectures). Chalkidiki is a peninsula in the north of Greece and the
northwestern Aegean Sea resembling a hand with three “fingers” or “legs”
as usually referred in Greece (Wikipedia, 2011). Fires in Chalkidiki
destroyed the area of Kassandra at the west “finger” or first “leg” of
Chalkidiki. This area is a touristic area hosting every year a big part of
about 1,3 million tourists arriving in Chalkidiki from Greece and abroad
and August is a month of full touristic season. Economic activity in
Chalkidiki, especially in the area of Kassandra, is based on two sectors,
tourism and agriculture (especially apiculture). In the area of Kassandra
the districts of Hanioti, Pefkohori, Polychrono and Nea Skioni are those
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which suffered the most; other districts which also suffered are those of
Fourka, Mola Kaliva and Siviri. Activities in all these areas are based on
small and medium enterprises on the services sector such as restaurants,
taverns, mini markets, cafeteria, rooms and apartments to let, small hotels.
A further issue is that activities are seasonal based on the touristic period
of May to September with a peak of activities in August. Therefore, the
economic consequences are further than the fire damages. Tourists had to
abandon the area and new arrivals of tourists were cancelled for the rest of
the tourist season. The economic consequences are related to the
immediate damages to enterprises but also to the problems caused to other
companies depending on tourism activities. As far as public finances are
concerned, the consequences are related to tax losses and expenditure for
financing the rehabilitation of infrastructures and reimbursement of
damaged enterprises and physical persons.
The paper offers one of few studies on the economic consequences of
large scale catastrophes, especially in the case of Greece. During the last
decades fires and other extreme natural events as floods have damaged
several areas in Greece; although they do not constitute disasters. Natural
disaster or large scale catastrophe is defined by its impact and not by the
occurrence of the event (Organization of American States, 2005). By their
impact, fires in Chalkidiki may constitute a large scale catastrophe.
International bibliography has been interested on major physical
catastrophes not systematically and almost always after the event. Studies
were undertaken particularly from international organizations OECD,
IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank focusing on
physical disasters in America, (as the Caribbean case and the Katrina), and
the Asian tsunami. In the case of Greece the fires in Peloponnesus in 2007
have been examined under the scope of rehabilitation of the damaged area
(Agricultural University of Athens, 2007).
The Caribbean case interested several international organizations since
the region experienced numerous natural disasters, over than 150 in the
20th century. Most of them were related to hurricanes, tropical storms and
flooding (Organization of American States, 2005). Given the disastrous
experience of the region caused by the hurricane in 2004, OAS’s study
examined several issues as the cost of the ex-ante mitigation and ex-post
reconstruction and rehabilitation, the macroeconomic implications for a
hurricane of similar intensity in the future, the capability and effectiveness
of private and public management, the use of information and previous
experience for a long term risk management. Auffret, 2003, examined the
risk management of physical disasters, and particularly the consequences
on the insurance market, based on the Caribbean experience.
Page | 300
The Katrina Hurricane at the American Gulf Coast, in August 2005,
and the damages it caused to the New Orleans area, has been the object of
other studies. Shughart, 2006, indicated that the damages caused were as a
consequence of public policy failure on several levels, local, state and
federal. Congleton, 2006, argued that such disasters were provoked by the
policy failure after the event but also by a poor information system of the
possible consequences the hurricane and floods could have had on the
region. Munasinghe, 2007, comparing the impacts of Asian tsunami and
Hurricane Katrina argued that strengthening the social capital may have a
positive role to facing physical disasters. Kunreuther, 2006, examining the
Katrina case, noticed the effects of the lack of interest in voluntary
protection and proposed the enforcement of the collaboration between
public sector and private sector as a way to reducing the disaster losses
and helping with the recovery process.
OECD has been interested in large scale catastrophes. In 2005 the
organisation published an issue on catastrophic risks and insurance in
which some issues are pointed out; are those risks insurable? how can
financial markets help to address the risks and what should be the role of
governments in the covering catastrophe risks, (OECD, 2005). In 2008, in
a new issue, the organisation discussed some issues on the management of
large scale catastrophes examining different policy strategies with respect
to prevention, mitigation and financial compensation of these catastrophes,
(OECD, 2008). This study examined the impact of recent catastrophes on
the insurance disaster and how future losses can be reduced. It provided
some strategies for the improvement of the management of risk. Guerenko
and Lester, 2004, examined the risk management strategy for natural
disasters and especially the policy of loss funding from the catastrophe.
The policies and mechanisms in Latin American countries and the
Caribbean facing the natural disaster were examined in the report prepared
from Freeman et all. Authors in the first place offered a comparative
examination of the components of the national systems, and in the second
one they examined the instruments for financing reconstruction after a
disaster (Feeman et al., 2003).
Following the introduction, section 2 examines the scope, methodology
and sources of the paper, section 2 examines the consequences of the fires
on local companies, section 3 examines the financing of damages, and
section 4 tries to investigate the consequences beyond damages while
conclusions are discussed in section 5.
Page | 301
2. Methodology and Sources
The study aims to examine financial microeconomic and infrastructure
effects of the fires in Chalkidiki. Microeconomic financial consequences
are examined through the damages caused to enterprises. Results may
appear from the direct damages recorded by companies. Therefore the
sectors and the number of companies that are affected are important issues.
The consequences for enterprises are wider than the registered damages
since one main result may be the end of activities for the rest of the tourist
period or the definitive closure of an enterprise. The registration of
declared damages and the fluctuation of bank deposits in the department of
Chalkidiki are two indications of the consequences. On a macroeconomic
level, the study examines the rehabilitation cost for the infrastructure. The
study examines also the financing of the cost that is covered essentially
from public sources provided by the Greek state and the European Union.
The period of nearly five years between the time of the fires and the
investigation allows us to have better information and data; for instance
the program financed by the European Union and the Greek state on the
reimbursement of apiculture can be taken under consideration.
The study is based on a large part to sources provided by local
authorities and organizations, mainly through interviews in the damaged
areas.
Data on the damages of companies were provided by the Emergency
Policy Design Department of the Civil Protection of the Department of
Chalkidiki. The Forestry of Kassandra provided data on the infrastructure
damages and the cost of restoration. The Department of Insurance and
Financial Support of the Greek Organization of Agriculture Insurance
provided data on the damages of crop and livestock disaster. Data on bank
deposits are registered by the Bank of Greece.
3. The Consequences of Fires on Local Enterprises
The fires of August 2006 in the area of Kassandra covered, on a
different level, numerous districts of the west “finger” of Chalkidiki.
Damages have been considered with regard to the total amount, the
number of damaged companies and the medium damage, as a result of the
total amount to the number of damaged companies. The catastrophes of
fires are concentrated on the district of Hanioti, one of the most popular
tourist destinations. More than half of damaged companies, (59,3%), that
is 51 companies in a total of 86, and the amount of damages (59,2% of
total) were registered in the district of Hanioti, Table 1. In the district of
Page | 302
Pefkohori the second more important number of damaged companies was
registered, 21 companies or 24,4% of the total number. The district of Nea
Skioni presents a particularity since the registered damages are influenced
by the amounts declared by a lumber trade company and a painter; they
declared losses of 320.000 and 205.000 Euros respectively.
Table 1: Registered damages due to Fires of August 2006 in Chalkidiki: Per District
Part on
total
Part on
Number of
Total
total number of
Companies Medium
amount
amount companies
(2)
(1) / (2)
(1)
District
Hanioti
1.935.838
51
37.958
59,2%
59,3%
Nea Skioni
560.200
5 112.040
17,1%
5,8%
Pefkohori
495.410
21
23.591
15,1%
24,4%
Polyhrono
259.570
5
51.914
7,9%
5,8%
Agia Paraskevi
6.767
1
6.767
0,2%
1,2%
Thessaloniki
6.080
1
6.080
0,2%
1,2%
Simantra
6.000
1
6.000
0,2%
1,2%
Mola kaliva
650
1
650
0,0%
1,2%
Total
3.270.515
86
38.029
100,0%
100,0%
Source: Prefecture of Chalkidiki, 2011, author’s calculation
The examination by activity of damaged companies offers quite
interesting results. We distinguished a large number of activities, although
a lot of them are registered to similar areas of activities, in order to have a
more detailed view of consequences. A number of 86 enterprises declared
direct damages concerning commodities, buildings or equipment. We do
not include companies of agriculture activities related to apiculture and
olive production because they are financed through other programs. On
Table 2 we observe that activities related directly to tourism suffered in
majority; 52 companies of a total of 86 directly damaged, dealt with
tourism activities (hotels, cafeterias, camps, mini golf, taverns, baby parks,
umbrella renting, patisseries, apartments and rooms to let, restaurants,
snack bars, car renting).
The damages were not of the same importance for all companies. Of
the 52 mentioned enterprises, the amount of damages declared has only
been 911.000 Euros in total; that is only 28% of the total amount, Table 2.
On the contrary, we observe a concentration of direct damages to some
companies that are most affected.
If we consider a declaration of damages that exceeds the amount of
300.000 Euros, there are 28 companies in this case; those companies
registered direct damages of 2,6 million Euros in total, which is 79% of
the total amount, Table 2. Within them, a super market registered damages
of 650.000 Euros, almost 20% of the total amount. The second most
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effected enterprise, the municipal enterprise of Pallini in Hanioti, dealing
with tourism activities, declared damages of 360.000 Euros.
Table 2: Registered damages due to Fires of August 2006 in Chalkidiki: Per activity
Total Number of
Part on total
Part on
amount Companies Medium
number of
total
(1)
(2)
Activity
companies
amount
(1) / (2)
Super market
651.840
2 325.920
19,93%
2,33%
Construction
417.043
9
46.338
12,75%
10,47%
Public entity
360.000
1 360.000
11,01%
1,16%
Painter
320.000
1 320.000
9,78%
1,16%
Hotel
318.213
12
26.518
9,73%
13,95%
Cafeteria
303.200
3 101.067
9,27%
3,49%
Lumber trade
207.000
2 103.500
6,33%
2,33%
Earthworks
172.400
4
43.100
5,27%
4,65%
Camping
96.100
2
48.050
2,94%
2,33%
Vehicle
Exploitation,
Renting car
67.400
2
33.700
2,06%
2,33%
Café mini golf
60.000
1
60.000
1,83%
1,16%
Tavern, Restaurant,
Snack bar
49.662
14
3.547
1,52%
16,28%
Agriculture
40.000
1
40.000
1,22%
1,16%
Fruits and legumes
33.080
2
16.540
1,01%
2,33%
Fish and Butcher
Store
22.380
3
7.460
0,68%
3,49%
Babypark
21.330
1
21.330
0,65%
1,16%
Renting umbrellas
21.200
13
1.631
0,65%
15,12%
Patisserie, Bucker
19.100
3
6.367
0,58%
3,49%
Rooms, Apartments
to let
18.150
3
6.050
0,55%
3,49%
Olive mill
15.000
1
15.000
0,46%
1,16%
Plumber
15.000
1
15.000
0,46%
1,16%
TV station
12.800
1
12.800
0,39%
1,16%
Gas Oil shop
10.000
1
10.000
0,31%
1,16%
Garden
6.850
1
6.850
0,21%
1,16%
Restaurant
Equipment
6.767
1
6.767
0,21%
1,16%
Expo construction
materials
6.000
1
6.000
0,18%
1,16%
Total
3.270.515
86
38.029 100,00%
100,00%
Source: Idem. Table 1, author’s calculations
Crop and livestock damages concern mainly the apiculture and olive
tree sector. More than 55.000 olive trees were destroyed especially in the
districts of Polychrono and Nea Skioni, Table 3. In terms of apiculture,
1.762 beehives were destroyed while the fire burned 1.277 flocks of bees,
Table 4. These are serious damages since the apiculture and the olive
Page | 304
culture are among the principal agricultural activities in the department of
Chalkidiki.
Table 3: Registered damages due to Fires of August 2006 in Chalkidiki: Olive trees
District
Trees
Estimated amount
Polychrono
21.414
290.462
Hanioti
7.314
103.796
Kassandrioo
1.799
15.533
Kryopigi
125
1.770
Nea Skioni
16.487
263.339
Pefkohori Kapsohora
7.670
113.510
Agia Paraskeui
218
3.029
Total
55.027
791.439
Source: ELGA, (2011), author’s calculations
Table 4: Registered damages due to Fires of August 2006 in Chalkidiki: Apiculture
(Beehives and Flock of Bees)
District
Number
Amount
Nea Skioni
Beehives
1.082
18.402
Flock of Bees
853
35.517
Pefkohori
Beehives
224
4.301
Flock of Bees
157
7.781
Polychrono
Beehives
456
8.712
Flock of Bees
267
13.084
Total
3.039
87.797
Source: Idem. Table 3
3. The Financing of Damages
Three categories of financing are distinguished; one concerns the
financing of 86 companies and two others the financing of the agriculture,
(essentially the apiculture and olive trees), and the financing of
rehabilitation and infrastructure in the damaged area.
Companies affected from direct damages were asked to declare their
damages. The prefecture of Chalkidiki proceeded to the control of them
and presented a list of companies and amount of damages to the Greek
Organization of Small and Medium Enterprises (EOMMEX), authorized
to approve the submitted list. The reimbursement is fixed by a common
ministerial decision to 30% of the registered cost, (EOMMEX, 2007).
Therefore the amount accorded to those companies was only 981.155
Euros, on a total of 3.270.515 Euros. Every company was reimbursed in
30% of the approved cost.
Page | 305
In the case of apiculture and olive trees, damaged agricultures were
reimbursed for the amounts of 87.797 and 791.439 Euros respectively,
Tables 3 and 4. This amount was financed by the European Union
programs through the Greek Organization for Agriculture Insurance. The
financing was extended for a period of five years; its duration, especially
in the case of apiculture, did not make it popular. Numerous beekeepers
preferred to begin their apiculture activities before the reimbursement of
the lost property, (Forestry of Kassandra, 2011).
The rehabilitation of the damaged area and the creation of
infrastructures were designed by the Forestry of Kassandra and financed
by the Greek state and the European Union through the Ministry of
Agriculture. Three types of intervention policy were decided, the erosion
protection works, the flood protection works and the seed for the reestablishment of the burned area. The amount foreseen by the initial
studies was diminished dramatically. The final amount for erosion
protection has only been 1,8 million Euros instead of initial 9,9 foreseen;
the amount for flood protection has been 1,345 million Euros instead of
6,9 million initially predicted while the amount for seed was only 90.000
Euros instead of 350.000 Euros, (Forestry of Kassandra, 2011).
4. Consequences Beyond the Direct Damages
The economic consequences of fires are multiple. Direct damage and
its financing is one of them. For some companies the direct financing does
not appear very important; in some cases the medium amount demanded is
less than 7.000 Euros. For others who suffered from important losses, this
aid may have helped; although, the public aid of 30% of damages leaves
the rest 70% to be covered by the affected company. That can create
serious problems to companies who suffered from large damages and did
not have additional insurance.
Beyond the direct damage, all these companies faced serious problems
continuing with their activities for the rest of the tourist season; part of
them closed definitely. On the other hand in these districts, the touristic
period for that year ended while it usually continues to the end of
September. Thus the income of companies was affected from damages but
also from the end of their activities for the rest of the touristic period. That
constitutes an important economic parameter for the consequences of the
catastrophe. An indication of the economic consequences may be the
fluctuation of banking deposits in the prefecture of Chalkidiki for the first
and second semester of some years before and after fires. We observe
from Table 5 that during the examined period 2003-2007, deposits grow
Page | 306
up in the 2nd semester in comparison to the 1st semester; that is as a
consequence of the tourist period and the growth of activities. We observe,
nevertheless, that in 2006 this growth is lower than the other years, apart
for 2004; this appears especially for the sight deposits held by companies
and savings deposits. An important part of the tourist period was through
yet, the fires of 21 August 2006 seem to influence the fluctuation of
deposits. This can be explained as a consequence of the reduction even
closure of activities and the need for cash from damaged and other
depended companies such as suppliers of damaged companies.
Table 5: Banking deposits and repos in the prefecture of Chalkidiki: fluctuation of the
2nd semester in comparison the first semester of the year
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
7%
1%
10%
5%
9%
Total
Deposits
10%
0%
10%
6%
9%
(only sight)
-5%
12%
16%
11%
15%
Repos
-17%
7%
0%
-67%
-34%
Source: Bank of Greece, (2009), author’s calculations
5. Conclusion
The study examined the economic consequences of large scale
physical disaster focusing on the case of fires in the prefecture of
Chalkidiki in Greece in August 2006. Several issues may be examined on
such a study. These issues may be on a macroeconomic or microeconomic
scope, on the financing of damages provoked, the rehabilitation of the
damaged area and the creation of infrastructures. Apart from the cost of
direct damages, the indirect consequences such as the continuity of
activities of damaged enterprises or even the whole area and the loss of
income are important parameters.
The study tried to investigate those issues by examining on a
microeconomic scope the cost of damages for enterprises. The study found
that 86 enterprises declared direct damages, the main part in provenance of
tourist activities. Some companies registered very serious damages.
Almost all companies had to face the end of their activities for the rest of
the period; this problem was extended to other companies not directly
damaged. Thus, additionally to the direct cost of damages, the loss of
income from the end of activities is an important parameter, especially
because the department is very much depending on the tourism. The
fluctuation of banking deposits in the prefecture of Chalkidiki shows the
difficulties of the economic activity in the region.
Apart from tourism, the district of Kassandra suffered from
catastrophes of the apiculture and olive culture.
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The Greek state and the European Union financed the damages
registered to enterprises and the infrastructure. This financing covered
only a part of the damages, either for the companies or for the
infrastructure. The needs of the enterprises and those of the area could not
be covered by this financing since the damages registered were more
important. Additionally this financing could not cover the loss of income
due to the closure of the companies and the interruption of activities in the
area.
References
Agricultural University of Athens (2007). Summary of study for
rehabilitation and development of agriculture, forestry and
environmental protection in fire-stricken areas. Athens, (in Greek).
Auffret, P. (2003). Catastrophe insurance market in the Caribbean Region:
Market failures and recommendations for public sector interventions.
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 2963.
Bank of Greece (2009). Analysis of deposits and repos. Letter to author
Congleton, R. (2006). The story of Katrina: New Orleans and political
economy of catastrophe. Public Choice, 127: 5-30
Greek Organization of Agriculture Insurance (ELGA) (2011). Damages of
crop and livestock disaster from fires in Chalkidiki, March 2011, (in
Greek), Letter to author.
EOMMEX (2007). Reimbursement of companies damaged from fires of
21/8.2006 in the municipalities of Kassandra and Pallini of the
Department of Chalkidiki. Athens: EOMMEX, (in Greek).
Forestry of Kassandra (2011). Data on financing of infrastructure in
damaged area of Kasandra. Interview to author.
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Page | 309
HOW AN INTENSIVE VOLUME OF
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS THE
HOTEL CLIENTELE TARGET
E MMANOUIL K ASERIS
ADVANCED SCHOOL OF TOURISM EDUCATION OF RHODOS,
GREECE
Abstract
This project describes the functions supported by information technology
and examines how each of these affects the hotel guest. The present issue
studies ways of approaching hotel guests based entirely on communication
and internet potentials that technology provides. The target of the present
study is to analyze today’s information technology infrastructure in the
private and public sector which is correlated with changes to the hotel
clientele target. Also, to analyze the hotel information technology systems
and to associate each issue and its function with its potential to directly or
indirectly affect the hotel clientele. To make analyses and to draw
conclusions that emerge from comparisons of views and comments made
by both hoteliers and guests. The methodology involved research that was
held in 10 four-star hotels and 10 five-star hotels Each hotel had a specific
tourist product. The research was held between April and June 2005. The
clientele groups were classified and connected to the information
technology fields involved in the research. There were elements of primary
and secondary research. Finally, there is a description of how information
technology affects clientele targets, how it can be directed towards the
desired targets and in which fields the research should be turned to in order
to make the necessary changes regarding administration and marketing
issues. Approaching clientele is closely associated with how information
and communication are used by clients and all tourist involved businesses
alike. Choosing the hotel product is what determines the structure of its
information technology support. Improving hotel information support leads
to attracting more clients of higher income, higher educational level and
clients with higher demands regarding services. Using communication
networks is the most important function nowadays as it has positive results
and the more collectively is held, the more independent hotels become of
the tourist product sales worries.
Page | 310
1. Introduction
Among all potentials given to us by Information Technology support in
hotels is also the approach of target clientele in the framework of
globalization, which inflicts many significant changes in the tourism
functions structured on the hotel environment. In the rapidly changing
environment, we must define how the use of IT affects the clientele target
of the hotel and to define the levels of the impact of such use
A lot of literature and notes are available in foreign bibliography
dealing with the market segmentation as well as access to analyses and
categorizations based on the psychographic features and lifestyle of the
population we are dealing with. Many details on the applications of IT can
be found in the tourism and hospitality field which facilitate handling the
hotel resources or its penetration into the market. Despite the above
researched issues, there will not be any correlation between the intensity of
information and its impact on parts of the market.
After recording the clientele target relations and the use of information
technology, solutions are given through administrative strategies such as
modification of the offered product, so that it is upgraded as a unit and as
an entity of the professional sector.
This project describes the purpose of information services and to
examine the role of each one of them and of every group played in the
hotel administration and marketing. Very important is the description
provided and how the guest comprehends the message from each functionwork achieved through information technology.
Several issues are analyzed and proposals are suggested towards
enhancing the infrastructure and the measures needed to reach the right
clientele target.
2. The structure of Information technology today
2.1. The levels of IT and Communication development
It is important to evaluate the four principal stages of the technological
development.
Chronologically, the first developed in the 1960s, when super and small
computers were used by large enterprises such as airline companies.
The second stage of development, chronologically placed in the 1970s was
entitled management information systems(MIS) intended to satisfy the
organization needs of IT.
In the 1980s we observe the third level of development, which was called
strategic information systems (SIS). Its aim was to develop competitiveness, to
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synchronize jobs and to support interaction with external factors, aiming to
achieve have the comparable advantage.
After 1990 the fourth stage of development is distinguished for the use of
local and broad band networks, which in their three dimensional form with the
intranet, extranet and internet globalizes the market in the area of tools,
functions and transactions.
Electronic commerce marked a challenge in the new global economy,
where everyone was connected and competing on a global scale (Buhalis D.
2003).
2.2 Information Technology Today
Scanners of fingerprints and plastic money
Pay By Touch is one of the most popular systems of biometric payments
in the USA. The electronic payment system made its appearance in shops and
renders credit cards unnecessary, cash cards too, as the client can now pay by
touching his finger on a scanner.
Consumers in the US welcome with great enthusiasm the biometric
systems, due to the ease of usage and to the increased security, since the user
cannot disclose the number of his credit card.
Face book
This website of social network started on 4th February 2004 and its users
can communicate through messages with their contacts and to inform them
when they renew their personal information. Facebook today has 500 million
active users, categorizing them in its list as one of the most visited sites
uploading over 14 million photographs daily. The specific website remains the
most famous social network in many English speaking countries.
2.3 Hotel Information Technology
Tools used for information are the telephone, the internet, the television,
which serve as tools of marketing giving the possibility to organizations such:
tour operators, travel agents of incoming and outgoing tourism, administration
of tourist destinations etc to organise their client approach, making sale
mechanisms such as tourist sites, portals or vortals etc.
The scientific fields which now seemed to be formed and which
coordinate the structures above are the m-commerce, the e- commerce and in
our case e-tourism.
In the future, our fast changing times regarding technology will give us the
possibility to choose the tourist product that we would lie to have, through
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mechanisms which would give us the possibility to find the best and to suggest
it to other consumers in order to upgrade our quality of life.
Therefore we are able to set the framework of the information functions
and to associate them with our clientele, to define the least potent information
levels, the must levels that provide us with comparative advantages, those
which improve our performance and finally those that the client looks for
paying for it.
3. Hospitality Consumers and Information Technology
Direct connection, taking consumer decision. Seeking information is one
of the first stages in the process of making decisions.
Gursoy and Umbreit (2004) use 3264 responses in a survey of the
European Commission to study the cultural differences in how travellers from
countries of the EU search for information online and off -line.
For example, travellers from Belgium and Italy use external sources of
information, more often than other parts, while travellers from Denmark and
Finland use the internet very often. The entrepreneurs must therefore direct
their marketing efforts based on the behaviour in seeking information on the
population.
Evaluation machines of tourist products. (holidaycheck.de)
Modern machines of conducting research, where the tourist product
clients, can announce the grade of their satisfaction, also to take information
for the previous experience of other customers, in order to decide on the
choice they are about to make.
Enterprise Resource Planning
This follows a sequence of application packets covering the functions of
an enterprise and dispose the necessary flexibility regarding their adaptation to
the demands and changes occurring. They provide complete information
solutions towards a better and more efficient management and resource
programming.
4. Description of Labor Research
This is an etiological study which examines the factors affecting the clienttourist behaviour regarding the intensity of information in hotels.
5. Research Proposal
A combination of research methods through the results of secondary as
well as the primary research has led to the following.
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The methodology includes the use of three questionnaires which are
intended for:
1. Computerization of enterprises, to inform about the kind of
computerization of hotel units that we are trying to examine and
define the intension levels of this computerization method.
2. Hoteliers, where we can pump information from about the way
hotels are computerized and to outline the intensity in every part of
hotel exploitation. Also, to attempt to describe the target clientele of
each hotel.
3. Clients of the above mentioned hotels will help us establish the
necessary services associated with information and to what extent
they want them to be describing at the same time client identity for
every hotel case.
The above findings will then be compared in order to see the hoteliers’
position and that of the clients’ converge to the same results in the study of
client target relation and information intensity.
The time space of the research has been defined from October 2005 to
June 2006
The languages in which the questionnaires were compiled in were Greek,
English, German and Italian.
5.1 Population
The research is held in hotels of 4 and 5 stars on the island of Rhodes, as in
these hotel levels can information be developed, in levels of international
standards where the clients can understand its parameters in computerization
in «Front of the house» and in «Back of the House».
To be able to obtain Demographic, Geographic and Psychographic
characteristics, in the most representative proportion of the population, we
chose hotels which have tourists from representative geographic places in
different hotel products.
5.2 Frameworks of Sampling
The present survey concerns tourists of a specific period, who have
different demographic and Life-style characteristics, than the tourists of other
periods, the results of the survey concerning the clients, cannot be
representative of tourists of the whole duration of the tourist period.
Sufficiency of the sample is representative of the population of each group
through the choice of hotels and the connection of small research fields.
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5.3 Kinds of Samples / Random and Non Random Samples
The sample of the hotel type is not a non probability quota sample as in
this way we will be able to have hotels of all sizes and formed product
situation. Adhering to the research rules, the sample had the following
structure:
In the 10 five star hotels the following are included:
• A hotel of communication centres, (Sofitel Athens airport)
• Of class “small luxury hotels of the word”, (Rodos Park)
• A hotel with well organized conference centre, (Rodos Palace)
• A global chain hotel for the highly demanding quality services (Hilton
Rhodes Resort)
• Out of a tourist area with sophisticated electronic entertainment system
in rooms, (Lindian Village).
• A large sample with all its services developed, (Sofitel capsis Rhodes)
• A family oriented hotel, (Atlantica aegean blue)
• An independent enterprise, seasonal of average size. Rhodian Amathus)
• With a full entertainment programme of a global chain of type four
generation. (Magic life Crete). At the end
• Sophisticated quality service resort. (Palladium)
• In the 10 four star hotels the following are included:
• Independent enterprise, seasonal of average size.(Irene palace)
• A town resort (Ibiscus)
• A local chain, seasonal of average size hotel, (Calypso).
• An international chain, with emphasis on the protection of the
environment (Sunwing)
• An average size resort without access to the sea (Kresten palace)
• An international club family oriented (Mikri poli)
• A small size resort (Lutania)
• A club of global fame with full animation (Lippia)
• An independent enterprise resort of average size (Pegasus) and
• outside the tourist region of national chain (Grecotel Creta Sun).
Of the 1370 questionnaires given to hotel guests to complete, only 256 were
found to be valid.
6. Consumer-Tourist Typologies
As correlation of demographic and lifestyle characteristic criteria of the market
they developed typological behaviours characterizing team targets. The
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definitions and the methodology print and formation of typologies comes from
the psychology of the individual.
6.1 Typologies of Lifestyle
The tourist’s lifestyle is considered a pioneering allocation. This is because
travelling behaviour is the expression of the general lifestyle. Many of the type
results are very standardized and contradicting themselves. Despite all this,
they constitute a practical scientific use, due to the rapidly changed lifestyle
and the large number of types.
Types of European Lifestyle.
One typology of tourist segmentation is cited in the survey of German
businesses regarding business client research in combination with other
European institutes of Consumer Survey (GFK 1989) an with the Austrian
Survey (vgl.Österreich 2000).
The basic structure of the European lifestyle is formed on two points,
where making a provision of personality characteristics is achieved between
two extreme habits; persistence (inflexibility, conservativeness, security and
tradition) and activeness (modernist, open-minded, flexible). On the other
scale are value attitudes, in relation to intellectual and material values. For
instance kindness. At the same time the general type of life style take shape.
Table 1: Travelers typology
Good
The new entertainment traveler
The new family man The careful traveler of relaxation
Flexibility
Persistence
The demanding traveler of
experience
The typical traveler of civilization
Expensive
Source: Österreich (2000: 105); Freyer Walter (2004).
7. Previous Knowledge, Seeking Trustworthiness and
Information
Previous knowledge is a multi-dimensional demand consisting of three
separate dimensions (Alba και Hutchinson 1987) and it is considered that
familiarity and experience can be acquired through the means of information,
apart from the real experience, which does not necessarily lead to an increased
interest in a possibility of visiting a destination. (Milman and Pizam 1995).
Page | 316
Individuals with higher levels of previous knowledge( previous knowledge
and familiarity) were less possible to use and trust the internet. Raswami,
Strader και Brett (2000-2001) found out that the consumers must have an
incentive and the chance to use the internet as a source.
8. Managerial Effects
Empirical marketing has become known and commercialized
nowadays. Recognition of this experience is a key to a future financial
development (Gilmore 1999). Passive participation means that clients do
not have any effect directly; on the contrary, in the active participation,
they have an impact on the performance producing experience (Bigné and
Andreu 2004).
9. Conclusions
9.1 General Hotel Characteristics
The majority of businesses are independent and chains by 2/3 of the total
number, with the remaining being 1/3, for the 4 star hotels are groups of
businesses, while for the 5 star hotels the divide in groups and clubs or
franchise. Most of the businesses are the 5 star hotels, offering services
thinking that “home far away from home”. The 4 star hotels do not need
special information support demanded by the offered services in the relevant 5
star hotels. In the offered services, we observe that the formed product all
inclusive is less met in 5 star hotels.
In the rooms, we observe that there are many differences, which are related
to information. In the 5 star hotels, we see that there is a voice mail, pay TV,
possibility of internet, mini bar, services that could enrich both hotel
categories. Today, however, they could give the characteristics of today’s
generation in the 4 star hotels.
9.2 Reception, Communication and Floors
In 5 star hotels, reservations are supported by modern and effective
information systems, which will be directly connected with the form of
clientele, which is more demanding from information technology and tolerates
fewer mistakes.
As a more important means of communication for clients is the use of the
computer and the internet followed by the use of the phone. In special clientele
groups, however, as in hotels with conference centres, or with luxuries, clients
seek high quality of services with the relevant charge, of course.
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9.3 Food
A wireless system for orders is available in 3 5star hotels, a characteristic
of which is the lack of order-takers in the case of hotels with the “all inclusive”
product, which allows us to conclude that the client does not require service.
The important field in the restaurant’s computerisation is believed to be the
system of order-taking, according to 5 star hotel clients.
The hotel owners believe that the proper organization always affects its
clientele positively as a better check is made also ensuring the quality
standards.
9.4 Entertainment and Peculiarities of Clientele Groups
The use of multimedia in the 5 star hotels is systematic with the possibility
of renting them by clients. On the contrary, 4 star hotels this possibility is
occasional with client exceptions. Supporting animation and events for clients
on information issues, is made by partial software use in 5 star hotels. An
exception is made by a hotel of 4 stars, whose clientele target wished for is
sophisticated animation. Entertainment and generally emotions constitute the
client’s perception that he was satisfied as regards his expectations and the
possibility of client segmentation.
In conference tourism, the computer is essential. It could affect bodies and
organizations positively in choosing a particular hotel for their conference or
their meeting.
9.5 To the Management
The software Data mining seem to be used in the majority of enterprises
while the property management systems are essential.
Economising on energy is considered extremely demanding, as opposed to
the protection of the environment, which is merely a positive thought.
To ensure quality we conclude that at least 50% of the hoteliers do not
follow the development in issues related to the professional moral mentality of
the market, where they receive their clients from.
The use of network sites, the organised notary models and the proper use
of yield management are based on contemporary applications for half of the
hotels.
The client differentiation is observed by the software of reservations
supported by general use software for 5 star hotels, for 4 star hotels or their
running is made by software of general use supported by reservation software.
Page | 318
9.6 Internet Support
In a study presented by the Thomson travel agency in October 2000 it was
reported that there will be three parameters that will define the tourist package
market in the next 20 years:
• Special markets such as Conference travels, Cruises, all inclusive and
older markets.
• Τhe internet, increasing the number of direct sales, its acceptance as an
information tool, travel agency contacts through the internet and
adopting technology.
• The common currency (euro) for the currency(euro), for the tourist, for
the tour operator, for the encouragement of European tourism.
The internet will take its place in the market.
54% of the tourists reported that they used the internet to find information
before travelling to Rhodes before making their reservation. The
Scandinavians made the greatest use of the internet (59%)and the British
(56%),whereas the least was made by the people of the former Eastern
countries (44%).
The use of the internet falls as age increases. At the same time, the use of
the internet increases as the level of education increases.
The use of the internet reduces the degree of influence on the tour operator
and on the travel agent. The choice of lodgings was made either by a Tour
Operator’s leaflet or by recommendation of the travel agency, while when
reservation was made on the internet, the afore-mentioned factors influenced
only 30% of the tourists. (a research made by Foreign Tourists- Rhodes
Airport2004- page 9. Chamber of Commerce of the Dodecanese)
It is of utmost importance to study what is considered in the European
Union regarding the internet.
The high speed market is still spreading. However, the EU must overcome
two obstacles preventing making full use of the broad zone (Vanikiotis
Periklis 2005).
The internet has brought about the following changes: it offered fertile soil
in mutating the providers of the internet to tour operators, to chain hotels,
which are the only ones that can react against pressures to the new
environment, prices function in uniformity in relation to the sales and benefits,
the marketing plans must be made on the level of tourist destination and the
internet function rules on a national level in the lead.
Concerning advertising, we observe that those hotel owners who have a
website, proved through it information about the product, while information is
conducted three months on average for the 5 star hotels and every year for the
4 star hotels. At this stage, we must say that a questionnaire with comparative
Page | 319
tables for the clients’ satisfaction use machines on the internet, with specific
results on the life of certain hotels (www.holidaycheck.de).
5 star Hotel information services demand
52
45
11
Ro
om
s
Free service
17 17
13
minimal charge
13
17
12
25
21
17
12
17
5
7
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s
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ce
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io
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m
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tio
n
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19
9
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10
15
11 13
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30
22
18
10
minimal charge
33
29
24
28
25
21
13
9 10
5
10
6
687
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cr
et
ar
ia
t
20
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10
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38
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t
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13
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19
advanced form
45
38
10
32
29
242322
52
40
0
14 1614
33
4 star Hotel information services demand
54
50
20
9
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t
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m
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io
n
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60
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advanced form
9.7 Clientele Characteristics
The organization regarding information issues in support of conferences is
available in 5 star hotels. The clients who hold the highest number in 5 hotels
are the Scandinavians followed by the Germans and third come the Italians.
In the total number of clients first come the Germans with a 50% of the
total number followed by the Italians with a 2% in the total number of hotels.
Clientele countries of origin have many differences if we estimate that
Germany is a country which stands out in both cases, the difference in
percentage is significant as well as Greece’s presence as a second country with
America and Israel of the 5 star hotels. We therefore conclude that the new
formation relates to clientele groups which are more demanding in service
issues and have a higher per capita income.
We should soon consider China as a clientele target, who we could
approach through the internet.
Page | 320
Besides changes in nationalities, we have also changes in travel agencies.
The travel agency with the most clients in 5 star hotels is TUI then comes
LTU with the 4 star hotels. TUI against LTU has more expensive prices and
more services.
We are able to conclude that in general mentalities, the two basic groups
converge to their tendencies only in the cases that relate to the approach of
clientele-centred service, the 5 star hotel clients become more demanding
towards quality services.
