Recent Advancements in Tourism Business, Technology and Social Sciences

Undeniably, wood businesses within the tourism industry are presently undergoing a trajectory of development, grappling with a myriad of entrepreneurial challenges stemming from the systematic surge in tourism experienced in Greece during the post-covid-19 era. The wood industry holds a distinctive allure, exemplifying a discernible positive progression within the sector. This research endeavours to delve into the realm of organizational culture and behaviour exhibited by wood businesses, specifically with regards to promoting products within the tourism economy. Additionally, the study will scrutinize the works of fellow researchers and proffer recommendations for further augmentation. The employed methodology rests upon a foundation of comprehensive literature review, text analysis, and exploration of pertinent secondary sources. The anticipated outcomes of this investigation aspire to illuminate the profound impact of organizational culture and behaviour within wood businesses on the efficacious promotion of products within the dynamic landscape of the tourism economy.

The covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant humanitarian, social, and economic crisis, impacting various sectors, including tourism and hospitality. Among the affected segments, business tourism, which is a vital contributor to the local and regional economies and expected to grow, has also faced substantial challenges during this period. To understand and analyse the crisis management within the business tourism industry in the Iberian Peninsula, this research follows a qualitative methodological approach, through semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs from the tourism sector in Portugal and Spain. The overarching goal of this study is to assess the impact of the covid-19 crisis on business tourism in the Iberian Peninsula. To achieve this, specific objectives include comprehending the effects of the pandemic on business tourism, identifying crisis management practices, and analysing the measures adopted by tourism professionals in response to the crisis. Key findings from the study emphasize the changes in events organization, such as exhibitions, congresses, fairs, and shows, which had to adapt to new social distancing policies, leading to cancellations, postponements, or a shift to online formats where possible. Additionally, significant changes due to health and safety concerns were observed, with Regional Entities and the national DMO (Turismo de Portugal) initiating initiatives like the Clean & Safe seal, implementing safety measures, and adapting products and services. The digital environment emerged as a critical platform for strategies during this time. Regarding crisis management practices, it was noted that many companies lacked a structured crisis management model, often resorting to reactive action plans when faced with specific challenges. Notably, the support received from the government was considered fundamental in managing the crisis, alongside effective communication among stakeholders, strategic marketing approaches, and the development of resilience. In conclusion, the covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the business tourism industry in the Iberian Peninsula, requiring adaptive measures, particularly in event organization, safety implementation, and digital strategies. The study also highlights the importance of crisis management practices, emphasizing the role of government support, communication, marketing, and resilience in navigating the challenges posed by the pandemic. These insights provide valuable guidance for the industry's future preparedness and response to crises.

This study evaluates for the first time the reported differences between Millennials and the preceding generations—Generation X and Baby Boomers—of tourism workforce across cultural clusters—Germanic, Anglo, Eastern European and Southern Asian. The evaluation is presented in terms of effects sizes from pairwise comparisons in a number of aspects of tourism work and employment including, variety and change, withdraw behaviors, work-life balance, job security, autonomy, pay, attachment to the organization, stimulation and co-workers relationships. Although the findings were similar among cultural clusters, Dutch Millennials, contrary to their counterparts in the US and Cyprus, placed less importance than the preceding generations on aspects related to pay. Similar differences were also found in aspects related to mobility and work-life balance. Thus, the future development of this field of inquiry will require a better understanding of the impact of national culture.

Accessibility has become one of the main key issues in tourism today, as it determines the extent to which an individual can participate in the activities/experiences provided by the sector in each destination. It ensures that all products, services, and facilities will be developed for everyone to use and that all will benefit from them. This is reflected in the accessibility related to the absence of obstacles to the use of the tourism product still present in the infrastructures, public transport, information, technology, or communication services. The improvement in accessibility may ensure opportunities for access, safely and autonomously, to equipment, transport, spaces, and information, allowing most segments to participate in all activities of daily life in an independent, comfortable, safe, and without discrimination of any kind. This research establishes the objective of identifying the accessibility measures adopted in the cities of Braga and Guimarães, in the Northern Region of Portugal, through issues related to the specific training of employees, the use of new technologies as a competitive advantage, the concern with presenting information in various formats and the appropriate means of transport. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, an exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the official responsible, stakeholders, interpreter guides, and associations of each tourist destination. The results show that, despite the improvements diagnosed in recent years, the regions still face some barriers. The measures frequently identified with the aim of optimizing accessibility in tourism destinations were specifically the use of access ramps (removable or definitive) and the introduction of adapted toilets.

