Academica Turistica
Tourism & Innovation Journal – Revija za turizem in inovativnost
Year 14, No. 2, December 2021, issn 2335-4194
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14_2
125 Restart of Hospitality and Tourism: System Dynamics and Scenario-Based Modelling
Petr Štumpf, Jitka Mattyašovská, and Adriana Krištůfková
137 Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
in the Tourism Context: What Factors Will Lead?
Usep Suhud, Mamoon Allan, Dian Puspita Sari, Bayu Bagas Hapsoro,
and Dorojatun Prihandono
149 The Moderator Effect of the Perception of Value Co-Creation on the Relationship
between Hotel Brand Equity and WOM
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün
165 Dubai Restaurants: A Sentiment Analysis of Tourist Reviews
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya
175 Sustainable Innovation: Concepts and Challenges for Tourism Organizations
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel, Elva Esther Vargas Martínez, Alejandro Delgado Cruz,
and Juan Manuel Montes Hincapié
189 Big Data Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Competitiveness in East Java Province
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo
205 Using Google Trends in International Tourism: A Case Study of the Czech
and Slovak Republics
Patrik Kajzar, Radim Dolák, and Radmila Krkošková
217 Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity Regarding the Size
of Enterprises in the Tourism Sector: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Danijela Madžar, Ines Milohnić, and Ivan Madžar
227 Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience: Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Ana María Miranda Zavala, Isaac Cruz Estrada, and Margarita Ramírez Torres
241 ‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’ and from Elsewhere: Tourism-Space-Nature;
In MemoriamMatej Vranješ
Irena Weber and Simon Kerma
245 Abstracts in Slovene – Povzetki v slovenščini
251 Instructions for Authors
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124 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
Restart of Hospitality and Tourism: System Dynamics
and Scenario-Based Modelling
Petr Štumpf
Prague University of Economics and Business
petr.stumpf@vse.cz
Jitka Mattyašovská
Prague University of Economics and Business
jitka.mattyasovska@seznam.cz
Adriana Krištůfková
Prague University of Economics and Business
kria02@vse.cz
A tourism destination is defined as an open, complex, and adaptive system, in which
numerous relations in the economic, social, and environmental spheres are gener-
ated. This paper aims to define a system dynamics model of tourism destination as
a complex system and to identify future behaviour of the system after the restart of
tourism in the post-covid-19 era. The main methodological approaches were sys-
tem dynamics and simulation modelling. The case of a complex tourism system in
the South Bohemia Region, the Czech Republic, in the form of a Stocks and Flows
Diagram (sfd) is presented in this paper, focusing on the business activities at this
tourism destination. The simulation results show the future behaviours of the sys-
tem in various scenarios and compare the development of several economic indica-
tors. Three possible future scenarios of a restart of the hospitality and tourism in-
dustry are compared with the theoretical situation without covid-19 disease. The
proposed system dynamics model contributes to the current theory of tourism des-
tination management systems and can be used practically by destination managers
for destination planning and to formulate destination strategies.
Keywords: system dynamics, simulation modelling, tourism destination,
destination management
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.125-136
Introduction
A tourism destination system involves a great num-
ber of stakeholders. One of the most significant stake-
holders are the tourism enterprises that are regarded
as a ‘backbone’ of the tourism destination system. A
destination in which tourism enterprises operate has a
significant impact on the competitiveness of these en-
terprises and their performance. However, the oppo-
site relation also applies. Itmeans that the competitive-
ness of the destination is noticeably dependent on the
competitiveness of the enterprises in the destination,
in terms of each individual company and all compa-
nies in aggregate (Ritchie, 2003).
The ability to compete in the tourism market is,
from the perspective of individual entrepreneurs, the
subject of their interest; on the other hand, the com-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 125
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
petitiveness of the whole industry and aggregated re-
sults of the private sector in the destination are im-
portant for the public administration. Thus, the com-
petitiveness of the whole destination should be in the
spotlight for destination management as represented
by destination management organisation (dmo).
The hospitality and tourism industry has suffered
enormously from the covid-19 pandemic and gov-
ernment restrictions in all countries. The behaviour
of the whole tourism system in the post-covid-19 pe-
riod is still unclear, as well.
Therefore, the main ambition of this paper is to
define a system dynamics model of tourism destina-
tion as a complex system and to simulate possible sce-
narios of future development after the tourism system
restart. We use the case of the South Bohemia Region.
The South Bohemia Region represents one of themost
popular tourist regions in theCzechRepublic, right af-
ter the capital city of Prague and the South Moravia
Region. The aim is to provide a practical tool in the
form of a complexmodel, which could be used by des-
tination managers to facilitate their decision making,
destination planning, and destination strategies for-
mulation in post-covid-19 tourism development.
Therefore, we formulate the following research
question:Howwill the hospitality and tourism industry
develop in the post-covid-19 era in the South Bohemia
Region?
We use system dynamics as the main methodolog-
ical approach to answer the postulated research ques-
tion. A tourism destination is considered a dynamic
complex system because it comprises many different
components that interact in a non-linear way (Bag-
gio & Sainaghi, 2011; Mai & Smith, 2018) and, there-
fore, it needs to be appropriately modelled to achieve
efficient destination management (Bieger, 2008; Far-
rell & Twining-Ward, 2004; Lew & McKercher, 2006;
Rodriguez-Diaz & Espino-Rodriguez, 2007). System
dynamics is a method to enhance learning in complex
systemswhich often uses computer simulationmodels
to help us learn about dynamic complexity and design
more effective policies (Sterman, 2000). This method
can be understood as a computer-based approach to
understand and analyse a system’s behaviour over time
(Sedarati et al., 2019). Therefore, we use system dy-
namics to simulate possible scenarios, because future
tourism development in the post-covid-19 period is
still unclear and will require complex solutions.
The proposed system dynamics model contributes
to the current theory of tourism destination manage-
ment systems. System dynamics in travel and tourism
research is used by other researchers as well (Borštnar
et al., 2011; Jere Jakulin, 2016; 2017; Jere Lazanski & Kl-
jajic, 2006; Mai & Smith, 2018; Patterson et al., 2004;
Ropret et al., 2014; Sedarati et al., 2019; Štumpf & Vo-
jtko, 2016; Tegegne et al., 2018; Vojtko&Volfová, 2015).
However, the previous studies do not include such a
high number of variables and interrelations and do not
cover the complexity of the whole destination system
as does the presented model. Only a few authors sim-
ulate future scenarios (Mai & Smith, 2018). Thus, we
see the gap in the theory and provide a scientific tool
for future directions of tourism in these chaotic times.
Theoretical Background
The use of the systemic approach in tourism origi-
nates from the fact that tourism destinations are con-
sidered complex systems (Baggio & Sainaghi, 2011;
Kaspar, 1976; Laesser & Beritelli, 2013; Mai & Smith,
2018; Štumpf & Vojtko, 2016). According to the Sankt-
Gallen consensus of destination management, desti-
nations can be understood not only as geographic en-
tities, clusters or networks of suppliers but also as pro-
ductive social systems with specific business aims and
non-business related goals (Laesser & Beritelli, 2013).
Tourism Destination as a Complex System
Systems theory is used as one of the essential ap-
proaches to studying and managing the travel and
tourism industry (Kaspar, 1976), especially in a spe-
cific environment of tourism destinations. Based on
this theory, a tourism destination is defined as an
open, complex and adaptive system, in which numer-
ous relations in the economic, social, and environ-
mental spheres are generated. A tourism destination
is considered a dynamic complex system because it
comprises many different components that interact
in a non-linear way (Baggio & Sainaghi, 2011; Mai &
Smith, 2018). The tourism destination as a complex
system needs to be appropriately modelled to achieve
126 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
efficient destination management (Bieger, 2008; Far-
rell & Twining-Ward, 2004; Lew & McKercher, 2006;
Rodriguez-Diaz & Espino-Rodriguez, 2007).
The system also contains many stakeholders with
entirely different management objectives and interests
(Mai & Smith, 2018; Štumpf & Vojtko, 2016), and it
is influenced by various internal factors (such as pol-
icy, government regulations, and socio-economic con-
ditions) as well as external factors (such as the eco-
nomic situation, safety and security, and technologi-
cal or environmental changes). It means that manag-
ing a tourism destination is uncertain, and destination
managers have to make decisions in a complex envi-
ronment (Mai & Smith, 2018).
Tourism Destination and System Dynamics
The first system dynamics models were used for sim-
ulations in businesses (Forrester, 1961). However, sys-
tem dynamics modelling enables evaluating the eco-
nomic impacts and the socio-cultural and environ-
mental impacts and their mutual interactions (Jack-
son, 2003). In comparison to other methods that are
often used for the evaluation of the economic im-
pact of tourism on destinations, system dynamics has
one advantage – it can be operated at the same time
with ‘soft’ factors from the social and environmental
spheres, non-linear relations, delays, and causal loops
(reinforcing or balancing), in one complex model
(Sterman, 2000). Thus, we can observe stakeholders
and general tourism development in destinations in a
broader context with the emphasis on sustainability.
The system dynamics searches for an explanation
of phenomena (variables within the boundaries of the
system). The endogenous approach creates system dy-
namics through the interaction of variables and agents
represented in the model. By specifying the structure
of the system and the rules of interaction (decision-
making rules in the system), it is possible to reveal
behaviour patterns created on the basis of these rules
and this structure, and to discover how behaviour can
be changed following the alternation of the structure
and rules (Sterman, 2000). For example, Jere Lazanski
and Kljajic (2006) or Mai and Smith (2018) have used
this approach in dynamic modelling of tourism desti-
nations.
In contrast, the approach based on the exogenous
variables (variables beyond themodel boundaries) ex-
plains the dynamics of given variables in the sense of
other variables whose behaviour is anticipated. An en-
dogenous explanation of the system dynamics does
not mean that the models should never contain any
exogenous variables. However, the number of external
inputs should not be high, and each ‘exogenous input
candidate’ must be carefully verified. Careful consid-
eration must be given to whether there is significant
feedback from endogenous elements to the considered
exogenous input in the system. If so, the boundaries of
the systemmust be extended, and this variablemust be
modelled as endogenous (Sterman, 2000).
An approach based on exogenous variables has
been used in tourism by, for example, Patterson et al.
(2004), who deal with a dynamics system of sustain-
able tourism on the Caribbean island of Dominica. At
first, the authors identified exogenous variables such
as the global economy, politics, and climatic condi-
tions. Only then did they outline three broad endoge-
nous areas of research in which they identified indi-
vidual variables – society (population,migration, etc.),
ecosystem (land exploitations, portable capacity, etc.)
and economics (gdp, income from tourism, etc.).
Several research studies have been published in the
field of travel and tourism, using system dynamics as
the main theoretical approach (Borštnar et al., 2011;
Jere Jakulin, 2016; 2017, 2019; Jere Lazanski & Kljajic,
2006; Mai & Smith, 2018; Patterson et al., 2004; Ro-
pret et al., 2014; Sedarati et al., 2019; Štumpf & Vojtko,
2016; Tegegne et al., 2018; Vojtko & Volfová, 2015).
Moreover, Schianetz et al. (2007), based on Senge’s
(1990) theory of Learning Organization, present the
concept of Learning Tourism Destination using sys-
temdynamics as a tool for implementing and reinforc-
ing collective learning processes. The results show that
system dynamics methodology can support commu-
nication among crucial stakeholders in tourism desti-
nations and stimulate organisational learning.
Simulation Modelling in Tourism Research
Modelling in tourism is used mainly to understand
complex systems and connections when, on the basis
of the clarification of certain phenomena, it is possi-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 127
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
ble to imitate the behaviour of the investigated system,
simulate it on the specific model, and then influence
its behaviour. Simulation models are used in tourism,
for example, to predict supply and demand, determine
the impact of tourism on the economy, the local com-
munities and the environment, to model movement
of tourists in the destination, or as a tool facilitating
decision-making in planning and defining develop-
ment and marketing strategies (Ahlert, 2008; Ander-
gassen et al., 2013; Athanasopoulos&Hyndman, 2008;
Bonhamet al., 2009; Buchta&Dolnicar, 2003;Greiner,
2010; Lacitignola et al., 2007; Lawson, 2006; Lew &
McKercher, 2006; Liu et al., 2012).
Nowadays, computer simulations are increasingly
used in social sciences as a tool for understanding var-
ious social phenomena. Employing simulation, scien-
tists can determine causal effects, specify key parame-
ter estimates, and clarify the evolution of the processes
over time. In addition, simulation methods are often
very effective in terms of time and costs; sometimes,
they are even the only possible means for examining
certain phenomena (Garson, 2008). Themain areas of
simulations used in the social sciences are system dy-
namics models, network models, spatial models, and
agent-based models.
Focusing on this research study, simulations gro-
unded in system dynamics could be used to better un-
derstand the structure of the complex tourism desti-
nation system and its behaviour in a time perspective.
These simulations can combine many different inter-
related factors and play an important role in testing
various scenarios. That is why such system dynamics
simulation models can be used to make strategic deci-
sions and for strategic planning in tourism destination
development in general.
Methods
The main methodological approach was system dy-
namics modelling. In line with the previous studies,
we built the model based on system dynamics mod-
elling, according to the systemdynamicsmethodology
(Jackson, 2003). The first step consists of identifying a
research problem and variables, which have a crucial
influence on the defined problem. The variables create
the boundaries of the system.
The Stocks and Flows Diagram Construction
The presented system dynamics model in the form
of a Stocks and Flows Diagram (sfd) shows the in-
teractions among the defined variables and reveals
the complex structure of the model. Jere Lazanski
and Kljajic (2006) defined the relations among the
model, the object, and the modelling subject. Based
on this approach, the object of the model was defined
as the dynamics of tourism development in the South
Bohemia Region. The subject of the model is then
represented by the researchers (authors) as the ob-
servers/descriptors of the model. The sfd represents
a mathematical simulation model. Figure 1 shows the
sfd structure.
The compiled model of the tourism destination
system includes 14 stock variables that form the base
of the model. Each stock variable has its own inflow(s)
and usually, but not necessarily, outflow(s). Stocks rep-
resent accumulations within a system and flows in-
crease (inflows) or decrease (outflows) stocks. Auxil-
iary variables and stocks control the flows. Therefore,
a stock can be changed only via its flows, and stocks
and auxiliary variables control the flows (Mai & Smith,
2018). Constants are used for setting the policies and
scenarios simulations. Figure 2 shows a part of the
sfd focusing on accommodation capacity where the
Accommodation establishments (ae) capacity variable
represents the stock, Investments the inflow, ae clos-
ing and Depreciation the outflows, ae occupancy and
ae building necessity the auxiliary variables, and Ad-
ditional investments the constant.
In this study, we focus primarily on the variables
linked to the entrepreneurs’ performance, such as
Profit&Loss, accommodation capacity, or number of
days spent by visitors in the destination. However, the
model enables us to set the policies and simulate sce-
narios in a sustainablemanner because it includes also
the variables related to public administration (e.g. tax
revenues), residents’ attitudes (residents irritation),
and the environment (cultural and natural potential).
The model structure is described in Appendix 1.
Model Calibration and Validation
After the sfd structure construction, the model must
be calibrated with parameter values to run the simula-
128 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
Figure 1
Tourism
Destination
System: Stocks
and Flows Diagram
tions. These parameters include (a) the initial value for
stocks at the beginning of the simulation, (b) constants
that are stored as auxiliary variables, and (c) graphical
functions that represent the influence of one variable
on another. The remainder of the sfd is parametrised
using equations (Mai & Smith, 2018; Sterman, 2000).
The time step of the simulation is one month, and the
simulations run for 120 time-steps (10 years).
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 129
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
Figure 2 Stocks and Flows Diagram: Accommodation
Capacity
A wide set of secondary data about the numbers
of destination visitors, length of stay, and accommo-
dation capacity was collected to calibrate the simula-
tion model. The base year for these statistics was 2019.
Some variables, such as the price level, indications of
quality, satisfaction, or residents’ irritation, were esti-
mated based on consultations with professionals from
the region.
Calibration of the simulation model, as well as the
initial values, equations and data sources are shown in
the supplementary file generated by Vensim 6 Profes-
sional (https://fm.vse.cz/english/sfd-irritation2).
We validated the simulation model to achieve the
real-life behaviour of the system. The behaviour of the
model was compared with the situation after the first
covid-19 wave in the Czech Republic (March–May
2020) and the post-wave behaviour of the system. We
followed the results of own research studies and used
primary data focusing on the effects of the covid-
19 pandemic on smes in the Czech Republic, or vis-
itor profiles and satisfaction in South Bohemia. More-
over, we used a range of studies about the covid-19
impacts on the hospitality and tourism industry pub-
lished by the unwto and the Czech Tourism Board
(https://www.unwto.org and https://tourdata.cz
/temata/data/).
Results
We simulated three possible scenarios (Scenario 0,
Scenario 1, and Scenario 2) of future tourism develop-
ment in connection with the hospitality and tourism
industry restart in the post-covid-19 period. These
three possible future scenarios are confronted with
the theoretical situation without the covid-19 dis-
ease. Using Vensim 6 Professional software, we utilise
the SyntheSim function for scenarios simulations.
Scenario without the covid-19 Disease
In this scenario, we simulate the theoretical situation
of how the hospitality and tourism industry in South
Bohemia would be developing if the covid-19 pan-
demic had not occurred. The development would be
natural and continuous without any external impacts
and specific politics.
Scenario 0
We consider Scenario 0 as the base situation when we
consider the basic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic.
We changed the input parameters as follows:
• 43 decrease of the Number of visitor days based
on the statistics (https://tourdata.cz/temata/data/).
• The Human resources competency index de-
creased from 0.5 to 0.4 because of the profession-
als and employees outflow from the hospitality
and tourism industry.
• The Competition in the hospitality & tourism in-
dustry index decreased from 0.8 to 0.6 due to the
closing of businesses as a result of the covid-19
pandemic restrictions.
Scenario 1
Scenario 1 is considered as a pessimistic situationwhen
peoplewill be generally scared to travel. In comparison
with the base situation (Scenario 0), we consider 30
fewer overnights and one-day-visitors in Scenario 1.
Scenario 2
Scenario 2 is considered as an optimistic situation
when people will be generally anxious to travel since
theywere not able to go onholidays during the covid-
19 pandemic. In comparison with the base situation
(Scenario 0), we consider 30 more overnights and
one-day-visitors in Scenario 1.
Simulations Results
The simulation results show that the number of visi-
tors anddays spent in SouthBohemia after the tourism
130 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
Figure 3 Scenario Simulations: Number of Visitor-Days
restart could drop quite dramatically (Figure 3). If
we consider the optimistic Scenario 2, the number
of visitor-days will be 72 of the situation without
covid-19 at the end of the simulation (step 120).How-
ever, if we consider the base situation (Scenario 0) and
the pessimistic Scenario 1, the number of visitor days
will be 44 of the situation without covid-19 (Sce-
nario 0), or 13 respectively (Scenario 1), at the end of
the simulation (step 120).
From the simulation results, we can analyse the sit-
uation in the hospitality and tourism industry. The
simulation shows how Profit&Loss develops in par-
ticular situations. While the accommodation industry
will achieve profits only in the optimistic Scenario 2 at
the end of the simulation period (Figure 4), the other
hospitality and tourism services will be profitable in
the optimistic, as well as in the base, situation at the
end of the simulation (Figure 5).
Figure 6 shows the development of accommoda-
tion establishments occupancy. The results show that
the stabilisation of the accommodation sector will last
significantly longer in pessimistic Scenario 1.
The simulated scenarios showed a possible devel-
opment of the hospitality and tourism industry in
the South Bohemia Region, the Czech Republic. The
simulation shows that the recovery after the tourism
restartwill not be easy, and the hospitality and tourism
industry will suffer from several related problems,
such as the outflow of human resources from the h&t
sector.
Discussion and Conclusion
A tourism destination is considered to be a dynamic
complex system. Managing tourism destinations is
Figure 4 Scenario Simulations: Accommodation
Establishments Profit&Loss
Figure 5 Scenario Simulations: Other h&t services
Profit&Loss
Figure 6 Scenario Simulations: Accommodation
Establishments Occupancy
uncertain, and destinationmanagers have tomake de-
cisions in a complex environment, including many
stakeholders with different management objectives
and interests (Mai & Smith, 2018). System dynamics
in travel and tourism research was used by many re-
searchers (Borštnar et al., 2011; Jere Jakulin, 2016; 2017;
Jere Lazanski & Kljajic, 2006; Mai & Smith, 2018; Pat-
terson et al., 2004; Ropret et al., 2014; Sedarati et al.,
2019; Štumpf & Vojtko, 2016; Tan at al., 2017; Tegegne
et al., 2018; Vojtko and Volfová, 2015). Our study iden-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 131
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
tifies the complexity of the destination system using a
Stocks and Flows Diagram and simulation modelling.
Moreover, we use the model for scenarios simulations
in the covid-19 tourism crisis.
The proposed system dynamic model can be con-
sidered as a unique tool for destination managers to
understand and deal with the soft systems and tourism
development policies which determine the dynamics
of the destination system. The model enables us to
simulate different combinations of possible future de-
velopment, the effects of decisions and policies, and
to test their effectiveness to find the optimal solutions,
not only in crisis situations. Therefore, the results can
be used practically by destination managers for des-
tination planning and destination strategies formula-
tion.
The theoretical contribution of the model lies in its
complexity, and it covers the crucial relations in the
destination system respecting the economic, social,
and environmental sustainability of tourism. These
facts underline the necessity of modelling the desti-
nation system properly to achieve efficient destina-
tion management (Bieger, 2008; Farrell & Twining-
Ward, 2004; Lew&McKercher, 2006; Rodriguez-Diaz
& Espino-Rodriguez, 2007).
The research question was formulated: How will
the hospitality and tourism industry develop in the post-
covid-19 era in the South Bohemia Region? The sim-
ulated scenarios show the possible development of the
hospitality and tourism industry in the SouthBohemia
Region, the Czech Republic. The simulation shows
that the recovery of tourism will develop differently in
various situations, depending on tourist behaviour in
the post-covid-19 era (long-lasting fear of travel, on
one hand, and a travel boom, on the other hand).How-
ever, the hospitality and tourism industry will suffer
from several related problems, such as the closing of
tourism businesses, or outflow of human resources
from the h&t sector.
Based on Jere Lazanski and Kljajic (2006), the pro-
posed system dynamic model was established by the
authors, as the observers/descriptors of the model. We
can consider this fact as a limitation of the study as the
model may be influenced, to a certain extent, by the
authors’ perspective. Other limitations of the model
are connected with the calibration.We had to estimate
several variables’ quantification and their initial values
based on experts’ opinions. Moreover, it is not easy to
set the relations between several variables as graph
functions since they usually interact in a non-linear
way (Baggio & Sainaghi, 2011; Mai & Smith, 2018).
Therefore, we were not able to validate the simulation
results in their absolute values, but the simulations
can point to future development and the differences
between various scenarios.
The systems approach and complex system dy-
namics modelling deserve better attention in future
research, in terms of social, environmental, and eco-
nomic sustainability in tourism destinations. These
methods represent the scientific tools that can provide
balanced, optimal results to find a consensus among
different aims of various stakeholders in tourism des-
tinations. The proposed model can be useful for sim-
ulations variety scenarios of the destination system in
connection with post-covid-19 travel behaviour. The
precise calibration for the situations in a variety of
destinations is the way for future research. This crisis
of tourism has shown an enormous and sudden drop
in international travel and the reduction of business
activities in the hospitality and tourism industry.
The dynamics of tourism and simulations of the
post-covid-19 scenarios represent a big challenge for
the future. The current situation outlines the neces-
sity of a complex and systemic approach in managing
tourism destinations. Therefore, we consider our sys-
temdynamicsmodel a useful tool for decision-making
support and sustainable destination development in
the post-covid-19 era.
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Appendix 1: Detailed description of the Stocks and Flows
Diagram structure
1. Accommodation establishments (ae) capacity represents
one of the key stock variables in the entire model, which
is expressed by the number of beds in the destination.
The capacity of accommodation establishments (ae) is
increased by investments (flow variable; inflow). The to-
tal investments in the construction of new accommo-
dation capacities (beds) include either investments due
to the need to build capacities (ae building necessity)
– to extend the capacity of the existing aes, or addi-
tional investments, in other words, construction of new
aes. In this case, the additional investments represent
an exogenous variable. In general, however, they may
be determined, for example, by the attractiveness of the
tourism sector in the destination. It can be increased,
for example, by subsidies for the construction of new
accommodation capacities. The ae building necessity is
given by the occupancy of accommodation facilities,
which is expressed as the ratio between the number of
overnight stays (per month) and the capacity of accom-
modation facilities (per month). The total capacity of
aes is reduced by two flow variables – a depreciation of
accommodation facilities (outflow) and ae closing (out-
flow). While the depreciation is mainly caused by the
occupancy of accommodation facilities (the higher oc-
cupancy of the accommodation facility, the higher the
wear and tear), the closure of accommodation facilities
depends mainly on the monthly financial result of aes
and profitability of aes, which in this case is expressed
by profitability based on the return of sales (ros). If the
aes do not reach at least the expected aes’ minimal tar-
get ros, the accommodation facilities will be closed due
to their unprofitability.
2. Accommodation services quality is determined by the
change in the quality of accommodation services (qual-
ity change, outflow variable), which is influenced by ex-
ogenous variables – human resources competency and
competition in h&t industry – as in the case of the qual-
ity of other services. Furthermore, however, the qual-
ity of accommodation facilities is increased by invest-
ments placed in accommodation capacities, provided
that investments in accommodation facilities exceed
their depreciation. The quality of accommodation ser-
vices and the quality of other services is then expressed
by the auxiliary variable h&t services quality, which in-
fluences, together with other factors, the visitors’ satis-
faction change.
3. Other h&t services quality is determined byOther h&t
services quality change (flow variable), which in the sug-
gested model is influenced by two exogenous variables
– human resources competency and competition in h&t
industry. In general, it can be assumed that increase in
employees’ competencies will increase the quality of,
for example, catering, guide, transport, and other ser-
vices; similarly, the increase in competition should force
providers to be more competitive and increase the qual-
ity.
4. Accommodation real price level is determined by the
price level change (flow variable), which is influenced
mainly by the ae occupancy (the effect of ae occupancy
on price level). In general, it can be concluded that if the
ae occupancy increases, the price of accommodation
will also increase. The price level is calculated as the av-
erage price per bed/night. For simplification, the price
level was calculated only for accommodation services.
When summarising other services into one common
category, quantifying the price level for all other services
would require their detailed elaboration and calculation
in a separate model.
5. Accumulated inflation in the proposed model represents
a stock variable that needs to be quantified due to the
fact that the model considers the real price level for ac-
commodation. The inflow of accumulated inflation is
monthly inflation (annual inflation rate calculated for 12
months of the year with respect to the time unit of the
simulation, which is one month).
6. Accumulated Profit&Loss of h&t industry is stipulated
by monthly Profit&Loss, which represent a flow quan-
tity for the purpose of this model. Financial results of ac-
commodation facilities and the facilities providing other
tourism services (to keep the model as simple as pos-
sible the other services were not further distinguished)
are reflected in a Profit&Loss (month). Thus, monthly
Profit&Loss is calculated using the difference between
revenues from accommodation, and fixed plus variable
costs of accommodation facilities and the expected prof-
itability of facilities providing other services. In this case,
it is expressed by the average ros of other h&t services.
7. Profit&Loss of h&t industry (year) had to be quantified
not only for monitoring the annual Profit&Loss in the
tourism sector but also for the subsequent quantification
of tax revenues from the h&t industry in the destina-
134 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
tion, which are generated in individual years. The inflow
of Profit&Loss of h&t industry (year) is alsoProfit&Loss
(month) (flow variable). The Profit&Loss (month) is not
accumulated for the whole simulation period as in the
previous case, but the Profit&Loss is nullified after each
year. This represents an outflow of Profit&Loss of h&t
industry (year), and it is possible to derive tax revenue
(tr) of h&t industry from it.
8. Tax revenues (tr) of h&t industry (year) are in the
model (again, with respect to the time unit of the simu-
lation) given by the inflow of tax revenues (tr) of h&t
industry according to individual months (flow variable).
For simplification, tax revenues include only income tax
and vat, which are calculated from the total financial
result of accommodation and other tourism facilities, in
other words, from the revenues from accommodation
and other services. Tax revenues are reduced by the as-
sumed grey economy ratio (exogenous variable). Follow-
ing each year, tax revenues are nullified (flow variable).
It is an outflow of annual trs of the h&t industry in
the destination. It is possible to derive from it in a sim-
plified way the tax revenues returned back in destination
(flow variable), which is redistributed and returned to
the local and regional budget.
9. tr returned back in destination (year) represent a stock
variable that has an inflow in the proposed model in
the form of the tax revenues returned back in destination
(flow variable) and outflow in the form of tr returned
back nullifying in order to determine tax revenues each
year. This is the way in which the financial resources are
expressed; after the taxes are redistributed the financial
resources return to the destination through local and re-
gional public budgets. Their share of the total tax rev-
enues from the tourism sector in the destination will de-
termine the budget allocation of taxes. This fact has been
simplified for the purpose of this model to a single coef-
ficient of tr returned back in destination ratio (exoge-
nous variable). Another factor is the Local businesses ra-
tio based in the destination (exogenous variable). Busi-
ness entities located outside the destination, which pro-
vide tourism services in the region, file their tax return at
the place of their registered office. This fact reduces the
tax revenues that flow back to the destination.
10. Visitor-days per year (Visitor-days 12m) is a key stock
variable on the demand side. The inflow is (with re-
spect to the time unit of the simulation), for the pur-
poses of this model, expressed in a number of visitor-
days per month which is given by the sum of overnights
and one-day visitors. In the proposed model, the num-
ber of one-day visits is influenced by ‘word-of-mouth’
(effect of wom on one-day visitors), individual market-
ing communication of other service providers (effect of
imc/other h&t services/on one-day visitors), and other
effects on one-day visitors (exogenous variable).
The number of overnights can be increased through
higher expenditures that the accommodation facilities
spend onmarketing communication (effect of imc/ae/on
overnights), but also by providers of other services (ef-
fect of imc/other h&t services/on one-day visitors). A
wider offer of other services or higher awareness of the
offer can encourage visitors to stay longer. The num-
ber of overnights will be further increased by higher
expenditures on marketing communication in the desti-
nation (Destination mc), more intensive positive ‘word-
of-mouth advertising’ (effect of wom on overnights), de-
clining price level (effect of price level on overnights, and
related exchange rate effect as an exogenous variable),
or other effects on overnights. The number of overnight
stays is also influenced by the average length of stay trend
(as an exogenous variable), which is based on the global
trend of shortening the length of stay of tourism partic-
ipants in destinations. This fact is due to the preference
of tourism participants to travel several times a year for
shorter stays. The number of overnight stays is then lim-
ited by the capacity of accommodation facilities.
Exogenous variables affecting the number of visitor-
days (other effects on one-day visitors and other effects
on overnights) were used as an input variable for simu-
lation of future development scenarios for the restart of
the tourism sector after the covid-19 era.
11. Visitor-days in the last 24 months (Visitor-days 24m) is
a stock variable which, in the proposed model, has the
same inflow as Visitor-days 12m, and which is the basis
for quantifying the wom potential.The proposedmodel
assumes that visitors who have visited the destination in
the last 24 months will share their experience with other
possible visitors to the destination (their relatives and ac-
quaintances). This means that the visitor-days from the
previous 24 months can generate more visitor-days in
the future. However, only satisfied visitors will share a
positive experience.
12. Visitors’ satisfaction is determined by the satisfaction
change (flow variable), which in this model is influenced
by the h&t services quality of services, the state of the
cultural and natural potential (cnp), the real price level
of the accommodation services, and the level of the Res-
idents irritation from tourism. In general, it can be con-
cluded that the satisfaction of visitors will grow in line
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 135
Petr Štumpf et al. Restart of Hospitality and Tourism
with better cultural and natural potential, in other words
with better primary attractiveness of the destination, if
the prices decline, but the quality of services grows, and
the locals will be more friendly to visitors. The satisfac-
tion of visitors is expressed on the scale in the interval
of [0,1]. The value of 0 means that visitors to the desti-
nation are completely dissatisfied; in contrast, the value
of 1 is assumed in a situation where the visitors would be
entirely satisfied with their stay in the destination.
13. Residents’ irritation, in the proposedmodel, is influenced
mainly by the tourism intensity, which in this case is ex-
pressed by the ratio of the number of visitor days per
month to the number of local inhabitants. The second
influence that is reflected in the irritation of residents is
the cultural and natural potential. The effect of tourism
intensity on irritation and the effect of cultural and nat-
ural capacity on irritation results in the change in irri-
tation of local inhabitants, which represents a flow vari-
able affecting the current state of the residents’ irritation
of local inhabitants. In general, in this relation, it can be
concluded that the increasing intensity of tourism in the
destination increases the irritation of the local popula-
tion, while the improving cultural and natural environ-
ment reduces the irritation of residents. The irritation of
local people is expressed on the scale in the interval of
[0,1]. The value of 0 means that the local people in the
destination are not irritated by the presence of visitors in
the destination. In contrast, the value of 1 is assumed in a
situation where locals would be upset about the presence
of visitors and the negative consequences of tourism as
much as possible.
14. Cultural and natural potential (cnp) in the proposed
model is mainly influenced by the number of visitor-
days. In general, it may be concluded that the more days
tourists and visitors spend in the destination, the more
they will burden the natural environment and affect the
local culture, thus degrading the primary capacity of the
destination. The effect of visitor-days on cnp and other
effects on cnp (exogenous variable) results in the cnp
change, which is a flow variable affecting the current
state of cnp. Other impacts on the cnp can be invest-
ments in historic preservation, environment protection,
or generally in improving the attractiveness of the pri-
mary capacity of the destination. The model also takes
into account a certain degree of self-renewal, especially
of the natural capacity of the destination. In this case,
favourable conditions for the self-renewal of the des-
tination are assumed, such as an appropriate environ-
mental protection policy or prevention of ‘brownfields’
creation. cnp is expressed on the scale in the interval
of [0,1]. The value of 0 assumes a borderline situation
where there would be no natural and cultural capacity
in the destination which was creating an attractiveness
for tourism. In contrast, the value of 1 is assumed in a
situation where the natural and cultural capacity of the
destination is at the highest possible level.
136 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile
Navigation App in the Tourism Context:
What Factors Will Lead?
Usep Suhud
Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia
usuhud@unj.ac.id
Mamoon Allan
The University of Jordan, Jordan
m.allan@ju.edu.jo
Dian Puspita Sari
Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia
dianpuspita04@gmail.com
Bayu Bagas Hapsoro
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia
bbhapsoro@mail.unnes.ac.id
Dorojatun Prihandono
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia
dprihandono@mail.unnes.ac.id
A mobile navigation app with a geographical information system is favoured to
search addresses and find the fastest ways to reach a destination. However, there
is a lack of scholarly attention to consumer behaviour and mobile navigation apps.
This study aims tomeasure the impact of perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness,
customer satisfaction, and customer habit on continuance intention to use a mobile
navigation app. Data were collected using an electronic survey; participants were ap-
proached by applying a convenient samplingmethod. According to Burns andGrove
(2005, p. 351), ‘Convenience sampling is useful for descriptive and correlation studies
conducted in new areas of research.’ In total, 212 participants were involved in this
study, consisting of 110 females and 102 males. This study found that Google Maps
andWazewere themost popular apps used by participants. Perceived enjoyment had
a significant impact on perceived usefulness and habit. Perceived usefulness had a
substantial effect on satisfaction. Satisfaction significantly influenced continuance
intention. In addition, customer habit significantly affected satisfaction and contin-
uance intention. This study discusses recommendations for future research.
Keywords: continuance intention, customer habit, geographical information system
(gis), Google Maps, mobile navigation application, technology adoption, tourism,
Waze
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.137-148
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 137
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Introduction
Modern humans increasingly rely onmobile technolo-
gies and a geographic information system (gis) such
as GoogleMaps,Waze, and similar applications (apps)
(Brumen et al., 2020; Dickinson et al., 2016). These
apps have been adopted by motorcyclists, pedestri-
ans, and people with special needs (Mikayelyan, 2011).
Generally, Google Maps and Waze are the two most
popular navigation apps in Indonesia. Although both
are used as a driving guide, Google Maps and Waze
have clear differences.
First, according to Alfarizi (2020), Google Maps
features a right-click option, which navigates to se-
lected destinations andmeasures the distance between
two points on themap. Second,GoogleMaps users can
touch the screen to zoom in on an image. Third, the
app provides statistical data about peak hours, helping
users avoid long queues. Fourth, Google Maps can re-
call parking spots. Fifth, the app does not require users
to meet a quota. Finally, Google Maps users can share
their location(s) and view usage history.
Several studies have explored consumer behaviour
and mobile navigation apps. For example, Marzuki
et al. (2016) measured intention to use online map-
ping by employing perceived interactivity, perceived
ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived en-
joyment. Noerkaisar et al. (2016) used the awareness,
interest, desire, and action (aida) formula in relation
to the Waze app. Another study by Knote and Söll-
ner (2017) focused on the e-service quality of three
apps. Moorthy et al. (2019) examined influencing fac-
tors of behavioural intention to adopt mobile apps,
selecting performance expectancy, habit, price value,
social influence, complexity, and trialability as predic-
tors. To support the current study, the authors also use
theories from other relevant studies to form a theo-
retical framework. These include e-payment, mobile
social networking, and other mobile services (Gan et
al., 2017; Tella & Olasina, 2014; Wang et al., 2016). In
the tourism sector, it is still difficult to find studies
that measure consumer behaviour related to naviga-
tion apps. Therefore, this study will be significant in
filling the gap.
As noted, few studies were found on the use of
mobile navigation apps. Therefore, this study aims
to measure factors that impact the continuance in-
tention of users. This study includes perceived enjoy-
ment, perceived usefulness, customer satisfaction, and
habit as predictor factors.
Literature Review
Perceived Enjoyment
Overall, enjoyment refers to pleasure, joy, or delight.
One could find pleasure when they use a certain gad-
get or app. Kimiecik and Harris (1996) defined enjoy-
ment as ‘an optimum psychological state (i.e., flow)
that leads to performing an activity primarily for its
own sake and is associated with positive affective ex-
periences’ (para. 1). Further, enjoyment should contain
affect, pleasure, attitude, intrinsic motivation, and en-
joyment flow.
Depending on the context, enjoyment can cause
and be caused by different factors. For example, in
game play, enjoyment can be affected by competence,
autonomy, and relatedness (Tamborini et al., 2010), as
well as knowledge sharing (Binsawad et al., 2016). In
general, enjoyment can impact attitude, perceived use-
fulness, habit, and continuance intention (Mouakket,
2015; Phan & Daim, 2011; Tella & Olasina, 2014). Pre-
vious studies claim that perceived enjoyment is an im-
portant factor in shaping perceived usefulness (Alsul-
tanny & Alotaibi, 2015; Aziz & Lei, 2016; Lee, 2021;
Ngangi & Santoso, 2019; Ongena et al., 2013). For ex-
ample, Ongena et al. (2013) selected perceived enjoy-
ment as a variable to predict behavioural intention
in the context of an audio-visual heritage archive.
