tourism management
Faeze sadat Mirfakhraddini; Milad Ebrahimi; Farzaneh Jandaghi ardakani
Abstract
In the economy, financial resources are critical. The fact that financial resources are limited and affect the number of operations is undeniable. All parts are related to financial operations. Therefore, correctly allocating financial assets is critical in modern business, especially tourism. Considering ...
Read More
In the economy, financial resources are critical. The fact that financial resources are limited and affect the number of operations is undeniable. All parts are related to financial operations. Therefore, correctly allocating financial assets is critical in modern business, especially tourism. Considering the location of the accommodation sector in the tourism industry, it is essential to pay attention to the financial performance of the hotels. In the present study, after examining the background of research and surveying industry and university experts, financial indicators related to hotels in Yazd Province have been identified, the data has been analyzed using the importance-performance matrix, and suggestions have been made to improve their situation. The results show that none of the criteria identified are in the critical area. Criteria such as the risk of financial bankruptcy, macro-economic growth, employment rates, direct income from the hotels primary income, the improvement of the hotel's human resources in making profits, and cash reserves such as cash it should be taken into account and hotel managers should focus on maintaining the status of these criteria.IntroductionIran’s economy is a single-product economy that relies on oil revenues. Therefore, the tourism industry is one of the sectors that can contribute to eliminating a single-product economy based on mineral resources (Khoshnevis Yazdi et al., 2017). The hotel sector is also essential to the tourism industry, significantly contributing to countries’ economic growth (Babajee et al., 2020). However, little attention has been paid to the performance criteria for improving the hotel’s performance (Bangchokdee & Mia, 2016). Therefore, managers in this industry should use the necessary management tools to ensure better results and prevent poor performance (Arasli, 2012). Generally, the company’s performance consists of operational, financial, and organizational performance (Zhang et al., 2021). Therefore, considering the importance of the hotel sector in the tourism industry and the growing trend of the tourism industry in Iran, paying attention to the performance of hotels, especially financial performance and financial indicators affecting hotels, can improve hotel efficiency. It also helps hotel managers increase the financial performance of their hotel management by identifying and analyzing the performance of indicators that affect the financial performance of hotels and making them financially efficient in the hotel sector. Therefore, it is essential to identify and analyze the indicators that affect the financial performance of hotels.Materials and MethodsThe primary purpose of the research is to identify the indicators that affect the financial performance of hotels and classification and determine their relative importance in the hotel industry of Yazd Province. The scope of this research is Yazd Province hotels. This article consists of two sections: In the first stage, by studying the background of the research and survey of experts, indicators expected to affect the financial performance of the hotels were identified. In the second stage of the research, a questionnaire was made available to the respondents to measure the importance of each factor and their performance in hotels. Then, the relative importance of the indicators was determined using the performance-importance analysis method.Discussion and ResultsThe results of this research showed that first, by studying the background of research and survey of experts, financial criteria in the hotel industry are in six general categories, which include risk index, efficiency-activity, economic, debt, profitability, and liquidity, which hotel owners should always consider. Also, to identify effective criteria for improving hotel performance, criteria can be divided into four groups:Group 1: Criteria in the critical area have no criteria in this area.Group 2: Factors in the low-priority area include liquidity from the source of investment and the risk of non-receipt of claims.Group 3: Criteria in the reduced area include the risk of exchange rate fluctuations, the risk of instability in the price of hotel equipment, quick response to competitive changes and market changes, the effect of assets on hotel revenues, gross domestic product, capital financing from debt, hotel debt financing, tax, low-interest facilities, profits from indirect income from the local, except for the primary operations of the hotel, capital growth, liquidity from current accounts and lateral investment.Group 4: Criteria for continuity of high status, including the risk of financial bankruptcy, macroeconomic growth, employment rates, direct income from hotel income (room rental), improvement of hotel human resources in making profits, and cash reserves.ConclusionsThe research findings aim to boost hotels, policymakers, and decision-makers to promote the growth of the hotel industry by facilitating the arrival of foreign tourists, encouraging domestic people to travel, and eliminating economic barriers. Hiring a highly efficient, skilled workforce and solving the liquidity shortage in managed hotels is also a solution. In addition, hotel managers should be able to improve and expand their business by creating investment opportunities for hotels. Also, the risk of exchange rate fluctuations and instability in the price of hotel equipment are of low importance. In addition, the rapid response to competitive changes and market changes in hotels in Yazd province is of low importance, which can be attributed to the need for more competitiveness of the hotel industry in Yazd Province
tourism management
Alireza Asadzadeh; Mohammad Sadegh Sharifirad; Mohammad Shaker Ardakani
Abstract
Due to the expansion of the tourism and hotel industry and the role of leadership quality in the promotion and successful development of this industry, several studies have been conducted on this statistical population, considering the specific environmental conditions. Also, recent research has presented ...
Read More
Due to the expansion of the tourism and hotel industry and the role of leadership quality in the promotion and successful development of this industry, several studies have been conducted on this statistical population, considering the specific environmental conditions. Also, recent research has presented a direct, positive, and meaningful relationship between authentic leadership, organizational success, growth, and emergence in the tourism sector. This research aims to investigate the impact of authentic leadership on employees’ thriving at work in the hotel industry, considering the moderating role of organizational politics. A quantitative method (correlation type of structural equation modeling) was used in this regard. The statistical population of the research was hotel employees, and after determining the sample size by G*POWER and distributing questionnaires, 349 complete questionnaires were collected from hotel employees in Shiraz. Initially, reliability and validity were investigated using AMOS software and then the hypotheses were tested using SPSS software and the Process module. The results indicated a positive and significant relationship between authentic leadership and thriving at work, and organizational politics was a significant moderator in that when organizational politics perception was high, the positive effect of authentic leadership on employees’ thriving at work increased. This important finding shows that high organizational politics in organizations adds to the importance of an authentic leader’s positive impact on followers’ thriving at work. IntroductionIn the last decade, the discussion of leadership has always been one of the topics of interest to management and organizational behavior thinkers because, in success or failure, the tip of the arrow of attention has been pointed toward them (Amankwaa et al., 2022). One of the influential factors in achieving the success and prosperity of the employees at work and organizational well-being is the correct use of the leadership style appropriate to the existing situation in the organization. In this regard, using an authentic leadership style can bring us closer to this goal. slow down (Surucu, 2022).Industry leaders in the tourism sector have predicted that the share of GDP in this sector will increase by fifty percent (Warokka et al., 2020). Furthermore, the social growth model presented by Spreitzer et al. (2012) provided a theoretical foundation for examining authentic leadership to achieve success at work. They stated that individual and organizational factors influence success at work, and these two factors will cause success in employees' work by satisfying basic psychological needs. Success at work a psychological state in which a person experiences vitality and learning. (Fang et al., 2021).The relationship between leadership and an organization's outputs is dependent on its environment. One variable that describes the organization's environment is organizational policy. Organizational politics is a process of social influence in which behavior is strategically designed to maximize personal interests in the short or long term at the expense of the interests of others. (Cho & Yang, 2018).This research contributes to the knowledge of authentic leadership and work success in several ways. After considering organizational politics moderation, it was shown that the presence of this variable in the organization affects the desired relationship.Literature ReviewIn internal studies, research about authentic leadership and its impact on success in work with the role of organizational politics as a moderator has yet to be investigated.The authors' review of the background of research in foreign studies also showed that there is more diversity in the topics and titles of foreign research than in domestic studies. One reason for this is the long history of recognition of authentic leadership in international studies.MethodologyConsidering that in this research, the researcher seeks to apply the research results and help identify the variable effect of authentic leadership on success at work, this research is of an applied type in terms of its purpose. Also, because the current research deals with the study of what exists according to the research literature and with the help of the background of the conducted research and related books, in terms of the research method, it is a descriptive survey and the research design is quantitative with the correlation method. It is a type of structural equation modeling.The statistical population included the employees of hotels in Shiraz metropolis (21 hotels), and finally, 349 complete questionnaires were collected according to the sample size determined by G*Power software. ResultsThe present research has investigated the relationship between authentic leadership and success at work, considering the moderating role of organizational politics. In the first hypothesis, the research findings showed a significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and success at work. This means that employees’ success will increase using of an authentic leadership style. This finding is in line with the research results of (2016) Mortier et al. (2019) Wu & Chen and (2021) Iqbal et al. In general, research shows that authentic leaders, due to the transparency they show and show their true selves, incline followers towards them and influence their performance (Wang et al., 2021). An authentic leader directs employees by applying discipline, rules, and rigid procedures. This leadership style influences employees to achieve self-fulfillment at work (Iqbal et al., 2021). In addition, authentic leaders create empathy for their employees by applying the desired style in the organization. This empathy affects employees’ well-being, learning, and strengthening, ultimately leading them to prosperity and success at work (Chang et al., 2021).In the second hypothesis, the results of the desired hypothesis showed that organizational politics moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and success at work, which means that with the increase of organizational politics, the influence of authentic leadership increases success at work. This result is consistent with the research findings (2020) by Khuwaja et al.Due to the competitive and ambiguous nature of political contexts, authentic leaders may be less able to motivate and satisfy followers who become distressed, quit, or become disaffected by the political disclosure of behavior by others. They become pessimistic. In addition, authentic leaders’ tendency to speak honestly and listen to different perspectives may expose them to disproportionate efforts toward performance acceptable to followers, undermining their ability to influence follower outcomes. Finally, the transparent nature of authentic leadership can reveal sensitive knowledge and elements from leaders that others can use politically. Therefore, according to the results obtained from the data analysis, the relationship between authentic leadership and success at work changes in the presence of moderating variables such as organizational politics. This means that by increasing organizational politics, the effect of authentic leadership on success at work is strengthened, and employees feel more successful at work.
tourism management
Morteza Bazrafshan; Hamid Zargham Borujeni; Mahdi Karobi
Abstract
Organizations are forced to adapt themselves to the ever-increasing advances in knowledge and technology in order to survive in this changing environment. They are to take fundamental measures and changes based on innovation, flexibility, responsiveness, creative redefinition of the market and new opportunities, ...
