Marketing for Sustainable Tourism

The aim of the Special Issue is to discuss the main current topics concerning marketing for sustainable tourism with reference to territories (i.e., tourism destinations, protected areas, parks and/or natural sites, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, rural regions/areas, etc.) and tourism enterprises and/or organisations (i.e., destination management organisations, hospitality enterprises, restaurant enterprises, cableway companies, travel agencies, etc.). In destinations where natural resources are pull factors for tourism development, the relationships among local actors (public, private, and local community), as well as marketing choices, are essential to develop sustainable tourism products. To this end, the Special Issue encourages papers that analyse marketing strategies adopted by tourism destinations and/or tourism enterprises to avoid overtourism, to manage mass sustainable tourism (as defined by Weaver, 2000), and to encourage and promote sustainable tourism in marginal areas or in territories suffering lack of integration in the tourism offer. Special attention will be given to contributions on the best practices to manage territories and/or enterprises adopting sustainable marketing strategies

Profili hard-path e soft-path dei Turisti 4L in Italia: risultati di un'indagine sui viaggiatori del CTS.

Il presente lavoro si inserisce all'interno degli studi sul turismo sostenibile e si focalizza sull'analisi della domanda turistica nei Paesi sviluppati. Attraverso precedenti lavori, il gruppo di ricerca ha identificato il framework del "4L Tourism", una forma di turismo che sintetizza le principali motivazioni di vacanza attorno a quattro asset di attrazione (Landscape, Leisure, Learning, Limit), i quali identificano, a loro volta, specifiche modalità di organizzazione dell'offerta del prodotto turistico. Dopo avere evidenziato alcune criticità definitorie che emergono dalla letteratura sul turismo sostenibile e avere ripreso le dimensioni caratterizzanti il "4L Tourism", il paper presenta una ricerca sul campo condotta in Italia sui viaggiatori del Centro Turistico Studentesco e Giovanile (CTS). La ricerca, volutamente indirizzata su una popolazione turistica che presentava specifici caratteri in termini di comportamenti e motivazioni, ha consentito di approfondire l'importanza delle dimensioni del "4L Tourism", evidenziando anche, in coerenza con gli approcci elaborati in letteratura, la possibilità di graduare la sensibilità dei turisti nei confronti delle singole dimensioni. Ciò ha consentito di identificare due profili ("Turista 4L hard-path" e "Turista 4L soft-path") sulla base dell'intensità della motivazione e dell'importanza del singolo elemento. La ricerca ha inoltre permesso di definire un metodo per la stima della consistenza della domanda turistica che si riferisce al "4L Tourism", aspetto particolarmente rilevante stante l'esigenza di cogliere un fenomeno emergente anche in chiave di progettazione dell'offerta turistica.turismo sostenibile; 4l tourism; profilo "turista 4l hard-path"; profilo "turista 4l soft-path"; stima della domanda

Shedding light on typical species : implications for habitat monitoring

Habitat monitoring in Europe is regulated by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which suggests the use of typical species to assess habitat conservation status. Yet, the Directive uses the term “typical” species but does not provide a definition, either for its use in reporting or for its use in impact assessments. To address the issue, an online workshop was organized by the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (SISV) to shed light on the diversity of perspectives regarding the different concepts of typical species, and to discuss the possible implications for habitat monitoring. To this aim, we inquired 73 people with a very different degree of expertise in the field of vegetation science by means of a tailored survey composed of six questions. We analysed the data using Pearson's Chi-squared test to verify that the answers diverged from a random distribution and checked the effect of the degree of experience of the surveyees on the results. We found that most of the surveyees agreed on the use of the phytosociological method for habitat monitoring and of the diagnostic and characteristic species to evaluate the structural and functional conservation status of habitats. With this contribution, we shed light on the meaning of “typical” species in the context of habitat monitoring

The high-frequency upgrade of the Sardinia Radio Telescope

We present the status of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) and its forthcoming update planned in the next few years. The post-process scenario of the upgraded infrastructure will allow the national and international scientific community to use the SRT for the study of the Universe at high radio frequencies (up to 116 GHz), both in single dish and in interferometric mode. A telescope like SRT, operating at high frequencies, represents a unique resource for the scientific community. The telescope will be ideal for mapping quickly and with relatively high angular resolution extended radio emissions characterized by low surface brightness. It will also be essential for spectroscopic and polarimetric studies of both Galactic and extragalactic radio sources. With the use of the interferometric technique, SRT and the other Italian antennas (Medicina and Noto) will operate within the national and international radiotelescope network, allowing astronomers to obtain images of radio sources at very high angular resolution

Status of the High-Frequency Upgrade of the Sardinia Radio Telescope

The Sardinia Radio Telescope is going through a major upgrade aimed at observing the universe at up to 116 GHz. A budget of 18.700.000 E has been awarded to the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics to acquire new state-of-the-art receivers, back-end, and high-performance computing, to develop a sophisticated metrology system and to upgrade the infrastructure and laboratories. This contribution draws the status of the whole project at eight months from the end of the funding scheme planned for August 2022

Profili hard-path e soft-path dei Turisti 4L in Italia: risultati di un'indagine sui viaggiatori del CTS

