Mike Peters

Enhancing SMTEs' Business Performance through the Internet and E-Learning Platforms

Investigates small and medium‐sized tourist enterprises (SMTEs) in the European hotel sector and their utilisation of the Internet and their perception of online learning systems. Aims to demonstrate to SMTEs that training is imperative and that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can enable them to improve their inventory management, strengthen their marketing and communications strategies and develop their internal business processes. The survey demonstrates that SMTEs are not utilising information technology in their businesses to its full potential. They primarily see the Internet as a mechanism for promoting their hotel rather than for training, inter‐, intra‐organisational and e‐commerce purposes. Respondents have recognised that integrating technology with training will become a management challenge in the future, but at present it is not considered a priority. However, respondents did identify their highest preference for content to be incorporated into the online course modules to be ICT trends and issues. Concludes that SMTEs are willing to engage in online learning and that the ability of SMTEs in embracing e‐learning can become crucial determinants of their success.

Towards the measurement of innovation - a pilot study in the small and medium sized hotel industry.

SUMMARY This paper discusses the importance of innovation as a key component of business strategy in tourism, as well as determinants of innovation processes in the small and medium sized hotel industry in alpine tourism destinations of Europe. Initially, the paper delivers a literature overview on innovations as prerequisites for competitive advantages. Furthermore, the authors shed more light on the measurement of innovation in the tourism industry. The empirical study has been carried out in alpine tourism destinations focusing on the assessment of innovation activities in small and medium sized (SMEs) hotels. Diverse functional areas of hotels have been analysed and the results show rather low degrees of innovation in all areas of the hotel value chain.

Family hotel businesses: strategic planning and the need for education and training

Small businesses dominate the tourism and hospitality industry worldwide and are of critical importance for the competitiveness of destinations. Small/family hotel businesses are characterised by a number of specific business processes which generate particular training and educational needs. It is increasingly clear that small businesses are not miniature versions of larger ones, but they have different structures, priorities and strategic objectives. This paper investigates a number of management areas, such as: planning, strategy development and behaviour in these enterprises, to determine skill and competency gaps. A survey of small family hotel businesses in Austria was carried out in 2003. Performance, growth and internal management procedures were assessed to analyse problem areas and to identify the lacking skills in the tourism industry. The results demonstrate areas of tourism training and education for family hotel businesses.

The Staging of Experiences in Wine Tourism

This article analyzes the potential of wine tourism to create experiences for the tourist. For this purpose the authors benefit from Scheurers (2003) and Mueller and Scheurers (2004) experience setting model. A literature review reveals research gaps in the field of experience-oriented wine tourism services and products and calls for more empirical investigations. Therefore, the empirical part of the article presents the case study of the South Tyrolean Wine Route in Italy and applies the experience setting model to assess the potential of experience-orientation of wine routes. The article concludes with tourism policy and management implications and derives questions for further research.

The internationalization behaviour of small‐and medium‐sized service enterprises

This paper concerns itself with the internationalization behavior of service companies in general, and tourism service companies in particular, and is based on the literature dealing with the internationalization process (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Johanson and Vahlne, 1990). An attempt will be made to identify the problems of small and medium‐sized service enterprises which are faced with the entry strategies into foreign service industries markets, and includes tourism enterprises, advertising, and consulting firms. Both the theoretical and empirical discussion of this paper should have a direct relevance upon the behavior of Asian outbound tourism agencies as they adjust to the new requirements associated with long haul tourism to European or other overseas destinations.

Understanding the relationship between push and pull motivations in rural tourism.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences and relationships of push and pull motivations in two different rural tourism destinations.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from tourists visiting rural tourism companies in Finland and in Tyrol (Austria). The data were analyzed using analysis of variance and correlation coefficients.Findings – The results indicate significant differences of push and pull motivations in the two regions. In addition, tourists motivated by different variables obviously search for different destination attributes. For example, tourists motivated by the search of a once‐in‐a‐lifetime experience expect different destination attributes than those respondents searching for a sense of comfort or an opportunity to relax.Research limitations/implications – The low sample size in both Tyrol and Finland reduces the generalizability of the results.Practical implications – The findings can be used by rural tourism companies and practitioners to under...

Personality characteristics, attitude toward risk, and decisional orientation of the small business entrepreneur: a study of hospitality managers

Decision choice, risk attitude, and uncertainty have all been developed in numerous research works. A large amount of literature has been dedicated to decisional orientation within the context of firm management. Most of the articles and theories present choice behavior as rather rational and exclusively geared toward business. Few authors highlight the effects of individual characteristics and the influence of psychological factors on choice behavior within the context of managerial decisions. The first objective of this article is to present the literature based on the managers’individual characteristics. In the second part of the article, we study the influence of individual characteristics on the decision making of entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. Research data were obtained from a survey of hotel/restaurant managers of small- and medium-sized firms.

Innovation in Tourism

SUMMARY An overview of the importance and the concept of innovation is given prior to an illustration about important areas of innovation research in tourism. The ten papers of this special issue are briefly introduced and a final statement about the status of innovation research in tourism is presented.

Crisis Management in Alpine Winter Sports Resorts—The 1999 Avalanche Disaster in Tyrol

SUMMARY Alpine tourism destinations must be prepared for environmental hazards such as avalanche disasters. The maintenance of safety and security, and thus the management of crises have become a major issue in Alpine winter resorts. After a short literature review of crisis management models applicable for tourism destinations, the article demonstrates the disaster management process of Galtuer (Austria) in 1999, which suffered one of the severest avalanche disasters ever experienced in the Austrian Alps. The authors investigate security and emergency measures taken in this Alpine resort and discuss failures and success factors in disaster management. The paper reveals that destinations greatly improve their disaster management tools and procedures after having faced a crisis. The final part of the paper identifies key lessons and provides recommendations for future research.

Destination Development and the Tourist Life-cycle: Implications for Entrepreneurship in Alpine Tourism

The so called ‘new age of tourism’ influenced the entrepreneurial paradigm considerably. The traditional model of mass tourism changed into a ‘new tourism’ which is presumably characterized by quality seeking customers with multi-optional needs, new production factors (such as information technologies), new business models and new management processes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relvance of the tourist life-cycle model in deriving implicatone for entrepreneurship within tourism destinations. The literature review reveals a research gap in the field of entrepreneurial strategy options and the execution of operational strategies in tourism destinations. Thus, the paper starts with a short overview of the driving forces of business growth in Alpine tourism. Further, it is argued that the development of Alpine tourism has created a special environment for entrepreneurs in tourism destinations. The second part of the paper, therefore, provides a literature review of tourist life-cycle research. In the next step, the authors attempt to describe specific challenges and qualifications needed for tourism entrepreneurs along the various phases of the destinatoin life-cycle. The paper concludes with recommendations for entrepreneurship development, while making a conribution to research on tourism destinations.