tourismos

Initial Pages & Editorial

Editorial Team — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A comparative analysis of festival tourists’ profile and motives: the cases of Kalamata and Drama, Greece

Vasiliki Georgoula, Theano S. Terkenli — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents an analysis of two renowned international arts festivals visitors’ motives and profile characteristics, in two medium sized Greek cities: the Kalamata International Dance Festival and the Drama International Short Film Festival. The purpose of the study was to determine the reasons visitors attend these festivals, necessary for building more concise marketing strategies and, therefore, more successful and sustainable events, with long-term benefits, ranging from the local to the national levels. The research addresses international arts festivals that share four main characteristics: a) they host international professional artists, 2) they feature explicitly-stated artistic visions and objectives, 3) they are publicly funded, and 4) they have achieved a consecutive 23 years of successful presence in each city. These two case studies represent two cultural events which have managed to maintain their popularity and high status, on the European festival map, as well as to raise their host cities’ cultural and tourism standards, despite the serious economic cutback they have both faced. Due to limited available funds, the festivals lack marketing resources and specifically data collection on visitor motivation, a gap which this study aims to remedy.
Primary data were collected with the aid of online structured questionnaires, distributed and collected during autumn 2016. 130 questionnaires were answered by visitors of the Drama International Short Film Festival and 186 questionnaires were answered by visitors of the Kalamata International Dance Festival. Even though both festivals share similar characteristics regarding their organization and their aims, our analysis emphasized the heterogeneity of the motives of attendance in connection with the visitors’ profile characteristics, for each event. While some similarities were found, especially between demographic sample characteristics and visitors’ profiles, the general picture to emerge from the findings indicates significant differences between the two cases. Arts festivals-goers do not appear to constitute a single homogeneous market; rather, each event appears to attract different audiences for different reasons. The implications of these findings, deriving from statistical analysis, are discussed and suggestions for further research are outlined.
This research aims to contribute to knowledge concerning the marketing strategies of International Arts Festivals in medium-sized cities, useful for research and academic purposes, as well as to local and national authorities and other agencies and bodies, responsible for urban tourism and cultural city/town planning and management.

TRADE FAIRS, TOURISM AND CITY: THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FAIR AND THE CONCEPT OF HONOURED COUNTRIES

Dimitris Kourkouridis, Vicky Dalkrani, Kyriakos Pozrikidis, Yannis Frangopoulos — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Trade Fairs, throughout their long history, have always interacted with their host cities on multiple levels. The significant contribution of trade fairs to the tourism development of their host cities was and still remains undisputed. The city of Thessaloniki has recorded a long and remarkable historical tradition in the organisation of trade fairs. This paper attempts to examine the concept of the ‘Honoured Country’ within the framework of the International Fair of Thessaloniki, historically, and to explore its multifaceted role. The central hypothesis of this paper concerns the exploration of the multi-aspect role of the ‘Honoured Country’ concept during TIF and the highlighting of its impact on the city’s tourism development. This exploration will take place both over time – through the study of the historical archives of TIF-HELEXPO – as well as through the case study of the 82nd TIF, during which China was be the ‘Honoured Country’.

TOURIST SATISFACTION WITH ISLAND DESTINATIONS: AN INVESTIGATION ON VISITORS TO THE IONIAN ISLANDS, GREECE

Stella Kostopoulou, Eleni Gaki, Evangelia Parisi, Dimitris Lagos — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Tourist satisfaction is the most important component in the analysis of tourism behavior, since it affects the choice of destination and the purchase of products, as well as the potential decision of the tourist to revisit the destination. The purpose of this paper is to examine the satisfaction of tourists visiting the Ionian Islands in Greece, by use of quantitative methods that capture the factors influencing the satisfaction of tourists and their desire to repeat the visit, their relationship and consideration of the causes that shape tourism behavior. Research results reveal factors that affect tourist satisfaction, the relationships among these factors, the relationship between satisfaction and revisit to destination, the assessment of satisfaction by segmentation of tourists with regard to their motivation, the usability of information in satisfaction and the effect of tourism experience in travel behavior. The tourism policy recommendations arising from the research results will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of the tourism product, while also to a further enhancement in the satisfaction of tourists visiting the Ionian Islands.

RESIDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPACTS (CASE: MONTENEGRO)

Iva Bulatovic — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Residents’ attitudes toward tourism development and its impacts (economic, sociocultural and environmental) in case of Montenegro haven’t been analyzed before in a scientific and systematic way. The main aim of this paper is to provide a highquality base for further research bearing in mind that there is no relevant, scientific research related to this topic. For the purposes of this paper poll survey among residents in Montenegro (total 857) was conducted in 2018. Collected data were processed and analyzed by different statistical methods. Results showed that attitudes of residents depend on their place of residence. There is also a statistically significant relationship between demographic characteristics and positive and negative attitudes toward tourism impacts but the relationship is not strong. New, expanded research regarding the topic is recommended as well as the introduction of destination lifecycle analysi.