Use of airport hotels is mainly made by Americans, Australians, Dutch,
English etc. The ages range from 40 to 60. International and Greek corporate
clientele, high rank executives or owners, high income transit tourists from
and to different Greek destinations. Incentives + corporate groups.
Howdid you choose the 4 star hotel
Friend
Club
7%8%
8%
8%
1%
10%
Group
Catalog
Hotel chain
Other
58%
internet
Howdid you choose the 5 star hotel
Friend
Club
6%
19%
8%
6%
5%
22%
34%
Group
Catalog
Hotel chain
Other
internet
10. Proposals
In an effort to have a client-centred approach in the information support in
hotels, we must understand what is necessary for the hotel’s function and what
constitutes a comparative advantage or a client’s need which we must attempt
to satisfy.
It is necessary therefore to have a well organized reservations system,
which will be running without any mistakes, to have the possibility to
communicate through the intranet, extranet and internet with reservation
systems of travel agents and to exchange information with the property
management systems and points of sales of the hotel.
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A modern support system relating to entertainment issues and information
with the client’s picture and sound, supporting the possibility of fast internet in
the rooms and in communal places, with the possibility to support
environmental protection through the hotel, secure quality and economizing
on energy.
Using marketing tools through internet, so that good information and
advertisement to the client is secured, and provides efficient allocation in real
time, building of trust in our relation with the clients and potential extension of
the tourist period.
Comparative advantages would be available if we had turned to clients of
conference tourism, with a well organised secretarial support and translation
centre, facilitating entrepreneurs by supporting them with office facilities in
their rooms, in the conference rooms, exhibition places, and in their meetings
with secretarial support.
11. The Usefulness of Information
The client believes that it is the hotelier’s obligation to provide a good
information support, especially in front desk services, on the floors and in the
restaurant. The client is indifferent to client events, secretarial support and
entertainment. would accept a small charge in information issues and good
product.
The client looks for good service and quality cuisine, in the restaurant, in
the good section and in client events in the case of 4 star hotels; on the
contrary in the 5 star hotels, the client wishes to have good support, and
secretarial support.
It is a fact that computerization in hotels vary from place to place and we
must say that some hoteliers closely follow the development of technology
especially in the use of the internet and some others are at least ten years back!
It is not easy to form a general opinion on hotels and on tourist markets as
each hotel places importance of technology and the internet in different
sections of the hotel.
12. Inferences
The client considers it necessary for the hotel to be computerized, to have
a well trained personnel, to be supported by modern software, to make good
use of special software and of those of general use, so that information will
support functions and not to create problems.
Page | 322
It is obvious that the client demands more personal services, a better use of
information, and usually prefers 5 star hotels.
The need to approach high income clients of higher education and positive
characteristics of the psychographic lifestyle is much easier with the use of
information and above all the internet; however, these actions must be taken
collectively by the destination with the effective use of a portal, by a local
authority.
The reason for the development of information in many hotels seems to be
avoidance of expenditure on salaries and not the acquisition of functions
relating to satisfaction arising from recently arisen needs.
According to hotel owners, the internet can only be used as a
communication means, while in reality it is a wonderful multi-purpose tool of
marketing, which constitutes a one-way route nowadays,and it could help
avoid mediators in providing hotel clientele for hotel chains on a national and
international level as well as other kinds of enterprises. The internet can
establish trade marks, to broaden the hotel choices of potential customers and
above all it is a rapidly developing means of distribution. Parameters
indicating which clients are most approached through the hotel information
support and the use of internet:
• The nationalities in a row are as follows: Greek, Scandinavian and
Central European
• Age groups from 25-34.
• Higher education and greater income result in higher demands in
information issues.
• Cases such as: conferences, professional, business activities, customer
variations.
Information support in hotels gives the possibility for more clients, while
its intensity puts it high in the market depending on the formation of the
product, which the hotel will benefit from, if he discovers it very fast The
study into how the information intensity affects hotel clientele targets, must
continue on a global level and define how much enterprises involved in
tourism, as well as people in their personal and professional life, have adopted
the use of information and communication.
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Page | 325
TOWARDS A TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY
MODEL IN GREEK TOURISM INDUSTRY
K LEANTHIS K. K ATSAROS , ATHANASIOS
TSIRIKAS AND CHRISTOS NICOLAIDIS
UNIVERSITY OF MACEDONIA, GREECE
Abstract
The present paper examines the influence of locus of control,
involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in hotel
CEOs’ tolerance of ambiguity. The research sample consists of 82 Greek
hotels CEOs. The first part of the paper analyses their level of locus of
control, involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, in
front of the frequent, uncertain and ambiguous changes in their business
environment. In the second part, results of principal components analysis
indicate that two factors characterize CEOs’ involvement, namely
importance and interest. Further, regression results reveal the significant
influence of interest, locus of control and job satisfaction in CEOs’
tolerance of ambiguity. Concluding, the paper discusses the research
findings and proposes certain practical implications for enhancing Greek
hotel CEOs’ level of tolerance of ambiguity and thus, their efficiency
during change.
“Take advantage of ambiguity and uncertainty in the world. Look at something
and think what else it might be…” R.V. Oech
1. Introduction
Current constant political, economic, social and technological changes
have established a unique business environment. Thus, nowadays,
organizational member’ success highly depends on the extent to which
they are able to cope with change ambiguity/uncertainty in their business
environment (Nicolaidis and Katsaros, 2011). In this respect, the main aim
of this paper is to examine the influence of certain significant perceptual
and attitudinal factors in CEOs’ tolerance-of-ambiguity. We chose CEOs
due to their key role in an environment where the complexity and the pace
of change increase (Johnson and Scholes, 2002); and tourism industry, as a
rapidly growing sector with extremely high change rates in terms of
novelty, competition, development and growth, in Greece [1].
Page | 326
The first part of the paper makes a brief reference to the relevant
literature, as well as to the background of the research. The second part of
the paper, via statistical analysis, examines CEOs’ a) level of ambiguity
tolerance, b) locus of control, c) involvement during changes in their
business environment, c) degree of job satisfaction and d) organizational
commitment. Further, it investigates the relationship between CEOs’
tolerance-of-ambiguity and the above mentioned factors. The final part of
the paper discusses the results and proposes a number of certain policies
that may effectively influence CEOs’ performance towards change.
2. Tolerance of Ambiguity
Tolerance-of-ambiguity, among else, is defined as one’s acceptance of
confusing situations and lack of clear lines of differentiation (Ely, 1989). It
refers to the way a particular individual perceives stimuli and processes
information. An individual with low tolerance-of-ambiguity experiences
stress, avoids ambiguity and seeks for certainty. On the contrary, an
individual with high tolerance-of-ambiguity perceives ambiguous
situations as desirable, interesting, attractive and hence, approaches
problems from innovative perspectives (Kirton, 1981).
Numerous attempts have been made to examine the relationship
between tolerance-of-ambiguity and several personal, emotional,
behavioural and working attitudes. Generally, individuals with high
tolerance-of-ambiguity can better cope with unstructured and dynamic
situations characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity (Budner, 1962). As
a consequence, tolerance-of-ambiguity is correlated with creativity
(Tegano, 1990); decision making and critical thinking (Wilkinson, 2006);
risk acceptance (Lauriola and Levin, 2001); and effective performance in
new situations (Jonassen and Grabowski, 1993).
3. Perceptions and Attitudes
On the whole, our workplace behavior is significantly influenced by our
perceptions, personality traits, attitudes, and experiences (Langton and
Robbins, 2006).
Locus of control refers to an individual's perception about whether the
upcoming evolutions depend on what he/she does (internal orientation) or
on events outside his/her personal control (external orientation)
(Zimbardo, 1985). Begley and Boyd (1987) suggest that internal locus of
control may relate to higher performance, but at excessive levels can result
to declining performance. That is, excessive belief in the personal efficacy
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produces careless behaviours, which may ignore emerging external
dangers. On the other hand, people with an external locus of control tend
to be more stressed, anxious (Benassi et al., 1988) and unwilling to take
risks and work on self-improvement (Rotter, 1975). On the whole, the
international literature suggests that generally managers appear to be more
internals (Mamlin et al., 2001).
Involvement is mainly defined as an employee willingness to support
the organization even if it requires additional time and effort (Madsen et
al., 2005). The literature suggests that employees’ involvement relates to
their cognitive support during the change process and may promote
personal and organizational readiness for change (Armenakis et al., 1993).
Scholars suggest that involvement can be examined along a number of
dipolar dimensions that can be viewed as independent of each other.
Respectively, McQuarrie and Munson (1991) support that involvement
can be examined by two bipolar dimensions namely, importance and
interest. Importance refers to the perceived importance of an event and/or
to the quality of being important; and interest concerns the personal
interest that a person has in an event.
Job satisfaction is mainly defined as the emotional and cognitive
attitude held by an employee about different aspects of his/her work
(Wong et al., 1998). It may simultaneously influence and be influenced by
organizational changes and environmental ambiguity. For instance,
Schweiger and DeNisi (1991) found that employees involved in a merger
exhibited decreased levels of job satisfaction, while, Wanberg and Banas
(2000) found that low levels of change acceptance were associated with
decreased job satisfaction. More to the point, research has identified a
positive relationship between job satisfaction and ambiguity tolerance and
it suggests that job satisfaction plays a critical role in employees’
acceptance of change (Judge et al., 1999; Nicolaidis and Katsaros, 2011).
Organizational commitment is defined as the relative strength of an
individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular
organization (Mowday et al., 1979: 226). There is evidence in the change
management literature that organizational commitment plays an important
role in employee’s acceptance of change ambiguity/uncertainty.
Relatively, Lau and Woodman (1995) argue that a highly committed
employee is more willing to accept organizational change if it is perceived
to be useful. That is, an individual committed to an organization accepts
its values, is willing to exert effort on its behalf, and wishes to remain in
the organization (Mowday, et al., 1979). However, they note that a highly
committed employee may resist to change if he/she perceives it as a treat
for his/her own benefit or harmful to the organization.
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On the whole, managers’ tolerance of ambiguity seems to be affected
by their locus of control, involvement, job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. Therefore, it emerges the main hypothesis of the paper:
H1: The interaction of managers’ locus of control, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and involvement affect their ambiguity
tolerance
4. Research Background
Greek tourism plays a vital role in the Greek economy. It is ranked
worldwide 21st in absolute size and 37th in relative contribution to national
economies. In more details, it accounts nationally for about 15,5% of GDP
(EUR33.9bn or US$50.2 bn), 18,8% of total employment (785,000 jobs or
1 in every 5.3) and 14.2% of total investment. Further, Greece is
consistently ranked in the top 15 destinations for global travelers with
more than 15 million tourists per year.
Though, a climate of uncertainty and insecurity is prevailing in the
Greek tourism industry as a result of the severe national economic crisis.
Greece is required to slash spending and restructure large parts of its
economy, in exchange for the 110 billion euro rescue plan funded by the
International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European
Central Bank. As a consequence, there are continuous strikes, rallies, work
stoppages, protests and social conflicts that may harm Greece’s image and
have negative consequences to the tourism development. Relevantly, the
Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises along with the Hellenic
Chamber of Hotels forecasted that in 2010 tourist arrivals might fall more
than 20% and thus, may provoke massive lay-offs particularly in hotels
(about 50.000 new unemployed). In any case, it should be noted that the
current and forthcoming changes may cause severe ambiguity/uncertainty
and thus, affect negatively Greek hotel CEOs’ overall performance.
.
5. Research
Taking into account the importance of the tourism industry to the
Greek economy, the current complexities that provoke intense changes,
and the total absence of relevant researches in Greece; the purpose of the
research was firstly, to examine CEOs’ locus of control, involvement, job
satisfaction and organizational commitment and secondly, to investigate
the influence of the above mentioned factors in their level of tolerance of
change ambiguity,
Page | 329
The research was conducted during a 7-month period in 2010. Survey
data were collected from hotels established in Greece. The first two
months a pilot test was conducted in order to examine the research’s
functionality. Subsequently, the structured questionnaires were personally
delivered to the CEOs by the research team. Overall, 82 Greek hotels
CEOs participated to the research (response rate 38,8%). Table 1
summarizes the demographic characteristics of the participants in our
research.
Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the sample
N
%
CEOs
Sex
Male
64
78,05%
Female
18
21,95%
Age
25-34 years
5
6,10%
35-44 years
26
31,71%
45 + years
51
62,19%
Marital Status
Married
66
80,49%
Single
16
19,51%
Education
Secondary
29
35,37%
University
39
47,56%
Master/PhD
14
17,07%
Working experience (pr. position)
1-5
35
42,68%
6-10
41
50,00%
11+
6
7,32%
Total working experience
6-10
21
25,61%
11+
61
74,39%
N
Hotels
Age
1-5 years
8
6- 10 years
26
11-15 years
31
16 + years
17
Number of employees
1-11
9
11-50
39
51-250
26
250 +
8
Firm life circle
Initial
11
Growth
49
Mature
22
Annual Turnover
<1 millions
8
1-10 millions
45
10-100 millions
100 millions <
21
8
%
9,76%
31,71%
37,80%
20,73%
10,98%
47,56%
31,70%
9,76%
13,41%
59,76%
26,83%
9,76%
54,87%
25,61%
9,76%
Regarding the tolerance-of-ambiguity measurement, we used the
Tolerance-Intolerance of Ambiguity questionnaire developed by Budner
(1962). The questionnaire uses a 16-item scale and it follows a scale from
0 to 100. A score between 44 and 48 is considered relevantly neutral,
while scores below 44 indicate high tolerance to ambiguity and scores
above 48 indicate a low one. Locus of control was examined through the
well known questionnaire developed by Spector (1988). The questionnaire
includes 16 semantic different items scored on a 1 to 6 scale. Regarding
the measurement of involvement towards change, we used the McQuarrie
and Munson’s (1991) revised version of their Revised Personal
Involvement Inventory (RPII). The questionnaire captures two
Page | 330
independent dimensions that evaluate involvement namely, importance
and interest. For the measurement of job satisfaction, we used the 7-item
scale Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire developed by
Cammann et al. (1979), which contains a three-item overall satisfaction
subscale. Finally, for the measurement of organizational commitment we
used Organizational Commitment Questionnaire developed by Mowday et
al. (1979) that is composed of 15 semantic different items, scored on a 1 to
7 scale.
6. Results
The descriptive statistical results revealed that the RtC index value is
equal to 59.89. Thus, they reveal a CEOs’ hesitation towards uncertainty
and/or a significant intolerance to the ambiguity that every organizational
change involves. Further, their locus of control degree is 3.89 (sd:0,55) on
a 1 to 6 scale. Hence, they consider that the upcoming evolutions depend
more on their own behavior and actions, rather than luck or chance.
Finally, CEOs’ exhibit significant job satisfaction (mean:5,26, sd:1,05 - 1
to 7 scale) and also, organizational commitment (mean:5,35, sd:1,15 - 1 to
7 scale).
The principal component analysis results revealed two factors that
constitute hotel CEOs’ involvement towards change: (i) importance
(variance 38.96%), and (ii) interest (variance 20.12%). The two factors
had eigenvalues greater than 1 and accounted for 59,08% of the total
variance. Further, high reliability characterizes the two factors. The
Crobach coefficient alpha is 0,82 for the importance factor and 0,74 for the
interest factor. On the whole, CEOs’ involvement dimensions are
relevantly positive. The factor of importance, on a 1 to 6 scale, has a value
equal to 3,22 (sd:1,09) and the factor of interest has a value equal to 3,31
(sd:1,02).
Table 2: Involvement Factor Analysis Results
Questions
DQ1
DQ3
DQ6
DQ10
DQ9
DQ2
DQ5
Eigenvalue
% Variance
Cronbach α
Μean and SD
Page | 331
Ι. Importance
, 798
, 778
, 761
3.759
38.96
0,82
3,22+1,09
ΙΙ. Interest
, 812
, 754
, 688
, 672
2.022
20.12
0,74
3,31+1,02
Finally, the correlation between the two factors that capture Greek
CEOs’ involvement towards change ambiguity and uncertainty is in
general medium to low degree (0,430, ***p<.01).
Table 3: Factors’ Correlation
1
1 Importance
2 Interest
2
,430 (***)
Note: ***p<.01
Ordinary regression was run in order to examine the impact of
managers’ perceptional, emotional and cognitive attitudes to their
tolerance-of-ambiguity (hereafter ToA). Regarding, the hypothesis of the
paper:
H1: Only locus of control, interest and job satisfaction emerged as
significant predictors of CEOs’ ToA.
Table 4: Regression Analysis Results
Dependent Var.:
ToA
(Constant)
30,73***
Locus of Control
-3,12***
Importance
-0,812
Interest
-1,49***
Job satisfaction
-4,15**
Organizational commitment
0,312
8,24***
82
,38
Note: **p<.05, ***p<.01
Variables
F
N
R2
5. Discussion and Implications
The findings reveal a relevant CEOs’ hesitation towards change and/or
intolerance to the ambiguity/uncertainty that every organizational change
involves (ToA=59.89). However, taking into account the dynamic nature of
the Greek tourism industry, we may assume that the interpretation of the
results is worsening and ultimately may reveal that CEOs’ tolerance-ofambiguity is unsatisfactory and disconcerting. We may assume that a possible
reason is the Greek national and business culture (norms and values). Hofstede
(2001) research findings suggest, that within a sample of 56 nations, Greece
has the highest uncertainty avoidance value (Greece: 112, nations mean
Page | 332
average: 66,4). Further, other researches also suggest that low ambiguity
tolerance (Nicolaidis and Katsaros, 2011) and high uncertainty intolerance
(Nicolaidis, 1992) characterize the culture of Greek firms in terms of risk
evasion and change avoidance.
From the resource-based view of strategic management, the paper suggests
three main strategic policies that may influnce effectively CEOs’ tolerance-ofambiguity. Most importantly, the proposed policies may strengthen hotels’
strategy of growth (e.g. the provision of more and new services to the same
and new markets, to the diversification their activities). The three strategic
policies refer to a) the development of CEOs’ internal locus of control, b) the
enhancement of CEOs’ interest and c) the increase of CEOs’ job satisfaction.
Greek hotels’ CEOs should try to cultivate their internal locus of control.
We suggest that personal control (one of the five core dimensions of
empowerment; Whetten and Cameron, 1995) may facilitate CEOs to increase
the internal locus of control by applying a mix of the following three main
practices: a) fostering personal mastery experiences that helps managers to
master experience over challenges, problems or difficulties, b) providing
resources that refers to enhancing technical and administrative support to
managers, and c) organizing teams that refers to enhancing the capabilities of
managers who participate in teams because they want to do things beyond
their personal abilities (e.g. share information, formulate and choose solutions
which they can either implement personally or in cooperation with others).
The implementation of the above practices may, in turn, raise CEOs’
tolerance-of-ambiguity.
Greek hotels, should also consider the advantages that they may gain by
investing in the increase of their CEOs’ interest. This, we argue, could be
happen through the employment of education/communication management
practices (Johnson and Scholes, 2002) that may advance CEOs’ interpersonal
relations through the establishment of a favourable supportive organizational
climate that may assist them to communicate their ideas more clearly and
trustfully (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). In addition, Greek hotels
should also consider a) to facilitate CEOs to perceive all the exciting and
interesting change aspects, through the use of certain strategic tools (i.e. future
search, real-time strategic change, open space processes), and b) to utilize job
involvement practices in order to enhance CEOs’ interest towards change
ambigutiy and hence, ensure their support even if it requires further time and
effort.
Statistical results also indicate that CEOs tolerance-of-ambiguity can be
further increased if they manage to empower their job satisfaction in their
working environment. Thus, CEOs should try to a) to take responsibility for
the ambiguous aspects of their work, b) influence their emotions in order to
Page | 333
stress compatibility between important personal values and change variables,
and c) replace negative emotions such as fear or anxiety with positive
emotions e.g. excitement, passion, or anticipation that can influence ambiguity
and make the work environment more attractive. The latter could happen by
actions such as encouraging approval, self-reassuring, requesting for feedback,
fostering informal social activities that build cohesion and encourage
friendship (Whetten and Cameron, 1995).
7. Conclusion
The research findings demonstrate a worrying level of tolerance-ofambigutiy among Greek hotel CEOs. It therefore suggests three strategic
policies that may effectively influence their emotional and cognitive behaviour
in times of turbulences and uncertainty. Concluding, the paper reveals that
deeper and broader research in CEOs’ behaviour towards change ambiguity is
needed in the tourism industry.
Notes
1. Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), (2010)
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COASTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN
ISRAEL
NURIT KLIOT, NOGA COLLINS-KREINER AND
DEBORAH SHMUEL
UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA, ISRAEL
Abstract
This paper explores the management of coastal resources in two regions of
Israel: the urbanized area of metropolitan Haifa and the rural coastal belt
between Atlit and Hadera. Development pressures on the coastal resources
are enormous as a result of population growth and the density of
population in the coastal belt. Major non-sustainable uses in the coast are
residences for the affluent, which are built under the pretense that they are
designated for recreation and tourism. The legal and planning system
weaknesses do not provide a sufficient safeguard for the threatened
coastal resources.
1. Introduction
Coastal resources management in Israel is the outcome of the
following ingredients: the limited coastal resources and their geographical
layout; Israel’s legal and planning framework in which resolutions which
concern coastal resources are made, implemented and enforced; and,
finally, the population of Israel, its size, distribution and its social and
economic needs.
Policy in respect to coastal resources is determined by an
ideological/political drive for development of those resources in contrast
to conservation of all or some of those for future generations. This study
will explore the tension between development and conservation of coastal
resources in two coastal belts of Israel: One which is urbanized and is
characterized by intensive land-uses (Haifa metropolitan area) and
another, less densely populated with a tendency to prioritize conservation
of resources and extensive use of resources for recreational purposes
(Atlit-Hadera region).*
*
It should be noted that this region, too, is subjected to development pressures which will be
presented.
Page | 337
2. The Coastal Resources and their Use
Israel’s coastal belt from Rosh Hanikra in the north to the Gaza Strip in
the south, is 196 km long. Practically 49 to 60 km of this belt are closed by
fences and are not accessible to the public. This closed strip includes
military land uses, power-stations, ports and other infrastructures (Papay,
2002; Arnson, 2000; Givon, 2000). About 50 km of the coastal belt are
under the jurisdiction of urban municipalities. Thirty-nine km of open
coastal areas are under the jurisdiction of Regional Councils and some 4045 km are proclaimed nature reserves (conservation areas). Only 68 km of
coastal belt are currently undeveloped, but, for at least half of it there are
ready plans for development, thus leaving for the public between 38 to 53
km of natural undeveloped open and natural coastal belt (Arnson, 2000;
Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2005: 12-21).
The outcome of this allocation of land use is one: each citizen of Israel
has an average of 2.5 cm of coastal belt for his/her use (Israel Ministry of
Environmental Protection, 2006).
3. The Israeli Ideological/Political Context of
Development Ethos
The fervor for development which has a significant impact on Israel’s
land resources can be traced to the pioneering settlers’ ideology for
development and economic progress. Development per se need not be
synonymous with environmental devastation. However, many argue that
Zionist development has always been of particularly aggressive,
environmentally unsustainable variety (Tal, 2002: 26). The population of
Israel grew sixfold in 50 years. Because it was small, the country did not
enjoy the margin of error that allows larger nations to make mistakes with
relative ecological impunity.
Nature and environmental conservation evolved within the continuous
struggle between developers and conservationists since the 1950s until the
present day. Some of the past struggles between developers and
conservationists surrounded coastal areas: such were the struggles to
transfer the location of a planned power station from the Taninnim River
mouth and from Zikim coast to nearby already disturbed coastal locations
(Kliot, 2000: 219). Tensions between development and conservation have
become frequent, in relation to the coastal resources as will be seen in the
following sections.
Page | 338
4. Planning Documents and Policy Mechanisms in Respect
to Management of Coastal Resources
4.1 General
About fifty organizations and bodies are actively involved in the
management and planning of the coastal resources. Those include
government departments and public/governmental agencies: Israel Land
Administration, Antiquities Authority, The Nature Reserves and National
Parks Authority, National Administration for Oil and Gas Transport, and
more (Assif and Malis, 1999). All the local municipalities which have
territory along the coast also are stakeholders in the process. With such
heterogeneous body of stakeholders with different, and sometimes
contradictory, interests, it is no surprise that coastal resources in Israel are
not well protected. The abundance of planning machinery and plans which
were initiated and implemented failed in providing a safeguard to the
coastal resources. The most important planning documents are the allinclusive National Outline Plans 31 and 35 which specify all land use
allocations to provide for all needs.
Other important plans which concern the coastal resources are the
National Outline Scheme for Tourism (NOS 12). The National Outline
Scheme for Ports and Marinas NOS 13B (which designated 14 sites for
marinas along Israel’s coastline, with adequate large hinterland for
development of tourist and commercial activity). Many of these
designated sites were found redundant as the present marinas are only
partially occupied. The National Outline Scheme for Nature Reserves and
National Parks (NOS 8) preserves important areas along the beach.
4.2 Planning Documents and Policy Mechanisms in Relation to
Management of the Coastal Resources
The first Master Plan for Israel’s Mediterranean Coast NOP 13 was
approved in 1983. It was based on two principles: preferences to
recreational activity on the coast and land use as a function of the carrying
capacity of the coastline. The plan determined land allocations along the
coastal strip for the purpose of managing, preserving, developing, and use
for swimming, recreation and sport, tourist facilities, protection of
antiquities, nature reserves, national parks, forests and coastal reserves,
ports and other essential uses which require a coastal location. It included
a clause prohibiting development within 100 meters of the coastline and
requires environmental assessment as prerequisites for all coastal plans
(Israel Ministry of the Environment, 2005). NOP 13, which was
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authorized in 1983, was essentially obstructed during the late 1980s and
the 1990s and did not manage to protect the shoreline from the invasion of
the unauthorized land uses (Fletcher, 2000, quoted in Alfasi, 2009: 84).
Conflicts along the Mediterranean coast exacerbated as a result of the
steep demand for luxurious residences along the beach. Cooperation
between local municipalities and the Israel Lands Authority, local
development corporations and private entrepreneurs brought de facto
massive development of residences in the front of the sea in Tel Aviv,
Haifa, Hadera, Herzliya, Ashqelon and Ashdod (Brachya and BenShoham, 2000). Public fury ignited, particularly related to those residential
complexes (Alfasi, 2009: 84).
In 1997, in an attempt to enforce better planning decision, Israel’s
Planning Administration, initiated the preparation of a policy document on
integrated coastal zone management. The document, which was prepared
by the Sea Waters Commission in 1999, stresses the importance of
management of the coast and coastal waters as a primary national and
public asset according to principles of sustainability (Israel Ministry of the
Environment, 2005). Planners of the Israeli Planning Authority and
environmental NGOs which were involved in the struggle against the
above development projects (SPNI, Man, Nature and Law) expected the
new procedure to deliver better plans for the coastline. But it was soon
discovered that the new procedure had limited abilities and related only to
plans touching the sea waterline and in effect enabled entrepreneurs and
local governments to obstruct the limiting development strategy (Affasi,
2009: 84).
The Commission’s work is based on integrated coastal management,
and adherence to the rules of the 100-300 meter no-construction zone is
strong. Yet, the general spirit of the Commission is leaning towards
development as its Head has it, in the definition of his role, as the chief
planner position. However, he sometimes faces opposition and members
of the Commission are voting against development propositions (Klein
interview, 31.5.2010).
Finally, in 2004, the Israel Knesset enacted the Law for the Protection
of the Coastal Environment. The enactment of the law is considered to be
a great success for environmental activists and environmental NGOs as it
provided clear rules for forbidding further development of the coast. It
established a new Coastal Conservation Commission, adjacent to the
National Planning and Building Board, and authorized to review, accept or
reject plans within 300 m from the shoreline (Alfasi, 2009: 85).
According to Alfasi (2009), in practice, the formal top-to-bottom
hierarchical planning structure has become full of deviations. Various
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mechanisms of circumventing official planning policies were established,
including prevailing easements and temporary exemptions The most
common circumvention mechanism is the use of local zoning amendment,
namely the submission of a local outline plan that practically amends the
existing zoning ordinance or the zoning map. As these planning
mechanisms are used by government officials and private sector builders,
the degree to which the public interest is effectively safeguarded by
planning remains open (Alfasi, 2009: 87). Easement policy should be
focused only on those developers who obeyed the law and not towards
those who obstructed it (Klein interview, 31.5.2010). Accordingly, the
Commission is less tolerant to development on the shore.
4.3 Current Threats and Negative Environmental Impacts
on the Coastal Resources
As a result of the weaknesses of the planning and enforcement
systems, various threats and disturbances curtail the coastal resources.
Threats within the Physical Systems: The Sea, Beach Sediment Budget,
and Beach Cliffs Retreat and Collapse
Coastal beach sediment budget*
Most of Israel’s Mediterranean coastline falls within the Nile littoral
cell in which quartz sediment is transported from the Nile Delta by longshore drift (Gabbay, 1998). The sand balance along Israel’s coastal zone is
a product of natural processes and human intervention.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, due to
sand mining (which was outlawed in 1964) and by the construction of
seaward-projecting structures such as marinas and offshore detached
breakwaters that trap sand, the deficit of sand reached 20 million m3 of
sand which equals the loss of 60 years of sand supply from the Nile Delta
(www.sviva.gov.il; Alfasi, 2009). Studies have confirmed that marine
structures such as ports and marinas intercept the long-shore sand
transport, causing sand accumulation on the upstream side of the structure
and beach erosion downstream (Israel Ministry of the Environment,
31.8.2005; Gulick, 2000; Rozen, 2000; Dror, 2005).
*
The issue of sea level rise was omitted in this paper. In the last decade sea level rise in Israel
was measured as 11 mm per year. Sea level rise of 1 m as predicted by IPCC for the 21st
century will bring with it flooding of a coastal belt 50-100 meters wide and the estimate of
economic loss of coastal open areas as a result of sea level rise is 7 billion shekels or about 2
billion dollars (www.teva.org.il; Yehoshua, 2003).
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In the case of Herzliya marina, environmental impact assessment
studies and mathematical models failed to anticipate the damage which
was consequently caused to the shoreline by the project. It is now
recognized that marine structures have caused an accumulation of over
800,000 m3 sand southward of the marina and along the area inshore of the
three detached breakwaters (Gabbay, 1998). Thus, careful and appropriate
planning and construction sand bypassing and other measures could limit
the negative impacts of coastal structures - including limiting the number
of marinas along the coast.
Unfortunately, the sand, which accumulates beyond marine structures,
which constitute a scarce national resource is sometimes monopolized by
public authority and is not returned to the sea or beach. The Port Authority
of Haifa dredges sand on a regular basis from the harbor but does not
return it to the southern beaches of Haifa which have a sand deficit (Klein
interview, 31.5.2010).
Collapse and retreat of the coastal cliff
On April 25, 2010 the Israeli Government adopted a coastal protection
policy based on recommendations of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental
Protection (Haaretz, 28.4.2010). The goals of the policy are the prevention
of further damage to the shoreline and coastal cliff. The coastal cliff, 45
km long, is vulnerable/susceptible to the erosive force of winds, sea waves
and rain on the one hand, and human interference by construction, on the
other. As a result, a retreat of 12-52 cm a year and, in places, even 1 m a
year, and collapse of the coastal cliff took place in some coastal locations
(Arnson, 2000). Building residences and developing the coastal cliff and
beach rock for recreational purposes exacerbated the dynamic
geomorphological processes and forced the local municipalities in
Netanya, Ashqelon, and Herzliya, to construct barriers such as boulder
wall wavebreakers and other barriers in order to protect structures and
hikers along the beach. A young camper sitting below the coastal cliff near
Netanya was killed last year when the cliff collapsed and buried him.
Altogether, 13 km of the cliff will be actively reinforced and defended in
order to prevent such events which might risk the lives of hikers and
damage structures along the coast. It is worth noting that 16 km along the
beach rock are built and there are ready plans for an additional 13 km so
that, in the end, only a short belt of undisturbed beach-rock will remain
(Papay, 2001).
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Construction of Residences and Marinas on the Coastal Belt: Recreation
or Luxury Residences?
As aforementioned, Israel’s coastal master plan was meant to protect
Israel’s shores by setting severe restrictions on construction within 100
meters of the coastline. However, since its approval in the 1980s massive
pressures by both developers and municipalities have brought about
repeated breaches in both the spirit and the letter of the master plan.
Pressure for marinas, high rise buildings and commercial development on
the shoreline have all too frequently led to relaxation or amendment of the
provisions of the master plan (Gabbay, 1998). As stated, existing
institutions and legal instruments have not been successful in protecting
the Mediterranean coastline from persistent and powerful development
pressures, particularly for exclusive residential development along the
coastal stretches of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Herzliya, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Netanya
and Nahariya. The result: high rise development along urban shores
blocking views and sea breezes and interfering with public access to the
shore (Gabbay, 1998; Papay, 2002; Alfasi, 2009). But, as a result of
appeals by NGOs (Man, Nature and Law), the District Court and later on,
Israel’s Supreme Court has published its resolution that proclaimed that
the use of the apartments in the marina of Herzliya must be mostly for
public use for most of the year, thus enforcing its original recreational use
(Alfasi, 2009, Papay; 2007). NGOs in Israel were able to obstruct, or
temporarily halt, plans for construction of recreational/tourist villages in
some of the last pristine/undisturbed coastal belts in Israel (Society for the
Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), Annual Reports 2006, 2007, 2008,
2009). Local, Regional Councils, which have the authority on long
stretches of uninterrupted beaches, are anxious to add income and perhaps
employment to their residents, even at a cost or development of those
stretches, henceforth reducing curtailing even more the open beaches
accessible to the public.
In the world, the common policy is to turn coastal residential land uses
for recreation and tourism. In Israel, the adverse trend is the rule:
entrepreneurs would like to turn sites designated for tourism to residences
for the rich because the profits are enormous. This is a distorted model
(Klein interview, 31.5.2010).
Threats and Restrictions on Use of the Beaches for Recreational/Tourist
Activities
Introduction
According to the different planning documents and regulations, the
shores are depicted as open public areas and the basic principle in the
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planning of the coastal resources is that public right of access to these
areas must be guarded (Assif and Malis, 1999). There is also a consensus
that the tourist land use is the preferred land use along the coast (Assif and
Malis, 1999). In 1999 there were 27 km of regulated beaches of which 16
km were officially declared (as bathing beaches). While the capacity of the
beaches to accommodate the demand is considered satisfactory, their
distribution is not, as there is a scarcity of bathing beaches in central Israel
where most of the population live. The estimate is that at least 20 million
visitors are using the beaches for recreational purposes. Altogether, there
are only 45-50 km of open-area coasts which are undeveloped and are
threatened also by entrepreneurs and developers (Mualem-Doron, 2000;
Givon, 2000).
About 65% of the Israeli population visited and spent their leisure time
in the coast - according to a survey which was carried out in the late
1990s. Seventy percent of the population visited the coast for more than 10
times. The coast is the most accessible open area for the public in Israel
(Papay, 2001).
Beaches: Not Free for All
Many parts of the potential bathing beaches which must be open for
public enjoyment are not accessible to the public. Stretches of beach are
closed, fenced and in some cases, entry is only by paid access.
Declared and undeclared beaches. According to the 1964 law, the
Minister for the Interior is authorized to prohibit bathing in parts of the
coast. The number of beaches where swimming is prohibited rose rapidly
between 2002-2004, from 13 km to 70 km, which constitute 35% of the
Mediterranean coast of Israel. If we add to that all the closed and fenced
beaches, bathing is prohibited in half of Israel’s coastal belt (The
Mediterranean Sea and its Coasts, 16.11.2004).
Fencing and closing stretches of the coastal beaches
Closing temporarily or permanently stretches of the beach is illegal;
and yet, it is applicable in many areas of Israel. The Law for the Protection
of the Marine Environment institutionalized the public right of access to
the beach, but this right is not fully implemented. Stretches of the beach
have been closed by local municipalities to make private closed
recreational beaches which are closed to the public and are accessible only
to paying customers. In all these cases, a public asset was transferred to a
private owner who fenced it in and banned public access to it (SPNI,
2005). Currently, in one-third of the declared beaches of Israel there are
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entry fees and even in undeclared beaches, fences have been erected and
the public must pay for access to the beach.
Most of the bathing coasts which are located within Israeli cities are
free of charge. This is in contrast to rural municipalities which close and
fence their beaches and collect entry fees claiming they do not have
sufficient resources to provide the necessary services to the visiting public:
a clean beach, parking facilities, bathrooms and toilets, etc. Cities are more
affluent and can afford to provide such services. Israeli NGOs, though,
claim that any charge is a contradiction to the basic right of access of the
public to a public beach (Papay, 2005; The Mediterranean Sea and its
Coasts, 16.11.2004).
