Contemporary Tourism
Who should be encouraged to spread Word-of-Mouth Recommendations in Destination Marketing?: An Analysis of the Influence of Word-of-Mouth on Tourists’ Decisions in an Online and Offline Context
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Woratschek Herbert
The purpose of this study is to characterise persuasive WOM sources and to explore what factors lead to more WOM in different contexts. In Study 1 and 2 we used personal interviews with tourist using a standardised questionnaire and in study 3 personal and online interviews. Study 1 tests influence of perceived WOM characteristics on buying intentions. Study 2 aimed at factors affecting WOM. Study 3 tests influence of perceived WOM characteristics in an online context. All studies apply partial least squared estimation using Smart PLS Similarity with and expertise of WOM source are relevant influence factors in an offline context. Communication propensity is an import factor influencing WOM intention. It is driven by variety-seeking tendency and risk acceptance of tourists. Both are characteristics of variety seekers. Although variety seekers are not loyal to tourism destinations, they spread more persuasive WOM than loyal tourists and open the gateway to a whole network of potential new tourists. In an online context, expertise becomes more important the less “personal” the context of the review is. When the medium has a more personal touch similarity has a greater importance. In an offline context tourism managers should focus on disloyal tourists to encourage WOM because variety seekers are very often perceived as experts. As a consequence, their WOM is more persuasive than frequenters’ WOM. In an online context WOM it is more likely that anonymous WOM sources occur and therefore, managers should focus on people who are similar to their main target groups.
Relevance of Amenities of Properties in Sharing Accommodation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jacques Bulchand Gidumal, Santiago Melián-Gonzalez, Beatriz González Lopez-Valcarcel
Recently, the tourism sector has been subject to a significant change, due to the emergence of what has been called sharing (collaborative) economy and, by extension, the so-called sharing tourism. Due to its strong growth, it is an area that has received considerable recent attention in the literature. Nevertheless, due to the very recent nature of the phenomenon, there are many topics that have not yet been deeply analyzed. In this sense, a perspective that has received little attention so far is what amenities guests expect when they are using these type of options and how these amenities compare to when they are using more traditional accommodation options. In this research, we use a large sample of more than 100,000 active units from Spain offered through the Airbnb platform in order to analyze: i) which amenities (WiFi, heating, air conditioning, coffee maker, microwave, washing machine, dishwasher, allowing pets, iron, etc.) are most valued by guests, ii) how providing these amenities has an impact on the property price, and iii) how these amenities compare to those that are expected in traditional accommodation options, such as hotels. We will discuss implications for property managers regarding which amenities they should prioritize when preparing a unit for renting on the sharing economy based of the return on investment.
Tourism Activities in Lanzarote Island: An Analysis through Discrete Choice Models
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hugo Padrón Ávila, Raúl Hernández Martín
Tourism is an activity based on the trips made by people traveling away from their usual place of residence. Therefore, understanding the movements made by visitors during their trips has been of interest for research for years. In fact, recent investigations have managed to track visitors through the destinations employed various techniques, such as GPS devices, photographs uploaded to different websites or surveys. Knowing how visitors move makes possible to know which places are really visited by tourists and the means of transport and itineraries they use to connect the visits done during a trip. However, the previous research carried out seems not to have considered the differences presented by visitors, which motivate them to travel and visit different places during their trips. In this study, we intend to know which are the determinants that motivate tourists to visit some places instead of others in Lanzarote. To carry out the analysis, the answers given by 43,301 visitors between 2010 and 2016 have been used. In these surveys, visitors were asked about various socioeconomic characteristics, their motivations to travel and characteristics of the trip made. In addition, surveys include a question regarding the visit of 12 attractions on the island. Thanks to this information, it has been possible to use discrete choice models to know which are the determining variables that motivate tourists to visit a given set of points of interest instead of others.
Sixty Years of Education for Tourism in Spain
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mercedes Carreño
In 1957 started the first programme for tourism education in Spain with the aim of providing professionals capable to develop that new activity. Tourism was considered as a whole, where different industries were related to each other in order to offer an experience to travelers, already named “tourists.” Sixty years later tourism has become one of the main industries in Spain but, has the education for tourism reached the same level of development? This work aims to study in Depth the evolution of tourism education in Spain and its current situation. With this purpose, an intensive literature review has been conducted and the different academic programmes have been analysed. Also, in-depth interviews have been held with people who played important roles in the evolution of the studies from the starting proposal in private specialized schools to the current university studies. The result is a snapshot of the current situation of the education for tourism in Spain, the first step to find out whether this education corresponds to the needs of the different tourism industries.
