Academica Turistica
Tourism & Innovation Journal – Revija za turizem in inovativnost
Year 11, No. 1, June 2018, issn 2335-4194
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11(1)
3 Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes via Visual Messages
Filip Cvitić and Mario Plenković
19 Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability: Challenges and Innovations
from a Slovene Perspective
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj
31 Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
Tanja Planinc, Marko Kukanja, and Saša Planinc
43 Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel): Case Study of Slovenia
Saša Zupan Korže
57 Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
Sonja Šterman
67 The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand:
Old Findings and New Research
Helena Nemec Rudež
73 Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
in Tourism Businesses in the Stockholm archipelago
Gustaf Onn
87 Book Review: Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management
Tadeja Jere Jakulin
89 Abstracts in Slovene – Povzetki v slovenščini
93 Instructions for Authors
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2 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Original Scientific Article
Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
via Visual Messages
Filip Cvitić
University of Zagreb, Croatia
filipcvitic@gmail.com
Mario Plenković
University of Maribor and Alma Mater Europaea, Slovenia
mario.plenkovic@almamater.si
Visual content has a significant role in attracting users’ attention. Platforms such
as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others have made it possible to access infor-
mation at the click of a button. If a country, organisation or a company wants to
attract tourists or other target groups, social media has considerable influence. Peo-
ple search for information online and analyse the products they desire. Today, so-
cial media mainly drives customers’ buying behaviour (Manyika et al., 2011; Kumar,
Bezawada, Rishika, Janakiraman, & Kannan, 2016). When promoting content, it is
essential to know the target group and to have a visually attractive message. This
paper aims to determine the impact of parameters in visual messages that can in-
crease attractiveness and sharing possibilities. The research was aimed at finding the
parameters responsible for attracting the users’ attention and those responsible for
content sharing. To find them, two surveys were done, and quantitative research of
those parameters was conducted. After the research, guidelines were set in order to
create future content which could have amore significant impact on the target group
in creating campaigns on social media.
Keywords: communication science, media, social network, visual communication,
visual message, tourism
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.3-18
Introduction: Online Purchasing Decisions
Influenced by Social Networks are Becoming
Common Practice
As Tussyadiah (2012) claims, we aremerely at the fore-
front of understanding the value of sharing on mobile
network platforms and their impact on buying deci-
sions. It is for this reason that Tussyadiah, Park, and
Fesenmaier (2011) suggest the need for more studies
to understand better how the advancement of digital
media technology impacts these experiences. During
the previous two decades, the use of information tech-
nology has increased, which is characterised by ‘speed,
visual impression, ease of use, global availability and
maximum efficiency’ (Kučiš 2010, p. 21). Social net-
works determine interactions and influence the spread
of ideas and behaviour (Tussyadiah, 2012). Leenders
(2002), De Bruyn and Lilien (2008) argues that people
are taking into account the opinions and behaviours
displayed by significant others, combined with the
considerations of other constraints and opportunities,
to establish their own opinions and take certain ac-
tions accordingly. He labelled this process ‘contagion’
(Leenders, 2002) or social influence.Wilton, Páez, and
Scott (2011) identify that people refer to the experi-
ences of others to make their own decisions when pre-
sented with a choice. A social network allows imme-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 3
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
diate interactions, which enables the sharing of con-
sumption decisions to generate immediate social re-
actions and to gain social recognition. Therefore, a so-
cial network also represents interconnected conform-
ers seeking recognition from each other (Tussyadiah,
2012).
Today social media mainly drives customers’ buy-
ing behaviour (Manyika et al., 2011; Kumar et al., 2016).
Social network sites have greatly expanded the poten-
tial audience beyond traditional family and friends to
new, geographically dispersed networks of strangers
(Axup & Viller, 2005; Bamford, Coulton, & Edwards,
2007; Goodman, 2007; Schmallegger, Carson, & Ja-
cobsen, 2010). Facebook alone has over 1.5 billion
users. More importantly, 70 per cent of users log into
Facebook daily (Singh, 2018). As Goodman (2007)
noted, networked media has enabled an unlimited
number of individuals to potentially join virtual net-
works and gain valuable market intelligence about
places visited. Positive comments on social media in-
crease customers’ intentions regarding the purchase,
because of risk reduction (Mhlanga&Tichaawa, 2017).