Another restriction on public access to the beach is the temporary
closing of the beach for special events such as youth festivals, artist
performances and private and commercial parties. These events are
authorized by local governments which collect special fees for them. The
Israeli court, in a 2007 verdict, proclaimed that this is prohibited and set
limitations on such events. The Coastal Water Commission published
regulations in respect to the closure of coastal belts to the public and
distributed it among the municipalities which are responsible for such
open beaches in order to protect the public right of access.
Litter on the Mediterranean Coast
The origins of litter are two: first, the wind regimes in the eastern
Mediterranean are responsible for the deposition of significant quantities
of waste from outside the country; second, at least half of the litter is left
behind by vacationers and bathers (Israel Ministry of the Environment,
2005). Local authorities are legally bound to clean up beaches which are in
their jurisdiction, but these beaches constitute only a small percentage of
the Mediterranean coastline - 25 km. There is no legislation which
imposes responsibility for clean-up of open undeclared beaches - some
130 km. long. Since 1984, the Ministry of Environment has financed the
cleaning of all open beaches twice during each bathing season.
Four-by-four vehicles driving on the beach
Driving on the beach is prohibited by a specific law: Prohibition of
Vehicle Driving along the Coast Law 1994. This law is not enforced due
to ambiguity in some of the regulation wording. Some local municipalities
have deposited large boulders along their beach in order to prevent 4 x 4
vehicles from driving along the beach. According to Rozenberg, the law
which prohibits the driving of 4 x 4 vehicles on the beach, in its present
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wording, limits the ability of supervisors to file claims against offenders
(Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010).
Conservation of the coastal and marine resources
Along the coast of Israel there are 10 declared nature reserves and
national parks which conserve archaeological relics (Ashqelon, Appolonia,
Caesarea), meeting of the sea and coastal creeks (Na’aman, Taninim,
Alexander, Yarqon), wide belts of undisturbed dunes and beach rock
(Hasharon Park, Habbonim) (Alon, 2003). According to Givon in 2004
only 40 km of nature reserves and parks existed (Givon, 2000)
Marine reserves
The 2 main marine reserves are Rosh Hanikra-Achziv and NitzanimEvtach. A few more small reserves have been declared, but there is no
active supervision and enforcement of those. According to Mualem-Doron
there are 45 km of marine reserves (Mualem-Doron, 2000). The legal
status of some of the coastal and marine reserves is unclear and their legal
proclamation process has not been finalized. Conservation of the sea
resources by marine reserves is still on-going. Currently, the planners
debate on the location of a fourth reserve in the area between Atlit and
Maagan Michael (Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010).
5. Part 2: Case Studies
5.1 The Metropolitan Area of Haifa
Carmel Beach Heights 1978-2010
The case of Carmel Beach Heights epitomizes the conflict between
conservation of coastal resources, on the one hand, and development, on
the other. In addition, it accentuates all the shortcomings of the legal and
planning system in Israel in its fulfillment of its role as a safeguard of
public interest and sustainable development.
The harbinger of the project can be traced to Haifa’s Master Plan for
Tourism Development, 1991. This plan, stage 1, called for the
construction of a hostelling project of 200 units and a hotel of 240 rooms
on HaCarmel Beach, privately owned land. The plan, which was approved
by the municipality of Haifa, was conceived as an important trigger for
tourism development in Haifa. The 1991 Master Plan for Tourism
Development envisaged a line of hotels, hostelling units and swimming
beaches for the public in HaCarmel Beach and called for drying a seabed
of 100 m wide to make room for such a development (Cohen, Cohen and
Ratner, 1991). The plan, however, authorized the construction project
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which the municipality of Haifa approved as early as 1978 when all the
legal and planning systems of Israel had very little reference to coastal
resource management. Hann and Givon (1997) also pointed to the vacuum
in planning documents within the Haifa Planning District which does not
have an authorized outline plan. This absence created a situation of
ambiguity in relation to the long-term planning policy of the district. Thus,
no clear priorities for development in areas such as employment, business
development, conservation or public needs, were presented for Haifa’s
metropolitan region and no integrated vision of the needs of the district
were positioned (Hann and Givon, 1997). This is the background to the
way individual plans were approved for the coasts of Haifa, some of which
probably would not have been approved, in their current form, today.
NOP 13, as abovementioned, stipulated a 100 m wide domain along
the coast in which construction was prohibited. Nevertheless, in 1987/8
the National Planning and Building Board of Israel approved the plans for
Carmel Beach Heights as easements of NOP 13. The rationale for that
easement was explained by the Commission as follows: expansion of the
capacity of bathing beaches by drying the sea and widening the sandy belt,
and allocating area for tourism and recreation on the coast in intensity
ascending from south to north (Hann and Givon, 1997). In reality, the
development of the project of Carmel Beach Heights evolved in reverse
development order, namely, first, the towers of the project were built, and
in contradiction to the 1978 plan, their size doubled, both in height and
width. Second, the planned hostelling units were converted to residential
units, and third, the expansion of the beach by drying the sea was not
carried out (Hann and Givon, 1997; Man, Nature and Law Legal Claim
24/96 Against Haifa District Planning Commission, Ministry of the
Environment and Hof Carmel Nofesh Vetayarut, 1989). The first two
buildings of the Carmel Beach Heights project were actually built and
occupied in 1997. The construction flamed public fury, the project was
immediately labeled the “monster” and “the wall” and initiated widespread
debates carried out by the two largest environmental NGOs in Israel: Man,
Nature and Law and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
(SPNI). The original plan allocated about 106 dunams of coastal land to
the construction of six buildings ranging from 7 to 24 floors, dedicated to
hostelling, commercial use and dwellings within the 100 m prohibited
coastal range (Alfasi, 2009: 91). In light of the plan and its realization, a
public and legal campaign against it accelerated and eventually the project
was stopped by the Israeli Court, as a result of a legal claim, filed in 1996,
by Man, Nature and Law. In its claim, the NGO put forward the following
arguments:
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• No environmental impact assessment was carried out by the
builders,
• Construction within the 100 m prohibited range, a process which
curtailed the public right of access to the beach,
• The construction of the first tower of HaCarmel Beach Heights was
not according to the first approved plans of 1978 and the present
building doubled its size compared to the First plan, thus blocking
the sea four times more than in the original plan,
• The Haifa Local Planning Commission allowed the entrepreneurs
to build a structure totally different and environmentally very
disruptive compared to the 1978 plan and did not ask for reapproval of the National Planning Commission, as required.
• The second building of the project was six times larger than
originally planned, and also encroached on the 100 m domain. Nine
floors were added to the building, beyond what was originally
authorized (Legal Claim 24/96 Adam Teva Vadin against Haifa
District Planning Commission, Ministry of the Environment and
Hof Carmel Nofesh Vetayarut, 1989).
The Carmel Beach Heights project was stopped by the legal processes.
However, recently one of the largest corporations in Israel, Delek Nadlan,
an Israeli real estate corporation, bought the rights on the remainder of the
project and submitted, as a first step, a plan to dry the sea in order to
realize the construction of the remaining towers (www.teva.org.il, October
2008).
As the new coastal conservation law does not apply to the Carmel
Beach Heights plan which was authorized in 1978, six towers which were
not built may be built on the coast to create a wall of hotels which block
the view. NGOs and SPNI still attempt to change the process by
suggesting alternative locations for the buildings - a military base current
designated for evacuation. Israel Land Administration which owns that
land refuses as the land where the present buildings are located is privately
owned. At the end of 2008, the owners of the project and the municipality
of Haifa were ready for changes in the original plans in the change
circumstances (Nrg, 17.12.2008; Klein interview, 31.5.2010).
Access of the public to coastal resources in Haifa
The part of the shore which is south of Rosh Carmel is very accessible
for public enjoyment and even Carmel Beach Heights does not limit public
access to it, even if it does block the view (Klein interview, 31.10, 2010).
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However, the sand reserves of this coast are highly disrupted and will need
constant artificial nourishment by the municipality. The shore north of
Rosh HaCarmel has very small stretches of bathing shores, but mostly it
will be available for public use if marina, yachting and public areas for
recreation will be developed in the current location of the old port, which
will bring life back to this depressed area (Klein interview, 31.5.2010).
The Marina of Haifa
The 1991 Tourism Master Plan for Haifa called for construction of a
marina in one of the most sensitive areas of Haifa, where the Carmel
Mountain meets the Bay of Haifa. The construction of the marina, planned
for 700 boats, hotels, residences, commerce, swimming beaches, and 1900
meters of promenade, called for drying of 800 dunams of sea (Cohen,
Cohen and Ratner, 1991). The stated goals of the project were to attract a
rich nautical tourism sector to Haifa. According to a transportation survey,
the total area of the project will be 1.7 km long, and its construction will
not create any traffic problems in the area (Behor and Alpern, 1995). The
authors of The 1991 Tourism Master Plan stated that no negative
environmental impacts are anticipated as a result of the construction of the
marina. But opposition to the project - its size, location, its architectural
pollution, and its residential purposes grew in the mid-1990s.
The major arguments against the construction of the marina were as
follows:
• Drying of the sea would have a negative impact on sand
accumulation in the southern bathing beaches;
• The process of drying might interfere with the marine ecological
systems;
• The project will block the marine view;
• The high-rise buildings of the project will affect the winds regime
in the bay (SPNI, 26.2.96; the Centre for City and Region, March
1996).
On November 30, 2005, the National Planning and Building Board
decided that it does not approve the construction of the marina in its
proposed location and added that it will allow its construction in an
already disturbed area, near the Port of Haifa (Ynet, 30.11.2005). That
decision followed a long struggle of the local population, many NGOs
including all the large NGOs, and even the Nature Reserves and National
Parks Authority. This is considered to be one of the most prominent
victories of conservation over development in recent years.
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5.2 The Management of Coastal Resources in a NonMetropolitan Area: The Atlit-Hadera Region
The 23 km-long belt between Atlit and Hadera, still constitutes an open
area, with a relatively small number of rural communities dotting it. Parts
of this coastal belt are declared nature reserves and parks. The most
important is the 4.5 km long Dor-Habbonim region which extends over
1130 dunams. This reserve includes very heterogeneous marine and seashore geomorphological features, untouched dunes and beach cliffs and
very rich flora and fauna including breeding territory for rare species of
sea turtle.
Another conserved area in the region is the National Park of Caesarea
which contains Roman and Byzantine relics and an ancient port which
attracts tens of thousands of tourists every year. This park is one of the
most visited parks in Israel, and it is used for recreation and cultural
events.
The Tanninim Creek, a proclaimed nature reserve, is the meeting point
of the creek with the sea near Jisr-a Zarqa. South of Hadera, the large
Hasharon Park conserves large and rich ecosystems which evolved on
dunes and coastal cliffs. This belt has some of the finest bathing beaches
in Israel. This region is also susceptible to development pressures and has
become an arena for public struggles, often led by NGOs to preserve its
untouched resources.
Most of this belt is under the jurisdiction of regional councils or small
towns which are financially and economically too weak to conserve the
coastal resources; hence, they tend to close and fence the precious beaches
under their custody. By fencing and collection of entry fees, they are able
to maintain the cleanliness of the beaches and to provide the necessary
infrastructures: parking lots, toilets, restaurants, etc. These closed coastal
areas and the businesses which develop around them produce modest taxes
for the regional councils. Nevertheless, public NGOs point to the public
interest which is hurt by charging access to the beach which must stay
open and accessible to everyone.
The major threats to conservation of the coastal resources is the driving
of 4 x 4 vehicles, litter and human use for recreation, all of which bring
light, noise, and liquid waste. Sea birds and sea turtles lose their nesting
sites, but there are plans to construct small rafts which will enable birds
nesting. The Nature Reserves and National Parks Authority Regional
Supervisor states that the policy is to restrict the negative impacts of
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recreationists and limit development of camping sites and tourist villages
to already developed locations (Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010).
The trend to conserve the coastal resources within the Hof HaCarmel
region is positive. In advanced stage of proclamation is a new reserve: Hof
Galim and two other nature reserves are in various stages of approval.
When the process of approval ends, 90% of the coastal belt of the Hof
HaCarmel Regional Council will be under the jurisdiction of the Nature
Reserves and National Parks Authority (Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010).
Conflicts and tensions between forces of conservation and
development are still evolving. On the one hand, more plans to conserve
coastal resources are still announced. In 2007, plans for three new nature
reserves and national parks were stated. On the other hand, development
pressures, some under the disguise of development for tourism purposes,
others genuinely for recreation and tourism, feature in this nonmetropolitan region and raise conflict over land uses.
The two most prominent conflicts revolve around Kfar Hayam (The
Sea Village) near Hadera, a hostelling and dwelling project which closed a
coastal beach for private use and Dor Habbonim nature reserve which is
presently under threat of touristic development.
5.3 Kfar Hayam
Kfar Hayam in Hadera, similar to other residential projects which were
camouflaged for hostelling and touristic enterprises, was developed on
privately owned land in Binyamin Cove near Hadera. This project also
reveals the weaknesses of the planning framework. The 522 residences
were built within the 100 meters range in which construction is not
allowed; the coast was fenced and closed to the public and the
entrepreneurs failed to submit an environmental impact assessment
(www.globes.co.il, 4.11.1999). SPNI submitted its objection to the
expansion plans of the village based on the abovementioned obstruction of
the law. The court forced the owners to remove the fences and make the
coast accessible to the public, but it still remains as an exclusive
residential project which monopolizes the coast for a small group of
people. In Kfar Hayam terrible developments occurred because national
plans did not designate a specific land use for this region. Wherever there
is a “grey area” or ambiguity, developers will come in with their projects
(Storkh interview, 7.6.2010; Hann interview, 5.6.2010).
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5.4 Dor-Habbonim - Threats of Development on Nature
Reserve
The regional council of Hof HaCarmel and Israel Ministry of Tourism
are promoting development of a new center of beach recreational activity
north of the present core of touristic development. The development
includes the construction of a new restaurant, parking lot, night camping
zone and new swimming beach. SPNI presented its objection to the new
plan before the National Planning and Building Board, claiming that the
approved project will have a negative impact on undisturbed areas of the
reserve.
The Coastal Conservation Commission approved the plan which also
intends to treble the size of the nature reserve, but will include two
recreational centers north of the reserve and the present southern center.
The Commission thought that the suggested plan needs to be approved as
it improves the present situation in which there is no regulation to the land
use and thousands of visitors use the beaches without an infrastructure.
The plan has been approved under the conditions that no special events or
construction of tents will be allowed in the territory of the reserve and that
the size of parking areas in the northern part will be limited. The SPNI is
not convinced and insists that Dor Habbonim should be kept as is (Tchelet
and Argaman, 7.5.2010: 210). The plan eventually received all the
required confirmations from all the national and district bodies and it will
be implemented. A member of the Coastal Conservation Commission
described that decision as follows:
A trade-off between conservation and development for tourism
was done in Dor-Habbonim. The Head of the Hof-HaCarmel
Regional Council faced a real problem: Each weekend 3000
recreationers filled up beautiful undeclared beaches which had no
infrastructure for them. The decision in the central planning organs
was to develop a minimal standards infrastructure for bathing
whereas the remainder of the coast up to Atlit would be declared a
nature reserve” (Klein interview, 31.5.2010).
It should be noted that the Dor Habbonim Reserve is also threatened by
the building of a gas transmission station which has been designed to be
connected to the national grid and is planned to be a short distance from
the reserve. This plan attracts wide local opposition because of its
environmental impacts. The planned station is in an open area corridor
which connects the coast to fish ponds and Mount Carmel and attracts
thousands of migrating birds every year (www.teva.org.il, 2010).
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The planned gas farm in Dor-Habbonim is not in an optimal
location according to many scientists, stakeholders and officials. There is a
preference for a location at sea either on artificial islands (Klein interview,
31.5.2010) or as a marine station in which the gas will be de-pressurized
(Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010). Even on land there are better locations
in already disturbed areas near Ashdod and Hadera (namely, outside the
better conserved coastal region (Rozenberg interview, 31.5.2010). A gas
farm was described to be a threat to the rural open corridors of Hof
HaCarmel and a preferred location should be in the sea or in Ashdod or
Hadera (Storkh, 7.6.2010). Hann added that the lack of public
participation in the decision-making process of this project is troubling
(Hann interview, 5.6.2010).
6. Discussion
This paper presented, in two case studies, the management of coastal
resources in Israel as ranging on an imaginary axis of conservation vs.
development, both from the perspective of tourism and recreation. The
major questions which were asked were related to the processes of
development vs. conservation within the metropolitan region of Haifa and
the rural region of Hof HaCarmel between Atlit and Hadera. In addition,
we explored whether the development was genuinely for tourism and
recreation and, also, if conservation was motivated by recreation and
tourism - the more sustainable form of it.
The four interviewees, all experts on coastal resource management,
were requested to rank the two case studies in relation to developmentconservation processes.
The metropolitan region of Haifa was classified by the interviewees as
“developed” but not extremely developed, and as a city in which coasts,
beaches, promenades and parks are open for public enjoyment, and also
very accessible (Klein interview, 31.5.2010; Hann interview, 5.6.2010;
Storkh interview, 7.6.2010).
All the interviewees mentioned of course the Carmel Beach Heights as
a “shocking mistake”, but also as a very significant landmark which
should be avoided in the future. It was pointed out that there are positive
prospects for future development of the shore, mainly for public use,
perhaps including a new marina in the old port of Haifa and the return of
areas which are used now by the Navy and a hospital to the public (Storkh
interview 7.6.2010; Klein interview, 31.5.2010). There was a feeling that a
major problem of local leaders and entrepreneurs was to identify tourism
as synonymous with development of hotels and hostelling (Hann
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interview, 5.6.2010). The chief planner of the Ministry of Environmental
Protection was concerned that plans for intensive development may take
place in Tirat Hacarmel, south of Haifa, which is now in a state of
“development fervor” (Stork interview, 7.6.2010). The region which
extends between Atlit and Hadera leans towards the conservation node on
the development-conservation axis, but the interviewees were unified in
their view that it was less accessible to the public. Beaches were closed by
rural communities (Klein interview, 31.5.2010; Rozenberg interview,
31.5.2010; Hann interview, 5.6.2010; Storkh interview, 7.6.2010).
7. Conclusions
Coastal resource management in Israel as a process has improved
during the last 30 years as a result of better understanding of the negative
impacts of non-sustainable development which was accompanied by an
improved planning and enforcement system. More areas of the coastal and
marine resources are declared nature reserves and their conservation is
improved. Yet, the incentive of development of the scarce coastal
resources is very strong: recreational villages on undisturbed beaches,
infrastructure such as gas farms and desalination plants and intensive
residential and tourist developments (Hann interview, 5.6.2010; Storkh
interview, 7.6.2010). The central planning mechanisms such as Israel’s
Planning Authority and its Coastal Conservation Commission are arms of
the Government, and if the Israeli Government will press to erect, in a
short time, a gas farm - planning and environmental considerations will
succumb to those pressures. The Coastal Conservation Commission leans
strongly towards developments and intervenes sometimes in very minor
projects which need to be decided by the existing National Outline Plans
(Storck interview, 7.6.2010; Klein interview, 31.5.2010). There is a
concern that the public at large and NGOs are unable to cope with the
coastal resource management because of a lack in professional knowledge
and expertise. Israel’s land policy machinery is weak and lacks proper
responses to complement the current planning policy.
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Interviews
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31.5.2010.
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE DEMAND FOR AND
SUPPLY OF TOURISM EXPERIENCES IN THE
NATIONAL MARINE PARK OF ZAKYNTHOS
(NMPZ)
ATHINA KOKKALI
HELLENIC CENTER FOR MARINE RESEARCH, GREECE
JON EDWARDS
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UK
Abstract
This research critically evaluates the tourism activity that currently takes
place in the NMPZ from both supply and demand side perspectives, using
the mapping tool of a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a
quantitative questionnaire based survey of tourists encountered in the
marine park. The supply side was evaluated using GIS, which identified,
according to the most recent data (2010), the most intense areas in terms of
the number of tourism enterprises, accommodation units and recreational
activities (water sports, boating activity, sea tours). At the same time, the
responses of tourists provided an assessment of tourism activity from the
demand side, indicating the perceptions and the current needs of tourists.
The combined results of both research methods characterized the current
pattern of tourism activity in the NMPZ potentially contributing to policies
and strategies designed to improve the spatial and operational management
of this National Park.
1. Introduction
Tourism activity in National Parks and Protected Areas is a
representative example of this conjunction between man and nature which
has direct effects on the environment both positive and negative. Demand
and supply are the two functions of tourism (Cooper et al., 2008) that are
frequently juxtaposed in the natural environment. Unfortunately, there
were many cases of tourism development in the past that ignored the
potential impacts of tourism activities and as a consequence many
irreversible damages were caused in the environment thanks to the
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incentive of short-term profitability. The “pleasure periphery” model of
tourists’ holidays that was promoted during past decades impacted mostly
upon the natural environment of the coast due to its rapid and unplanned
urbanization (Bramwell, 2004). Zakynthos Island is one of these cases
where tourism development in Laganas Bay has devastated significant
areas of the nesting beaches of the sea turtles Caretta caretta.
The purpose of this study is to examine the tourism activity in the
National Marine Park of Zakynthos (NMPZ) from both the supply and the
demand side in order to evaluate the current situation and to provide clear
directions for its sustainable future. The inventory of the existing tourism
patterns in the Marine Park was achieved by mapping the distribution of
the tourism load (facilities, uses) in the protected area using a Geographic
Information System (GIS) application and by examining tourists’ attitudes
and perceptions about the Park through a quantitative questionnaire based
survey of tourists in the NMPZ. The combined results from these two
methods of assessment will be a significant input to the spatial planning of
the first National Marine Park in Greece.
2. Theoretical Overview
2.1 Protected Areas and Tourism Industry
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) fulfill three key functions in regard to
conservation: the conservation of the marine biodiversity, the preservation
of ecological productivity, and a sustainable contribution to the economic
and social welfare of the local population (UNEP, 1995; McManus et al.,
1998 cited Villa et al., 2002). Protected areas and the National Parks are
prime areas for nature-based tourism, including ecotourism (CeballosLascurain, 1996). Despite this special market of tourism, these areas
attract also other forms of tourism that are not so conscious of
conservation issues. It is quite probable that tourism may cause
irreversible damage to the ecology of the protected area and for the
operation of tourism facilities to conflict with conservation aims (IUCN,
1994). On the other hand, tourism is vital for the protected areas and this is
explicitly expressed by the multiple benefits that bring about in the local
community such as increase of employment and provision of new jobs
opportunities as well as amelioration of the regional economy and life
standards of the residents.
It is quite likely that the success and popularity of tourism in protected
areas will fluctuate because of ineffective planning and management of
tourism. A key element of managing visits in national parks effectively is
the exploration of the supply -side and demand side factors which are key
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determinants of the final choice of tourists for each destination (Puustinen
et al., 2009). The man-made supply factors include recreation services
provided by the local administration, the private owners and the
conservation bodies; (Puustinen et al., 2009). The recreational services are
divided into two categories, namely user-oriented or resource based. The
demand side is represented by the tourists themselves; there are the people
that are seeking for the experience, they gather information, they are
influenced by the information offered to them and the way they are
provided (Palso et al., 2009).
IUCN (1994) proposes a list of initiatives to be adopted for the
effective management of tourists in protected areas. Based on this, it may
be argued that the following steps should be followed in the planning
process:
• Listing and classifying destinations
• Listing and classifying visitor use
• Classifying visitors by indicating their demographic characteristics
• Analyzing the relationship between the supply and demand side
• Classifying sensitive environments in order to achieve a proper
distribution of tourist activity
• Dealing with large number of visitors, giving particular attention to
“key destinations”
• Improving cooperative partnerships with tourists agencies
• Integrated management of tourism across a region
• Economic considerations about sufficient funds for the protected
area
• Profitable business management between tourism enterprises and
other agencies that contribute to the financial support of
conservation and research
• Social consideration - the significant involvement of the local
community in the park planning
• Participation of all stakeholder groups,
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have the potential to make a
considerable contribution to the spatial planning of tourism by helping
planners and decision-makers to give a dimensional perspective to their
data (Grimshaw, 1993 cited Bahaire and Elliot-White, 1999), to bring data
and proposals together and through their visualization to allow people to
evaluate them (Chen, 2007). The similarity of GIS and Tourism is
proposed by Giles (2003) who states that tourism and GIS share a
common characteristic which is the capability of crossing the boundaries
of disciplines and application areas. Using a mapping tool in tourism
industry, it may accomplish a variety of management practices such as the
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visitor flow management, the facility inventory and resource use or the
assessment of tourism development impacts.
2.2 The National Marine Park of Zakynthos (NMPZ)
The NMPZ was established on the 22nd of December 1999 (Togridou
et al., 2006). In 2000, the Protected Area Management Body (PAMB) of
the Park was created and became responsible for its management and
planning (Togridou et al., 2006). The NMPZ is located in the southeastern part of Zakynthos and includes the Bay of Laganas, the Strofades
Islands, the islets of Pelouzo and Marathonisi as well as the terrestrial area
of the municipalities of Zakynthioi and Laganas. The main aim of the Park
is the protection of the natural heritage of Laganas Bay and the Strofades
Islands. The marine area of the Park is 89.2 ha and the terrestrial area is
45.4 ha which is further divided into a core area of 14.2 ha and a buffer
zone of 31.2 ha (Togridou et al., 2006) (Figure 1)
The NMPZ (NMPZ, 2003) has as its primary focus the protection of
the most important nesting beaches of the loggerhead turtles (Caretta
caretta) in the Mediterranean. Additional objectives of particular
importance are the conservation of the monk seal population (Monachus
monachus), the protection of endangered species of birds specifically the
migrants, the conservation of the endemic flora of coastal and marine
ecosystems giving particular emphasis to the conservation of the seagrass
Posidonia oceanic, the protection of marine resources and the
development of compatible activities according to the principles of
sustainability, environmental education and environmental awareness as
well as the management of tourism in the Park
The most significant factor that affects the future of the Caretta caretta
population is the degradation of the coastal environment. This degradation
is caused by the extensive coastal development, especially for touristic
purposes (NMPZ, 2004). Laganas Bay is under pressure from the tourists
that use the beaches in the daytime. Noise pollution, the presence of
umbrellas, artificial lighting and the construction of accommodation units
along the coastline may all cause irreversible impacts on the turtles’ life
(Kaval et al., 2007). In the case of Zakynthos, the fact that sometimes the
turtles do not find the appropriate areas for nesting, results in their
conducting forays outside of the core breeding area (Schofield et al.,
2010). As a consequence, it has been observed that low levels of nesting
activity occur in areas that are not subject to any specific protection
measures. In these areas, high-impact water sports activities take place,
putting the turtles’ lives in danger (Schofield et al., 2010).
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Figure1: Zoning System of the NMPZ
3. Methodology
Although both, qualitative and quantitative research techniques are
valid in achieving the demands of different studies, a quantitative
methodology was adopted in this case study which employed the objective
approach of GIS together with a quantitative survey of tourists
encountered on the beaches of Zakynthos. The use of questionnaires
allowed for the evaluation of tourists’ perceptions about the NMPZ and
facilitated the comparison of data sets from the past with those derived
from this research and enabled cautious generalisations to be made. The
research hypothesis was expressed as: “Tourists are satisfied with the
current tourism management and planning of the Park and they do not feel
that any changes should be implemented”. While the null or alternative
hypothesis is expressed as: “Tourists are not satisfied with the current
tourism planning of the NMPZ and ask for various changes”.
The GIS is a tool that has many applications in tourism planning but up
to now, its use is not frequent in tourism management practices (Chen,
2007). The spatial data employed ArcMap 9.2 environment, using the
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ESRI shapefile of the boundaries of the National Marine Park of
Zakynthos, provided by the Protected Area Management Body. The maps
produced concerned: the zoning system of the National Marine Park, the
number of beds in hotels and in apartments spatially distributed in the
protected area as well as the number of activities such as water sports,
boating and sea tours taken place within the boundaries of the NMPZ.
Using GIS, allows the identification of the areas with the highest
concentration of tourism activities and compares them with other land uses
operated in the National Marine Park. The integration of GIS methods into
quantitative research allows the combination of information gathered from
the questionnaires with the directly observable collection of data, Geovisualization application facilitates the spatial planning of the NMPZ by
illustrating the dominant mode of tourism in the area and indicates the
highest use areas for tourism operations and services.
Respondent data were gathered through an interviewer-completion
method using questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions.
The completion of the questionnaires took place during the peak hours
(12.00-16.00) for ten days in July. The sampling process was undertaken
in the five nesting beaches of the NMPZ that, starting from east to westwere: Gerakas, Kalamaki, Laganas, Daphni and Marathonisi islet, since
the sixth breeding area, namely Sekania beach is exclusively visited only
for scientific purposes. A sample size of approximately 40 participants per
beach was chosen in order to obtain an equal number of responses at each
case. Using the random number generator online (Star-Trek, 2010), the
selected number was 4 and therefore, the questionnaire was administered
to every four persons either individuals or in a group of people, starting
the distribution from the entrance of every beach. In the case of groups,
the participant was selected according to the next-birthday method (the
individual who had the next birthday) (Salmon and Nichols, 1983). The
total number of respondents who participated was 182.
In the questionnaire, two languages were used, Greek and English. The
questionnaire included 22 questions in three sections. The first included
classification questions (Patton, 1990 cited Bird, 2009) related to the
demographic characteristics. The second comprised behavioural questions
(Patton, 1990 cited Bird, 2009) that contribute to the assessment of
tourism activity such as tourists’ motivations of choosing this island to
spend their holidays. The third section sought to determine tourists’
attitudes about the NMPZ.
The statistical analysis of the responses was carried out, using the
statistical application SPSS 16.0 for Windows. Since, the purpose of this
study was to explore which variables interrelate, cross-tabulation method
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was considered as the most appropriate analysis to be used. The main aim
of the chi-square test was to ascertain the degree of the statistical
importance at each comparison that was viewed with the results obtained
from the questionnaire survey.
4. Findings
4.1 Assessment of Tourism Activity
The GIS data demonstrated that the active level of tourism
enterpreunships is unequally distributed in the protected area of Laganas
Bay with the majority of accommodation units to be found in the
Municipality of Laganas (63.9%) while in the Municipality of Arkadion
the proportion is much less (15.1%). More specifically, the exact number
of beds in hotels in Laganas area is 4410 while at the same time in
Kalamaki the total number of beds is almost the half this (2256 beds).
Concerning the other areas of the NMPZ (Keri, Lithakia, Vassilikos), the
number of beds in hotels does not exceed the size of 600 (Figure 2) in
every case. A special mention should be made for the hotels that award the
Green Key eco-label which enhances the sense of responsibility for the
environment and the society. Three of the hotels in the Municipality of
Laganas and more specifically two of them are situated in Laganas area
and one in Lithakia gained the Green Key eco-label in 2010, since they
accomplished all the criteria needed (HSEP, 2010).
Almost the same classification exists for the case of apartments (Figure
3) with Laganas area to come first in number of beds (3290) while this
time the second position holds the areas of Vassilikos and Keri with 1276
and 1039 beds respectively. Kalamaki and Lithakia do not exceed the
number of 1000 beds in appartments at each case. Even in this case, there
is a clue of ecological friendly tourism development, since 13 of the
apartments in Gerakas and 16 of the apartments in Vassilikos are
characterized as eco-friendly accommodation units.
Laganas is also the area with the highest percentage of tourism
enterprises (25.1%) (bars, restaurants) of the total number (1253) of
enterprises operated in Zakynthos Island during the tourism season from
May to October. In addition, Laganas Bay offers a range of other facilities
that play an important role in the critical evaluation of tourism. Tourists
are able to join recreational activities provided by the several water sports
centres operated in the NMPZ such as boating, canoes, scuba-diving and
sea-bikes (Figure 3).
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Figure 2: Spatial distribution of beds in hotels
Figure 3: Spatial distribution of beds in apartments
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The spatial distribution of these activities along the Park is depicted in
Figure 4. The most intensive boating activity is found in Laganas area with
38 boats for rent while in Kalamaki are only five. Tourists rent a boat from
these sites and they are travelling in Laganas Bay. Usually, visitors stand
in Marathonisi Island for experiencing this isolated and inhabited island.
Boating activity is operating according to the regulations of the Park and it
is permitted only for the zones B and C. The water sports facilities in
Laganas Bay include canoes, pedalos and scuba diving. Due to the fact
that Laganas is regarded as the area that offers the most entertainment
opportunities, the number of water sports activities is considerable higher
than the other sites along the Bay.
Figure 3: Spatial distribution of water sports in the marine area
Following this, numerous tickets sellers offer turtle spotting
opportunities in Laganas Bay. The stands of the turtle spotting activities
are found in two areas, namely the Laganas and the Keri areas. The
owners of these stands are local people and offer sighting trips with the
majority of boats to be glass bottomed. The total number of boats that
depart from Laganas area is 19 whereas the correspondence proportion in
Keri is almost the half (9).
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Figure 5: Spatial distribution of the boating activity in the marine area
4.2 Visitors’ Profile and Behaviour
Examination of the respondents’ profile, demonstrated that one third
(32.6%) were domestic whilst two thirds (67.4%) were international
tourists, the majority being English (26.3%). The most frequent age group
was 16-24 and many were highly educated (39.4%).
Applying the chi-square test to the data demonstrated that there was a
difference between the domestic and international respondents in that the
greater part of domestic tourists (67.0%) had visited Zakynthos island
previously while most of the international respondents (70%) were first
time visitors (χ2=20.590, df=1, n=175, p= 0.000). The predominant reason
of visiting Zakynthos Island was “for holidays” while the “desire to visit
the NMPZ” comes second as a motive. The data shows that overall 40% of
respondents were independent travellers. However, there are statistically
significant differences between domestic and international visitors. 74% of
the domestic respondents were independent travellers whereas the majority
of international visitors (78%) travelled with a Tour Operator many of
them with Thomas Cook (almost 20%) (χ2= 45.899 p-value 0.000).
Interviewees were asked also where they had selected to stay and
which factors influenced their decision. Approximately one third of
visitors (33.1%) stay at Laganas area that is located within the park
boundaries, while a further third (32%) stay in locations outside the Park.
The rest of the sample stays in several other areas in the marine park with
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Kalamaki (17.1%) to be in the third position of tourists’ preferences.
Almost 40% of the international tourists stay in Laganas while the
majority of domestic visitors stay in other areas of the island (54.4%),
often being accommodated by relatives or friends. Generally the
respondents made clear that they preferred to stay in apartments, villas and
studios (45.1%), rather than in hotels (39.4%), this correlates with the
finding that beds in apartments outnumber the beds in hotels.
Concerning travel while on Zakynthos, the majority of visitors use cars
for their daily trips (54.3%), equally just under one quarter (23%) stated
that they prefer travelling on foot. The responses gained indicated that
international tourists use more environmental friendly means of transport
than do the domestic ones. This can be for one of two reasons, either the
alternative options (foot, coaches, bicycle) are cheaper than car and
motorbike or they are more environmentally conscious.
4.3 Visitors’ Awareness about the NMPZ
In the third part of the questionnaire, visitors were asked about their
knowledge of the NMPZ and about the two most important species that
are protected in the Park. Furthermore, they were questioned in respect of
the sustainable development of the Park, their level of satisfaction with the
current conservation and management status of the protected area and
finally they were asked if they would revisit Zakynthos and if not for what
reason.
The results indicated that a majority of respondents were aware of the
existence of the Park (86.3%), however a considerable number of tourists
were not familiar with the term National Marine Park of Zakynthos but
were more aware of the term “protected area”. Some tourists were not
familiar with “protected area” however, when the question changed to
“Had you heard about the sea turtles Caretta caretta before coming here?”
it became clear that all tourists were well-informed about the protected
species. Nevertheless, they had a false idea about the boundaries of the
protected area; especially, the tourists who stayed in Laganas, as they were
informed that the protected area is only the Marathonisi Island and not the
wider area of Laganas Bay. These findings appear to indicate that less
attention has be given to the promotion of first National Marine Park of
Greece, while the promotion of the protected species Caretta caretta has
been well-developed and managed, possibly for economic reasons and
benefits. In regard to the dissemination of information about the NMPZ
the data indicates that the local community was the most important source
followed by the media.
