Tourism and Technology
Exploring Opportunities and Challenges of Applying Educational Robotics to Hospitality and Tourism Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anne Tang, Vincent Tung
Research in robotics is progressing rapidly, diffusing beyond the traditional domains of engineering and computer science, and opening new possibilities for education. Educational robotics refer to the application of robotic equipment as a teaching resource, often through design, programming, building, and/or implementation, to facilitate students’ learning and development in an (inter)disciplinary manner. Despite increasing research into this area, the pedagogical implications of applying educational robotics in hospitality and tourism education remain under-studied. To address this gap, this working paper first reviews select applications of educational robotics from different disciplines within higher education, and then considers the range of salient opportunities and challenges that may affect the deployment of educational robotics in tourism and hospitality. In doing so, this paper contributes to hospitality and tourism education by highlighting experiences from outside of the field that could inspire potential applications for our field.
Use of Internet Platforms by Tourists: A Social Network Analysis
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tatiana David Negre, Arminda Almeida Santana, Juan M. Hernández, Sergio Moreno Gil
This study analyses the structure of links amongst the main e-tourism platforms used by tourists in nineteen European countries, identifying the existence of a pattern known as core-periphery. This study is based on a computer-aided Web interview (CAWI) carried out on 13,243 tourists. The analyses were performed by means of the UCINET software, which is specialized in Social Network Analysis (SNA) focused on detecting key network players (social media, OTAs, etc.). Through this methodology, a number of 473 platforms were analysed, calculating degree centrality and betweenness centrality. The results reveal the specific characteristics of the networks by country. To better understand the e-tourism network, four examples of platforms with predominant role are studied and visually represented through ego-networks. The results are also shown by countries to better comprehend the e-tourism network. This study helps understand from an innovative methodological approach the behaviour of European tourists when using e-tourism information sources for choosing their travel destination, and how platforms are connected modelling a complex network. The results helps to improving the segmentation and promotion strategy through e-tourism platforms.
Cultural Tourism's Convergence-Divergence in Europe: Social Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Arminda Almeida Santana, Sergio Moreno Gil, José Boza-Chirino
The globalisation of markets has led destination marketing organisations to question whether their marketing strategies should appeal to cultural convergence or divergence, both in the media to be used and in the content to be communicated. This study investigates the following phenomena: “cultural-convergence” and “media-convergence.” Understanding the relationship between them will serve as a tool for destination marketing organisations in the development of their communication strategies, as they will be able to know what social media to use to best reach each culture. The results of this study, which uses data from seventeen European countries, add interesting conclusions to the discussion on cultural divergence in tourism and “marketing-convergence.”
