INNOVATION STRATEGIES AND

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN
TOURISM

This book analyzes the importance of innovation as the key driver of sustained success in
the tourism industry and the knowledge sharing process. It explores its impact on innovation
capability and innovation performance of organizations.
With 12 chapters written by 22 contributors, the book offers international reflections.
The first part of the book focuses on innovation management strategies and analyzes the
importance of innovation as the key driver of sustained success in the tourism industry.
Tourism and hospitality firms develop innovations with specific objectives and goals in mind
and have several approaches to measure performance accordingly. The second part of the
book focuses on knowledge sharing through case studies. Chapters analyze the knowledge-
sharing process and its impact on the innovation capability and innovation performance of
the firms. The essence of knowledge sharing is to provide a framework for management in
their attempt to develop and enhance their organizational capability to innovate in tourism.
This invaluable book provides both theoretical and practical insights into innovation
strategies and knowledge sharing in tourism. It will interest students, scholars and researchers,
as well as executives and practitioners in the field of tourism and hospitality management.

Marco Valeri received his PhD in Strategic Management and Organizational Behavior from
“Tor Vergata” University, Italy. He is Associate Professor in Organizational Behavior at Faculty
of Economics, Niccolò Cusano University, Italy. He is a Lecturer in Applied Organizational
Behaviour, Xenophon College, UK. He is Visiting Professor at University of Information
Science and Technology (UIST) “St. Paul The Apostle”, Macedonia. He is Adjunct Professor
at Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, School of Hospitality, Tourism and
Events, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He is Associate Researcher in Strategy, Magellan
Research Center, School of Management, Iaelyon Business School, Jean Monet University,
France. He is Honorary Associate Professor, University of Pannonia, Hungary. His teaching
and consultancy fields include strategic management, leadership development, cross-cultural
management and international hospitality management. His research areas include sustainability
and green practices, strategy implementation, knowledge management, family business, crisis
management, information technology and network analysis. He has a long and extensive
international academic experience and has taken visiting positions in several universities. He is
a member of several Editorial Boards of international tourism journals, a reviewer and editor of
several handbooks on entrepreneurship, tourism and hospitality management.
Routledge Insights in Tourism Series
Series Editor: Anukrati Sharma
Head & Associate Professor of the Department of Commerce and
Management at the University of Kota, India

This series provides a forum for cutting edge insights into the latest developments
in tourism research. It offers high quality monographs and edited collections that
develop tourism analysis at both theoretical and empirical levels.

Diasporic Mobilities on Vacation

Tourism of European-Moroccans at Home
Lauren B Wagner

Overtourism and Cruise Tourism in Emerging Destinations on the

Arabian Peninsula
Manuela Gutberlet

Pseudo-Authenticity and Tourism

Preservation, Miniaturization, and Replication
Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman and Lihua Chen

Developing Industrial and Mining Heritage Sites

Lavrion Technology and Cultural Park, Greece
Taşkın Deniz Yıldız

Innovation Strategies and Organizational Culture in Tourism

Concepts and Case Studies on Knowledge Sharing
Edited by Marco Valeri

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Insights-

in-Tourism-Series/book-series/RITS
INNOVATION STRATEGIES
AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE IN TOURISM
Concepts and Case Studies on
Knowledge Sharing

Edited by Marco Valeri

Designed cover image: Henk Leerink
First published 2024
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2024 selection and editorial matter, Marco Valeri; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Marco Valeri to be identified as the author of the editorial
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in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-032-63332-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-63334-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-63337-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS

Preface vii
List of figures ix
List of tables x
List of contributors xii

PART 1
Innovation management strategies 1

1 Role of new era on information management of tourist guides 3

Aslı Sultan Eren, Jeetesh Kumar, Gül Erkol Bayram and
Marco Valeri

2 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing

among employees working at SMEs in the tourism and
service sector 13
Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

3 Managing the use of verbal and non-verbal

communication in tourism 29
Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and MarcoValeri

4 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine

tourists: a grounded theory approach 45
Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma
vi Contents

5 Digital marketing and consumer behavior in tourism 61

Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

6 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services”

provider and not a real estate or tourist services provider 70
Anastasios E. Thomaidis

PART 2
Knowledge sharing: case studies 81

7 Destination management. The role of DMOs on digital

brand communication. The case of Greece 83
Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina
Aivaliotou

8 Factor that influences consumption of

unhealthy street food 96
Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

9 Sustainable tourism in the post-Covid era: the Case of

Athens destination 114
Panoraia Poulaki, Antonios Kritikos, Nikolaos Vasilakis
and Marco Valeri

10 Factor that influences the tourist perception toward street

foods moderate by price: case study of George
Town, Penang 123
Albattat Ahmad and Norhidayah Azman

11 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 143
Willem JL Coetzee

12 Management of cultural routes as the new status quo in

urban cultural tourism 165
Theodor Rachiotis and Panoraia Poulaki

Index 182
PREFACE

The twenty-first century tourism destinations have the imperative to innovate and
remain competitive in an increasingly global competitive environment. Academics
and managers have long been discussing on it. In tourism management literature,
the majority of applications are concerned with individual organizations rather than
the complex amalgams of organizations that characterize destinations.
Management literature in the tourism industry deals with the problems and
methods of managing a tourist destination. The establishment of an authority of
governance is of fundamental importance for the competitiveness of a tourist desti-
nation. The governance of the destination can be conceived as a system of strategic
decisions and actions aimed at consolidating, and over time improving, the com-
petitiveness of the destination, and defining clearly the organizational assets and
shared development goals and knowledge among all parties in the tourism industry.
There are to date only a small number of examples and applications of knowl-
edge sharing across destination networks. However, recognition of the significance
of the approach is growing as practitioners recognize the value of knowledge shar-
ing not just within the organization, but also through networks, and in particular the
encouragement of partnerships within destinations. It is characterized by the fact
that the early phases of knowledge management were characterized by the phrase
“knowledge is power.” The new thinking argues “sharing is power” and creates
“communities of knowledge” at the destination level.
A concept that must be considered in understanding destinations as networks of
organizations is that of the stakeholder. The concept is related to changing public
sector governance as well as participatory management in the private sector. Stake-
holders are the people who matter to a system. A stakeholder is any person, group
or institution that has an interest in a development activity, project or program. This
definition includes intended beneficiaries and intermediaries, winners and losers,
and those involved or excluded from decision-making processes.
viii Preface

Data, information and knowledge flows in a destination network are relevant

mechanisms for the general behavior of the system. Productivity, innovation and
economic growth are strongly influenced by these processes, and the way in which
the spread occurs can determine the speed by which individual actors perform and
plan their future actions at the destination. The structure of the network will be in-
fluential in determining the efficiency of the destination’s attempts to share knowl-
edge and innovate.
The literature in this field has dealt with two main issues: the mechanisms and
the processes of knowledge acquisition within a single stakeholder (e.g. a company,
association or group) and the diffusion within the destination network formed by
groups of stakeholders, based on their similarity (industrial clusters, for example),
or because of their spatial location. The topology of the destination network formed
by the different stakeholders and their formal and informal relationships has proved
to be an important determinant when explaining the mechanisms by which ideas,
information and knowledge “travel” from one element of the system to another.
The book Innovation Strategies and Organizational Culture in Tourism. Con-
cepts and Case Studies on Knowledge Sharing is the result of reflections involving
research studies of different nationalities. The book contains 12 chapters written
by 22 authors located in seven different countries (Australia, China, Greece, Italy,
Malaysia, Slovakia, Turkey) and affiliated with 15 different Universities. The book
will be an opportunity to stimulate academic research, approaches and methods,
developing a synthesized framework of innovation management process consist-
ing of several categories: innovation strategies, knowledge sharing, organizational
culture and structure, project management and commercialization in tourism.
The book is structured in two parts. The first part focuses on innovation man-
agement strategies. This part collects chapters that analyze the importance of in-
novation as the key driver of sustained success in the tourism industry. Tourist and
hospitality firms develop innovations with specific objectives and goals in mind
and have several approaches to measure performance accordingly. The second part
focuses on knowledge sharing: case studies. This part collects chapters that analyze
the knowledge-sharing process and its impact on the innovation capability and in-
novation performance of the firms. The essence of knowledge sharing is to provide
a framework for management in their attempt to develop and enhance their organi-
zational capability to innovate in tourism.
FIGURES

1.1 Schematic representation of the principal components of the

tourist guide’s role 5
2.1 Applicant categories based on EQ 19
2.2 Relationship between gender and EQ of the respondents 20
2.3 The relationship between EQ and willingness to share knowledge 23
3.1 Seven major elements of communication process 33
3.2 Albert Mehrabian’s 7–38–55 Rule of Personal Communication 36
3.3 Pie chart of frequency variable “Contribution of choice” 38
3.4 Pie chart of frequencies for utilization of non-verbal behavior
by locals 39
3.5 Bar chart of variable “Most effective method” 41
4.1 Conceptual framework of wellness value formation in
wine tourism 56
8.1 Conceptual framework 102
10.1 Research framework for the current study 128
TABLES

2.1 Demographic characteristics of the respondents 19

2.2 Distribution of EQ by gender 20
2.3 Crosstab with observed and expected values – gender and EQ 21
2.4 Chi-square test result – gender and EQ 22
2.5 Strength of the relationship – gender and EQ 22
2.6 Crosstab with observed and expected values – EQ and
willingness to share knowledge 23
2.7 Chi-square test result – EQ and willingness to share knowledge 24
2.8 Strength of the relationship – EQ and willingness to
share knowledge 24
4.1 Profile of the informants 51
4.2 Wellness value logic 52
4.3 Factors contributing to wellness value 54
7.1 Contribution of previous studies 84
7.2 Case studies on DMOs 89
8.1 CA, CR and AVE values 103
8.2 Discriminant validity 104
8.3 Heterotraits and monotraits (HTMT) 105
8.4 R2 value 105
8.5 Hypothesis testing – direct relationship 106
8.6 Hypothesis testing – mediation effect 107
10.1 Demographic profile 130
10.2 CA, CR and AVE values 131
10.3 Discriminant validity test (Fornell–Larcker) 132
10.4 Heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations 132
10.5 R2 132
 Tables xi

10.6 Hypothesis testing 133

10.7 Moderation effect 134
12.1 Pivot table of descriptive statistics 173
12.2 Sources of funding for the strengthening and promotion of
cultural routes and views on the autonomy of Local Government
Organizations from the state 174
12.3 Cultural routes as useful tools for promoting the sustainable
development of areas in relation to actions to link environmental
protection with cultural routes 175
12.4 Cultural routes as useful tools to promote the sustainable
development of areas in relation to the importance of integrating
technologies into the cultural routes themselves 175
12.5 Correlations of the role of Marketing and Destination
Management Organizations, the promotion of PPPs and the
importance of integrating technologies 176
CONTRIBUTORS

Ahmad Albattat is an Associate Professor in Graduate School of Management,

Post Graduate Centre, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Selangor,
Malaysia. He is a Visiting Professor and External Examiner in Medan Academy
of Tourism (Akpar Medan). He received PhD in Hospitality Management “Disas-
ter and Emergency Planning and Preparedness” from University Sains Malaysia
(USM), Malaysia. He worked as an Assistant Professor, Ammon Applied Univer-
sity College, Amman, Jordan. Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator in School
of Hospitality & Creative Arts, Management and Science University, Shah Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia, and Researcher at Sustainable Tourism Research Cluster
(STRC), Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. He was working for the Jordanian hospitality
industry for 17 years. His teaching and consultancy fields include hospitality man-
agement, events management, research methodology, strategic management and
final research projects. His research areas include hospitality management, hotel,
tourism, events, emergency planning, disaster management, sustainable develop-
ment goals and human resource. He is an active member of several Scientific and
Editorial Board of International journals, reviewer, author and editor for book pro-
jects. His latest works have been published in the refereed international journals,
conference proceedings, books and book chapters.

Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou, Directorate of Research, Dept. of Tourism Statis-

tics, Ministry of Tourism of Greece. Hellenic Open University (HOU): Master on
“Management & Business Administration”. She is currently Deputy Head of the
Department of Tourism Statistics in the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism. During the
period 2013–2016, she had been appointed Director at the Office of the Greek Na-
tional Tourism Organisation (GNTO) in Germany. She is a graduate of the Depart-
ment of Economics of the University of Piraeus, of the National School of Public
 Contributors xiii

Administration and Local Government and holds an MBA from the Hellenic Open
University. She speaks fluently English, French and German.

Norhidayah Bt Azman is Senior Lecturer in Faculty of Business Management and

Professional Studies, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Selangor,
Malaysia. She holds a doctoral degree in Business Management from Management
and Science University (MSU). With a strong 7 years of industrial experience, her
particular specialization is on digital marketing, big data, management, human re-
sources, consumer behavior and marketing. She also received Certified Marketing
Professional from American Industrial Certification Institute for completing mar-
keting professional courses. She has participated and presented research papers at
several International academic conferences. She is an active member of Scientific
and Editorial Review Board for various SCOPUS journals.

Mahmut Baltacı received Phd in Tourism Management from “Mersin” University,

Türkiye. He received his bachelor degree from “Mugla” University and master
degree from “Selcuk” University. He is an Assistant Professor in Tourist Guiding
Programme at Department of Travel, Tourism and Entertainment Services, at the
Vocational School of Silifke, Tasucu of Selcuk University, Türkiye. His teaching
and consultancy fields include travel management, ticketing management, tourist
behavior, tourism marketing, gastronomy and tourist guiding. He has many book
chapters, essays and conference papers about his teaching fields. He is also a mem-
ber of Türkiye Tourist Guides Association as a tourist guide.

Stylianos Bouzis is a PhD candidate at the International Hellenic University in the

field of Tourism and Hospitality Management and Certified Adult Educator (mem-
ber of the Register of Instructors of Panteion University), Greece. He holds a bach-
elor’s degree in Russian Language, Literature and Culture and a master’s degree in
Strategic Tourism Destination Management, specializing in Tourism Development
Strategy. His research interests focus on the tourism development, special and al-
ternative forms of tourism, glamping and tourism innovation.
He works as Assistant to the Development Director at Artion Conferences and
Events, one of the most outstanding PCOs and DMSs in Greece.

Willem JL Coetzee holds a PhD in sustainable tourism. He has developed and

taught several subjects in sustainable tourism and event management in South Af-
rica (1996–2014), New Zealand (2015–2022) and now at Western Sydney Univer-
sity in Australia. His research focuses on (i) the resilience of the hotel industry in
water-stressed destinations and the SDGs, (ii) attendee experiences at festivals and
events and (iii) LGBTTQIA+ tourism and events. As an expert in the field, he su-
pervised more than 20 Doctoral candidates to completion and is serving on several
editorial boards, conference organizing committees, PhD workshops and academic
writing retreats for early career researchers.
xiv Contributors

Jingjing Dai holds a PhD from South Korea and has worked in various cultural
settings, such as China, Hong Kong SAR, the UK, South Korea, and the United
Arab Emirates. She is an associate professor at the Office of Domestic and Foreign
Affairs, Ningxia University, China. Currently, she works as the Chinese director at
the Confucius Institute at the University of Dubai, UAE.

Bob Yi-Chen Duan is a lecturer at the School of Vocational and Technical Educa-
tion, Yunnan Normal University, China. He received his education and practiced
teaching on three continents, including Asia, Australia/Oceania, and Europe. The
research area is cultural tourism. He is interested in social psychology’s linkage to
cultural phenomena, especially in the context of wine tourism.

Aslı Sultan Eren completed her undergraduate education at Sinop University,

School of Tourism Management and Hotel Management, Department of Tour-
ist Guidance and her master’s degree at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Univer-
sity, Institute of Tourism Research, Department of Tourism Guidance. As a
PhD candidate, she is still continuing her education at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş
Veli University, Department of Tourism Guidance. Furthermore she working
at Istanbul Esenyurt University as a lecturer. The author has an international
book chapter, national and international papers and articles. Her research inter-
ests include tour guiding, tourist behavior, tourism ethics, gastronomy tourism
and etc.

Gül Erkol Bayram is currently Associate Professor in School of Tourism and Hotel
Management, Department of Tour Guiding, University of Sinop, Sinop, Turkey.
Her doctorate is in Tourism Management from the Sakarya University, Turkey,
and she completed her dissertation research on Tour Guiding in Turkey. Her core
subjects are tourism, tour guiding, tourism policy and planning, and women stud-
ies. Erkol Bayram has also worked as a professional tour guide in the tourism
sector. She has many book chapters and articles in the national and international
arenas. She has been invited for many talks/lectures/panel discussions by different
universities.

Tolga Gök is Associate Professor at the department of Hotel, Restaurant and Cater-
ing Services at the Vocational School of Silifke Tasucu, Selcuk University, Mer-
sin, Türkiye. He serves as the Director of the Vocational School and the Head
of the Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Services Department. With the approval of
the Turkish Higher Education Institution, He worked at the Department of Travel
Business and Tourism Guidanсe in Tourism Faculty of Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas
University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan between 2016 and 2021. During this period, He
served as vice dean for two years and dean for two years at the Tourism Faculty.
He completed his Bachelor’s degree (1998) and Master’s degree (2002) in Tourism
Management and his doctorate (2009) in Business Administration. His research
interests are focused on tourism management, tourism behavior, gastronomy and
 Contributors xv

cultural heritage. He has published articles, book chapters and conference papers
about tourism.

Antonios Kritikos graduated from the Department of Social Anthropology of

Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in 2016. He holds a master’s
degree in business administration (MBA) from the University of West Attica in
2018. He also obtained a master’s degree in “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in
Tourism” (MSc) from the University of West Attica in 2019 with an oath rating
of “excellent” in 2021. He is a PhD candidate of the National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Department of Business and Organizational Management,
Greece. In 2019, his award at the pan-Hellenic university level by the Hellenic
Association of Professional Congress Organizers is a benchmark based on the
“Waste Management and the production of electricity from waste as a solution for
a sustainable tourism development.” In 2023, he was awarded by the sustainable
development journal SDCT-Journal as the best research study of the 28 issues of
the journal with a case study of the Acropolis Museum entitled “Digital technology
as a means of promoting cultural tourism in Greece.”

Jeetesh Kumar is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Events;
Hub Leader at the Responsible Tourism for Inclusive Economic Growth” hub under
the Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab and Associate Director for the Centre for Re-
search and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT) at Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure
Management, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research interests include sustainable
tourism, community participation, economic impacts, and economic modelling.

Emily Ma is a professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at

the University of Surrey, UK. Her research area includes organizational behavior,
customer experience management and women in leadership.

Ladislav Mura is Associate Professor at the Department of Tourism, Faculty of

Commerce, University of Economics, Bratislava, Slovakia. He is Slovak econo-
mist and expert on small and medium enterprises, family businesses, international
business management and the phenomenon of internationalization of business. He
is the author of three domestic scientific monographs, two foreign scientific mono-
graphs and some papers in scientific journals (with impact factor, too), including
foreign journals and contributions to foreign and domestic conferences.

Panagiota Dionysopoulou, Director General of Tourism Policy, Ministry of Tour-

ism of Greece, Adjunct Professor School of Social Science, Post-graduate courses
“Tourism Business Administration Msc”, Hellenic Open University (HOU). He is
the Director General of Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Tourism of Greece. She
holds a PhD in Tourism Economics and Politics. She has postgraduate studies in
Public Economics and Politics and International and European Relations. She is a
graduate of Athens University of Economics and Business.
xvi Contributors

She has many years of teaching experience in Higher Education. In addition to

her teaching experience, she has held management positions, as Director and Gen-
eral Director at the Ministry of Education.
She has participated in the elaboration of tourism development studies and pub-
lished original papers in scientific conferences and journals. She is the author of the
book “European Tourism Policy” and has participated in collective books.

Panoraia Poulaki is Academic Laboratory Teaching Staff in the Department of

Economics and Management of Tourism of the University of the Aegean, Greece.
She also teaches in the MSc Program in Strategic Management of Tourism Destina-
tions and Hospitality Enterprises of the University of the Aegean. She holds a first
degree in History and Archaeology from the National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, Master of Science (MSc) in Planning, Management and Policy of Tour-
ism from the University of the Aegean and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Tour-
ism from the same University. She has written a book about the contribution of
the Ottoman Monuments of Chios to the development of cultural tourism, she has
published research papers in scientific journals, and she has presented her research
work in international conferences. Her research interests focus on the development,
planning and management of tourism, with emphasis on special and alternative
forms of tourism. In 2023, she was awarded by the sustainable development jour-
nal SDCT-Journal as the best research study of the 28 issues of the journal with a
case study of the Acropolis Museum entitled “Digital Technology as a Means of
Promoting Cultural Tourism in Greece.”

Theodoros Rachiotis is an educator in the private sector and a PhD candidate at the
School of Physical Education and Sports of the Kapodistrian University of Athens,
with a subject related to both sports psychology and sports research methodology,
Greece. He holds a first degree in History-Archaeology from the Aristotle Univer-
sity of Thessaloniki and a Master of Science (MSc) in Planning, Management and
Policy of Tourism from the University of the Aegean. He has published research
papers in scientific journals and has presented his research work in national and in-
ternational conferences. His research interests focus on the development, planning
and management of tourism, but also on sports psychology.

Anastasios E. Thomaidis is Athens Lawyer appointed to the Supreme Court of

Greece. He holds PhD in Civil and Tourism Law (Law School, Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki), Adjunct Lecturer in Civil Law in the Law School of the European
University of Cyprus and Legal Advisor to the Ministers of Tourism (2019–2021)
and Citizen Protection (2021–2023). He is Head of the Energy Sector of the Greek
governing political party of New Democracy.

Marco Valeri is Associate Professor in Organizational Behavior at Faculty of Eco-

nomics, Niccolò Cusano University, Italy. He is a Lecture in Applied Organizational
 Contributors xvii

Behaviour, Xenophon College, UK. He is Visiting Professor at University of

Information Science and Technology (UIST) “St. Paul The Apostle”, Macedonia.
He is Adjunct Professor at Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management,
School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He is
Associate Researcher in Strategy, Magellan Research Center, School of Manage-
ment, Iaelyon Business School, Jean Monet University, France. He is Honorary
Associate Professor, University of Pannonia Hungary. His teaching and consul-
tancy fields include strategic management, leadership development, cross-cultural
management, and international hospitality management. His research areas include
sustainability, strategy implementation, knowledge management, family business,
crisis management, information technology and network analysis. He is a member
of several Editorial Boards of international tourism journals, reviewer and editor
of several handbooks on entrepreneurship, tourism and hospitality management.

Nikolaos Vasilakis is a teacher in secondary education in Chios of Greece and a re-

searcher in history, culture and Greek language. He holds a degree in History from
the Ionian University (Corfu) of Greece. He has published research papers in scien-
tific journals and has presented his research work in international conferences. His
research interests focus on history, culture and Greek language. In 2023, he was
awarded by the sustainable development journal SDCT-Journal as the best research
study of the 28 issues of the journal with a case study of the Acropolis Museum en-
titled “Digital Technology as a Means of Promoting Cultural Tourism in Greece.”

Tibor Zsigmond is an assistant professor at the Department of Management, Fac-

ulty of Economics and Informatics, János Selye University, in Komárno, Slovakia.
He completed his doctoral studies at this faculty too, defending his dissertation in
August 2021. He published more than 80 papers, some of which are listed in in-
ternational databases (WoS, Scopus). He has also participated in various domestic
and foreign conferences in recent years, including several times in Bratislava, Sub-
otica, Hradec Králové, Prague, Pula and Portorož. He was the winner of “Danubius
Young Scientist Award” in 2022.
PART 1

Innovation management
strategies
1
ROLE OF NEW ERA ON INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT OF TOURIST GUIDES
Aslı Sultan Eren, Jeetesh Kumar, Gül Erkol Bayram
and Marco Valeri

Introduction
Tourist guiding profession, which is one of the sub-professional branches of tour-
ism, which is a service sector, is also among the professions that benefit from
technological developments. At first glance, there is a belief that the impact of
technology will be minimal in the tourist guiding profession, where human rela-
tions are at the forefront. However, in addition to the various applications that can
be downloaded to mobile communication devices and used by people in the desti-
nations they visit, the increase in the number of robots providing guidance services
in closed areas such as museums and exhibitions in various countries of the world
since 1991 shows the opposite of this belief. A guide robot that provides guidance
in any museum or exhibition hall visited by domestic and foreign tourists in Turkey
has not yet been developed. However, in addition to the “audio guide” application
called an audio guide, which has been started to be used in order to provide more
comprehensive information in different languages to the tourists visiting the muse-
ums and ruins, as well as the mobile microphone and earphone assembly known as
the “head-set” working with radio frequency to be used in group tours in Turkey. It
also exemplifies the effects of technology on the tourist guiding profession (Yıldız,
2019).
Headset and audio guide systems used in Turkey facilitate the work of tourist
guides. However, robot tourist guides used in various countries are used as a sub-
stitute for human tourist guides in museums or exhibition halls where they provide
guidance. In other words, there are robots as well as humans in the tourist guide
profession in these countries. This puts human tourist guides at risk of losing their
jobs. Unfortunately, there is almost no study on the current and future roles of
the developments in the field of technology in the domestic and foreign literature,

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-2
4 Aslı Sultan Eren et al.

especially the robot tourist guides in the tourist guiding profession. Existing studies
generally focus on the technical features of robot guides. This study aims to raise
awareness about the existence of technology-based guidance activities, the impor-
tance of which is increasing day by day in the tourist guiding profession.

General review of tour guides: definitions, challenges, current

issues
It is seen that tourist guides in the world come together with many different insti-
tutions and organizations and try to act jointly. Firstly, the WFTGA definition is
“A person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the
cultural and natural heritage of an area, normally with a site-specific qualifica-
tion usually awarded and/or recognised by the appropriate authority” (WFTGA,
2023). Then, when the definition of FEG (European Federation of Tourist Guide
Associations) is examined, the tourist guiding profession has been defined as “His-
torically Tourist Guiding has developed for decades as a distinct profession within
the tourism industry alongside other complimentary professions that also contrib-
utes to the visitors’ overall experience” (FEG, 2022). After examining the defini-
tion of these globally accepted organizations, the definitions of tourist guides in the
literature will be examined.
Tour guide profession defines it as the person who accompanies the tourists
from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave the country, gives the
information that should be given according to the nature of the tour, takes them to
places where accommodation, transportation, food and entertainment services will
be purchased, and ensures that the tourist can benefit from touristic services (İlhan
et al., 2023). Tourist guiding profession is a profession that requires individuals,
who want to visit a destination, get information about it and have a different experi-
ence, provide information about the natural, historical and cultural heritages in the
region, keep their information always up to date, lead the tourists and act as an am-
bassador between the tourist and the destination (Cohen, 1985; Eren et al., 2020).
Tourism service is an important sector that offers people the opportunity to
spend their free time with quality (Sak et al., 2022). The duties and responsibilities
of tourist guides and their characteristics are also of great importance in terms of
tourism because tourist guides are the person who will establish a link between the
tourist and the destination (Ap & Wong, 2001). For this reason, the success and
failure of the relationship between the tourist and the destination are associated
with the tourist guide (Zhang & Chow, 2004).
Tourist guide is a profession that actually carries its duties in its name because of
the word “guide” in its name. When a mentor is mentioned, the definition of “guiding
person” comes to mind first, followed by the definition of “mentor” (Cohen, 1985).
In fact, these two definitions are among the primary duties of tourist guides. Tour-
ist guides have many responsibilities before and after the tour. One of them is the
responsibility for the value of the time tourists spend at the destination (Syakier &
 Role of new era on information management of tourist guides 5

Hanafiah, 2021). Thanks to the knowledge and strong communication skills of the
tourist guides, he is responsible for solving the problem and maintaining the peace
of the tour in case of an unexpected crisis situation during the tour (Christie &
Mason, 2008). However, it is not possible to limit the duties of a tourist guide to
this extent. Tourist guides are in contact with many people and institutions such as
tourism stakeholders, local people, tourists and local governments.
In Figure 1.1, Cohen (1985) gathered the duties of tourist guides under four
main headings in his study. He allocates the multiplicity of the roles tourist guides
play into two areas he calls the areas of leadership and mediatory. These two areas
have both an outward and an inward aspect, in other words they have duties outside
the tour and duties within the group, these constitute the four main components of
the duties of tourist guides: its instrumental role, social role, interactional role and
communicative role (Ap & Wong, 2001; Cohen, 1985; Syakier & Hanafiah, 2021;
Weiler & Black, 2015; Zhang & Chow, 2004). His instrumental role in the field
of outward and leadership is related to the problem of the tour guide that he has
gone on without any problems. For this reason, it is seen as one of the “primary”
roles. Instrumental role; It consists of direction, access and control components. Its
outward and interactional role from the mediation field; It draws attention to the
role of mediator between tourists and local people, tourism businesses and official
institutions in the destination. The interactive role includes the components of rep-
resenting and organizing. The social roles of the tourist guide, which is seen as an
inward role from the leadership area, refer to the strong communication between
the tour participants and the ability to keep the energy of the tour high and to solve
the problems in the tour professionally. Stress or crisis management, in-group har-
mony, high energy and recreational activities are the components that make up the
social role of the tourist guide. Finally, there is the communicative role, which is
inward-oriented from the mediation field. The communicative role represents the
skills they use during their communication with tourists and includes the ability to
select, inform, interpret and narrate (Ap & Wong, 2001; Cohen, 1985).

Extrovert Introvert

Leadership Area Role of Instrumental Role of Social

Mediatory Area Role of Interaction Role of Communicative

Source: Cohen, 1985

FIGURE 1.1 Schematic representation of the principal components of the tourist guide’s
role
6 Aslı Sultan Eren et al.

Tourist guiding is a very valuable profession. Although tourist guides have im-
portant duties, they should also have the features to cope with the tasks. Tourist
guides should act as a bridge between local people–tourist and tourist–destination,
sometimes by acting as a mentor or a storyteller, sometimes as a translator, con-
veying the knowledge they have like a teacher. For this reason, he should have the
characteristics of a cultural ambassador. In order to keep the excitement and energy
in the tour high, there should be an entertainment actor at times, and sometimes
he should guide tourists, guide them, and take the right decisions on their behalf,
as the real meaning of the word “guide” in his name (Chang, 2014; Chang et al.,
2020; Cohen, 1985; Eren et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2010; Pearce, 1984; Weiler &
Black, 2015). Therefore, it is very important for tourists to be able to convey
the characteristics of tourist guides and the situations experienced during the
tour, to show themselves and to be approved by tourists (Pearce, 1984; Pearce &
Lee, 2005). Çimrin (1995) listed the features that should be in a tourist guide as
follows:

• He should take care of his clothes

• Speak fluently and clearly in the language he/she serves
• Must be a polite, fun and serious individual with boundaries
• Avoid arguing with the tourist
• He should not turn his back on the tourists while making his presentation
• Must have etiquette rules
• Avoid unnecessary intimacy with tourists, not to talk too much and bore the
tourist
• Should not behave like “I know everything”
• Should deal with all the problems of tourists
• Must be honest
• Must be on time
• Should not make changes in the tour program according to their personal
interests
• Keep your cool in times of crisis
• Must be sociable, not shy
• Treat each of the tourists equally
• Should not discriminate on religion, language, race and gender and should treat
each individual with respect
• He should know his country well and avoid rhetoric and behavior that would
discredit his country to tourists
• The presentation skills should be developed, and they should be able to market
the destination well

In this way, it is possible to list the features that a tourist guide should have. To
enable the tour guide to receive positive feedback from the tourists if he or she
 Role of new era on information management of tourist guides 7

successfully transfers these features to the tour (Çimrin, 1995; Syakier & Hanafiah,
2021).

Tour guiding & information management with perspective of

SWOT Analysis
Information management has been defined by the American Center for Production
and Quality as systematic approaches to ensure that knowledge is disseminated at
the right time and to the right person so that it can emerge and create value (Buck-
man, 2004, p. 17). Information management is basically a discipline that updates
the ever-increasing information capacity in the organizational environment, makes
the information available, defines the necessary processes to reach the necessary
information, and ensures that the necessary information is shared with the com-
pany employees (Harrison & Kessels, 2004, p. 39).
According to Awad and Ghaziri (2004), knowledge management is an interdiscipli-
nary model that carries knowledge within the framework and focus of attention of the
organization. It is based on many disciplines such as economics, psychology and in-
formation management. It is the ultimate advantage in today’s organizations. Parts of it
include people, technology and processes. It has a positive effect on business processes.
The purpose of knowledge management is to capture what is needed in a process and to
support knowledge workers in sharing this knowledge. If an organization can capture
and disseminate knowledge, the benefits will be endless (Daghfous, 2003).
When the information management is examined in terms of tourist guides, it has
turned to different channels in line with the developing technology and diversifying
needs. In tour guiding, at the stages of knowledge management, the most appropri-
ate way to get the point across is to set high-level principles rather than elaborate
tactics. Once a tour of basic principles regarding knowledge management have
been agreed upon, detailed approaches and plans can be created based on these
principles. These principles are as follows (Barutçugil, 2002, p. 85):

• Information management in tour guide is a continuous process

• Information management in tour guide is expensive to use
• Effective information management in tour guide requires joint solutions of peo-
ple and technology
• Confidence and belief are required for the success of information management
in tour guide
• It is very important to follow the latest technological developments and a com-
prehensive team for information management applications in tour guidance
• Information management in tour guide means the improvement of knowledge of
business processes
• Sharing and using information through technology are often unnatural actions.
It is necessary to adapt the profession of tour guide and keep up with the times
8 Aslı Sultan Eren et al.

• Information management in tour guide makes use of knowledge maps

• Information management in tour guide is a long process. It is not enough for
the tourist to just be aware of the information and reach the information. It is
necessary to get the right information from an expert in the field at the right
time

As a result of the SWOT analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, advantages and

threats of technological developments to the tourist guiding profession were de-
termined. These are;

Strengths
• Tour guides have the opportunity to go on more tours due to the increase in
people’s participation in the tour thanks to the developments in transportation
technology
• Thanks to transportation technologies, travels become safer for both tourists and
guides
• Thanks to communication technologies, the tourist–guide relationship becomes
stronger before and after the tour than in the past
• Minimizing the problems experienced in finding directions and alternative
routes thanks to navigation technology
• Elimination of the need for tourist guides to carry auxiliary resources with them

Weaknesses
• Advanced information technologies bring information pollution
• The possibility of errors in the use of technology causing serious problems
• The possibility of guides or tourists not being able to fully master the technology
• Rapid developments and innovations in technology constitute a significant
expense

Opportunities
• Compared to the past, tourist guides can become more knowledgeable culturally
and geographically in a shorter time
• Thanks to advanced communication networks and social media, guides have the
chance to get extra tours by contacting customers directly
• Technology acting as a driving force for guides to prepare themselves in a
shorter time about geographies they have not been to before

Threats
• The risk that technology-based guidance practices may replace guides in future
 Role of new era on information management of tourist guides 9

• The possibility that guides who cannot adapt to the developing technology will
fail in competition
• The probability of the tour being interrupted as a result of not obtaining the
expected benefit from each technological product

Tour guides in new area: technology as promoter and helper in

guided tours
The use of the Internet has also become widespread due to the widespread use
of computers. Today, thanks to mobile communication devices such as internet-
compatible smartphones or tablets that almost everyone has, people have the op-
portunity to access information whenever they want without the constraints of time
and space (Demir & Demir, 2022). These devices, thanks to the fact that they have
a navigation feature with various GPS-supported applications downloaded from
the internet, have made a significant contribution to the fact that people can eas-
ily reach the place they want to go in a city or country they are unfamiliar with.
Although these developments do not have a direct impact on the tourist guiding
profession, they have reduced the dependence of tourists visiting a country on in-
terpreter tourist guides or guidebooks (Rui et al., 2023). Science and technology
have made their presence felt in the tourist guiding profession with robot tourist
guides as well as various applications downloaded to mobile devices. In time, there
have been developments in the features of robots as well as their usage areas. De-
velopments in the field of artificial intelligence continue to contribute significantly
to taking important steps toward giving robots human characteristics. Thanks to ar-
tificial intelligence studies, there is talk of the existence of humanoid robots, which
are called “humanoids” and have features close to those of a human (Vadreas et al.,
2022; Rui et al., 2023).
Guidance profession also takes its share from technology and innovation. Ad-
vanced GPS-assisted map applications, applications that provide detailed, written
and audio explanations about museums and sites can now offer tourists an alterna-
tive to travel without a guide, even in the destinations they visit for the first time
(İstanbullu Dinçer & Çakmak, 2015). In addition, many different technological
developments offer important outputs for the guide. When the literature on the in-
teraction between tourism guidance and technological developments is examined,
no direct publication on tourist guidance and technological developments has been
found. In the studies (Kenteris et al., 2009; Vansteenwegen & Van Oudheusden,
2007; Souffriau et al., 2008), tourist guides use GPS, internet, etc., during the tour.
There are research works on the structure of technologies, there is no evaluation
of these technologies in terms of tourism, and studies in the field of engineering
are carried out on the algorithms of existing technologies. However, today, as in
all sub-sectors of the tourism industry, it is striking that tourist guides also make
extensive use of technology. The “head set” system, GPS-navigation technologies,
smartphones, and developments in transportation systems, which have been put
10 Aslı Sultan Eren et al.

into practice in museums and ruins, affect the guides in performing their profes-
sion; on the one hand, they also affect the tourists participating in the tour very
positively, and it is thought to increase the participation or efficiency of the tour.
The position of the use of technology in the profession of tour guide today is
such that it allows one to visit important tourist points that are known and expected
to be visited without a tour guide. These applications are proof that the developing
technology and information management systems have been directly transferred
to the tour guide profession, but in today’s world, there is more development in
the field of technology every year. This situation creates the need for continuous
renewal of the technology integrated into the tour guide profession. At the same
time, the changing perception of tourism after the COVID-19 epidemic (Eren et al.,
2020) and the increase in participation in special interest tourism necessitated the
continuous spread of technological developments integrated into tour guiding ac-
tivities to new places. With these technological developments, tour guides will only
narrate to fewer groups who want tour guided tours, and in a way, the workforce of
the tour guide will also decrease (İstanbullu Dinçer & Çakmak, 2015).
Today, with the use of humanoid robots that can provide guidance both indoors
and outdoors, instead of robots that provide guidance only in indoor places such as
museums and exhibition halls, the human–machine relationship has been added to
the tourist guide profession, where the human–human relationship is at the forefront,
and accordingly, the tourist guiding profession has become more important (Kenteris
et al., 2009; Vansteenwegen & Van Oudheusden, 2007; Souffriau et al., 2008).

Conclusion
It is an indisputable fact that the developments in the field of science and technol-
ogy have an impact on many professions within the scope of the service sector as
well as the production-oriented sectors today, as in the past. While the effect of
technology is expected to be at a certain level in the service sector, where human
relations are at the forefront compared to the manufacturing sector, the develop-
ments in advanced technologies such as robots, software and artificial intelligence
have led to an increase in the effect of technology on the professions where human
relations are at the forefront. As a result of these developments, concepts such as
digital nurse, robot teacher, robot pharmacist, robot receptionist, and robot tourist
guide are more frequently encountered on various platforms. In other words, the
human–machine relationship has been added to the human–human relationship,
which are the basic elements of the service sector.
Now, tourists have the same expectations in the guidance service as if they ex-
pect qualified and special service in the hotels they stay or in the travels they make
before going on cultural tours. Groups, who acquire basic information about the
destination they will go through the Internet with their own efforts, ask for more
specific information from the guides, forcing the guide to be more equipped. At this
point, just as the tourists use technology to be more knowledgeable and conscious,
 Role of new era on information management of tourist guides 11

the guides cannot also improve themselves more easily, go on tours more prepared,
and make more comebacks if they are not integrated into the expectations with
technology. In addition, technologies are rapidly advancing toward becoming an
alternative to guidebooks. Now, tourists can make their own tour plans by down-
loading the necessary free applications to their smartphones or portable tablet com-
puters, and they can also choose the local tastes to eat or the places to shop without
the support of the guides, and create their own tour plans through these applica-
tions. From this point of view, technology is beginning to restrict the work area of
guides on the one hand, and it can also provide unguided tours to individuals who
like to travel without being tied to any group or guide. Within the scope of all these
rapid developments, information society and the reality of the globalizing world,
the importance of technology use by the guides emerges as an issue that should be
realized at the level of the union.

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2
IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
ON KNOWLEDGE SHARING AMONG
EMPLOYEES WORKING AT SMEs IN THE
TOURISM AND SERVICE SECTOR
Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

Introduction
In recent decades, companies recognized that knowledge is crucial to maintain a
favorable position of the company on the market (Milczarek et al., 2015; Szabó-
Szentgróti et al., 2019; Zakrzewska et al., 2022; Sarihasan et al., 2022). However,
this is not enough for success, as other factors also influence the success of organi-
zations. Specific knowledge is a base to get a competitive advantage. In the case
of SMEs, knowledge plays a significant role, and the primary source of knowledge
are the employees themselves (Ključnikov et al., 2022; Ključnikov et al., 2021;
Civelek et al., 2021; Wach et al., 2023). It is not enough to acquire the knowledge
that is important for organizations; it is necessary to ensure that it is available to
employees in the organization who will utilize it.
Furthermore, it is essential to use the knowledge already acquired again in fu-
ture. These processes require a certain level of competence, which is why knowl-
edge organizations were created and are involved in the activities mentioned
earlier. Companies that do not manage knowledge properly can face great diffi-
culties. Knowledge “cannot manage itself,” so it may happen that due to careless
knowledge management, it remains hidden within the company for people who
need it. In such cases, the necessary knowledge must be acquired again. This means
costs (money, time and energy) for organizations. Being a knowledge organization
pays off in the long run. However, it is crucial for companies to hire individuals
who are willing to share their knowledge. We believe that emotional intelligence
can be a factor influencing the flow of knowledge. Furthermore, emotional intelli-
gence also plays a significant role in building trust within the organization (Strugar
Jelača et al., 2022).

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-3
14 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

These thoughts inspired us to address this issue. Our primary goal is to examine
the impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing within the organiza-
tion. In order to formulate an objective opinion, we also conducted qualitative and
quantitative research, the results of which are presented in the empirical part of the
study. Based on these results we formulated recommendations that can be applied
in practice and can have a positive impact on knowledge sharing in the company.
In addition, it is essential to emphasize the situation of SMEs and compa-
nies operating in the tourism industry and hospitality during the pandemic (Per-
ovic et al., 2021; Kumar et al., 2021; Ajide, 2022; Bozsik et al., 2023; He et
al., 2022). The tourism sector and the related services are closely tied to physi-
cal contact with people (Štefko et al., 2020; Valeri & Baggio, 2021; Yin et al.,
2020; Tovmasyan, 2023). That is why emotional intelligence also plays a vital
role in everyday social interactions (Santos et al., 2022). The closures and social
distancing as a reaction to COVID-19 made the situation of these companies
extremely difficult. Some companies “survived” generating losses (e.g. financial,
knowledge-related), while others went bankrupt. After experiencing the difficult
period of the pandemic, the sector faced an even more challenging period – the
Russia–Ukraine war faded the optimism of people. The increasing energy and
transport costs combined with increasing living costs became a burden for both
the employer and the employees.

