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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 41389

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Codruta Adina Baltescu

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Brașov, Bulevardul Eroilor 29, Brașov 500036, Romania
Interests: marketing in tourism; tourism and hospitality; sustainable development

Prof. Dr. Aurelia Felicia Stancioiu

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Guest Editor

Department of Marketing, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Piața Romană 6, București 010374, Romania
Interests: tourism marketing; services marketing; tourist destination marketing; tourism marketing planning; marketing strategies in tourism; relationship marketing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Changing current mindsets and understanding sustainable development are prerequisites to support and enhance business success for each tourism company, each tourism destination and the tourism sector as a whole. It was validated that fulfilling the sustainability goals represents a great "gift" that companies and society need to learn how to use. From the first steps of marketing until now, when focus is on sustainability marketing, the changes have been numerous and complex.

As stated in the UN 2030 Agenda, it is time to make fundamental changes to the ways in which a company produces and consumes products and services. Governments, international associations, companies of any kind, alongside other actors and the global population need to contribute to the change of current consumption and production patterns, mainly through scientific development and by improving technical and innovation capabilities.

Globally, tourism is at a turning point. Finding solutions, especially by developing innovation capacities, understanding visitors’ and residents’ needs, developing tourism products and services that respect the principles of sustainability, identifying methods that favor their promotion and consumption, selecting and training employees to implement sustainability measures are a few directions that allow us to respond to sustainable development goals through specific marketing tools.

Sustainable development plays a key role in shaping tourism destinations’ competitiveness. Analyses aiming to evaluate sustainability marketing models, concepts, actions or tools can substantiate marketing transformation and its defining contribution to sustainable development.

Dr. Codruta Adina Baltescu
Prof. Aurelia Felicia Stancioiu
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploration of Topic Classification in the Tourism Field with Text Mining Technology—A Case Study of the Academic Journal Papers

by I-Cheng Chang, Jeou-Shyan Horng, Chih-Hsing Liu, Sheng-Fang Chou and Tai-Yi Yu

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4053; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14074053 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2451

Abstract

This study collects abstracts of SSCI tourism journal papers between 2010 and 2019 from the WoS (Web of Science) database and uses a novel method of topic classification to explore the vocabulary characteristics of the classified articles. The corpora of abstracts are given quantitative Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency (TF–IDF) weights. A hierarchical K-means cluster analysis is then performed to automatically classify the articles; co-word analysis techniques are used to show the characteristics of feature words for distinct clusters, titles, and the consistency of the classified articles. Based on the results for 5783 abstracts, cluster analysis classifies the number of K-means clusters into six categories: travel, culture, sustainability, model, behavior, and hotel. A cross-check method is applied to assess the consistency of the topic classifications, list titles and keywords of the documents with the three smallest distances in each category and apply a strategic diagram to present the features of the distinct categories. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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24 pages, 1152 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Sustainable Development Practices of Restaurants in Romania and Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Codruța Adina Băltescu, Nicoleta Andreea Neacșu, Anca Madar, Dana Boșcor and Alexandra Zamfirache

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3798; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14073798 - 23 Mar 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4624

Abstract

Sustainable development is a constant and a necessity of daily life in the restaurant industry. The restaurant industry has high consumptions of energy, water, detergents, and consumables, together with tremendous food waste. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many acute sustainable development problems. In this context, this article analyzes the practices identified by restaurant managers that define their responsible behavior, and the significant changes made towards sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents the results obtained through qualitative research, carried out by semi-directive in-depth interviews, conducted with 56 restaurant managers from Romania. The answers obtained are based on five topics of discussion highlighting the managers’ growing interest in finding solutions to counteract negative effects on the environment, to ensure the wellbeing of customers and employees, and to increase the profitability of their company. The results obtained from the research reflect the thoughts and actions of restaurant managers in Romania, contributing to the body of knowledge in the understanding of sustainability practices in the foodservice sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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25 pages, 11926 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Choice Modelling of a Car Traveler towards Park-and-Ride Services in Putrajaya to Create Green Development

by Irfan Ahmed Memon, Noman Sahito, Saima Kalwar, Jinsoo Hwang, Madzlan Napiah and Muhammad Zaly Shah

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7869; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13147869 - 14 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2586

