E Tourism

WINE -BLOGS INFLUENCE AND BLOGS’ COMMUNITY CONNECTIVITY: A social network analysis

by Kostas Zafiropoulos

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND RECREATION
VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 1
March, 2012

Wine-blogs are important for the information provision and promotion of wine industry and tourism activities related... more Wine-blogs are important for the information provision and promotion of wine industry and tourism activities related to wine. The paper records 1305 wine-blogs and their inter-linkages through their blogrolls. It uses Social Network Analysis to study blogs’ networking characteristics and connectivity. By proposing five graph-theoretic indexes, and by summarizing them to one overall index, the study explores which blogs are most active and connected. The property of skewnness is discussed. According to the overall index,  the top-10  wine-blogs are described. Highly connected wine-blogs can be regarded as influential within the bloggers’ community. Locating them may be significant since it allows for the study of information flow to readers.

Podcasting and Tourism: An Exploratory Study of Types, Approaches and Content

by Alan A. Lew

Research note with Philip Feifan Xie (2008) In " Information Technology & Tourism" 10: 173-180 (pre-publication version)

This research note explores the current issue of using podcasting as a resource for tourismmarketing. It investigates... more This research note explores the current issue of using podcasting as a resource for tourismmarketing. It investigates the websites of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVB) in US cities for the use of podcasting to promote tourism. The findings show that only five CVBs currently use the technology of podcasting and the application is varied in form, approach and content. Many more travel and destination podcasts exist separate from CVB sponsorship. The conclusions suggest that podcasting will become an important marketing tool for tourist destinations and merits study by tourism researchers and practitioners.

Keywords: podcast, iPod, tourism, marketing, convention and visitors bureaus

Long Tail Tourism: New geographies for marketing niche tourism products

by Alan A. Lew

Published (2009) Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3/4): 409-419.

The Long Tail concept refers to the Internet-based economy that has enabled company success through a focus on highly... more The Long Tail concept refers to the Internet-based economy that has enabled company success through a focus on highly specialized services and products that are not in high volume demand, but maybe in high-value demand. The concept of the post-tourist, for example, is a Long Tail phenomenon. Long Tail marketing approaches are proving success due to advances in communication technology and social networking that have given more people access to a broader range of goods and services and information. The Long Tail is not without its challenges, including increased global competition, and it has not abandoned geographic considerations. Geography, in fact, can help to differentiate niche products and must still be overcome to consummate the tourist experience.

KEYWORDS. The Long Tail, social software, marketing, geography, the Internet

Ubiquitous Network in Tourism / Redes Ubicuas en Turismo

by Pablo Vanevic

draft only

This paper seeks to bring a critical space for discussion, the term ubiquitous network, its emphasis on the territory,... more This paper seeks to bring a critical space for discussion, the term ubiquitous network, its emphasis on the territory, manifested power, current and potential perception and its application to tourism.

El presente trabajo busca traer a un espacio crítico de debate, el término de redes ubicuas; su énfasis en el territorio, el poder manifiesto, su percepción actual y potencial y su aplicación al ámbito turístico, ya desde la óptica misma de la actividad como desde la academia.

Word-of-Mouth online applicato al marketing turistico

by Armando Travaglini

La evaluación de la calidad del discurso turístico traducido en Internet

by Ángela Almela

Published in the book Discurso turístico e Internet (Julia Sanmartín, ed.) http://www.iberoamericanalibros.com/en/index.html

