Volume 7, Issue 2 is scheduled to be published on the 22nd of March 2021; full-text open-access to all papers will be available on the same day.

Preprints will be available online on the 1st of March 2021.

In the meanwhile, you may wish to explore the current issue: Volume 6, Issue 3

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Papers already accepted in Vol.7 No.1 (forthcoming):

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The impact of COVID-19 on the Italian accommodation sector and related response actions: A supply-perspective using a mixed method approach

Giacomo Del Chiappa, University of Sassari, Italy, Ilenia Bregoli, University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, and Anestis K. Fotiadis, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Abstract

Purpose: The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an extremely dynamic and uncertain environment in which businesses find it very difficult to operate, particularly those in the hospitality industry. It is therefore very important to understand which actions hospitality businesses think the private and public sectors should adopt in order to cope with the pandemic and its impact. To facilitate this, this research adopted chaos theory to investigate Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector.

Methods: A mixed method approach, based on a convergent parallel design data validation variant, was adopted. A survey with open and closed questions was developed and sent to a sample of businesses. 1,040 completed questionnaires were collected and analysed through descriptive statistics; in addition to these usable surveys, 361 open-ended answers were analysed thematically.

Results: The results showed that Italian entrepreneurs and managers were over-relying on interventions from the public sector and that there was a lack of business actions being made, thus evidencing a deficit in terms of long-term strategic thinking and the innovation required during such turbulent times.

Implications: Although these results cannot be generalised to the whole of the hospitality industry, they shed light on important elements that industry associations should take into account.

Keywords: chaos theory, COVID-19, accomodation sector, mixed method, convergent parallel design, Italy

JEL Classification: H12, I15, L83

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The influence of eWOM credibility on visit intention: An integrative moderated mediation model

Nechoud Lamia, Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Algeria, Ghidouche Faouzi, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Algeria, and Hugues Seraphin, University of Winchester, United Kingdom
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the process by which eWOM susceptibility moderates the strength of indirect links between the perceived credibility of eWOM messages and the intention to visit a destination via the destination image and the perceived usefulness of these messages.

Methods: The research hypotheses were tested according to structural equations modelling and Hayes procedure, which made it possible to study simultaneously and rigorously the mediating and moderating effects.

Results: The results indicate that the mediation links of the destination image on the relationship between perceived credibility and intention to visit a destination, are moderated by the susceptibility of the eWOM.

Implications: Tourism practitioners seeking to attract tourists can use the eWOM as a communication technique for product and/or service recommendations. Given the powerful influence of the eWOM, it should not be ignored or misused, but managed to improve the effectiveness of marketing strategies in hospitality, tourism and travel.

Keywords: perceived credibility, eWOM Susceptibility, perceived usefulness, Intention to visit, destination image

JEL Classification: L83, M37, Z33

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The impact of external factors on ICT usage practices at UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Thereza Mugobi, Open University of Tanzania, Tanzania, and Shogo Mlozi, National College of Tourism, Tanzania
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the external factors influencing ICT usage at UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS), focusing on exploring practices Tanzania. The study proposed and tested two hypotheses: a) there is a significant relationship between perceived pressure from competitors and ICT usage in WHS, and b) there is a significant relationship between perceived pressure from customers/visitors and ICT usage in WHS.

Methods: Data for this study were collected from 238 UNESCO World Heritage Site decision-makers in Tanzania. These respondents were stratified into three strata, based on UNESCO’s categorization of site type (nature, mixed, and culture). Systematic random sampling was used to select respondents from each stratum according to their ratio in the total population. Testing of the hypotheses involved structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Chi-square/Degree of freedom (CMIN/DF), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were used as criteria for estimation of goodness of fit indices.

Results: The results indicated that perceived competitive pressure and perceived pressure from customers had a positive influence on ICT usage at WHS. This study confirms the T.O.E theory by Tornatzky and Fleischer (1990), which postulate that decision to use a new ICT system within the organization is determined by environmental factors which include features in which the firms conduct business such as competitors and its customers.

Implications: For the success of any tourism business, particularly UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ICT usage is inevitable for their site’s performance. For destination management organisations, the current study is important for policy formulation, particularly in relation to ICT usage by the tourism industry at the destination to create a conducive business environment that may assist tourism growth related to World Heritage Sites.

