Nicole Mitsche

Tell me who you are and I will tell you where to go: use of travel personalities in destination recommendation systems.

Current efforts in destination recommendation systems research and design are based on the assumption that user preferences have to be captured in the most accurate way possible to be able to provide useful recommendations. However, leading the user through a series of mind-puzzling diagnostic questions is often cumbersome and, therefore, discourages use. This article explores travel personality categories as a possible shortcut to classifying users. The results of this study suggest that travel personality types selected by the survey respondents can, indeed, be matched up with certain travel behaviors. Implications for future research as well as systems design are presented.

Understanding the Information Search Process within a Tourism Domain-specific Search Engine

Information search is one of the most common tasks users are performing on the Internet. Especially search engines provide tools to support the users search process. Continuous improvement of the search engine to provide better results for users is a constant goal. But to do this its also important understanding the users and their search patterns as well as their needs. This paper gives an overview on different information search patterns within the domain-specific search engine visiteuropeancities.com and implications of the results.

The Application of the Data Envelopment Analysis for Tourism Website Evaluation.

Tourists are increasingly using the Internet for travel preparation and booking. At the same time tourism organizations are facing increased competition regarding their website offers. Therefore, the aim for tourism organizations and businesses should be to provide more efficient websites in order to gain competitive advantage. This study provides an example of how Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) can be used to assess the website’s efficiency of tourism organizations. Input criteria include the linguistic offer, interactivity, and tourism content, and output is defined by number of inquiries and number of website visits. It is argued that efficient organizations should be considered useful benchmarking partners for inefficient organizations in that best practices should be used to identify the potential for improvement.

The Contribution of Technology-Based Heritage Interpretation to the Visitor Satisfaction in Museums

The tradition of heritage interpretation is moving away from purely conservational and educational goals to an entertainment- and experience-oriented interpretative provision. New technologies are gaining prominence in museums to enhance visitors’ mindfulness, subsequent learning outcomes and satisfaction. Extant research literature reflects technology-based heritage interpretation; however, such studies implement predetermined outputs which have never been tested by the demand side. This paper seeks to assess technology-mediated heritage interpretation, merging both theory from the museums management and customer satisfaction literatures, and applying Importance-Performance Analysis. Results reveal that new technology does not represent a substitute for other interpretative applications. Its appropriate use in those museums with a traditional interpretative layout enhances displays’ multisensory provision and visitors’ perceived interactivity. The use of technology is more appreciated in traditional museums than in those with live interpretation.

Enhancing Cultural Tourism e-Services through Heritage Interpretation

Cultural heritage is a major contributor to tourism development. Cultural heritage tourism relies heavily on the communication process for attracting visitors and providing them with a satisfactory experience. The tourist encounter can be significantly enhanced through effective and engaging heritage interpretation. This paper argues that there are opportunities for the application of e-Services in the delivery of heritage interpretation through the Internet — optimising results for the fulfilment of both marketing and interpretation purposes. This paper investigates visitor satisfaction with museums, and explores the use of e-Services for both cultural attraction operators and destination managers over a two-stage empirical investigation. Firstly, this study identifies the contribution of heritage interpretation practices to overall visitor satisfaction in museums, and to the best and most memorable experiences during such visits. Secondly, the paper evaluates the integration of e-Services in cultural attraction and destination websites. The results are integrated and developed into practical industry implications for cultural attractions and destinations websites offer of online heritage interpretation.

Intangibles - enhancing access to cities cultural heritage through interpretation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to utilise commodification for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in cities by developing interpretative strategies, specifically enabling access to intangible cultural heritage through its tangible parts.Design/methodology/approach – In total, three case studies were conducted in the cities of Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig, through a workshop cycle with destination and local tourism stakeholders and citizen representatives, to develop interpretative strategies for the cities.Findings – The paper identifies tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the three cities, and integrates them into stories and outlines the development of an interpretative strategy for destinations independent from, but aligned with, the current marketing and positioning strategy development level.Research limitations/implications – Future research should examine the integration process of interpretative strategies and heritage interpretation of cultural heritage in marketi...

A benchmarking framework for eTourism capability of destinations’ industries

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a framework for benchmarking the eTourism capability of a destination’s tourism industry, understanding the eTourism capability of a destination’s industry as the contribution that the information and communication technologies (ICT) uptake of that industry makes to its own performance. The impact of ICT in tourism has been suggested through extensive research. Previous work has urged the development of wide-angle studies to enable benchmarking of destinations and their industries. However, relevant research is limited. Macro-level studies in the area tend to focus on a single aspect of technology to evaluate adoption, are not sector-specific nor take into consideration the different levels of contribution that systems may bring to performance. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature on tourism, eTourism, benchmarking and technology adoption provided the baseline for developing this benchmarking tool. Findings – The literature supported the selection o...

Attitudes Towards EU Integration and Euro Adoption in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT. Our paper focuses on eliciting people’s attitudes towards EU integration and the adoption of Euro currency in the Czech Republic. Although EU Accession was widely supported and accepted by the Czech citizens prior to 2004, more than 10 years into the EU membership the attitudes to integration have changed considerably. The recent world’s economic and financial crisis, the crisis of the Eurozone and the issues with the Greek membership in the Eurozone (the possibility of the “Grexit”) have undermined the Euro optimism in many EU Member States that joined the EU during the so-called Eastern Enlargement in 2004. We use the example of the Czech Republic and the representative survey data collected by the Czech Institute of Sociology in 2012-2014 to estimate and describe the attitudes towards the EU integration and Euro adoption. Our results might shed some light on the reasons of Euro pessimism and scepticism and find links with the current economic and political situation.