Read More
Organizations are forced to adapt themselves to the ever-increasing advances in knowledge and technology in order to survive in this changing environment. They are to take fundamental measures and changes based on innovation, flexibility, responsiveness, creative redefinition of the market and new opportunities, and resources to gain a competitive advantage. These changes are focused on effective use of the knowledge-based capital, which is achieved by creating a learning organization. This article is to present a model for transforming hotels into learning organizations. Therefore, by compiling interview questions based on theoretical literature and obtaining experts' opinions with thematic analysis method, indicators and factors of the learning hotel for the Iranian hotel industry is presented. The model is composed of 61 basic concepts, 11 organizing concepts, and 3 comprehensive concepts including the drivers, the factors, and the consequences of the learning hotel.
tourism management
Rahim Zare
Abstract
Since long ago, health tourism has been one of the most attractive and popular. Various causes and factors in creating and developing this type of tourism need to be investigated and verified. The current research has been conducted to analyze and evaluate the critical components in creating sustainable ...
Read More
Since long ago, health tourism has been one of the most attractive and popular. Various causes and factors in creating and developing this type of tourism need to be investigated and verified. The current research has been conducted to analyze and evaluate the critical components in creating sustainable health tourism in Tehran, using the Padin Model to achieve the goal. The research method is a mix that has investigated the issue using the qualitative method of the expert panel and the quantitative survey method. The tools for collecting data and information in the qualitative method are semi-structured interviews and questionnaires in the quantitative stage. Statistical analysis of research data was done using SPSS-26 and Smart-PLS3 software. In the qualitative stage, 15 experts from related fields participated in the panel, and in the quantitative stage, using stratified sampling, 26 experts answered the questionnaire questions. According to the analysis and coding of semi-structured interviews, 71 basic themes, 24 organizing themes, and six global themes were extracted in the quantitative stage while confirming all the components. The values of the economic component were calculated higher than in other cases. According to the research results, health tourism can be among the reliable alternatives in different aspects. Also, it can be a factor in guiding related policies and politics for sustainable tourism development in the future. Introduction Today, people travel for health, fitness, and well-being, not relaxation. In response to this growing demand, countries, health and medical service providers, and hospitality and tourism organizations are adapting to offer a broader range of health, wellness, and medical tourism experiences. Among the factors that encourage health tourists to look for an alternative health tourism destination are the cost of the medical services provided, the medical staff, the medical center’s reputation, and their credibility. In addition, other factors that lead to increased demand for health tourism services are ease of access, travel affordability, and innovative health technologies.Tehran is one of the most important cities in Iran in providing health and treatment services in the region, and it has the most facilities and places for accommodation treatment. It is the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years and in different governments, measures have been taken to create sustainable health tourism, but they still need to be managed and planned cohesively. Due to the existence of specialized and skilled treatment staff, the existence of up-to-date and even international facilities in hospitals and residential centers, and the low cost of treatment and leisure time, compared to other countries, this city is considered the primary option in providing health tourism services. Despite the efforts of various officials and stakeholders in this field, it is still observed that there are various challenges in creating sustainable health tourism in this city, which requires further investigation and deepening.On the other hand, it is necessary to use the potential and actual capacities in this city so that in this research, it is possible to create a basis for effective measures to be taken to create sustainable health tourism. On the other hand, despite the importance of this issue and the existence of various research in the field of health tourism, it can be seen that comprehensive research that can analyze the critical components of creating sustainable health tourism in Tehran has not yet been carried out and needs to be done. It has more analysis and deepening. Therefore, investigating and analyzing critical components in health tourism development in Tehran are essential to show future research directions and enrich the health tourism literature. As a result, this study examines the critical components of sustainable health tourism while filling the theoretical gap in this field. It also examines the dynamics of this type of tourism more deeply.Materials and MethodsRegarding practical purpose and methodology, this research is classified as mixed research. First, using the qualitative method of the panel of experts, the components and indicators related to the creation of sustainable health tourism in Tehran are counted and extracted; finally, using the quantitative survey method, each of the extracted items is tested. to comment on their authenticity and approval. The participants of the qualitative phase of the research, who were identified using purposeful sampling, are professors and executive and research specialists in the fields of tourism management, marketing management, urban and rural planning and management, medical service management, regional management, and development, development management, sociology, and management. Fifteen people participated in the panel. Moreover, in the quantitative phase, a questionnaire containing the above components and indicators was sent to experts and specialists in tourism - especially health tourism - to express their opinions regarding their proficiency and approval. The data collection tool is different in each phase. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted on tourism activities related to health, well-being, and well-being. With nature or environment" were organized in Tehran.Discussion and Results As we know, simply using and implementing a model cannot solve problems. For this reason, there is a need to create local and built models to be by with the spatial and temporal conditions and effectively achieve the goals. Therefore, referring to the items mentioned in the methodology section, using the expert panel method, the critical indicators of this area extracted from the perspective of tourism experts were examined and completed. It should be noted that the Padin Model’s components were considered the primary basis of these indicators and components. With semi-structured interviews of experts, 142 primary codes were extracted, which were categorized into three basic, organizing, and comprehensive themes using Attride-Stirling coding. By adopting the inductive approach, 71 basic themes, 24 organizing themes, and six global themes were extracted, placed in the three economic, social, and environmental dimensions of Padin’s model, and management and political, spatial, physical, and technological components were also added. In the quantitative part, the economic component has a higher rank and value among other components, which shows the importance and sensitivity of this category in the field of health tourism in Tehran.ConclusionsThe global prosperity in medical and health care has made tourist destinations and companies in health tourism an essential part of the tourism industry. This industry, a mixture of medical and health services, leisure, and entertainment, can be among the reliable economic, cultural, and social alternatives. From a theoretical and operational point of view, this study is expected to make a significant contribution to the field of health tourism, and the above findings can confirm this. According to the research findings, each of the themes extracted can be considered as strategies and policies that drive the development of health tourism in Tehran. The collaborative development of the public and private sectors is effective in this field, and the better development of academic cooperation and the health tourism industry can imply "sustainable health tourism" in the city of Tehran.
tourism management
Amirhossein Jahandideh; Ezatollah Asgharizadeh
Abstract
The current research has been carried out to achieve the model for sustainability of the supply chain of Iran's tourism industry with an emphasis on the pandemic conditions of the coronavirus. This research was based on the Qualitative Method and grounded theory strategy. Research data was collected ...
Read More
The current research has been carried out to achieve the model for sustainability of the supply chain of Iran's tourism industry with an emphasis on the pandemic conditions of the coronavirus. This research was based on the Qualitative Method and grounded theory strategy. Research data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 tourism industry experts. Data analysis was done during three stages of open, axial, and selective coding and led to the emergence of 438 open codes, 127 concepts, 19 sub-categories, and four main categories in three classes. The results showed that the drivers of supply chain sustainability and the enablers of tourism supply chain sustainability as causal conditions have made it necessary to sustain the tourism supply chain, considering the pandemic crisis. The sustainability of the tourism supply chain can be expected through the correct selection and application of action interactions, which are the sustainability methods of the tourism supply chain.IntroductionAs a result of the global expansion of the pandemic, the tourism industry faced one of its most significant operational, commercial, and financial crises (Strielkowski, 2020). Before the pandemic, tourism was one of the world’s most influential and growing economic sectors. With the emergence of the pandemic, sustainability has become an essential issue in tourism (Bai & Ran, 2022). The researchers found that the pandemic inspired people to think more about sustainability issues, including stakeholder engagement, corporate social responsibility, and the fight for competitive advantage in the coronavirus and post-corona era (Pelikanova et al., 2021).The pandemic shifted the focus from the trend towards the continuous expansion of tourism to the sustainability of the supply chain. Despite the many challenges raised, this crisis has increased the awareness of organizations, citizens, and policymakers towards sustainability and created an urgent need to apply sustainable supply chain management practices (Corsini et al., 2021). However, it is not easy to achieve consensus on sustainable tourism supply chain management practices due to the fragmented nature of tourism destinations and other structural features associated with tourism destinations, and a comprehensive approach to sustainability is needed to gain better knowledge about sustainable business decisions in Tourism sector is needed which is not present in the literature. This research tries to answer the question: What is the sustainability model of the tourism supply chain in Iran according to the pandemic conditions?Literature ReviewToday, organizations must strengthen their competitive advantage to survive in a dynamic and complex market. Considering that there is no more competition between organizations; instead, it is competition between supply chains (Zhao & Hao, 2022), efficient supply chain management has become a valuable way to gain competitive advantage and improve organizational performance (Lee & Fernando, 2015). The supply chain is a relatively comprehensive approach for understanding, analyzing, planning, and managing the dynamics of tourism, and by using it, the sectors and factors affecting tourism can be examined continuously and organized (Ziaei et al., 2016).Gruchmann and colleagues (Gruchmann et al., 2022) associated the success of tourism industries with the necessity of realizing sustainable supply chain management in tourism. In the research community, there is a growing consensus that the evolution towards sustainable tourism supply chains increases the flexibility and resilience of supply chains. In addition, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, 2020) has predicted the future trends of the tourism industry due to the spread of the COVID-19 disease and, in addition to changing demand patterns, the importance of health and wellness, attention to technology and innovation, to the tendency to He has also pointed towards the sustainable approach in the tourism industry.Sustainable tourism supply chain management is a set of approaches to guide the supply chain of the tourism industry towards sustainability. It adds sustainability to existing supply chain management processes to consider business activities’ environmental, social, and economic impacts. (Soratana et al., 2021).MethodologyThe present study is a Qualitative Method using Grounded Theory Methodology. The participants in the research included experts and informants of the tourism industry, which includes academic, organizational, and professional experts (hotel, restaurant, transportation, travel agency, managers) who were selected by purposive Sampling Method. The Data Collection Method was a semi-structured interview that continued until the theoretical saturation stage, and data analysis was performed using MAXQDA software in three stages: open, axial, and selective coding. ResultsThis research, after studying previous similar documents, researching and familiarizing with the concept of sustainability of the supply chain of the tourism industry due to the lack of a specific model for pandemic conditions, was compiled using the foundation's data theory strategy. During the coding process, 438 open codes, 127 concepts, 19 subcategories, and four main categories were extracted into three classes, and their characteristics were identified. The tourism supply chain considering pandemic conditions by the Stabilization Model is shown in Figure (1), DiscussionDrivers of tourism supply chain sustainability include public pressure, sustainability capabilities, and the changed demand of tourists, and enablers of tourism supply chain sustainability include government support, tourism sustainability policy, social and technological innovation, and development of tourism infrastructure as conditions that necessitate the sustainability of tourism supply chain with respect It has become a pandemic condition. Tourism supply chain by sustainability methods that included customer management in tourism units, supplier management in tourism units, staff management in tourism units, destination management in tourism areas, marketing management of tourism products and services, localization in tourism areas, cooperation with stakeholders in the supply chain, waste, and sewage management in tourism areas and units, and resource and energy management in tourism areas and units can lead to the emergence of sustainable tourism supply chain performance taking into account pandemic conditions.DiscussionDrivers of tourism supply chain sustainability include public pressure, sustainability capabilities, and the changed demand of tourists, and enablers of tourism supply chain sustainability include government support, tourism sustainability policy, social and technological innovation, and development of tourism infrastructure as conditions that necessitate the sustainability of tourism supply chain with respect It has become a pandemic condition. Tourism supply chain by sustainability methods that included customer management in tourism units, supplier management in tourism units, staff management in tourism units, destination management in tourism areas, marketing management of tourism products and services, localization in tourism areas, cooperation with stakeholders in the supply chain, waste, and sewage management in tourism areas and units, and resource and energy management in tourism areas and units can lead to the emergence of sustainable tourism supply chain performance taking into account pandemic conditions.ConclusionThe model obtained in the research is a comprehensive and rich model of the sustainability of the supply chain of the tourism industry, taking into account the pandemic conditions, which is a local model that is from the experts' point of view and can be implemented. The results of this research will help tourism supply chain managers to design and adopt sustainability methods, taking into account pandemic conditions, and it is expected that, in addition to stabilizing the tourism supply chain, it will lead to the prosperity of tourism businesses and the improvement of the livelihood of local communities
tourism management
Narges Larijani; Morteza Shafiee; Seyyed Ismail Najafi
Abstract
The present study aims to identify the cultural strategies of the ecotourism centers of Mazandaran province with an approach based on thematic analysis. This study is practical based on the purpose. The qualitative research approach and the statistical population included 137 narratives related to cultural ...