El presente trabajo ofrece un estudio de corpus empírico con el que se pretende reflexionar sobre diversos aspectos de... more El presente trabajo ofrece un estudio de corpus empírico con el que se pretende reflexionar sobre diversos aspectos de la traducción del discurso turístico en Internet en España. La motivación de este estudio se encuentra en la importancia de la calidad de las traducciones turísticas para la comprensión cultural de los visitantes extranjeros, especialmente en un país con un sector turístico tan amplio como el nuestro.
En este estudio se analiza la traducción de ese discurso, prestando especial atención a la variación dentro de su condición de lenguaje de especialidad. Dicho análisis se basa principalmente en la caracterización de las lenguas de especialidad, en la que se tienen en cuenta los aspectos lingüísticos del léxico, la morfología, la sintaxis y el uso de códigos alternativos, así como ciertos aspectos pragmáticos y aspectos funcionales. Para tal fin, se han tomado dos corpora multilingües que recogen una muestra del lenguaje turístico en la Región de Murcia y en la Comunidad Valenciana. El primero de ellos fue recopilado por el grupo de investigación LACELL, del departamento de Filología Inglesa de la Universidad de Murcia; el segundo nace en la sede valenciana del IULMA, y actualmente se trata de un corpus abierto en fase de pruebas.
Los resultados preliminares revelan que el discurso turístico analizado fluctúa alrededor del nivel de semi-especialización, y que las traducciones no siempre se adecuan a la variación existente en los textos fuente. Además de ello, se ponen de relieve las diversas opciones empleadas para la traslación de los culturemas hallados en ambos corpora.

An Evaluation On Online Reservation Web Sites

by Seden Algür

1st International Tourism Congress, 21st-24th November 2006, Alanya, Turkey.

Usage of the internet, which is the most powerful communication technology of today, with commercial aims has been... more Usage of the internet, which is the most powerful communication technology of today, with commercial aims has been increasing permanently. So both accomodation facilities and travel agencies have been adopting information technologies and especially the internet as undeniable tools. Time has  become the most valuable element for both the producer and the consumer for the last years. Tourists, who are in the position of consumers in tourism sector, have preferred to decrease time they spent to the least in determining the travel they’ll do, the facility they’ll reside, the companies they’ll use as intermediary.
Especially in the transportation or accommodation reservation, taking quick response is quite important for touristic product consumer. The individuals have been able to get information about the destination they’ll go by means of the internet, make the transportation and accomodation reservation and take the
confirmation of their reservations and cancel their reservations in desired time. Online reservation sites which meet us at this point have been acting with the goals like the most suitable price, the least time loss, the highest level pleasure and aiming to get the internet users, each of whom is a potential consumer.
The aim of this study composes determining similar and different properties of web sites giving online reservation service in tourism and making a general evaluation on the results being appeared. In the direction of this aim, 69 web sites giving online reservation service have been arrived and the contents of the
arrived web sites have been examined by taking Murphy and others’ (1996) study as an example.

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE in TOURISM: A CASE of AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY-TURKEY

by Seden Algür

4th International Scientific Conference Planning for the Future – Learning from the Past: Contemporary Developments in Tourism, Travel & Hospitality, 3rd-5th April 2009, Rhodes, Greece.

Todays, internet technology is used in tourism sector as such in other sectors. Some managements prefer to be close to... more Todays, internet technology is used in tourism sector as such in other sectors. Some managements prefer to be close to their customers and to have direct relatioship with them while some other managements aims to develop detail customer databases to have benefits from direct or indirect marketing. On the customer side, the attitude against this progess is much more different. This people show positive attitude to electronic tourism and perceive the advantages of the electronic tourism easily. Taking this as a starting point, this study aims to determine the levels of preference of the customers about "online reservation web sites" which are formed as a result of using internet widespead by tourism managements. Consequently, in this study it is practiced to determine the demographic features between academicians who do shopping online and who do not do shopping online, the demographic features between academicians who use online reservation webi sites and who do not use in Mediterramean University and opnions of the people who use online reservation sites.

An innovative mobile electronic tourist guide application

by Damianos Gavalas

eTourism: Critical Information and Communication Technologies for Tourism Destinations

by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Buhalis, D., Leung, D., and Law, R., 2011, eTourism: Critical Information and Communication Technologies for Tourism Destinations, in Wang, R., and Pizam, A., (eds), Destination Marketing and Management, CAB International, ISBN 9781845937621, p.205-224

The information and communication technologies (ICTs) diffusion to the tourism industry has recently increased at an... more The information and communication technologies (ICTs) diffusion to the tourism industry has recently increased at an unprecedented rate. This chapter overviews the recent developments of ICTs on eTourism in recent years and demonstrates developments for destinations. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, it discusses and analyzes key trends in the context of Internet applications to tourism and hospitality. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and industries, it projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. The chapter also demonstrates how Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) use ICTs to facilitate the tourist experience as well as for coordinating all partners involved in the production and delivery of tourism.

