In: Sustainability, 2020

Authors:
Valentin Herbold
Hannes Thees
Julian Philipp
 

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10488

Abstract
The increase in individual sports activities is stimulating the rise of sport-related forms of vacationing. This is further intensified by tourists seeking authentic experiences in host–guest relations, physical health and well-being, and the consumption of local products and services. Communities, especially those in developing countries, do not yet fully recognize the potential of local sports as a resource and competitive advantage in their destination development. In the same way, tourism research is lacking analyses regarding the role of the community and its specific sports identity. Given this, the present paper aims to systematically review the promising interface between community development and sports tourism. The research questions are based on the potential of identity-based sports and necessary local engagement. These efforts are pursued through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with 49 articles. The results reveal the thematic clusters, research features, and prevalent challenges and benefits that the community has to deal with. The discussion proposes the utilization of local sports identity in systematic product development and highlights increasing local engagement. In conclusion, we call for future research on non-event-related sports tourism, in-depth case studies, and multi-disciplinary concepts to foster local sustainability.

In: Tourism Geographies, 2020

Authors:
Anja Marcher
Ingrid Kofler
Elisa Innerhofer
Harald Pechlaner

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2020.1795709?journalCode=rtxg20

Abstract

The nexus of migration and tourism is well explored, and both phenomena possess push- and pull factors. Their influence and connections can be seen in one of the top tourist destinations in Europe, South Tyrol, a region located in Northern Italy, and one of its most important tourism hubs: Ortisei. The area is particularly interesting for researchers due to its long history of tourism and the multilingualism of the region. Our in-depth and exploratory research approach helps gain a better understanding of the complexity of the migration-tourism nexus from a local perspective. It confirms the attractiveness of the tourism sector for migrants, but also the impact of both phenomena on the region. The findings show that the presence of migrants in a destination is strongly connected to the inflow of (domestic and international) tourists and the touristic experiences offered at the local level. Therefore, tourism contributes to the generation of in-migration. The growing share of migrants working in the local tourist industry represents the most evident link between the two phenomena, supporting the tourism-led migration hypothesis. But the local perception of tourists and migrants as the ‘other’ and trust as a relational characteristic joins the two phenomena on a different level, as both are seen as ‘non-local’ groups. However, within a tourist destination, both migrants and tourists interrelate with the local community, thus shaping it. And even though the statistical categories prevail based on the length of or reason to stay, at second glance those boundaries blur, and the acceptance of ‘new’ populations groups living, working and visiting the destination seems to increase with their duration of stay.

In: Sustainability, 2020

Authors:
Hannes Thees
Harald Pechlaner
Natalie Olbrich
Arne Schuhbert

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1120

Abstract
Growing numbers of tourist arrivals, in combination with community-centered tourism products, have fueled the recent debate on overtourism and a redefining of local steering processes. This has also called for the participation of residents in governance processes. One tool to utilize residents’ participation and cross-stakeholder involvement is the Living Lab (LL), which also functions as a medium for self-organization. This article tackles the research gap that exists in the combination of the LL mechanisms and destination governance (DG). Therefore, the research questions address the characteristics and mechanisms of LLs and the potential for residents’ participation. These efforts are operationalized through a systematic literature review (SLR) on LLs, which involves 40 articles. The transfer of the LL characteristics towards DG reveals that certain drivers and barriers exist when implementing the LL in the governance process, such as the combination of destination and city planning or the redefining of hierarchical structures. The SLR recommendations for future research are based on the interface of LL and DG.

In: Annals of Tourism Research, 2019

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102753

Author:

Dr. Annika Aebli

Abstract:

Game-related technologies have been discussed as a promising means for tourists' co-creation of meaningful experiences. However, little is known about tourists' underlying motivations for using gamified technologies. This study explores tourists' motives for engaging with gamified technology during a pleasure vacation. By employing a qualitative laddering technique based on the rationale of the means-end chain analysis, this study explores tourists' desired end values in using gamified features on a destination-related mobile app. The results show that gamified features help tourists to achieve several superior motivational goals and foster their interactions within the vacation destination. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of motivational affordances of gamified technology and the underlying causality of why people use gamified technology.

In: Sustainability, 2019

Authors:
Markus Kantsperger
Hannes Thees
Christian Eckert

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6947

Abstract
This study applies an adapted approach of the traditional view on local participation in tourism development. First, the study mainly focuses on exploring the patterns behind participation instead of the reasons for participation. Second, a case is chosen that transcends the interest in researching participation in developing countries. Third, the study focuses on non-tourism related residents, an under-researched group of stakeholders. It is thus investigated how non-tourism related residents face the process of participation in tourism development and what the main barriers and drivers are in this regard. To discuss this issue, the study takes a closer look at the case of Bad Reichenhall, an Alpine Destination in Germany. 15 qualitative interviews are conducted with non-tourism related residents and further evaluated through a qualitative content analysis. The results underline that tourism represents a public domain that concerns all stakeholders of a destination. The typology derived throughout the study reflects the heterogeneity of non-tourism related residents, coming up with four types of non-tourism related residents facing participation in tourism development rather differently. Various barriers and drivers are revealed that impact non-tourism related residents from both a personal and general point of view. Non-tourism related residents turn out as a promising and important target group in the discourse of stakeholder participation in tourism development.