Read More
The present study aims to identify the cultural strategies of the ecotourism centers of Mazandaran province with an approach based on thematic analysis. This study is practical based on the purpose. The qualitative research approach and the statistical population included 137 narratives related to cultural strategies of Mazandaran province ecotourism centers in online social media. One hundred thirteen narratives were analyzed with the help of theoretical saturation and judgmental sampling. Narratives were manually coded by searching tourism websites and using a three-step open, central, and selective method, and then based on the SWOT method; different points were combined and shown in the form of a network of topics. The results indicate the identification of 10 organizing themes and 75 basic themes regarding the cultural strategies of the eco-tourism centers of Mazandaran province as comprehensive themes. Also, the results show that the cultural strategies of Mazandaran eco-tourism centers include a learning culture strategy, e-learning culture strategy, technology application culture strategy, creative tourism culture strategy, food tourism culture strategy, green culture strategy, social-cultural strategy, artistic, cultural strategy, economic, cultural strategy, and cultural marketing strategy.Introduction Ecotourism is a new type of tourism that appeals to educated and adventurous personalities who enjoy undeveloped and unspoiled natural, cultural, and historical places. Developing ecotourism aims to protect the nature of areas by providing income, protecting the environment, and educating and involving local communities. To develop the culture of ecotourism, the culture of ecotourism centers must be compatible with its strategies. Otherwise, they prepare themselves to face almost a strategic failure. Having multiple strategies is essential to having a successful system. These strategies reflect tangible and intangible organizational objectives and are determined by strategic management. A manager can determine the strategies and how to implement them through strategic management. Then, organizations are evaluated based on the implementation of these strategies. Organizations that implement strategies achieve a high level of performance. In this regard, identifying the cultural strategies of ecotourism can be one of the essential steps in moving the ecotourism cycle forward and introducing potential capabilities. Through cultural strategies, plans to strengthen the region's potential and development can be effectively advanced. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to identify the dimensions of cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran province. MethodologyThe approach of this research is qualitative, and its strategy is narrative analysis. The statistical population includes all narratives related to the cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran province (websites and blogs), which amounted to 137 narratives, and the sample size was estimated based on the logic of the judgmental sampling method. To achieve this goal, all published narratives on websites and blogs were first examined to determine the author and date of composition. Additionally, websites and blogs containing narratives about ecotourism centers in Mazandaran province were categorized. Then, these media were examined based on their communication channels and accessibility to their managers and audiences, the level of visitors, and the presence of electronic trust symbols. Those lacking such features were excluded from the research domain, and only 113 selected narratives were considered. After identifying the themes, they were manually coded in three open, axial, and selective coding stages and displayed on the thematic network. In addition, sub-strategies were also presented based on the SWOT Method and by combining different points. Discussion and conclusionIn this study, in response to the question raised, using the narrative Analysis Method and three Open, Axial, and Selective Coding Methods, as well as the SWOT Model, ten organizational themes, 75 basic themes, and one overarching theme, namely the cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran Province, were identified and displayed on the thematic network. In response to the main question, the results indicate that ecotourism centers should focus on the cultural learning strategy to attract tourists. Additionally, the results show that the electronic cultural learning strategy, food tourism culture strategy, and creative tourism culture strategy are cultural strategies that previous research needs to pay more attention to but are important for ecotourism. In addition, the green culture strategy is another strategy that previous research has primarily referred to as a green strategy in other statistical societies and not in tourism industries or ecotourism centers. Although it has similar indicators and criteria, such as health, non-pollution, cost-effectiveness, and adherence to environmental commitments, none have been referred to as a green cultural strategy. The social-cultural strategy is another dimension of cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran Province. Another result was the artistic and cultural strategy, which, although previous research has focused on various arts to attract tourists to ecotourism centers, has yet to be referred to and examined as a cultural strategy. Finally, the results showed that the economic, cultural, and cultural marketing strategies are other dimensions of the cultural strategies of ecotourism centers in Mazandaran Province.ConclusionOverall, the results showed that ecotourism centers that intend to improve their performance could use cultural strategies such as the learning culture strategy, electronic cultural learning strategy, technology application culture strategy, creative tourism culture strategy, food tourism culture strategy, green culture strategy, social-cultural strategy, artistic, cultural strategy, economic, cultural strategy, and cultural marketing strategy to achieve their objectives.
tourism management
Ayoub Pazhouhan; SHahin Behvar; Hojat alah Maleki
Abstract
The current research was conducted to design and explain the development model of creative rural tourism in the target villages of Kermanshah province. The research is of a qualitative type and based on database theorizing. The studied community comprised villagers of tourism target villages, managers ...
