Involvement of Rural Tourism Operators in the Project “Sibiu European Gastronomic Region”

In the context of the activities specific to the “Sibiu European Gastronomic Region in the year of 2019” project, the sustainable rural development of the five micro regions (Mărginimea Sibiului, Olt Country, Hârtibaciului Valley, Târnavelor Valley and Secaşelor Land), aims to bring a new concept of integrated and systemic approach to the role of promoting traditional activities in which gastronomy plays an important role. Gastronomic touristic products incorporate values of environment, landscape, parts of local culture, traditions, local cuisine, traditional costumes, local food and rituals, associated with gastronomic experience – the way the edibles are served and presented, as well as ingredients, preparation methods. Identifying the culinary destination is one of the challenges of creating touristic products, in which an important role goes to guesthouses. The aim of the paper is to analyze the preferences of the tourists for practicing gastronomic tourism and the involvement of the rural tourism operators in the project, taking into account the types of preferred events. In this regard, it has been elaborated a questionnaire for the tourists accommodated in the rural and agro-touristic guesthouses from two micro regions representative of the Sibiu County, respectively Hârtibaciului Valley and Mărginimea Sibiului. Also, there have been held discussions with the guesthouse’s administrators, who are actively implicated in the diversification of the mass tourist services supply by designing new tourist products, which incorporate traditional reinterpreted recipes, accompanied by a story of the place and source of raw materia

Digitalization: A Strategic Approach for the Travel and Tourism Industry

Currently, we live in a world that is constantly changing, one in which the digital environment is constantly evolving. In the travel and tourism industry, there is practically no management decision that is not related to digitization. Additionally, this is not only when thinking about the ease of interaction with consumers of tourist services, but also when considering optimizing and reducing costs or when we refer to the management of the business itself. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the evolution of the online tourism market, the most visited travel and tourism websites, and the use of several digital transformation topics among accommodation businesses, such as: social media marketing, online advertising, customer relationship management, and online distribution channel management

Developments on the International Hotel Chain Market

Tourism is a mass phenomenon, and as a result, the number of accommodation capacities has increased enormously in recent years, especially in hotel groups, whether integrated or voluntary. Currently, a large part of hotel chains has subsidiaries around the world and covers major aspects of international tourism demand through their own distribution systems. Under these circumstances, this paper aims to analyse the global evolution of the main hotel chains, while also presenting performance issues, including average daily rate (ADR), and occupancy rate

Importance of Sustainability in the Hotel Industry

Hotel industry has been identified as one of the vital sectors that can have a major contribution to the achievement of the three pillars of sustainable development (social-economic-environment), thus having the ability to direct communities towards a green economy. With increasing environmental awareness, hotels are taking the initiative to offer greener products and services. Various green attributes are incorporated into hotels, such as participation in environmental partnerships or certification programs, use of recycling programs, energy-saving light bulbs in rooms. Under these circumstances, this paper aims to analyze the importance of hotel sustainability for the global development of the industry, while also presenting the most important sustainability and decarbonization topics among accommodation businesses and the reasons for which global travelers choose sustainable lodging

ANALYSIS THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF TOURIST DESTINATION INFLUENCE ON THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. CASE STUDY: ROMANIA

In an ever changing and competitive environment, the tourism industry of each country must be developed in a sustainable manner, able to generate substantial economic benefits for key stakeholders and minimize negative environmental impacts. Thus, the pronounced dynamism of the tourism sector currently makes tourist destinations to be in fierce competition where the long-term success is conditioned by the sustainable development strategy adopted and operationalized by management organizations destinations. In this context, the minimum requirements for sustainable tourism development are: supporting the diversity of ecosystems; conservation and management of natural resources; finding ways to reduce uncontrolled population growth and unification of national decisions concerning the environment and the economy. Based on these considerations and the fact that Romania has a valuable ecotourism potential, internationally recognized by profile associations and other stakeholders, this paper presents an overview regarding the way in which sustainable management of tourist destination influence obtaining sustainable competitive advantage

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Residents’ Support for Sustainable Tourism Development

The tourism industry has been gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, the purpose of this study was to explore residents’ support for sustainable tourism development in an integrative model that considered well-established factors and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing various research gaps caused by the pandemic, this study aimed to examine a model based on eight hypotheses. Using the premises of a cross-sectional study, data was gathered from residents from Sibiu. Data analysis implied various steps to provide an accurate understanding of the hypotheses and the model was developed based on structural equation modeling. Considering the results of hypothesis testing, our study reconfirmed the applicability of social exchange theory in describing residents’ attitudes toward tourism development and positioned quality of life as an important predictor for this construct. Also, the outcomes highlighted a negative relationship between the host community’s perceptions of the coronavirus pandemic and their subsequent support for sustainable tourism development. Overall, the results focused on offering contributions for a better understanding of residents’ behavior and the influence of the COVID-19 outbreak on their support for sustainable tourism development. The conceptual and practical ramifications of the study were addressed in the article’s conclusion

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Residents’ Support for Sustainable Tourism Development

The tourism industry has been gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, the purpose of this study was to explore residents’ support for sustainable tourism development in an integrative model that considered well-established factors and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing various research gaps caused by the pandemic, this study aimed to examine a model based on eight hypotheses. Using the premises of a cross-sectional study, data was gathered from residents from Sibiu. Data analysis implied various steps to provide an accurate understanding of the hypotheses and the model was developed based on structural equation modeling. Considering the results of hypothesis testing, our study reconfirmed the applicability of social exchange theory in describing residents’ attitudes toward tourism development and positioned quality of life as an important predictor for this construct. Also, the outcomes highlighted a negative relationship between the host community’s perceptions of the coronavirus pandemic and their subsequent support for sustainable tourism development. Overall, the results focused on offering contributions for a better understanding of residents’ behavior and the influence of the COVID-19 outbreak on their support for sustainable tourism development. The conceptual and practical ramifications of the study were addressed in the article’s conclusion