The challenges of presenting traditional music in gastronomic establishments – the case of Slovenian Istria

Purpose Through investigation and comparisons between tourists and restaurant managers regarding their understanding of traditional music and their attitudes, expectations and assigned importance to it, this paper aims to identify the most problematic aspects of the (non)inclusion of traditional music in restaurant settings in tourist destinations. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a field survey of tourists and managers/owners of catering establishments in the four municipalities of Slovenian Istria. Findings The results show that tourists attach a relatively high importance to this element of cultural heritage and that it is not sufficiently included in the overall product of the destination and in the catering establishments. Differences in the understanding of traditional music between the two groups were also found. Research limitations/implications The research limitations are, namely, a relatively small sample of managers for the quantitative analysis, the particular nature of the chosen destination which does not allow generalization of the results and finally, the study was conducted in the high season when the structure of tourists is significantly different compared to that in the mid and low season. Practical implications The findings bring some useful insights into tourists’ expectations and understanding of traditional music as part of the tourism experience for catering establishments’ managers and destination management organizations. By addressing the identified gaps, they can enrich the overall tourism product of the destination, while catering operators can achieve better business results. Social implications The more frequent and cogent inclusion of traditional music in the hospitality sector would provide a new social function and raison d'être for this segment of cultural heritage, which is in danger of being forgotten in many tourist destinations. Originality/value This research addresses a widely overlooked area of two interrelated fields of research, namely, hospitality and cultural heritage. Unlike the majority of previous research on this topic, which only involves actual guests, the present research is designed as a comprehensive investigation and comparison of the attitudes of the general population of actual tourists in the destination (as potential guests of the inns/restaurants) and managers of catering businesses operating in the destination.

The relationship between employer image and employee commitment in family-run hospitality firms

Purpose Among all forms of commitment, affective commitment has been shown to be the most desirable for enterprises. However, research on commitment among employees in family-run businesses in the hospitality industry is scant. To address this gap, this study aims to analyze the impact of employer image components on hospitality employees’ affective occupational commitment within family-run businesses. As one can assume specific employer image aspects when studying family-run businesses, this paper expects to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between employer image and employee commitment in this context. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the employer image framework of Baum and Kabst (2013), emphasizing that in addition to considering potential employees, the commitment of current employees needs to be assessed. Convenience sampling is used to obtain a sample from the target population (Tyrolean hospitality and gastronomy employees) from June to September 2018. Multiple linear regression analysis is applied to test the influence of individual employer image constituents on employees’ affective occupational commitment. Findings Among the five components of the employer image framework applied here, working atmosphere, task attractiveness and payment attractiveness show a significant influence on employees’ affective occupational commitment. Originality/value This study connects an existing employer image model to employee commitment within the hospitality industry. The findings suggest that the model is applicable to current employees as a key stakeholder group and shows the utility of employer image theory in connection with employee commitment.

Interconnections between the cultural and creative industries and tourism: challenges in four Ibero-American capital cities

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the European and Latin America urban cultural policies that could enhance cultural and creative sustainable tourism products development. Design/methodology/approach The methodological framework is based on a comparative case study regarding the importance, dynamics and policies associated to cultural and creative tourism in four Ibero-American cities, namely, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Lisbon and Madrid. Findings This exploratory analysis underlines the growing importance of cultural and creative tourism in the four capital cities. On one hand, cities reveal different tourism impacts and, on the other hand, they are associated to different cultural and creative sector structures. Cities cultural and creative performance put in evidence that sustainable cities index, global talent competitiveness index and cultural and creative cities monitor, tend to position Madrid in the first place followed by, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Brasilia. Research limitations/implications In general, and despite the importance of space in the creative process, there is little research on the geography of the creative industries and there is a lack of cross-country comparative studies so that it is difficult to assess the particularities of each model of creativity. Practical implications Cities could enhance more efforts in investing, not only in the traditional cultural infrastructures but also on the new forms of culture, new technologies, new makers, new audiences based on their attributes, activities and labels, in a framework of urban sustainable policies based on “innovation,” “inclusiveness” and “interconnectivity.” Originality/value The originality of the paper lies in the comparative analysis of four cities based on cultural and creative sector and tourism interconnections. Simultaneously, it lies in an exploratory model application.

