Tourism has become one of the most important industries in both the developed and the less developed world. This unique economic activity has attracted the interest of many academic disciplines. In recent years, the number of books, papers and scientific journals that deal with tourism has mushroomed.
The Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER) in collaboration with the Academy of Tourism Research and Studies (ATEM), both based in Athens, Greece, attempt to contribute to this increasingly important tourism literature.
Other general conferences organized by ATINER have included and still include sessions or papers on tourism research. However, since 2005, an annual international conference, specific on Tourism, is organized in Athens, Greece. These conferences produced two books edited by Epitropoulos (2007) and Papadopoulos (2006). Earlier, in 1999, ATINER organized a conference on tourism, recreation and leisure in collaboration with the Research Institute of Tourism that produced a volume edited by Papanikos (2000).
From all these conferences and a very simple glance at the international tourism literature, it seems that the research interest in tourism is interdisciplinary and comes from a wide spectrum of social sciences, business studies and humanities. This is actually the approach that fits well the interests of both academics and practitioners. Academics find in the tourist industry a unique data generation process that allows them to test all the theoretical hypotheses that they develop in the core subject of their discipline. On the other hand, national and international policy makers in the area of tourism, have access to a wide range of academic literature to base their policy recommendations for tourism development. Similarly, investors and business people in the tourist industry can rely, as in no other industry, on the richness of tourism research in the areas of management and marketing of tourism enterprises.
It is the ambition of the editors and the individual authors of this volume to contribute to the tourism literature, having in mind the above approach. Papers published in this volume might be useful to all three stakeholders of the tourism industry: investors-entrepreneurs, academics, and policy makers. The present volume includes selected papers from the 2007 and 2008 conferences on Tourism. It also includes tourism papers that were presented in other ATINER conferences. All papers were reviewed using the standard procedures established by ATINER, which are applied to all of its publications.
This book is organized into four thematic parts. Part I presents seven papers that deal with issues of tourism policy and development. Part II presents fourteen papers that are devoted to tourism marketing. Part III examines seven papers in the area of tourism management. Finally, Part IV presents four papers devoted on food and beverages. The remaining of this introduction presents, in a summary form, the papers published in the current volume, following the taxonomy of the material into the aforementioned parts.
I.Tourism Policy and Development
This part includes seven papers on policy and development issues of tourism. The first paper, by Doris Schmallegger and Dean Carson, deals with the development of aboriginal tourism enterprises in remote Australia. The authors use two focus groups and thirty in-depth interviews with domestic and international travel parties in central Australia to assess their demand for aboriginal tourism products and their information search and trip planning strategies. As the authors claim, the prospect of economic benefit for aboriginal people is related to an understanding of the market, which is segmented into organised tours and independent travellers. They continue by suggesting policies to develop aboriginal tourism. They actually claim that distant Australia’s natural attractions should have a higher priority than its culture. From an investor’s point of view, it might be more profitable for aboriginal businesses to relate their products to experiences of the landscape. They also emphasize that there is a lack of information for the independent traveller, but as they conclude, we need more research to investigate the process of information delivery and product design.
The second paper of this part deals with another issue of tourism development and policy that deals with geotourism. More precisely, Thomas A. Hose examines geoconservation defined as a dynamic process of preserving and conserving geological sites. On the other hand, as the author explains, overexploitation of geological sites occurs when the long-term geological interest is not maintained. The author uses two case studies and concludes that the social and cultural climate for geological fieldwork by the social elite was transformed by the works of visual and literary artists. Landscape positive reception and understanding, a significant aspect of geotourism, is still to a degree an aesthetic pursuit. Such appreciation can be spoiled by over-exploitation, as was the case with the Peak District in the late eighteenth century. The consequence is that tourists seek out alternative “clean” locations. The incorporation within geological tourism of geoconservation measures is very important.
In the third paper, Ondrej Mitáš and Alinda Kokkinou, discuss the physical, economic, and cultural changes that have been linked by popular media and academic research to the arrival of low-cost airline flights in several European cities over the past 15 years. They try to make out if low-cost airlines can change the cities they fly to, and if so in what way. They conclude that low-cost airline operations will continue to grow and increase their market share.
The fourth paper, by Loïck Menvielle and William Menvielle, present the phenomenon of medical tourism, not only from a historical point of view, but also as a vision of the modern medical tourism industry. In fact, authors consider this phenomenon as a new way of travelling. With the help of Mueller and Lanz Kaufmann’s theory (2001), the two researchers attempt to create a new blueprint of medical tourism concepts. Their approach is focused on the tourist-patient involvement and especially on the perceived and undergoing risk in order to set up a new classification. Then, some reflections on the inciting conditions of this trend are presented, alongside a geographical diversification of medical tourism and the specialization of countries in certain types of care - surgical operations.
