Elena Marchiori

Applying a Conceptual Framework to Analyze Online Reputation of Tourism Destinations

Destination managers are investing considerable efforts (time and money) in order to market their destination online without considering that unofficial information competitors (e.g. blogs, wiki, media sharing website etc) are gaining more and more popularity among internet users. This research uses online reputation as a metric to make sense out of the huge amount of user generated contents available online applying a conceptual framework to the reputation analysis: Destination Online Reputation (DORM). The model, derived from the popular models used in corporate reputation analysis has been tested within the tourism online domain accessible trough search engine of a popular English destination: London. Results demonstrate the validity of the model in understanding and managing destination online reputation.

A Comparison of Social Media Adoption and Use in Different Countries: The Case of the United States and Switzerland

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to identify differences in the adoption and management of cutting edge social media tools in two major travel markets: the United States and Switzerland. While U.S. destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in recent years have begun to introduce various social media tools to their websites, Swiss DMOs appear to have been more cautious as they implemented comparatively less social media tools. It was found that Swiss DMOs are governed by a different organizational framework which does support but at times inhibits the use of such tools. It appears that DMOs at different stages of development need to strategically organize their web marketing efforts so as to maximize as well as make more efficient use of social media adoption.

Hotel Mobile Apps. The Case of 4 and 5 Star Hotels in European German-Speaking Countries

The importance of mobile internet for travel and tourism has been widely acknowledged, nonetheless the different typologies of mobile applications, their design and usefulness are still under researched. In order to contribute to such analysis, this paper studies the “supply side” of hotel mobile applications adopting two research approaches, which complement each other. First, it draws a comprehensive map of contents and services offered by 80 iOS mobile apps of 4 and 5 star individual hotels as well as hotel chains in European German-speaking countries. Second, beside such objective analysis, the point of view of hotel managers is considered, studying both those whose hotel/chain features an app, and those who are not or not yet offering one. The main drivers for publishing an app are: increasing the loyalty and promoting special offers as well as enhancing the interaction with the guests and providing information about the destination. The main reasons for not publishing an app are: perceived irrelevance for the business, absence of added value to the guests’ satisfaction, difficulty to estimate the return on investment as well as lack of economic resources.

eTcoMM — eTourism Communication Maturity Model. A Framework to evaluate the Maturity of a DMO when it comes to the Online Communication Management: The Case of Canton Ticino and Lombardy

The online environment represents an important communication resource of a Destination Management Organization (DMO). Evaluating the level of preparation of a DMO on its processes dedicated to the online communication management is a challenge for organizational performances, especially if compared with the efforts spent by other tourism players on the web. This study presents the development of a maturity model, named eTcoMM, dedicated to assess the online communication management preparation of a DMO on five online related operational areas corresponding to: staff training, search engines management, web promotion through back-links, website usages analysis, and electronic Word-of-Mouth analysis. Results of its first application with seven Italian and Swiss local DMOs are presented and discussed.

From Paradigmatic to Syntagmatic Communities: A Socio-Semiotic Approach to the Evolution Pattern of Online Travel Communities

This paper presents the results of an observatory research which explores the users’ participation in three different travel related virtual communities. The behaviour of the first top ten users has been observed in three different timeframes recording both outcoming interactions (e.g. from the studied user to other users) and incoming ones (e.g. from other users to the studied one). Then, a socio-semiotic linguistic approach has been adopted to explain the users’ behaviour and to hypothesize a possible evolution pattern for the communities.

An Auto-Coding Process for Testing the Cognitive-Affective and Conative Model of Destination Image

Current research on online contents analysis relies mainly on human coding procedures, and it is still under research the creation of automatic tools for content analysis in the eTourism domain. Thus, considering the current research gap in the field of automatic coding procedure for content analysis, this study aims at contributing to the auto-coding analysis of the three image components: the cognitive, the affective (feelings expressed), and conative ones (behavioral intentions towards a destination) which might be reported in the tourism-related online conversations. Hence, an ad-hoc software has been developed and tested for the auto-coding analysis of online conversations, together with a human-coding procedure used for coding unclassified entities. The image of the Basque Country has been used as case study and data have been collected from Minube, a popular travel experience community. Results of this study show that the proposed approach can be apt for the analysis of cognitive-affective and conative components of destination image, and in turn help destination managers in their web marketing strategies.