Their study found that perceived enjoyment signifi-
cantly affects perceived usefulness. Accordingly, Aziz
and Lei (2016) focused on the behavioural intention
of Chinese youth consumers to play a mobile game.
Perceived enjoyment was linked to perceived use-
fulness. Based on their analysis, they demonstrate
that perceived enjoyment has a significant effect on
perceived usefulness. Furthermore, Alsultanny and
Alotaibi (2015) included perceived enjoyment in in-
vestigating factors that influence the behavioural in-
tention of human resource development (hrd) in or-
ganisations to employ online recruitment for new em-
ployees. They also prove that perceived enjoyment has
a significant effect on perceived usefulness. Addition-
138 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
ally, Ngangi and Santoso (2019) tested the implemen-
tation of a customer relationship management sys-
tem in automotive companies. Perceived enjoyment
is considered an important variable to predict user
behaviour. They claim that perceived enjoyment sig-
nificantly affects perceived usefulness.
Consequently, the following hypothesis was for-
mulated:
h1 Perceived enjoyment will have a significant ef-
fect on perceived usefulness in using a mobile
navigation app on a daily basis.
Phan and Daim (2011), after examining factors that
influence mobile service use intention, found that en-
joyment significantly influenced perceived usefulness.
However, in the current study, the authors use per-
ceived enjoyment, linking this variable to perceived
usefulness and habit. In the same vein, Turel and
Serenko (2012) measured factors that affect the addic-
tion of social networking website users. They argued
that individuals who have higher perceived enjoyment
will form a strong habit in using the website. A simi-
lar result was found by Hsiao et al. (2016), mentioning
that perceived enjoyment has a significant impact on
habit.
Based on this discussion, the authors hypothesise
the following:
h2 Perceived usefulness will have a significant effect
on the habit of using a mobile navigation app
daily.
Perceived Usefulness
Davis (1989) defined perceived usefulness as ‘the de-
gree to which a person believes that using a partic-
ular system would enhance his or her job perfor-
mance’ (p. 320). Jahangir and Begum (2008) described
the perceived usefulness concept as ‘the degree to
which a person believes that using a particular sys-
tem would enhance his or her job performance’ (p.
33). Perceived usefulness predicts perceived benefit,
satisfaction, continuance intention, perceived ease of
use, and actual use (Tella & Olasina, 2014; Wang et al.,
2016).
In the current study, perceived usefulness is linked
to customer satisfaction. A study by Amin et al. (2014)
explored the satisfaction of mobile website users. The
study employed perceived ease of use, perceived use-
fulness, and trust to predict satisfaction, noting a sig-
nificant impact of perceived usefulness onmobile user
satisfaction. Further, Sibona and Choi (2012) investi-
gated the satisfaction of Facebook users, linking per-
ceived ease of use to perceived usefulness and satisfac-
tion, as well as linking perceived usefulness to satisfac-
tion. Their study documented a significant impact of
perceived usefulness on satisfaction.
The satisfaction of smart plug users in the United
Arab Emirates was studied by Ghazal et al. (2016).
Their study employed environmental concern, app us-
age characteristics, information quality, importance,
and app usefulness. One finding is a significant influ-
ence of usefulness on satisfaction.
Shah and Attiq (2016) employed technology qual-
ity, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness to
test the satisfaction of e-learning consumers. Their
study involved university students in Pakistan. One
finding showed that perceived usefulness has a signifi-
cant impact on consumer satisfaction. The same result
is demonstrated by Joo et al. (2017), Mouakket (2015),
and Wang et al. (2016), indicating a significant effect
of perceived usefulness on customer satisfaction.
Therefore, the third hypothesis is formulated as fol-
lows:
h3 Perceived usefulness will have a significant effect
on customer satisfaction in using a mobile nav-
igation app on a daily basis.
Satisfaction
In the context of retail banking services, Caruana
(2002, p. 816) defined customer satisfaction as:
[A] post purchase, global affective summary re-
sponse, that may be of different intensities, oc-
curringwhen customers are questioned and un-
dertaken relative to the retail banking services
offered by competitors.
This definition can be adapted into the setting of
mobile navigation services. Satisfaction can be reached
after users adopt mobile navigation technology. In ad-
dition, users show devotion by choosing one app from
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 139
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
among the others. Generally, customer satisfaction
can predict habit, continuance intention, and continu-
ance behaviour (Bhattacherjee & Lin, 2015; Limayenm
et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2016).
In Korea, Ohk et al. (2015) examined continuance
intention to use the Korean government’smobile apps,
finding that satisfaction has a significant effect on con-
tinuance usage intention. In Kenya, Osah and Kyobe
(2017) looked at the continuance intention of users of
M-Pesa, a mobile money system for microscale busi-
nesses and lower-income families. They questioned
whether satisfaction has a direct impact on continu-
ance intention, indicating a significant and direct ef-
fect of satisfaction on continuance intention. Similarly,
Amoroso and Lim (2017), Joo et al. (2017), Mark and
Vogel (2009), Mouakket (2015), andWang et al. (2016)
investigated the role of satisfaction in continuance in-
tention, showing a significant effect of customer satis-
faction on continuance intention.
Based on these studies, the fourth hypothesis is as
follows:
h4 Customer satisfaction will have a significant im-
pact on continuance intention to use a mobile
navigation app on a daily basis.
Shiau and Luo (2013)mentioned that thosewho are
consistent with their habit tend to be satisfied in us-
ing mobile social networking. Furthermore, Wang et
al. (2013) tested factors that could influence consumers
to use self-service technology in supermarkets. One
hypothesis tested whether customer satisfaction could
affect habits, suggesting that customer satisfaction has
a significant effect on consumer habits in the use of
self-service technology. Amoroso and Lim (2017) ex-
amined influencing factors of continuance intention,
presenting one finding that satisfaction significantly
influenced habit. Moreover, Chiu et al. (2012) focused
on online shoppers’ intention to repurchase, postulat-
ing that satisfaction significantly affects habit. Relat-
edly, Gu et al. (2019) measured Chinese consumers’
continuance intention to use a smart home service. As
a result, satisfaction is a significant variable to predict
consumers’ habits.
The following hypothesis was guided by the above
studies:
h5 Habit will have a significant impact on customer
satisfaction in using a mobile navigation app on
a daily basis.
Habit
In general, habit is a custom, lifestyle, norm, pat-
tern, behaviour, belief, tradition, and/or character of
a person. According to Shiau and Luo (2013, p. 576),
‘habits reflect automatic behaviour tendencies devel-
oped during the past history of the individual.’ Habit
can enhance customer loyalty, satisfaction, purchase
behaviour, and continuance intention (Guo & Barnes,
2012; Hsiao et al., 2016; Yee & Faziharudean, 2010).
Amoroso and Lim (2017) andWang et al. (2016) linked
satisfaction to habit. However, in the current study,
habit is linked to continuance intention.
Habit and Continuance Intention
Habit is included in prior studies that examined cus-
tomers’ continuance intention to use certain services.
Rahardja et al. (2019) reported that habit supports in-
tention to continue using a mobile game learning ser-
vice. Also, Gan et al. (2017) and Wang et al. (2016)
claimed that habit has a significant impact on inten-
tion to use a social networking service. Habit is also
employed by Liao et al. (2006) and Liu et al. (2018), in-
vestigating factors influencing continuance intention
to shop online and make online investments, respec-
tively. They show a significant influence of habit on
continuance intention. Furthermore, a study to mea-
sure customers’ intention to continue using a music
streaming service was conducted by Wulandari et al.
(2019). It was found that habit has a significant impact
on continuance intention.
Considering the discussion above, the following
hypothesis must be examined:
h6 Habit will have a significant impact on contin-
uance intention to use a mobile navigation app
on a daily basis.
Theoretical Framework
Figure 1 shows themodel and theoretical framework to
be tested. Perceived enjoyment is linked to perceived
usefulness and habit. Further, perceived usefulness is
140 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Perceived
usefulness
Satisfaction
Perceived
enjoyment Habit
Continuance
intention
Figure 1 Theoretical Framework
connected to customer satisfaction. Customer satis-
faction is linked to habit and continuance intention.
Additionally, habit is used to predict continuance in-
tention.
Methods
Sample
The study expected a minimum of 200 participants to
be involved. With this number, the authors can deter-
mine the minimum loading factor of 0.4, showing the
validity of each indicator (Hair et al., 2019). A conve-
nient sampling method was employed in this study.
The following criteria were selected as a cohort for the
current study:
1. Participants were identified as those who drove a
motorcycle and/or car to work or campus daily.
2. Participants have installed and used a naviga-
tion app on their vehicle. Prospective participants
who met the criteria were asked to fill out an on-
line questionnaire.
Willing participants were sent a link to the survey.
Privatemessages and questionnaire links were sent via
WhatsApp and Line. Data were collected in Jakarta,
Indonesia.
Measures
The authors adapted indicators from the studies of
Dang and Nguyen (2015) and Hsiao et al. (2016) to
measure perceived enjoyment. Further, indicators from
Oghuma et al. (2016) and Wang et al. (2016) were
adapted to examine perceived usefulness. Indicators
from Hsiao et al. (2016), Shiau and Luo (2013), and
Wang et al. (2016) were used to measure habit. In-
dicators from Dang and Nguyen (2015), Hsiao et al.
(2016), and Shiau and Luo (2013) were adapted tomea-
sure customer satisfaction. Lastly, the authors adapted
indicators from Dang and Nguyen (2015) and Hsiao
et al. (2016) to test continuance intention. Indica-
tors were translated into Bahasa (language) Indone-
sia for the survey. The questionnaire was made with
Google Forms and distributed via an instant messen-
ger platform. The authors adopted a snowball sam-
pling method by persuading respondents to spread
the questionnaire link to their networks.
Data Analysis
The authors analysed the data in three steps. First, an
exploratory factor analysis (efa) used direct oblimin
rotation to validate dimensions and indicators. Sec-
ond, a reliability test was conducted. Third, a struc-
tural equation model was used to measure the pro-
posed research framework. The author selected four
criteria as requirements for a fitted model.
1. Probability score of≥ 0.05 (Schermelleh-Engel et
al., 2003).
2. cmin/df score of ≤ 2 (Tabachnick et al., 2007).
3. cfi score of ≥ 0.97 (Hu & Bentler, 1995).
4. rmsea score of ≤ 0.05 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).
Results and Discussion
Participants
This study involved 212 participants, including 102
males (48.1) and 110 females (51.9). Table 1 shows
the profile of the participants. In terms of age, most
participants were 21 to 24 years of age.
Additionally, participants indicated that 155 (73.1)
had a two-wheeled vehicle, 34 (16.1) had two- and
four-wheeled vehicles, and 23 (10.8) had a four-
wheeled vehicle. When asked about gis, participants
used the most frequent apps; 167 (78.8) marked
Google Maps and 44 (20.8) used Waze. One par-
ticipant (0.5) chose the here WeGo app.
EFA
Table 3 (see p. 143) shows the efa result of all variables
in this study. Perceived enjoyment possessed five in-
dicators with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.898, with
factor loadings ranging from 0.603 to 0.829. Perceived
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 141
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Table 1 Profile of Participants
Category Item Frequency Percent
Sex Male  .
Female  .
Total  .
Age <  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
Occupational
status
Employed  .
Unemployed  .
Self-employed  .
Level of
education
completed
Diploma  .
Undergraduate  .
Postgraduate  .
High school  .
Less than high school  .
Table 2 Vehicle and Mobile Navigation App Ownership
Category Item Frequency Percent
Type of vehicle
ownership
Two-wheeled vehicle  .
Two-wheeled and
four-wheeled vehicle
 .
Four-wheeled vehicle  .
Application Google Maps  .
here WeGo  .
Waze  .
usefulness had six items, with factor loadings ranging
from 0.693 to 0.835. This construct had a Cronbach’s
alpha score of 0.880. Further, habit, customer satisfac-
tion, and continuance intention survived six indica-
tors, with Cronbach’s alpha scores of 0.899, 0.908, and
0.898, respectively. All constructs were considered re-
liable with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.8 and larger.
Hypotheses Testing
Figure 2 demonstrates the result of the structural equa-
tionmodel. This model achieved a fitness with a prob-
ability score of 0.112, a cmin/df score of 1.228, a cfi
score of 0.990, and a rmsea score of 0.033.
Table 4 (see p. 144) reports the results summary
of the hypotheses testing. In total, there were six hy-
potheses. Five of the hypotheses (h1, h3, h4, h5, and
h6) had a critical ratio (cr) score larger than 2.0, in-
dicting significances.
Discussion
This study evaluated factors that influence contin-
uance intention to utilize a mobile navigation app.
The first hypothesis predicted the influence of per-
ceived enjoyment on perceived usefulness. Users with
positive enjoyment perceptions of mobile navigation
apps view these apps as beneficial. This path had a
cr score of 5.263, indicating significance. This find-
ing supports previous studies, such as Alsultanny and
Alotaibi (2015), Aziz and Lei (2016), Ngangi and San-
toso (2019), and Ongena et al. (2013).
The second hypothesis predicted the impact of per-
ceived enjoyment on habit. Online directions apps can
be influenced by several factors, including perceived
enjoyment (Hsiao et al., 2016; Phan & Daim, 2011;
Turel & Serenko, 2012). The path gained a cr score
of 1.843, showing insignificance. Perceived enjoyment
failed to predict habit.
The third hypothesis focused on the impact of per-
ceived usefulness and customer satisfaction. This path
has been explored (Amin et al., 2014; Ghazal et al.,
2016; Shah & Attiq, 2016; Sibona & Choi, 2012). Users
who perceive that amobile navigation app has high us-
ability tend to be satisfied with the performance of the
app. In this case, the path achieved a cr score of 8.364.
This was the highest score among the others.
The fourth hypothesis measured the impact of sat-
isfaction on continuance intention. Consumers who
are satisfied with a technology-based product tend to
continue their intention to use the product. This sat-
isfaction can be influenced by many factors, including
attitude, social ties, perceived enjoyment, perceived
value, perceived ease of use, and perceived useful-
ness (Hsiao et al., 2016; Hsu & Lin, 2016; Lee et al.,
2015; Newholm & Shaw, 2007). In this case, the nav-
igation app gives satisfaction to its users. This sat-
isfaction is influenced by perceived usefulness. The
142 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Table 3 efa Results
Indicators () ()
Perceived enjoyment .
en Using a mobile navigation app is great fun. .
en I am interested in using a mobile navigation app. .
en I am more comfortable using a mobile navigation app in searching for a location. .
en In my opinion, a mobile navigation app has many features. .
en In my opinion, a mobile navigation app features information sharing facilities. .
Perceived usefulness .
pu A mobile navigation app is an efficient use of my time. .
pu I find the mobile navigation app to be beneficial. .
pu Using a mobile navigation app makes doing things effortless. .
pu Using a mobile navigation app is more effective than other ways. .
pu A mobile navigation app is more profitable than other ways. .
pu A mobile navigation app is very useful in my everyday life. .
Habit .
ha Using a mobile navigation app became a habit for me. .
ha I have to use a mobile navigation app. .
ha I became dependent on using a mobile navigation app. .
ha Using a mobile navigation app is already natural to me. .
ha When faced with location searching, I automatically use a mobile navigation app. .
ha When faced with location searching, using a mobile navigation app is the right choice for me. .
Customer satisfaction .
sa My experience with using a mobile navigation app was very satisfying. .
sa I am delighted with my choice of a mobile navigation app in location searching. .
sa I think I made the right decision in using a mobile navigation app. .
sa I am happy with my decision on choosing a mobile navigation app. .
sa I am satisfied with downloading a mobile navigation app. .
sa I am thrilled with the features in a mobile navigation app. .
Continuance intention .
con I believe I will keep using a mobile navigation app. .
con I will use a mobile navigation app in my daily life. .
con I will continue to use a mobile navigation app later on. .
con I intend to continue using a mobile navigation app. .
con I would recommend a mobile navigation app to anyone interested in location searching. .
con I believe my interest will increase in the future toward updating a mobile navigation app’s feature. .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) factor loadings, (2) Cronbach’s alpha.
current study shows that customer satisfaction affects
continuance intention as documented by prior studies
(Gan et al., 2017; Ohk et al., 2015; Osah &Kyobe, 2017).
The fifth hypothesis predicted that satisfaction af-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 143
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Perceived
usefulness
Satisfaction
Perceived
enjoyment Habit
Continuance
intention
PU6
PU4
E11
E9
EN3
EN2
E3
E2
CON1
CON4
CON6
E24
E27
E29
SA3 SA4 SA5 SA6
E20 E21 E22 E23
HA4 HA3E15 E14
E33
E30
E31 E32
0.
63
0.76
0.45
0.73
0.87
0.28
0.
80
0.
44
0.57
0.37
0.55
0.72
0.74
0.85
0.23
0.53
0.48
0.73
0.66
0.77
0.43
0.82
0.88
0.65
0.
68
0.
71
0.
64
0.
44
0.82
0.84 0.
80 0.6
6
0.
82
0.80
0.67 0.63
Figure 2 Structural Model of the Proposed Model
Table 4 Result Summary of Hypotheses Testing
Hypotheses/paths cr P Results
h Perceived enjoyment → Perceived usefulness . *** Accepted
h Perceived enjoyment → Habit . . Rejected
h Perceived usefulness → Satisfaction . *** Accepted
h Satisfaction → Continuance intention . *** Accepted
h Satisfaction → Habit . . Accepted
h Habit → Continuance intention . *** Accepted
fected habit in using a directional app. When a per-
son has a habit of using a tool, gadget, or app, this
behaviour can be a manifestation of intentional or
unintentional spontaneity, whether planned or un-
planned and/or realized or not realized. Prior stud-
ies (Amoroso & Lim, 2017; Chiu et al., 2012; Shiau &
Luo, 2013) convinced us about the importance of habit
and satisfaction. The current study indicates the same
finding with a cr score of 3.250.
The last hypothesis predicted the impact of habit
on continuance intention. The current study found a
significant impact of habit on continuance intention
with a cr score of 4.294 (Gan et al., 2017; Liao et al.,
2006; Liu et al., 2018; Rahardja et al., 2019; Wang et
al., 2013; Wulandari et al., 2019). When using a mobile
navigation app as a habit, consumers will continue to
use the app. Evenwith usual routes, users will continue
to use the app because of their familiar behavioural re-
flex.
Conclusion
This study aimed to measure the impact of perceived
usefulness, consumer satisfaction, and habit on the
intention to continue using a mobile navigation app.
In this case, participants predominantly used Google
Maps. The study found a significant impact of per-
ceived usefulness on satisfaction, of habit on satisfac-
tion and continuance intention, and of satisfaction on
habit. The authors predict that if gis is used to help
users while driving a vehicle, both car and motorcycle
use will increase, especially in large cities with high
traffic congestion levels.
144 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Usep Suhud et al. Customers’ Continuance Intention in Using a Mobile Navigation App
Although it does not directly affect continuance in-
tention, the service provider needs to apply the Sign-
post app to pay attention to the users’ perceived enjoy-
ment of the app.
In some studies, the use and intentions regarding
gadgets and social media are influenced by perceived
enjoyment. The authors believe that gis should not
be integrated with a social media platform. When us-
ing Waze, for example, users will see their friends in
the network who are also using Waze. We should not
allow the user to have an interactive conversation with
other users because of the risk of disrupting user con-
centration while driving their vehicles.
From the results of this study, perceived usefulness
affects customer satisfaction. Previous studies relating
to the use of gadgets, social media, and customer sat-
isfaction are also affected. The study shows a signif-
icant impact of customer satisfaction on habits. This
evidence indicates that customers will make the use of
gis a habit, meaning there is a tendency to bond be-
tween users and gis. Other research can explore this
aspect for attachment level and attachment impact to
continuance intention and customer loyalty to certain
gis providers.
This study helps to expand our knowledge about
technology adoption of the mobile navigation app. It
also serves as a sturdy base for future studies in differ-
ent contexts, settings, and countries.Moreover, it helps
us better understand the behaviour of users of mobile
navigation apps, which will aid in consumer retention.
It could help service providers, planners, managers,
andmarketers enhance the user experience in themo-
bile navigation app context.
It has been mentioned that it is difficult to find
studies that reveal consumer behaviour related to nav-
igation apps. The findings of this study prove that
technology adoption theories can also be applied to
the adoption of navigation apps; they have succeeded
in filling the gaps in marketing, tourism, and tourism
marketing.
Future studies can further reveal the role of factors
that canmeasure continuance intention to use naviga-
tion apps by consumers and tourists, including usage
intention, usage behaviour, usage decision, and loy-
alty. In addition, future studies should consider the
selection of variables, looking at sample groups like
younger vs. older people, men vs. women, and pro-
fessionals vs. non-professionals. Several studies have
shown that demographic factors play a role in technol-
ogy adoption (Bhandari, 2019; Haider et al., 2018; Ooi
et al., 2020). Furthermore, future studies can focus on
the types of vehicles used and whether they are in the
city of domicile or travelling out of town.
Limitations of the Study
However, the authors recognise several limitations of
this study. For example, the current study used a con-
venient sampling method, which, at its root, is a non-
probability sampling method. With a population of
Jakarta that exceeds 50million, the number of 212 par-
ticipants will not be sufficient. Therefore, the results of
this study are not intended to generalise the findings;
they are only directed to fill existing research gaps. An-
other limitation of this study was that the authors did
not anticipate that most participants would be motor-
cyclists. The authors suspect that there might be dif-
ferences in results if the survey balanced the numbers
between the motorcyclist and motorist participants.
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148 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
The Moderator Effect of the Perception
of Value Co-Creation on the Relationship
between Hotel Brand Equity and WOM
Abdullah Uslu
Akdeniz University, Turkey
auslu@akdeniz.edu.tr
Gözde Seval Ergün
Akdeniz University, Turkey
gates@akdeniz.edu.tr
In the current conjuncture, when the competitive environment is getting ever fiercer,
the importance of creating brand value and the effect of wom in all processes be-
fore/after a purchase have been grasped. Along with this, in the service sector, where
the customer-employee relationship is dense, applications regarding the perception
of value creation have started to be used in an increasingmanner. For this reason, the
aim of the study is to determine the effect of the brand equity of foreign tourists on
wom andwhether there is amoderator effect of the Perception ofValueCo-Creation
on this effect. The population of the study is comprised of foreign tourists com-
ing to Marmaris, Turkey. On the 358 surveys gathered from foreign tourists, efa,
cfa, second-order cfa analyses, path analyses and Slope tests have been carried
out. Consequently, it has been determined that hotel brand equity has effects on the
perception of value co-creation and wom, and that perception of value co-creation
has effects on wom. Also, in the relationship between foreign tourists’ hotel brand
equity and wom, it has been determined that there is a moderator effect on the per-
ception of value co-creation.
Keywords: hotel brand equity, wom, perception of value co-creation, Marmaris
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.149-164
Introduction
Enterprises are proving inadequate with regard to
dealing with increasingly challenging and competi-
tive conditions by using conventional marketing tech-
niques. It is considered that new customers will be
gained by the contemporarymarketing approach, sus-
tenance will be maintained for the customers gained,
and in addition the permanence of existing customers
will be ensured. Ensuring customer sustenance will
only be possible if customers feel valued during/after
the purchasing of the goods or service. Grönroos
(2000) emphasizes that brand equity is a result of the
brand relationship which is constantly developed with
the customer.
According to the current perspective of salespeo-
ple, Word-of-Mouth communication (wom) is seen
as an important topic which plays a key role in mar-
keting, and it is known that it has substantial effects
and consequences (Albarq, 2014). wom, which deter-
mines behaviour and has great interpersonal effect,
is seen as one of the most important information re-
sources of the consumer. Salespeople who wish to cat-
alyze and manage these interactions that will benefit
them have started to think about and develop strate-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 149
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
gies in order tomanage this interpersonal effect. These
effects are seen as important for tourism enterprises,
where it is difficult to evaluate the product before it is
consumed (Ergün & Akgün, 2016). According to Jalil-
vand and Samiei (2012), wom is an importantmethod
that is used for influencing tourists to endow them
with a high coefficient effect.
The effect of wom on brand equity (Yang et al.,
2015; Murtiasih et al., 2014; Moise et al., 2019) and
increasing value co-creation (Seifert & Kwon, 2020)
can be observed in previous studies. In this study, the
moderator role of value co-creation differentiates this
research from the others. While referring to the effect
of brand equity on wom, the enriching effect of value
co-creation, which is a third variable, makes the re-
sults of the research notable. The businesses that want
to be different and connectwith consumers by creating
a value for them are trying to form strong and valu-
able brands (Marangoz & Aydın, 2021). Considering
the positive results achieved without creating value, it
is of great importance for accommodation businesses
to learn how to manage this process, which requires
active customer participation. It is easily understood
that the creation of such value depends largely on how
the hotel is perceived (Cantallops, 2019). In order to
ensure brand equity, the importance of offering value
to the customer and matching this value with the cus-
tomer perception has been increasingly recognized.
Within this context, the finding that brand equity and
value co-creation will together have a stronger effect is
thought to be a guide, especially for businesses. What
is more, in the literature review, no study was found in
which these variables were simultaneously examined.
Accordingly, it is thought that the research will fill the
gap in the literature and be a guide for future studies.
The main aim of this study is to measure the effect
of hotel brand equity on wom and determinewhether
value co-creation has a moderator effect in this pro-
cess. Prior to the research analyses (customer-based), a
literature review has been provided in order to ensure
understanding of the theoretical bases for the concepts
of hotel brand equity, wom and perception of value
co-creation, and to develop hypotheses. Subsequently,
in order to achieve the aim of the study, efa, cfa,
second-order cfa analyses, path analyses and Slope
tests have been carried out in the methodology sec-
tion.
Literature Review
WOM
wom can be defined as an interpersonal communi-
cation occurring informally between a source and a
buyer that does not have a commercial agenda at-
tributable to a brand, product or enterprise (Ander-
son, 1998). When wom’s effects are taken into consid-
eration, it is assumed that it has a mysterious power
and is a tool that works to determine the satisfaction
or dissatisfaction created after a product experience
(Gremler, 1995).
wom, which is seen as a popular market phe-
nomenon by writers (Laczniak et al., 2001), is not lim-
ited to face-to-face interaction, and can be transferred
by interactive tools such as the telephone and internet
(Dellarocas, 2003). Also, in online and offline commu-
nication, opinion leaders and reliable and knowledge-
able individuals comment on content and influence
those searching for opinions (Lee et al., 2011).
As the complexity of products increases and their
evaluation becomes harder, or when it is considered
risky to purchase, the rate of individuals who need rec-
ommendations from people they trust increases. It is
seen that people have a tendency to follow users’ rec-
ommendations rather than messages conveyed thro-
ugh advertisement (Barlow & Moller, 2008). In fact,
technically, wom can be used in order to reduce am-
biguity with regard to goods or services and minimize
risk (Abubakar, 2016). Those services are intangible
renders pre-trials impossible. For this reason, wom
plays an important role in the decisions taken regard-
ing service businesses. Also, wom becomes especially
important when the service provided is complex or it
has a high perception of risk (Zeithaml et al., 1996).
Since tourism services are one of those that cannot be
evaluated prior to purchase, they are considered high
risk purchases (Sotiriadis & Zyl, 2013).
Hotel Brand Equity
Brand is one of the fundamental marketing concepts.
Until recently, the following definition of the concept
150 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
of brand has been dominant in both the general mar-
keting and tourismmarketing literature. Kotler (2000,
p. 404) defines ‘brand’ as follows: ‘A name, term, sign,
symbol, design or a combination of these that define a
seller or seller group’s goods or services and differenti-
ates it from others.’ However, Grönroos (2000) claims
that this definition takes the concept of brand only
with a unilateral perspective and excludes the consum-
ing process and customer. According to this perspec-
tive, if a brand is to be built, the customer is the one
who does that. In this case, the role of the salesperson
is to ensure communication support by using various
planned marketing communication tools and to cre-
ate frameworks in the minds of customers in order to
develop a brand.
It is known that right branding bears a critical im-
portance for organizational success (Huang & Cai,
2015). Brand managers are responsible generally for
creating a strong brand and sustaining it, while they
also have to find ways to measure brand value (Kaya-
man&Arasli, 2007). Brand value is themost prevalent
concept that is used to represent brand performance
and is measured as financial value in the organiza-
tional statement (Pike, 2010). There are three differ-
ent perspectives regarding brand equity in the litera-
ture. These are the finance-based approach, customer-
based approach and mixed approach (Bailey & Ball,
2006; Kim & Kim, 2005). Researchers taking the fi-
nancial approach into consideration define brand eq-
uity as the cash flow created by a product’s brand
name (Akgün & Akgün, 2014). This approach is criti-
cized since it cannot encapsulate all factors constitut-
ing a brand’s power and ignores consumer behaviour.
Customer-based brand equity, as the other approach
acknowledged in brand equity, regards the way goods
and services are perceived and evaluated and proves a
determining factor in subsequent purchases (Broyles
et al., 2010). With this perspective, Keller (1993) fo-
cuses on what the customer learned, saw, heard and
felt about the brand. Lastly, a mixed approach com-
prises both the market power and the financial value
of the brand (Seric et al., 2017). The reason behind the
concept of brand being measured with the customer-
based brand equity is the change oriented towards a
customer-based approach from a product-based ap-
proach in the service marketing paradigm (Grön-
roos, 2000). It is considered that the conceptualiza-
tion of brand equity with the customer perspective
will be beneficial for both marketing strategies and
the decision-making process in management (Keller,
1993) and that the brand is more valuable relative to its
raw financial evaluation (Pike, 2009).
When the studies focused on brand equity in the
literature are reviewed, it is seen that the conceptual
framework underlying all of these studies is based on
Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993). Aaker (1991) identi-
fied four main brand value variables in their study.
These are brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand im-
age and brand awareness, respectively. Keller (1993,
p. 8) defines brand value as ‘the different effect of
the brand knowledge on the customer reaction to
the brand marketing’ and the concept of brand is
evaluated in two dimensions: brand awareness and
brand image. In addition to these studies, Yoo and
Donthu (2001) have developed the multi-dimensional
consumer-based brand equity scale.
Although here are a number of different definitions
with regard to the concept of customer-based brand
equity, there is a common consensus on the brand
value’s being comprised of the four perceived dimen-
sions suggested by Aaker (1991). These dimensions are
brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality and
brand loyalty as a relational variable (Seric et al., 2018).
The concept of brand equity is seen as quite im-
portant in the tourism sector as well as other service
sectors. According to certain studies carried out on
the concept of brand in the literature, it is claimed that
brand hotels provide better performance in compar-
ison to others (Forgacs, 2003). Also, it is contended
that there is a positive relationship between the brand
value success of luxury hotels and their financial per-
formances (Kim & Kim, 2005). The main topic of the
studies in the concept of hotel brand equity is defined
by Prasad and Dev (2000, pp. 23–24) as ‘the positive
or negative attitudes and perceptions affecting cus-
tomers’ reservation.’
The increasing international activities of accom-
modation businesses render it necessary to carry out
more research on customer-based brand equity. Des-
tinations and hotel enterprises that endeavour to dom-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 151
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
inate other countries in the tourism sectors placemore
importance on the issue of branding in comparison
to the past (Çınar et al., 2019). Hotel enterprises that
take on the heavy load of the sector are dramatically
affected by global developments and lean heavily on
thematter of creating brand value in order to turn this
situation into opportunity. All positive or negative at-
titudes and perceptions affecting a customer in prefer-
ring a hotel brand represent brand equity. Whereas a
customer’s good experience in a brand hotel increases
brand equity, a bad experience damages brand equity
(Prasad & Dev, 2000). It is considered that as hotels
are becoming brands, their customer perceptions will
be affected, and positive mental attitudes will be en-
sured. Furthermore, instead of advertisements asmass
media tools that are losing their validity, the advan-
tages of wom established as a result of branding will
be utilized. Brand equity does not necessitate a per-
son’s experiencing a brand in order to have a brand
impression; that they are subjected to certain recom-
mendations can prove adequate on its own (Prasad &
Dev, 2000). In addition to all of these, customer-based
brand equity is considered an effective tool in hotel
managers understanding their own brands (Çınar et
al., 2019).
There are studies in the literature that put forth the
relation between brand loyalty, brand image, perceived
quality, brand awareness and wom (Murtiasih et al.,
2014; Moise et al., 2019). Ansary and Hashim (2018),
in their study, measured the moderator effect of wom
on the relations between brand value components and
brand value. Xu and Chan (2010), in a study carried
out on hotel brand equity, state that wom has a strong
effect on brand awareness and brand image. Yang et al.
(2015), in their study, concluded that wom has an im-
portant effect on destination brand value. According
to the results obtained by Sofiane (2019), it is seen that
all dimensions of brand equity have a positive effect on
wom.
Although the concept of brand equity was stud-
ied frequently by correlation with different variables
within the context of destination (Boo et al., 2009;
Chekalina et al., 2018; Davras, 2019; Dedeoğlu et al.,
2019; Kim et al., 2017; Pike & Bianchi, 2016) and hotel
(García et al., 2018; Seric et al., 2017; Seric et al., 2018;
Seric & Gil-Saura, 2019; Sijoria et al., 2019; Sürücü et
al., 2019; Uslu et al., 2020), no studies have been en-
countered that address the relationship between per-
ceived value co-creation and wom. In the light of this
information, the first hypothesis has been put forth as
follows.
h1 Hotel Brand Equity has a positive and signifi-
cant effect on wom.
Perception of Value Co-Creation
The nature of the concept of value has been discussed
since Aristoteles and it is known that it has two mean-
ings acknowledged as ‘changing value’ and ‘value in
use.’ Changing value is that emerging from the prod-
uct-dominant logic. According to this perspective, the
value is created by the company (produced) and gen-
erally distributed to the market via goods or mone-
tary exchange. In the service-dominant (s-d) logic,
the concept of value refers to value in use (Vargo et al.,
2008). This approach entails more than merely prov-
ing to be customer oriented. Here, collaborating with
the customers, learning from customers and adapting
to their individual and dynamic needs become promi-
nent. This service-dominant logic expresses that value
is defined by the consumer and created with them in-
stead of by output (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Despite the
consensus that the customer has amore active role and
that the value is subjective, there is no consensus yet on
the definition of the concept and the processes inher-
ent in this concept (Alves et al., 2016).
Businesses can present services as only value propo-
sitions and this becomes the input of value realization.
It is seen that value realization depends on the partic-
ipation of customers in the service process. Beneficia-
ries (namely, customers) determine whether value is
actually created, and this situation renders the service
specific to the beneficiary (Cabiddu et al., 2013).
The concept of value co-creation is correlated with
developing a unique competence by using organiza-
tional resources and technological capabilities aim-
ing to meet customers’ demands more efficiently and
thereby gaining a competitive advantage (Maduka,
2016). Among the propelling forces of the concept,
there are the developments and maturation in tech-
nology, accelerated consumer information and expec-
152 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
tations as well as the logic of integrating consumer
needs and expectations in the value chain of a com-
pany (Chathoth et al., 2016).
From an organizational standpoint, in the percep-
tion of value co-creation, the participation of man-
agers and employees is needed as much as that of the
customers, although it should not be forgotten that
the primary and ultimate actor is always the customer.
Managers are held responsible for designing and im-
plementing a process that allows and even encourages
customers to take an active role. Within this context,
it is seen as indispensable to train and improve em-
ployees in achieving success (González-Mansilla et al.,
2019). For this reason, enterprises need to train em-
ployees in the importance of customer experience and
on value creation resourcing from these experiences
(Chathoth et al., 2016).
Grönroos (2011) considers the expression ‘[c]us-
tomer is always a value creator’ to be true, yet incom-
plete. They express that this definition is too basic to
account for theoretical development or practical deci-
sionmaking. It is not entirely clear what value creation
means. Does the definition of value in this expression
refer to the customer creating value in use or a more
comprehensive process where the customer is creating
value in use? This is only a single part of the ambi-
guity. Generally, in the service-dominant logic, value
creation refers to a process encompassing everything,
and it is created not only by the customers but by dif-
ferent stakeholders, including the enterprise and the
customer (Grönroos, 2011).
The concept of the perception of value co-creation
focuses on enhancing the customer’s experience by
way of improvements in the process of service provi-
sion or by adjusting the service individually accord-
ing to the needs of the customer. The situation in
question is especially considered important for lux-
ury hotels (González-Mansilla et al., 2019). While co-
creation is examined in unison in various areas in-
volving strategy, management and marketing, that it
is implemented within the context of tourism and ho-
tel administration as a proactive service provider gains
a special importance (Chathoth et al., 2016).
Chekalina et al. (2014) carried out a study in or-
der to test the relationship between customer-based
brand equity and the perception of co-creation of
value. In the study conducted by González-Mansilla
et al. (2019), it was determined that the customer per-
ception regarding the process of value co-creation has
a positive effect on the brand value. Xu et al. (2019)
examined the customer-based brand equity theory for
destinations based on the value co-creation theory.
In the study, empirical results were obtained that will
encourage brand value management and the partici-
pation of tourists in value co-creation activities. Ac-
cording to the findings in Frías Jamilena et al.’s (2017)
study, it is put forth that the value co-creation per-
ception is a premise of the customer perceiving the
destination brand value to be higher. In the study con-
ducted by Seifert and Kwon (2020), it was concluded
that the e-wom has a higher effect on the brand value
and value co-creation loyalty behaviour. As a result of
the literature review, the second and third hypotheses
have been constituted.
h2 Hotel Brand Equity has a positive and signifi-
cant effect on the perception of value co-creation.
h3 Perception of value co-creation has a positive
and significant effect on wom.
As a result of the study conducted by Prebensen
et al. (2016) on tourist experiences, it was determined
that there is a moderator effect on the relation of per-
ceived value and satisfaction. Chou et al. (2018) ex-
amined the moderator effect of the value co-creation
variable in their studies conducted on travel agencies.
The fourth hypothesis has been put forth in light of the
studies reviewed in the literature review.
h4 Perception of value co-creation has a moder-
ating effect on the relationship between Hotel
Brand Equity and wom
Methods
The Aim of the Study and the Conceptual Model
The aim of this study is to: (1) determine the brand
value perceptions of foreign tourists coming to Mar-
maris on the perception of value co-creation and wom,
(2) ascertain the effect of tourists’ perception of value
co-creation on wom, and (3) determine the modera-
tor effect of perception of value co-creation on the re-
lation between hotel brand equity and wom. For this
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 153
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Hotel brand
equity
Perception of
value co-creation
WOM
+H
2 +H3
+H1
+
H
4
Figure 1 The Conceptual Model
reason, by utilizing the studies in the relevant litera-
ture (Prebensen et al., 2016; Ansary & Hashim, 2018;
Sofiane, 2019; Moise et al., 2019; González-Mansilla et
al., 2019; Seifert & Kwon, 2020; Xu et al., 2019), the
model of the study has been created as in Figure 1.
The Method, Population and Sample of the Study
In this study, the quantitative research survey method
has been used in order to determine the effects of hotel
brand equity dimensions (brand awareness/recogni-
tion, brand association/image, perceived quality and
loyalty) on wom and the moderator role of the per-
ception of value co-creation on the relations between
these variables. This study is important in terms of its
uniqueness in the literature, for explicating the rela-
tions between these variables, and for understanding
the moderator role of perception of value co-creation.
