1,721,007 research outputs found
Artificial Intelligence in Events
No full textArtificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technologies are increasingly
integrated across various economic sectors, including the events industry. Over
the years, the event industry has adopted innovations such as online ticketing,
mobile apps, and wearables to enhance customer experiences and engagement.
While there is academic literature on the above-mentioned technological advancement,
the adoption of AI, particularly in association events, remains underexplored.
This research fills this gap by exploring the current and potential adoption
of AI by the events industry from a technological, organizational and environmental
perspective. The study also records the perceived AI challenges
around data privacy, ethics, and the human touch. Using a mix methods approach,
three clusters of AI adoption have been defined: laggards, prudent adopters, and
advanced adopters, described also in terms of the external pressures, particularly
from event goers, that are driving the AI integration
Technology enabled guest centricity in hospitality
No full textCustomer centricity philosophy puts the customers and not the products at the center of the firms’ concerns. Companies needs to fully commit to customer centricity at all levels from leadership, organization structure, processes and actual performances. This research investigates customer centricity in a services field that is the one of hospitality. Hotels can actually create and in some case cocreate value by putting guests at the center of their daily operations. This is possible thanks to the advent of advanced CRM technologies which enables extreme services personalization and superior guest satisfaction. Thanks to a multiple cases study approach this research investigates four properties where and advanced CRM technology (i.e. hoxell.com) was installed. The systems allowed a complete shift in the firm culture impacting on average guests rating and on guest topics discussed within online reviews
Digital tourism gaze and mega events
Full text linkTourism and photography have been always strongly interlinked. With the rise of smartphones and social network travellers’ photography exit the boundaries of friends and family and is now available to a wider audience. This is challenging the tourism gaze theory, which postulate that tourists photography is industry-driven and socially constructed. This exploratory research studied a visual social network to understand travellers digital mediated gaze during a mega event. Particularly the study shades lights on iconic places/attractions portrayed and on the ideal self represented by the event goers highlighting the presence of iconic places and staged personal pictures
The Effects of Guest Centricity in Hospitality
No full textHospitality is a field in which guests’ specific needs and wants should always be given serious consideration by hoteliers. Putting the guest at the centre of all business efforts contributes to generating customer value and enhancing a firm’s competitiveness. Being customer-centric is paramount for hospitality establishments to create and sustain superior customer value. However, there is scant evidence in hospitality marketing literature of a clear understanding of the customer-centricity concept or of the possible effects of its implementation. Using a mixed-methods multiple case study approach, this research studies two different properties that, to some extent, are already engaged in customer-centricity practices through the use of advanced Customer Relationship Manager software. Results clearly show an increase in customer ratings, leading to possible profit implications; a cultural shift within the organizations studied connected with the customer-centricity phenomenon has also been reported
The Rise of eTourism for Development.
No full textThis paper presents the conceptualization of eTourism For Development (eT4D), an emerging and still underexplored field of research. eT4D can be defined as the use of tourism technologies in developing and emerging contexts to foster socio-economic development. eT4D is a new concept that integrates three distinct disciplines: development studies, tourism studies and information and communication technologies. The paper describes and defines the eT4D field from a theoretical point of view. Additionally the research presents an exploratory case study describing current tourism technology usage in a given developing context that is the one of Rocinha, a slum in Rio de Janeiro. Results confirm the theoretical conceptualization of the domain and the need of investigating the eT4D field also from a practical perspective
Slumming on Social Media? E-Mediated Tourist Gaze and Social Representations of Indian, South African, and Brazilian Slum Tourism Destinations
Full text linkSlum tourism is a hotly debated genre of travel. While it may foster intercultural encounters with marginalised “others”, it is also accused of reinforcing stereotypes and exploitation. Both aspects are amplified by the communication through social media of the slum tourism experience, that contribute to challenge or confirm stigmatizing representations of slums and their inhabitants. Based on the theoretical constructs of the tourist gaze and of social representations, this article addresses this particular type of digital contact. A lexicometric approach was used to analyse an extensive corpus of reviews on TripAdvisor (N = 8126). The findings not only confirm common themes already identified by the literature: the eye-opening component of touring poverty and the gatekeeping function of guides; but also show the emergence of context-dependent specificities, such as a hedonistic feature in the Cape Town region; or the integration of favelas within the representations of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, the results show the tension between the “othering” and the “sameing” mechanisms, making this tourism practice a space in which shallow and deep tourist gazes interact and co-exist, and are crucially mediated by the gatekeeper of the tours: the guide
Mobile Technologies Effects on Travel Behaviours and Experiences: A Preliminary Analysis
No full textThe increased opportunity for tourists to be connected to the Internet during the trip, the development of social media, as well as advances in mobile technologies have profoundly affected travel experiences and behaviours. Travel stages (pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip) can overlap with a repositioning of some activities from the pre-trip and post-trip stages to the during-trip step. Therefore, the consumption of travel services becomes particularly important to be managed by travel operators, considering also the rapid progress of mobile tracking technologies. The present study explores the impacts of mobile technologies on travel experience with the purpose of understanding the most appropriate ways to interact with tourists. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to investigate how young adults employ mobile technologies in their travel experiences. The results of this pilot study will be the basis for identifying research questions to be tested in a subsequent research step
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