The innovation gender gap proclaims a female underrepresentation in innovation, mostly measured by patent filing focusing on knowledge-intense industries. That approach neglects service industries with stronger female entrepreneurship, such as tourism. Gender and the type of industry are suggested to influence how innovation is defined and designed. Research on gender differences in approaches to innovation in the tourism sector from an individual actor view is rare. Therefore, this study explores how gender differences are expressed in the innovation approach in tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Paired samples of male and female managers in three SMEs are interviewed. The qualitative content analysis focuses on defining the term innovation, measuring innovation success, and the approach to design innovation activities. The comparison contrasts the findings both based on the biological gender as well as on the feminine and masculine discourse. The study suggests five propositions recommended for future quantitative research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way conferences and events are organized. The need to avoid congestion and minimize transportation has resulted in a shift toward virtual platforms. Our work aimed to compare the attractiveness of virtual and physical meetings and events using a comprehensive questionnaire and literature review. Our research revealed that younger individuals prefer to participate in virtual events, whereas older individuals favor physical participation. In-person congresses offer a more stimulating experience than virtual ones that need to adopt ways to enhance interactivity in order to attract a wider audience.

Given the increased demand for entrepreneurial success, it is important for businesses to comprehend how they can retain a base of loyal customers through their employees’ compliant behavior. Although psychopathy among leaders and managers in various corporate and financial contexts has been identified as a potent underlying factor affecting employee attitudes and team functioning and ultimately organizational performance, empirical research has lagged behind. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between managers’ psychopathic traits (boldness) and service behavioral intentions of hotel employees. Empirical data were collected from 179 managers of the Greek hotel sector. A structural equation model analysis was followed. The results provide empirical evidence for all suggested hypothesized associations. In particular, the findings display that managers’ boldness predicted unethical leadership, which in turn positively associated with unethical employees’ behavior toward customers. The current work provides practical contributions for professionals in the hotel setting, who come up with the challenge to enhance their customers’ loyalty through higher expectations of employee behavior.

Women’s entrepreneurship in the tourism industry is emerging as a significant force, necessitating an understanding of the factors influencing the success of women-owned businesses. In the field of tourism, digital presence, and skills in technology (e-skills) are gaining increasing importance, impacting enterprises’ promotional and communication capabilities. In the context of this research, we focus on women’s entrepreneurship in the tourism industry, emphasizing marketing and the use of digital tools. We explore the correlation between using e-skills and developing women-owned businesses in the tourism sector. Additionally, we examine the role of digital marketing and technological tools in promoting and enhancing the visibility of women-led travel agencies. Through the collection and analysis of research studies and business cases, we highlight the importance of digital presence and e-skills in empowering women’s entrepreneurship and fostering the development of the tourism sector. The results of this research will provide comprehensive guidelines for strengthening women’s entrepreneurship in the tourism industry and developing effective marketing strategies, emphasizing digital presence and the utilization of technological tools for travel agencies.

In today’s era of rapid technological developments, new perspectives and challenges are emerging for tourism education. Faculty and students in tourism education consider the use of digital educational technologies an integral part of learning. However, the focus on exploring new teaching methods, techniques, and learning styles in virtual classrooms is an area of particular interest, differing significantly from in-person teaching. In this context and in line with modern educational practices, the utilization of Transformative Learning as a methodological tool through digital learning environments becomes essential as it provides interaction and engagement through dialogue and critical reflection. The main objective of this research paper is to investigate the effectiveness of digital learning environments, and the contribution of Transformative Learning in the tourism education learning process. According to this paper’s findings, students in tourism education benefit from digital learning environments in terms of knowledge consolidation and the socio-emotional level. The implementation of Transformative Learning process is an effective methodological process with potential learning results providing intense interaction, facilitated communication, and fostering connection between students.

The post-pandemic tourism phenomenon and labor market accelerated the digital work demand allowing students from Generation Z to enter the labor market earlier. The digital system's fast pace creates pressure on future employees, the most susceptive being the students already working for online reservation platforms and digital media as a natural continuity of the FoMO phenomenon. In order to increase their competitiveness, students from digital professions work during their classes in the digital workspace. This paper presents preliminary data from an experimental study exploring the rapport between multitasking, text comprehension and retention, and burnout in students freelancing and working part-time in digital tourism, online booking platforms, and digital media. When students multitasked between reading professional news and a professor`s lecture, the average value of the level of information retention, the logic coherence of text retained, and the overall level of text comprehension and retention was lower. The decrease in overall comprehension task was greater for tourism students in the case of professional news, but they performed better in the case of the lecture compared with students in digital media. This study offers arguments in favor of organizing the activity in the online system and balancing the study time and work time during the student period.