Keywords: Internet, Information and communication technologies, eTourism, tourism management and marketing

From Paradigmatic to Syntagmatic Communities: A Socio-Semiotic Approach to the Evolution Pattern of Online Travel Communities

by Stefano Tardini

Performance measures of net-enabled hypercompetitive industries: The case of tourism

by Elina Michopoulou

Michopoulou, E., Buhalis, D. (2008) Performance Measures of Net-Enabled Hypercompetitive Industries: The Case of Tourism, International Journal of Information and Management, Vol. 28, (3), pp. 168-180

This paper investigates the theory and practice of e-metrics. It examines the tourism sector as one of the most... more This paper investigates the theory and practice of e-metrics. It examines the tourism sector as one of the most successful sectors on-line and identifies best practice in the industry. Qualitative research with top e-Marketing executives demonstrates the usage and satisfaction levels from current e-metrics deployment, selection of e-metrics for return on investment (ROI) calculation as well as intention of new e-metrics implementation and future trends and developments. This paper concludes that tourism organizations gradually realise the value of e-measurement and are willing to implement e-metrics to enable them evaluate the effectiveness of their planning processes and assess their results against their short- and long-term objectives.

Papathanassis, A. & Papathanassis, A. (2009), Konferenzbericht: Die Revolution der Informations- & Kommunikationstechnologien und daraus resultierte Entwicklungen im Tourismus, in der Reiseindustrie, sowie in der Hotelbranche - 7. E-Touristik Zukunftsforum. Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft. 1(2): 199-202

by Alexis Papathanassis

Evolution of Rural Tourism in Portugal: A 25 Years Analysis

by Paulo Duarte

e-Review of Tourism Research 2010 Vol. 8 No. 3 pp. 41-56

Tourism is Rural Areas (TRA) is seen as an important instrument to ensure economic development of underprivileged... more Tourism is Rural Areas (TRA) is seen as an important instrument to ensure economic development of underprivileged rural areas and has the potential to improve the living conditions of poor rural communities. The main objective of this paper is to provide a characterization of the Portuguese TRA market and analyze the evolution of rural tourism supply and demand and its relation with economic development. This study shows that the number of TRA accommodation units in Portugal has been growing continuously over the last 25 years, despite some fluctuation in demand, especially from foreign tourists, and the constant low level of occupancy. No significant changes were found in the structure and geographical distribution of TRA units in the period under analysis. We conclude that the high geographic dispersion of establishments does not contribute significantly to the economic development nor does it help with the development of common marketing strategies.

Gift, Exchange and Trust

by Julia Maria Koszewska

MA thesis, defended in September 2008 at University of Warsaw, Poland

Vastly growing online free-hospitality networks are a phenomenon of modern times. They have been already subject of... more Vastly growing online free-hospitality networks are a phenomenon of modern times. They have been already subject of social and peace studies, here explored from the perspective of information science.
The main focus in this research, author puts on the role of information in modern society, particularly on access to information and information management as prerequisites for participative and democratic society.
Both theoretically and empirically, author explores first the changes in society that were caused by popular usage of Internet, secondly introduces the phenomenon of free-hospitality as an example of modern social network, lastly explores in details functioning of these networks and throughout whole text the role of information in here.
keywords: CouchSurfing, hospitality club, free hospitality, sociology, tourism, internet, gift exchange, gift exchange trust, free, couch surfing, modern society, structure, free values, free culture, sociology, sociology of tourism, socjologia turystyki, wymiana darów, struktura społeczeństwa, warm showers, pasporta servo, servas, BeWelcome, home exchange, homeshare, hospex, hospitality exchange, open couchsurfing, opencouchsurfing, OLPC, L/GHEI, gościnność, intimate tourism ...