Examination of individual preferences for green hotels in Crete

The hospitality sector is experiencing a massive transformation currently. Hotels are currently receiving considerable criticism over their practices concerning energy, environmental, as well as resource management. As a result, managerial practices in the hospitality sector have come under scrutiny. All these developments have given rise to the concept of the ‘smart’ hotel. The smart hotel concept has received considerable attention in the relevant literature in the last few years. However, the majority of this attention has either focused on the technical side (i.e., examining smart hotels from a technological standards perspective), or adopted a rather limited perspective, choosing to focus on specific managerial practices within smart hotels (i.e., environmental management). The current paper aims to address this gap in the literature through the utilization of stated preferences discrete choice modeling methodology. Through this methodology, the paper evaluates tourists’ preferences for a wider range of managerial practices and policies pertaining to smart practices in the hospitality sector. According to the empirical findings, tourists exhibit strong and negative preferences towards the automation of the service delivery process. In addition to that, respondents were very strongly opposed towards hotels without international certification standards for their operations. On the opposite side, tourists expressed very strong and positive preferences towards water management policies (particularly policies aiming to reduce and reuse water resources). Finally, respondents exhibited strong and positive preferences towards different energy-saving technologies within hotels

Oil prices, tourism income and economic growth: A structural VAR approach for European Mediterranean countries

In this study, a Structural VAR model is employed to investigate the relationship among oil price shocks, tourism variables and economic indicators in four European Mediterranean countries. In contrast with the current tourism literature, we distinguish between three oil price shocks, namely, supply-side, aggregate demand and oil specific demand shocks. Overall, our results indicate that oil specific demand shocks contemporaneously affect inflation and the tourism sector equity index, whereas these shocks do not seem to have any lagged effects. By contrast, aggregate demand oil price shocks exercise a lagged effect, either directly or indirectly, to tourism generated income and economic growth. The paper does not provide any evidence that supply-side shocks trigger any responses from the remaining variables. Results are important for tourism agents and policy makers, should they need to create hedging strategies against future oil price movements or plan for economic policy developments

Tourists' preferences for two cultural heritage attractions in the island of Crete

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The Effects of the Financial Crisis on Tourism Activity: Evidence from the U.K.

The current recession has hit hard the European countries, and also affected tourism activity throughout the continent. Considering that several European countries (especially the Mediterranean ones) are heavily dependent upon tourism activity, the recent financial crisis has considerably affected their economy. This effect is strengthened with the parallel adoption of austerity measures aiming at economic recovery and exit from the recession. Despite the substantial magnitude and severity of this crisis, little is known about tourists' reactions in coping in with the recessionary effects. Contrary to the established practice of adopting a macroeconomic perspective in the examination of the impact of financial crises on tourism activity, this book chapter follows recent recommendations in the literature such as Brooner and de Hoog (2012) Kaytaz and Gul (2014) to examine the particular adverse effects of the current financial/economic crisis on individual behaviour and demand patterns. Thus, the research utilises a survey questionnaire to British tourists examining the effect of the current recession on travel and consumption patterns. Socio-demographically, the results reveal that the current recession appears to have a significant effect on gender, since male tourism expenditure is affected more than female one. Moreover, the uncertainty associated with income and employment levels during recession has a particularly strong effect on tourism expenditure. More specifically, uncertainty associated with both income and employment levels during the financial crisis has a negative and statistically significant effect on tourism expenditure. On the other hand, younger and middle aged tourists seem to be fairly unaffected by the financial crisis, as compared to more mature and senior tourists. In addition, the findings indicate that future expectations regarding income levels have no influence on current tourism expenditure patterns. Overall, those respondents that were unsure about the effect of the financial crisis on their current tourism expenditure patterns were also more likely to exhibit ambivalence about the future. The findings provide an interesting insight to tourism decision makers since they illustrate evidence regarding the turning points of demand, especially during periods of economic downturn. </jats:p

Evaluating individual preferences for the British Museum

British Museum, Choice modelling, Voluntary contributions, Preferences, C250, D010, Z110,

Kierunki rozwoju programu pracodawcy dla sektora hotelarstwa i turystyki w Grecji

The principal aim of the current paper is to contribute towards the development of a holistic employer programme for the hospitality and tourism sector. Its purpose focuses on the identification of factor affecting the collaborative efforts among all three stakeholder groups in the tourism and hospitality sector in Greece. The paper responds to the increasing calls from the literature regarding the simultaneous and equal representation of all involved stakeholder groups in the discussion. This is the first effort to address this issue in a Greek context. The empirical results indicate that lack of communication was deemed the most critical factor for these initiatives. Stronger interaction between businesses and academics in order to exchange ideas and knowledge, employers’ contribution to the curricula design, collaboration, trust and satisfaction are some of the activities that would strengthen cooperation. Additionally, for an employer programme to be successful it would have to be functional and generate benefits for all stakeholders.Głównym celem niniejszego artykułu jest przyczynienie się do opracowania całościowego programu pracodawców dla sektora hotelarsko-turystycznego. Jego celem jest identyfikacja czynnika wpływającego na wspólne wysiłki wszystkich trzech grup interesariuszy w sektorze turystyki i hotelarstwa w Grecji. Artykuł odpowiada na rosnące wezwania z literatury dotyczące równoczesnej i równej reprezentacji wszystkich zaangażowanych grup interesariuszy w dyskusji. Jest to pierwsza próba rozwiązania tego problemu w kontekście greckim. Wyniki empiryczne wskazują, że brak komunikacji uznano za najbardziej krytyczny czynnik dla tych inicjatyw. Silniejsza interakcja między przedsiębiorstwami i naukowcami w celu wymiany pomysłów i wiedzy, wkład pracodawców w projektowanie programów nauczania, współpraca, zaufanie i satysfakcja to tylko niektóre z działań, które wzmocniłyby współpracę. Dodatkowo, aby program pracodawcy odniósł sukces, musiałby być funkcjonalny i generować korzyści dla wszystkich interesariuszy