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It was anticipated that all respondents would be supportive of the
sustainable development of the NMPZ. Nevertheless, a small proportion of
visitors appeared to be unfavorable and this may either t due to their lack
of knowledge about the NMPZ or because they were not satisfied with the
current situation and they demanded a better organization and
management of the National Park,
In terms of their knowledge of the main two protected species (Caretta
caretta, Monachus monachus) of the Park, a significant difference in
awareness between the two species was demonstrated. Caretta caretta is
very well-known (98.9%) while Monachus monachus was not so well
known by the respondents, (negative responses 55.4%) (χ2= 22.431 pvalue 0.000). The majority of domestic tourists (70.2%) were wellinformed about the existence of the monk seals in the Park while the
majority of the international visitors (67.8%) were not. This may reflect
that currently Greek schools and the media in Greece give good
information about the NMPZ and its protected species.
Not all respondents were satisfied with the recreational activities
provided in the Park. Turtle spotting had the greatest demand (34.9%) and
bird watching the least (13.1%). When asked if they would welcome the
provision of more recreational opportunities more than 50% respondents
answered positively often providing new ideas. Those who opposed the
development of more recreational activities in the Park justified this
because of concerns about the destruction of the environment and a loss of
quietness. The most popular suggestions for additional activities were for
guided walks and eco-festivals. Interestingly there was no difference in
terms of the demand for additional activities between first time and repeat
visitors.
Respondents were asked if they would be willing to contribute toward
the costs of the NMPZ. The majority of the respondents (81.1%) were
positive, as they considered it appropriate to contribute towards meeting
the needs of the protected area. In terms of the amount of money they
would be prepared to pay, half of the respondents (52%) agreed that the
most appropriate amount would be 5€.
The last question sought to determine the level of satisfaction with
Zakynthos Island as a place for summer vacations. The results indicated
that the vast majority of tourists (94.3%) would certainly revisit the island
with the most common reason given to be the beautiful landscape (29.1%).
The principal reason being to visit the NMPZ was true of 6.7% of the
respondents. Those who said they were unlikely to revisit (5.7%) gave as
reason that they would prefer to visit other places in Greece.
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5. Conclusions
One contribution this study makes to the existing published research
concerning the NMPZ is the integrated approach to the management of
tourism in a protected area by introducing the mapping tool of GIS in
order to critically evaluate the supply tourism market of the area and
demonstrate its relationship to the perceptions of tourists about the Park.
The study shows that Laganas area continues to be the most intensively
developed area in terms of accommodation units and tourism enterprises.
However, it may be regarded as a positive sign that there is a growing
interest in green tourism development in some areas of the NMPZ. From
the perspective of tourism demand, the majority of tourists did not visit
Zakynthos due to the NNPZ rather than they gave the option of “holidays”
as the main reason that motivated them to visit the island. In this context,
the NMPZ has to promote its role more dynamically in order to increase
awareness of its existence and function. The Laganas area comes first in
tourists’ options, as the preferred area to stay during their vacations; a fact
that is in line with the spatial distribution of the tourism activity, according
to the first part of the survey. The majority of international visitors prefer
accommodating within the boundaries of the NMPZ and more specifically
in Laganas, confirming Togridou’s 2006 study.
Nevertheless the majority of respondents (86.3%) were found to be
aware of the NMPZ, a similar result with the findings of the survey
(91.4%) during the ARCHICHARTER Programme (2007). However, it is
worth noting the fact that while most of the tourists were aware of the
protected area but they were not necessarily aware that this area has been
designated a National Park. The respondents were clear that the local
community played a major role in the dissemination of information about
the NMPZ, this is in contrast with Fely’s study undertaken in 2004 and the
survey of ARCHICHARTER Programme (2007), where the main source
of information about the Park was mainly being derived from guide
brochures and guide books. Nevertheless there is a lack of information
about the true role of the Park, as the focus continues to be given only to
the protection of Caretta caretta.
This study has demonstrated the need for new recreational activities in
the NMPZ that are in line with the principles of sustainability and they
will give new opportunities to visitors, responding to their interest in the
natural resources of the protected area. This may underpin the
development of a new tourism market for the island which will be more
sustainable and environmental conscious. Park management should also
bear in mind the strong willingness to pay (81.1%) that respondents
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showed from their answers to provide financial support for the Park; a fact
that confirms Togridou’s survey (2006) four years ago with the same
proportion of tourists (80.0%).
References
ARCICHARTER PROGRAME, (2007). 2nd Seminar of Sustainable
Tourism, Zakynthos.
Bahaire, T. and Elliott-Martin, W. (2010). The application of
Geographical Systems (GIS) in Sustainable Tourism Planning: A
review. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 7(2), 159-174
Bird, D.K. (2009). The use of questionnaires for acquiring information on
public perception of natural hazards and risk mitigation- a review of
current knowledge and practice. Natural Hazards Earth System
Sciences, 9: 1307-1325
Bramwel, B. (2004). Mass Tourism, Diversification and Sustainability in
Southern Europe’s Coastal Regions. In Bramwell, B., ed. Coastal Mass
Tourism: Diversification and Sustainable Development in Southern
Europe. England: Channel View, (pp.1-31)
Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1996). Tourism, ecotourism, and protected areas:
the state of nature-based tourism around the world and guidelines for
its development. Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge: I.U.C.N. in
collaboration with the Commission of European Communities
Chen, R.J.C. (2007). Significance and variety of Geographic Information
System (G.I.S) applications in retail, hospitality, tourism, and
consumer services. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 14:
247-248
Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, Al., Gilbert, D. and Wanhill, S. (2008).
Tourism: Principles and Practice. 4th edition. Harlow: Parson
Education Limited
Giles, W. 2003. GIS Applications in Tourism Planning. GIS Seminar, GIS
304
Fely, I. (2004). Le Parc National Marine de Zakynthos: comment gerer
durablement les visiteurs au sein du Park? Rapport du stage,
Universite Blaise Pascal, France
Hellenic Society for the Environmental Protection, (2010). Eco-label
accreditations. Available in www.eepf.gr/ [Accessed 25 August 2010]
IUCN (1994). Parks for life: Action for Protected areas in Europe. Land,
Switzerland; London: IUCN.
Page | 371
Kaval, P., Stithou, M. and Scarpa, R., (2007). Social Values of
Biodiversity Conservation for the Endagered Loggerhead Turtle and
Monk Seal. University of Waikato, New Zealand: Hamilton
National Marine Park of Zakynthos, (2003). The Spatial Management
Plan of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos. O.G.G 1272D
(pp.12573-12617)
Palso, N.T., Ivy, M.I. and Clemons, J.W. (2009). A comparison of local
and non-local visitor information - seeking behavior by visitors to
civil-war-related US National Park Service sites. Journal of Heritage
Tourism, 4(1), 57-71.
Puustinen, J., Pouta, E., Neuvonene, M. and Sievamen, T. (2009). Visits to
national parks and the provision of natural and ma-made recreation and
tourist resources. Journal of Ecotourism, 8(1), 18-31.
Salmon, C.T. and Nichols, J.S. (1983). The next-birthday method of
Respondent Selection. Oxford Journals, Public Opinion Quarterly,
47(2), 270-276
Schofield, G., Hobson,V.J., Lilley, M.K.S., Katselidis, K.A., Bishop,
C.M., Brown., P. and Hays, G.C. (2010). Inter-annual variability in the
home range of breeding turtles: Implications for current and future
conservation management. Journal of Biological Conservation, 143:
722-730
Star Trek (2010). Random Number Generator. Available in:
http://stattrek.com/Tables/Random.aspx [Accessed 31 May 2010]
Togridou, A., Hovardas, T. and Pantis, J.D. (2006). Determinants of
visitors’ willingness to pay for the National Marine Park of Zakynthos,
Greece. Ecological Economics, 60: 308-319
UNEP (2001). Report of the Fifth Meeting of National Focal Points for
Specially Protected Areas. Fifth Meeting of National Focal Points for
SPA, Tunis 2001
Villa, F., Tunesi, L. and Agardy, T. (2002). Zoning Marine Protected
Areas through Spatial Multiple-Criteria Analysis: the Case of the
Asinara Island National Marine Reserve of Italy. Conservation
Biology, 16(2), 515-526
Page | 372
RURAL TOURISM IN BULGARIA-FEATURES,
EXAMPLES AND TENDENCIES FOR
DEVELOPMENT
ROUSKA V. KRASTEVA
SOUTH-WEST UNIVERSITY “NEOFIT RILSKI”, BULGARIA
Abstract
Bulgaria has been for many decades a famous destination for tourism
because of its sandy beaches in the Black sea coast and beautiful ski
resorts in the mountains. In recent years there has been an attempt to
expand Bulgaria with other places of interest in the country. Clean
environment, folklore, traditions, local occupations and cuisine. Here is
where rural tourism comes. In this work the characteristics of rural
tourism in Bulgaria will be presented, as well as some examples of
successful practices in this area, which gave a positive push to the local
economy. Although there are good conditions for the progress of rural
tourism in Bulgaria, there still exist threats in which should be given more
attention. Concrete action from the state is required, with a focus on
infrastructure.
1. Introduction
Bulgaria is located at the crossroad between Europe and Asia in an
area of 111.000 square meters and with a population of 8 million
inhabitants. To the north Bulgaria borders with Romania, to the west with
Serbia, to the southwest with FYROM, to south with Greece and to the
southeast with Turkey. In east natural border is Black Sea. Here west
meets east and a history of thousand years has been made by the primary
ancestral inhabitants of the land of the Thracians, Slavs and protoBulgarians, as well as by the empires past through the centuries-Roman,
Byzantine, Ottoman and the long influence of the former Soviet Union.
Preserved with its traditions today Bulgaria is a member of the European
Union and has the responsibilities and the opportunities the community
offers. Common agricultural policy, environment and energy policy,
subsidies for infrastructure and regional development ground the needs of
modern Bulgaria to preserve its beautiful natural environment, unique
folklore and rich culture. Bulgaria until now mainly separates its tourism
between the coastal traditional seaside holiday and the mountains for
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skiing, trekking and other exhilarating activities, with pockets all over the
country with other places of interests, such as places of historical interest,
monasteries and concentrated festivals. Due to the diverse climate in the
country, temperatures can vary offering an al round venue and suitability
for a vast range of activities.
2. Methodology of the Study
The study on the rural tourism in Bulgaria regarded in the present
paper is based on the use of several methods and approaches. The
systematic and analytical approaches have been applied with reference to
the rural tourism in two presented villages. The method of personal
observation has also been applied. Statistical methods of collecting and
processing of information have been used and the main source of
statistical data is the Bulgarian National Statistic Institute. In order to
review in detail the strengths and weaknesses of rural tourism in Bulgaria
as a whole, a SWOT analysis has been made as well. The above
approaches and methods comprise a methodology, which shows the way
of reaching circumstantial results in the specific research area. A specially
designed questionnaire inquiry has been carried out in two separate groups
of two rural and of two urban elementary schools. The main target of the
inquiry was to define children’s attitudes and understanding in regard to
the origin of some common agricultural products: where do they come
from and how they are perceived as a part of the rural or urban
environment.
3. Features of Rural Tourism in Bulgaria
Rural tourism in Bulgaria reflects traditions established over the
centuries of cultural and historical development of the Bulgarian village.
The interesting architecture, the rich folklore and customs, closely
connected to the spiritual life of the local people, as well as the natural
heritage give the opportunity for infinite possibilities for the development
of rural tourism. The first project for rural tourism in Bulgaria was
implemented by Professor Dr Zahari Staykov-economist and sociologist.
In the beginning of the transition from communism to democracy (1990),
he and his group created a development model and made the sociological
research “Opportunities for a market in Bulgaria for rural and Argo
tourism as a part of the European chain”. At the same time Dr Saykov had
explained and promoted the nature and benefits of this type of alternative
tourism as a factor for the development of the villages. He had clearly
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expressed his point of view that “tourism in Bulgaria is not only in the sea
resorts Golden Sands, Sunny Beach in Black sea or the ski resorts of
Pamporovo and Borovets, but all the country with its villages” (Draganova
2007). By his initiative he organized a series of conferences and forums
with the aim first of all to show the possibilities of the country and the
Balkans in general in the area of rural tourism and secondly to attract
tourists and investments in rural regions.
By the “National project for agriculture and rural regions in Bulgaria
for 2000-2006”, as those are definite these regions whose largest city has a
population fewer than 30.000 people and a population density less than
150 inhabitants per square km. According to that, rural areas cover a
territory of 92, 056 square km or 83% of the total territory of the country
with a population of 41, 6% of the total population. From the 263
municipalities in the country 231 are located in rural regions, 34 of which
are characterized for their low incomes per capital and high unemployment
rates (fewer than 20%).19 It is evident that a great number of the
population lives in small cities and villages. There is a diversity of
occupations, which depends on the geographical and climate
characteristics and the local traditions. But, the different types of tourism
are found in all regions. Rural tourism can be more seen in the villages of
Mountain “Stara planina” and the “Rhodope” Mountains.
Bulgarian village has its own rhythm of life, characterized by strong
family relationships and divided into neighborhoods. There is a common
phenomenon the production of local produce in many of the village
gardens along with rearing of domestic animals. Unlike the big cities
where the accepted role of animals is only as pets, here in the villages they
have their real role. Friendly, hospitable people are willing to help and
introduce tourists to the local way of living. Village life is a lot slower,
time seems to be stopped and forgotten values from the modern society are
coming at the forefront. Those tourists who spent their holidays in the
Bulgarian village usually get involved in agricultural activities, becoming
close to the nature, exercising different activities such as mountain bike,
hiking, horse riding. General speaking the tourist is living the life of a
villager, cooking local dishes, taking part in the local customs, in the
traditional occupations and learning about the cultural-historic heritage of
the region by visiting the churches, monasteries and historical monuments.
Apart from the additional services shown above, and it must be said
each area will have its own idiosyncrasies there must be formed a common
practice to maintain loyalty of the visitor. Starting with the
19
National project for agriculture and rural regions in Bulgaria for 2007-2013 (Sofia: Agency
for financial analysis and prognostics, 2005), 64-65.
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accommodation, tourists have chosen this type of holiday to get away
from the large complexes and plastic environment they produce rather
settling for a more personal service. Although the travelers want a more
traditional and relaxed vacation they still demand the modern views of
cleanliness and good service. The offer of food produced and prepared by
traditional ways expresses the local tastes and is also an important
component of the total rural touristic product (Alexieva and Stamov 2005).
4. Examples of Rural Tourism in Bulgaria
The prefecture of Blagoevgrad is a cross road of important routes to
the Rila, Pirin and Rhodope Mountains, to the picturesque villages
Leshten, Kovachevitsa, the “town-museum” Melnik and the spa center of
Sandanski. The numerous cultural monuments, monasteries, churches and
museums, the preserved traditions and folk crafts complete the picture of
an area with a wide range of tourism activities.
Hidden into the Rhodope Mountains to the southwest there is the
village Kovachevitsa, which is an architectural monument including 110
preserved houses from the 18th century along with the church of Saint
Nikolas built in 1847 by the locals. Each one of the houses is a model of
the Bulgarian Renaissance architecture. The impressive stone roofs, the
heavy wooden doors, covered with greenery make the village although
once typical, a unique window into the glorious past of Bulgaria. This
village shows the true spirit, culture and traditions of rural Bulgaria.
Typical parts of these houses are the big verandas, which have had
different role each season, during the hot summer nights a place to sleep
and during the day a living room. In the autumn their owners used them to
dry the red chili peppers, the corn, the garlic and onion, the usual
provisions for the long winters. Although these verandas had their
practical uses there were also a place for meeting, discussing and
gossiping with neighbors and passers by. This is and was a very important
part of the villager’s life. During the Bulgarian Renaissance the main
occupations were logging, carpentry and carving. The wooden elements of
the houses are an evidence of that, as well as the cookware-wooden bowls,
wine vessels, spoons. Kovachevitsa is also known as the Bulgarian
Hollywood, as there have been many films productions made.
The family of Sonia and Stoyan Kapsazovi decided to recreate the old
way of life when they opened a traditional guest house in Kovachevitsa.
At the beginning they had bought a 220 years old house and renovated it.
Then, after some successful seasons, they built 2 new houses, in traditional
style, with stone, wood and mud, making sure they kept to the traditional
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styles fitting into the surrounding old buildings. The family’s will when
they started to build the complex was everything to be comfortable,
functional and with natural beauty, which they have achieved. The rooms
radiate warmth but, also combine the modern comforts such as the en suite
bathrooms which are a must for modern traveler. In the traditional
equipped kitchen there is the multicolored Rhodope broadloom to the
stone floor, the copper utensils and the spice jars, the bags of mountain
tea, the dry mushrooms, the home made jams and marmalades. By the
offering of traditional accommodation, with locally home cooked food,
along with selling their own prepared products they have created a totally
authentic Bulgarian rural touristic package.
Another village of the Blagoevgrad prefecture is Leshten, with about
30 houses kept in completely authentic style, 15 of which have been
renovated and host the interested tourists. The traditional and the modern
details complete each other. The decoration of the rooms is with white
carpets and Rhodopian wool blankets, wooden ceilings and floors, the
radiator heating is discreetly built into the wall. In the two traditional
restaurants of the village tourists can see how typically for the Rhodope
cuisine delicacies are served on wooden trays. In Leshten are also offered
additional services like hunting, fishing, horse riding in the mountain,
sight seeing and much more.
The Business Incubator of Gotse Delchev first in 2003 implemented
through the “Sapard” program from the E.U. the project “Development of
the touristic product Mesta-Chepino” and brought Greek travel agencies
and tour operators in the region. Their impression when the bus stopped at
the center of the village was negative. They were wondering with
disappointment where they were and wanted to go back to their 4star hotel
in the ski resort of Bansko, where the modern amenities were waiting for
them. But the next day their point of view changed totally, they where
thankful about the unforgettable stay which reminded them of their
childhood.
When the demanding tourists visit these places, they have forgotten the
connection with the natural environment and become instinctively looking
for the usual hotels and the comfort given by them. But, if they are
convinced or brave for adventure they will find the warmth and good
quality, equaling if not better than what they are used to. Once experienced
the harmony of the nature, the peace of the rural atmosphere, the different
sounds from the big city, then the modern tourists will understand and
appreciate the differences between the two types of holidays.
A visitor described his impressions of Leshten like this (Tourism Portal
“NasamNatam 2011):
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At the end of a relaxing holiday I leave the village and only after 2 hours
fall again in a stressful and nervous environment of every day life. But,
although there are and some unhappy cases when people, who have
visited once, twice and more times realize that their lives haven’t had any
sense till the moment and decide to move in the village, where they can
live safely, eat healthy, love truly and enjoy life, things for which was no
time in the big city. Or maybe these are not the unhappy but, the happy
cases!
5. Tendencies for Development
The main aim for rural tourism in Bulgaria is to create a touristic
product as a complex of services with good quality. The assessment of the
strong aspects shows that this potential is a result of the combination:
natural recourses and well kept tradition. Thanks to some definite
advantages bordering with five countries and the membership in the
European Union, a considerable inflow of foreign investments and
European programs give the opportunity for the development of rural
regions. Unfortunately, there are serious weaknesses, most importantly the
lack of modern infrastructure and depopulation. Although the political and
economical conditions favor towards the development of Bulgarian
villages there are major threats such as the pollution and not upholding the
traditional rural activities.
Table 1: S.W.O.T. Analysis of Rural Tourism in Bulgaria
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Managing rural tourism by creating the conditions for long life
operations, could improve the economic welfare of the local population.
This determines the demand of a market for rural tourism. According to
data for 2010 obtained from the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, the
first four places for holidays in Bulgaria hold Romania, Greece, Turkey
and Germany. The European Union as a whole comes first with
approximately 5, 5 million visitors in the country for 2010 from about 8, 5
million tourists from all over the world. Especially the demand for rural
tourism comes from the domestic and from the E.U. market. The former
Soviet countries are more likely to choose mass tourism destinations like
the ski and sea resorts in the country. But, in recent years the financial
crisis made the tourism agencies to look for potential customers in
countries with strong presentence in the world market. One of these
countries is China-a high developed economy with a stable and strong
monetary system. According to studies from the World Tourism
Organization until 2020 five million Chinese will visit tourism
destinations abroad. For now number one in attendance in the European
continent for the Chinese tourists is Switzerland, followed by France,
Italy, Greece and England.
In the Old continent different cultures are close to each other and this
facilitates the creation of a common rural touristic product with diverse
opportunities of traveling. In last years there is a tendency in the Balkan
countries for cross border cooperation in rural tourism for example
between Bulgaria and Greece. The distance is close, while tourists do not
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have the additional cost of a visa. Greece from the one side offers the
ancient and religious world, rural tourism in the olive fields, traditional
taverns and local festivals, combined with the sea and the islands. Bulgaria
on the other side gives the chance for tourists to get in touch with the rich
nature, the authentic atmosphere of the villages-ethnographic complexes
and the traditional occupations, combined with the impressive mountain
massifs.
For the extension of projects like the above the major role will be
played by the Ministries of Tourism, tourism organizations and the travel
agencies and tour operators. They could develop such packages with the
aim to enrich their offers, to satisfy the desires of tourists for alternative
tourism, to assist small and medium business as well as the local
economies and to make the countries wide known destinations of rural
tourism. With this ethos, there could be development for other countries to
offer the different attractions. The challenge is, are the local systems in the
rural regions ready to absorb a potential flow of tourists.
6. Conclusion and Recommendations
The main prerequisite for the development of rural tourism is the
preservation of traditions. Firstly, the rich variety of festivals should be the
start for cultural events where the tradition lives on through the Bulgarian
folk. Secondly, the handicrafts manufactured in the traditional hand made
way without the use of super modern machines can be demonstrated to
tourists, jewelry, hosiery, pottery etc. Thirdly, the visitors can participate
in the agricultural activities related to the cultivating of primary products
needed for consumption. Utilize these three points of the traditional way
of living there will be a comprehensive product of services and activities,
which offer a diverse and meaningful leisure.
Tourists, who choose the village instead of the holiday possibilities in
modern resorts, can exploit their time with activities that will lead them
closer to nature, to their own roots. To support rural tourism there should
be united efforts of all institutions, NGOs, associations, municipalities,
ministries and the efforts of the villagers them selves. Some of the results
of these attempts could be:
• Development of small and medium business
• Work for young people
• Preservation of the history, customs and traditions
• Construction and maintenance of infrastructure
• Funding of projects related to rural tourism
• Better management of the archeological deposits
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• Stimulation of life in the Bulgarian villages
Particular support should be given to the local cultural associations that
recreate and preserve the authentic rituals, customs and dances, as well as
the handicraftsmen and the farmers whose production is ecological. There
is a need of local investment funds with a long-lasting plan for the
financing of the above activities. The administrators could organize series
of meetings with local entrepreneurs and farmers and to propose concrete
projects. Special notice should be given to the reconstruction and
modernization of existing facilities and improving of the living
environment. There are many attractions in Bulgaria which have been left
to decay. If the investment was made with these attractions it would
encourage visitors to spend time there. Ultimately forming an
infrastructure around it, making the whole area self sufficient with
businesses gaining from the increases numbers of people. The local people
within these villages must take some responsibilities also. It is up to them
to make the region presentable and keeping the areas fresh so the tourists
will appreciate the efforts and be encouraged to return.
The people from the cultural world, artists, sketchers, designers, could
develop a set of additional services and offer them to the tourists, for
example an art studio where drawings, carvings and paintings can be sold
or iconography lessons could take place as well as there could be
organized national celebrations in which local traditions can be shown. So,
without too much investment there can be shown a way for rural tourism
to work in Bulgaria, making it considerably different than the mass
tourism at the resorts. To achieve a professional prepared bid it is
important the touristic product to be characterized by current data, which
also means offer of competitive prices. The main components of the rural
tourism is accommodation, food and additional services, these must be
competitive and must meet certain quality standards. To respond to this
claim it is necessary for training and qualification for all the working
personnel. For that there is in the country high level Universities, Colleges
and high schools. All these efforts should serve to support the rural
regions, for the diversification of the rural economy, but without
disturbing the peaceful environment and authentic atmosphere.
Construction of new facilities should keep the traditional architectural
style.
Education from both family and school plays a great role in creating
young people with a positive attitude towards village life and alternative
types of tourism. A specially designed questionnaire inquiry has been
carried out in two separate groups of two urban (group A) and of two rural
(group B) elementary schools. On the questions where milk, eggs and
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honey come from, a 75% on average of group A and 100% of group B
answered correct-from the cow, chicken and bees. But, in the questions
where carrots pears and apples come from, the 70% on average of group A
pointed the wrong answer-from the grocery shop. Again group B had a
100% success. The results show clearly, how the today’s urbanization has
changed the perception of the young generation.
According to a study of the Georgian educator Shalva Amonashvili
during the first four years of the education of children “only 7% of the
lifetime is spend in school”. A thought from him is that “the spiritual
world of the child must not be a desert, but must be filled through the
cognitive self interest” (Amonashvili, 1989). So, family plays a crucial
role in teaching the children to be close to the nature, to meet the life
images of animals like cow, sheep, chicken and not only the images from
internet, books and television, where for example a cow could be
associated with the production of chocolate. The “real” world is in the
village, where every child, visitor or local inhabitant will wake in the
morning from the bird songs, run free in nature and have breakfast with
fresh milk and eggs, where the evening’s quietness and darkness will be
broken only by the crickets and the distant luminous stars.
References
Draganova, M. (2007). Instead of Introduction, Theoretical Sciences
Conference “Village and tourism”, Sofia: Alia.
National project for agriculture and rural regions in Bulgaria for 20072013, Sofia: Agency for financial analysis and prognostics, 2005.
Alexieva, I.and Stamov, St. (2005). Rural Tourism, Stara Zagora: Kota.
Amonashvili, S. (1989). Hello kids! How are you kids!, Sofia: Narodna
Prosveta.
Tourism Portal “NasamNatam”
www.nasamnatam.com/patepis/Leshten_vtylpqvane_na_bezmislie159.html.
Page | 382
FACTORS INFLUENCING GLOBAL TOURISM
SPACE OF POLISH TOURISTS:AGE AND
GENDER
KRZYSZTOF KASPRZAK AND MATYLDA
AWEDYK
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, POLAND
Abstract
After the political transformation in Poland new opportunities for
discovering the world have been opened to Polish citizens. Regions
unavailable before 1989 are now a new geographic and cultural space to
explore for Polish tourists and are the goal of outbound sightseeing
tourism. Trips to the farthest places on the earth organized by travel
agencies have a large number of participant despite very high prices.
Information about Polish tourists activity in outbound sightseeing tourism
were obtained through data analysis from sales leader in Polish tourism
market. Each time the source of information was a civil-law contract for
the provision of tourism services signed between the tour operator and the
client. Obtained data lead to conclusions not only about tourist destinations
and its seasonality but also on the impact of social and demographic factors
on destinations of travel, length thereof and seasonality of trips chosen by
tourists. Results of studies showed significant changes in outbound
sightseeing tourism trends in Poland since 90’s of XX century. Still the
biggest group of the tourists taking part in exotic tourism are wealthy
citizens of the age of over 40 years, however, with participation of younger
tourists increasing. Also, older tourists who used to choose destinations
with well organized tourist infrastructure and stable political are more and
more willing to visit places where standard of travel remains still quite
low. According to forecasts exotic tourism destinations of Polish citizens
will change together with actual trends and intensity of influence of
exogenous and endogenous factors. It is assumed that global character of
tourist space will have the same attributes for Poles as it has for every
tourist traveling around the world - it will be available.
The rule for traveling abroad is to take our common sense with us and
leave our prejudices behind.
The object of traveling is to see and learn (William Hazlitt, 1826).
Page | 383
1. Introduction
The geographical space beyond Europe and its functionally distinct
subcomponent of tourist space are amazing regions which have long
attracted tourists from around the world. With their vast and distinctive
cultural, social and biological diversity, the regions capture the
imaginations of tourists hungry for impressions and adventure. Quite
frequently, and particularly in the case of older people, travel to distant
exotic regions is a way to fulfill the dreams of youth. Regions of the global
space (the mega-space) are large geographical areas of concentrated
demographic, economic, scientific and cultural potential of global
significance. While such areas vary internally, they are devoid of any
substantial barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, information
and capital. Fascinating as they are, the diverse life and the resulting
cultural diversity found in such remote regions often appears to be just as
chaotic. Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South and Middle Americas
have long been highly volatile and subject to rapid social and political
change. Tourists, however, are attracted to the biological and cultural
diversity expressed in the exotic ways of former as well as existing
civilizations. To see and absorb it all, people young and old, male and
female, in fact anyone hungry for new experiences who possesses the
requisite means, venture into the global space.
The paper discusses the role of tourist age and gender, the two primary
external determinants of interest in tourism, as factors for choosing
educational tours to various global destinations outside of Europe.
2. Age and Gender as Exogenous Factors
Even enumerating, not to mention classifying, the sheer multitude of
the factors that drive growth in tourism presents a daunting task (Wodejko,
1998: 66).
It is even difficult to identify the key immediate and “specific” factors
which have turned tourism from a trend of marginal socio-economic
significance into a popular pursuit with a potential for huge economic
gains and serious social and cultural implications (Alejziak, 2001: 40).
The literature describes many research projects designed to explain and
define the motivations that underpin recreational and tourist behaviors.
The WTO lists over 130 factors that drive tourism. All such classifications
and criteria seem to be arbitrary with individual factors varying in
influence depending on circumstances and settings.A classification of
factors affecting human behavior has been provided by Alicja
Page | 384
Krzymowska-Kostrowicka (Krzymowska-Kostrowicka, 1995: 30) who
differentiated endogenous factors such as genetic, psychogenetic, psychophysiological and genetic/health-related predispositions from exogenous,
i.e. environmental and socio-cultural determinants. In her classification,
the environmental factors included nature-related, technological,
ergonomic and pathological influences whereas socio-cultural ones
encompassed historical/cultural, social, information-related/educational
and indoctrination-related factors.
All human behavior is a function of multiple endogenous and
exogenous factors which vary in the influence they exert. Such factors
trigger specific responses which, at a particular time and place and in
specific circumstances, lead people to exhibit specific behaviors, adopt
specific attitudes, make specific choices and decisions and be driven by
specific motivations.
For the purposes of this study, whose main concern is with factors that
drive people to travel for tourist purposes, Alicja KrzymowskaKostrowicka’s model has been slightly readjusted to highlight the factors
that are most likely to contribute to growth in tourism. The resulting
classification is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Factors in tourism growth
Endogenous
(internal)
Exogenous
Environmental
Genetic
Psychological
Economic
Social
Demographic
Endo-/exogenous
(personality-related)
Attitude
Motivation
Needs
behaviour/action
Source: Awedyk (2009: 17)
Page | 385
(external)
Nature-related
Geographical
Technology-related
Legal & political
3. Gender
Gender-based differences in tourist pursuits follow from two sets of
factors, one rooted in the biological and psychological constitution of man,
the other in the social context. The former sees gender as an amalgamation
of biological and psychological specificities manifesting themselves
mainly in the realm of interests and as the physical propensity to engage in
tourist activities. The latter is an expression of cultural traditions and any
related past and contemporary male and female behavioral patterns
(Bomirska, Lidia, Gawlak-Kica and Edward Kraśnicki 1988: 24).
As shown by research, gender affects demand for tourist services. H.
Robinson (Robinson, 1976, quoted after: Kuciński 1981: 71), for instance,
suggested that tourism follows the patterns identified by geographers in
their studies of steady migrations. These have demonstrated that women
are more likely than men to accept changes of settings. On that basis, H.
Robinson postulated that “…women are more likely than men to engage in
tourist migrations”. Other studies show that the choice of tourist activities
largely follows gender lines (McIntosh, Powerm and Jonathan Reed, 1996:
91-115). This concerns not only the choice of destinations but also the
forms and ways in which tourism is pursued (McGehee, Loker-Murphy
and Uysal 1996: 45-57). Small’s (2003) study of young and mature (above
40) female Australians shows their tendency to view tourism as a way to
dispel gender stereotypes, establish women’s freedom and demonstrate
their emancipation (Small, 2003: 31-39).
4. Age
In terms of demographics, demand for tourism is driven by age. As
human life expectancy has been rising steadily, developed nations have
lowered their retirement age while posting an increase in the quality of life
and overall progress.
As of late, demographics have undergone radical structural
modifications accompanied by changes in lifestyle and consumption
patterns across all age groups. The impact of these developments on
tourism has been so profound as to require a major overhaul of views on
the links between age and tourist activity, particularly with respect to
senior citizens. Economic growth and advances in medicine have
contributed to the emergence of a whole new brand of pensioners who are
not only much more populous than the previous generations but also very
different. They are the healthiest and richest “elderly people in human
history engaged in tourism to an unprecedented extent (especially shortly
Page | 386
after retirement)”. This has been demonstrated by studies conducted in
more than a dozen European Union member states, particularly in
Germany where, in the last 30 years, tourist activity has risen in the two
top age groups of 60-69 and over 70 (Alejziak, 2009: 217 and 226). Many
reports stress that financially secure pensioners have become “the core of
tourism growth” (World Tourism Organization Business Council, 1999:
140). Yet, the foregoing is not true for Poland where only a small
percentage of pensioners can afford to travel abroad, especially to remote
regions.
As foreign tours to destinations outside of Europe offered by travel
agencies carry a hefty price tag, a growing number of tourists who select
them are people who chose to rely on their long-time savings for their
enjoyment. This is also true for persons who have retired and have
generous leisure time at their disposal. They are free to travel at a “more
affordable” time, i.e. off-season.
Age has not only been linked to the volume of tourist traffic but also
found to affect the preferred forms of tourism and recreation. It is a
decisive factor in selecting specific forms of tourism, means of transport,
forms of accommodation (which translate into the overall amount and
breakdown of spending on tourism), durations of stay, seasons and
destinations.
5. Research Methodology
Information on Poles’ involvement in outbound sightseeing tours
beyond Europe has been derived from data on the leading provider of such
tourist products in Poland. Specifically, such information came from the
individual tourist service contracts concluded by the agency and its clients.
Information from such contracts regarding tourist age, gender, place of
residence and occupation was applied not only in analyzing tourist
destinations and seasonal variations but also in studies of the impact of
social and demographic factors on destination, tour durations, seasons and
prices. The survey of educational tours outside of Europe covered the two
time periods of 1998-2002 and 2003-2007. The part concerned with the
former period included 3066 tourists while the latter covered 7793. The
tourists visited 42 countries in the regions of Africa, South and Central
Americas, North America, the Middle East, Australia and Oceania, Asia,
Antarctica or went on tours around the world.
To verify the postulated link between the choice of destination and
tourist gender and age, the author employed a statistical technique suited
for such verification, i.e. the ch square test. The correlation between
Page | 387
direction and gender was/is found to be statistically significant (chi square
= 16.35, p < .05). The correlation between direction and age also was/is
found to be statistically significant (chi square = 147.72, p < .05).
6. Findings
In the 1998-2002 period, the sharpest rise in the popularity of tours to
non-European destinations took place in 1999 with the number of tourists
increasing by 34.8% on 1998. Other than this exceptional rise, the number
of tours sold, subject to only slight year-on-year fluctuations, was more
than 1500. Nevertheless, the number of Poles going on tours outside of
Europe grew ever faster every year. The study included the year 2000
which began the new millennium and that was also covered by the study
period. Although the number of tours during that year increased by a mere
5.8% on 1999, it nevertheless exceeded those seen in the following years.
A very modest rise in the popularity of tours beyond Europe was recorded
in 2001. This rise of a mere 0.2% on the preceding year, viewed in fact as
a brief collapse in the international tourist travel market, followed the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. 2002 saw the number of tours to
non-European destinations climb by 4.3% on the preceding year proving
the 2001 downturn to have been short-lived. In 2002, the participation rate
in such tours was up by 49.1% on 1998.
The fastest growing destination as selected by Polish travelers outside
of Europe was Asia (Figure 1). From 1998 to 2002, such tours represented
34% of the market share. The region accounted for only 21.6% of all tours
in 1998, 39.4% in 2000 and 33.1% in 2001.
Africa featured strongly among other destinations highly popular with
tourists (18.5% of all tours taken from 1998 to 2002) followed by Central
and South America (17.8%).
This differed from trends in travel to Central and South America. In
2002, the region ranked among the most popular destinations on the globe
accounting for 35.6% of all tours, which was even ahead of Asia (33.1%
of all tours taken in 2002).
The above-mentioned decline in interest in North America was a direct
consequence of the terrorist attacks on the USA of September 11, 2001.
The popularity of tours to that continent in 2001 fell by 30% on the year
2000 and continued to slide through 2002 to a mere 18.6% compared to
the 2000 benchmark. Tours to North America amounted to 17.6% of all
tours held in 1998 and to a mere 2.7% of all tours taken in 2002.
Political developments in the Middle East discouraged an increasing
number of tourists from venturing into that part of the world. In 2002,
Page | 388
Middle Eastern tours accounted for only 7.6% of all tours held during that
year and represented a sharp drop on 2000 and 2001 when tourist travel to
the region stood at 15.6% and 16.1% respectively.