Read More
The current research was conducted to design and explain the development model of creative rural tourism in the target villages of Kermanshah province. The research is of a qualitative type and based on database theorizing. The studied community comprised villagers of tourism target villages, managers of ecotourism houses, village councils, local experts, university professors in the field of tourism, and key informants. Sampling has been done using targeted and snowball methods. Based on this, 23 interviews were conducted with the research participants, and theoretical saturation was achieved in 19 interviews. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's strategy. In order to measure the validity and respect the qualitative features of the research, accreditation, and data during the interviews, Lincoln and Goba's four criteria (credibility, transferability, reliability, and verifiability) were used. The reliability of the research was calculated using Holstein's reliability formula (82%). The results of the inductive content analysis identified 120 primary codes, 32 central codes, and six factors during three open, central, and selective coding procedures. Finally, the model of creative rural tourism was designed and presented, in which "creative rural tourism" was selected as the central phenomenon affected by the causal factors of the research. Contextual and intervening factors, together with the central phenomenon, shaped creative rural tourism development strategies and consequences such as increasing private sector investments, driving income from cities to villages, preventing migration to cities, increasing employment rates, returning to villages and cultural development, and a sense of cooperation were identified in the area.IntroductionRaymond and Richards presented the first definition of creative tourism in 2000. They described it as follows: "A type of tourism that gives visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through active participation in the learning and experiences they gain from the characteristics of the destination." The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defined the concept of creative tourism as follows: Creative tourism is travel that leads to an engaging and authentic experience, with participatory learning in the art, heritage, or special features of a place. It is directed and provides a proper connection with those who live in this place and create this living culture. In Kermanshah province, 14 villages are the target of tourism; for example, we can mention the villages of Kandoleh, Piran, Shalan, Shamshir, Hajij, Khaneqah, and Najobran. Considering the many benefits that the booming tourism industry can bring to the province and the target villages of tourism, it is necessary to pay more attention to the tourism industry in this province, as it can be said that this industry can, in addition to turning the province into the tourism pole can provide one of the axes of all-round development of the province. Therefore, the current research is looking for a way to promote tourism in rural areas to achieve sustainable development by spending less money and using local facilities, and to achieve this goal, creative tourism in rural areas has been investigated. According to the above information and the tourism potential of Kermanshah province, especially the target villages for tourism in this region, they can create conditions that attract domestic and foreign travelers and tourists and provide employment. It will raise the area and ultimately boost the business. Finally, this research seeks to answer the question, what is the pattern of creative tourism in the target villages of Kermanshah province, and what dimensions and components does it consist of?Materials and MethodsThe current research is qualitative in terms of paradigm, developmental-applicative in terms of purpose, and exploratory and ground-theoretical in terms of method. The community of the research studied was comprised of experts in creative tourism. Based on this, 23 semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants using purposeful sampling. The data were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin’s systematic approach. In order to analyze the data, three types of coding are used, which include open coding (creating concepts and categories), axial coding (identifying the core category, causal conditions, contextual and environmental conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences) and selective coding (creation of theory). In order to measure the validity and comply with the qualitative features of the research, validation, accuracy, and robustness of the data, the four criteria of Lincoln and Goba, such as reliability, transferability and appropriateness, reliability and stability, and verifiability, were used. The reliability of the research was also calculated using Holsti’s coefficient of reliability formula, and 82% was obtained, indicating adequate reliability. ResultsThe results of coding are summarized in Table 1. Table 1. Components of Creative Rural Tourism Development Paradigm Model Categorical clusterMain CategoriesSubcategoriesA central phenomenonDevelopment of creative rural tourismNatural capacitiesAttracting touristsCausal conditionsCommunication between policymakers and practitionersCreating communication circlesFormation of specialized associations Participation of activists and stakeholdersBackground conditionsCultural and social barriersCultural differencesLittle awareness of the hosts about the needs and wants of touristsTourists' lack of awareness of the hosts' cultureCultural barriersIntervening conditionsNot using the Internet and virtual spaceLimited facilitiesNon-use of technologyAbsence of presence in virtual spaceCompeting companiesLack of suitable conditionsStrategiesDevelopment strategiesScientific development of tourismAdvertisingAttention to the interests of touristsAttention to the relative advantages of the regionDevelopment of rural tourism infrastructureCultivationEducationExhibitingConsequencesEconomic, social and cultural developmentIncrease in private sector investmentsMoving income from urban to rural areasPrevent migration to cities.Increase the employment rate.Return to the village (reverse migration)Cultural development and a sense of cooperation in the regionResearch findings. Conclusions Based on the research findings, government planners and private companies should consider creative rural tourism due to its role and importance in increasing employment and sustainable rural development. Therefore, in the tourism target villages of Kermanshah province, by creating suitable infrastructures and providing welfare and recreational services for travelers, conditions can be created that attract domestic and foreign travelers and tourists, increase employment in these areas, and ultimately lead to prosperity. Small and medium businesses in the mentioned areas. In this regard, using the basic theory, the current research investigated the influential factors on the development of creative rural tourism.Summarizing the findings of the qualitative part of the research confirms the fact that by creating communication links between policymakers and the local people of the region, changing the structure of tourism in the region, providing a suitable platform, and identifying tourism capacities in the region and its development in different dimensions (employment, quality of life, preservation of cultural and historical heritage, increase in health level), the ground for creating creative rural tourism in Kermanshah province is provided. However, among these limiting factors are laws and regulations, educational barriers, lack of specialized human resources, organizational and structural barriers, and more Internet and virtual space to advertise and introduce the region to tourists. Strategies and measures that can work in this field include the scientific development of tourism and the use of scientific technology and tools, advertising and introducing the tourist area, creating motivation and paying attention to the interests of tourists, paying attention to the relative advantages of the region, developing rural tourism infrastructure, creating culture, training and holding exhibitions to introduce products. Moreover, the local production of the tourism area, if these measures are realized, the private sector investments will happen in these areas, the result of which is an increase in the employment rate and driving the income to the villages, and a decrease in the migration rate from the village to the city, and an increase Migration is counterproductive and creates cultural development and a sense of cooperation in the region.
tourism management
Ayoub Pazhouhan; Moslem Fallahi
Abstract
Religious tourism, a branch of cultural tourism, can stimulate development, especially in rural areas. This research was conducted to conceptualize a religious tourism development model emphasizing the holy sites of Kermanshah province. The research approach was of qualitative and Grounded Theory type; ...
Read More
Religious tourism, a branch of cultural tourism, can stimulate development, especially in rural areas. This research was conducted to conceptualize a religious tourism development model emphasizing the holy sites of Kermanshah province. The research approach was of qualitative and Grounded Theory type; the research sample comprised experts in the field of religious tourism. Accordingly, 16 semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants using the purposeful sampling method. The four criteria of Lincoln and Guba, including credibility, transferability, reliability, and verifiability, were used to measure the validity and comply with the qualitative research features, validation, accuracy, and robustness of the data. The reliability of the research was also assessed using the test-retest reliability method, with 77% reliability. Strauss and Corbin’s systematic approach analyzed data. Through three open, central, and selective coding procedures, the content analysis results yielded 71 concepts, 14 sub-categories, and six main categories. Finally, the paradigmatic religious tourism development model was presented, in which the development of religious tourism was chosen as the central phenomenon affected by the causal conditions of the research. Contextual and intervening conditions and the central phenomenon formed religious tourism development strategies, and economic, cultural, and social development outcomes were obtained. In the end, practical suggestions were presented for developing religious tourism in Kermanshah province.Introduction"Religious tourism" is one of the oldest forms of tourism and plays an important role in the history of tourism development. Religious tourism includes people who travel for religious or spiritual purposes and visit religious places or participate in religious activities and festivals. In other words, religious tourism refers to all types of trips made with voluntary religious motivation, without pay, and for a limited period.Kermanshah province, with 16,550 sacred places and monuments, is one of the provinces with the potential to attract religious tourists. Despite the potential and attractions that Kermanshah province has in the field of tourism in general and religious tourism in particular, the category of religious tourism in this province should be addressed more. This matter has been neglected from the point of view of the trustees and planners of the matter.This research aims to develop a religious tourism development model with an emphasis on blessed and religious places and locations in Kermanshah province to creat employment and reduce the unemployment rate. So, the current study seeks to answer this question, what kind of model does Kermanshah province has for the development of religious tourism with an emphasis on blessed and religious places?Materials and MethodsThe current research is qualitative in terms of paradigm, developmental-applicative in terms of purpose, and exploratory and ground-theoretical in terms of method. The studied community of the research was made up of experts in the field of religious tourism. Based on this, 16 semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants using the purposeful sampling method. The data were analyzed using the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin. In order to analyze the data, three types of coding were used, which include open coding (creating concepts and categories), axial coding (identifying the core category, causal conditions, contextual and environmental conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences) and selective coding (creation of theory). In order to measure the validity and comply with the qualitative features of the research, validation, accuracy, and robustness of the data, the four criteria of Lincoln and Goba, such as reliability, transferability and appropriateness, reliability and stability, and verifiability, were used. The reliability of the research was also calculated using the test-retest reliability method, and 77% was obtained.ResultsConclusions The resulting Paradigm Model identified welfare and religious attractions as "causal conditions." The mentioned factors are the factors that make the development of religious tourism necessary and inevitable. Religious tourism development strategies include promotional strategies, infrastructural strategies, collaborative strategies, and human resource strategies that are affected by factors such as advertising management and integrated tourism management as "intervening conditions" And "background conditions" such as residents' attitude about the consequences of tourism and residents' attitude towards religious and cultural responsibilities towards pilgrims and tourists. Finally, the development of religious tourism leads to the emergence of "consequences of the development of religious tourism," such as "economic development," such as an increase in rial and foreign exchange income and the prosperity of the tax system, creating job opportunities for the local people of the province, expanding commercial and welfare centers around religious attractions. The province, the prosperity of local industries and products of the province, the employment of women and students on a part-time basis, and the attraction of domestic and foreign capital to the province; and "cultural and social development" such as cultural interaction and expansion of cultural exchanges of the province, strengthening of religious thinking among the local community of the province, awareness of the local community of cultural-religious assets, sense of pride of the local community in cultural-religious assets, strengthening of cultural character and increasing respect pilgrims are given the opportunity to strengthen religious and Islamic culture and rites between guilds and trades, and to revive local-religious traditions and manners. Based on the research findings, somepractical suggestions are presented to develop religious tourism in Kermanshah province
tourism management
Morteza Ahmadi; Mahmood Ziaee; Reza Vaezi; Gholamreza Kazemian
Abstract
This research has been achieved to recognize the type of dominant rationality in the Vision Plan of Heritage and Tourism Development in Iran. The tourism planning system in the world has experienced noticeable changes under the influence of transformations that took place in the philosophical and social ...
