Current and Future Trends in Tourism and Hospitality. The Case of Greece

This paper identifies some of the current and future trends affecting the tourism and hospitality industry, including globalisation, guests’ safety and security, the importance of offering outstanding services, the new technologies that enhance competitiveness, the population ageing that impacts directly on tourist demand and the correlation between price and value. Reference is also made to the trends in the development of tourism lodgings. Furthermore, the paper attempts to analyse the Greek tourism performance indicators for the last 10 years and suggest ways out of the recession for the tourism entrepreneurs. The suggestions to the hoteliers include careful analysis of the current and future trends and application of the proper adaptations, investing in exceptional services and sustainability of their lodging, as well as utilizing the new technologies and the social networks. Moreover, the hotel owners should consider the retirees as their potential guests and, finally, they must seek ways to retain effective, diverse and competent staff.employment, Greece, services, tourism and hospitality, trends

Comparison Between Brief Acceptance and Cognitive Interventions: Assessing Public Speaking Performance in Socially-Anxious Individuals

Social anxiety disorder is one of the most prevalent psychological disorder to date and it is associated with impairments in multiple domains, such as in occupational and academic settings. Although, traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), aims to reduce distress by altering maladaptive schemas, this approach is not always successful. Recent research has shown ambiguous support for cognitive restructuring as a mechanism of change. Therefore, further research is needed to discover effective treatments. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), emphasizes psychological flexibility and values rather controlling negative thoughts. The current study compared brief acceptance and cognitive control based interventions for increasing performance on a public speaking task. It was hypothesized that participants in CBT and ACT conditions will exhibit greater reduction of anxiety following the speech task compared to the psychoeducational control group. It was also hypothesized that the acceptance based intervention will lead to greater increases in performance compared to other two protocols. Participants were college students at a Midwestern public university and were then randomized to receive an acceptance, cognitive-control, or psychoeducational-based protocol. Participants then prepared and gave 5-minute autobiographical speech in front of an audience of two research assistants. Results indicated that participants in either ACT, CBT, or Control conditions did not significantly differ in public speaking performance, nor did differ on physiological anxiety, subjective distress and experiential avoidance. These findings promote the utility of brief interventions and promote the importance of continuing to develop techniques that increase public speaking performance

Special Spatial Plans VS Local Spatial Plans. Towards a new vision of planning system at the local level in Greece, during the period of economic crisis

Spatial planning in Greece is organized in three levels, following a strict, top-down hierarchical framework where the two first levels (national-regional) have a purely strategic role and the third one, the municipal, has a regulatory character and the obligation to comply with the upper ones. However, the municipal level is unable to function, as shown by the very low rate of implementation of the Local Spatial Plans (LSPs) to date. In this prospect, the economic crisis in Greece since 2010, has led to the need for a spatial reform whose main aim is to promote economic growth. Thus, a key innovation is the introduction of a new category of plans, the Special Spatial Plans (SSPs) which are at the same hierarchical spatial level as the LSPs, the third one, but on a smaller scale than them and focus on strategic investments.This paper, mainly explores the effort to integrate spatial planning at all levels with the implementation of LSPs. It also states the ability of the more flexible, bottom-up planning approach with the SSPs. In that prospect, it is approved “ad hoc” that the new legislation is not complied with the fundamental principle of "subsidiarity," stating that decisions should be taken at the local level (local governance). Finally, the paper aims to draw reasonable conclusions as to whether the spatial reform will improve the efficiency of spatial planning or simply be just a reaction to the economic crisis that could put the valuable principles of planning at stake

Special Spatial Plans VS Local Spatial Plans. Towards a new vision of planning system at the local level in Greece, during the period of economic crisis

Spatial planning in Greece is organized in three levels, following a strict, top-down hierarchical framework where the two first levels (national-regional) have a purely strategic role and the third one, the municipal, has a regulatory character and the obligation to comply with the upper ones. However, the municipal level is unable to function, as shown by the very low rate of implementation of the Local Spatial Plans (LSPs) to date. In this prospect, the economic crisis in Greece since 2010, has led to the need for a spatial reform whose main aim is to promote economic growth. Thus, a key innovation is the introduction of a new category of plans, the Special Spatial Plans (SSPs) which are at the same hierarchical spatial level as the LSPs, the third one, but on a smaller scale than them and focus on strategic investments.This paper, mainly explores the effort to integrate spatial planning at all levels with the implementation of LSPs. It also states the ability of the more flexible, bottom-up planning approach with the SSPs. In that prospect, it is approved “ad hoc” that the new legislation is not complied with the fundamental principle of "subsidiarity," stating that decisions should be taken at the local level (local governance). Finally, the paper aims to draw reasonable conclusions as to whether the spatial reform will improve the efficiency of spatial planning or simply be just a reaction to the economic crisis that could put the valuable principles of planning at stake

Exploring the views on total quality human resources management between public and private educational units

The aim of the present study is to identify the attitudes of the directors of different types of educational units regarding the practices of Total Quality of Human Resources Management (TQHRM) in Greece. The specific objectives of the survey are the exploration and analysis of the following issues: a) The philosophy applied by each director on the unit they manage and the position of the HR in it; b) the directors’ opinion about the TQHRM Practices; and c) the difference in the approach of these practices between the public and private educational unit directors.The data is collected using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to Greek schools of various levels in 2018 and the number of responses is 70, of which 53% are from the private and 47% from the public sector directors. To process responses and draw conclusions, both one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis were performed. The results of this survey show that the HRM practices followed by the directors do not have a clear orientation. This highlights the need for training those who run an educational institution on TQHRM and the understanding of the importance of Human Resources on achieving the goals of an organization