Poles took increasing interest in visiting Australia and New Zealand
(up by 106% on 1999). Although the region’s popularity remained rather
low at a mere 2.3% of all tours held from 1998 to 2002, it continued to
grow steadily. From a modest 1.9% of all tours taken in 1999, trips down
under rose to 3.5% by 2002.
Figure 1: Participation in educational tours to non-European countries in 1998-2002 by
direction
No. of tours
A small but relatively stable segment comprised tours around the
world. These tours were nearly halved between 1998 and 2002 from 4.2%
to 2.4% of all tourist travel in the aftermath of 9/11 as many of the most
frequented round-the-world routes crossed US territory. The route’s
popularity in 2001 slumped by 56.7% on the preceding year only to
recover 44% in the following year. Round-the-world tours accounted for
3.4% of all tourist travel during that period.
Antarctica was visited on two occasions during the study period
putting its market share at a mere 0.23% of the all-destination total.
Exorbitant prices seemed to have been the primary deterrent.
Page | 389
The most popular tourist destinations in the following survey period of
2003-2007 were Asia as well as Central and South America (Figure 2).
Both exceeded 30% of all tours held during that time (with South and
Central America at 33.15% and Asia at 32.73%). Similarly to 1998-2002,
tourists were least likely to select the highest priced tours, including
round-the-world tours, which amounted to 0.77% of all tours held during
the period, and tours to Antarctica, which amounted to 0.39% of that total.
A study of the rise in outbound sightseeing tours to non-European
destinations points to 2007 as a peak year for all destinations (up by 50.5%
on 2006). The greatest number of tourists selected the Middle East (up by
436.2%), tours around the world (up by 112.5%), Asia (up by 66.3%),
South and Central America (up by 37.6%) and Africa (up by 36.8%).
Figure 3: Participation in educational tours to non-European countries in 2003-2007 by
direction
During the 1998-2002 period, 53.4% (or a slight majority) of the 3066
surveyed tourists were women (Table 1). A study of the breakdown of the
tourist population by age and gender concluded that both male and female
tourists aged 41 to 60 were the most active age group (55.2%). Within that
group, women accounted for 56.8% of all female tourists and men for
53.3% of all male tourists traveling outside of Europe. The second most
active group were tourists over 60 (22.5%) followed by 26 to 40 year olds
(17.2%) with tourists below 26 constituting the least active segment
(5.2%).
A breakdown by gender and age shows that women achieved the
majority in the youngest group of persons below 26 (134 women per 100
men). Women maintained that lead in two of the other age groups of 21 to
Page | 390
40 (112/100) and 41 to 60 (122/100). However, the ratio was reversed
among tourists aged over 60 with male tourists outnumbering females at
the rate of 96 women to 100 men.
Table 1: Gender breakdown by age group among tourists surveyed in 1998-2002
Age group
Women
Men
(years of age)
Number
%
Number
%
up to 26
91
5.6
68
4.7
26-40
279
17.0
248
17.3
41-60
929
56.8
762
53.3
over 60
337
20.6
352
24.6
Total
1636
53.4
1430
46.6
Studies show that the breakdown of the surveyed tourists by age and
gender did not reflect the demographics in Poland at large between 1998
and 2002. While women held sway in two of the youngest tourist age
groups, they were in the minority among the total population of Poland as
men outnumbered them in the other age groups. While women were in the
majority among both tourists and the overall population of Poland in the
41 to 60 year group, women’s domination among tourists was greater. The
majority of tourists aged over 60 were male while the proportions in this
age group were reversed in the population of Poland at large.
Elderly men are more mobile and more self-reliant than women. The
ratio of fully capable men above 60 years of age is twice that of women in
the same age group (Balicka-Kozłowska, 1981: 81).
Consequently, elderly women find it harder than elderly men to go on
long journeys, which involve physical exertion. Despite such impediments
and restrictions, the proportion of elderly people over 60 who chose to
travel outside of Europe was quite substantial.
A study of traveler age distribution in the following years disclosed a
different picture (Table 2). With the exception of the oldest age group of
tourists over 60, tourists in all age groups increased in numbers.
Tables 3 and 4 below illustrate the demographics of tourists who traveled
to non-European destinations during the 1998-2002 and 2003-2007
periods.
Table 2: Gender breakdown by age group among tourists surveyed in 2003-2007
Women
Men
Age group
(years of age)
Number
%
Number
%
up to 26
320
7.6
253
7.1
26-40
744
17.7
580
16.1
41-60
2473
58.8
2082
58.1
Over 60
671
15.9
670
18.1
Total
4208
54.0
3585
46.00
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The rise amounted to 1.7% in the up-to-26 group, 0.3% among the 26
to 40 year olds and 3.2% among the 41 to 60 year olds. Unfortunately, the
oldest age group posted a relatively sharp decline in tourist activity of as
much as 5.3%. The drop came in the wake of a rise in the cost of living in
Poland and many elderly Poles losing some or all of their supplementary
income without any offsetting increase in their retirement benefits. Many
senior citizens found such tours to be a luxury beyond their means.
Female domination continued in the years 2003-2007. During that
period, women accounted for 54.0% of all participants in outbound
sightseeing tours beyond Europe, strengthening their sway compared to
the preceding period. Much as in the preceding years, women
outnumbered men in the youngest age group of under 26 year olds (126
women to 100 men). The trend was maintained in the 21 to 40 age group
(128/100) as well as among the tourists aged 41 to 60 (119/100). The
pattern resulted from an increase in the urban populations of young welleducated high-income women with a high self-esteem, unhindered by
family obligations and eager for new interesting experiences. A certain
significance needs to be attributed to behaviors prevalent in this age group
such as the willingness to emulate others and make oneself appear to be
more interesting in the process.
Table 3: Age breakdown among participants in non-European tours in 1998-2003
up to 26 yrs.
26-40 yrs.
41-60 yrs.
over 60 yrs.
AFR
W
0.0%
14.1%
27.2%
6.4%
100%
M
2.1%
14.0%
22.8%
13.4%
ANT
W
0.0%
0.0%
5.6%
11.1%
100%
M
11.1%
5.6%
33.3%
33.3%
ASI
W
0.3%
12.9%
32.2%
9.3%
100%
M
0.3%
10.2%
23.2%
11.6%
ATW
W
0.4%
5.1%
26.5%
15.0%
100%
M
0.4%
6.9%
27.3%
18.4%
AUS
W
0.5%
7.8%
30.0%
13.9%
100%
M
1.7%
10.6%
23.3%
12.2%
MEA
W
1.3%
9.0%
32.9%
18.0%
100%
M
0.8%
7.4%
19.0%
17.6%
NAM
W
3.3%
5.4%
32.0%
11.7%
100%
M
1.8%
7.4%
24.5%
13.8%
SAM
W
1.7%
11.8%
30.0%
8.5%
100%
M
1.2%
7.5%
28.0%
8.8%
On the other hand, the women-to-men ratio among tourists. aged above
60 rose from the preceding years to more than one (with 100.2 women for
every 100 men), which made women account for half of all tourists in this
Page | 392
age group. This suggests that women in this age group explored the world
more actively whenever they could afford it
Table 4: Age breakdown among participants in non-European tours in 2003-2007
up to 26 yrs.
26-40 yrs.
41-60 yrs.
over 60 yrs.
AFR
W
7.8%
5.4%
32.8%
8,6%
100%
M
4.2%
5.1%
27.7%
8.6%
ANT
W
0.0%
10.7%
17.9%
10.7%
100%
M
3.6%
3.6%
42.9%
10.7%
ASI
W
3.5%
11.6%
32.6%
8.8%
100%
M
2.6%
7.9%
25.1%
8.0%
ATW
W
4.8%
3.2%
29.0%
14.5%
100%
M
0.0%
3.2%
25.8%
19.4%
AUS
W
3.3%
7.8%
32.3%
8.2%
100%
M
1.9%
7.8%
28.3%
10.3%
MEA
W
2.2%
7.5%
32.1%
15.3%
100%
M
1.9%
6.5%
21.8%
12.8%
NAM
W
5.6%
6.7%
28.7%
10.1%
100%
M
4.5%
5.8%
29.1%
9.5%
SAM
W
3.5%
10.6%
31.9%
6.9%
100%
M
3.7%
8.5%
27.2%
7.7%
7. Conclusion
The above discussion suggests that:
- most destinations were dominated by persons aged 41 to 60 with
women being in a rather significant majority over men. From 1998 to
2002, a staggering 18% of all travelers to the Middle East were women
aged above 60. No other destination attracted representatives of this age
group in such overwhelming proportions. This is due to the specific
standing of Israel as a tourist destination as most travelers supposedly go
there as pilgrims to the Holy Land. Such journeys are particularly
important for elderly people many of whom see them as “the trips of their
lives”.
- the only exception during the 1998-2002 period was Antarctica which
was overwhelmingly selected by men above 41. This was most likely due
to the necessity to make a long strenuousness sea journey from Ushuaia,
Chile to Antarctica. The tour participants needed to be in good physical
condition as they were likely to succumb to sea sickness during their travel
across the stormy ocean and had to brave freezing temperatures which
require physical endurance. Nevertheless, the number of women who
chose this destination rose during the 2002-2007 period, in particular
among the 26-40 age group.
Page | 393
- under-26-year-olds accounted for only a small percentage of
participants in all tours between 1998 and 2002. Their destinations were
practically limited to the Middle East, with its religious connotations, and
to North America which was most likely agreed to by parents willing to
have their children realize their dream of visiting the United States. Some
of these youngest tourists (virtually all boys) also selected Africa and
South and Central Americas. The latter segment, however, amounted to a
very small proportion of the total participants (below 2%). The percentage
of the youngest tourists rose in the following years, particularly among
those traveling to Africa (up by 9.9%), North America (5.0%) and South
and Central Americas (4.3%).
- during the 2003-2007 period, the share of the oldest travelers
declined for every destination (with the exception of women visiting
Africa, whose share rose by 2.2%), and men circling the globe (up by
1.0%).
- the proportions of persons aged 27 to 40 declined for nearly all
destinations with the exception of Antarctica and North America where the
number of women rose on the preceding study period (up by 10.7% and
1.3% respectively) and men traveling to South America (up by 1.0%). The
age of 30 to 40 is the time when especially women, but also men, start
their families and reach an intensity peak in their professional work.
Having little children at home and being limited in one’s leaves of absence
keeps people of that age from embarking on journeys outside of Europe,
which tend to last 2 to 3 weeks.
- the share of both men and women in the 41 to 60 age group increased
by 2-3% across nearly all destinations. Only North America and the
Middle East were visited by fewer women during the 2002-2007 period
than between 1998 and 2002 (down by 2.3% and 0.8% respectively) while
slightly fewer men chose to see Central and South America (down by
0.8%) or travel around the world (down by 1,5%).
- the increase in the number of participants in non-European tours
among the youngest tourist group aged below 26 years and tourists aged
41 to 60 also results from changes in family travel trends. A declining
number of tourists in these age groups choose remote destinations during
the holiday season when intending to spend it with either their children or
their parents.
- the oldest tourists (above 60) accounted for the greatest proportion of
those visiting North America, Australia and Oceania and selecting tours
around the world. Tours to the “civilized world” offer the sense of
psychological security that elderly people much need. This conclusion is
Page | 394
supported by the age and gender distributions among tourists visiting
Africa,
South America and Asia. Considerably more younger tourists aged 27
to 40 than those above 60 selected such destinations. The former were
supposedly most inclined to seek adventures and venture off the beaten
track.
In addition to age and gender, today’s global tourist trends are
influenced by social and economic conditions. These two classes of factors
are posed to become the dominant forces shaping Poland’s tourist traffic to
non-European destinations for years to come.
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Page | 396
TEA AND TRAVEL: MOTIVATIONS OF
WESTERN TEA DRINKERS
WENMEI LI AND LEE JOLLIFFE
UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK - SAINT JOHN, CANADA
QINGQING LIN
SOUTH CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY, CHINA
Abstract
This study explored the growing niche market of tea related tourism. The
perception and motivation of western tea lovers related to tea activities
were examined in an attempt to provide useful market information for a
potential tea related tourism market. The findings from the surveyed tea
drinkers supported other studies that suggested that the potential tea
tourists are those that already have an interest in tea and its culture. The
researchers’ sample was westerners who were tea drinkers intercepted at a
food festival in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada while most existing
research deals with Asian populations where tea tourism is well
developed. Comparison of the two groups showed very similar market
profiles regardless of ethnicity. Potential tea tourists are most likely to be
well-educated females with a good knowledge of tea or an interest in
learning more about tea culture and processing. Accessing tea destinations
was seen as a major issue due largely to a lack of information from
appropriate destinations.
1. Introduction
Tea is both a commodity and a tradition that can be transferred from
one culture to another and through cultural adaptation transformed from
the traditions of one culture to the heritage of another (Jolliffe, 2007:3).
The black teas that originated from Asia were historically exported to the
port city of Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada leading to the creation
of the Red Rose tea blend, a black tea blend now enjoyed by consumers
across Canada and beyond. However, it is not known if these black tea
drinkers and others are aware of the history and culture of the teas in the
blend, or if they are willing to travel to the areas of tea production in Asia
to experience tea at the source. There is however some evidence that some
Page | 397
tea drinkers will travel for tea, as reflected by the numerous tea tours to
traditional tea growing areas in China and other locations in Asia (Jolliffe,
2003).
It is known that China has a rich tea culture and a dedicated following
of tea drinkers who are willing to travel to enjoy tea, but little is known of
the travel intentions of dedicated tea drinkers in Canada. Attractions for
tea-related tourism were identified by Jolliffe and Aslam (2009:331) as
including tea gardens, plantations and factories not originally intended to
attract visitors and the purpose built, or organized tea museums, exhibits,
tours and festivals that are designed to attract visitors. However, the
market for potential tea-related tourist visits to tea producing areas has not
been studied within North America, and more specifically within Canada.
This paper therefore aims to investigate a gap in the literature on the
intentions of Western tea drinkers to travel to experience tea at its origins.
This study thus has the potential to identify a new market opportunity for
the development of tea-related tourism from the West to the East.
Consumer behaviour can be influenced by knowledge of a product’s
place of production. International travel may increase exposure to food at
the place of production and may also influence food consumption once
back in the home environment. Examining the relationship between wineinvolvement and wine-related travel, Brown, Havitz and Getz (2006)
postulate the opposite to this view, that is that interest in a product may
have the effect of creating a desire to travel to the place where the product
is produced. Involvement in wine may be characterized by a number of
behaviors that include a desire to visit wine producing areas as previously
noted by Williams and Dosa (2003).
Like wine, tea is also a place related product, and involvement in tea
may also be characterized by a number of behaviours that include a desire
to visit tea producing areas. Today, tea is grown in thirty-nine countries,
from China to Sri Lanka to India to Malawi, producing the six classes of
tea with thousands of minor variations of leaf style and shape, all relying
on fresh leaf from the camellia sinensis plant (Heiss and Heiss, 2007:39).
The fact that taste and quality variations of tea result from factors such as
the growing location and conditions as well as the time of the harvest
(Dubrin, 2010) coupled with the many thousand tea producing farms,
gardens and plantations around the world creates a variety of travel
experiences opportunities for tea drinkers who may be motivated to travel
for tea.
Single origin teas can thus be experienced at the source of production
in tea regions, and also by the consumer at the point of purchase in
specialty tea establishments around the world. These tea experiences
Page | 398
perhaps nurture in consumers a desire to visit a tea producing country.
However, many of the teas consumed in Western countries are blended
from teas of different origins in order to achieve a consistent taste year
after year. Of a number of studies of tea-related tourism in tea producing
countries (Shen, 2005; Luo, 2006; Cheng, Xu, Zhang and Zhang (2010)
there are none that profile the intent of Western tea drinkers to visit the tea
gardens, tea plantations and tea factories of the countries that produce tea.
2. Methodology
This research focuses on tea drinkers and examines tourism related to
tea as a niche market in tourism. The perception and motivation of tea
lovers related to tea activities when travelling were examined. Data was
obtained from a questionnaire, self completed by 182 participants during
the Fundy Food Festival in Saint John, a Canadian city with a rich tea
history. Most of the respondents were local and they were all tea drinkers.
The selected sample for this study was different from the one conducted
by Cheng, et al. (2010) whose sample included both tea drinkers and non
tea drinkers (11%). Their sample was randomly chosen in a tourism
attraction - Jigongshan National Park Xinyang, one of the well-known tea
regions in China. However, the exclusion of non tea drinkers in our study
was to allow a clearer focus on this specific demographic.
One hundred and eighty-two usable surveys were completed during the
two day event. This research followed a similar process and survey format
to a wine involvement and wine-related tourism study conducted by
Brown, Havitz and Getz (2006).
A quantitative study was conducted and questionnaire was designed
based on (ibid.) The tea questionnaire included four parts. Part I - tea
experiences, it included questions concerning preference on tea purchase,
tea tasting and tea origin. Part II - knowledge about tea and intent to visit a
tea region. Part III - tea involvement and tea related tourism. The market
segments therefore will be easily revealed and categorized with factor
analysis. Part IV was the collection of socio-demographic information
including gender, age and social status. The collected data was analyzed
by SPSS 17. Descriptive statistics were generated including frequencies
and mean value. Chi-square and Pearson correlation test were conducted
to determine whether there were significant differences and association
between variables from Part I, Part II and participants’ socio-demography.
A principal components analysis was conducted on Part III. The data
was divided into two subgroups. The first group comprised 23 questions.
The major interest was to explore the importance the respondents place on
Page | 399
making their decision about which tea region they would most likely visit.
Following the components analysis, a factors analysis was conducted on
the 23 items and six factors were emerged as independent variables.
The second group contained 12 questions whose purpose was to
examine tea lovers’ perceptions related to tea activities including general
interest, health and production. A second component analysis was carried
out on the 12 items and three factors were emerged. This statistical
approach was to determine the interrelationships among a large number of
variables and to explain these variables in terms of their common
underlying dimensions (factors) (Hair et al., 1992).
3.1 Profile of Respondents
The descriptive analysis (Table 1) revealed that the respondents were
more likely to be female (64.8%) with males forming 35.2% of the 182
respondents. The unbalanced gender ratio confirms the observations by
Jolliffe (2007) relating to tea drinkers in Canada who suggests for all types
of tea; women appear to drink tea more than men. She further suggests
that the differences in tea consumption and perception of the benefits of
drinking tea between men and women differ with women having a more
positive attitude than men. The researchers were unable to determine if
more females than males attended the festival where the survey was
conducted. However, it was confirmed that the random sample showed
that females were more likely to be tea drinkers as more males were
eliminated from the survey as they did not drink tea.
The age ranges of the participants suggest that young and middle ages
of group were well represented in the study. Among them 61.4% of the
respondents were single while 38.6% of them were married. Sixty percent
of the festival participants had a university education while 21.5% of the
respondents were high school graduates and 18.1% of were college
graduates.
3.2 Tea Experiences
The findings suggest that single origin teas were more popular than
blended teas as 55.6% of the respondents usually purchased single origin
teas while 44.4% of them preferred blended teas. Six types of single origin
tea were listed along with herbal tea in the survey and respondents were
asked to select their favourites (Table 2).
Page | 400
Table 1: Demographic profile
Attribute
Gender (N=182)
male
female
Marital Status (N=176)
married
not married
Total Household Income
(N=151)
under $20,000
$20,000 - $39,000
$40,000 - $59,000
$60,000 - $79,000
$80,000 - $99,000
$100,000 - $119,000
$120,000 - $139,000
$140,000 - $159,000
$160,000 and over
Age (N=174)
under 20
20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 or over
Education (N=177)
high school
college
university
other
Employment (N=176)
employee
retired
Students (high school, college
and university)
self employed
housewife/man
umemployed
%
35.2
64.8
38.6
61.4
35.1
18.5
14.6
14.6
4.6
6.6
2.6
.7
2.6
8.0
32.8
16.7
18.4
15.5
8.6
21.5
18.1
59.9
.6
43.8
6.8
29.0
13.6
3.4
3.4
The finding suggests that among the single origin tea, green tea
appeared to be the most popular (52%) while black tea (normally blended)
was ranked second (31%). This result has a similar outcome to Cheng, et
al.(2010) whose research in China showed 70% of the tea drinkers
drinking green tea. The different percentages between China (70%) and
the community-based case in Canada (52%) suggest that green tea is well
established in today’s China market and less so in the Canadian market.
There is considerable research on health and green tea. Health claims
Page | 401
including cancer prevention, heart disease and high cholesterol reduction
(Shulman, 2008; UMMC, 2010; Cooper, et.al 2005).
The chi-square test (p = 0.19 > 0.05; N= 177) suggests that there is no
association between gender and tea preference in choice of single origin
teas. The same result was as shown on purchasing blended teas and single
origin teas which indicates that no relationship with gender (p = 0.16 >
0.05; N = 175) was found
Table 2: Type of single origin tea preferred
Type of tea
Frequency
%
Green tea
94
52.2
Black tea
55
30.6
Herbal tea
17
9.4
White tea
4
2.2
Oolong tea
4
2.2
Others
4
2.2
Flower tea
2
1.1
Total
180
100.0
3.3 Knowledge about Tea and Intending to Visit a Tea Region
The results suggest that 68% (N=116) of the respondents have no
knowledge about how tea is grown and processed. However 64.5%
(N=111) of the participants show a willingness to visit tea producing
regions in the future (Figure 1). This percentage demonstrates a positive
attitude, but is slightly lower than the study by Cheng, et al. (2010) where
85.5% (N=153) showed an interest. It is interesting to note that among the
group with little knowledge about tea, 64.7% of the respondents from this
group were expressing interest to visit a tea region while 35.3% expressed
no interest. It is unclear why the two groups both with no knowledge about
the tea gave different opinions when asked about visiting a tea region.
Further research may be needed to clarify this point. Figure1 also
demonstrates an association between the two groups (Yes and No) in
responding to awareness about the tea and motivation to visit a tea region
in the future. The finding further suggests regardless of whether they have
knowledge about the tea plantations and processes the majority of the
respondents express interest in visiting a tea region.
Page | 402
Figure 1: Association between knowledgeable group about tea and willingness to visit a
tea region
A correlation test was conducted on education and tea knowledge. The
result suggests that there is a significant association between knowledge
about tea and education level (Table 3). Table 3 suggests that two
questions: “when you buy tea, do you think where it came from?” and “do
you know how tea is grown and processed?” both show a significant
relationship with the respondents’ education. The negative Pearson
correlation (-0.162; p = 0.033 and -0.160; p = 0.037) indicates that the
higher the education qualification the respondents have the more interest
they show in the origin of tea’s and the more willingness they have to
learn about tea processing.
Table 3: Pearson correlation test of education with tea knowledge
When you buy tea, do you think where it came from?
Education level
Pearson Correlation
-.162*
Sig. (2-tailed)
.033
N
173
Do you know how tea is grown and processed?
Pearson Correlation
-.160*
Sig. (2-tailed)
.037
N
170
* correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed)
Page | 403
Barriers to accessing travel to a tea region were investigated. Table 4
provides the top four barriers. The most important barrier that prevented
respondents from visiting a tea region was the lack of knowledge about the
tea regions (mean 3.4394). It is therefore suggested that providing access
to information on tea regions is the most important marketing strategy to
sustain a tea tourism enterprise. Based on the previous results, this finding
also clarifies that knowing a geographic tea region plus background about
the tea destinations and tea growing knowledge are key selling points. The
third important impediment from the table suggests that tea related tourism
is not a priority of selection if respondents have several choices of
destinations. However providing a quality tour package will increase the
likelihood of the potential visitor choosing the tea alternative.
Table 4: Top four barriers prevented respondents from visiting a tea producing region
Std.
N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Deviation
132
1.00
5.00
3.4394
1.16079
I had insufficient
knowledge about the
region
I had insufficient time
138
1.00
5.00
3.3188
1.30683
Other destinations were
132
1.00
5.00
3.1742
1.20746
more appealing to me
There was no suitable
131
1.00
5.00
3.1679
1.15127
tour package
1= strongly Disagree and 5= strongly agree; 3 is neutral
A Pearson Correlation test shows that three items, insufficient time, no
suitable tour package and other destinations being more attractive, have
significant statistical association with the insufficient knowledge about the
tea region (Table 5).
Table 5: Pearson correlation test of variables which would prevent respondents from
visiting a tea region
Other
destinations
were more
Insufficient
No suitable
appealing to me
time
tour package
Insufficient
Pearson
.441**
.316**
.374**
knowledge
Correlation
about the
Sig. (2.000
.000
.000
region
tailed)
N
131
129
131
** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed)
Page | 404
3.4 Tea Involvements and Tea-Related Tourism - Attitude
toward Tea Tourism
Twenty-three items related to decision making about visiting tea
regions were analysed. A 5-point Likert-Type scale was designed to rate
the importance that respondents would place on each of the items. Six
factors were produced from the 23-item by performing a principal
components and factor analysis tests. The structured variables were
classified in Table 6. Table 6 shows that the six eigenvalues were all
above 1.0 and 68.6% of the variance in the 23 motivational questions
could be well explained.
Within the six factors, each one contains items from a maximum of
eight questions to minimum two. The Factor 1 (m=3.650) Tea Totalers are
all about tea activities including traditional tea culture. The Factor 2
(mean=3.57) Easy Teas are basically concentrating on package tours and
easy access of information. The Factor 3 (mean=3.418) Sunny Teas are
mainly focusing on secure, sunny tours and fine gourmet as well famous
teas. The Factor 4 (mean=3.656) Tea Technicians are interested in hands
on and learning knowledge about tea. The Factor 5 (mean=2.394) Casual
Teas are for family and children. Factor 6 (mean=3.054) Thrifty Teas are
frugal travellers.
The reliability coefficients ranks varied from 89.6% for Tea Totalers to
42.9% for Thrifty Teas. The most important factor was Tea Totalers,
explaining 37% of the variance with a reliability of 89.6% while the least
important factor was Thrifty Teas, explaining only 4.4% of the variance
with a reliability of 42.8%.
Means across Tea Totalers suggest that the highest rank is “the tea
gardens being visitor friendly” (mean=3.957) and is considered the most
important within Factor 1. Visitor friendly is followed by “a lot to see and
do in the region” (mean=3.811) and “attractive scenery” (mean=3.763).
The rests of items within Factor 1 are in relation to tea culture with ethnic
cultures. The findings above support the ones studied by Shen (2005), Luo
(2006) and Cheng et al. (2010) whose results suggest that natural
attractions and tea culture activities are the important combination for tea
tourism. The finding suggests that the Thrifty Teas is considered as the
least important aspect when making a travel decision.
Page | 405
Factor
loading
Mean
The tea gardens are visitor friendly
162
0.513
3.957
Factor 1 Tea Totalers
Std.
Deviation
3.650
There is a lot to see and do in the region
159
0.746
3.811
1.186
156
0.733
3.763
1.245
The tea region has ethnic cultures
157
0.545
3.758
1.151
Traditional tea villages
158
0.529
3.633
1.217
Tea trails in the region are well signposted
156
0.704
3.603
1.206
Local art and craft for sale
160
0.664
3.406
1.240
Tea festivals
159
0.462
3.270
1.210
3.570
3.704
1.200
1.195
Information about the region is easy to obtain
162
0.669
Unique accommodation with regional character
156
0.714
3.692
Group tours of the tea gardens are offered
159
0.729
3.522
1.242
Packaged holidays are offered to the region
158
0.693
3.361
1.243
Pleasant, all-year climate
158
0.540
3.418
3.475
1.209
There are a large number of tea gardens to visit
156
0.496
3.340
1.156
Fine dining and gourmet restaurant
160
0.699
3.300
1.278
The region's tea is famous
158
0.754
3.127
1.255
Friends have visited the region
158
0.556
2.500
1.291
1.129
Factor 3 Sunny Teas
Factor 4 Tea Technicians
Tea farmers or peasants are knowledgeable about tea
160
0.691
3.656
3.788
I can have chance to meet a tea-maker, tea blender, tea or tea farmer
158
0.795
3.525
1.224
I am familiar with one or more of the tea gardens
159
0.750
2.394
2.453
1.256
A wide range of activities for children
161
0.842
2.335
1.341
1.232
1.407
Factor 5 Casual Teas
Factor 6 ThriftyTeas
Moderately priced accommodation
162
0.720
3.054
3.519
The tea region is close to home
161
0.721
2.590
%of
Variance
Explained
Cumulative
Variance %
Reliability
Alpha
Cofficient %
8.52
37.06
37.05
89.6
2.42
10.53
47.58
78.3
1.40
6.11
53.68
75.1
1.29
5.62
59.30
74.8
1.12
4.87
64.17
60.3
1.02
4.43
68.60
42.9
1.160
Attractive scenery
Factor 2 Easy Teas
Elgenvalue
Table 6: Constructed Factors on Decision Making for Visiting a Tea Related
Destination
Note: the factor loadings of less than 0.4 are not statistically significant (Stevens, 1986 cited in
Brown et. al, 2006). All loading’s values less than 0.4 were discarded. The measurement was
performed by a 5-point Likert-typs scale where 1= not at all important and 5=very important
There are two recognizable groups when asked if they would be
interested in visiting a tea producing region. To determine whether “Yes”
and “No” groups have significant different views in Factor 1 Tea Totalers,
a Chi-Square test was preformed. The results are shown in Table 7. Table
7 illustrates that the “Yes” group are different from the “No” group as
there are statistically significant differences across the Factor 1 (all P
Page | 406
N
Item
value < 0.05). The separate means between “Yes” and “No” groups also
explain that the higher means the respondents scored, the more positive
the attitudes are received.
Table 7: Chi-Square Test of Interesting to Visit a Tea Region within Factor1 variables
Factor 1 Tea Totalers
Are you interested in
There is a lot to see and do in the region
N
108
Mean
4.1852
Std.
Deviation
.98729
Min
1
Max
5
no
50
3.4400
1.35767
1
5
Total
158
3.9494
1.16640
1
5
yes
106
4.0943
1.03766
1
5
49
3.1837
1.28571
1
5
no
Attractive scenery
The tea region has ethnic cultures
Total
155
3.8065
1.19575
1
yes
104
4.0481
1.04630
1
5
no
48
3.1458
1.44384
1
5
Tea trails in the region are well signposted
152
3.7632
1.25406
1
5
yes
104
4.0769
.95218
1
5
49
3.1429
1.25831
1
5
Total
153
3.7778
1.14261
1
yes
104
3.9231
1.08558
1
5
no
50
3.0600
1.25210
1
5
Tea festivals
5
Total
154
3.6429
1.20824
1
5
yes
104
3.8173
1.12141
1
5
48
3.1458
1.27145
1
5
no
5
Total
no
Traditional tea villages
Chi-square test
yes
visiting a tea produced region?
The tea gardens are visitor friendly
Total
152
3.6053
1.20791
1
yes
106
3.5660
1.21121
1
5
no
50
3.0400
1.19455
1
5
5
Total
156
3.3974
1.22701
1
5
yes
107
3.4393
1.21452
1
5
no
48
2.8958
1.09621
1
5
Total
155
3.2710
1.20232
1
5
P-value/X²
0.000/26.806
0.000/30.132
0.000/22.386
0.000/25.943
0.001/19.730
0.006/14.415
0.022/11.392
0.012/12.900
The Chi-Square tests were run on age and gender to see whether there
is a significant difference between these across all factors. It was found
that the P-values in the majority of variables are larger than 0.05. The
claim can be accepted that there were no differences by gender and age
with the Tea Totalers except a few cases which were summarized in Table
8. Table 8 suggests that the tea festivals (P=0.004/x2 =15.296) and
moderately priced accommodation (P=0.028/x2 =10.886) are varied by
gender which shows significant differences. The females show stronger
positive opinions towards tea festivals (mean=3.343) and priced
accommodation (mean=3.713) than males.
Furthermore it was discovered that the age groups have statistically
significant association with local art (P=0.039/x2 =32.384), packaged
holiday (P=0.031/x2 =39.678) and a large number of tea gardens to visit
(P=0.022/x2 =34.581). Age groups around 20-29 (mean=3.554) and 60 or
over (3.462) show more interest in local arts and crafts if they are being
offered while age groups under 20 (mean=3.071) are less interested.
Packaged holidays are of more interest to senior respondents (60 or over)
(mean=3.539) while age groups with 50-59(mean=2.905) and 3039(mean=3.222) are less interested. In regard to visiting tea gardens,
Page | 407
seniors (mean=3.846), the age group 50-59 (mean=3.600) and 4049(mean=3.500) have a stronger interest than the groups below 40
(mean=2.885).
Table 8: Chi-Square Test and Mean Comparison over Gender and Age Groups
Gender
Male
N
P-value/x2
Mean
Mean
Tea festivals
159
0.004/15.296
3.072
3.343
Moderately priced accommodation
162
0.028/10.886
3.138
3.713
Age
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
P-value/x2
Under 20
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
Items
Female
160
0.039/32.384
3.071
3.554
3.296
3.261
3.429
60 or
over
3.462
Packaged holidays are offered to the region
158
0.031/39.678
3.429
3.473
3.222
3.333
2.905
3.539
There are a large number of tea gardens to visit
156
0.022/34.581
3.385
3.304
2.885
3.500
3.600
3.846
3.5 Tea Involvements and Tea Related Tourism - Tea
Experiences Leading to Visit a Tea Region
The twelve questions regarding respondents’ experiences involving tea
were surveyed and summarized in Table 9. The top five most agreed upon
are ranked in order of preference. Drinking tea is a pleasant experience to
be ranked as the most favourite (mean=4.218). Drinking tea because of
health benefits is voted second (mean=4.122). This finding supports the
result from Cheng, et al. (2010) who suggest that most respondents
consider drinking tea as healthy (mean = 1.642, 1=strongly agree,
5=strongly disagree). In spite of the fact that there is a big difference
between the two means (4.122; 1.642), the positive attitudes appear on a
similar scale. That is because two different coding systems are used
(1=strongly agree in Cheng, et al. (2010) while 1=strongly disagree in this
research). However, the finding in Cheng, et al.(2010) shows a slightly
more positive attitude than this research. This difference suggests that the
Chinese showing a little more concern regarding health in relation to tea
drinking than westerners.
Willing to learn more about tea (mean=3.842) ranks 3rd. The majority
of the respondents (67.4%) with little knowledge about tea growing and
manufacture showed strong willingness to visit a tea growing region in the
future.
Having a strong interest in tea (mean=3.523) and being willing to
purchase tea to match the occasion (mean=3.331) are 4th and 5th
respectively. Both are related to how much interest the respondents have
in tea generally. The lower mean scores suggest less interest in sharing tea
experiences with friends of respondents (mean=2.947) and spending much
of leisure time devoted to tea-related activities (mean=2.465). The above
two least favourites imply that to be deeply involved tea and tea related
Page | 408
activities is not something which most of respondents would be interested
in. In conclusion, the involvement with tea and tea related tourism should
be considered as a moderate feature of travel for the majority of
respondents.
Table 9: Means comparison of respondents’ experiences involved in tea
Strongly
agree
Agree
Neural
Disagree
5
4
3
2
Strongly
disagree
1
M
S.D.
%
%
%
%
%
%
N
For me, drinking tea is a pleasurable experience
4.218
1.117
56.3
23
12.1
3.4
5.2
100
172
I like to gain the health benefits associated with drinking tea
4.122
1.004
45.9
28.5
20.3
2.3
I would like to learn more about tea
3.842
.996
31.6
30.4
30.4
5.8
1.8
100
171
I have a strong interest in tea
3.523
1.121
25.6
22.1
34.9
14
3.5
100
172
I like to purchase tea to match the occasion
3.331
1.185
20.3
22.1
36.6
12.2
8.7
100
172
Understanding tea production is of interest to me
3.326
1.174
18.6
25.6
34.3
12.8
8.7
100
172
I like to treat tea to match the cuisine being served
3.320
1.182
18.9
24.3
36.1
11.2
9.5
100
169
It is annoying to buy a tea that is different from what I had expected
3.274
1.348
25.6
16.1
33.3
10.1
14.9
100
168
My interest in tea makes me want to visit tea regions
3.070
1.231
12.8
24.4
36.0
10.5
16.3
100
172
My interest in tea says a lot about the type of person i am
3.018
1.215
14.0
18.1
37.4
16.4
14
100
171
Many of my friends share my interst in tea
2.947
1.386
19.3
14.0
29.8
15.8
21.1
100
171
Much of my leisure time is devoted to tea-related activities
2.465
1.382
10.5
14.0
24.4
14
37.2
100
172
2.9
100
172
5-point Likert-Type scale was used to indentify how respondents view the designed 12 statements. 1=
strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree, 3= Neural. M=Mean
A Chi-square test was conducted to examine whether there is a
significant association between the tea experience perceptions in Table 9
and the attitude toward visiting a tea region (Yes and No). The results are
summarized in Table 10. Three statements show significant statistically
association with the “Yes” and “No” group. They are: I have a strong
interest in tea (p=0.010; x2 =13.197). The “Yes” group (mean=3.743;
66%) shows more positive than the “No” group (mean=3.179; 33.0%).