Titel:
Customers' emotions in real time: measuring affective responses to service and relationship quality at the reception desk

Journal:
International journal of culture, tourism and hospitality research

Published: 2018

Authors:
Christian Nordhorn
Anna Scuttari (Eurac Research, Italy)
Harald Pechlaner

Link:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCTHR-06-2017-0072/full/html

Abstract:

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ emotions during a host–guest interaction at the reception desk of a hotel. Guests’ emotional responses are analyzed in real time to understand their link to behavior and levels of service and relationship quality.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this aim, 225 random customers experience six different types of interactions (scenarios) at a staged reception desk, representing a high/low service or relationship quality. The emotions provoked within guests are (video) recorded and analyzed with the help of SHORETM, a facial recognition software that processes four basic emotions derived from human muscular activity and calculates average emotional scores per scenario.

Findings

Results reveal that customers respond more positively to service than to relationship quality. Informal approaches to interacting with guests are mixed; they can both excite or irritate customers. As with existing evidence in service marketing research, the results found out through this study demonstrate that a good service recovery process seems to immediately generate more satisfied customers than do constant high-quality standards.    

Research limitations

The main limitations are related to the semi-staged nature of social interactions, which might cause distortions in measuring emotions and limitations in the comparability of cases

Practical implications

Practical implications are directed to service designers and managers in hospitality to improve service design and ensure effective service recoveries.   

Originality/value

This paper introduces a novel approach for assessing host–guest interactions in tourism based on a real-time emotional assessment of service and relationship quality in hospitality. Technologically advanced observation techniques enable in-depth analyses of actions and emotional responses between hosts and guests across time. New insights concerning service design and service recovery management are gained for practitioners and for future research.

Titel:
Being a guest - perspectives of an extended hospitality approach

Journal:
International journal of culture, tourism and hospitality research

Published: 2016

Authors:
Harald Pechlaner
Christian Nordhorn
Xenia Poppe

Link:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCTHR-02-2016-0016/full/html

Abstract:

Purpose

This paper aims to deduce and present an extended hospitality approach. In developed countries, hospitality is increasingly linked to tourism; in times of migration and increased refugee flows, the accompanying social, economic and political determining factors play a more prominent role, necessitating a new view of hospitality. This study aims to extend the domain of tourism in hospitality by including aspects related to asylum seekers and to combine it with topics regarding welcome culture, service quality and relational quality. The paper explores the question concerning whether, and in which ways, the various sectors may learn from each other.

Design/methodology/approach

To expand this new research area and to take the exploratory nature of the research aim into consideration, a qualitative approach was chosen. Fourteen qualitative interviews with experts from the tourism and industry sectors and organizations linked with asylum seekers were conducted; the interviewees were chosen by purposeful sampling, according to knowledge and diversity criteria. GABEK was used as a qualitative research strategy, which involves theories of a phenomenological and linguistic nature. This method allows for a more holistic approach to the complex nature of the topic through the collection of perceptions resulting from open qualitative interviews and a keyword-based analysis.

Findings

The paper presents a model for an extended hospitality approach, as hospitality should not be limited to its connection with tourism matters. Refugees as well as tourists rely on the friendliness and the welcoming nature (hereafter: “welcome culture”) of a host country. The tourism industry can stand to improve its unconditional hospitality toward refugees — the comprehension and understanding of different cultures and values is an important aspect of welcoming new arrivals in the local surroundings, be they tourists, migrants or refugees.   

Research implications/ limitations

As stated above, a qualitative research approach was chosen with the intent to open the research field toward an extended hospitality approach. Therefore, future research must focus on testing the results for application in a more general context. The study was also limited insofar as the conduction of research took place in Bavaria alone.

Practical implications

As stated above, a qualitative research approach was chosen with the intent to open the research field toward an extended hospitality approach. Therefore, future research must focus on testing the results for application in a more general context. The study was also limited insofar as the conduction of research took place in Bavaria alone.   

Originality/value

This paper combines different access points to hospitality in a new form.

