Tourism, with its related subsectors, is a highly fragmented sector with most tourism organizations being SMEs. Small Tourism Businesses are the backbone of the economy of many countries around the world, and Italy is certainly not an exception. Considering their varied activities, specialized services, and integration in the society, SMEs are certainly the economic lifeblood of the tourism sector, especially in developing countries, rural and remote/unprivileged areas. The aforementioned considerations contribute to explain why SMEs literature have been attracting huge attention from academics working in several disciplines such as business and management, marketing, sociology, anthropology and politics. Despite this, the engagement by academicians in research relating to SMEs in tourism can be still considered to be limited. Many research areas still need to be further investigated and deepened. This special issue was launched to call for research papers aiming to deepen our understanding about the emerging challengesin Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises.
Purpose: The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an extremely dynamic and uncertain environment in which businesses find it very difficult to operate, particularly those in the hospitality industry. It is therefore very important to understand which actions hospitality businesses think the private and public sectors should adopt in order to cope with the pandemic and its impact. To facilitate this, this research adopted chaos theory to investigate Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector. Methods: A mixed method approach, based on a convergent parallel design data validation variant, was adopted. A survey with open and closed questions was developed and sent to a sample of businesses. 1,040 completed questionnaires were collected and analysed through descriptive statistics; in addition to these usable surveys, 361 open-ended answers were analysed thematically. Results: The results showed that Italian entrepreneurs and managers were over-relying on interventions from the public sector and that there was a lack of business actions being made, thus evidencing a deficit in terms of long-term strategic thinking and the innovation required during such turbulent times. Implications: Although these results cannot be generalised to the whole of the hospitality industry, they shed light on important elements that industry associations should take into account.
Obiettivo del paper: Questo studio segmenta i residenti della città di Cagliari in base alle percezioni che essi hanno rispetto agli impatti generati dal turismo crocieristico e, nel contempo, verifica l'esistenza di differenze significative tra i gruppi in base alle caratteristiche socio-demografiche degli intervistati. Metodologia: Lo studio applica una factor-cluster analysis ad un campione stratificato di 1.034 residenti intervistati face-to-face. Risultati: L'analisi evidenzia l'esistenza di cinque diversi segmenti di residenti: "indifferenti", "critici", "cauti", "sostenitori e "amanti della cultura". I cluster differiscono in maniera significativa solo in base ad alcune delle variabili socio-demografiche considerate (livello di istruzione, la distanza del luogo di residenza dai siti turistici della città e il tipo di occupazione). Limiti della ricerca: Lo studio risente della specificità del contesto geografico analizzato e, quindi, dell'impossibilità di generalizzare i risultati. Inoltre, esso non considera il ruolo che altri fattori intrinseci, e/o altre variabili psicografiche, potrebbero avere nel discriminare le percezioni dei residenti. Implicazioni pratiche: Lo studio fornisce utili informazioni a policy makers e destination marketers interessati ad implementare politiche di marketing interno finalizzate ad aumentare l'efficacia dei messaggi di comunicazione veicolati ai residenti per far percepire loro un bilancio costi/benefici maggiormente positivo e avere un maggior supporto nei progetti di ulteriore sviluppo del turismo crocieristico. Originalità del paper: Gli studi che analizzano le percezioni dei residenti rispetto al turismo crocieristico, sono ancora pochi; ancora meno numerosi sono quelli che riguardano l'area del Mediterraneo e, in particolare, il contesto italiano. Inoltre, risultano assenti studi sul tema realizzati utilizzando campioni areali. ; Purpose of the paper: This study profiles a sample of residents in Cagliari based on their perceptions toward the impacts of cruise activity, and investigates whether significant differences among clusters exist based on socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.Methodology: This study applies a factor-cluster analysis approach to profile a stratified sample (district of residence, age and gender) of 1,034 residents in the city of Cagliari. Findings: Five clusters of residents were identified, namely: "indifferents", "critics", "cautious", "supporters" and "cultural lovers". Findings show that there are significant differences between the five clusters, based solely on level of education, occupation and geographical proximity to tourist areas. Research limitations: This study is highly site specific, thus rendering the findings hardly generalizable. Further, it does not investigate the role that other intrinsic factors and psychographic variables may exert in discriminating residents' perceptions. Pratical implications: This study provides useful information for destination marketers and policymakers attempting to plan and implement internal marketing strategies aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the messages they deliver with the aim of highlighting the beneficial balance between positive and negative impacts of cruise tourism in the city. Originality of the paper: Recently academic literature has started to devote attention to analyse residents' perceptions toward cruise development. Despite this, little attention has been devoted to cruise tourism destinations in the Mediterranean area, and even less in Italy. Further, to the best of our knowledge none of existing studies have been carried out considering an area sample.
This paper presents and discusses findings of research carried out on a sample of 141 tourism stakeholders with two tourism destinations located in Sardinia, Italy. Specifically, it investigates: (1) the priorities that respondents consider essential to attain sustainability and competitiveness for their business and the destination as a whole, (2) the main barriers to tourism sustainability and (3) their attitude towards climate change and its influence on tourism. Our contribution to the literature, along with managerial implications, is discussed and suggestions for future research are given.
The purpose of this study is to empirically test an integrative model linking tourists' emotional experiences, perceived overall image, satisfaction, and intention to recommend. The model was tested using data collected from domestic tourists visiting Sardinia, Italy. Results show that tourists' emotional experiences act as antecedents of perceived overall image and satisfaction evaluations. In addition, overall image has a positive influence on tourist satisfaction and intention to recommend. The study expands current theorizations by examining the merits of emotions in tourist behavior models. From a practical perspective, the study offers important implications for destination marketers.
Due to developments in social media, brands have integrated social networking sites (SNSs) as an important part of their communication mix. This change calls for studies that help to understand the role of SNS in the communication mix through further investigating their effects on brands and acknowledging their influencing triggers. Concerning that, previous studies have associated the use of SNS to effects on word-of-mouth (WoM), with SNS contributing as a tool skilled for generating conversations about the brand. The current study focusses on investigating the triggers of these effects. In previous research, WoM was accepted as being triggered by constructs related to the effects of SNS on increasing users' knowledge of the brand and improving perceived relationship value. Despite their relevance, studies in SNS so far have not yet explored these approaches in an integrative manner. So researchers and managers could better understand how these dimensions behave in relation to each other in triggering WoM. The current study addresses this research gap, proposing an integrative perspective that combines brand knowledge and brand relationship constructs while investigating the effects of SNS on WoM. Direct and indirect effects are proposed with mediating relations being supported by the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and social exchange theory (SET). Two surveys were implemented, with 203 and 550 valid responses obtained. Results were analyzed using structural equation modelling. Findings support the relevance of brand relationship variables (trust and affective commitment) in influencing WoM, with trust assuming a pivotal role. Moreover, triggers related to brand knowledge also influence WoM, with brand awareness and attitude driving significant effects. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.