Therefore, the best way to attract consumers’ attention
is to promote content online. It is necessary to know
the target group and tailor the visual message appro-
priately.
While there is research focusing on the social net-
works’ effect on sharing (Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris,
2009; Strano, 2008; Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005),
to date there has been little or no research that ad-
dresses the visual parameters that show the relation
between visual message’s attractiveness and the out-
come of sharing in the tourism industry. This paper
aims to research the parameters that will show what
attracts users’ attention the most when seeing a par-
ticular ad (visual message) on a social network. In this
paper, we further want to show which parameters on
an ad (visual message) influence users to share the
content that they have seen.
Theoretical Framework: Sharing Content
onMobile Brings Promotional Potential in Tourism
Motivations behind Sharing on Social Networks
Visual content has a significant role in attracting users’
attention. According to Buscall (Mhlanga & Tichaawa
2017), visual content gets 94 per cent more total views
and is 40 per cent more likely to be shared on social
networks then text content. Platforms such as Face-
book, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others have made it pos-
sible to access information at the click of a button.
Sharing is about getting people to see and respond to
content. Social media’s positive impact is in the dis-
tribution of information in the world in which we live.
Sixty-two per cent of people get their news from social
media, as stated in a study fromPewResearch (Gaitho,
2018). As long as the content remains relevant and the
need for information still exists, it is always worth-
while for any organisation using social media to keep
publishing.
A study by the New York Times Consumer Insight
Group shows different motivations that participants
have when sharing information on social media: 84
per cent of participants wants to support a cause or is-
sue about which they feel strongly; 94 per cent share to
pass valuable information; 49 per cent of these respon-
dents influence action about products by sharing; 68
per cent use social sharing to build image and demon-
strate who they are and what they stand for; 78 per
cent want to interact, grow, get a sense of fulfilment,
nurture relationships and stay in touch with others;
69 per cent want to participate and feel involved in
things happening in the world. Additionally, a num-
ber of studies (Pfeil et al., 2009; Strano, 2008; Tram-
mell & Keshelashvili, 2005) suggest that young people
use online media to present, manipulate, and/or man-
age a desired self-image. This is also connected with
the theory of self-concept (Grubb &Grathwohl, 1967),
which indicates that consumers value consumption
that results in recognition and reinforces reactions
from the social network so as to strengthen the con-
ception about themselves. Sharing photographs plays
a vital role in image-building. Social networks are par-
ticularly effective in image self-presentation because
the user can display various types of their online ac-
tivities and open them to the public if desired (Bortree,
2005; Boyd & Ellison, 2007). It is, therefore, impera-
tive to know the motivations of the target group with
whom you are communicating (Gaitho, 2018). Shar-
ing content can have a significant impact on the real
world as well (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, &
4 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Silvestre, 2011). A tweet by the famous Kylie Jenner
(‘sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore?
Or is it justme . . . ugh this is so sad.’) caused Snapchat’s
stocks to drop by 8 per cent, and the company lost
1.7 billion dollars (Večernji list, 2018). When promot-
ing a brand, one should make an effort to understand
the target group, their habits, needs, and desires to be
able to create a visual message that they would want
to share.
Accepting Tourists as Online Users
Has a Promotional Potential
Whether to attract investors, clients, tourists or other
target groups, social media has considerable influence.
By analysing the travel industry, the following can be
observed. On Facebook, 42 per cent of users share the
information aboutwhere they travel, 60 per cent factor
online opinions into their travel decisions, while 83 per
cent trust the recommendations of their families and
friends (Alizadeh & Mat Isa, 2015). From this, it can
be seen that virtual communications are often about
coordinating physical travel but also enabling conver-
sation between visits and meetings, as have Larsen et
al. (2006) stated. Social media empowers customers
to actively contribute to content creation and freely
communicate in an international and intercultural en-
vironment (Alizadeh & Mat Isa, 2015). Each nation
wants to keep its independence and cultural identity,
even though globalization has contributed to intensive
international contact.