The paper, starting from the consideration of the main literature on sustainable tourism, is focalized on the analysis of sustainable tourism demand in developed countries. In previous studies, the research group has identified the framework of "4L Tourism", an emerging form of tourism that synthesizes the main tourist motivations in four assets (Landscape, Leisure, Learning, Limit), which require specific tourist offer and products. The paper is based on a field research carried out in Italy on CTS travellers. The research, deliberately aimed to a tourist population with specific behavioural and motivational features, allowed to study in deep the importance of the "4L Tourism" dimensions, highlighting the possibility to graduate the sensibility of tourists in respect with the single dimensions. Coherently with a significant stream of literature on sustainable tourism demand, the analysis enabled to identify two profiles ("4L Tourist hard-path" and " 4L Tourist soft-path") in relation to the intensity of the motivation and to the importance of the single component of the trip. The results of the research permitted, from a managerial point of view, to assess the expectations and the behaviours of "4L Tourists", in order to set up the tourist offer of tourist destinations and organisations, allowing them to follow an emerging global trend in the market with appropriate strategies

Young Tourists and Sustainability. Profiles, Attitudes, and Implications for Destination Strategies

Global trends highlight the growing tourist interest in authentic and sustainable holiday experiences. Designing strategies that enable destinations to catch this tourist segment is, therefore, becoming more and more important for competitiveness. A long-term outlook calls into question the “next generation” of actual and potential tourists, i.e., young people: understanding their attitude towards sustainability is paramount to drive tourism development in a direction which is coherent to the forthcoming demand. Drawing from an ad hoc survey of 1156 members of the largest Italian association of student and youth tourism, this contribution (a) discusses youth attitudes towards sustainability, their travel motivations and behavior (b) identifies different profiles of young tourists with reference to sustainability. By using characteristics and dimensions linked with “harder ecotourists” we identify hard path young tourists (HPYT) and soft path young tourists (SPYT). The findings confirm young people’s interest in certain dimensions of sustainability and the influence this interest has on their decision-making processes, motivations, and behaviors. HPYT and SPYT are profiles which should be considered in destination strategies: the strong sensitivity of HPYT to sustainability suggests the possibility of creating offers that optimize the unique features of a territory

Domanda e offerta di sostenibilità nelle destinazioni turistiche. Il profilo del "Turista 4L" emerso da una ricerca sui viaggiatori del CTS

Il paper affronta il tema della differenziazione come strumento di competitività delle destinazioni turistiche, perseguita attraverso la differenziazione dell’offerta basata su strategie per la sostenibilità. Il paper presenta i risultati di una ricerca volta ad analizzare motivazioni e comportamenti di un segmento emergente di turisti (definiti "Turisti 4L"), particolarmente attenti alle dimensioni della sostenibilità. La ricerca condotta in Italia su una popolazione di oltre 20.000 viaggiatori del Centro Turistico Studentesco e Giovanile analizza a) il profilo di tali turisti, b) verifica alcune ipotesi legate alla sua composizione e specificità, c) individua alcune implicazioni per il destination management, d) indica gli step futuri di analisi per affinare il framework e approfondire la consistenza del mercato.Profilo del Turista 4L, competitività, strategie orientate alla sostenibilità, destinazioni mature

Community Participation, Natural Resource Management and the Creation of Innovative Tourism Products: Evidence from Italian Networks of Reserves in the Alps

The paper analyses value co-creation and social innovation focusing on a new approach to the management of Natura 2000 areas: the Networks of Reserves (NoRs). NoRs have been set up in Trentino (an Italian alpine area) to create an ecological network within the territory, with a particular focus on the socio-economic dimensions of nature conservation and with a bottom-up approach. The research investigates the role of NoRs by using a quali-quantitative approach to analyse the attitudes and awareness of private stakeholders, public actors and local communities. In-depth interviews with NoRs coordinators and key players in tourism organizations were carried out. 167 online questionnaires were sent out to local stakeholders. The research investigates community participation and stakeholder engagement in NoRs’ projects and activities, whether and how socio-economic development has occurred, and whether and how innovative sustainable tourism offers have been created. It confirms the role of NoRs in relation to the conservation and valorisation of natural resources through the stimulation of activities such as environmental interpretation and education. The research demonstrates the effectiveness of bottom-up processes for the co-creation of sustainable tourism offers and the fostering of social innovation. NoRs have proved to be successful in overcoming the major impediments to the functioning of the Natura 2000 network highlighted in the literature

Challenges and opportunities of digital nomadism for minor tourism destinations: the case of Valsugana (Italy)

Framing of the research. Starting from the definition of digital nomadism and its consequences for the destinations, the study debates on sustainable tourism development opportunities for minor destinations. Purpose of the paper. Identification of enabling factors that contribute to the establishment of a destination for digital nomads and analysis of the stakeholders’ perceptions about the impact of digital nomadism for the local development. Methodology. The research adopts the case study method. An explorative study was conducted through eight interviews with key stakeholders, analyzed with a thematic analysis. Results. If the coworking and Internet infrastructure are enough developed, the target of digital nomads is interesting for minor destinations that align with the principles of sustainability. Tourism products focuses on this new segment are still no defined. Research limitations. Our study is limited to one case study. Nonetheless, Valsugana (in the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy) is representative of minor tourism destinations that are facing stagnation and high seasonality, and considers sustainability as the starting point from which to re-define destination management strategies. Managerial implications. The research shows the roles of key stakeholders and gathers views and expectations about this new phenomenon identifying structural, cultural and socio-economic factors, as well as opportunities and challenges for relaunching minor destinations. Originality of the paper. The research adopts a supply-side approach and analyzes the potential of digital nomadism for the development of minor destinations. The segment of digital nomads as a means to revitalize these destinations require stakeholders to offer services and products different from the traditional ones. The case could represent a training ground to study the changes in the development of the destination by considering its life cycle