In this study based on hypothesis testing, a quan-
titative approach has been adopted and the survey
method was used in data collection. 10 questions were
created for the study survey in order to determine the
socio-demographical characteristics of the tourists.
For the 11 questions created with the sub-dimensions
of hotel brand equity, surveys created by González-
Mansilla et al. (2019) have been adapted. Statements
comprised of 3 questions for the wom variable have
been adopted from the study carried out by Yazgan
et al. (2014). 12 questions created with the sub-dimen-
sions for the perception of value co-creation have been
adopted from the surveys created by González-Man-
silla et al. (2019). A 5-point Likert scale has been used
in the survey as 1 = Completely disagree, 5 = Com-
pletely agree. The survey questions were prepared
by three researchers who are experts in the area of
tourism and marketing. After the questions were ex-
amined, the statements in the survey were controlled
by a native English speaker expert.
The study was carried out by two surveyors who
knew the aim of the study, and one of the authors,
with convenience sampling, between 1 May and 1 Au-
gust 2019. While foreign tourists were leaving the ho-
tel enterprises that they stayed in, 370 surveys were
elicited from those tourists by informing them about
the aim of the study in the hotel lobby. 12 surveys that
were empty or understood to be erroneous have been
excluded and the rest, 358 surveys, have been included
in the study. These 358 surveys can be considered
adequate in representing the population (Bryman &
Cramer, 2001).
The population of the study is comprised of for-
eign tourists visiting hotel enterprises in Marmaris.
The number of accommodation facilities with min-
istry accreditation operating in Marmaris is 200. Ac-
cording to the getob (South Aegean Hotel Enter-
prises’ Union), the number of foreign tourists visiting
Marmaris is around 900 thousand people per annum.
Percentage and frequency, along with exploratory
factor analysis in spss 22.00, was applied to the data
obtained and subsequently the cfa, second-order
cfa and structural model analysis were carried out in
the amos 22.00 package software. Subsequently, the
Slope test was utilized in determining the moderator
effect.
Results
In order to evaluate the research findings, primarily
the lost data, outlier value, homogeneity and reliabil-
ity oriented towards the raw data obtained from the
survey needed to be tested. Therefore, when the lost
data for the study was gleaned, it was seen that the rate
of empty items in the survey was not higher than 15
(Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007) and it was not replaced
with any data.
Checking at the outlier values for the data; ‘Z’ and
‘T’ scores has been found that there is no value beyond
+3 and –3. As a result of the homogeneity test, data
was determined to be homogenous since the p-value
154 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Foreign Tourists
Category Item n 
Gender Female  .
Male  .
Nationality British  .
Dutch  .
Swedish  .
Others  .
Marital Status Single  .
Married  .
Married with children  .
Education status Primary School  .
High School  .
University  .
Master’s degree  .
No response  .
With whom
travelling
Alone  .
Family/Relatives  .
Friends  .
No response  .
Continued in the next column
was higher than0.05 (Kalaycı, 2008). A pilot studywas
conductedwith 40 foreign tourists visiting hotel enter-
prises in Marmaris between the dates of 1 and 15 April
2019. The Cronbach’s Alpha value (α = 0.908) regard-
ing the 26 statements involved in the survey scale was
determined to be quite reliable and the study contin-
ued.
According to the 358 population number, theCron-
bach’s Alpha (α) values of the scales used in the study
were examined in order for their reliability and valid-
ity to be ensured. As seen in Table 1, it was determined
that the hotel brand equity and perception of value
co-creation dimensions in the conceptual model and
the variable that has the highest reliability value within
the wom variable (α = 0.984) is the brand association
variable and the variable that has the lowest reliability
value (α = 0.792) is the dialogue variable. It is seen that
the Cronbach’s Alpha values of all the variables used
in the study are over (α) 0.70 and adequately reliable
(Hair et al., 2014).
Table 1 Continued from the previous column
Category Item n 
Household
annual income
()
<,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
>,  .
No response  .
Occupation
status
Manager  .
Retired  .
Self-employed  .
Worker  .
Student  .
Civil servant  .
Housewife  .
Other  .
No response  .
Demographic Characteristics of Foreign Tourists
The frequency and percentage distributions of the for-
eign tourists visiting Marmaris that were surveyed
within the scope of the study can be seen in Table
1. The tourists’ average age was determined to be 44
and their length of stay as 4 days. Accordingly, it was
determined that 53.6 (192 people) of the participants
are male, 46.4 (166 people) female, 45.8 (164 peo-
ple) single, 39.9 (143 people) married and 14.2 (51
people) married with children. When the nationali-
ties of the foreign tourists visiting Marmaris was ex-
amined, it was determined that 63.1 (226 people) are
comprised of British tourists, 26.0 (93 people) are
Dutch, 7.5 (27 people) are Swedish and the remain-
ing 3.4 (12) are of other nationalities (Irish, Scot-
tish, German). When the levels of education of the
tourists were examined, a 34.4 (123 people) majority
was identified as college/university graduates. When
whom the tourists travelled with was reviewed, it was
determined that a large majority of 67.0 (240 peo-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 155
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Table 2 Convergent and Discriminant Validity Values
cr ave maxr(h) tra awa ass pqual loy dia acc risk wom
tra . . . .
awa . . . . .
ass . . . . . .
pqual . . . . . . .
loy . . . . . . . .
dia . . . . . . . . .
acc . . . . . . . . . .
risk . . . . . . . . . . .
wom . . . . . . . . . . . .
Notes Column/row headings are as follows: tra = Transparency, awa = Brand Awareness, ass = Brand Association,
pqual = Perceived Quality, loy = Loyalty, dia = Dialogue, acc = Access, risk = Risk, wom = Word of Mouth, cr =
Composite Reliability, ave = Average Variance Extracted. Diagonal values are square roots of ave values per construct;
off-diagonal values are the correlations of the variables.
ple) were travelling with Family/Relatives. In the an-
nual household income, it is seen that 21.2 (76 peo-
ple) are comprised of tourists within the income range
between the $50,000–$59,000 interval. On the other
hand, when their occupations were examined, it was
determined that 29.9 (107 people) at most are com-
prised of workers. When all these results are generally
reviewed, it can be said that most of the tourists vis-
iting the hotel enterprises are comprised of individu-
als who are mostly male, British, University graduates,
travellingwith Family/relatives with an average annual
income range between the $50,000–$59,000 interval.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity
Within the scope of determining the reliability and
validity of the study, the values of cr, ave, maxr(h)
have been examined (Table 2). In order to establish
cr (Convergent Reliability), it is expected that the cr
should have values of 0.70 and higher and ave (Aver-
age Variance Extracted) values should have values of
0.50 and higher (Byrne, 2010). That the ave value is
higher than 0.50 means that adequate levels of vari-
ance was explicated by variables relational to factors,
and that the cr value is higher than 0.70 means that
the factors have high internal reliability (Fornell&Lar-
cker, 1981). The facts that the maxr(h) (Maximum H
Reliability) value is higher than the cr value and that
the square root of the ave value is higher than the
correlation values of that variable with other variables
mean that discriminant validity is established (Fornell
& Larcker, 1981).
When Table 2 is reviewed, it is understood that the
lowest ave value calculated for the latent variables is
0.576 and the lowest cr value calculated is 0.729, ren-
dering the assumptions of convergent validity ensured.
It is seen that the maxr(h) value is higher than the cr
value for each latent variable integrated into themodel
for divergent reliability. Again, it is seen that the square
roots of the ave value and the inter-variable correla-
tion values are acceptable, thereby ensuring divergent
validity for all latent variables.
Exploratory Factor Analysis (efa) Results
Initially, to test the structure validity of the scales used
in the study, exploratory factor analyses have been car-
ried out. For this reason, exploratory factor analyses
have been carried out for the dimensions of brand eq-
uity and perception of value co-creation in the study
scale. kmo and Bartlett’s tests have been carried out
initially in order to understand whether they are suit-
able for factor analysis. As a result of the efa con-
ducted, the kmo value has been determined as 0.873
and the Bartlett’s test χ2 value has been determined as
4547.808 (p < 0.000). For the perception of value co-
156 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Table 3 Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Hotel Brand Equity variable, cfa and Second-Order cfa values
Brand equity dimensions efa values cfa values
Std.
loadings
Variance
explained
Eigenvalue α Std.
loadings
t values P
Perceived quality pq . . . . . . .
pq . . – –
pq . . . .
pq . – – –
Loyalty loy . . . . . . .
loy . . – –
loy . . . .
Brand awareness awa . . . . . – –
awa . . . .
Brand association ass . . . . . – –
ass . . . .
Second-Order cfa analysis results
Brand equity Perceived quality – – – – . . .
Loyalty – – – – . . .
Brand awareness – – – – . –
Brand association – – – – . . .
Notes Extractionmethod: Principal ComponentAnalysis; Rotationmethod:VarimaxRotation.Goodness-of-fit statistics of
cfa:Δχ2 = 77.959, df = 29,χ2/df = 2.688, rmsea = 0.069, cfi = 0.988, gfi = 0.959, ifi = 0.988. Goodness-of-fit statistics
of second order cfa: Δχ2 = 125.097, df = 31, χ2/df = 4.035, rmsea = 0.092, cfi = 0.977, gfi = 0.936, ifi = 0.977.
creation dimensions, the kmo 0.896 and the Bartlett’s
test χ2 value has been determined as 2713.991 (p <
0.000) and these results show that it is suitable for
factor analysis (Kalaycı, 2008).
In Table 3, initially, the efa results for the expres-
sions of the foreign tourists visiting the hotel enter-
prises in Marmaris regarding hotel brand equity di-
mensions are included in the study. As a result of the
efa conducted, it has been determined that the hotel
brand equity dimensions involve a four-dimensional
structure explaining 90.212 of the total variance and
that each of the factor loads are over 0.32 (Tabach-
nick & Fidell, 2007). As a result of the efa, it has been
determined that brand awareness, brand association,
perceived quality and loyalty comprise the brand eq-
uity dimensions and factor loads are between 0.877
and 0.747.
On the other hand, as seen in Table 4, efa analy-
sis has been conducted on the statements where there
are the dimensions of tourists’ perception of value
co-creation. As a result of the efa, it has been de-
termined that the dimensions of the perception of
value co-creation involve a fourfold structure explicat-
ing 78.070 of the total variance and that each of the
factor loads are over 0.32 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007).
The dimensions which emerged are Dialogue, Trans-
parency, Accessibility, Risk and Access, with their fac-
tor loads determined to be between 0.889 and 0.421.
Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) for the
Dimensions of Hotel Brand Equity and Perception
of Value Co-Creation
In order to be able to test the structure validity of the
scales used, cfa was carried out on the dimensions
of Hotel Brand Equity and Perception of Value Co-
Creation. Fit indices needed to be reviewed for the
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 157
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Table 4 efa, cfa and Second-Order cfa values for the variable of the Perception of Value Co-Creation
Perception of value
co-creation variables
efa values cfa values
Std.
loadings
Variance
explained
Eigenvalue α Std.
loadings
t values P
Access acc . . . . . . .
acc . . – –
acc . . . .
Risk ris . . . . . . .
ris . . – –
ris . – – –
Transparency tra . . . . – – –
tra . . . .
tra . . – –
Dialogue dia . . . . – – –
dia . . – –
dia . . . .
Second-order cfa analysis results
Perception of value
co-creation
Access – – – – . . .
Risk – – – – . . .
Transparency – – – – . . .
Dialogue – – – – . – –
Notes Extractionmethod: Principal ComponentAnalysis; Rotationmethod:VarimaxRotation.Goodness-of-fit statistics of
cfa: Δχ2 = 52.216, df = 21, χ2/df = 2.486, rmsea = 0.065, cfi = 0.985, gfi = 0.967, ifi = 0.986. Goodness-of-fit statistics
of second order cfa: Δχ2 = 78.934, df = 23, χ2/df = 3.432, rmsea = 0.083, cfi = 0.974, gfi = 0.952, ifi = 0.974.
cfa results obtained from the amos software. Fre-
quently reviewed indices among the fit indices are
Chi-Square Fit test (Δχ2 ≤ 5), root mean square error
of approximation, rmsea (≤0.080), Goodness of Fit
Index, gfi (≥0.80), Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index:
agfi (≥0.80), comparative fit index, cfi (≥0.90), and
incremental fit index, ifi (≥0.90) (Schumacker & Lo-
max, 2010).
According to Table 3, hotel brand equity dimen-
sions are subjected to cfa and the pq4 statement
were excluded from the study since its factor load was
low and it reduced the goodness of fit values of the
study. As a result of the repeated analysis, it was de-
termined that the factor loads of all the statements
are 0.50 (Kalaycı, 2008) and over. The goodness of fit
values of the cfa for the hotel brand equity dimen-
sions are Δχ2 = 77.959; df = 29; χ2/df = 2.688; rm-
sea = 0.069; cfi = 0.988; gfi = 0.959; ifi = 0.988.
These results show that cfa has adequate goodness
of fit values (Hair et al., 2014).
As a result of the cfa applied on the perception of
value co-creation dimensions, the statements of tra3,
ris3 and dia2 were excluded from the model since
they had low factor load and they reduced the good-
ness of fit values. As a result of the repeated cfa anal-
ysis, it was determined that all the factor loads are over
0.50. The goodness of fit values of the cfa conducted
for the perception of value co-creation dimensions are
Δχ2 = 52.216; df = 21; χ2/df = 2.486; rmsea = 0.065;
cfi = 0.985; gfi = 0.967; ifi = 0.986 and it is seen
that it has adequate goodness of fit values (Hair et al.,
2014).
In order to reduce the hotel brand equity and per-
ception of value co-creation dimensions which will
158 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
be involved in the conceptual model to a single di-
mension, second-order cfa analyses have been con-
ducted. The goodness of fit values of the second-order
cfa conducted to reduce the hotel brand equity to a
single dimension are Δχ2 = 125.097; df = 31; χ2/df
= 4.035; rmsea = 0.092; cfi = 0.977; gfi = 0.936;
ifi = 0.977. On the other hand, the goodness of fit
values of the second-order cfa conducted in order
to reduce the dimensions of the perception of value
co-creation to a single dimension are Δχ2 = 78.934;
df = 23; χ2/df = 3.432; rmsea = 0.083; cfi = 0.974;
gfi = 0.952; ifi 0.974. According to all of these re-
sults obtained, the second-order cfa analyses are de-
termined to have the adequate goodness of fit values
(Hair et al., 2014).
Measurement Model and Testing the Hypothesis
Through the study, the case of whether the primary
condition of creating a model was fulfilled has been
tested by analyzing the relations between the dimen-
sions used in the study in hotel brand equity, percep-
tion of value co-creation and wom.
As a result of the measurement model carried out,
it was determined that the apparent variables are in
relation with their dependent latent variables and also
that the relations between all variables are signifi-
cant at the p < 0.05 level and that the covariance val-
ues between variables are lower than <0.85. In order
to elevate the goodness of fit values of the measure-
mentmodel, adjustments have beenmade between the
acc1 (e15) and acc3 (e17), acc2 (e16) and acc3
(e17) as well as wom2 (e25) and wom3 (e24), and the
goodness of fit values were elevated. The goodness of
fit criteria for all the variables for the measurement
model were determined as Δχ2 = 682.169; df = 195;
χ2/df = 3.498; rmsea = 0.084; cfi = 0.941; gfi =
0.845; ifi = 0.942. These results show that the good-
ness of fit values are adequate (Hair et al., 2014).
After the measurement models were confirmed,
the relations between the variables used in the study
were tested through the structural model. Within the
scope of the structural model analysis, 3 different hy-
potheses were analyzed in order to determine the ef-
fects of hotel brand equity on the perception of value
co-creation and wom along with perception of value
Hotel brand
equity
Perception of
value co-creation
WOM
+H
2 =
0.
88
5 +H3 =
0.395
+H1 = 0.426
+
H
4
=
–0
.0
66
Figure 2 The Standardized Values Determined
by the Conceptual Model
co-creation on wom. Another unique aspect of this
study is that 1 (one) hypothesis has been tested in or-
der to determine whether the hotel brand equity and
its effect on wom has a moderator role on the percep-
tion of value co-creation. As a result of the structural
model implemented in line with all these aims, the
path diagram regarding the findings is seen in Fig-
ure 2. As seen in the path diagram, it was determined
that there is a positive and significant effect of hotel
brand equity on the perception of value co-creation
and wom. Moreover, it was determined that the per-
ception of value co-creation has a positive and signif-
icant effect on wom. Furthermore, it is seen in the
model in Figure 2 that the variance exploration rate
for the co-creation variable is 78.4 (R2 = 0.784), and
the variance exploration rate for the wom variable is
63.6 (R2 = 0.636).
When the t values in Table 5 are examined, it is seen
that the significance level is higher than 2.56 and at p
< 0.001 between the hotel brand equity and the per-
ception of value co-creation and wom; and the per-
ception of value co-creation and wom (Schumacker
& Lomax, 2010). Also, when the goodness of fit val-
ues for the path analysis regarding the significance
of the structural model, it is seen that they are: Δχ2
= 682.169; df = 195; χ2/df = 3.498; rmsea = 0.084;
cfi = 0.941; gfi = 0.845; ifi = 0.942 and that these
values are adequate goodness of fit values (Hair et al.,
2014).
When the conceptual model in Figure 2 and the
hypothesis results in Table 5 are examined, it is seen
that the hotel brand equity of the foreign tourists vis-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 159
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
Table 5 Path Analysis and Hypothesis Results
Hypotheses Path Analysis srw t values p Results
+h Hotel Brand Equity→ wom . . .*** Supported
+h Hotel Brand Equity→ Perception of Value Co-Creation . . .*** Supported
+h Perception of Value Co-Creation→ wom . . .*** Supported
Notes srw – Standardized Regression Weights. *** p < 0.001. Goodness-of-fit statistics of path analysis: Δχ2 = 682.169, df
= 195, χ2/df = 3.498, rmsea = 0.084, cfi = 0.941, gfi = 0.845, ifi = 0.942.
Table 6 Path Analysis Results Showing the Moderating
Effect (n = 358)
Variables β se t
Hotel brand equity (x) .** . .
Percept. of value co-creation (w) .** . .
x.w –.* . –.
Notes R2 = 0.608; ** p < 0.001, * p < 0.05, se = stan-
dard error, β = standardized regression coefficients, depen-
dent variable = wom.
iting hotel enterprises in Marmaris has a positive and
significant effect on wom and perception of value co-
creation (h1: β = 0.426, t = 3.670, p = 0.001; h2: β
= 0.885, t = 10.887, p = 0.001). For this reason, the
hypotheses of h1 and h2 formed as ‘Hotel Brand Eq-
uity has a positive and significant effect on wom and
perception of value co-creation’ have been corrobo-
rated. Furthermore, it has been determined that per-
ception of value co-creation has a positive and signifi-
cant effect on wom (h3:β=0.395, t = 3.434, p=0.001).
Therefore, the hypothesis h3, formed as ‘Perception of
value co-creation has a positive and significant effect
on wom,’ has been corroborated.
In order to be able to test the moderator role of
the perception of value co-creation on the effect of ho-
tel brand equity on wom, path analysis has been car-
ried out using the amos software. In the path analy-
sis conducted with the apparent variables, the method
of calculating maximum likelihood has been used and
its path analysis results are in Table 5. While the val-
ues for the estimation and themoderator variable were
standardized beforehand, the values were centralized
in order to minimize the multicollinearity issue. It is
seen that all the estimation variables included in the
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Low Brand Equity (x) High Brand Equity (x)
Figure 3 Graphic Representation of the Moderating Effect
of the Perception of Value Co-Creation (light –
low Value Co-Creation (w), dark – high Value
Co-Creation (w))
path analysis explained 61 (R2 = 0.608) of the change
on wom. On wom, it has been determined that hotel
brand equity (β = 0.438, p < 0.001) and perception of
value co-creation (β = 0.382, p < 0.001) have a positive
and significant effect. It has been ascertained that the
hotel brand equity and perception of value co-creation
variables’ interactive effect (moderator effect) is signif-
icant and negative (β = –0.066, p < 0.05).
Determining the form and direction of the com-
bined effect of the interaction between hotel brand
equity and perception of value co-creation, in cases
where the hotel brand equity was low and high, the
opinions of those with high and low perception of
value co-creation on wom are shown in Figure 3.
Whether the slopes in Figure 3 differ at a significant
level from the 0 (zero) value, has been tested with a
slope test. As a result of the slope test, it has been deter-
mined that the correlation between hotel brand equity
and wom is both high and that its correlation to the
160 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
value co-creation is significant and positive (β = 0.44,
p < 0.001; β = 0.38, p < 0.001, respectively). Conse-
quently, it is seen that tourists with high levels of value
co-creation perception carrymore wom compared to
those with low perception of value co-creation when
there is high hotel brand equity, and hypothesis h4 is
accepted in this case. According to this result, it can be
said that when hotel managers use the perception of
value co-creation by taking hotel brand equity charac-
teristics into consideration, they will increase wom.
Furthermore, it is possible to state that although the
relationship between hotel brand equity and wom is
as claimed in the h4 hypothesis, according to the lev-
els of the perception of value co-creation, this relation
is thinning. In other words, according to the findings
obtained, the relationship between hotel brand equity
and wom is stronger in tourists who attribute low im-
portance to the perception of value co-creation com-
pared to those who attribute more importance to it.
Discussion and Conclusion
As the share of the service sector in the economy
grows, the importance of participatory applications
that are customer-based is gradually increasing. In
Turkey as well, the largest share of the service sector
is held by the tourism sector. The branding efforts of
hotel enterprises as the locomotives of the sector, the
effort to determine the value perceptions of customers
and the results of these efforts being spread among the
customers in a positive way have become prioritized.
According to the sources obtained as a result of the
literature review carried out what was tested in gen-
eral was whether hotel brand equity had any effect on
wom, and no study has been found that suggests that
the perception of value co-creation has a regulating
effect. Therefore, in order to define the relationship
between hotel brand equity, perception of value co-
creation variable and wom of the tourists visiting ho-
tel enterprises inMarmaris, and to determine whether
the perception of value co-creation has a moderator
effect on the relationship between hotel brand equity
and wom, 4 hypotheses were constructed and all of
them have been accepted. That the moderator effect
has been ascertained can be seen as a justification for
the study and its most prominent characteristic.
Four dimensions have been uncovered as a result
of the efa conducted on hotel brand equity. The di-
mensions are conceived as quality, loyalty, brand as-
sociation and brand awareness. As a result of the efa
conducted on the dimensions of perception of value
co-creation, a four-dimensional structure has been
identified involving dialogue, risk, transparency and
access. As a result of the subsequently conducted cfa
analyses and second-order cfa analyses, they were
integrated into the model with the names of hotel
brand equity and perception of value co-creation and
their relations with the other variables were examined.
According to the findings, it has been determined
that tourists’ hotel brand equity increases the percep-
tion of value co-creation and wom. These findings
show similarity to many studies such as Moise et al.
(2019), Sofiane (2019), and González-Mansilla et al.
(2019). On the other hand, it has been determined that
the perception of value co-creation affects wom. This
state of affairs correlates with the findings obtained
in Seifert and Kwon’s (2020) study. The result to be
obtained out of the value co-creation perception of
the customers will result in positive or negative wom.
Hotels are primarily obligated to understand the di-
mensions of hotel brand equity in order to make accu-
rate diagnoses in the long run. The perception of value
co-creation formed with well-understood hotel brand
equity will lead to the forming of positive wom from
the perspective of the customer.
Lastly, except for the findings of the study that over-
lap with the literature, as a distinctly revealed finding,
it was seen that the perception of value co-creation
has a negative moderator effect on the effects of ho-
tel brand equity on wom. Hotel enterprises are one of
the most important components of the tourism sector.
Due to hotel enterprises being high-cost businesses, it
is necessary for them to wish to create a feeling of be-
ing valued for the customer in order to render their
customers loyal to the enterprise. It is evident that
there is perception of value, and sharing their per-
ceptions through wom rapidly as a result of develop-
ing the perception of being valued is quite important
for hotel enterprises in the exponentially challenging
competitive environment of the 21st century.
There are certain limitations in this study. It was
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 161
Abdullah Uslu and Gözde Seval Ergün The Moderator Effect
carried out in the Marmaris destination and only ap-
plied to foreign tourists coming to hotels in the sum-
mer months of the year 2019. It is recommended that
relevant studies need to be carried out so as to encom-
pass other destinations and also to domestic tourists
in order to prove generalizable.
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164 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
Dubai Restaurants: A Sentiment Analysis
of Tourist Reviews
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan
Banasthali Vidyapith, India
vinairesearch@yahoo.com
Amitabh Upadhya
American College of Dubai, uae
upadhyaamitabh@gmail.com
An enormous amount of information is available on innumerable travel websites,
social media and blogs, of which a large part is user-generated content. This web
content holds great potential to assess visitor sentiment at a destination; as this iden-
tifies a need for building automated systems to extract unknown sentiments from
these sources. Sentiment analysis, which includes text mining and natural language
processing (nlp) techniques, helps in extracting related sentiments from the data
thus stored, in unstructured formats. The extracted sentiment would facilitate bet-
ter tourist decision making and improve customer service and new product devel-
opment for tourism enterprises. This study presents a sentiment analysis model to
extract the hidden sentiments from tourist reviews about restaurants in Dubai that
will guide visitors to the city in taking suitable dining decisions. Sentiment analysis
is carried out by extracting tourist reviews about restaurants in Dubai using a web
scraping method using text mining techniques with the help of the R statistical soft-
ware package. The resultant data is further analysed by sentiment analysis tools to
extract the hidden sentiments, which are categorized under eight heads. The senti-
ment analysis helped uncover hidden sentiments along with the frequency of each
sentiment category. It also helped to find the difference between tourist sentiment
scores with respect to different categories of restaurants. The paper provides a sen-
timent analysis model which can be used in the future to extract the reviews related
to other tourism products besides restaurants, such as accommodation, attractions
and accessibility.
Keywords: tourist reviews, Dubai restaurants, sentiment analysis, text mining,
R statistical package
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.165-174
Introduction
The internet is now a necessary source of personal
and professional information and the brisk-paced evo-
lution of information and communication technolo-
gies (ict) has given rise to Web 2.0 characterized by
participatory contribution or user-generated content
(ugc), or electronic word of mouth (e-wom). Busi-
nesses hitherto enjoyed a monopoly on the informa-
tion they possessed; users themselves now determine
the information they want to see and to consume
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 165
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
(Breda et.al., 2020). According to the International
Telecommunication Union there are approximately
three and a half billion people, or 47 of the world
population, that use the internet, in turn significantly
impacting various sectors of the economy and society
including tourism (Buhalis & Law, 2008). Information
and communication technology (ict) and the inter-
net have changed the way individuals and organiza-
tions in the tourism sector operate today (Boyer, 2014;
Mariani et al., 2014). There are various internet appli-
cations such as search engines, social media websites,
blogs and review sites that have profound influence on
tourist decision making in terms of choice of destina-
tion, accommodation andmode of travel (Xiang et al.,
2015). There are several online interfaces which enable
tourists to share their experiences in the form of text,
images and videos. This vast user-generated content
is available online in the form of user reviews, com-
ments, feedbacks, messages, posts, and tweets, pro-
viding opportunities for better decision making for
the stakeholders, especially in the tourism sector, but
which cannot be analysed manually and require au-
tomated tools like text mining (Hearst, 1992; 2003).
Text mining (Renganathan, 2017) involves extracting
and analysing information from the unstructured data
such as text, opinions, reviews, and comments that is
not possible with the traditional statistical tools.
Natural language processing (nlp) (Manning et al.,
1999) helps to enable computer systems read and un-
derstand natural languages such as English. Sentiment
analysis (Jiang et al., 2021; Artemenko et al., 2020;
Saad & Aref, 2020) enables understanding of different
emotions, attitudes and expressions contained in the
textual information using text mining and nlp tech-
niques. Sentiment analysis, or opinion mining, (Pang
&Lee, 2008) helps in extracting the hidden sentiments
or opinion from the unstructured data using tools
such as text mining and natural language processing.
This study provides an overview of sentiment analy-
sis, text mining and natural language processing in the
tourism sector and builds a sentiment analysis model
using a lexicon-based approach (Balasubramanian et
al., 2021; Bose et al., 2020). Open source software – R
statistical package (see https://www.r-project.org) was
used to build the model.
Literature Review
The application of ‘text mining’ is a tool which is be-
ing used in many tourism researches (Thomaz et al.,
2016) in the areas of destination branding, destina-
tion characteristics, sentiment analysis, tourist online
behaviour, tourist purchasing decisions and tourism
sector marketing strategies. Tourism can be termed as
a product which is intangible, experiential and per-
ishable (Xiang et al., 2015). Similarly, tourism can be
defined as a product which exists in the form of in-
formation before a tourist makes a purchase decision
(Doolin et al., 2002). Therefore, the online medium
which acts as a mode of communication providing
a platform for the tourism industry in the fields of
marketing the tourism product and services (Carson,
2006) also helps in the formation of tourist opinions
that have greater influence on their purchasing deci-
sions (Cohen et al., 2014; Litvin et al., 2008).
The online behaviour of tourists can be divided
into pre, onsite and post visits to the desired destina-
tion. Tourists share their experiences, opinions, com-
ments and suggestions online after the visit, which
might be positive, neutral or negative (Kim et al. 2017).
Online media, including online review websites, blogs
and social networks, enable tourists to share travel ex-
periences in the form of posts, comments, opinions,
photos and videos (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010; Law et al.,
2017) which in turn become a source of information
for future tourists to plan their travels and purchase
the tourism products.
Research related to the influence of social media
on tourist online behaviour shows that around 46
of tourists shared their travel related experiences on
social media and 36 of tourists’ choice of destina-
tion is influenced by social media posts (Thomaz et
al., 2016). Tourist purchasing decisions are influenced
by the opinions expressed by fellow tourists who share
their experience on tourism products such as desti-
nation, accommodation and travel (Godnov & Redek,
2016).
Text mining tools which act as a base for opinion
mining enable the study of opinions and sentiments
expressed by the tourist (Pang & Lee, 2008; Ye et al.,
2009). Opinionmining classifies the text into positive,
neutral and negative classes wherein the text classifies
166 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
the text into two to thousand different classes (Pang &
Lee, 2008).
Information about the destination aids the tourist
in understanding the characteristics of the destination
(Pang et al., 2011) which they intend to visit in the near
future. A vast amount of online information related to
a destination is generated by tourists who visited the
destination recently. Text mining helps in the study
of user-generated content (Choi et al., 2007; Pang et
al., 2011; Xue, 2013) and helps the tourism sector as a
whole to study the impact of user-generated content in
the growth of the particular destination. Text mining
models are also used to study destination-specific in-
formation from the travelogues (Hao et al., 2010). Text
mining models can be used as a decision support sys-
tem which helps travel and tourist agents to analyse
the interesting comments given by the tourist online
(Loh et al., 2003). Similarly, it also helps management
in the hospitality sector to develop strategies to im-
prove their services and increase occupancy rates by
analysing tourist opinion queries from future tourists
who are about to visit the destination, expressed in on-
line platforms including the newsgroups postings (Lau
et al., 2005; Xiang & Pan, 2011; Qi & Ning, 2017).
The text mining process is divided into the follow-
ing phases: searching and retrieving the set of docu-
ments on a given topic, creating a document corpus,
stop word removal, stemming, creating a term docu-
mentmatrix, clustering of documents, finding associa-
tion between documents and creation of a word cloud
(Salton & McGill, 1983; Aggarwal & Zhai, 2012; Vija-
yarani et al., 2015).
Phase I of the text mining process involves the
searching and retrieving of documents which contain
comments, opinions and suggestions using an infor-
mation retrieval process based on the information re-
quired by the users (Salton & McGill, 1983).
Phase ii of text mining includes pre-processing
of documents which involves the removal of stop
words present in the documents such as ‘and,’ ‘the’
and ‘an,’ etc. (Vijayarani et al., 2015). Stop words are
removed from the documents using methods such as
the classic method and Zip’s law wherein the former
method removes the predefined stop words and the
latter method removes the words with high Term Fre-
quency – Inverse Document Frequency (tf – idf)
value (Salton & Buckley, 1988). The tf – idf of a
term is an important measure in the text mining pro-
cess which is defined as follows:
1. tf – idf = Frequency (i) × N/f (i).
2. Term Frequency = Number of times the term ap-
pears in the document in comparison with total
terms in the document.
3. Inverse document frequency = Total number
of documents/number of documents containing
the term in consideration.
Phase iii of the textmining process includes stem-
ming, which helps to identify the root of each term and
where each term is replaced by its root term. For ex-
ample, ‘happiness’ or ‘happily’ is replaced with its root
word ‘happy.’
Phase iv of the textmining process involves prepa-
ration of a term document matrix wherein the rows
present the terms and columns represent the doc-
ument. For example, if the word ‘Dubai’ appears 17
times in a traveller’s blog article on different dates and
there were 50 dates of blog articles that were consid-
ered for the text mining analysis, and out of the 50
documents, 48 contain the term Dubai then:
tf – idf (Dubai) = 15 × 50/48 = 15.625.
The web scraping technique enables the extraction
of the content from thewebpages embedded inHyper-
TextMarkup Language (html) tags and store it in text
format (Prameswari et al., 2017).
Natural language processing (Pang & Lee, 2008)
helps in understanding the interaction between the
computer systems and the human language such as
English. Natural language processing techniques in-
volve studying syntactic (grammar), morphological
(different forms of words), semantic (meaning) and
pragmatic (context) aspects within a given text. There
are different approaches, such as statistical, rule based,
linguistic or mixed, used in the field of nlp.
Natural language processing tools are used in the
tourism sector (Pekar & Ou, 2008; Özen and Ilhan,
2020) to obtain tourist evaluations of services and
products offered by hotels and restaurants from the
reviews available in the online medium.
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 167
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
Sentiment analysis helps in understanding senti-
ments from the user-generated content (ugc) (Gräb-
ner et al., 2012; Schmunk et al., 2013; Calheiros et al.,
2017; Chen et al., 2020) in the form of opinions, views
and comments available in various online platforms
such as socialmedia, groups and blogs, using textmin-
ing and natural language processing techniques.
Sentiment analysis is generally carried out using
machine learning (ml) (Duong & Nguyen-Thi, 2021;
Yi & Liu, 2020), deep learning (Li et al., 2020), lexicon-
based and hybrid (combination of two methods) ap-
proaches. Each method has its own advantages and
disadvantages (Divaka et.al., 2016).
Themachine learning-based approach (Nehe et al.,
2020) uses the train and test datasets to classify the
text into positive and negative sentiments. It includes
classifiers such as support vector machines (svm) and
Naive Bayes classifiers (Yusof et al., 2015; Alaei et al.,
2019).
Deep learning methods (Karas & Schuller, 2021),
which are similar to machine learning methods, are
also used for sentiment analysis. Deep learning ismore
powerful in terms of classification accuracy (Zhang
et al., 2018). It includes convolutional neural network
(cnn), reinforcement learning, and long short term
memory (lstm) models for classification purposes.
The following are the advantages ofmachine learn-
ing (ml) and deep learning (dl) methods (Yi & Liu,
2020):
1. They are faster to implement.
2. They can handle large volumes of data sets.
3. Training accuracy increases with the increase of
dataset size.
The following are the disadvantages of ml and dl
methods:
1. They require the users to provide labels for the
training data set in supervised learning models.
2. The model built on one domain may not be suit-
able for another domain.
The lexicon-based approach (Faheem et al., 2020;
Yu et al., 2019) uses language dictionaries to classify
the text into positive or negative sentiments. Following
are the advantages of this method:
1. It attaches sentiment to each word.
2. It does not need any training dataset.
3. Easy to implement (Alessia et al., 2015).
The following are the disadvantages of the lexicon-
based approach:
1. It is language specific.
2. If any sarcasm is present, it might not capture
that.
This paper uses the lexicon-based approach in car-
rying out the sentiment analysis as the tourist reviews
are collected in the English language. TheNational Re-
search Council Canada (nrc)Word-Emotion Associ-
ation Lexicon is used (Mohammad & Turney, 2013) in
this paper.
Tourist reviews are available online at social me-
dia websites like Twitter and Facebook and also on
popular sites like Tripadivisor.com, Expedia.com and
Booking.com.An interesting and noteworthy example
of sentiment analysis was carried out by Valdivia et al.
(2017), uncovering users’ sentiment about three well-
known monuments in Spain: Alhambra, Mezquita
Córdoba, and Sagrada Familia, with the help of user
ratings available at tripadvisor.com. Also, Philander
andZhong (2016) captured tourist sentiments through
their tweets on Las Vegas resorts.
Analysis of variance (anova) is a statistical model
which is used to find out whether the groups or cate-
gories in the study differ with respect to the outcome
variable (Sun et al., 2020). A post hoc comparison test
is used to test which groups differ among themselves
(Chen & Scovino, 2020).
Methodology
The study aims to find the hidden sentiments within
the tourist reviews on restaurant service and find
whether any difference among restaurants exists based
on the sentiment scores. The study also addresses the
following research question:
rq1 Are there any significant differences among res-
taurant categories (Indian, Chinese, Italian,Mid-
dle East and Café Food restaurants) in terms of
sentiment score?
168 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
Based on the above research question the following
null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis are formed
which will be tested using the analysis of variance
method.
h0 There is no significant difference among restau-
rant categories in terms of sentiment scores.
h1 There is significant difference among restaurant
categories in terms of sentiment scores.
The study involves extracting tourist reviews from
tourist reviewwebsites. The extracted reviews are then
parsed and converted into documents. The documents
are further analysed to find the hidden sentiments in
the reviews and sentiment scores are computed from
the analysis. The study also focuses on findingwhether
any significant difference between restaurants exists in
terms of sentiment scores. The study includes tools
such as web scraping, text mining and sentiment anal-
ysis as the threemethods are related and form the basis
for the other method. Web scraping is required to ex-
tract the text from online websites, text mining tools
are required to parse the texts and sentiment analy-
sis tools are required to extract the sentiment from the
text.
The reviews of tourists about restaurants in Dubai
are extracted using a web scraping technique from
www.tripadvisor.com for a period of three months.
The sample included tourist reviews data from web-
pages related to different types of restaurants (Indian,
Chinese, Café, Italian and Middle Eastern food-type
restaurants).
The extracted text data was stored in a text file for
further processing. The content of the text files was
then fed into r environment using the ‘readline’ func-
tion.
The resultant text was converted into vector. The
text datawas preprocessed by removing the stopwords,
numbers, and punctuation using the tm_map function
of the tm package. Here, a single sentence in the text
document is treated as one single document for the
analysis purpose. The model produced a word cloud
output which is a graphical representation of terms
present in the reviews, with the font of the words
showing the frequency of occurrence. The resultant
data is further analysed by sentiment analysis tools to
extract the hidden sentiments, which are categorized
under eight headings.
To carry out sentiment analysis, the following built-
in packages were installed through rstudio environ-
ment: tm – text mining package, nlp – natural lan-
guage processing package, Syuzhet – sentiment anal-
ysis package, and ggplot2 – graphical package (see
https://www.rstudio.com).
