The Role of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in Commercialization of Summer Tourism Products. New Challenges for Mountain Destinations in an Integrated and Global e-Market Place

Having started to develop in the 19th century, mountain tourism has a very strong capital attraction for international tourist flow and represents approximately 15–20% of annual global tourism income (UNEP, 2007). Despite a huge variety of activity offers in numerous mountain destinations since the mid-1960s, summer tourism, unlike winter tourism, is stagnating (France Montagne, 2014; Nydegger, 2014). However, studies concerned with summer tourism development in mountain regions are rare. The paper presents the result of comparative study conducted between 2013, 2014 and in 2015 in 183 local and regional Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) operating in selected European and North American mountain areas in order to understand their role in the stimulation of summer tourism through various product commercialisation strategies

Reviving calm technology in the e-tourism context

Tourism industry practitioners should understand the controversial nature of the information and communication technology (ICT) proliferation to ensure the ICT solutions do not consume too much of their attention, thus jeopardizing consumer enjoyment of tourism services. The concept of calm technology or calm design serves this purpose. Calm design suggests that technology should quietly recede in the background and come into play with users when and if required, thus delivering and/or enhancing a desired experience. Although this concept is of relevance to e-tourism, until recently, it has never been considered within. This is where this paper contributes to knowledge as, for the first time, it introduces calm design into the e-tourism context and critically evaluates the determinants of its broader adoption within the tourism industry. It positions calm design within the e-tourism realm, discusses its implications for customer service management, supply chain management and destination management, and discloses opportunities for future research