It is widely accepted in the academic community that the success of a hotel company depends to a large extent on the behavior of its employees. More specifically, hotel customers form their opinion about the hotel’s services through their interactions with the several work teams of the hotel (such as front desk, house cleaning, and restaurant employees). Thus, the development and the existence of a hotel company are highly connected with the efficiency of its personnel. According to previous research, the effectiveness of hotel employees are strongly related to several organizational factors (such as leadership styles, communication, organizational culture, and training). The current paper aims to examine the key organizational factors that influence employees’ effectiveness. The methodology that is used in this paper is literature review via the PRISMA method. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) focuses on reporting the reviews as well as evaluating the effects of interventions that are connected with the key variables of leadership styles, organizational culture, communication, group dynamics, and team efficiency.

In the post-COVID years, the growth of tourism in Greece was rapid. This growth created a strong demand for employees, especially in the hotel industry, which could not be met. In 2022, the year following the pandemic, 60,200 jobs, based on the organization charts of hotels in Greece, were not occupied due to shortage of staff. This paper presents the results of a research that aimed to discover the factors that lead to job satisfaction, of the hotel personnel in Greece. In this context, based on the literature, many factors were examined, which contribute to job satisfaction such as working conditions, salary, company policy and administrative style, completion through work, relations with colleagues, and other factors. Emphasis was placed on the link between the level of knowledge and experience of staff and the job satisfaction. The level of satisfaction was also related with other factors such as position of responsibility, seasonality of the job, the training provided, but also the level of quality of the hotel’s services. The research was pilot and intended to indicate the directions and fields for a larger future research on the specific questions. The survey was conducted in spring 2023 and the results showed that the lowest degree of Job satisfaction was the salary in relation to the work offered, but also the opportunities given for promotion or advancement in the company. The satisfaction level for these factors was lower among the female employees. The best level of job satisfaction was for the social environment, such as relationships with colleagues and supervisor. Also, the research showed that there is a strong relationship between the quality of the hotel and the level of employee satisfaction. In any case, hotels in Greece should improve their working conditions and policy towards employees in order to increase the level of job satisfaction of employees, especially those who are in the lower positions and assistant employees.

Over the past 10 years, humanity has been witnessing a plethora of serious crises, such as financial, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate crisis. As a result, these crises have caused several problems in the global market, especially in the tourism and hospitality industry. Hence, crisis leadership, group dynamics, and change management are becoming more well-known in the academic community. However, research in this field remains fragmented, as there are very few empirical reviews on this topic. In addition, existing reviews seem to approach this subject from a subjective approach without the proposal of a theoretical and practical model that can measure the connection between the variables of crisis leadership, group dynamics and change management. The aim of the current study is to investigate the influence of crisis leadership on group dynamics/change management and the proposal of several tools so as to measure the above relationships. The methodology that is used in this paper is a literature review that synthesizes theoretical insights and empirical findings.

Travel and Tourism industry plays a key role in economic growth and job creation across the world. The travel sector offers employment opportunities particularly to women, young people and migrant workers, who represent a large share of the industry workers. Despite its important contribution to employment, local and national economic growth and prosperity, the tourist labour sector faces decent work challenges and occupational safety and health risks, largely due to the dominance of informal work in the sector. The article aims to present the positive aspects of the labour mobility in the tourism sector and its implications for the social and economic life of migrant labourers. Furthermore, it refers to the inequalities in the tourism labour market, which affect disproportionally women, young people, migrants and workers in the informal economy, to the deficits in social and health protection, that workers face and to the gender-based violence and harassment in the tourism labour sector. Particular focus will be placed on policies, strategies, good practices and on the relevant European and Greek protective legislation, towards a decent, fair and sustainable work in the tourism sector.

The global tourism sector faces an array of challenges that can significantly impact its stability. Within this sector, the hospitality subsector stands out due to its inherent vulnerabilities, largely stemming from its structural characteristics. Hotel business concepts suffer overreliance on external industries and favorable environmental factors. This heightened vulnerability underscores the importance of formulating practical strategies within the industry to not only predict and manage disturbances but also to effectively adapt to them. The realm of tourism literature has witnessed the introduction of various theories and empirical studies aiming to bolster the concept of resilience. Central to most of these theories is the contribution of the employees who work in those organizations. Workforce resilience has been considered to be a developable and trainable skill. However, there has not been a consensus on to what extent individual resilience contributes to overall organizational resilience. The problem was made clearer by the recent disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To delve into this matter, the paper employs a systematic literature review, to dissect various theories and interrogate the place of the workforce in the whole resilience construct. The paper's conclusions emphasize the need for further exploration, proposing the execution of empirical studies. Particularly, there is a pressing need for research in Africa, where data on tourism resilience, specifically within the hotel subsector, is lacking. By conducting such studies, the paper envisions shedding light on the intricate dynamics between employee resilience and the overall resilience of organizations within the tourism sector.

