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COVID-19 caused significant disruption for all industries, including education. Many studies, including tourism, utilise field trips to support student's learning, which were moved online in response to the pandemic. Understanding students' perceptions of virtual field trips is necessary to improve their usage. A total of seven focus groups were conducted with undergraduate students in Qatar, the UAE, and the Netherlands to explore students experience with field trips. Students were split into groups based on their familiarity with i) physical; ii) virtual; or iii) physical and virtual field trips. Physical field trips were preferred because of the out-of-class learning, socialisation, and networking opportunities. Virtual field trips had some noteworthy advantages, such as improved flexibility, repeatability, and access to otherwise off-limit sites, but unless improvements could be made to the social and networking opportunities, virtual field trips may always appear inferior. Through comparing students' experiences with physical and virtual field trips, this research provided notable insights into what can be done to improve the field trip experience. This could include better planning and structuring virtual field trips to provide networking experiences, including AR or recordings of physical field trips to facilitate repeatability, and supplementing a few physical with several virtual field trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the scope of tourism and hospitality, this economic sector has a significant role to play in the global effort to become more sustainable. As more initiatives are discussed and implemented to promote sustainability, such as the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the regular emissions cuts promised in various COP summits, the need to understand tourism and hospitality's role in sustainability only increases. Results from a qualitative study conducted among 4- and 5-star hotels in Dubai suggested that, while hotels are keen, there is a lack of awareness and understanding about how best to implement sustainable initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming an increasingly important technology in a host of industries, including tourism. VR can provide virtual experiences before, during, or in lieu of real-world visits to tourism sites. Hence, providing authentic experiences is essential to satisfy guests with the site and technology. This study analyzes survey data using PLS to identify the determinants of satisfaction with non-immersive VR experiences of heritage and non-heritage tourism sites. Results from 193 subjects reveal the linkages between system quality, object-related authenticity, activity-related authenticity, and presence, as well their relationship with satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharing and exchanging knowledge among workers in organizations has received considerable attention in the literature, whereas knowledge seeking attitudes and behavior are less reported. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of knowledge seeking by hotel employees in Dubai, UAE. Distinctive characteristics of hotel workforces in Dubai are identified. Employees emphasized proactive knowledge seeking, rather than knowledge sharing. These findings highlight the importance of providing organizational support for pull learning approaches to employees' knowledge acquisition, through technology-enabled microlearning practices. In this way, organizations are likely to benefit from greater employee satisfaction, retention, competence and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst numerous studies have explored residents' perceptions of tourism, there are three significant gaps with Social Exchange Theory (SET). First, the appropriateness and generalisability; second, the heterogeneity of host population perceptions; third, perceptions in non‐Western empirical contexts. A mixed methods study was conducted, using 36 face‐to‐face interviews with expatriates and nationals in Dubai to develop a survey instrument which returned over 400 responses. Results show that whilst SET is appropriate and partially generalisable, substantial adjustments are required to account for external factors such as culture and the political environment. We propose a new theory of Tourism Returns and Moderators to show a more holistic outcome, weighted perceptions, varying moderators, and greater individualised focus. In this study, participants had a preference to support tourism, did not refer to a cost‐benefit trade‐off, and generally favoured economic benefits over others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OECD, UNWTO, and numerous countries national data-gathering organizations report that tourism, as an industry, underperforms in productivity compared to other industries. While not disagreeing with the comparison from having used standard productivity measurement tools, this paper challenges the rhetoric and implication that productivity growth is unlimited, and that the tourism industry has significant productivity gains available to it. In doing so, this conceptual paper seeks to create a debate and develop a deeper understanding of productivity challenges in a service-intensive industry such as tourism. It further presents an argument for refining and potentially re-defining the term 'productivity' within the tourism industry, which requires a deeper understanding of what tourism operators presently consider productivity is and appropriate productivity measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant business disruptions around the world, with travel and tourism being particularly impacted. In response, governments and businesses implemented drastic responses to reduce the impact of the virus and mitigate the corresponding loss in business. Through nine semi-structured interviews with senior hotel managers in Dubai, the pattern of response was understood, along with participants' perceptions of the long-term consequences of such responses. Through a variety of responses to handle this specific crisis, general crisis management – to cope with low demand – and efforts to recover – attracting new customers – the nature of responses appear to match those of previous crises, with some variations. In terms of the long-term impacts of these responses, it was felt that numerous properties would permanently close, the nature of international hospitality would become more consolidated and there would be long-term changes in operations and efficiency improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Events tourism has been growing rapidly and has become one of the most common ways of attracting tourists to developing destinations. Hosting mega-events has become a means to achieve rapid development in a destination. Host-city residents are the first to feel the impact of hosting such events and are considered as key stakeholders. Results from a survey distributed in Dubai revealed that residents supported the upcoming EXPO 2020 event, with little concern for the potential associated costs – a result contradicting a lot of literature. The results provide guidance for policy makers regarding host-city residents' perceptions on hosting events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain is one of the latest network-based technologies, which will have significant impact on most industries including tourism. Even though blockchain technology is at the infancy stage of development, tools such as cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and Decentralised Applications have begun to influence tourism transactions. This paper makes an attempt to highlight the key characteristics of blockchain technology in conjunction with the smart city/tourism framework while making propositions of how the technology would evolve and influence the industry. Major issues related to the technology as well as challenges are also discussed, including some misconceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mystery shopping are a method of quality management that is utilized often in a variety of businesses. A holistic definition of a mystery shopper is, however, unclear. Literature relating to mystery shoppers was reviewed and analyzed through content analysis, to develop criteria which can be used to define a mystery shopper. The various traits identified were divided into personal traits, training elements, company considerations. The results of the paper provide a thorough analysis of the various traits that constitute a mystery shopper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]