Marta Meleddu

Understanding Urban Tourism Attractiveness The Case of the Archaeological Ötzi Museum in Bolzano

The purpose of this investigation is to analyze to what extent a museum may be regarded as a potential driver for urban tourism. Via a travel cost model, the likelihood to revisit South Tyrol’s Museum of Archaeology (the Ötzi museum), in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Italy), is estimated and the factors that influence visitors’ experience, motivations, and their intention to revisit the museum are analyzed. To this aim, the number of actual visits to the museum is used as an economic indicator of museum attractiveness. The findings show that the museum has an important educative role in addition to being an economic earner for the city. Nevertheless, entrance fees discourage repeat visit, particularly for those on a low income. The findings also provide a tool to manage urban heritage resources and plan future urban developments around the Ötzi museum.

Tourism, Residents’ Welfare and Economic Choice: A Literature Review

Over the past decades, tourism development has raised economics, social and environmental issues, particularly for host communities. This paper provides a wide ranging review of the existing literature aimed at underpinning empirical tourism research with a robust economic framework. So far, tourism research has mostly focused on either quantitative or qualitative approaches that lack a strong economic theoretical setting. Most of the literature on residents welfare analysis concentrates on their attitudes and perceptions without taking explicitly into account their preferences about policy development based on a cost-benefit assessment. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to draw connections within the current body of research to explain the relationship between residents and tourism activity, as well as consumer theory and economic choice. In this way, it is possible to construct a multidimensional framework that allows one to analyse residents’ welfare in a systematic and more comprehensive manner.

Food losses, shelf life extension and environmental impact of a packaged cheesecake: A life cycle assessment

Packaging is associated with a high environmental impact. This is also the case in the food industry despite packaging being necessary for maintaining food quality, safety assurance and preventing food waste. The aim of the present study was to identify improvements in food packaging solutions able to minimize environmental externalities while maximizing the economic sustainability. To this end, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the environmental performance of new packaging solutions. The environmental impact of packaging and food losses and the balance between the two were examined in relation to a cheesecake that is normally packaged in low density polyethylene film and has a limited shelf life due to microbial growth. A shelf life extension was sought via application of the well-established modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technique. Samples for MAP (N2/CO2: 70/30) were placed inside multilayer gas barrier trays, which were then wrapped with a multilayer gas and water barrier film (i.e. AerPack packaging); control batches were packaged in gas barrier recycled polyethylene terephthalate (XrPet) trays and wrapped with a XrPet film. Samples were then stored at 20°C and inspected at regular intervals for chemical-physical, microbiological and sensory parameters. Results show that the new packaging solution could considerably extend the shelf life of cheesecakes, thereby reducing food waste and decreasing the overall environmental impact. Moreover, the new packaging allows one to minimize transport costs and to generate economies of scale in manufacturing.

Understanding museum visitors’ experience: a comparative study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine museum visitors’ experience. The objective of the research is to explore preferences, behaviour, overall. This study experience and the determinants on repeated visits to two heritage sites. In particular, a more comprehensive regression approach is introduced and employed to compare results at two regional museums. Design/methodology/approach – First, a factor analysis identifies a set of orthogonal factors related to visitors’ perceptions on their positive and negative experiences at two different museums. Second, a two-step cluster analysis is implemented to identify specific demand segments. Third, a regression analysis reveals the key determinants that influence visitors’ perceptions on the quality of services provided at the cultural sites. The empirical data were collected at two archaeological museums located in Sardinia and Trentino Alto Adige (Italy). Findings – On the whole, some homogeneous findings have been obtained for the two cultural sites...

Small- and medium-scale Italian winemaking companies facing the open innovation challenge

This article examines the impact of open innovation (OI) practices on the innovation activity of low-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Different external knowledge sources are considered, and the ability of SMEs to acquire and integrate external knowledge into their organizational boundaries for innovation purposes is assessed. The research draws on a sample of 191 Italian winemakers. The results show that SMEs with higher propensity to access and use external knowledge sources show a greater ability to innovate and that their absorptive capacity impacts the use of external sources. Several implications for theory and practice are drawn, underlining a number of suggestions for future research.

Analysing the factors influencing visitors’ satisfaction at a museum: the role of socio-demographic characteristics, motivations and visit experience

In recent years museums have become interested in significant modernization efforts within their administration by updating their managerial elements and principles. Consumers’ satisfaction in particular has been recognized as a key element in gaining an advantage over competitors. The objective of this paper is to use a representative sample of visitors to the G.A. Sanna National Museum of Archaeology in Sardinia, Italy, to identify the main determinants influencing their satisfaction. A probabilistic quantitative model is employed based on microeconomic foundations. The findings support the hypothesis that motivations, the actual experience at the museum and the length of the visit, as well as socio-demographic factors such as nationality, gender and education influence the overall level of satisfaction. This paper contributes to the literature on consumer satisfaction in museums and provides useful directions for museum management to explore.

Evaluating the demand for cultural goods: just income and tastes do matter?

Cultural goods refer to a broad area, sometimes difficult to isolate.Amongst other cultural sites, museums can be regarded as a bundle ofcultural goods that play a relevant role as a repository of heritage roots,cultural diversity, education and able to exert several spill-over effects.However, little is still known on the determinants that affect the demandfor cultural goods. Based on a microeconomic theoretical framework, theobjective of this paper is to assess what factors influence the intensity ofattendance to a museum. This aim is pursued by applying a quantile regressionfor count data models, a la Machado and Santos Silva, to culturalconsumer data gathered at the end of the visit to an Italian NationalArchaeological Museum in 2011. On the one hand, the findingsindicate that economic factors and tastes may not be the only determinantsto affect demand for cultural goods, as the intrinsic characteristicsof cultural sites may be also a key factor that influences future attendance.On the other hand, results highlight that different consumer segmentsmay benefit from ad hoc policy strategies. Although, the empirical investigationis based on a specific museum, the paper offers an overalltheoretical framework that can be generalised to other cultural sites.