Theoretical background

Knowledge and knowledge organization

In order to understand knowledge organizations, clarifying the concept of knowl-
edge is vital with regard to knowledge management. No uniformly accepted defini-
tion describes the exact, unambiguous meaning of knowledge. Several researchers
have already interpreted the given term based on different approaches, and different
definitions have been formulated. The work of Penrose (1959) can be highlighted
first. In the book “The Theory of the Growth of the Firm,” the author examines
the circumstances and factors that influence the growth of companies. The pro-
cess presented in his work resulted in various debates, as well as formulation of
new theories and further research. The modern resource-based company theory
was developed by Wernerfelt (1984). It is closely related to the works of Rumelt
(1984), but the role of Penrose, who formulated the basis of this theory cannot be
questioned either. Based on Penrose (1959, p. 24): “A company is a collection of
productive resources, in which administrative decisions determine the distribution
among different areas of use” (Kapás, 1999; Michie, 2019).
According to Penrose (1959), some of these resources are physical, while hu-
man capital is other form of resource. Penrose also mentioned the growing impor-
tance of knowledge. Knowledge is only a “foggy” concept that cannot be perceived
as a solid component (Kapás, 1999; Michie, 2019).
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 15

Foss (1997) and Hodgson (1998a, 1998b) believe that Adam Smith is a fore-
runner of the resource-based theory, and based on his theory they published their
work “Wealth of Nations” in 1776. According to Kapás (1999); Michie (2019),
employees can access knowledge through learning and accumulate knowledge to
develop their abilities.
At the end of the twentieth century, additional studies and theories related to the
topic were elaborated. These include the work of Davenport and Prusak (1998).
The authors define knowledge as a set of experiences, values and information.
Aydin (2022) examines the topic, too.
According to Li et al. (2008) and Wierzbiński et al. (2023), knowledge is made
up of experience, perception, insight and foresight. In other words, knowledge is a
unique blend of intuition and intellect that enables individuals to understand how
they should act.
It is important to mention Drucker’s (2011) definition, which says: “Traditional
factors of production – land (natural factors), labour and capital – have not disap-
peared. They have become secondary. Knowledge gained a priority importance
and became a tool to achieve social and economic results” (Drucker, 2011, p. 38).
Based on this, capital or natural resources are not the primary economic resource.
Knowledge as an asset has replaced them (Zamir, 2019).

Emotion and emotional intelligence

The word “emotion” comes from the Latin word “motore” and the prefix “e”;
thus, it means “to move.” Therefore, the meaning of the word can be interpreted as
emotions that make us do something. According to Neale et al. (2009), emotions
influence our decisions, judgments and actions. According to Vágnerová (2005),
emotions make it easier to adapt to certain situations and life circumstances.
Emotional intelligence as a concept dates back to the 1990s; however, special-
ists were concerned with the topic even before that. Thorndike (1920) even spoke
of “social intelligence.” He believed that emotional intelligence is an ability that
can help individuals perceive and understand the behavior of other individuals.
Emotional intelligence makes people more successful in social relationships. The
creator of the WAIS, Wechsler (1955), emphasized the so-called “non-intellectual
factors.” These covered the social skills of individuals.
Later on, professionals in the field of psychology carried out numerous types of
research. Among them, Beldoch (1964) and Leuner (1966) were the first to use the
term “emotional intelligence.” Payne (1986) also addressed the topic in his doc-
toral dissertation. Payne drew attention to the importance of emotional intelligence
and its development. According to him, the development of emotional intelligence
should begin in childhood. The only problem with the work of Beldoch, Leuner
and Payne is that they did not deal enough with the concept of emotional intelli-
gence itself, so none of them formulated a precise definition, nor did they develop
a unified theory related to the concept.
16 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

It is also important to mention Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences,

which has been presented earlier. Among the eight types of intelligence he described,
we must emphasize personal (intrapersonal) and social (interpersonal) intelligence.
These two types of intelligence help us understand our own and other people’s feel-
ings, and thus, they help us manage social situations better. The theory of Lane and
Schwartz (1987) was published in the 1980s, which introduced the concept of “emo-
tional awareness.” They set up a model in which emotions are differentiated according
to their complexity and presented all this as a development theory. Bar-On (1997) in-
troduced the “emotional quotient” concept. According to him, emotional intelligence
is “a set of non-cognitive abilities, competencies and skills that influence the individ-
ual to cope with the demands and pressure of the environment” (Bar-On, 1997, p. 14).
A significant breakthrough was introduced in 1990, as Salovey and Mayer
(1990) defined the concept of emotional intelligence. They focused on Gardner’s
concepts of intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence. Based on their definition,
emotional intelligence is a skill that enables individuals to observe themselves. The
model created by these two authors will be described in detail later. Saarni (1990)
presented his theory the same year, and called his concept “emotional competence
theory.” Based on this, there are eight social-emotional competencies, which are
interrelated. These are as follows:

1) awareness of one’s own emotions, 2) ability to discern and understand other’s

emotions, 3) ability to use the vocabulary of emotion and expression, 4) capac-
ity for empathic involvement, 5) ability to differentiate subjective emotional
experience from external emotion expression, 6) adaptive coping with aversive
emotions and distressing circumstances, 7) awareness of emotional communica-
tion in social relationships, and 8) capacity for emotional self-efficacy.
Kun (2011, p. 36)

It is also important to mention the work of Goleman (1995), which popularized

the concept of emotional intelligence. According to him, emotional intelligence is a
set of abilities that include self-discipline, enthusiasm, persistence and the ability to
motivate ourselves. Thanks to his work, the term of emotional intelligence became
widespread. Due to his success, many have mistakenly credited Goleman with in-
troducing the concept of emotional intelligence. In 1995, the Time magazine drew
attention to the importance of emotional intelligence and said that it is the best
predictor of success in people’s lives, which means that EQ can be more important
than IQ (Mayer, 2015; Garamvölgyi & Rudnák, 2015).
Sternberg (2000) defines emotional intelligence as an ability to recognize and
express feelings, to be able to incorporate feelings into thoughts, understand feel-
ings, and regulate the feelings of the individual.
There is still no agreement regarding the concept. Brackett and Mayer (2003)
pointed out that different models of emotional intelligence capture different con-
cepts. That is why, according to Locke (2005), emotional intelligence as a concept
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 17

should be discarded. Cherniss (2010) disagreed with the statement that emotional
intelligence as a concept should be “abolished.” Based on his opinion, only one
definition, the most accurate one, should be selected, while the others discarded.
According to him, some criteria should be defined, based on which a definition
can be linked to emotional intelligence or not. Other researchers, such as Bar-On
(1997) and Petrides et al. (2007), believe that this problem is only temporary, so it
is worth waiting to see whether other researchers find a solution to the problem in
future (Kun, 2011; Cizrelioğulları & Babayiğit, 2022).

Methodology
Our research aimed to assess the impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge
transfer among employees working in SMEs operating in the tourism sector and
services. We carried out a questionnaire survey in April and May 2022. During
our research, a database of thousands of companies was set up with the help of
Finstat.SK website. The website allowed us to filter out companies operating in
the tourism sector and services based on company size. We also got access to the
email addresses of companies. The online questionnaire was created in Google
Forms.
In some cases, the emails were incorrect; the recipient’s mailbox could no longer
receive emails; some company addresses were wrong, since they had changed
names or owners, and some companies ceased by the time the emails were deliv-
ered. Since we were interested in the opinions of employees, we had to exclude
responses from business owners in this research. Those companies, which do not
represent the SME sector, were also excluded from this research. We managed to
contact 500 companies, 315 employee responses were received, and 309 responses
were processed.
Among the scales used to measure the level of emotional intelligence, one of the
most well-known can be linked to Schutte et al. (1998). Assessing Emotions Scale
(AES), as the authors refer to it (Schutte et al., 2009), was applied. The names SS-
REI, SSEIT, EIS or SSRIE can also be used, but this has no particular significance
in the operation of the method. The AES is based on a questionnaire consisting of
33 statements. The respondent completing the questionnaire has to respond to each
statement on a 5-point Likert scale. The method is based on a three-pronged model
developed by Salovey and Mayer (1990).
In contrast to the model, Schutte et al. (1998) classified 33 statements under
a single factor when measuring emotional intelligence. This is called the global
emotional intelligence (Kun et al., 2011; Gong & Paulson, 2016)
The following hypotheses were formulated in the research:

Hypothesis 1: Gender affects the level of EQ.

H0: There is no relationship between gender and EQ.
H1: There is a relationship between gender and EQ.
18 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

Hypothesis 2: The willingness of individuals to share knowledge depends on the

level of emotional intelligence.
H0: The level of emotional intelligence does not influence the willingness to
share knowledge.
H1: The level of emotional intelligence affects the willingness to share
knowledge.
Pearson’s chi-square test was used to examine the hypotheses:

( f 0 - f e )2
X =2
E
total cells
fe

The relationship is primarily based on the comparison of observed (f0) and ex-
pected (fe) values.
In addition, we performed a Fisher’s exact test in one case:

( a + b )!( c + d )!( a + c )!( b + d )!

p=
a !b !c !d !n !
“a,” “b,” “c,” “d” = individual frequencies
“N” = total frequency.

Cramer V indicator was used in one case to prove the strength of the relation-
ship. N refers to the size of the sample, and k expresses the number of categories:

X2
V=
N ( k - 1)

When testing the hypotheses, we used the generally accepted 5% margin of er-
ror (α = 0.05). We used SPSS software to perform the tests.
We received a total of 309 responses to our questionnaire. The age groups were
created based on Berkup’s (2014) generational grouping. We made a small modi-
fication, as the youngest members of Generation Z were born in 2009. Individuals
born after 2010 are already the members of Alpha generation (McCrindle et al.,
2021). It is also important to highlight that we did not receive responses from indi-
viduals completing primary education.

Results

Determination of emotional intelligence

In order to obtain the level of emotional intelligence of the respondents, we used
the Emotion Measurement Scale – AES (known as SSREI).
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 19

TABLE 2.1 Demographic characteristics of the respondents

Gender Female 56.3%

Male 43.7%
Age group 1965–1979 20.7%
1980–1994 50.2%
1995–2003 29.1%
Qualification Secondary 51.1%
Higher 48.9%
Monthly net income 500€ and below 13.5%
501–1000€ 46.1%
1001–1500€ 24.1%
1501–2000€ 10.5%
2000€ and above 5.8%
Sector Tourism 58.1%
Services 41.9%

16.5% 16.2%

Low (106 and below) Moderate (107-139) High (140-165)

FIGURE 2.1 Applicant categories based on EQ

Since we did not want to draw a more profound psychological conclusion, we

only focused on the total value of the scale. Interpreting some of the scales meas-
uring EQ is a complicated task and requires professional expertise. However, the
AES scale allows us to interpret it according to one factor, and its final result is a
specific value. We can already use this value for comparison.
Schutte et al. (2009) also examined several research outputs before determining
the applicant categories (low – medium – high), taking into account the standard
deviation and the mean. We acted accordingly – the mean value was 123, while the
standard deviation was 16. According to this, a value less than 107 is considered
low, while a value above 139 is considered high.
20 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

Testing hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: Gender affects the level of EQ.
H0: There is no relationship between gender and EQ.
H1: There is a relationship between gender and EQ.
When testing Hypothesis 1, we wanted to know whether the level of emotional
intelligence (EQ) in our sample shows similarities to Saklofske et al. (2007), which
stated that women achieved higher EQ on average. We measured EQ by using the
AES scale, which was an integral part of our questionnaire. However, this was
divided into three categories based on the average and standard deviation as de-
scribed earlier (Figure 2.1). Thus, our dependent variable is not metric – it is an
ordinal type of variable. Based on this, we conducted a cross-table analysis and
performed a chi-square test.

High (165-140) 21.8% 9.6%

Moderate (139-107) 65.5% 69.6%

Low (106-) 12.6% 20.7%

80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Female Male

FIGURE 2.2 Relationship between gender and EQ of the respondents

TABLE 2.2 Distribution of EQ by gender

EQ (dependent) Gender (independent)

Female Male Total (pers.)

High (165–140) 21.8% 9.6% 51

Moderate (139–107) 65.5% 69.6% 208
Low (106–) 12.6% 20.7% 50
Total (pers.) 174 135 309
Mean 125 121 123
St. dev. 16 16 16
Median 127 121 124
Mode 130 119 130
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 21

Table 2.2 facilitates a detailed understanding of the values. It shows the mean,
standard deviation, median and mode values in addition to proportion values. Al-
though the AES scale is based on a Likert scale, the authors of the scale (Schutte
et al., 2009) worked also with the values as metric ones.
It can be seen that the most significant proportion of the respondents (both male
and female respondents) have medium (average) EQ. In the case of women, there
are a higher proportion of above-average performers, while in the case of men
there are below-average performers. In the evaluation of the mean, median and
mode values, a difference can be seen between the representatives of male and
female respondents. Both in the case of male and female respondents, the standard
deviation is the same as the standard deviation of the entire sample (16).
We wanted to perform a chi-square test for crosstab analysis. In order to achieve
this, one more condition has to be met. In the case of the expected values, the value
can be less than 5 in a maximum of 20 per cent in each field. To check this, we cre-
ated the cross-table (Table 2.3), which shows both the observed (“Count” based on
SPSS) and the expected values (“Expected count”).
Based on Table 2.3, the condition to conduct the test is not violated, and the
value is not less than 5. This is how the values in Table 2.4 can be interpreted:
The value of Chi is 10.137, which is higher than 5.991 corresponding to the
given significance (α = 0.05) and 2 degrees of freedom. So, the obtained value
of the trial function is higher than the critical value of the chi distribution (χ2 >
χ2crit.). Furthermore, the empirical significance level (p = 0.006) is also lower than
the significance determined during our research (α = 0.05). Based on the results, we
can reject the null hypothesis. Since there is a significant relationship between our
two variables, we can analyze the strength of this relationship.
In our case, the value of Cramer’s V is 0.181, which is considered a moderate
value. The value of indicator refers to the strength of the correlation between the
variables, and it does not refer to their direction. Based on the research results, it
can be assumed that women have higher EQ than men.

TABLE 2.3 Crosstab with observed and expected values – gender and EQ

Gender Total
(independent)

Female Male

EQ level (dependent) Low Count 22 28 50

Expected Count 28.2 21.8
Moderate Count 114 94 208
Expected Count 117.1 90.9
High Count 38 13 51
Expected Count 28.7 22.3
Total 174 135 309.0
22 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

TABLE 2.4 Chi-square test result – gender and EQ

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 10.137 2 0.006

Likelihood Ratio 10.512 2 0.005
Linear-by-Linear Association 9.560 1 0.002
N of Valid Cases 309

TABLE 2.5 Strength of the relationship – gender and EQ

Value Asymp. Std. Error Approx. T Approx. Sig.

Phi 0.181 0.006

Cramer’s V 0.181 0.006
Contingency Coefficient 0.178 0.006
Gamma 0.342 0.102 3.208 0.001
N of Valid Cases 309

Hypothesis 2: The willingness of individuals to share knowledge depends on the

level of emotional intelligence.
H0: The level of emotional intelligence does not influence the willingness to
share knowledge.
H1: The level of emotional intelligence affects the willingness to share
knowledge.
We also examined whether individuals with higher emotional intelligence pre-
fer to share their knowledge or not. Our dependent variable (willingness to share
knowledge) was of binary and nominal types. The level of emotional intelligence
was our independent variable (ordinal). We conducted a cross-table analysis and
performed a chi-square test.
In the case of all defined categories of EQ, 100 per cent was still represented
by the sum of the responses from the given group (Low n = 50, Moderate n = 208,
High n = 51). In this case, we did not calculate the mean, standard deviation, mode
and median values since the EQ categories (Low, Moderate, High) had been cre-
ated based on the EQ value anyway. Thus, for example, the average of elements in
“Low” category would naturally be lower than those in “High” category. Moreo-
ver, our dependent category is nominal and binary, which cannot be quantified, so
we could not perform calculations (mean, standard deviation, mode, median).
We wanted to perform a chi-square test for the crosstab analysis. In order to per-
form analysis, one more condition had to be met, in the case of the expected values.
The value can be less than 5 in a maximum of 20 per cent in each field. To check
this, we created the cross-table (Table 2.6) presented here, which shows both the
observed (“Count” based on SPSS) and the expected (“Expected count”) values.
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 23

High (165-140) 9.8% 90.2%

Moderate (139-107) 12.0% 88.0%

Low (106-) 32.0% 68.0%

0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 75.0% 100.0%

Not Sharing Sharing

FIGURE 2.3 The relationship between EQ and willingness to share knowledge

TABLE 2.6 Crosstab with observed and expected values – EQ and willingness to share
knowledge

EQ level (independent) Total

Low Moderate High

Knowledge sharing Not sharing Count 16 25 5 46

(dependent) Expected Count 7.4 31.0 7.6
Sharing Count 34 183 46 263
Expected Count 42.6 177.0 43.4
Total 50 208 51 309.0

Based on Table 2.6, the condition to conduct the test is fulfilled, and the value is
not lower than 5. Therefore, the values in Table 2.7 can be evaluated:
The chi value is 13.947, which is higher than 5.991, corresponding to the given
significance (α = 0.05) and 2 degrees of freedom. So, the obtained value of the trial
function is greater than the critical value of chi distribution (χ2 > χ2crit.). Further-
more, the empirical significance level (p = 0.001) is also lower than the significance
determined during our research (α = 0.05). Based on the results, we can reject the
null hypothesis. Since there is a significant relationship between our two variables,
the strength of the relationship can be tested. We used Cramer’s V again.
In our case, the value of Cramer’s V is 0.212, which is a moderate value. How-
ever, the value only indicates the strength of the correlation between the variables
and not their direction. The obtained results show that people with higher emo-
tional intelligence are more open to knowledge sharing within the companies.
24 Ladislav Mura and Tibor Zsigmond

TABLE 2.7 Chi-square test result – EQ and willingness to share knowledge

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 13.947 2 0.001

Likelihood Ratio 11.813 2 0.003
Linear-by-Linear Association 9.682 1 0.002
N of Valid Cases 309

TABLE 2.8 Strength of the relationship – EQ and willingness to share knowledge

Value Asymp. Std. Error Approx. T Approx. Sig.

Phi 0.212 0.001

Cramer’s V 0.212 0.001
Contingency Coefficient 0.208 0.001
Gamma 0.427 0.137 2.744 0.006
N of Valid Cases 309

Conclusion
If there is direct interaction with customers (e.g. any job related to tourism, customer
service, Bartók et al., 2021), other services), or when the duties to be performed re-
quire teamwork and cooperation within the company (e.g. between employees, or
in the manager–subordinate relationship) or outside (e.g. with corporate partners),
it is a benefit to employ people with high EQ. It is important to mention that not
only subordinates but also middle managers and those in cooperation with subordi-
nates have an adequate level of emotional intelligence.
Gender should be considered, when selecting employees for the appropriate po-
sition, but the principle of non-discrimination based on gender has to be respected.
If the company is looking for an employee to fulfill a position, where knowledge
sharing plays a significant role, it is vital to hire a candidate, who also has the ap-
propriate skills and knowledge to enter the position.
The AES scale may be appropriate for measuring emotional intelligence since
its evaluation does not require extensive knowledge in the field of psychology. The
scale is relatively voluminous, but it is still one of the frequently used methods
for measuring EQ. Its biggest advantage is that it quantifies the EQ of individuals.
Based on this, the manager or the representatives of HR can compare the scores of
the applicants, and give priority to the one(s) with the highest EQ score.
During our research, we had to face financial and time constraints. It is also
worth highlighting the main criticism of the quantitative methods. The respond-
ents completing the questionnaire interpreted the individual questions differently.
Furthermore, these tests only show how individuals judge their own qualities or
 Impact of emotional intelligence on knowledge sharing 25

themselves; however, this may differ from the reality. It is also important to men-
tion that our questionnaire turned out to be voluminous. It was mainly due to the
AES scale. We did not obtain an adequate amount of answers from employees with
basic school qualification. The number of employees with basic school qualifica-
tion is relatively low, but they may not have received the questionnaire since their
Internet access at the workplace is limited or do not have at all.
In future, we would like to reach more respondents and also use the opportuni-
ties provided by offline space. Furthermore, we would like to conduct interviews
with the managers of SMEs operating in tourism sector and services to obtain an
overall picture. We would also incorporate our experience gained during this re-
search into the processes.

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3
MANAGING THE USE OF VERBAL AND
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN
TOURISM
Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

Introduction
The tourism environment, in which tourism communication takes place, consists
of words, images, and sounds. In addition, specific channels of communication
may appear, which are logically subject to a specific syntactic morphology. Ethno-
graphic communication is therefore underlying tourism discourses.
The rapid growth of tourism has resulted in its introduction into the scientific
literature. The fact that many sciences are related and applied to tourism leads to
the introduction and use of specific terms or concepts. This terminology is not fully
embedded in the minds of the common tourist, scholar, reader or interested person.
Therefore, in the first phase, following this chapter, the delineation of the content
of these terms, which will be encountered several times in the rest of the research,
is carried out.
In communication between tourists and between tourists and locals, various
channels of communication are often used. The organization of discourse is often
characterized by certain defined rituals and consequently by functional varieties.
These functional varieties present utilitarian differences which derive from the re-
alization of discourse in different communicative situations.
The communicative process is divided into verbal and non-verbal parts. This
separation is carried out according to the communication code that the actors in-
volved have chosen to use. Usually, the type of message and therefore the com-
munication method are chosen by the sender as he or she defines the initiation and
the “rules” of communication. Etymologically, the term “communication” comes
from the Latin language, in particular the word “communis” which translates as
“common.”

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-4
30 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

The non-verbal elements that accompany communication are key features of

non-verbal communication. Enriching the communication process with such ele-
ments makes a decisive contribution and is effective. So how is non-verbal com-
munication defined and what does it involve?
As for the importance of this research in the tourism sector, it contributes to
more effective communication between tourists and locals, through the need for the
coexistence of verbal and non-verbal communication (as demonstrated by the re-
sults of the primary research). In addition, the research lies in highlighting the fre-
quent use of non-verbal communication practices without them overshadowing the
verbal behavior between tourists and locals. Finally, the achievements presented by
this research effort are particularly noticeable in the disciplines of language, com-
munication, and tourism, as their effects are felt in all relevant fields of reference.

Tourism and its relationship with communication

First, it is important to clarify the concept of “tourism,” a seemingly easy but
extremely multi-dimensional term. Tourism is the activity that develops when
people travel and includes both the preparation and the realization of the trip
with the stay, the return, and the memories made. In addition, it includes the
activities during the trip, shopping, and the interactions of tourists with local
people. It is mentioned by Lickorish and Jenkins (2004) that tourism has been
a mass phenomenon since 1950. However, according to UNWTO surveys, in
recent decades tourism has experienced continuous growth and is one of the
fastest-growing economic sectors.
On the other hand, a tourist is a social category of person in which the socio-
economic characteristics of those who travel within or outside their country and
are motivated by any reason other than paid work are observed (Tsartas, 1996). At
this point, the definition of “tourist” is clarified, as in the empirical context of the
research it will be commented on in contrast to residents and the communicative
linguistic and non-linguistic relationships they establish during the trip.

Sociolinguistics
This is the newly emerging discipline that emerged around the mid-1960s and is
concerned with human language and communication and the relationship it enters
with social norms. Speaking specifically of linguistics, it studies the structure of
natural languages and modern linguistic facts (Heller, Pujolar & Duchêne, 2014).
The description of linguistics in this research is at the same time related to sociol-
ogy since verbal communication is a social and not a purely linguistic phenom-
enon. The main research areas of study in sociolinguistics are as follows:

• Social identity of the speaker

• Social identity of the listener
 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 31

• Social environment in which verbal communication takes place

• Different social and linguistic behaviors of speakers

Communication
Communication per se deals with the transmission and exchange of information,
positions, opinions, and ideas (Lytras, 2008) and is a fundamental element of the
human cognitive framework. In other words, speaking of communication means
the process of transmitting a message with the aim of mutual understanding be-
tween the transmitter and the receiver. Individuals who communicate often en-
ter dependent relationships. The following are presented as tools for carrying out
communication:

• Oral speech
• Written language
• Image
• Expressions and gestures
• Sound
• Combinations of the above

Communication as a phenomenon applies to all sciences and is the subject of in-

terdisciplinary approaches as it takes place wherever the human factor is encoun-
tered. The term communication first appears in the works of Plato and Aristotle,
where it is shown that all social processes presuppose the existence of some form
of communication.

The relationship between the key concepts

At the beginning of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the language of
tourism began to flourish as a field of study and has been the subject of research
in many areas related to tourism (e.g. marketing, branding, advertising, sociol-
ogy of tourism). Regarding the latter area, the attention of researchers is focused
on the relationship between language and society, which as a subject of study is
characterized as quite multifaceted, as it is analyzed through various perspectives.
The specific research at stake is the following: “How do social structures influence
the linguistic behavior of tourists?” It is worth mentioning that in a social situation
such as tourism, specific vocabulary is used in all possible tourist contexts. When
using language, it is possible to see how tourists and locals use the variability of
language in pursuit of personal and professional goals. Tourist discourse derives
from foreign discourse and is usually in favor of the tourist, as it demands that
local inhabitants of a lower social level know the language spoken by the tourist.
Moreover, the host language has been shown to be an apathetic element for both
mass tourists and individual tourists since it seems to be used only in specific cases
32 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

of travelers – mainly by people traveling with the goal of exploring landscapes,

customs, cultures, and tourist destinations in general.
Communication in the tourism industry is presented in the form of intercultural
communication, in which various social and linguistic features are underlying. A
local resident, for example, is required to communicate with tourists through spe-
cific linguistic features, since they come from different social and cultural back-
grounds. Usually, this communication takes place in English. However, the cultural
background and values of the tourists who encounter the local resident must be
understood before the local resident can determine the linguistic features that will
accompany their communication. In conclusion, the linguistic variations that take
place in tourist communication are primarily influenced by the social characteris-
tics and culture of the interlocutors.

Verbal communication
Verbal communication is the mainstay of oral communication, in which the mes-
sage is spread through the spoken words and between speakers. Verbal commu-
nication expresses in words the emotions and externalizes the thoughts and ideas
expressed by the sender while transmitting the information to the receiver. In addi-
tion to the above, it includes sounds, words, and speech, the latter being the most
effective way of communication. C. Babiniotis (2022) claims that “The linguistic
code consists of language signs and words that aid verbal communication.” As a
process, verbal communication involves seven (7) key points, as shown in Figure
3.1. In this process, the sender initiates the conversation by encoding his or her
thoughts with specific words to convey a message (written or spoken). For the mes-
sage to be effective from the receiver’s point of view, the communication channel
must be carefully chosen so that the receiver can fully understand it and then de-
code it in the best possible way. Feedback is the final stage in which the effective-
ness of the message is communicated to the sender. At this point, it is worth noting
that the recipient’s response may be verbal or non-verbal. Finally, noise is defined
as all obstacles to communication caused by misinterpretation.

Types of verbal communication in tourism

Verbal communication, as it develops in the tourism sector, branches into four
types (according to Littlemore, 2003). Firstly, interpersonal communication occurs
most frequently in the tourism process. It is conducted between two persons and in-
volves the dialogue formed by the transmitter and receiver. For the communication
to evolve and become clearer, the two speakers exchange the status of the respond-
ent and interviewee during the communication. A typical example is the dialogue
at the reception of a hotel or in a tourist shop between a tourist and an employee. A
second form is intrapersonal communication, and this is a private communication,
which is limited to the tourist’s inner life. This includes silent conversations, which
 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 33

FIGURE 3.1 Seven major elements of communication process

usually elaborate on thoughts, actions, and choices. In tourism, this type of com-
munication occurs during the preparation and planning of the trip, where the person
concerned listens internally to the information provided about the destination.
When there are more than two people involved in the conversation, the small com-
munication group type is identified. The number of people involved may be small, as
there is interaction and conversation during the process. An example of group commu-
nication in tourism is a tour of an archaeological site, during which the visitors could
talk to each other or to the guide if they are accompanied by the guide. At the same
time, there should always be a specific purpose of setting up a small communication
group, so that no chaos is caused by the entrance of more involved speakers. Finally,
public communication is rarely found in tourism, as it studies the communication pro-
cess between an individual and a large gathering of people. In this case, the transmitter
is the individual who speaks alone, and the public has the role of the receiver.

Non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication externalizes the feelings and thoughts of the speak-
ers during communication. The posture, facial expressions, and gestures of the
34 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

speakers are the main features of this method. This method is characterized by phy-
logenetic and ontogenetic priority, which means the pre-existence of non-verbal
communication before verbal communication. More specifically, non-verbal tech-
niques begin their development from infancy onward. In this way, children learn to
greet someone, and through their facial expressions or gestures, their willingness
to do something is perceived since they cannot yet use words.
In 1872, Darwin, an American psychologist, was the first to refer to non-verbal
communication and argued that facial expressions convey emotions, which are uni-
versally recognizable and serve an important communicative function. They ap-
pear to be of universal value, since smiling, crying, and caressing are behaviors that
can be understood by the whole world, regardless of language and culture. Nev-
ertheless, the expressions and movements of the speaker are involuntary, as they
are spontaneously produced by the nervous system. This is due to the unconscious
regression of primitive reactions and is justified by the phylogenetic priority of
non-verbal communication. In contrast to Darwin’s view, Greek researchers claim
that with non-verbal features one speaker influences the behavior and emotions of
the other. In any case, opinions on the weight of each of them are contradictory,
although the majority of evidence concludes in the “predominance” of nonverbal
over verbal communication.

Its relationship with non-verbal communication

Although these two methods of communication are important and equally effec-
tive, the question arises as to the actual relationship that develops between them.
Verbal communication, with the phrases and expressions it uses, cannot de facto
be fully effective without the help of “psychic filters.” In other words, although one
complements the other, non-verbal communication seems to indicate a possible pre-
dominance as it accounts for more than 65% of all messages exchanged. This fact
is justified by the emission of messages and expressions not only during the con-
versation but even when the speakers are not speaking. Consequently, non-verbal
techniques occur both during communication and when there is a pause. It is also
stated that meaning in linguistic communication is not given by the grammar and
syntax of the spoken message but by the channels of non-verbal communication.
Worthy of mention is Freud’s assertion that it is impossible for speakers to keep a
feeling or a secret hidden since it is easily and unconsciously betrayed many times
by non-verbal behavior. Finally, it is concluded that there is a healthy competition
between them. When non-verbal methods of communication conflict with what the
speakers say, they are contradicted by what is perceived by attitude and expression.

Features of non-verbal communication in tourism

The language system includes the motor and expressive activities that flow from
the speaker’s body. As a method, it incorporates many different channels of
 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 35

communication, which are independent of the verbal or any other linguistic ele-
ment. The features that externalize elements of speakers and are embodied in body
language are distinguished by certain sub-elements (elements) depending on the
sensory organ through which they are manifested. These characteristics are pre-
sented as follows:

General appearance: 3 (of the local inhabitants and especially of the workers) in
businesses surrounded by tourists. It determines the tourist’s first impression
of the destination and its people. Clothing in combination with the personality,
behavior, age, and gender of the locals acts as information for the tourist. Also,
the general appearance is the beginning of the relationship between tourists and
locals, as it is the “self-disclosure” of the local speaker.
Eye contact: The speaker’s gaze is considered the most important non-verbal ele-
ment of communication, as it is the first step in the beginning of an interpersonal
conversation and promises to express emotions. In the tourism sector, e.g., in
a hotel, when the receptionist manages to make eye contact with tourists, the
achievement of his/her objectives (in this case, to become friendly and cheer-
ful) begins. It is often observed that the employee changes his or her gaze and
does not look at the tourist but at some point, in the room. This is usually due
to a lack of confidence, stress, and an inability to meet the demands of tourists.
Finally, “snitching with the eyes” is mainly done by locals who want to impose
discipline and is accompanied by similar expressions.
Facial expressions: It has been proven that this body language technique makes
it extremely difficult for researchers to decode and therefore interpret. This is
primarily because the expression of emotions through the face lasts only a few
seconds and, secondarily, because of the complexity and variety of these facial
expressions. Nevertheless, the most spontaneous and frequent expression is the
smile, internationally recognized and associated with intimacy and sympathy.
Hand movements and postures (gestures): These are used by the local resident to
be better understood by the tourist. This gives emphasis and vividness to what
is said. A typical example of such an interpretation is the crossing of hands or
hands in pockets. When a tourist asks a local passerby for information about
going to a monument and the local has his hands in his pockets, this shows
carelessness and lack of seriousness. Crossed hands, on the other hand, indicate
a dividing line between tourists and locals. Regarding the overall posture and
taking again as an example the communication between a hotel employee and
a tourist, in the case of a mistake in the latter’s posture, it is very common to
lose eye contact between the two speakers. This can happen when the reception-
ist bows his head and concentrates on the documents in front of him or on the
computer. This can cause problems. How can he avoid it? By not turning his
whole body and gaze away from his interlocutor, but by keeping an intermediate
position (of the ¾ type) in which he can make eye contact with both the tourist
and his occupation.
36 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

Efectiveness of non-verbal communication

Having reached the end of the chapter and having covered all the theoretical aspects
regarding the basic concepts of the research, the effectiveness rate of non-verbal com-
munication starts to be discussed and reinforced. In earlier and highly representative
research carried out in the late 1960s, Albert Mehrabian demonstrates in a practical
way that non-linguistic elements are most often found in a communication process.
Mehrabian creates a computational formula that studies how verbal elements match
non-verbal elements. He applies it specifically to identify communicative techniques
and channels in a message coming from a particular speaker because of his body
language. The following graph depicts the elements of personal communication, ac-
cording to the findings of the researcher. It is immediately apparent that there is an
overwhelming predominance of non-verbal characteristics, of which 55% concern
elements of body language (e.g. eye contact, expressions, gestures) and 38% phono-
logical elements that study the tone and style of voice (Figure 3.2). However, spoken
words account for only 7% of communication. It is ultimately concluded that non-
verbal communication is considered more reliable than verbal communication. This
is even reinforced when verbal and non-verbal messages are confronted.

Methodology
The primary data in this case were collected by sharing questionnaires. Therefore,
to achieve the objective 202 questionnaires were distributed to draw conclusions
and formulate recommendations and solutions. The ultimate purpose of this quan-
titative research is to test the following research hypotheses:

1 Which method of communication is superior during travel preparation?

2 How is the communication practice of locals towards tourists outlined?
3 How do tourists manage verbal communication?
4 Which method is most used when tourists and locals interact?

FIGURE 3.2 Albert Mehrabian’s 7–38–55 Rule of Personal Communication

 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 37

The individual grouped questions stem from these questions.

In terms of the type of research method, the following research is character-
ized as primary, quantitative, and interdisciplinary. Its interdisciplinary nature is
evidenced by the fact that the involved disciplines encountered in the research are
three (3): language, communication, and tourism. In addition, it is partly descrip-
tive in terms of its intended purpose. The research attempts to explain a situation;
therefore, it is rightly considered ethnographic with interpretative/qualitative ap-
proaches, especially in the theoretical part it examines.
Coming to the point of analyzing the stages of the methodology followed by
the research, the researcher aims to test the outcome of his/her hypotheses with
the help of the collected data. A questionnaire is the main instrument for collecting
them.

Survey technique and sampling

The sampling method chosen to collect the sample necessary for the research is
accessibility or convenience sampling. It belongs to the group of non-probability
sampling methods, in which the probability of selection of everyone in the sample
in the study population is unknown (Galanis, 2017). It is perhaps one of the most
widespread and used forms of sampling. Samples of this method are selected from
the population based on convenience, rather than randomness. This gives the op-
portunity to anyone who wishes to do so to take part in the survey and answer the
research questions. Another method of collecting responses is presented by the
distribution of the questions in a central and fixed place where passers-by could
participate in the survey (Floyd & Fowler, 2001).
Sampling empathizes with the issue of representativeness and takes care to con-
duct inferences that can be generalized to the whole population because of the large
sample size. Useful material for conducting the theoretical part of the research are
charts and studies of already published sources of information (secondary sources).
The population targeted by the survey comes from a specific geographical area
and specifically from Greece. In general, however, there is no need to collect spe-
cific characteristics, due to the simplified and general nature of the survey. There-
fore, there are no restrictions on the population of respondents, while the only
common characteristic that should have been found among them is the fact that
they all had to have traveled at least once; that is, they all had to be potential tour-
ists, without any additional restriction other than their Greek identity.

Results
In this part, a check is carried out to answer the research questions, as they were
posed from the beginning. Putting the demographic characteristics of the respond-
ents on the table, it is recorded that there are 202 respondents, of which 138 are
women and 64 are men. Their ages range from 15 to 71 years old with an average
38 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

age of 29.22 years. Most of them are graduates of higher education institutions
(105 persons), while several hold a postgraduate degree (47), 22 are high school
graduates, 25 are college graduates and three hold a doctoral degree; 74.8% travel
rarely to not at all frequently, and the remaining 25.2% travel frequently to quite
frequently. The majority prefer to stay in a hotel (64.9% of the sample), followed
by Airbnb accommodation (14.9%), rooms to let (9.4%), a friend or relative’s
house (7.9%) and a small percentage in camping (1%).
The research question is “Which method of communication is preferred when
preparing the trip?” According to respondents’ answers, non-verbal communica-
tion is far superior to verbal communication. This conclusion is initially justified by
the overwhelming difference recorded in the chosen means of destination informa-
tion. Only 21 people, or 10.4%, said that they were informed about the destination
they were going to visit by face-to-face communication with friends, relatives and/
or tourist agencies. However, the majority (76.7%) say that they search on internet
engines, while the rest mention social media, printed tourist guides and informa-
tion from other types of websites (e.g. vlogs, blogs). In addition, most respondents
(66%) believe that an admirable photo of the destination with only the basic infor-
mation contributes more to the final choice, while the remaining 34% believe that
a complete, detailed, and highly verbose description in words can make it more
effective in attracting tourists (Figure 3.3).
It therefore becomes clear here too that non-verbal communication is superior
since a photograph is a non-verbal practice and a written text (speech) is a verbal

FIGURE 3.3 Pie chart of frequency variable “Contribution of choice”

 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 39

feature of the language of advertising. In this respect, the research confirms the
theoretical study of Reilly’s (1988, p. 109) book, which claims that for the message
to be as effective as possible, it must be short and clear. Similarly, regarding the
image, most researchers argue that a photograph should be accompanied by ac-
companying text. This does not, however, negate the importance of visual promo-
tional elements. It has been shown that 75% of tourist brochures consist of pictures
(Dilley, 1986, p. 60) and this is a key indication that there is an emphasis on the
importance of non-verbal and visual messages.
Regarding the question “How do you outline the communication practice of lo-
cals towards tourists?”, 45.5% state that they rarely or not at all use gestures when
talking to a local. Therefore, due to the minimal use of gestures, no elements of
the personalities of the people involved are revealed. On the contrary, 64.9% em-
phasize the tone of voice when speaking. According to other research data, voice
volume is innate, while low voice volume among other things is due to psychologi-
cal reasons and conceals certain elements of character. When the listener tries to
get the speech, louder speech volume is observed (Brettos, 2003, p. 109). Also,
nonverbal communication including voice volume constitutes 93% of the spoken
message, while only 7% is part of verbal communication.
The majority (87%) believe that the local resident utilizes nonverbal communi-
cation to develop a positive atmosphere between him/her and tourists (Figure 3.4).
According to Pease A. & B., looking, smiling, and shaking hands are very im-
portant in creating first impressions, “breaking the ice” and developing a positive
atmosphere and familiarity. Nevertheless, 104 respondents to the survey believe

FIGURE 3.4 Pie chart of frequencies for utilization of non-verbal behavior by locals
40 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

that residents do not maintain contact with tourists after the holiday is over, while
98 believe they do. The difference is clearly not large, but it is worth noting that
making friends and maintaining relationships depends on other situational factors.
Finally, 79.2% of the respondents claim that the native during their communi-
cation uses body movements, facial expressions, and dialogue at the same time.
The enrichment of speech with various other non-verbal means, such as posture,
can reveal information about the mood of both the speaker and the listener since
it indicates the direction of interest and the need to abandon the conversation. In
conclusion, it can be concluded that locals on their part use more often non-verbal
communication practices, which in fact often frame and reinforce their words.
Regarding the question “How do tourists manage verbal communication?”
50% of the respondents state that they passively listen to their local interlocutor
without interrupting him/her when he/she has the floor, 37% listen with interest,
8.4% remain apathetic, 3.5% enrich the conversation with comments and 1% listen
with interest and address him/her in case a piece of information is not understood.
The majority, therefore, showed abstention and/or apathy during the discussion
(58.4%). This attitude is partly justified, since there is confusion of many stimuli/
messages received by the tourist. The tourist is therefore in the process of process-
ing so that only the useful information is listened to, and the meaningless data is
automatically passed on to the subconscious. The 113 respondents believe that the
dialogue between tourists and local people only occurs in certain circumstances
(such as when buying tourist products) and not throughout the trip. This may of
course be because tourists do not seek face-to-face communication and get infor-
mation about whatever they want from the internet, as demonstrated in a previous
finding of the survey. However, every social process requires communication since
people cannot avoid communicating (Gotovos, 1990, p. 59). However, they may in
certain circumstances seek information from sources that do not require the use of
verbal communication. In total, 166 talks to an unknown native in the singular for
more familiarity and does not address him in the plural, which indicates a lack of
respect and decency.
Moreover, 40.6% believe that in case of unfamiliarity with English, it can be re-
placed by another third language. On the contrary, 27.2% of respondents stated that
ignorance of English completely hinders communication. Clearly in the case of
Europeans traveling to English-speaking countries while not speaking English, it
turns out that different relationships develop between tourists, locals, and language
use. Moreover, 50.5% consider that tourists, in case they encounter a communica-
tion problem, are willing to adapt to the linguistic qualities of the destination in
question. In addition, according to an experimental study conducted with visitors
to New Zealand, it seems that for many tourists there is a desire to adapt to the lan-
guage of their hosts. This is also argued by Cohen and Cooper (1986) since tourists
occasionally adopt the language of the locals.
Finally, regarding the final choice of communication method, the question
“Which method is most used when tourists and locals interact?” is reflected. Of the
 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 41

202 respondents, 106 stated that they most often use verbal communication, only
one non-verbal communication and the remaining 95 used both methods together.
They believe, almost unanimously, that verbal communication is most effective
with 93.6% (Figure 3.5).
At the same time, 84.7% consider the coexistence of the two communication meth-
ods necessary and 66.8% speculate that they do not overshadow each other. It
seems that verbal communication has an advantage because it has a more specific
code (Cosmopoulos, 1990). In addition, however, non-verbal messages/techniques
cover a wide range of communication and induce immediacy.
Examining the correlation between the variables in a second year, it is observed
that respondents with postgraduate and doctoral education have a higher average
age than the other age groups, which is expected. On the other hand, although men
are much less than women, in addition to searching the internet, they prefer to ask
friends and relatives about planning a trip and the destination they are going to
visit with 10.9%, compared to 2.9% of women. Also, 19.2% of those who do not
believe that local people make friends with tourists also believe that non-verbal
behavior is not exploited, compared to the corresponding percentage of those who
believe in local–tourist friendship which is only 6.1%. In fact, those who believe
that a local exploits non-verbal behavior also believe that they use all practices
(body movements, facial expressions, and dialogue) to communicate, in contrast
to those who do not believe in the exploitation of non-verbal behavior, who in turn
seem to have a greater variety of opinions, and in particular a significant propor-
tion of them believe in communication only through dialogue (34.6%). Those who
remain apathetic or passively listen to a local when he or she has the floor tend to
talk to him or her in addition, respondents who believe in the forced coexistence
of the two (2) methods are younger than those who believe the opposite. At the

FIGURE 3.5 Bar chart of variable “Most effective method”

42 Stylianos Bouzis, Panoraia Poulaki and Marco Valeri

same time, as age increases, participation in the discussion seems to increase with
interest and comments. Finally, as educational level increases, the frequency of
travel increases and with this increase seems to increase the frequency of using
voice tone to accompany speech. It is also logical that the frequency of using the
“strong” voice tends to increase the frequency of using hand signals during speech
since both practices fall within the characteristics that non-verbal communication
lies in.

