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The present paper wishes to investigate the perspective of Digital Natives (DNs), described in literature as “informal experts”, in respect of digital strategies’ implementation of destination management organizations (DMOs). In particular, focus groups of students and workers in the tourism field were asked to browse and discuss the website and social media presence of an Italian regional DMO (i.e. PromoTurismoFVG). Comments were collected and analyzed with the GABEK/Winrelan method for qualitative analysis. Results confirmed the DMO’s adoption of a digital format but with limited social and consumer-generated-contents (CGC). DNs recognized the implementation of a Web 2.0 destination site in a rather traditional marketing mix strategy. Furthermore DMO websites and social media (SM) (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube) content analysis showed that the DMO lacks products and offers for the young market segment. The combination of limited social content and the weak attention to youth market makes the current digital DMO not attractive enough to the digital natives. The work highlights the importance on focusing on DN “informal expertise” in the planning and development of digital strategies, DMO websites and SM presence. Their proved social media knowledge and digital competences have to be considered as a key opportunity for DMOs and for the improvement of the destination marketing strategies. This research contributes to the academic discussion on SM/Web 2.0 implementation in destination management, by presenting an exploratory study on DNs’ informal expert perspective supported by the use of GABEK/Winrelan as an innovative method.

This paper contributes to the comparative tourism sustainability debate in the context of mountain tourism destinations. It is based on a published three-dimensional Mountain Destination Innovation Model (MDIM) which claims that tourism development depends on a destination's innovation levels, and is subject to different conditions in a variety of important destination environments (using that term in its broadest sense), including sociocultural, natural, political, legal and technological. The authors comparatively analyzed Austrian, Slovenian and Swiss mountain destinations, which are located in small countries in the Alpine region, and that makes their environments, innovation levels and stages of development relatively easy to compare. The analysis used 88 managers’ replies to a 72 element questionnaire employing both objective and subjective measures about performance with regard to MDIM dimensions. The findings confirm differences in the stages of tourism development, in innovation levels, a...

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 limitations/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. 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.

Part 1: Overtourism - Introduction to the topic Overtourism - The challenge of managing the limits Elisa Innerhofer, Greta Erschbamer, Harald Pechlaner Overtourism and resistance: Today's anti-tourist movement in context Michael Clancy Strategy is the art of combining short- and long-term measures - empirical evidence on "overtourism" from European cities and regions Daniel Zacher, Harald Pechlaner, Natalie Olbrich Problem and solution awareness in overtourism: A delphi study Martin Fontanari, Berit Berger-Risthaus UNESCO, cultural heritage sites and tourism: a paradoxical relationship Marilena Vecco, Josephine Caust Part 2: Management concepts and possible solutions Development of core indicators for the assessment and analysis of sustainable city tourism Rainer Hartmann, Bernd Stecker Constantly adapting - approaches for effective visitor monitoring and adaptive visitor guiding in the Black Forest National Park Urs Reif Visitor management in highly-visited attractions: Lessons that practitioners can learn from the U.S. Theme Park Industry and the National Parks Ady Milman Key themes for tourism development management. Lessons from Venice Damiano De Marchi, Mara Manente Between seasonability and overtourism in seaside destinations. A multi-stakeholders' perception of hosting music events during summer season Marika Gon, Francesco Marangon, Stefania Troiano, Laura Rizzi Management strategies for overtourism -from adaptation to system change Ko Koens, Albert Postma, Bernadett Papp Part 3: Governance, monitoring and outlook Overcrowding of tourism destinations: some suggestions for a solution Egon Smeral How to manage the threatening phenomenon of 'overtourism'? Early detection measures in Vienna Petra Tschoell, Clemens Koeltringer Visitor management in world heritage sites: Does overtourism-driven traffic management affect tourist targets, behavior and satisfaction? The case of the Dolomites UNESCO WHS (Italy) Anna Scuttari, Giulia Isetti, Daria Habicher The end of tourism through localhood and overtourism? An exploration of current destination governance challenges Michael Volgger

Die Digitalisierung, neue Technologien und Kommunikationsformen sind auch im alpinen Tourismus die Themen der Stunde. Doch zeigt sich auch in klassischen Markt- und Entwicklungsfeldern viel Potenzial für innovatives Destinationsmanagement in der Alpenregion. Das von Thomas Bieger, Pietro Beritelli und Christian Laesser herausgegebene Jahrbuch stellt neueste Studien, Konzepte und Tendenzen der alpinen Tourismuswirtschaft prägnant vor: ein aufschlussreicher Querschnitt zu den wichtigsten Entwicklungen in Forschung und Praxis.

