Jürg Stettler

How to communicate sustainable tourism products to customers: results from a choice experiment

This multiphase and empirical study explores the best communication style for reaching different international tourism markets and provides an understanding of how purchase decisions could be better influenced in travel brochures. A pre-test experiment evaluated the perceived emotionality and rationality of communication elements in a fictional travel brochure designed for a typical beach holiday but managed according to sustainability principles. In phase two, a choice experiment was conducted to test how Swiss, German, British and US travellers could be influenced by varying visual and textual communication elements in the fictional brochure (based on Mexico for US respondents and Menorca for all others). The choice experiment produced 3006 responses from an online survey in the four countries. Results confirm a general preference for emotionally laden communication styles for sustainable tourism products, while respondents were indifferent to the emotionality of standard product feature communications. Respondents did not show a preference for the inclusion of a graph explaining the products sustainability attributes.

Do sustainability experienced travellers prefer a more rational communication of the sustainability of a tourism product

This study empirically examines, in four countries, which communication style (emotional or rational) is most appropriate for addressing sustainabilityexperienced travellers. There are only small differences compared to the average tourist. Rational communication elements, which explain the sustainability of the product, become more important for this specific customer group. However, most emotional communication elements are still more important in most countries, indicating that experienced tourists also process sustainability information in a heuristic way.

Fostering Collaboration between Academia and the Tourism Sector

This report shares the results of a significant meeting on the relationship between the tourism research and education community and the tourism sector. The World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) is a university-based think tank that brings together industry, governments, academia, and third sector organisations to generate ideas, in the broadest sense, about the future of tourism. Meetings are held bi-annually in Lucerne. The “academia meets industry” meeting was introduced as an official side-event of the 2015 WTFL. Its purpose was to provide a platform for invited academic and industry representatives to identify and analyse the barriers that constrain successful collaborative working relationships. The discussion was framed by two foci: meeting the expectations of young talent (a key component of WTFL) and the sharing of knowledge and experiences. Professor Peter Burns, University of Bedfordshire, moderated the event. Fourteen attendees represented a number of emerging and established tourism destinations (Switzerland, Germany, Vienna, Hong Kong, Australia, Mongolia, Canada, the USA, the UK, and South Africa) allowing for a global perspective of the key issues.

Bedeutung und Bewertung von Events zur Beurteilung ihrer Förderwürdigkeit

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Bedeutung und Bewertung von touristischen Sport-Events zur Beurteilung ihrer Förderwürdigkeit durch die öffentliche Hand. Anhand bestehender Instrumente der Event-Wirkungsforschung und der strategischen Bewertung von Events wurden Kriterien abgeleitet, die Verantwortlichen aus dem Tourismus helfen können, die Förderwürdigkeit von Events zu überprüfen. Anhand von ex-post Wertschöpfungsanalysen sowie einer Dokumentenanalyse wurde die Anwendung der Kriterien überprüft. Die Analyse zeigt, dass insbesondere bei Sport-Events mit einem hohen Budget die Relation zwischen Investitionen und regionaler Wertschöpfung weniger groß als bei kleineren Events mit einem geringeren Budget ausfällt. Zur Überprüfung der Förderwürdigkeit eines Events sollte die strategische Übereinstimmung des Events mit der betreffenden Region geprüft werden. Dafür eignen sich insbesondere die Analyse des Kernangebots sowie die Überprüfung der Zielgruppen und der Zielmärkte. Durch den Einbezug wichtiger Anspruchsgruppen ist es möglich, negative Auswirkungen von Events zu minimieren, zu kompensieren oder einen langfristigen Nutzen von Investitionen sicherzustellen. Dadurch wird auch die Akzeptanz von Events bei der Bevölkerung positiv beeinflusst. Abstract The article deals with the importance and evaluation of sports events to assess their eligibility by the public sector. Based on existing event-impact research tools and a strategic evaluation of events criteria were derived to verify the eligibility of events. Using ex-post event impact-analysis and a document analysis, the application of the criteria was reviewed. The results show that the relation between investments and regional economic impacts of sporting events with a high budget is not as high as for smaller events with a lower budget. To verify the eligibility of an event, the strategic fit of the events should be checked by the region. Suitable for this purpose are criteria to analyse the core offering, and the review of target groups and target markets. By involving key stakeholders, it is possible to minimize or compensate negative impacts of events and ensure long-term benefits of investments. Thereby, the acceptance of events in the population will be affected positively.