Conclusion
At the end of the research, the general conclusions that emerge from the analysis of
the empirical part are as follows:
First of all, an admirable picture with only basic information seems to contribute
more to the final choice of destination than a glowing, detailed, and highly eloquent
description in words.
However, the local man uses non-verbal communication to develop a positive
atmosphere between him and the tourists, and during his communication, he uses
body movements and facial expressions to accompany the dialogue and also does
not make friends with tourists very often, except in some cases.
At the same time, the tourist is indifferent and remains apathetic during verbal
communication with locals and during the conversation with an unknown local
addressing him in the singular most of the time. Sometimes this may be a sign of
a lack of respect despite the fact that during the communication tourists enrich the
conversation with comments and they used to speak in the plural. On the other
hand, younger respondents do not participate in the conversation with such interest
and comments as often as older tourists tend to do.
Regarding the spoken language, tourists demonstrate that English can be re-
placed by another language, as the tourist in case of communication problems is
willing to adapt to the linguistic qualities of the destination or to be satisfied with
body language. Most respondents say that if they have a problem communicating,
they are prepared to adapt to the language qualities of the destination.
Analyzing the emotional influences on communication according to gender,
men are more apathetic when conversing with a local, as opposed to women who
passively watch their interlocutor and do not interrupt out of politeness except
when necessary.
During the dialogue between tourists and residents, all non-verbal communi-
cation techniques (e.g. signs and emphasis on tone of voice) are combined. This
appears to result in the fact that locals tend to form friendships with tourists and
that’s proven because they use non-verbal communication techniques to develop a
positive atmosphere.
In the end, the coexistence of the two communication methods is considered
necessary even though finally verbal communication appears to be the most effec-
tive method of communication.
 The use of verbal and non-verbal communication in tourism 43

Policy measures for more efective communication between tourists

and locals
Policy measures for more effective communication between tourists and locals
should have as their overriding concern the transmission of clearer and more un-
derstandable messages. Body position, hand movements, foot placement, and fa-
cial expressions can effectively contribute to this, as they convey messages that
must match the speaker’s words.
At the same time though a good listener should encourage the speaker to speak
openly and honestly. This can be achieved by maintaining eye contact with the
interlocutor, leaning slightly toward the speaker, and making gestures that show
interest and attention. Frequent questions to the interlocutor can also ensure a full
understanding of the message.
Regarding the communicative approach, addressing the interlocutor in the plu-
ral shows courtesy and respect for the interlocutor and makes the communication’s
atmosphere more appropriate.
The development of empathy on the part of the local inhabitants of a destination
toward the tourist in question is a key pillar for the outcome of a more effective
communication process. This is achieved by putting oneself in the other’s shoes,
sharing and understanding any information needs they express. Finally, those in-
volved in communication must be jointly aware of elements of their interlocutor’s
background (e.g. social, ideological, cultural) so that there is respect and under-
standing of each other’s basic ideals and that they are not trampled upon.

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4
IDENTIFYING WELLNESS VALUE
FORMATION IN YOUNG WINE
TOURISTS
A grounded theory approach

Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

Introduction
“I think wine is healthier,” “Wine drinking is less harmful” and “Drinking wine
has so many benefits” (nine out of 14 informants; 64%). Surprisingly, drinking
wine is so “healthy” has been overwhelmingly repeated by the informants (our
data in this chapter). When comparing the literature, Chinese consumers are
more concerned about the health benefits of wine than their Western counter-
parts (e.g. Duan et al., 2018; Liu & Murphy, 2007). The healthy consistency
between the literature and the informants highlights an important research
direction. However, the mechanism of such a value (the health/wellness value
of wine) in the context of wine or wine tourism has not been explored in previous
literature.
This chapter, thus, aims to focus on “health” from a value perspective. We define
value – as a relatively stable construct that shapes individuals’ beliefs, attitudes and
actions (behavior) toward a specific object and contains the perception/feeling of a
certain objective/activity (Hansen, 2019; Schwartz, 2021). Predominantly, tourism
research has studied the formation of values. Two approaches exist as follows: service-
dominant logic (SDL) or customer-dominant logic (CDL) in the service marketing
domain (e.g. Grönroos, 2008).
In the context of wine tourism research, the wellness value of wine (WV) first
received limited research attention but was rather a finding of wine tourists (e.g.
Duan et al., 2019). Duan and his colleagues found that the Chinese were concerned
about the WV. Secondly, in line with the value formation approaches (i.e. SDL,
CDL), the logical nature of the WV has not been questioned/researched. As SDL
claims, the company/provider (i.e. wine manufacturers) leads/creates the value

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-5
46 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

(Grönroos, 2008). Thus, this has left an essential research gap and we propose our
research questions (RQs).

RQ1. Is wellness a deliberate value?

That is, is the WV purposely made by the providers for their customers? Which
means providers are using wellness as a unique selling point and as an effective
marketing tool to target Chinese customers in particular? The customer-to-
customer (C2C) approach to value formation, on the other hand, has received more
research attention in recent years (e.g. Rihova et al., 2018). C2C, as a CDL-based
ontology, aims to understand the “uncontrollable” aspect (e.g. not controlled by
the providers) of service marketing. In this vein, wellness value is subjective and
socially constructed rather than a pure marketing tool (Nicholls & Mohsen, 2019).
However, the factors that created this WV remain unanswered. Thus, a second RQ
is raised.

RQ2. What factors contribute to the value formation of wellness?

This chapter has three contributions. We identified, in the first place, the under-
lying logic formation of the wellness value of wine (WV) and, next, the factors
that influence such value (not the dimension of WV). Additionally, the proposed
conceptual framework of WV is not merely applicable to the wine tourism industry
to assist the decision-making process (Valeri, 2021) but also renders more efficient
knowledge/information communications between different stakeholders (custom-
ers, authorities and wine industries; Valeri & Baggio, 2022).

Literature review

Value and value formation approaches

Value can be annoyingly overcomplicated. According to the theory of basic human
values (Schwartz, 2021), values are defined as trans-situational goals. That is, a
different situation means different values. In Schwartz’s theory, the nature of value
has six categories: beliefs, desirable goals, exceeding specific actions and situa-
tions, standards/criteria, organized by importance and multiple values within an
action. To exemplify, values can be desirable goals to achieve (as motivation). Peo-
ple chase social order; that social order is the value and also motivates the action
of the pursuit of it. Values also refer to standards in a different context (i.e. people
judge what is good or bad) (Schwartz, 2021). Schwartz continues by claiming the
importance of values varies from person to person based on a coherent structure
in which the underlying foundation is either a social and psychological conflict
or congruity. At the same time, some universal values are also conceptualized by
Schwartz (2021), who states these universal values – such as achievement, security
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 47

and power – are in line with three basic rules of human existence (i.e. individual
needs of biological organisms, social interaction requirements and group survival
and welfare requirements).
From a cognitive perspective, value is a trade-off between perceived gains and
losses, (Aum et al., 2021). Baishya and Samalia (2020) stress that value, based
on a monetary standpoint, is the comparison of the price and the product quality.
Suhartanto et al. (2020), extended the monetary approach to the tourism context;
that value is the destination’s perceived quality with its associated price, which is
realized in the visitors’ evaluation of paying and receiving at a destination. In the
service context, “value” means a positive feeling about oneself after the service
encounter (Grönroos, 2008). The service encounter is either through self-service,
such as at a buffet, or a full-service process, for example, when dining out at a
restaurant. Grönroos underlined that the service or good/product is not the main
interest of the customer, but rather that using the service/good is a means to reach
their expected value. Despite how sophisticated value is, current tourism studies
have undertaken value or perceived value as an effective variable/concept to pre-
dict customers’ needs and better design the company/destination’s product (Rihova
et al., 2018). Such practices follow the findings from decision-making/consumer
behavior studies (Ajzen, 2020). To illustrate, Rousta and Jamshidi (2020) identi-
fied five food values based on the consumption value theory, in which taste, health,
price, emotion and prestige values positively influence visitors’ attitudes toward
selecting the food tourism destination. Rihova et al. (2018) studied the value out-
comes during certain social practices (where or in what activities; festivals in their
study) and concluded that effective, social, functional and network values are the
result of C2C creation.
Two recent systematic literature reviews outline trends in value studies in tour-
ism. The most common way is to examine the antecedents and/or consequences of
values, such as by investigating the dimensions of personal values and their impact
on attitudes and/or behavior (Kim, 2020). Carvalho and Alves (2023) confirmed
Kim’s systematic literature review work. Carvalho and Alves put forward that
“customer behaviour” and “other factors” together created customer value based
on 216 validated articles’ outcomes. These “customer behaviours” are networking
and customer participation, while “other factors” are personalization, emotional
bonding and collaboration. Adopting a holistic view, two main approaches con-
tributed to understanding value formation in service marketing literature, namely
service-dominant logic (SDL) and customer-dominant logic (CDL). SDL is also
known as “provider-dominant logic” or “goods-dominant logic.” Each approach
used different ontologies; SDL focused on the co-creation of value by both provid-
ers and customers (Vargo et al., 2008). Vargo’s early work (Vargo & Lusch, 2004)
is the start of the international debate on which service perspective can enrich ser-
vice marketing. The reasoning behind SDL is that customers use resources (e.g. a
table in a café), which are normally resources proposed by providers. Customers
are required to possess certain skills to access/activate the resources through the
48 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

service (Grönroos, 2008). The ATM in banks is an example of such logic, as cus-
tomers need to understand how to use an ATM (as a skill) and then activate the
“plastic card” as one resource through the self-service offered by the banks.
CDL emphasizes customers’ reality and daily encounters. The foundation of such
an ontology is an interpretative approach, namely that reality is socially constructed
and experienced (Spivey, 1997). Such an ontology denies that reality can be known
independently; it requires an interaction between a first-order reality and a second-
order reality (see details in Spivey, 1997). First-order reality is reachable, such as
through using languages, where people share an understanding of a thing/phenom-
enon (e.g. death) among each other. For the second-order reality, people in certain
societies present a value/meaning/attachment to the first-order reality’s phenomenon
(e.g. death is an end/a new start). Briefly and easily, the world is not purely subjec-
tive but is a relative world where values are dynamically incorporated with reality. In
other words, a value (how people understand death/death is sad) is potentially ever-
changing via continuous destruction and construction with reality; this value is al-
ways reconstructing itself through cognitive and/or affective processes, consciously
and/or unconsciously (death is an endless loop without emotional attachment).

Wellness value in wine

Wellness value in general tourism studies is centered on medical tourism, espe-
cially for international traveling behavior, such as people in rich nations seeking
medical services in a less developed country (Dillette et al., 2021). Other themes
include SPA/yoga/spirituality destinations (Nicolaides & Grobler, 2017), destina-
tion management and marketing (Voigt & Pforr, 2013), motivation of wellness
tourism (Lim et al., 2016), conceptualization of wellness tourism (Voigt, 2014),
niche market/certain market analysis (Lehto et al., 2006), mountain wellness tour-
ism (Pan et al., 2019) and cross-cultural comparisons (e.g. Chinese and American;
Han et al., 2020) and so on.
Only a few endeavors, however, exist toward the wellness value of wine tour-
ism, while a large body of literature has precisely focused on the health benefits
of wine consumption. Guilford and Pezzuto (2011) pointed out that wine drinkers
tend to exercise more, are more health conscious and that regular wine consump-
tion improves an individual’s health. A psychological function was confirmed by
Mortensen et al. (2001), who suggested wine drinking is closely linked with posi-
tive social, intellectual and personality benefits. More recent studies also indicate
wine is associated with human health conditions such as cardiovascular health (e.g.
Castaldo et al., 2019). Liu and Murphy (2007) stated that the Chinese purchase
red wine for perceived health and symbolic meaning (red wine as luck). Within
wine tourism studies, Frochot (2009) is the first of its kind and claims the health
benefits of wine also contribute to the motivation of tourists who visit French win-
eries. Whereas most authors emphasized the “French paradox” in their studies, that
is, the French diet contains more fat but French people have less cardiovascular
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 49

disease (e.g. Renaud & Gueguen, 2007). Latter studies have not explored the health
benefits of wine/WV specifically in wine tourism. In North America, the local wine
industry has recognized the health value of wine, which undeniably has an im-
portant role in the industry (Getz et al., 1999). Pforr et al. ’s (2016) work in the
wine region in Western Australia discussed the eight local core resources that are
considered vital elements for wellness destination management. Besides the above
mature market (either on the supply or demand side), niche studies in Asia have
a slightly different conclusion of WV. Duan et al. (2018) declared due to Chinese
consumers care about the health benefits of wine, regardless of their limited wine
knowledge. Thus, this value (health) has industry implications for service provid-
ers. Elsewhere in Asia, Kotur (2022) analyzed the experiences of Indian wine tour-
ists, using Dunn’s (1959) four dimensions of wellness (i.e. body, mind, spirit and
environment) to identify how these four dimensions work during wine tourism ex-
periences. Kotur concluded that the wine tourism experience stimulated the mind,
body and spirit refreshment of Indian wine tourists.
To recap, two different value formation approaches (SDL and CDL) prevail in
the service marketing domain, reflecting distinct worldviews. As a result, in the
context of tourism, including wine tourism, the WV has not been explored regard-
ing which worldview is leading/guiding the formation of wellness values. Further,
the existing studies about WV did not specifically emphasize WV. Thus, such a
research gap needs to be urgently addressed.

Method

Grounded theory
We employed traditional grounded theory (GT) as the research method. GT was
developed by Glaser and Strauss (2017), as an inductive approach to generating a
theory and studying a phenomenon. GT as the opposite of the dominant quantitative
approach lighted another way of an unbiased method of understanding the “truth” of
the world. This method requires rigor and a detailed research process (before, during
and after data collection), which enables comparative analysis (Glaser et al., 2013).
The comparative analysis asks for immediate data comparison within the same data,
such as an emerging code, from a part of the data served to compare with the rest of
the data to test/identify the differences/similarities/variations. The overarching aim of
this method is to generate an abstract understanding toward a phenomenon in a sys-
temic process. Three different genres exist in GT: traditional or classic GT considers
the pattern of behavior, which creates a conceptual theory toward the behavior (Gla-
ser et al., 2013). The second is the evolved GT (EGT), founded on the sociologi-
cal perspective of symbolic interactionism (Walker & Myrick, 2006). This approach
relies on the subjective meaning that people believe is true (Adeoye‐Olatunde &
Olenik, 2021). Actively reviewing the literature during the whole process (before,
during and after data collection) is the common technique for EGT (Strauss &
50 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

Corbin, 1998). As such practice enables/enhances the theoretical sensitivity, that

similar former cases/studies yield ideas/themes for following data interpretation. The
third one is constructivist GT (CGT), which emphasizes people’s construction of
meaning concerning the inquiry area (Charmaz, 2017). CGT tends to examine a pre-
conception and the researchers themselves are the part of their “investigation” that
asks for more involvement from the researcher (Charmaz, 2017). Charmaz asserts
the findings derived from the data are a construction, rather than a discovery. The
research is part of the findings, as the research’s background (e.g. position, expe-
rience) affects the finding formation/data interpretation. Glaser et al. (2013) argue
CGT needs an agreement between informants and researchers. In line with our RQ,
additional, no former literature of WV in wine tourism, particularly the value forma-
tion guided this chapter. Thus, the traditional GT was chosen, to generate the concep-
tual model for the WV in the context of wine tourism. The traditional GT focuses on
emerging trends and ideas during the whole analytic process that addresses thinking
about, constructing and interacting with the data (Morse et al., 2021).

Sampling and data analysis

Purposive sampling is applied in this chapter. This sampling enables the researcher
to find the “right” people who have related knowledge to the research interests
(Campbell et al., 2020). For this study, we selected two groups of informants. As
we are interested in which logic (SDL or CDL) impacts value formation, both kinds
of “logic-determiners” (providers vs. customers) have been added to the sampling.
The first group is providers (wine manufacturers/wineries). We interviewed three
managers at three different Chinese wine companies (two in Yunnan Province and
one in Ningxia Province, China). To expand our understanding from the provider’s
side, we searched for relevant marketing information/strategies (in the Chinese
market) through online information based on one French wine company using the
netnography approach (Kozinets, 2015). During this online data collection process,
we searched the company’s website, the main shopping platforms’ information and
other relevant online resources (e.g. news, magazines, reports).
The second group is wine tourists (people who have visited/are visiting the Mi-
Le wine region in Yunnan, China). 14 informants were selected during this process.
Finally, three managers from Group 1 and 14 informants from Group 2 were included
in the sample (Table 4.1). To avoid expectation bias (Adeoye‐Olatunde & Olenik,
2021), the researcher told the managers that their names or company names would
not be shown in publicity. The same approach was applied to informants. Further,
the research explicitly told all the participants, “We are looking for real or honest
answers,” “we are not indicating the company’s name to avoid unnecessary hassle to
you and your company” and “Please feel no pressure about if your answer is right or
wrong.” Semi-structured questions were used for both groups (Adeoye‐Olatunde &
Olenik, 2021). The sample questions are shown.
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 51

TABLE 4.1 Profile of the informants

Managers Job task/role Working Wine tourists Numbers/

experience frequencies

A manager Selling 5 years Male, female 8, 6 (57%, 42%)

Ages
18s–30 8 (57%)
30s–40 6 (42%)
B manager Operation 3 years Income level
monthly
(RMB1)
Less than 1,000 2 (14%)
1,001 to 3,000 4 (28%)
3,001 to 6,000 4 (28%)
6,001 to 9,000 4 (28%)
9,001 and above 0
C manager Operation 2 years Days spent in the
wine region
1 day 12 (85%)
2–3 days 2 (14%)
4 days and more 0
Note: 1. 1 RMB/CNY = 0.14 US dollars, 1,000 RMB =137 US dollars

For wine industries/wineries

• What kind of value are you selling to your customers?
• Do you mention the wellness/health value of wine in any marketing process?
• What do you think the “wellness value” means for the customers?

For wine tourists

• What kind of value do you think wine is associated with?
• Do you think wine has wellness benefits and why?
• Where do you obtain the wellness value of wine?
• Is the wellness value of wine important to you and why?

Data analysis was carried out in three steps: initial coding, intermediate coding
and advanced coding (Tie et al., 2019). Initial coding was used at the beginning of
the data collection to identify categories based on the data and guide the data col-
lection. In Step 2, intermediate coding, the core categories were determined from
the former coding and it was also determined if data saturation had been reached
(Mwita, 2022). That is, after this coding process, no further data collection was un-
dertaken at this stage. Advanced coding involves storyline and theoretical coding
(conceptualizing the earlier categories into themes/patterns or theories).
52 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

Results

RQ1: Is wellness a deliberate value?

We uncover value formation through two main logics: SDL and CDL. The fol-
lowing section starts with SDL. Meanwhile, we divided the findings into “before
visiting” the winery and “during the visit” at the winery/wine tourism experience
(Table 4.2).
SDL was named PDL to specifically highlight the role of the providers rather
than merely looking from the service/product point of view. Due to the pressure
of (potential) punishments from the local rules and regulations, or in a safer way
(in this data site; China), the providers did not promote any health benefits of wine
consumption. Manager A (male, 26-year-old) commented, “We are following the
rules . . . we did not post anything associating wine with health.” Manager B (fe-
male, 29-year-old) added, “Some Chinese Bai-Jiu (strong liquor) you see on the
TV, they are saying their Bai-Jiu boosts your health and has this and that benefit.”
According to local advertising laws, alcohol companies cannot conduct any adver-
tisements claiming that alcohol is good for one’s physical body. However, based on
the data, some players/providers ignore such laws, or play in a “smart way.” Man-
ager B continued, “I am not sure, but from my understanding, these Chinese Bai-Jiu
TABLE 4.2 Wellness value logic

Before Visit

Provider-dominant logic (PDL/SDL) Customer-dominant logic (CDL)

Foreign brand Chinese brands Pre-existing Other values

wellness value

• History • History • Family • Packaging (f, 182)

• Occasion • Occasion background • Taste (f, 61)
• Wine • Wine information (frequency/f, 67) • Aroma (f, 70)
information (e.g. Grape types, • Social • Smooth (f, 63)
(e.g. Grape aroma). interactions • Strong flavor (f,18)
types, aroma). • Wine region (f, 89) • Clear color (f,21)
• Wine region information • Internet (f,24) • Fruity (f, 170)
information • Pair with foreign
• Pair with foods
Chinese and • Foreign
Western foods winemakers

During Visit

PDL in wine trips CDL in wine trips

Educating wellness value Reinforcing wellness value
(Interactions between the company and the (Interactions among the customers)
customers)
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 53

companies did not say the health benefits directly . . . they normally mention our
Bai-Jiu nourishes men’s kidneys.” Such circumvention of the banned behavior was
indicated by the wine providers, who indicated that they were not planning to do so
or did this (marketing the health benefits of wine in public channels).
In contrast, Chinese Bai-Jiu companies get around the ban by not straightfor-
wardly, saying their alcohol is good for health but emphasizing the kidney. This
may be due to the value of traditional Chinese medicine, which holds that the
kidney is linked with reproduction ability. Simultaneously, most Bai-Jiu customers
were Chinese males (Qian et al., 2015). These males were inclined to interpret the
information that Bai-Jiu was equal to kidney issues, which benefits their reproduc-
tion ability. On the other hand, wine companies did not stress such “kidney issues,”
maybe because their target customers are different from Bai-Jiu companies.
One interesting finding is that the Chinese and French wine companies pro-
mote slightly different values/information to their customers. The Chinese wine
companies presented how to pair their wines with Western foods and also stressed
that their companies hired foreign winemakers to guide their quality. In contrast to
Chinese companies, the French wine company paired its wines with Chinese foods.
Four factors/values are mentioned by all the wine companies: history, the occasion
of consumption, wine information (e.g. grape type, aroma) and wine region infor-
mation. This finding indicates that “wine and its related information” are consid-
ered important from the wine providers’ perspective. In line with SDL (Grönroos,
2008), the service providers offer a resource that the customer could use to generate
value. In other words, before the wine tourism experience, the providers did not
have any resources (marketing sources) that supported wellness value formation,
or at least on the surface, there is no clear evidence they did so.
During the wine tourism experience, the co-creator role of providers appears.
Even though SDL (Grönroos, 2008) is provider-leading logic, this logic also indi-
cates that providers tend to be the value co-creators; the customers are the founda-
tion that produces values. Education about wine-related knowledge for tourists is
available at wineries. This reflects early work showing that wine tourists have a
desire to learn new things (Duan et al., 2019). Importantly, wellness value is also
included in this experience, in which the “interaction” between providers and tour-
ists is the process for the co-creation of value, as the winery has tour guides within
the winery. Manager C (male, 34-year-old) talked about how “our tour guides will
include the wellness value during their speech.” Inside the cellar door, the winery
has posts and boards showing wine-related information and wellness value are one
kind of that information. Hence, active interaction (with the tour guide) and passive
value co-creation (posts and boards) co-exist.
Wellness value from the CDL perspective (Heinonen et al., 2010) is focused
on the customers. The informants have wellness values in their daily practices.
Thus, this finding also confirms that wellness value is not simply SDL-based (i.e.
provider-led value). However, if this research stops at “before winery visit,” the
conclusion of wellness value is CDL. That is, if we only consider value creation
54 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

before the winery visit, wellness value can be seen to follow a customer-dominant
logic. Three factors led to value formation: family background, social interaction
and learning from the Internet. Furthermore, during the winery visit, the informants
commented that they had deepened their understanding of the wellness value of
wine. This is because of the aforementioned educational experience offered by the
winery. Another factor is that interaction among the wine tourists themselves also
contributed to/enhanced the wellness value of wine.

RQ2: What factors contribute to the value formation of wellness?

This RQ focused on the dimensions contributing to the formation of wellness value
rather than the dimensions that make up the construct of wellness. Based on the
data, three factors/dimensions influenced wellness value formation: wine, reality
and life and intangible culture, as in Table 4.3.
Wine includes “wine-drinking behavior” and “curiousness” as its sub-categories.
For example, during social get-togethers, wine tourists encounter wellness value
creation. Wine tourists can either be givers or recipients of value. Givers normally
introduce the wellness value. For example, as one informant (female, 24-year-old)
mentioned, “My uncle talked about the wellness value of wine. . . . I was not sure
about this wellness thing before. . . . Later, I also talked about these things with
others.” Here, this informant is both a giver and a recipient.
Reality and life contain two categories: “work-related” and “private social life-
related.” This factor is largely reflected in the CDL in that this logic is based on the
reality and daily lives of the customers. This theme indicated that the informants’
daily lives involved a lot of social interaction, especially work-related dinners. One
informant (male, 30-year-old) said,

I seldom eat at home and normally I have dinner at home maybe once a
month. . . . Of course, we drink a lot of alcohol, but wine is mainly for women to
drink.” “Wine is almost like a soft drink and good for their health.

TABLE 4.3 Factors contributing to wellness value

Themes Categories Sub-categories

Wine Wine-related • Wine-drinking behavior

• Curiousness
Reality and life Work-related • Frequent work banquet
• Drinking habit/culture
Private social life-related • Frequent social gatherings (friends,
relatives)
• Peer influence
Intangible culture Culture-related • Traditional Chinese Medicine value
• De-stress
• “Soft drink”/not harmful
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 55

Intangible culture has one category: “culture-related.” Within this theme,

the informants mentioned that moderate wine drinking is a good behavior that
keeps their bodies healthy. One informant (female, 23-year-old) explained, “I
think maybe that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) value impacts the well-
ness value of wine.” “You see, TCM encourages people to drink a bit of alcohol
to maintain health.” Similarly, for Western wine drinkers, wine helps to relax
the informants and is another sub-category within this theme (Duan et al., 2018).
Additionally, half of the male informants (4, 28%) think wine is a “soft drink”
and even state that alcohol is “water.” This is a unique finding that brings a
new understanding of alcohol consumption associated with its perceived value/
value.

Discussion
This chapter aims to identify the underlying logic of the wellness value of wine
(WV) formation, especially given the profits/revenue that wine companies can
gain through actively marketing WV. As suggested by Duan et al. (2018), the
health value of wine among Chinese wine tourists has an industry implication
for service providers. Meanwhile, the American wine industry agreed that the
health value of wine plays an important role in the industry (Getz et al., 1999).
In the existing literature, however, the mechanism of WV formation, particu-
larly in the context of wine tourism, is absent. Furthermore, two dominant
approaches to value formation exist in tourism studies: SDL and CDL. In the
meantime, factors that determine value formation are largely ignored. In other
words, the question of which logic (SDL or CDL) determines the WV has not
been answered. Thus, two RQs guided this chapter. In RQ1, we answered the
formation logic of WV. In the second RQ, we identified the factors contribut-
ing to the WV. Consequently, two theoretical contributions are made. Besides,
the methodology adopted online and offline data and enriched the findings and
literature. Furthermore, integrating the results of two RQs, we propose Figure
4.1. This proposed framework demonstrates the logic of WV and may also apply
to understanding the general Chinese public regarding their value formation in
a general tourism context.
This proposed framework has at least three contributions. Firstly, a new con-
struct has been added to the proposed model. Traditional CDL emphasizes that the
value of customers comes from “reality and living” (customers’ daily lives), while
SDL puts the research effort into the resources offered by the providers (Grönroos,
2008). We added culture to the whole value formation process, and our findings
also indicate that SDL and CDL in certain contexts (e.g. wine tourism), cannot be
treated independently. A combination of three (i.e. CDL, SDL, and culture) ex-
tends our understanding of value formation. In other words, the proposed model
highlights the complexity of value formation that a single approach (either CDL or
SDL) does not analyze deeply (e.g. WV formation). Further, single-approach-based
56 Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai and Emily Ma

FIGURE 4.1 Conceptual framework of wellness value formation in wine tourism

research in this context will not consider value formation from a holistic point of
view. Subsequently, further studies are encouraged to apply a combination of CDL
and SDL to investigate value formation as well as add necessary extras (i.e. culture
in this chapter).
Secondly, the relationship is dynamic and multi-dimensional. The Chinese
young wine tourists (18-year-old to 39-year-old) have WV, but their level of
understanding and concern toward WV varies. The male informants tend to think
wine is a “soft drink” or like a bottle of “water.” Thus, their “living” dimension
in Figure 4.1 has a weak influence on their WV. This means wine in their daily
practice has not determined its wellness value. However, Chinese Bai-Jiu (strong
liquor) providers promote “kidney” issues that are related to reproduction ability
and seem to have more “wellness” value formation. Even though Bai-Jiu com-
panies should not get around the ban on local rules and regulations, the “kidney”
issue is indeed a successful marketing strategy. Also, Figure 4.1 contains multiple
dimensions in its model (as mentioned in the earlier paragraphs). The model
has three dimensions, and we further address the importance of the “living”
dimension. In the context of wine tourism, the “living” dimension dominated the
WV, as found in RQ1. Meanwhile, two other dimensions (culture and provider)
facilitated the completed value formation. The following studies are encouraged
 Identifying wellness value formation in young wine tourists 57

to apply Figure 4.1 to wine tourism destination management with social network
analysis (Valeri & Baggio, 2020) to test/examine WV or other values of wine
that can be used by the industry. Besides, based on the multi-dimensional nature
of Figure 4.1, promoting the vineyard culture/wine-related culture/wine region
culture seems like an effective marketing strategy from the providers’ sphere
(Valeri & Fadlon, 2016).
Thirdly, we confirmed that CDL is the dominant approach to value formation.
The customers are the leaders of value formation in the tourism context. These find-
ings support earlier studies (e.g. Heinonen et al., 2010). We contend CDL is still a
promising value formation in the service marketing domain. However, as pointed
out in previous contributions, a pure CDL is insufficient to understand value forma-
tion because the complexity, dynamics and uncertainty of the real world cannot be
simply understood through a sole approach.

Conclusion
This chapter uncovers that the wellness value of wine (WV) is not deliberate
(RQ1). By deliberated value, we mean a value created mainly from the provid-
er’s side (SDL). This wellness value is largely based on individuals themselves:
the individuals’ daily lives, such as their work type, personality and social circles
(in our categorization, “reality and life”). The wine companies and wineries, as
the actors in the other logic formation approach (SDL), are confirmed as value
co-creators; this finding is consistent with early studies on value formation in
the tourism context (e.g. Grönroos, 2008). Furthermore, during the wine tourism
experience, providers interact more with their customers and deepen the well-
ness value. RQ2 identified that “Wine,” “Reality and life” and “Intangible cul-
ture” are the factors that contributed to wellness value formation. In summary,
as a result, these two RQs present two theoretical contributions. The proposed
framework makes three more contributions. Last but not least, online and offline
methods offer a richer picture of the providers’ sphere. This chapter contains two
main limitations. First, the pre-existing CDL and SDL approaches to identify-
ing value formation may be imperfect/have a bias in understanding complex
value formation from an open-minded perspective. An exploratory approach is
advised for further study. Moreover, sample size, location and diversity are not
necessarily large enough and may have potential bias. Thus, sampling improve-
ment is the next recommendation.

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5
DIGITAL MARKETING AND CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR IN TOURISM
Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

Introduction
In the early twentieth century, when the need for digital marketing, digital pro-
motion, digital advertising, digital distribution, and digital customer experience
emerged, following the steps of technological evolution, there was a great increase
in value (Sismeiro & Bucklin, 2004). The development of new technologies, and
especially the internet, has encouraged industries such as tourism to adapt their
business models to new forms of marketing ecosystems (Palos-Sanchez et al.,
2019) in the twenty-first century (Bennett et al., 2017). Digital technology provides
new communication and distribution channels for both consumers and suppliers of
travel services. The internet enables travel agents to adopt digital marketing to at-
tract, inform and serve travelers.
As of the 1960s, the discovery of the internet and the development of web tech-
nologies in the ongoing process made changes in many areas compulsory. As a
result, the developments in technology, artificial intelligence, and smart systems
are mentioned at the point reached today and their effects on business and life are
discussed. Tourism is one of the most affected sectors by technology. The wide-
spread use of technological devices (computers, phones, tablets, etc.) has made it
necessary to switch to a technology-based marketing approach in terms of market-
ing tourist products. At this point, businesses aim to be one step ahead of the com-
petition and reach wider audiences by increasing their digital marketing efforts.
It has been seen in recent years that tourism enterprises have realized the advan-
tages of switching from traditional marketing to digital marketing and are trying to
use it in the most efficient way, such as transportation, accommodation, food and
beverage, entertainment, and guidance. In the planning phase of various activities,
technology is used effectively to communicate with each other and with potential

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-6
62 Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

tourists. Thanks to digital marketing, tourism businesses gain advantages in many

areas such as effective advertising and promotion activities, acceleration of reser-
vation processes, and monitoring of customer behavior. Thanks to the marketing
activities carried out in the digital environment, businesses also have the opportu-
nity to reach the cost, time and larger markets.
By transferring their activities to digital platforms, tourism businesses can convince
their customers more easily and understand their expectations better. Thus, they can
reach an advantageous position in ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. One of
the most important issues for businesses to carry their marketing activities to the digital
environment is to have trained and experienced staff. At this point, it is very important
for businesses to invest in human resources while investing in technology on the one
hand. That's why tourism businesses use digital marketing tools like search engine opti-
mization, search engine ads, social media platforms, e-mail, etc. It is very important for
them to be aware that they can convert potential customers into actual customers and
increase their market share by using digital resources. Businesses that do not have this
awareness are likely to lose their competitive advantage.
In terms of businesses serving in the tourism sector, the conscious use of digital
marketing in communication with consumers is an important power. With the con-
tinuous development of digital marketing, studies in this field are also increasing.
In this section, the importance and usage areas of digital marketing in terms of the
tourism sector are emphasized.

Digital marketing: theoretical and conceptual framework

Definition of digital marketing

Digital marketing is the use of digital technologies that enter our lives with the
internet in studies carried out to achieve business goals, advertising and promotion
activities, image and brand management, and effective communication with con-
sumers, especially with the target audience, as in traditional marketing (Demirdög-
mez, 2021). As companies in the developing world realize the importance of digital
marketing, it has become necessary for them to combine online with traditional
methods in order to more precisely meet the needs of their customers in order for
them to be successful. Online advertising is a powerful marketing tool for building
brands and for companies to succeed. Digital marketing is more cost-effective in
terms of generating results and measuring the success of advertising money spent
and the ROI of advertising (Bala & Verma, 2018).
Digital marketing is the use of digital technologies to create channels to reach
potential buyers, to achieve business goals by meeting consumer needs more effec-
tively. It is often considered synonymous with internet marketing or e-marketing
(Sawicki, 2016). It is also referred to as “online marketing”, “internet marketing” or
“web marketing” in the literature. Although the term digital marketing has gained
popularity over time, it seems that the terms online marketing in the USA and web
 Digital marketing and consumer behavior in tourism 63

marketing in Italy are more widely used. After 2013, the use of digital marketing
has come to the fore as the most common term, especially in the UK and worldwide
(Kaur & Sandhu, 2017).
Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing methods with its features
such as providing an environment that can reach large masses with low costs and
changing marketing strategies from start to finish. While promoting the brand and
the work performed, it includes marketing activities carried out using the internet,
interactive environment, and mobile opportunities in digital and social media in
order to support all marketing activities (Chaffey & Smith, 2013, p. 102).
The term digital marketing has evolved over time from a specific term that de-
scribes the marketing of products and services using digital channels to an umbrella
term that describes the process of using digital technologies to acquire customers
and create customer preferences, promote brands, retain customers, and increase
sales (Kannan & Li, 2017). The fact that businesses have to make changes in their
marketing activities due to reasons such as speed, electronics, change, innovation,
and digitalization has made it necessary to adapt to digital marketing practices.
This situation increased the sales of the companies and ensured the company image
and brand awareness (Demirdögmez, 2021).

Digitalization and the digital marketing methods

While digitalization gives consumers the opportunity to express themselves and
voice their opinions, it also gives them the power of choice and influence. Brands
have the chance to interact with customers dynamically, while users have the
chance to search for information, products or services. Digital marketing gives
businesses the ability to expand their reach and creates value for consumers and
businesses. The primary goal of brands is to build trust and intimacy among their
customers who purchase their products or services. Thanks to its personalized use,
those working in the digital marketing industry can customize the content to be
more human-oriented and user-friendly. Users can post comments and post con-
tent for a brand in a way that can influence people and opinions. Content, time,
comments, interface, reviews, speed, and image play a key role in the digital age.
Users tend to respond positively to brands when they manage to create a welcom-
ing and customer-focused environment. User profiles, audiences, and consumer
behavior engage the internet user with work and generate high-quality services,
high-volume revenues, and excellent user experience satisfaction (Carvalhosa
et al., 2017; Wierenga, 2010).
Digitalization has drastically changed the way companies approach the con-
sumer. Thanks to the Internet, a consumer can analyze and sometimes even dictate
a price based on the circulating opinions. The development of digital technologies
has also led to the emergence of the cyber consumer and cyber business world.
Digitization makes it possible to implement new relationship models with con-
sumers, which are challenging for businesses that want to increase their market
64 Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

share. Smartphones and social media have had a certain impact on the dynamic
development of digital marketing. Therefore, the ways to reach potential customers
through mobile phones and social networks are current communication channels
that can establish relationships with customers and therefore increase sales (Sa-
wicki, 2016).
Digital marketing methods such as search engine optimization (SEO), search
engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content auto-
mation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, so-
cial media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display
advertising, e-books, and optical discs and games have become more common in
emerging technology. Digital marketing now extends to non-Internet channels that
provide digital media such as mobile phones (SMS and MMS), call-back, and on-
hold mobile rings (Desai, 2019), and some of the digital marketing techniques are
as follows (Bala & Verma, 2018).
Search engine optimization (SEO) adjusts the website to appear naturally or
organically for search results on Google, Yahoo Bing or any other search engine.
Google regularly updates its algorithms so that only relevant results come up. From
this perspective, many experts say that SEO is dead and the effort is in vain. But the
truth is that Google tries to prevent algorithm manipulation and filters out sites that
do not deserve to be at the top of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Therefore,
it is important to invest in SEO studies. It covers technical issues related to website,
content and query matching, spidering, indexing, and interpreting non-text content.
Search engine optimization is the most cost-effective marketing strategy that will
bring organic traffic to businesses.
Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a comprehensive strategy to drive traf-
fic to your business primarily through paid efforts. Therefore, it is also called paid
search marketing. The universe of SEM is diverse and complex. Depending on your
business structure, you can choose the PPC (pay-per-click) or CPC (cost-per-click)
model or the CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) model. There are different plat-
forms for SEM. By far, Google Ad Words (on the Google Network) and Bing Ads
(on the Yahoo Bing Network) are the most popular. SEM also includes display ad-
vertising, search retargeting and site remarketing, mobile marketing, and paid social
advertising.
According to Pulizzi (2007), content marketing is a marketing method that pro-
duces remarkable and consistent content in order to win customers, create loy-
alty, and encourage customers to buy. Content marketing refers to the creation and
promotion of content assets with the aim of generating brand awareness, traffic
growth, lead generation, and customers. Channels that can play a role in your con-
tent marketing strategy include blog posts, eBooks and whitepapers, infographics,
online brochures, and lookbooks (Desai, 2019).
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a branch of SEM efforts. It involves man-
aging the traffic of sites through social sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Pinterest, Google+, and LinkedIn. Good content is shared and loved. It is important
 Digital marketing and consumer behavior in tourism 65

to create and customize content for different social media platforms. Generative
and originality are important. It is important to interact with users at least four to
five times a day, on a daily basis. Your SMM efforts can be especially useful for
branding and selling. The tools and approaches to communicating with customers
have changed drastically with the advent of social media. Therefore, businesses
must learn how to use social media consistently with their business plans (Mangold
& Faulds, 2009). To create a successful marketing campaign through social media,
a consumer must be open to technology.
E-mail marketing is the strategy of sending a commercial message via email
to a list of potential customers. With effective email marketing software, you can
maintain email lists that are broken down by various factors, including customers’
likes and dislikes and spending habits. Sending personalized emails is important,
and this move helps build trust. However, it is important to note that e-mail market-
ing can also be considered spam and in some countries, there are laws against it.