Sentimentswhich are categorized into positive, neg-
ative, anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, trust, sadness,
and surprise headings were extracted using the ‘nrc’
dictionary present in the Syuzhet package. The ‘nrc’
function created the sentiment score matrix which is
used to find the difference in sentiments across differ-
ent types of restaurants.
The analysis of variance model is used to test the
difference between the sentiment scores among the
restaurants and a post hoc comparison test – Tukey’s
hsd test – is applied to see which restaurants differ
among them.
Results and Discussion
The sentiment analysis model provided a word cloud
output which is given in Figure 1. The size of each
word in the word cloud indicates the importance or
frequency of each word appearing in the reviews given
by the customers. Four out of five word clouds ex-
pressed positive sentiments whereas the Chinese food
restaurants word cloud includes negative words like
‘overpriced’ and ‘terrible.’ The word clouds which are
obtained above are in line with similar studies con-
ducted on customer reviews with respect to restaurant
quality (Kamerer, 2014; Gadidov & Priestley, 2018).
The sentiment analysis model provided the fol-
lowing sentiment score matrix (Table 1) with respect
to sentiment type and restaurant food type, and the
scores in each category are represented as percentages.
The positive sentiments come out top in all the food
categories, ranging from 32 to 34.54, and negative
sentiment ranged from 1.26 to 4.86. Café food-type
restaurant customers expressed positive sentiments
(34.564) compared to other types of customers. Chi-
nese restaurant customers expressed the highest per-
centage of negative sentiments compared to other
types of customers (2.21). Previous researches also
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 169
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
Café Food Restaurant Indian Food Restaurant Middle Eastern Food Restaurant
Italian Food Restaurant
Chinese Food Restaurant
Figure 1 Word Clouds for Different Restaurant Types
obtained similar sentiment scores for the eight senti-
ment categories (Samuel et al., 2020; Ray et al., 2020).
The sentiment scores are further analysed using the
analysis of variance method which is given in Table
2. The anova method was used to test the hypoth-
esis h1 that the sentiment scores differ with respect
to restaurant category such as Indian, Chinese, Ital-
ian andMiddle Eastern. The anova methodwas also
used to check whether there is any interaction effect in
terms of type of sentiment and category of restaurants.
From Table 2, the anova model indicates that the
p-values of category of restaurants, sentiment type and
interaction effect are less than 0.05. Hence we con-
clude that there is a difference within the sentiment
types and type of restaurant category. There is also an
interaction between type of sentiment and category of
the restaurant (Qamar & Alassaf, 2020). Since the p-
value for category of restaurant is less than 0.05, we
will reject the null hypothesis (h0) but accept the alter-
native hypothesis (h1) that the category of restaurant
differs with respect to sentiment score.
Since there is significant difference among the re-
staurant type in terms of sentiment scores, a multiple
comparison test, Tukey’s hsd test, is used to check
which type of restaurants differ among them. The
Tukey’s hsd results on sentiment scores with respect
to restaurant types are provided in Table 3. The p-
values marked with (*) are statistically significant at
5 level of significance (Qamar & Alassaf, 2020).
From the above table we can infer that Chinese
food-type restaurants differ with respect to Café food,
Indian food, and Middle Eastern food restaurants.
Similarly, Italian food restaurants differ with respect
to Café food, and Indian food and Middle Eastern
food differ with respect to Indian food as the p values
are less than 0.05 (p < 0.05).
170 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
Table 1 Sentiment Scores with Respect to Restaurant Food Type Expressed in Percentage
Restaurant Positive Joy Trust Anticip. Surprise Negative Sadness Anger Fear Disgust
Café food . . . . . . . . . .
Chinese . . . . . . . . . .
Indian food . . . . . . . . . .
Italian . . . . . . . . . .
Middle Eastern . . . . . . . . . .
Overall . . . . . . . . . .
Table 2 Analysis of Variance
Variables df Sum Sq Mean Sq F Value Pr(>F)
Category of restaurant    . .e−9
Sentiment type    . <e−16
Category of restaurant × sentiment type    . .
Residuals   
Table 3 The Multiple Comparison Test – Tukey’s hsd Results
Type of restaurants Upper value Lower value p adj. Difference
Chinese–Café . . . .*
Indian food–Café –. –. . .
Italian–Café . . . .*
Middle Eastern–Café . –. . .
Indian food–Chinese –. –. –. e−7*
Italian–Chinese –. –. . .
Middle Eastern–Chinese –. –. –. .*
Italian–Indian . . . .*
Middle Eastern–Indian . . . .*
Middle Eastern–Italian –. –. . .
Notes * Statistically significant at 5 level of significance.
Conclusion
This study provided an overview of sentiment anal-
ysis, text mining tools and natural language process-
ing techniques in the tourism sector. The paper pro-
vided a base for analysing the sentiments of customers’
perceptions about restaurant service. It also high-
lighted the difference between restaurants categories
in terms of sentiment scores using an analysis of vari-
ance model. The developed sentiment analysis model
for Dubai restaurants can also be extended to extract
reviews related to tourism products such as accom-
modation, attractions and accessibility, with credi-
ble efficiency proving to be of greater utility to the
tourism sector. The study has some limitations. It has
used only limited data and only one sentiment analysis
model, which is based on the lexicon approach. Hence
it could not compare the accuracy of the proposed
model with other models such as machine learning
and deep learning models. Future research can focus
on building a hybrid model which includes both lexi-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 171
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan and Amitabh Upadhya Dubai Restaurants
cons and themachine learning basedmodel and so the
accuracy of the predicted sentiments can bemeasured.
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174 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Review Article
Sustainable Innovation: Concepts and Challenges
for Tourism Organizations
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico
mhernandeze017@alumno.uaemex.mx
Elva Esther Vargas Martínez
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico
eevargasm@uaemex.mx
Alejandro Delgado Cruz
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico
adelgadoc@uaemex.mx
JuanManuel Montes Hincapié
Universidad de Medellin, Colombia
jmontes@udem.edu.co
Tourism companies are looking for new management strategies for helping to pre-
serve their environment and generate positive effects in their social space. Sustain-
able innovation (si) is the possibility that organizationsmust introduce changes, not
only in products or services but also in their business model, to achieve a balance be-
tween economic, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this article is to
recognize the nature and scope of the existing literature in order to discover patterns
of interpretation and lines of research, as well as to create a solid starting point for the
academic and working community. We decided on a qualitative systematic review
of articles identified in a scientific journal specializing in tourism, sustainability, and
business management, using the classification contained in the Web of Science and
Scopus databases. We filtered documents based on the criteria of relevance, consid-
ering the years from 2010 to 2020. This research includes five categories: business
models oriented towards sustainable innovation, sustainable innovation: radical or
incremental, dynamic capacities for sustainable innovation, role of stakeholders in
sustainable innovation, and drivers of sustainable innovation.
Keywords: sustainable innovation, tourism organizations, sustainable business
model
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.175-187
Introduction
The crisis facing tourism due to the covid-19 pan-
demic invites us to reflect on how this activity has been
conducted (oecd, 2020b). Tourism has long been rel-
evant for countries due to its main economic benefits;
however, it should be recognized that it has generated
negative impacts in social and environmental systems.
A more humane approach is required that pursues
economic growth as well as human development and
environmental conservation (United Nations, 2015).
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 175
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
In this sense, it is necessary that organizations, as an
important element of the tourism system, also con-
tribute to the challenge of these changes by seeking
new forms of management that will allow them to re-
main in the market (oecd, 2020a).
Sustainable innovation (si) is a recent academic
topic still under construction, encompassing several
meanings and conceptual approaches. There is still
scarce literature regarding the relationship with tour-
ism companies. Therefore, the main purpose of this
article is to recognize the nature and scope of the ex-
isting literature to discover patterns of interpretation
and lines of research, as well as to create a solid start-
ing point for the academic and working community.
We searched for a systematic review process in the
databasesWeb of Science and Scopus, identifying that
the studies are grouped into six categories that explain
si from different perspectives.
Most of the studies are in one of the two variables
thatmake up the binomial, either in innovation or sus-
tainability, and those thatmanage to integrate themare
oriented towards the environmental sphere of the lat-
ter. Likewise, the context of the study is mainly applied
to lodging companies, with other types of organiza-
tions yet to be included. This way, our research con-
tributes to a greater understanding of the subject, res-
cuing future lines of research to strengthen the devel-
opment of the tourism sector.
The paper consists of a theoretical section that
explains the object of study. This is followed by the
methodology that describes the process. Next, the re-
sults are shown according to each category. Finally, the
conclusions and future lines of research are presented.
Sustainable Innovation: Theoretical Background
Schumpeter (1934) is recognized as themain research-
er who consolidated the study of innovation by mov-
ing away from the classical paradigm and introduc-
ing a dynamic analysis coming from industrial change,
which he called ‘circular flow.’ To Schumpeter, eco-
nomic growth becomes a process of evolution, which
does not come from the effect of external factors such
as politics or the consumer but has an internal origin
through innovation. Scilicet, it arises from within the
company, which can even educate the consumer – if
necessary – creating the need to obtain a new product
(Olaya Dávila, 2008).
The concept of innovation that Schumpeter (1934)
contributed is based on industrial production, and
therefore, related to the production of new goods or
even the same goods, but with different methods. He
details five categories: (a) the introduction of a new
product, (b) the introduction of a newmethod of pro-
duction, (c) the opening of a newmarket, (d) the con-
quest of a new source of supply of raw materials or
manufactured products, and (e) the creation of a new
organization of any industry (Zuñiga-Collazos et al.,
2019). Following this line, the organization acquires
the leading role in creating innovations, such as the
role of the entrepreneurwhen achieving a new dimen-
sion in the function that is being performed; or the in-
dividual who performs new combinations by fulfilling
the task of innovating, but not the place in the hier-
archy held by the individual within the organization
(Olaya Dávila, 2008).
Another element in Schumpeter’s (1968) concep-
tual construction is the term ‘creative destruction,’ rec-
ognizing it as the fundamental impulse that puts and
keeps the capitalist machine in motion, because profit
resulting from successful innovations generates the
creation of new companies, which in turn, also origi-
nate a complete reordering of the industry’s structural
framework. To this end, the organization plays a lead-
ing role and professionalizes research and develop-
ment (r&d) activities, which can be within the busi-
ness unit or outside, through technological research
centres or universities (Olaya Dávila, 2008). However,
a newmeaning has been found for the innovation con-
cept from its social focus, developed during the seven-
ties with greater precision (Hernández-Ascanio et al.,
2016).
Social innovation stems from the need to achieve
development with a more humanistic bent. Search is
based on exploring and generating new ideas that help
to achieve an inclusive society and a good quality of
life. Opportunities revolve around education, health,
employment, family, community life, gender equity,
and environment, considering not only access to these
but also quality (Quandt et al., 2017). These new prac-
tices to address social challenges have a positive influ-
176 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
ence on individuals and organizations, gaining impor-
tance by transcending from the economic to the social
value (Vega Jurado, 2017).
The European Commission (2013, p. 6) conceptu-
alizes social innovation as ‘the development and im-
plementation of new ideas (products, services, and
models) to satisfy social needs and create new social
relationships or collaborations. It represents new an-
swers to social demands that affect the process of social
interactions, oriented to improve human well-being.’
The main goal is to find answers to social problems
by identifying and delivering new services that im-
prove the quality of life of individuals and communi-
ties (oecd, 2011). Social innovation is not exclusive
to a specific economic sector. In public organizations,
it acquires importance for the development of public
policy, attending to social needs and helping to gen-
erate more innovative and efficient environments for
those that already exist, even to encourage the produc-
tive sector (Alonso-Martinez et al., 2015).
In business, this means more than quality prod-
ucts and reliable services. It requires organizations to
contribute positively to improve the conditions of so-
ciety by returning part of the economic benefit, and
having an ethical, collaborative, and socially respon-
sible behaviour (Hernández-Ascanio et al., 2016). In
this sense, the company plays a fundamental role as
a generator of social change, and although this is not
its main goal, it can be motivated to acquire visibil-
ity in the market, as well as a response to generating
new business models oriented to get economic value
and satisfaction of needs (Alonso-Martinez et al., 2019;
Boons & Lüdeke-Freund, 2013).
In environmental terms, innovation is found in
several concepts such as eco-innovation, environmen-
tal innovation, ecological innovation, and green inno-
vation. These terms are used interchangeably andwere
born as a response to the complex environmental sit-
uation experienced worldwide. Their indicators are
related to forest destruction, depletion and pollution
of water resources, loss of biodiversity, or impact by
global warming (Velázquez Castro&VargasMartínez,
2014).
Because of this, the concept of eco-innovation ac-
quired visibility, in economic policies and the business
world, being considered as an important strategy to
reduce environmental impacts generated by various
economic activities. The oecd (2009, p. 13) points
out that it is the creation of new or significantly im-
proved products (goods or services), processes, mar-
keting methods, organizational structures, or institu-
tional arrangements, which (intentionally or not) pro-
duce environmental improvements.
For Carrillo-Hermosilla et al. (2010), eco-innova-
tion is intended to improve environmental perfor-
mance and as a side effect, could also reduce produc-
tion costs. It can also be developed by external fac-
tors such as regulatory pressures and the market, or
by internal factors such as efficiency, environmental
culture, adoption of certifications, and business per-
formance (Bonzanini Bossle et al., 2016).
Specifically, eco-innovation is interpreted as any
type of innovation that is oriented towards sustainable
development and economic progress, through the re-
sponsible and efficient use of natural resources, which
ultimately allow a balance between business and na-
ture (Peiró-Signes et al., 2011). Although the terms
eco-innovation and si are often used synonymously,
the former refers to the environmental and economic
dimension, while the latter is a broader definition that
integrates ethical and social aspects (Kneipp et al.,
2019).
si, as an object of study, is still in an incipient
stage and is supported by different disciplines for its
theoretical-conceptual construct (Ratten et al., 2020).
It combines two opposing terms, the conception of in-
novation which is related to change, destruction, or
transformation, and on the other hand, sustainability
which leads to the notion of preservation (Alderin &
Do, 2016). Under this understanding, their union im-
plies the development of innovations in all spheres of
life and its environment.
Thus, si suggests that innovation processes are no
longer only related to economic objectives but also
to environmental and social ones (Boons & Lüdeke-
Freund, 2013; Cillo et al., 2019; Kneipp et al., 2019).
For Szekely and Strebel (2013), si is the creation of
something new that improves performance in all three
dimensions of sustainability, and it is not limited to
technological changes. It also includes changes in pro-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 177
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
cesses, operating practices, business models, thinking,
and organizational systems. This implies that orga-
nizations improve social and ecological externalities
while remaining financially viable (Dyck & Silvestre,
2018).
It could be summarized that si in companies is the
synergic and inseparable integration of the economic,
social and environmental, which allows reaching ob-
jectives related to sustainable development while re-
maining competitive and financially profitable (Dyck
& Silvestre, 2018). However, even though there is great
awareness, companies are still reluctant regarding its
implementation, considering it more expensive than
conventional innovation since it requires high invest-
ments in technology, generating uncertainty and ig-
norance of the needs of the future market. Therefore,
faced with this situation, the role of companies is to
breakwith old paradigms and face new andmore com-
plex methods (Alderin & Do, 2016).
Therefore, si offers companies the possibility of
transforming themselves and aligning their operations
with the objectives of sustainability under a precise
observation of multiple factors, both internal and ex-
ternal, that allow the reduction of uncertainty and dif-
ferentiate between good sustainability practices and
products that are disseminated as sustainable. Up un-
til now, there has still been insufficient demand, lack
of dissemination, and little market adaptation (Fichter
& Clausen, 2016).
Methodology
Although there are several methodologies for litera-
ture review, we opted for the qualitative systematic re-
view, which allows the identification, selection, and
evaluation of relevant research on an object of study
(Paré & Kitsiou, 2017). It differs from other method-
ologies by developing a protocol in stages or phases
for each of the activities carried out. Additionally, a de-
scription of the studies is added to discover patterns,
barriers, and trends from the perspective and interpre-
tation of the authors (Sobrido & Rumbo-Prieto, 2018;
Templier & Paré, 2015).
Initially, we defined the research question: What is
the nature and scope of the existing literature on sus-
tainable innovation in tourism? The second stage con-
sidered the literature search based on inclusion and
exclusion criteria, including articles with the follow-
ing features: (a) thematic coverage, obtaining themost
comprehensive review possible through the important
scientific journals; (b) representativeness in the field
of tourism business knowledge; and (c) the period of
publication from 2010 to 2020, revealing the most re-
cent knowledge, trends, or new patterns of interpre-
tation. As exclusion criteria, we discarded editorials,
prefaces, and book reviews.
A document searchwas performed using keywords
in English, although it included articles in Spanish,
considering ‘sustainable innovation’ as the main key-
words and ‘tourism,’ ‘tourism organization,’ and ‘sus-
tainable business model’ as secondary keywords. The
databases with the greatest concentration of docu-
ments related to the object of study were Web of Sci-
ence and Scopus. We considered their importance at
an international level and their rigorous evaluation
criteria.
For the third stage of evaluation and selection, we
eliminated repeated articles. Then, through the review
of the abstracts, we determined their relevance, sepa-
rating those that were not related to the business sec-
tor and that did not contribute to the knowledge of the
object of study. Finally, the full text was reviewed, in-
cluding articles from bibliographic references, leaving
a total of 63 documents (Figure 1).
In the last phase, we extracted data and prepared a
bibliographicmatrix for its classification. After analys-
ing the documents, we defined five categories: (a) busi-
ness models oriented towards sustainable innovation,
(b) sustainable innovation: radical or incremental, (c)
dynamic capacities of sustainable innovation, (d) role
of stakeholders in si, and (e) drivers of sustainable in-
novation (Table 1).
Results
Business Models Oriented towards Sustainable
Innovation
This topic is the most recurrent in si research. The
content of this topic considers the customer as a core
aspect of business models, managementmethods, and
value proposition (Teece, 2010). Following this line,
some authors emphasize that conventional business
178 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
Articles retrieved
from databases
(n = 315)*
After removing
repeating articles
(n = 300)
Selected articles,
to read full text
(n = 56)
Total of articles
analyzed
(n = 63)
Id
en
ti
fic
at
io
n
Sc
re
en
in
g
C
ho
ic
e
In
cl
ud
ed
Exclusion of duplicate
articles (n = 15)
Exclusion of articles after
analyzing their abstract
(n = 244): no relationship
with the business sector
and/or no relevance
in relation to the object
of study
Articles identified through
bibliographic references
(n = 7)
Figure 1 Flow Diagram of the Literature Review
(* 210 articles from the Web of Science and 105
articles from Scopus)
Table 1 Articles Classified by Category
Category Frequency Percentage
Business models oriented to-
wards sustainable innovation
 .
Sustainable innovation: radical
or incremental?
 .
Dynamic capacities of sustainable
innovation
 .
Role of stakeholders in sustain-
able innovation
 .
Drivers of sustainable innovation  .
Total  .
models characterized by the appropriation of organi-
zational value, maximize unidirectional dimensional
profits, without considering their externalities in so-
cial and ecological contexts (Schaltegger et al., 2015).
Nevertheless, the company currently seeks to create
competitive advantages by moving towards more dy-
namic and sustainable business models, using innova-
tion to develop integrated solutions that radically re-
duce the negative effects on nature and generate posi-
tive effects on society (Geissdoerfer et al., 2018; Bocken
et al., 2014; Bolton & Hannon, 2016).
Likewise, literature shows that businessmodels can
be redesigned under strategies that allow the gen-
eration of value through sustainability (Yang et al.,
2017; Boons&Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). León-Bravo et al.
(2019) propose two approaches: the first one suggests
an evolutionary change where personnel, production
processes, and technologies must be reinvented to in-
tegrate more sustainable products. The second sug-
gests a retro-innovation rediscovery of traditional pro-
cesses and values of environmental and social conser-
vation. Thereby, the value proposal, the supply chain,
the communication with the client, and the financial
scheme become important when they are aligned with
the sustainability spheres (Ratten et al., 2020; Rotondo
et al., 2019).
Other studies recognize that si is based on orga-
nizational culture, where companies make substantial
transformations in line with their philosophy to bet-
ter manage and evaluate their business model from a
perspective based on the triple bottom line: cost reduc-
tion, sustainability, and competitiveness (Adams et al.,
2016).
In the field of tourism, airlines were among the
first companies to implement the concept of a sus-
tainable business model by reducing the emissions of
gases and noise that they emit into the environment.
On the social side, they considered job satisfaction,
which contributed to customer satisfaction resulting
in increasing profits (Rotondo et al., 2019). However,
not all sustainable business models manage to be suc-
cessful. Some studies point out that most sustainable
innovations do not prosper until they are tested in the
market. It is at this point when companies decide to
take them up again and apply them in organizations
(Rotondo et al., 2019).
Sustainable Innovation: Radical or Incremental?
Research shows a dispute whether si should be in-
cremental or radical. In the face of this argument, it
is stated that most sustainable innovations made by
companies are incremental because there is still not
a large market for sustainable products and services
(Kneipp et al., 2019).
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 179
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
It is also considered that organizations can develop
si through radical or incremental changes since both
types of innovation contribute to sustainability and
can lead to a long-term competitive advantage. In
this sense, incremental changes allow the company to
make gradual adjustments to existing activities and,
with radical innovation, a new way of planning and
managing strategies for the creation and capture of
value is introduced, either to face a new challenge or to
address an economic, social and environmental prob-
lem (Inigo et al., 2017).
Conversely, it is argued that incremental innova-
tion is not sufficient to achieve the demanding goals
of sustainability (climate change, biodiversity loss,
poverty, to name a few). Rather, a radical change of an
entire system is required (Carrillo-Hermosilla et al.,
2010; Kennedy et al., 2017). Since radical innovation
for sustainability can alter both production and con-
sumption practices, achieving a substantial change in
the market will impact natural and social preserva-
tion (Boons et al., 2013; Kuokkanen et al., 2018). In ad-
dition, its destructive characteristic of obsolete skills
can contribute to the decline of traditional methods.
So, with radical innovations, it ismore likely to achieve
an optimal configuration of the global system but one
needs to consider that it represents great challenges
(Wagner, 2012). In other words, although si allows in-
cremental changes to be made to favour sustainability
in organizations, a true transformation would imply
rethinking incremental innovations.
Dynamic Capacities of Sustainable Innovation
Studies show that sis are dynamic organizational ca-
pabilities. This approach explains the ability of com-
panies to restructure their internal and external re-
sources and skills and in this way be able to quickly
respond to changes in the environment (Teece, 2012;
2018). Miranda Torrez (2015) states that these strategic
changes lead organizations to reach high levels of sus-
tainable performance, even reaching proactive levels
when competitive advantages are generated, forcing
competitors to innovate sustainably. Other authors
point out that the relationship between dynamic ca-
pacities and organizational routines influence innova-
tion directly, achieving a greater degree of sustainabil-
ity in tourism companies (Pace, 2016). This requires
the identification and evaluation of knowledge op-
portunities, innovative technologies, and market so-
lutions, which allow the mobilization of resources and
skills to gain value in sustainability (Mousavi et al.,
2018).
Along this line, dynamic capacities based onknowl-
edge become relevant for the development of sustain-
able innovations, when the company orients its ac-
tivities and processes to generate new knowledge and
capacities and integrates external knowledge coming
from the interested parties. This way, the collaborative
practices of external knowledge with internal knowl-
edge are fundamental for understanding the flows of
new knowledge creation and innovation processes
(Maines et al., 2019). Velázquez Castro and Vargas
Martínez (2015) mention the importance of techno-
logical surveillance as one of the processes that convey
information and knowledge to the tourism company,
achieving innovations that contribute to sustainable
business competitiveness through the connection of
four functions: (a) surveillance, (b) plan and enable,
(c) implement, and (d) verify and evaluate.
Some empirical studies, based on the dynamic ca-
pabilities, point out that each of them is integrated
with elements or ‘micro-foundations’ that achieve si.
The elements that acquire bigger importance are the
company’s value propositions, outlining a business
model that integrates ecological, economic, and so-
cial dimensions, and the coordination of a business
ecosystem (Mousavi et al., 2019).
Shang et al. (2019, p. 3) introduced the concept of
sustainable dynamic capacity, defining it as ‘a cor-
poration’s ability to address rapidly evolving stake-
holder expectations regarding sustainability.’ This im-
plies modifying the company’s functional capabili-
ties in pursuit of economic, environmental, and social
competence. Research on dynamic capabilities and si
has regularly focused on the industrial sector, show-
ing that research on services in tourism is particularly
incipient (Bartocci Liboni et al., 2017). Authors such
as Krizaj et al. (2012) and Delgado Cruz et al. (2016),
consider that innovations in the tourism sector cannot
be evaluated in the same way as in industry due to the
nature of the services, observing that tourism com-
180 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
panies regularly resort to basic innovations (products,
processes, andmarketing), when they should innovate
in business models to remain competitive and, above
all, sustainable.
Studies of si in tourism, particularly tourism com-
panies, are regularly analysed from the perspective of
their social, environmental and economic fields, and
themost recurrent ones address issues related to prod-
ucts, processes, management, and marketing innova-
tion, as well as institutional and technological innova-
tions, there being a close interaction among the dif-
ferent categories (Hjalager, 2010). Likewise, organiza-
tional innovation, innovation strategies, technological
innovation, knowledge management in innovation,
and innovation models are analysed. Several of these
topics are linked to pro-environmental actions that
aim to create competitive advantages (Delgado Cruz
et al., 2016). Also, the organizational structure, hu-
man capital, and collaboration networks are determi-
nants for the development of the innovation capacity
in companies (Delgado Cruz et al., 2018).
A study applied to the hotel sector found a link
between the social relations of managers, knowledge,
and the generation of dynamic capabilities for si. These
relations favoured the ability of companies to alter
their resource base, improving access to information
and knowledge to identify changes and allowing the
company to adjust to environmental and social needs
(Nieves, 2014).
Role of Stakeholders in Sustainable Innovation
The literature review provides evidence that addresses
the role of stakeholders in the development of si. si
is a complex process, that individual work alone could
not trigger. So, the relationships and demands exerted
by stakeholders (internal and external) can become
the origin of social and environmental innovations
(Alonso-Martinez et al., 2019; Ayuso et al., 2011; Jun-
tunen et al., 2018; Rotondo et al., 2019; Schaltegger &
Wagner, 2011).
Primary stakeholders (such as employees and cus-
tomers) are those that have become more important
for research purposes. However, some authors consid-
erer that si secondary stakeholders (e.g. ngos, gov-
ernment, communities, universities) may be more rel-
evant, as they are an important source for knowledge
generation (Goodman et al., 2017). In contrast, there
is evidence that the incorporation of secondary stake-
holders does not support the momentum of si. In-
stead of looking for many actors, attention should be
paid to choosing the right type of parties, and the right
time for their integration into the innovation process
(Juntunen et al., 2018; Driessen & Hillebrand, 2012).
Goodman et al. (2017) analysed three roles that
stakeholders play in contributing to si, and depend-
ing on their actions, theymay be proactive, reactive, or
mixed. The first is when stakeholders stimulate or gen-
erate the idea of innovation while promoting greater
use of the product. The reactive role is obtained when
experience and feedback are provided to make the
product more attractive, when assistance is given to
build credibility and trust, educating the public on so-
cial and environmental issues related to innovation.
Finally, the mixed roles are achieved when enabling
collaboration among stakeholders or participating in
the reconstruction of policies that allow innovation to
flow.
The relationshipwith stakeholders poses new chal-
lenges when trying to reconcile the different inter-
ests, characteristics, and objectives pursued by each of
them (Ferrero-Ferrero et al., 2018; Kazadi et al., 2016).
Because of this, it is suggested that companies develop
internal capacities that facilitate their integration and
commitment, promoting greater innovation and bal-
ance among social, economic, and environmental as-
pects (Rhodes et al., 2014), as well as the integration of
a good team of stakeholders (Bal et al., 2013).
Drivers of Sustainable Innovation
Another group of studies refers to the drivers of is,
which can improve the performance and innovation
capacity of companies. In this sense, innovations reg-
ularly arise from qualified and motivated employees,
research, and development processes (r&d) (Ketata
et al., 2015). There are influential external factors that
put pressure on stakeholders to demand products pro-
duced under sustainable processes, such as regulatory
government policies or financial support provided for
their development (Ketata et al., 2015; Pellegrini et al.,
2019; Sirirat & Lamin, 2019).
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 181
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
A line of empirical studies analyses the capacity for
si with a strategic orientation. This orientation is of-
fered in three areas: (a) customer, (b) competition, and
(c) technology. The role that consumers play in affect-
ing the capacity of si is of utmost importance, as they
use their added value as a lever to improve the en-
vironmental innovation capacity of their companies
(Tseng et al., 2019). Technologies are extremely im-
portant in the environmental sphere of tourism enter-
prises, innovating in energy efficiency, water use care,
and waste management, among others, seen as an es-
sential part of the sustainability strategy in the hotel
industry (Chan et al., 2020).
Along the same lines, theoreticalmodels associated
with innovation, environmental marketing strategy,
and the organizational environment are developed
for the growth of sustainable innovations in hotels,
finding that there is a close relationship among them.
Thus, the business’s reputation can be strengthened
through its environmental marketing strategy. How-
ever, this is suggested not to consider the preference of
customers as the only reason for adopting sustainable
initiatives, but to understand the holistic benefits that
are generated in the long term (Horng et al., 2017).
Research has shown that hotels are reluctant to
adopt environmental technologies, even though they
can reduce their operating costs, improve their im-
age and contribute to the sustainable development of
tourism. Chan et al. (2020) identified seven barriers:
(a) environmental viability in terms of feasibility and
costs; (b) lack of knowledge and uncertainty about
the benefits of green technologies; (c) monopolized
after-sales service due to high maintenance costs; (d)
government and initial support for the adoption of en-
vironmental technologies; (e) customer experience in
choosing to purchase; (f) shortage of skilled labour;
and (g) finance. Simultaneously, other studies address
the drivers of si in hosting companies and airlines,
identifying regulatory compliance and brand posi-
tioning as ways to implement innovations around the
preservation of natural resources (Dibra, 2015; Horng
et al., 2017; Mousavi et al., 2018).
si is largely related to entrepreneurship, since en-
trepreneurs are corporate leaders who see the oppor-
tunities in sustainability, and thus contribute to solv-
ing complex social and ecological problems, which
in turn act as a catalyst for transformation (DiVito
& Ingen-Housz, 2019). In the social sphere, research
on innovation drivers in tourism highlights the en-
trepreneurial nature of creating job opportunities (Ale-
gre & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2016), ethical behaviour
(Vargas Martínez et al., 2018), and the participation
of communities as a key agent for the development of
tourism destinations and their quality of life (Maleka
& Costa, 2014). Also, the network collaboration for
the sustainability of large and small businesses is anal-
ysed, achieving an improvement in the quality of life
of communities (Carlisle et al., 2013).
si maintains a relationship with the size of the
company; large companies, technologically sophisti-
cated, with innovative characteristics, and with inter-
national operations, generally include sustainability in
the innovation of their products and processes. In ad-
dition, they make social investments focused on food,
training, and assistance for the family, while invest-
ments of an environmental nature are oriented to the
reduction of environmental impacts, decontamination
programmes and projects, environmental audits, and
certifications. However, these are not reasons thatmo-
tivate them to innovate, such as economic objectives
and market position (Gomes et al., 2011).
Other studies recognize that a company’s ability to
implement si depends on its financial situation and
its willingness to change. Large companies generally
have the resources to act, helping their global com-
petitiveness, while small companies lack financial re-
sources to be sustainable, although, if they are inno-
vative, they will seek options to overcome economic
obstacles in other ways (Ratten et al., 2020). In a sig-
nificant relationship between si and the success of an
organization, empirical studies show that the adop-
tion of si practices is associated with business perfor-
mance, contributing to superior corporate behaviour,
as well as generating competitive advantages in the so-
cial sphere (Maier et al., 2019; Kneipp et al., 2019).
On the other hand, the implementation of inclu-
sion strategieswithin government sectors for planning
or financial support encourages companies to develop
sustainable products and services (Davies & Mullin,
2010). Some companies implement si to reduce pro-
182 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
duction costs, resource optimization, and process effi-
ciency, thus increasing profitability and environmen-
tal benefits (Van, 2019; Vinci et al., 2019); governance
strategies are also being led to promote innovations in
all areas (Lupova & Dotti 2019).
For Vos et al. (2018), companies can perform bet-
ter in si through organizational learning; since it al-
lows them to recognize the value of new information,
assimilating and applying it in such a way that knowl-
edge will allow companies to adapt to the heteroge-
neous needs of the client and at the same time,mitigate
the ecological and social impact.
Conclusions and Further Research
A big part of the research on si is associated with
factors that impel it from the inside and outside of
the company. When a company develops is, usually
the results coincide with economic aspects, acquir-
ing economic value or profitability, derived from the
sale of products as well as cost reduction. Another
factor is the constant search for customer satisfaction
around sustainable products. Similarly, the size of the
company is influential, since large companies regu-
larly have financial capabilities that allow them to in-
novate sustainably to develop competitive advantages
and achieve market position (Ratten et al., 2020).
It is important to note that most studies have fo-
cused on industrial companies, so studies of the ser-
vice sector have not acquired relevance, specifically
those of the tourism sector (Bartocci Liboni et al., 2017;
Hjalager, 2010). Therefore, as it is an incipient field of
study, it is necessary to develop future research that
will allow tourism companies to identify opportuni-
ties through which they can contribute significantly to
environmental care and the development of a better
society in the destinations where they are settled (Del-
gado Cruz et al., 2016).
The innovation diffusion theory has been used
as a way of propagating si in the tourism enterprise,
since it consists of evaluating an innovation in order
to adopt or reject it (Dibra, 2015), which facilitates its
implementation due to the nature of the service it of-
fers.
Empirical studies show that the general behaviour
of tourism enterprises is unsustainable because tour-
ism business management is dominated by short-term
economic objectives, which implies a great concern
that leads to the need to investigate proactive change
in practices to contribute to sustainable tourism devel-
opment (Velázquez Castro & Vargas Martínez, 2015).
si has not yet been able to fully integrate itself into the
studies of tourism businesses. There is much research
performed on innovation in each of its spheres (en-
vironmental, social, economic) but separately. It also
shows that, within these business innovation capaci-
ties, it has not been developed as industry has.
Social and environmental problems are setting the
tone to rethink tourism practice and its management.
It is necessary to understand that true tourism devel-
opment is not only economic but also social and eco-
logical. Enterprise, as part of the tourism system, plays
a fundamental role as a promoter of change. si rep-
resents the opportunity to reinvent itself and face the
challenge of generating more complex organizational
structures, with greater knowledge and learning than
conventional business models.
Thus, this research acquires relevance by introduc-
ing contributions around the tourism sector, since the
knowledge gap is wide and the field of tourism needs
to be strengthened. si studies associated with the par-
ticipation of stakeholders in the creation of new envi-
ronmental and social values and practices are needed.
On the other hand, research shows that large compa-
nies are more likely to develop is, motivated by the
search for competitiveness, market positioning, and
cost reduction. Meanwhile, small and medium enter-
prises are reluctant; the challenge is to strengthen these
companies in the development of their innovation ca-
pabilities.
Another line of research is related to the manage-
ment of internal and external knowledge and the in-
fluence that si has on the ability of organizations to
become intelligent since one is not only intelligent for
possessing advanced technology but also for taking
care of the environment and contributing to a better
social lifestyle. This could include studies that guide
the handling of information and the performance of
internal collaborators once the organizations have ac-
quired the interest to innovate sustainably. One more
line of research would be linked to dynamic capacities
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 183
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel et al. Sustainable Innovation
as a mechanism for tourism companies to identify the
opportunities offered by the environment and to trig-
ger a greater propensity towards si.
In the public sector, si is fundamental for the im-
plementation of successful policies and projects, and
for generating conditions that encourage tourismcom-
panies to develop sustainable innovations,which could
lead to better development of tourismdestinations and
host communities. Finally, it is recognized that this
study has certain limitations because it only explores
scientific articles and does not consider other impor-
tant sources of information such as patents, manuals
of international organizations, and information from
innovative institutions, that could be enriching for a
broader understanding of the object of study.
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Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 187

Original Scientific Article
Big Data Analysis of Sustainable Tourism
Competitiveness in East Java Province
Dias Satria
Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
dias.satria@ub.ac.id
Joshi Maharani Wibowo
Universitas Surabaya, Indonesia
joshiwibowo@staff.ubaya.ac.id
East Java Province is known as one of Indonesia’s regions that has succeeded in in-
creasing their regional economic growth through tourism activities. The study’s aim
was to analyse East Java Province’s sustainable tourism competitiveness potential
using review data from the TripAdvisor website in 2019. TripAdvisor reviews are ex-
amples of big data for qualitative research that provide information about particular
tourism competitiveness, like demographic condition, destinations characteristics,
and tourism preference. This research chooses three tourism destinations with high
competitiveness in East Java, namely: Jatim Park 2, Ijen Crater, and Bromo, Tengger,
and Semeru National Park (btsnp). Tourism activity in East Java has high com-
petitiveness and sustainability. This research found that the sustainable tourism ac-
tivity with high competitiveness can not only be applied to nature-based tourism
destinations, such as Ijen Crater and btsnp but also to artificial tourism like Jatim
Park 2. Suppose the related stakeholders can explore and manage them well. In that
case, tourism activity in East Java Province can extend tourist spending, their length
of stay and finally increase regional income in East Java. To accomplish this goal,
we provided four recommendation to related stakeholders in the shape of strate-
gic policies to increase competitiveness capability and economic activity in the East
Java Tourism Area. These are the following four strategies: tourism business level-
ling, local common tourism brand-enhancing, local tourism integration, and cash-
less transaction promotion.
Keywords: big data, tourism competitiveness, East Java, sustainable tourism
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.189-203
Introduction
The tourism sector has been one of the relatively sta-
ble sectors in regional economic growth, especially in
the 4.0 industrialization era (Industry 4.0 era). There
are a group of young people called ‘millennial trav-
ellers,’ known to have a significant role in provoking
tourism activity (Poerwanto& Shambodo, 2020). Sub-
arkah (2018) also declared that millennial travellers
significantly contribute to the regional economy about
101 usd to 500 usd by visiting tourism destinations
around the particular area. The Ministry of Tourism
and Creative Economy of Indonesia (2020) measured
the high demand from the millennial generation in
Indonesia, roughly about 5.5 or 2.8 billion Rupiah
of the Indonesia National Gross Domestic Product
(gdp). The related stakeholders, especially the gov-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 189
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
ernment, are trying to develop many potential sites
into tourism destinations to meet that demand. One
of the Indonesian regions that is intensively develop-
ing many possible areas into tourism sites is East Java
Province.
In this province, the tourism industry is known as
‘The Awakening Giant,’ because East Java has a mas-
sive amount of natural and social resources that can
be turned into tourism activity to attract suitable in-
vestors (Ministry of Communication and Informat-
ics, 2019). Therefore, most cities and suburbs in East
Java Province have their own local tourism destina-
tions to increase their local economic growth, such as
Jawa Timur Park, an amusement park in Batu City, or
Purwodadi Botanical Garden in Pasuruan Regency.
