MEASURING PROPENSITY OF ONLINE PURCHASE BY USING THE TAM MODEL: EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The study aims to investigate the dynamics of online purchasing behavior through the analysis of a sample of students from Italy. The objective is twofold: firstly, to outline a descriptive picture of the type of relationship with the web and the use of the TAM model to highlight the propensity to use electronic commerce by the analyzed sample. An interesting evidence is the prevalence of using the Internet for social activities rather than for purchases. In fact, the propensity to purchase online is still very limited and mainly concerns cultural and tourist services rather than physical products. Mobile devices are the main devices for connecting students to the Web and, consequently, the most used for purchasing online

Challenges For Tourism: A Changing Paradigm

The present environment is characterized for the uncertainty and crisis, and the existence of threats and dangers in the society and in the tourist sector for the survival of companies in the market. In addition, apart from changes in the economic situation, changes in demand occur in terms of new wants and needs, obliging suppliers to adapt to them in order to survive in times of a highly competitive environment and a difficult economic situation, when the key is not just attracting visitors, but also satisfying them in order to gain their loyalty. So the real threat is the lack of response to changing situations. The Spanish tourist sector is pressured by various threats such as the need to improve the competitiveness of destinations and products, make the industry more professional, encourage new forms of marketing and promotion, or change the sales model. Therefore, businesses must adapt to these changes and respond to them, strengthen the confidence of customers, who seek to obtain the optimum value for money. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the tourism activity in the town of Cuenca in the period 2005 to 2009, focusing the analysis on how supply changed to adapt to the requirements of demand. The aim being to evaluate their and correct errors, and design the actions of the future. That is to say, create an appropriate market strategy to promote the tourism product and ensure the idea of a consolidated tourist destination

The Sense Of Service At Tourist Destinations

Companies, like human beings, also have five senses: marketing, sales team, service, contact centre and analytical; and doing without one of these would mean possessing a disability. Thus, a study of the satisfaction with a tourist destination is a highly relevant factor for tourist supervisors, since its results make it possible to find out about the right sales strategies and decisions that have to be adopted in order to improve the management and the competitiveness of the destinations. This study aims to check the level of dependency between two fundamental elements of the behaviour of tourism consumers, such as the reason why the trip was undertaken and the tourist’s objective satisfaction

Evolution Of Fair Business Performance As A Tool Of Marketing In Spain

Although the distance communication systems have been developed in the last years thanks to the development of communication and information technologies, recent studies argue that simple ways of communication like fairs maintain and increase their weigh cause of their profitability. In this way the fairs represent an important communication platform, whose use is generalized in the all economic areas. The aim of this paper is analyze the evolution of fair business in Spain, in the period 2002-2009, to solve two important questions which revolve about the efficiency of this communication tool and its power to maintain and establish new business relationship. For this, this paper analyzes the main characteristics or indicators of fair business, such as number of celebrated events, areas of interest, number of exhibitors or the number of attendees, from the information of Spanish Association of Fairs

Cultural Tourism, Using A Multicriteria Analysis: Spanish World Heritage Cities

The city tourism has become a subject of growing interest in tourism research, in a dynamic sector and with a particularly complex behaviour. In this scenario, the management of available information turns out to be difficult. Until now, specialized literature in tourism has been focused on general analysis, but down to a higher level of disaggregation (cities), presents a greater complexity. This paper aims to classify cities declared World Heritage by UNESCO on the basis of information available, by applying a multicriteria decision aid method: The Promethee

Skill Development In Social Science Subjects: A Proposed Methodology

The university has to train students in skills which according to the demanding requirements of the job market and social environment are the basis of their competitiveness: specific skills or generic skills cutting across the different degrees. The convergence framework defined by the European Higher Education Area requires the incorporation of educational and psychology progress in skill development, because the teacher becomes a teaching facilitator instead of a transmitter of knowledge, where the students learn to learn and the lecturer teach how to learn; for this the teacher guides students' self-learning, using appropriate resources, working methods and monitoring. This paper examines the skills required of students on social science courses and shows the experience of how to develop, promote and evaluate these skills

Visitor Profile Of Cuenca Religious Music Week

Religious Music Week in Cuenca is the fourth oldest music festival in Spain, involved in orchestras, choirs and performers of international stature and prestige that interpret various compositions of sacred music. Religious Music Week in Cuenca is declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest, since its inception in 1962, has always retained a strong personality as a result of high musical expertise; it is wonderful geographical location and the enormous wealth of heritage that surrounds it. This festival is writing a new chapter in the annals of religious music. Their long tradition has set the standard in Spain, which allows comparison with other festivals in Europe. In the present study is to characterize the profile of the visitor from the 48th through a questionnaire administered to attendees of the event, in the same show basic characteristics of visitors, taking a special interest in the economic impact is Cuenca city for the celebration of this event

Segmenting cultural event visitors using the latent class approach: the case of “Sensational Umbria” photo exhibition by Steve McCurry

Profiling event visitors has attracted increasing interest in tourism literature. However, in event visitors' segmentation, psychographic characteristics such as perceptions and satisfaction should be more emphasized by research. To fill this gap, our study aims at segmenting event visitors according to their overall perception of the exhibition, the perceived quality of the exhibition and their relationship with photography in terms of expertise. The study was based on a sample of 455 visitors of the photo exhibition “Sensational Umbria” by Steve McCurry (Perugia, Italy, 2014-2015), which was analyzed through a latent class approach. Results provide evidence of two different typologies of visitors: pragmatic and expert, who are differently affected by their level of expertise in photography and that are not convergent in evaluations about the exhibition. Theoretical and managerial implications, along with avenues for future research, are discussed. Negli studi in ambito turistico è emerso un crescente interesse verso la profilazione dei visitatori di eventi culturali. Tra le variabili di segmentazione utilizzate comunemente, le caratteristiche psicografiche – come le percezioni e la soddisfazione dei visitatori – dovrebbero essere maggiormente analizzate, sia dal punto di vista concettuale che empirico. Per colmare questa lacuna, il presente studio si propone di segmentare i visitatori di un evento in base alla loro percezione complessiva della mostra, alla qualità percepita della mostra e al rapporto dei visitatori con la fotografia. Lo studio si è basato su un campione di 455 visitatori della mostra fotografica di Steve McCurry “Sensational Umbria” (Perugia, Italia, 2014-2015), attraverso i modelli a classe latente. I risultati evidenziano due diverse tipologie di visitatori: pragmatici ed esperti, che risentono in modo diverso del loro livello di competenza nella fotografia e che non sono convergenti nelle valutazioni sulla mostra. Infine, il lavoro discute le implicazioni teoriche e manageriali e le prospettive di ricerca future