Diego R. Medina-Muñoz

Successful relationships between hotels and agencies.

Abstract The establishment of cooperative relationships with other organizations is becoming increasingly crucial for tourism organizations. Indeed, interorganizational relationships are becoming a key research paradigm in the hospitality literature. However, there has been little empirical research dealing with this topic in the hospitality industry. Furthermore, while some studies may have been carried out with a view to reevaluating individual hotels’ relationships with travel agents, the empirical research of this study is the first aiming to identify the determinants of successful relationships between hotels and travel agencies, the most cost-effective way for a hotel to extend its sales and marketing efforts.

Understanding European tour operators’ control on accommodation companies: an empirical evidence

Abstract Accommodation companies offer a product of strategic interest to tour operators insofar as it determines to a great extent the cost of a package vacation, while it also significantly influences the degree of satisfaction of the tourists who purchase such packages. That, together with the increasingly competitive rivalry among European tour operators, suggests how important it is for the tour operators to exercise some control over the accommodation companies with which they deal. This study describes the control that German and British tour operators exercise over the accommodation companies with whom they do business and the characteristics of the two types of companies that influence that control.

Sustainable tourism development in islands: a case study of Gran Canaria

While sustainable development is recognized as an essential requirement for achieving economic goals without degrading the environment, major problems arise in defining methods for formulating and implementing sustainable strategic actions at the macro-level, including islands. Bearing in mind this limitation, this research paper will attempt to present a strategic planning methodology for drawing up strategic issues for tourism development from the point of view of sustainability, which is particularly appropriate to islands. The authors first review existing literature on sustainable development with a view to defining a conceptual approach to sustainability and identifying particular areas for sustainable tourism development in the island context. A methodology for formulating strategic issues for sustainable tourism development in Gran Canaria is then drawn up. Sociocultural aspects, the environment and the economy, with particular emphasis on tourism, are examined in order to identify major strategic issues for sustainable development in Gran Canaria. Copyright Copyright

Building the valuable connection: hotels and travel agents

Abstract The elements of a strong relationship between a hotel company and its travel agencies include communication, trust, and making clear who does what.

Critical issues in health and wellness tourism: an exploratory study of visitors to wellness centres on Gran Canaria

The growing commodification of health care and therapeutic landscape, as well as the recent growth in international demand for wellness services and treatments, has led to the proliferation of destinations and enterprises that have selected health and wellness tourism as part of their corporate strategy, including coastal tourism destinations such as the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. This study discusses the commodification of health care and landscape, the relationship between everyday life and going on holiday, as well as the motives for medical and wellness tourism. Wellness tourism development on Gran Canaria is also analysed as a case study that could prove useful for those working on diversification within coastal tourism. An exploratory study of European visitors to wellness centres on the island is also presented. Major findings and contributions relate to socio-demographic characteristics, motives for the visit to the island, the importance of the wellness offer, tourist and travel behaviour and wellness behaviour both at the destination and at the place of residence. Another contribution refers to differences in the use of wellness centres and treatments among visitors, based on their place of origin, gender, age, marital status and job situation. Management and marketing implications are also suggested.

Tourism and Innovation in China and Spain: A Review of Innovation Research on Tourism:

Given the current economic contribution of tourism to the Chinese and Spanish national economies, tourism innovation in these two countries becomes a vehicle for improving tourism competitiveness and sustainability. This article presents a comparative analysis of the relevance, recent growth and particularities of tourism and innovation in China and Spain, with the objective of identifying the tourism innovation needs of each country. Innovation research on tourism is also reviewed as a means to a better understanding of tourism innovation activities in each country. This review of the academic literature further examines the levels of analysis, the research topics and the major conclusions. In light of their findings, the authors then offer recommendations on how to enhance the tourism innovation performance and improve research on tourism innovation in China and Spain.

The impacts of tourism on poverty alleviation: an integrated research framework

This paper aims to contribute to the academic research on tourism and poverty alleviation, by providing an integrated research framework on the impacts of tourism on poverty. First, a conceptual discussion is presented in order to understand the potential of tourism to reduce poverty, as well as different approaches to promoting a direct link between tourism and poverty alleviation. Second, empirical studies published between 1999 and July 2014 were critically analysed in order to generate an empirical research framework that embraces the following issues: geographical scope, level of analysis, tourism context, study methods and poverty measure. Moreover, an integrative discussion of the empirical evidence regarding the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction is included. The proposed framework, which is intended to be useful for guiding future empirical research in this field, suggests associations between tourism initiatives, the poverty rate and the economic, socio-cultural and environmental conditions of the poor.

Tourism Competitiveness Assessment: The Current Status of Research in Spain and China:

This paper examines the status and progress of academic research in assessing and explaining tourism destination competitiveness in Spain and China. The authors first present a theoretical framework for understanding and determining destination competitiveness. Second, in the context of this framework, they analyse major tourism indicators in China and Spain to assess their respective tourism competitiveness. Third, the authors review research on destination competitiveness in China and Spain over the last decade in order to understand how it has been assessed and explained. In all, 25 articles on tourism destination competitiveness in China and Spain are analysed and compared in terms of the approaches and indicators used. The main results of this study lead to a proposal for a model to measure and explain destination competitiveness.

Bank presence in firm equity: A diversification based approach

This study analyses the possible reasons for banks deciding to invest in firm equity, based on the fundamentals of the strategic diversification literature. Those fundamentals suggest that it may be in response to the negative evolution of other aspects of banking business, namely, credit business, fixed interest business and services, as well as the banks level of efficiency. The results confirm the hypotheses that the decision to hold equity in other firms is related to the evolution of the banks other businesses. However, the results for savings banks differed from those for banks.

Control and success in collaborative strategies

The establishment of cooperative relationships with other organisations is becoming crucial to businesses, in a way that interorganisational relationships constitute an important topic for research in management literature. This study analyzes interorganisational control, which represents one of the processes within interorganisational relationships that is receiving greater attention in the literature. Besides describing its concept and dimensions, there is an analysis of what influence the extent, the focus, the types and the mechanisms of control have on the success of the interorganisational relationships. To be specific, empirical evidence is provided by our study of the relationship between tour operators from Germany and the United Kingdom and the accommodation companies, which revolves around the control exercised by the tour operators over the accommodation companies.