Management of Quality, Satisfaction, and Loyalty of Rural Destinations

Tourism is a major global industry that, in its heyday, has become significantly concerned with quality and related themes, satisfaction and loyalty. This chapter aims to identify the factors that influence the quality of a rural destination and the associated visitor satisfaction and loyalty. These factors in turn have an impact on destination management, but also other stakeholders such as tourism entrepreneurs in the destination or residents. In 2020, tourism has undergone significant changes due to the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For instance, travel abroad was regulated through government regulations, which caused an increase in demand for rural tourism. As the author's research has shown, some quality factors have undergone significant changes. Even the quality management to achieve visitor satisfaction and loyalty has proven to be very important, especially in the sense that by gaining loyalty at this specific time, it can ensure that visitor numbers are maintained even after the pandemic period when the return of and high growth in overseas travel is expected.

Smart concept in rural tourism: a comparison between two phases (2016-2019)

Smart Tourism is the main component of current destinations, however, there are severe difficulties for its application in small destinations. This problem is essential in the case of rural tourism. Taramundi is one of the most important rural destinations in Spain. There are two surveys about tourists conducted in 2016 and 2019. These surveys are about obtaining data on changes in the behavior of tourists in the dynamic field of mobile technologies. The results indicated the importance of the smartphone for rural tourism, the temporary growth in the use of its tourist utilities, and most importantly, the technological applications that improve the enjoyment stay. The rural tourist does not abandon the use of pre- and post-travel regarding Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), but the interest in Tics during travel increases significantly. Specifically, the App of Destiny is the central element of smart rural tourism, seeing that it should focus on the increase of new technographic utilities for tourists. In the perspective of Gretzel (2018), the application of the concept of Smart Tourist Destination is impossible in rural areas. However, with a specialization approach, rural destinations must work towards the goal of “smartification.”

Energizing Intention to Visit Rural Destinations: How Social Media Disposition and Social Media Use Boost Tourism Through Information Publicity

This study aimed to examine the impact of information publicity on the intention of tourists to visit rural destinations in developing countries. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we examined the indirect effect of information publicity on intention to visit via subjective norms and further investigated the moderating effect of social media disposition and social media use. The study used data from a time-lagged design with three waves which supported the hypothesized model. The findings revealed that information publicity has an influence on the intention of tourists to visit through the mediating effect of subjective norms. Moreover, the social media disposition strengthened the relationship between information publicity and subjective norms. Furthermore, social media use positively moderated the relationship between subjective norms and intention to visit. Besides the core TPB constructs, the added variables indeed exerted a substantial impact on the visit intention of tourists. The study contributed to the tourism-related literature on social media and the practical implications were discussed.

Innovation, Digital Solutions and MaaS Concept in Touristic Insular and Rural Destinations: The Case of the Shared Mobility Agency in Elba

This chapter aims to describe the role of innovation and digital solutions in facing the mobility needs of the rural areas and tourist destinations and, at the same time, to discuss the problems and conditions for their use in the provision of the different mobility and transport services. Innovation in the mobility provision chain is analysed in relation to the relevant service elements (schemes, planning, programming, evaluation and support) in order to clarify that innovation does not automatically mean digital solutions. An overview of the emerging trends in digital solutions is provided, focusing on the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept and mobile applications. For the APP, market-specific considerations are developed on the different roles and typologies, making a classification for understanding current Mobility APP “Jungle”. Moreover, the concept of Shared Use Mobility Agency (SUMA) is presented. SUMA aims to integrate smart mobility services under the concept of MaaS in order to answer to the mobility needs of residents and tourists acting on the demand and providing coordinated collective and ridesharing transport services. SUMA could be considered an “innovative” approach mixing advanced digital architecture and shared mobility schemes with the relevant organization, operation and business elements. Section 5 presents the SUMA implementation in Elba island (Regione Toscana-Italy), within CIVITAS DESTINATIONS project underlying the specifications of the platform and APP. Finally, besides the specific recommendations provided in each section, key recommendations for Mobility Authority and Transport Operators are spotlighted.

Under-tourism regions and destinations: what are their opportunities to succeed?

