Roberta Garibaldi

Sharing Economy in Travel and Tourism: The Case of Home-Swapping in Italy

Contemporary societies have witnessed the expansion of unconventional, non-institutionalized travel trends, which oppose mainstream tourism by providing travellers with a broader range of alternatives. Among these, home-swapping seems to have received little scholarly attention, despite its recent and rapid growth even in countries where this phenomenon had long remained confined to small niches of travellers. With this formula, tourists are able to organize made-to-measure tours without seeking the services of travel mediators and with the only cost of making their own home available. This article presents the results of an in-depth study into Italian home-swappers and discusses their socio-economic profiles, motivations, and lifestyles. As the data analysis points out, home-swapping is an alternative form of tourism which requires trust, open-mindedness, inventiveness, enthusiasm, and flexibility. While the economic aspect is arguably one of the key driving factors when opting for this type of travelling accommodation, it cannot account for the current popularity of the social phenomenon alone.

The use of Web 2.0 tools by Italian contemporary art museums

The economic crisis of recent years has significantly affected cultural institutions which, because of cuts in public and private funding, do not have the funds needed to plan communication operations via traditional media. Hence, institutions must try to find alternative ways to communicate effectively, and at low cost. In this context, the innovations introduced by Web 2.0 and social networking seem to respond to this new demand. This paper presents the analysis of an Italian association of museums of contemporary art (AMACI) with the aim of assessing whether cultural institutions are able to fully make use of the potential of Web 2.0 tools, and what the advantages and disadvantages for their activities are.

Creating tourism experiences combining food and culture: an analysis among Italian producers

Purpose This paper aims to understand how food and drink producers have combined food and culture into the tourism experience through an explorative analysis on a sample of Italian enterprises. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for a two-stage analysis. An explorative study has been carried out to identify producers with this offering and assess their main characteristics. A direct survey has been carried out to acquire detailed information about the profile of the enterprises as well as to assess motivations, results achieved and satisfaction concerning the experience offered. Findings Food can be alternatively the main subject (e.g. food museums) or be combined with other cultural expression (e.g. music festivals inside wineries), and the choice appears to mainly depend on personal interest of entrepreneurs. The production of the food tourism experience not only increases the tourist attractiveness but also generates other benefits, such as improving brand visibility and relationship with local stakeholders. Research limitations/implications Because of the sample chosen, the research results may lack generalizability. Furthermore, it may be important to deeply investigate some issues that remain partly unanswered. Practical implications The paper sheds lights on characteristics of tourism experiences combining food and culture and hopefully aims at increasing awareness among producers about their current attractiveness. Originality/value This paper tries to contribute to improve the knowledge on a topic of current interest such as tourism experiences combining food and culture.