Read More
This research has been achieved to recognize the type of dominant rationality in the Vision Plan of Heritage and Tourism Development in Iran. The tourism planning system in the world has experienced noticeable changes under the influence of transformations that took place in the philosophical and social paradigms in recent decades. The present research is based on interpretive epistemology and, regarding the methodological aspect, has been considered qualitative research. Archival studies and thematic analysis with explorative purpose were used for data gathering and analysis. Base on this study’s findings, instrumental rationality, with 48 themes out of 71 and its correspondent planning theory, rational planning, has been dominant in formulating the Vision Plan of Heritage and Tourism Development in Iran. Also, we observed a small share of other types of rationality among the themes recognized in the Vision Plan. Analysis and comparison of the share for each type of rationality made it clear that coordinative rationality has been ignored. Therefore, revising the Vision Plan regarding new approaches to tourism planning is inevitable. The research results indicated that applying coordinative rationality as a combination of various rationality types could pave the way for achieving tourism development objectives in Iran.Introduction Tourism planning has been transformed by theories such as communicative and participative approaches and paradigms dominating urban, rural, and regional planning. The emergence of alternative and sustainable tourism can signify these changes. This research aimed to recognize the type of dominant rationality on the Vision Plan-2025 for Heritage and Tourism Development in Iran endorsed by the Cabinet in 2004. The concept of rationality in this research is considered in the Alexander Model (2000) framework and based on new planning theories and contemporary tourism planning approaches. In the new age, called the post-rationality era, rationality in planning was redefined so that its meaning extended from instrumental rationality to include communicative, strategic, and coordinative rationality. Dominant planning approaches in the 1950s were physical and sectoral planning based on the traditional rational planning approach. Since the 1960s, the domain of planning extended to social-cultural areas and the concept of space, including human beings, their living environment, and economic, social, and cultural activities taken into account in planning. In the 1980s, a new approach to planning appeared that did not believe in top-down planning but believed in the host community's participation in planning and implementation.Materials and MethodsThe philosophical aspect of this research regarding epistemology was based on an interpretive approach. Understanding tourism and planning for tourism development requires understanding the multiple dimensions of tourism regarding social-cultural and economic aspects and interpreting the concept of the system for tourism stakeholders as well as policymakers. Considering the users, the research is applied and developmental research. The findings of this study can be used by tourism policymakers, planners, stakeholders, the scientific society, and researchers. The research area is cross-sectional, and the scale is national. This qualitative research's statistical population and data sources are the documents of mentioned Vision Plan. Data gathering and analysis were conducted following the qualitative research. This study used the Astrid-Sterling model of themes networks for thematic analysis. The researchers took five steps for coding and recognized basic themes, main themes, organizing themes, and global themes. Finally, a map of themes in the format of themes network of rationality in the Vision Plan was presented.Discussion and ResultsThe results of the literature review clarified two issues. Firstly, under the influence of planning theory and dominant paradigms on urban, rural, and regional planning, tourism development planning has changed in recent decades, leading to the emergence of alternative tourism approaches like responsible tourism, eco-tourism, community-based tourism, and sustainable tourism. Secondly, reconsidering the concept and dimensions of rationality in the recent century has a vital role in planning theory in such a way that the type of rationality in each era has been determinative of identifying the type of planning theory. For further explanation, we can refer to communicative rationality recognized in the 1980s by Habermas, considered the foundation of communicative planning theory. This approach was the reaction against instrumental rationality that was the basis for traditional rational planning theory. Therefore, the type of rationality is the determinant for the corresponding planning theory. Analysis of a total of 71 themes in the Vision Plan for Tourism Development in Iran indicated the share for each type of rationality, which included 48 themes (the maximum) related to instrumental rationality, ten themes to communicative rationality, nine themes to strategic rationality, and finally, four themes (the minimum) to coordinative rationality.ConclusionsWith the analysis and comparison of the share of various types of rationality in the Vision Plan of cultural heritage and tourism in Iran, we concluded that the dominant rationality for formulating the Plan had been instrumental. Regarding the lack of consideration for all types of rationality, particularly coordinative rationality in the Plan on the one hand, and the fact that more than 18 years have passed since the compilation of the Plan on the other hand, it is necessary to revise the Vision Plan, taking into accounts the coordinative planning theory in the following areas:- Establishment of a powerful coordinating institution with sufficient authority for making the related organizations cooperate in revising, formulating, implementing, supervising, and evaluating the Plan.- Integration of tourism policies and plans and linkage with the macro policies. Formulation and endorsement of tourism macro policies through the Supreme Council for Cultural Heritage and Tourism. -Formulation of a network for public-private participation and related stakeholders for developing tourism in Iran.
tourism management
Mohsen Farhadinejad; Atiye Saberi; Mohammad Ebrahim Baghernezhad Hamze kolaie
Abstract
Nowadays, manufacturing and service industries are trying to have a green orientation in their field of activity. However, the concept of greenwashing, which is a kind of mental deception of the audience, is the opposite of green orientation, and the upcoming research aims to examine the components of ...
Read More
Nowadays, manufacturing and service industries are trying to have a green orientation in their field of activity. However, the concept of greenwashing, which is a kind of mental deception of the audience, is the opposite of green orientation, and the upcoming research aims to examine the components of this concept in the hotel industry and provide solutions to deal with it. The current research has a developmental approach and theme analysis was determined as the method of data analysis. The experts of this research are 15 experts in hospitality and health matters, who were selected by purposeful sampling. Also, the data collection tool is a semi-structured interview. Data analysis shows that environmental greenwashing, social greenwashing, lexical greenwashing, legal greenwashing, and food greenwashing are the dimensions of the concept of greenwashing in the hotel industry. Also, with digital tools and the correct culture we can deal with greenwashing.IntroductionNowadays, manufacturing and service industries are trying to have a green orientation in their field of activity. However, the concept of greenwashing, a kind of mental deception of the audience, is the opposite of green orientation. The upcoming research aims to examine the components of this concept in the hotel industry and provide solutions to deal with it.Materials and MethodsThe present research has an exploratory approach in terms of its nature and a developmental approach in terms of its goal, and theme analysis was used to analyze the data. The experts of this research are 15 experts in hospitality and health matters, who were selected by purposeful sampling. Also, the data collection tool is a semi-structured interview.Discussion and ResultsData analysis shows that environmental greenwashing, social greenwashing, lexical greenwashing, legal greenwashing, and food greenwashing are the dimensions of the concept of greenwashing in the hotel industry.ConclusionsIt is possible to deal with the phenomenon of greenwashing by using new digital tools, increasing public awareness, and enacting restrictive laws.
tourism management
Parvaneh Sobhani; Afshin Danehkar
Abstract
Improper recreational activity development can have destructive ecological and economic impacts. Identification and proportionality measurement for the principled and practical implementation of these activities is a suitable solution to reduce their negative impacts on tourism destinations and natural ...
Read More
Improper recreational activity development can have destructive ecological and economic impacts. Identification and proportionality measurement for the principled and practical implementation of these activities is a suitable solution to reduce their negative impacts on tourism destinations and natural ecosystems. Accordingly, in the present study, the recreational activities demanded by tourists in the Hara protected area were identified, and then these activities were investigated according to a list of locational indicators. Spatial distribution of recreational activities in the Hara area demonstrated that due to the land and coastal-marine nature of the requested activities, as well as the topographical and climatic conditions of the area, most of these activities can be implemented in the coastal areas and waters. According to the results, 12 recreational activities from 43 identified activities were selected by tourists, and among these activities, "Visit the forest with a balloon" received the highest score, while the lowest score is assigned to "sunbathing on the coast". In addition, among the 14 spatial indicators, "precipitation intensity" and "suitable time for tourism" have been investigated and analyzed in most recreational activities, while other indicators such as "maximum height above sea level" affect a limited number of activities. On the other hand, the most important indicator in the implementation of these activities is the climate suitable for tourism and favorable weather conditions in this area. In general, the identification and investigation of recreational activities and spatial indicators in tourism destinations, especially in protected areas that have legal prohibitions and biological restrictions for human activities development, is essential and can help in the planning and proper management of these areas.IntroductionToday, tourism activities can play an important role along with economic, social, cultural, and political development to sustain human life. Recreational activities can be an important economic activity, but in case of unsuitable development, it also has destructive ecological and economic impacts. Correct planning for basic and practical implementation of these activities can be effective in reducing their negative impacts. In this regard, one of the most important topics discussed in the management and planning of tourism in natural areas is how to select recreational activities that can be developed and demanded by tourists in these areas. To achieve sustainable development, proportionality measurement and assessment of the environment and recreational activities are necessary and essential before any planning.Materials and Methods To identify recreational activities that can be developed in the Hara protected area based on experts' viewpoints and available documents, a list of recreational activities was prepared. Then 43 recreational activities were identified and presented to tourists in the form of a visual questionnaire to determine their selected activities and prioritize them in the numerical range of 1 to 10. According to Cochran's relationship, the sample size for tourists was determined to be 96. In this regard, by randomly distributing 100 questionnaires among tourists, their demand related to the recreational activities available in this area was identified and surveyed. In the next step, the requested activities were screened and selected. The basic selection of activities in this study is based on more than 10% of the total priorities, which among leisure activities with an average of more than 100 and based on the frequency of the first 3 selections (priorities 1 to 3) have the highest demand among tourists. It should be mentioned that the final score of the activities is also standardized and reviewed according to the highest sum of the priority coefficients. After examining the results of questioning by tourists and summarizing the types of recreational activities in demand in the area, to examine recreational activities, a series of location indicators were presented according to the nature of land and coastal-sea activities. Accordingly, according to the relevant study documents, 14 indicators include; slope, maximum height above sea level, coast type, wind intensity, precipitation intensity, water flow speed, maximum wave height, minimum water depth, maximum water depth, suitable time (comfortable climate), viewing angle, viewing direction, maximum viewing distance, and landscape composition was used for spatial proportionality of leisure activities.Discussion and Results As the results revealed, 12 recreational activities from 43 identified activities were selected by tourists, and among these activities, "visit the forest with a balloon" received the highest score, while the lowest score is assigned to "sunbathing on the coast". In addition, among the 14 spatial indicators, "precipitation intensity" and "suitable time for tourism" have been investigated and analyzed in most recreational activities, while other indicators such as "maximum height above sea level" affect a limited number of activities. On the other hand, the most important indicator in the implementation of these activities is the climate suitable for tourism and favorable weather conditions in this area. Considering the land and coastal-sea nature of the selected activities, as well as the topographical and climatic conditions of the area, the spatial distribution of most recreational activities is usable in the coastal profile and in the coastal areas and waters.Conclusions The results indicated that sustainable tourism development depends on the necessity of studying the ability of recreational activities in demand in the tourist destination. Each recreational activity is affected by a range of spatial indicators and also affects the environment. In general, the identification and investigation of recreational activities and spatial indicators in tourism destinations, especially in protected areas that have legal prohibitions and biological restrictions for human activities development, is essential and can help in the planning and proper management of these areas.
tourism management
Payam Partovinia; Niloofar Abbaspoor
Abstract
The development of technology has caused a revolution in the field of tourism and the use of virtual tours is progressing. Therefore, it is necessary to know the level of acceptance of this technology in order to know the destination and desire to visit. The purpose of the research is to investigate ...