Die Alpen sind Tourismus. Sie stehen fur Tourismus wie wenige andere Regionen in Europa und daruber hinaus. Die Alpen sind eine europaische Makroregion und unterstreichen Zusammenhange und Widerspruchlichkeiten in besonderer Weise: wirtschaftliche, gesellschaftliche, kulturelle und politische Verflechtungen sowie spezielle okologische Sensibilitaten stellen die Grundlage fur die Diversitat dar, die den Alpenraum grundsatzlich zu einem besonderen Raum machen. Wirtschaftswachstum und Innovation, Transport- und Verkehrssysteme bzw. Zuganglichkeit, sowie Fragen von Umwelt und Energie sind Themenbereiche, die aufgrund der Verflechtung im Spannungsfeld von urbanen Verdichtungen und landlichen Raumen unterschiedlicher Auspragung ganz deutlich zeigen, dass die Alpen zwar fur Tourismus stehen, dass aber die touristische Entwicklung offensichtlich Hand in Hand geht mit Fragen eines Wirtschaftsraumes Alpen als Standort fur Entrepreneurship und Plattform fur Innovation, und weiters Hand in Hand geht mit Fragen eines Lebensraumes Alpen im Spannungsfeld gesellschaftlicher und kultureller Verflechtungen von und zwischen Menschen, die als Einwohner, Konsumenten und Bezieher von Dienstleistungen die Lebensqualitat im Blick haben.

Theories on destination management, destination leadership and destination governance have made noteworthy contributions to the advancement of tourism research. However, current global dynamics in regards to political, social, technological and economic developments demand a revision of traditional methods and instruments of destination development. This paper suggests perspectives rooted in design and design thinking as a source for gaining fresh understandings of challenges in tourism destinations and for offering innovative solutions. This paper reflects on the possibility of integrating design approaches into the theorising on and practice of destination development. It explores how a transdisciplinary fusion of notions can ultimately result in a new vision for destination development.

The landscape of research outputs in tourism planning is fragmented and multi-disciplinary. Design as a meta-discipline has the power to integrate sectoral thought and inject creativity, non-linear thought and transdisciplinarity into planning processes, particularly when tackling sustainability challenges. This paper defines Destination Design as a novel framework capable of evolving the concepts of spatial and participatory planning using the design thinking cognitive style to address sustainability paradoxes. The features of Destination Design are explored through the unique case study of sustainability-oriented innovation in the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site. Results show that design thinking can be invaluable for pioneering pro-sustainability initiatives. Further, creative forms of engagement might encourage the acceptance and support of local transformations, but are difficult to implement.

Rural tourism may act as an important driver for rural development in peripheral mountain communities that often face numerous economic, social and environmental challenges. In spite of their exceptional natural and cultural resources and heritage, they may have difficulties to take advantage of emerging dynamic processes. The present study strives to identify key success factors, risks and potentials for the development of attractive tourism products and services within rural and mountain areas. It is based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with representatives of rural tourism best-practice initiatives across the Alps, the Apennines and the Carpathians, including case studies from Germany, Italy, Romania, Ukraine and Poland. With our analysis, we seek to contribute to the understanding of rural tourism development and management in mountain areas. Findings indicate that the integration of agriculture and tourism greatly contributes to deliver authentic tourism experiences. Moreover, lea...

Sustainable mobility, including public transport and human-powered slow mobility is a priority for the sustainable development of tourism destinations, but it is a complex challenge to devise, implement and manage. This paper explores the mechanisms and conditions governing transition towards sustainable mobility in destinations, using a complexity-based approach. Destinations are understood as complex adaptive systems where social-ecological, socio-technical and socio-political subsystems interact dynamically with the tourism subsystem. These subsystems are interwoven and undergo significant, and inter-related, changes during transition towards more sustainable mobility. Three examples from the tourism intensive Alpine destination of South Tyrol (Italy) illustrate subsystem interactions during the transition process. Key player interview-based qualitative research indicates that the complexity of transition management is rooted particularly in the paired presence of risk aversion among local stak...

The blockchain technology has witnessed growing interest since cryptocurrencies became popular in 2016. Not only through payment issues, but the tourism sector is also likely to be affected by the blockchain in terms of front- and back-stage processes. As the blockchain could replace traditional intermediaries, the structure of the tourism sector in the future has been discussed widely in the news. This article aims to conceptually examine the implications of blockchain along the value system in the tourism industry in order to identify its potential benefits. To address this, the methodology follows a content analysis of 175 news articles on the topic of blockchain and tourism, which are analysed through a qualitative news analysis and the method of GABEK®. The results imply blockchain applications along with the whole tourism value system, while it became apparent that traveling is streamlined through the transformation of time-intensive back-stage processes and thus offers extra value for travellers. Through its novelty in the academic discourse, the paper makes obstacles and regulations a subject of discussion, too.