The fifth paper, by Anestis Fotiadis and Gábor Michalkó, recommends strategies and techniques for implementing successful solutions to the problems of rural tourism stakeholders. The examination of Greek and Hungarian villages provides different levels of rural tourism development. Their query is dealt through personal field research, interviews and questionnaires addressed to local citizens and entrepreneurs working in rural tourism. Differences in the goal of different groups must be joined together for a common goal, which for the authors must deal with the general prosperity.
The sixth paper, by Feryal Söylemezoğlu and Zeynep Erdoğan, examines how handicrafts raise tourism incomes. According to the researchers, in some regions, which are more attractive in Turkey as tourism centers, the production of one or more handicrafts has great importance. Beypazarı, a district located near Ankara, is used as a case study in this paper, as it presents high tourism potential and many traditional features. The contributions of the region’s tourism facilities to the sustainability of handicrafts are also examined, with the help of face-to-face interviews. The Municipality, the Tourism District Directorates, the society education center authorities, the silver workers and the authorities of silver product selling stores of the region have participated in these interviews. Beypazarı is proposed in the conclusion of this research as an important region for Turkey’s rural and cultural tourism development.
In the seventh and last paper of this section, Fadila Maraouch presents the hotel room of the future, that will be designed to suit every customer’s need and desire down to the smallest detail. The main reason behind those changes is the increased use of technology. The reasons and ways to achieve the desired changes are also examined in this original study.
II.Tourism Marketing
The Tourism Marketing part includes twelve papers. The first paper of the second part, by Sonia Mileva and Sofia Gesiou, suggests that humans must be, from now on, the most important part of tourism and hospitality marketing. Mileva and Gesiou argue that it is very important to first ask clients to identify their personal needs and expectations and then, satisfy them, as individual attention is crucial. Facing each client individually and meeting his own special needs makes him feel important. The result is usually choosing the same tourism country destination, company, place or service in a possible future travel. The aim in this procedure is for Mileva and Gesiou to abrogate the travelling restrictions to the highest possible degree. By creating flexible programs, able to respond to specific human needs, the clients can satisfy their wishes in the tourism region they desire, as the two authors explain. Even if there are many difficulties in carrying out this proposal, it is necessary to support the active employee, to improve the processes continuously and to accept the risk of the innovation. The second very important danger to be avoided is for Mileva and Gesiou to weaken the services’ quality, as customer satisfaction is related to it. The difficulty is that service performance is not easily controlled, as many people and human relationships are involved in determining it. The last part of this study provides information about the importance and influence of the future cliental movement in the tourism industry.
The second paper of the second part, by Andrew Taylor and Dean Carson, examines the spending patterns of four wheel drive visitors of desert regions in the Northern Territory of Australia, compared with non-four wheel drive leisure visitors of the same destinations, for a five year period inclusive of 2000 to 2004. In addition to assessing the amount of expenditure (overall and per day), the research investigates whether there were differences in the items of expenditure and the dispersal of expenditure among destinations. According to the writers, this information can help inform decision-makers about the level of investment in attracting the four wheel drive market that might be justified and the types of product opportunities that could arise from the market.
In the third paper of this book’s Tourism Marketing part, Moreno Pacheco Pilar and González Rodríguez Mª Rosario aim, through the analysis of data in the province of Seville from a segmentation perspective, to identify the travellers’ composition with respect to their destination loyalty. This study provides empirical evidence of the causal relationships between the criterion variable and those predictors that have been selected by the segmentation technique. The implications of the results that are presented in this paper provide a guide for destination marketers in the strategy of tourism development.
The fourth paper of this part, by Min-hwa Kim, Eun-jung Kim and Hong-bumm Kim, considers the impact of the residents’ evaluation of the tourism resources in their own residence area on selecting destinations for their future overseas trips, alongside their personal values and lifestyle. Their work aims to reveal whether the impact exists, and if so, to what extent this impact can be expanded, in order to let product developers, like travel agents or product marketers, know and predict the tendency of people’s present evaluation of their area and the future destination selection for their trips.
In the fifth paper of the second part, Caballero Fernández Rafael, González Lozano, Mercedes Molina Luque Julián, and Rodríguez Díaz Beatriz develop the issue of a tourist trying to plan a trip for a certain area, taking into account the diverse economic costs, the timing of the different activities that s/he is planning to carry out and his/her particular preferences. The researchers indicate a number of possible tourist activities, after having examined tourists’ preferences. Information obtained is later used in a multiobjective problem formulation, so as to obtain a set of efficient solutions (by means of a metaheuristic method based on Taboo Search). Finally, using an interactive procedure, the researchers help the decision maker (tourist) to choose the most preferred solution among a set of efficient choices, which will provide him/her a set of activities for each day and a schedule for each one of them.
