Exploring the Attributes of Event Resilience: a Content Case of Academic Events

The resilience of events has been primarily entangled to the recovery and coping capacity of the host destination. This approach considers events to be destination-dependent, omitting sufficient consideration on an event’s internal systemic dynamics that dictate its inherent self-organising and adapting capacity to externalities at operational level. This study adopts a systems thinking approach to explore the dynamic interface of interacting elements, attributes and actors that dictate an event’s identity, structure and behaviour, as grounding foundations of its operational resilience independently to the hosting destination. Resilience thinking has been employed through the exploration of the seven principles of Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) resilience. Building on the contextualisation of academic events, the study applied a qualitative research design to explore perceptions, attitudes and experiences of primary academic event stakeholders (participants, attendees, keynotes, members of event academic committee and members of event organisation) during the period of Covid-19 pandemic. Research findings contribute to the conceptualisation and operationalisation of operational academic and business event resilience, through the identification of enablers and inhibitors from the perspective of primary stakeholders. From a managerial perspective, research findings inform event contingencies and management during times of system disturbance with the aim to ensure event viability and multi-stakeholder value satisfaction

Operationalising Tourism Sustainability at the Destination Level: A Systems Thinking Approach Along the SDGs

The adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set the strategic vision for the next decade. Yet, their operationalisation, more so, at the tourism industry and destination level is fraught with challenges leaving destination managers and tourism officials to appeal for meaningful and effective decision support tools. This paper addresses the academic and institutional recommendations for monitoring and implementing the SDGs in the tourism sector. It introduces a systems thinking framework (the Tourism Sustainability Assessment Framework (TSAF)) for delineating the dependencies and dynamics of variables and monitoring indicators in a tourism industry versus tourism destination ecosystem of relationships. The TSAF proposes a roadmap for integrating information and data from the various nationally adopted tourism statistics frameworks to effectuate the assessment of tourism sustainability. A comparison along with the SDG indicators then accentuates the importance and necessity for industry-specific, effective units of measurement

On the Verge Between Co-Creation and Co-Destruction: The Interesting Case of a Greek Traditional Cultural Event

Traditional cultural events provide unique opportunities for resident-attendee destination experience and image co-creation, yet the cognitive, perceptual and behavioural disparities between these key actor groups remain rather sparse. Focusing on the process rather than the outcome of co-creation, this paper adopts a Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) to explore the underlying dynamics of social and economic actor encounters and their role in service value and image co-creation and destination resource management. More specifically, the study applies a mixed method approach to study the interface of social and psychological carrying capacity during the Easter Rocket War in Chios (Greece). Building on the particularities of this traditional event, the research identifies variables that trigger cognitive and perceptual conflicts of interests that may jeopardise an event’s and a destination’s image co-creation process, resulting in its co-destruction. Research findings contribute to the broader event image co-creation and destination branding body of literature, though the exploration of the underlying dynamics of multi-stakeholder and multi-attribute event dimensions (cultural, spiritual, historical, recreational). From a managerial perspective, research findings aim to inform destination planning and decision-making processes that dictate event viability, publicity and multi-stakeholder satisfaction

Tourism sustainability methodologies: A critical assessment

In an era of economic crisis and serious environmental constraints, the transition to sustainability enters dynamically the debate over long-term preservation and welfare at a systemic level. Tourism is a resource- (capital, human and natural) demanding sector; this paper explores the variety and diversity of methodological approaches and tools employed in the evaluation of tourism, and their potential to support sustainability-oriented assessments and practices. Ranging from traditional economics-oriented frameworks to assessments of impact and ecological footprint, this paper discusses the prevailing assessment frameworks of specific tourism dimensions heading towards the integrative approaches for Tourism Sustainability Assessment. The review highlights that despite the widespread acceptance of the concept and the international consensus on the importance of its operationalization, the transition towards tourism sustainability remains still a complicated and rather problematic endeavour. © 2014 IEEE

Destination Image Co-creation in Times of Sustained Crisis

Customer co-creation feeds from customer engagement, value recognition and experience appreciation. Tourists participation in the image communication of a destination in adversity is well documented along literature addressing their motivations and their reliability as information intelligence. What remains still vague is an exploration of the above dynamics in the case of destinations in sustained crisis hence the customer predispositions for destinations under an extended duration yet reduced intensity turbulent destination image. Using Lesvos (Greece) as a case study of a destination affected by refugee and immigrant mobilities since 2012, this paper explores those constructs affecting tourists’ response and engagement in the formulation, promotion and hence co-creation of an affected destinations’ cognitive and affective image. The theoretical contribution of the paper lies in the exploration of the conscious and unconscious tourist triggers that could promote the co-repair and co-restoration of a long-affected destination’ image, with direct managerial implications both for destination and crisis management