Besides local tourism destinations, several tourism
destinations are developed and promoted in the in-
ternational tourism market, such as: Bromo, Tengger,
Semeru National Park (btsnp) and Ijen Crater. These
two destinations are mentioned in the Medium-Term
National Development Plan 2020–2024 as two of ten
Indonesia priority tourism destinations.
The tourism sector growth in East Java Province
was shown from East Java overseas visit data through
Juanda International Airport and Room Occupancy
Rates of star hotels data in East Java. In March 2019,
foreign tourist visits to East Java Province increased
by 22.8 (21,565 visits) from February–March 2019
(17,561 visits). The RoomOccupancyRate of star hotels
also showed growth by 0.82 in March 2019 (Central
StatisticsAgency of East Java Province, 2019). To antic-
ipate and utilize the growth of tourism sectors in East
Java, the regional government has tried to developEast
Java Province tourism activity using a cluster system.
Based on the Presidential Regulation of the Republic
of Indonesia in Article 80 year 2019, the development
of East Java tourism activity was divided into two clus-
ter areas, which are the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru (bts)
Priority Area and Ijen Supportive Circular Area, as
stated.
East Java Province tourism sector developmentwas
centred in the bts priority area as the core area. This
area has a high potential for nature-based tourism,
such as ecotourism, agrotourism, educational tourism,
andmarine tourism. The development of the bts pri-
Figure 1 Priority and Supportive Area of East Java
Province Map
ority area as a tourism site was supported by the Ijen
Supportive Circular Area. Ijen Supportive Circular
Area has a similar demographic to the bts priority
area and is famous as a tourism site because it has three
tourism destinations known as Segitiga Berlian (The
Triangle of Diamond). These three destinations are
Ijen Crater, Sukamade Beach, and Plengkung Beach
(G-Land). Besides these three main destinations, Ijen
Supportive Circular Area also has various terrestrial
reliefs that could potentially become tourism areas,
like highlands, mountain ranges, volcanoes, hills (Ijen
and Raung Mount), and lowlands and coasts (Suhato,
2016).
The development of the Ijen Supportive Circu-
lar Area was undertaken to support the bts prior-
ity area by attracting tourists that visit Bali Island to
visit tourism sites in East Java Province (Bank Indone-
sia, 2020). To accomplish that goal, the related gov-
ernment has tried to develop new tourism destina-
tions around bts and Ijen, such as Marina Boom in
BanyuwangiRegency or EdelweissVillage inWonokri-
ti Village (Nanda, 2018; Wibowo et al., 2019). By de-
veloping tourism potential in East Java Province, the
related government is not only aiming for regional
economic growth but also economic equity in East
Java Province rural areas.
One city that successfully grew as amodern tourism
industrial area in East Java is Batu City. Batu City
successfully developed its area through tourism ac-
tivity and positively impacted the local community’s
190 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
economy by allowing them to participate in voluntary
activities, like maintaining cleanliness, security, and
tourism destination promotion (Nurhayati, 2009).
One of themost favoured tourism destinations in Batu
City is Jatim Park (Jawa Timur Park), especially Ja-
tim Park 2. Jatim Park 2, also known as Batu Secret
Zoo, is a tourism destination in East Java Province
recommended by TripAdvisor as one of Batu City’s
must-visit tourism destinations (TripAdvisor, 2020a).
Not only that, many positive reviews from local com-
munities and visitors to Jatim Park 2 also support this
fact throughword-of-mouth promotion (Aprilia et al.,
2015). According to this fact, Jatim Park 2 is known as
an ideal artificial tourism destination that has posi-
tively influenced the East Java community’s social and
economic environment.
Based on the case of Jatim Park 2 reviews in Tri-
pAdvisor, we can conclude that social media has a
high impact on tourism sectors. Suanpang (2020) and
unwto (2020) also stated that social media such as
TripAdvisor, Instagram, and Facebook played an im-
portant role in tourism competitiveness in 2020. This
phenomenon happened because many visitors tried
to tell other people about their experience at some
tourism sites using social media. These experiences,
written in social media, are called ‘tourism reviews’
and cover tourism destination competitiveness such
as accessibility, facilities, and environmental condi-
tions (Xiang et al., 2017). Many people can access these
reviews and use them for many purposes like accom-
modation preference or government policy consider-
ation. By using them for research purposes, tourism
reviews can be classified as specified big data because
textual-style data like social media reviews can repre-
sent the emotions, perspective, and feelings of a visitor
during their visit to specific tourism destinations (Li
et al., 2018).
According to previous research, social media re-
views can influence tourismdestinations’ competitive-
ness. Menk et al. (2018) and Schuckert et al. (2015)
stated that social media positively impacts tourism
destination competitiveness through data exploration.
The potential consumers (travellers) usually do some
online research before visiting a particular destination
based on their preferences. Using social media, po-
tential visitors try to find their preferred tourism site
based on their budget and provided activity (Giglio et
al., 2019). If stakeholders like the government or local
communities can process this data very well, they can
use it to make appropriate and suitable tourism de-
velopment strategies. For example, nature-based eco-
tourismneeds tourism strategy and activity to increase
tourism and the economy. Still, it needs to have a low
negative impact to avoid exploiting the ecological en-
vironment and social capital around tourism destina-
tions (Sunardi et al., 2019).
Based on that fact, this research was conducted
to observe East Java Province tourism sustainable
competitiveness using social media TripAdvisor re-
view data in 2019. This study focused on three ma-
jor tourism destinations: Bromo Tengger Semeru Na-
tional Park (btsnp), Ijen Crater, and Jatim Park 2. All
three destinations were selected due to their appear-
ance in the top 15 TripAdvisor-recommended tourism
destinations in East Java, their positive impact on the
local community, and site location (President of the
Republic of Indonesia, 2019; TripAdvisor, 2020b). The
result of this research is expected to support related
parties in maximizing East Java tourism competitive-
ness. By maximizing tourism competitiveness in East
Java Province, in the near future, tourism sectors will
come back and give the positive economic impact to
East Java regional gdp and can be counted as one po-
tential sector with a high resilience and growth after
covid-19 era.
Literature Review
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism is a tourism activity that inte-
grates economic activity with social and natural cap-
ital around the destination (Tsaur et al., 2006). The
tourism destination, from this perspective, should in-
clude local cultural identity as the main attraction
without sacrificing tourist protection, satisfaction, and
the environment around the destination. That is why
sustainable tourism activity development should be
undertaken based on socio-economic aspects follow-
ing regional and national economic development
growth in the destination area (Pavlic et al., 2019).
Most of the time, sustainable tourism development in
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 191
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
particular destinations was undertaken as a regional
or national sustainable development policy project.
The related stakeholder tried to preserve biodiversity
and social capital in the surrounding area through sus-
tainable tourism activity. Sustainable tourism activity
also positively impacts the local community in social
and economic sectors by increasing their income, and
reducing poverty and the unemployment rate around
tourism destinations (Tung & Cuong, 2020).
For some time, economic and social impacts on
local people have been considered as tourism destina-
tion long-termguarantees tomaintain tourismactivity
and tourist satisfaction at tourism sites (Nestoroska,
2012). The concept of a sustainable tourism destina-
tion is known to maintain tourist satisfaction for re-
turning and newcomer tourists due to their manage-
ment trying to provide diverse experiences and sat-
isfy tourists. The sustainable tourism concept is com-
monly known as a tourismmanagement commitment
to managing all kinds of resources in destination ar-
eas for the economy, and social, and environmental
purposes (Hassan, 2000). This commitment is repre-
sented in management, tourist, and government acts
to preserve local culture, ecological cyclic processes,
biodiversity, and other life support systems. Sustain-
ability in tourism sites can only be achieved when ev-
ery stakeholder, including tourists and local commu-
nities, can actively participate in sustainable activities
and destination decision-making. This activity will
positively enhance the tourism activity experience and
raise sustainable tourism awareness for tourists, local
communities, and other related stakeholders (Sasid-
haran & Krizaj, 2018; Wibowo et al, 2019).
Digital Tourism
Digital tourism, or e-tourism, is known as the integra-
tion of Information and Communication Technology
(ict), especially the internet, in the tourism industry
(Yanti, 2019). Putra et al. (2018) stated that tourism
destinations could be introduced digitally to improve
their competitiveness by creating content and spread-
ing it digitally through social media, websites, televi-
sion, or another digital platform. This method, called
‘try-before-you-buy’ can help tourist candidates to get
a more realistic experience before deciding to visit a
particular destination (Gretzel et al., 2020; Heliany,
2019). In exchange, the related stakeholders can pro-
mote their destination in a broader range but with
lower cost and more targeted traffic (Putra et al., 2018;
Yanti, 2019).
Indonesia’s government considers digital tourism
as a promotion strategy to improve Indonesian tour-
ism competitiveness among domestic and overseas
tourists (Putra et al., 2018). To realize that purpose,
the IndonesiaMinistry of Tourism andCreative Econ-
omy applied three main policies: Wonderful Startup
Academy, Nomadic Tourism, and Destinasi Digital
(digital destination) (Heliany, 2019). Through that
programme, the government and stakeholders could
communicate andmaximize the implementation of all
three main programmes to improve Indonesia’s eco-
nomic growth through the tourism sector. This policy
implementation has also been followed by a new sup-
porting policy related to tourism destination business
licenses owned by stalls around tourism destinations,
tourism information accessibility, and other tourism
activities.
Tourism Competitiveness
Tourism competitiveness is known as the capabil-
ity to attract tourists to visit and revisit a particular
tourism destination. The tourist revisit is one aspect
of the tourism destination competitiveness to main-
tain their popularity in the tourism industry (Chin et
al., 2014). The parameters to measure tourism com-
petitiveness are environmental, social, cultural, po-
litical, and technological aspects (Blanco-Cerradelo
et al., 2018). Tourism competitiveness measurement is
taken to determine the impact of tourism factors, such
as hospitality, commonwealth improvement, and lo-
cal community education level, especially sustainable
tourism awareness among youth of a particular des-
tination (Blanco-Cerradelo et al., 2018; Minciu et al.,
2010). By analysing these various factors, the manage-
ment party might determine a proper strategy to im-
prove the destination’s competitiveness, for example,
by making an adequate branding that is easily recog-
nized, like ‘Wonderful Indonesia,’ the iconic tourism
branding from Indonesia (Chen et al., 2016).
Sunaryo (2013) states there are many components
192 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
that can be used to measure tourism competitive-
ness. Blanco-Cerradelo et al. (2018) measured tourism
destination competitiveness based on destination at-
traction, welfare, and sustainability in their research.
Zhang et al. (2011) described that tourism competitive-
ness could be measured based on tourist demand and
supply in the tourism market. In Indonesia, there are
five main parameters used to measure local tourism
competitiveness. The parameters consist of attraction,
accessibility, supporting facilities, information and
communication, and institutional (Sunaryo, 2013).
Big Data
Big data is classified as large-scale heterogeneous data
that increases every day and consists of various types
of data (Sowmya&Suneetha, 2017). Praveen andChan-
dra (2017) classify big data into three types: structured,
unstructured, and semi-structured. Due to its data
variance, big data is managed through specific pro-
cesses as needed in research. If big data were misman-
aged through an improper process, the data would be
useless for research purposes (Kusumasari & Rafizan,
2018). Tourism research usually uses structured data
from social media data like reviews, posts, and com-
ments because this data has a unique characteris-
tic that is needed for academic purposes (Praveen &
Chandra, 2017).
In previous research, big data was used to deter-
mine tourism competitiveness through tourist expe-
rience reviews (Xiang et al., 2017). Many studies state
that social media data is more accurate than question-
naire data for tourism research because the respon-
dents write the review based on their experience when
visiting the destination (Aydin, 2020; Sabiote-Ortiz et
al., 2016; Sun et al., 2016). The other advantage of using
social media data is that almost all of the social media
data (reviews, photos, status, etc.) were written at that
moment or almost in real-time by the user (Mohamed
& Al-Jaroodi, 2014).
The big data paradigm in tourism research is fre-
quently formed as a framework of the smart tourism
destination. This framework consists of three steps,
namely data collection, interconnectivity, and data
analysis. Through this big data framework, the study
result is applied to establish new physical infrastruc-
ture, social networking, and business model strategies
to enhance the efficiency of destination competitive-
ness and increase the positive value of tourism activity
to the related stakeholders (Gretzel et al., 2015).
Methods
This researchwas done through a qualitative approach
consisting of data collection, analysis, and interpre-
tation through observation (Hussein Jaddou, 2007).
This research data was analysed based on the senti-
ment analysis concept using ‘nvivo 12’ tools.
Through nvivo 12, the data was classified and
mapped into the specific topic based on the sentiment
approach (positive, negative, and neutral). The result
of the sentiment analysis processed data was used to
describe the research result clearly as needed (Ye et al.,
2009).
This study uses secondary data of btsnp, Ijen
Crater, and Jatim Park 2 tourist reviews from TripAd-
visor in 2019. This data was collected using the text
mining method, which is a method to gather valuable
information for analysis purposes. This type of analy-
sis is applied to collect precise and explicit information
that is briefly preserved to be analysed using a com-
puter or manually analysed by the researcher (Sari,
2020).
The study aimed to present a recommendation
about tourism development policy that promotes the
competitiveness, uniqueness, and inclusivity of East
Java Province. Figure 2 shows the flowchart of meth-
ods to achieve this objective. First, East Java Province
tourism was identified comprehensively through the
text mining method by the researcher. Then, after the
potential tourism competitiveness was recognized, we
tried to provide a recommendation policy based on
destination potential that can be considered and ap-
plied to increased East Java tourism competitiveness
in the future.
Results and Discussion
East Java Tourism Profile
We obtained 640 reviews written in 2019 related to
btsnp, Ijen Crater, and Jatim Park 2 tourism destina-
tions through the TripAdvisor site that can be classi-
fied as structured big data. Table 1 shows that the Ijen
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 193
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
East Java tourism data analysis
(text mining) using data tourist
review from TripAdvisor in 2019
Identification of East Java
Tourism Competitiveness
(Sentiment Analysis)
Attractiveness
Accessibility InstitutionalCompetitiveness
Information and
Communication
Infrastructure
and Facilities
Policy
Recommendation
Figure 2 Conceptual Mindmap Flowchart
Crater was the most demanded tourism destination of
East Java Province because Ijen Crater has the most
reviews (245 reviews) in 2019, followed by Jatim Park
2, and finally btsnp. Table 1 also shows that artificial
tourism destinations like Jatim Park 2 have high com-
petitiveness with the other nature-based tourism des-
tinations in East Java because Jatim Park 2 has more
reviews (205 reviews) than btsnp (190 reviews).
Domestic tourists dominated high demand in East
Java tourism activity. Table 2 represents Indonesia as
the country with the most people visiting tourist sites
in East Java Province, followed by Singapore, France,
Malaysia, and Italy. Most domestic tourists in East
Java Province came from outside provinces, such as
from dki Jakarta Province (from Jakarta City and
Tangerang City) or Yogyakarta Province. The low rate
of local East Java tourists shows a lack of interest in
East Java tourism. Therefore, tourism competitive-
ness in East Java should be improved to meet the local
tourists’ needs and interests.
Table 1 East Java Tourism Reviews
Destination Number of reviews
btsnp 
Ijen Crater 
Jatim Park  
Total 
Notes Table 1 shows analysis from text mining processed
data related to the btsnp, Ijen Crater, and Jatim Park 2
tourism destinations on the TripAdvisor website in 2019.
This data represented Ijen Crater as the most demanded
tourism destination of East Java Province, followed by the
Jatim Park 2 and btsnp tourism destinations.
Table 2 Countries and Cities with Most Number of East
Java Province Destination Reviews
Country or city Number of Reviews
Indonesia 
Jakarta 
Malang 
Surabaya 
Tangerang 
Yogyakarta 
Batu 
Bali 
Bogor 
Banyuwangi 
Bekasi 
Singapore 
France 
Malaysia 
Italy 
The high interest of outside East Java Province
tourists shown in Table 2 was followed by another find.
We found evidence that many tourists, especially do-
mestic tourists, only spent their time visiting one of the
three East Java tourism destinations before returning
or taking a trip to another tourism destination outside
East Java Province, like Bali Island. Figure 3 shows a
map of tourism mobilization across Bali and Java Is-
lands in 2019. According to this figure, we can assume
Bali-Java tourists usually travel directly from Bali to
194 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
Figure 3 Java and Bali Island Tourism Mobilization
in Indonesia
Yogyakarta, without visitingmost of the tourismdesti-
nations in East Java. Despite the number of Ijen tourist
visits, most of the tourists did not bother to visit other
destinations like btsnp and Jatim Park 2 when they
passed through East Java Province.
Figure 3 shows most of the tourists skipping the
leading tourismdestination in East Java province. This
evidence indicates that most East Java tourism desti-
nations have lower tourism competitiveness than Yo-
gyakarta and Bali Island. Asian and European tourists
preferred to visit Yogyakarta and Bali Island instead
of tourism destinations in East Java due to limited
visit duration, lack of easy accessibility, insufficient
supportive facilities, and low safety and health assur-
ance. These weaknesses were commonly mentioned
by tourists visiting East Java tourism destinations, es-
pecially tourism destinations in rural areas such as
btsnp. This weakness needs to be evaluated to iden-
tify East Java tourism competitiveness further and rec-
ommend a suitable policy. Thus, the policy is expected
to support East Java tourism development with its dis-
tinct geographic condition, infrastructural capacity,
and tourist and community needs in 2021.
Identification of East Java Province Tourism
Competitiveness through Perspective Analysis
A single data or tourist review in TripAdvisor could be
classified as more than one category label of tourism
competitiveness factors (accessibility; attraction; in-
formation and communication; institutional and sup-
portive facilities). One review about the particular
destination in TripAdvisor usually consisted of many
things that can be classified in various aspects of East
Java tourism competitiveness, thus it must not be sep-
arated. Thereby, the number of data after being pro-
cessed in the coding step usually has more data than
the actual reviews data (640 reviews) (Table 3) (Rach-
mat & Lukito, 2016). Aside from that, the analysed
perspective review was determined as a single labelled
perspective (positive, neutral, or negative) (Bandur,
2016).
Table 3 shows the result of TripAdvisor reviews
data after being processed through coding and sen-
timent analysis in nvivo 12. The result shows that
Ijen Crater is the most influential tourism destination
in East Java Province tourism competitiveness com-
pared to Jatim Park 2 and btsnp. This interpretation
was obtained from a comprehensive review analysis of
coding data processing. The more particular tourism
destination was review data was processed in coding
step, then the more likely the tourist could share their
experience about that tourism destination (with posi-
tive, neutral, or negative sentiments). In contrast, bt-
snp had a low data processed in coding step, repre-
senting tourists’ low enthusiasm to review btsnp.
The results of the sentiment analysis processing
data and interpretation in East Java tourism competi-
tiveness will be explained based on five tourism com-
petitiveness parameters below.
Accessibility
Accessibility of a tourism destination includes the
transportation route support system, station, airport,
harbour, and other types of transportation existence
(Sunaryo, 2013). Based on reviews in TripAdvisor,
accessibility significantly harms btsnp competitive-
ness.
There are 54 reviews or 45.76 negative reviews
related to Ijen Crater accessibility and 13 reviews or
31.70 negative reviews related to btsnp accessibil-
ity.Many tourists write that the IjenCrater and btsnp
have poor lighting conditions, and incomplete paving,
with a form of zig-zag and uphill routes. This con-
dition can be considered dangerous for new tourists,
especially because almost all of the btsnp and Ijen
Crater tourism activities are done at night. The study
showed that 151 of 245 reviews came from tourists that
had taken trips to Ijen Crater at 1 am. A similar con-
dition was founded at btsnp. There are 178 of 190 re-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 195
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
Table 3 East Java Tourism Competitiveness based on Sentiment Analysis
Parameter btsnp Jatim Park  Ijen Crater
() () () () () () () () ()
Accessibility         
Attraction         
Information and Communication         
Institutional         
Supportive Facilities         
Total   
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) positive, (2) neutral, (3) negative. Table 3 shows analysis results from the coding
sentiment analysis process in positive, neutral, and negative reviews based on btsnp, Ijen Crater, and Jatim Park 2 tourism
destination reviews from TripAdvisor 2019. The total number of coding and processed reviews wasmore than the actual total
reviews (640 reviews) in Table 1. But the sentiment analysis result was the same with data from the coding process because
every single review is only labelled once based on their sentiment characteristic.
views written by tourists who took trips at 0–2 am in
btsnp.
The poor accessibility of both destinations is reduc-
ing the East Java tourism competitiveness. The poor
road infrastructural condition is harmful to tourists
with private vehicles, like a motorbike. This condition
is worsened by the infrequent schedule of public trans-
portation, even in the day. Most of the tourists try to
overcome these obstacles by hiring the service of a
travel agency. However, tourists need to pay more for
travel agency services, andmany travel agency services
in East Java Province try to defraud tourists by charg-
ing them a high price or asking them to pay excess
costs when doing the trip.
On the other hand, we rarely found negative re-
views related to accessibility in Jatim Park 2. This
tourism site was considered to have high competi-
tiveness in accessibility since tourists can easily come
to Jatim Park 2 using public transportation, private
transportation, or mass transportation like a bus. This
accessibility was also enhanced with the operation
time of Jatim Park from 10 am to 5 pm, which pro-
vides higher safety and accessibility than btsnp or
Ijen Crater. Despite having that advantage, Jatim Park
2 sometimes gets negative reviews due to traffic jams in
Batu City during the high season (December–January
and July). This disadvantage had prevented tourists
from visiting Jatim Park 2 at particular times.
Attraction
Attraction in tourism destinations consists of natural,
cultural, and artificial resources that have been used to
attract tourists (Sunaryo, 2013). In 2018, there were 265
natural-based destinations, 320 cultural-based desti-
nations, and 199 unique interest destinations in East
Java Province (Bureau of Cultural and Tourism of East
Java, 2019). Most of the tourism destinations in East
Java Province are natural-based tourism, such as bt-
snp and Ijen Crater. Usually, tourists visit this type
of destination just once for hiking, sunrise seeking,
and to get a photographic experience. Many tourist
come to natural-based tourism on particular time
like in dawn for sunrise or dusk for sunset. Because
many of them considered natural-based tourism as
monotonous tourism activity, only looking to the na-
ture like sun, mountain, or forest without doing an-
other tourism activity, which that can prolonged their
leght of stay. This typical tourist behaviour poten-
tially harms the destination environment due to many
tourist shortcomings at a specific area and time that
exceeds environment capacity.
However, special interest tourism like Jatim Park
2 has more advantages because they have various at-
tractions and activities.Much artificial tourism in East
Java has a high demand from tourists that come from
various regions. The management and related stake-
holders can spread the tourists to many areas and
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Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
avoid them piling up in one particular area. The other
type of negative review that needs more attention due
to high negative sentiment is weather conditions in
East Java Province. Many negative reviews related to
attractions in East Java Province were due to rainy
weather when they came to the tourism site. This re-
view showed that most of the tourism destinations in
East Java were dominated by outdoor tourism activ-
ity and greatly influenced by the weather. The related
stakeholders need to consider this condition when de-
veloping a tourism destination in East Java Province.
Informatics and Communication
Information played a significant role in introducing
the advantages of tourism destinations through social
media (Heliany, 2019). Many tourists prefer to visit
tourism destinations with information that is easy to
find digitally, like on social media or websites. This
advantage is caused by the matching search option of
tourist preference on the internet (Gretzel et al., 2020).
For example, tourism destinations were matched and
classified by the budget, online ticketing, or practical
trip when tourists travelled using a travel agency ser-
vice.
Figure 4 is an analysis result graph called a word
cloud, related to the information and communication-
related category. In this figure, we found many signifi-
cant keywords that often appear in the reviews, such as
operational hours, guide, experience, location, price,
worth, and ticket. The bigger the word in the picture,
such as ‘guide’ or ‘hours,’means that everything related
to that word, such as ‘tour guide’ or ‘open hour,’ has
a more significant influence on the information and
communication category.
Information transparency and good communica-
tion between government, tourists, investors, the local
community, and tourism managers have significantly
influenced East Java tourism competitiveness. Poten-
tial tourists can find information related to tour and
travel agency services, tourism destination locations
and their open hours, transportation and accommo-
dation facilities, and other expenses they may need
in the future, while the related stakeholder such as
the local community and the businessmen around
the tourism destination also need that information
Figure 4 Word Cloud Information and Communication
of East Java Tourism
to increase their economic activity by providing for
tourism needs in the surrounding area.
In East Java, JatimPark 2 and Ijen Crater are known
as the tourism destinations that give trusted informa-
tion through their official digital platforms such as
their website and Instagram account. Both tourism
destinations have adopted the tourism digitalization
concept to facilitate tourists and stakeholders in terms
of tourism agency and activity information. The Ijen
Crater information can be accessed on the bayuwangi-
tourism.com website while Jatim Park 2 information
can be obtained on the jtp.id website. Both forms of
digital media can provide information about online
tickets, tourism activity, operational hours, accommo-
dation, transportation, and nearby tourism destina-
tions to the tourist candidate or related stakeholders.
In contrast, the btsnp digital tourism informa-
tion condition was worse than both of these. There
was no official digital platform of btsnp available to
ourists, especially concerning the ticket, tourism ac-
tivity, operational hours, or nearby tourism destina-
tions. Usually, btsnp information was provided by
private travel agencies or individuals through social
media, like vloggers or ‘celebgrams’ (famous users on
Instagram). This condition drives tourists to gather
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Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
the related information on their own to avoid the risk
ofmoney fraudwhen doing tourism activities like pay-
ing for overpriced products or services, horse-riding,
and jacket renting in the btsnp area.
Institutional
‘Institutional’ is known as the category related to the
management party of tourism destinations, including
human resources and the local communities near the
destination, and private investors (Sunaryo, 2013). Ja-
tim Park 2 was regarded to have the lowest competi-
tiveness in institutional aspects due to the local com-
munity andminimum government participation in its
development. Many tourists have written negative re-
views of Jatim Park 2 institutional-related unfriendly
employees that may harm tourist safety inside the des-
tination because they do not want to hear or deal with
tourist complaints reasonably.
Ijen Crater and btsnp institutional conditions are
different than those of Jatim Park 2. The local com-
munity participated significantly in tourism develop-
ment, which caused either positive or negative sen-
timents. Some local communities developed tourism
competitiveness positively through their friendly atti-
tude, such as when local people try to greet tourists
satisfactorily or try to keep the surrounding destina-
tion clean from tourism activity waste. Based on the
research, Ijen Crater was known to have the highest
institutional competitiveness due to local communi-
ties’ creativity in providing culinary offers, like ‘rawon,’
grilled fish, and ‘pecel.’ In this aspect, the btsnp desti-
nation has lower competitiveness, because most of the
food around the btsnp area was dominated by fried
snacks and instant noodles that are easily found any-
where in East Java Province.
Related to negative sentiment, many tourists write
their reviews about nasty behaviour that comes from
the local community around tourism destinations.
Many local people think of tourists as their gold mine,
and scamming frequently happened in the tourism
area. Local people insisted tourists purchase their
overpriced products or services. For example, many
local people in the btsnp area force tourists to take
a horse ride in Bromo Mount for hiking with an ap-
proximate price of Rp 150,000. Similar conditions can
be found in Ijen Crater. The local community insisted
tourists to ride the trolley of sulphur carriers when
climbing or descending JayaWijaya Peak (IjenMoun-
tain Peak) and calling this activity as ‘Trolley Ride’
with an approximate price of around Rp 250,000–Rp
300,000 for every trip (climbing or descending). Low
education is regarded as the significant factor in these
poor manners, despite Ijen Crater’s status as a prior
tourism destination of East Java.
Supportive Facilities
Supportive facilities are the tourism competitiveness
category that covers all public facilities, including se-
curity, toilets, tourism agencies, souvenir shops, in-
formation centres, banking facilities, restaurants, and
others (Sunaryo, 2013). Jatim Park 2 is considered as
a fully-supported facility tourism destination com-
pared to the other two destinations. This statement
was proved by the high number of positive sentiments
(78.45) related to the review of supporting facilities
in Jatim Park 2. Most of the positive reviews were
about the hygienic toilets, proper parking site, and
goodmanagement of Jatim Park 2. This fully provided
facility has enhanced Jatim Park 2 as a family-themed
park. Jatim Park 2 also has other facilities to meet the
requirement of special needs consumers like pregnant
women, toddlers, and seniors.
In contrast, many supportive facilities around bt-
snp and Ijen Crater were severely damaged and un-
maintained. The btsnp and Ijen Crater development
in the protected forest area was limited by Act No.5
of 1990 concerning Conservation of Living Natural
Resources and Ecosystem. Because of this regulation,
management and related stakeholders cannot freely
develop and maintain btsnp and Ijen Crater facil-
ities. The most negative perspective reviews of bt-
snp and Ijen Crater were about accommodation and
amenities in the tourism area as shown in Figure 5.
This figure highlights the words guide, toilets, jacket,
mask, dollars (financial service), stalls, and lighting.
These words significantly influence the supportive fa-
cilities category in btsnp and Ijen Crater negatively
or neutrally. The amount of btsnp and Ijen Crater
facilities were considered less accommodated and ex-
ceeded the tourist capacity. The amount of BTsnp and
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Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
Figure 5 Word Cloud of Negative Ijen Crater and btsnp
Supportive Facilities Perspective
Ijen Crater suportive facilities only a few and located
in certain area like rest area. Many tourist were con-
sidered this supportive facilities was not maintained,
less accommodated and exceeded the tourist capacity.
This condition worsened in peak season and at week-
ends. because the available facilities cannot accommo-
date too many tourists who usually come on holiday.
Not only that, btsnp and Ijen Crater amenities and
accommodation were considered expensive due to the
lack of supportive facilities like clean water supply in
the surrounding areas.
Wibowo (2020) stated that the sanitary and culi-
nary facilities of the btsnp area were preserved at a
high cost due to a lack of clean water sources. As a re-
sult, the local community needs to purchase water at
a very high price to meet tourist demand in the bt-
snp area. This similar condition was also found in the
accommodation facilities in Cemorolawang (an area
nearby). Many tourists complained about the high-
cost hotels with unclean and unmaintained rooms and
toilets in their reviews. This condition can be consid-
ered as one factor that can affect tourism competitive-
ness negatively in the long run. Due to this condition,
many tourists refuse to revisit the btsnp tourism site
and seek new tourism destinations with proper facili-
ties surrounding the tourism site.
East Java Province Sustainable Tourism
Recommendation
Based on findings in this study, there are a few rec-
ommendation policies that can be applied to enhance
tourism competitiveness in East Java Province, as fol-
lows:
Tourism Business Levelling
Levelling is defined as business capacity increment ac-
tivity, especially msmes (micro, small, and medium
enterprises) owned by the local community surround-
ing the tourism site. According to the needs of local
community businesses, levelling activity of business
activity in tourism sites is provided through training
or business incubation activities. These activities aim
to improve tourism competitiveness through the fol-
lowing aspects:
• The community would be able to manage busi-
ness more professionally, including human re-
source management, production management,
financial management, etc.
• By introducing new innovations and technology
uses, the local community should be able to in-
crease their business capacity and attract more
consumers, especially tourists.
• Business owners would be able to expand their
business network to find investors more easily.
• The well-maintained businesses surrounding the
tourism area will enhance tourism competitive-
ness, especially in the accessibility category. This
condition will also give a multiplier effect to the
local community that previously never got the
positive impact of tourism activity.
• Positive economic activity surrounding the tour-
ism areawill eventually attract investors that have
an interest to maintain and improve supportive
facilities and services. The investment is usually
in the form of csr (corporate social responsibil-
ity) programmes, training classes, or other activ-
ities.
Local Common Brand Development
The tourism activity in East Java Province is unique
and makes it different from other tourism sites. The
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 199
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
uniqueness of East Java tourism sites and activity must
be highlighted through branding and promotion ac-
tivity. In tourism research and development strategies
and practices, branding and promotion are known as
the potential strategy in tourism sectors and can be
used to support sustainable tourism activity in East
Java Province. The related stakeholders can make East
Java Province tourismwell and widely known through
branding and promoting activities, thus attracting in-
terested tourists to find outmore about tourism in East
Java Province.
East Java Province brand development might be
done through cultural and arts potential exploration.
Well explored and utilized cultural and arts poten-
tial can create a positive tourism brand in East Java
Province. This term means that tourism brands inte-
grate technology with the characteristic local philoso-
phy of East Java tourism. The brand output is formed
in the online product such as digital content or phys-
ical products such as souvenirs, product packaging,
posters, flyers, and other promotional products
Local Tourism Integration
Sustainable tourismdevelopment of East Java Province
will cause a high multiplier effect in certain areas. The
multiplier effect is able to increase the inclusive and
sustainable economic activity of the local commu-
nity. One effect is local business integration for each
tourismdestination tomaximize tourism resource po-
tential. This local tourism integration programme of
East Java Province can be achieved through the col-
laboration of regional government, village govern-
ment, and youth communities (karang taruna) near
to tourism sites.
Supporting Cashless Transactions
Monetary facilities have become a matter of issue in
the tourism competitiveness of East Java. Through fi-
nancial literacy support, tourism economic activity
could be improved, becomingmore effective, safe, and
remotely accessible. Cashless transactions would en-
hance the digital payment environment. This concept
is supportedwith an online system to facilitate tourism
activity for each party, such as estimating the cost for
tourists, determining the number of tourists for stake-
holders, tourist number management for the manage-
ment party, and transaction of msmes. Recently, there
have been digital platforms that can facilitate financial
transactions in East Java tourism destinations to make
them more efficient and safe, such as qris, go-pay,
ovo, and dana.
Conclusion, Limitation, and Suggestions
Conclusion
Following are the conclusions of this research about
sustainable tourism competitiveness of East Java Prov-
ince:
1. The number of tourists in East Java Province has
increased annually, even though commonly only
one tourism destination is visited before leav-
ing East Java Province, like Bali Island and Yo-
gyakarta
2. According to the perspective analysis about East
Java tourism competitiveness, Ijen Crater is the
most competitive tourism destination, followed
by Jatim Park 2, then btsnp. Artificial or par-
ticular interest tourism destinations have high
potential to be developed in East Java Province
through attraction exploration due to their com-
petitiveness among nature-themed tourism des-
tinations.
3. According to perspective analysis results about
East Java Province competitiveness, the following
four recommended policies were obtained to im-
prove competitiveness and local economic activ-
ity near tourism destinations:
• Tourism business levelling;
• East Java Province local commonbrand devel-
opment;
• Local tourism integration;
• Supporting cashless transactions.
Limitations
This article has limitations. First, we only obtained
data from the TripAdvisor site. Another limitation is
that we manually classified every review in the sen-
timent category. This process is time-consuming and
might influence the efficiency of characterizing crisis
200 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo Big Data Analysis
information sharing. In the future, we will try to ob-
tain a larger amount of data from a similar site like
Google Flights or Expedia to get a better insight. Not
only that, we also plan to apply automatic labelling
methods to avoid this limitation.
Suggestions
Based on the conclusion and limitations above, we
have two suggestions. First, trying to conduct a fur-
ther study about local community participation and
institutional perspective to improve East Java Province
tourism competitiveness. Second, supposing the fur-
ther research attempts to use the same sentiment anal-
ysis method, we suggest applying automatic labelling
methods to ensure time efficiency while doing the re-
search.
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Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 203

Original Scientific Article
Using Google Trends in International Tourism:
A Case Study of the Czech and Slovak Republics
Patrik Kajzar
Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic
kajzar@opf.slu.cz
Radim Dolák
Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic
dolak@opf.slu.cz
Radmila Krkošková
Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic
krkoskova@opf.slu.cz
This paper deals with using Google Trends in International Tourism. The attention
will be focused on analysing the behaviour of Czech and Slovak tourists travelling to
seaside resorts between the years 2010–2019. This paper aims to determine whether
there is a connection between the data from the official statistics where Czech and
Slovak tourists went and what they were searching on Google Search. The authors
also compare the Google Trends analysis with the statistical data for Czech and Slo-
vak tourists travelling to seaside resorts. The paper uses the data from 2010 related
to the popularity of Czech and Slovak destinations; the data from 2019 to Decem-
ber is not available yet. This paper will also provide detailed statistical reports using
the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. It is very important to mention that this
article focuses only on the Google Trends analysis for the travelling category. Des-
tination selection is a complex process that is influenced by many factors. Google
Trends is a useful tool for a prediction about travelling to seaside resorts, but that
does not always accurately reflect the popularity of a destination compared to statis-
tics.
Keywords: Google Trends, tourism, Czech, Slovak, seaside resorts
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.205-216
Introduction
Tourism is a growing phenomenon, both in size and
impact. According toMura andKajzar (2018), tourism
is travel for pleasure or business; it is also the theory
and practice of touring, the business of attracting, ac-
commodating, and entertaining tourists, and the busi-
ness of operating tours (Benevolo & Spinelli, 2018).
Small and medium-sized enterprises constitute a sig-
nificant part of the Czech and Slovak economies, with
the greatest potential for growth and impact on eco-
nomic stabilization and balanced development of the
regions (Kovaľová et al., 2018).
The Internet is generally known as the primary in-
formation source for searching for information. The
Internet is also the most important source for search-
ing for information about travelling. People very of-
ten organize their travelling according to information
on the Internet using Google services; this is stored
in Google company databases, and we can analyse
searching information in Google Trends service.
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 205
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
What is the definition of Google Trends? We can
mention for example the following definition: Google
Trends is a tool that offers a variety of information
such as the searches that are currently popular, his-
torical data for search keywords, and traffic trends for
websites searchers are interested in. Google Trends al-
lows entry of multiple search keywords so that you
can compare and contrast. It also gives search trends
by limiting to a specific geographic location (Benck-
endorff et al., 2019). A side effect is the ability to follow
trends relatively easily. In the field of internet business,
monitoring and predicting trends is a very important
factor that can stand between success and failure.
Google Trends is a very powerful service that al-
lows different analyses which can be useful for some
research of searching trends in tourism, services, prod-
ucts, etc. More information about the Google Trends
service can be found in the book Google Trends: The
Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide, (Blokdyk, 2018) which is
characterized as a guide that ensures all Google Trends
essentials are covered from every angle.
Wewill summarize literature sources that deal with
using Google Trends in tourism in the first chapter
and then we will discuss the issue of analysing the
behaviour of Czech and Slovak tourists travelling to
seaside resorts between 2010–2019, based on the data
from Google Trends and official statistics provided by
the Czech Statistical Office and the Statistical Office of
the Slovak Republic.
Theoretical background
The rapid growth of digital technology and intensive
presence on social media platforms leads to the emer-
gence of online content sharing (people to people),
which results in the emergence of the sharing econ-
omy (e.g. Krajcik et al., 2019; Mura & Kajzar, 2019).
We can find some literature sources that deal with
using Google Trends in tourism. The Google Trends
analysis was used for forecasting tourism demand
in some areas such as, for example the master the-
sis, Forecasting Tourism Demand in Amsterdam with
Google Trends: A Research into the Forecasting Poten-
tial of Google Trends for Tourism Demand in Amster-
dam (Rödel, 2017). Also interesting is a study that ex-
amines the usefulness of Google Trends data in pre-
dicting monthly tourist arrivals and overnight stays in
Prague during the period between January 2010 and
December 2016 (Havranek & Zeynalov, 2018).