Titel:
Leisure boat tourism: residents' attitudes towards nautical tourism development

Journal:
Tourism Review

Published: 2016

Authors:
Marika Gon
Linda Osti
Harald Pechlaner

Link:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TR-07-2016-0025/full/html

Abstract:

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse how leisure boat tourism impacts are perceived by local communities in coastal areas. For this purpose, a review of the literature on nautical and leisure boat tourism, together with residents’ attitudes, is presented. On that basis, authors consider economic,socio-cultural and environmental impacts, together with general development and future policies of nautical tourism, and cluster the coastal community according to their attitudes towards leisure boat tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data are collected among residents of coastal municipalities in the north part of the Adriatic Sea. Within the theoretical framework of social representation, a cluster analysis is performed on 233 valid questionnaires, collected during winter 2013.

Findings

Interviewed residents believe that leisure boating has a long tradition and has offered improvements to the municipalities as tourism destinations. They consider leisure boat tourism as a catalyst for tourism development and international tourists’ attraction. The cluster analysis reveals the existence of three homogeneous groups of residents labelled as supporters (51 per cent), cautious (29 per cent) and sceptics (20 per cent).

Practical implications

Practical implications are derived for destination managers and destination management organizations (DMOs) in addressing internal marketing and larger advertisement of the positive impacts leisure boat tourism has over the local community.
Originality/value

The paper enriches the discussion on residents’ perceptions on nautical tourism and specifically on leisure boat tourism in coastal areas. Limitations are linked to the exploratory nature of the research paper, the sample and the geographical connotation of the study area. Further research will enlarge the data collection to a wider number of coastal communities and integrate results with qualitative analysis.

Titel:
The role of cultural activities in tourism development: an urban-rural perspectiv

Journal:
Tourism, culture & communication

Published: 2015

Authors:
Harald Pechlaner
Anna Bialk-Wolf
Daniel Zacher

Link:
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/tcc/2015/00000015/00000001/art00004

Abstract:

Drawing on a main tenet of attraction systems theory, the article describes and explains the importance of cultural activities for tourism development in the context of the urban–rural relationship. The impact of culture on regional and tourism development has been an important research focus in recent years. However, the role of cultural activity in tourism development and its impacts on the urban–rural relationship have received little attention from academics. This article contributes to research by identifying problems associated with tourism development and the potential of cultural activities to overcome such challenges. The study draws upon the theory of the tourist attraction system that was developed by Leiper in 1990. Qualitative inquiry was used to ensure depth and richness in our case analysis. The results show that cultural activities in the small town setting have substantial importance for tourism development in both the city and in surrounding areas. However, it was found that awareness of the offer is limited to the immediate region. It is proposed that tourism service providers should identify more closely with the available cultural activities in order to create a valuable tourist offer that has potential to reach new target groups. The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ emotions during a host–guest interaction at the reception desk of a hotel. Guests’ emotional responses are analyzed in real time to understand their link to behavior and levels of service and relationship quality.

Titel:
Differences in Perceived Destination Image and Event Statisfaction Among Cultural Visitors: The Case of the European Biennial of Contemporary Art "Manifesta 7

Journal:
Event Management

Published: 2013

Authors:
Harald Pechlaner
Giulia Dal Bò
Sabine Pichler

Link:
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/em/2013/00000017/00000002/art00003

Abstract:
The destination image reflects the impressions and ideas tourists have of a holiday region and strongly influences visitors' behavior. Visitors to cultural events have differing images of destinations according to their interest in seeing the event itself. Destination managers can exploit the factors that influence the destination image and customer satisfaction with a cultural event in order to successfully position the destination and improve communication. Destination image, quality of event, and customer satisfaction are highly related, and this study analyzes these factors for three differently motivated groups of visitors. An empirical investigation of visitors at 2008 Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, was conducted in order to ascertain differences among groups according to these variables. The results show that differentiation of promotion measures is needed depending on the single items that influence satisfaction with cultural event and tourist offerings.

Titel:
The role of commitment in the succession of the hospitality businesses

Journal:
Tourism Review

Published: 2012

Authors:
Mike Peters
Margit Raich
Stefan Märk
Sabine Pichler 

Link:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/16605371211236169/full/html

Abstract:

Purpose

The take-over of the hospitality family business by the entrepreneur’s daughter or son is a complex process. The aim of the paper is to analyse the impact of commitment on succession in hospitality family businesses from the viewpoint of the successors. The contribution aims to shed more light on the different dimensions of commitment relevant for the succession process.

Design/methodology/approach

To understand the role of commitment in the succession process this study uses a qualitative approach. Interviews were carried out with 15 successors of hospitality businesses in South Tyrol, Italy. The obtained narrative texts have been transcribed and evaluated with GABEK®, a tool for analyzing qualitative data. The transcripts of the interviews were separated into textunits and coded, developing a network of data. This rule-based procedure of systematizing, coding and interpreting considers both syntax and semantics and enhances the validity of the results.