EMPATHY IN TOURISM INDUSTRY: A HUMANCENTERED APPROACH OF HOSPITALITY IN BUSINESS WORLD2

Manola Maria, Papagrigoriou Aristeidis — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This paper investigates the value of empathy in Tourism Industry, by presenting arguments about a human-cented approach of hospitality in business. "Empathy” is defined as an individual's ability to “see” the facts from another person’s perspective while maintaining emotional control. The role of empathy in interpersonal relationships is presented, followed by the application of empathetic behaviour in several service-oriented industries and focusing on tourism market. Some evaluation techniques and tools are presented and certain conclusions are extracted as far as the utilization of this nuence of emotional intelligence is concerned. A lot of research work must be done, mainly in field, for further investigation of this relatively new topic on business service research.

TOURISM MOTIVATION AND LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES AMONG RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Oyebisi Bakare — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The study examined the influence of tourism motivation factors on livelihood strategies of host people. The study area was Osun State. One tourism festival specific town from each of the three senatorial districts was purposively selected based on highest patronage and most famous. Egungun festival - Iwo (July, 2018), Osun Osogbo festival - Osogbo (August, 2018), and Baba funfun festival - Imesi- Ile (April, 2018) from Osun West, Central, and East Senatorial Districts respectively. Purposive sampling technique was used to select four hundred and fifty respondents, one hundred and fifty each from each festival. The results revealed that there is significant difference in the abilities of push and pull factors on livelihood strategies of the host people (t = 41.901, p<0.05). The results also showed significant relationships between push factors (relaxation (r = 0.2330), economic power (r = 0.4238), prestige/caste (r = 0.3748), and worship (r = 0.1484) while the same position was observed on pull factors (clement weather (r = 0.3112), pristine culture (r = 0.3660), adventure (r = 0.3348), journey thrill (r = 0.2437), scenery (r = 0.2912), entertainments (r = 0.3712), cuisines (r = 0.2731), souvenirs (r = 0.4111). However, family ties (r = -0.2679) showed negative significant correlation. Regression coefficients of six pull factors; clement weather (b = 1.311), pristine culture (b = 1.389), adventure (b = 1.707), entertainments (b = 1.252), cuisines (b = 1.792), souvenirs (b = 1.6731) and three push factors (official obligation (b = -0.3138), prestige/caste (b = 1.509), relaxation/fun (b = 1.655)) significantly contributed to the unit change in livelihood strategies of the host people. The study concluded that tourism motivation factors contributed to livelihood strategies of the host people. It was recommended that stakeholders should reinforce the facilities in both tangible and intangible terms to accommodate the urge of tourists and even expand the need threshold for improved patronage that will translate to more livelihood strategies for the teeming host population.

TRANSPORT FOR TOURISM: A REVIEW OF PRACTICES AND A ROADMAP FOR POLICYMAKERS

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The development of transport infrastructure is a prerequisite and a fundamental factor in tourism sector growth, as without the variety of transport means (i.e. tourist transport by air, by water, on land) and modes (i.e. mass transportation, independent means of travel) tourism industry would not be able to exist. In this context, tourism embraces all the transport systems, from local transit systems to global air connection among destinations. This paper discusses transport for tourism issues with emphasis on practices observed in the rail, yacht and cruising sectors. Policy implications are then thoroughly discussed to suggest a roadmap for those working in the area.

EXPLORING VISITOR MOTIVATIONS AT RELIGIOUS TOURISM SITES TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY ON THE REGION OF WEST THESSALY, GREECE

Panagiotis Lachlali, Despina Sdrali, Roido Mitoula, Constantinos Apostolopoulos — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Religious tourism not only addresses the satisfaction of human religious and spiritual needs, but is also related to a range of reasons, such as recreation, leisure, landscape patterns, cultural or educational reasons. The aim of this study was to investigate the profile of 502 Greek tourists visiting religious sites on the region of West Thessaly, Greece, and their motivation as well. According to the results, the respondents are in line with the model of the short visit religious tourists travelling in organised groups. Using exploratory factor analysis, the findings revealed that the religious sites of the region attracted visitors who seek to fulfill different kinds of needs; religious and nature-seeking motivations seem to be significant factors for visiting the surveyed region. This finding suggests that it would be worthwhile for destination managers to pay more attention to tourist attractions, such as environment and religious atmosphere, in order to continue to enhance experiences and attract repeated tourists. Finally, motivational factors and activities identified in the research show that collaboration between the stakeholders, such as the Church, local authorities and tourist sector, is necessary.