The next is that I would like to learn more about tea (p=0.000; x2
=25.074). The “Yes” group (mean=4.111; 65.9%) explains strong
keenness to learn more about tea than the “No” group (mean=3.357;
34.1%). The last is that understanding tea production is of interest to me.
The same result as the above (p=0.010; x2 =32.157), the “Yes” group see
understanding tea production being of interest to them is important while
the “No” group shows less interest.
Table 10: Chi-square test over Yes and No groups in responding whether interesting in
visiting a tea region
No
No
Mean
%
Mean
%
N
Mean
I ha ve a s trong inte re s t in te a
.0 1 0
1 3 .1 9 7
3 .7 4 3
6 6 .0
3 .1 7 9
3 .5 2 3
I w ould lik e to le a rn m ore a bout te a
.0 0 0
2 5 .0 4 7
4 .1 1 1
6 5 .9
3 .3 5 7
164
3 .8 4 2
Unde rs ta nding te a produc tion is of inte r e s t to m e
.0 0 0
3 2 .1 5 7
3 .6 7 3
6 6 .7
2 .6 7 3
33.9
34.1
33.3
165
165
3 .3 2 6
Ar e you inte re s te d in vis iting a te a produc ing re gion?
Page | 409
Ye s /N o
P-value
x2
Yes
Yes
All Respondents
4. Conclusions
This study explored the growing niche market of tea and related tea
tourism addressing a gap in the understanding of Western tea drinkers and
their interest in travelling to tea related destinations. The findings from the
surveyed western tea drinkers supported the study conducted by Cheng, et
al. (2010) who suggested that the potential tea tourists are those that
already have in interest in tea culture. There was a difference between the
two studies when carrying out the sample selection. The researchers’
sample was Westerners who were tea drinkers intercepted at a food
festival in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada while the sample from
Cheng, et al. (2010) was Chinese regardless of whether they were tea
drinkers or not. Yet in the end those with an interest in tea culture
regardless of ethnicity appear to have similar market profiles.
Cheng et al. (2010) further suggested that the potential tea tourists are
those who have a positive attitude toward tea drinking, which supports the
researchers’ sample of tea drinkers. The outcome backs up the definition
by Jolliffe (2003: 136) who defined tea tourism as “tourism that is
motivated by an interest in the history, traditions and consumption of tea”.
Lastly females appear to drink more tea than men in the study, as also
previously noted by Jolliffe with reference to tea drinkers in Canada
(2007).
Furthermore single origin teas were more popular than blended teas, as
55.6% of the respondents usually purchased single origin teas while 44.4%
of the participants preferred blended teas. Amongst the preference for
single origin tea, green tea was considered as the most popular type of teas
by respondents. In spite of the fact that more females are tea lovers than
males, however the finding suggests that there is no association between
gender and tea preference.
The results suggest that the majority (67.4%) of respondents have little
knowledge about tea growing and processing. However 64.5% of the
respondents showed willingness to visit a tea region in the future and learn
more about growing and processing.
The finding also suggests that there is a significant association between
knowledge of tea and education level. These particular results indicate that
the higher the education level is the more the respondents are concerned
about the tea origin and willing to learn about tea processing.
The most important barriers preventing respondents from visiting a tea
region are lack of knowledge about the tea region, lack of sufficient time
and other destinations being more appealing to respondents. These were
Page | 410
considered as the key contributing factors in limiting visitors to visit a tea
producing region.
The results from this study provide direction for marketers of both
inbound and out bound tea-related tourism. Understanding their target
market and the level of sophistication of tea drinkers will assist in targeted
marketing, tour design and advertising that will bring optimum visits from
this growing market.
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toward tea tourism: A case study in Xinyang, China. Journal of Travel
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Page | 412
THE ORIGIN OF TOURISM IN SPAIN, GRANADA
AND THE ALHAMBRA: WRITERS, PAINTERS
AND MUSICIANS
MARIA ANTONIA LOPEZ-BURGOS DEL
BARRIO
UNIVERSIY OF GRANADA, SPAIN
Abstract
From the mid-18th century onwards, and above all, during the 19th
century, people began travelling for pleasure and it was then when Spain
became an attraction for travellers from all over Europe. But not only
European adventurers felt attracted to Spain; travellers from the far lands
of North America also felt the appeal of visiting the Iberian Peninsula.
However, previously this had not always been so. Until the end of the 18th
century Spain had not awakened any interest. It was a country left out of
the Grand Tour, and was considered poor, not very interesting and in
complete decadence. It was a country described by Lord Chesterfield in a
letter sent to Lord Huntington in 1752 as: “the only country which has
slowly fallen into barbarity while the rest of the European Countries have
become civilised.” This paper very briefly presents a series of Writers,
Painters and Musicians from abroad whose works of art have contributed
to show Spain, and in this case Granada, to the rest of the world,
increasing the touristic interest that this old city has always awakened.
Today Granada is Spain’s most visited city. The Alhambra with its
numerous fountains and scented gardens; its old quarters of Arab origin
such as the Albaicín and the Sacromonte, (World Heritage Sites); its
Renaissance Palaces and buildings; its gorgeous landscapes with their
backdrop of the always impressive and magnificent snow capped peaks of
Sierra Nevada; its cloudless sky with its crimson glows at sunset and last
but not least, the beauty and hospitality of its inhabitants, have all
contributed to making Granada a place worth visiting. It is a city where
millions of tourists flock every year giving rise to a never-ending source
of wealth. Can millions of tourists be wrong?
1. Introduction
Today Spain is one of the most coveted tourist destinations in the
World. Tourism has become the main economic driving force; the engine
Page | 413
of Spanish development. During 2010, despite the economic crisis that is
hitting hard, 52, 6 millions international tourists visited Spain, 1% more
than in 2009. During January 2011, Spain hosted 2.7 million tourists from
abroad, in other words, we have begun the year with a 4.7% increase, that
is to say, 119 thousand tourists more. This is a very important figure
taking into account that it was January 2010 when the first advance took
place since July 2008. The wealth of monuments in most cities, the mild
and temperate weather of Spanish coasts, its cultural richness, its varied
folklore and many other aspects, attract yearly millions visitors, figure in
constant progression regardless the socio-economic situation of the
countries of origin. The main destination of international tourists in Spain
is: On the first place: Canary Islands, then, Catalonia, and Andalusia. In
the fourth place: Community of Madrid, then Valencia, Balearic Isles and
the rest of Spain. These figures show how important is the tourist sector in
Spain.
Andalusia, the third destination as far as international tourism is
concerned, attracts yearly millions of visitors, for example, in January
2011, 338.375 tourists from abroad visited this region.
But this was not always so. This paper presents a succinct description
of the origin of tourism in Spain and a brief portrait of Granada and the
Alhambra offered by British travellers of the nineteenth century. British
writers and painters as well as composers from other European countries,
who have contributed to show Spain, and in this case, Granada, to the
world.
2. The Origin of Tourism in Spain
The Human being has always felt the need of travelling. In olden
times, nevertheless, people used to travel mainly due to necessity, but
since the middle of the eighteenth century and especially throughout the
whole of the nineteenth, this trend ended due to a change of mentality and
people began travelling for pleasure.
Until the middle of the eighteenth century, Spain was not only a mere
fairly unknown country to foreigners, but it was also a land that was
thought to be inhabited by savages, a land where poverty abounded and
where roads were infested with cruel bandits, although romantic literature
turned them into noble, chivalrous and handsome characters. A land in
which travellers found rough crosses that remained them of violent deaths
in the past. A land dotted by wretched inns and crisscrossed by the
smelliest stagecoaches. We have to keep in mind that until the end of the
eighteenth century Spain had not awakened any interest, it has been left
Page | 414
out of the Grand tour20, and was a country which had an image of being
poor, not very interesting and in full decadence, and of which Lord
Chesterfield had written in a letter sent to Lord Huntingdon in 1752:
«Spain is the only country which has slowly fallen into barbarity while the
rest of European countries have become civilised” Adding: “Once you
have taken the trouble to go, and given that you will probably not go back,
I highly recommend you to see everything when you do go. If from Madrid
you go towards the south and visit Seville and from there to Granada,
Valencia and Barcelona, you will have seen the best parts, especially
those which have been dignified by Roman, Gothic and Arab remains
(Freixa 1993)».
The Iberian Peninsula, was a land considered dangerous and whose
artistic treasures and monuments were completely unknown to the rest of
the world, John Fielding in 1783 expressed: «Only necessity could induce
anyone to travel around Spain, he must be an idiot if he tours this country
for curiosity, unless his intentions are to publish the memoirs of the
extravagance of human nature. If this is the case, then he could do no
better, for everywhere he will find pride, baseness, poverty, ignorance,
fanatism, superstition and ridiculous ceremonies (Fielding 1978).»
But, with the turn of the century, Spain, a country practically
unknown to the rest of Europe, began to awake a special and increasing
interest amongst European adventurers, men and women who, with a
notebook in hand, travelled over this land in search of Orientalism and
romantic landscapes. They value nature more than cities, narrow and
sinuous streets more than the geometric design of modern town planning
and the world of ruins and antiques more than the aseptic of the new and
traditional customs more than cosmopolitism. Popular traditions were
preferred to urban bourgeoisie and risk and adventure were valued against
safetiness and comfort.
Although Spain was visited by foreign travellers from different
countries, the British outnumber the rest. The British, bored by the
monotony of the Grand Tour routes, begun to feel attracted by Spain, and
it was then that Spain, and mainly Andalusia, began to awake a great
fascination for the minds of hundreds of travellers of all professions and
backgrounds who strolled its carriage roads in uncomfortable coaches,
chaises, gigs, or even riding mules, taking note of all they saw, to be
converted later into lively tales most of them largely illustrated with the
traveller’s own sketches, narratives that once they returned home, were
20
The Grand Tour was he journey that the sons of well-to-do British families used to make
for educational purposes to France, Italy and Switzerland during the eighteenth century and
the first decades of the nineteenth.
Page | 415
published for their families and friends and, of course, for arm-chair
travellers who from the peace and safety of their homes, could visit and
being acquaintanced with foreign lands, in this case with Spain, without
any risk of being robbed at the hands of fierce bandits while travelling in
the wilderness and rocky mountains of Andalusia, or without having to
suffer from being packed in dangerous and jolting diligences.
In travel books customs, landscapes, maps and also monuments were
described with words and pencil strokes with fountain pen or paintbrush
and in careful and precise details, and this is the landmark from which
travel books began their journey to the acquisition of the status of literary
genre.
The most remote places in Spain began to appear as illustrations in
travel books which animated social gatherings, gave rise to geographical
societies and, as a result Spain cities with their customs and people began
to be known in the most important intellectual clubs in the more
cosmopolite capitals of Europe. Benjamin Disraeli (Mitchell, 1988: 60) in
a letter which he wrote to his sister during his travels in Spain in the
summer of 1830, showed an enthusiasm rare in someone who had suffered
continuous depressions: «Oh! Marvellous Spain! A romantic land full of
Moorish ruins and paintings by Murillo! This could explain the reason for
the painted temples of Seville and the enjoyment of wandering around the
fantastic walls of the delicate Alhambra… I thought that enthusiasm had
now died within me and that nothing in this world could compensate me
for that… bats nest in dark corners during the day and mysteriously flutter
around in the evenings» But above all, he speaks about what he calls the
«Sarracen ardour» of Spain, saying: «It is the only country one can travel
to… its splendid buildings make you constantly lament the expulsion of the
Sarracens» and on the Alhambra «It is the most imaginative, most delicate
and fantastic work of art that has ever existed on a summer’s night in a
fairy tale».
During the last decade of the eighteenth century, all through the
nineteenth, and even during the tree first decades of the twentieth,
romantic writers, painters and composers travelled across the Peninsula
with the aim of understanding and underscoring the soul of this magical
country. And it is then, when Andalusia became an inexhaustible source of
inspiration for foreign artists.
Poets such as Robert Southey travelled in the Peninsula in 1795 or
Lord Byron who visited Andalusia in 1809 in his way to Greece and
Constantinople, and who described Cadiz as “the most delightful town I
ever beheld.”
Page | 416
French authors also travelled in Andalusia, for example, Chateaubriand
travelled in 1807, or Alexandre de Laborde, author of Voyage pittoresque
et historique de l’Espagne published in four volumes that appeared
respectively in 1806, 1811, 1812 and 1820, or Edgar Quinet who visited
Granada in 1843, describing the Alhambra as «the word built ».
Alejandro Dumas while in Granada wrote that the city was like «A
beautiful doncella lying asleep in the sun upon a bed of moss and ferns
surrounded by cactus and aloes». Scientists and military men also
expressed their enthusiasm for Spain. Captain Charles Rochfort Scott
travelled across Andalusia on several occasions during his long stay of
eight years in Gibraltar between 1821 and 1828, and wrote: «Spain!
Region of romance! Of snow-capped mountains, dark forests and crystal
streams! Land of the olive and the vine - the perfumed orange and bright
pomegranate! Country of portly priests, fierce bandits and dark-eyes
doncellas- the lively castanets and gay fandango!».
The Newyorker Washington Irving, author of the celebrated Tales of
the Alhambra, puts Andalusia on the tourist map. Irving concentrated on
the picturesque ness that appealed to a well-off bourgeoisie beginning to
think of holidays abroad (Mirchell, 1988).
Famous authors such as Teophile Gautier, Victor Hugo or Edmondo
D’Amicis put pen to paper describing their travels in Spain, and found
inspiration in different cities in Andalusia. Gautier conceived his romantic
travels in Spain in 1840 as a real adventure.
In Europe there was a constant demand for Spanish landscapes,
monuments and customs. Andalusia, more than any other regions in Spain,
embodied “The Spanish romantic myth.” Seville and Grenade received the
visit of famous painters from abroad. David Wilkie, Gustave Dore, Eugène
Delacroix (1832), Édouard Manet (1865), Edgron Lungren (1830), David
Roberts (1830) or J.F. Lwiss (1831), crisscrossed Andalusia and had long
residence in Granada.
3. Visiting Granada and the Alhambra: Writers, Painters
and Musicians
If Spain, in general, has attracted the attention of foreign travellers
since the mid of the eighteenth century, Granada has been a long-cherished
dream. Granada is a city whose unrivalled geographical situation, its
oriental past, its richness in monuments and works of art, its magic
landscapes and gorgeous sunsets, have been described in travel accounts
written by foreign travellers since the days of yore.
Page | 417
«When the pleasures of this breakfast had been discussed, we again set
forward on our journey and in less than an hour a joyful cry from the
driver’s lips of ‘Granada! Granada! Appraised us that we were within
sight of this (to me) long wished-for goal. Who could murmur at feeling a
little cold or hungry under such a delightful certainty?”»…These were the
words of Mrs. Isabella Frances Romer (1843), who continues: «I have
never during the course of my long wanderings had such expectations
upon approaching any spot, except upon two occasions, when I first
beheld Rome in the distance, and when Constantinople first burst upon my
view.»
It is difficult, I would dare to say, it is nearly impossible to summarize
in a few pages the importance of Granada from a tourist point of view and
what this city represented in the European cultural scene of the nineteenth
century. Hundreds of foreign travellers from most countries of Central
Europe, mainly from Britain, Ireland, France and Germany as well as from
the United States, visited Granada and sought inspiration for their
narratives, paintings or music compositions in the gardens and courts of
the Alhambra, along the shaded alleys of the Generalife, in the freshness
of its crystalline fountains or in the reddish and crumbling walls of the
Alcazaba Cadima. The city of Granada was an always changing model for
writers, painters and musicians with its Renaissance palaces and Gothic
churches, with its convents and monasteries, with its humming and
crowded markets, with the whitewashed houses of the Moorish Albaicin, a
neighbourhood of narrow streets, lovely patios and gorgeous views. The
city of Granada was endlessness described and portrayed by foreign artists
with its snow-capped mountains bursting at sunset and with its rich and
fertile plain dotted with villages and farms. Its rivers, the Genil and Darro,
acquired literary category described when glimmering in the moonlight.
Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke (1831) in 1826 expresses his enthusiasm
when Granada appeared in the distance: «We were fast approaching
Granada when the declining glow in the heavens announced the departure
of the day, the sun dipped beneath the western mountains, and the convent
bells deeply tolling announced the hour of vespers It was indeed a most
delicious evening, calm and mild». A few years later, Henry David Inglis
(1831) wrote: «It is impossible to approach and enter Granada without a
thousand associations, half reality, half romance, being awakened within
us: many centuries are suddenly swept from the records of time; and the
events of other days are pictured in our imagination» And once he entered
the city he expressed his delight: «From whatever point Granada may be
contemplated, it is a sumptuous city; whatever viewed from the plain, or
from any of the neighbouring heights: even in walking the streets, vistas of
Page | 418
astonishing beauty are occasionally discovered: and from the windows of
my apartment in the Fonda del Comercio, I have never seen any thing
more gorgeous than sunset upon the city of Granada; nor any thing more
beautiful than the moonlight falling upon its gardens, and groves, and
convents, and towers, and neighbouring heights, and snow-clad
mountains». But when he entered the Alhambra he was suddenly
conscious that reality was quite different: «The first morning after my
arrival, I hastened to the Alhambra. I entered its precincts by the Gate of
Granada, and found myself in a shrubbery, showing many marks of the
unpardonable neglect with which all the magnificent monuments in Spain
are treated, by those who preside over the destinies of that ill-governed
country». And this was true, the dreamed Alhambra and the Generalife
described by romantic travellers from abroad rivalling the Arabian Nights
palaces, and also the city of Granada itself, were victims of neglect and
abandon. Until the last thirty years of the nineteenth century when the
Governors of the Alhambra undertook a complete plan of restorations of
the buildings and gardens that still continues until the present day, most of
the Alhambra was on the point to collapse and its towers, halls and courts
were occupied by the lowest classes of society. Its towers of elaborate
ornaments were dwelled by gipsy families and criminals of the worse
description, who burnt their exquisite doors for heating, while the
Alcazaba or Moorish fortress was a prison. The magic courts and restored
halls in the mind and works of art of travellers were made larger and
prettier as by enchantment by the pen and the paintbrushes of romantic
artists and writers whose imagination restored them to its pristine glory,
removing in its narratives and sketch notebooks all the garbage and rubble
piled up in its once fairy-tale courts and halls. Their walls were nearly
demolished, their fountains (once the pride and joy of Muslims) damaged
and without their bubbling jets, although romantic authors described them
in the full glory of yore.
Mrs. Romer (1843) expressed enthusiastically enthralled: «I have seen
the Alhambra - I have seen the Generalife, -and words are wanting to
express the wonder and admiration with which they have filled me. For
once I have found that reality has exceeded expectation! All my fatigues,
all my sufferings, were forgotten as my dazzled eyes wandered over the
exquisite details of the Arabian palace; or, if remembered, were only
thought of as having been well worth undergoing to attain such an object,
and more than repaid by the unmixed gratification which that attainment
has conferred».
And the main reason for this general enthusiasm expressed by foreign
travellers was perfectly explained by Richard Ford (1995) author of one of
Page | 419
the best books on Spain stated: «Certainly, art and nature have combined
to render Granada, with its alps, plain, and Alhambra, one of those places
which realize all previous favourable conceptions» The Alhambra is so
perfectly integrated with the surrounding landscaped nature has gifted
Granada, that the views from its arch-shoe windows, balconies or galleries
form an important part of the unrivalled beauty of its halls and courts. The
Alhambra could not be understood without the contrast with the image of
the city itself, without its inhabitants and of course without the immense
Sierra Nevada as a backdrop and without its fertile Vega.
If the Alhambra would have been built in a flat plot of land, and placed
in the middle of a city whose surrounding narrow streets would have
impede its complete contemplation, the Alhambra and Generalife would
have never been what they are, as both buildings benefit from the
gorgeous views that nature affords. And on the other hand, of course, the
city of Granada, also benefit from the Alhambra and Generalife,
monuments perfectly integrated in its scene.
But there were not only the Alhambra and Generalife what made
foreign travellers to burst enthusiastically, the city itself also has awaken
the interest of visitors. Dora Quillinan (1847) expressed poetically on the
4th May 1846: «What a lovely Morning! - and what a view did I look upon
this morning from the roof of the house! Neither pen nor pencil can
delineate such a prospect. The Alhambra! theVega! The Sierra Nevada!
All before me, and the town with its groves and fountains at my feet».
And Henry Blackburn (1866) in 1864 expressed: «There are some
places in Europe, such as the Rhine, and the city of Rome, about which so
much have been said or sung, in praise, that they rarely fail to disappoint
the traveller who sees them for the first time. There are some again, that
realise more than almost any ideal. The Lake of Lucerne, Switzerland, in
spring time; St. Mark’s Square, Venice, from the Grand Canal, by
moonlight; the ‘Golden Horn,’ Constantinople, at sunset; and - at all
times and seasons-Granada. Whether it be from association, or the
romantic beauty of the situation, everything seems to combine to satisfy
the spectators. Artist, poet, philosopher, antiquary (or mere holiday
loungers, who may be all or none of these), will each find something to his
mind, and each, according to his taste and temper, must be more or less
gratified».
David Roberts, painter of theatre and opera sets and decorations, had a
specific assignment during his travels in Spain in 1832-1833: to make a
series of drawings to be used as base for etchings and lithography most
demanded by British publishers. He was a specialist in architecture and his
romantic and theatrical attitudes made him to imagine most of the
Page | 420
elements in his drawings, taking into account that nobody in England
would check the veracity of his interpretations of reality. David Roberts
even created landscapes of places he had never visited using previous
drawings made by other artists. Even Richard Ford had to advised him to
mention some acknowledgements to the artists he was plagiarizing. There
are no written records of his travels in Spain although we know that he
remained three weeks in Granada and that he had to leave the city as fast
as possible when the military authorities saw him painting panoramic
landscapes and invited him to abandon the city.
Russian composer Mijaíl Glinka travelled in Spain between 1845 and
1847. He visited Granada, Cordova and Seville and he became
acquaintanced with the Spanish folklore music composing its Spanish
Overtures. Glinka transcribes the tunes of Flamenco guitarist Murciano
becoming the driving force behind the tendency called Symphonic
Alhambrism where Orientalism, Arabism and flamenco melted.
But not all composers who found inspiration in Granada and the
Alhambra felt the visit of the muse while lingering in the Alhambra halls
and gardens. Claude Debussy, dared to compose the Prelude Puerta del
Vino without visiting Granada and of course without having visited the
Alhambra, with the only contemplation of one of the post cards his friend
Manuel de Falla sent to him. Claude Debussy has never travelled in Spain,
he only spent one evening in Spain and it is astonishing that he could
create Iberia and felt so attracted by Spanish music that he could compose
Soiré dans Granade and the already mentioned Prelude Puerta del Vino.
He wrote to Falla: Dear Friend, you know how deeply I love your country
even without having visited it. And Manuel de Falla returned his attention
dedicating his Homenaje a Debussy. Falla also wanted his memory to be
honoured by a commemorative plaque. And in 1984 in the main wall of
the house next to the Alhambra’s Puerta del Vino was placed a mosaic that
reads: A Claude Debussy for «La Puerta del Vino».
4. Conclusion
Once Spain was discovered far beyond our borders through travel
books written during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by famous or
even by unknown writers, once Spanish landscapes and monuments begun
to be seen hanging in the walls of European Museums and Art Galleries or
illustrating books and sketch albums, once the notes of romantic and
oriental melodies and songs inspired in Spanish cities, Spanish gardens
and Spanish typical characters were hear in concert halls and theatres of
Page | 421
the principal capitals of the world, the fascination for Spain have never
ceased and has kept pace up to the present day.
There have been, it is true, periods in which the number of foreign
travellers in Spain have diminished mainly due to political factors, for
example, during the Peninsular War (1808-1812), when most accounts on
Spain were written by soldiers or military officials. Also, the political
unsettledness of Spain during the Regency of Maria Cristina (1833-1835)
and the First Carlist Rebellion, or more recently, the terrible Civil War
(1936-1939) were factors that have contributed to the reduction in number
of foreign visitors. The severe Cholera pests of 1835-1835; winter of 1854
and summer and fall of the same year, or that of 1882, were also factors to
consider when planning a journey in Spain. Also natural disasters, as
severe and stern earthquakes like that of Alhama, in the province of
Granada, on the 25th December 1884 that destroyed most of the town, or
the ceaseless eruptions of volcanoes in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands
(29-31 august 1825) could have deterred tourists from visiting certain
places. But, on the other hand, we have to keep in mind the importance of
foreign travellers because thank to the pen of those foreign military
officials that served helping the Spanish armies and wrote monotonous or
lively accounts of their adventures, thank to the narratives of brave and
courageous journalists that chronicled important periods of our history and
who seem not to mind much for their safety, thank to foreign scientists
who investigate our mineral resources, our volcanoes and our thermal or
mineral water springs, Spain, its political situation, its cities and towns, its
monuments, its works of art and cultural richness, its customs and
attitudes, have been objectively described contributing to maintaining the
interest on Spain. Now, on the first decade of the twentieth first century,
although Spain has suffered in 2004 a terrible terrorist attack or the
continuous strikes of airport controllers, or more general, even at present
days, the severe economic crisis that is hitting the first world hard,
although all these factors, millions tourists yearly continue visiting Spain,
something that is and will be, an increasing non-stop source of income and
something crucial for Spanish economy. And of all tourists from abroad
that travel in Spain, whether in the peninsula or in its islands, millions visit
Granada yearly and in all seasons.
Million foreign visitors linger in the courts of the far-famous Alhambra
and Generalife contributing with their visit to maintain these monuments,
pride of our past and pride of our present. Million tourists once they have
seen all monuments, whether Moorish, Jewish or Christian, lose
themselves along the narrow streets of the Albaicyn or Realejo and enjoy
the delicious wine and tapas served in outdoor terraces favoured by a
Page | 422
bright and sunny sky all year round. And last but not least, million tourists
are seen in all seasons giving Granada that indescribable cosmopolitan
atmosphere that only tourism can afford.
Now, in all probability, only a reduced number will try to find
inspiration for their narratives, works of art or music compositions as their
predecessors of yore did once they enter Spanish borders, feeling the
irrepressible need to put their experiences in print, in a canvas or in the
stave. Now with the help of images, pictures, documentaries or even with
the immediacy of internet, writers, painters or composers who want to
create a work or art inspired in Granada or de Alhambra do not need to
visit Granada, they visit Granada because it is one of the places that have
to be seen before the sparkle have gone out of our eyes and before our
passion faded with the years.
References
Blackburn, H. (1866). Travelling in Spain in the present day. London, p.
203.
Brooke, A.C. (1831). Sketches in Spain and Morocco. London, vol. II:
218.
Fielding, J. (1783). The Polite Traveller and British Navegator, London, 4
vols.
Ford, R. (1995). A Hand book for Travellers in Spain and Readers at
Home. London 1845. In: Gamir, S.A. (p. 189). Richard Ford:
Granada. Granada.
Freixa, C. (1993). The English and the Art of Travelling. Barcelona, p. 23.
Inglis, H.D. (1831). Spain in 1830. London, Vol. II: 218-222.
Mitchell, D. (1988). Here in Spain. Fuengirola, Málaga, p. 60.
Quillinan, D. (1847). Journal of a Few Months’ Residence in Portugal,
and Glimpses of the South of Spain. London, Vol. ii, p.165
Romer, I.F. (1843). The Rhone, the Darro and the Guadalquivir. A
Summer Ramble in 1842. London, p.370
Scott, C.R. Excursions in the Mountains of Ronda and Granada.
Page | 423
THE EFFECTIVENSS OF DESTINATION
MARKETING IN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING
STATES: A CASE STUDY OF THE SEYCHELLES
ARCHIPELAGO
TOSHIMA MAKOONDLALL-CHADEE,
CHANDRADEO BOKHOREE AND ERICA RATH
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MAURITIUS
Abstract
Destination marketing plays an essential role for developing and
preserving a location’s popularity, and consequently it enhances sustained
destination competitiveness. Overall, destinations use a combination of
marketing communication tools to support their strategies in order to alter
themselves from others. Such marketing strategies has been an effective
mean in trying to attract and increase visitor numbers, and maintain stays
within destinations. This paper is set in the context of small island
destinations, focusing on the Seychelles Archipelago. Innovation in
communication channels has improved marketing efficiency of small
island developing states. However, these destinations face particular
challenges when seeking to compete in the global market. Destination
marketers have to proactively shape, adapt to, and inertly struggle through
changes in customer preferences, fierce competitions, and technological
progress. More recently, the prevailing global economic crisis has
worsened these challenges when competing on the international market.
This descriptive research attempts to provide an analytical insight into
destination marketing activities in the Seychelles. The biggest challenge
for such economies lies in the pooling of resources especially as they face
pressure on already limited funds. Consequently, the study focuses on
reviewing destination marketing activities and tools utilized in the
Seychelles and measuring their effectiveness from both destination
marketers’ and visitors’ perspectives. Primary data used were gathered
using a survey based approach through self-administered questionnaires.
The findings of the study revealed that although the marketing campaigns
in Seychelles have proven to be relatively effective, marketers cannot
neglect the minority of visitors who did not share the same opinion.
Recommendation is thus made to continuously conduct market research so
as to keep pace with the different needs and changing expectations of the
Page | 424
targeted markets, and to adopt and implement strategic solutions to sustain
positive arrival growth and customer satisfaction.
1. Introduction
Tourism destination marketing is among the most prominent and
influential means of inducing increasing visitation and maintaining stays
within a destination (Blum and Fallon, 2002; Cortes-Jimenez et al., 2009).
Ideally, destination marketing is conducted using a combination of
marketing instruments with careful management of the four P’s (Product,
Place, Price, and Promotion), which in turn should be done in accordance
with consumers needs to woo and capture the right audience (Zupanovic,
2007). It is usually the function of non-profit entities, so-called
Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) who are generally
responsible for generating tourist visitation for a given area (Buhalis,
2000). Destination marketers often use a myriad of traditional promotional
sources. Owing to the intangibility of tourism products, promotional
materials are deemed significant given that they represent the destination
tourism product (Sirakaya and Sonmez 2005). Advertising is the most
visible activity of destination marketers and the most manifest form of
promotion aimed at either consumers or the travel trade and includes use
of prints, television, radio, outdoor and predominantly the internet.
However, despite destination marketing being a relatively well-studied
line of inquiry in the field of hospitality and tourism, destination
marketing issues and concerns for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
remain relatively untouched as evidenced by the apparent lack of
published research in this area, hence providing the basis for this current
study.
Island tourism has been a subject of increasing interest to researchers
in terms of its contribution to social and economic development and
resulting impacts (Russell, 2006; UN-WTO 2010). Fotiou et al. (2002)
argued that islands are among the most frequently visited destinations in
the world and in essence possess certain attributes that set them aside from
mainland destinations which have several marketing implications. The
marketing tools that island destinations use depends on their types of the
tourism product and their market characteristics (Buhalis, 2000; Wang and
Krakover, 2008). SIDs have benefitted from developments and
innovations in marketing tools and this has lead to an improvement in their
marketing efficiency (Martin, 2008). However, the biggest challenge for
SIDS lies in the pooling of resources as they already face pressure on
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limited funds (Gretzel et al.2006). Such constraint can be overcome by
designing effective strategies (Sheldon, 1997).
2. Marketing the Competitiveness of Small Island
Destinations
Several authors are in consensus that SIDS have features and
characteristics which give them a distinctive status among global tourism
markets, (Baum, 1998; Lopez and Baum, 2004; Martin, 2008). These
dissimilarities have strong implications upon marketing initiatives which
SIDs must utilize using the aforementioned conventional marketing tools
in order to attract visitors and thus compete in the global market.
Remoteness, perceived difference, smaller size, slower pace of life,
distinct culture, exotic wildlife, and pristine environment are some of the
basic distinctive attributes of islands (Baum, 1998; Lockhart, 1997). Such
attributes have the potential to appeal to a particular spectrum of visitors,
and often paradises like the Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives predominates
visitors’ interests in search of distant and exotic locations. Small islands
are also seen as more ‘socially cohesive and as having a greater degree of
political stability and social homogeneity which makes them very
attractive to foreign investors’ (Martin, 2008). However, for small island
destinations, the deployment of the mere basic traditional marketing mix is
evidently not sufficient in face of a competitive market. Unlike developed
mainland destinations, islands rely exclusively on external markets for
tourism given that their small size limits the potential for domestic
tourism, (Reid and Reid, 1994). Thus, as Buhalis (2000) and Mann (2002)
discuss, island states need to access markets but this requires substantial
capital, economies of scale, management and marketing skills, presence in
the electronic marketplace, among others, which are unfortunately still
lacking in such nations.
With the increasing trend in internet use and purchase of online
holidays, Gretzel, et al., (2006) ; Soteriades and Avgeli, (2007) argues that
the internet provides small island destinations to receive maximum
visibility internationally. Personal selling is another prominent tool used in
travel trade through trade shows, exhibitions and events, trade
familiarization tours, training workshops, media trips, meetings and
conventions (Dore and Crouch, 2003). Further, sales promotion technique
is used by individual operators of tourism products whilst DMOs’ use of
such technique is limited to facilitating promotional partnerships among
organizations. Direct marketing methods have also been given prominence
in destination marketing, (Murphy, 2003) with increasing use of direct
Page | 426
mail of destination brochures and visitor guides/magazines and the
extensive use of global distribution systems and destination websites.
According to Dore and Crouch (2003), publicity campaigns is useful in
targeting and developing new market segments, capitalize on major events
such as sporting events, soften or reverse adverse trends such as the
decline in leisure traveling following the prevailing economic crisis, or to
improve poor public relations. Small island destinations also make use of
intermediaries more particularly tour operators and travel agencies (Lopez
and Baum, 2004). The latter further contends that tour operators have
conventionally been an important figure in tourism distribution channels
serving small islands such as the Balearics, Canaries, and Turkey. Being
an intermediary looking at the demand and supply sides and having higher
credibility and ability to reach mass crowds, island destinations depend on
tour operators to sell the existing capacity of tourism facilities (Dore and
Crouch, 2003).
A wide range of pricing techniques are also applicable when it comes
to marketing SIDs (Kotler et al., 2010). Buhalis (2000) discuses pricing
can in essence deter or attract visitors and thus pricing policies should be
enforced on maintaining fairly standardized price structures. Due to their
vulnerable economies, SIDs often overprice their tourism products in
order to boost their profitability (Buhalis, 2000). For especially long haul
island destinations, pricing plays a vital role in determining the willingness
and ability of travelers to visit. However, as Holloway (2009) argues,
destinations can only charge premium prices if they offer unique
experiences. To support this, certain destinations e.g. Mauritius,
Seychelles, are branded and promoted as unique-exotic-exclusive and are
regarded as offering a unique, ‘one-in-a-lifetime’ experience and is thus
promoted at premium prices (Buhalis, 2000).
3. Overview of Seychelles and its Marketing Strategies as
a Tourist Destination
Seychelles is a Unique Archipelago comprising of around 115 islands
in the Western Indian Ocean. Till-to-date, tourism remains the pillar of the
country’s economy, through direct and indirect contributions to gross
domestic product and through inflows of foreign currency including
tourism receipts and foreign direct investment. Promoting tourism of
Seychelles was entrusted to the Seychelles Marketing Authority (STMA)
established in June 1999 as the official destination marketing organization
representing the local community. Since the year 2000, Seychelles had
largely been marketed under a black and white campaign using the slogan
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‘as pure as it gets’, with the focal point of Seychelles’ ‘untouched beauty
and natural perfection’. A myriad of marketing tools was employed
including magazine and website advertising as well as joint promotions
with stakeholders, which featured highly evocative black and white
imagery to portray Seychelles’ Unique Selling Points (USPs).
In 2005, the destination marketing function was conferred to the
Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) which in 2008 became a parastatal
organization after it was handed over to the private sector whilst the
government moved back to being the ‘facilitator’ of the industry. At the
onset of its establishment, STB continued in pursuing the tasks of the
previous DMO until 2007 where it unveiled a new tourism brand bearing
the slogan, ‘Not just another place, another world’ with the aim of moving
away from the traditional promotion of Sun, Sea, Sand, to reflecting the
diversity of Seychelles. With the new campaign, a full-fledged emarketing emphasis was laid, greater enforcement of Seychelles USPs was
done. This was then followed by the launching of the “Affordable
Seychelles Campaign”, in March 2009, at the ITB Fair in Berlin with the
aim of helping the promotion of smaller establishments of Seychelles
under the brand name “Seychelles Secrets”.