The sixth paper of the second part, by Rosemarie Geißler, Mike Peters and Peter Williams, identifies various clusters of wine consumers displaying specific attitudes and behaviours concerning wine tourism. A literature review highlights the main contributions in the field of wine tourism research and puts forward the research question and hypothesis to be examined. Furthermore, this paper presents an empirical survey carried out in Austria in 2006, which identifies new target segments for wine tourism among wine lovers.
The seventh paper of the second part, by Samiye Erdoğan and Hatice Ağca, examines the culinary culture of Yalvaç, formed with the effects of Yalvaç’s natural, historical, economic, and cultural characteristics. The data of this study were collected with the method of self-completion questionnaires. Thirty-three families living in Yalvaç gave their answers and perspectives concerning this culinary culture. For the authors, the traditional culture should be protected and transmitted to the next generations.
The eighth paper of this part, by Nachmias N. Stefanos and Niki Kyriakidou, presents a research study that seeks to investigate the importance of segmenting markets, with particular attention on the sport tourism in Greece. It also examines the benefits that Greece can receive from the growth and expansion of golf tourism, with the purpose of truly developing it. According to the writers, sport tourism has many market segments that each country can attract as new tourists and this is why tourism specialists should take it into consideration.
In the ninth paper of the second part, H.Sinem Şanli, Nuran Kayabaşi and Tuba Çittir explain how products made within the framework of handicrafts have an important part in tourism marketing activities. For them, handicraft products are shaped by the economic, social and cultural conditions of the country in which they are produced. They claim that domestic and foreign tourists buy a good product, which is easily portable, functional, relatively cheaper and has an authentic value. This constitutes a contribution to its recognition and increases the country’s income. The authors explain how handicrafts, which are produced with the aim of being given as a gift and touristic good, reach their buyers through handicraft shops. They also explain that Turkey has unique handicrafts in almost every region, as different raw materials exist, thanks to different geographical conditions that have given the possibility of producing diverse handicraft products and of practicing new alternatives. The example given to explain this fact is of handicraft products made of fibber raw material, which may be seen in almost every region. However, Şanli, Kayabaşi and Çittir explain that in compliance with the raw materials produced in the region, handicraft products embroil tree materials (engraving), vegetable weaving (cereal stems, thin branches), stone (meerschaum, onyx, oltu), mine (copper, silver) and soil (bowl and earthenware pot, ceramic).
The tenth paper of the second part presents the study of Pars R Sahbaz, which examines promotion activities of tourism planning, using Turkey as a case study. The tourism sector has been developing very fast since mid 1980s in Turkey and there are even documents of World Tourism Organization that explain this development process as a ‘miracle’, the author explains. Nowadays, although the tourism sector has serious problems in Turkey, it is one of the most important sources of income, as about twenty five percent of export income comes from this sector. Nevertheless, the writer claims that one of its serious problems is the insufficiency of promotion activities. The aim of this study is (a) to discuss the importance of tourism planning for promotion activities and (b) to evaluate the promotion activities in Turkey. The method used is literature research. The examination of Turkey’s promotion activities and their analysis, has showed that the main problems of tourism planning are the insufficiency of (a) stability, (b) coordination and (c) budget.
The eleventh paper of the second part presents the study of Tzu-Hui Tseng, Ching-Cheng Shen and Yu-Chun Chen, which examines how the food and beverage tourism influenced rural tourism in Taiwan. In the context of the study, the Neophobic and Neophylic-type tourists constituted the mediating variable in the relationship model between “tourism motivation”, “barriers of food-consumption”, “choosing a reason for food consumption”, “food consumption attraction”, “travel satisfaction”, and the “willingness to revisit”. Rural tourists in Nanjhuang, Miaoli County, were sampled for the empirical study. First of all, from the structural equation model, it appeared that “tourism motivation” had a positive influence on “food consumption attraction”. Secondly, the “food-consuming barriers” had a negative influence on “food consuming attraction”. The highest factor loadings of “food-consuming barriers” were from restaurant facilities and the taste of food, and thus, only tasty food could create a dining attraction. Thirdly, “the reason for choosing food consumption” also had a positive influence on the “food consuming attraction”, which meant that the culinary material, the taste, an unambiguous price and a high-class setting were more attractive. Fourthly, the higher “food consuming attraction” resulted in higher “travel satisfaction” from rural tourism, and it could also increase the possibility of revisiting. Fifth, the Neophobic tourists had a positive influence on “food consuming barriers” and had a negative influence on “food consuming attraction”, which revealed how important was to satisfy Neophobic tourists’ needs. Finally, the negative influence of “food consuming barriers” on “food consuming attraction” was eliminated when controlling for the variables of Neophobic and Neophylic tourists. The results of this study could be used to make recommendations for the development of rural and food and beverage tourism, as the two authors explain.