Harvesting Online Contents: An Analysis of Hotel Reviews Websites

Hotel Reviews Websites (HRWs) are the most used online sources to evaluate accommodation alternatives. However, they often present an overwhelming amount of unstructured or only semi-structured information which is not shared between all the systems and which cannot be easily analyzed in an automatic way. This study aims to automatically analyse hotel evaluations for a given number of Swiss hotels by comparing hotel reviews. Furthermore, the consistency of users’ countries of origin in their evaluations has been studied. The results show that there is an overall agreement on considered HRWs and a general consistency among reviewers with different countries of origin.

A systematic methodology to use LEGO bricks in web communication design

This experience report presents a case study and the lessons learned from using Real Time Web (RTW) in the design of a corporate website. RTW is an innovative methodology to effectively elicit and plastically represent requirements in the design process of a web application. RTW adopts a playful approach to collaboratively elicit requirements and strategic web design issues, and extends the experience of LEGO Serious Play (LSP), a team collaboration methodology. The basic tenet of LSP is that LEGO bricks are simple to use and provide ready-made, powerful and multi-purpose symbolic pieces, known to most people and used in different cultures. RTW exploits this potential to elicit communication requirements, create a share vision for high-level design, and build team commitment.

Online communication in Spanish destination marketing organizations: the view of practitioners

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had a significant impact on both the travel and tourism experience and industry. In particular, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) have found ICT a powerful ally to harmonize and coordinate the activities of local stakeholders as well as to reach travellers. The aim of this research is to analyse destination brand communication strategies, especially those applied to online communication (official websites, social media and mobile applications). Data were collected from Spanish destinations – regions, provinces and cities – via an online survey addressed to destination brand and communication managers. Results show that destination brand communication is not fully standardized or professionalized yet; online tools (websites, social media and mobile applications) are used tactically and not strategically and the usefulness of social media and official websites is clearly more appreciated by DMO managers than the usefulness of mobile applications.

Pilgrims in the Digital Age: a research manifesto

This article explores the concept of the Eventization of faith (Pfadenhauer, 2010) through application of three case studies, to identify learning that might be applied to a traditional pilgrimage destination, such as Jerusalem. This Holy City is held sacred by the three Abrahamic religions, and faith-based tourism is central both to the Holy Land and to the city of Jerusalem (Leppakari & Griffin, 2017). This paper builds on research that identifies processes and models that provide insight into the developing concept of the eventization of faith. The work examines outcomes from three different perspectives: - The impact of traditional church-led pilgrimages to places in the Holy Land, on participants and their local church communities. - The successful eventization of the Lindisfarne Gospels as part of their release to Durham University in 2013, and the impact on local historical, cultural and religious identity and heritage (Dowson, 2019). - The shared pilgrimage experience of thousands of Christian women participating in the annual Cherish Conference in Leeds, Yorkshire, held in a secular event venue (Dowson, 2016). In analysing these three case study examples, this paper aims to identify factors that might enhance our understanding of the concept of eventization of faith. Utilising face to face interviews and online survey results, the research focuses on the aspects of community, identity and authenticity. Events enable shared experiences in a faith context (Lee et al., 2015), and so this research develops a model that captures and expresses approaches that might encourage pilgrimages to traditional destinations, through the medium of events, adding insight into the development of the academic concept of Eventization of Faith.COVID-19 is devastating the religious tourism industry in terms of economic, social, food, employment and faith related impacts. Pilgrimages are being stopped, and mass gatherings are halted. We are in middle of a very difficult time for the religious tourism industry and this has become a major concern for governments around the world. The leading nations such as USA, UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, Russia, Germany and China are struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic. We are facing the biggest test of the tourism industry in over half a century, one which has exceeded the downturn of the 9/11 terrorism attacks. In the last 6-9 months, COVID-19 has had major ramifications for the religious tourism industry and impacted on other related industries like hotels, transport, travel agents and tour organisers, tour guides and all tourism service industries. The calamity of the COVID-19 pandemic is a new biological war that is being experienced by the whole world and the tourism industry is one of the major victim of this pandemic outbreak. Academics, politicians, scientists, theologians, in fact all people are discussing the impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of life. The pandemic impact is being experienced by all people regardless of state, religion, race, age or status. It is not first time, nor the last time that the world has been struck by a pandemic, but commentators suggest that a new world will emerge from this, and this new reality will offer new opportunities for the provision of experience by the tourism industry. The implication of COVID-19 for pilgrimage to religious sites has been enormous, and has altered the thinking and beliefs of visitors. Due to limitations and controls imposed by governments, new forms to spirituality and worship have been introduced, and these lead to the development of alternative religious thinking. This paper seeks to clarify the impact of COVID-19 on the religious tourism industry and discusses the challenges experienced by travellers to religious destinations.