In the tourism industry, employees from different countries and cultures are invited to work together as an integrated team, while the enterprises try to convert this multicultural environment to corporate culture. The main objective of this research is twofold, firstly, to investigate whether the race of an employee in a tourism business is a decisive factor in determining his remuneration, and as well as, what is the role of internal marketing in mitigating, or not, to this discrimination. In order to accomplish these research goals a structured questionnaire was created and distributed to employees and executive managers in the tourism sector. The results support that there are racial discriminations and, indeed, the majority of employees has perceived that there are these discriminations both in salary and job positioning. Moreover, the results show the moderating effect of internal marketing and its importance in fostering culture co-creation, a role that seems to be missing.

This paper discusses the importance of employee retention in Zimbabwean hotels. The paper argues that work experience and a conducive work environment are not enough to ensure employees stay in their jobs. Tourism employees prefer places of work that offer exclusive, attractive work-life balance policies that are inclusive of retention strategies. This paper, therefore, examines the relationship dynamics among the dimensions of turnover intention, retention strategies, and employee surveys. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a purposive sample of 443 hotel employees in selected Zimbabwean hotels. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the quantitative data. The study found that talent management strategies, hotel employee behavior, and the antecedents thereof in the workplace are important for enhancing retention at the workplace. The study delivered an empirically tested tourism employee retention (TER) model for enhancing retention at the workplace. Practical interventions for organizational and industrial purposes in terms of the model were recommended. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on employee retention in the tourism industry and highlights the importance of adopting human resources (HR) practices that attract better applicants, retain productive employees, and reduce work-life conflict to enhance customer satisfaction experience and organizational performance.

The business environment is constantly changing. It is mainly influenced by political, economic, technological, and environmental factors. It is therefore necessary to constantly monitor and adapt to the current situation. If there is a good business environment in a country, the country's competitiveness increases, and the market economy grows. The business environment affects all sectors of the national economy, the impact is two-sided. It creates a competitive environment for business and, given the right conditions, attracts foreign investors. The business environment is influenced by several internal and external factors, which are constantly changing. The paper focuses mainly on the political, economic, technical, social, legal and environmental factors (PESTEL analysis) that influence the business environment, with an emphasis on tourism. Although several studies deal with the business environment, almost none of them identify the tourism sector. The object of study are tourism enterprises in Slovakia. The subject of the study is the current business environment in tourism in Slovakia. The aim of the paper is to examine the current state of the business environment in tourism in Slovakia and to define possible opportunities for its further development.

Human capital is regarded to be one of the most important factors for the success of a hospitality company. Hotel employees represent the entire hotel company and they are usually considered to be a part of the first impression that the customers gain from the hotel company. According to previous research, the abilities and competencies of the members of an organization (such as a hotel company) are often influenced by the leadership styles which are adopted by the management as well as the organizational culture. So, it is very important to investigate the role that leadership styles and organizational culture play in the formation of group dynamics which is the key factor for creating efficient hotel work teams. The aim of the current paper is to examine the effect (positive or negative) of the variables of leadership styles (such as transformational) and organizational culture on the variable group dynamics in the hospitality industry. Although several types of research have been conducted, which connect leadership styles and organizational culture, there seems to be an empirical gap in the connection between leadership styles, organizational culture, and group dynamics, especially regarding to the hospitality industry. Hence, the current paper aims to shed some light on this gap through empirical research which was conducted on employees of 4 and 5-star hotels. The outcome of the research revealed that there are connections between the abovementioned factors.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), female employment reduces poverty, sustains economic growth, and supports women’s empowerment and independence. This research aims to investigate the effect of Entrepreneurial skill, Competence, and Autonomy on the Empowerment of Women in the South African tourism sector. The study was quantitative and descriptive with a constructivist research approach. Primary data for this study was collected from women working in destination marketing organisations (DMOs), hospitality, business tourism, travel agencies, and tour operators across the country. The study findings indicate that women in tourism perceive themselves as having the entrepreneurial skills, competency, innovative ideas, independence, and autonomy necessary to succeed in the tourism industry, highlighting the relevance of these factors to Women in Tourism (WiT) in South Africa. This study makes a valuable contribution to understanding the potential of the Empowerment of women in the South African tourism sector. The findings of this study will assist tourism authorities and policymakers to better plan for the equal opportunity and inclusion of women in tourism across the provinces of South Africa.

The aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to codify human resources motivation theories and, on the other hand, to highlight their advantages in employee performance and hotel organization. In the context of analyzing the concept of motivation, human resources motives that enhance the performance of hotel employees are investigated. The Content Analysis methodology is employed, based on which the theories of motivation are classified in chronological order (per decade). In this way, the characteristics and impact of motivational theories on hotel human resources are highlighted. The present paper, by documenting the evolution of motivation theories over time and connecting them to the motivation of employees in the hospitality industry, leads to an original codification of the theory that future researchers can utilize.