Consumer behavior in digital tourism

Digital technology is used in marketing to make tourism offerings competitive
and meet the expectations of digital consumers (Happ & Ivancso-Horvath, 2018;
Sharma et al., 2020). Communicating to customers about products and services
through digital media and making the interaction between suppliers and custom-
ers seamless is the main goal of digital marketing (Yasmin et al., 2015). Digital
marketing can be seen as activities, institutions, and processes facilitated by digital
technologies to create, communicate and deliver value for customers and other
stakeholders.
Digital technology has an important place in terms of the globalization of tour-
ism. Digital technology is providing new changes in marketing strategy. Several
opportunities and threats to the tourism industry occur (Gratzer et al., 2004). The
tourism industry is highly open to the benefits of digital technologies due to their
fragmented and knowledge-driven nature (Buhalis & Deimezi, 2004). Travel ser-
vice providers use digital tools such as websites, mobile apps, and social media to
attract new consumers (Mariani et al., 2014), improve customer service, improve
operational efficiency, and ultimately increase revenue (Amaro & Duarte, 2015;
Law et al., 2014).
Digital tourism is the use of digital technologies to increase and improve the
experience gained by tourists. It also blends the real world with digital content to
enhance the tourist experience. Mobile phones and the internet have been driving
the digital travel revolution in many developed countries in recent years, bringing
the tourism industry more closely together with digital tourism (Law et al., 2018;
Reino et al., 2013). Mobile phones and the internet enable tourism destinations
to increase the online presence and offline connectivity necessary to compete in
today’s global tourism market. They provide the necessary tools and practices to
handle tourism management more efficiently; offer cheap access to existing and
66 Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

potential customers; and enable multiple distribution channels (Buhalis, 2003; Law
et al., 2018). Smartphones have become an integral part of everyday life, and a lot
of people, including tourists, use the latest technology. With the increase in having
multiple technological devices and the contribution of mobile travel bookings to
the overall travel market, smartphones and smart tourism have now become power-
ful tools for tourists thanks to mobile applications that make it easier for them to
travel (Law et al., 2018; Murphy et al., 2016). Travel-based mobile apps are one
of the most downloaded category apps, and an increasing number of smartphone
users are opting for travel apps to plan their leisure tours. Tourism mobile apps
help users with trip planning, route mapping, ticket reservations, accommodation
reservations, taxi bookings, and more (Dickinson et al., 2014; Wang & Fesenmaier,
2013; Wang et al., 2012). The tourism industry uses apps to get involved in the
market and reach the next level of user interaction.
The travel industry plays an important role in the formation of the tourism
movement. The current use of Travel 2.0 and the development of Travel 3.0 will
be important in advising tourists’ travel experiences and guiding tourists in future.
Tourists can make their travel plans and comment on touristic products with the
help of the internet. In addition, the photos they upload on social media will guide
other tourists. With the help of Travel 3.0, the most suitable and according to their
needs travel plans will be presented to the tourists (Laboy & Torchio, 2007).
In tourism, both social media and word-of-mouth marketing are important in
purchasing tourist products. The importance of the internet in the use of social
media is very great. Especially, wireless internet has become a must for tourists.
According to the 2021 Wi-Fi-Alliance annual report, 16 billion Wi-Fi devices were
used in 2021. It is thought that Wi-Fi technology will provide an input of 5 trillion
dollars to the world economy by 2025 (Wi-Fi Alliance, 2022).
Altınay et al. (2017), in their study, aimed to reveal the effect of social media on
tourists’ touristic product purchases and to reveal the changes in consumer move-
ments. They also aimed to find out how often and what tools social media is used. At
the same time, it is aimed to find the role of social media before and after the purchase
of the touristic product. Data were collected from 455 people by the authors using
the questionnaire technique. Facebook has been the most and most frequently used
platform. It has been found that social media users are influenced by social media
comments and they follow social media comments while buying tourism products.
Chen and Tsai (2008), in their study, aimed to examine the relationship between
perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in social media tools
in travel marketing. They reached 407 people with the questionnaire technique. It
has been found that the value in the travel market comes to the fore in TV market-
ing, the perceived risk is high in TV shopping due to the intangibility of the travel
product, but the satisfaction and loyalty from TV shopping are high.
Laajini (2021), in his study, focused on Moroccan tourists’ use of new tech-
nologies and online touristic product purchasing experiences. It has been tried to
measure the interaction, use, and trust of tourists with digital platforms. Data were
 Digital marketing and consumer behavior in tourism 67

obtained by asking questions to four focus groups between the ages of 16–64. On-
line providers have been found to be an integral factor in the behavior of Moroccan
tourists as they facilitate research and save time.
Kim et al. (2008), in their study aimed to examine tourists’ mobile device usage
and tour purchasing experiences. In the study, the extent to which tourists accept
and use mobile devices was examined. The survey was applied to people who
bought tours from e-rewards.com and 283 people received full answers. The results
show that travelers’ technology use and travel experience are effective factors in
mobile technology adaptation. In addition, it has been found that frequent travelers
have more positive attitudes toward using mobile devices and have a higher inten-
tion to use mobile devices while traveling.
Studies show that the use of social media has an important place in tourism market-
ing. It is also seen that travelers use mobile devices more frequently during travel and
their purchasing experiences are based on comments and opinions on social media.

Conclusion
Tourism businesses struggle in an intensely competitive environment to achieve
their goals. Although these purposes are basically the making of money and the
continuity of the enterprises, they can be expressed as meeting the expectations in
the service sector and ensuring customer satisfaction. In today’s world, consumers
are more conscious and it is not easy to be persuaded. It is very important for the
customer to have the products they demand quickly and without any problems.
Thanks to technology, the question marks about the products in the minds of the
customers are also relatively reduced. The products offered in the service sector are
intangible by nature, and there is a benefit obtained when purchased. Considering
that the quality of the products offered in the tourism sector is similar, it is a neces-
sity to benefit from technology. Laying the foundations of the image that will be
formed in the minds of customers begins with the use of technology.
Digital marketing, which has become important in communicating with custom-
ers, will ensure the continuity and loyalty of the customer. Businesses that do not
have an innovative perspective will struggle with traditional marketing methods,
while technology-sensitive competitors will go a long way. When digital market-
ing activities for the promotion of tourist destinations are supported with virtual
and augmented reality-like technologies, their effect will increase significantly.
Tourism enterprises should be encouraged to understand the importance of digi-
tal marketing activities in increasing their market share and making the necessary
investments. NGOs in various fields of tourism should take an active role in ensur-
ing this. Opening training programs on digital marketing and presenting them in
educational institutions at various levels will support meeting the need for human
resources in this field. As in every field, it is foreseen that the existence of tourism
businesses in the digital world today and in future can be achieved with different
thinking, having an innovative perspective, and a visionary mindset.
68 Tolga Gök and Mahmut Baltacı

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6
“AIRBNB IRELAND” AS AN
“INFORMATION SOCIETY SERVICES”
PROVIDER AND NOT A REAL ESTATE OR
TOURIST SERVICES PROVIDER
Anastasios E. Thomaidis

Introduction
In the recent decades, the world economy has been undergoing profound changes.
There is no doubt that the development of the internet was an important factor in
the change in the consumer’s behavior.
In particular, the combination of people’s concerns and easier access to the in-
ternet have created the right moment to build online platforms that are needed to
link those who own goods they are willing to share and consumers wishing to use
goods. Sharing via platforms 1 is a new model for selling goods and services, which
is rapidly developing in various economic sectors, including the tourism sector.2
It is true that the travel landscape has already evolved substantially since
the dawn of the internet in 1991. In the travel space, Expedia and Booking.com
launched in 1996 and the Chinese Alibaba and Ctrip launched in 1999. Online
travel agents brought new opportunities for hotels, but also disrupted the traditional
relationships between hotels, travel agents, and global distribution systems (GDS).
Younger companies like Airbnb, Vrbo, Fpipkey, Agoda, HomeAway, etc., which
are based on a peer-to-peer business model, are now stepping forward as the next
wave of disruption in the lodging industry.
The collaborative economy, being flexible and focused on the individual, cre-
ated great opportunities for consumers, businesses and citizens. The tourism sector
can easily fit to the collaborative economy, especially in the accommodation and
the transport area. Concerning accommodation, platforms offer people a place to
stay more affordable than the hotel’s prices and the conditions are even better in
comparison to an average hotel. In addition, the common dwelling is also rated
because it allows access to single accommodation units or has a more authentic
experience.3

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-7
 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services” provider 71

Platforms are digital bilateral or multilateral markets where two or more user
groups communicate online with the mediation of the platform operator in order to
enable the two groups to enter into a transaction.
In the case of short-term rentals in particular, digital platforms mean any plat-
forms which provide specialized tools for entering into rental agreements online
and are not limited merely to promoting the property. On those platforms, natural
or legal persons place unused property or unused parts thereof for rental at a pre-
agreed price to interested parties (usually tourists) who are seeking to stay at a
specific destination. If a transaction is entered into, payment is made online and the
company which owns the platform, withholds a small percentage of the transaction
amount as a fee/commission, and pays the rest to the owner.4
There are several factors that can explain the rise in popularity of the sharing
economy in the tourism sector. Digital platforms have made it possible to extend
these small exchanges to relations between strangers at an unprecedented scale
by reducing the cost of access to the market for individual providers, as well as
transaction costs. Specifically, peer-to-peer platforms allow consumers to easily
compare prices between different suppliers, find out more about the product or ser-
vice being offered, review other users’ opinions, and, in many cases, communicate
directly with the provider of the product or service.
Furthermore, cultural changes and economic developments that have taken
place in recent years have led consumers to be increasingly open to the idea of
sharing resources and accessing goods on a temporary basis, rather than owning
them. In addition, tourist consumers – especially young people – are more open to
organizing their trips themselves and increasingly demand unique and personalized
experiences. This growing desire to enjoy “authentic” experiences has led to the
emergence of new niche markets. In this context, the sharing economy has gained
popularity by offering the possibility to engage in these types of experiences, which
are more flexible and less standardized, such as stays in unusual places and shared
dining experiences with local residents. The model allows consumers to conclude
transactions with suppliers in order to secure the products and services they need,
which are made available via specially designed online platforms.5 It is a new form
of entrepreneurship worth tens of billions of dollars globally.
The explosive development of online booking of short stays in apartments or
houses has created opportunities and opposition in many European capitals. Posi-
tive and negative aspects of short-terms rental via digital platforms are a worldwide
reality.
Undoubtedly, peer-to-peer business model on which Airbnb and other companies
are based on is very simple and profitable for the user and the property owners. The
users have the opportunity to organize and personalize their stay in authentic, local
properties providing them with a simple – and often less expensive – alternative.
On the other side, short-term rentals can be for the owners a substantial source of
passive income that requires relatively little effort and the initial investment is often
72 Anastasios E. Thomaidis

negligible. Staying tourists in real neighborhoods throughout each city can help to
improve ugly or deprived areas of the city centers. Short-term rentals normalize
prices of accommodations during big events. They also distribute tourism spend-
ing. While hotels are located in central business districts, those touristic rentals are
scattered usually throughout each city. Finally, the revenue generated by short-term
rentals is reinvested in local communities. Whereas hotel profits may go directly
back to headquarters, hosts keep money in the area. In the case of Airbnb, hosts
retain approximately 87% of the booking price.
On the other side, the rise of short-term rental bookings has come with its fair
share of complaints and incidents, among them overtourism, a significant burden
on the infrastructure of the cities, skyrocketing rents, and out-of-control parties.
Moreover, short-term rentals are increasingly singled out as an aggravating factor
in the housing crisis occurring across many countries.

The Airbnb platform

Airbnb6 is recognized as one of the most successful online sharing accommodation
platforms.7 It has introduced to the tourism and hospitality sectors one of the most
significant innovations of the past decade. By facilitating an online peer-to-peer
trading platform, Airbnb has extended short-term accommodation capacity in new
ways and provoked strong responses from both the established commercial tourism
accommodation sector and local regulators.
Airbnb was started in 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, two industrial
designers who recently moved to San Francisco. Unable to afford the rent for their
loft at the time, the pair decided to make up the money they needed by renting
out their apartment to people who could not find hotels to stay at while attending
nearby trade shows. They set up air mattresses in the apartment’s living room for
their guests to sleep on and cooked homemade breakfast in the morning. Since
then, Airbnb has become one of the trailblazers of peer-to-peer property rental.
As of December 2021, the company has thousands of employees. The company
operates in 220 countries and almost 100,000 cities and provides its services to the
users with its easy user experience platform. The hosts of the company are catego-
rized into two parts, individuals and professionals. They find Airbnb as a stress-free
way of earning income from their property. Guests prefer Airbnb over hotels and
resorts as they have a cozier and more home-like feeling and are relatively cheaper.
The Airbnb platform is easy and simple both for the host and the guests. The
hosts have four ways to list their space on Airbnb. They can list it as an entire
home, a hotel room, a shared room, or a private room with an in-depth description,
along with multiple photos, pricing and location details, and a description of them-
selves. After each stay, reviews and ratings from previous guests of both the host
and the home are displayed on each listing page. Ratings and reviews on Airbnb are
double-blind, which means that both the host and guest cannot see what the other
party has written until they have both submitted their feedback. To make a booking,
 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services” provider 73

travelers generally need to take the following steps: 1) open the Airbnb website,
2) log in or create an account, 3) specify the location and date(s), using the site’s
various filters to customize search, 4) make a booking or reserve it – sometimes
bookings will not be fully validated until the host accepts, and 5) pay for the ac-
commodation and receive notification of the booking, including the address.
Regardless of what type of property is booked, travelers have the opportunity
to message the host before and during the guest’s stay. This online conversation
creates a strong sense of community and a highly effective support network for
travelers. Hosts also generally like to provide local knowledge to help their guests
get comfortable in their neighborhoods and homes. Airbnb charges guests a service
fee between 5% and 15% of the booking and hosts 3%, generating in 2021, $6 bil-
lion in service fees by charging an average of 13% on an average booking value
of $156.
In many State Members of the EU, short-term rentals created a confusion con-
cerning legislation. In Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, and else-
where, Airbnb and other platforms have generated stiff local resistance to the
conversion of homes that used to be for renting into de facto tourist accommoda-
tion. In turn, this has led authorities to take measures to counter a development
that has shown its potential to change the face of cherished parts of cities, creating
several legal crises.
In response the companies behind the platforms such as Airbnb, Home Away,
and others – plus the trade associations they belong to, in this case, the European
Holiday Home Association – have launched a lobbying offensive in the EU institu-
tions. This includes a complaint against four cities in particular, Barcelona, Berlin,
Paris, and Amsterdam, that the local government’s attempts to regulate the tourist
rental market breach the EU’s single market rules, cases which ultimately ended
up at the European Court of Justice. The online rental platforms are enlisting the
European Commission’s help to roll back defensive measures against them taken
at the local level.

The case law of the CJEU relating to short-term rentals

(C-390/18)
Although Airbnb is popular amongst travelers particularly in Paris and all over
France, the French government installed, under pressure from the hotel lobby, a
range of measures to limit the market growth of Airbnb, including a tourist tax and
a limit of the duration of rentals. Besides these measures, the Association pour un
hébergement et un tourisme professionnels (“AHTOP”) lodged a complaint con-
cerning the classification of Airbnb as a real estate agent.8 If classified as such,
Airbnb would need a license for its activities. The dispute following the complaint
resulted in a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union
(“CJEU”) on the applicability of Directive 2000/31 and the compatibility of the
relevant French measures with this Directive. Put simply, the CJEU had to decide
74 Anastasios E. Thomaidis

whether Airbnb provides an information society service or an accommodation

service. Consequently, the Airbnb case provided the CJEU with the opportunity to
clarify or further cement the conclusions drawn in previous cases with regard to the
concept of “information society services.”
More specifically by its first question, the Regional Court of Paris asked whether
the services provided by Airbnb are information society services within the scope
of Directive 2000/31. Secondly, if the CJEU decides that Airbnb falls within the
scope of the Directive, the question arises whether the Hoguet Law can be enforced
against Airbnb.
The AHTOP argued that Airbnb’s services are accommodation services and fall
under the definition of services in the Services Directive that sets forth the free
movement of services in the broad sense. Additionally, they argued that Airbnb’s
services do not qualify as information society services in the sense of Directive
2000/31. The AHTOP argued in subordinate order that the platform services form
an integral part of an overall accommodation service.9
By contrast, Airbnb denied being a real estate agent and hinged its argumenta-
tion on the alleged incompatibility of the Hoguet Law with Directive 2000/31.
This Directive guarantees the free movement of information society services by
forbidding Member States to introduce barriers to the free movement of informa-
tion society services provided by a company that is established in another Mem-
ber State. In that regard, an information society service is defined as “any service
normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the
individual request of a recipient of services.” Directive 2000/31, however, allows
Member States to derogate from the general rule and to adopt measures restricting
the freedom to provide information society services if they are necessary for ex-
traordinary objectives, such as public health or public security, and they are taken
against a company violating or risking to violate those objectives. However, the
Member State in question is obliged to first ask the Member State of the place
of establishment of the offending company to take measures and it has to notify
the European Commission. Only in case of urgency, a Member State is allowed
to take measures without notifying the European Commission and the Member
State of the place of establishment. None of the parties has argued that there was
an urgency in this given case scenario. First, the CJEU assessed whether the ser-
vices provided by Airbnb are information society services. The CJEU described
Airbnb’s services as follows: “an intermediation service which, by means of an
electronic platform, is intended to connect, for remuneration, potential guests with
professional or nonprofessional hosts offering short-term accommodation services,
while also providing a certain number of other services.” The CJEU emphasized
that the services provided by Airbnb, either way, fall within the definition provided
by Article 57 TFEU and the Services Directive. However, Article 3 of the Services
Directive determines that other, more specific directives take precedence in case of
a conflict with the provisions of the Services Directive. This called for an analysis
of whether Airbnb’s services fall within the scope of Directive 2000/31 and are thus
 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services” provider 75

information society services. Several cumulative conditions need to be fulfilled

in this regard. First, the CJEU decided that the Airbnb services are provided for
remuneration, even though this remuneration is only paid by the guest. Second, the
services are supplied electronically and at a distance, because Airbnb and the host
or guest exchange information only on the platform. Finally, the service is granted
at the individual request of the recipients. The CJEU thus, preliminary, concluded
that the Airbnb services are information society services, and fall within the scope
of Directive 2000/31. The analysis of the CJEU did not stop here. It recalled the
conclusion reached in the Asociacion Profesional Elite Taxi case (“Uber Spain”),
where the CJEU concluded that if the service “forms an integral part of an overall
service whose main component is a service coming under another legal classifica-
tion”, this service cannot be classified as an information society service differing
from the overall service to which it is linked. Somewhat confusingly, the CJEU
had previously decided that the service of Airbnb was provided electronically and
at a distance, while the argumentation about mixed services is triggered by the fact
that the service is not provided fully electronically or at a distance, as was the case
in the Ker-Optika and Uber cases. If the CJEU wanted to be fully consistent with
the line of argumentation in previous cases, it could have stopped its analysis after
this conclusion.
Nonetheless, the CJEU analyzed whether the platform services form an integral
part of an overall service, more specifically an accommodation service. The CJEU
decided that the essential element of the service of Airbnb is the listing of the ac-
commodations and, thus, that the intermediary service cannot be seen as ancillary
to another service. In his opinion, the Advocate-General deduced two conditions
from the Uber cases for the conclusion of an inseparable link between the accom-
modation service and the intermediary service: (i) the services create a new market
and (ii) the provider exerts decisive influence. If the CJEU finds an inseparable
link, the intermediary services would be an integral part of the accommodation
service and thus be judged as such. The CJEU followed this line of argumentation
and emphasized, first, that Airbnb did not create a market for accommodation ser-
vices. In that regard, the CJEU mentioned estate agents, classified advertisements
and property letting websites, who created this market long before Airbnb was
founded. With regard to the creation of a market, the Advocate-General rightly
pointed out that Airbnb, contrary to Uber, also allows professional hosts, for whom
there was already a market, on its platform. The CJEU did, however, not include
this argument in its judgment. Second, the CJEU highlighted the free choice of
hosts in determining the renting price, which shows a lack of decisive influence on
Airbnb’s part. Taking all this into account, the CJEU concluded, in line with the
opinion of the Advocate-General, that the platform services are not an integral part
of an overall accommodation service and are thus information society services. The
CJEU then further analyzed whether the ancillary services, such as the photogra-
phy service, changed the classification of the services. In this regard, the CJEU
emphasized again that the host sets the price and points out the paradoxical nature
76 Anastasios E. Thomaidis

of ancillary services changing the classification of the intermediation service. Thus,

it concluded that the ancillary services do not substantially modify the nature of the
intermediation service.
The CJEU continued by explaining why a different conclusion was drawn for
Airbnb than in the two Uber cases. The crux of the argumentation in the Uber cases
was whether Uber exercised decisive influence, which was held to be the case. Con-
trary to Uber, Airbnb does not exercise such decisive influence in the CJEU’s opin-
ion, because it does not decide the rental price and it does not, to a large extent,
select the host or the accommodation allowed on the platform. Because the CJEU
answered the first question affirmatively, it proceeded to analyze whether the Hoguet
Law is enforceable against Airbnb and thus compatible with Directive 2000/31. The
CJEU first confirmed the restrictiveness of the Hoguet Law. The measure violates
the free movement of services because it restricts access to an activity through the
requirement to hold a license. However, Member States are allowed to derogate from
the free movement of services if they fulfill the requirements of Article 3(4) of Direc-
tive 2000/31. Contrary to the Advocate-General, the CJEU did not analyze the first
prong of the derogation, that is whether the measures are necessary and proportionate.
The second prong of the derogation requires the deviating Member State to request
the Member State where the undertaking is established to undertake steps. In this case,
the French government, as the deviating Member State, refrained from doing so. The
question then remains whether this has an impact on the enforceability of the Hoguet
Law. The CJEU first pointed out that the Directive is “sufficiently clear, precise and
unconditional to confer on it direct effect” Secondly, the CJEU confirmed that the
requirement to contact the Commission and the other Member States is an essential
procedural requirement. Finally, the CJEU emphasized that the requirements in the
Directive are there to stop Member States from acting beyond the competencies laid
down by European Union law. In conclusion, the CJEU deemed the Hoguet Law un-
enforceable against individuals based on its incompatibility with Directive 2000/31.
To sum up, in its judgment of December 19, 2019, in the Airbnb Ireland case,10
the Court ruled that an intermediation service (which, by means of an electronic
platform, is intended to connect, for remuneration, potential guests with profes-
sional or non-professional hosts offering short-term accommodation services,
while also providing a certain number of services ancillary to that intermediation
service) must be characterised as an “information society service” falling within
the scope of Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce.11
In addition, the European Court of Justice ruled in two cases (C-724/18;
C-727/18) concerning short-term rentals that national or local requirements to reg-
ister short-term letting are not in violation of European law.
In the key thesis of the judgment in the case of Cali Apartments SCI and HX
against Procureur général près la cour d’appel de Paris i Ville de Paris (C-724/18 i
C-727/18), the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice ruled that national legislation
providing for authorization for short-term rental to tourists is consistent with the
EU law. It has deemed that combating the shortage of long-term housing represents
 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services” provider 77

an overriding reason of public interest, and therefore, it provides grounds for im-
plementation of legal restrictions on short-term rental.
The Court of Justice examined the issue of authorization that requires from the
short-term rental operator to take certain steps and from the relevant authorities to
issue a formal decision granting him permission for operations.12 Another issue that
was raised concerned the overriding reasons relating to the public interest13 on which
Member States may rely. According to the ECJ case law, they are: the protection of
the urban environment,14 the aims of social policy, and, last but not least, the shortage
of housing for long-term rental. ECJ held in the judgment that the service activity
consisting in repeated, short-term renting out furnished residential units to tourists
does not fall within the definition of “services” outlined in Article 4 (1) of -Directive
2006/123/EC and it is not listed among the activities that are excluded from the
application of the Directive under the provisions of the Article 3 (2). The judgment
confirms that the provisions imposing the obligation to obtain an administrative
decision of a competent authority granting a service provider a permission to operate
fall within the scope of the definition of an authorization scheme outlined in Article
4, Paragraph 6 of the said Directive. Paragraph 109 of the Judgment indicates that
the Directive 2006/123/EC applies to the national regulations of a Member State
that pertain to business operations consisting of repetitive, short-term rental of fur-
nished accommodation to transient clientele who do not take up residence there.
Furthermore, the Services Directive grants national authorities the power to estab-
lish, within the framework set out in that regulation, the conditions of authorization
in light of the objectives of social diversity, taking into account the characteristics of
local housing markets and the need to tackle the problem of the housing shortage.15

Conclusions
The emergence of online intermediary platforms has fostered an unprecedented
rise in short-term rentals across Europe, rendering them a considerable alternative
option for tourist accommodation. In particular, Airbnb and other similar digital
platforms have brought numerous benefits to property owners and tenants who
have unoccupied rental units. The Airbnb platform has also created a boom in local
and international tourism, increasing taxes for the government. It has employed
thousands of workers in different parts of the world. Additionally, the agency acts
as a trustworthy tax collector for the government. On the other hand, the com-
pany has created problems, such as cases of illegal listing and rising costs of hous-
ing. Specifically, this development has brought about tensions in European cities
related to housing shortage, disturbance to neighborhoods, and competition with
traditional accommodation providers. Furthermore, the situation poses significant
issues in various areas of European law, including consumer protection, internal
market, data protection, and taxation.
However, the benefits of home-sharing and short-term rentals cannot be over-
looked. Cities and local governments should understand that completely banning
78 Anastasios E. Thomaidis

short-term rentals is not the way to go. Through technology, several cities have
been able to oversee and regulate short-term renting. American cities like Colorado
and North Carolina have successfully utilized technology to enjoy compliance and
growth in revenue collection. These cities have also outlined workable regulations
for hosts and tourists that have been quite successful, and it could be an example
for European countries.
In light of the case law of the CJEU, platforms such as Airbnb cannot be understood
in many legislation systems as providing “real estate agency”-services nor as falling
within the scope of the specific legal framework that lays down the terms and condi-
tions for carrying on the profession of real estate agent. It is therefore not possible to
impose on Airbnb the relevant criminal and disciplinary sanctions that are threatened.
In all events, this case law entails the risk that any restrictions which are consid-
ered to be unacceptable under European law are found incompatible with European
law, with the result that they would not be implemented by the national judge. The
absolute nature of the case law position supports the general prohibition on the
adoption of restrictions, without any concern as to whether the criterion to be used
relates to the lessor, the duration of the rental, the geographical region in which the
property is located, the income the lessor derives from exploiting his/her assets, or
the justification for introducing restrictions.
Furthermore, the ECJ judgment imposes an obligation on national courts to
carry out a comprehensive assessment of the situation in this area in order to meet
new challenges. It provides an opportunity for national legislators to regulate short-
term rental in a way that ensures fair competition and protection of customers. The
postulated solution is to adopt appropriate legal regulations at the level of national
law, which would, above all, ensure effective protection of consumers, and to con-
sider adopting appropriate solutions at the local level, which would enable local
authorities to influence the development of short-term rentals.16
Especially, in Europe legal certainty could also be achieved if the legislator cre-
ates a legislative framework regarding the services provided by platforms. It has
generally been accepted that
“two of the most significant obstacles to the development of the digital economy
have been the existence of outdated national legislation and regulation which was
enacted decades ago and the regulatory uncertainty regarding the rules, rights and
obligations applicable to digital platforms.”
The most efficient way to regulate online intermediaries would be to adopt leg-
islation at the European level.17
Moreover, this decision is important also for the legal nature of other similar
platforms such as Bookin.com.

Notes
1 Tassikas, A. & Thomaidis, A. Regulation of short-term tourist rental in Greece in Apol-
lonia Martinez Nadal, Short-Term Tourist Rental Regulation a Comparative Law Ap-
proach, p. 88.
 “Airbnb Ireland” as an “information society services” provider 79

2 In Greece, this is related particularly to the accommodation sector and other services
(tours and excursions). See Thornton, G. (2019, February). Survey for the hellenic cham-
ber of hotels, p. 2
3 Stiubea E. (2018) University of Oradea , Romania, new tendencies in tourism: The shar-
ing economy, p. 239.
4 Tassikas, A. & Thomaidis, A. Regulation of short-term tourist rental in Greece in Apol-lonia
Martinez Nadal, Short-Term Tourist Rental Regulation a Comparative Law Approach, p. 88.
5 Busch, C, (2019), Mehr Fairness und Transparenz in der Plattformökonomie? Die neue
P2B-Verordnung im Überblick,. Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht (GRUR),
8,788–796 (passim).
6 Air Bed and Breakfast.
7 Sthapit, E., Coudounaris, D. N., & Björk, P. (2019a). Extending the memorable tourism
experience construct: An investigation of memories of local food experiences. Scandi-
navian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 19(4/5), 333–353.
8 France, one of the EU Member States where Airbnb is active, passed the Hoguet Law
in 1970. Under this act, all real estate agents are required to hold a professional license
under penalty of 6 months imprisonment and a fine of 7500 euros.
9 Van Acke, L. C-390/18 – The CJEU finally clears the Air(bnb) regarding information
society services – beck-online, p. 1, (file:///C:/Users/%CE%96%CE%A9%CE%97/
Downloads/C-390_18%20%E2%80%93%20The%20CJEU%20Finally%20Clears%20
the%20Air(bnb)%20Regarding%20Information%20Society%20Services%20-%20
beck-online%20(1).pdf).
10 ECJ decision from 19.12.2019, C-390/18 Airbnb Ireland UC, Hôtelière Turenne SAS,
Association pour un hébergement et un tourisme professionnels (AHTOP), Valhotel,
ECLI:EU:C:2019:1112.
11 Since the conditions in Article 1(1)(b) of the Directive (EU) 2015/1535, which refers to
Article 2(a) of Directive 2000/31/EC, are met. See recitals 49, 69 of the judgment.
12 See Judgment of the CJEU, Case C-360/15 and Case C-31/16, X and Visser, EU:C:2018:44,
and also Judgment of the CJEU, Case C-393/17, Kirschstein, EU:C:2019:563.
13 See Judgment of the CJEU, Case C-567/07, Woningstichting Sint Servatius, EU:C:2009:
593, and also Judgment of the CJEU, Case C-197/11 and C-203/11, EU:C:2013:288.
14 See point 135 Judgment of the CJEU, Case C-360/15 i C-31/16, X and Visser,
EU:C:2018:44.
15 Badura, E The judgment of the European Court of Justice of 2022 C-724/18 and its
impact on the real estate market in the EU, pp. 87–89, https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/375778
(accessed 1 September 2022).
16 Badura, E. The judgment of the European Court of Justice of 2022 C-724/18 and its
impact on the real estate market in the EU, pp. 87–89, https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/375778
(accessed 1 September 2022).
17 Van Acke, L. C-390/18 – The CJEU finally clears the Air(bnb) regarding information
society services – beck-online, p. 2, (file:///C:/Users/%CE%96%CE%A9%CE%97/
Downloads/C-390_18%20%E2%80%93%20The%20CJEU%20Finally%20Clears%20
the%20Air(bnb)%20Regarding%20Information%20Society%20Services%20-%20
beck-online%20(1).pdf).

References
Badura E. (2021) The judgment of the European court of justice of 2022 C-724/18 and its
impact on the real estate market in the EU. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 71(1).
Busch, C, (2019), Mehr Fairness und Transparenz in der Plattformökonomie? Die neue
P2B-Verordnung im Überblick. Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht (GRUR),
8, 788–796 (passim).
80 Anastasios E. Thomaidis

Sthapit, E., Coudounaris, D. N., & Björk, P. (2019a). Extending the memorable tourism
experience construct: An investigation of memories of local food experiences. Scandina-
vian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 19(4/5), 333–353.
Stiubea E. (2018). New tendencies in tourism: The sharing economy, p. 239.
Tassikas, A., & Thomaidis, A. (2022). Regulation of short-term tourist rental in Greece in
Apol-lonia Martinez Nadal. Short-Term Tourist Rental Regulation a Comparative Law
Aapproach.
Thornton, G. (2019, February). Survey for the hellenic chamber of hotels, p. 2. www.grant-
thornton.gr/press-releases/2019/sharing-economy-2019/ (Accessed 30 November 2021).
Van Acke, L. C-390/18-The CJEU finally clears the air(bnb) regarding information society
service-Beck-online, p. 1.
PART 2

Knowledge sharing
Case studies
7
DESTINATION MANAGEMENT. THE
ROLE OF DMOs ON DIGITAL BRAND
COMMUNICATION. THE CASE OF
GREECE
Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina
Aivaliotou

Literature review
There are only a few references, surveys and papers on tourism governance and
the digital presence of DMOs worldwide. This limitation on sources and resources
makes difficult the comparative analysis among countries. Nevertheless, the best
outcome is produced by taking into account the data limitations. In order to better
comprehend the contribution of the research on this topic, we have gathered the
most essential ones in Table 7.1.
Most of the above-mentioned surveys and research papers refer mainly to the
DMOs’ contribution to social media advertising campaigns, to the destination Logo
recognition or to the determinants of their success. Little is known about their key
purpose of establishment, namely their contribution to policy planning, govern-
ance and effective destination management. Since there is such research limitation,
future studies should focus on a further analysis of the necessary factors, provide
more case studies or best practices and call on legislation reforms that will enable
the establishment and implementation of such structures at the national and local
governmental levels.

Research context and methodological framework

The methodology of our research is based on a comparative analysis, depending
on the available data. Greece is examined as a case study, as the country – during
the last years – has made essential steps toward this direction. The key question of
this paper is to showcase the best way DMOs can be involved in the governance
of a destination. “How can policy makers set up and implement a more efficient
digital brand communication at national and local level taking into account all the

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-9
TABLE 7.1 Contribution of previous studies

Reference Subject Main content/findings

84
Pietro Beritelli Destination Logo recognition This research paper indicates that destination logo recognition is very limited and it is

Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

and Christian and implications on primarily useful for the product in the destination, rather than for destination communication.
Laesser international destination Therefore, the impact of branded communication and advertising campaigns is greatly
(2018) branding by DMOs: a case overestimated.
for saving money
Lidija Lalicic Emotional Brand This paper analyzes the emotional brand communication of the 10 most popular DMOs in
et al. (2018) communication on Europe according to Tripadvisor (2017) by observing user responses across Facebook and
Facebook and Twitter: Are Twitter. It provides DMOs with guidelines on how to effectively communicate their brands
DMOs successful? using specific emotional brand values on social media and suggests values that DMOs should
integrate into their social media communication strategies regarding their destination brands.
Sebastian DMO online platforms: It explores the moderating effects of DMO online platforms on the destination image (DI)
Molinillo Image and intention to visit through a conceptual model. The findings demonstrate that tourist involvement has a positive
et al. (2018) impact on the cognitive image and affective image, forming the DI as an antecedent of the
intention to visit. The results also indicate that image formation and intention to visit the
destination vary depending on the platform used by travelers to access the information.
Tom Bornhorst Determinants of tourism This paper examines the concept of tourism success as it relates to both destinations and to
et al. (2010) success for DMOs & DMOs, and determines whether a relationship or distinction exists between these two.
destinations: An Unique to DMO’s success were supplier relations, effective management, strategic planning,
empirical examination of organizational focus and drive, proper funding and quality personnel. Unique to destination
stakeholders’ perspectives success were location and accessibility, attractive product and service offerings, quality
visitor experiences and community support.
Ahmet Uşaklı How “social” are The study explores how European DMOs use social media to promote and market their
(2017) destinations? Examining destinations and extends extant research on social media in tourism.
European DMO social Findings suggest that European DMOs utilize social media as a traditional marketing tool,
media usage rather than exploiting it as a customer service tool to mitigate potential customer problems.
Michael Volgger Requirements for destination This paper aims to better understand DMO and destination success by investigating the role
and Harald management organizations played by networking capability. One key insight is that the effect of networking capability
Pechlaner in destination governance: works through increased DMO authority, that is enhanced power and acceptance of the
(2014) Understanding DMO DMO within the destination network.
success
 Destination management 85

relevant stakeholders and structures such as DMOs?” More precisely through the
comparative analysis, this paper showcases the best case scenarios and highlights
the most efficient practices of tourism policies and governance that have actually
achieved their main objectives and mission. The key task of this research is the
conclusion on the necessary features, elements and components a tourism policy
should comprise in order to be successful and effective. Emphasis is given on the
role of DMOs and their contribution at either a regional or a national level of gov-
ernance and to the digital brand communication of a destination. The comparative
analysis of different regions and policies will assist policy makers by indicating
which policy making process is the most appropriate for the chosen model of tour-
ism governance.

Comparative analysis
First of all, it is important to set the definition and the mission of DMOs accord-
ing to the guidelines of the Institutional Strengthening of Destination Management
Organizations of UNWTO (UNWTO, 2019). During the last years, we have been
witnessing a shift from traditional marketing national tourism boards to DMOs as
leading organizations assigned with a variety of tasks, such as strategic coordina-
tion and management of a range of activities and different stakeholders sharing
a common vision: the effective destination management. According to UNWTO,
destination management is “the coordinated management of all the elements that
make up a tourism destination (attractions, amenities, access, marketing and pric-
ing)” (UNWTO, 2019). Destination management takes a strategic approach to link
up the sometimes very isolated and occasionally diverging elements for the bet-
ter planning and management of the destination. It is very essential that DMOs
align their actions and plans with the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for tourism,
the SDGs of UN Agenda 2030 and especially with the SDGs 8: decent work and
economic growth, 12: sustainable consumption and production and 14: life below
water – that are related with the tourism sector. Monitoring mechanisms on their
implementation should ensure their compliance with the ultimate goal.
The DMO’s role should be to lead and coordinate activities under a coherent
strategy in pursuit of this common goal. DMOs do not control the activities of their
partners and other actors operating in the tourism destination, but they bring together
resources and expertise, and a degree of independence and objectivity to lead the
way forward. Though DMOs have typically undertaken marketing activities, their
remit is becoming far broader: being a strategic leader in destination planning and
management. This is a vital ingredient for their success. DMOs are increasingly
planning and implementing strategies aiming at improving the competitiveness
of their destinations through an enhanced and responsible management of their
natural and cultural attractions which ensures the destination’s sustainability in the
long term, at the creation of additional innovative resources and solutions, and at
enhancements in the efficiency of their production and distribution processes. The
86 Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

ultimate goal is to stimulate sustainable consumption and production and facilitate

visitors’ interaction with the destination and its residents.
A step further in destination management is the concept of the smart destination,
which is founded on five pillars:

1 Governance
2 Innovation
3 Technology
4 Accessibility and
5 Sustainability

The five pillars and the interaction among them are the cornerstones for the trans-
formation of a destination into a smart destination, and the DMO is at the center
of this transformation. A DMO is “the leading organizational entity which may
encompass the various authorities, stakeholders and professionals and facilitates
partnerships towards a collective destination vision.”1 The governance structures of
DMOs vary from a single public authority to a public–private partnership model –
to a lesser extent also entirely private models are found – with the key role of
initiating, coordinating, and managing certain activities. As the leading organiza-
tional entity in the destination, the DMO needs to get the support of all acting
stakeholders and to be considered as the legitimized entity – institutionally, legally,
and operationally speaking – to lead the management of tourism in the destina-
tion. They should guarantee a sustainable management of the destination, under an
environmental, social, and economic approach. There are many different roles and
responsibilities as far as destination management is concerned. In the event that in
certain destinations there are not yet DMOs established, some fundamental DMO’s
functions, when created, may include the following:

• Strategic planning
• Design (or participation in the designing process) and implementation of the
destination’s tourism policy
• Market intelligence (data gathering and analysis, market research, etc.)
• Tourism product and business development
• Digitalization and innovation
• Monitoring
• Crisis management
• Training and capacity building (not only of its human resources but also facili-
tate training and capacity building activities for local tourism professionals)
• Promotion, marketing and branding
• Funding and fostering investments
(UNWTO, 2019)

In order for DMOs to be successful, they should aim at inclusive growth that ben-
efits both local businesses and local communities as well. They should be able to
 Destination management 87

raise the awareness of the socioeconomic benefits of the tourism sector and there-
fore engage all the relevant stakeholders in regards to sustainable tourism develop-
ment. Of course crucial is their contribution to building a strong brand destination
identity. The value system that will be incorporated will result in repeated visitors
and their connection with the destination. The assessment and evaluation process
on a regular basis is a significant tool that will result in the improvement of its
performance key areas. Their strategic leadership refers to the following issues:

• Coordination
• Policy
• Values and
• Vision

The DMOs should strengthen their internal capacities in three key performance
areas:

• Strategic leadership
• Effective execution and
• Efficient governance

The above-mentioned indicate that in order for a DMO to be able to lead on strate-
gic planning, it is imperative to have certain aspects such as reliability, capacity to
engage, authority, responsibility, legitimacy, vision, decision-making and recogni-
tion. The effective implementation requires an operational plan, implementation,
measurement, management, coordination, KPIs, monitoring, and strategic plan-
ning, while effective governance requires transparency, accountability principles,
public–private partnerships, adequate structure, cross-cutting approach, public
consultations, inclusive growth, and alignment with SDGs. Their activity should
focus on specific areas (Tom Bornhorst et al., 2010):

1 Coordination of different tourism actors for a unified voice and representation

2 A leadership and advocacy role within the local community it services
3 Development of the destination image in order to be competitive
4 Provision of visitor services and further information upon their arrival
5 Liaison with TOs, travel agents and MICE representatives that bring travelers to
the destination

The determinant factors of their success relate to community support, marketing

and destination performance provided stable political and economic conditions.
Furthermore, networking, transparency, resources and professionalism are impor-
tant actors of a DMO’s success, which is strongly linked with the success of a des-
tination (Volgger & Pechlaner, 2014). Once established, the next step for DMOs is
to create a social account since the digital presence reaches a greater audience than
with the traditional means of communication and promotion (Usakli et al., 2017).
88 Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

Especially, in Europe it is in their best interest. Determinant factors for an effective

social media usage are as follows: content, major theme, information type, engage-
ment, interactivity, promotion, and customer service. These categories should be
taken into account when measuring the social performance of the DMOs.
Through the comparative analysis we carried out, we came up with some inter-
esting findings on the digital role of DMOs worldwide. In Japan, the DMO concept
is relatively new, while in Europe, it is a rather acquainted notion. Finland, Spain,
Netherlands, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Norway are among the
European countries that have established DMOs and are active in social media as
well. Table 7.2 presents in a comprehensive way the most interesting case studies.
Based on the above, we come to realize that there are different missions and
tasks DMOs are called to achieve, depending mostly on the top priorities of the
country’s tourism strategy. Besides the main task, namely the promotion of the
brand, there are additional challenges that each destination wants to measure up
to. For instance, Zürich has set sustainability and the environmental footprint very
high in the tourism Agenda, Berlin’s structure is based on a private-public partner-
ship in order to raise funding, while Helsinki has involved the voice of the local
community and that has been a major factor of its success. Of course, all of them
are active on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram), where their
brand campaigns are promoted.

The case of Greece

In Greece, in 2019, an initiative was taken by the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism
that focused on the challenges of tourism development in three of the country’s
top destinations – Rhodes, Corfu and Santorini – with a view to increasing posi-
tive impacts on the tourism sector and local communities. The European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) implemented a pilot program from
May to October 2019 in cooperation with the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism and
the Chambers of Commerce of the Cyclades and Dodecanese, through funding
from the European Union.7 The European Union-funded destination management
planning initiative aimed to assist the islands’ businesses and local communities in
developing responses to the challenges of tourism, including diversifying destina-
tions, reducing the dependence on “Sun and Beach” model and combatting the
threat of “over-tourism.”
Furthermore, the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism issued in 2021 a new law bill
(L. 4875/2021 Gaz. A’ 250/2021) with a range of provisions that aim to resolve a
number of sectoral issues of economic, social, developmental, and environmen-
tal importance. The new bill, which among others includes the establishment of
DΜMOs, was drawn to reduce bureaucracy and support investment projects in
Greece. More specifically, the new bill of the Ministry foresees:

• The establishment of Destination Management & Marketing Organizations

(DMMOs) to secure a public–private cooperation framework for the strategic
TABLE 7.2 Case studies on DMOs

Country Institution Initiative

Romania DMO in Brasov The Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism in Brasov County (APDT Brasov)2 was
County founded in 2006, within a local development project and created in a public–private partnership format.
The Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism (APDT) Brasov has, as its main
objective of the activity, the management of the tourist destination and the unitary promotion of the
representative tourist objectives of Brasov County at a national and international level (APDT Brasov)
(Foris et al., 2020).
Germany visitBerlin3 (Berlin VisitBerlin has been globally promoting Berlin as a brand. VisitBerlin showcases Berlin at hundreds of
Tourismus & events globally attracts international journalists and bloggers to the city and supports them on their
Kongress GmbH) research trips here.
Welcome in Berlin (Willkommen in Berlin) is the key message of their communication. In the convention
sector, the Berlin Convention Office acquires conferences, fairs and congresses for Germany’s capital city.
VisitBerlin also functions as a travel agency offering hotel accommodation and tickets, and issuing the
Berlin Welcome Card, Berlin’s official sightseeing pass.
In addition, it operates the Berlin Tourist Info Centers and the Berlin Service Center. With its vast range
of useful information plus exclusive offers, Berlin’s official online tourism platform, makes it easy for
visitors to prepare their trip to Germany’s capital city. VisitBerlin is funded by the Berlin Senate as a
public-private partnership. However, a sizable proportion of its budget is generated by its own activities
and reinvested in promotional campaigns for Berlin. VisitBerlin is ranked as one of Europe’s most
successful destination management organizations.
Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki Marketing is responsible for Helsinki’s operative city marketing and business partnerships.