The twelfth and last paper of the Tourism Marketing part, by Yahsi Yaziocioğlu and Sinem H. Şanli, examines the belief of the evil eye, available in almost every society that has founded some techniques and components in order to be protected against evil eyes. According to the researches, one of the goods used to protect oneself from evil eyes is evileyebead, which was firstly used as a simple good in order to be protected from evil eyes, but at the moment has a decorative character. This new function has helped evileyebeards to continue being produced and proposed in many different forms. They have actually become a good that makes the ambiance in which they are used valuable. Other daily customs, beliefs and traditions, in combination with their ornamentation characteristics have augmented evileyebeards’ use by people. They have actually become a touristic good. Evileyebeads are today available in many different forms and colours. There are even products made by them, like key rings, piece of jewellery or wall ornaments, given that they are cheap, easily portable and original gifts. This is the reason that the variety of touristic goods using evileyebeads is growing, a fact that contributes both to the interaction among cultures (a unique culture is introduced thanks to them in Turkey) and to the economy, as Yaziocioğlu and Şanli explain. The authors examine, finally, the interaction of this old tradition with tourists and especially with other cultures. It is certain that this practice has today become a touristic good that keeps tourists’ attention.
III.Tourism Management
The Tourism Management part includes eight papers. In the first paper of this part, Dimitrios N. Koufopoulos, Ioannis P. Gkliatis and Maria Argyropoulou investigate the nature and use of strategic planning in the Greek hospitality industry and the positive outcomes of planning identified by Greek managers. Their thesis tries to give some insight in the nature and extent of the use of strategic planning and its positive outcomes in the Greek hospitality industry through a study based on a sample of 124 Greek five-star hotels.
The second paper of the Tourism Management part, by Professor Maud Tixier, uses some very interesting examples to draw conclusions, not only on who the tour-operators that come closer to a balanced view on sustainable tourism are, but also on the role of customer choice in selecting a journey and influencing future offer.
The third paper of the Tourist Management part, by Jung-won Lee and Hong-bumm Kim, identifies the types of strategic alliance in both horizontal and vertical contexts and examines the role of strategic alliance in the relationship between customer’s perception of alliance companies and hotel’s brand equity. The 488 hotel customer sample drawn in Seoul, Korea, shows that the appropriateness and awareness of the brand of the alliance company does affect the image, service quality and awareness of the chain, management contract, and franchise hotels, which is the form of horizontal integration.
The fourth paper of this part, by Soo-Young Hwang, Sung-hyuk Kim and Seongseop Kim, examines the impact of partner selection criteria on the perception of alliance outcomes among hotels. Their study sought to produce some significant findings that are important for hotels seeking new management solutions, such as management on commission and franchising, in an effort to build strategic alliances.
The fifth paper of the Tourist Management part, by Sema Etikan, Bilgin Güner, and Feryal Sőylemezoğlu, presents the all-inclusive system, which is one of the methods recently developed by the international actors of tourism on placing touristic goods into the market. This system, firstly used in Caribbean by English tour operators, has been based on the purpose of purchasing the touristic good by the high-income tourist group as a package. The all-inclusive system, which began to be used in the regions where there was a possibility of attack against the tourists, has been common in the course of time in all the countries of Mediterranean. Enlargement of the system has given rise to a strong competitive environment. Thus, travel and accommodation agencies have preferred to broaden a little bit more the scale of this all-inclusive system. Joining the agencies, except for the high-level accommodation ones, the ones that were obliged to apply this system faced some problems towards its standardization. In the regions where the all-inclusive system is applied, degradation of quality, depending on the quality and type of the system, may occur as a result of the decline in the level of income obtained from the handicraft sector.
The sixth paper of this part, by Hyejin Chun, Miju Kim and Youngsuk Song, provides good insights for career path of general managers in Korean 5-star hotels. It describes that human resources is one of the most important factors for the strategy of a tourism company, as employees’ quality of performance is directly linked to customer satisfaction with the general manager having the most important role.