Italy is among the most prominent countries when it comes to wine and food production, processing and consumption. However, the growing share of Chinese tourists to Italy hesitate to consider wine and food as primary motives in destination choice and as major activities when visiting the country. Adopting a sociology of consumption perspective, this chapter empirically investigates current barriers for wine and food-related Chinese outbound tourism towards Italy and explores future potential for improvement. The study finds that current and future consumption patterns of Chinese outbound tourists regarding wine and food need to be interpreted not only as a hedonistic experience, but rather as an opportunity to elevate status and prestige through demonstrative consumption. Thus, increasing the symbolic value of Italian wine and food might be a lever that helps strengthening the link with Chinese outbound tourism in the future.

Im Kontext der Standort- und Regionalentwicklung besteht fur das Management eines multinationalen Unternehmens die Herausforderung vor allem darin, eine stimmige Balance zwischen globaler Standardisierung und regionaler Anpassung zu finden. Das bedeutet, die einzelnen Standorte, mit ihren zum Teil sehr unterschiedlichen Herausforderungen, mussen einerseits in ein globales Konzernnetz integriert werden, dass sowohl globale Effizienz und Wettbewerbsfahigkeit erreicht, als auch die regionale Standortattraktivitat verbessert wird. Es lasst sich feststellen, dass sich ein Spannungsfeld zwischen den Polen regionale Integration und globale Integration sowie zwischen Wettbewerbsfahigkeit und Lebensqualitat aufspannt.

Der vorliegende Beitrag betrachtet Dienstleistungen im Sektor Freizeit und Tourismus und deren Bedeutung bei der Gestaltung eines Entrepreneurship Ecosystems. Zuerst werden die Grundzuge eines Entrepreneurship Ecosystems und dessen Vernetzung in raumlichen und funktionalen Netzwerken betrachtet, bevor die Aktionsfelder skizziert und Freizeitdienstleistungen als weiche Standortfaktoren analysiert werden. Es folgt eine qualitative Studie in Munchen an der Schnittstelle von Destination, Lebensraum und Standort, die eine Erweiterung des Konzeptes zur Entrepreneurial Destination veranlasst.

Art and culture stand for themselves, but are also key factors for corporate and entrepreneurial, as well as for social and economic, development. Regional and tourism research recognize art, culture and the creative industries as potential resources for the competitiveness of regions and destinations and as valuable factors in attracting businesses, residents and guests. Considering regional innovativeness generated within regional innovation systems, art and culture are essential components stimulating the innovative potential of individuals, entrepreneurs and organizations. However, the location or region must provide conditions and location factors that attract creative industries. Additionally, regional innovation systems require the establishment of platforms and networks in which art, culture, creative industries, and companies from other branches can mutually enrich and reinforce each other.

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.

At a board meeting for Association Internationale D'Experts Scientifiques du Tourisme – International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) as part of the annual AIEST conference in ...

Real Estate is one of the driving factors of destination development. This book, edited by Peter Keller and Thomas Bieger, contributes to the deeper understanding of the dynamics of Real Estate development in destinations. Issues among others are: evolving Real Estate Business Models in Destinations, the Socio-Economic Impacts of Real Estate on Destinations, optimizing Destination Capacity. An unique database for the topic with contributions from 43 researchers and 18 case studies.

Sich wandelnde ökonomische, technische und gesellschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen zwingen auch die alpine Tourismuswirtschaft zur konsequenten Prüfung und Neuausrichtung bestehender Vorstellungen und Geschäftsmodelle. Über aktuelle Markt- und Branchenentwicklungen gibt Ihnen das von Thomas Bieger, Pietro Beritelli und Christian Laesser herausgegebene Jahrbuch wieder einen praxisnahen Überblick.

Gibt es eine abgrenzbare Tourismuswissenschaft? Dieser facettenreichen und bislang nur in Ansätzen betrachteten Fragestellung geht der neue Sammelband von Harald Pechlaner und Anita Zehrer erstmals systematisch nach. Vor dem Hintergrund sich verändernder Rahmenbedingungen in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft beleuchten erfahrene Experten grundlegende Argumentationslinien und Voraussetzungen einer Tourismuswissenschaft sowie multi-, inter- und transdisziplinäre Zugänge u. a. aus Betriebs- und Volkswirtschaft, Soziologie und Geographie.

Environmental, social and economic sustainability is an important topic of today’s decision makers in tourism. This book, Harald Pechlaner, Peter Keller, Sabine Pichler and Klaus Weiermair, provides profound insights into current concepts and challenges of sustainable tourism development – with particular regard to mountain destinations worldwide.

