Georgia Yfantidou

Customer Oriented Strategy and Business Performance in Tourism and Hospitality Industry

The primary purposes of this study were: (a) to determine the extent to which customer oriented strategy is implemented to four and five-star hotels, and (b) to examine the relationship between customer oriented strategy used by four and five-star hotels and business performance (profit, ROI, sales volume and market share). The research was addressed to all four and five-star hotels in the Region of Peloponnese (142 four and five-star hotels, which recognized by Hellenic chamber of hotels) and involved 142 experienced managers who were the most knowledgeable regarding marketing issues. Responses were received from 98 managers of 98 four and five-star hotels with a 69% response rate. For the purpose of this study a 40-item questionnaire, was used developed by Whiteley (1991). The reliability of the scale was found to be α = 0.89. Also, the particular research used the subjective way of measuring performance. Business performance was judged against four criteria two financial (profit and ROI) and two market based (sales volume and market share). Descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-square (χ2) statistics were used to examine variables relationship using SPSS software (version 22). The results (means) indicated that customer oriented strategy is applied to a great extent from four and five-star hotels (M = 3.97, SD = 0.66). Also, there were significant and positive relationships between the customer oriented strategy and business performance (profit, ROI, sales volume and market share) of four and five-star hotels. This study is useful in extending the concept of customer oriented strategy to the tourism and hospitality industry. The study will be useful in helping managers to their further understanding of the customer oriented strategy process in their respective organization.

The Interest of Sport Tourism Enterprises in Green Practices

The focus of this research is mainly on the definition of sustainable tourism actions that Greek enterprises follow and how tourism and sport tourism can be developed in a sustainable way. Sustainability has three strands: economic, social and environmental. From economic aspect there is an interest from all enterprises to implement the following actions: replacing energy-intensive lamps with new technology ones, recycling waste, landscape restoration, use of “green” cleaners, use of organic products, provide and promote traditional foods and drinks, use of photovoltaic, building insulation etc., because there is a reduction of their costs and also simultaneously benefit thereby the environment and furthermore have a social profile “environmental friendly” which is an incentive for some tourists for their choice. This research investigated the attitudes and the behavior of small, medium and large sport tourism enterprises as regards to sustainable development. As a global industry dependent on high quality natural environments for its attractiveness, tourism cannot hide from its responsibility to promote more sustainable business practices. The fundamental idea of the selective marketing approach is to attract a certain kind of tourists to the destination, those who behave in an environmentally friendly manner. The model for sustainable tourism development in Greece relates to ecological change brought by tourist activity, infrastructure development and through sport.

General Travel Behavior in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Holidays that include outdoor recreational activities are preferred by tourists. The opportunity given to tourists for active employment during holidays is one of the key reason for choosing regions that offer such activities. Our research took place in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in a year base in order to monitor the tourist behavior of tourists. Participants in the survey were 3070 from seven different countries. Travel behavior in the survey was tested with 5 questions. The behavior of the tourists was different between Greek, English and Polish, who behaved differently from German, Bulgarian, Cypriot and Romanian. The favourable and preferred sports activities are the canoe-kayak, rafting, diving, mountain bike (m.t.b.), climbing-rappeliling, flying-fox and water sports.

The future of sustainable tourism development for the Greek enterprises that provide sport tourism

‘Green tourism’ is defined as tourism that enhances local cultural elements, which are operating under the control of local communities, providing employment and maintaining economic benefits within the local communities. In fact, many times the above definition is poorly utilized, since there are times when the economic benefits dim from local communities. Tourism industry uses the term as a message to tourists on energy saving, avoiding coastal pollution and so on. Sometimes, the same tourist businesses are accused of using the term or labelling ‘green’ primarily for marketing purposes. Although it is a fact that tourism industry is starting to respond to the changing values of tourists regarding environmental issues, however, the purpose of this research is to infer if there is a future for sustainable tourism development concerning the enterprises that provide sport tourism in Greece.