According to Gorete et al. (2019), Google Trends
has been increasingly used in research publications
in tourism and hospitality, but the range of its appli-
cations and methods used has not yet been reviewed.
Therefore, a systematic review of the existing literature
increases awareness of its potential uses in tourism
and hospitality research and facilitates and helps a bet-
ter understanding of its strengths and weaknesses as
a research tool. We can also find numerous research
papers using statistical analysis to characterize and
compare the number of visitors in some countries,
districts, or towns. Kasagranda (2012) has compared
the number of visitors of the Nomenclature of Units
for Territorial Statistics (nuts ii) – Central Slovakia
at regional and district levels in two selected years,
2001 and 2011. Another paper deals with regional dis-
parities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. For ex-
ample, Ivanova and Koisova (2014) deal with sim-
ilarities or disparities in development according to
the analysed indicators in the Slovak and Czech re-
gions in the given period 2001–2012. Time series data
about the frequency of hits for tourism-related search
terms from Google Trends service is used as a predic-
tor. Another example of studies about search engine-
databased tourism demand prediction is by Park et al.
(2017), which considers tourist inflow from Japan to
South Korea, or by Artola andMartínez-Galán (2012),
who forecast numbers of British tourists in Spain. The
authors of this paper agree with Bokelmann and Less-
mann (2019) that tourismdemand forecasting remains
an open research field since no method is generally
considered most accurate.
A destination that develops a thematic product
with a combination of three elements, fun, experi-
ence, and exploring, becomes fashionable. Costa et
al. (2016) examine the key trends in tourism and ap-
proaches for scanning the business environment and
the tourism industry. The tourism industry is one of
the fastest-growing industries in the world (Ranas-
inghe, 2019). The focus of the article is important
because the tourism industry is an entrepreneurial
sector providing various kinds of services that in-
206 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
volve providers of accommodation facilities from ho-
tel chains to small private boarding houses, and also
a sector related to tourist attractions: national parks;
cultural and historical sights; theme parks; botanic
gardens; sports centres; transport and the destina-
tion organization sector. A change can be observed
in the number and structure of domestic and for-
eign tourists, and at the same time, the demand for
quality services is increasing (Kubala & Vetráková,
2018). It has been found that tourism stimulates lo-
cal economies, attracts foreign investments, increases
entrepreneurial activities, raises property value, devel-
ops social infrastructure, and attracts a wealthymiddle
class (Zeng-Xian & Tak-Kee, 2016).
According to Walby and Piché (2015), tourism is a
social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that en-
tails the movement of people to countries or places
outside their usual environment for personal or busi-
ness/professional purposes. Many travellers seek es-
cape, pleasure, friendships, relaxation, andunusual ex-
periences (Bácsné Bába et al. 2018).
It might be well accepted nowadays that intensive
competitiveness in terms of both quantity and quality
makes it extremely difficult for a firm to differentiate
itself from its competitors. Moreover, dynamic busi-
ness environments and increasing customer power
have pushed firms toward a customer-focused strat-
egy, especially using new technology to build relation-
ships with the customer (Minh & Huu, 2016). In a
complex and dynamic business environment, man-
agers appeal widely to modern methods and tech-
niques that could help them cope with the competi-
tion and offer their customers new, attractive, good
quality products and services at competitive prices. In
this context, total quality management is a viable and
sustainable option that can systematically contribute
to the consolidation of the capacity of organizations
(Androniceanu, 2017). Tourism studies suggest that
being a competitive destination means being able to
increase the tourism sector and the quality of life of
the population (Croes, 2010).
Data andMethodology
The Internet is used by millions of people daily to
find different types of information. The Internet is also
the most important source for searching for informa-
tion about travelling. People very often organize their
travel according to information on the Internet. The
most common search engine is Google, accounting
for 75 of these searches. Information about search-
ing using Google services is stored in Google com-
pany databases and we can analyse this data using
the Google Trends service. Google Trends is a ser-
vice that can monitor the popularity of search topics
and terms over a specified period (Dey et al., 2019).
Google Trends provides access to a largely unfiltered
sample of actual search requests made to Google. It
is anonymized (no one is personally identified), cat-
egorized (determining the topic for a search query),
and aggregated (grouped). This allows us to display
interest in a particular topic from around the globe or
down to city-level geography (Google Help, n.d.).
Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/)
provides a web interface for mining Google’s search
history database. Users may mine the database us-
ing preconstructed ‘topics’ or via the free-text of a
given search entry. In our search, the topic ‘Google
Trends in tourism’ was used. Google Trends data re-
flects searches peoplemake onGoogle every day, but it
can also reflect irregular search activity, such as auto-
mated searches or queries that may be associated with
attempts to spam our search results. Google Trends
data should always be considered as one data point
among others before making conclusions. Accord-
ing to Rogers (2016), there are two ways to filter the
Trends data: real-time and non-real-time. Real-time
is a random sample of searches from the last seven
days, while non-real-time is another random sample
of the full Google dataset that can go back anywhere
from 2004 to approximately 36 hours ago. The charts
will show you either one or the other, but not both si-
multaneously, because these are two separate random
samples. What is most useful for storytelling is nor-
malized trends data. This means that when we look at
search interest over time for a topic, we look at that
interest as a proportion of all searches related to all
topics on Google at a given time and location. Google
Trends allows entry of multiple search keywords so
that one can compare and contrast. It also gives search
trends by limiting to a specific geographic location
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 207
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
(Benckendorff et al., 2019). When we look at regional
search interest for a topic, we look at the search in-
terest for that topic in a given region as a proportion
of all searches related to all topics on Google in that
same place and time. The context of our numbers also
matters. We index our data to 100, where 100 is the
maximum search interest for the time and location se-
lected. Understanding the percent increase in a search
topic can be a useful way to understand how much
rise in interest there is in a topic. This percent increase
is based on a topic’s growth in search interest over a
distinct period compared to the previous period.
We can see the important role of information and
communications technology (ict) in tourism. Cákoci
(2012) deals with a short review of development and
changes in tourism under the influence of information
technologies. The paper describes using the internet in
tourism from the beginning, over its dramatic growth,
until its current main position in tourism informa-
tion distribution, as a communication medium, and a
place of consumption. Google services are very useful
for tourism, too. We can readmore information about
the possibilities of using application programming in-
terfaces from Google, in the process of a creative web
page devoted to the distribution of selected informa-
tion about Slovak communities in a graphically inter-
esting presentation (Bačík, 2012).
Google Trends also allows the user to compare
the volume of searches with two or more terms. An
additional feature of Google Trends is its ability to
show news related to the search term overlaid on the
chart, showing how new events affect search popular-
ity (Sfetcu, 2014). Google Trends allows you to size
up search trends related to topics of interest broken
down into geographical boundaries (states, countries,
or worldwide) or thematic categories (health, science,
news, and travel, among others), as well as tempo-
ral delimitations (specific periods, last five years, last
week, and so forth).
The authors will first compare data from Google
Trends with data from the Czech Statistical Office and
the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. The paper
also uses data from 2010 on the popularity of Czech
and Slovak destinations; data from 2019 is not yet
available to December 2020. The authors used differ-
ent ways of presenting the data with the help of tables
and graphs.
On this basis of research, two research questions
have been identified:
• Is the popularity of the destinations different for
Czechs and Slovaks in more than 4 cases?
• Is Google Trends data similar for searching se-
lected keywords for Czech and Slovak internet
users?
A detailed statistical report will also be provided
using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient dealing
with these hypotheses:
• There is a dependence on the number of visitors
to the same countries in the case of stays abroad
of Czech and Slovak tourists, according to official
statistics.
• There is a correlation between the data from
the official statistics related to the places where
Czech and Slovak tourists went and what they
were searching on Google Search.
We will start by comparing favourite destinations
for longer trips abroad for Czechs, such as Croatia,
Greece, and Bulgaria, in Figure 1.
We can see that Greece presents a much more fre-
quent keyword for searching than Croatia. We can see
changing trends in comparing interest over time be-
tween Croatia and Bulgaria because from 2017 the in-
terest in searching for Bulgaria is much bigger than for
Croatia. Although most Czechs travel to Croatia ac-
cording to Table 1, they often return to the same places,
so they do not need to search for information about
Croatia anymore. Croatia is a nearby resort wherema-
jor problemswith travelling donot exist.Holidaying in
Croatia has a certain tradition in the country so one
can visit with a lot of travel agencies. Holiday apart-
ments in Croatia would be the best choice of accom-
modation in Croatia.
We will continue with comparing favourite desti-
nations for Slovaks, such as Croatia, Greece, and Bul-
garia in Figure 2.
We can see that Bulgaria is a more frequent key-
word for searching for the Slovaks than Croatia and
Greece, therefore we can conclude that there is a dif-
ference between Czech and Slovak users in terms of
208 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
Figure 1
Google Trends
Data for Croatia,
Greece, and
Bulgaria for Czech
Internet Users
Searching
Figure 2
Google Trends
Data for Croatia,
Greece, and
Bulgaria for Slovak
Internet Users
Searching
searching these countries. Bulgaria is interesting not
only for the inhabitants of Western Europe but also
for Slovaks, Czechs, Poles and Hungarians. Bulgaria
is one of Europe’s most budget-friendly destinations
for cheap holidays and therefore Bulgaria holidays are
often seen as a more economical alternative to the
Mediterranean’s best holiday destinations
We will continue with Google Trends searching for
Czechs for Spain, Portugal, and Italy in Figure 3.
We can see that Italy is amore frequent keyword for
searching for the Czechs than Spain and Portugal. Al-
though Portugal is also a beautiful country, the Czechs
prefer to choose a holiday to other destinations, also
because of higher prices for holidays from travel agen-
cies, unlike Italy and Greece. According to Table 1,
which shows the most popular countries for longer
trips abroad for Czechs, Italy has a varied tourist offer
such as the sun, sea, beaches, culture, art, mountains
and good food. Moreover, it is easily accessible by car,
in particular the regions of northern Italy. In winter,
Czech tourists enjoy holidaying in the snowy moun-
tains of the Italian Alps, so Italy is a popular destina-
tion for Czech tourists at any time of the year.
We can see the same country interest searching for
Slovak internet users in Figure 4. We can see the same
Google Trends data for Spain, Portugal, and Italy for
Slovak internet users searching. We can see that Italy
is a much more frequent keyword for searching than
Spain and Portugal. Czech users more often search
for the keywords Italy and Spain than Slovak users.
So we can conclude that there is a difference between
Czech and Slovak users in terms of searching for these
countries. Italy is one of the most popular destinations
for the Slovaks for these reasons: Italian food – pizza,
pasta, cheese, local fresh products, and wine, beaches,
mountains, islands, lakes, and other natural wonders.
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 209
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
Figure 3
Google Trends
Data for Spain,
Portugal, and Italy
for Czech Internet
Users Searching
Figure 4
Google Trends
Data for Spain,
Portugal, and Italy
for Slovak Internet
Users Searching
Italy is also the cradle of art and culture.
The last analysis of interest over time in searching
will deal with Turkey, Egypt, and Dubai. We can see
that there are minimal differences for Czech internet
users searching for frequent keywords like Turkey and
Egypt, followed by Dubai. We can see that Egypt, in
the years 2010, 2017, and 2018, is a much more fre-
quent keyword for searching than Turkey and Dubai.
We can also see an upward trend over the past 2 years
for Czech internet users searching for the keywords
Turkey and Egypt. Despite the minimal differences,
a bigger difference is seen in 2019 between search-
ing for the frequent keywords Turkey and Egypt. The
Czechs who go on holiday to Turkey can also expect to
save significantly. In 2019, Turkey became the cheap-
est country out of the 11 countries that the Czechs visit
most often, replacing the long-time leader Bulgaria,
which is now in the second place. A Czech tourist will
make a purchase in Turkey worth 57 percent higher
than at home.
In Figure 6 we can see the difference for Slovak
internet users searching for keywords Turkey, Egypt,
and Dubai. For every year, we can see that the most
frequent searching keyword is Turkey. In the year
2016, Slovak internet users searched for the keywords
Turkey and Egypt least because of a military coup and
terrorist attacks, respectively. In addition to Dubai, an
upward trend can be seen over the past 3 years for Slo-
vak internet users searching for the keywords Turkey
and Egypt. We can conclude that there is a difference
between Czech and Slovak users in terms of searching
for these countries. Slovak internet users search for the
keyword Turkey more often than Egypt and Dubai.
Turkey is popular for Slovaks due to Turkish history
and monuments, natural attractions such as sand and
snow, Turkish gastronomy, Turkish bath (hammam),
210 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
Figure 5
Google Trends
Data for Turkey,
Egypt, and Dubai
for Czech Internet
Users Searching
Figure 6
Google Trends
Data for Turkey,
Egypt, and Dubai
for Slovak Internet
Users Searching
Figure 7 Google Trends Data for Turkey (dark gray),
Egypt (medium gray), and Dubai (light gray)
for Czech Subregions Internet Users Searching
the sea’s beauty led by the Blue Lagoon, and because,
compared to other holiday destinations, the ratio of
price and quality of services offered makes Turkey a
very attractive destination.
We can also find in Google Trends an analysis for
searching compared by subregions in a specific coun-
try. According to Figure 7, we can see that the keyword
Dubai is a much more frequent keyword for search-
ing in Prague between 2010 and 2019, perhaps because
Prague has the highest average salary and Dubai ranks
among the more luxurious destinations where you fly
from the Czech Republic, mainly in winter and spring.
Tens of thousands ofCzechs travel toDubai every year.
These are mainly tourists whose numbers have been
increasing over the long term. This is also reflected
in the establishment of four direct lines per day. The
keyword Turkey is a much more frequent keyword for
searching in the Pilsen and SouthMoravia region, and
the keyword Egypt is a much more frequent keyword
for searching in other regions of the Czech Republic.
In the case of Slovak internet users, no Figure 8 was
inserted, because the keyword Turkey is the most fre-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 211
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
Table 1 Most Popular Countries for Longer Trips Abroad for Czechs (4 and More Nights) in Thousands
Country         
Croatia         
Slovakia         
Italy         
Greece         
Austria         
Egypt       n.a  
Spain         
Bulgaria       n.a  
Hungary       n.a. n.a. 
Turkey       n.a.  
Portugal         
Dubai n.a. n.a.       
Notes Based on data from the Czech Statistical Office (https://www.czso.cz).
quent keyword for searching in all regions of the Slo-
vak Republic between 2010 and 2019. It is no surprise
that Turkey is a popular destination for the Slovaks,
and this is confirmed by Table 2. Slovak holidaymak-
ers will also pay extra for five-star all-inclusive hotels
and comfortable air travel, which is similar to Czech
tourists. Turkey offers a very good selection of services
and quality resorts with comfort, which some Slovaks
are willing to pay for, but it still does not reach the pop-
ularity of Croatia, obviously.
Evaluation of Statistical Data
Wewill now compareGoogle Trends informationwith
official statistics provided by the Czech Statistical Of-
fice and the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.
We can see the most popular countries for longer trips
abroad for the Czechs (4 and more nights) in Table 1.
Themost popular countries for longer trips abroad
for the Czechs are Croatia, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Aus-
tria, Egypt, Spain, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The num-
ber of trips changes every year. For twenty years now,
Croatia has been the most popular destination for the
Czechs. Only once, in 2015, did Slovakia put Croatia
in second place. The Czechs went on trips abroad in
2015 to an increased extent, despite the economic dif-
ficulties of Greece and other southern countries or the
wave ofmigration. The growth in Slovakia’s popularity
in 2015 was influenced by several factors, including the
reduced price of fuel, attractive offer of tourism enti-
ties and geopolitical changes in the world, which en-
couraged tourism to neighbouring countries, Slovakia
and Germany. Italy belongs to the third most popu-
lar countries for the Czechs: around 500–600 thou-
sand trips every year were realized. You can get to the
beach in Italy by car in 8 hours. Other tourists prefer
the Alps, where they are on the shores of Lake Garda,
combining swimming with mountain hiking. Lovers
of ancient monuments and good food will also enjoy
holidays in Italy.
Why do the Czechs go to Croatia in large numbers
every year? The Czechs have been fascinated with the
sea and there is a long history of the Czechs travel-
ling to Croatia, one that extends well beyond the past
decade. Moreover, a lot of Croatian places are places
with intense Czech ‘touches.’ Magical Dubrovnik was
painted, among others, by the Czech impressionist
Antonín Slavíček. Croatia is popular mainly due to
its availability, not only in terms of distance but also
in price and language. The Croatian language is close
to Czech. The journey by car to Croatia takes about
8 to 12 hours; if you leave South Moravia and go to
the south of the country, then you can reach your
212 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
Table 2 Most Popular Countries for Longer Trips Abroad for Slovaks (4 and More Nights) in Thousands
Country         
Czechia         
Croatia         
Italy         
Turkey         
Austria         
Bulgaria         
Hungary     n.a. n.a.   
Greece         
Spain    –  –   
Portugal         
Egypt         
Dubai – –    – –  
Notes Based on data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (https://slovak.statistics.sk).
destination in 6 hours. Also, bus trips to Croatia are
organized in large numbers. Whereas in the past the
Czechs went to Croatia only for swimming in the sea
and sunbathing, today they are also exploring. Every
guide to Croatia recommends visiting not only the
popular city of Split but also the largest city on the
Istrian peninsula, Pula, the historic city of Trogir, etc.
According to a survey by theUniversity of Rijeka in
2018, the Czechs spend an average of 390 kunas a day
in Croatia, which is not much compared to the British
who spend an average of 915 kunas (Rogulj, 2019).
Now we will compare data from Google Trends
with data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Re-
public. From the perspective of Slovaks, we can say
that themost popular countries for longer trips abroad
are similar to those for the Czechs, except Turkey.
Croatia remains a top holiday destination for Slovak
tourists; only in 2018 did Slovak tourists visit theCzech
Republic more. The same situation is related to the
third place of Italy, likewise a popular destination for
Slovaks. Greece is far less popular from the perspec-
tive of Slovak tourists. The difference is more than
370 thousand longer trips in favour of Czech tourists.
Compared to the Czechs, the Slovaks are even more
conservative in the way they spend their holidays –
while the Czechs, although relatively slowly, are also
beginning to lean towards the concept of sports hol-
idays, Slovaks strongly prefer a relaxing style of holi-
day. The Czech Republic will remain the most visited
neighbouring country for the Slovaks. The common
past and language closeness still attract many Slovaks
to holiday here.
We can see the most popular countries for longer
trips abroad for the Slovaks (4 andmore nights) in Ta-
ble 2.
Comparing Data Using Spearman’s Rank
Correlation
We have used Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
dealing with the first hypothesis: There is a depen-
dence on the number of visitors to the same coun-
tries in the case of stays abroad of Czech and Slovak
tourists according to official statistics. Spearman cor-
relation coefficient corr (x, y) = 0.46666667 with the
null correlation null hypothesis: t(8) = 1.49241, with a
two-sided p-value of 0.1739. The result is that h0 can-
not be rejected at a significance level of 0.05, so the
order in travelling to the same countries for the Czech
and Slovak tourists is different.
The second hypothesis was that there is a correla-
tion between data from official statistics where Czech
and Slovak tourists went andwhat they were searching
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 213
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
on Google Search. We will start with Czech tourists:
corr (x, y) = –0.00909091with the null correlation null
hypothesis: t(9) = –0.0272739, with a p-value of 0.9788
on both sides. Based on these findings h0 cannot be
rejected at a significance level of 0.05 and there was no
evidence of dependence between where they went and
what they were looking for.
We will continue with Slovak tourists: corr (x, y)
= 0.18181818 with the null correlation null hypothesis:
t(10) = 0.584705, with a p-value of 0.5717 on both sides,
so the conclusion is the same as for the Czech Re-
public: there was no evidence of dependence between
where they went and what they were looking for.
In this paper, two research questions were identi-
fied. According to the first research question, ‘Is the
popularity of the destinations different for Czechs and
Slovaks in more than 4 cases?’ we can state that the
choice of the most popular countries for longer trips
abroad for the Czechs and the Slovaks differs only in
one case, and that is in Egypt and Turkey, respectively.
Based on the research, we can conclude that the popu-
larity of the destinations is similar for the Czechs and
the Slovaks. As far as the second research question, ‘Is
Google Trends data similar for searching selected key-
words for Czech and Slovak internet users?’ we can
state that Google Trends data is different for selected
keywords for Czech and Slovak internet users. For ex-
ample, from the point of view of the Czechs, the key-
word Greece is more frequent in searches than Croa-
tia and Bulgaria. For the Slovaks, the keyword Bulgaria
is more frequent in searches than Croatia and Greece.
On the other hand, the keyword Italy is more frequent
than Spain and Portugal in searches for the Czechs and
the Slovaks.
In this paper two hypotheses were also stated. The
first hypothesis was there was a dependence on the
number of visitors to the same countries in the case
of stays abroad of Czech and Slovak tourists according
to official statistics. h0 cannot be rejected at a signif-
icance level of 0.05, so the order in travelling to the
same countries for the Czech and Slovak tourists is
different. The second hypothesis was that there is a
correlation between data from official statistics where
Czech and Slovak tourists went and what they were
searching on Google Search. h0 cannot be rejected
at a significance level of 0.05 and there was no evi-
dence of dependence between where they went and
what they were looking for.
Why are search results different compared to the
real behaviour of the population when selecting a des-
tination for the holiday? The answer to these questions
is not simple and of course varies from person to per-
son. However, as travel is becoming an increasing phe-
nomenon in our society, it does not leave psychologists
and sociologists cold, either. It affects many factors:
Papatheodorou (2006) says that destination choice
has always been an important aspect in tourism lit-
erature and there are various factors influencing travel
decisions. According to Venkatesh (2006), the factors
constitute culture, travel motivations, finances, and
previous experience. Travel motivations form an inte-
gral part of travel behaviour and have been widely re-
searched and applied in tourism marketing strategies.
George (2004) writes that it is not easy to understand
and have adequate knowledge about the motivations
affecting the travel behaviour of tourists. In a very in-
spiring way, he describes the motivation of travel in
the work of the French author A. de Botton, The Art of
Travel (2010), where he reflects on the fact that travel
as an active activity hides philosophical problems, i.e.
questions aboutwhy andhowwe should travel, towhat
extent travel changes us, and so on.
Conclusion
This article is devoted to the research of using Google
Trends in International Tourism. Attention has been
focused on analysing the behaviour of Czech and
Slovak tourists travelling to seaside resorts between
2010–2019. The purpose of this article was also to
compare the analysis of Google Trends with statisti-
cal data about the travel of Czech and Slovak tourists
to the seaside resorts. The main aim of the research
described in the paper was to find some relations be-
tween statistical data and data from Google Trends.
Google Trends has a big advantage because we can
find some trends in searching or planning some tourist
holidays in the actual period, but we need to wait
more months to find statistics that are published by
official statistical offices in the Czech or Slovak Re-
publics. Based on the research from official statistics,
214 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Patrik Kajzar et al. Using Google Trends in International Tourism
we can conclude that the popularity of the destina-
tions is similar for the Czechs and the Slovaks. What
is the situation in searching selected keywords by the
Google search engine for Czech and Slovak internet
users? We have found that Google Trends data is dif-
ferent for selected keywords for Czech and Slovak in-
ternet users. Google Trends is a useful tool that does
not always accurately reflect the popularity of a desti-
nation compared to statistics. For example, from the
perspective of the Czechs, Croatia is a top destina-
tion, but Greece has surpassed Croatia in the most
frequent keyword for searching for Czechs. A simi-
lar situation is found with the Slovaks. On the other
hand, Google Trends corresponds to statistics for des-
tinations in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
We have used Spearman’s rank correlation coeffi-
cient in dealing with the hypotheses: there is a depen-
dence on the number of visitors to the same countries
in the case of stays abroad of Czech and Slovak tourists
according to official statistics. The priority in travelling
to the same countries for the Czech and Slovak tourists
is different. The second hypothesis was that therewas a
correlation between data from official statistics where
Czech and Slovak tourists went and what they were
searching onGoogle Search. There was no evidence of
dependence between where they went and what they
were looking for.
Why are search results different compared to the
real behaviour of the population when selecting a des-
tination for the holiday? Destination selection is a
complex process that is influenced by many factors.
When choosing a destination, we are increasingly in-
fluenced by the safety aspect of the destination, and
also by the neighbourhood effect. In 2015, for exam-
ple, Slovakia became the most popular destination for
Czech tourists. The choice of tourist destination also
affects the image of the destination. The importance
of the destination image can be seen in the possibil-
ity of influence on the decision-making process of the
potential visitor and subsequent consumer behaviour
(experience, evaluation, satisfaction, loyalty). The cri-
teria that affect the choice of destination can also in-
clude a tradition of destination. (One hundred years
ago, Czech tourists were frequent guests in Croatian
resorts. They built several hotels themselves and en-
thusiastically recommended holiday trips to the Adri-
atic). Along with the quality of the service, the price
is the basic factor influencing the client’s choice. For
destination management, which needs to attract the
customer to its place of work, ideally repeatedly, and
keep it for as long as possible, it is also necessary to
know the customer’s needs, as well as the process of
choosing a destination.
Some potential directions of future research in us-
ing Google Trends in tourism might include among
others the following topics: using Google Trends of
tourists from the Visegrad Group-comparative anal-
ysis, and Google Trends analysis of searching infor-
mation about Prague top visiting places between 2015–
2019.
Acknowledgments
This paper was supported by the Ministry of Education,
Youth, and Sports within the institutional support of the
long-term conceptual development of a research organi-
zation in 2021.
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216 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
Differences in the Implications of Organizational
Creativity Regarding the Size of Enterprises
in the Tourism Sector: The Case of Bosnia
and Herzegovina
Danijela Madžar
University of Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina
danijela.madzar@fpmoz.sum.ba
Ines Milohnić
University of Rijeka, Croatia
ines.milohnic@fthm.hr
IvanMadžar
University of Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina
ivan.madzar@fpmoz.sum.ba
The purpose of the paper is to indicate the importance and differences in the impli-
cations of organizational creativity regarding enterprise size in the tourism sector. In
the process of creativity management, it is essential to develop the capacity for con-
tinuous change and frequent adjustment while preserving the identity and value of
the organization. The paper is based on a basic hypothesis that there are significant
differences in managing organizational creativity associated with enterprise size in
tourism. Research results have shown that larger companies are more likely to suc-
ceed in managing creativity, which is explained by their access to human, material
and financial resources. In general, the behaviour of enterprises in Bosnia andHerze-
govina, and especially in the tourism sector, is a relatively unexplored phenomenon.
The results of the research are significant as there is no relevant research on theman-
agement of creativity in the service sector as a whole and the tourism sector of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Keywords:management, organizational creativity, enterprise size, tourism
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.217-226
Introduction
The primary challenge of managing any organization
is encouraging creativity and innovation, especially in
today’s era of quick change and continuous develop-
ment. In the mere process of managing, it is essen-
tial to constantly develop the capacity for continuous
changes and frequent adjustments while maintaining
identity and the organization’s worth. Other than the
previously stated, it is of high importance to recog-
nize people’s ability to adjust and create new products
and services. Looking through the scientific and tech-
nological prism as well as through economic develop-
ment, tourism has become one of the most propulsive
activities of economic evolution in the world.
Tourism and itsmultiplicative functions contribute
to the growth and development of all other industries.
In themodern tourist business, it is very important for
enterprises to havemanagement thatwill continuously
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 217
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
explore trends and endeavour to adjust the company’s
businesses to those trends.
Traditionally it has been thought that only some
aspects of a business are the creative ones, such as de-
velopment and designing new products, or forming
marketing messages, but creative enhancements are
possible even in planning, leading projects, person-
nel managing, interpersonal relationships within the
enterprise, and also in client/customer relationships
(Carmeli, 2004). Organizational creativity is best un-
derstood as the ongoing constituting and legitimating
of ideas as people learn in and from practice and con-
nect their understandings to the ideas of others in new
ways (Coldevin et al., 2018). According to Sirkova et al.
(2014) employers provide their employees with suffi-
cient space for the use and development of creativity at
work and also give them freedom when solving prob-
lems and presenting their own ideas.
One of the most important preconditions for long-
term tourism development is responsible and good
quality planning alongwith affirmation of cultural val-
ues. It is necessary to develop additional services with
sophisticated and competitive products along with a
tourist offer that pleases the guest with its specificity.
The ability to recognize and deal with the changes
that modern trends bring is a crucial element for
all enterprises in tourism. In the future, all trends in
tourism should be unquestionably open to creativity,
knowledge, and innovation. They should activate en-
trepreneurial abilities, and connect all elements (cre-
ativity, knowledge, innovation) as well as stocks in the
market. Furthermore, they should integrate resources
to achieve further development and competitiveness.
In that way, recognition and uniqueness in the con-
temporary market are created.
The goal of this paper is to point out the impor-
tance and differences in the implications of organiza-
tional creativity regarding the size of the enterprise in
the tourism sector.
h1 There are significant differences in managing
organizational creativity which are connected
with the size of an enterprise in tourism.
With the given hypothesis it is expected to prove
the connection between the size of an enterprise and
managing organizational creativity. Theoretical con-
siderations connected to this hypothesis are different
depending on whether we look at smaller enterprises
as being more flexible and innovative which results in
profitability and achieving competitive advantages. If
we consider them to have fewer available resources for
encouraging creativity it means that bigger enterprises
are more competitive and profitable.
Enterprises in tourismhave their own specific char-
acteristics. In the process of management, it is neces-
sary to take into consideration the factor of seasonality
due to which the majority of the activities are concen-
trated in a short period. Enterprises in the sector of
tourism need to direct their capacity to the time when
the largest demand is estimated because because it is
the capacities that cause service inflexibility as well
as an inability to adjust. Accordingly, demand for ad-
justment results in employee reduction. Enterprises in
tourism are closely related to the further development
of tourist destinations, they represent the outline of or-
ganizing travels and tourism in general, and they also
have an immediate influence on destination develop-
ment as well as the region itself. Enterprise operations
in tourism and catering are characteristic because they
are suitable for establishing business relations between
hotels and all other business subjects that occur in the
process of providing services. The goal of a successful
business is equally useful to managers, organizations,
and owners of the enterprises.
Literature Review
Organizational creativity represents internal strength
that leads to discovering new products, manufactur-
ing processes, market niches, and client-supplier busi-
ness relations. In that way it builds the competitive
advantage of different enterprises over their competi-
tors. Creativity is the ability to make new original con-
tent (ideas, conceptions, techniques, methods, mod-
els, products, and organizations) which should be per-
ceived as relevant and valuable for society by the en-
vironment (Horng et al., 2015). In light of the emer-
gence and reproduction of creativity as a powerful dis-
positive (Reckwitz, 2017), ‘being creative’ is no longer
an option but a deeply rooted desire and imperative at
the same time: organizations want to be creative, and
218 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
they have to be creative. According to authors Fred-
eriksen andKnudsen (2017), creativity should success-
fully serve the process of advising organizations on
how to seek and secure ideas for innovation of prod-
uct/service performance. The creativity of society de-
pends on two types of factors, external and internal,
which include (Srića, 1992):
• Micro factors – they act within the organization;
• Macro factors – they originate from the social en-
vironment.
The main micro factors are the motivation for cre-
ative work, personnel structure, quality of innovation
potential, the way of running an organization,modern
management technique application, encouragement
of creative thinking, etc. The macro climate creativity
of a country is formed by a whole set of political and
economic features of its space. It includes the level of
democratization, freedom of thought expression, leg-
islative system stability, state legislation, and the qual-
ity of the infrastructure. Studies on organizational cre-
ativity, however, are mainly interested in exploring the
variables through which creativity both within and of
organizations can be fostered (Sonenshein, 2013; An-
derson et al., 2014; George, 2007). Features of an en-
terprise in tourism include complexity, multidimen-
sionality, susceptibility to changes in the external and
internal environment whose further development is
conditioned by knowledge, service quality, available
resources, and innovation. To move towards continu-
ous enterprise development in tourism and catering,
one must equally pay attention to both internal stake-
holders (employees) and the external stakeholders
such as service users, suppliers, local population, etc.
The company’s management has even greater respon-
sibilities. They have to find new, creative approaches to
business and provision of services, as well as achiev-
ing set goals for profit increase and competitive ad-
vantages. They also have to find room for responsi-
ble management in correlation to sustainable devel-
opment. According to Evans et al. (2003), managers in
the tourism sector meet with special challenges that
can be observed through:
• Resource immobility;
• Reallocation of resources;
• The constant conflict between resources and com-
petitiveness;
• Ownership and control of resources;
• Seasonality;
• Low rewards;
• Capacity constraints;
• Time.
Creativity in an organization is a complex andmul-
tifaceted process. Creativity, along with innovation, is
accentuated as the most important factor of organi-
zational success (Wong and Pang, 2003). Creativity
within an organization is an initiator and key factor
for developing personal, professional, entrepreneurial
and social skills (Goldstein, 2016). Attribution of or-
ganizational creativity is an ongoing, playful and risky
interactive accomplishment between an organization
and its environment (Koch et al., 2018). According to
Giura and Vasile (2017), creativity is the vital source of
an organization, especially in a time when innovation
is the main element of anything that relates to busi-
ness success. It is of high importance that the main
focus of organizationmanagement is directed towards
factors that encourage the creative manifestation of
human resources on all levels in different processes of
the organization.
It is very important to highlight that one should
never say that some individuals are creative and oth-
ers are not, but the assignment distribution should be
divided in a way that does not violate the stability of
the organization. On the other hand, if there are em-
ployees that do not indicate a creative approach they
should be trained on how to perform the given assign-
ments in a new and different way (Zhu et al., 2014).
An empirical study on managing organizational cre-
ativity (Slavich & Svejenova, 2016) done from 1990 to
2014, showed that managing creativity includes man-
aging mutually connected processes as well as dual
processes, such as processes – outcomes, individuals –
teams, etc.
It is also important to point out that regardless of
whether the organization in some way measures the
creativity of its employees, it is necessary to actively
work to encourage and understand the creative be-
haviour of employees as a multipurpose phenomenon
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 219
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
Creative culture
Perseverance
Organizational
support
Equality
Motivation
Promotion
Knowledge
sharing
Creative result
Working environment
Figure 1 Model of Measuring Employee Creativity
and the contextual factors influencing it. In addition
to the above, certainmodels andmethods of measure-
ment are certainly conditioned by different samples,
organizations and, of course, cultures. In any of the
cases mentioned, the most important thing is to pro-
mote the idea in interrelationships within the organi-
zation that creativity, innovation in the workplace and
an entrepreneurial spirit are vital and crucial to indi-
vidual and organizational success. The model is based
on the componential theory of organizational creativ-
ity and expanded with elements of the working envi-
ronment (equality,motivation, knowledge sharing and
promotion) which contribute the most to creative re-
sults.
The successful creative team is directed towards
quality. The team leader has to create the notion that
anything could be better than it already is. Special at-
tention is given to the individual talents of the mem-
bers to give them the possibility to excel. In the cre-
ative team, the leader should create an encouraging
environment for the development of new ideas. The
creative team seeks for freedom, independence, and
authority, as well as responsibility for the results pro-
vided. The success of the creative team depends on the
free flow of information. While in the authoritative
organization the managers are the ones who block in-
formation, in the creative team the conversation is led
openly and unrestrictedly in an atmosphere where it
is easier to solve even the hardest problems.Managing
successful groups is based on leadership by example.
The leaders of creative teams have a vision and they
know how to encourage their associates to accept and
follow their ideas. They are devoted, original, inde-
pendent, flexible and confident. Leadership by exam-
ple is one of the most important methods ofmanaging
a creative group which shows how our behaviour can
impact others and the organization itself (Srića, 2016).
In the last few years, creativity has been closely
related to tourism development, especially when it
comes to creating new touristic products and services.
Richards (2011) highlights that the mere concept of
creativity is impossible to define, but it is integrated
into tourism through different things, such as people,
products, processes, and places. He thinks that there
are three types of creative development in tourism:
creative events, creative space, and creative tourism.
As a goal of creative management, Srića (2016) defines
two ways that should be applied at the same time:
• Recognition and removal of any obstacles to cre-
ativity, and
• Creation of an encouraging environment for cre-
ativity.
When we talk about the size of the enterprise, the
sector of small and medium enterprises has the fun-
damental advantage. They have reduced barriers that
are caused by hierarchy as well as developing greater
flexibility in the process of decision making, a shorter
period for feedback on customer needs, and easier
establishing of partnerships with enterprises suitable
for achieving business results (Paunović & Prebežac,
2010). Themanagement of an organization is themost
220 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
important factor that influences creativity within the
organization through organizational culture and at-
mosphere (Scott & Bruce, 1994), strategy, structure, a
reward system or resources (Woodman et al., 1993),
as well as through the direct effect of their behaviour
and their creativity (Baer et al., 2003) and success-
ful motivation of the employees (Tierney et al., 1999).
Rowe (2004) asserts that creative leaders are the ones
who can manage the future because they are ready
to confront the unknown and they see problems as
challenges. They understand the world around them,
make alliances, recognize the importance of social re-
sponsibility, manage complexity and use contempo-
rary technology and embolden creativity.
Gu et al. (2017) say that organizational creativity is
an intermediary relationship between leadership and
innovative employee behaviour. The economic signif-
icance of creativity is recognized by both organizations
and the economy as a whole. According to numerous
researches as well as the opinions of many experts and
practitioners, the core need of a modern organization
and its main source of innovation is the creativity of
stakeholders. Accordingly, all the stakeholders within
the organization have to participate actively, encour-
age and create new ideas and services.
Methodology
Different scientific research methods have been used
throughout the paper. By using the historical method,
professional and scientific literature has been anal-
ysed. Through empirical research and survey meth-
ods, primary data have been analysed. Through sta-
tistical methods, the main, general relations set out
in the hypothesis have been established. Within col-
lected and systemized data, by the method of abstrac-
tion, the relevant data is separated from the irrelevant
data, which has led to new theoretical cognitions and
the contribution to the practice. Empirical research
was carried out in enterprises in the tourism sector in
the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which met
the criteria of the general definition of large, medium
and small enterprises for the entity territory (Law on
accounting and auditing of fbih). The data was col-
lected using a survey questionnaire. The distribution
of the questionnaire was carried out by e-mail.
The questionnaire was partly constructed on the
basis of the Creativity Audit Questionnaire – I create
project eu, and the part related to the use of creative
techniques was based on the Community Innovation
Survey. The questionnaire consists of three intercon-
nected structural units. The first part includes ques-
tions related to the basic characteristics of the sur-
veyed business entities such as the number of employ-
ees, ownership, age, business results and work expe-
rience of the surveyed manager. In the second part,
the respondents were asked questions about creative
potential and ways of managing creativity, while the
third part deals with the competitive advantages of
the company. The part of the survey questionnaire
that deals with organizational creativity is divided into
sub-sections. The answers to the questions within this
group are constructed in the form of a Likert scale
ranging from 1 to 5 with higher values suggesting a
higher degree of agreement with the proposed state-
ment. In the first subgroup, respondents were asked
questions about the individual creativity of employ-
ees of the business entity. In this context, respondents
were asked questions related to personal character-
istics and characteristics of the work environment
that encourage individual creativity. In the second
subgroup, emphasis was placed on the role of work
teams in fostering creativity. Respondents were asked
to comment on issues such as how to communicate
within the team, procedures for making team deci-
sions, sharing ideas among team members, and team
size, that have been identified in the existing literature
as potential determinants of creativity development.