Globalization, however, has not resulted in a unique
culture or language. Therefore, professional and in-
ternational communication in the form of translating
promotional tourism messages is an important ele-
ment of visual communication. In that context, ac-
cording to Kučiš (2016, 84), the ‘translator’s role is to
create new communication value through his work
and creativity and thus create a new translated inter-
cultural value.
Therefore, to attract tourists’ attention, it is neces-
sary to give them individualised approaches on social
networks. Understanding tourists’ background im-
proves the chance of attracting their attention; 75 per
cent of users who read social sharing comments have
clicked on the product link in their friends’ Facebook
posts, taking them to the tourist service website, and
53 per cent of the users clicked the product website
have made a purchase (Bullas, 2012).
People who post images online tend to search for
travel information from others who engage in simi-
lar activities (Akehurst, 2009). This development has
had andwill continue to have an impact on destination
image development,marketing, and promotion. It will
also extend the reach of the information search process
to other key informants who have visited the destina-
tion, but who do not have any obligation to promote
it (Pan, MacLaurin, & Crotts, 2007). It is important to
state that some tourists see consumer-generated con-
tent as being more reliable and trustworthy than the
content generated for the purpose of advertising (Ake-
hurst, 2009; Mack, Blose, & Pan, 2008; Zheng & Gret-
zel, 2010). Therefore, destination management orga-
nizations should consider using social networks in co-
operationwith networks’ influencers or consider other
means of attracting on-line users’ attention (Akehurst,
2009). They must compete with non-commercial ma-
terials posted by online users to the extent that these
information providers are the ones with significant
influence on the tourist’s decision-making behaviour
(Akehurst, 2009). Therefore, it is not only necessary
to have ad space and to pay for an ad, but also to vi-
sually show what product is being sold and to whom.
Tourism is said to exist in the interplay between places
and stories (Goodman, 2007), with experiences that
contain a sense of ‘being a particular type of tourist’
(McCabe & Stokoe, 2004). By transforming an intan-
gible experience into something tangible (Osborne,
2000), photographs enable tourists to see the expe-
rience more clearly and choose that specific destina-
tion as their next one (Schroeder, 2002; Sontag, 1977).
Edensor (2000) argues that tourists use photography
as a ceremonial form of capturing relationships with
each other, places, and other cultures. Likewise, shar-
ing photographs with non-travel party members can
enhance the bond between the tourist and the audi-
ence. Social networks have transformed this ceremo-
nial form and brought it to the broad online commu-
nity (Boyd, 2008; Miller & Edwards, 2007; Qian &
Scott, 2007).
It is also necessary to know how the tourist prod-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 5
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
ucts and facilities are different from others who are
sendingmultilingual messages to potential customers.
Understanding Mobile as the Primary Platform
for Advertising
It is rarely possible to expect people to convert the first
time they see a visual message on a social network.
They need to see it at least seven times before they
consider the offer (Halevy, 2018). To achieve the de-
sired action of the banner, one needs to show the same
message across different channels (newsletter, differ-
ent social networks, and searched key words). By do-
ing so, the odds of getting people to respond will be
higher (Halevy, 2018).
