Application of a gender perspective in tourism research: a theoretical and practical approach

Purpose This paper aims to present a conceptual model that identifies and relates the different approaches and thematic areas in the research area of tourism and gender. Design/methodology/approach The design of the conceptual model is based on a critical review of the literature and the evolution of feminist paradigms and theories. Findings The aforementioned theoretical frameworks are the basis for the further development of feminist studies and a gender perspective in the tourism industry research area, including research design, objectives, methodologies, analysis and result’s presentation. Research limitations/implications Based on literature review, is theoretical. Originality/value Presentation of a conceptual model around the gender perspective in tourism, that leads to the identification of important research opportunities in this area.

Will this search end up with booking? Modeling airline booking conversion of anonymous visitors

Purpose Over the past two decades, online booking has become a predominant distribution channel of tourism products. As online sales have become more important, understanding booking conversion behavior remains a critical topic in the tourism industry. The purpose of this study is to model airline search and booking activities of anonymous visitors. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a stochastic approach to explicitly model dynamics of airline customers’ search, revisit and booking activities. A Markov chain model simultaneously captures transition probabilities and the timing of search, revisit and booking decisions. The suggested model is demonstrated on clickstream data from an airline booking website. Findings Empirical results show that low prices (captured as discount rates) lead to not only booking propensities but also overall stickiness to a website, increasing search and revisit probabilities. From the decision timing of search and revisit activities, the author observes customers’ learning effect on browsing time and heterogeneous intentions of website visits. Originality/value This study presents both theoretical and managerial implications of online search and booking behavior for airline and tourism marketing. The dynamic Markov chain model provides a systematic framework to predict online search, revisit and booking conversion and the time of the online activities.

Transformational leadership and the European Foundation for Quality Management model in five-star hotels

Purpose This work analyses quality management (through the European Foundation for Quality Management-EFQM-model) and transformational leadership in hotels in Spain. Design/methodology/approach The study analyses 102 5-star and 5-star large luxury hotels that answer a questionnaire on transformational leadership and the EFQM model. It analyses the degree of importance of quality and transformational leadership in hotels, the significant differences between groups of hotels (according to stars, size, modality and type of product) and the association between transformational leadership and quality. Findings The results show the levels of quality and transformational leadership, minor significant differences between groups and an association between the two variables. In general, chain-affiliated hotels have a higher level of leadership and a more advanced employee and process management than independent hotels. Also, those hotels that focus on a vacational product show a lower attention to the strategy dimension in the EFQM model. The number of employees is not an important factor to adopt quality. Finally, transformational leadership allows hotels to advance in the development of quality management. Originality/value Although there are studies on quality management that show the importance of leadership for quality, there are few studies that examine transformational leadership and quality in the same study, mainly in the tourism industry, and especially in the case of the hotel industry.

Cláusulas abusivas en contratos de transporte aéreo de personas: doctrina jurisprudencial sobre el cargo por remisión de tarjeta de embarque

Purpose Este artículo tiene por objeto analizar uno de los casos más importantes en los últimos años en los que se han declarado nulas ciertas cláusulas abusivas incluidas por las aerolíneas en los contratos de transporte aéreo con los consumidores, en concreto, se trata de la Sentencia de la Audiencia Provincial de Madrid, sección 28, de 26 de julio de 2017 y, especialmente, se estudiará la cláusula de cargo por remisión de la tarjeta de embarque. Design/methodology/approach A través del estudio de la mencionada sentencia, este trabajo mostrará cómo el contrato de transporte aéreo de personas siendo uno de los contratos más importantes actualmente, presenta una situación de especial desequilibrio y desprotección de los consumidores frente a las aerolíneas. Findings La falta de poder de negociación de los consumidores, las escasas alternativas que tienen en muchos casos y los precios generalmente altos de este contrato de transporte, hacen imprescindibles dispensar una protección adecuada a los consumidores en este contexto. Esto se puede lograr a través de leyes tuitivas que protejan sus intereses económicos y, especialmente como se analiza en el artículo, mediante la prohibición de cláusulas abusivas en los contratos de transporte aéreo. Originality/value El artículo hace un recorrido por algunas de las cláusulas abusivas incluidas en los contratos de transporte aéreo de pasajeros en los últimos años y muestra cómo debe evitarse que las aerolíneas impongan estas cláusulas que perjudican a la parte más débil del contrato y advierte que estamos aún lejos de conseguir una efectiva protección del consumidor en este ámbito como se explica con algún ejemplo final.

La cesión de uso de viviendas con fines turísticos: algunos aspectos fiscales

Purpose La utilización de plataformas colaborativas, que intermedian en la cesión de uso de viviendas con fines turísticos, ha originado: por una parte, que se adopten medidas con el objetivo de prevenir el fraude fiscal (como por ejemplo, la obligación de información, a través del modelo 179) y, por otra parte, que la Administración tributaria preste especial atención al tratamiento fiscal de los rendimientos percibidos por los usuarios de las plataformas colaborativas. Design/methodology/approach Enfoque jurídico-tributario. Findings Las conclusiones se han puesto de manifiesto en el trabajo de investigación realizado. Originality/value Análisis de algunos aspectos fiscales sobre la cesión de uso de viviendas con fines turísticos.