Despite the importance of work values in students’ career development, little conceptual research has focused on articulating the dimensions represented within the construct and the exploration of empirical validity has been lagging. We provide evidence of validity for the conceptualization of students work values as projections of their personal values at the context of work. The data were collected from a Millennial-aged sample (born between 1981 and 1997) of tourism and hospitality students from Asia. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we show that this conceptualization is reliable and has better fit than competing theoretical models drawn on theory of work adjustment and self-determination theory. The cognitive, instrumental, affective and prestige typology of students work values provides a theoretically aligned approach, valuable to practitioners searching to explicate candidate employees’ expectations towards work. It also connects the stream of work values literature with the field of basic human values, directing future research within and beyond hospitality and tourism.

The space–time behaviour of visitor’s, when investigated and understood, can provide the development of marketing strategies, better management of tourist attractions and gather information about experiences and emotions experienced in destinations, among others. This study aims to present and discuss the contribution of research on visitors’ space–time behaviour at intra-attraction level, stressing some theoretical aspects related to concepts, constructs and methodological options expressed in articles related with this topic published in Scopus database. The search carried out in the Scopus platform reveals a growing interest in the visitors’ space–time behaviour in tourism studies. The most productive authors, the most relevant journals and the research areas of published articles were identified. However, few articles specifically focus on visitors’ intra-attraction behaviour have been published. A content analysis was performed and the geographic scale of analysis was identified, as well as the methodology used. From the literature review and based on an existing conceptual model for the urban intra-destination context, it was also possible to adapt it to the analysis of the spatiotemporal behaviour of intra-attraction visitors. Analyse visitor’s space–time behaviour at intra-attraction level allows facility managers to better understand visitor behaviour in different seasons, improving attractions and the overall tourist experience, contributing to more sustainable facility management.

The main objective of this research is to analyze the Revenue Management in hotels oriented to the promotion of direct sales channels, in order to increase the revenue of the units and to avoid possible expenses in commissions to third parties by the hotel, namely the indirect sales channels. In this case, the application of the Revenue Management concept is very beneficial in that hotels can apply the proper procedures and strategic decisions to minimize commission costs and generate the optimal amount of revenue, which is the main objective of this study. For this, it will be necessary to develop a concise study, regarding segmentation, and to understand what kind of benefits will be convenient for them, to build direct loyalty without any other intervention. Through a literature review, as a basis of study and the application of a quantitative study, creative proposals for rewards and strategies and suggestions for good practices are formulated to promote direct purchase by consumers and build loyalty so that they always book directly with the hotel unit.

The scientific goal of the article is to examine the barriers to the participation of visually disabled people in tourism and to point out the importance of service-learning activities in university education in the process of their removal. The article highlights the importance of the third mission of universities on the example of a service-learning project dedicated to visually impaired visitors in the tourism industry. It evaluates the results of a primary qualitative survey, carried out by the method of questioning with the technique of in-depth interview with 32 visually impaired respondents. The research results point to the insufficient level of availability of the tourism offer for visually disabled visitors, and the increased number of barriers in their everyday life. Even visually impaired people have a strong need to travel; however, more time is needed for them to plan their travel and stay. In case of appropriate and adapted tourism offer, more than 60% of disabled visitors would travel more often. The article emphasizes the importance of the equal right of all tourism industry visitors to profit from tourism services and to achieve a comprehensive experience.

Outliers or extreme values are patterns in the data, which do not conform to a well-defined concept of normal behavior. In today's often changing environment, detecting and forecasting outliers in time series related to stock market, credit card fraud, fraud in insurance systems, tourism demand indicators, etc., is a challenge for both humans and computers. In this paper, we present, for the first time, the association among the outliers in different univariate time series, and we formally define Mining Association of Extreme Values (MAEV). We then investigate how MAEV can be applied to forecasting outliers in a time series based on the detection of outliers in another. We evaluate the efficiency of the proposed methodology by applying it to hotel booking demand. More specifically, we first use an algorithm for automatically detecting outliers in time series such as booking volumes, arrival volumes, or booking cancellations, then we form a set of instances that correspond to time intervals, by considering in each instance the existence or not of an outliers for every different time series, then we apply Apriori association rule mining algorithm to the formed set of instances, and finally, we use the extracted association rules to forecast more outliers.