Risk-induced competitive productivity in times of recession: a chaordic tourism decision-making perspective

Abstract Purpose This study aims to explore the interface of competitive productivity (CP) levels in times of turbulence. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from a sample of 507 Athenian holidaymakers, the study uses a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine the chaordic systems amongst perceived risks (social; destination; price; quality) in tourism purchasing intentions. It considers three grouping variables (age; monthly income; trip [domestic; overseas]). It further evaluates the effect sizes of those risks upon purchasing intentions by complementary using necessary condition analysis (NCA). Findings fsQCA revealed three sufficient configurations: price-quality nexus (micro); generated experience (meso) and perceived destination image (macro). NCA showcased that the effect size of the examined perceived risks is relatively low, while destination risks have the highest impact. Research limitations/implications Only a few studies use fsQCA and NCA in the field of tourism and hospitality studies thus, their full potential and implications of exploring the interface of tourism decision-making components with CP levels are still unexplored. Originality/value This is the first study examining the nonlinearity of risk-induced decision-making triggers of holidaymakers affected by the recession in line with the principles of CP. Its theoretical contribution lays in the exploration of the interface of CP and its three levels of application (micro [tourist], meso [firm/business], macro [destination]) in times of turbulence. Managerially, it strengthens the assumption that CP and customer loyalty are strongly associated even in times of turbulence when destinations and firms should make a strong point to maintain their competitive edge. Methodologically, the study highlights the value of fsQCA for identifying multiple pathways, a relatively new method in tourism. Furthermore, it introduces NCA, a new complementary method in tourism research

Chaordic event co‐creation and tourism destination image: Strategic carnival shifts in the post‐pandemic era

Major street events, such as carnivals, offer a unique opportunity for destination experience value co‐creation by participants which relates directly to the destination image. This study uses service‐dominant logic (SDL) to consider the effects of event co‐creation on destination image from the point of view of a participatory process rather than from an outcome perspective. Drawing from a sample of 400 street event participants in the Patras Carnival in Greece, it examines the complexity aspects of co‐creational experience and its influence upon the destination image of the host city. Those aspects are examined by means of fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis. The findings revealed three sufficient configurations (co‐creational involvement and satisfaction; co‐creational event image; experience‐satisfaction nexus) that could affect the destination image of the host destination. The paper contributes to the theoretical body of experiential co‐creational approaches to destination image with clear managerial implications for both event organizers and destination managers

Efficiency and productivity changes in Greek airports during the crisis years 2010–2014

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The aim of this study is to evaluate the operating efficiency and productivity changes of the Greek airports, during the first years of the severe economic crisis in Greece (2010–2014), by using two methods: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity index (MPI). Findings have shown that, despite the dramatic effects of the economic crisis on the socio-economic life of the country, overall airport efficiency and productivity improved, mainly due to exogenous factors such as international tourism growth. The MPI reveals that over the period of the study, airports have experienced an annual average increase in total factor productivity (TFP) of 0.9% (an increase of 3.6% over the examined period). On examining the components of this productivity change, it becomes evident that this is due to the combination of both positive (a slight progress) annual average technology change (0.5%) and technical efficiency change (0.4%). The results also indicate that 65.8% of airports have an increase in average TFP during the period 2010–2014, ranging between 0.4% and 20%. However, as Greek airports operate at poor levels of efficiency, there is still considerable space for improvements in most of the airports

The policy responses of tourism agencies to emerging digital skills constraints: A critical assessment of six countries

This paper analyses policies and practices designed to support digital transformation in the tourism workforce in six OECD countries, namely Germany, Greece, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Data for the project were gathered via a questionnaire survey, interviews with key informants and examination of various policy documents in 2021. Contrasting practice in relation to digital skills development is revealed. Significant deficiencies are evident in relation to the availability of high-quality data, evaluation, understanding, leadership, and infrastructure among the six countries. Ways in which effective policy development might emerge are suggested

Clustering Sustainable Destinations: Empirical Evidence from Selected Mediterranean Countries

Within the globalized tourism market, tourism destinations have the option to turn to sustainability as a conceptual and management framework for their unique branding and identity proposition. This research highlights the importance and utility of sustainability branding that stems from clustering tourism destinations based on the similarities of their tourism performance attributes. The study builds on secondary data from 11 coastal destinations in 8 Mediterranean countries. The analysis leads to the formulation of three main sets of evaluation indicators: (a) environmental footprint; (b) destination dependency on tourism; and (c) locals’ prosperity, incorporating elements of social and psychological carrying capacity. Findings identify three to four distinct destination clusters based mainly on the attributes of destinations’ cultural and natural attributes, seasonality of supply, typology of prevailing accommodation and tourist profile. From a theoretical perspective, the research identifies key clustering attributes of sustainable destinations that could inform management interventions around destination branding and competitive sustainability performance positioning