17,207,596 research outputs found
NETWORK ANALYSIS OF A TOURIST DESTINATION
No full textThis paper relates to the study of relationships within a tourist destination in order to prove the existence of structural models around which the entire supply system is developed. All this is made possible by the analysis of the links existing between businesses belonging to the destination.
A useful tool for this purpose is Social Network Analysis (SNA), which provides a series of indicators and techniques to study the complexity of the network of relationships within a tourist destination and allows identifying the existence of a possible reference framework that can characterize the specificity of the destination.
Based on the results from a previous analysis carried out in the San Vito Lo Capo area (Iannolino and Ruggieri 2012), we have focused on the role played by three families within the tourist destination assessing their role as an aggregating and driving force. This has been made possible by using one of the tools provided by SNA, namely Ego network analysis. This tool has allowed us to focus our attention on the role that individual businesses belonging to the three main families in San Vito Lo Capo (that we call Ego) play in the management of the destination. In particular, since the network of business relationships at this scarcely developed destination (i.e., in terms of density), the subjects are more likely to form relationships with those individuals who are acknowledged leaders. Within these tighter networks (Ego networks), the entities involved are urged to share norms and values that characterize the Ego and in this sense one can understand why leadership creates the social capital. It is easy to note that each business, when taken alone, cannot manage the entire destination but needs the help and support of the family of belonging to expand its sphere of influence. Only the coordination and cooperation of the three families can create an informal network that supports and sustains the entire destination
Tourist destination network analysis: The ego network role
No full textThis paper aims to analyse the different roles that enterprises have within a tourist destination by identifying the presence and possible role of leaders within the system. The Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a tool that offers a greater degree of understanding of the operation of the destination. The map of commercial relations between the leading players of tourist supply can provide greater insight into the main relations existing between enterprises and the principles that ensure and regulate operation. In keeping with this objective and building on the results of a previous paper (Iannolino and Ruggieri, 2012), the authors have focused their attention on the role of some enterprises operating in San Vito Lo Capo (Italy) to determine the extent of their aggregating force vis-à-vis the destination. The ego-network analysis (ENA) has been applied to the existing relations between the enterprises at the destination San Vito Lo Capo, to determine the presence or absence of groups of enterprises, called Egos, which, with respect to the others, play an important role or are to be considered key subjects for the entire system in commercial terms. Following on this first results, the paper explores ways in which enterprises belonging to the ego networks are the key players responsible for a better climate of cooperation and trust among all of the system's enterprises
A Relational Approach to Networks in a Tourism Destination: Business and Family Networks in San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily
No full textThis article constructs a relational framework using the principles of the Network Approach to examining the business exchange structure of a tourist destination. Network Analysis is the methodology to analyse the metrics of collaboration and cooperation among destination companies. The model was applied in a remote tourist destination named San Vito Lo Capo on the island of Sicily, where tourism has significantly expanded in the last twenty years. The focus is on how groupings of small companies within family relations can govern and be responsible for tourism destination cooperation. As the main result, the existence was identified, of a relational framework where three clusters of families with a high density of exchanges emerge. These families can influence the tourism business at the destination, guaranteeing cooperation among other business companies. The findings show the existence and the importance of informal business networks and the contribution of Network Analysis to understanding the structure and cohesiveness of a tourist destination
The Company Clusters Power in Tourism Destinations: The Network Configuration and the Business Organisation
No full textBetter and greater coordination and integration between companies are essential for tourist destination development processes improving competitiveness. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine that all companies can cooperate. In this way, we can imagine finding a group of companies that, for several reasons, decide to cooperate, creating some clusters as small groups. Companies with stable connections with other clusters or relevant companies could be relevant and central to Tourism Destination (TD) management. In this way, the knowledge of network articulation seems to be critical for TD management business dynamics. In most cases, the relationships are hidden and not formalised, increasing the complexity in TD analysis. The presence of clusters is possibly vitrificated using the Social Network Analysis (SNA) methodology. The present work could be framed in cooperative networks since it analyses the companies’ commercial networks and clusters groups. The article focuses on how groupings of small firms can govern Tourism Destinations. This paper uses network indexes and metrics to emphasise structural features regarding the density and centrality of relationships. As the main result, in the case study analysed, there is a relational framework where three clusters of companies with a high density of exchanges emerge. These groups can influence the tourism business at the destination
Tourism destination and the role of trust
No full textTourism destinations increasingly pose new challenges to the organizational and management aspects of tourism. The non-cooperative behavior of some companies, the difficulties of sharing a system of values, the absence or inadequacy of destination managers keep some destinations off the map of growth that is sought for by the stakeholders and shareholders of a given resort. This difficulty seems to lie in the scarce knowledge of the system of relations existing between firms and their degree of cooperation.
The application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and some indicators for network analysis provides a clearer and more analytical map of the links between tourism businesses located within a destination.
It was decided to apply SNA to the tourism destination of San Vito Lo Capo (Sicily), whose development has been spontaneous and neither directly linked to specific tourism policies nor accelerated by agents outside the system.
The network of commercial relations between enterprises and even family ties existing at this resort were analyzed in an effort to understand how each is implicitly linked to the other.
The results show the existence of a cluster of commercial ties and family ties centered on three sub-groups of enterprises in which there is a family structure that ensures a climate of mutual trust and cooperation. Furthermore, it appears that two enterprises within the three sub-groups play the role of mediators of relations among the enterprises of the resort, as these have been recognized as system leaders.