Read More
The development of technology has caused a revolution in the field of tourism and the use of virtual tours is progressing. Therefore, it is necessary to know the level of acceptance of this technology in order to know the destination and desire to visit. The purpose of the research is to investigate the willingness of tourists to visit places in person according to the theory of technology acceptance and familiarity with the destination. The population is people who have used virtual tours at least once. Structural equation test was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the effect of the technology acceptance model (perceptual ease, pleasure and usefulness) has a positive effect on the users' familiarity with the destinations of virtual tour , although the effect of perceptual usefulness is insignificant. Also, familiarity with tourist destinations has a positive and significant effect on the desire to visit them.IntroductionDuring the last decade, technological progress has become more intense. The transformation and development of digital programs, computers, and mobile phones are happening daily. The impact of this technology delivery in the tourism industry can be seen in the form of virtual tours. In such a way that virtual tours, by using the information and visual features that they provide to tourists, create motivation for the desire or intention to visit tourist places. The intention to visit tourist attractions can be related to the experiences that a person has already gained. Experiences can make people familiar with goals. This familiarity can be obtained from virtual tours, whose users are influenced by three factors (convenience, pleasure, and perceived usefulness) important for technology adoption. So, knowing the extent and reasons for accepting virtual tours technology can be very important for tourism industry managers. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the willingness of tourists to visit places in real terms according to the theory of technology acceptance and familiarity with the destination.Materials and MethodsThe current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive survey in terms of the nature and method of collection. The statistical population of the research is real people who have used Iran's virtual tour websites and programs at least once. The expression of data collection is also an online questionnaire. The sample size in this research is 204 people, which has been determined based on the number of research items according to the use of structural equations.Discussion and ResultsAccording to the data analysis, the results of the current research showed that the dimensions of the virtual tours technology acceptance model (perceived ease, pleasure, and usefulness) have a positive effect on the recognition of destinations. However, the effect of perceived usefulness on familiarity with the destination was insignificant and this hypothesis was rejected. Also, this hypothesis showed that there is a positive and meaningful effect of familiarity with destinations on the desire to visit tourist destinations.ConclusionsThe ease, pleasure and usefulness that users perceive in the experience of virtual tours, causes them to accept the technology, which allows them to obtain the required information and knowledge about attractions and destinations. As a result, it can be said that the acceptance of technology leads to a better understanding of virtual tours. On the other hand, a better understanding of virtual tours (especially in terms of perceived pleasure and perceived ease) leads to familiarity with tourist destinations. Also, familiarity with the destinations makes virtual tour users want to visit tourist attractions in a real way.
tourism management
Salimeh sadat Khosravi; Nader Naderi
Abstract
In the era of digital transformation, Big Data have assumed a crucial role in changing the global travel and providing significant challenges and opportunities for established companies, as well as new entrants into the tourism industry. this study sought to fill the knowledge gap of linkage the relationships ...
Read More
In the era of digital transformation, Big Data have assumed a crucial role in changing the global travel and providing significant challenges and opportunities for established companies, as well as new entrants into the tourism industry. this study sought to fill the knowledge gap of linkage the relationships between big data and marketing strategy with comprehensive viewpoints across different research fields in tourism and hospitality literatures. This study aims to identify and present a comprehensive model of data driven marketing in smart tourism. This study is conducted by Meta-synthesis approach. After performing CASP analysis, eventually,47 papers are investigated. we identified and prioritized the consequences, challenges, prerequisites and Dimensions of data driven marketing in smart tourism. After investigating the articles, we identified and prioritized the consequences of BD in 7 major Category including: 1-process 2-people 3-product 4-physical evidence 5-promotion 6-place 7-price. This research has contributed to the expansion of the research literature`s knowledge body and can provide researchers and marketing managers with a through understanding of tourism and hospitality in the field of data-driven marketing.Introduction The epistemology of the literature on big data in hospitality and tourism operations provides enormous opportunities and has dynamically revolutionized this discipline, attracting attention from academics. In view of emergency events, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, tourism and hospitality scholars across different disciplines have highlighted the role of big data trends in improving the quality of marketing strategies. For example, Iorio et al. (2020) asserted that big data can be a useful source of information that can not only interpret unstructured data through the knowledge discovery process but also predict tourists’ behaviour when facing requirements that are changeable.Gallego and Font (2020) asserted that managers might use big data to detect the reactivation of visitors to develop targeted marketing strategies and diminish the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, big data analysis provides a better understanding of the social change in present and future issues and value creation by comparing cross-sectional data in diverse areas.Materials and MethodsThis research used the meta-synthesis method to synthesize previous qualitative studies. In this study, the seven-step meta synthesis method established by Sandelowski and Barroso was used, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the sample texts in the meta-synthesis method. Discussion and Resultswe identified and prioritized the consequences of BD in 7 major Category including: 1-process 2-people 3-product 4-physical evidence 5-promotion 6-place 7-price. And Challenges of BD in 4 Category including: 1- Ethical and privacy issues 2- Management and financial issues 3- Technological, human and organizational challenges 4- Data reliability and data accessConclusionsOn the demand side, there has been a massive transformation in consumer behaviour. Consumers have become more experienced, independent and irrational due to changes in their values, lifestyles and demographic patterns. This has forced the supply side to shift from mass marketing to personalized marketing through the rules of market segmentation. The production process has also become more consumer centric. Furthermore, as a sign of a new era in ICTs, concepts such as big data, IoT and AI have recently gained significant importance in many sectors because the developments in ICTs have accelerated worldwide. Tourism is one of the important fields that use these concepts and will also be influenced to a great extent. Such changes will occur in the “P”s of tourism and hospitality marketing on the supply side and consumer behaviour on the demand side. As for the retransformation of tourism and hospitality marketing, new forms of “P”s can be explained as below: First, tourism products and services will be redesigned with the help of ICTs.Products and services will become more destination-oriented and smart destinations will be the core of tourism products and services. Second, the ability to use information technology and develop more technology-oriented products and services will be an indicator of pricing and value. Third, the place where all purchasing and transactions to be handled will become much more virtual. Finally, the promotion will also be more virtual-centric, where consumer decision-making can be influenced by the experience of other consumer peers and more personalized communication channels will be part of online or virtual marketing.
tourism management
Zahra Razmi; Samaneh Ahmadi
Abstract
Today, virtual reality technologies offer unlimited potential for extensive virtual visits to real tourist destinations. The aim of the research is to measure the impact of the variables affecting the change of attitude in the decision to travel using virtual reality. This research is quantitative research, ...
Read More
Today, virtual reality technologies offer unlimited potential for extensive virtual visits to real tourist destinations. The aim of the research is to measure the impact of the variables affecting the change of attitude in the decision to travel using virtual reality. This research is quantitative research, and in terms of purpose, it is applied, and in terms of data collection, it is a descriptive-survey of correlation type. The statistical population of this research is the users of the tourism channel. According to the Cochran relation, the sample size was 270 people, who answered the questions by distributing the questionnaire online in the statistical community. First, the collected data were analyzed and in the next step, the variables were ranked using the process of fuzzy hierarchy analysis. The research findings indicate that the criteria of flexibility, usefulness, perceived pleasure, a positive and significant relationship with changing attitudes has it. The results obtained in the fuzzy hierarchical method show that the variables of attitude change are first rank, usefulness is second rank, decided to travel is third rank, flexibility is fourth rank, perceived pleasure is fifth rank. It is concluded that tourism service providers should create new models in line with tourism marketing in order to raise the level of virtual experience of tourists.IntroductionIn the development of information and communication technology, the growth of virtual reality technology has attracted attention, especially considering the innovations that are expected from the fifth generation of mobile communications (5G). The fifth generation of mobile communications is an international mobile standard with the aim of commercialization in 2020(Lee et al., 2020). Tavakli and Mora say that despite the move towards virtual tourism, the experiences of tourists in virtual tourism destinations remain relatively unknown. This is especially true if the gender identity and behavior patterns of Iranian women in virtual tourism destinations are mentioned (Tavakoli, Mura, 2015). Zhang and colleagues say that although the studies related to virtual tourism have formed a relatively complete theoretical framework, it is not enough to respond to the systematic and comprehensive attitude of tourists and the causes of the attitude towards virtual tourism (Zhang et al., 2022). It has also been raised in the field of challenges; Although virtual reality provides information about the destination as smart tourism and is very useful, it is slow due to the problems of accepting new technology by tourists (Pestek et al., 2020). Tan and his colleagues have conducted research under the title; Borders are open again! Has virtual reality been friend or foe? Therefore, in this regard and according to the above, the basic research question is what effect does virtual reality have on the attitude and ultimately the intention to travel in terms of external and internal motivations? Previous researches have focused on the role of virtual reality displays in creating a sense of presence and how virtual reality affects destination marketing. To answer this question, a new model in technology development was created in this study. The gap that exists is that in few researches, in terms of investigating the motivation in using virtual reality in tourism, a distinction has been made between internal and external motivations, although Leung et al. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a parsimony and should be expanded to include factors that are particularly relevant to it (Leong et al., 2020). Therefore, based on the theory of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, in the technology acceptance model, the current research measures the effect of flexibility, usefulness and perceived enjoyment of virtual reality on the change of attitude in the decision to travel. In the current research, an attempt has been made to change the attitude towards virtual reality in tourism. In addition to external motives such as usefulness, criteria such as curiosity, relaxation, and personal belief, which are internal motives, have been investigate.Material and Method:This research is quantitative research, and in terms of its purpose, it is applied, and in terms of the method of data collection, it is a descriptive-survey of the correlation type. The method of collecting information is divided into two categories: field (questionnaire tool) and library sources. Library sources have been used to collect theoretical foundations and research literature, and field methods have been used to collect research data. The confirmatory factor analysis test was used to verify the validity of the questions and to specify the key factors of each component, and the structural equation modeling technique was used to check the fit of the research model with the collected data. In the next step, we rank the variables using Fuzzy Hierarchy Analysis Process (FAHP), and make decisions by converting expression variables into triangular fuzzy numbers.Discussion and resultsThree variables of flexibility, usefulness, and pleasure were considered in attitude change, and in attitude change, in addition to measures of external motives, measures of internal motives such as curiosity, relaxation, and personal belief are effective in the decision to travel. ConclusionsThe findings show that the more the level of usefulness, perceived pleasure and flexibility increases in the virtual space, the more the person's attitude changes accordingly. In the next step, we ranked the confirmed variables using the fuzzy AHP method. Basically, although fuzzy systems describe uncertain and uncertain phenomena, the fuzzy theory itself is a precise theory. The results obtained based on the weighting coefficient show that the attitude change variable ranks first, usefulness ranks second, decision to travel ranks third, flexibility ranks fourth, and perceived pleasure ranks fifth. The findings of the research showed that the flexibility, usefulness, perceived enjoyment of virtual reality by virtual tourism users had an effect on the change of attitude, and this factor leads to their intention to travel. The result of this will increase the number of tourists in the real environment. Therefore, it is suggested that virtual reality service providers design programs and applications based on this technology to enrich the content of advertising video by adding more dynamic interactive virtual reality elements, creating immersive virtual reality products in order to improve the experience. Increasing the enjoyable experience of virtual tourists affects their behavioral intentions and as a result requests for more information about destinations, the likelihood of visiting the virtual site and then the real trip. The findings showed that in addition to external motives such as usefulness, measures such as curiosity, soothing, and personal belief, which are internal motives, have an effect on the intention to travel
tourism management
Ali Motevali; Ali Mobini Dehkordi; Hossein Sadeghi
Abstract
The need to transition to an economic system that does not exceed environmental constraints requires a great deal of effort to address sustainability issues. In this regard, the circular economy model is expanding at political, commercial, and academic levels. The present study aimed to identify and ...