4. Methodology
The study was designed as a descriptive one, considering both
qualitative and quantitative methods, in view of addressing the subject
matter. Such was deemed significant as the study’s focus necessitated a
sample of organizations whose roles and purpose paralleled the research
work. A total of 25 questionnaires were distributed according to the size of
the marketing department of these organizations, which comprised of
travel agencies, airlines and hotels. These organizations provided the
research with expert opinion and up-to-date factual information about the
marketing activities as well as the challenges and opportunities facing
destination marketing in Seychelles. The effectiveness of the marketing
campaigns was sought from visitors based on the assumption that
effectiveness can best be measured from tourists’ perspectives given that
they are the actual consumers of the ‘destination tourism product’. Based
on convenience sampling, 100 questionnaires were distributed fairly to
these consumers, through the above outlets. A response rate of 68% was
recorded for the organizations with 17 questionnaires completed and 8 not
returned, whilst out of the 100 tourists respondents targeted, 94
questionnaires were returned. The results have been clarified by means of
descriptive statistics and cross tabulations using SPSS version 17.0.
Page | 428
Content analysis was employed to analyze the data derived from openended questions.
5.1 Destination Marketing Activities
From the analysis it was gathered that the Internet was used by most
organizations and this marketing tool as depicted from the responses,
showed that the Internet generated very good destination awareness and it
also attracted a large number of customers. King (2002) argued that
through the use of technology customers can make their own travel
decisions more efficiently. Moreover, online tools help achieve printing
and distribution cost savings, whilst allowing Seychelles to portray its
Unique Selling Points thus enhancing the destination’s competitiveness.
However, one limitation of such tools as stated by the respondents is the
increasing competition as almost all destinations indulge in internet
advertising.
The importance of collaborative marketing has been highlighted in the
literature (Baker and Cameron, 2007) and as gathered from the responses,
despite increasing direct marketing to consumers via the internet, a large
number of travellers to Seychelles prefer packaged holidays organized by
Tour Operators (T.Os). They play a significant role in influencing large
number of customers and as such, providing them with adequate training
is indeed critical. This argument is supported by Budeanu (2005) who
revealed that T.Os are recognized as holding a great power of influence for
triggering essential changes in attitudes and actions of producers and
consumers, towards more sustainable tourism practices. Thus, the
Seychelles Tourism Board organized media trips to attract international
media with the aim of generating free publicity. Other marketing tools
used by STB are joint trade promotions, presentation to travel trade,
further types of advertising mode, including banner ads, magazines,
newsletters and different pricing strategies as practiced by airlines. Travel
trade that allows marketers to get into contact with trade partners and
consumers directly was also implemented as well as differential pricing,
which is a way of attracting customer visitation and increase yield.
However, the common limitations of such tools related to costs and lack of
resources.
Page | 429
5.2 Effectiveness of Marketing Campaigns from Visitors’
Perspectives: Seychelles’ International Tourist Markets
Raising awareness and visibility of Seychelles is crucial and as
demonstrated by Figure 1. Most respondents agreed that they were aware
of Seychelles marketing campaigns through the activities held in their
home country. These campaigns to some extent were effective in raising
Seychelles’ destination visibility and awareness. Figure 2 showing the
number of trips made to the Seychelles islands depicts 49% of the
respondents were first-time visitors whilst 36% was on their second visit
and 15% visited Seychelles more than twice. Although the graph shows a
slump in visitation frequency, repeat visitor markets appear to be
substantial with a total of 51% calculated from the last two categories. The
high level of repeat visitation rating ‘Definitely’ as per Figure 3, indicates
the effectiveness in Seychelles’ marketing concentration strategies which
aimed at consolidating and strengthening its existing core markets. This
demonstrates Seychelles’ ability in luring repeat visitors through
marketing initiatives such viral marketing (word of mouth), relationship
marketing, loyalty and reward campaigns to generate loyalty and promote
referrals. The benefits of repeat visitation are substantial especially the
economic benefits associated with it including lower investment as argued
by Oppermann (1998). Positive responses from first-time visitors convey
the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in tapping new customers.
However, we can also argue that marketing campaigns may not have been
the main driving force behind visitation for first time visitors as evidenced
by a large proportion of ‘Probably’. Visitors may have been influenced by
a host of other factors such as Visiting Family and Friends. Nonetheless,
as argued in the literature, whilst market concentration is highly beneficial
to a destination, Seychelles should also increase commitment to market
diversification, in order to attract new customers and strive to turn them
into repeat visitors (Yuksel, 2001).
5.3 Effectiveness of Marketing Campaigns from Destination
Marketers’ Perspectives
The main measurement tool that destination marketers use to measure
tourist arrivals is visitor statistics, rendering it difficult to evaluate if and
how marketing campaigns exert influence on visitor behaviour. The
factors which influence visitors’ travel behavior are many and varied,
making it rather complex to isolate the effects of marketing from a range
of exogenous and endogenous variables as discussed by Sirakaya and
Page | 430
Woodside (2005). Consequently, to find out the effectiveness of marketing
campaigns in terms of attracting visitors and financial expectations, 5point likert-scale questions were used. The effectiveness of the marketing
campaigns in terms of attracting visitors had a mean score of 3.88 and
financial expectations 3.94.
Figure 1: Seychelles’ overseas tourist market
Belgian
Greek
Canadian
Senegale
Motswana
Nigerian
Indian
Nationality
Mauritian
Russian
Portuguese
No
German
Yes
Ukranian
Italian
South African
British
Swiss
Reunion
French
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Seychelles promotes its destination in your country
of origin (%)
Figure 2: Frequency of visit
60%
50%
49%
40%
36%
30%
Visitation
frequency
20%
15%
10%
0%
One
Page | 431
Two
More than
two
A t-test analysis was carried out to investigate the reliability of the
mean scores and the significance 2-tailed test at 0.00 demonstrates that the
means were statistically reliable with no significant difference. As can be
observed from Table 1, the responses lean towards the positive end of the
spectrum with the majority rating being ‘agree’. This suggests that
marketing campaigns were relatively successful in meeting marketing
objectives in terms of positive tourist figures having significant impact in
return on investment not only for tourism businesses but for the overall
economic growth of the archipelago. Furthermore, as depicted from the
table, the mean score for financial expectations is slightly higher than for
attracting visitors which conveys the effectiveness of marketing efforts on
focusing on increasing yield and expenditure per visitor rather than
headcount. The upper end of the tourist market which is the prime market
segment of the Seychelles is capable of generating the highest per person
yield.
Figure 3: Cross tabulation analysis of marketing campaigns’ influence on visitation
frequency
25
s
n
iga
p
m
ac
g
in
t
e
rka
m
f
o
e
c
n
e
lu
f
In
20
)
%
(
yc 15
n
e
u 10
q
re
f
n 5
io
ta
ti
isv 0
n
o
Definitely
Probably
Probably Not
Definitely Not
One
Two
More
than two
Visitation frequency
Table 1: Effectiveness of marketing campaigns in terms of attracting visitors and
financial expectations
Attracting visitors
Financial expectations
Mean
3.88
3.94
Test Value=0
Std. Deviation
.485
.429
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
.000
5.4 Purpose of Visit and Destination Selection
Out of the 100 tourists as respondents, the majority claimed that
marketing campaigns influenced their destination selection decision with
ratings of 45.8% for ‘Definitely’ and 33.7% for ‘Probably’. Table 2 shows
a cross tabulation analysis based on whether purpose of visit influenced
Page | 432
customers decisions to choose Seychelles as a destination. As depicted
from the table, the highest frequency of respondents which indicated that
their visit was influenced by marketing campaigns is in the ‘Leisure’
category with 42.2% voting ‘definitely’ and 26.5% voting ‘probably’.
Indeed, it has been argued by Buhalis (2000) that for both leisure and
business markets, destination image is perhaps the most important
criterion for destination selection. Nevertheless, what can be deduced from
the responses is that leisure travellers are more likely to consult marketing
materials to plan their trips as a good number of them seek assistance from
marketing intermediaries. On the contrary, by its very nature, business
pursuits do not necessarily rely on campaigns. This explains why
marketing activities in Seychelles are geared towards recreationallyoriented visitors.
Table 2: Cross tabulation analysis of purpose of visit and destination selection
Purpose of Leisure Count
visit
% of Total
Business Count
% of Total
Other
Count
% of Total
Total
Count
% of Total
Marketing campaigns influenced your decision
to choose Seychelles as your vacation
destination
Probably Definitely
Definitely Probably
Not
Not
Total
35
22
7
2
66
42.2%
26.5%
8.4%
2.4% 79.5%
1
6
1
5
13
1.2%
7.2%
1.2%
6.0% 15.7%
2
0
1
1
4
2.4%
.0%
1.2%
1.2%
4.8%
38
28
9
8
83
45.8%
33.7%
10.8%
9.6% 100.0%
5.5 Marketing Campaign Information and Actual Experience
Fairweather and Swaffield (2002) argued when visitors encounter
settings and experiences that are in line with their expectations, their
evaluations can be very positive owing to their satisfaction. Table 3
compares the quality of information provided by marketing campaigns
with actual experience at the destination. The results show a positive
response for the Seychelles destination which implies that there is
equilibrium between perception and expectations of the destination
resulting from communication of the proper and accurate information to
consumers. However, we cannot disregard the minority of respondents
(4.8%) who rated ‘strongly disagree’, suggesting to a small extent there is
a mismatch. Information may be either lacking or exaggerated, resulting in
a gap between expectations and perceptions. In this context, there is the
Page | 433
need to re-align marketing efforts in order to level the gap so as to ensure
customer satisfaction and increase destination competiveness.
Table 3: Cross tabulation analysis of marketing information and actual experience at
the destination
The information provided by marketing
campaigns matches actual experience of the
destination
Total
strongly
neither agree
strongly
disagree disagree nor disagree agree
agree
Marketing
strongly
Count
4
0
0
0
0
4
Campaigns
disagree
% of Total
4.8%
.0%
.0%
.0%
.0%
4.8%
provide
Disagree
Count
quality and
2
0
2
0
0
4
adequate
% of Total
2.4%
.0%
2.4%
.0%
.0%
4.8%
information
Neither agree Count
about the
0
0
7
2
0
9
nor disagree
Seychelles
% of Total
.0%
.0%
8.4%
2.4%
.0% 10.8%
destination
Agree
Count
0
0
9
35
1
45
% of Total
.0%
.0%
10.8% 42.2%
1.2% 54.2%
strongly
Count
0
0
0
4
17
21
agree
% of Total
.0%
.0%
.0%
4.8% 20.5% 25.3%
Count
Total
6
0
18
41
18
83
% of Total
7.2%
.0%
21.7% 49.4% 21.7% 100.0%
The study also investigated into the relationship between the actual
experiences faced by the visitors at the destination and the degree of
influence to their decisions to stay for extra days. The findings revealed
that satisfaction arising from actual experience of the destination has
enticed visitors to extend their stays and make future trips to the
Seychelles. Tourist satisfaction representing a key measure of destination
evaluation, which is relative to the prior evaluation, may have stemmed
from the information received prior to visitation and the actual experience
of the destination. However it can also be argued that such decision may
have not necessarily been influenced by marketing campaigns but rather
driven by tourists’ satisfaction arising exclusively from their experience of
the islands. It is worth noting that when visiting a destination, tourists
interact with many different components of the destination product,
including services and facilities, the physical environment, attractions and
social encounters. The quality of these interactions and experiences in the
Seychelles may have formed the basis for overall holiday satisfaction
hence impacting on extended stays and future travel decisions. As
suggested by Lockhart (1997), future travel behaviour may be influenced
by the nature as well as the extent of past travel experience. Nonetheless,
this finding correlates with the high level of repeat visitation discussed
Page | 434
earlier which benefits the Seychelles through generating loyalty and
stimulating positive word-of-mouth.
6. Conclusion
The current study provided an analytical review of the effectiveness of
destination marketing activities in the Seychelles islands. The research
revealed that the effectiveness of marketing campaigns is positively
skewed. For destination marketers, marketing campaigns are successful in
terms of attracting visitors and having a positive return on investment
whilst for visitors the campaigns were effective in terms of equilibrium
between information provided with actual experience of the destination
which subsequently encouraged longer stays and repeat visits. Leisure
travellers rather than Business travellers are also more inclined to be
influenced by Seychelles marketing campaigns. The study also provided a
holistic view in exploring threats that compromise marketing efforts in the
Seychelles and opportunities that are present. The main challenges
confronting destinations marketers are the economic hurdles, stiff
competition, changing customer expectations and needs and lack of
resources namely limited funds. However, Seychelles’s destination
marketers are also witnessing numerous opportunities including new
market potentials, technological advancements and innovation.
Nevertheless, destination marketers still need to maintain and build on
Seychelles’ position in the world and to continually develop its markets
and diversify its propositions.
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WOMEN IN HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND
LEADERSHIP: DIAMOND OR GLASS?
LIA MARINAKOU
IST COLLEGE - UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE, GREECE
Abstract
Although, the hospitality industry shows growth, the position of women in
management is low and only few women are found in high managerial
positions. The hotel sector is dominated by women, but is managed by
men, as women are mainly found in positions that are stereotypically
ascribed to their gender, such as directors of sales and marketing. The
findings of this study suggest that women are equally capable to their
male counterparts; nevertheless, they acquire skills that are considered to
be more effective in the context of the hospitality industry. They are
nurturing, better at communicating with people, they are caring and adopt
supporting behaviours. Hotels that have women in managerial positions
are more successful at facing the increased competitiveness and adapt to
change more efficiently.
1. Introduction
Tourism has been considered to be a major contributor to the Greek
economy (Papalexandris, 2008) and is considered as a major employer
with 659,000 jobs in 2004, representing the 16,5 percent of the total
employment in the country (ILO, 2009). Nevertheless, women have the
lowest female participation rate in employment in tourism in the country
(Eurostat, 2009). Additionally, although research has been conducted in
hotel management, very little research has been conducted to explore the
position of women in hotel management (Woods and Viehland, 2000).
Besides that, Mihail (2006) suggests that there is lack of updated empirical
research on the position of women in corporate Greece. This paper aims at
presenting the position of women in hotel management and leadership in
the hotel sector in Greece. The main purpose is to present how hotels in
Greece may benefit from the way women manage, and use their talents
and leadership skills in facing the challenges of today’s competitive
environment that as Erkutlu (2008) recommends constantly changes and is
characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability.
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2. Women in Hotel Management and Leadership
Within this changing and challenging environment, changes in the
workforce and employability are evident and required. Amongst other
factors such as geographical and cultural distances (Nickson and Warhurst,
2001), the increasing numbers of women in employment have changed the
face of hospitality organisations. According to the International Labour
Office (ILO, 2009) over 200 million of people are employed in the
hospitality and tourism industry, but women represent only the 6.4 percent
(Duffield, 2002). Women employed in the hotel sector in Greece are found
to represent 45.3 percent of the total employment confirming that the
sector employs mainly women (Eurostat, 2009). Nevertheless, there are a
few women found in high managerial positions (Li and Leung, 2001) and
only recently women were allowed to climb the managerial ladder in
Greek management (Mavridis, 2002). For example, Mavridis (2002) in his
study found that 87 percent of male and only 13 percent of female
graduates are employed in organisations that operate in Greece and he
estimates that only 10.4 percent of the directors in Greek firms are women
who do not belong to the family that owns those businesses.
Moreover, women in Greece have lower earnings than their male
colleagues, and it ranges from 65 to 80 percent of the men’s salary
(Pettraki-Kottis and Ventoura-Neokosmidi, 2004: 21). In addition, others
claim that gender stereotypes persist in Greece and prevent women from
attaining managerial positions (Vakola and Apospori, 2007; PettrakiKottis and Ventoura-Neokosmidi, 2004; Ntermanakis, 2003; Kottis, 1996;
Papalexandris and Bourantas, 1991), while, as Loizos and Papataxiarchis
(1991: 223) claim “gender is constructed outside the realm of the
domestic” and is evident in businesses as well. It is evident that the region
may play a role in the gender attitudes, and perhaps the race and the
ethnicity as well (Scott, 1995). Mihail (2006: 688) for example claims that
the gender stereotypes in Greece stem from the ‘patriarchal society of
modern Greece’. He also claims that “women who aspire to managerial
careers in corporate Greece are likely to face intense attitudinal barriers”
(Mihail, 2006: 690). Organisations in a patriarchal society show
‘hegemonic masculinity’ that refers to practices that legitimate the power
of men over women (Thomas, 2005). Under these conditions, women are
always in the position of being outsiders, of being ‘travelers in a male
world’ (Marshall, 1984). In view to this, Pettraki-Kottis and VentouraNeokosmidi (2004: 24) present one woman’s statement where she says
“Women usually do not advance to leading positions and as a result many
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of them do not see any purpose in exerting the required effort and in
participating in training programmes”.
Additionally, it has been argued that women in certain situations adopt
appropriate behaviours and roles adapted to the context in which they
operate (Biswas and Cassell, 1996; Cassell, 1996). In other situations
women have the opportunity to express themselves and operate according
to their traditional roles (Brownell, 1994a,b). Hence, Kinnaird and Hall
(1994) and Jordan (1997) suggest that the hospitality and tourism industry
are influenced by gender stereotyping and therefore, there are certain types
of work that women can do. They continue that women are mainly found
in part-time or seasonal jobs in tourism. Purcell (1996) even identified
three types of jobs done by women. She identified the ‘contigently
gendered jobs’, where women do jobs that include a role mainly gender
neutral, the ‘sex-typed jobs’ where roles are sex related and the
‘patriarchal practice’ where roles are identified and specified by beliefs
and practices that reflect gender attributes (Purcell, 1996: 20).
Nevertheless, there are certain positions that are dominated by women and
others by men. Still, women in this case hold positions that would not
allow them progress in the hierarchy and become a hotel general manager
(Woods and Viehland, 2000: 53; Biswas and Cassell, 1996) or hold those
that are poorly paid (Kinnaird and Hall, 1994). Nevertheless, women have
started climbing the career ladder and nowadays are found in high
managerial positions in hotel management.
In addition, there are some characteristics or traits that hotel managers
have, thus studies have focused on competencies required by hotel
managers and many different lists of required competencies are developed
(i.e. Christou and Eaton, 2000; Ladkin and Riley, 1996; Sandwith, 1993;
Baum, 1991). Lockyer and Scholarios (2004) identified several personality
characteristics in the services industry that are common with those
identified in the hospitality industry (Kitching, 1994) and include
characteristics such as courtesy, consideration, tact, perceptiveness and
good communication skills. In their study, Sehanovic et al. (2000) suggest
that women showed very good performance on organisational, financial
and management knowledge, manner with people, and knowledge of the
economy. They also found that women were very good at organizing work
and spotting problems, which they solved quickly. They suggest that both
men and women at higher levels delegate authority less than they should.
Iakovidou and Turner (1994) suggest that high standards of maternal
comfort and professionalism are required in the hospitality industry in
order to develop and maintain good quality customers in a tourism
destination. Due to the lack of time and the varying work schedule women
Page | 440
hospitality managers do not focus on networking, training and other
related activities (Li and Leung, 2001), that are valued if they wish to
progress in their career.
Maxwell (1997: 236) suggests that female hotel managers
communicate better than the male hotel managers especially “in terms of
having a deeper insight into and being more interested in their staff”. She
also suggests that women posses the management skills that are required
by hospitality organisations. These skills include communication,
flexibility, the ability to adapt, and teamwork. In reference to managers,
Brownell (1994a) suggested that hotel managers delegate, motivate staff
and present information orally and in writing. She continues that they have
become good at listening, as part of their communication process, as well
as as an information gathering technique, in their effort to assess
employees’ concerns and the organisation’s climate. Furthermore,
Gherardi (1994) suggests that female attractiveness is exploited within the
hospitality industry. She found that in work teams, where female and male
members are equally represented, the teams work better, showing greater
productivity and quality of work.
The leadership qualities of hotel managers may help face the
challenges in the industry and the constant changes which include
“increasing globalization of the economy, the need to reduce costs and the
pressure to be competitive in a market where there are more global
competitors” (Taborda, 2000: 41). In addition, Clark et al. (2009) and
Chathoth and Olsen (2002) support Babakus et al. (2003) view that
leadership is important in service organisations, such as hotels, because it
may create a transformational climate to enhance employee loyalty, and
maintain high quality of services provided. They also claim that little
research has been conducted on “the identification of the most appropriate
leadership style” in the industry (Clark et al., 2009: 210). Furthermore,
Galanaki et al. (2009) and Vakola and Apospori (2007) in their study in
Greece reveal that there are gender differences in leadership styles
between the two genders and that women seem to be restricted in
management roles due to family responsibilities and their other roles.
Additionally, research on leadership in hospitality has shown that
transformational leadership can improve employee commitment, social
behaviour and satisfaction (i.e. Tracey and Hinkin, 1994). Others, such as
Gill and Mathur (2007) support that empowering leadership improves
hospitality employees’ behaviour. In general, service managers should
provide visible leadership to staff in order to help them accept the nature
and the demand of the services provided in the industry (Ahmed and
Parasuraman, 1994 cited in Clark et al., 2009: 212).
Page | 441
3. Method
Management and leadership are social phenomena that rely on the
subjective interpretations of both the leaders and their followers (Grint,
2000). Thus, the complexity of the phenomenon demands methodology
that can provide access to data that reflect the views of both male and
female managers in the industry. The qualitative approach helps to explore
the way managers understand and make sense of their lives and how they
manage day-to-day situations (Miles and Huberman, 1994), the researcher
aspired to explore the nature of hospitality management and leadership
through the eyes of the participants, by penetrating to the frames of
meaning with which these people operate in the organisational context.
Therefore, the empirical data is gathered with semi-structured
interviews with 15 male and 15 female managers in 5* star hotels in
Greece, that are chosen with convenience sampling techniques. The
regions chosen for the study are those that have the highest concentration
of tourism demand, and are considered primary destinations in Greece
(Papadimitriou and Trakas, 2008), that is Rhodes, Attica, Crete, Myconos
and Thessaloniki. The hotels belong to the 5* category and to all types
such as resort, city hotel, national or international hotel chain, in order to
have a variety of participants and views based on different organisational
structures and culture, as it was difficult to find 15 female general
managers in hotels in the areas of study. The semi-structured interviews
had a conversational style so that the researcher could understand how
each of the participants gave meaning to their work experiences.
The participants in the study are all Greeks. The majority of the
managers in the study is single, and does not have any children, which
shows that despite their age and the fact that they are either married or
divorced the participants spend a lot of their time on their career and at
work. The female managers are more likely to remain single and not have
children in order to pursue a career. They mainly have undergraduate
degrees and only three participants hold a postgraduate diploma. All
however, have studies in hospitality and/or tourism management. The
majority speak at least two foreign languages, as it has been identified as a
requirement in hotel management (Christou, 1999).
Thematic analysis has been performed to the interviews in order to
answer the research questions. Thematic analysis is used to analyse words
or concepts in texts, in order to quantify and analyse the meanings of these
words and make inferences about the messages in the text (Miles and
Huberman, 1994; Bryman and Bell, 2003). The interviews have been
partially transcribed and although Stemler (2001) claims that there might
Page | 442
be some challenges in using simple word frequency counts to make
inferences, themes are developed not only from those that were more
frequently discussed, but also based upon the relevant theory discussed in
the literature review. Among others, the theme that emerged from the
analysis and is discusses in this paper refers to the success factors mainly
of female managers in hospitality management in Greece.
4. Findings
The participants expressed their views on three main topics as they
emerged from the data analysis. Firstly, the glass ceiling issues in hotel
management, then the leadership style that the managers adopt and finally
the factors that lead to successful management in the hospitality industry
in Greece. The female managers in the study stressed the barriers they face
and the factors that contribute to the glass-ceiling phenomenon, that is
evident in the hotel sector as well, whereas the male managers were
concerned about the phenomenon, but only in reference to their female
counterparts. Nevertheless, some issues on the glass ceiling are presented
in this paper in an effort to show how female managers deal with them, as
the focus is mainly on the leadership and the management style that is
adopted.
Therefore, the male managers believe that it is more difficult for
women to work in the industry, as it requires working long hours,
sometimes sacrificing family and personal life and more often moving
around to different tourism destinations in order to advance. More
specifically one female manager (assistant general manager) admitted she
did not accept an offer to become a general manager because as she said
“my own desire to spend more time with my children will probably ensure
that I stay where I am for convenience. I guess many capable women will
not make it into the positions of influence for these reasons. Unfortunately,
the women making it are usually childless and are therefore less aware of
the work conditions that need to change”. Nevertheless, another female
manager (general manager) said “if you manage your time, then you can
balance work with family”. These views are also supported by similar
studies such as Ng and Pine (2003) and Knutson and Schmidgall (1999)
who consider hard work and commitment at work major contributors to
managers’ success. All of the above confirm Wood’s (1994) view on the
characteristics of hospitality management. He stresses hands on work,
operational control and hard work in combination with frequent interaction
with staff and other members of the organisation as part of their tasks. The
female managers in the study claim that they work many hours and
Page | 443
sometimes more hours than the male managers, because they have to
prove their skills. Although, the female managers that have a family find it
difficult to balance work with family obligations, they accept the challenge
and develop such skills and competencies that allow them to perform well.
For example, one front office manager said “If you want to excel and
advance, if you want your customers and the management to be happy you
have to be there whenever it is required. I may come in the middle of the
night because we have 300 guests checking in. I will help with everything,
even the bellboy to carry the suitcases…”. Thus, the hotel managers have
to develop competencies across a variety of departments, offering more
career opportunities and higher salary levels (Carbery et al., 2003).
Interestingly, however, very few female managers expressed the desire to
become general managers in their hotels, they desire to have a successful
career, whereas the male managers have planned their careers and they
showed their ego.
Sex and gender discrimination is still evident in the hotel sector,
nevertheless, the situation is getting better and women managers are given
more opportunities to pursue a managerial career. This point was made by
both male and female managers, and more specifically a food and
beverage female manager admitted that it is difficult to penetrate the
kitchen’s male-dominated environment, but it is possible with the proper
attitude, behaviour and knowledge confirming the study by Knutson and
Schmidgall (1999). This way female managers may gain respect.
Additionally, both male and female managers propose that knowledge of
the industry, of the job and the prior studies and experience help them gain
the respect of their peers and superiors. Further, the female managers
value more than the male managers delegation and sharing the decision
making with their staff. They propose that this allows them to have more
time to spend on staff training and planning and organizing their job. For
example, a female manager said: “within the industry, I have never felt my
being a woman hindered my growth or the respect that I have received for
my experience and knowledge. It is individuals outside the industry who
will, for example, seek the acceptance of the male during a meeting
instead of the woman, even though the woman is the decision-maker. That
always makes for an interesting scenario!”.
The female managers in contrast to the male managers in the study
claim that patience, smile, and humour may help deal with challenging
situations and circumstances with all the stakeholders. Brownell (1994)
propose that the interpersonal skills and determination are success factors
in hotel management, and women in the current study are found to acquire
these. In addition, the female managers in the study propose that they
Page | 444
should be as assertive as men, enthusiastic and caring for their staff.
Purcell (1996) in her study also suggests that ‘the right kind of
personality’ is an important element when hiring new employees. Another
success factor is to acknowledge the mistakes and apologise.
Further, the female managers claim that they are trying to change
today’s management culture and style, thus they provide a more nurturing
and accommodating environment. Therefore, they listen to their staff, they
respect their opinion and discuss any problems at work. In this way, they
encourage a team-based management style that generates more mentoring
opportunities for employees through the environment and the working
climate. Finally, they all claim that the culture is changing and women are
given more opportunities to progress. This point affirms Powell and
Graves (2003) who suggest that companies play a role in women’s success
by adopting strategies to advance their careers or by erecting barriers that
might prevent women from advancing. Although, Guerrier (1986) found
that women in the industry are responding realistically to a situation in
which they view an impossible future, the female managers in this study
are more optimistic about the current situation and the position that
women hold in the Greek hospitality industry. They believe that they are
not far away from placing women in top positions, as one noted that:
It is true that women work very hard and they are more in the
hospitality industry, not at managerial positions you do not find
may but the numbers are growing very fast. You find many female
managers in big hotel chains mainly. I strongly believe that women
are more effective, they have very good communication skills that
are required in the industry, they make very careful steps and they
create very good reputation.
Evidently, male and female managers agree on some competencies and
skills that are required to advance and progress in hotel management, but
they perceive differently the barriers and obstacles to their careers. For
example, female managers value the relationships with their colleagues or
supervisors, whereas male managers value their status in their positions,
which affirms Iverson’s (2000) study.
On the contrary, the male managers believe that both male and female
managers are equal and equally treated; they have the same way of
thinking and professional values. When they get married they both value
their family that comes first, and thus for both is difficult to progress
considering the patriarchic culture in Greece and the difficulties they may
face in regards to their responsibilities towards family and work.
Page | 445
Furthermore, they add that their female colleagues are as good as they are,
and they have a bright future as long as they continue the hard work,
despite the sex and gender stereotypes that persist in the Greek culture.
Interestingly, one male food and beverage manager stated “make a
woman’s kind of work and it will be work that will blossom”.
5. Implications for Hotel Management
The results of the current study provide direction for managers in
hotels as they suggest that women may be successful managers, although
they face many challenges in their careers. As Powell and Graves (2003:
153) suggest organisations should be ready to address any discrimination
that occurs in the company, especially “when they embrace stereotypical
views or display prejudices towards members of one sex as leaders”. Thus,
they should use the legal framework that supports equality at work. They
should provide female managers with the adequate policies to support
them in terms of balancing family with work. Such policies include the
leave of absence when people are getting married, when they have
children time off during their pregnancy or time for their children i.e. to
get them to the doctor. Sometimes, however, the female managers in the
study said that the employees, the other managers and the top managers’
behaviour may undermine these privileges, thus they do not take
advantage of this policies, “only when it is necessary”. Therefore,
organisations should act to reduce these beliefs and attitudes towards the
female managers (Powell and Graves, 2003), and provide them with the
environment to use their skills and talent that are found to be effective in
hotel management. The culture in Greek organisations, including
hospitality organisations have an impact on female and male managers.
The demanding and challenging environment forces women to think
carefully before starting a family, and to manage their personal life so well
that it will not influence their performance and productivity. Such
stereotyping can be detrimental to their advancement, not only because
they have to carefully plan their life, but also because their employees
perceive them differently, or it influences whether they will be promoted,
further trained or be given the opportunities to grow within the company.
This study suggests that as the hospitality industry faces uncertainty and
fierce competition that threaten its effectiveness female managers may be
employed as they are flexible, and may help the organisation to adapt to
the new demands. Female managers have the skills and competencies
required to succeed in this demanding industry. Further research may be
conducted in other countries to explore the position of women in hotel
Page | 446
management and provide more general views on the topic and suggestions
on how women may overcome the problems and the challenges as well as
how hotels may create more opportunities for women managers.
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Page | 450
FOR OR AGAINST THE SMOKING BAN IN
RESTAURANTS IN GREECE?
L IA M ARINAKOU A ND M ATINA
V ALSAMIDOU
IST COLLEGE - UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE, ATHENS
Abstract
A considerable number of countries have applied laws for the ban of
smoking in public places. Furthermore, the separate area for smokers and
non-smokers customers in private places such as restaurants and bars, is a
significant change that has caused positive or negative attitudes. The
different views of customers and restaurant owners have created a legal
and social debate. The findings suggest that on the one hand, the majority
of the restaurant owners impose the law, but not actively. On the other
hand, the non-smokers are in favour of the smoking ban and they have not
reduced their visits in restaurants, whereas the smokers have reduced their
visits and consumption to those restaurants that impose the law.
1. Introduction
Since the financial crisis in Greece in 2009, the restaurant industry
faced many challenges and problems. Although, from 2005 to 2008 there
was an annual increase of 16% of the revenues, in 2009 the industry faced
a decrease in revenues that reached the 13%. The restaurant industry in
Greece for many decades was contributing to the Greek economy,
however, the last two years there has been a decrease of the revenues in
the industry that costs the shut down in many businesses (Marinakou,
2011). One of the main factors that have contributed to this situation is the
smoking ban that has been recently implemented in Greece. On the one
hand the customers who do not smoke see this ban favourably, on the
other hand the smokers have lessen their visits to restaurants and bars. The
restaurant owners are in the middle as they are forced by the government
to implement the law, but they see their revenues reducing. This paper
aims at presenting the views that both customers and restaurant owners
have for the smoking ban in Greece.
Page | 451
2. An Overview of the Smoking Ban
A considerable number of countries have applied laws for the ban of
smoking in public places. This change has led to positive and negative
customers’ and owners’ attitudes as they face many challenges with the
implementation of the smoking ban. Many have studied the impacts of the
ban and whether it has benefited or damaged the restaurant industry in
financial terms. The ban is imposed in order to reduce risks to public
health and welfare and to protect the rights of the non-smokers, employees
and other customers in the regulated establishments. Nevertheless, the
smoking ban is a controversial subject, as those who smoke are against the
ban and support that it is their personal right to be able to smoke in public,
whereas those who do not smoke or have never smoked, see the smoking
ban favourably. The different views have created a legal and social debate
(www.ezinearticles.com, 2011).
Interestingly, 40% of men and the 9% of women are smoking in
Greece. Additionally, Greece is the country that consumes the largest
amount of tobacco products in Europe (http://www.apn.gr, 2010). In fact,
Tamvakas and Amos (2010:955) suggest that “Greece is at an earlier stage
of the smoking epidemic than countries such as the UK and the US where
smoking in adults and young people has been declining since the 1970s”.
However, since the 1st of September, 2010 smoking is not permitted in
public spaces; and every kind of advertising of tobacco is forbidden in
Greece. Moreover, it is not allowed to sell tobacco products to children
under the age of 18, or through the internet. Nonetheless, the Ministry of
Tourism and the Health and Social Solidarity Ministry decided to have
some exceptions for the areas that have a great number of tourists in the
tourism season (www.nonsmokersclub.com, 2010). However, smoking is
not allowed in working places and fines have been and will be given to the
smokers that do not comply with the law. In fact, the fines to the people
who continue smoking range from 500 to 10.000 euros (Tamvakas and
Amos, 2010:956). At the same time, the owners that will be penalised
more than 4 times are facing severe penalties such as confiscation or the
closure of their business for even 10 days.
All the businesses, especially those that are more than 300 m2 were
given a seven-month period to rearrange the areas and separate their
establishments into smoking and non-smoking areas. For controlling
purposes the prefecture and the municipal policy were given the authority
to assess for any violations and give the fines (Health and Social Solidarity
Ministry, 2010).
Page | 452
Interestingly, since the 1st September of 2010, 114,367 calls have been
made for complaints about smokers and business owners that do not obey
to the law. Evidently, a lot of people, mostly non-smokers, were waiting
for the implementation of the law and their disagreement with smoking is
obvious (http://www.apn.gr, 2010).
3. The Smoking Ban and the Consumption in Restaurants
In their study Aung et al.(2001) propose that the changes due to the
smoking ban in restaurants caused a lot of concern to the owners, who
believed that their customers would reduce their visitation. However, they
claim that finally all the customers in their study did not change their
behaviour as the law applied in all the restaurants and they did not have
any other choice, thus they got used to the new situation. Furthermore,
Craven and Marlow (2008) suggest that there is no evidence in their study
that all businesses either have profits or losses from the ban of smoking. It
is quite logical for any owner to be concerned for what customers prefer
and if smoking will affect their businesses. There are still some concerns
about separating the areas in any restaurant for smokers and non-smokers
especially if the number of them on premises is equal. However, they
found that there are some problems depending on the number of people
that visit the restaurant.
Moreover, Marlow (2008) offers some further evidence. Firstly, he
states that the restaurants that have few smokers customers in the study are
using air filtration system and have designed the area along with the nonsmoker customers’ needs. Additionally, the owners that have a great
number of smoker customers are more concerned for losses in their
restaurants than those who have not. Moreover he states that after the ban
of smoking in private areas, restaurant managers are trying to adjust
prices, wages and even hours of operation in order to achieve the best.
With all those changes not only customers are affected but employees too,
as the customers are offered better prices, and the employees work in
more flexible work shifts.