Family travel is unquestionably a significant part of the domestic tourism market in South Africa, with mothers normally responsible for holiday arrangements. Families with kids have unique needs that must be catered for to make a family holiday memorable. This study conducted a needs analysis of mothers specifically travelling with their families to identify how accommodation establishments can improve their offering and be viewed as more “family-friendly”. A quantitative study was conducted using a snowball sampling technique with over 106 participants responding to the survey. Mothers, specifically, were targeted over various social media and WhatsApp groups solely dedicated to mothers, and respondents were further motivated to share the link of the survey. Respondents had to be mothers with a family who have been on holiday in the last two years. Descriptive statistics were drawn, such as means, standard deviations, and frequency tables paired with inferential statistics, all analysed on SPSS. Preliminary results suggest that there are definite needs that are currently unmet, and holiday destinations should address these to cater to the extended family. Self-catering accommodation was the most preferred accommodation type, because of the convenience this accommodation offers a family, and coastal areas were identified as the preferred destination for most families. The main considerations to consider while choosing a holiday were affordability and the establishment's convenience. The results of this study are discussed in terms of what holiday destinations and establishments need to improve, to make their facilities more family-friendly, which should assist establishments in gaining a better competitive advantage in the family holiday market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in the travel behaviour of Greeks during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the post-pandemic era. It focuses on recording and comparing the above changes based on two parameters: the geographic area of permanent residence and their demographic characteristics. The empirical research of this study was conducted among residents of Greece. A stratified random sampling was used, in which Greece’s thirteen regions were regarded as stratums. The findings revealed that the pandemic has affected the travel behaviour of the Greeks, both in correlation to the region of their permanent residence and to their demographic characteristics. The results of the research revealed the travel preferences of the Greeks, which are shaped by hygiene and safety rules as well as by particular health protocols related to both hospitality and tranport. This research could be the base for an effective plan for future tourism aiming at offering a diversified tourism product. Future research could focus on comparing the mentalities of residents from different destinations varying from island to mainland or from low to high case indicator, etc., the results of which could provide further important information on the changes in the travel behaviour of the residents.

This research paper delves into the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and customer satisfaction in hotels located in Northern Portugal and Galicia (northern Spain). The primary objective was to identify the key aspects of intellectual capital that significantly impact customer satisfaction, ultimately providing hotel facilities with valuable insights to enhance their performance. The study encompassed 239 hotel units, distributed across various star categories, from one two-star to five-star establishments. The study considered all dimensions of the three capitals (Human, Structural, and Relational) as independent variables, and the online ratings; of the selected hotels on www.booking.com ; served as the dependent variable. The findings indicate that the dimensions of knowledge creation and development (structural capital), training and knowledge creation (human capital), relationship with stakeholders, and collaboration networks (relational capital) collectively contribute to explaining 53% of the variability in customer satisfaction. These results carry significant implications for stakeholders and underscore the organizational responsibility in the hospitality industry. By understanding and focusing on these important aspects, hotels can effectively improve customer satisfaction levels.

Participating in the circular economy can be a challenge for small and medium hospitality organizations. To examine this problem, within the InnoEcoTur research project, we have created an evaluation tool together with different stakeholders that has followed a participatory process from development to evaluation, as explained in this paper. The co-evaluation of the tool allowed us to refine and adapt it to the real environment of hospitality organizations, improving its usability and potential user experience. The methodology that we have applied for co-evaluation is an unmoderated, remote, and exploratory usability test, developed from the literature and primary information obtained in the research project. This test has been completed by some experts in the sector. The results show that it is a useful tool, but it must be accompanied by some training, network support, information about suppliers, and consultancy when some specific data need to be retrieved or calculated. The results are relevant to hospitality organizations and their suppliers, as well as for circular economy policymakers.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the activation of human resource motivation factors with the satisfaction of high-value needs and the satisfaction of their expectations, in a sample of hotel businesses in the categories 4* and 5* of the Prefecture of Attica. A survey was conducted using an electronic questionnaire that included appropriate questions addressed to the Human Resources Managers of the 4* and 5* hotel units. The results indicate that hotel companies consider the effort of human resources important in a special human-centered environment, such as hotel companies, whose managements try to satisfy the important needs of their human resources in order to deliver higher performance through motivational factors. The satisfaction of the needs of the human resources is to a sufficient or very satisfactory degree of coverage in the human resources, whether these needs concern the working environment, or concern the mental-emotional environment of the employee. Also, the human resources of hotel businesses have expectations, which the management knows and satisfies at a fairly high level, but the management’s expectations for satisfactory results from the employees are also at a high level. Human resources are considered the main shapers of hotel products and services, since their work affects the quality of what they produce to satisfy the needs of the hotel customer.