Read More
The need to transition to an economic system that does not exceed environmental constraints requires a great deal of effort to address sustainability issues. In this regard, the circular economy model is expanding at political, commercial, and academic levels. The present study aimed to identify and analyze the factors influencing the entrepreneurial ecotourism based on circular economy. Having retrieved a total of 152 articles from the Google Scholar database, the study applied various filters and identified the most relevant articles (i.e., 14 items) regarding title, abstract, methodology, and article text. A meta-synthesis approach was used to analyze the articles, which led to the identification of 62 open codes and, at a higher level, seven core codes. The extracted categories were finally categorized under three stages: pre-circulation (empowerment and value creation), circulation (technology and biocentrism), and post-circulation (recycling and continuity).IntroductionDespite being classified as a service sector that produces intangible services, tourism relies on vast amounts and flows of inexhaustible natural resources. However, it largely reflects a linear production model (Manniche et al., 2021), which is based on a linear model of production and consumption, namely extraction/production and consumption/disposal, which depletes natural resources and produces waste. The current linear economy neither optimizes the use of materials nor promotes recycling and reuse of waste. Therefore, policymakers and stakeholders worldwide have increasingly focused on the concept of circular economy (CE). However, much of the CE literature has been developed mainly for the manufacturing sector, with only a limited number of sources devoted to the tourism sector, where massive consumption of energy and water, food waste, congestion problems, and CO2 emissions are prevailing (Rodríguez et al., 2020). Nonetheless, there is a growing focus on CE in order to address sustainability challenges. CE is emerging as a transformational model with economic, environmental, and social benefits (Clube & Tennant, 2020). It is gaining popularity in academia, industry, and policymaking as an alternative model that reduces resource consumption and minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. Business models are essential for implementing this concept at the organizational level (Geissdoerfera et al., 2020). However, there are very few documented initiatives on CE in the tourism industry, and this area has yet to be fully explored. CE is considered a relatively new paradigm that can contribute to a more sustainable tourism industry. In this respect, the tourism industry is worthy of further attention since it plays an essential role in economic transformation due to its multiplier effect on the whole economy and its capacity to encourage cyclical flows among suppliers and customers.Materials and MethodsThe current study is a qualitative research based on the meta-synthesis approach which involves examination of the data and findings extracted from other qualitative studies related to a research topic. It is worth noting that meta-synthesis is not the same as a comprehensive review of the qualitative literature. In meta-synthesis, the secondary and primary data analysis is applied not to the studies themselves but to their findings, so it involves combining interpretations of the primary data from the selected studies. This approach focuses on qualitative studies that do not necessarily cover a broad theoretical basis and, instead of providing a comprehensive summary of the findings, creates an interpretive synthesis of the findings (Zimmer, 2006). The sample of the present study consisted of a number of qualitative studies selected according to their relevance to the research question (Walsh & Down, 2005). Having retrieved a total of 152 articles from the Google Scholar database, the study applied various filters and identified the most relevant articles (i.e., 14 items) regarding title, abstract, methodology, and article text. They were then analyzed through a meta-synthesis approach, leading to the identification of several themes and categories.Results and DiscussionThe extracted categories were categorized under three stages: pre-circulation (empowerment and value creation), circulation (technology and biocentrism), and post-circulation (recycling and continuity).ConclusionThe primary purpose of this study was to identify and analyze previous research in the field of CE and its relationship with the tourism industry. Based on the analysis of the relevant articles, the extraction categories were categorized under three stages: pre-circulation (empowerment and value creation), circulation (technology and biocentrism), and post-circulation (recycling and continuity). The research findings suggest that developing the tourism industry based on CE approach is considered essential for sustainable growth and development of regions. The industry’s evolution towards CE to minimize its environmental footprint is of great importance. Circular tourism emphasizes the reuse of goods and waste recycling, and considers the use of second-hand rental goods and facilities as a valuable measure. In circular tourism, unlike linear tourism, the tour process does not end with the completion of the tour but enters the post-tour stage, which is as important as the tour stage. Compared to previous research, the present study is innovative in both practical and theoretical aspects. It is innovative in terms of research because it is one of the first studies in Iran to address the issue of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the tourism industry with an emphasis on CE. Secondly, it looked at the conditions and advantages of tourism from an ecosystem perspective. The research findings can be useful for policymakers concerned with improving competitiveness and creating a conducive environment for entrepreneurial businesses. The novelty of this study lies in the contribution it makes by providing the relevant policymakers with a refined and new insight into the topic.
tourism management
Vahid Mirzaei; Hamed Erfaniyan
Abstract
IntroductionThe highly competitive service industry often experiences customer aggression towards frontline employees, causing stress and discomfort for service workers, and leading to decreased motivation and job satisfaction. The theory of conservation of resources suggests that retaining valuable ...
Read More
IntroductionThe highly competitive service industry often experiences customer aggression towards frontline employees, causing stress and discomfort for service workers, and leading to decreased motivation and job satisfaction. The theory of conservation of resources suggests that retaining valuable employees is crucial for service organizations to differentiate themselves from competitors, especially as employee turnover can lead to the loss of brand equity (Wheeler et al., 2006). Ensuring employee satisfaction and mitigating the impact of customer aggression are essential to maintaining service quality in the hospitality industry, where customers have become increasingly discerning and can easily switch between service providers. Active managers in service organizations attempt to reduce emotional exhaustion among employees through effective counseling and coaching. Despite these efforts, customer aggression and negative behavior towards hotel employees continue to persist, leading to job dissatisfaction and high turnover rates. In service organizations like hotels, intense competition and customer aggression have led to a submissive organizational culture that causes stress and anxiety among employees, ultimately resulting in high turnover rates (Abbas et al., 2014). Mashhad, as a tourist-friendly city, has experienced a recent surge in hotel development, increasing the competition among service organizations. While paying attention to the role of frontline employees in providing tourism services and hospitality to customers can effectively attract and retain customers, observations indicate that frontline employees in the hotel industry face aggressiveness and inappropriate behavior from customers. The present study investigates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion, as well as the moderating roles of distributive justice and organizational pride in the context of five-star hotels in Mashhad.Materials and MethodsThe present research employed a field data collection method and the method of descriptive correlation. The statistical population of the research consisted of the staff of five-star hotels in Mashhad in 2021. Cochran’s formula and simple random sampling method were used to select a sample of 110 participants. Six standard questionnaires were used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaires were approved by the experts, and the reliability was measured and confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. To analyze the data, the study employed both descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (skewness-elongation and structural equation method with a partial least squares approach) through Amos software.Results and DiscussionThe results showed a significant relationship between customer aggression and turnover intention. Moreover, the study found that emotional fatigue mediates the relationship between customer aggression and job satisfaction and job satisfaction and turnover intention. The first research hypothesis was confirmed as customer aggression has a positive and significant relationship with emotional fatigue. The findings also supported the second hypothesis by showing the mediating role of emotional fatigue in the relationship between customer aggression and job satisfaction. Concerning the third hypothesis, the results showed that there is a significant inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. Testing the fourth hypothesis, the study found that distributive justice moderates the relationship between customer aggression and emotional fatigue. Finally, concerning the fifth hypothesis, the results showed that organizational pride moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention.ConclusionThe present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of emotional fatigue and the moderating role of distributive justice and organizational pride in the relationship between customer aggression and turnover intention. The first hypothesis was supported as the findings showed that customer aggression has a positive and significant relationship with emotional fatigue, which is consistent with prior research conducted by Katb et al. (2009), Behzor and Yagil (2005), and Grandey et al. (2007). Hotel employees are exposed to high levels of stress in the workplace. Due to the lack of organizational support and insufficient training, they are unable to deal with the stressful situations related to customer aggression and anger management. Consequently, their emotional fatigue increases, their satisfaction decreases, and their desire to leave the job increases. The second hypothesis showed that emotional fatigue mediates the relationship between customer aggression and job satisfaction, which is consistent with the findings of Han et al. (2016) and Karatepe et al. (2009). According to this hypothesis, customer aggression reduces employee job satisfaction by increasing emotional fatigue. Low job satisfaction due to emotional fatigue caused by customer aggression leads to employee turnover intention. Employees who lack the ability to control themselves and are faced with potentially verbally aggressive customers in the workplace may experience job dissatisfaction. Emotional fatigue can have a destructive effect on job satisfaction of service employees. Concerning the third hypothesis, the findings indicated a significant inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. In this case, the results are consistent with the findings of Mortazavi and Rajabipour Meibodi (2011), Samad (2006), Rahim Nia and Hoshiar (2010), Islam et al. (2014), Saleh et al. (2012) and Shahbazi et al. (2008). This finding highlights the problem of turnover of specialized forces and managers, which is a significant issue in today’s organizations and can be the bane of the organizational movement and of the managers who seek to preserve, maintain, and improve the productivity of human resources. If employees are not satisfied with their job, the probability of leaving the organization increases. The types of employee turnover available to them are related to their job and organizational satisfaction. Thus, hotel managers can decrease turnover intention by satisfying their employees.Regarding the fourth hypothesis, the findings showed that distributive justice moderates the relationship between customer aggression and emotional fatigue. The finding suggests that employees’ emotional fatigue increases when they face customer aggression and perceive a lack of organizational justice in terms of fair allocation of rights, rewards, facilities, and work schedules. Moreover, when employees feel that decision-making procedures and methods concerning their conditions are fair and just, their understanding of distributive justice increases, and they will likely behave better towards clients. The results are also supported by Jafari (2015) and Golparvar and Nadi (2008). The results of the fifth hypothesis showed that organizational pride moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. This finding suggests that employees with high job satisfaction and organizational pride are less likely to leave their jobs. Therefore, if employees are proud of their organization, they become more emotionally and psychologically attached to their work environment. More attached to their work, such employees show increased commitment to providing services to customers and decreased desire to leave their work environment.
tourism management
Faeze sadat Mir Fakhraddini
Abstract
AbstractThe coronavirus pandemis caused many operational challenges for hotel management. In this situation, it became clear that many hotels and accommodation centers do not use performance management systems. On the contrary, they have performance evaluation systems that usually include annual evaluation ...