Reengineering knowledge for e-tourism and hospitality curricula

E-tourism and hospitality represents the development of tourism and hospitality to integrate ICT tools and has significantly changed the industry over the last decade. In order to meet the new needs, knowledge service suppliers (i.e. the university) must meet the requirements and social developments of the tourism industry. The quality of e-tourism and hospitality curriculum depends largely on the education quality and its subsequent implementation. The research reveals that higher education is not currently meeting the needs of the industry, especially in the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries. This article focuses on two major problems, which represent a disparity between the knowledge needs of the tourism and hospitality industry and the knowledge provided by curricula in higher education. The authors leverage a knowledge engineering perspective so as to bridge the gap between knowledge demand and supply as related to e-tourism and hospitality curriculum design

Exploring the views on total quality human resources management between public and private educational units

The aim of the present study is to identify the attitudes of the directors of different types of educational units regarding the practices of Total Quality of Human Resources Management (TQHRM) in Greece. The specific objectives of the survey are the exploration and analysis of the following issues: a) The philosophy applied by each director on the unit they manage and the position of the HR in it; b) the directors’ opinion about the TQHRM Practices; and c) the difference in the approach of these practices between the public and private educational unit directors.The data is collected using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to Greek schools of various levels in 2018 and the number of responses is 70, of which 53% are from the private and 47% from the public sector directors. To process responses and draw conclusions, both one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis were performed. The results of this survey show that the HRM practices followed by the directors do not have a clear orientation. This highlights the need for training those who run an educational institution on TQHRM and the understanding of the importance of Human Resources on achieving the goals of an organization

Exploring the views on total quality human resources management between public and private educational units

The aim of the present study is to identify the attitudes of the directors of different types of educational units regarding the practices of Total Quality of Human Resources Management (TQHRM) in Greece. The specific objectives of the survey are the exploration and analysis of the following issues: a) The philosophy applied by each director on the unit they manage and the position of the HR in it; b) the directors’ opinion about the TQHRM Practices; and c) the difference in the approach of these practices between the public and private educational unit directors.The data is collected using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to Greek schools of various levels in 2018 and the number of responses is 70, of which 53% are from the private and 47% from the public sector directors. To process responses and draw conclusions, both one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis were performed. The results of this survey show that the HRM practices followed by the directors do not have a clear orientation. This highlights the need for training those who run an educational institution on TQHRM and the understanding of the importance of Human Resources on achieving the goals of an organization

Immunoreactivity of CD 99 and Melan-A in ovarian fibromas and fibrothecomas

Sex cord-stromal tumors comprise a group of ovarian neoplasms with different as well as overlapping histological, immunohistochemical and clinical characteristics. Various antibodies have been recently used in order to define the immunoprofile of each category, including CD99 and Melan-A. The reason we have undertaken this investigation is because fibromas/fibrothecomas is the least studied category within this group. In this study paraffin sections from 26 ovarian fibromas/fibrothecomas were immunostained for CD99 and Melan-A. Immunohistochemical reaction was evaluated in a 0 to 3 scale. Nine tumors (34.6%) were positive to CD99: 6 with +2 reaction, and 3 with +1 reaction. All tumors were negative to Melan-A. We conclude that in contrast to what is already known from the limited literature regarding the immunoprofile of ovarian fibromas/fibrothecomas, some of these tumors may present a weak to moderate reaction to CD99, as other tumors within this group

The sex ratio of fetal deaths and its potential relation with the decline of sex ratio at birth in Greece

Many factors that affect teratogenesis and fetal death may vary from one region to another as well as in dif­ferent time periods. Our aim was to identify trends in the sex ratio of intrauterine fetal deaths, and its relationship with the secondary sex ratio (SSR) observed in our country. We reviewed the files of 276 consecutive autopsies performed during the last 16 years. 189 cases were spontaneous abortions and fetal deaths (SAs/FDs); 128 cases in total presented congenital malformations, out of which 87 were pregnancies terminated deliberately due to birth defects detected during the prenatal screening. In the total number of cases studied, 60.6% were male and 39.4% female. In the SAs/FDs group 62.71% were male, and 37.29% female or male to female ratio: 1.68. In the congenital malformations group 59.3% were male and 40.7% females. In addition 71.1% of the cases with intrauterine growth retardation were male and 28.9% female. SSR in Greece shows a trend to decline from 1960 to 2007. This downward tendency in SSR is greater between 1980-2007, (R2 = 0.229, ANOVA p = 0.028) and even more significant between 1980-1990 (R2 = 0.452, ANOVA p = 0.023). In conclusion, we have found a significant male preponderance in both the spontaneously aborted fetuses, and the fetuses with congenital malformations and/or intrauterine growth retardation. We suggest that this finding may be related to the decline in SSR observed during the last decades in Greece. Similar trends have been recently recorded in U.S.A., Japan and other westernalised countries, and have been attributed to greater prenatal vulnerability of the male fetus, especially at the earlier stages of gestation