Sport is a phenomenon with evident socioeconomic implications. Sports clubs are vital for the local communities by bringing people together and providing opportunities for social interaction. However, economic recession caused particular funding problems, especially to self-funded sports clubs and individual athletes, when it comes to the depletion of their financial resources. However, the combination of digital tools and emerging forms of financing have contributed with solutions to amateur and semi-professional sports clubs, as well as to athletes competing at an individual level. Crowdfunding campaigns effectively benefit self-funded clubs, while the communication strategies through social media activate local communities, which come together to support local sports clubs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight all these elements through the case of Chios Nautical Club, which constitutes the sports emblem of Chios Island since the men’s water polo team has been participating for more than four decades in the first division of this sport. With the slogan “One Team, One Island”, Chios Nautical Club managed to raise a significant amount of money in a short period of time through a crowdfunding campaign by (a) using an online fundraising platform, (b) motivating the local community to join its effort through its social media and (c) offering a variety of donor incentives, prizes and rewards.

Wellness is recognized in several research studies as a common term regarding health, quality of life and satisfaction, in association with or replacing wellness. Also, the concept of quality of life is important to complement health tourism. Quality of life is useful in conceptualizing well-being by establishing links between objective and subjective features of this concept. In the search for a better quality of life, individuals look for ways to improve their well-being. In this sense and in the framework of this work, thermalism as a health activity arises as one of the most natural ways to improve well-being. Thermalism is defined as the use of natural mineral water and other complementary methods for prevention, therapy, rehabilitation or wellness. This research proposes a development strategy for thermal springs in the North of Portugal through the identification of the currently existing health and wellness, tourism, cultural and heritage attributes in the region. A qualitative methodology is applied, through semi-structured interviews, having as objectives to contextualize thermal tourism in health tourism and to identify the specialized thermal services available in the thermal regions of Northern Portugal. The results show the existing difficulties in the sector, namely the marked seasonality of demand and human resources, the non-diversity of age among thermal users, the lack of innovative equipment, the impact of the pandemic, the restrictions imposed on the thermal operation during the pandemic, the lack of tourist support structures, the scarcity of available and quality accommodation, the missing municipal and/or regional support, which permanently challenge the sector. In what concerns the identification of the specialized thermal services available in the thermal regions of Northern Portugal, it emerges the availability of opening services for the school community, free transportation and reception of local users in a thermal environment, specific thermal circuits; thermal massages, and differentiating treatments by the mineral-medicinal properties of the thermal waters of each geographical location.

This study has analyzed with a single-equation setting (using OLS estimation), the impact of TQM and innovation on perceived financial performance in sport and recreation enterprises. The results pointed out that TQM has a positive and statistically significant impact on innovation, while both variables (TQM and innovation) have a positive and statistically significant impact on perceived financial performance. These results have also been verified using a system of two simultaneous equations with Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) setting. Moreover, this study presents useful theoretical and managerial implications that can be used by sport and recreation services managers and practitioners to achieve better performance results.

Hiking is a physical activity aimed at recreation and improvement of the physical condition. As a general rule, this activity is carried out during holidays. However, hiking is often the main motivation for making the trip. Carrying out hiking as a leisure activity requires not only the existence of suitable hiking trails and supporting infrastructure, but also the establishment of the appropriate institutional framework. In this study, the institutional framework of hiking as an outdoor leisure activity, the institutional framework of supporting infrastructure as well as recent institutional arrangements in Greece are analyzed over time.

Glamping combines nature-exploration activities with luxury amenities (Lee et al., in J Hosp Tour Manage 40:88–93, 2019) while privacy is considered a critical aspect for glampers (Lyu et al., in Int J Tour Res 22:155–167, 2020). As a relatively new tourism phenomenon, glamping is an under-researched area (Adamovich et al., in J Environ Manage Tour 6(54):1431–1441, 2021) though market knowledge is recognized as essential to design improved glamping operations and experiences (Brochado and Brochado, J Hosp Tour Technol 10:15–27, 2019; Lu et al., in Int J Hosp Manage 95:102919, 2021; Lu et al., in Tour Recreat Res 1–19, 2022). This study examines glamping in Greece by presenting preliminary findings from a recent mixed-methods research. The research aim was to examine and compare perceptions about glamping from a two-sided perspective, i.e., supply side and demand side. Critical aspects of the glamping experience, glampers’ profiles and motives, growth prospects and perceived impact of the pandemic in relation to the glamping market were some of the main research foci. From the supply side, qualitative research took the form of 14 in-depth interviews with glamping executives. As for the demand side, 211 respondents, both Greeks and foreigners, participated in a survey focusing on tourists’ perceptions about glamping. Glampers’ profiling reveals high levels of education, income and environmental consciousness. As per glampers’ primary motives and expectations, they seek authenticity, sustainability, serenity and escapism; nature and sea-centered-activities are prerequisites while spa and yoga options are highly appreciated. Both studies showed positive behavioral intentions and promising glamping development prospects in a post-covid setting while more emphasis should be put in targeted communications to increase awareness of the glamping offering.