In another study, Glantz and Smith (1999) found that the smoking ban
has not only negatively influenced the profits in the restaurant industry,
but on the contrary they have risen. Similarly, Kunzill et al.(2003) suggest
that there was an increase of 10% in the sales in the non-smoking café that
they studied. They also suggest that the tips for the waiters were more in
the area where smoking was not allowed. The participants in this study
suggest that the smoking ban should be mandatory in the whole bar and
the owner is responsible for implementing the law. Similarly, in another
Page | 453
study, Marlow and Dunham (2004) agree and propose that smoke free
restaurants benefit both employees and customers. In addition, they claim
that smokers cannot ignore the fact that non-smokers are harmed from the
secondhand smoke. Moreover, Alamar and Glantz (2004) have found that
the smoke free restaurants have an increase of 16% in their profits,
contrary to the restaurants that have not imposed the law. Similarly,
Marlow and Dunham (2000) suggest that it costs less to large firms to
separate smokers from non smokers, but a lot to smaller businesses. Still,
in their study, 51% of the restaurant owners predict no decrease on the
revenues compared to the 39% of the restaurant owners that believe in
economic impacts of the law.
Concerning the rearrangement in the restaurants the studies propose
that it is a difficult and expensive decision for the owners. Cuthbert and
Nickson (1999) propose that all restaurants should impose the law without
any other propositions, such as the redesign and rearrangement to
accommodate the customers in different separated areas. Even though the
air space is commonly viewed as a public resource each owner is forced to
separate this public area equally so that both smokers and non-smokers
will be satisfied (Costa and Mossialos, 2006).
On the one hand, the customers that smoke however, believe that if
they do not smoke at the end of their meal, the experience is unfinished
(Aung et al., 2001). The same study proposes that the customers are not
willing to go out and smoke and they prefer to dine at home. Biener and
Siegel (1997) suggest that smokers are against the smoking ban in
restaurants. On the other hand, the non-smokers suggest that they are not
willing to go to restaurants that have no separated areas or smoking is
allowed (Aung et al., 2001). They want a smoke free experience (Biener
and Siegel, 1997). Interestingly, Tamvakas and Amos (2010) state that the
participants in the study believe that the Greeks will not finally impose the
law, although they all believe that it is the owners' responsibility to impose
the law.
The data were collected for this paper through self-administrated
questionnaires distributed to 200 customers of restaurants in Athens, and 100
were collected back, providing a 50 percent of response rate. The respondents
were chosen among the visitors of the restaurants in the study. Half are
smokers and the other half are non-smokers as both views are valued for this
study. The questionnaire was designed having done a thorough literature
Page | 454
review on the smoking ban and its effect in other countries with a focus on the
restaurant sector.
In addition, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the
restaurant owners in order to identify their views on how the smoking ban has
influenced their businesses.
5. Results
5.1 Survey
The participants in the study were 100 in total. 50 are smokers and 50 are
non smokers, among those 49 are women and 51 men. The ages vary as
45% are between 18-24 years old, 28% are between 25 and 34 and 21%
are between the ages of 35-44. Finally, only the 6% are between the ages
of 45-54. It has to be underlined that 15 out of 50 smokers consider
themselves as heavy smokers.
Figure 1: Smokers frequency
50
30
10
Figure 2: Non smokers frequency
50
40
30
20
10
0
1/week
2/week
3/week
1/
w
ee
k
2/
w
ee
k
3/
w
ee
k
5/
we
ek
1/
m
on
th
-10
Figure 1 and 2 show the frequency of visits in restaurants that smokers
and non smokers respectively have on a weekly basis. It is evident that, 25
out of 50 non smokers customers visit a restaurant twice a week whereas
in the group of smokers, only 13 out of 50 have the same frequency.
Furthermore, 14% of smokers visit a restaurant once a month, when non
smokers will visit at least once a week a restaurant in order to have dinner.
To continue with, there is a balance between the days of the week that
smokers mostly visit restaurants. 50% prefer the weekend and the other
50% wish to dine all the days of the week. On the other hand, 42 out of 50
non smokers prefer to dine both in the weekend and between Mondays to
Fridays and only 8 out of 50 prefer specifically the weekend. Furthermore,
the majority of the participants (54%) stay in a restaurant from 1 to 2
hours. Less than 20, stay more than 2 hours and there is a 22% of
customers that dine in less than an hour.
Page | 455
Concerning smokers’ attitudes towards the law about smoking, 50% of
them obey to the rules and do not smoke in restaurants and the other half
have continued smoking even after the implementation of the law. The
main reason as they claimed is that the restaurant owners allow them to do
so. They also mentioned that restaurant owners have not imposed the
smoking law actively and the situation is the same as it was before the
implementation of the law.
Another significant point is that none of the non smoker customers had
limited the consumption of food or drinks after the implementation of the
smoking law. However, 14% of the smoker customers suggest that they
have limited the consumption of food and drinks after the implementation.
Finally 1 out of 50 smokers suggested that he or she limited the
consumption of drinks.
Figure 3: Smoker’s attitudes for the
authorities
Figure 4: Non
the authorities
smoker’s
attitudes
for
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
YES
YES
NO
NO
Evidently more than 80 customers both smokers and non smokers have
never seen antismoking authorities in a restaurant after the implementation
of the law. It has to be mentioned that the research was conducted three
months after the smoking ban in Greece.
The participants’ opinion on the smoking law in general was part of
the research as it is shown in Figure 5 and 6.
Figure 5: Non smoker’s opinions for the future imposition
NO
YES
0
Page | 456
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 6: Smoker’s opinions for the future imposition
NO
YES
0
10
20
30
40
50
40% of the non smoker customers evaluated the smoking law with the
highest degree, when 8 of them evaluated it in the middle as they find the
law as very strict for the smokers. Furthermore they agreed that there
should be an extension period in order for smokers to adapt and get used
to the new situation. Contrary to the above is the opinion that smokers
have for the smoking law, where 42% evaluated it with the worst degree.
There was a 36% of the group that evaluated the law in the middle having
agreed with the non smokers. Additionally, smokers believe that the two
groups should have equal rights.
The above show that the two groups of customers have different views
on the implementation of the smoking law actively. Interestingly, both
smokers and non smokers agree in the justification of their negative
answer. They consider that Greeks cannot obey to the rules and that there
is flexibility on behalf of the law and how it is implemented by the
restaurant owners. These results confirm the research by Tamvakas and
Amos (2010) conducted in Greece a few months before the
implementation of the smoking law and showed the same results. The
participants in their study drew their attention to what happened
previously, to the rebellious Greek character, and their cynicism about the
government in concluding that the legislation would be ineffective.
Furthermore, 94% of non smoker’s customers said that they will not
reduce their visits to restaurants if the restaurant owners impose the law
actively. Opposing this view, the 70% of the smokers will limit their visits
contrary to 20% that will remain in the same position and 10% that have
not decided yet. In another study, Alamar and Glanntz (2004) provided
similar results, more specifically they suggest that non smokers are willing
to increase their frequency dining out more contrary to smokers that would
limit their visits.
Interestingly 66% of the participants in the study were not aware of the
law and more specifically did not know that the first time the law was
implemented in Greece was in 2002. At that time there were some
exceptions from the rule, and those refer to night clubs and casinos, as
they could allow smoking on their premises. 71% of the participants find
this exception unfair.
Page | 457
Figure 7: Customers perception
managers
authorities
government
customers
The majority of the customers believe that managers are responsible
for the current situation and they should impose the law. On the other
hand, 32% of the customers believe that they themselves are responsible
for the imposition of the smoking law.
5.2 Interviews
The restaurant owners have a different point of view from the
customers, as the majority of them gave a positive answer and they believe
that they should all apply the law since the 1st of September 2010.
Nevertheless, 3 out of 10 owners do not impose the law in their
restaurants. They claim that in the beginning of the implementation
customers left their restaurant and there was a clear decrease in their
revenues. Additionally, their reservations were 50% lower at that period,
therefore they decided to ignore the law. Similarly, Marlow (2010) in his
study found that the smoking ban in restaurants has an economic effect in
the revenues of the businesses. As 7 restaurant owners in the study agree,
as their revenues decreased dramatically since September 2010. They state
that they mainly rearranged the area and made proper changes, such as
glass doors that can open any time it is necessary to get rid of the smoke.
The enforcement of the smoking law in outdoor areas is very difficult
since laws banning tobacco smoking are only applicable in indoor areas
(Vardavas and Kafatos, 2006). This therefore excludes the larger areas in
most venues, since most need only a small indoor area for their clientele in
winter.
They also propose that their customers have limited their reservations
not only because of the economic downturn, but also because they cannot
smoke in the restaurant. In fact, the majority of the interviewees claim that
the authorities have visited their premises more than one time per week
and have already given fines in 4 of them.
Page | 458
They claim that they try with other ways to attract customers, for
example they have offers in prices. However, they all support the view
that there should be restaurants for smokers and non-smokers so that
everyone is happy, and they would not suffer from the implementation of
the law. Similarly, Dunham and Marlow (2000) in their study found that
some owners find it profitable to allow smoking in their establishments,
whereas others prefer to invest in partitions or designated areas. Similarly,
Lambert (2006:37) claims that “there is no need for governt to force
establishments to go nonsmoking, the market will provide an optimal
number of nonsmoking choices”. On the other hand, the restaurant owners
state that they are afraid of the competition as some of their competitors do
not impose the smoking law. As an immediate reaction, smokers
customers will prefer their competitors' restaurants in order to have their
dinner. “Still customers need more time in order to get used to the new
smoking law” claimed one restaurant owner.
6. Conclusion
Many have reacted since the implementation of the smoking law in
restaurants in Greece, both customers and restaurant owners. Previous
studies both in international level and in Greece come to agree with the
dissatisfaction that restaurant owners had. Firstly, the economic downturn
has lead many owners to shut down their businesses and after the
implementation of the smoking law they believe that the Greek
government wishes to harm their businesses. In fact, Lambert (2006)
suggests that the losses are beyond the control of the owners and the
employees, as the law forces them to bear the costs. Glantz and Smith
(1999) and Kunzill et al. (2003) suggest that there is no evidence that the
implementation of the smoking law has decreased the revenue of
restaurants, however they claim that the consumption of food and drinks
has increased.
The study suggests that Greek restaurant owners do not impose the
smoking law actively as in the first days, since their revenues have
decreased. In addition, the rearrangement of the seats and the separate
areas are inefficient in small restaurants as the smoke will still bother non
smokers customers. In view to this, Vardavas et al. (2006) propose in their
study that even in venues that they had open space, the air was polluted
and elevated in almost all their measurements. The glass door that was the
main solution of the restaurant owners in this research seems to be the
most efficient and effective way to impose the smoking law, however
there are challenges especially in the winter.
Page | 459
On the other hand, the non-smokers in the study suggest that they
would not limit their consumption of food and drinks after the imposition of
the smoking law. Furthermore, their frequency of visits on a weekly basis is
more than the smokers show. Interestingly, other studies propose that
eventually all customers, smokers or not will return to their old habits and will
visit the restaurants and bars in the same way and frequency they did before
the implementation of the smoking law. This study affirms the study by
Roseman (2006) in Kentucky, who came to similar conclusions and claims
that there are few differences in dining out behaviour between the smokers and
the non-smokers.
This study proposes that the measurement of the impact on the restaurants
should be done in the same restaurants before and after the law and have
numeric data on how the smoking law has influenced their revenues and the
consumption.
References
Aung, M., Zhang, M., Farmat, H., Gan, W., Salameh, M., Wu, L. and
Yang, Q. (2001). An exploratory study of the smoking issue in
restaurants. Management decision, 39(4),279-284.
Alamar, B. and Glanntz, S. (2004). Smoke free ordinance increase
restaurant profits and values. Contemporary Ecomonic Policy, 22(4),
520-525.
Biener, L. and Siegel, M. (1997). Behavior intentions of the public after
Bans on smoking in restaurants and bars. American Journal of public
health, 87(12), 2042-2044.
Cuthbert, L. and Nickson, D.(1999). Smoking in the restaurant industry:
time for a ban? Contemporary Hospitality Management, 11(1), 33-36.
Costa, J. and Mossialos, E. (2006). Which policies effectively enable
smoking cessation? Evidence from the European Union. International
Journal of Social Economics, 33(1), 77-100.
Dunham, J. and Marlow, M. (2000). The effects of smoking laws on
seating allocations of restaurants, bars and taverns. Economic Inquiry,
38(1), 151-157.
Health and Social Solidarity Ministry, Athens 2010 Greece.
Kunzill, N., Mazzoletti, P., Adam, M., Gotschi, T., Mathys, P., Monn, C.
and Brandli, O. (2003). Smoke-free café in an unregulated European
city:highly welcomed and economically successful”, downloaded from
www.tobaccocontrol.bmj.com on 1st December 2010 (282-288).
Lambert, T.A. (2006). The case against smoking bans. Regulation, Winter,
37-40.
Page | 460
Marinakou, L. (2011) Greek restaurants to export. Food and Service, 104,
90-94.
Marlow, M. and Dunham, J. (2004). The private market accommodation:
determinants of smoking policies in restaurants and bars. Easter
Economic Journal, 30(3), 377-389.
Marlow, M. (2010). The economic losers from smoking bans. Property,
14-19.
Roseman, M. (2006). Consumer opinion on smoking bans and predicted
impact on restaurant frequency. International Journal of Hospitality
and Tourism Administration, 6(4), 49-69.
Tambakas, I. and Amos, A. (2010). These things don’t happen in Greece’:
a qualitative study of Greek young people’s attitudes to smoking,
secondhand smoke and the smoke free legislation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press UK.
Vardavas, C. and Kafatos, A. (2006). Greece's tobacco policy: another
myth? The Lancet, 367(9521), 1485-1486.
Vardavas, C., Kondilis, B., Travers, M., Petsetaki, E., Tountas, Y. and
Kafatos, A. (2007). Environmental tobacco smoke in hospitality
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Page | 461
CLIMBING TOURISTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL
ATTITUDES: EVIDENCE FROM KALYMNOS
ISLAND, GREECE
A NASTASIA M AVROTHALASSITI
TECHNICAL LYCEUM OF PARADISI, GREECE
IOANNA FARSARI
TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION INSTITUTE, GREECE
Abstract
Kalymnos Island lagged in tourism development noticed in other Aegean
islands. It was not before the 1997 that the first climbing routes were
engraved. During the last decade, Kalymnos has become a popular
worldwide climbing destination with more than 1200 routes in 77 climbing
fields. Several commentators argue on the potential of climbing tourism for
the sustainable development of the island. Climbing tourism is a niche
market of adventurous tourism. Adventure tourists tend to value the
environment of the destinations visited. However, little empirical research
on the topic exists while no one has examined climbing tourism in
Kalymnos. The present research aims to understand environmental
attitudes of climbing tourists in Kalymnos and examine whether climbers
are indeed aligned to alternative tourism. The New Ecological Paradigm
Scale has been a widely used instrument to measure environmental
attitudes and the endorsement of an ecological worldview.
1. Introduction
Certain isolated Greek regions, lagged in self-sustaining growth,
because of the lack of physical resources and welleducated staff,
sufficient management and development politics. Those facts caused
isolation, unemployment, external dependency and many other problems
that convicted those areas to underdevelopment, to financial stagnation
and finally to immigration (Αndriotis, 2004; Coccosis and Tsartas, 2001).
Those phenomena have been observed in Kalymnos too, a small island in
Dodecanese prefecture. In the past, the host population has been benefited
a lot, by sponge fishing and shipping, two sectors that their growth has
recently slowed down rapidly (Νikitiadis, 2007).
Page | 462
Then a specific characteristic of the island, granted until then by the
locals as a curse - and that was the many rocky formations spread
throughout the whole island - became the main attraction for athletes from
all over the world. This unique rock was able to provide those athletes
with a great amount of adrenaline when climbing up and down a route
engraved on the rock. This natural advantage supported by a sufficient
planning of the infrastructure and a more target- oriented marketing plan
by the locals had supply the island, with a constant incoming tourist flow
with important financial benefits on an annual basis (Diakomihalis, 2009).
This case is relevant with Andriotis and Vaughan’s (2003a) point of
view, which supports the idea, that the sustainable development of a local
community with limited natural and financial resources can be based upon
a certain distinguished advantage or characteristic of its natural, cultural or
general environment. Such an area can attract specific tourism flows,
which can benefit local economy and create the basis for an alternative
form of tourism development.
It this the aim of this paper to investigate whether or not this
alternative to mass or classical tourism can be beneficial for the specific
local community, regarding the behavior towards physical environment,
main attraction for this form of tourism. The research aims to contribute to
the understanding of climbing tourism and explore its relevance to
alternative tourism development.
This paper consist of 6 parts. After this introduction follows part one
which attempts a theoretical overview on adventure and climbing tourism.
In part 2 follows climbing tourism market is being examined such as
climbing tourism in Kalymnos in particular in part 3. In part 4 the
methodological approach of the survey is given and in part 5 the results
follow. The paper ends with the conclusions in last part and references.
2. Theoretical Overview on Adventure and Climbing
Tourism and their Relevance to the Environment
Little research on climbing tourism has been taken until now in
Greece, as a niche market of adventure tourism a form of product
differentiation. In abroad adventure tourism is considered to be a rapidly
grown outdoor activity in recent years as it has been widely
commercialised (Buckley, 1999; Johnson and Edwards, 1994). Williams
and Scoutar (2009) report that adventurous tourism has been grown
rapidly as an important niche market of special interest tourism sector.
Also it seems that 15% of the European tourist packages, included some
adventure tourism characteristics (Keiling, 2003). Although the statistics
Page | 463
vary according the different adventure products, it seems that these trips
grow significantly and will continue in the future, forming a niche tourist
market with special characteristics.
This kind of recreation is considered to be a short-term holiday
experience which enables components of adventure giving the participants
the feeling of facing unknown situations and challenges and enjoying a
unique experience (Buckley, 2004; Kane and Zink, 2004; Sfakianakis,
2000; Swarbrooke et al. 2003). It takes place in unusual, exotic or savage
environments and the participants think that they are experiencing an
amount of real or a presumed danger (Sung et al., (1997: 66).
As the tour-operators diagnosed the dynamic of this niche market, they
have promoted several special packages, based in classical activities such
as climbing or diving or brand new adventure products such as bungy
jumping and four-wheel-drive day tours (Bentley and Page, 2001; Bentley
et al., 2003; Buckley 2007; Swarbrooke et al. 2003; Williams and Soutar,
2005).
According the challenge, the uncertainty level, the impact, the duration
encapsulated in the adventure packages, by the way they are been
perceived by the participant, two types of adventure tourism are identified
by some authors: the soft adventure tourism and extreme adventure
tourism. Climbing among others such as rafting and canyoning, is
considered as extreme sport (Lagos and Pappas, 2004; Maroudas et al.,
2004; Millington et al., 2001; Lipscombe, 1995).
Climbing-based tourism occurs when adventure-addicts are travelling
to exercise mainly “rock climbing”, up or across natural formations or
artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the
endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling” (http://en.wikipedia.org,
2011). Sometimes by the end of a route there is a metal box, where a book
is kept, and athletes that manage to conclude the climbing up to the end,
subscribe in there (www.routes.gr, 2009). Climbing has become very
popular by the end of 1990 through famous movies such Cliffhanger and
Mission: Impossible II, which actually exaggerated regarding real
performance of the sport (www.wikepedia.com, 2010).
Generally climbing requires special equipment, tests ones physical and
mentally abilities and it helps someone escape from the routine life by
experiencing a great variety of clashing feelings. Important is though that
the outcome can be partly controlled by the participant. Even factors like
bad weather or wet rock can be bended through climbers personal abilities,
strength, endurance and mental control as much as personal decisions,
giving to him or her the satisfaction of overpowering nature (Arnould and
Price, 1993; Ewert and Hollenhosrt, 1989).
Page | 464
Without specialized climbing equipment and sufficient knowledge of
climbing techniques, it can cause someone’s death. Uncertainties such as a
falling stone or broken gears and the overestimation someone’s abilities
might cause fatal accidents even to highly experienced athletes
(www.ttp://ppritchard. blogspot.com, 2010). That’s why this sport is
considered to be extreme, requiring special health and rescue facilities. But
even beginners can practice this sport with safety supervised by
experienced instructors (www.routes.gr, 2009).
Additionally Brymer et al., (2009) report primary influences on a
participants personality, as adventure tourism triggers someone’s courage.
They consider that risk taking it’s not participants primary motive, but
basically they seek contact with the environment. Environments quality
defines also the quality of their experience.
Other authors like Baker and Simon (2002) and Self et al. (2007)
underestimate environments value, as they describe participants as
addicted to adrenaline, an addiction that can be proved by the risk level21
they are willing to undertake each time. So they persist that environment is
being protected by athletes and organizers only because its significance for
the adventure experience. Any proenvironmental activities or attitudes
have mainly to do with personal benefits and not for environments sake
(Schulz, 2002). Furthermore, some years in prior Celsi et al. (1993) and Le
Breton (2000) have developed their theory that between extreme sports
and natural world exist a unique relationship, as the overpower beyond
natural world will add extra value one someone’s life. Celsi et al. (1993)
persist that the need for naturals environment preservation is arising
because adventure tourists think of it as a mean to fight against nature and
their limited abilities.
Sometimes adventure tourism causes a lot of negative impacts in
natural environment, as building infrastructure, organizing competitions,
even creating access to the rocks, may cause inevitable changes in
environment’s form or quality. In fauna and flora may also occur
unwished changes or natural disasters may happen such as rocks falling
down. Rubbishes made by the participants, even the transformation of the
rock for securing the routes, can influence the sustainability of a
destination (Brymer et al., 2009).
21
The term risk level is known as the percentage of risk included in certain sports, measured
by universal grade systems. For example white –water kayaking on grade two indicates that
accidents that may occur will be innocuous. On the contrary on grade 6, a accident will be
fatal (Slanger & Rudestam, 1997). But other sports do exist that even if they are not
considered to be extreme, they are characterized by scientifically high incidents of accidents
and injuries (www.Wikipedia.com, 2009).
Page | 465
Those incidents may become more serious as the authors Beedie and
Hudson, (2003) explain, as others more conventional tourists may follow
the very first alternative tourists who discovered the destination seeking
authenticity of a natural resource. Those conventional tourists will be
satisfied with an illusion of a natural environment and they will accept to
be protected from it, as a main ingredient of the package tour they bought,
despite any changes might occur to it. They will replace the first discovers
who might be friendlier to the environment and they will spend only
money to buy the package from the tour operator. By this way devastated
and exploited natural resources will be only left to local community.
Slowly the destination will move in its life cycle according to Butlers
concept (1980) to an upper level as this of stagnation, ending up to death.
Furthermore even the climbers are pointing out environments
importance. In some climbing sites, ethics are been proposed for those
practicing climbing special on mountains in foreign countries. The
retransformation of old routes is to be strictly avoided and if new have to
be engraved, the natural and historical identity of the area has to be taken
into serious consideration, so that local and climbing community plus
physical environment can be benefited (www.eooa.gr, 2010).
As Ewert and Hollenhorst point out (1997), artificial rock
infrastructure can provide with some exercise but it can never substitute
natural environment for outdoor activities. So they persist that the
sustainability of a special tourism destination based on climbing activities
has to be based on physicals environments protection. Furthermore all
parameters such as different income statements, demographical status,
technical innovations and everything that can influence this special
demand, have to be taken into consideration.
Despite the reasons for what the environment is important for all
participants, the investigation of participants environmental beliefs and
perceptions, becomes necessary as much as the importance of the
environment for those special tourists, as a clue whether or not, adventure
tourism is able to preserve sustainability of a local community. If in any
case natural environment presents a resource that can be sacrificed for
their personal pleasure, those tourists will definitely move to other virgin
destinations and cause the same impacts then after its exploitation. This
sort of behavior will definitely not characterize any form of sustainable
and alternative tourism.
Page | 466
3. Climbing Tourism Market
Under this terms adventure tourism and furthermore climbing tourism
has been used as a tool for development of local communities as some
forms of it, including climbing tourism, do not need any special
infrastructure, but in contrary they can be based on current productive
basis (local shops, plain accomodation, e.t.c.) and make the best out of the
physical formation of an area (Maroudas et al., 2004).
But since 1990, globalization and the great variety of packages based
on alternative tourism offered by specialised tour operators, increased the
share of adventure tourism market and consequently climbing all over the
world. According to Smith (2009) even unknown and beyond reach
regions, became globally famous as adventure tourism and especially
climbing tourism destinations through the rapid expansion of technology
and internet. He adds also that that the tourist climber is attracted mainly
by a qualitative and easy to access natural environment of a climbing
destination. The main element which will be important for a revisit, will
be new routes to be climbed and other package elements such as cultural
festivals, high cuisine or high quality accommodation will be less
important for the choice. As soon as all routes have been tested, concluded
and all peaks have been conquered, those special tourists will direct to new
more excited and breath taking places. This incidence may explain why at
early 1980s Costa Blanca was no longer the top climbing destination
loosing the lead by Majorca which was then supplanted by Sardinia.
So in early 1990 countries such as South America, Europe and some
coastal areas in North Africa and Japan counted great percentages of
population in climbing activities as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Percent of Population in certain countries reporting participation in climbing
at least one time per year
Country
USA Canada
Britain
French
Germany
Australia
Japan
Climbing
6,8
4,7
16,6
4,2
7,6
5,5
8,1
Source: Ewert and Hollenhorst (1997:24) adapted from the Leisure Development
Center. 1991. Leisure and Recreational Activities in Japan
It seems that in Europe Britain was the country with the highest
population percent participating in climbing activities at least once per
year. By a more recent survey conducted by the British Sport Organisation
in 2009 among a sample of British people, 83900 British people reported
participation in climbing at least one time per week, and the greater target
Page | 467
group of climbers consisted of young boys and men up to the age of 34
(www.sportengland.org, 2009).
Furthermore Austria counts over 2.000.000 registered climbers, and
Italy, France, Germany and England report similar numbers (IRDPU,
2007).
In Europe the main climbing destination is Spain, which attracts
visitors from North-Central Europe especially during the winter time,
thanks to its soft climate. It is estimated that even though Spain has plenty
rocky formations and territories appropriate for sport climbing, only 20%
of those is used, indicating that Spain as a climbing destination, finds it
self probably in the stage of development. Athletes can choose from a
variety of climbing tourism packages including air transportation,
accommodation, traditional Spanish meals, climbing lessons and special
climbing equipment offered by several specialized tourist organizations.
Monserrat mountain in Catalonia, El Choro in Andalusia and areas
attracting mainly mass tourism such as Majorca, Ibiza and Costa Βlanca,
are the main climbing destinations in Spain. Spain is very popular because
of its safe climbing routes of all difficulty levels, its high quality climbing
infrastructure and its location, close to most countries of Europe by all
transportation means. That fact facilitates short time breaks (Swarbrooke
et al., 2003).
A small part of Greece has benefited too by climbing tourism during
the 1970 decade, as Meteora’s rocky formations in Κalambaka, Thessaly
have been known via advertisements by a team of German climbers. They
visited the territory and they got impressed by all the rocky formations. So
they establish for the first time a basis for the development of a new
climbing destination which had the potential to be well known all over the
world. Following more routes have been engraved in Meteora and more
Greek regions have arouse as climbing destinations such as Kalymnos
(www.planetmountain.com, 2010).
4. Climbing Tourism in Kalymnos
After Andrea Di Bari and his party discover Kalymnos island as a
excellent climbing destination, climbing tourism has been rapidly
exploded. Since then the island became famous among climbers
community, as the locals have improved the basic infrastructure, and
promoted the island as an important climbing destination mainly via
internet. Additionally they have establish an international climbing
festival, inviting famous climbers all of the world, every two years
(www.kalymnos-isl.gr, 2009).
Page | 468
At the moment island’s tourism supply lucks on a rescue team, a
destination marketing organization and a well organized statistic
infrastructure. There could be only estimations about climbers numbers as
Theodoropoulos (2009) a well known climber instructor mentions. He
estimates the total number of climbers visiting Kalymnos in about 4500
people annually.
The island it self faces very few similar competitors in Greece, such
Meteora in Kalambaka (www.oreivatein.com, 2010) and Olympus
www.olympus-climbing.gr, 2010), destinations although that they offer
only few climbing routes.
Individual climbers are visiting mainly Kalymnos on their own, but
some Greek and foreigner climbing schools are offering few lessons
packages for beginners and advanced climbers (www.eosacharnon.com,
2010).
As according Theodoropoulos (2009), the islands rocks can support a
lot of new routes to keep climbers interest alive if needed, it seems that
this special form of tourism is very dynamic with great perspectives. It is
also obvious that the local authorities are unable to estimate of
environmental or other kind of impacts of this form of tourism.
Furthermore this paper tries to frame climbers environmental attitudes as
an indication of their ability to contribute to islands sustainability.
The survey was conducted among 132 climbers in Kalymnos island in
Spring 2010. Data were collected through two researchers via interviews. A
total of 126 questionnaires were filled, yielding to a 95,45% response rate.
Final confidence interval reached 94,68 while the statistical error was
5,32%.
Respondents were randomly selected and interviewed in English, German
and Greek. The place was the restaurants and cafeterias in Masouri area.
Respondents were conducted during day time till late in the evening.
Results were based on a questionnaire consisted upon 5 demographic
questions, intention of suggestion and revisiting such as ten statements about
hypothetical reasons for choosing Kalymnos for vacations plus the revised (15
-items) New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) developed by Dunlap et al.
(2000). This was used to evaluate the environmental attitudes of climbers
in the island of Kalymnos. “The NEP scale is consisted of 15 statements: 8
positive and 7 negative statements. Agreement with the eight odd-numbered
items and disagreement with the seven even-numbered items indicate proNEP responses revealing a proenvironmental orientation. On the contrary
Page | 469
disagreement with the eight odd-numbered items and agreement with the
seven even-numbered items indicate anti-NEP responses revealing a antienvironmental orientation. Furthermore statements 1,6,11 tap the hypothesized
facet of an ecological worldview such as the reality of limits to growth,
statements 2,7, 12 an antianthropocentrism worldview, statements 3,8, 13 the
acceptance of a nature’s balance fragility, statements 4,9,14 tap if person
rejects exemptionalism and statements 5,10, 15 express the possibility of an
ecocrisis” (Dunlap et al., 2000: 432-433).
Data analysis was conducted via the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS, version 13.0).
6. Results
It is obvious that the majority of climbers participating in this survey
tend to support proecological beliefs as it can be seen from Table 1.
climbers either strongly agree or mildly agree with statements 1, 3, 5, 7, 9,
11, 13 and 15 revealing a pro-environmental orientation and they strongly
disagree with statement 2, 8, 10, 12, 14 and disagree with 4 (Table 2).
But as also Dunlap et al. point out in their survey in 2000, answers can
differ as it is easy to see if the balance of nature is whether or not
threatened by humans (statement 13, strongly agree 50,8%) but it is not
easily accepted that there limits of the number of people the earth can
support (statement 1. unsure 29,4%). Regarding statement 6 it seems that
respondents didn’t thought of it as a negative statement and although a
22,2% mildly disagree, the majority agrees that earth does have plenty of
natural resources.
Furthermore it was tried to determine if the15 items of this scale could
have been used as a single measure. The exam of scales consistency gave a
less significant correlation between the set of 15 items (Cronbach
alpha,62) so no further factor analysis was conducted (Nova-Kaltsouni,
2006).
As the constructors of the scale mention it is suggestible to break the
NEP items into two or more dimensions by examining them as separate
variables, if results are not highly correlated with one another and no
significant dimensions emerge. Dunlap et al. (2000: 431) point out it is
expected in some samples to arouse various dimensions as their unit’s
beliefs differ. Regarding climbers beliefs the majority belief that there
limits to growth (1, 11). Statement 6 and refuse that mankind is the central
of the world although there is a significant percent of them (statement 2,
21,4% and statement 12, 18,3%) that they are unsure if humans have the
Page | 470
right or not to modify the natural environment to suit their needs and if
humans were meant to rule over the rest of nature.
Table 2: Frequency Distribution - Total Correlations for New Ecological paradigm
Scale Items
1. We are approaching the limit of
the number of people the earth can
support
2. Humans have the right to
modify the natural environment to
suit their needs
3. When humans interfere with
nature it often produces disastrous
consequences
4. Human ingenuity will insure that
we do NOT make the earth
unliveable
5. Humans are severely abusing the
environment
6.The earth has plenty of natural
resources if we just learn how to
develop them
7.Plants and animals have as much
right as humans to exist
8. The balance of nature is strong
enough to cope with the impacts of
modern industrial nations
9. Despite our abilities, humans are
still subject to the laws of nature
10. The so-called “ecological
crisis” facing humankind has been
greatly exaggerated
11. The earth is like a spaceship
with very limited room and
resources
12. Humans were meant to rule
over the rest of nature
13. The balance of nature is very
delicate and easily upset
14. Humans will eventually learn
enough about how nature works to
be able to control it
15. If things continue on their
present course, we will soon
experience a major ecological
catastrophe
SA
27,8
%
MA
32,5
%
U
29,4
%
MD
7,9%
SD
0
STD
,90
M
2,2
Ν
123
7,9
%
12,7
%
21,4
%
29,4
%
27,8
%
1,25
3,6
125
26,2
%
31%
23%
15,1
%
4,8%
1,17
2,4
126
8,7
%
19%
34,9
%
27%
8,7%
1,09
3,1
124
46%
32,5
%
25,4
%
15,9
%
19,8
%
2,4%
3,2%
,99
1,8
126
22,2
%
5,6%
,94
2,6
123
19%
10,3
%
15,1
%
5,6%
2,4%
1,25
1,7
126
38,9
%
31,7
%
1,13
3,8
125
3,2%
2,4%
,96
1,7
125
35,7
%
34,1
%
1,17
3,8
126
24,6
%
62,7
%
5,6
%
7,9%
50,8
%
3,2
%
31%
16,7
%
11,9
%
10,3
%
38,1
%
39,7
%
14,3
%
7,1%
0
1,18
1,9
125
5,6
%
50,8
%
9,5
%
4,8%
18,3
%
11.1
%
31%
22,2
%
7,9%
46%
1,18
4
122
7,9%
,95
1,8
125
28,6
%
15,1
%
1,18
3,2
126
28,6
%
34,1
%
23%
8,7%
4%
1,09
2,2
124
29,4
%
15,9
%
Note: SD = Strongly Agree, MA= Mildly agree, Unsure = Unsure, MD = Mildly Disagree,
SD = Strongly disagree.
This thesis can indicate to an anti-environmental point of view but the
reader should not forget that climbers in order to secure their climbing
activities and their personal safety as stated above in theoretical
framework have to proceed to the placement of permanent anchor bolts
Page | 471
which some times can cause rock erosion and of course frequent use of an
approach trail to a route, can lead to devegetation. This activity is
inevitable and it is upon a local community and its local marketing
organization of a climbing destination to decide whether or not are willing
to accept alterations in natural environment in order to facilitate this
special form of tourism and figure out ways to limit the impact of it.
Similar although climbers do believe that nature balance is fragile,
there is a minority that claims to be unsure if human activity can produce
disastrous consequences (statement 3. 23% unsure). A 15,1% (statement
8) is unsure about whether or not the balance of nature is strong enough to
cope with impacts of modern industrialized societies and a lower percent
of 11,1% is unsure if balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset.
Reader should keep in mind that adventure tourists tend to travel abroad to
test their abilities and conquer upon nature.
It is interesting though that as disagreement with the odd-numbered
items is revealing a pro-environmental orientation negative statements 4 and
14 have been elected by 34,9% and 31% unsure climbers as it seemed difficult
for respondents to decide whether on not humans are able to ensure that life on
earth will not be unrealizable. A great part of climbers seem to be unsure if
humans such as other species are liable or not to nature’s restrictions. This
result too is inherent with adventure tourists tendency to conquer upon the
world.
Regarding the climbers predictions about a imminent ecocrisis (statements
5, 10,15) although the majority agrees that humans are abusing the
environment there is still a 15,9% unsure part and a 23% that is unsure if
things continue on their present course then human mankind will face a major
ecological catastrophe.
The great impact the environment has on climbing tourists, is shown by
the fact that the majority has chosen Kalymnos because of its natural
environment (87%) the good weather (85,2%), and special facilities and their
ability to support their experience from climbing activities. Other elements
such beautiful and clean beaches, or special/general facilities cuisine of
monuments and cultural sites are less important.
Finally climbers tourists in Kalymnos are coming mainly from
Germany (16,7%), France (16,7%) Spain (12,7%), England (12,7%) and
Switzerland (8,7%). Although England is very dynamic market, its share
in the sample was quiet limited. Islands DMO could make some thoughts
about this fact.
This study verifies from the findings of Dunlap’s et al., (2000) survey by
finding no correlations between pro or anti - environmental orientation and
age, education or annual income.
Page | 472
Concluding all but one climber stated that they will come back again
and all of them said that they will propose Kalymnos to friends as a
climbing destination.
7. Conclusion
Furthermore to the results of NEP, o

(ICOT 2011) Tourism in an Era of Uncertainty Rhodes Island

Transcription

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