Destination management
Marketing, which is Helsinki Marketing’s scope of operations covers marketing activities related to tourism, congresses,
a marketing events and business promotion, application procedures for major events and congresses, as well as
company owned tourist information services. Its target audiences include local residents and international tourists, decision-
by the makers and experts. Helsinki Marketing works in close cooperation with the departments and units of the
City of Helsinki.4 City of Helsinki.
Furthermore, all the content of the website is compiled by the locals.
MyHelsinki is an attempt to have the locals tell their best stories of the city.
Tips at tourists are given through personal and genuine recommendations by locals and not by paid ads or by
any sponsors. Their brand communication engages the voice of the local community and this perspective

89
distinguishes this DMO in comparison to others.

(Continued)
TABLE 7.2 (Continued)

Country Institution Initiative

90
Netherlands NBTC (Netherlands As the destination management organization of the Netherlands,5 NBTC provides a national vision for

Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

Board of Tourism tourism based on relevant knowledge and insights. They use this vision to connect, facilitate and support
And Conventions) cities, regions, business owners and other parties; they work closely with the tourism industry, regional
and local destination management organizations, provinces and Ministries. This allows them to jointly
develop initiatives that attract visitors for holidays or business meetings in the
Netherlands. It is an independent foundation with a Supervisory Board. The digital communication of
Netherlands includes the element of surprise, adventure, history, memories, relaxing; elements that
combined together differentiate the country from other European destinations.
Zürich Zürich Tourism6 Zürich Tourism is responsible for destination marketing and thus for profiling the brand of the city
and region of Zurich as a highly diverse destination. It promotes quality and sustainability and,
in collaboration with its partners, is systematically implementing this philosophy. Top positions in
international rankings underscore this commitment.
Zürich Tourism has been awarded the Quality Label, Level III of the Swiss Tourism Federation (STF). In
this way, it intensively endorses the notion of providing top quality in the Zurich tourist region. At the
same time, Zürich Tourism actively promotes ecological, economic and social sustainability, and has been
leading by example in this respect since 1998. Both its staff and its service providers are wholeheartedly
committed to this idea. In 2009, Zürich Tourism signed the Sustainability Charter drawn up by the Swiss
tourism industry. The organization has been certified according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. In addition,
since 2010, Zürich Tourism has been offsetting all non-avoidable CO2 emissions in collaboration with
the myclimate foundation. On doing so, it supports an international climate protection project. In order to
promote social sustainability,
Zürich Tourism also collaborates with the association “BarrierefreieSchweiz.” In line with the measures
adopted by both the City (Strategy 2035, Smart City) and Canton (Cluster Strategy, innovation park)
of Zurich, in the long term Zürich Tourism is pursuing the vision of becoming a so-called “smart
destination.” As a destination, Zurich regularly dominates the top positions in global sustainability
rankings – such as 1st place in the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2016 or 2nd place
in the Mercer Quality of Living Ranking 2019. Furthermore, Zurich is one of the most sustainable congress
cities in the world, achieving the third highest number of points in the Global Destination Sustainability
Index (GDS). In 2017 Zurich supported the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development
endorsed by the UNWTO as a “Friend of the Year.”
 Destination management 91

promotion of tourism products and ensure the quality of the services provided.
The planned DΜMOs are considered to be a key tool for changing Greece’s
tourism model and finding solutions to issues such as over-tourism in certain
destinations.
• The establishment of “Standard Integrated Tourism Management Destinations,”
which will look to detect the country’s destinations of national importance and
set a framework for their protection by monitoring capacity indicators, setting
development strategies and coordinating the creation of the necessary infra-
structure to support each area.8

More specifically, according to this regulatory framework, the DΜMOs strategic

planning focuses on four main points. Firstly, DΜMOs, through an integrated
policy-making process that focuses on the development of clusters of local and re-
gional authorities and the creation of synergies between the public and private sec-
tors, will promote in a coordinated way the goals of sustainability and sustainable
tourism development. Secondly, the DΜMOs will play a key role in the promotion
of specific tourism products at local and regional level that guarantee a minimal
environmental footprint. Thirdly, emphasis will be given to the promotion of green
and sustainable practices within the tourism business sector that not only contrib-
utes to the objective of sustainability but shall attract customers that value environ-
mentally friendly businesses. Last but not least, particular focus will be given to the
promotion of local and regional key thematic sectors that create a unique identity
for the destination, differentiate it from its competitors, and enhance its competi-
tiveness in the international tourism market. The new bill defines that the DMMOs
aim at the scientific, consulting and technical support of the Local Authorities, at
the promotion and accurate information on the tourism product for the respective
destination, the set-up, support, and implementation of the development of tour-
ism policy of the destination. The DMMOs will offer support to local and regional
administrations for the effective implementation of their tourism policy within the
framework of the Strategic Plan for sustainable tourism development. Promotion
of the destination brand and market research are core competencies of these organi-
zations. Key objectives will be the monitoring of the upgrade of infrastructure and
services of public good, the elaboration and implementation of a Strategic Plan for
sustainable tourism development – for management and promotion of the destina-
tion, the elaboration of studies for the creation of specific standards for the enhance-
ment of brand destination, the planning and the implementation of the Marketing
strategy, the creation and management of local quality labels, the development of
research work on important tourism issues, such as market analysis, infrastructure
projects and the implementation of policies of social cohesion, digital convergence
and sustainable development. In order to fulfill their mission, the DMMOs will
collaborate with professional associations, public institutions and business clusters
to safeguard the quality of the services offered. They will ensure the quality of the
provided tourism product through co-advertising, funding of studies, management
92 Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

and promotion of the destination domestically and internationally. It will be pos-

sible for DMMOs to cooperate with specialized Tourism Organisations, Tour Op-
erators, travel agents and airlines for the implementation of joint co-advertising
programs at a local level. They may also plan and carry out volunteering and social
responsibility actions related to sustainable tourism development and the preser-
vation of the residential and natural environment of the destination and provide
incentives for the promotion and management of local quality labels.
Specific destinations, which contribute essentially to the country’s brand name,
will be nominated as “Standard Integrated Tourism Management Destinations.”
They will be selected upon criteria related to their international visibility, carrying
capacity, natural and cultural resources, and sustainability. In this case, the rel-
evant Local Government must, within a relatively short time, establish a DMMO or
amend the existing Special Purpose SociétéAnonyme into a DMMO. The DMMO
of a “Standard Integrated Tourism Management Destination” will be obliged to
prepare and provide an annual Report on the current situation of the destination,
its vision, and its development strategy with reference to quantitative and qual-
ity indicators, and to propose interventions in order to improve the image of the
destination.

Brand communication – Greece

The brand communication of Greece is implemented by the Greek National Tour-
ism Organization910(GNTO). Supervised by the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism, its
main mission is the organization, development and promotion of tourism in Greece
by using all the potential of the country, following tourism promotion activities of
Greece domestically and abroad and any other activity deemed necessary to sup-
port and promote the Greek tourism product. The key goal is to enhance the value
of Greek Tourism, in collaboration with the tourism industry and all stakehold-
ers in order to increase incoming tourism and tourism revenues at the same time.
GNTO operates with the aim of developing tourism, the most important pillar of
economic and social development of the country, being fully aware that its product
is distributed to all social groups in the country and directly affects the quality of
life of Greek citizens, responding successfully to a highly competitive international
environment. The communication objectives during the last years were the crea-
tion of a new strong image for the country that would reflect the new vision of
Greek tourism as an authentic, anthropocentric, classical, historical, traditional,
and at the same time modern destination that has a variety of natural and cultural
resources and therefore constitutes a diversified tourism product. The message
was simple and revealed the “unknown” authentic modern Greece, emphasizing
its unique historical heritage, the traditional Greek hospitality, as well as the feel-
ing of “belonging” and the unparalleled travel experiences it potentially offers to
all visitors throughout the year. Therefore, the Logo of the country was “All time
Classic.” GNTO is active on social media (Instagram, FB, blog, YouTube channel)
 Destination management 93

where all digital campaigns are promoted. Even during the COVID-19 period the
country launched an online platform Greece From Home11 that aimed to promote
the country’s image to people all over the world and invited them to visit – not
by traveling physically, but virtually – straight from the comfort and safety of
their homes. It was an initiative taken jointly by the Hellenic Ministry of Tour-
ism, GNTO and Marketing Greece and had three goals: to help people from all
over the world stay in touch with the country and its culture; for people (future
travelers) to discover destinations and be inspired by the country’s beauties; for
tourism professionals to upgrade their digital skills. All this while staying safe at
home. Further campaigns worth mentioning are the following:

• “Visit Greece” app: First official mobile application, which supported the digital
transition, providing personalized information, innovative services, free promo-
tion of companies, information on their offers as well as on health protocols for
customer protection. Also, the official promotional website of GNTO – www.
visitgreece.gr – had an additional column related to COVID-19, providing
travelers with all the necessary information and instructions.
• “Destination Greece Health First”: International promotion campaign for the
safe opening of Greek Tourism carried out in collaboration between the Hellenic
Ministry of Tourism and GNTO. Greece was presented worldwide as one of the
few truly safe tourist destinations in Europe and around the world. Through So-
cial Media, on the internet with a specific microsite and in combination with the
new digital application “Visit Greece,” the initiative on the so-called “critical
decision,” presented in a live and convincing way to the visitors all the health
and safety measures applied to promote a safe journey, as well as to regain the
trust of all those who wanted to visit the country, but were hesitant because of
concern about health issues related to the disease. The emblematic video of
GNTO “Destination Greece Health First” was the central element of this adver-
tising campaign, which included an inspired promotion of the brand “Greece,”
combined with complacency in the compliance of health and safety protocols.
• The advertising campaign “Greek Summer Feeling” prioritized security, aimed
at inspiration and emotion, at the idea, values and experiences related to Greece
and Greek culture, and of course the insuperability of “Greek Summer.” GNTO
collaborated with Bloomberg for the international launch of the new digital
campaign based on a website with extensive content on bloomberg.com. The
campaign communicated all the unique aspects, feelings, thoughts and values
that define Greece as a country and as a culture, promoting the experience of the
Greek summer.
• The advertising campaign “Greek 4: For You”: The Ministry of Tourism, in
collaboration with GNTO launched a campaign in August 2020 (which lasted
6 months) to promote four islands in the North-eastern Aegean: Lesvos, Chios,
Samos and Leros. This advertising campaign aimed to reposition the destination
brand of the four islands and was designed to achieve two goals: to stimulate
94 Panagiota Dionysopoulou and Eftychia Christina Aivaliotou

tourist flows to these islands and to improve their wider image abroad. The cam-
paign reminded travelers that each destination has its own unique story.

Conclusion
Greece, during the last few years, has set as a core element of its tourism policy,
the planning and establishment of DMMOs. The perception on governance has
changed, and the involvement of the local community has been set as a top priority
in terms of sustainable development. Worldwide, as the role of DMOs in tourism
governance is not that familiar – with the exception of Europe – more policy initia-
tives should be taken toward this direction. This of course requires the collabora-
tion between the public and private sector and local authorities; a condition not
always perceived in a positive way, especially by the public central stakeholders.
Therefore, the governance approach should be probably modified. The participa-
tory or bottom-up approach is the exception and not the rule in the process of
tourism policy planning. Not many countries are willing to approach the private
industry or the local communities and cooperate in terms of mutual understanding
and sharing knowledge. This paper mainly illustrates that this lack of coordination
and cooperation constitutes one of the inhibitory factors resulting in a unilateral
strategy, not having taken into consideration the concerns and the voices of the in-
dustry and the local stakeholders. A channel of communication, constant dialogue
and open discussion between private and public administration should be further
enhanced. A strong network between central and decentralized public administra-
tion should be built as well, since the issue of fragmented policy actions is a very
usual phenomenon in the political scene. Once this challenge is faced, then DMOs
will be enabled to operate according to their mission, as tools of inclusive growth,
of sustainable tourism development in all aspects, economic, environmental, but
most importantly social.

Notes
1 This operational definition of destination management/marketing organization was elab-
orated by the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness (CTC) and it was adopted as
a recommendation by the 22nd Session of the General Assembly of the UNWTO held
on 11–16 September 2017 in Chengdu, China (A/RES/684(XXII)).
2 Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism, (APDT) Brasov, Romania.
AsociatiapentruPromovareasiDezvoltareaTurismului (APDT) Brasov, Romania (in Ro-
manian). www.brasovtourism.eu/
3 https://about.visitberlin.de/en/about-visitberlin, Visit Berlin (accessed 11 February 2021).
4 www.myhelsinki.fi/en/about (accessed 11 February 2021).
5 www.nbtc.nl/en/home/about-us.htm (accessed 11 February 2021).
6 https://zt.zuerich.com/en/about-zt/the-organization (accessed 11 February 2021).
7 www.destinationmanagementplan.gr/en/#files, Destination Management Plan (accessed
10 February 2021).
8 https://news.gtp.gr/2020/12/07/greek-tourism-ministry-presents-new-bill-to-establish-
dmmos/ and https://news.gtp.gr/2020/12/07/greek-tourism-ministry-presents-new-bill-
to-establish-dmmos/ (accessed 10 February 2021).
 Destination management 95

9 www.gnto.gov.gr/el, Greek National Tourism Organization (accessed 10 February 2021).

10 www.visitgreece.gr (accessed 10 February 2021).
11 www.greecefromhome.com/ (accessed 8 February 2021).

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8
FACTOR THAT INFLUENCES
CONSUMPTION OF UNHEALTHY
STREET FOOD
Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

Introduction
Food is widely recognized as a crucial attraction for tourists, especially those who
engage in international travel. The growing phenomenon of food tourism has led
to the recognition of food as an essential element in the marketing strategies em-
ployed by tourism destinations (O’Flynn, 2022; Hashim & Jamaluddin, 2022).
Consequently, numerous establishments are introducing or creating innovative
gastronomic offerings with the aim of attracting tourists and providing them with
diverse culinary encounters (Mariani & Okumus, 2022; Saari, 2022; Parahoo &
Singh, 2022). The expenditure on food consumption at the traveler’s destination is
commonly estimated to account for around 40% of their overall budget (Basnyat &
Ho, 2022; Liu et al., 2022). In this case, food possesses the capacity to emerge as a
prominent tourist attraction within the destination. The sector of food tourism has ex-
perienced rapid growth within the tourism industry due to the increasing significance
of food in the development of travel plans, commonly referred to as food destinations
(Zeynalli & Rahimli, 2022; Ramírez-Hurtado et al., 2022). Prior studies have in-
dicated that food plays a substantial role in shaping the overall tourist experience
(Kivela & Crotts, 2006). Additionally, it has been recognized as a strategic tool
employed by destinations to attract tourists (Enright & Newton, 2004; Smith &
Costello, 2009; Tikkanen, 2007; Yuksel, 2001). The rise and expansion of street
food can be attributed to the notable economic advantages derived from tourist
activity, as street food possesses various merits such as affordability, accessibil-
ity, and limited nutritional value (Abdullah et al., 2022; Sgroi et al., 2022). Street
food is a prevalent aspect of urban existence in numerous nations, encompass-
ing both developing countries and those with established economies (Mariani &
Okumus, 2022).

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-10
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 97

Street food plays a crucial role in the culinary landscape of a nation. Street
foods refer to the category of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and beverages that are
both prepared and sold by food vendors, predominantly in streets and other pub-
lic areas. These food items are intended for consumption at a later time without
undergoing any additional processing (Wanjari, 2022; Sousa et al., 2022; Gupta,
2022). The consumption of these food items and beverages plays a pivotal role in
the dissemination of culinary preferences among both local residents and tourists
on a global scale. Additionally, it is imperative to acknowledge their significant
contribution to the preservation of cultural and social customs by means of in-
digenous gastronomy. The phenomenon of street food holds a particular allure
for travelers who are interested in exploring the culinary culture and experienc-
ing distinctive flavors, thereby contributing to the growth and development of a
country’s tourism sector (Trohina & Brînza, 2022; Adeleke & Owoseni, 2022).
In addition to generating revenue for sellers, these entities play a crucial role in
facilitating job creation. The appeal of these meals is extensive among vendors
and customers due to their taste, convenience, affordability, cultural and social
significance, and nutritional composition (Omorodion & Ogunekum, 2022; Gi-
asuddin et al., 2022).
It is a common occurrence for individuals to report substantial weight gain
upon their return from vacation. However, despite the widespread notion that holi-
days have a significant impact on body weight, there is a limited body of research
investigating this phenomenon (Rezaeipour, 2021; Zhu et al., 2021; Toubes et
al., 2021). The primary factor contributing to weight gain is the unrestricted con-
sumption of unhealthy street foods during vacation periods. The significance of
safety and health concerns is heightened due to the role of street food as a defining
characteristic of tourist destinations (Rezaeipour, 2021; Zhu et al., 2021; Toubes
et al., 2021). The detrimental health effects of street food can be attributed to var-
ious factors, including the quality of raw ingredients, food processing techniques,
and storage practices (World Health Organisation, 2022; Rakha et al., 2022; Baig
et al., 2022). Furthermore, it should be noted that the raw materials employed in
the manufacturing process of these items exhibit substandard quality. Moreover,
these materials have been subjected to improper storage conditions, resulting in
unhygienic conditions over prolonged durations (Huriani et al., 2022; Wachen-
heim, 2021; Pradeilles et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021). The infrastructure of food
carts is characterized by minimal provisions for clean drinking water, restroom
facilities, freezing capabilities for ice creams, disinfection protocols, hand wash-
ing amenities, and garbage management. Due to the intermittent nature of wa-
ter supply from faucets, the need for water storage is typically imperative. This
particular variety of water is unsuitable for the purposes of hand or dishwash-
ing, cooking, or consumption, and concerns regarding contamination are pre-
sent. Furthermore, street food is susceptible to exposure from various sources,
including insects, rodents, pets, and other animals. Additionally, it is subject to
unfavorable environmental conditions such as air pollution (Huriani et al., 2022;
98 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

Wachenheim, 2021; Pradeilles et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021). Undoubtedly, street

food has garnered significant popularity among tourists and has emerged as a
primary attraction in numerous destinations. Despite the widespread awareness
among tourists regarding the adverse health effects associated with street foods,
the challenge of refraining from consuming such unhealthy options during vaca-
tion remains considerable. The present study aims to examine the factors that
influence tourists’ intention to choose unhealthy street food consumption. Ad-
ditionally, it seeks to explore the role of mediating variables, namely anticipating
guilt and anticipating pleasure, in enhancing the desire to consume unhealthy
street food during vacation.

Literature review

Location of unhealthy street food

In general, street food enterprises tend to be characterized by their small scale, ne-
cessitating minimal skill sets, basic infrastructure, and modest financial resources
(Tuffour et al., 2022; Gaffar et al., 2022). Street food vendors typically conduct
their business from strategically chosen locations that offer them a competitive
advantage. Commonly, these locations are characterized by their popularity, of-
ten found in bustling marketplaces and busy intersections. These organizations
meet the criteria for being classified as stationary. An alternative type of ambula-
tory street vendor is characterized by their practice of relocating between differ-
ent locations, utilizing either bicycles or walking as means of transportation, all
the while engaging in the promotion and sale of their merchandize (Nordhagen
et al., 2022; Maglumtong & Fukushima, 2022). The primary benefit of this par-
ticular category of mobile street food vendors in comparison with their station-
ary counterparts lies in the enhanced accessibility they offer to customers. This
advantage mitigates the mobile vendor’s dependence on geographical location.
According to Rakha et al. (2022), aside from proximity, the primary advantage
for a street food vendor lies in the aspect of physical accessibility, encompassing
factors such as an appropriate location and convenient access for pedestrians or
different modes of transportation. The availability of unhealthy street food in the
marketplace has an impact on tourists’ inclination to consume such food (Adeo-
sun et al., 2022).

H1: convenience location of street food products encourages the intention to con-
sume unhealthy street food products during vacation.

Price of unhealthy street food is low

Moreover, the price factor exerts a substantial influence on the consumer’s de-
cision-making process. According to the findings of Onsardi et al. (2021), the
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 99

pricing of a product exerts a substantial influence on consumers’ inclination to en-

gage in its consumption or make a purchase. According to Wachyuni and Wiweka
(2022), street food operations possess certain characteristics that contribute to
their ability to maintain low prices for their products. These characteristics in-
clude simplified food preparation methods, a relatively modest initial investment,
reduced labor demands, and lower overhead costs. The pricing of unhealthy street
meals may have an influence on the inclination of tourists to acquire such foods,
as individuals tend to place importance on price when assessing the value of street
food (Sgroi et al., 2022). This approach aligns seamlessly with street food, which
is commonly characterized by its affordability. The benefits associated with street
food meals encompass their affordability and immediate availability, factors that
tend to foster the consumption of unhealthy street food among tourists during their
vacations.

H2: Low price of unhealthy street food products influences the intention to con-
sume unhealthy street food products during vacation

Perceive healthiness
The inclusion of health-related information, such as ingredients, reduced calories,
cooking methods, and health claims, in unhealthy food promotions is infrequent,
resulting in a limited reduction of customers’ perception of the unhealthiness of
the advertised food item. The concept of perceived healthiness refers to the cog-
nitive response elicited by customers when assessing the degree of healthfulness
of a food product, taking into account both objective and subjective information
(Finlay et al., 2022; Medina et al., 2022; Carters-White et al., 2022). The percep-
tion of healthiness is an attribute associated with the quality of food and serves as
an indicator of satisfaction with a particular food item (Kombanda et al., 2022).
Furthermore, alongside cognitive responses, affective responses also play a sig-
nificant role in shaping consumers’ decision-making processes. Extensive theoreti-
cal analyses have consistently shown that the affective component of attitudes is
subsequent to cognitive processes (Edwards, 1990). To clarify, affective responses
are derived from evaluations of beliefs that are based on expectations (Fishbein &
Ajzen, 1977). According to Berkowitz (1993), the emotional-cognitive model of
decision-making posits that affective reactions are influenced by cognitive process-
ing, whereby cognitive processes can either enhance or diminish the strength of
these reactions. Thus, affective reactions are believed to arise as a result of cogni-
tive processes.
Consumers’ perceptions of the healthiness of advertised unhealthy street food
are influenced by a cognitive process that takes into account both intrinsic factors
(such as past experience, motivation, and personal beliefs) and extrinsic factors
(including advertised claims, calorie content, and nutrient information) (Iancu
Iancu, 2022). The impact of individuals’ cognitive perception of healthiness
100 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

on their emotional response to anticipated feelings is a significant factor in the

domain of healthy food consumption (Finlay et al., 2022; Medina et al., 2022;
Carters-White et al., 2022). Consumers have the ability to deduce anticipated
emotional reactions by assessing the nutritional worth of a food item and its sub-
sequent consequences. According to Winkler et al. (2022), in cases where con-
sumers are unable to make accurate assessments regarding the nutritional value
of a food product based solely on the information provided on the nutritional
label, they experience a reduced sense of shame. In essence, mitigating the most
detrimental perceptions could potentially alleviate the subjective experience of
being in error or the fear of being judged negatively by others. According to
O’Hagan (202), the ability to accurately assess the nutritional value of food in-
stills a sense of ethical responsibility in consumers. Based on these assumptions,
the current study posits that there is a positive correlation between an increase in
perceived unhealthiness and the anticipated reduction in guilt and enhancement
of pleasure.

H3: perceived healthiness of the unhealthy street foods products positively influ-
ences to reduce the guilt toward to consume unhealthy street food products dur-
ing vacation.
H4: perceived healthiness of the unhealthy street food products positively influ-
ences anticipated pleasure toward the intention to consume unhealthy street
food products during vacation.

The efect of anticipated guilt and pleasure

The assessment of the nutritional value of a street meal is influenced by individ-
uals’ cognitive reactions, which are shaped by their objective and subjective un-
derstanding. The perception of healthiness is commonly regarded as an attribute
of street food quality and a potential indicator of food consumption (Mohamad
et al., 2022; Savelli et al., 2022). In addition to the cognitive response, con-
sumers’ decision-making processes are also influenced by emotional responses.
Multiple theoretical analyses have demonstrated that the affective component
of attitudes is postcognitive, as evidenced by studies conducted by Ortony et
al. (2022) and Gaekwad et al. (2022). To clarify, affective responses are de-
rived from evaluations of beliefs that are based on expectations (Fishbein &
Ajzen, 1975). Berkowitz (1993) proposed the emotional-cognitive model of
decision-making, which posits that affective reactions are influenced by cogni-
tive processing, leading to the emergence of affective reactions as a result of
cognitive processes. The perception of the healthiness of street food products
that are promoted to consumers in the absence of information regarding un-
healthy food is influenced by a cognitive process that takes into account both
internal factors (such as prior experience, motivation, and personal beliefs) and
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 101

external factors (such as advertising, calorie content, and nutrient information)

(Sousa, 2022). The cognitive evaluation of perceived healthiness plays a role
in shaping the affective response of anticipated emotions within the context of
consuming healthy food. Tourists have the potential to deduce likely emotional
consequences by evaluating the perceived quality and subsequent physiological
effects of the local cuisine. When consumers perceive the nutritional value of
advertised unhealthy street foods in a positive manner, they experience a reduc-
tion in feelings of guilt. In alternative terms, heightened states of well-being
have the potential to mitigate sensations of personal misalignment or the percep-
tion of such misalignment by external individuals. Likewise, when consumers
perceive that the unhealthy fast food products being promoted possess greater
nutritional value, their expected level of satisfaction escalates. According to
Kiss et al. (2022), individuals experience a sense of moral satisfaction when
they are able to accurately assess the nutritional value of street food. Based on
the aforementioned assumptions, the present study posits that an increase in per-
ceived healthiness is inversely correlated with anticipated guilt, while positively
correlated with anticipated pleasure.
The feedback system plays a crucial role as a fundamental component of antici-
pated emotions within the context of decision-making (Meijerink, 2022). As per
the concept of feedback, emotions serve as an intrinsic mechanism for incentiv-
izing or penalizing behavior (Meijerink, 2022). According to Gollwitzer (1999),
individuals’ behavior is often influenced by pre-existing conditional statements or
personal aspirations, rather than being solely determined by the immediate behav-
ioral options at hand. According to Gollwitzer (1999), emotions play a crucial role
in the process of if-then conditional rules by offering timely feedback on recent
behaviors and directing individuals toward appropriate actions. The persuasive
nature of emotional input stems from the inherent inability of individuals to exert
direct control over their emotions, in contrast to their capacity to directly control
their cognitive processes (Gollwitzer, 1999). For example, individuals have a ten-
dency to conveniently disregard or intentionally ignore the unfavorable outcomes
of their actions, yet the elimination of the adverse emotions evoked by such be-
haviors proves to be challenging. According to Polman et al. (2022), anticipated
emotions play a crucial role in influencing individuals’ future actions, as they
prompt individuals to contemplate potential emotional consequences and are re-
garded as dependable indicators of future behavior. Positive anticipated emotions
often serve to validate an activity, as they signify that the outcome is likely to be
favorable and therefore serve as a motivating factor for engaging in the behavior.
In contrast, negative emotions serve as indicators of potential ineffectiveness in an
individual’s actions, suggesting the need for behavioral adjustments (Meijerink,
2022).
In the context of decision-making regarding unhealthy food choices, individu-
als tend to anticipate experiencing minimal guilt and heightened pleasure. This
102 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

anticipation is influenced by cognitive responses, specifically the perception of

certain food options as being particularly unhealthy, as well as the outcomes of re-
cent behaviors. For instance, individuals may feel little guilt when consuming un-
healthy street food or derive pleasure from maintaining an unhealthy diet while on
vacation. For instance, if an individual expects to experience minimal guilt when
consuming unhealthy food products while on vacation, it is likely to enhance their
intention to purchase such items and potentially lead them to modify or substitute
their behaviors. This is because the anticipation of low guilt does not serve as a
reminder of the ethical implications of their actions or provide guidance on how to
avoid negative consequences (Meijerink, 2022).
The desire for anticipated enjoyment motivates individuals to acquire and
consume unhealthy food items while on vacation, as it leads them to believe
that such actions are justified based on prior positive experiences or align-
ment with personal objectives. Furthermore, previous studies utilizing the
Mehrabian–Russell (M-R) model have demonstrated the significant influence
of positive and negative emotions on various behavioral intentions within the
context of restaurants. These intentions include repeat purchases, recommenda-
tions, and positive word of mouth (Isaacs et al., 2022; Singh & Sharma, 2022).
Based on the aforementioned assumptions, the current study has formulated a
hypothesis.

H5: Low guilt toward the unhealthy food products consumption positively influ-
ences behavioural intentions to consume unhealthy street food products prod-
ucts during vacation.
H6: Anticipated pleasure toward the unhealthy food products consumption posi-
tively influences behavioural intention to consume unhealthy street food prod-
ucts during vacation.

FIGURE 8.1 Conceptual framework

 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 103

H7: Low guilt toward unhealthy street food products consumption mediates the
relationship between perceived healthiness and intention to consume unhealthy
food products consumption during vacation
H8: Anticipate pleasure toward unhealthy street food products consumption medi-
ates the relationship between perceive healthiness and intention to consume
unhealthy food products consumption during vacation

Research methodology
The primary goal of this study is to investigate factors that influence the intention
to consume unhealthy street food during vacation and the influence of the media-
tion effect of anticipated guilt and pleasure. To fulfill this study objective, a self-
administered questionnaire has been used. The survey questionnaire consisted of
three parts which demographic profile for Part A and Part B consisted of questions
for location, price, and perceive healthiness. Part C consists of question for the me-
diation variable which is anticipated guilt and pleasure and finally Part D, consist
of a questionnaire on the intention to choose unhealthy street food; 650 tourists
have volunteered to participate in this study. Questionnaires have been distributed
through Google Forms and analyzed by using Smart Pls.

Finding
Internal consistency, as determined by the composite reliability (CR) score, was
used in determining the validity and reliability of this study. Three indications are
used to assess the dependability of each item. It must approach above 0.70 for com-
posite reliability (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), above 0.70 for Cronbach’s alpha (CA)
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994), and above 0.50 for aver-
age variance extracted (AVE) (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). From Table 8.1, the result
indicates value for CR is above 0.70 with a range of 0.771 to 0.942 which is ac-
cepted according to Fornell and Larcker (1981). For CA value, the score presented

TABLE 8.1 CA, CR and AVE values

Cronbach’s rho_A Composite Average Variance

Alpha Reliability Extracted (AVE)

GUILTY 0.929 0.954 0.942 0.618

HAPPY EMOTION 0.851 0.906 0.888 0.616
INTENTION 0.870 0.879 0.880 0.717
PERCEIVE HEALTHINESS 0.876 0.898 0.895 0.665
PLEASURE 0.881 0.914 0.910 0.510
TASTES 0.759 0.863 0.771 0.626
104 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

in Table 8.1 reported all values exceed 0.70 with the range 0.759 to 0.929. This in-
dicates all the value is accepted. Finally, for AVE result, the score presented shows
more than 0.50 with the range of 0.510 to 0.626 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Nun-
nally & Bernstein, 1994) as presented in Table 8.1.
Discriminant validity is the extent to which experimentally distinct constructs
differ from one another in a meaningful way. In addition, it estimates the degree of
difference between the overlapping conceptions. One can evaluate the discriminant
validity using cross-loading of indicator, the Fornell & Larcker criteria, and the
heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT) correlation ratio. By assessing cross-loading, the
factor loading indicators on the assigned construct must be more than the loading
of the other constructs if the factor loading cut-off value is greater than 0.70 (Hair
et al., 2011, 2017). The evaluation of discriminant validity using the Fornell–Lacker
criterion is the second criterion (Fornell et al., 1994). This method compares the
square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) to the correlation between
latent constructs (Hair et al., 2017). A latent construct must better explain the vari-
ation of its own indicator than the variance of other latent constructs. Consequently,
the square root of each construct’s AVE should be greater than its correlations with
other latent constructs (Hair et al., 2017). In this study, Table 8.3 demonstrates that
the square roots of AVE for each construct are greater than the construct’s strong-
est correlation with other latent variables in the model, when compared to the AVE
result reported in Table 8.2.
The correlation ratio between heterotraits and monotraits is the second measure
of discriminant validity (HTMT). Henseler et al. (2015) determined, using Monte
Carlo simulation research, that HTMT achieves higher specificity and sensitivity
rates (97 to 99 percent) than the cross-loadings criteria (0.00 percent) and Fornell–
Lacker technique. When HTMT levels are close to 1, there is a lack of discriminant
validity. To use the HTMT as a criterion, it must be measured against a preset
threshold. If the HTMT score surpasses this threshold, the test’s discriminant valid-
ity may be questioned. Some authors advocate a threshold of 0.85 (Kline, 2011). In
addition, Gold et al. (2001) argued against it and proposed an alternative value of

TABLE 8.2 Discriminant validity

GUILTY LOCATION INTENTION PERCEIVE PLEASURE PRICE

HEALTHINESS

GUILTY 0.869
LOCATION 0.850 0.815
INTENTION 0.651 0.568 0.846
PERCEIVE 0.754 0.758 0.421 0.882
HEALTHINESS
PLEASURE 0.668 0.742 0.257 0.640 0.818
PRICE 0.721 0.617 0.509 0.671 0.615 0.853
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 105

TABLE 8.3 Heterotraits and monotraits (HTMT)

GUILTY LOCATION INTENTION PERCEIVE PLEASURE PRICE

HEALTHINESS

GUILT
LOCATION 0.719
INTENTION 0.614 0.739
PERCEIVE 0.761 0.802 0.803
HEALTHI
NESS
PLEASURE 0.776 0.807 0.801 0.709
PRICE 0.799 0.739 0.626 0.841 0.790

TABLE 8.4 R² value

R Square R Square Adjusted

GUILTY 0.568 0.567

INTENTION 0.524 0.519
PLEASURE 0.409 0.408

0.90. According to the score in Table 8.3, the HTMT value surpasses the threshold
value proposed by Kline (2011), indicating that the discriminant validity of the
current study is less than 0.85.
The coefficient of determination (R²) measures the amount of variance explained
by endogenous variables (Hair et al., 2011). R² is used to determine a structural
model’s explanatory power (Ringle et al., 2014). R² must be good, where values
of 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 are deemed weak, medium, and considerable, respectively,
for target constructions (Hock & Ringle, 2010). According to Table 8.4, perceive
healthiness to anticipate guilt score 0.568 which consider medium explanatory
power which indicate perceive healthiness explain 56.8% of anticipated guilt. For
anticipate pleasure, the R2 value score 0.409 which consider weak explanatory
power and location, price, perceive healthiness, anticipate pleasure, and anticipate
guilt explain 0.524 of intention to consume unhealthy street food.
The results of hypothesis testing for the direct relationship presented in Table
8.5 indicate that all relationships are statistically significant and supported. Hy-
pothesis 1 suggests that the presence of conveniently located street food establish-
ments influences individuals’ inclination to consume unhealthy street food while
on vacation, as indicated by a statistically significant regression coefficient (β =
0.214, t = 3.349, p < 0.005). Based on the correlation score, it can be inferred that
Hypothesis 1 exhibits statistical significance. Hypothesis 2 posits that a decrease
in the price of unhealthy street food would have an impact on individuals’ incli-
nation to consume such food while on vacation, as indicated by the coefficient
106 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

TABLE 8.5 Hypothesis testing – direct relationship

Original Sample Standard T Statistics P Values

Sample (O) Mean (M) Deviation (|O/STDEV|)
(STDEV)

LOCATION 0.214 0.226 0.064 3.349 0.001

→INTENTION
PRICE 0.354 0.353 0.077 4.624 0.000
→INTENTION
PERCEIVE 0.754 0.757 0.016 47.388 0.000
HEALTHINESS
→ GUILT
PERCEIVE 0.640 0.642 0.042 15.376 0.000
HEALTHINESS
→ PLEASURE
GUILT 0.520 0.511 0.089 5.844 0.000
→INTENTION
PLESURE 0.486 0.485 0.058 8.376 0.000
→INTENTION

score (β = 0.354, t = 4.624, p < 0.005). Hypothesis 3 posits that the perception of
healthiness associated with unhealthy street foods has a positive impact on reduc-
ing feelings of guilt toward consuming such products while on vacation. Based
on the findings, the correlation analysis reveals a significant positive relationship
between the variables, as evidenced by the beta coefficient (β = 0.754, t = 47.388,
p < 0.005). The significance of urge Hypothesis 3 is noteworthy. Hypothesis 4
posits that the perception of healthiness of unhealthy street food has a positive
effect on the anticipated pleasure associated with the intention to consume such
products during vacation. The correlation analysis, as depicted in Table 8.5, re-
veals a significant relationship with a beta coefficient of 0.640, a t-value of 15.376,
and a p-value less than 0.005. There is a compelling argument for the significance
of hypothesis 4. In relation to Hypothesis 5, the correlation score is statistically
significant (β = 0.520, t = 5.844, p < 0.005). This finding suggests that individu-
als who experience low levels of guilt regarding their consumption of unhealthy
food are more likely to have intentions to consume unhealthy street food while
on vacation. Finally, Hypothesis 6 is proposed. The expectation of experiencing
pleasure from consuming unhealthy food has a positive impact on the intention to
consume unhealthy street food while on vacation. The obtained correlation score
(β = 0.486, t = 8.376, p < 0.005) provides evidence to support the significance of
hypothesis 6.
The mediation results for the perception of guilt and pleasure are presented in
Table 8.6. Hypothesis 7 posits that a lower sense of guilt associated with consuming
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 107

TABLE 8.6 Hypothesis testing – mediation effect

Original Sample Standard T Statistics P Values

Sample (O) Mean (M) Deviation (|O/STDEV|)
(STDEV)

PERCEIVE 0.392 0.386 0.071 5.547 0.000

HEALTHINESS
→GUILT
→INTENTION
PERCEIVE 0.311 −0.312 0.046 6.682 0.000
HEALTHINESS
→PLEASURE
→INTENTION

unhealthy street food acts as a mediator between perceived healthiness and the
intention to consume such food during vacations. Hypothesis 8 suggests that the
anticipation of pleasure derived from consuming unhealthy street food mediates
the relationship between perceived healthiness and the intention to consume such
food during vacations. The correlation scores for both hypotheses indicate signifi-
cant relationships, with (β = 0.392, t = 5.547, p < 0.005) for the first hypothesis and
(β = 0.311, t = 6.628, p < 0.005) for the second hypothesis. This finding suggests
that both hypotheses are supported.

Discussion
Unhealthy street food is typically found in public areas and makes use of pub-
lic facilities. Street cuisine, also known as street food, is typically observed in
public spaces such as streets, markets, or fairs. The culinary offering in question
is frequently dispensed from a mobile food booth, food cart, or food truck, with
the primary aim of facilitating expeditious consumption (Nordhagen et al., 2022;
Maglumtong & Fukushima, 2022). According to Rakha et al. (2022), the con-
venient availability of unhealthy street food in close proximity played a role in
influencing tourists to opt for such food options during their vacations. The pres-
ence of strategic locations in tourist destinations has been found to influence the
inclination toward consuming unhealthy street food while on vacation (Tuffour
et al., 2022; Gaffar et al., 2022). The cost of unhealthy street food is significantly
lower in comparison to that of healthy food. This is due to the fact that street
food vendors tend to operate in tourist-heavy areas, resulting in a similarity in
the types of food offered. Consequently, pricing becomes a key differentiating
factor among vendors, serving as a promotional strategy (Wachyuni & Wiweka,
2022). The affordability of street food often serves as a compelling factor in en-
ticing tourists to make purchases. Notably, the pricing of street food, whether it
108 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

is deemed nutritious or detrimental to one’s health, has proven to be an effective

marketing strategy for the promotion of unhealthy street food (Sgroi et al., 2022;
Seo & Lee, 2021).
Engaging in the consumption of local street food is a prevalent activity among
tourists during their vacations, as it allows them to experience the distinctiveness
and cultural variations of the destination (Finlay et al., 2022; Medina et al., 2022;
Carters-White et al., 2022). Furthermore, food can serve as a means to convey the
cultural variations that exist globally, with street food being particularly effective
in this regard (Iancu Iancu, 2022). Street food is commonly prepared using locally
sourced ingredients and by local individuals who possess a deep understanding
of the specific types of local cuisine they aim to offer to tourists. The lack of nu-
tritional information provided by street food vendors tends to enhance tourists’
perception of the healthiness of their food (Winkler et al., 2022; O’Hagan, 2022).
Street food is commonly perceived as a trustworthy option for consumption due to
its characteristic of being freshly prepared in the presence of the consumer, thereby
instilling confidence in the food’s healthiness. The lack of awareness regarding
local unhealthy ingredients and food preparation practices leads tourists to mis-
takenly perceive the food they consume as healthy. Furthermore, this phenomenon
also engenders a sense of anticipation and ambivalence among tourists (Kombanda
et al., 2022).

Conclusion
The acknowledgment of the escalating importance of the consumption of un-
healthy street food among tourists has heightened the necessity to introduce
healthy street food options in the market. The study revealed significant as-
sociations between the consumption of unhealthy street food among tourists in
the market and factors such as location, price, perceived healthiness, as well as
the mediating effects of anticipated guilt and pleasure. It is imperative for the
government to recognize the necessity of implementing a street food manage-
ment program in order to incentivize street food vendors to enhance the nutri-
tional quality of their offerings. This measure is crucial to ensure that the street
food provided to tourists is healthy and adheres to appropriate health standards
(Omorodion & Ogunekum, 2022). Furthermore, it is imperative for the govern-
ment to establish an information center that disseminates comprehensive details
about the nutritional content of local street food to tourists. This measure is
crucial in ensuring that tourists are well-informed about the specific types of
street food available to them. The aforementioned studies (Ortony et al., 2022;
Gaekwad et al., 2022) suggest that the provision of healthy street food options
can serve as a motivating factor for tourists when making their dietary choices
during vacation. According to the study conducted by Ma et al. (2019), the pres-
ence of the information center will also serve as a means of notifying local street
 Factor that influences consumption of unhealthy street food 109

food vendors about the importance of offering nutritious street food options
to tourists. This is in response to the government’s efforts to raise awareness
about the potential health risks associated with consuming unhealthy street food
(Hasan, 2022; Ozcelik & Akova, 2021). Furthermore, it is imperative for street
vendors to assume the responsibility of cultivating and executing a strong sense
of integrity within themselves. This is crucial in order to guarantee the produc-
tion and sale of wholesome street food products to their customers.