Football stadiums, especially those located in urban areas, host games of local and international tournaments, attracting fans to attend and express their loyalty to the team. Nowadays, these venues are acting beyond the usual, providing an effective way of attracting visitors and travelers, as they offer a greater variety of services and products. Thus, a successful development of football stadiums depends, among others, significantly on the type of ownership and management policies. The objective of this paper aims to provide an in-depth insight of football stadiums’ contribution to the local and urban tourism development, in areas with low tourism intensity and potentials, revealing the aspects that can upgrade them to points of higher tourist interest. This work focuses, mostly, on studying the effects of ownership on the development processes of a modern stadium, which is profiled as a venue providing various services and products, and especially, on the national football stadium located in the city of Patras in the Western Greece. The results of the research showed that the ownership of these stadiums affect their development as tourism products and destinations, as well as their financial management and organizational structure and policy.

The present study focuses on examining the linkage between sport and tourism and the way that environmental concerns contributed to this interlinkage. The aim of the study is to dive deeper into the basis of the connection and understand the circumstances that supported this connection with a critical eye. At the first glance, sports and tourism-related activities share no common environmental principles. Surprisingly, this epidermic approach will soon withdraw to the notion that their union is indisputable, especially when it comes to the practical setting of sport competition, sports events and venues. The examination employed critical review and content analysis of the available sustainability-related paradigms, as well as sport and tourism theories and typologies as they developed over the past 30 years. The present review underlines our common rising consciousness toward environmental protection which was also early adopted by the sport and tourism scholars and operators. Despite this initial instinctive appreciation of the intrinsic green character of sport and tourism, proof is needed to build on the equivalent green operation, policy and academic theory. The theory maturity signaled that further definitional and typological analysis and clarification are needed to differentiate among the diverse sport and tourism forms and uniquely categorize the greenest parts of this sport and tourism function. The outcome of this study highlights the roots of this amalgamation, in the scope of the natural environment contribution, hopefully contributing to a more sustainable sports tourism industry and a robust sport and tourism operation.

Thermal/mineral springs are one of the fastest-growing subcategories of wellness tourism. Indeed, it is an activity that has steadily increased in all of Europe's developed economies over the last few decades. The pandemic has raised awareness of the importance of healthy lifestyles and has subsequently led to a surge in consumption of experiences and travel, somehow motivated by wellness. This study analyses the evolution of thermal users’ alternation between wellness and classical thermalism in Portugal. The objective is achieved by applying exploratory and cluster data analysis to a Portuguese administrative database containing the number of user registers and revenues generated from 2012 to 2022. During this period, the wellness registers increased in most thermal establishments compared to the classic records, even if service diversification may be found in most thermal establishments. Still, the financial value added by wellness consumers does not seem to follow the previously observed shift. The establishments with more classical registers are still the ones that are able to generate the highest income per person.

Health and wellness have become important motives for consumption, attracting the researchers’ interest. One of the current challenges in academic research and in the wellness tourism industry is the conceptual development related to the key term wellness. In recent years in Europe, classical thermalism, focused essentially on the “cure” dimension, has been replaced by modern thermalism, which is particularly based on the “wellness” dimension, and the offer is more focused on preventive therapeutic motivations, combined with recreational and tourism aspects. Although the pandemic period led to the stagnation of tourism businesses, health tourism capitalized on the opportunity and developed successfully from the impact of the pandemic. The main objective of this work is to understand the challenges and strategies of the sector during and after Covid-19, namely whether the impact of the pandemic confirmed the need to reassess products and services, with complementary and composite offers that combine nature, sports, and nutrition, among others. A qualitative methodology approach was used to answer this objective, drawing on semi-structured interviews. The results report the challenges that Covid-19 represented to the sector, regarding the expenses increasing with disease prevention and equipment maintenance, the lack of investment, and the decrease in wellness products consumption.

Literature shows that thermal spas’ users seek thermal spas for therapeutic and wellness reasons. If the effective improvement in the user's health status needs to be confirmed by clinical tests, the perceived improvement in the user's quality of life may be assessed using different validated quality of life scales like the EQ-5D-5L or the EUROHIS-QOL-8. Moreover, it is possible to use validated scales like BaSIQS to determine sleep quality, the HAQ-DI to evaluate the user's disability awareness, and the B-IPB to assess illness perception. All these scales were applied to a sample of users of the thermal treatments in Termas de Chaves, the second-biggest thermal spa in Portugal, before and after 14 days of treatment, allowing to gather an important set of statistical data to assess the evolution of the user's perception illness, quality of life, sleep quality and disability. Therefore, this research aims to understand if the sociodemographic characteristics of thermal users influence the results obtained. Therefore, a binomial logistic regression is applied to identify the user's features that affect the differences in the user's perception before and after treatments. The results show that, in general, after treatments, the users’ perception is positive. However, only some characteristics of the users are statistically significant to explain such users’ perceptions.