Using data on business entities in this sector, a sur-
vey questionnairewas sent to 491 business entities. The
subjects whose e-mail was unknown received their
questionnaires in writing. The target group was the
managers in this sector. The database formed in the
end included 126 enterprises, or 26 of business enti-
ties in the sector, that have been the subject of research.
In data processing, an econometric method of linear
regressionwith endogenous treatment effect was used,
which makes it possible to estimate the average effect
of a particular process such as creativity management
on a dependent variable of interest together with other
linear regression parameters.
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Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
Table 1 Description of Variables
Category Label Title (Abbreviation) Description
Dependent
variable
y1 An indicator of creative management
success (creatmng) – dependent variable
of the selection equation
Categorical variable ( – the company succeeds in ap-
plying the methods for creativity encouragement dur-
ing the last three years before the research)
Independent
(control)
variables
x1 Headquarters/location of the enterprise
(hq)
Categorical variable ( – the company is located in a
tourist centre)
x2 Quality (qty) Categorical variable (in competitiveness building the
company values the quality of the offer)
x3 Manager’s work experience (exp) Manager’s years of work experience
x4 The size of the enterprise (sz) Number of employees
The size of the enterprise was determined by Euro-
stat classification, according to which micro-business
subjects have fewer than 10 employees, small business
subjects between 10 and 49 employees, medium-big
business subjects have 50 to 249 employees, and big
business subjects more than 250 employees.
Results
Consummation realized by the tourists is important
for supporting the business activity level for service
providers who operate outside the traditional tourist
domain. It was estimated that in 2016, the tourist sec-
tor in total was 2.7 of gdp, which is almost 10.4 of
total export activity in tourism. It is very important to
point out that tourism achieved this kind of partici-
pation in gdp within a very short period. This kind
of significant growth happened in the last five years,
which proves the development of tourism in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we
differentiate two laws on which the enterprise classifi-
cation is based, the Law on Accounting and Auditing
in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
Small Business Incentive Law. Taking this into consid-
eration, the definitions of an enterprise are provided
by law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they should
be accepted without introducing any changes. Legal
persons are being classified depending on the average
number of employees, overall annual revenue, and the
value of the property. All of this is determined on the
day of assembly of the annual financial report. Busi-
Table 2 General Characteristics of the Enterprises
Characteristic Average Minimum Maximum
Profit level in
 ()
,. –,. ,.
The number of
employees in

  
Manager’s years
of work experi-
ence
  
ness subjects have to fulfil at least two out of three
given criteria. In this research, we used the average
number of employees and total income.
Table 2 contains average, minimum andmaximum
values on the answers from the questionnaire. As one
can see from the table, the average surveyed busi-
ness subjects belong to the small enterprise group
since the average number of employees is 23, which
shows us that the samplemainly includesmicro, small,
and medium-big enterprises. The vast majority of the
world economy is made up of small and medium-big
companies, so the results are understandable. During
2016, there was a positive profit level worth 44,008 Eu-
ros (€), even though the sample contained companies
that operatedwith a loss, as well as those who achieved
a positive result of management.
Existing literature does not have a unique point of
view about the impact of the enterprise size on its prof-
itability. According to one point of view, smaller enter-
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Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
Table 3 Results
Item Dep. variable comp comp
Treatmant Kreatmng .*** .***
Initial equation hq .** .**
qty –. –.
exp .** .**
sz –. –.
Selec. equation qty .** .**
sz .*** .***
Diagnostic Wald test .*** .***
Number of obs.  
ρ –.*** –.***
prises aremore flexible and prone to risk, and in accor-
dance with that they aremore innovative which allows
them higher levels of competitiveness and higher rates
of profitability (Schumpeter, 1934). According to an-
other point of view, smaller enterprises lack resources
that are necessary for competing on the market be-
cause innovation is the key element of precedence,
therefore allowing bigger enterprises to be more suc-
cessful andmore competitive (Schumpeter, 1942). The
size of an enterprise can be connected to scales of
economy which enable lower costs and higher rates
of profitability. For the above reason, there is no ex-
pected sign for this variable.
Two indicators were used to measure competitive-
ness (comp1 and comp2). The first indicator is defined
as the level of profitability per employee. In its selec-
tion, the findings from the analysis of the theoreti-
cal literature were taken into account, which point out
that profitability is the final indicator of competitive-
ness. In constructing the competitiveness indicators,
the fact that the absolute values of profitability can
have large deviations with regard to the size of the
company was taken into account, and the values of
profitability were normalized by dividing them by the
number of employees within the company. In addition
to this indicator, the relative profitability indicator was
used in the analysis, which was defined as the ratio of
the company’s profitability and the average profitabil-
ity in the sample. In this way, another important fea-
ture of competitiveness is taken into account, which
states that it is a relative concept.
Variable – the size of an enterprise is defined as the
number of employees. As previously stated, smaller
enterprises are characterized by flexibility, absence of
aversion to potential risk, and a desire for a market
breakthrough so a naturally higher level of innovation
and creativity is expected. On the other hand, smaller
enterprises lack resources necessary for innovation de-
velopment as well as a means for developing a reward
system so that the expected sing cannot be defined. A
significant coefficient of this variable would validate
the research thesis.
By using the likelihood ratio test it is possible to
determine the existence of the stated correlation. The
thesis would represent the absence of the correlation
between the unexplainable parts of the two regres-
sions. It would presuppose that the correlation’s co-
efficient values ρ = 0. The second test that could be
applied is the Wald test of variable significance.
The size of the enterprise carries a positive sign and
it is statistically significant. Ceteris paribus, the col-
lected finding can be interpreted as compatible with
the assumption about easier access to resources. Hu-
man, material, and financial resources are considered
to be necessary for creativity improvement. The the-
oretical assumptions about conducting innovation ac-
tivities within bigger enterprises can also be connected
to the obtained result. The obtained results suggest
that economies of scale offer higher resource alloca-
tions in promoting creativity.
Variables that control the stimulating determinants
of creativity are statistically significant with a positive
sign. The obtained results support existing researches
that emphasize cultural and educational importance
in managing creativity. Other than this, sharing ideas
and knowledge within the department and among de-
partments within the organization and its surround-
ings brings success. Financial rewards and nonfinan-
cial stimuli have a positive effect as well.
The obtained results provide support to existing
research that emphasizes the importance of cultural,
educational and other diversity to encourage creativ-
ity. Sharing of ideas and knowledge within the depart-
ment, between departments within the organization
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 223
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
and between the organization and its environment
also contributes to the success of the creative process.
Incentives such as financial rewards or non-financial
incentives also have a positive effect on the success of
creativity management.
Managerial experience has a positive impact on a
company’s competitive advantage. Experience is also
valuable in resolving conflicts within the organization,
initiating processes such as managing creativity, im-
proving competitiveness in existing markets and pen-
etrating new ones.
The results show that bigger enterprises are more
successful due to having easier access to human, ma-
terial, and financial resources. Managing creativity in-
creases by 0.04 if there is one employee more, which
proves the hypothesis of the research.
It is important to highlight that there is a problem
for creativity development in the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina because of the social and legal frame
which provides inadequate context locally, regionally,
and globally.
Discussion
Enterprises within the sector of tourism have a great
impact on other enterprises within the service sector,
especially when we talk about manufacturing compa-
nies such as the food industry, construction, and fi-
nancial services. The tourist image of a country, along
with its political and economic stability, quality of
transport infrastructure, and technological develop-
ment, is closely connected to the success of enterprises
within tourism and catering.
The research in this paper was conducted on the
territory of the Federation of Bosnia andHerzegovina,
so it was not done on the territory of the Republic of
Srpska and the BrčkoDistrict. One of themain reasons
why the research is limited to the territory of the Fed-
eration of Bosnia andHerzegovina is the inconsistency
of legislation and of the researched issues. Therefore,
it is a clear obstacle that organizations face, and that
is certainly the high risk of investing in the researched
issues.
According to the existing findings, the service sec-
tor is characterized by a close relationship between ser-
vice providers and recipients. In such conditions, hu-
man resources and skills of employees aswell as the en-
tire system of organizational human resourcemanage-
ment aremore important than the research and devel-
opment processes inherent in, for example, the manu-
facturing industry in which the emphasis is on meet-
ing the needs of technological breakthrough.
The previous research also suggests that environ-
ments that allow for unconventional ways of con-
ducting activities, challenging authority, competition
among employees, and risk-taking are conducive to
unleashing creativity. The emergence of new ideas
often requires violations of existing norms and non-
compliance with the rules, as well as intellectual and
creative autonomy. Consequently, creativity manage-
ment comes down to finding a solution to the require-
ment to create such an environment in which there
is a sufficient level of motivation to develop employee
creativity whilemaintaining harmonywithin the orga-
nization and ensuring compliance with organizational
rules and regulations.
Creativity of a business entity is also affected by its
competitive profile. In sectors characterized by stan-
dardized products and where the fundamental mode
of competition is price competition, companies are
motivated to develop innovations and their need for
creativity is of lower intensity. In sectors whose com-
petitiveness is based on quality, there is a continuing
need to differentiate from the competition, which in
turn generates demand for creative ideas and research
into new products and services.
The behaviour of enterprises in the sector of tour-
ism and hospitality in Bosnia andHerzegovina is a rel-
atively unexplored phenomenon. The results of this
research are significant since there are no relevant re-
searches on managing creativity in the tourism sector.
The key theoretical contributions of this research
are:
• The results have shown that bigger enterprises
have a greater possibility for success which is ex-
plained by having easier access to human, mate-
rial, and financial resources. If the employment
rate is increased by one unit only it enhances the
likelihood of managing creativity by 0.04.
• It is crucial for organizational creativity to assign
224 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Danijela Madžar et al. Differences in the Implications of Organizational Creativity
compatible tasks to creative workers, organize
training to increase creativity and use organiza-
tional factors that have an effect on creative work.
For companies striving to achieve a competitive
advantage, it is important to develop a strategy
with a focus on the development of intangible
assets, sharing knowledge within all organiza-
tional units of the company, continuity of work
and service quality certificates, and creative or-
ganizational culture that has a positive impact on
service quality and product/service innovation.
• Nomatter the size, all enterprises in tourism have
to continuously develop and expand their offers,
which should include not only premium accom-
modation services, but also top-notch quality at
all levels of catering, tourism, and professional
staff.
• It is important to keep track of trends and stan-
dards of service quality. Facilities and services
should be constantly upgraded. Tradition and ex-
perience are important, but destination promo-
tion and constant facility and service improve-
ment are a key to success as well.
• Managers should understand that by suppress-
ing unique and different approaches they actu-
ally destroy the ability for the system to adjust in
the process of managing creativity. The ability to
accept changes is developed by encouraging em-
ployees to try different approaches. Due to orga-
nizations and society being so complex, and in-
tertwined with conflicting interests, characteris-
tics, and problems, diversity should be the key to
innovation.
Today’s companies, and in the conducted research,
companies in tourism, have a completely new dimen-
sion of business and social responsibility. The time
to come will certainly expand the creative range of
knowledge necessary for the use of available resources
in modern market conditions, and certainly create a
better perception of the development of companies in
tourism.
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226 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Original Scientific Article
Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience:
Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
AnaMaría Miranda Zavala
Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico
amiranda@uabc.edu.mx
Isaac Cruz Estrada
Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico
icruz@uabc.edu.mx
Margarita Ramírez Torres
Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico
mramirez@uabc.edu.mx
This research aims to analyse the digital services and tools used in mobile devices
and their benefit in the experience of tourists who arrive at Tijuana city. In addi-
tion, we test the following hypothesis: the use of digital services onmobile devices of
tourists contributes to the experience in the destination. Methodology: 385 surveys
made up of six dimensions were applied to tourists of themunicipality. A correlation
was made between the variables, the use of mobile services and satisfaction, and a
factor analysis resulted in five components associated with the touristic experiences.
A significant mean correlation between variables analysed was found. Likewise, the
components of the factor analysis are immediacy of digital information and services
at the destination; anticipated experiences; mobility; instant messaging; and pro-
vision of information via tourist apps. These technological factors used by visitors
through smartphones benefit the tourist’s experience in planning and during their
stay in the visited place. The new needs of digital tourist require constant interaction
with destination.
Keywords: tourists, mobile devices, ict, digital services, tourism experience
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.227-240
Introduction
All human experience happens at brain level, what is
perceived through the senses is processed by chemical-
electrical impulses which are produced in neuronal
communication; this implies that all experience of re-
ality occurswithin each individual (González-Damián,
2018). Thus, a personal event assumes an important
emotional meaning, which is based on interaction
with stimuli that are products or services consumed
(Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982), being able to pro-
voke extraordinary experiences within a personal one
(Arnould & Price, 1993). For Pine ii and Gilmore
(2011) an economic factor is the experience, its val-
ues attract and involve customers by providing prod-
ucts and services that can generate memorable events.
Regarding the tourist experience that the individual
obtains during a trip, it cannot be characterized as a
single one, but as a set of different situations, some of
them obtained as a tourist and others not (González-
Damián, 2018). It should be noted that organizations
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 227
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
and service providers in a destination seek to facilitate
the development of an environment which allows for
increasing the possibilities that people can transform
their experiences into something memorable.
Likewise, experience is related to emotion: the
tourist wants to discover, enjoy and connect with the
local people and their customs, they want to go back
to their place of origin with a lived history, with new
emotions (Mazarrasa, 2016). The success of the ex-
perience offer in the destination is based on its be-
ing authentic, through differential characteristics of
heritage, landscape, culture and populations (Rivera
Mateos, 2013; Mazarrasa, 2016). Currently, technology
allows travellers to have information of all kinds about
the places that are of interest to them. Tourists have be-
come more demanding and act interactively, with the
purpose of finding a type of trip and activity different
from the masses, demanding different products, alter-
native destinations and tailor-made services that are
part of their experience (Rivera Mateos, 2013). In this
sense, the evolution of mobile devices has increased in
the last decade (Saura et al., 2017). According toWang
et al. (2012), they allow portable access to the Internet,
they have high-resolution cameras for taking photos
and videos, and geolocators to find the ideal route to
the place of interest, as well as alarms, calendars, e-
mail, and the ability to install applications such as so-
cial networks. These latter sites have become a means
of communication in promoting tourism. Companies
use social media as an immediate channel for con-
tact with customers, who have the opportunity to rate
and share their experience in consuming the service
or product during their stay in a destination (Mendes-
Thomaz et al., 2013; Katsoni, 2014).
As for tourism, Baja California is a great driver of
economic growth and job creation. It represents 12 of
the state’s gross domestic product (gdp). The city of
Tijuana is the border with the largest crossing in the
world, and the cultural mix makes it a multifaceted,
warm, and interesting city for tourists, according to
the Tourism Secretariat (sectur, 2018). In the State
Tourism Program 2015–2019, one of the established
objectives was to promote the tourist offer and com-
petitive assistance to boost the ecosystem of this sector
in Baja California.
Technology has become a fundamental element in
changing the way of travelling through a wide range of
Internet sites and mobile applications that are used in
preparing tourists’ experiences. The evolution of the
mobile market to an international scale has increased
exponentially as well. Thus, the objective of the re-
search is to analyse digital services and mobile device
tools that benefit tourists’ experiences when arriving
at this border city.
Literature Review
Information andCommunicationTechnologies (icts)
have changed the way of promoting tourist sites, and
electronic tourism (e-tourism) has emerged with the
evolution of technologies, which includes the design,
implementation, and application of icts and e-com-
merce solutions, as well as the market structures of all
the actors involved in the tourist experience (Werth-
ner et al., 2015). By choosing the destination to visit,
potential tourists are persuaded by the experiences
and opinions of third parties, which are shared in dig-
ital media (Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014; Kang & Schuett,
2013). The information about a tourist site has to be
continually updated on the different Internet plat-
forms in order to remain a competitive destination
in digital media and become an indispensable refer-
ence point for the visitor (Caro et al., 2015). Taking
a trip involves a number of decisions that guarantee
the continual enjoyment of the stay. Tourists have to
choose from various options of accommodation, air-
lines, type of payment, and technological elements that
must be considered from the beginning until the end
of the trip. The companies that provide the services de-
sired by travellers will gain an advantage by meeting
people’s expectations (sectur, 2018; Katsoni, 2014).
Benefits of Mobile Devices for Experiences
of Tourists
The integration of icts in the tourism sector has ben-
efitted travellers’ experiences (Neuhofer et al., 2013).
According to the Internet Association of Mexico
(2018), smartphones have become the main means of
connecting to the Internet in the country. The World
Tourism Organization (unwto, 2015) and sectur
(2018) clarify the importance that the development
228 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
of mobile technology has had as a component to im-
prove tourist experience, and to facilitate available ser-
vices at the site. Through this technological equip-
ment, it is possible to compare places of interest, or-
ganize the trip, review recommendations, check the
weather before and during the trip, make reservations,
locate various places and decide the best option to get
there in the shortest time, among other functions and
benefits that users find (Chang & Shen, 2018). There-
fore, tourist destinations and companies must be pre-
pared to meet the mobility needs of today’s travellers
(Santillán-Núñez et al., 2015).
Ballesteros Díaz et al. (2014) and Chang and Shen
(2018) point out that mobile technology has become a
factor that contributes to consumer experience when
purchasing services and products, with the opportu-
nity to instantly assess the satisfaction via the Internet.
People will remain in contact with friends and fam-
ily to whom they will recommend their experiences or
not. Smartphones have become a companion to trav-
ellers, used to obtain information in real time (Ricau-
rte Quijano et al., 2017). Through the installed appli-
cations, smartphones make it easier to move from the
starting point to destinations in the city, adding var-
ious options that consider the disadvantages of each
route. The technology available on mobile devices has
become a fundamental component when people orga-
nize their trip; users feel connected and secure when
they are aided by technology; they share their experi-
ence through photographs, videos, or simply indicate
their current location in their social networks (Chang
& Shen, 2018).
Currently, communication strategies use adver-
tising adapted to smart mobile devices as one of the
strategic initiatives of digital marketing, since through
the various platforms on the Internet it is possible to
interact with tourist consumers who are looking for
immediate answers. This exchange can mark the dif-
ference in purchase decisions of those who frequently
use digital media (Santillán-Núñez et al., 2015; In-
ternet Association of Mexico, 2018). Tourists’ expe-
riences can become more pleasant when using mobile
technologies, which will accompany and guide them
throughout their travel plan (Santillán-Núñez et al.,
2015; Bonilla, 2013).
Social networks
Geolocation
Tourism social networks
Instant messaging
Mobility
Travelers’ positive
experience
Figure 1 Mobile Services Applications
With smartphones, people can record and edit au-
dios, videos, and texts, and access the Internet at the
same time. This generates a history of consultation for
other users, who can add a point of interest during
their tour based on the information generated by the
people who have become part of the web content gen-
eration (Iványi & Bíró-Szigeti, 2019; Chang & Shen,
2018).
Thus, some technological tools are used by tourists
as an essential element to obtain information on the
destination theywish to visit and then to create a travel
itinerary, in order to ensure good experiences. Table 1
shows the approaches of some authors in relation to
the digital services available, the reason why they are
used, and their relation to the factors that prevail in
tourists’ experiences.
Based on the authors cited in the literature review
and in Table 1, it can be asserted that the use of tech-
nological tools (social networks, applications for reser-
vation of accommodation and restaurant services, ge-
olocation programs and map tools, tourist social net-
works, etc.) used by people through smart mobile de-
vices as support before and during their stay is pos-
itively related to the final tourist experience. Figure
1 shows a scheme that synthesizes this relationship
and the verification of the hypothesis of this research,
that the use of digital services on mobile devices con-
tributes to the positive experience of tourists visiting
the city of Tijuana. This, too, highlights the impor-
tance of digital media availability in tourist places that
are of interest to visitors, which become essential for
individuals in making decisions to attend and pur-
chase services for which they have found data. Like-
wise, tourists have the opportunity to evaluate the
service obtained in each of the phases of their travel
itinerary, of which they anticipated various expecta-
tions.
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 229
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
Table 1 Technological Services in Mobile Devices Related to Tourist Experience
Authors Digital services Factors in the traveller exp.
Santillán-Núñez et al.
(2015); Saura et al. (2017);
Munar & Jacobsen (2014);
Cervi (2019)
Mobile social network apps such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram are used by travellers to obtain information on
the tourist site, review comments, and seek information on
the experiences users have had in the destinations they wish
to visit. These digital media are a reference, in the purchase
decision phase and in the socialization of the experience in
the tourist place.
Socialization of the experience.
Need for information. Com-
munication. Recommendation.
Anticipate experience.
Saura et al. (2017); Ricau-
rte Quijano et al. (2017)
Geolocation tools such as Google Maps are used by tourists
to obtain information on the locations and routes of places
of interest, allowing the optimization of the transfer time
between the origin and destination during the trip. These ap-
plications installed on smart mobile devices satisfy travellers’
mobility needs.
Mobility efficiency. Effectively
manage time during the stay at
the destination.
Litvin & Dowling (2016);
Saura et al. (2017);
Kavoura & Borges (2016);
Cervi (2019); Yu et al.
(2016)
Travellers use tourist social networks such as Tripadvisor, Ex-
pedia, VirtualTourist, etc. to compare prices of hotels, flights,
payment options, etc. Potential travellers try to maximize
knowledge, searching for information on places of interest
available on the Internet.
Search for information. Effi-
cient use of the travel budget.
Purchase decision based on
recommendations. Anticipate
experience.
Munar & Jacobsen (2014);
Ricaurte Quijano et al.
(2017)
Instant messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp,
are used by travellers to be in contact with their friends, fam-
ily, sharing information, and experiences of the tourist place.
Communication with family
and friends. Proximity to its
digital social environment.
Share experiences.
Saura et al. (2017); Cervi
(2019); Dickinson et al.
(2014); Okazaki & Hirose,
(2009); Wang et al. (2012)
Travellers use m-tourism apps such as geolocation, reserva-
tions, Booking, Tripadvisor, Airbnb, Expedia, VirtualTourist,
etc., to obtain information on the destinations they want
to visit, to plan the easiest route and save time on transfers,
compare prices in accommodation, updating, and control
of the itinerary. These applications make tourism easier,
faster and cheaper, maximizing profitability and generating a
favourable experience for tourists.
Control of travel itinerary.
Maximum cost-benefit prof-
itability. Service analysis. Con-
trol of available services.
The Technological Approach in the Tourism
Industry
icts have become an important factor in the tourism
industry, which is why the unwto recommends that
countries promote investment in innovation and digi-
tal advances in the tourism sector that provide oppor-
tunities for all (unwto, 2018). ICTs have become part
of traveller’s culture, which is related to new needs and
unpredictable changes of tourists, they also have an
important influence on travel cycle, from planning to
assessing their experience (Ivars et al., 2016; Ferrá &
Cardona, 2015; Tafur et al., 2019).
With technological changes, tourism companies
have been subjected to a dynamic that has shaped
the business environment: companies need to have
information quickly and efficiently to improve ser-
vice management. The exponential advance of tech-
nologies induces companies to adapt to trends, which
have among their main needs the constant exchange
of information with consumers who use technological
means in their daily lives. Digital marketing is used in
the tourism industry as an effective means of reaching
a cross-bordermarket. The various technological tools
favour the creation of value in the services or products,
230 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
which are available to people who explore different
options on the Internet on a daily basis (Lamberton &
Stephen, 2016; Domínguez Vila & Araújo Vila, 2014).
For Brumen et al. (2020), digital marketing focused
on mobile devices is an area of opportunity for busi-
nesses. The interaction that people currently havewith
technologies leads to the need to use digital marketing
to create effective and cheaper advertising, compared
to traditional media. This trend has generated signifi-
cant results, considering its availability to most of the
population (Andrade Yejas, 2016; Daries-Ramón et al.,
2016).
According to Velázquez Castro et al. (2018) and
Narváez Castro and Villalobos Jiménez (2020), tech-
nology in the tourism industry has led to structural
and functional changes, the entry of new actors, the
development of new communication channels be-
tween providers and consumers, and the exchange of
consumption experiences between people. According
to the Ministry of Tourism (sectur), innovation al-
lows companies to be more efficient, profitable, and
guarantee continuous improvement in the traveller
experience (sectur, 2013). The causes that drive in-
novation in the tourism sector are the unexpected de-
crease in visitors, goal achievement, increased produc-
tivity, product and service innovations, and penetra-
tion of new markets (Maráková & Kvasnová, 2016).
In recent years, Mexico has been one of the favour-
ite places for tourists in the world (unwto, 2018).
Mexico has positioned itself among the top sevenmost
visited countries in the world, receiving nearly 40mil-
lion tourists per year. The border cities have become
important growth points in the country due to the
importance of their industrial and service dynamics
(Bringas et al., 2004). The city of Tijuana is the most
populous municipality in the State of Baja California,
with more than 1.7 million inhabitants according to
data from the Planning Committee for the Develop-
ment of the State (coplade, 2017). At the beginning
of 2019, therewas a 9 increase in the influx of tourists
to the city compared to the previous year, according to
data from the Tijuana Tourism and Convention Com-
mittee. However, icts are one of the reasons that hin-
der tourism in Baja California, according to the Baja
California State Program 2015–2019.
Furthermore, faced with an unprecedented chal-
lenge, the unwto, with the support of the World
HealthOrganization (who), has asked innovators and
entrepreneurs to provide new solutions in the aid of
tourism, as it has been one of the sectors most affected
by the covid-19 pandemic (unwto, 2020). In mid-
March 2020, tourism worldwide was paralyzed by the
pandemic; international tourist arrivals decreased by
56 in the first month of the year, leading to losses of
up to $320 billion in tourism exports, which is more
than three times what was lost in the global economic
crisis of 2009 (Naciones Unidas, 2020). Countries and
international organizations have undertaken various
measures to mitigate the socio-economic impact of
the pandemic, with the aim of stimulating the recov-
ery of tourism, but themagnitude of the crisis requires
additional efforts, innovation, maximizing the use of
technology and continuous improvement of the pro-
cesses employed in provision of its services (Naciones
Unidas, 2020). Tourism organizations have imple-
mented the management of technologies, new prac-
tices and protocols, with purpose of making their ser-
vice more efficient, exercising with more interest the
need for innovation to adapt to new tourism trends
(De Freitas Coelho & Feder Mayer, 2020).
According to lessons learned during the pandemic,
it is essential to include processes and solutions with
high added value in tourist destinations, relying on
internet connectivity, ict tools, and mobile devices,
as well as the incorporation of various solutions that
meet the needs and expectations of people (De Freitas
Coelho & Feder Mayer, 2020).
The Proclivity to Use Technology in Purchase
Decisions
Advances in technology have caused the opening of
new markets and growth in supply, so that compa-
nies are immersed in a globalized world, in a com-
plex environment, and with increasing competition,
and consumers have become more demanding, with
volatile tastes (Velázquez Castro et al., 2018). Consid-
ering the current scene, the factors that influence pur-
chase decisions (how to buy, why, what are the ben-
efits sought) should be analysed. Knowing these as-
pects could be very useful for commercial managers
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 231
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
in designing strategies and creating products based on
client preferences, as well as in achieving better po-
sitioning in the market (Pérez-Almaguer et al., 2015).
With the efficient application of technologies in com-
panies, it is expected to obtain better results from ex-
isting services and allow the company to explore new
markets (Arévalo-Avecillas et al., 2018).
Currently, the markets are very competitive and
the loss of clients is very costly, therefore, developing
a relational strategy based on acquiring and retain-
ing clients is profitable (Egan, 2011; Sarmiento Guede
& Ferrão Filipe, 2019). In electronic environments,
consumers look for brands that provide them with
unique and personalized experiences (Zarantonello
& Schmitt, 2010) and more emotional activities. In
addition, online user perception is influenced by de-
sign, emotions, environment, communication, com-
munity, security, and other characteristics intended to
influence the final result of online interactivity (Con-
stantinides, 2004; Sarmiento Guede & Ferrão Filipe,
2019; Carrizo Moreira et al., 2017). Because electronic
markets are characterized by uncertainty, one of the
requirements for the progress of electronic commerce
is trust (Chung & Shin, 2010; Sukno & Pascual, 2019;
Davis et al., 2011). Once customers trust the brand,
it is more likely that purchases will increase (Carrizo
Moreira & Silva, 2015).
Satisfaction is another important factor in the de-
cision of online user consumption (Szymanski &Hise,
2000; Chung & Shin, 2010). This refers to judging ex-
periences shared on the Internet that influence cus-
tomer relationships with a product or service, cus-
tomer loyalty, and their intention to buy online (Bigné
et al., 2011). The experience in electronic commerce
has a positive effect on user satisfaction (Constan-
tinides, 2004). Electronic satisfaction is closely re-
lated to trust (Sukno & Pascual, 2019; San Martín &
Pradanova, 2014).
The application of digital marketing in tourism has
been growing intensely due to technological trends
that are easily adapted to companies in this sector
(Zhang et al., 2018; Nikunen et al., 2017). It is necessary
to understand the consumer and their behaviour in the
use of smartphones to develop marketing strategies
(San Martín & Pradanova, 2014). Apps for tourists,
search engines, data analysis to measure experience,
availability of reservations, or online sales and social
networks are tools that frequently update new func-
tions to meet customer needs (Lamberton & Stephen,
2016; Andrade Yejas, 2016). An Internet user can con-
sult various travel sites every day until the reservation
is confirmed. This means that there is a lot of data that
marketing specialists receive, with which they can pre-
pare a different digital strategy that more effectively
convinces potential travellers. Mobile technology of-
fers advantages for purchases such as ubiquity, loca-
tion, convenience, and personalization (Clarke, 2001).
The proper management of tourist companies’ so-
cial networks is positively related to travellers’ trust:
with the information that the users obtain, they man-
age to solve certain doubts and then decide between
the places they want to visit (Giraldo Cardona &Mar-
tínez, 2017; Varkaris & Neuhofer, 2017). Tools such
as TripAdvisor are important for trip planning, how-
ever, Facebook is the main source of information be-
fore and during the trip. YouTube provides videos
to analyse the destination and anticipate the experi-
ence.Messages onTwitter from individual experiences
can influence many people’s decisions. Instagram also
shares images and videos but with special filters, in
order to highlight some of the memorable moments
during the trip (Huertas & Marine-Roig, 2018). Social
networks drive customers’ buying decisions (Cvitić &
Plenković, 2018). Apps, programs, and/or social net-
works are available to be installed on smart mobile
devices, which have become a satisfaction tool and
guide for travellers. Consumers who trust e-buying
will make more purchases (San Martín & Pradanova,
2014).
Methodology
A qualitative survey technique was used for the re-
search, and the size of the population studied was
based on the latest 2017 report in the statistical and ge-
ographical yearbook of Baja California, which records
the arrival of tourists in the municipality. The number
of tourists recorded in the city of Tijuana in June and
July was 217,173 (DataTur, n.d.), of which 92 are from
California in the United States and the rest fromMex-
ico (cemdi, 2015). Based on this proportion, 355 sur-
232 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
veys were applied to foreign tourists and 30 to domes-
tic tourists, aged between 18 and 70. It should be noted
that the information obtained regarding the number
of tourists arriving in Tijuana does not report the gen-
der of the visitor; for this reason this variable was not
considered to obtain the proportion. The instrument
was applied to 385 tourists in the months of June and
July of 2018, by simple random sampling at different
tourist points and entrance to the city, to check the hy-
pothesis: the use of digital services on mobile devices
contributes to the positive experience of tourists. The
sample size was obtained using the statistical formula
for finite population, based on 95 confidence and 5
of admitted error (Fischer & Espejo, 2017; Malhotra,
2008).
Formula for finite population:
n =
Nz2pq
(N − 1)e2 + z2pq
=
217173 × 1.962 × 0.5 × 0.5
(217173 − 1) × 0.052 + 1.962 × 0.5 × 0.5
= 385. (1)
Based on the revised literature, the survey is made
up of six dimensions (see Table 2). Information is ob-
tained on the sociodemographic profile, followed by
the sources of information consulted to research the
site; services used on mobile devices when visiting;
how often digital services are used on mobile devices
during the stay; how often the applications installed
on smartphones are used, and which are important
during the trip; and the level of satisfaction, based on
digital services available on mobile devices during the
visit.
Reliability analysis of the instrument was perfor-
med, using Cronbach’s alpha with the spss 20 pro-
gram. A reliability greater than 0.5 is considered ac-
ceptable (Oviedo & Campo-Arias, 2005; Hernández
Sampieri et al., 2014; Hinton et al., 2014). To validate
the instrument, three dimensions were considered,
which are made up of questions on a Likert scale (see
Table 3). The sample corresponds to 385 surveys ap-
plied in the months of greatest influx of tourists in the
year, June and July 2018, aimed at tourists visiting the
city of Tijuana.
To manage and study the results database, the ibm
spss Statistics 20 and ms Excel 2013 programs were
used. First, a descriptive analysis was carried out; sec-
ond, the verification of the relationship between the
frequency with which tourists have access to the ser-
vices available and the applications installed on smart-
phones during their stay, and the satisfaction that peo-
ple find in the availability of digital services at the des-
tination and in the companies that provide the ser-
vices. Lastly, factor analysis was carried out, obtaining
the technological factors based on the digital services
and tools used by travellers on their smartphones, re-
lated to the experience of the tourist arriving in the city
of Tijuana.
Results
Descriptive results are first discussed in order to iden-
tify the digital services and applications that the trav-
eller uses before and during their stay in the destina-
tion, sampling the people who arrived in Tijuana be-
tween June and July 2018, of which 47.5 are female
and 52.5 male. Travellers were asked about the dig-
ital services they frequently access from their mobile
device during their stay: 95 search for information
on the services available, 92 use digital maps, a sim-
ilar proportion mention inquiring about local restau-
rants, 91 check theweather, 90 look for recommen-
dations in digital media, 83 like to make recommen-
dations on social networks, and 78 look for trans-
portation options through themobile device and com-
pare places of interest in the destination.
Regarding the apps that travellers use on their mo-
bile device during their stay, based on the results,
97 use Google Maps; 96 use Facebook and its in-
stant messaging extension; 95 use WhatsApp; 89
use Uber transport services; 85 search videos on
YouTube; and 78 use Instagram, which allows users
to upload images and videos with various photograph-
ic effects. There are other programs, such as Tripadvi-
sor (32) and Yelp (27), which are classified as tools
for tourists but are used less frequently.
Regarding the source of consultation to find out
about tourist sites of interest, 81 of travellers prefer
social networks, 78 prefer recommendations from
friends or family, 59 examine the destination web-
site, and 41 make use of geolocation services. Tradi-
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 233
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
Table 2 Application Instrument Dimension
Dimension Type and number of questions Authors
1 Sociodemographic profile Multiple and dichot. choice 6
2 Information sources that you usually con-
sult, to find out about the tourist place
Multiple choice 7 Santillán-Núñez et al. (2015); Saura et al.
(2017); Cervi (2019)
3 Services you use on your mobile device
when visiting a tourist place
Multiple choice 10 Santillán-Núñez et al. (2015); Saura et al.
(2017); Ricaurte Quijano et al. (2017)
4 Frequency of use of digital services on the
mobile device during your trip (compare
destinations of interest, publish experi-
ences on social networks, etc.)
Likert scale 11 Santillán-Núñez et al. (2015); Saura et al.
(2017); Ricaurte Quijano et al. (2017)
5 The frequency with which installed apps
are used which are important during the
trip (Facebook, YouTube, etc.)
Likert scale 13 Santillán-Núñez et al. (2015); Saura et al.
(2017); Ricaurte Quijano et al. (2017); Mu-
nar & Jacobsen (2014)
6 Level of satisfaction in the availability of
mobile digital services according to assess-
ment of the tourist during his visit at the
destination
Likert scale 8 Santillán-Núñez et al. (2015); Saura et al.
(2017); Ricaurte Quijano et al. (2017); Yu et
al. (2016); Wang et al. (2012)
Table 3 Results of Reliability Statistics
Item () ()
Frequency of use of digital services on the mobile device during your visit . 
Frequency of use of mobile applications during your visit . 
Satisfaction with the use of digital services available at the destination . 
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) Cronbach’s Alpha, (2) number of elements.
tional options – talking on the phone, travel agencies,
and tour guides – are used less often.
The result of the simple correlation between the in-
dependent variable, or the frequency of use of digital
services on the traveller’s mobile device during their
stay, and the dependent variable, which refers to the
level of satisfaction obtainedwith these digital services
in the destination, was R = 0.507. This result indicates
the total variance, which is explained in the depen-
dent variable, product of the independent (see Table
4). Based on the value of $R$-squared, it is known that
this relationship can be up to 25.7, which allows as-
sessing the importance that digital services used on
mobile devices add to travellers’ experiences. These
are opportunities for organizations that have the ob-
jective of continuing to build channels and improve
the conditions of the technologies that must be avail-
Table 4 Simple Correlation
R .
R square .
R squared corrected .
Standard error of estimation .
Notes Predictor variables: constant, use mobile service app
trip.
able to individuals, through which a better-planned
stay results and immediate access to information is ob-
tained on purchases and security of local services and
in businesses they wish to visit.
Figure 2 shows the trend of the positive mean cor-
relation between the variables used in the simple re-
gression procedure presented in Table 4 (independent
variable: frequency of use of the digital services on
234 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
Figure 2 Scatterplot
the mobile device of the tourist during their stay; de-
pendent variable: satisfaction obtained with the use of
these digital services during their stay), which demon-
strates this association represented in the scatterplot.
To reinforce this data (see table 5), a bivariate cor-
relation was obtained through Pearson to determine
the relationship between the independent variable dig-
ital services on the mobile device and the dependent
variable tourist satisfaction, corresponding to the ex-
istence of a positive mean correlation of 0.507 with a
significance level of 0.01.
In addition, the results of the anova test are in-
cluded in Table 6, showing a significance level of 0.01
was obtained among the analysed elements, which is
related to the result shown in Table 4. The alternative
hypothesis is proven that the use of digital services on
mobile devices contributes positively to the experience
of tourists during their stay at the destination.
The results from factor analysis are discussed in the
next section to identify the technological components
which correspond to the digital services and tools used
in mobile devices, which benefit the tourist’s experi-
ence. The kmo tests and Bartlett’s sphericity was per-
formed to validate the factor analysis procedure (Pérez
López, 2004); a kmo value greater than 0.5 is consid-
ered acceptable in the factor analysis model, and the
closer it is to 1, the better the adequacy of the data.
By obtaining 0.884, the data can be used for factor ex-
posure (Table 7). The Bartlett coefficient of sphericity
Table 5 Correlations
Item  
 Use mobile
service app trip
Pearson Correlation  .**
Sig. (-tailed) .
N  
 Tourist satis-
faction with
digital services
Pearson Correlation .** 
Sig. (-tailed) .
N  
Table 6 Level of Significance with anova
Item Sum of
squares
df Square
root
F Sig.
Regression .  . . .
Residual .  .
Total . 
Notes Dependent variable: tourist satisfaction of digital
services. Predictor variables: constant, use mobile service
app trip.
Table 7 kmo Value and Bartlett Sphericity Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sample adequacy measure .