Abstract

Putrajaya is facing an increasing number of private car ownership and its usage. Integrated transportation infrastructure connecting the city with suburban areas and comparatively low-cost housing schemes are at the fringes of Putrajaya City. It creates a discrepancy between housing and employment attentiveness. Due to the attractiveness of jobs in the city centre, commuters’ travelling pattern is morning/evening peak hours, and it leads to traffic congestion on a few major artilleries leading to and from the city. In contrast, Putrajaya was designed to achieve a 70:30 modal split ratio. This policy was introduced to target 70% of the commuters towards a sustainable mode of transport as their mode choice. Currently, congestion in Putrajaya is due to the use of single-occupant vehicles (SOV). The SOV users cannot be convinced to use the park-and-ride services (P&RS) without understanding their travel behaviors. Therefore, the mode choice models (MCM) were developed through binary logit regression (BLR) approaches to determine the factors that influence the SOV travelers’ decisions to adopt the P&RS. As a result, several factors, which included the socio-demographic factors, travel time, travel expenses, environmental protection, avoiding stress, parking problems, vehicles sharing, and traveling directly, were found to be significant and will promote green development. Furthermore, the quality of the developed mode choice model was validated through the training and testing approach of logistic regression. Ultimately, this study can help stakeholders to encourage SOV users towards P&RS by overcoming these factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 557 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Signals of Hotel Effort on Enhancing IAQ and Booking Intention: Effect of Customer’s Body Mass Index Associated with Sustainable Marketing in Tourism

by Baifeng Sun, Leon Yongdan Liu, Wilco Waihung Chan, Carol Xiaoyue Zhang and Xingqi Chen

Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1279; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13031279 - 26 Jan 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3032

Abstract

Since outdoor air pollutants may penetrate into hotels, indoor air quality (IAQ) has recently developed as an important criterion for tourists’ decision to choose traveling destinations and for business travelers to select accommodation. Thus, some hoteliers have raised concerns about the negative effects of emerging air quality issues on guests’ experience and are willing to invest in improving the IAQ. Unlike the hotel’s currently offered services and products which are observable, the improved IAQ is almost invisible and the mitigation technology of air pollutants is new to hoteliers, consumers and researchers in tourism. Hence, the search and understanding of the relationship of signals communicating hotel’s effort on air quality enhancement and booking intention plus the mediating and moderating factors become the main objective of the research and can fill the knowledge gap plus meet the practical need. The study found that the more reinforced IAQ effort included in the website presentation, the higher the travelers’ booking intention. The travelers’ trust in the hotel partially mediated the relationship between travelers’ perception of reinforced IAQ effort input by hoteliers and their booking intention. Further, the study finds that the enhancement of online booking intention does exist in a segment of travelers who are high health-conscious. Additionally, the influence of health-conscious traveler’s perception of hotel IAQ enhancement effort via the portal on the dependent variable—hotel booking intention was statistically significant. The findings enable hotel managers to have a deeper understanding of the relationship between the potential customers’ booking intention on hotel rooms and the online marketing communication signals mediated by their trust in the hotel’s cleaning air effort. The results can serve as a reference for designing more effective marketing communication programs and channels for hotels’ endeavor to improve indoor air quality, especially sustaining the tourism development in the post-epidemic era. Additionally, the study unveils some applied measures in improving hotel air quality not being documented in hospitality and tourism journals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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15 pages, 801 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Application of the Inbound Marketing Strategy on Costa del Sol Planning & Tourism Board. Lessons for Post-COVID-19 Revival

by Eva M. Sánchez-Teba, Josefa García-Mestanza and Mercedes Rodríguez-Fernández

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9926; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12239926 - 27 Nov 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 7779

Abstract

The digital era has radically changed the context in which the tourist service is delivered and experienced, changing the decision processes of consumer and company business models. It is necessary to contact the tourism services customer with non-intrusive techniques, at the beginning of their purchase process and accompany them until the final transaction. The main objective of this case study is to analyze the methodology of inbound marketing and show how The Costa del Sol Planning & Tourism Board could work on its sustainable customer relationship model under the concept of seducing the tourist by being pioneers in the application of this strategy to attract tourism after the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Conclusions of this study include measures to restore travelers’ confidence which will play an important role in attracting tourists after crisis. An inbound marketing strategy will provide a response as it is based on contact with the future tourist through highly specialized content. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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22 pages, 374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using a General Ordered Logit Model to Explain the Influence of Hotel Facilities, General and Sustainability-Related, on Customer Ratings

by Ioana-Nicoleta Abrudan, Ciprian-Marcel Pop and Paul-Sorin Lazăr

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9302; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12219302 - 09 Nov 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3846

Abstract

The hotel market has become extremely competitive over the past years. Hotels try to differentiate themselves through their services and facilities. To make the best choice when searching for accommodation, guests increasingly use rating systems of booking sites. Using an ordered logit model (OLM), we identify, in our study, a sample that comprises of 635 hotels from Romania. These are the hotel facilities that significantly influence customer review scores (as an expression of customer satisfaction) on booking.com, the most widespread rating system. We also identify whether their impact on intervals of satisfaction levels vary. Some explanatory variables invalidate the Brant test for proportional odds assumption. Thus, for the final estimates, we use a generalized ordered logit model (GOLOGIT). The results show that food-related facilities, restaurants, and complimentary breakfasts, are very significant for customer ratings. Relevant hotel common facilities are the pool and parking spaces, while for the room—the flat-screen TV. It is interesting to note the negative influence of pets, which seem to disturb other tourists. In the sustainability category, only facilities for disabled people and electric vehicle charging stations are relevant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

