Analysis of the impact of length of stay on the quality of service experience, satisfaction and loyalty

Although length of stay is a relevant variable in destination management, little research has been produced connecting it with tourists' post-consumption behaviour. This research compares the post-consumption behaviour of same-day visitors with overnight tourists in a sample of 398 domestic vacationers at two Mediterranean heritage-and-beach destinations. Although economic research on length of stay posits that there are destination benefits in longer stays, same-day visitors score higher in most of the post-consumption variables under study. Significant differences arise in hedonic aspects of the tourist experience and destination loyalty. Thus, we propose that length of stay can be used as a segmentation variable. Furthermore, destination management organisations need to consider length of stay when designing tourism policies. The tourist product and communication strategies might be adapted to different vacation durations

The role of place branding and image in the development of sectoral clusters: the case of Dubai

This paper contextualizes how place branding and image influence the development of Dubai’s key sectoral clusters, including the key determinants of growth and success under the impression of Porter’s cluster theory. The approach is exploratory and of a qualitative inductive nature. Data was collected through conducting 21 semi-structured interviews with Dubai’s marketing/communication managers and stakeholders. Findings suggest that Dubai’s traditional clusters, namely, trading, tourism and logistics that have strong place branding and image show strong signs of success owing to Dubai’s geographical location (i.e., physical conditions). Among the new clusters, the financial sector is also benefitting from place branding. The results suggest that the success of traditional clusters have a positive spill over effect on the new clusters, in particular on construction and real estate. For policy makers it is worth to note that the recent success of the financial services cluster in Dubai will have positive impact on both, the traditional as well new clusters. The marketing and brand communication managers must consider the correlation and interplay of strength of activities amongst trading, tourism and logistics clusters and its implication while undertaking place branding for clients in their sector

Storytelling as a Value Co-creation Instrument for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019

The rise of new business models grounded on shared content and experience has made it necessary for tourism destinations to adopt appropriate tools for the construction and promotion of their identity starting from sociality, emotions, interaction and connectivity. Based on this premise, the primary hypothesis of this paper is that storytelling practices applied to tourist destinations represent a fundamental tool in the construction of a destination brand’s identity. This paper aims to study the key factors and co-narrative practices in the destination management processes of Matera. It is the Italian town that has been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and European Capital of Culture (ECC) 2019. It constitutes an exceptional testimony of an ancient cave civilization. In our study a qualitative approach was adopted. 25 in-depth interviews with stakeholders were conducted and five main themes were identified in the content analysis of the results: image and storytelling, branding and communication, value co-creation through networks, digital communication, and sustainability, effects of tourism development and the ECC event. The research findings reveal important information. They could be useful for the Matera DMO to face with success the post ECC event phase and consolidate the gains in the medium-long term