Bartlett sphericity test Approx. χ2 .
df 
Sig. .
derived from the process indicates that there is a cor-
relation between the variables. This allows validating
the factor analysis procedure since the derived level of
significance is less than 0.05.
Table 8 shows the percentage results of the total
variance explained, which is summarized by five fac-
tors that explain 63.23. De la Garza et al. (2013) state
that, using this criterion, n factors should be managed
as an initial solution, as long as the percentage of ac-
cumulated explained variation ranges between 60 and
95.
Following the factor analysis procedure, the rotated
components matrix is shown, for which the Varimax
methodwas used (see Table 9). De laGarza et al. (2013)
and Pérez López (2004) highlight that it is possible to
identify a group of variables with a single simplified
factor per component using this method. Therefore,
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 235
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
Table 8 Total Explained Variance
Initial eigenvalues Sums of the saturations squared
of the extraction
Sum of the saturations squared
of the rotation
() () () () () () () () ()
 . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . .
. . .
 . . .
Notes Extraction method: principal component analysis.
the technological factors based on the digital services
used on tourists’ mobile devices that favour the des-
tination experience during their stay are: (1) imme-
diate access to destination information and services;
(2) anticipated experience; (3) mobility conditions; (4)
instant communication; (5) analysis of comments and
opinions of available services. These factors or compo-
nents integrate the digital services that contribute pos-
itively to the experience of tourists who visit the city of
Tijuana. This hypothesis is verified in Table 6. In this
sense, there are areas of opportunity for companies in
the tourism sector to create and/or improvemarketing
strategies in these digital services that benefit the stay
of the tourist at the destination.
Discussion
Based on the results obtained, there is a positive aver-
age relationship between the use of digital services in
the mobile devices of tourists during their stay and
the level of satisfaction obtained with these digital
services in the destination. In addition, tourists en-
sure that during their stay they use their mobile de-
vices very often to search for information on services
available at the destination, followed by use of digi-
tal maps, to search for restaurants that are of interest
to them, check the weather, and review recommen-
dations made by other users. This result coincides
with the results of Chang and Shen (2018), Santillán-
Núnez et al. (2015), and Ricaurte Quijano et al. (2017),
who indicate that people make use of the benefits of
immediacy provided by current Internet technology
through smartphones, for comparing the destinations
they want to visit, to organize the trip, check reviews,
make meteorological consultations, and use geoloca-
tion services to get around faster.
Experience is an economic factor that generates
memorable events in customers (Pine ii & Gilmore,
2011). The tourist experience can become more pleas-
ant with the support of mobile technology. It can be
integrated as a personal assistant that will guide visi-
tors in each stage of their itinerary (Santillán-Núñez et
al., 2015; Bonilla, 2013).Mobile technology has become
a component that contributes and brings benefits to
the consumer experience (Ballesteros Díaz et al., 2014;
Chang & Shen, 2018; Saura et al., 2017). In this sense,
this research found that digital services on mobile de-
vices contribute positively to the experience of tourists
in the destination visited. In addition, research results
identify five factors that favour the tourist’s experience
through the use of smart mobile devices: immediate
access to destination information and services, antici-
pated travel experience, resolvingmobility conditions,
permanent communication with the digital social en-
vironment, and analysis of comments and opinions of
services available in apps for travellers.
Conclusions
The hypothesis of the research was verified: the use of
digital services on the mobile devices of tourists con-
tributes positively to the experience in the destination.
236 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
Table 9 Rotated Component Matrix
Item Component
    
Purchasing interest
destinations
.
Trip organization .
Information about
establishments
.
Searching for reviews .
Book accommodation .
Weather consultation .
Location with digital
map
.
Restaurant search .
Purchasing products or
services
.
Publishing reviews on
online sites
.
Google maps .
Facebook App .
YouTube .
Google .
WeChat .
Twitter .
Skype .
Facebook Messenger .
WhatsApp .
Instagram .
Foursquare .
Yelp .
Tripadvisor .
Notes Extraction method: principal component analysis.
Rotation method: Varimax normalization with Kaiser. The
rotation has converged in 7 iterations.
The digital services that stand out with factor analy-
sis are: buy products and/or services online, search for
destinations of interest, book accommodation, anduse
of apps such as YouTube, WeChat, Skype, Facebook,
WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google maps, as well as
tourist apps: Tripadvisor, Foursquare and Yelp. These
services are integrated into five components: (1) imme-
diate access to destination information and services;
(2) advance experience; (3)mobility conditions; (4) in-
stant communication; (5) comment analysis.
Based on the results obtained, there is a significant
positive mean correlation at the 0.01 level between the
frequency with which travellers use digital services
through their mobile devices and the level of satis-
faction they obtain regarding digital services during
their stay at a destination. Likewise, based on coeffi-
cient of determination, this association can be consid-
ered 25.7. The digital services that tourists use the
most on their mobile devices before and during their
visit are to inquire about available service options at
the site; to find restaurants; to use digital maps, which
makes it possible to move more efficiently during the
visit; to check weather conditions during their stay;
and to consult recommendations of places of interest.
These digital services are essentials on a smartphone
since the sampled group consults transportation op-
tions, compares places of interest, and makes recom-
mendations on social networks and on websites of the
establishments they have been visiting.
Based on the findings of the study, mobile phones
are important technological devices for tourists visit-
ing to city of Tijuana: these benefit the traveller’s ex-
perience. Therefore, it is essential for service compa-
nies in a developing country like Mexico to invest in
technology to attract more tourists who demand digi-
tal services. Therefore, technology has achieved an im-
portant role for people whomove to various places for
vacation, rest or business. For this reason, it is recom-
mended to intensify campaign strategies for tourism
attention and content aimed at this market. Thus, it
is essential to make available applications that contain
special information for tourists, which they can use to
make better decisions.
The current environment of tourism in developing
countries, where mobile phones function as a means
of consultation, verification and identification in some
services, displacing physical contact for some activi-
ties, has caused many of the tourist services to com-
plete their technological transition to smartphones, in
order to avoid losing connection between company
and user. Therefore, in the context of tourism organi-
zations in the city of Tijuana, it becomes a necessity
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 237
Ana María Miranda Zavala et al. Mobile Devices in the Tourist Experience
to highlight their products in a smartphone format.
Research limitations highlight the need to use a
larger sample to distribute it by means of a stratified
selection with proportional allocation in othermunic-
ipalities in Baja California that also have a consider-
able influx of visitors, for comparing the use of digital
services and apps in smart mobile devices, and to in-
clude tourists who do not use these technological tools
in sampling.
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240 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Symposium Report
‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
and from Elsewhere: Tourism-Space-Nature;
In MemoriamMatej Vranješ
IrenaWeber
University of Primorska
irena.weber@fts.upr.si
Simon Kerma
University of Primorska
simon.kerma@fts.upr.si
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.241-243
On October 20, 2021, when our esteemed colleague
and dear friend Matej Vranješ would have celebrated
his 50th birthday were it not for the mountain that
claimed him, the symposium in his memory was or-
ganized by the Department of Cultural Tourism at the
Faculty of Tourism studies – Turistica, University of
Primorska.
The title of the symposium ‘Stories from “The
Most Beautiful River”’ (‘Zgodbe z »najlepše reke«’)was
taken from his last scientific article published posthu-
mously in which he tackled ‘a humanistic geographi-
cal perspective on the history of the development and
management of tourism on the river Soča’ his long-
standing field research interest. ‘Elsewhere’ in the title
referred to Vranješ’s cosmopolitan outlook and also
served as an open space within which the colleagues
who ground their research mainly in the Humanities
were welcome to address the variety of topics.
The symposium was organized in a hybrid format
and those present in person received a bubble gum, the
meaning of which was revealed in the abstract book-
let where the photograph of Matej Vranješ blowing a
big gum bubble was included. The photo was taken
by the Soča river while on an outing with his fam-
ily and hints at the part of Vranješ’s personality that
epitomised playfulness with certain elf-like qualities
that were idiosyncratic. Other traits, openness, benev-
olence, attentiveness, presence, and generosity were
part and parcel of his interactions with colleagues and
were touched upon or ‘in the air’ as it were in several
presentations. His outdoor active lifestyle was under-
stood as part of both his study rhythms and fieldwork
production.
Twenty-two participants were engaged with fifteen
papers that were divided into five groups of three fol-
lowed by a discussion.
The first group of papers was dedicated specifi-
cally to the academic work of Matej Vranješ and was
kicked off by his PhD mentor Bojan Baskar from the
Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropol-
ogy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. In the
presentation titled ‘Landscape as Connecting Link be-
tween Geography and Anthropology,’ he combined
some anecdotal reminiscences of Vranješ’s academic
growth with a discussion of the contested spatial cat-
egories shared by geography and anthropology that
were a significant part of Vranješ’s thesis. Miha Ko-
zorog from the same department followed by address-
ing ‘Locality in Matej Vranješ’s Work’ that was devel-
oped as a part of the field research in Bovec area. Sev-
eral concepts and meanings that formed the notion
of locality such as local belonging, place belonging,
spatial identity, social production of space, territorial-
ity were assessed with a constructively critical eye in
identifying common traits and differences in Vranješ’s
understanding of locality. The third paper by Miha
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 241
Irena Weber and Simon Kerma ‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
Matej Vranješ
Koderman from the Department of geography, Fac-
ulty of Humanities, University of Primorska touched
upon another research focus from the same geograph-
ical area, namely the second homes in the Triglav na-
tional park where Vranješ worked in different capac-
ities. By posing a question of whether a second home
is a ‘private piece of paradise’ or the ‘splinter in the
only Slovenian national park’ Koderman reflected on
the current research into spatial and functional roles
of second homes in Bovec municipality.
In the lively discussion that followed the former
dean of Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica An-
ton Gosar shed some highly relevant light on the his-
toric development of spatial terminology that is par-
ticular to the Slovenian language and influences dis-
ciplinary terminological differences that spice up aca-
demic debates on basic concepts and contexts. The dis-
cussion gave rise to the conclusion that these issues
alone would be enough for the whole other sympo-
sium.
The second group of presentations was introduced
by Simon Kerma from the Department of Cultural
Tourism, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Uni-
versity of Primorska with ‘Tourism Development and
Visitor Management in Protected Areas’ that was a
shared research interest and topic of Vranješ and Ker-
ma. One of the key aspects of the protected areas high-
lighted in the presentation was related to the protec-
tion and preservation of nature, as well as the pro-
tection of cultural heritage. From the point of view
of awareness-raising, in particular, education and the
promotion of sustainable development for the bene-
fit of local communities, and the facilitation and di-
rection of visits are crucial in these sensitive environ-
ments.
Two linguists from the same department, Ljud-
mila Sinkovič and Šarolta Godnič Vičič, followed by
analysing ‘Interpretive Signs in the Protected Area’
of Landscape park Strunjan in which they critically
addressed the interactions among visitors and land-
scape signs and identified positive practices from the
research literature on other areas in order to suggest
sustainable planning in protected areas. ‘How to Pro-
tect the Marshes by the Participatory Process’ was the
third paper in the group delivered in an engagingman-
ner by Aleš Smrekar from Anton Melik Geographi-
cal Institute of the Research Centre of the Slovenian
Academy of Sciences and Arts. Based on the original
methodology developed by several partners from the
Mediterranean region it connected directly to several
issues raised in previous papers which enabled quality
discussion that ensued.
The third group of rather diverse papers managed
nevertheless to connect either by elements of research
topics or by referring to Vranješ’s work and interests
indirectly. Tadeja Jere Jakulin discussed timely ‘Sys-
tems Thinking for the Tourism of NewOpportunities’
in which she among other presented the outcomes
of the research into ‘4w tourism’ (Walker-Watcher-
Wander-Wonderer) that directly connected to the next
presentation by Nataša Rogelja Caf and Špela Ledinek
242 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Irena Weber and Simon Kerma ‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
Lozej from Slovenian Migration Institute and Insti-
tute of Slovenian Ethnology of the Research Centre
of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts on
‘Walking as an Ethnological and Anthropological Re-
search Methodology’ in which four types of walking
within academic research and production were criti-
cally analysed. The final paper in the group, ‘Welcome
in the Land of Slivovic: On Everyday, Culinary and
Tourist Nationalism’ by Jernej Mlekuž from the Slove-
nian Migration Institute of the Research Centre of the
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts based on the
content analysis of newspapers from 1918–1945 open
and rounded a sparkling debate of the section.
The fourth group started with ‘Intercultural Com-
munication andPerceptions of (In)Equality’ presented
by Karmen Medica from the Department of Media
Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Primor-
ska who touched upon the sense of belonging, so-
cial cohesion and dialogical communication in pub-
lic spaces, topics that connected to spatial categories
in other presentations through a different discoursive
lense. The younger group of researchers and PhD stu-
dents from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural
Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubl-
jana Veronika Zavratnik, Ana Svetel and Blaž Bajič
presented their research in the area of Solčava enti-
tled ‘Imagined Communities, Communal Imagining:
Land, Family and (Un)Changeability’ in which they
integrated parts of Vranješ’s spatial conceptualizations
and were lively discussants. The contested topic of au-
thenticity was introduced in a paper ‘50 Shades of Au-
thenticity: What Do We Want?’ by Zrinka Mileusnić
and Boris Kavur from the Institute/Department of Ar-
chaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pri-
morska. The tension between the tourism studies and
archaeology approaches to cultural heritage was dis-
cussed with empirical cases that highlighted the dou-
ble view as it were.
In the 5th group another pair of linguists from the
Department of Cultural Tourism, Faculty of Tourism
Studies – Turistica, University of Primorska Tina Orel
Frank and Nina Lovec tackled the comparative use of
‘eco’ and ‘eko’ as in ekoturizem, ecomuseo, eco-conscious
in English, Slovenian and Italian within a frame of
the contemporary globalized linguistic co-creations
and internationalization. The potentials of ‘Accessi-
ble Tourism on Lake Balaton’ was discussed by Zo-
rana Medarić, from the same department based on
research that aimed to evaluate the state of the art of
accessibility in terms of information, transport, service
and tourist attractions. The final paper, ‘Water and the
Leaf: Dialogical Imagination and Hospitality of Asian
Tea Houses’ by Irena Weber from the same depart-
ment aimed to combine the historical and artistical
representations of tea culture through the lens of lit-
erature and film with personal reflections on Vranješ’s
outdoor dedicated activities and the Zen Buddhist ap-
proach to the motif of loss and death in the contexts
of contemporary Asian films.
The symposium was wrapped up by the concise
presentation of the recent volume dedicated to Matej
VranješPotentials of TourismDevelopment in unesco
World Heritage Sites of Slovenia published by the Uni-
versity of Primorska Press that was co-edited by Vran-
ješ and presented by his co-editors Aleš Gačnik and
Tadeja Jere Jakulin from the Department of Cultural
Tourism at the Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica,
University of Primorska whose members were part of
the research project discussed in the edited volume.
While the symposium was rather more emotion-
ally charged than such events customary are, one of
the agreed outcomes was the relevance and benefit of
a small scale diverse academic encounter which led to
the suggestion of a future biannual symposium on a
shared topic(s).
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 243

Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Ponovni zagon gostinstva in turizma: sistemska dinamika in modeliranje
na podlagi scenarijev
Petr Stumpf, Jitka Mattyašovská in Adriana Krištůfková
Turistična destinacija je opredeljena kot odprt, kompleksen in prilagodljiv sistem, v
katerem nastajajo številni odnosi na gospodarskem, socialnem in okoljskem podro-
čju. Namen tega prispevka je opredeliti model sistemske dinamike turistične desti-
nacije kot zapletenega sistema in ugotoviti vedênje sistema v prihodnosti, in sicer
po ponovnem zagonu turizma v obdobju po covid-19. Glavna metodološka pri-
stopa sta bila sistemska dinamika in simulacijsko modeliranje. V pričujočem članku
je predstavljen primer kompleksnega turističnega sistema v Južnočeški regiji (Če-
ška) v obliki diagrama zaloge in pretoka (sfd), ki usmerja poslovne dejavnosti v
to turistično destinacijo. Rezultati simulacije prikazujejo bodoča vedênja sistema v
različnih okoliščinah in primerjajo razvoj več ekonomskih kazalnikov. Primerjamo
tri možne scenarije ponovnega zagona gostinstva in turizma v teoretičnih okolišči-
nah brez bolezni covid-19. Predlagani model sistemske dinamike prispeva k tre-
nutni teoriji sistemov managementa turistične destinacije, upravljavci destinacij pa
ga lahko dejansko uporabijo za načrtovanje v zvezi z destinacijami in oblikovanje
strategij destinacij.
Ključne besede: sistemska dinamika, simulacijsko modeliranje, turistična
destinacija, management destinacije
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 125–136
Namera kupcev za nadaljevanje uporabemobilne navigacijske aplikacije
v turističnem kontekstu: kateri bodo vodilni dejavniki?
Usep Suhud, Mamoon Allan, Dian Puspita Sari, Bayu Bagas Hapsoro
in Dorojatun Prihandono
Mobilna navigacijska aplikacija z geografskim informacijskim sistemom je najpo-
gosteje uporabljana za iskanje naslovov in najhitrejših poti do destinacije. Vedenje
potrošnikov v povezavi z aplikacijo za mobilno navigacijo je bilo doslej deležno le
skromne obravnave. Cilj te študije je izmeriti vpliv zaznanega zadovoljstva, zaznane
uporabnosti, zadovoljstva strank in navad kupcev na nadaljnjo namero uporabemo-
bilne navigacijske aplikacije. Podatki so bili zbrani z uporabo spletne ankete, z me-
todo priročnega vzorčenja. Po mnenju Burnsa in Grova (2005, str. 351) je »priročno
vzorčenje primerno za opisne in korelacijske študije, izvedene na novih raziskoval-
nih področjih«. V študijo je bilo skupaj vključenih 212 udeležencev, 110 žensk in 102
moških. Študija je pokazala, da stamedudeleženci najbolj priljubljeni aplikacijiGoo-
gle Maps in Wazei. Zaznano zadovoljstvo je pomembno vplivalo na zaznano upo-
rabnost in navado. Zaznana uporabnost je bistveno vplivala na zadovoljstvo. Zado-
voljstvo je pomembno vplivalo na namen nadaljnje uporabe. Poleg tega je navada
kupcev pomembno vplivala na zadovoljstvo in namen nadaljnje uporabe. Podana so
tudi priporočila za prihodnje raziskave.
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 245
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Ključne besede: namen nadaljnje uporabe, potrošnikove navade, geografski
informacijski sistem (gis), Google Maps, aplikacija za mobilno navigacijo, uporaba
tehnologije, turizem, Waze
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 138–148
Moderatorski učinek dojemanja soustvarjanja vrednosti na razmerje
med vrednostjo hotelske blagovne znamke in wom
Abdullah Uslu in Gözde Seval Ergün
V času vse ostrejše konkurence postajata vrednost tržne znamke in učinek pretoka
informacij »od ust do ust« v vseh fazah nakupnega procesa vse pomembnejša. Ob
tem se v storitvenih dejavnostih, kjer imamo opravka z neposrednim odnosommed
stranko in zaposlenim, za analizo vse pogosteje uporablja kriterij zaznane verige vre-
dnosti. Namenpričujoče raziskave je na vzorcu tujih turistov določiti učinek zaznane
vrednosti tržne znamke na pretok informacij »od ust do ust«, hkrati pa preveriti,
ali je pri tem prisoten učinek moderatorja s strani zaznane vrednosti soustvarjanja.
Populacija v raziskavi so bili tuji obiskovalci Marmarisa v Turčiji. Na podatkih, pri-
dobljenih s 358 izpolnjenimi vprašalniki, so bili izvedeni analize efa, cfa in cfa
druge stopnje ter testi naklona. Ugotovili smo, da ima vrednost tržne znamke uči-
nek tako na zaznano vrednost soustvarjanja kot na pretok informacij »od ust do ust«,
obenem ima zaznana vrednost soustvarjanja učinek na pretok informacij »od ust do
ust«. Potrjen je bil tudi učinek moderatorja zaznane vrednosti soustvarjanja.
Ključne besede: vrednost tržne znamke hotela, informacije »od ust do ust«,
zaznavanje vrednosti soustvarjanja, Marmaris
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 149–164
Dubajske restavracije: analiza turističnih mnenj
Vinaitheerthan Renganathan in Amitabh Upadhya
Na spletnih straneh, namenjenih potovanjem, socialnih omrežjih in blogih je na vo-
ljo ogromno informacij, med katerimi večinski del vsebine predstavlja tista, ki jo
ustvarijo uporabniki. Ta spletna vsebina ima velik potencial za ocenjevanje občutij
obiskovalcev glede destinacije. Navedeno sproža potrebo po vzpostavitvi avtomati-
ziranih sistemov za prepoznavanje vsebine teh zapisov. Analiza občutij, ki vključuje
tehnike rudarjenja besedila in obdelave jezika brez prevajanja, pomaga pri identifi-
kaciji sorodnih občutij iz podatkov, shranjenih v nestrukturiranih oblikah. Občutja,
ki jih je mogoče prepoznati iz podatkov, lahko olajšajo odločitve turističnim delav-
cem ter izboljšajo storitve za stranke in razvoj novih izdelkov za turistična podjetja.
Ta študija predstavlja model analize občutij, s katerim smo iz turističnih ocen o re-
stavracijah v Dubaju prepoznavali implicitna občutja, ki obiskovalce mesta vodijo k
odločitvam. Analiza občutij je bila opravljena z analizo ocen turistov o restavracijah
v Dubaju, in sicer z uporabo metode spletnega razreza, z uporabo tehnik rudarjenja
besedila s pomočjo programskega paketa R. Zbrane podatke smo nadalje analizirali
z orodji za analizo občutij. S tem smo identificirali skrita občutja, ki smo jih nadalje
246 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
razvrstili v osem skupin. Analiza nam je pomagala odkriti implicitna občutja skupaj
s pogostostjo pojavljanja posameznih kategorij. Na podlagi tega smo lahko ugoto-
viti tudi razlike med ocenami turističnega razpoloženja glede na različne kategorije
restavracij. Prispevek ponuja model, s katerim lahko v prihodnosti poleg restavracij
analiziramo tudi ocene, povezane z drugimi turističnimi proizvodi.
Ključne besede: turistične ocene, restavracije v Dubaju, analiza občutij, rudarjenje
besedil, statistični paket R
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 165–174
Trajnostne inovacije: koncepti in izzivi za turistične organizacije
Mercedes Hernández Esquivel, Elva Esther Vargas Martínez, Alejandro Delgado Cruz
in Juan Manuel Montes Hincapié
Turistična podjetja iščejo nove managerske strategije, ki bi jim pomagale ohraniti
njihovo okolje in ustvarjati pozitivne učinke na družbeni prostor. Trajnostne inova-
cije predstavljajomožnost, s pomočjo katere lahko organizacije uvajajo spremembe,
ne le v izdelke ali storitve, temveč tudi v svoj poslovnimodel, da bi dosegle ravnovesje
med gospodarskimi, družbenimi in okoljskimi dejavniki. Namen pričujočega članka
je prepoznati naravo in identificirati obseg obstoječe literature ter nadalje odkrivati
vzorce interpretacije in raziskovalnih smeri, na podlagi katerih bi lahko ustvarili tr-
dno izhodišče za akademsko in delovno skupnost. Odločili smo se za kvalitativen
sistematičen pregled člankov, objavljenih v znanstvenih revijah, specializiranih za
turizem, trajnost in upravljanje podjetij, z uporabo klasifikacije v zbirkah podatkov
Web of Science in Scopus. Članke, objavljene v letih 2010 in 2020, smo filtrirali glede
na merila ustreznosti. Raziskava vključuje pet kategorij: poslovni modeli, usmerjeni
v trajnostne inovacije; trajnostne inovacije (radikalne ali postopne); dinamične zmo-
gljivosti za trajnostne inovacije; vloga deležnikov v trajnostnih inovacijah in gonil-
niki trajnostnih inovacij.
Ključne besede: trajnostne inovacije, turistične organizacije
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 175–187
Analiza množičnih podatkov o konkurenčnosti trajnostnega turizma
v provinci Vzhodna Java
Dias Satria and Joshi Maharani Wibowo
Provinca Vzhodna Java je bila znana kot ena od indonezijskih regij, ki je svojo regi-
onalno gospodarsko rast povečala s turizmom. Cilj te študije je bil analizirati poten-
cial konkurenčnosti trajnostnega turizma na podlagi podatkov o turističnih ocenah
s spletnega mesta TripAdvisor v letu 2019. Podatki o turističnih ocenah v družab-
nih medijih ter TripAdvisor ocene so predstavljali primer množičnih podatkov (Big
Data) za kvalitativno raziskavo, od koder so črpane informacije o turistični kon-
kurenčnosti, kot so demografsko stanje, značilnosti destinacij in turistične potrebe.
Izkazalo se je, da so izgrajene destinacije, kot npr. Jatim Park 2, trajnostne in kon-
kurenčne kot naravne turistične destinacije, kot so krater Ijen in Bromo, Tengger in
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 247
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Narodni park Semeru (btsnp). Turizem bi lahko koristil regionalnemu gospodar-
stvu, če bi ga ustrezno raziskali in upravljali, zlasti za podaljšanje povprečne dobe
bivanja in turistične potrošnje na območju destinacije Vzhodne Jave. Za uresničitev
tega strateškega cilja v smislu povečanja konkurenčne sposobnosti in gospodarske
dejavnosti smo podali štiri priporočila. Gre za naslednje štiri strategije: usklajevanje
turističnih podjetij, utrjevanje skupne lokalne turistične znamke, lokalna turistična
integracija in spodbujanje brezgotovinskih transakcij.
Ključne besede:množični podatki, turistična konkurenčnost, Vzhodna Java,
trajnostni turizem
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 189–203
Uporaba Google Trends vmednarodnem turizmu: študija primera
Češke in Slovaške
Patrik Kajzar, Radim Dolák in Radmila Krkošková
Prispevek obravnava uporabo Google Trendov vmednarodnem turizmu. Pozornost
bo usmerjena v analizo vedênja čeških in slovaških turistov, ki so potovali v obmor-
ska letovišča v letih 2010–2019. Namen prispevka je ugotoviti, ali obstaja povezava
med podatki uradne statistike o tem, kam so potovali češki in slovaški turisti, in tem,
kar so le-ti iskali v Googlovem iskalniku. Avtorji analizo Google Trendov primerjajo
tudi s statističnimi podatki o čeških in slovaških turistih, ki potujejo v obmorska le-
tovišča. V prispevku so uporabljeni tudi podatki iz leta 2010, povezani s priljublje-
nostjo čeških in slovaških destinacij, podatki od leta 2019 do decembra pa še niso na
voljo. Ta članek bo zagotovil tudi podrobna statistična poročila z uporabo Spearma-
novega koeficienta korelacije ranga. Zdi se nam pomembno omeniti, da se ta članek
osredotoča le na analizo Google Trendov za potovalno kategorijo. Izbira destinacije
je zapleten postopek, na katerega vplivajo številni dejavniki. Google Trendi so kori-
stno orodje za napovedovanje potovanj v obmorska letovišča, vendar to ne odraža
vedno priljubljenosti destinacije v primerjavi s statistiko.
Ključne besede: Google trendi, turizem, Češka, Slovaška, obmorska letovišča
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 205–216
Razlike v posledicah organizacijske ustvarjalnosti glede na velikost podjetij
v turističnem sektorju: primer Bosne in Hercegovine
Danijela Madžar, Ines Milohnić, and Ivan Madžar
Namen prispevka je prikazati pomen organizacijske kreativnosti in preveriti, ali veli-
kost podjetij v turističnem sektorju vpliva nanjo. V procesu upravljanja kreativnosti
je ključno razviti sposobnost podjetja za kontinuirane spremembe in pogoste pri-
lagoditve, hkrati pa ohraniti njegovo identiteto in vrednote. Osnovna hipoteza pri-
spevka je, da obstajajo razlike pri upravljanju organizacijske kreativnosti med raz-
lično velikimi turističnimi podjetji. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da so večja pod-
jetja uspešnejša pri obvladovanju kreativnosti, kar pojasnimo z lažjim dostopom do
človeških, materialnih in finančnih virov. Na splošno je »obnašanje« podjetij v Bosni
248 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
in Hercegovini, zlasti v turističnem sektorju, razmeroma slabo raziskano. Rezultati
pričujoče raziskave prispevajo nova dognanja o upravljanju kreativnosti v celotnem
storitvenem sektorju ter specifično v turističnem sektorju Federacije Bosne in Her-
cegovine.
Ključne besede: upravljanje, organizacijska kreativnost, velikost podjetja, turizem
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 217–226
Mobilne naprave v turistični izkušnji: Tijuana, Baja California, Mehika
Ana María Miranda Zavala, Isaac Cruz Estrada in Margarita Ramírez Torres
Cilj te raziskave je analizirati digitalne storitve in orodja, ki se uporabljajo v mobil-
nih napravah, ter njihove koristi pri izkušnjah turistov, ki prispejo v mesto Tijuana v
Mehiki. Prispevek preverja hipotezo, da uporaba digitalnih storitev na mobilnih na-
pravah turistov prispeva k izkušnjam na destinaciji. Metodologija vključuje uporabo
anketnega vprašalnika na 385 respondentih oz. turistih, ki so obiskali destinacijo. Iz-
vedena je bila korelacija med spremenljivkami, uporabo mobilnih storitev in zado-
voljstvom, faktorska analiza pa je pokazala pet komponent, povezanih s turističnimi
izkušnjami. Ugotovljena je bila signifikantna korelacija med analiziranimi spremen-
ljivkami, komponente faktorske analize pa so: neposrednost informacij in storitev na
destinaciji, predvidevanje izkušenj, mobilnost, takojšnje sporočanje in zagotavljanje
informacij v turističnih aplikacijah. Rezultati so pokazali povezavo med uporablje-
nimi storitvami preko mobilnih naprav in turistično izkušnjo pri načrtovanju ter
bivanju na obiskani destinaciji.
Ključne besede: turisti, mobilne naprave, ikt, digitalne storitve, turistične izkušnje
Academica Turistica, 14(2), 227–240
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 249

Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Instructions for Authors
Aim and Scope of the Journal
Academica Turistica – Tourism and Innovation Journal
(at-tij) is a peer-reviewed journal that provides a fo-
rum for the dissemination of knowledge on tourism
and innovation from a social sciences perspective. It
especially welcomes contributions focusing on inno-
vation in tourism and adaptation of innovations from
other fields in tourism settings.
The journal welcomes both theoretical and appli-
cative contributions and encourages authors to use va-
rious quantitative and qualitative research methodo-
logies. Besides research articles, the journal also pu-
blishes review articles, commentaries, reviews of bo-
oks and conference reports. Purely descriptive manu-
scripts which do not contribute to the development of
knowledge are not considered suitable.
General Guidelines and Policy of the Journal
Manuscripts are accepted in both American and Bri-
tish English; however, consistency throughout the pa-
per is expected. All manuscripts are subject to an ini-
tial editorial screening for adherence to the journal
style, for anonymity, and for correct use of English.
As a result of this your paper will be either accepted
for further consideration or returned for revision. To
avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to
have your manuscript proofread.
Manuscripts should be organized in the following
order: title, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowled-
gements, references, and appendixes (as appropriate).
Reviewing. Each manuscript, meeting the technical
standards and falling within the aims and scope of the
journal, will be subject to double-blind review by two
reviewers. Authors can propose up to two reviewers
for revision of their work and also up to two reviewers
they would like to avoid.
The referees are chosen by the Editorial Board. As-
sessments by the referees will be presented anonymo-
usly to the author and, in the case of substantial reser-
vations, the article, with the list of corrections needed,
will be returned to the author for correction. The cor-
rected copy of the article with the list of corrections
on a separate page should be returned to the Editorial
Board.
Permissions. Authors wishing to include figures, ta-
bles, or text passages that have already been published
elsewhere, are required to obtain permission from the
copyright owner(s) and to include evidence that such
permission has been granted when submitting their
papers. Any material received without such evidence
will be assumed to originate from the authors.
Submission declaration. Submission of a manuscript
implies that it has not been published previously
(except in the form of abstract or as part of a publi-
shed lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publi-
cation is approved by all its authors and tacitly or expli-
citly by the responsible authorities where the workwas
carried out. The corresponding author should ensure
that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate
co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-
authors have seen and approved the final version of
the paper and have agreed to its submission for publi-
cation.
Conflict of interest. All authors are requested to dis-
close any actual or potential conflict of interest inclu-
ding any financial, personal or other relationshipswith
other people or organizations within three years of be-
ginning the submittedwork that could inappropriately
influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.
Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the style
prescribed by the Publication Manual of the Ameri-
can Psychological Association (American Psychologi-
calAssociation, 2020; see also http://www.apastyle.org).
Language and style. The first author is fully respon-
sible for the language and style in the context of the
instructions. A good scientific standard command of
grammar and style is expected.
Text formatting. Please, use the automatic page num-
bering function to number the pages. Use tab stops or
other commands for indents, not the space bar.Use the
table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables. Use
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 251
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
the equation editor or MathType for equations. Whe-
never possible, use the si units (Système international
d’unités).
Thetitlepage should include the title of the article (no
more than 85 characters, including spaces), full name
of the author(s), affiliation (institution name and ad-
dress) of each author clearly identified; linked to each
author by use of superscript numbers, corresponding
author’s full name, telephone, and e-mail address.
Abstract. The authors are obliged to prepare two ab-
stracts – one in English and one (translated) in Slo-
vene language. For foreign authors translation of the
abstract into Slovene will be provided.
The content of the abstract should include the pur-
pose, methods, results, and contribution of the rese-
arch. It should only contain the information that appe-
ars in the text as well. It should contain no reference to
figures, tables and citations published in themain text,
and should not exceed 250 words.
Beneath the abstract, the authors should supply
appropriate keywords (3–6) in English and in Slovene.
For foreign authors the translation of the abstract into
Slovene will be provided.
The main text should contain a coherent and logi-
cal structure preferably following the imrad format
(Introduction, Methods, Research [and] Discussion).
However, other structures are also welcome (e.g. In-
troduction, Development and Conclusions) as long as
the text maintains its logical structure and focus. Ac-
knowledgments are optional.
The length of the articles should not exceed 9,000
words (including tables, figures, and references), dou-
ble spaced, using Times New Roman font sized 12.
Tables. Each table should be submitted on a sepa-
rate page in a Word document after References. Each
table shall have a brief caption; explanatory matter
should be in the footnotes below the table. The table
shall contain means and the units of variation (sd,
se, etc.) and must be free of nonsignificant decimal
places. Abbreviations used in the tablesmust be consi-
stentwith those used in the text and figures.Definition
symbols should be listed in the order of appearance,
determined by reading horizontally across the table
and should be identified by standard symbols. All ta-
bles should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table
2, etc.).
Figures. Captions are required for all Figures and shall
appear on a separate manuscript page, beneath table
captions. Each figure should be saved as a separate
file without captions and named as Figure 1, etc. Files
should be submitted in *.tiff or *.jpeg format. Pho-
tographs should be saved at at least 300 dpi. Line art
images should be saved at 1200 dpi. Lettering (sym-
bols, letters, and numbers) should be between 8 and
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face may be Serif (Minion) or Sans Serif (Myriad).
Line width should be 0.5 point or greater. Any extra
white or black space surrounding the image should be
cropped. Ensure that subject-identifying information
(i.e., faces, names, or any other identifying features)
is cropped out or opaqued. Prior to publication, the
author(s) should obtain all necessary authorizations
for the publication of the illustrative matter and sub-
mit them to the Editorial Board. All figures should be
numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The
journal will be printed in black and white. If the pa-
per contains graphs, we would appreciate that you also
e-mail them in a separate Excel file.
References
References should be formatted according to the Pu-
blication Manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (American Psychological Association, 2019).
The list of references should only include works
that are cited in the text. Personal communications
and unpublished works should only be mentioned in
the text. References should be complete and contain all
the authors that have been listed in the title of the ori-
ginal publication. If the author is unknown, start with
the title of the work. If you are citing a work that is in
print but has not yet been published, state all the data
and instead of the publication year write ‘in print.’
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the
last name of the first author of each work. Do not use
footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference
list. Full titles of journals are required (not their abbre-
viations).
252 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Citing References in Text
One author. Tourism innovation specific is mentioned
(Brooks, 2010). Thomas (1992) had concluded . . .
Two authors. This result was later contradicted (Swar-
brooke &Horner, 2007). Price andMurphy (2000)
pointed out . . .
Three or more authors.Wolchik et al. (1999) or (Wol-
chik et al., 1999).
If two references with three or more authors shor-
ten to the same form, cite the surnames of the first
author and of as many of the subsequent authors as
necessary to distinguish the two references, followed
by a coma and et al.
List several authors for the same thought or idea
with separation by using a semicolon: (Kalthof et al.,
1999; Biegern & Roberts, 2005).
Examples of Reference List
Books
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publica-
tion manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (7th ed.).
Swarbrooke, J., &Horner, S. (2007).Consumer behavi-
our in tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Journals
Laroche,M., Bergeron, J., & Barbaro-Forleo, G. (2001).
Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more
for environmentally friendly products. Journal of
Consumer Marketing, 18(6), 503–520.
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.–
Y., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., . . . Griffin, W. A.
(2000). An experimental evaluation of theory-
basedmother andmother-child programs for chil-
dren of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 68, 843–856.
Newspapers
Brooks, A. (2010, 7 July). Building craze threatens
to end Lanzarote’s biosphere status. Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/
nature/building-craze-threatens-to-end
-lanzarotes-biosphere-status-2020064.html
Chapters in Books
Poirier, R. A. (2001). A dynamic tourism develop-
ment model in Tunisia: Policies and prospects. In
Y. Aposotolopoulos, P. Loukissas, & L. Leontidou
(Eds.),Mediterranean tourism (pp. 197–210). Rou-
tledge.
Conference Proceedings
Price, G., & Murphy, P. (2000). The relationship be-
tween ecotourism and sustainable development: A
critical examination. In M. Ewen (Ed.), cauthe
2000: Peak performance in tourism and hospitality
research; Proceedings of the Tenth Australian Tou-
rism and Hospitality Research Conference (pp. 189–
202). La Trobe University.
Paper Presentation
Thomas, J. (1992, July). Tourism and the environment:
An exploration of the willingness to pay of the ave-
rage visitor [Paper presentation.] Tourism in Eu-
rope, Durham, England.
Theses andDissertations
Sedmak, G. (2006). Pomen avtentičnosti turističnega
proizvoda: primer destinacije Piran [Unpublished
doctoral dissertation]. University of Ljubljana.
Working Papers
Salamon, L. M., Sokolowski, S. W., Haddock, M. A., &
Tice, H. S. (2013). The state of global civil society vo-
lunteering: Latest findings from the implementation
of the un nonprofitt handbook (ComparativeNon-
profit Sector Working Paper No. 49). Johns Hop-
kins University.
Web Pages
Croatian Bureau of Statistics. (2001). Census of popu-
lation, households and dwellings. http://www.dzs
.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/census.htm
Manuscript Submission
The main manuscript document should be in Micro-
soft Word document format and the article should be
submitted to http://academica.turistica.si/index.php/
AT-TIJ/about/submissions
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 253