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Over the last three decades, tourism has experienced significant changes due to the emergence of digital platforms and services, which have transformed the industry and its associated ecosystem (Briel & Dolnicar, 2021; Buhalis et al., 2020). Digital platforms have emerged progressively as competitors for long-established (physical) suppliers of goods and services traditionally provided locally or via agencies, and often using face-to-face communication. Since its inception, tourism has been a key contributor to the economy as well as an early adopter of new technologies aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction (Buhalis et al., 2019). Not surprisingly, the sharing economy has capitalised on tourism’s favourable pre-disposition towards innovative technologies by developing a number of online platforms, which have grown rapidly to become household names (e.g. Airbnb, Couchsurfing, ToursByLocals, EatWith, and SocialCar, among others). However, the homogeneous term ‘sharing economy’ encompasses, mostly, a myriad of online relationships and activities by individuals and organizations (Reinhold & Dolnicar, 2021). This rather eclectic phenomenon includes different types of exchange and interaction between individuals, who rent, lend, trade, barter, or swap goods, services, transportation solutions, space, or money using the Internet as their main channel for this (Möhlmann, 2015).

This paper analyses the image that European tourists have about a destination (Canary Islands), in order to identify keywords that describe the tourist destination through the free elicitation methodology. A Computer-Aided Web Interview (CAWI) was used to conduct the research in 19 European countries, where through the free elicitation methodology, tourists associated words to destinations (Canary Islands). These association words are classified as push and pull factors, and the present study focuses on push factors. The final sample consisted of 30,094 tourist, and 237 words grouped in 23 associations. These association words are classified as push factors. Through the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA), the study focuses on detecting motivational push factors that define the Canary Islands as a destination. The network analysis reveals the structural characteristics of the free elicitations words network. This study helps to a better understanding of the image that a tourist has of the Canary Islands and to make a more appropriate promotion of the Canary Islands destination info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Purpose The purpose of this study resides in a better understanding of the relationship between the use of traditional operators, online travel agencies, such as Booking.com and Expedia, comparators, tour operators and traditional travel agencies, airlines, new non-tourist companies like Google and the use of sharing economy platforms to obtain information about a travel destination. Design/methodology/approach Applying an analysis to 13,243 tourists from 19 European countries, a binomial logit analysis was carried out with the latest version of the SPSS statistical analysis program. Findings The use of Expedia and Booking.com has a positive effect on the use of sharing economy platforms to obtain information about travel destinations. However, it can also be observed how the use of Google, Facebook, tour operators and travel agencies, airlines and Twitter can have a negative effect. Practical implications The study provides interesting recommendations for destinations to be able to design better marketing strategies which focus on cognitive components of the destination image in different information sources. Originality/value Tourists search for information that helps them make better decisions when it comes to choosing a travel destination and they do so using different channels that have evolved over time. The proliferation of internet platforms has transformed the way tourists search for information and consequently the way the secondary image of destination is formed. The sharing economy plays an important role in this new tourism ecosystem. These new business models, based on platforms, coexist with other traditional information sources, tour operators and travel agencies and airlines. However, previous studies have not inquired about the relationship between them all.

This paper analyses the use of the main e-tourism platforms by European tourists. A computer-aided Web interview (CAWI) was used to conduct the research in 19 European countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. The final sample consisted of 13,243 tourists. Through the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA), the study focuses on detecting key network players (social media, OTAs, etc.) in the e-tourism ecosystem. The network analysis reveals the structural characteristics of the network of networks in the European e-tourism ecosystem: number of platforms (473), centrality degree and betweenness, and the specific characteristics of the networks by country. The results show an e-tourism network of platforms following a pattern known as core-periphery. Four platforms show a predominant role: Facebook, TripAdvisor, Google, and Booking. These ‘big four’ ego-networks are graphically represented to better understand the e-tourism network. The results also show that different networks are formed by country according to the use of e-tourism platforms. This study helps understand in a novel way the behaviour of European tourists when using e-tourism platforms to choose their travel destination. The results obtained are useful for companies and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), understanding how e-tourism platforms are connected in order to design their segmentation and promotion strategy through e-tourism platforms in the European market.

The aim of this study is to identify spending patterns of tourists in relation to the leisure activities performed throughout their day-by-day stay at the destination. Using the methodology of soci...

Background In a previous study, we found that Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (POSSUM) overpredicts morbidity risk in emergency gastrointestinal surgery. Our aim was to find a POSSUM equation adjustment. Methods A prospective observational study was performed on 2,361 patients presenting with a community-acquired gastrointestinal surgical emergency. The first 1,000 surgeries constituted the development cohort, the second 1,000 events were the first validation intramural cohort, and the remaining 361 cases belonged to a second validation extramural cohort. Results (1) A modified POSSUM equation was obtained. (2) Logistic regression was used to yield a statistically significant equation that included age, hemoglobin, white cell count, sodium and operative severity. (3) A chi-square automatic interaction detector decision tree analysis yielded a statistically significant equation with 4 variables, namely cardiac failure, sodium, operative severity, and peritoneal soiling. Conclusions A modified POSSUM equation and a simplified scoring system (aLicante sUrgical Community Emergencies New Tool for the enUmeration of Morbidities [LUCENTUM]) are described. Both tools significantly improve prediction of surgical morbidity in community-acquired gastrointestinal surgical emergencies.

[EN] The Reflectance Transformation Imaging is a novel photographic system which appeared in the 20th century and slowly made it through the field of conservation and restoration as an analytical method. The present project pretends to reflect how this technique has evolved in the recent years and the latest researches conducted using this system, from the use of the simplest RTI, passing through the combination of this with other photographic techniques, to the conditioning of the technique to other environments such as underwater archaeology. On the other hand, an experimental stage has proved that the RTI can be an effective support tool for research and study of art pieces during restoration. In this case, the intention is to use the RTI system as a method to evaluate possible morphological changes produced on wall surfaces after the use of fixatives. To do so, samples simulating four different pictorial techniques characteristic of wall painting have been created., [ES] El Reflectance Transformation Imaging es un novedoso sistema fotográfico que aparece en el siglo XX y poco a poco se va abriendo camino dentro del campo de la conservación y restauración como método de análisis. En el presente trabajo se pretende reflejar la evolución de la técnica durante los últimos años y las últimas investigaciones realizadas con este sistema, desde el uso del RTI más simple, pasando por la combinación de éste con otras técnicas fotográficas, hasta el acondicionamiento de la técnica a otros ambientes como es la arqueología subacuática. Por otro lado, se ha diseñado una fase experimental donde se ha probado la eficacia del uso del RTI como herramienta de apoyo para la investigación y estudio de las obras durante algunos procesos de restauración. En este caso en concreto, se pretende evaluar a través del RTI los posibles cambios morfológicos producidos en superficies murales tras la aplicación de consolidantes superficiales, para ello se han utilizado diversas probetas que simulan cuatro técnicas pictóricas diferentes características de la pintura mural.