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9
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN THE POST-
COVID ERA
The Case of Athens destination

Panoraia Poulaki, Antonios Kritikos, Nikolaos Vasilakis

and Marco Valeri

Introduction
The tourism industry is considered unsustainable and vulnerable to risks that can
cause crises or disasters. When choosing a tourism destination, a large percentage
relies on safety, so potential risks negatively affect a visitor’s decision.
In addition to the enormous human suffering and tens of thousands of deaths
caused by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, it also has a huge economic
impact which in turn has led to a sharp decline in travel and tourism worldwide.
Greece in relation to its main competitors in Europe has the potential to improve
its comparative position and recover somewhat faster than other markets. Also, the
large dispersion of its customer base is another advantage that enables it to take
advantage of the various markets as they recover (SETE, 2020).
Planning in case of crises or disasters is basic considering the following steps:
1) Identification of risks, 2) Choice of strategy, 3) Reduction of consequences, 4)
Transfer of risk, and 5) Acceptance of risk. The design should aim at the safety of
visitors and workers, the safety of buildings, facilities and equipment, the provision
of resources for preparation, treatment and recovery and the procedures for return-
ing to partial normalcy. Liaison with stakeholders, training, control, communica-
tion and technology is essential. The key point is the recovery and repositioning
after the crisis and the utilization of marketing. Communication in design is the key
to the success or failure of its management. Information on an ongoing basis is an
integral part, as through it the image of the destination is formed, which ultimately
affects the visitor when choosing a place for his vacation. The technological means
and the online presence of the destination are equally important.
After the crisis, tourism planning is necessary in order to regain relations and
this will contribute to the promotion of the destination. The development of tourism

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-11
 Sustainable tourism in the post-Covid era 115

activity can only be under constant control and planning. Planned tourism destina-
tions have benefited from tourism without much trouble, while, on the contrary,
destinations without tourism planning, “suffer” from environmental and social
problems. When they decide to plan their tourism development late, they need a lot
of time but also huge investments to balance the negative consequences.
In the present research, emphasis is placed on the tourism planning of a large
urban center, Athens, the capital of Greece. Strategic planning of tourism develop-
ment at all levels is essential. The pre-planned approach to the development of
tourism in Athens can lead to significant profits without problems.
Athens, as an important urban center with a long tradition and future in tourism,
will always need a sustainable model of tourism activity. The state mechanism of
Greece ensures the offer of modernized types of tourism facilities with respect to
the bearing capacity of places and landscapes, providing enough public funding for
the implementation of targeted interventions in tourism. The main goal is for Athens
to remain competitive in terms of tourism, but at the same time to protect its natural
and cultural resources, which are at the same time invaluable tourism resources.

Literature review
Undoubtedly, tourism is a complex activity that is linked to many sectors of society
and the economy and contributes significantly to the development of a city and the
creation of jobs, when there is no planning, it will have undesirable consequences.
Areas that have allowed tourism to develop without strategic planning have faced
many environmental and social problems. For countries that have not developed
enough tourism, both programming and planning are required. For countries that
have already developed tourism, design as a means of revitalizing and maintaining
sustainability is necessary. Unorganized urban centers cannot compete with organ-
ized areas. Their course can be redefined based on new sustainable design.
As it is known, the planning deals with the policy of tourism development and
with all the factors that are necessary for the development and management of tour-
ism. It is imperative to design and develop tourism in such a way that its natural
and cultural resources can be used both now and in future in the context of sustain-
ability. A basis for decision-making regarding tourism development by both public
and private stakeholders is needed. Many areas need planning or redesign based
on current events and examples and possible future trends for multiple benefits in
these areas.
Tourism planning is a necessary process. The planning must follow the stages
of development of a tourism destination, such as exploration, investment, devel-
opment, consolidation, stagnation, and decline (Butler, 1980). The relationship
between tourism and spatial planning is treated with strong correlations, since inte-
grated spatial planning is not meant if it does not regulate and organize the tourism
activity, while integrated tourism planning is not meant if at the same time with all
development and economic issues it does not regulate spatial issues. organization
116 Panoraia Poulaki, et al.

of tourism activity. Tourism planning, like spatial planning, is a set of processes, a

process rather than just drawing plans.
The steps to be followed during tourism planning are the following: 1) Study
preparation – specification, determination of an appropriate model or type of de-
sign, organizational structure and schedule of the study, 2) Determination of objec-
tives – preliminary adoption and analysis of a series of objectives after the necessary
processes with the competent stakeholders, in order to reflect the basic development
strategies and policies of the administration, 3) Survey of all elements – collection
and inventory of all necessary data on the current situation in order to assess the de-
mand for each tourism product, 4) Analysis and synthesis of findings – evaluation and
determination of the tourism market, the offer and the characteristics of the tourism
product of a destination, with simultaneous investigation of possible factors hindering
its development, 5) Policy and plan formulation – finding and evaluating alternative
policies and plans and final definition of the plan and the policy grid, after the neces-
sary consent of the stakeholders, 6) Consideration of recommendations – formulation
of proposals based on the approved plan, with reference to the indicated processes
and implementation techniques but also to the special measures and regulations, 7)
Implementation and monitoring of the plan – various actions such as: legislative pro-
posals, activation of financial institutions, continuous monitoring and coordination of
stakeholders during the implementation and revision of a plan if necessary (Inskeep,
1991; Lück & Spring, 2014).
According to Coccossis and Tsartas (2001), studies of bearing capacity and
environmental impact are also useful. Tourism planning has a complex character
and is not a simple process. According to Mill and Morrison, integrated tourism
planning must comply with the following: 1)To defend the uniqueness of natural
resources and protect them, 2)To protect local cultural and social structures, 3)To
oppose the loss of the identity of the place and the local traditions, 4) To take into
account the general economic conditions and the operating context of a tourism
destination, 5) To ensure high-quality tourism services and products, and 6) To en-
sure variety and high-quality tourism facilities and special tourism infrastructure,
taking into account modern needs and trends.
According to the World Tourism Organization, there are two levels that are con-
sidered appropriate for the implementation of tourism planning: the national and
the regional. And according to Coccossis and Tsartas (2001), the most appropriate
levels-scales are as follows: a) interregional/transnational, b) national, c) regional,
and d) local (tourism area). Integrated tourism planning can be achieved at the
following levels: 1) national, 2) interregional and/or transnational, 3) regional, 4)
local, 5) tourism area, and 6) city. The World Tourism Organization argues that it
is more appropriate to use zones within which tourism activity will be located. The
spatial zoning model is considered appropriate for all levels of planning, especially
the national one, as it favors economies of scale. Tourism planning must always
consider the development, economic, and spatial plans of each time administration
of a country.
 Sustainable tourism in the post-Covid era 117

Globally, most urban centers ensure their future expansion under sustainable
conditions with an emphasis on technology, the environment and human capital.
Both China and India are trying to invest in smart city sectors, with the aim of eco-
nomic growth and improving the living standards of the inhabitants. South Korea
is doing something similar with the goal of building infrastructure and networks
through a variety of devices, operating systems, platforms, and Internet technolo-
gies. European cities aspire to the development of human capital and infrastructure
by adopting social and development policies, which will increase the efficiency of
applied technologies, will contribute to the reduction of costs, and will improve the
living standards of citizens.
There are many examples of urban centers that using appropriate strategies
created city branding gave them identity and contributed greatly to their tour-
ism development. Many cities abroad have relied on cultural heritage through
different approaches. A typical example is the cities of the Netherlands. Also,
the strategy of the city of Amsterdam had the main purpose of highlighting its
multiple characteristics. Unknown aspects of the city were projected, such as
the city of events or the city of research, an image achieved through the rather
successful slogan “I Amsterdam.” Edinburgh is also a successful example with
a special marketing plan and has been established as the world festival capital.
The project mainly focused on creating a common marketing strategy for all the
festivals in the city, carrying out the work at a specific time, setting up an organi-
zation to promote Edinburgh as the festival city, and continuing public research
on festivals, etc. (Karachalis, 2010).
Sustainable development is directly related to the participation and activation
of the scientific community, citizens and institutions. Also, the implementation of
new innovative technologies and solutions to modern problems and the appropriate
institutional framework play a key role. The sustainability of cities in the modern
urban landscape is related to the improvement of urban functioning, using data, in-
formation and information technologies in order to offer more efficient services to
citizens. Strategic sustainable design creates a new defining framework that refers
to technology adaptability as user-friendly (Inskeep, 1991; Nam & Pardo, 2011).
Healthy competition presupposes the shaping of the diversity of urban cent-
ers by utilizing their idiosyncratic characteristics, or creating new, innovative and
unique giving the uniqueness that modern conditions protect (Lucarelli & Olof
Berg, 2011). The challenges that urban centers face are related to the natural en-
vironment, man and the built environment. Appropriate development policies and
smart applications are needed to create a sustainable urban model (Batty et al.,
2012). Creating specific development models and promoting their identity are im-
portant tools for attracting tourists.
Urban centers are trying to become more attractive by developing strategic
plans and organizing large events with the goal of global recognition. Various im-
portant events related to culture, science, art and music play an important role in
shaping the image of urban centers by visitors (Inskeep, 1991). It is necessary to
118 Panoraia Poulaki, et al.

upgrade the cities and adopt principles and methods in urban planning that will
aim to minimize the ecological impact, upgrade the urban landscape and improve
the quality of life of residents. Their purpose is to be able to grow and survive
through ever-evolving competition (Hall, 2008). Every urban destination pursues,
in the context of sustainable development, communication concerning a) the in-
frastructure and architecture of the city and its organizational structures, b) public
relations and advertising, and c) word-of-mouth communication, which is basically
supported by both the media and its competitors. Pole of attraction of urban centers
are the services and attractions they offer to tourists. Many urban centers in Greece
have significant resources for the development of special and alternative forms of
tourism. There are many temples and monasteries to visit that can enable tourists to
get in touch with the national heritage and religious tradition and to understand the
relationship between art and religious worship (Timothy, 2011). They have a great
cultural heritage and many cultural and historical sites.
For the development of cultural and religious tourism, the following are pro-
posed: a) Organization of cultural events and their promotion, b) Creation of in-
tegrated visit programs, in historical and archeological sites, c) Creation of theme
parks, d) Informing tourists about the history of Greece, e) Creation of tourism
packages that include visits to cultural attractions, f) Cooperation of the Church
with the State, g) Distribution of multilingual pamphlets, with a comprehensive
program of religious tourism, h) Informing tourists about religious events, and i)
Creation and promotion of travel packages of religious tourism in Greece.
Many cities have several sports facilities and infrastructure and are ideal for
sports tourism. They have stadiums where matches and championships are held
and provide the opportunity to organize major sporting events, in collaboration
with public stakeholders and federations. Also, urban centers can develop walk-
ing tourism, a special alternative form of tourism that can face the seasonality and
achieve an extension of the tourism season by attracting domestic and foreign tour-
ists. It is a form of tourism with many positive social effects giving an emphasis on
preserving tradition and authenticity.

Sustainable strategic planning in Athens

Athens as the capital of the modern Greek state set important strategic goals in
10 years’ time such as improving the quality of life of its inhabitants by balancing
through development the distribution of resources and benefits (L.4277/2014)
and bringing about regeneration processes in urban areas that improve the urban
part, the issue of security and the way of life of its specific urban areas, some-
thing that also expresses the theory of urban regeneration (Nobre, 2002, pp. 7,
109–124).
Athens is included in the 100 most resilient cities (Municipality of Athens, 2019)
with the initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) with an area of 2,929
km2. and population reaching 3.8 million inhabitants setting as a goal the treatment
 Sustainable tourism in the post-Covid era 119

of physical, economic, and social issues of the twenty-first century giving impor-
tance on three main planning pillars for the urban intervention of its areas:

1 Sustainable Urban Development Plan (SUDP)

2 Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI)
3 Integrated Urban Intervention Plan (IUIP)

Taking in view of the 2011 census conducted by the Greek statistical authority,
the Municipality of Athens ranks first as a Municipality in the Attica region with
664,046 permanent residents gathering the greatest interest in urban interventions
in the historic center of Athens. At this point in the research process, through the
collection of secondary data, the SWOT strategic planning tool was used before the
main reference to the strategic planning of the city of Athens, identifying its main
strengths and weaknesses within its environment and on the other hand opportuni-
ties and threats to the external environment to formulate a sound strategy through
its redesign as the development strategy is characterized through the delimitation
of appropriate long-term goals and decision-making as far as the management of
resources for tourism and the strategic management of the tourism destination
bringing about better interaction of tourists with locals (Mason, 1995). So, with
the specific guides, for the identification of the strategic planning of Athens and its
sustainable development, the first important problems of optimization and confron-
tation are raised (Hellenic Republic Attica Region, 2016):

1 Astyphilia (low performance in the quality characteristics of the urban and in-
dustrial environment) and climate change
2 Air pollution (air masses from the African continent)
3 The environmental noise (Regional Unit of the Southern Sector of Athens, East-
ern Attica & Piraeus with a significant railway network and 3 million vehicles
per year)
4 Mountains with particularly high pressures from both fires and anthropogenic
activities with the typical example of the mountain range of Ymittos

Athens strategic sustainable planning is based on a national framework in which the

cultural economy and the exercise of various policies are taken into account (Pratt,
2011, 2, pp. 123–130) with a central focus on a national development strategy that
focuses on the reversal of deindustrialization (Ministry of Economy and Develop-
ment, 2019, p. 4), to productively strengthen the Greek economy with Athens being
an area that enjoys the privilege of an international service center since the “cultural
heritage” has been on the agenda of political interventions since the 1980s (Romanos,
2004) with the example of the Olympic Games in 2004, to strengthen the comparative
advantages to acquire new ones focusing on “urban competitiveness” (Harvey, 1989,
71(1), 3–17), to develop a cyclical and climate-neutral economy by increasing pro-
ductivity, competition of Greek business entities by highlighting “creative industries”
120 Panoraia Poulaki, et al.

in the development of urban space (Landry, 2008). The term culture-led regeneration
expresses the way in which the strategic planning of Athens is structured as it is given
the opportunity to transform and regenerate through its cultural activity as a cultural
city is designed to represent the city, regional, and national identity (Tallon, 2013).
The metropolitan area of Athens for the promotion of its tourism destination
takes into account the four main pillars defined by its specific strategy as first of
all the “accessible city” for the most efficient and effective synergy and commu-
nication with the local population with a sense of responsibility and cooperation
something that is applied from the 1990s until today with new frameworks of
cooperation, synergy and responsibility within which the urban space now mu-
tates (Ηealey, 1997). The refugees as well as the residents of the city are improv-
ing their neighborhoods by adapting together with the goal of “Athens, my new
neighborhood” for a more effective metropolitan government and the emergence
of cooperative network structures between public and private (OECD, 2006) with
the initiative of the Municipality of Athens and co-Athens in the framework of
the European pilot integration program Curing the Limbo that contributes to this
event. This creates a mix of demographic and economic profiles creating symbiotic
relationships (Zukin, 2010) and bringing about a sustainable form of urban living
(Tallon, 2013). Secondly, “green city” gives importance to its adaptation to climate
change and its response where thanks to its natural infrastructure it can satisfy its
three main pillars of economic, social, and environmental development by seeking
to create a “green arc” by organizing metropolitan parks and to connect the center
of Athens with Ymittos and Egaleo through interventions and the creation of ap-
propriate sidewalks and plantings for leisure and walking tourism improving the
quality of urban life through climate change. The increase in green spaces is an
important goal of the Municipality of Athens and its effort in 2020 to implement
it with the “big walk” highlighting various parts of Athens with different culture
and history as the policy makers of the Municipality know that climate change and
pressure on the urban environment necessitate the creation of new data and tools
for managing urban development in such a way as to protect cultural and natural
resources while enhancing urban resilience (Ahern, 2007; Foster et al., 2011).
Cultural routes are one of the most important means to highlight both the cul-
tural heritage of a region and its unique identity, creating links between sustainable
mobility planning and the development of cultural areas of great history. Thirdly,
“foresighted city” takes advantage of the appropriate planning and communica-
tion framework available, making the tourism destination safer for both its visitors
and residents. The treatment and the management of unprecedented crises such as
COVID-19 is an issue that can deal with it through the “foresighted city.” Fourthly,
it is a “vibrant city” as it has advantages that bring prosperity, creative ability, and
business goals, forming a new identity in the city.
The fourth axis is particularly important as it keeps the city alive. The strategy
followed for the cultural routes is a good effort for the promotion of the cultural her-
itage where a specific strategy is followed for years and highlights the Metropolitan
 Sustainable tourism in the post-Covid era 121

Athens through its cultural heritage and with characteristics of innovative design
practices creating the “urban landscapes” (Beriatos & Gospodini, 2004):

1 Visual arts spaces

The National Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Gallery, the Benaki
Museum in Piraeus Street and the Theocharakis Foundation in Vasilissis Sofias
Avenue.
2 Important emblems of culture and architectural beauty
In this category impresses the Acropolis Museum, the Olympic Stadium of Ath-
ens (2004 Olympic Games) and the cultural center Stavros Niarchos.
3 Popular arts performing venues
In the Popular arts, performing venues include the Athens Concert Hall (Mé-
garon Mousikis), the National Theater and the roof of the Onassis Foundation.
4 Museum spaces

The Acropolis Museum is the first preference of visitors as well as the National Archae-
ological Museum. Then follow other remarkable such as the Museum of the Ancient
Agora, and the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The importance given to this strategy
is due to the historic center of the city as Athens has gained a significant comparative
competitive advantage with the well-known archaeological monuments on a global
basis with a variety of museum options and exhibitions at various metro stations.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Athens is kept alive because it carries out a strategy aimed at its urban
revitalization through its cultural characteristics and thus can highlight all the areas
that are part of the Metropolitan Athens complex by promoting it as a city with char-
acteristics of cosmopolitan origin at an international level, an environment that has
been built to attract many visitors while providing high-quality life features.
The interconnection of the municipalities through the realization of cultural ac-
tivities that are carried out in a systematic way brings about synergies that shape
the Metropolitan consciousness.

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10
FACTOR THAT INFLUENCES THE
TOURIST PERCEPTION TOWARD STREET
FOODS MODERATE BY PRICE
Case study of George Town, Penang

Albattat Ahmad and Norhidayah Azman

Introduction
Cultural tourism has been connected to food tourism or culinary tourism. The tour-
ist sector is working on a new tourism paradigm in this respect (Naruetharadhol &
Gebsombut, 2020). There is a growing trend of visitors or travelers that design their
vacations around food and food-related activities (Knollenberg et al., 2020). Nazir
et al. (2021) confirmed that there is a significant correlation between the food image
of a destination and the travelers’ intention to visit, and it was also demonstrated that
there is a strong relationship between the importance of information sources and the
travelers’ intention to visit the place. Malaysia has the potential to become a popular
destination for culinary tourists looking for genuine street cuisine experiences. Ac-
cording to Seo and Lee (2021), food is probably one of the few areas of authenticity
that the visitor can afford daily. Furthermore, Santoso et al. (2021) urge that the
culinary pictures of a place have always been in the minds of visitors.
Local gastronomy, which is part of cultural heritage, is quickly becoming one
of the most popular and in-demand types of tourism (Rocha et al., 2021; Berno
et al., 2021). Street food (SF) belongs to the culture of many populations around the
world. In particular, it is a food usually eaten in many cities of continents such as
Africa, India, Asia and Latin America (Park et al., 2021; Bruley et al., 2021). Street
food and street food sellers are especially popular in underdeveloped regions and
nations, where they represent a significant portion of the economy. In addition, SF
is an integral element of the eating habits of many cities in the world’s most so-
phisticated nations. As an essential component of the local culture, SF is frequently
a tourist destination in many towns and nations worldwide (Park et al., 2021; May
et al., 2021; Damastuti et al., 2021; Rohith, 2021). According to the FAO, street
meals are ready-to-eat foods and beverages that are made and/or sold by vendors

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-12
124 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

or hawkers, particularly in the streets and other comparable locations. SF consists

of a vast array of grilled or fried meat and vegetable ingredients that are seasoned
and served in accordance with regional customs.
Every area in Malaysia has its own distinct street cuisine. According to Wia-
trowski et al. (2021) and Pilato et al. (2021), the development of street food
and regional cuisine traditions is critical for the tourist sector. This shows how
tourism may help to strengthen local food identity and production (Ince & Oz-
turen, 2021). Malaysia has actively marketed its food as another tourism product
because culinary tourism identified local cuisine as a key element in the visitor
experience (Yusof & Simpong, 2021; Ismail, 2020). In addition, the government
has promoted the “Malaysian Kitchen” (Lee & Kim, 2021). This is a government-
funded initiative with the goal of promoting Malaysian cuisine to the worldwide
market (Lee & Kim, 2021). In certain developed nations, San Francisco is re-
garded as an additional tourist attraction. Consider the so-called “food & wine”
tourism that, for instance, in Italy, attracts millions of interested tourists each year
to sample the local street food and live a comprehensive and inclusive experience
alongside the locals of the destination [9,10]. SF is a deliberate effort to expose
tourists and visitors to a portion of the local population’s cultural identity, the
so-called “food identity” (Hanser, 2021; Fritsche et al., 2021; Florek & Gazda,
2021; Hsu & Scott, 2020; Okumus et al., 2021). SF allows a unique experience
for tourists who also want to experience a destination through traditional food
consumed on the street together with the locals. Street food vendors, along the
road, become a meeting point between locals and visitors, between tasting and
storytelling (Laohaviraphap & Wetchasart, 2021). Some authors addressed this
topic when describing street food as a diverse tourist attraction and offer, since
it allows travelers to simultaneously learn the culinary traditions of the visiting
country/city and the origin of the products sampled. This contributes to having a
unique travel experience and gaining knowledge of different countries and cul-
tures, with the food itself contributing to a nice recollection. It is associated with
a broader concept of experience, including cultural heritage, food quality, local
food products, health, and food safety.
Street cuisine is becoming an essential element of the marketing strategy of
destinations as food tourism develops (Chatterjee & Suklabaidya, 2021; Lee et al.,
2021; Hernández-Rojas & Huete Alcocer, 2021). As a result, several locations are
attempting to introduce or create unusual cuisines to attract visitors by offering a
variety of gastronomic experiences (Batat, 2021; Dancausa Millán et al., 2021).
According to Zopiatis and Pericleous (2021) and Mortazavi (2021), tourists gener-
ally spend about 40% of their expenditures on meals when on vacation. Street cui-
sine is a virtually ubiquitous feature of urban life in many nations, both emerging
and advanced economies in Asia, including Malaysia. The development and spread
of street cuisine may be linked to the important economic benefits received from
visitors since street cuisine has many advantages such as cheap cost, convenience,
and high nutritional value. It also has favorable selection and generates the sources
 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 125

of income (Hanser, 2021; Fritsche et al., 2021; Florek & Gazda, 2021; Hsu & Scott,
2020; Okumus et al., 2021).
Various encounters shape tourist impressions and values. People reflect their
experiences via characteristics, such as service quality, playfulness, and customer
return on investment (Li et al., 2021; Lugosi et al., 2020; Knollenberg et al., 2020).
These encounters may have a direct effect on people’s perceptions of brands, as
well as their satisfaction and loyalty (Knollenberg et al., 2020). As a result, in the
tourism business, different experiences have been acknowledged as one of the key
clues for encouraging visitors to visit a location, and street cuisine has been rec-
ognized as a crucial hint for encouraging tourists to visit a place (Li et al., 2021;
Lugosi et al., 2020; Knollenberg et al., 2020). Given the growing importance of
experiencing value in deciding key results, the local people who are involved in the
street cuisine business must be aware of the essential components that are directly
linked to visitors’ experiential cues and other relevant variables (Li et al., 2021;
Lugosi et al., 2020). Specifically, pleased experience quality between a provider
and its customers will help the development of a good image as well as behavioral
intents (Knollenberg et al., 2020). To improve tourists’ experiential qualities and
create memorable experiences during their trips, it is important to consider varied
factors such as food quality, service employees, and environmental elements. The
present paper aims to provide an overview of existing research on visitors’ percep-
tions of street cuisine and effect of price on moderation.

Factors influencing perception toward street cuisine

Location
Location is one of the determinant factors in supporting the success and sustain-
ability of carrying out a business. There are some criteria to consider for location
planning, that is, service coverage, visibility, and traffic situation. Street food ven-
dors’ stalls are usually located outdoors or under a roof which is easily accessible
from the street. Furthermore, those criteria can be determined by means of geo-
graphic information system (GIS). Physical accessibility, in addition to proximity,
involves good location and ease of access to pedestrians or with different modes
of transportation. Street food vendors frequently do business in public spaces and
make use of public services. Typical locations for street food include streets and
other public areas, such as markets and fairs. Their marketing success is solely
dependent on location and word of mouth. It is typically served from a food truck,
food cart, or food booth and is meant for quick consumption. Street and snack cui-
sine may be found in almost every country and have been available for thousands
of years. Such foods are low-cost, offer a nutritious supply based on traditional
knowledge, generally follow the seasons of agricultural production, allow for flex-
ibility in consumer diets, and are extensively disseminated and accessible in both
urban and rural settings. They carry out food distribution operations on the lowest
126 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

possible scale, yet with extensive coverage. Any area with “people traffic,” whether
continuous or intermittent, offers an ideal selling ground for street and snack cuisine
sellers (Hilmi, 2020; Gerritsen, 2020; Gryech et al., 2020; Jeaheng & Han, 2020).

Uniqueness
Uniqueness is the characteristic of being one of a kind; unlike anything else (La-
land & Seed, 2021). Thus, from the standpoint of product marketing, a unique
product is one that is significantly distinct from all other goods in its category
(Kumbara & Afuan, 2020). Such distinction is recognized to be critical to product
and brand success (Chae et al., 2020), as it reduces both direct competition and
the possibility that any other product may serve as a suitable replacement (Per-
dana & Wibowo, 2021). Of course, this distinction must be founded on differences
that are both perceivable and appreciated by the customer. When applied to food,
uniqueness has been described as indicating a high level of product distinctive-
ness. Perdana and Wibowo (2021), defined a food’s uniqueness for the customer
as the unique attributes inherent to a food product that differentiate it from other
comestibles. Muis et al. (2021) emphasized the quality and competitive benefits of
uniqueness in food, characterizing unique meals as having distinctive and superior
quality (value), allowing for higher pricing and greater profit margins.

Community-based
Under certain conditions, a community base is a categorical word that legitimizes
multiple kinds of direct, indirect, active, and passive involvement at various local,
regional, and national levels (Tymoshchuk et al., 2021). In the field of sustainable
tourism in historic villages, the community basis has been widely discussed in tour-
ist literature. It is critical to the rehabilitation and long-term development of historic
communities (Wang et al., 2021). Tourism development may include residents’ views
with the involvement of neighborhood members, thus helping to fulfill residents’ ex-
pectations (Tymoshchuk et al., 2021). Furthermore, a community foundation in tourist
development and community management plays an important role in enhancing peo-
ple’s economic growth and overall quality of life (Moghavvemi et al., 2021).
The importance of a community basis in tourism development is not only im-
portant for supporting the economic and social development of the local commu-
nity, but it is also important for better fulfilling the requirements of visitor’s life
(Moghavvemi et al., 2021). Furthermore, including people in decision-making
strengthens the local community’s support for tourist development and inhabitants’
desire to maintain their traditional lifestyle and values (Azhar et al., 2021).

Quality
The most important aspect of the whole street cuisine situation is the quality of the
food (Zhu et al., 2020). If tourists are satisfied and have an amazing encounter with
 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 127

the quality of the street cuisine, they will continue to convey the good and wonder-
ful casual trade to other prospective consumers, bolstering their need to attempt
the low-cost sustenance master associations (Zhang et al., 2019). The importance
of high quality may vary depending on the customer. Mudunkotuwa and Arachchi
(2020) and Santana and Amparo-Santos (2019), examined the fundamental compo-
nents of sustenance street food quality, identifying two kinds of estimates as linked
to consumers and items. The product category adds prosperity, tidiness, culinary
articulations, and item character. The consumer category included organization
quality, displaying, progress, and condition. The majority of food quality evalua-
tions will be conducted by consumers, particularly overseas tourists. It is one of the
factors that will impact the enjoyment of consumers of the food. In addition, food
is one of the most significant aspects of our lives because it affects our physical and
mental health. Therefore, the quality of street food will be one of the factors con-
sidered by tourists, since its flavor, color, texture, appearance, nutritional content,
and safety for consumption would be compromised.

Hygiene
Hygiene is more than simply cleanliness; it also refers to the circumstances, activi-
ties, and behaviors that safeguard the health and prevent illness. The relationship
between hygiene and epidemiology is tight for two reasons: (a) both have a similar
goal of health protection and disease prevention and (b) epidemiology helps to
rationalize hygienic practices by identifying factors of health and illness. The en-
vironment includes many potentially hazardous species, such as disease-producing
or pathogenic microorganisms, vectors such as mosquitoes, sick animals, and pol-
luted water and air (Okojie & Isah, 2019; Soon, 2019). Hygiene is mainly an issue
of human behavior, which is influenced by societal conventions, traditions, and
culture. Furthermore, health awareness and knowledge of variables that are harm-
ful or beneficial to health, as well as motivation and concern for taking measures
to protect health and avoid illness, may alter behavior, and encourage a healthy
lifestyle. Many hazardous circumstances risk infective agent exposure in daily life;
however, measures may be taken to minimize them (Mwove et al., 2020). Accord-
ing to the World Health Organization, hygiene in the food and beverage industry
is essential for ensuring food safety from production to consumption. Regarding
health concerns, street food is a significant concern. This is mostly due to the in-
creasing prevalence of food-borne illnesses, which is a result of food vendors lack-
ing a fundamental awareness of food safety issues and protocols. Therefore, it is
essential that all food vendors have appropriate cleaning measures for their spaces
and food processing methods.

Price as moderator
A large activity is expected in the guarantee of item, esteem, and price. In neolib-
eral economic theory, price plays a unique function in defining value and supplying
128 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

markets with the information they need to create equilibrium conditions and optimum
social welfare (Seo & Lee, 2021; Mitgosoom & Ashton, 2019). A price is a considera-
tion or incentive provided in kind in exchange for the affiliation’s pleasure. Price also
determines whether a tourist makes a purchase (Thuan et al., 2019). The cost and saw
tourist requirements should be excellent. It is difficult to choose evaluating for a thing
or organization since the core value of the open product is utilized to survey esteem,
which is critical for tourist happiness because the price is the most important element
to enable the tourist to check the exceptional for the street food provider.

Research framework and method

Studies reveal that the perception of the tourists toward street-cuisines is determined
by varied factors such as quality, hygiene, price and context as discussed in the previ-
ous section. The framework for this study is therefore envisioned around those key
determinants as in Figure 10.1. Specific to the research method in the study, a quan-
titative approach has been adopted as the basis of analysis. Data have been gathered
through a structured questionnaire by using purposive sampling from the Millen-
nial’s visitors through an online The responses against the questionnaire were sought
on a five-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Agree (“5”) to Strongly Disagree
(“1”). The questionnaire has been divided into sections, where Section A comprises
demographical factors and the remaining ones constitute factors that can influence
the tourist perception toward street cuisine in George Town, Penang. A total of 350
questionnaires have been distributed, of which 250 were found valid for analysis.

Location

Uniqueness

Community
Based
Tourist perception

Quality

Hygiene
Price

FIGURE 10.1 Research framework for the current study

 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 129

Conceptual framework
Theoretically, the proposed study structure Figure 10.1 for this investigation was
taken from Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB). The TPB model is typically
used to comprehend the decision-making behavior of humans after experiencing
certain goods or services. Ajzen’s (2020) theory suggests that it is necessary to
measure the specific attitudinal components, such as affection, hygiene, food qual-
ity, and service quality, in the desire to act since they are the most accurate indica-
tors of behavior.

Study area
George Town, Penang, is located in the island’s northeast corner. The metropolitan
region (consisting of Jelutong, Sungai Pinang, Sungai Nibong, Gelugor, Air Itam,
Tanjung Bungah, and Tanjung Tokong) has a population of 2.5 million, making
it the second largest metropolitan area in Malaysia and the largest in the north.
Excluding the metropolitan area, George Town is the sixth largest city in Malaysia
in terms of population. Along with Alor Setar and Malacca City, it is one of Malay-
sia’s oldest cities in the Straits of Malacca, having been founded by Francis Light,
a British East India Company (EIC) captain and trader who was tasked by Jourdan
Sullivan and de Souza to establish a presence in the Malay Archipelago (Hall,
2017). Based on the research topic, the researcher chose George Town in Penang
as the location for our research. Our scope extends because the researcher wants to
identify the street food in Penang through tourists’ perception of whether they liked
the food in George Town, Penang, or not. To get good results from the customer,
the customer who will be given survey forms on domestic and international tourists
who come to George Town, Penang.

Hypothesis
Ho1: There is a significant relationship between location of the street food and
tourist perception
Ho2: There is a significant relationship between uniqueness of the street food and
tourist perception
Ho3: There is a significant relationship between community-based the street food
and tourist perception
Ho4: There is a significant relationship between quality of the street food and trour-
ist Perception
Ho5: There is a significant relationship between hygiene of the street food and
tourist perception
Ho6: Price of the food moderates the relationship between location and tourist
perception
Ho7: Price of the food moderates the relationship between the uniqueness of the
food and tourist perception
130 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

Ho8: Price of the food moderates the relationship between the community base and
tourist perception
Ho9: Price of the product moderates the relationship between the quality of food
product and tourist perception
Ho10: Price moderates the relationship between hygiene of the food product prepa-
ration and tourist perception

Finding and discussion

Respondent’s demographic profile

The results of 350 questionnaires analyzed are provided in Table 10.1. Specific to
gender, male respondents accounted for 51% and females for 49%. In terms of mar-
ital status, “single” respondents stood at 51% as against 48% of married groups.
Age wise, those in the range of 21–30 years constituted more than half of the total
respondents (52%), followed by 31–40 years (19%) and 41–50 years categories
(11%). With regard to type of occupation, 26% of the respondents are students,

TABLE 10.1 Demographic profile

Demographic Profile Categories Percentage (%)

Gender Male 51.0

Female 49.0
Marital Status Single 51.0
Married 48.0
Age (in years) 18–20 Years 8.0
21–30 Years 52.0
31–40 Years 19.0
41–50 Years 11.0
Above 51 Years 10.0
Occupation Student 26.0
Own Business 18.0
Private 21.0
Government 23.0
Other 12.0
Level of Education Diploma 57.0
Degree 29.0
Master 7.0
PhD 7.0
Your Personal Monthly Income Below RM500 15.0
(In RM) RM501–RM1000 28.0
RM1001–RM1500 38.0
RM1501–RM2000 14.0
Above RM2000 5.0
 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 131

followed by government servants (23%), 21% working in private industry, 18% of

the respondents own their own business, and 12% others. For level of education,
57% was diploma holder, 29% was degree holder, 7% was master holder, and 7%
was PhD holder. The level of income of the consumer’s personal income was found
that 38% of the respondents earn in the range of $1,001–$1,500 in a month, fol-
lowed by those earning $501–$1,000 (28%). The outcome suggests that those with
a monthly income of $1,001 constituted 57% of the sample.

Construct validity
This study used PLS-SEM to evaluate the hypothetical model (partial least square
structural equation modeling). Ringle et al. (2010) suggested using a path model
to evaluate causal linkages. PLS path modeling is regarded as one of the general
methodologies measured by a variety of metrics. According to Compeau et al.
(1999), both principal component factor analysis and partial least squares analysis
employ the component base technique. This study used Smart-PLS3.0 statistical
software to evaluate the path modeling. In this study, the Smart PLS technique
will be used to detect construct validity and then evaluate a route model. To evalu-
ate internal consistency, construct validity was evaluated in this study. Average
variance extracted (AVE) and Cronbach’s alpha tests were employed to investi-
gate the construct validity of the restricted concept’s composite reliability (CR)
score that has been presented in Table 10.2. Table 10.3 displays the discriminant
validity and convergent validity results. Fornell and Larcker (1981) state that the
AVE score should be greater than 0.5. In this study, the AVE values are greater
than 0.5, indicating that the permissible range for convergent validity has been
met (Reinartz et al., 2009; Fornell & Larcker, 1981); Barclay et al., 1995). The
off-diagonal value of the AVE is greater than the squared correlation with other
constructs, which ultimately met the adequate standard of discriminant validity
(Reinartz et al., 2009; Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Additionally, the HTMT as pre-
sented in Table 10.4 value was found to be superior to Fornell–Larcker in a variety

TABLE 10.2 CA, CR and AVE values

Cronbach’s Rho_A Composite Average Variance

Alpha Reliability Extracted (AVE)

Community Attitude 0.828 0.888 0.894 0.738

Hygiene 0.694 0.743 0.815 0.598
Location 0.623 0.605 0.782 0.545
Price 0.888 0.891 0.922 0.748
Quality 0.888 0.903 0.922 0.747
Tourist Perception 0.819 0.823 0.874 0.581
Uniqueness 0.871 0.996 0.916 0.784
132 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

of scenarios (Henseler et al., 2014). If the HTMT value is more than 0.85/0.90, it
has a discriminant validity problem (Henseler et al., 2015). The findings of this
study are below the 0.90 criterion as presented in Table 10.4. According to these
examinations, the data’s credibility appears to be adequate.
Explained variable examined based on the endogenous variable’s R² value. Ac-
cording to studies, R² value is poor when the value is 0.02, moderate when the
value is 0.13, and significant when the value is 0.26 or greater. Figure 10.1 displays
the R2 value of an endogenous variable (performance) to be 0.748, indicating that
the endogenous construct accounts for 74.8% of the variance. It is greater than
0.26, indicating that the model is extremely excellent as presented in Table 10.5.

TABLE 10.3 Discriminant validity test (Fornell–Larcker)

Community Hygiene Location Price Quality Tourist Uniqueness

Attitude Perception

Community 0.859
Attitude
Hygiene 0.217 0.774
Location 0.606 0.169 0.739
Price 0.682 0.360 0.562 0.865
Quality 0.642 0.281 0.459 0.772 0.864
Tourist 0.317 0.552 0.484 0.427 0.530 0.762
Perception
Uniqueness 0.657 0.245 0.532 0.431 0.583 0.413 0.885

TABLE 10.4 Heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations

Community Hygiene Location Price Quality Tourist Uniqueness

Attitude Perception

Community
Attitude
Hygiene 0.298
Location 0.891 0.294
Price 0.785 0.473 0.701
Quality 0.743 0.375 0.633 0.880
Tourist 0.365 0.651 0.603 0.487 0.589
Perception
Uniqueness 0.707 0.295 0.843 0.441 0.633 0.440

TABLE 10.5 R²

R Square R Square Adjusted

TOURIST PERCEPTION 0.748 0.742

 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 133

TABLE 10.6 Hypothesis testing

Original Sample Standard Deviation T Statistics P Values

Sample (O) Mean (M) (STDEV) (|O/STDEV|)

Location → Tourist 0.196 0.170 0.061 3.188 0.000

Perception
Uniqueness → Tourist 0.097 0.095 0.050 1.976 0.000
Perception
Community Attitude −0.279 −0.278 0.057 4.852 0.000
→ Tourist Perception
Quality → Tourist 0.525 0.543 0.060 8.787 0.000
Perception
Hygiene → Tourist 0.603 0.577 0.070 8.627 0.000
Perception

According to the findings presented in Table 10.6, H1 proposed there is a sig-

nificant Relationship between Location of the street food and Tourist Perception.
The finding indicate (beta = 0.196; t-value 3.188 significant at p < 0.05) urge Hy-
pothesis 1 is significant. This finding aligns with previous research that has been
done by Sgroi et al. (2022), Wei et al. (2022) and Hashim and Jamaluddin (2022)
who urge that location of the street food is important in influencing the consumer
perception toward street foods. To promote and increase the popularity of the street
food in Penang, it is advisable for the street food vendor to choose and consider
the strategic of the location which are highly accessible especially tourist hot spot
location to create the consumer satisfaction toward the surrounding location where
the street food is served. Enjoying delicious street food during the vacation is an
amazing experience for the tourist.
Hypothesis 2 proposed that there is a significant relationship between unique-
ness of the street food and tourist Perception. The finding indicates (beta = 0.097;
t-value 1.976 significant at p < 0.05) urge that Hypothesis 2 is supported as pre-
sented 10 Table 10.6. The uniqueness of the Penang street food is attributed to the
ethnic diversity of the people of Malaysia and the multi-racial demographics of the
country consisting of the Malays, Chinese, and Indians. Each of the ethnic group
nurtures unique culinary traditions and a rich array of these usually form part of
the street cuisine in George Town, Penang. The finding of the current study aligns
with the research that has been conducted by Gupta and Mohta (2022), Hashim and
Jamaluddin (2022), Alhashim et al. (2022), and Sangkaew and Zhu (2022) where
the uniqueness of the street food is one of the main attractions that can attract the
tourist intention to visit certain destination to feel the new experience in tasting
new flavor during vacation.
Hypothesis 3 proposed there is a significant relationship between community-
based street food and tourist perception. The finding indicates that (beta = −0.027;
t-value 4.852 significant at p < 0.05) urge Hypothesis 3 is supported as presented
134 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

in Table 10.6. The nurturing of the street cuisines can also be seen as directly con-
nected to the attitudes of the community toward the visitors, which the study sug-
gests being rated as friendly. It reveals the fact that the visitors find the warm
welcoming from the local community and they will feel safe and comfortable to
try local cuisine. This finding aligns with the research that has been done by Ala-
nanzeh et al. (2022), Baker and Unni (2022), and Thyne et al. (2022) who urge
that community attitude toward the tourist encourage a positive perception toward
street foods. The Malaysian culture is rooted in collectivism and provides a warm
welcoming and creates a feeling of belongingness among the tourists.
Hypothesis 4 proposed there is a significant relationship between quality the
street food and tourist perception with the score (beta = −0.027; t-value 4.852 sig-
nificant at p < 0.05) as presented in Table 10.6. The finding urges that the street
food hygiene in food preparation is important among tourists. This study aligns
with the research that has been done by Mohamad et al. (2022), Guadalupe-Moyano
et al. (2022), Frempong et al. (2022), and Poltanee, I. and Thavornsil, T. (2022)
who urge that street food quality is one among the important factor that can influ-
ence the tourist perception and preference toward the destination.
Hypothesis 5 proposed there is a significant relationship between hygiene of the
street food and tourist perception with the score (beta = 0.603; t-value 8.787 signifi-
cant at p < 0.05) as presented in Table 10.6. The finding urges that Hypothesis 5 is
supported where the quality of street food in Penang can influence the tourist per-
ception. This study aligns with the research that have been done by Mohamad et al.
(2022), Guadalupe-Moyano et al. (2022), and Maglumtong and Fukushima (2022).
Hypothesis 6 proposed price of the street food moderates the relationship between
location and tourist perception. Based on the findings, it shows that the price of the
street food insignificant moderates the relationship between the location of the street
food and tourist perception with the score (beta = −0.062; t-value 0.765 significant at
p > 0.05); thus, Hypothesis 6 is not supported as presented in Table 10.7. The price

TABLE 10.7 Moderation effect

Original Sample Standard T Statistics P Values

Sample (O) Mean (M) Deviation (|O/STDEV|)
(STDEV)

Location*Price −0.062 −0.014 0.082 0.765 0.445

→ Tourist Perception
Uniqueness*Price 0.379 0.408 0.071 5.319 0.000
→ Tourist Perception
Community Attitude*Price −0.121 −0.160 0.088 1.375 0.170
→Tourist Perception
Quality*Price −0.140 −0.205 0.097 2.445 0.000
→ Tourist Perception
Hygiene*Price 0.172 0.205 0.077 2.251 0.025
→ Tourist Perception
 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 135

of the street food does not have any impact on where the street food is sold. Most of
the tourists do agree that location of street food should be convenient to attract them
(Huynh-Van et al., 2022; Ezeh & Nkamnebe, 2022). If the location is inconvenient,
they will not be attracted to try it. In addition, if the location located at inconvenient for
the tourist, with the high price, tourists willing to pay if the street food is worth trying
and vice versa (Frempong et al., 2022; Palonen, 2022; Sousa et al., 2022). Hypothesis
7 proposed the price of the street food moderates the relationship between the unique-
ness of the food and tourist perception. The finding reveals price does moderate the re-
lationship between the uniqueness of the food with tourism perception with the score
(beta = 0.379; t-value 5.139 significant at p > 0.05) as presented in Table 10.7. Unique-
ness of the food is a major concern for tourists when they want to try something new
when they go on vacation (Mohamad et al., 2022; Nofrizal, 2022). But to try or not it
depends on the tourist whether the uniqueness of the food offer is relevant or not with
the price of street foods. If the price is high and the uniqueness of the food can offer
is perceived as a good experience, it will give the good perception among the tourists
toward the Penang street food and vice versa (Prasongthan & Silpsrikul, 2022).
Hypothesis 8 proposed price of the street food moderates the relationship be-
tween the community base and tourist perception. The finding reported price of the
street food does not moderate the relationship between community attitude with
the tourist perception with the score (beta = −0.121; t-value 1.375 significant at
p < 0.05) as presented in Table 10.7. Majority of the tourists agree that they give
the good perception toward the street food because of the food attributes and the
uniqueness of the food (Poltanee & Thavornsil, 2022; Shen & Springer, 2022).
Community attitude usually focuses more on the warm feeling toward the destina-
tion but it is not one of the factors that will be affected if the price of the street food
is increased or high in the market (Mohamad et al., 2022; Abdullah et al., 2022).
Hypothesis 9 proposed price of the street food moderates the relationship between
the quality of food products and tourist perception with the score (beta = −0.140;
t-value 2.445 significant at p > 0.05). The finding indicates that the price of the
street food does moderate the relationship between quality of the street food and
tourist perception. The quality of the street food provided can develop the percep-
tion because high price of the street food usually perceived as high quality of foods
among tourists (Rakha et al., 2022; Sousa et al., 2022; Praesri et al., 2022). Tourists
are usually willing to pay a high price if the quality of the street food is high and
they also did not willing to pay a high price if they perceive the quality of the street
food is low (Ezeh & Nkamnebe, 2022; Mohamad et al., 2022).
Hypothesis 10 proposed price of the street food moderates the relationship be-
tween the hygiene of the food product preparation and tourist perception. The finding
found that the price of the street food moderates the relationship between the hygiene
in the street food preparation with tourist perception with the score (beta = 0.172; t-
value 2.251 significant at p < 0.05) as presented in Table 10.7. The preparation of the
street food is usually among the important factors that usually will be considered by
the tourists because they do not want to end up at the hospital after trying unfamiliar
136 Norhidayah Azman and Albattat Ahmad

food during vacation (Ezeh & Nkamnebe, 2022; Mohamad et al., 2022). High price
of the street food usually perceived as high in hygiene during the preparation of the
food and usually tourist willing to pay when they are confident with the level of hy-
giene of the street food during the preparation of the foods (Huynh-Van et al., 2022;
Rakha et al., 2022; Solon, 2022). From the moderation effect, it can be concluded that
uniqueness of the street food, quality of the street food and the level of the hygiene
during preparation of the street food are among the factors that will be affected by
the involvement of price in the relationship with tourist perception. This finding also
reveals that location and community attitude do not affect the involvement of price as
moderation in the relationship with tourist perception.
Street food attribute is more important to the tourists who create and share their
perception with the involvement of the price. All the local vendors of street food in
Penang should consider the uniqueness of the street food that they can offer to the
tourist with the involvement of the Malaysian government in promoting the unique-
ness of the street food internationally. In addition, the quality of the street food pro-
vided by the vendor also should be high to attract tourists and create the willingness
to pay for the street food. It is highly recommended for the street food vendor to put a
reasonable price for street foods to attract the tourist to buy the local street food. The
state government also should play the role to ensure all the street vendors providing a
high quality of the street food with a reasonable price by providing a proper guideline
for the street food price. Moreover, the hygiene of the street food preparation should
be one of the most important factors that should be considered by all the street food
vendors in Penang because tourists will not pay and give a good perception if the
level of hygiene is very poor. The state government should encourage the hygiene and
provide a proper guideline for hygiene purposes to ensure all the street food in Penang
is aware and implement a high level of hygiene during the preparation of street foods.