The seventh paper of this session, by René Haarhoff, uses an International Travel Price Index (ITPI) that enables statistical evaluation. Furthermore, the particular ITPI permits comparison and monitors the cost of the major products that international tourists spent money on whilst visiting South Africa. The purpose is to objectively monitor and measure tourism price fluctuations and deviations.
The eighth and last paper of this part, by Wisnom Mary and Sherie Brezina, profiles spa tourism in three different countries : United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The comparison of data presented, that includes spa tourism revenue and motivations, number and types of spas, spa tourist demographic profiles, and key issues and assets for each country, provides an overview of the spa tourism industry.
IV. Food and Beverages
The fourth and last part of this book includes four papers. The first paper of the Food and beverages part presents the research of Funda Pinar Cakiroğlu and Asli Ucar conducted in six accommodation enterprises in Kuşadası (three five-star hotels and three holiday villages). The aim of this research was to examine the food safety perceptions of the food and beverages personnel employed in the accommodation enterprises.
In the second paper of this part, Ayse Ozfer Özcelik, Metin Saip Sürücüoĝlu, Asli Uçar, and Lale Sariye Akan examine the status of academic staff and their food choices when they are on holiday. The academic staff working at the Ankara University constitute the population of this survey. The research data has been collected through a questionnaire and has been analysed using SPSS programme. The majority of this surveys participants (73.1%) had a holiday regularly, with the seaside holiday being one of the most preferred tourism types.
The third paper of this part, presents the study of Ayse Ozfer Özçelik, Metin Saip Sürücüoğlu and Yahya Özdoğan, which examines the hygienic rules in the food and beverage departments of accommodation enterprises. Tourism has an important place in the countries’ economies: it has very quickly reached the fast developments in the sector. The accommodation enterprises, which are first in rank order among the first class tourism enterprises, as the authors’ claim, produce goods and services related to tourism. Their existence emerges from, and is shaped and diversified, by the tourism event. Accommodation enterprises also meet people’s food and beverage requirements at places where they stay temporarily. The food and beverages service is for the authors, not only a means of fulfilling a physiological need for guests, as these services demand a comfortable and nice atmosphere, friendly and caring staff and delicious food and beverages. One of the indispensable factors of the presentation of food and beverages is, according to the authors, their standard of hygiene from the stage of purchasing to the stage of serving them. Protecting the health of guests, who visit accommodation enterprises for this kind of services, is possible by following the hygiene and sanitation rules in the kitchen and service departments. It is certain that people do not want to catch epidemic diseases, face food poisoning or generally negative situations caused by the food they consume when they go out.
The fourth and last paper of this part, by Funda Pinar Çakiroğlu and Bircem Taş, is also related to the food and beverages sector. Tourism revenues are of great importance in view of Turkey’s economic development. One of the primary improvements in Turkey’s tourism is related to tourists’ satisfaction from the facilities of their accommodation, as the authors claim. The food and beverages services, which are at the heart of the ones offered at the accommodation enterprises, represent one of the main revenue sources for enterprises. The required condition for supplying a safe food and beverages service is for the authors to inspect whether the physical conditions, tools and equipment, personnel and food comply with hygiene rules. For the authors, cleanliness is an absolute necessity in a commercial kitchen. They actually claim that it is very important that the personnel, who are responsible for the preparation and the food service, are trained and knowledgeable on personal and kitchen hygiene from the perspective of both the sustainability of the service and the protection of the consumer’s health, as a little negligence may damage people’s health and cause food poisoning and even death. This research has been conducted in six accommodation enterprises in Kuşadası (three five-star hotels and three holiday villages). Age, length of employment, educational status and participants’ job were taken into account. Authors conclude that accommodation enterprises should hire experienced and competent employees.
As we said in the beginning of this introduction, this book is useful to practitioners and academics. The papers should be thought as raising questions and provoking thoughts, rather than as the final word in the discipline. We do hope that future conferences will include more papers in these and other areas of tourism studies.
References
Epitropoulos, M-F. G., ed., (2007) Issues on Tourism Policy, Athens, Greece: Athens Institute for Education & Research.
Mueller H. and Lanz Kaufmann E. (2001). Wellness tourism: Market analysis of a special health tourism segment and implications for the hotel industry, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7 (1): 5-17.
Papadopoulos, N., ed. (2006) Contemporary Issues in Tourism: Perspectives and Challenges. Athens, Greece: Athens Institute for Education & Research.
Papanikos, G.T., ed. (2000) Themes on Tourism, Recreation and Leisure: Proceedings from the 1st International Conference on Tourism, Recreation, and Leisure. Athens, Greece: Athens Institute for Education & Research.