Read More
AbstractThe coronavirus pandemis caused many operational challenges for hotel management. In this situation, it became clear that many hotels and accommodation centers do not use performance management systems. On the contrary, they have performance evaluation systems that usually include annual evaluation and review, and there is little alignment between the hotel's performance and its strategic goals. It only focuses on the past performance of the hotel. Therefore, the necessity of identifying suitable criteria for performance management rather than its evaluation is felt in hotels. For this purpose, in this article, criteria for designing the performance management model in hotels with the meta-synthesis method were collected and leveled using the structural-interpretive modeling approach according to the opinion of experts. In this article, 14 criteria have been identified that will help to improve the management of hotel performance in the critical conditions of the corona outbreak and are in line with the essential administrative, strategic, and communication goals, development, and maintenance of hotels. Therefore, they can help address performance management challenges. In the classification of identified criteria, "government policies and leadership skills" were the most effective criteria, and "customer loyalty and reduction of hotel costs" were among the most effective criteria. IntroductionIn recent years, globalization has made the spread of viruses more effective and has created significant challenges for manufacturing and service industries. In 2019, the high infection rate of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the death rate created a new fear in society as people worried about the negative consequences of this pandemic. Life in the 21st century has become challenging due to the dramatic changes caused by the recent pandemic. The severity of the effects of Covid-19 has caused all industries to face unprecedented economic crises. The hotel and tourism industry has faced many problems due to a sharp reduction in the workforce and tourists, and financial issues arising from it. (Gosling et al., 2020). The problem that exists in this regard is the problems of the hotel industry in the field of performance management and that the expected improvements in performance, responsiveness, transparency, and service quality have not yet occurred as desired; On the other hand, the spread of the coronavirus has fueled the problems in this area. Due to the lack of research, the need for more research in this field is felt.Therefore, the design and expression of a new and innovative model of performance management in such organizations are necessary and undeniable, and the lack of a model for managing the performance of hotels, especially in Yazd, whose historical context has also reached the world record. It is the basis for the formation of this research.Materials and MethodsThe main goal of this research is to design a performance management framework for hotels in the context of the outbreak of the coronavirus, which can be used to obtain real results from the relationships between performance management criteria. Considering this goal and the research questions mentioned in the problem statement, the current research is exploratory-survey and practical in terms of its purpose. The field of research is organizational performance management in hotels in Yazd province. This research data has been collected in two ways: documentary and survey.This article consists of two parts: first, stating the problem, necessity, and background of the research and identifying performance management criteria in the hotel industry, various sources including books, articles, and other resources available in the field of the research problem have been studied and analyzed by meta-synthesis. Various methods have been presented to perform meta-synthesis, and the seven-stage model of Sandelowski and Barroso has been used in this article.In the second part, the structural-interpretive modeling method is used to design the model of relationships between criteria.Discussion and ResultsThe first part: determining and finalizing the criteria: to extract the criteria systematically, the meta-synthesis method was used.All the criteria in the table above were categorized and provided to research experts. During various meetings, experts reviewed, evaluated, and sometimes combined the criteria. Finally, 14 criteria were agreed upon and entered the next research stage as the final criteria. The final criteria are:Financial ability and hotel facilities (hotel resources); 2. Health and medical preparation in the hotel; 3. Government policies; 4. Leadership and management skills; 5. Hotel marketing actions and strategies; 6. Crisis management; 7. Innovation in providing hotel services and activities; 8. Flexibility in providing new services in the hotel; 9. Identify key performance areas; 10. Transparency in the current affairs of the hotel (creating trust and confidence); 11. Reducing hotel costs; 12. Improving the quality of services provided to hotel guests; 13. Customer loyalty to the hotel; 14. Increase in hotel staff empowerment.The second part: designing a structural-interpretive model of hotel performance management during the corona outbreak; to draw the structural-interpretive model based on the levels of the variables and the final access matrix, a preliminary model was drawn, and the final model was obtained by removing transferability."Decreasing hotel costs" is the highest-level of goal. The goals at a higher level have less influence and are more influenced by the criteria of lower levels. At the lowest level of the model, there are "government policies" and "leadership and management skills." These two criteria act as basic criteria, and the hotel performance management process during corona's outbreak should be one of these criteria. Start and spread to other criteria. ConclusionsThe results of this research determined that performance management criteria in the hotel industry with the ISM approach are placed at six levels. Whereas the criteria of "government policies and leadership and management skills" were at the lowest level. This means that the factors mentioned above are the basis of hotel performance management during the corona outbreak, and attention to these factors is prioritized for hotel management in critical and special conditions. Therefore, it is recommended to improve hotel management skills and make decisions and plans based on government policies.Also, based on the findings of the Mic-Mac framework, it was determined that the criteria of hotel resources, health and medical preparation in the hotel, marketing measures and strategies, and innovation in the provision of hotel services and activities; have a significant influence on other factors. So hotel managers should pay more attention to them because changes in these criteria affect other performance criteria.
tourism management
Mehdi Karoubi; Fatemeh Yavari Gohar; seyed mojtaba mahmoudzadeh; Nasim Mohammadian Mahmoudjigh
Abstract
In recent years, some countries and destinations have used brands to describe themselves, in a way that "tourism nation branding" has become one of the main focuses of tourism marketing studies. On the other hand, tourism development depends more on tourism policy-making than the known underlying factors, ...
Read More
In recent years, some countries and destinations have used brands to describe themselves, in a way that "tourism nation branding" has become one of the main focuses of tourism marketing studies. On the other hand, tourism development depends more on tourism policy-making than the known underlying factors, which imply the determination of governments to develop this industry, and it reflects in high-scale documents and laws as well as in monitoring their proper implementation. This study analyzes the branding approach in macro policies of tourism in Iran. The research is descriptive-analytical and qualitative. After reviewing the research background, tourism nation branding policies were extracted from the content of the selected documents by thematic analysis. Then 243 primary codes were categorized into 62 basic themes, 21 organizing themes, and four global themes entitled (1)Nation tourism branding, (2)Components, (3)Effects, and (4)Factors affecting it. Finally, the thematic network was drawn, and the results were interpreted. According to the findings, not only the specialized indicators of tourism nation branding but also the primary indicators of policy-making have been ignored. At the top of them are a lack of systematization, a lack of stability and integrity, and a lack of guidance on implementing decisions.IntroductionIt seems that an essential part of the challenge of not paying attention to tourism branding can be found in macro tourism policies and policy-makers' lack of attention to integrating tourism development and marketing measures through branding. Therefore, the present study is designed in response to this question of whether the branding approach can be discovered in macro tourism policies? So we can explain the situation of tourism branding in the macro perspectives of the country to identify gaps and fundamental shortcomings of the Iranian policy system in this field.In addition, a comparison of credible reports related to the national brand with tourism reports (before the Covid-19 epidemic) shows that 7 out of the top 10 countries in the NBI index presented in 2019 were among the top tourist destinations in the world (in terms of tourist attraction and income) in the same year, which was published in the report of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) entitled Tourism Highlights 2020.Materials and MethodsThe present study aimed to analyze the policies of different parts of the tourism nation branding in basic and large-scale documents, using thematic analysis. Then, the themes related to tourism branding were extracted. For this purpose, the basic (specific to tourism) and large-scale (macro) laws, documents, programs, and regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran related to the field of tourism were identified (21 documents). Considering that the Iranian tourism industry has been influenced by the political institution more than anything else, the documents after the Islamic Revolution of Iran have been introduced and examined in this study. Then, based on the Attride-Stirling method, the coding was performed to identify basic themes (codes and points of the text), organizing themes (combining and summarizing basic themes), and global themes (governing the whole text) to form a thematic network. This research is descriptive-analytical and qualitative (in terms of the nature of the data).Discussion and ResultsThe first step- parsing the text: first, the content of the documents was studied independently by the researchers, and the irrelevant or unuseful information was removed. Then, by separating the useful and related points, for example, the related content to tourism, branding, and its dimensions (explicitly or implicitly), the coding process began, and the basic themes were identified based on the initial codes.The second step- interpreting the text and drawing the thematic network: In the next step, 243 initial codes were identified after reviewing the basic themes and ensuring the method of classification, naming, and adapting them to the original codes. Then, the primary codes were categorized into 62 basic themes, 21 organizing themes, and four global themes entitled (1) Nation tourism branding, (2) Components, (3) Effects, and (4) Factors affecting it. Finally, the thematic network was drawn, and the results were interpreted.ConclusionsAs confirmed in the present study, despite the importance of the tourism industry as an economic sector in the world, tourism nation branding has received little attention from policy-makers and the planning system in Iran. So that, only designing a random logo and slogan has been considered. Even designing and implementing a promotional program (albeit short-term) did not matter much for the same logo. In this regard, contrary to the consensus of researchers on the process of place branding and destinations branding, such an approach can not be traced in the selected documents, which shows the lack of importance of tourism branding in the field of public policy and tourism policy. The findings of this study are in line with the research literature. However, there are many obstacles along the way. According to the findings, it seems that given the current situation and the incomprehensible position of tourism nation branding in public policy, Iran is not currently ready to develop a purposeful and coherent tourism nation brand in the long run.