Conclusion
This study provides an insight into tourist perception toward street cuisine on
George Town Street in Penang among tourists. Popularity and the taste of street
cuisine in George Town, Penang, were revealed clearly. The results reveal that the
majority of respondents agree or strongly agree that the flavour of street food on
Georgetown Street, Penang is excellent. The street cuisine provider should create
a new recipe inspired from the traditional cuisine that might attract more tourists.
This study also confirmed that street cuisine in George Town Street, Penang is
recognized for its level of hygiene in preparation and with high consideration for
its cleanness. In addition, this study also shows that street cuisine in Penang is rec-
ognized to have a high commercial value; therefore more efforts must be engaged
to boost its competitiveness in the market. Therefore, there is a need a full support
from the Malaysian government, local authority, and local people in maintaining its
quality and the preferences of George Town Street, Penang as a tourism destination
that provides heavenly street cuisine to all tourists in the world.
 Factor that influences tourist perception toward street foods 137

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11
KNOWLEDGE LEGACY OF THE 2010
FIFA WORLD CUP IN SOUTH AFRICA
Willem JL Coetzee

Introduction
“The 2010 World Cup will be organised by . . . South Africa!” FIFA president Sepp
Blatter announced on the 15th of May 2004. Former president Nelson Mandela then
climbed onto the stage, lifted the World Cup trophy, and said: “I feel like a young
man of 15.” In response to this announcement, the South African bid Chief Mr Irvin
Khoza: “This is for Africa. This is for African renewal” and “Ke Nako” – “Celebrate
Africa’s Humanity” (Blackshaw & Coetzee, 2020, p. 369). These images and pro-
nouncements sparked the immediate attention of some researchers, and academic
journals started to accept publications related to the event 5 years before the 2010
FIFA World Cup (2010-WC). This mega-event in Africa provided me (as an Early
Career Researcher in 2004) and other academics on the continent with the opportu-
nity to create knowledge relevant to Africa. The research skills and knowledge gained
should be regarded as the knowledge legacy of the event. Although workshops were
organized to facilitate a 2010 research agenda, it was never formalized due to the
timeframes and the lack of political motivation to allocate the necessary resources to
implement such a coordinated research agenda (Swart & Bob, 2012). For this reason,
2010-WC research took place on an ad hoc basis, and it is, therefore, appropriate to
reflect on the research related to the first FIFA World Cup hosted in Africa. The ob-
jective of this paper is to inspect the knowledge legacy of this event since that day in
May 2004. There appears to be a lack of studies that present a systematic overview of
journal publications related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup (2010-WC). The knowledge
legacy of the 2010-WC is therefore still relatively unknown.
In the context of mega-events in sport, Preuss (2007, p. 211) proposes the fol-
lowing definition of legacy: “irrespective of the time of production and space, leg-
acy can be planned and unplanned, positive and negative, tangible and intangible

DOI: 10.4324/9781032633374-13
144 Willem JL Coetzee

structures created for an by a sporting event that remain longer than the event it-
self.” Chappelet and Junod (2006, p. 85) refer to the term “collective memory” and
distinguish in this regard between five types of legacies, namely sporting; urban;
infrastructural; economic and social legacies. An essential part of the social legacy
of mega-events is the change that is brought about in residents’ perceptions of the
host city or region, as well as the memories of the mega-event – including the skills
and experiences that residents gained through their direct or indirect involvement
in the event. Within this realm of social legacies, we can place the knowledge leg-
acy of an event. In Chappelet and Junod’s review of legacies, nothing is explicitly
mentioned about the knowledge legacy of these events. Even after the 2010-WC,
Cornelissen et al. (2011), summarized the positive and negative legacies of the
2010-WC legacy. In their 2012 publication, the same authors refer to some research
projects, but in neither of these publications was the knowledge legacy of the 2010-
WC clearly articulated. Knowledge legacy could be seen as part of knowledge
management, where knowledge management refers to the creation, identification,
acquisition, application, storage, and transfer of knowledge. These activities were
identified in 2009 by Heisig when he aimed to harmonize knowledge management
by comparing 160 knowledge management frameworks. In the end, he placed these
six activities as the crux of knowledge management. Various other knowledge
management activities and frameworks exist, and debates surrounding information
versus knowledge are well-defined. According to Davenport and Prusak (1998),
knowledge may be understood as experiences, contextual comprehension, value-
added information, or insights based on frameworks of understanding that reside
in the minds of individuals or groups. Knowledge may be present in the form of
explicit or tacit knowledge. Detailed knowledge is more easily articulated, written,
or codified, while tacit knowledge is rather inarticulate, developed with experience,
and deepened through problem-solving activities (Polanyi, 1967). As evident from
this chapter, the interdisciplinary field of event and sports management knowledge
is vast and diverse, and a proper research agenda should be an essential part of any
mega-event project plan.
The chapter is structured into the following four sections: the next section de-
fines the legacy of sporting events; the second section describes the methods used
in this article; the third section presents the results of this review regarding pre-,
during, and post-2010-WC research; and the final section, further findings and their
implications are discussed outlining future research possibilities.

The legacy of sporting events

Harper (2001) defined legacy as property left by will, while Cashman (2005) cat-
egorized event legacies in terms of economic; built and physical environment; in-
formation and education; public life, politics, and culture; sport; symbols, memory,
and history. As mentioned earlier, a similar classification of legacies was proposed
by Chappelet and Junod (2006, p. 85); in this regard, they also refer to the term
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 145

“collective memory” and distinguish between the five types of legacies mentioned
earlier. Preuss (2007, p. 211) recommends using the term “legacy-cube” and de-
fines mega-event “legacy” as: “irrespective of the time of production and space,
legacy can be planned and unplanned, positive and negative, tangible and intangi-
ble structures created for and by a sports event that remains longer than the event
itself.” This notion of a legacy-cube relates to why nations often invest social,
environmental and economic resources to host mega-sports events.
Over the past two decades, nations worldwide have competed to host mega-
sporting events because countries (and increasingly cities) perceive such events as
potential re-imaging opportunities (Hiller, 2006; Smith, 2005). They also believe
such events are likely to boost their image as tourism destinations Hall & Page,
2009), that this will promote investment, and that the nation is likely to benefit
from the associated positive economic impacts (Briedenhann, 2011). Especially for
developing nations, mega-events are integral in redefining a country’s global status
and socio-political composition (Cornelissen, 2008). These impacts are known as
the event legacy and include the opportunity to increase tourism value; brand the
hosting country as a safe tourist destination; advance the social legacy of the coun-
try by creating employment, equity and growth; advance urban planning and sports
infrastructure; create more local business opportunities and a renewed community
spirit; and bring about additional know-how and a positive emotional experience
(Preuss, 2007). For many African researchers, the 2010-WC event acted as a plat-
form to establish their academic careers.
According to Getz and Page (2015), there has been an over-emphasis on knowl-
edge creation in the realm of economic impacts of events. They further state that in-
terest in events continues to expand within all closely related and many foundation
disciplines, giving rise to new theoretical perspectives and useful methodologies.
They say that each core proposition of event tourism should give rise to collabora-
tive theory development. A similar possibility was posed by Gibson (1998) in her
critical view that an interdisciplinary approach is necessary when formulating a
research agenda. The successful hosting of a mega event, and more importantly,
achieving a positive legacy, is grounded in the acquisition, production and dis-
semination of information and knowledge and should not be overlooked. However,
research requires sufficient planning, high levels of interdisciplinary cooperation,
commitment and resources (Swart & Bob, 2012).
Event and tourism studies are mostly multidisciplinary, drawing theory, knowl-
edge, methodologies, and methods from many established disciplines (Getz &
Page, 2015). Authors such as Getz and Page (2015) refer to this multidisciplinary
nature as important for knowledge creation; they state that this field has largely
been ad hoc and fragmented among diverse interest groups. In this regard, they
specifically suggest that research on the process and research related to actors in
knowledge creation for event tourism need to be more present. It will be evident
from this article that knowledge creation pre-, during, and after the 2010-WC is one
of the legacies of this mega-event.
146 Willem JL Coetzee

Significantly, a principal issue for all concerned with the organization of the 2010-
WC was that of legacy (Allen et al., 2013), and an essential aspect of the legacy
discussed the long-term impact (both financial and social) of the event on the existing
national brand of South Africa. After the 2010-WC, Cornelissen et al. (2011) tabled
a range of material, spatial and symbolic legacies, both positive and negative, that
a host city and its wider region could experience. Unfortunately, in their discussion
(and simplified model) of legacy impacts, nothing is mentioned about knowledge
creation and the knowledge legacy of the 2010-WC.

Methodology
The premise of this article is from Kim et al. (2013), who emphasized that aca-
demic journals play an important role in the work undertaken by researchers be-
cause they not only produce, disseminate, and exchange knowledge, but articles
also provide a means of evaluating research. These authors elaborate that a primary
goal of analysing the topics examined in studies is to identify research trends and
future direction. The same can be said for journal articles related to a particular
event, such as the 2010-WC, since these articles disseminate and exchange aca-
demic knowledge. By analysing the content of these articles, the knowledge legacy
of this event may be better defined, but the author fully recognizes the importance
of other seminal works such as the “International Handbook on the Economics of
mega sporting events (Maennig & Zimbalist, 2012),” conference papers, disserta-
tions, industry reports, and other publications in the popular media, that were all
excluded from the analysis, purely on the basis that for the purpose of this article
the researcher only refers to peer-reviewed journal articles.
Formica (1998) was one of the first researchers in the sphere of event manage-
ment to evaluate research outputs in event studies by conducting content analyses
on research articles published on special events and festivals. Formica classified
them according to the event’s geographical location, the authors’ location, the jour-
nals that contributed the most to the field, the nature of the articles, the methodol-
ogy and statistical techniques used, and the functional area under investigation. For
the present chapter, the author decided to use a similar approach to a combination
of systematic literature review and content analysis.
A systematic literature review was used as a starting point to identify academic
publications, and content analysis was used as a scientific technique to analyze
the publications. Klassen et al. (1998) define the systematic review as follows: “A
systematic review is a review in which there is a comprehensive search for relevant
studies on a specific topic, and those identified are then appraised and synthesised
according to a pre-determined explicit method” (Klassen et al., 1998, p. 701). In
the context of sports management, Weed (2006) states that this synthesis method is
widespread in other fields and that systematic reviews differ from traditional narra-
tive reviews in that they provide objective, replicable, systematic, and comprehen-
sive coverage of a defined area.
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 147

Data source: As a starting point for the current research project, the author searched
and identified articles related to the 2010-WC. The search was narrowed by looking for
articles published in English that appeared in peer-reviewed journals containing words
(or a combination of these words) such as South Africa(n); FIFA; World Cup™; 2010;
soccer; and football. A dataset of articles was compiled from bibliographic databases
such as ResearchGate, Google, ScholarGoogle, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, and Sco-
pus. The spreadsheet was cleaned and simplified by deleting entries such as book chap-
ters, research notes, technical reports, papers in conference proceedings, master and
doctorate dissertations, and duplicated article entries. These entries were only deleted
to frame this particular study and by no means intended to disregard the knowledge
contribution of other research outputs. The final spreadsheet comprises 185 articles
published over 11 years (2004–2015). Although “legacy” is measured in the long term,
the timeframe was only selected to frame the sample of this project. Otherwise, the col-
lection will be forever ongoing (as, indeed, it should be with legacy projects).
The 185 full papers were downloaded, and the author set out to analyze the
content of the articles by reading the article titles and abstracts to verify that each
item refers to the 2010-WC. Content analysis is described as making replicable and
valid inferences from data in its context (Krippendorff, 2012) via reflexive analysis
of documents (Altheide, 1987) and, in the case of the present article, of the con-
tent of 2010-WC-related research articles. To ensure objectivity and consistency of
analysis, the researcher did all aspects of the research analysis. After the analysis
stage, the various researched areas were categorized into the following groups: the
title of the article; date of publication; the name of the journal; keyword(s) of the
article, the topic covered in the article, the name of the author(s); country of origin
of the author(s) at the time of publication; and the methodology.
Data analysis: In addition to the systematic review, text analysis was conducted
through Leximancer text analytics software (4.0 edition) to confirm the themes identi-
fied in the study. According to Pearce and Wu (2016), Leximancer is a relatively new
method for transforming lexical co-occurrence information from natural language into
semantic patterns. This software allows the researcher to determine the main themes
within a text, highlight how topics relate to each other and indicate which source files
contain particular topics (Angus et al., 2013). Leximancer generates concept maps and
illustrates the relationships among words, concepts and themes. It is important to note
that not all the identified concepts are labeled in the concept maps. Generic concepts,
such as abstract, research methodology, results, bibliography, and page number (p.) in
research articles are not labeled in the maps that we used for analysis in this chapter.

Results

A historical review of the 2010-WC publications

For the purpose of the present chapter and with a view to present information in
a logical flow, a historical review of publication pre-, during, and post-2010-WC
148 Willem JL Coetzee

is presented. This particular classification is to assist future research teams when

planning their research agendas before, during, and after a mega-event.

Pre-2010 World Cup publications

Articles published before the 2010-WC focused on expectations, predictions and
politics associated with this event. The Leximancer analysis showed that the ma-
jor research themes during this time gravitated around hosting the event in South
Africa, government involvement, economic benefits, tourism, and soccer. As men-
tioned before, the unidentified circles within the maps are general journal-related
themes, such as abstract, bibliography, literature review, and page numbers.
Eleven years before the 2010-WC, and only days after the announcement by
FIFA that South Africa would be the host country, the first two journal articles
were published. One focused on the “way to prosperity” for a developing nation
(Matheson & Baade, 2004), and in the second article called “It is Africa’s turn!” the
narratives and legitimations surrounding the Moroccan and South African bids for
the 2006 and 2010 FIFA finals were explored (Cornelissen, 2004). In a follow-up
article, Cornelissen and Swart (2006) considered “the challenges of making good
on an African promise,” and in 2007 Maennig and Du Plessis (2007) focused on
economic perspectives and policy challenges informed by experiences during the
2006 World Cup in Germany.
In the same year, the first special edition of an academic journal focusing on
the 2010-WC was published by Politikon. As the official publication of the South
African Association of Political Studies, it was appropriate that the editor called
this special edition “Crafting legacies: The changing political economy of Global
Sport and the 2010 FIFA World Cup” (Cornelissen, 2007). In this special edition,
authors focused on issues such as the politics of mega-events (Black, 2007), sport
and national identity (Kersting, 2007), migration during a mega-event (Cornelis-
sen & Solberg, 2007), the political economy of mega-stadiums and mega-projects
(Alegi, 2007; Van Der Westhuizen, 2007), perceptions of crime at a host region
(Donaldson & Ferreira, 2007), and a sport tourism strategy beyond 2010 (Swart &
Bob, 2007).
Two years before “kick-off,” most of the publications focused on the sustainabil-
ity of the stadia (Alegi, 2008), as well as other social aspects, such as the economic
value of the event as a tool for poverty reduction (Bohlmann & Heerden, 2008;
Pillay & Bass, 2008; Saayman & Rossouw, 2008), the socio-economic impacts
associated with the event (Donaldson et al., 2008; Nadvi, 2008), and in particular
the aspects around nation-building during the run-up to the event (Labuschagne,
2008). It was also in this year that the first article on health-related research was
published when Yancey Ii et al. (2008) discussed an integrated public health and
medical system for the 2010-WC.
In 2009, a second special issue, this time from the journal Urban Forum was
published, focusing on critical issues faced by some of the host cities. These issues
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 149

included safety and security in an urban destination, a crime strategy for a host
city, and the perceived economic benefits for B&B operators in one of the prov-
inces (Darkey & Horn, 2009). In this special edition, there were also articles re-
lated to hosting cities in terms of sex tourism (Bird & Donaldson, 2009), the Cape
Town Stadium (Bob & Swart, 2009), the beautification of the N2 highway toward
Cape Town (Newton, 2009), and several urban development ambitions of Durban
(Maennig & du Plessis, 2009).

Publications during 2010

According to the Leximancer analysis, the research themes in 2010 centered around
the World Cup itself, the host continent, national identity, and the people involved
in hosting the event, especially the workforce and the role of women.
During 2010, a relatively high number of articles about health sciences were
published. The number of publications related to the 2010-WC and health sciences
might be ascribed to the relatively transient nature of articles in health science
journals and, therefore, a quick turnaround time from the submission date to the
date of publication. For example, Jazaerly and Giorgadze (2010) published a one-
page article in the Journal of Surgical Pathology related to lymph nodes, and both
Fieggen (2010) and Guinto Balanzar (2010) published one-page article related to
neurosurgery and the 2010-WC in the Journal of World Neurosurgery. Other exam-
ples of health-related articles are those related to travel health (Leggat et al., 2010),
vaccines (Zuckerman et al., 2010), rabies in Africa (Malerczyk et al., 2010), and
health risks of travelers (Mendelson et al., 2010) as well as public health and sex
workers (Richter et al., 2010).
Apart from publications in the sphere of health sciences, a significant number
of articles were also published in journalism and sociology. Vincent et al. (2010)
explored narratives in English newspapers during the World Cup, while Berger
(2010) studied visual images of the World Cup. Ginsberg (2010) and (Aranke &
Zoller, 2010) published articles related to neoliberalism and politics in Africa, and
Ngonyama (2010) referred to the critical voice in the journal Soccer and Society.
Swart et al. (2010) focused on media- and crime-related issues, and Giulianotti and
Klauser (2010), as well as Roberts (2010), studied security governance, policing,
and mega-sports events.
In 2010, the journal Agenda published a special edition in which most of the ar-
ticles focused on gender issues. For example, Bob and Swart (2010a) looked at the
experiences of women in fan parks, Hicks (2010) wrote a gender-based response
to the 2010-WC, while Pillay and Salo (2010) explored the relationship between
gender, politics and sport.
Another special edition during this year was from the journal Alternation edited
by Bob and Swart (2010b). This special edition presented research, mostly by the
editorial team, on a variety of issues. Smit (2010) wrote an article on Dennis Brutus,
while Bob and Swart (2010a, 2010b) addressed social legacies; Chain and Swart
150 Willem JL Coetzee

(2010) presented residents’ perceptions of the World Cup, while Tichaawa and Swart
(2010) focused on fans from Cameroon; McKenna and Bob (2010) addressed busi-
ness perceptions; and Swart et al. (2010) perceptions in the media. The other authors
in this special issue addressed the political economy (Cornelissen & Maennig, 2010);
living in close proximity to the stadium in Durban (Bassa & Jaggernath, 2010); other
sports events and tourism in Durban (Maharaj, 2010); the environmental impacts of
a mega-event such as the 2010-WC (Ahmed & Pretorius, 2010) and service delivery
(Cronjé et al., 2010).

Publication after 2010

According to the Leximancer analysis, within the first year after the 2010-WC, 41
articles related to the event were published. Within the social sciences, research-
ers interrogated linkages between the 2010-WC and art (Dubin, 2011), the media
(Hammett, 2011) and music (Hammond, 2011), as well as other broader social im-
pacts (Van Blerk, 2011) of the event. Some studies explored more specific impacts
such as sex workers (Delva et al., 2011) and human trafficking (Roelofse, 2011).
Apart from these issues, some researchers studied security in South Africa during
the World Cup (Cornelissen, 2011a); smoke-free laws in Guatemala and the effect
of these on 2010-WC enjoyment while watching in public places (GTQ, 2011).
Some studies engaged with the use of technology in strategic policing within
the South African Development Community (Sinclair & Matlala, 2011) as well
as the politics of the event (Harris, 2011; Masemola & Chaka, 2011; Ndlovu-
Gatsheni, 2011).
Researchers in the economic sciences studied the role of advertising (Conradie,
2011), marketing (Cubizolles, 2011) and entrepreneurship (Madichie, 2011) dur-
ing the mega-event as well as the economics (du Plessis & Maennig, 2011) and
economical recovery (Ferreira, 2011) due to the event. Within the realm of tourism
authors, a number of publications (Bresler, 2011; Lepp & Gibson, 2011; Tomlinson
et al., 2011; Vincent & Hill, 2011) studied issues related to identity, the hosting
of mega-events and risks associated with the event, while others looked at legacy
(Cornelissen, 2011b; Cornelissen et al., 2011; van der Westhuizen & Swart, 2011),
community expectations and perceptions (Bob & Majola, 2011), and expectations
from a youth development perspective (Saurombe & Saurome, 2011).
Other research topics included issues such as urban development (Haferburg,
2011), the environment (Death, 2011), and project management of construction
projects (Baloyi & Bekker, 2011). A large number of publications appeared in the
field of health sciences, for example, HIV and public health (Beres, 2011), the im-
pact of acoustic noise and vuvuzelas (Cunefare et al., 2011); hearing loss (Ramma,
2011); blood exposure (Furin, 2011); the medical assessment of referees (Bizzini
et al., 2011), injuries and illnesses of football players (Dvorak et al., 2011), and the
health of volunteers (Muxel et al., 2011). Lames and Kolbinger (2011) reported on
performance analysis of clubs in Europe, while Duk et al. (2011) studied the endur-
ance and speed of players.
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 151

As was the case in 2011, a large number of articles (n = 26) were published in
2012. Within the social sciences, the topics ranged from the lexicon of the sport
of journalistic chronicles (Almaraz & Garcia, 2012) and television broadcasting
(Lopes et al., 2012) to the Cape Town stadium in the media (Chuma, 2012) and
a personal reflection in the Drama Review on the empathy, optimism, and beauti-
ful play of the 2010-WC (Larlham, 2012). In health sciences, a number of arti-
cles were published related to the 2010-WC and psychology (Jones et al., 2012;
Koortzen & Oosthuizen, 2012; Oosthuizen & Koortzen, 2012; Solari & Solomons,
2012) as well as the 2010-WC and public health (M. Richter et al., 2012), medica-
tion (Tscholl & Dvorak, 2012) and testosterone (van der Meij et al., 2012).
Authors also addressed the impact of the 2010-WC on society in a number of arti-
cles in the fields of sociology (Cornelissen, 2012), exploring quality of life (Rowe &
Baker, 2012), political sciences such as Pan-Africanism (Bolsmann, 2012), race and
African identity (Lopez, 2012), modernity and development hopes (Manzo, 2012),
transformation (Brook Napier, 2012), nation-branding (Knott et al., 2012), patrimony
(Cubizolles, 2012), perceptions of crime (George & Swart, 2012), and foreign policy
(Carreño Lara, 2012). Two other areas of research that received attention during this
time match analysis (Ademović et al., 2012), and in management sciences, reference
was made to brand equity and entrepreneurship (Nicolau, 2012; Venter et al., 2012).
In 2013, 30 articles were published in a variety of journals. In health sciences,
researchers reported on a large number of issues such as sports injuries (Guillodo &
Saraux, 2013), depression (Jain et al., 2013), arterial stiffness (Reppel et al., 2013),
hypoxia/altitude and endurance (Nassis, 2013), risk of injury (Ryynänen, Dvorak,
et al., 2013), injury incidence (Ryynänen, Junge, Dvorak, Peterson, Karlsson, et al.,
2013), injury recovery (Eirale et al., 2013), and admissions in emergency depart-
ments due to assaults associated with the 2010-WC (Quigg et al., 2013).
Researchers in the field of sports published articles related to game patterns
(Machado et al., 2013), network analysis of games (Cotta et al., 2013), ball reten-
tion (Collet, 2013), and foul play (Ryynänen, Junge, Dvorak, Peterson, Kautiainen,
et al., 2013). In tourism and sports studies, researchers studied the social value of
sports (Heere et al., 2013), social responsibility and destination benefits (Walker
et al., 2013), the quality of life of residents (Kaplanidou et al., 2013) and the impact
on host communities (Hermann et al., 2013), co-creation by residents (Berndt et al.,
2013), the host-guest relationship between residents and visitors (van der Zee &
Go, 2013), the challenges of hosting a mega-event in one of the host cities (Allen,
2013), and destination competitiveness (Kruger & Heath, 2013).
Safety (Kirby et al., 2013) and security (Eisenhauer et al., 2013) were again visible
issues; as were South Africa’s diplomacy (e Castro, 2013) and racial unity (Duvall &
Guschwan, 2013) during the 2010-WC. Within the field of management sciences,
researchers studied branding legacy (Allen et al., 2013), media impact (Swart et al.,
2013), and behavioral patterns (Menéndez et al., 2013). Others studied fan assess-
ment from a psychological perspective (Gau, 2013) and identity (Oh, 2013).
In 2014, there was a notable decline in the number of publications (n = 21); but
again, the topics cover various research areas. Social impacts such as gambling
152 Willem JL Coetzee

(Masuku, 2014), cultural heritage (Jethro, 2014), moral panicking and human traf-
ficking (Emser & Francis, 2014), and sex work and prostitution (Richter et al.,
2014) were discussed together with other social issues such as the politics of host-
ing a mega-event (van Wyk, 2014).
Within the realm of sport, Chistofaro et al. (2014) wrote an article on aggres-
sion in football, while others studied the tactical behavior of players (Kempe et al.,
2014), free kicks (Casal et al., 2014), regional qualification games to the run-up to-
ward the 2010-WC (Stone & Rod, 2014) and game structure, speed and player pat-
terns (Wallace & Norton, 2014). Several tourism-related articles were published in
2014, for example, articles addressing fandom (Alber & Ungruhe, 2014), national
identity (Nicholson et al., 2014), tourism in developing countries (Peeters et al.,
2014), the oversupply of hotel rooms (Ferreira & Boshoff, 2014), national flag
and patriotism during the WC (Brown et al., 2014), and psychic income and social
capital (Gibson et al., 2014). Other authors looked at security and surveillance
(Fonio & Pisapia, 2014), the impact of the event on pediatric injury and mortal-
ity (Zroback et al., 2014), investor sentiment and market efficiency (Kaplanski &
Levy, 2014), and global imaging and branding.
In 2015, only seven articles related to the 2010-WC and perhaps not surprisingly
the legacy of the WC remained a talking point. Waardenburg et al. (2015) explored
the local meanings of a sport and the legacies of that sport, while Molloy and Chetty
(2015) addressed the legacies from a project management point of view and indi-
cated lessons learned from the stadium program. de Almeida et al. (2015) compared
South Africa to Brazil in terms of the legacies of the countries’ two World Cups.
Another African legacy program was that of Cameroon and Nigeria and an article by
Tichaawa and Bob (2015) discussed the leveraging of mega-events beyond the host
nation. The last three articles from 2015 discussed the long-term reputation of South
Africa from a branding point of view (Holtzhausen & Fullerton, 2015), as well as
nation branding opportunities (Knott et al., 2015) and South Africa as a destination
for tourism and economic development (Giampiccoli et al., 2015).
From the journal titles, it is evident that social issues were a popular research fo-
cus area, followed by tourism and sports studies as well as health-related research.
According to the SCImago Journal Ranking scale (SJR), the articles in the top ten
highest ranked journals were a balanced combination of journals from different
sciences. The knowledge legacy of the 2010-WC is vast and diverse, with topics
ranging from tourism, sport and events to health, safety and politics. Well-known
authors wrote some of the articles published in their respective fields, and some au-
thors created new research networks. The following section discusses these authors
and their networks in greater detail.

Research networks, methods and populations

In total, 332 (332) authors from 27 countries undertook WC-2010 research and
published 185 articles. As the host nation, South African researchers authored or
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 153

co-authored 81 articles plus 20 articles as co-authors with researchers from 11 other

countries, meaning that South African research resulted in 91 articles. Researchers
from the USA published 18 articles, followed by researchers from the UK with
14 articles. Other European researchers (from Germany, Spain, Portugal and Bel-
gium), as well as some from Australia, published between four and seven articles
per country. The remaining 19 of 27 countries published only 26 of the 185 articles.

Research methodologies
The analysis of research methods in the 185 articles indicated that 65 articles
adopted a quantitative approach, 111 a qualitative approach, and nine articles used
mixed methods. Quantitative methods of data collection included archival data such
as newspapers (14 articles), surveys (30 articles), interviews (14 articles), personal
reflections and observations (67 articles), and content analyses of broadcasts and
other media (33 articles). Quantitative data were collected from 10 869 fans by ten
different research groups. In total, 6,379 residents were interviewed by nine research
groups before, during, and after the 2010-WC; 342 managers of accommodation
establishments were interviewed by two research teams; 933 players by three re-
searchers; one research group targeted 90 referees as their population; 19 destination
managers in two separate studies; 852 patients by two health sciences studies; 54
project managers and engineers were interviewed by three research teams.

Discussion and conclusions

Hosting a large-scale sports tourism event produces economic, social and envi-
ronmental legacies. These legacies are well documented in the literature, and host
communities are using mega-events to leverage legacy programs after the event
and one such event is the 2010-WC. Researchers and event organizers developed
legacy frameworks and sport tourism strategies for the 2010-WC and other similar
events. After the event, researchers and organizers reported on the positive legacy
programs, and the organizers of the 2010-WC were applauded for the event’s so-
cial, environmental, and economic benefits. Unfortunately, the research outputs
were not recorded as a legacy of the 2010-WC. Therefore, this study set out to
report comprehensively on the knowledge legacy of the 2010-WC.
This report has illuminated the research themes reported before, during and after
the 2010-WC. Overall, the number of academic articles related to this single event is
high with 185 articles dealing with the event appearing in peer-reviewed academic
journals. The research themes can broadly be classified into tourism and event stud-
ies; health-related publications; a large variety of social impact issues; and, to a
lesser extent, some articles addressed issues about the environmental and economic
aspects. Interestingly, unlike research on previous events that has tended to overem-
phasize the economic value of events, the 2010-WC research related to economic as-
pects was outnumbered by publications related to social and health-related aspects.
154 Willem JL Coetzee

The results show that the 2010-WC attracted a large number of researchers
from different fields and different countries and that the knowledge legacy of the
2010-WC might be one of the greatest legacies of this event. The 2010-WC gave
researchers, especially early career researchers in South Africa, the opportunity to
showcase their research abilities. To reiterate what Irvin Khoza said after the an-
nouncement that South Africa will host the 2010-WC: “This is for Africa. This is
for African renewal.” “Ke Nako” – Celebrate Africa’s Humanity – and we can add
to this “Africa’s knowledge legacy.”

Limitations and future research

The limitations of the results of this article are that the author only explored aca-
demic journal articles and not book chapters or papers delivered and published in
conference proceedings. Also, the author only used articles written in English, and
articles in other local (South African) languages such as Afrikaans were excluded
from the study. The author also found a comparative article in Spanish (comparing
2010-WC with the 2014 World Cup in Brazil) that was excluded from the analysis.
Another limitation is that researchers are constantly producing articles, and it is
possible that publications might appear in journals toward the end of 2015 that
were not in the public domain at the time of data gathering. For future research, the
authors would recommend a research strategy for mega-events that can be used by
event organizers in future. Such a research plan or framework will ensure that the
research will have a lasting legacy for sport, tourism, and event studies.
Funding for research is a global issue, and researchers are not always aware of
the funding opportunities that are available for research related to mega-events. In
a similar vein, the event organizers are not always aware of the potential knowledge
legacy of their events, and without budgeting for research, it might be a missed op-
portunity for them to measure the knowledge legacy of an event. From the author’s
own perspective, it was noticeable that South African academics scrambled for
research funding in the run-up to the 2010-WC. Often, academic institutions com-
peted with each other for funding instead of working as one group to secure a col-
laborative national research fund for 2010-WC research projects. The author fully
supports the statement by Swart and Bob (2012) that it was clear that there were
willingness and commitment to undertake research; however, the issue of access-
ing the necessary resources/funding was a major challenge experienced.
Research collaborations between national institutions were therefore limited, and
most South African researchers worked with researchers at the same institution or
researchers from institutions abroad. The problem with this arrangement was that
fieldworkers from different institutions targeted the same matches, and spectators
often became annoyed with fieldworkers outside the stadia. For example, the three
largest universities in South Africa are situated in the City of Tshwane, and they
all did fieldwork outside one stadium. Another example is a group of researchers
who had a team of fieldworkers traveling to all ten stadia where games were hosted
 Knowledge legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 155

targeting all visiting nations. Unfortunately, this team of fieldworkers had to “com-
pete” with fieldworkers from universities in all the host cities. In this sense, the
extent to which research serves to forge connections between disciplines in a multi-
disciplinary research approach could be examined to (or “intending to”) achieving a
more collaborative spirit and better and more integrated research outputs.

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12
MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL ROUTES
AS THE NEW STATUS QUO IN URBAN
CULTURAL TOURISM
Theodor Rachiotis and Panoraia Poulaki

Introduction
Over the past decade, tourism has benefited from the allocation of subsidies through
European programs, while structural funds and other EU programs have supported
the development of businesses, services, and infrastructure in the tourism sector
(Commission of the European Communities, 2006). These packages concerned
sustainable tourism and support for sustainable forms of tourism, such as cultural
tourism. Cultural tourism is directly linked to the preservation and upgrading of
cultural and natural heritage, involving more and more sectors and shaping new
forms of tourism (Št΄Astná et al., 2020). The European Regional Development
Fund is responsible for implementing the financial instruments in this tourism sec-
tor, achieving the protection of the cultural and natural heritage, the upgrading of
tourism infrastructure, the promotion of ICT, as well as common cross-border tour-
ism strategies between regions (The European Parliament, 2021).
One of the emerging forms of tourism in recent years and directly related to
cultural tourism is also urban tourism, which arose from the recognition of the
rallying of visitors to urban centers and the improvement of the benefits offered in
city-break destinations. Competitive holiday packages meet the expanded tourist
needs, while providing for the sustainable development of the areas and monu-
ments (D’Auria, 2009; Righini, 2020).
A characteristic form of connection between urban and cultural tourism is
the cultural routes, which concern tours, which are related to the environment,
acquaintance with the local tradition and the visit to historical monuments and
settlements. At the same time, as a form of alternative tourism, it includes the
participation of tourists in cultural events. Cultural routes give special value cul-
tural and economic values to the regions, while contributing to their sustainability,

DOI:10.4324/9781032633374-14
166 Rachiotis & Poulaki

forming a brand. The goals of the routes are to attract tourists, lengthen the tourist
season, and create growth conditions for businesses and producers operating in
each place (Banila, 2016).

Policies to support urban cultural tourism in Europe

It is not surprising that the “green city” is considered an asset for the tourism devel-
opment of European cities (Angelidou et al., 2017). The European Green Capital
Award promoted by the European Commission acts as a branding platform that
delivers advantages in terms of increasing tourism (ec.europa.eu, 2020). From the
point of view of resilient cities, the challenge lies in adapting to climate change,
since higher temperatures and extreme weather events demonstrate the vulnerabil-
ity of urban systems in coastal zones (Kakoutis, 2019). Also, the perspective of
“Creative Cities” intersects with city tourism, especially in the case of the Euro-
pean Capital of Culture (ECoC) system based on culture as a trigger for smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth (OECD, 2014). The program has recently been
strengthened with its more stable integration into the overall urban cultural strat-
egy, to broaden and expand the local heritage of the European Capital of Culture.
In this context, sustainable tourism is considered as the natural result of the ECoC
program (Triarchi & Karamanis, 2017).
The contribution of a Destination Marketing and Management Organization
(DMMO) is key to ensuring the sustainability of a destination. DMMO guides, or-
ganizes, and manages the parties involved and processes to achieve the objectives
of the marketing and promotion plan. Its target is to create a competitive advantage
for packages and the destination as a whole (Eichelberger et al., 2020). Specific
benefits of such a structure in the organization and development of urban cultural
tourism are the creation of strong collaborative networks, which can lead to short-
term and long-term advantages for destinations, the increase in tourist demand
through the provision of incentives, the widening of seasonality, the activation of
the local mechanism with the involvement of enterprises, with the corresponding
benefits of generating income, and strengthening the local economy and employ-
ability. Also, advantages of the existence of a DMMO are the promotion of the
cultural and architectural wealth of the regions, the partnership between the private
and public sectors, forming the ground for easier undertaking of similar projects
in future and a framework for cooperation and efficient interaction, as well as the
effective coordination of the actors involved, with greater chances of achieving the
objectives (Clarke, 1997).
More specifically, regarding PPPs in the field of destination promotion, the ad-
vantages are very significant, since it is possible to transfer know-how, specializa-
tion, and flexibility from the private sector to the public sector. PPPs also help
the private sector to boost employability, leading to the growth of the economy
in general. In addition, PPPs are free from time-consuming bureaucratic proce-
dures (Koumelis, 2006). PPPs achieve faster construction and management of
 Management of cultural routes 167

tourism infrastructure, achieving a higher level of visitor satisfaction and increas-

ing revenues and quality of life for the local community. Finally, the use of public
goods also ensures the sustainability of projects, industries, and sectors involved
(INSETE, 2020).
In addition to the private and public bodies that will be involved, the local com-
munity, businesses and investors, the role of municipalities is crucial. The Mu-
nicipalities are the ones that will mediate between the bodies and the formulation
of the strategy (Ministry of Tourism, 2021). They cooperate with the DMMO by
offering it the means, tools, staff, and directions to support its responsibilities. Very
important is the role of Municipalities in raising awareness of permanent residents
and in supporting complementary actions for the promotion of urban tourism and
the promotion of cultural identity (E.E.T.A.A., 2020). However, overall success is
judged on the effectiveness of communication, which will allow municipalities and
DMMO the smooth and continuous guidance and support of residents and local
businesses.