Insights from sentiment analysis to leverage local tourism business in restaurants

Purpose Social media has become the main venue for users to express their opinions and feelings, generating a vast number of available and valuable data to be scrutinized by researchers and marketers. This paper aims to extend previous studies analyzing social media reviews through text mining and sentiment analysis to provide useful recommendations for management in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach The Lexalytics, a text mining artificial intelligence tool, is applied to analyze the text of the online reviews of the restaurants in a touristic Dutch village extracted from the most frequently used social media platforms focusing on the four restaurant quality factors, namely, food and beverage, service, atmosphere and value. Findings The findings of this research are presented by the identified key themes with comparisons of the customers’ review sentiment between a selected restaurant, Zwaantje, vis-à-vis its bench-mark restaurants set by a specific approach under the abovementioned quality dimensions, in which the food and beverage and service are the most commented by customers. Results demonstrate that text mining can generate insights from different aspects and that the proposed approach is valuable to restaurant management. Originality/value The paper provides a relatively big scale in numbers and resources of social media reviews to further explore the most important service dimensions in the restaurant industry in a specific tourist area. It also offers a useful framework to apply the text mining business intelligence tool by comparison of peers for local small business restaurant practitioners to improve their management skills beyond manually reading social media reviews.

The impact of organizational culture on supply chain integration in the hotel sector

Purpose Supply chain integration (SCI) has become a key strategy for hotels in facing their environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the organizational culture on the three dimensions of SCI. The competing value framework divides the organizational culture into four types, namely, hierarchical, group, rational and developmental cultures. Design/methodology/approach A structural equations model was developed to test the hypotheses proposed. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire with a seven-point Likert-type rating scale that was distributed to managers and assistant managers of 114 four- or five-star hotels located in two Egyptian cities, Hurgada and Sharm El Sheikh. Findings The results of the structured model confirm the direct link between the organizational culture and SCI. The findings suggest that rational culture is the most appropriate for SCI because it is fully associated with SCI. In contrast, hierarchical culture and developmental culture are significantly related to internal and customer integration. Group culture only has a positive influence on internal integration. Originality/value This study is the first to analyze the impact of organizational culture on SCI in the hospitality sector. The results contribute to the literature by providing managers with practical knowledge about the significant influence of organizational culture on SCI.

Activating an artisanal saltpan: tourism crowding in or waterbirds crowding out?

Purpose There is an increasing interest in visiting protected areas in the Algarve (Portugal). Tourists are interested in contact with nature activities. However, protected areas are quite sensitive to human pressure and are limited in their carrying capacity. The purpose of this study is to fill a literature gap concerning which features attract tourists who visit saltpans via a pedestrian tour and what sort of pressure they inflict on waterbirds’ behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The tour consists of a predefined path with interpretive boards and guides who provide explanations to visitors. This study is threefold: to find out if waterbirds are disturbed by the presence of tourists, if tourists prefer to learn more about saltpans instead of finding waterbirds and if tourists have any preferred waterbird species. The methods used are direct observations with binoculars of the saltpan area and a short questionnaire. With the data collected, three hypotheses are tested. Findings The results show that the occurrence of waterbirds does not vary according to the presence or absence of tourist visits, tourists prefer visiting saltpans rather than watching waterbirds and there is some waterbird species preference. Practical implications Few people can visit the saltpan while keeping disturbance of both waterbirds and workers to a minimum. This study gives insights into sustainable ecotourism practices and how to articulate them with saltpan works. Originality/value The value of this study can be demonstrated by the interconnection between traditional salt production, waterbirds’ habitat, visitors’ interest and their interaction.

The connection between VFR experience based and sociocultural dimensions of international students and mainland Chinese students

Purpose This paper aims to present the host experience of student hosts in Hong Kong, a popular educational destination for international students from mainland China and other countries. This study examines the interconnection between the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel, considering the overall host experience, the host–guest relationship and post-hosting changes in perception of both the VFR experience and destination. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts a qualitative approach to compare the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of VFR travel considering international university students as VFR hosts in Hong Kong, taking a student sample from both mainland Chinese and overseas students. Based on a voluntary sampling approach, the research team had face-to-face interviews with the students that agreed to participate. The interviews were conducted voluntarily and anonymously and included those students who had hosted any friends or relatives in the past 12 months. A total of 26 interviews were successfully completed, including 10 mainland Chinese and 16 non-mainland Chinese students. Findings The results confirm that the VFR host experience is generally shaped by an integration of internal characteristics (sociocultural characteristics of both hosts and visitors) and external environment (urban infrastructure and tourism resources). The two groups distinctively express their host experience that shows some areas of cultural barriers and geographical proximity. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this research mainly lie on its relatively small sample size because of constraints in accessing the contact information of international students across universities. These shortcomings should be improved by adopting a research design that uses other sampling approaches, such as snowball sampling, to include a wider scope of students from different local universities, or convenience sampling, to interview and compare responses of international students from various educational destinations. Alternative data sources may be considered, for example, through user-generated contents from online and social media platforms that contain sharing of students as hosts. Practical implications The geographical and cultural proximities influence VFR tourism development and social construction of values and the consequent hosting behaviour. The unique role of international students should be further explored, especially in the Asian context. The outcome of VFR travel must be evaluated and studied more from cultural and personal dimensions than economic gain, which should be relevant to host perspective such as improved quality of life, social ties and place attachment and psychological benefits. The changing risk perception caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may be examined through some forms of travel intention. Social implications Firstly, the destination marketing organisations of the educational destination should address the difficulty faced by student hosts in terms of external attributes such as local culture, urban infrastructure, tourism resources and information accessibility. Secondly, to target the hosts, some specific VFR-related products and services may be developed for international students through local tertiary institutions such that the role of hosts as ambassadors can be facilitated and enhanced. Thirdly, the functional role of international students can be distinctive based on their unique network, activities and knowledge constructed upon learning during the period of education. Originality/value The studentification of many educational destination cities, the dynamism of the role of international students as VFR hosts and their cultural differences between places of origin have provided an opportunity for deepening the understanding of VFR tourism.