Das Forschungsfeld Crowd Entrepreneurship nimmt in Umfang und Grad der Detaillierung deutlich zu, jedoch liegt bisher keine umfassende Strukturierung des Feldes vor. Das Grundungsgeschehen ist ein hoch dynamischer und schnelllebiger Praxis- und Forschungsbereich, dessen neuartige Entwicklungen es ebenfalls mit hoher Geschwindigkeit zu analysieren gilt. In diesem Beitrag wird das Forschungsfeld Crowd Entrepreneurship vorgestellt. Hierzu wird zunachst die Abbildung eines idealtypischen Grundungsprozesses mit Bezug auf das EEntrepreneurship vorgenommen, welcher als gedankliche Stutze zur Einordnung der in den weiteren Beitragen des Sammelbandes beschriebenen Entwicklungen dienlich ist. Es erfolgt eine Beschreibung des Crowdsourcing und dessen Unterformen, gefolgt von einem State of the Art des Themas Crowdsourcing im Kontext der Unternehmensgrundung. Es wird deutlich, dass die Wissensbasis zu Crowd Entrepreneurship bisher wenig ausgepragt ist, folglich ein deutliches Forschungsdefizit vorliegt. Die abschliesende Vorstellung der weiteren Beitrage des Sammelbandes verdeutlicht, wie das Forschungsdefizit gemindert werden kann.

Tourismuswissenschaftliche Studien setzen sich im Rahmen des CSR-Diskurses bisher vornehmlich mit der Implementierung des Konzeptes auf der Unternehmensebene auseinander. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die touristische Destination als eine vernetzte Verantwortungseinheit. Das vorgestellte Destination-Network-Responsibility-Konzept wird dabei als Strategie verstanden, die regionale Resilienz von Destinationen zu starken. Die mithilfe der qualitativen Methode GABEK® gewonnenen Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Potenziale, die aus einer Verantwortungsvernetzung in einer Destination hervorgehen konnen.

This article presents a study that investigates the organizational transformation of regional tourism in Western Australia in order to make it fit for future. In principle, it explores how the past influences adaptation to upcoming challenges in the Asia-Pacific region (and beyond), such as for example reorganizing territorial dimensions in destination management. Specifically, the article considers how an imposed merger of two previously separate tourism regions affects the established communication and collaboration structures among stakeholders. To analyze the inhibiting force of historically grown destination network structures and the potential for changing these networks, the article combines the concepts of path dependence/path creation and stasis-based/change-based momentum with a quantitative social network analysis. The study provides evidence of remarkable persistence of destination networks. However, the study exhibits also path-creating processes: A transformation of destination networks to meet future challenges in tourism seems to depend largely on an effective governance of informal communication.

Purpose – This special issue of Tourism Review provides an original body of work that complements existing research on tourist destinations, and offers an opportunity for tourism research to contribute to broader leadership theorizing. Design/methodology/approach – This editorial introduction embeds the included papers into general reflections about destination leadership. Findings – This introduction summarizes how the papers in this special issue contribute to two streams of research: First, the papers use and advance leadership theories that are particularly suited to inter-organizational contexts, such as distributed and systemic leadership. Second, they illustrate that destination leadership needs to be treated and understood in relationship to governance arrangements, power structures, and social networks among leaders. Originality/value – Sustainable destination competitiveness greatly depends on effective strategies as well as efficient and inclusive processes and structures. Existing research on destination management and destination governance clearly illustrates the relevance of these requirements. However, the human factor in the form of motivation, inspiration, and role modeling – i.e. destination leadership – is also crucial. Yet, so far leadership has not received the necessary attention in both tourist destinations and networked environments in general. This is all the more remarkable since social networks pose particular challenges for leadership.

In current conceptualizations of destination management, destination management organizations (DMOs) are required to act as network managers. Previous research claims that DMOs capable of actively fostering collaboration between destination stakeholders are key to ensuring a destination's competitiveness. Yet, empirical investigations concerning the role of DMO success in establishing the competitiveness of destinations are rare. Even less is known about determinants of DMO success. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to better understand DMO and destination success by investigating the role played by networking capability. One key insight is that the effect of networking capability works through increased DMO authority, i.e. enhanced power and acceptance of the DMO within the destination network. Besides the advances in terms of content, our research also offers a relevant methodological contribution by introducing a recently developed approach in mediation analysis, which has so far received little attention in the tourism literature.

Regions feature specific network structures, identities and knowledge. These characteristics resemble social capital, which is recognized as contributing to entrepreneurship and innovation. This study examines whether entrepreneurial advantages, which are generated by social capital in a regional context, exist in a sustainable perspective. According to the competence-based view, sustainable competitive advantages are based on core competencies, which are valuable, rare and transferable to several markets. Therefore, this study examines social capital as a regional core competency and transfers the competence-based view to a regional context. This is achieved on the basis of the Hallertau region, a hop-planting area in Germany. The paper analyses whether network structure, knowledge and identity, as building blocks of social capital, display core competence quality. As such, this study contributes to the discussion on whether an enterprise's regional embeddedness matters with respect to its sustainable competitiveness.

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.