Keywords: UNESCO World Heritage Sites, tourism policy, heritage tourism, ICT usage, Tanzania

JEL Classification: L83, O33, Z32

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Sieving tourism destinations: Visitor decision-making and choice

Shaul Krakover, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and Andrea Corsale, University of Cagliari, Italy
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Abstract

Purpose: To introduce and define the concept of sieving tourism destinations as an umbrella term representing faster decision-making processes compared to destination choice models, and to demonstrate its usefulness for both sides of consumption and production of tourism attractions.

Methods: Fast decision at the consumers’ demand side is demonstrated via an exploratory model while the producers’ supply side sieving is demonstrated using data related to Jewish heritage attractions in Sicily and Thessaloniki.

Results: On the demand side, nowadays market conditions enable destination choice decision making in a few simple steps often interpreted as spontaneous, intuitive, or irrational. Quantitative analyses on the supply side provided measurable sieving ratios. They reveal careful partial sieving performed at local level editorship, while much harsher sieving occurs on social media platforms. This is interpreted as a market failure related to niche and special interest groups attractions.

Implications: The demand side findings call for targeted marketing distinguishing customers not only by income but also by temperament, mood, and personality. The supply side findings call for careful examination of the conditions for inclusion and exclusion from the list of attractions as well as the need to remedy the concealment of minor attractions from social media platforms.

Keywords: destination choice, sieving ratio, Sicily, Thessaloniki, Jewish heritage tourism

JEL Classification: L83, O33, Z32

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The poetics of travel through unravelling visual representations on postcards: A semiotics analysis

Christina Bonarou, Hellenic Open University, Greece
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Abstract

Purpose: Visual representations, as the mechanism of tourism discourses, are vital to the constructed realities of tourism. This paper aims to contribute to ongoing research on Greek postcards and tourist imagery, exploring how contemporary photographic tourist postcards act as narratives of cultural representations and national identities, and how they constitute a ‘poetics of travel’ by communicating ‘myths’ about particular destinations..

Methods: The methodology adopted is semiotic analysis along with a discourse critical approach, focusing on a corpus of approximately 4,200 picture postcards issued between 2003 and 2019. In addition to adopting a discourse approach, the study can be considered as ‘auto-ethnographic’ since it analyses the postcards as visual texts of Greece, which have been produced within Greece (by Greek editors and Greek photographers) and as the analysis has been made by a Greek researcher.

Results: The findings have some similarities to those outlined in previous relevant surveys conducted by the author, suggesting that throughout the years contemporary Greece keeps focusing on its self-representation as a historic, authentic and romantic tourist destination; as a the ‘cradle of western civilisation” and as an “unchanged paradise on earth”.

Implications: Findings indicate that visual representations as the mechanism of tourism discourses are fundamental to the constructed realities of tourism, constituting a ‘poetics of travel’. The fact that Greece is presented as a ‘museum-like’ destination, requires, however, special attention because the exaggerated language of the tourist discourse limits Greece in an eternal “unchanged” present, partly removing the right for modern progress.

Keywords: postcards, Greece, visual representations, tourist imagery, semiotic analysis, tourism discourse

JEL Classification: L83, O33, Z32

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BOOK REVIEW:

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Tourism Development in post Soviet nations: From communism to capitalism

Maximiliano E. Korstanje, University of Palermo, Argentina, and Maite Echarri Chávez, University of La Habana, Cuba
Forthcoming. Preprints will be available online on 1st of March 2021. To be published online: 22nd of March 2021, JTHSM, 7(1).

Review of: Tourism Development in post Soviet nations: From communism to capitalism. Susan Slocum & Valeria Klitsounova (eds). 2020. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-303030715-8

A critical review of the book titled “Tourism Development in post Soviet Nations: From communism to capitalism” and edited by Susan Slocum & Valeria Klitsounovai. Based on this review, this book consists of a compilation of high-quality chapters that revolve around the needs of describing the radical shift of Eastern economies while adopting a westernized version of the tourism industry. Although the Soviet Union stimulated domestic tourism, it created various financial unbalances which remain in Eastern economies even to date. The adoption of international tourism opens the doors to new forms of consumption but at the same time, it puts some risks for involved stakeholders. Tourism governance occupies a central position to keep economic stability in the Post Soviet World. In sum, this is a recommendable book for those economists, sociologists, and tourism experts interested to understand tourism beyond the borders of the dominant paradigm forged by the dominant westernized models.