Comparing shopping experiences in department stores and street markets: a big data analysis of TripAdvisor reviews

Purpose Based on big data analytical and statistical techniques, this study aims to examine tourists’ shopping experiences at department stores and street markets in Phuket. Design/methodology/approach A Naïve Bayes machine learning algorithm was used to identify the most frequently used terms in TripAdvisor reviews of both department stores and street markets contributed by the same pool of 729 tourists. Findings A total of 18 out of 62 terms used were common in reviews of both shopping settings. However, the study found significant differences in the mean use of the 18 common terms and the likelihood of those terms being used in overall positive reviews. Practical implications The study’s findings indicate differences in tourist shopping experiences at department stores and street markets. Several concrete recommendations are made, including a greater focus on the linkage to the national characteristic of street markets, and particularly the quality of local fruit, to enhance the tourist shopping experience. Originality/value Understanding the differences between shopping malls and street markets from the tourist’s perspective would further enhance the coexistence of shopping malls and street markets in tourism-led growth cities. As such, using reviews of both shopping malls and street markets from an identical pool of tourists, the present study will analyse and compare tourists’ actual shopping experiences, thereby addressing this gap in the research canon via integrated statistical and big data analysis techniques.

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on tourists’ personal prestige – an experimental study

Purpose The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has drastically affected the public discourse on tourism in news reporting and on social media, potentially changing social perceptions of travel and its utility for conspicuous consumption. Prestige enhancement is a common tourist motivation, yet, as tourists have been portrayed as irresponsible and even dangerous during the pandemic, the benefits of travel for personal prestige may have been affected. The purpose of this study is to monitor changes in tourists’ personal prestige during the early pandemic in 2020. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed an innovative study design implicitly measuring the personal prestige of tourists shown on experimentally manipulated social media posts. Three measurement waves were issued to compare the personal prestige of tourists just before, during and after the first lockdown situation in Germany. Findings Differences regarding evaluations of tourists’ prestige were found for prestige dimensions of hedonism, achievements, wealth and power, suggesting that prestige ascription to tourists has been affected by the changing discourse on leisure travel. Originality/value This study contributes to the discussion of the socio-psychological effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on customer benefits of leisure travel. It exposes possible impacts of the pandemic on tourisms’ value for conspicuous consumption and prestige enhancement.

Humour: coping with travel bans during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose This study aims to extend the use of psychology in the field of tourism crisis and disaster management using coping theory. It examines how resident emotions change in the extended prodromal stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and how residents used humour to cope with stress from not being able to travel. Design/methodology/approach Early COVID-19 (March–April 2020) was characterised by negative media reports, lockdowns and travel restrictions but for Indonesia, no direct effects in terms of loss of life. This unusual context has led to phenomena not previously studied – humour as a coping strategy. This research consists of two studies: Study 1 used thematic analysis of interviews before and during the early lockdown period with a panel of 245 quarantined residents who had travelled in the prior two years. Study 2 followed up using a #hasthtag analysis of travel-related videos content posted on Instagram and TikTok. Findings The COVID-19 global pandemic is an unusual crisis which has resulted in high levels of stress and uncertainty. This study identified the unusual characteristics of the COVID-19 crises and changes of quarantined resident’s emotions during the pre-event and prodromal stages. In addition, this study found the use of humour as a coping mechanism during the lockdown period and the use of social media as the vehicle for humour. Research limitations/implications These findings may be generalisable only to a crises and disasters with an extended prodromal stage. Interestingly, climate change has some similar characteristics where warning signs are available, but the personal implications have not yet become apparent. Practical implications The emotions associated with crisis are dynamic and crisis managers may tailor communication to help deal with stress. Social implications This research provides an insight into how humorous content can be used to reduce negative emotions in the early stage of a stressful event associated with travel restrictions. This study may be suitable for use in integrated marketing communication in post-recovery messaging for the tourism industry and destination management organisation in the digital platform. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate “dark humour” during the early stages of COVID-19 and also the use of coping strategies to explain how humour can reduce stress.