PurposeThe paper aims to identify the success factors that guide the sustainable development of rural tourism destinations in Cyprus.Design/methodology/approachFor the purpose of this study, two rural villages in the Larnaca and Limassol districts of Cyprus were selected as a sample. Interviews, field visits, interactions with practitioners, the local community and leaders in these villages then followed. Thematic analysis was applied to identify the factors guiding the sustainable development of these villages.FindingsNine success factors were identified: finding the theme and engaging with it, allowing locals to guide the development, training and education, economic benefits, developing new products and services, community involvement, the role of younger people, strong leadership and island-wide efforts to rebrand Cyprus as a destination. These factors seem to be critical to the success of sustainable rural destinations and to rebranding Cyprus as a destination that offers authentic experiences.Originality/valueThe nine success factors identified by studying two villages in Cyprus can guide other rural destinations in finding their path to sustainable development through themes and authentic experiences.

Breaking Brands: New Boundaries in Rural Destinations

Tourism destinations are generally delimited and branded based on administrative boundaries, which act as artificial barriers that may reduce the competitiveness of the tourism sector. Increasingly, literature is taking a demand perspective (i.e., tourist spatial behaviour) when identifying and promoting destinations. This perspective can help to promote destinations more efficiently, particularly in rural areas, where most tourism flows depend on private vehicle and which do not take into account administrative boundaries. These flows are therefore highly conditioned by the geography of the area, hosting capacity and the cumulative effect of attractions. This research centres on brand creation from a tourist perspective, particularly how tourists consume a destination. Els Ports (Spain), a rural mountain area divided into multiple administrative divisions, each marketing its own brand, is taken as a case study. Recently, destination managers have seen the opportunity for regional cooperation and taken steps to cross traditional boundaries to market the area better. This study uses GIS techniques to compare tourist travel patterns with brand boundaries and new cooperative initiatives. The findings provide material for discussion on the branding strategy of Els Ports and the need to rebrand rural tourism destinations into functional tourism areas.

Music in the Tourism Offering of Rural Regions (The Case of Eastern Croatia)

Music is an important element of a destination’s integrated tourism product, especially in rural regions. This fact raises a variety of issues, in particular with regard to the tourism management of rural destinations. Answers are sought to questions on how music can be valorised to help create a distinctive tourism product, making it necessary to analyse the current state of the music offering before objectives can be set and concrete solutions, devised, to accomplish them. This paper explores the music offering of the rural regions of eastern Croatia and presents the results of a survey of the attitudes of destination managers (managers of tourist boards) in rural regions of eastern Croatia, with special emphasis on traditional music that is increasingly present and contributes to creating distinctive rural destinations (the valorisation of sound and music in the offering should also enhance the inclusion of music in promotion). The studied rural destinations of eastern Croatia are not developed in terms of tourism and their tourist accommodation capacities are very small. Music offering management, together with the valorisation and preservation of traditional values, could help them enhance their distinctiveness in the tourism market.

Migrant Selection and Sorting during the Great American Drought

Migration is among the most basic adaptation methods to inhospitable environments and has large economic consequences for both migrants and the broader economy. To estimate the impact of the worst drought in U.S. history on migration, I match 1940 census data with county-level drought conditions. I find that drought substantially increased migration rates for individuals with a 12th grade education or higher but had little impact on migration rates for people with less education. This differential migration response to drought by education was most pronounced in counties with larger economic downturns during the Great Depression, consistent with the hypothesis that individual liquidity constraints limited migration for people with lower human capital. In terms of where migrants went, I show that the majority of migrants in the late 1930s relocated to rural destinations. In fact, migrants from drought counties were less likely to relocate to cities compared to similar migrants from non-drought counties. These findings detail the impact of widespread drought for Depression-era migration and document the central role of individual human capital in the uptake of migration from climate shocks.

Location of Airbnb and hotels: the spatial distribution and relationships

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the spatial distribution of Airbnb and hotels in London and examine the relationship between demographic, socioeconomic and environmental factors and the supply of these two types of lodging supply. Design/methodology/approach Local information of Airbnb listings in London was collected through Insideairbnb.com. Gathered data were examined using geo-spatial auto-correlation analysis and spatial econometric models. Findings The results indicate that Airbnb predominates in the areas around popular tourist attractions and the peripheral areas of the city, while in the downtown area Airbnb and hotels are in the state of coexistence. The mono-centric model and the agglomeration model could be extended to the context of peer-to-peer accommodation. The location of Airbnb and traditional hotels capitalizes on different factors. Research limitations/implications The study is based on secondary data due to data availability. And, it is based on the case of London, so the findings may not reflect the situation of small cities and rural destinations. Practical implications This study not only gives suggestions for local councils to regulate the location of hotels and Airbnb but also provides professional landlords with reference to choosing Airbnb location. Originality/value This study extends the hotel location theoretical models into the context of Airbnb and sheds lights on the distinction between these two business models in terms of location factors.