The concept of cultural route as a means of highlighting and

managing cultural heritage
One element, which is directly linked to cultural heritage, is the possibility of its
sustainable development. Sustainability, moreover, is not limited only to material
heritage, but also to intangible cultural and natural, that is, to the protection of the
environment. The integrated management of cultural heritage is today perhaps the
most important strategic choice for local regions; since it is considered the core of
the cultural identity and history of the people, it functions as a unifying element for
people, but also as a ground for the development of creativity, as well as an object
of social responsibility (Charalabopoulou, 2019).
Cultural routes play a decisive role in the effective and sustainable management
of cultural heritage, which enable not only monuments and archaeological sites to
be exploited with economic benefit, but also to create a protective framework for
them. Cultural routes aim at the reorganization, decentralization, dispersion and
redistribution of tourist traffic, and the promotion of a more uniform, balanced, and
sustainable local and regional economic development (MCA, 2021). The design
of the routes, however, requires the adaptation of plans and projects according to
the needs of the place and its peculiarities. The resulting products will also be a
sample of the cultural reserve and historical wealth that a region has, while for the
success of the project, it is necessary to link the cultural heritage with tourism and
attract visitors (Ashworth & Page, 2011; Lagos, 2012).
The cultural route goes beyond the narrow spatiotemporal context and takes
on diachronic dimensions, incorporating the cultural identity and history of the
place. Through the creation of routes, it is possible to shape economically and so-
cially sustainable experiences, using cultural heritage spatially and urban planning
based on sustainability. At the same time, as a tourism product, it is required to
168 Rachiotis & Poulaki

be competitive and offer personalized experiences (Pappa, 2018). In the relation-

ship between the management of cultural heritage and the development of cultural
routes, it could be noted that the latter increases their competitiveness, as tourist
products, as long as the impact they have on the environment is minimized. Other
factors that consent to this are the increase in employability, the support of the local
economy, and the containment of the rural population (Somarakis et al., 2016). For
this reason, there are many cases where in the design of cultural routes and expe-
riences the involvement of locals, business owners, and social groups is encour-
aged, in order to enrich the products with authentic narratives and characteristics
(Briedenhann & Wickens, 2004).
The design and promotion of cultural routes is a collective initiative, with the
necessary cooperation of institutions, citizens, and social organizations. In addi-
tion, businesses can be the “key” to the effective support of these tourism prod-
ucts (Fergadakis, 2021). The operation of businesses offering tourist routes to
cultural monuments would be an interesting proposal, which requires, however,
careful study of the existing forces and risks (Diazoma, 2022). An approach that
has been on the rise in recent years is clusters, that is, clusters of businesses,
which are a leading example of a policy to enhance entrepreneurship and hold
a prominent position in the development agenda of the most developed econo-
mies. Clusters of enterprises are usually created in urban centers and function as
landmarks and centers providing high-quality financial services and high-tech
companies or centers of cultural activities and places of consumption. The ad-
vantages they offer are the promotion of routes and the attraction of visitors, as
well as the support of communication and promotion of a place (Duarte-Duarte
et al., 2021).
In the case of tourist routes to cultural monuments, taking on the task of promot-
ing experiences by businesses, would have significant positive results. Initially, the
responsibilities are shared since the companies have the exclusive responsibility
of managing the cultural routes. Having the necessary tools, they can attract inde-
pendent visitors or attract those who visited each monument. At the same time, they
function as a “showcase” for the monument and the tourist product. Finally, the
inputs resulting from sales strengthen the local economy, while cooperation with
local businesses creates new jobs, improving the overall image of the region (Gosal
et al., 2019; Nilashi et al., 2019).
A typical example is the “Within Athens” Program, during which “personal-
ized advisory support actions were created to enhance entrepreneurship and in-
novation,” to support small and medium-sized enterprises, in the context of the
development of tourism/business routes (Diazoma, 2022). This program com-
bined the promotion of the cultural identity and history of a place, combined with
elements of entrepreneurship. This enabled the involvement of local small- and
medium-sized enterprises and the creation of tourism products, related to routes
(Guo et al., 2019).
 Management of cultural routes 169

Cultural routes as an integrated territorial investment project

The exploitation of cultural routes has been placed at the center of interest of states,
in recent years, because it is a tool for spatial development, promotion of areas,
support of the local and national economy, and promotion of cultural identity. At
this point, the Integrated Territorial Investments meet, which concerns an instru-
ment of “integrated spatial development for the implementation of development
strategies of specific spatial units” (NSRF, 2015). It is based on innovative ap-
proaches aimed at promoting the sustainable development of areas, as well as the
management of historical and cultural monuments (Banila, 2016).
More specifically, ITIs are a tool, funded by European funds and programs, thus
overcoming bureaucratic rigidities. The content of such initiatives mainly concerns
addressing problems identified in specific areas, making these places not just visit-
able, but poles of attraction for tourists. To make this possible, a spatial development
plan for each region is being designed, which is developed in stages and includes
defined objectives and results, including the maintenance of buildings, the improve-
ment of the economic situation and employment, and the preservation of the natural
and built environment based on a sustainable approach (Makrigiorgou, 2016).
It could be noted that this approach is of great interest and benefit to all who are
involved, because experiential or thematic cultural routes are utilized in this way,
which are a different tourist proposal, but also competitive packages. It is a holistic
approach to highlighting cultural heritage and diversity, enhancing the attractive-
ness of the regions. At the same time, technological actions can be integrated and
collaborating parties can be involved by creating a separate product. The role of
ITI’s strategic plans is of crucial importance since in this way there is publicity,
greater involvement of institutions and businesses, transparency is ensured and
the effectiveness of interventions related to sustainability is ensured (Region of
Western Greece, 2016).

Cultural routes as a tourist product in Greece (funding from the

NSRF and the recovery fund)
The purpose of an NSRF program in tourism is the qualitative upgrade of tourism
products and services at all levels, to increase demand. The pandemic has had a
significant impact on all sectors, especially on the tourism industry. The condi-
tions that were formed led to the creation of new NSRF programs (2014–2020 and
2021–2027) to support businesses. In the post-Covid-19 era, emphasis is placed on
maritime and spa tourism, ecotourism, as well as cultural tourism (TornosNews.
gr, 2021). At the same time, thematic tourism products are promoted, while the
strengthening of the establishment of tourist-visitable farms is provided for. It is
understood that special tourism is no longer just an alternative option or trend, but
a necessity for the sustainability of tourism businesses and the achievement of na-
tional targets in the sector (De Araujo & Bramwell, 2002).
170 Rachiotis & Poulaki

Also, the Recovery Fund is a great development opportunity for tourism.

Greece is expected to receive resources of 65 billion euros from the European
Union, which will be allocated for the modernization of the Greek economy, its
energy and digital transition, and the development of innovation (Malliara, 2021;
Kaczorowska-Ireland, 2021). As far as alternative tourism is concerned, EUR 0.6
billion will be spent on strengthening its individual forms, as well as on training
the staff employed. In addition to these initiatives, projects are expected aimed at
highlighting new archaeological sites and other points of cultural interest, develop-
ing new roads, ports–marinas, and waterways. In this way, the infrastructure will be
upgraded and the domestic tourism product will be supported, through the attrac-
tion of new groups of tourists and the fight against seasonality. The World Tourism
Organization claims that by 2030, global tourism mobility will increase by 20%,
with Greece claiming a high position in tourist preferences (OT.gr, 2021).
Cultural routes in whichever country they are implemented, have common fea-
tures, such as a key theme, from which the individual actions are triggered, form-
ing a brand. For this reason, the European Recovery Fund recently announced a
program, in which Greece is expected to participate, receiving 650 million euros,
to upgrade services and monuments of cultural interest, stimulating their visitors
and promotion. For this program, five thematic cultural routes have already been
designed, telling stories from the second millennium BC, and covering both his-
torical and religious themes. The routes are as follows: 1) In the footsteps of the
Apostle Paul, 2) The Cultural Egnatia, 3) The road to the West, with a subtitle
“From Homer to Cervantes,” 4) Monumental works of Cyclops and people dur-
ing the Mycenaean era (second millennium BC), and 5) Network of castles: From
Byzantium to the Ottoman domination (www.culture.gov.gr, 2022).
These routes are not limited only to the construction of stories and the provision
of an interesting tour for those who will choose them but are accompanied by a
series of interventions, the creation of infrastructure and the development of initia-
tives for the overall support, and promotion of the project. The goals are to attract
tourists, lengthen the tourist season, and create development conditions for busi-
nesses and producers. At the same time, they aim to attract investors, in order to
preserve monuments and archaeological sites, and to stimulate the local economy,
through the securing of resources (Charami, 2021; Mitoula & Kaldis, 2020).

Digital cultural routes. Moving into a new era

The recognition of the importance of cultural routes at the local and national levels,
as well as the awareness of the ever-changing socio-economic environment, have
led to the creation of innovative tourism products, such as digital cultural routes
(Góral, 2016). Now a variety of technological tools are available, allowing a visit
to a monument or a museum from any part of the planet. The possibilities offered
through ICT for creativity and experimentation are numerous; however, for a prod-
uct to be considered successful, it is necessary to meet the needs and expectations
 Management of cultural routes 171

of visitors. New technologies, however, make public access easier, even on cultural
routes. For this reason, the sustainable digital transformation of cultural reserves
in the new era should be considered, but with an emphasis on a balance between
physical presence and virtual representation (Poulaki et al., 2021).
Thousands of visitors are attracted each year by the cultural routes, with some
focusing on the religious aspects, mainly in relation to the pilgrimage, others on the
special cultural and natural heritage of the individual cultural routes, analyzed from
the point of view of the history of art or geography. However, today the availability
of new data sources, especially in digital form, offers innovative ways of analyzing
these cultural objects (Economou, 2019). On the one hand, there are new perspec-
tives offered by open data sets about the areas crossed by the routes, which can be
intersected in an interesting way with more conventional fieldwork. On the other
hand, since walkers are increasingly making extensive use of their mobile phones
to share their experiences on social media platforms or through ad hoc applications,
analyzing their interactions online can provide a real-time picture of what is hap-
pening along these paths (Poulaki et al., 2021).
Through this amount of available data, cultural routes now have a digital pres-
ence. The institutions involved in them have created procedures for the digitization
and exchange of information about these cultural objects: from national databases
to archives from museum catalogs, lists of UNESCO, or other institutions on any
territorial scale. All these digital documents now facilitate the study and preserva-
tion of cultural heritage. In addition, cultural heritage actors can rely on new media
to share their cultural practices or create new ones by posting their photos on In-
stagram, sharing their experiences on a Facebook page, or enriching a Wikipedia
page (Berry, 2012).
The common character of the new methods of visualization of cultural sites lies
in the framing of information, by combining topographical elements. The topo-
graphic map can be defined as an “upgraded model representing the relief deter-
mined by the altitude and human settlements of a geographical area with precision
and detail in a horizontal plane” (IGN). The visualization of digital information
based on graphs, such as an internet map or a graph of the coexistence of words,
gathers topological (relational) and topographical (contextual) elements in a digital
spatial representation, which creates a new digital reality for urban cultural tourism
(Connor, 2004).

Methodology
For this research, a quantitative approach was considered more appropriate, with
data measurements both qualitative and quantitative, which are then analyzed us-
ing standardized statistical techniques, such as descriptive and inductive statistics.
The main research tool was the structured questionnaire (Creswell, 2016). The se-
lection of participants was made critically, and the sampling applied is character-
ized as intentional (Cohen et al., 2008). The research questions aim 1) To analyze
172 Rachiotis & Poulaki

the cultural routes as a factor of sustainable management of cultural wealth and

development of urban cultural tourism. 2) To present the way in which Private-
Public Partnerships, but also bodies such as the NSRF, the Recovery and Resilience
Fund (Next Generation EU), or the DMMOs contribute to the strengthening and
promotion of cultural routes.
The collection of the data started in October 2021 and was completed in De-
cember 2021. The survey focused on people associated with tourism development
and promotion, entrepreneurship, and accommodation. The participants’ responses
were statistically analyzed in the Social Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
25.0.0.
The survey was based on 75 people, 56 women and 19 men; 68% of the partici-
pants were between 36 and 55 years old. At the same time, 56% belonged to married
people and 44% to unmarried people. Regarding the level of education, 54.7% had
a master’s degree and 34.7% had a university degree/TEI. At the same time, 62.7%
of the sample belonged to employees and 22.7% to freelancers. As for the institu-
tions or businesses of work, 17.3% of the sample belonged to ministers – deputy
ministers – general secretaries and to the administrative staff of tourism and culture,
13.3% belonged to people associated with the Municipality of Athens and 9.3% of
the participants were related to catering businesses, 8% were tourism enterprises,
and the same percentage were related to cultural enterprises.

Results

Sources of funding
Initially, the participants were asked about the extent to which the public private
partnership (PPP) is promoted in Greece in matters of culture and tourism. The
analysis showed that 52% of the sample answered rarely and 40% answered fre-
quently. About the sources of funding for the enhancement and promotion of cul-
tural routes, there was a possibility of multiple choice.
Of the 87 replies, 34.5% concerned community funds (n = 30) and 23% were
related to national resources (n = 20). Also, 18.4% were related to a combination of
sources (n = 16) and 11.5% were related to private resources (n = 10). At the same
time, it is worth noting that 45.2% (n = 33) answered that in some cases, perhaps,
the autonomy of local government organizations from the state for the easier find-
ing of resources would have a positive effect on the Municipality and the Region
in relation to cultural routes.
In addition, participants were asked to justify their response and of the 16 jus-
tifications, 56.3% were related to the fact that the autonomy of LGOs would be
functional, but if there were the right people in the right places, the appropriate
organization, the appropriate funds and the appropriate organization (n = 9). At the
same time, six people noted that the autonomy of local authorities already exists
and is considered important for finding resources (37.5%).
 Management of cultural routes 173

Sustainability and future directions

Initially, it is noted that 94.7% (n = 71) of the sample agreed that cultural routes
can become useful tools to promote the sustainable development of areas. 29.3%
(n = 22) agreed that actions have been taken to link the protection of the environ-
ment with cultural routes. At the same time, 52% answered that the integration of
technologies in the cultural routes themselves is necessary and 32% answered that
it is very important (n = 63). In addition, 50% (n = 9) noted that technologies en-
hance the tourist’s experience, add attractiveness and attract a wider audience and
38.9% (n = 7) noted that they offer additional services such as digital maps, GPS,
social network elements, QR codes and self-guided tours. Finally, 74.5% (n = 41)
of the 55 participants who answered the relevant question stated that the impact of
the “Green Cultural Routes,” axed by citizens, tourists, institutions, and the overall
socio-economic sign, is positive.

Inductive statistics
Then, cross tables were created for combinations of questions of the question-
naire. It is worth noting that 9 of the 20 people who demonstrated as a source
of funding for the strengthening and promotion of cultural routes the national
resources, 13 out of the 29 people who pointed to community resources as a

TABLE 12.1 Pivot table of descriptive statistics

Can cultural routes become useful tools to I agree (94,7%)

promote the sustainable development of
areas?
Have specific actions been taken to link Yes (29,3%) – NA/NA (53,3%)
environmental protection to cultural
routes?
How important is the integration of Necessary (52%) – Very important
technologies in the cultural routes (32%)
themselves (digitization, augmented
reality) considered?
If you wish, please specify your answer. They enhance the tourist’s experience,
add attractiveness and attract a
wider audience (50%) – They
offer additional services such as
digital maps, GPS, social network
elements, QR codes and self-guided
tours (38.9%)
How would you characterize the impact of Positive impact (74,5%)
the “Green Cultural Routes,” with the
axes of citizens, tourists, institutions and
the overall socio-economic sign?
174 Rachiotis & Poulaki

TABLE 12.2 Sources of funding for the strengthening and promotion of cultural routes and
views on the autonomy of Local Government Organizations from the state

In your opinion, would the autonomy of local government

organizations from the state to make it easier for the
European Union to find resources from the European Union
have any positive effect on the Municipality and the Region
in relation to cultural routes?

No Yes In some NA/NA Total

cases,
perhaps

What sources of funding National resources 3 9 7 1 20

are chosen to support and Community resources 4 13 11 1 29
promote cultural routes? Private resources 1 3 6 0 10
Combining sources 3 6 5 2 16
NA/NA 1 3 6 1 11
Total 6 20 23 3 52

source of funding and 6 out of the 16 people who pointed to the combination
of sources as a source of funding replied that the autonomy of Local Govern-
ment Organizations would have a positive effect on cultural routes. On the
other hand, 6 of the 10 people who pointed to private resources as a source of
funding and 6 out of 11 people who did not demonstrate a source of funding
replied that the autonomy of local authorities would have a positive effect, but
in some cases.
It was also found that 22 of the 71 who agree that cultural routes can become
useful tools to promote the sustainable development of areas replied that specific
actions have been taken to link environmental protection with cultural routes. On
the contrary, 13 of the 71 who again agree that cultural routes can become useful
tools for promoting the sustainable development of areas replied that no specific
actions have been taken to link the protection of the environment with cultural
routes.
In the results, it was observed that 60 of the 71 people who stated that cul-
tural routes can become useful tools to promote the sustainable development of
areas, responded that the integration of technologies is very important or neces-
sary. Therefore, there is a strong tendency in the sample to support technologies on
cultural routes
It is noted that of the 54 people who agreed that cultural routes can become use-
ful tools to promote the sustainable development of areas, 41 demonstrated a posi-
tive impact of cultural routes. Moreover, of these 54 people, only four showed a
moderate impact. Therefore, the sample showed a strong attitude of positive impact
 Management of cultural routes 175

TABLE 12.3 Cultural routes as useful tools for promoting the sustainable development of
areas in relation to actions to link environmental protection with cultural routes

Have specific actions been taken to link

environmental protection to cultural
routes?

No Yes NA/NA Total

Cultural routes can become useful I don’t agree 0 0 1 1

tools to promote the sustainable I agree 13 22 36 71
development of areas. What is NA/NA 0 0 3 3
your opinion on this?
Total 13 22 40 75

TABLE 12.4 Cultural routes as useful tools to promote the sustainable development of areas
in relation to the importance of integrating technologies into the cultural routes
themselves.

How important do you consider the integration of

technologies in the cultural routes themselves (digitization,
augmented reality)?

Not Important Very Necessary Total

important important

Cultural routes I don’t 0 0 0 1 1

can become agree
useful tools to I agree 2 9 23 37 71
promote the NA/NA 0 1 1 1 3
sustainable
development
of areas. What
is your opinion
on this?
Total 2 10 24 39 75

of green cultural routes, while at the same time showing a positive attitude toward
whether cultural routes can become useful tools to promote the sustainable devel-
opment of areas.
The results then showed a statistically important relationship between the ques-
tions about the role of Destination Marketing and Management Organizations in
promoting cultural routes and the importance of integrating technologies into cul-
tural routes (r = .244, p = .035)
176 Rachiotis & Poulaki

TABLE 12.5 Correlations of the role of Marketing and Destination Management Organizations,
the promotion of PPPs and the importance of integrating technologies.

How important do you consider

the integration of technologies
in the cultural routes themselves
(digitization, augmented reality)?

What is the role of Destination Pearson ,244*

Marketing and Management Correlation
Organizations in the Sig. (2-tailed) ,035
promotion of cultural routes? N 75
The PPP (public–private Pearson ,198
partnership) is promoted Correlation
in matters of culture and Sig. (2-tailed) ,089
tourism, as shown by N 75
European programs and
independent initiatives. To
what extent is this direction
chosen in Greece?
How important do you Pearson 1
consider the integration Correlation
of technologies in the
Sig. (2-tailed)
cultural routes themselves
(digitization, augmented N 75
reality)?

The correlation of these questions is positive and weak. This fact shows that as the
importance of Destination Marketing and Management Organizations in the pro-
motion of cultural routes increases, it is observed that the importance of integrating
technologies in cultural routes tends to increase. Of course, the reverse is also true.

Conclusions-Research Limitations-Future research

Through the literature review, the need to support urban cultural tourism from
NSRF programs, the Development Fund and public–private partnerships (PPPs)
was initially highlighted. This support could limit seasonality and bring social and
economic benefits to the local community (Triarchi & Karamanis, 2017). After all,
cultural tourism focuses on the promotion of local culture and the involvement of
domestic professionals, through the safeguarding of local identity (Kontis et al.,
2017). One such tourism product that needs this support is cultural routes, in the
context of urban cultural tourism (Hall, 2019).
In fact, the public–private partnership in cultural tourism, a practice that would
strengthen initiatives in the tourism industry, in Greece is not preferred, except
perhaps for some steps that have been taken lately. The literature and research have
shown that PPP is detached from time-consuming bureaucratic procedures, so that
 Management of cultural routes 177

they can offer benefits to local economies, faster construction and management of
tourism infrastructure, a higher level of visitor satisfaction and an increase in rev-
enue and quality of life for the local community (INSETE, 2020). For the success
of a tourist PPP, it is necessary to have a balanced, properly staffed organizational
structure with a clear assignment of tasks and specific responsibilities for the par-
ties involved. Digitalization is, in addition, an asset that can give a new impetus
to alternative tourism in general, increasing the quality of the experience, bringing
in more digital nomads and enhancing tourism competitiveness. The need for a
shift in the direction of PPPs on urban cultural tourism issues in general, which did
not exist in previous years, is also confirmed by the research. The involvement of
private organizations is necessary in any case for the success of cultural routes as
well, while about other sources of funding, reference is made mainly to Commu-
nity and national resources. This is one of the reasons why the sample proposes the
autonomy of Local Government Organizations from the state, regardless of where
the source of funding comes from (Heather, 2021).
Also, the review of the literature and the research demonstrated the great need
for the participation of local authorities in the planning of tourism development,
through DMMOs and other development agencies that will record, organize the
existing tourist infrastructure and will place the guarantees of creating new ones
always within the framework of the carrying capacity and with a sustainable per-
spective (E.E.T.A.A., 2020). Recent research shows that urban cultural tourism and
cultural routes in particular are booming in Greece, with more and more initiatives
at the local and national levels taking place (Zmyślony, 2011). The cultural routes
seem to introduce a new model in the management, preservation, and promotion
of the country’s cultural reserve, through the transformation of the operation of
archaeological sites, which goes from competitive to cooperative (Peeters et al.,
2018; Lamnatos & Mitoula, 2020).
In addition, cultural routes have an important role in the effective and sus-
tainable management of cultural heritage, because they shape economically and
socially sustainable experiences, involve locals, and create economic and social
benefits (Mitoula et al., 2016). The OECD itself highlights the contribution of cul-
tural routes to the development of innovation, the creation of small and medium-
sized enterprises, and the development of cultural tourism products and services
(Diazoma, 2022).
Finally, through the theoretical and research imaging, the need to examine a
sustainable digital transformation is concluded, emphasizing, however, a balance
between physical presence and virtual representation (Poulaki et al., 2021). Digital
cultural routes open a new chapter in the management of cultural heritage, which
offers opportunities, but also poses risks. However, the improved organization of
destinations, the better use of visitors’ time, the easier promotion of products, and
targeting the right audience are recognized (Góral, 2016). The participants in the
survey believe that sustainability should be at the core of cultural routes or uniform
cultural routes should be created, aiming at sustainable tourism, environmental
178 Rachiotis & Poulaki

protection, and the promotion of urban culture. In short, the sample showed a
strong positive attitude toward Green Cultural Routes, whether they knew about
them or not, while at the same time showing a positive attitude toward whether
cultural routes can become useful tools for promoting the sustainable development
of areas (Buhalis & Costa, 2005). Finally, they underlined the need to integrate
technological tools in cultural routes, such as digital maps and QR codes, but also
the possibilities of tours without guides, in order to achieve the goals more quickly,
transparently and effectively and to make cultural routes attractive as a tourist, but
also as a sustainable product.
In conclusion, the role of the DMMOs in the promotion of cultural routes, the
promotion of PPP in matters of culture and tourism, and the importance of integrating
technologies in these routes, through clustering or clustering techniques, are, critically
speaking, the tools to which local authorities should turn. Through them, data (infra-
structure, tourist facilities) can be created and utilized for each Municipality. Clusters,
finally, can be used as landmarks in a cultural route, addressed to expanded groups of
visitors, thus becoming a field of creativity, which would serve as a vehicle for stimu-
lating the economic and tourist development of the region and the country.
Regarding the research limitations, although the size of the sample can be con-
sidered small, its representativeness was relatively high, because the relationship
of those who answered the questions was not only direct to tourism and culture but
are individuals who are in key decision-making positions. However, the results of
the survey cannot be generalized. Another limitation concerns the research tool,
the questionnaire. Participants may not have honestly answered the questions, a
fact that often arises either from a lack of time and willingness to participate or
because some of them were unable to know the answers to a very specialized and
demanding questionnaire, with the prerequisite of knowledge about cultural routes
and cultural tourism. The results obtained from a qualitative survey with semi-
structured interviews would probably have greater credibility. Based on what has
been presented so far and specifically, considering the limitations and conclusions
of the research, it is proposed to design new research, which will focus on the fac-
tors that are a brake on the smooth cooperation and coordination of actions between
institutions and professionals involved in the tourism and cultural sector. The aim
is to evaluate both the scope of activity and the range of decision-making of those
involved, the tools they use for the design of cultural products, the communication
and cooperation methods they apply, and to communicate the procedures followed
in case of undertaking a cultural tourism project.

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INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italics indicate a figure and page numbers in bold indicate a table
on the corresponding page.

ability: creative 63, 120; discernment artificial intelligence 9–10, 61

15–16, 100; reproductive 53, 56 Asia 49, 123–124
access: pedestrian 125; restricted 76 Assessing Emotions Scale (AES) 17–21,
accessibility 37, 86, 96, 98, 125 24–25
advertising: campaign 91–93; digital Association for the Promotion and
61–62, 64; effective 39, 83; laws 52 Development of Tourism (APDT) 89
advocacy 87, 104 Association pour un hébergement et un
AES see Assessing Emotions Scale tourisme professionnels (AHTOP)
AHTOP see Association pour un 73–74
hébergement et un tourisme astyphilia 119
professionnels attitudes 45, 47, 67, 99–100, 134
air pollution 97, 119 attractions 85, 118, 133
Airbnb: booking process 70–73; peer-to-peer AVE see average variance extracted
model 70–72; platform 72, 77 average variance extracted (AVE)
Ajzen, Icek 129 103–104, 131
Alananzeh, Omar (et al 2022) 134 Awad, Elias M. 7
alcohol 52–55 Aydin, Ipek 15
Alhashim, Latifah (et al 2022) 133
Alpha generation 18 Babiniotis, George 32
Alternation 149 Baishya, Kuldeep 47
Altinay, Meltem (et al 2017) 66 Bar-On, Reuven 16–17
Alves, Helena 47 behavior 6, 15, 30, 34–35; see also
American Center for Production and consumer behavior; non–verbal
Quality 7 behavior
Amparo-Santos, Ligia 127 Beldoch, Michael 15
Apostle Paul 170 beliefs 45–46, 99–100
appearance 35, 127 Berger, Guy 149
Arachchi. Rangana Sri Shalika Beritelli, Pietro 84
Wadippuli 127 Berkowitz, Leonard 99–100
 Index 183

Berkup, Sezin Baysal 18 Cronbach’s alpha (CA) 103, 131

Bob, Urmilla 149–150, 152, 154 cultural events 118, 165
Booking.com 70 Curing the Limbo 120
Bornhorst, Tom (et al 2010) 84 customer-dominant logic (CDL) 45–50,
Brackett, Marc A. 16 52–57
business processes 7 customer-to-customer (C2C) 46–47

capital 14–15, 117–118, 152 Darwin, Charles 34

Carvalho, Pedro 47 data analysis 50–51, 147
Cashman, Richard 144 databases 17, 147, 171
CDL see customer-dominant logic Davenport, Thomas H. 15, 144
Chain, Dion 149 de Almeida, Bárbara Schausteck
Chappelet, Jean-Loup 144 (et al 2015) 152
Charmaz, Kathy 50 decision-making process 46–47, 98–101,
Chen, Ching-Fu 66 115, 119, 126, 129, 178
Cherniss, Cary 17 desirable goals 46
Chesky, Brian 72 destination management 48–49, 57, 83, 84,
Chetty, Trish 152 85–86, 88, 89–90
China 117 Destination Management & Marketing
Chistofaro, D.G.D. (et al 2014) 152 Organizations (DMMOs) 88, 91,
Çimrin, H. 6 94, 166–167, 172, 177–178
CJEU see Court of Justice of the European digital: information 171; marketing
Union 61–65, 67
climate change 119–120, 166 direction 5, 8, 21, 23, 40, 45, 83, 94, 146,
Coccossis, Harry 116 167, 173, 177
Cohen, Erik 5, 40 DMMOs see Destination Management &
collective memory 144–145 Marketing Organizations
communication skills 5; verbal/non/verbal destination management organizations 83,
29–30, 32–34, 36, 38, 40, 42 84, 85–88, 89, 94
community-based 126, 128, 129 DMOs see destination management
Compeau, Deborah (et al 1999) 131 organizations
competence 13, 16 Drucker, Peter 15
competition 9, 34, 61, 77–78, 117–119, 126 Duan, Bob (et al 2019/2018) 45, 49, 55
competitive advantage 13, 62, 98, 121, 166 Duk, Oh Sang (et al 2011) 150
composite reliability (CR) score 103, 131 Dunn, Halbert L. 49
constructivist GT (CGT) 50
consumer behavior 47, 63, 65 East India Company (EIC) 129
consumers: Chinese 45, 49; digital 65 economics 7, 150
consumption: food products 102–103; emotion 15–16, 47, 93
sustainable 85–86; value theory 47; emotional: awareness 16; intelligence
wine/alcohol 48, 52, 55 13, 15–18, 20–23; quotient 16
content marketing 64 employees 7, 13–15, 17, 24–25, 72,
control 5, 72, 101, 114–115 125, 172
Cooper, Robert L. 40 entrepreneurship 71, 150–151, 168, 172
Cornelissen, Scarlett (et al 2011) 144, European Bank for Reconstruction and
146, 148 Development (EBRD) 88
Court of Justice of the European Union European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 166
(CJEU): Advocate-General 75–76; evolved GT (EGT) 49
short-term rentals 73 Expedia 70
COVID-19: economic impact 10, 14, 114; experiences: street cuisine 123–124; tour
online tourism platforms 93 purchase 66–67; travel 92; wine
Cramér's V 18, 21, 22, 23, 24 tourism 49; women 149
crisis management 5–6, 114 eye contact 35–36, 43
184 Index

Facebook 64, 66, 84, 171 Greek National Tourism Organization

facial expressions 33–35, 40–43 (GNTO) 92–93
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) green city 120, 166
123 Grönroos, Christian 47
FEG (European Federation of Tourist grounded theory (GT) 49–50
Guide Associations) 4 Guadalupe-Monyano, Veŕonica (et al 2022)
FIFA World Cup, South Africa 143, 134
147–150, 152 Guilford, Jacquelyn M. 48
food safety 124, 127 Guinto Balanzar, Gerardo 149
food tourism 47, 96, 123–124 Gupta, Khushboo 133
foresight 15, 120
Formica, Sandra 146 Hall, Michael 145
Fornell & Larcker criteria 104 Hashim, Rahmat 133
Fornell, Claes 103–104, 131 head-set 3, 9
Foss, Nicolai J. 15 Hellenic Ministry of Tourism 88, 92–93
Frochot, Isabelle 48 Helsinki 88, 89
Fukushima, Shigeru 134 Henseler, Jörg (et al 2015) 104
heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) 104–105,
Gaekwad, Jason S. (et al 2022) 100 131–132
gains and losses 47 Hicks, Janine 149
Gardner, Howard 16 historical sites 118
gastronomy 97 Hodgson, Geoffrey M. 15
Gebbia, Joe 72 Hoguet Law 74, 76
gender: communication 42; demographic holistic viewpoint 47, 56, 169
profiles 130; EQ relationship 17, HTMT see heterotrait-monotrait
20, 20–21; issues 149; human: behavior 127; capital 14, 117;
non-discrimination 6, 24 resources 62, 67, 86; trafficking
Generation Z 18 150, 152; values 46
geographic information system (GIS) 125 human–human relationship 10
Germany 89, 148 hygiene 127–130, 134–136
gestures (movement/posture) 31, 33–35,
39, 43 India 117, 123
Getz, Donald 145 information: access 5, 9, 15; management
Ghaziri, Hassan M. 7 7, 10; personalized 93; society
Gibson, Heather J. 145 services 11, 74–76
Ginsberg, Raphael 149 infrastructure 72, 91, 97–98, 116–118, 120,
Giorgadze, Tamar 149 145, 165, 170, 177–178
Giulianotti, Richard 149 innovation 8–9, 63, 72, 86, 90, 168,
Glaser, Barney (et al 2013) 49–50 170, 177
global distribution systems (GDS) 70, 90 insight 15, 84, 90, 136, 144
Global Positioning System (GPS) 9, 173 Instagram 64, 171
GNTO see Greek National Tourism Institutional Strengthening of Destination
Organization Management Organizations of
Gold, Andrew H. (et al 2001) 104 UNWTO 85
Goleman, Daniel 16 Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI)
Gollwitzer, Peter M. 101 119, 169
Google Forms 17 Integrated Urban Intervention Plan (IUIP)
governance 83, 84, 85–87, 94, 149 119
GPS see Global Positioning System intellect 15
Greece: brand communication 92–94; intelligence 16–17, 19–21, 22, 22,
challenges of tourism 88, 91; 23–24, 24
sampling 37; tourism industry Internet: search engine 38, 62–64; access
114–115, 118, 169–170 17, 25, 65, 70–71
Greece From Home platform 93 interpret 9, 14–15, 21, 24
 Index 185

intuition 15 marketing: content 64; internet 62 (see also

investment 67, 71, 86, 88, 99, 115, 125, 145 digital marketing); service 45–47,
Ireland 88 49, 57; strategy 56–57, 64–65, 91,
ITI see Integrated Territorial Investment 108, 117, 124; successful 56, 65;
tools 46, 62
Jamaluddin, Mohd Raziff 133 Mayer, John D. 16–17
Jamshidi, Dariyoush 47 McKenna, F. 150
Jazaerly, Tarek 149 mediation 5, 71, 103, 106, 107
Jenkins, Carson 30 mediator 5, 107
Journal of Surgical Pathology 149 mega-events 143–145, 150, 153–154
Journal of World Neurosurgery 149 Mehrabia, Albert 36
Junod, T. 144 Mehrabian–Russell (M-R) model 102
mentor 4, 6
Kapás, Judit 15 MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences
Kim, Jungwoon (et al 2013) 146 and exhibitions) 87
Kim, Minseong 47 Michie, Jonathan 15
Kiss, Marietta (et al 2022) 101 Mill, Robert C. 116
Klassen, Terry P. (et al 1998) 146 mobile: applications 66; communication
Klauser, Francisco 149 3, 9; phones 64–65, 171; see also
Kline, Rex B. 105 smartphones
knowledge: management 7, 13–14, 144; Mohamad, Noraihan (et al 2022) 134
organization 13–14 Mohta, Sarika 133
knowledge sharing: case studies 81; Molinillo, Sebastian (et al 2018) 84
concept 14–15; impact on Molloy, Eamonn 152
employees 13, 24; willingness to moral panicking 152
share 22, 23, 24 Morrison, Alastair A. 116
Kolbinger, Otto 150 Mortazavi, Reza 124
Kotur, Anupama 49 Mortensen, Erik L. (et al 2001) 48
Mudunkotuwa, Dulani 127
Laajini, Tariq 66 Muis, Afni (et al 2021) 126
labour 15 multiple intelligences 16
Lalicic, Lidija 84 Murphy, Jamie 48
Lames, Martin 150 museums 3, 9–10
Lane, Richard D. 16
Larcker, David F. 103–104, 131 natural resources 15, 116, 120
Latin America 123 Nazir, Muhamed Umair (et al 2021) 123
leadership 5, 87 Neale, Stephen (et al 2009) 15
Lee, Jee Hye 123 neoliberalism 127, 149
Leuner, B. 15 Netherlands 88, 90, 117
Leximancer analysis software 147–150 netnography approach 50
Li, Yixin (et al 2008) 15 Ngonyama, Percy 149
liaison 87, 114 noise 32, 119, 150
Lickorish, Leonard 30 non-intellectual factors 15
Likert scale 17, 21, 128 non-verbal behavior 34, 39, 41
literature: marketing value 46 , 48 ; NSRF (National Strategic Reference
multilingual 118 ; reviews Framework) programs 169, 172,
46 – 47 , 83 , 98 , 115 , 146 , 148 , 176
176 ; scientific 29 ; tourist guides
3 – 4, 9 O’Hagan, Lauren 100
Liu, Fang 48 OECD (Organisation for Economic
Locke, Edwin A. 16 Co-operation and Development) 177k
Onsardi, Onsardi (et al 2021) 98
Ma, Lihua (et al 2019) 108 opinion 14, 17, 31, 34, 41, 63, 67, 71, 75
Maglumtong, Montouch 134 Ortony, Andrew (et al 2022) 100
186 Index

Page, Stephen 145 religious tourism 118, 170–171

Pan-Africanism 151 research: accessibility 37, 84; conclusion
Payne, Wayne L. 15 10, 24, 42, 57, 67, 77, 94, 108, 136,
Pearce, Philip L. 147 176; results 18, 37, 52, 64, 147, 172
Pearson Chi-Square 18, 22, 24 research methodology: 2010 WC 146–147;
Pearson Correlation 176 cultural route 171; destination
Pechlaner, Harold 84 management 83; emotional
Penrose, Edith 14 intelligence/knowledge sharing
perception: good 135–136; healthiness 17; non-verbal communication 36;
99–101, 103, 103–107; tourist 123, unhealthy street food 103
128–130, 131–134, 133–136 research questions (RQs): wellness value of
Pericleous, Katerina 124 wine 46, 50, 52, 54–57; techniques
Petrides, K.V. (et al 2007) 17 and sampling 37
Pezzuto, John M. 48 Rihova, Ivana (et al 2018) 47
Pforr, Christof (et al 2016) 49 Ringle, Christian M. (et al 2010) 131
physical contact 14 Roberts, David 149
Pilato, Manuela (et al 2021) 124 robots 3, 9–10
Pillay, Venitha 149 Rockefeller Foundation 118
PLS (partial least squares) 131 Rousta, Alireza 47
Polman, Evan (et al 2022) 101 ruins 3, 10
Poltanee, I. 134 Rumelt, Richard 14
PPP see public private partnership
Preuss, Holger 143, 145 Saarni, Carolyn 16
price: comparison 47; as moderator safety 93, 114, 149, 151–152; see also food
127–130, 135–136; negotiation 63, safety
71; rental 75–76; street food 98–99, Saklofske, Donald H. (et al 2007) 20
108, 123 Salo, Elaine 149
private: industry 131; resources 172, 174; Salovey, Peter 16–17
rooms 72; sectors 166; social Samalia, Harsh Vardhan 47
life-related 54; stakeholders 115, 177 Sangkaew, Nichapat 133
problem solving 5, 17, 77, 144 Santana, Gizane Ribeiro de 127
providers: interviews 50; service 49, 53, 55, Santoso, Herien N. (et al 2021) 123
65, 90; wellness value 46, 49, 52 Schutte, Nicola S. (et al 1998/2009) 17, 19
Prusak, Laurence 15, 144 Schwartz, Gary E. 16
psychology 7, 15, 24, 151 Schwartz, Shalom 46
public: health 74, 148–151; sector 166 SCImago Journal Ranking scale (SJR) 152
public private partnership (PPP) 86–88, SDL see service-dominant logic
89166, 172, 176, 176–178 search engine marketing (SEM) 64, 131
Pulizzi, Joe 64 search engine optimization (SEO) 64
purposive sampling 50, 128 security 46, 74, 93, 118, 149–152
SEM see search engine marketing
quality: high-quality services 63, 116, 121, Seo, Kyung Hwa 123
127, 136, 168; of life 92, 118, 126, service marketing 45–47, 49, 57
151, 167, 177; perceived 47, 101 service-dominant logic (SDL): marketing
45, 47, 49; sampling 50; value
Rakha, Allah (et al 2022) 98, 107 formation 52–53, 55–57
ready-to-eat (RTE) foods 97, 123 sex workers 149–150
real estate 73–74, 78 SF see street food
recommendations 14, 36, 89, 102, 116 Sgroi, Fillipo (et al 2022) 133
Reilly, Robert T. 39 smart city 90, 117
relationship: gender/emotional intelligence smart destination 86, 90
17, 20; host-guest 4, 151; language of smartphones 9, 11, 64, 66
tourism 31; of perceived healthiness SMEs (Small and midsize enterprises)
of food 103, 107, 129, 135 13–14, 17, 25
 Index 187

Smit, Johannes A. 149 tour plans 11

Smith, Adam 15 tourism: activity 115–116; cultural 123,
social intelligence 15 165–166, 169, 171–172, 176–178;
social media 8, 38, 62–67, 83, 84, 88, event 145; management 65, 91–92;
92, 171 urban 165, 167
Social Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) tourist: guides 3–4, 9; perception 123,
software 18, 127 128–130, 131–133, 133–136;
social role 5 season 118, 166, 170
social-emotional competencies 16 traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) 53, 55
sociolinguistics 30 traditional GT 49–50
South Africa: 2010 World Cup 143 transportation 4, 8–9, 61, 98, 125
(see also FIFA ); legacy 146 ; trust building 13, 63, 65–66, 93
WC publications 147 – 150 , 152 , Tsai, Meng-Huan 66
154 Tsartas, Paris 116
South African Development Community Turkey 3
150 Twitter 64, 84
sports: infrastructure 118, 145; management
144, 146; sporting events 118, 144, UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
146 (see also mega–events); tourist Scientific and Cultural
118, 153 Organization) 171
SPSS see Social Package for Social uniqueness 116–117, 125–126, 128, 129,
Sciences 131, 133, 135–136
Sternberg, Robert J. 16 United Nations World Tourism
Strauss, Anselm 49 Organization (UNWTO) 30, 85, 90
street food (SF) 123–124; cost 107, UNWTO see United Nations World
125, 127; preparation process Tourism Organization
108; research findings 103–107; urban centers 115, 117–118, 165, 168
unhealthy, consumption of 98–100, urban cultural tourism 165–166, 171–172,
102–103, 105–106; vendors/ 176–177
hawkers 123 Uşakli, Ahmet 84
success 4, 7, 13, 16, 62, 84, 87, 114, 125,
167, 177 vacations 99, 107–108, 123
Suhartanto, Dwi (et al 2020) 47 Vágnerová, Marie 15
surveillance 152 value: expected 15, 21–22, 22–23;
sustainable development 91, 94, 117–119, formation 45–47, 49–50, 52, 54–57;
165, 167, 169, 173, 174–175, 178 trade-off 47
sustainable tourism 87, 90, 91–92, 94, 114, Vargo, Stephen (et al 2004) 47
126, 165, 177 Vincent, John (et al 2010) 149
Sustainable Urban Development Plan visitor services 87
(SUDP) 119 visual arts 121
Swart, Kamilla (et al 2010) 148–150, 154k visualization 171
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, Volgger, Michael 84
opportunities, and threats) 7–8, 119
Waardenburg, Maikel (et al 2015) 152
technology 3; user-friendly 63, 117 Wachyuni, Suci Sandi 99
Thavornsil, Thanapol 134 WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence
theory of planned behavior (TPB) 129 Scale ) 15
Thorndike, Edward L. 15 Wealth of Nations 15
Thyne, Maree (et al 2022) 134 Wechsler, David 15
Tichaawa, Tembi Maloney 150, 152 Weed, Mike 146
tour guide: features 6; information Wei, C.K. (et al 2022) 133
management 7–8; primary role of 5; wellness value of wine (WV) 45–46,
responsibilities 4; SWOT analysis 49–50, 55–57
8; technology 9–10 Wernerfelt, Birger 14
188 Index

WFTGA (World Federation of Tourist Wiweka, Kadek 99

Guide Associations) 4 World Health Organization 127
Wi-Fi Alliance 66 World Tourism Organization 116
Wiatrowski, Michal 124 Wu, Mao Ying 147
Wierzbiński, Bogdan (et al 2023) 15 WV see wellness value of wine
Wikipedia 171
wine: health value 49, 51, 55; industry 46, Yancey II, Arthur H. (et al 2008) 148
49, 51, 55
wine tourism 45, 48–49, 52, Zhu, Hongrui 133
55–57, 124 Zopiatis, Anastasios 124
Winkler, Megan R. (et al 2022) 100 Zurich 88, 90