Benefit segmentation of a summer destination in Uruguay: a clustering and classification approach

Purpose This study aims to perform a benefit segmentation and then a classification of visitors that travel to the Rocha Department in Uruguay from the capital city of Montevideo during the summer months. Design/methodology/approach A convenience sample was obtained with an online survey. A total of 290 cases were usable for subsequent data analysis. The following statistical techniques were used: hierarchical cluster analysis, K-means cluster analysis, machine learning, support vector machines, random forest and logistic regression. Findings Visitors that travel to the Rocha Department from Montevideo can be classified into four distinct clusters. Clusters are labelled as “entertainment seekers”, “Rocha followers”, “relax and activities seekers” and “active tourists”. The support vector machine model achieved the best classification results. Research limitations/implications Implications for destination marketers who cater to young visitors are discussed. Destination marketers should determine an optimal level of resource allocation and destination management activities that compare both present costs and discounted potential future income of the different target markets. Surveying non-residents was not possible. Future work should sample tourists from abroad. Originality/value The combination of market segmentation of Rocha Department’s visitors from the city of Montevideo and classification of sampled individuals training various machine learning classifiers would allow Rocha’s destination marketers determine the belonging of an unsampled individual into one of the already obtained four clusters, enhancing marketing promotion for targeted offers.

Perceptions of tourism: a study of residents' attitudes towards tourism in the city of Girona

Purpose Socio-cultural impacts of tourism have been widely researched within a social exchange theoretical framework, yet it seems that this theory could be neglecting those more emotional elements, which at the same time could be considered key to understand how tourism affects the society. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to look at the social exchange theory (SET) from a different perspective and focus on those less rational influencing factors that could be shaping residents’ attitudes towards tourism. Design/methodology/approach Based on six main constructs, a quantitative survey-based research is developed in the small city of Girona with the purpose to broaden the versality of the theory, with the support of in-depth exploratory interviews. Thus, an exhaustive study of the influences that attachment to communities, involvement in the tourism industry and personal benefits derived from tourism could have on residents’ perceptions is developed. Findings This paper suggests that those smaller tourism destinations might mirror themselves in those close big tourism destinations and thus residents’ opinions and attitudes seem to be influenced by the situations lived in these larger tourism destinations. Moreover, this paper stresses on the importance of interactions and relationships between tourists and residents to boost personal benefits from tourism. Finally, results show how those attached citizens tend to support tourism development, which could be explained by the proudness they feel when others value what for them is home. Originality/value This paper contributes to the current understanding of attitudes towards tourism within the SET framework, especially relating to covering those more emotional elements of social interactions. Moreover, there seems to be a gap in current research relating to small urban destinations that is aimed to be covered in this research.

Regional tourism axes identification using GIS and TOPSIS model (Case study: Hormozgan Province, Iran)

Purpose This paper aims to identify and determine regional tourism axes in Hormozgan Province, Iran, as a region with significant potential Design/methodology/approach The research method is quantitative and uses the fuzzy accreditation tool and TOPSIS model; the identification, determination and ranking of regional tourism axes have been performed by analyzing the spatial distribution of tourism attractions in the GIS environment. Findings The results show that given the capacities of Hormozgan Province, at least 15 axes are recognizable. This paper highlights regional tourism planning as a tool for urban and rural socio-economic development in potential provinces such Hormozgan. Originality/value This study provides a number of practical implications for regional tourism development as follows: it identifies some of the most important potential axes in Hormozgan Province, which can be considered as investment areas in the national and regional tourism development strategy. The spatial results of this study could be embedded in all urban and rural developmental plans in the province. Tourism investment should shift its spatial concentration from the spot approach, especially islands and cities, to the axis approach while equipping those axes as comprehensive spatial strategic regional tourism plans. Sectoral tourism in each sector including sports, economy and nature could be planned as if sectoral institutions and organizations are going to develop their own tourism goals.

Experiences of community-based tourism in Romania: chances and challenges

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse community-based tourism (CBT) initiatives in the post-socialist rural Romania in terms of the holism of the tourist project and the implementation of the local participation. The paper focusses on chances and challenges of CBT. Design/methodology/approach Once the main objective was established, three research interests arose: How and why tourism played a significant role in the economic and social development of the rural local community? How has the local community participated in the starting and maintenance of the CBT projects and who played a key part? How can the level of success of the CBT implementations be qualitatively measured? Qualitative methodologies (interviews, on-site observations, informal discussions) were applied to survey the four case studies. Findings Natural and cultural features ensure a versatile potential for touristic exploitation of the Romanian rural area, but the villages are endangered by post-socialist economic and social transformations. Innovative approaches of CBT in rural areas ignited by charismatic leaders with entrepreneurial spirit develop based on the existent social, natural and cultural capital, but on the other hand, endeavours can be vulnerable because of hindering local municipalities or sustainability issues. Practical implications The findings facilitate recommendations in favour of effective CBT ventures. Originality/value Learning about the contribution of CBT to a sustainable development of rural regions with no/little tradition of private entrepreneurship can contribute to the revitalization of rural areas facing post-socialist challenges.

Estimation of the equivalent tourist population trough indirect methods

Purpose This proposal represents four main advantages: the immediate availability of the relevant information to the local manager; its potential application to any municipality regardless of its size; its reduced economic cost both in terms of information and calculation; and the possibility of obtaining information for very short periods (monthly or even daily) which is very important in areas where the population varies significantly throughout the year. Design/methodology/approach The authors present an indirect estimation method based on extrapolating the equivalent tourist population from the monthly variations in the production of solid urban waste. Findings It would also be desirable to compare the estimates made by using other indirect indicators such as electricity or water consumption, which could also provide relevant information on the degree of use of second homes. Originality/value These advantages turn this indicator into a practical and accessible estimation tool, which can be directly applied to the planning and management of all types of services and facilities provided by municipalities.