18 pages, 545 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Touristic SME’s Competitiveness in the Light of Present Challenges—A Qualitative Approach

by Daniel Adrian Gârdan, Ionel Dumitru, Iuliana Petronela Gârdan and Carmen Adina Paștiu

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12219191 - 05 Nov 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2366

Abstract

Competitiveness of SMEs (Small or Medium Enterprise) within the tourism field has been of a great interest for many scholars over time. Due to the crisis conditions specific to the present time, the issue of competitiveness becomes a very sensitive one, giving rise to sometimes contradictory points of view. Our research aims to analyze the opinions and perceptions of SME managers in the field of tourism in terms of the concept of competitiveness, how to measure it and sources of competitiveness still viable within the context of the current crisis or specific to it, etc. In order to be able to properly analyze the above, qualitative research was initiated and conducted in the form of an in-depth interview with 42 Romanian SME managers in the tourism field. The results of the study reflect a mature approach of managers in terms of possible new sources of competitiveness—the emphasis on technical solutions capable of managing the socio-medical dimensions of tourism consumer behavior, a prevalence for an organic growth strategy and for additional investments in qualified personnel, as well as online management of most aspects related to services and openness to collaboration within tourism clusters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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13 pages, 328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aspects of Marketing in Dental Tourism—Factor of Sustainable Development in Romania

by Flavia Dana Oltean, Manuela Rozalia Gabor, Aurélia-Felicia Stăncioiu, Mihaela Kardos, Marta Kiss and Roxana Cristina Marinescu

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4320; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12104320 - 25 May 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4594

Abstract

Dental tourism is a growing and emerging phenomenon that is becoming more attractive to patients due to its potential for decreased expenses, increased convenience, and immediacy of treatment. The necessity for travel is the primary motivation for seeking dental treatment due to the successful cooperation between tourism and healthcare. While dental tourism has been largely researched from the perspective of the patient, our research is the first research to apply a concomitant approach on dental clinics and tourism agencies. The aim of our study wasto provide comprehensive empirical evidence from the perspective of the dental clinics and tourism agencies in Romanian dental tourism. We used a representative sampling with an online questionnaire on 160 dental clinics and 32 tourism agencies. The results indicate that both entities have small amounts of information, but they are interested in investing, promoting, and creating a partnership to create a sustainable industry of dental tourism. Dental tourism could strongly contribute to the country’s image and help to prolong the seasonality of tourism activity by enhancing the strategic marketing of dental clinics and tourism agencies toward sustainable health tourism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

20 pages, 3554 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Why Do Czech Customers Come to Upper Palatinate? Motives, Sales Volume, and the Importance of Distance: A Case Study of Shopping in Bavaria

by Matthias Segerer, Dita Hommerová and Karel Šrédl

Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3836; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12093836 - 09 May 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2512

Abstract

This case study investigates the cross-border shopping behavior and potential of Czech customers in Upper Palatinate (Bavaria). Based on a point of sale survey (POS) and two household surveys with more than 500 participants, the expenditures of Czech customers in the retail market in Upper Palatinate are estimated using linear potential methods. Using a logit model, the study also attempts to identify the main drivers of cross-border shopping, aiming at increasing its intensity and thus furthering the development of the cross-border region. The distance from the place of residence to the border is the strongest influencing variable, but demographic characteristics also impact the decision to go shopping in Bavaria. Finally, specific activities within the categories of “welcome culture” and “marketing and communication” aimed at promoting the cross-border shopping of Czech customers in Upper Palatinate are proposed. Local retailers should especially benefit from the frequency function of grocery stores as well as develop combination offers, e.g., with tourist facilities, following sustainable development trends. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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23 pages, 1183 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Examining Structural Relationships among Brand Experience, Existential Authenticity, and Place Attachment in Slow Tourism Destinations

by Wenwen Shang, Qing Yuan and Nan Chen

Sustainability 2020, 12(7), 2784; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12072784 - 01 Apr 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6108

Abstract

Understanding how tourists’ brand experiences impact their existential authenticity, and the role of existential authenticity in the formation mechanism of place attachment to the destination, are key issues for the marketing of a destination. The current study examines the relationship between tourists’ experience, existential authenticity, and place attachment, and the indirect effect of existential authenticity on the relationship between destination brand experience and place attachment from the oriental perspective against the slow tourism background. A self-administered survey was conducted at Yaxi town, the first international slow city in China. A total of 398 samples were analyzed using a two-step approach of the structural equation model (SEM). The findings show that destination brand experience partially impacts existential authenticity, and both the intrapersonal and interpersonal authenticity (the sub-dimensions of existential authenticity) significantly influence place attachment. Additionally, affective and behavioral experience indirectly influence place attachment through existential authenticity. Based on the conclusions, theoretical and practical recommendations are considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marketing in Tourism and Sustainable Development)

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