Therefore, the presence of a widespread system of trust, based on rules and behaviors resulting from a formal agreement or underlying bonds of kinship, contributes to the social or cultural capital of a tourism destination. The presence of this element among firms strengthens the network, boosting the performance of the destination and ensuring systemic and shared management
Network analysys of a tourist destination
No full textWe have focused on the role played by three families within the tourist destination assessing their role as an aggregating and driving force. This has been made possible by using one of the tools provided by SNA, namely Ego network analysis. This tool has allowed us to focus our attention on the role that individual businesses belonging to the three main families in San Vito Lo Capo (that we call Ego) play in the management of the destination. In particular, since the network of business relationships at this scarcely developed destination (i.e., in terms of density), the subjects are more likely to form relationships with those individuals who are acknowledged leaders. Within these tighter networks (Ego networks), the entities involved are urged to share norms and values that characterize the Ego and in this sense one can understand why leadership creates the social capital. It is easy to note that each business, when taken alone, cannot manage the entire destination but needs the help and support of the family of belonging to expand its sphere of influence
Interfirm Network Analysis in Marginal Tourist Destinations: The Mediator Company in Business Relationships
No full textThe literature on tourist destinations and the use of empirical approaches evidence the need to adopt this model to increase tourism economies. In model application, the enterprises, and local stakeholders, sometimes represent limitations or opportunities. This article opens the view to tourist destination networks, described as relational structures that can influence and determine the destination-building process. The Network Analysis methodology offers a better understanding of inter-firm relational dynamics when applied in a small context, and in this case, the application was undertaken on the island of Sicily, in Menfi town and its hinterland. Findings show the presence of a company that assumes a central role in the network, maintaining a solid web of relationships between others. In this way, a mediator company is essential in remote tourist destinations. Policymakers need to facilitate the development of tourism companies, thereby increasing the relationality and business network ties among them
Tourism Destination Brokers: a network analytic approach
No full textUnderstanding the interactions of tourist companies could be relevant for the destination’s organisation and management. The present article employs a network analysis to examine inter-organisational interactions and the various roles that some companies assume in tourism destinations. The results reveal the existence of a network in which enterprises, identified as brokers, take on strategic roles both within and outside of their specific sub-sectors of origin. This study proposes new social network analysis indicators to identify the distinctive and prevalent position of company brokers, who manage inter-organisational relations by spontaneously assuming specific roles within the tourist destination network. Brokers facilitate cooperative and collaborative practices among companies in different tourism sub-sectors, thus increasing actors’ network cohesion across a given tourist destination
¿Por qué Turismo? Repensar el auge del turismo
No full textIn the present work we consider the reasons that explain the spectacular tourism boom in the last 5 decades. The traditional responses to this phenomenon, presented a whole "frond" of tourist-economical interactions: tourism as a "motor of development", tourism as "dynamizing the economic system", etc. Therefore, our objective is to contrast this Tourism-Development-Economic Growth framework, certainly suggestive. In order to avoid mystifications it is necessary to define somewhat ambiguous concepts such as Development (and its interactions with Tourism) and to deepen the economic impact of Tourism, the ultimate root of all that "frond" that seems to be the basis of This formidable theoretical-empirical expansion of Tourism.
Therefore, the final purpose of our work is to propose a revision, from the complexity, of the Relational triangle Development-Economic Growth-Tourism, forming a "plural" framing that, on the one hand, allows a fertile reflection around the matter and, On the other, widen the limits of the playing field, fostering new responses to the tourism boom, in line with the current global context
Preliminary results on the donkey salami made in Sicily
No full textIn a dairy jennet farm the meat, which can be produced using the foals in excess, could be another profitable income. Equine meat is very thin and with high protein content; above all, the fatty acids are unsaturated, being a monogastric animal product. The donkey meat processed products are sold in niche market and are very appreciated by the European consumers.
A study on the characteristics of the donkey salami made in Sicily was carried out using a 12 months old foal derived from Ragusano breed. Two different mixes were compared: only donkey meat (A thesis) and donkey meat plus the 10% of Nero Siciliano pig fat (AS thesis). The meat was husked of fat and nerves and mixed with 3.5 kg/q of Aromil D.S+Nisal, 1l/q of Nero D’Avola wine, 150 g/q of not crushed white pepper, and the following crushed spices: 150 g/q of black pepper, 150 g/q of white pepper and 60 g/q of garlic. The mixes were gloomed with a holed plate (Ø 8 mm). After that, the chopped fat pig in the AS mix was added. The A and AS mixes were bagged in mutton gut (Ø 24/26). The fresh salami weighed on average 205 g, and for 4 days were dried, modifying the temperature (T) from 22 to 16°C and the relative humidity (R.H.) from 60 to 75%. After that, for 30 days the products were cured at T=14°C and R.H.=78%. At the slaughtering the lived animal and the carcass weights were registered. At the salami production the weights of the bones, the meat and the other tissues of each carcass quarter were registered, while the salami weights at the beginning and at the end of the drying period and at 15 and 30 days of the curing period. In the same time samples of salami were collected for pH determination and microbiological analyses.
The salami chemical composition was determined at the bagging and at the end of the curing period. The lived animal weight was 245 kg. The slaughtering, the meat, the bones and the fat yields were respectively 58, 53, 24 and 23%. During the curing period the weight decrease was on average higher in the A than in the AS salami (final value: A=55% vs AS=49%). This result could be affected by the higher water content in the muscle tissues than in the fat ones. The pH trend was for both theses on line with the values of a normal curing process, but the A thesis achieved more rapidly a pH value >6, in relation with a higher weight decrease. This result shows the possibility to reduce the curing period at <30 days for the salami produced by only donkey meat. The protein and the fat contents of the cured products were respectively equal to 59.0 and 26.0% in A, and 42.7 and 45.3% in AS, in accordance to the fat pig addition in the AS mix. The microbiological analyses showed the absence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. and the presence of coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococcus. Their concentrations were higher in the mixes and decreased during the curing. This result requires an improvements of hygienic environmental conditions during the making process
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