Findings

The results reveal that commitment seems to play a very major role in the whole succession. A cluster analysis indicates the linkage of three topics: Motives, Family business and Take-over constitute the construct ‘‘Commitment’’. The motives show that parents’ heritage or the successors’ perceptions of the business as the home where they have grown up are important reasons to run this family business. Also trust or personal support through family members can be interpreted as push motives to become the successor.

Research implications/ limitations

Results may be influenced by the geographical concentration, but also by the selection process of the interviewees. The research is based on qualitative data that were gathered in one particular region in South Tyrol, Italy. Furthermore, the successors who participated in the survey mostly were very successful businesses keen on joining this research. Further research should focus on the role of commitment and its antecedents and consequences. In addition, commitment bases should be investigated from the predecessor but also from the successors’ perspective in the light of the current and past business and business environment situation.

Practical implications

The results highlight that in the succession process, different bases of commitment exist which particularly influence the perception of succession process. Furthermore, they can be interpreted as hurdles or facilitators to the transition of the family business.

Originality/value

This paper provides useful information on the impact of commitment on succession in hospitality family businesses from the viewpoint of the successors.

Titel:
Die Gesellschaft auf Reisen - Eine Reise in die Gesellschaft

Publisher:
Springer VS

Published: 2017

Editors:
Pechlaner, Harald
Volgger, Michael  

Link:
https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658141134

Abstract:

Das Buch geht aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln der These nach, dass das (touristische) Reisen ein spezielles Fenster in eine Gesellschaft darstellt und damit eine Möglichkeit bietet, um über gewisse gesellschaftliche Mechanismen und Antriebskräfte Näheres zu erfahren. Umgekehrt können wir davon ausgehen, dass das Reiseverhalten aufs Engste an gesellschaftliche Phänomene gekoppelt ist. Wer also vergangenen Entwicklungen des Reisens nachspüren, gegenwärtige Dynamiken verstehen und zukünftige Szenarien über das (touristische) Reisen erstellen möchte, muss sich unweigerlich auch mit gesellschaftlichen Grundfragen befassen. Der vorliegende Band geht aus theoretischer und praktischer Perspektive diesen vielfältigen Spannungsfeldern zwischen dem Phänomen Reisen und den gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen nach. Die einzelnen Themen werden jeweils an konkreten Beispielen aus der Praxis illustriert. Der Band stellt zudem aktuelle multi- und interdisziplinäre Diskussionen um das (touristische) Reisen an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Tourismuspraxis in ihrem Facettenreichtum dar.

Titel:
Flucht, Migration und Tourismus - Perspektiven einer "New Hospitality"

Publisher: LIT

Published: 2017

Editors:
Harald Pechlaner
Hordhorn, Christian
Marcher, Anja 

Link:
https://www.amazon.de/Flucht-Migration-Tourismus-Perspektiven-Hospitality/dp/3643133138

Abstract:

Die Zahl der Menschen, die sich auf der Flucht befinden, war noch nie so groß wie heute. Die Gründe hierfür sind vielfältig und die Auswirkungen dieser oftmals unfreiwilligen Migrationsbewegungen bilden sich jedenfalls in einem Fremdsein ab. Eine Ethik der Gastfreundschaft trägt dazu bei, dass aus Fremden Gäste werden und betrifft somit auch den Tourismus und seine Akteure. Das Buch geht aus unterschiedlichen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen und Perspektiven auf Kernaspekte der Gastfreundschaft ein und diskutiert die Frage, inwieweit sich ein Gastfreundschaftsverständnis vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen neu definieren kann..

Titel:
Emotions in Tourism: From Consumer Behavior to Destination Management

Book:
Fesenmaier, Xiang (Hrsg): Design Science in Tourism - Foundations of Destination Management

Published: 2017

Authors:
Anna Scuttari
Harald Pechlaner

Link:
https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783319427713

Abstract:
We argue in this chapter that tourism practice is emotionally charged, but tourism research is less so. In fact, emotion research in tourism was mostly borrowed from marketing studies, which limits its application mainly to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty issues. Little is known as yet about the complex nature of the emotion concept and the dynamic relationship between tourist experiences and emotional states. Therefore, in this chapter we aim to: (1) clarify the emotional concept and the underlying theories in modern psychology; (2) identify the crucial connections between tourist experiences (pre-, on-, and post-trip) and emotional states; and (3) assess the main domains of interest for future emotion research in tourism. We propose a conceptual framework to bridge consumer behavior and destination management/marketing research through studying emotional states. Further, we argue that human interactions between host and guest (as well as among guests), emotional valence of tourism activities (and on-line behaviors), as well as attention to eliciting emotion in destination marketing/branding and service design are the main issues for a future research agenda. To investigate these issues, combined use of (qualitative) self-reported techniques and (technologically advanced) observation techniques will be crucial.