One important thing has to be considered when
creating visual messages for a certain brand: mobile
users must not be ignored. Mobile-only internet users
outnumber desktop-only users. Globally, mobile de-
vices dominate in terms of total minutes spent on-
line. For example, in the us, 71 per cent of total dig-
ital minutes comes from mobile devices. In Indone-
sia, 91 per cent of time spent online comes from mo-
bile. The average time spent browsing on smartphones
permonth is 87 hours in the us, compared to 34 hours
on desktops in the same country (De Silva, 2018). Fur-
thermore, 79 per cent of smartphone users have their
phone on or near them each hour of the waking day,
on which they spend an average of 195 minutes per
day (Newlands, 2018). According to Zenith’s report, 73
per cent of time spent online in 2018 is predicted to
be through a mobile device. Moreover, in 2018, it is
expected that 60 per cent of global online advertising
spent will come from mobile ads. According to Gart-
ner, more than half of all consumers, by 2018, will be
using mobile devices first for anything they do online
(De Silva, 2018). What is more, engagement is higher
on mobile devices than on desktop devices. This is be-
cause consumers have personal, intimate connections
with their mobile devices (Heine, 2014).
The smartphone’s capability to link people to re-
mote information, exchanging location-based data
and social information has made it a powerful tool for
tourists and other users. Smartphones are an inevitable
partner for tourism, and the tourism context has be-
come a fertile ground for mobile computing (Chev-
erst, Davies, Mitchell, Friday, & Efstratiou, 2000). The
emergence of mobile social networking, which has
shifted from desktop computers to mobile computing
platforms, offers new sharing capabilities beyond hubs
for chat and repositories for photographs. As people
are ever more mobile for work and leisure, they in-
creasingly share information and connect with their
social network usingmobile devices. Tomake the user
experience as uninterrupted as possible, ads for desk-
top should not need to be recreated for mobile and
tablet experience. It is important to consider the best
way to showcase content on mobile devises to get a
maximum result (English, 2018). So by understanding
the target group, the technology they are using, when
they are using it and by creating an understandable
visual message that is in line with the group’s needs, it
is possible to make an effective communication cam-
paign.
Hypothesis Development
Introduction and development of online photo-sha-
ring media has democratized the image creation and
dissemination process (Lo, McKercher, Lo, Cheung,
& Law, 2011). Its increasing popularity can turn travel
into a stronger self-presentation management tool for
users. Web 2.0 will play an important role in tourism
marketing, destination image formation, and custom-
er-to-customer communications. Marketers are al-
ready applying electronic word-of-mouth (ewom), re-
lationship marketing, and viral marketing (De Bruyn
& Lilien, 2008) in their promotional activities. The ap-
proach of viral marketing suggests that marketers can
leverage the power of interpersonal networks to pro-
mote their products and services, transforming the
communication networks into influence networks. Ig-
noringWeb 2.0 as a communication tool will be detri-
mental to destinations (Lo et al., 2011).
Experience shows that the attractiveness of a vi-
sual message increases the users’ decision to click on
it. If the visual message is more appealing, the user
will view it longer and better understand the mean-
ing of the message. The aim of this paper is to dis-
cover which parameters influence the attractiveness of
the visual message, as well as its possibility of sharing.
These results will be used for campaign creation, pub-
6 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
lishing ads and attracting the target group’s attention
on social networks.
The first hypothesis of this paper is that photo-
graphs combinedwith illustrations aremore appealing
to users than those which have no illustrations. This
hypothesis is derived from the fact that we are sur-
rounded with digital products that use illustrations to
better visualize abstract concepts to the user (install,
download, update, log in, tag, like, subscribe, etc.).
That is way in which we are familiar with the use of
illustrations and its extensive use for promotion pur-
poses. The second one is that understandable visual
messages are more attractive to the user and there-
fore have a greater chance to be shared. If this is true,
then the user will view the visual message longer. The
longer the user views the visual message, the more
likely it is for him to understand the content behind it
and which action he should take. However, initial at-
tractionmust be achieved quickly in order to get users’
attention. That sets the third and the final hypothesis:
the visual message made with a short message is more
attractive than that with the long one. If the visual
message is attractive and understandable to the user, it
could reach a higher number of people and will have
the highest chance to be successful, will be shared by
the users, and will have them make the necessary ac-
tion. Through results, it will be possible to see which
parameters contribute to the attractiveness of the re-
searched visual messages.
Research Methodology
Sample Description
The research was conducted via two separate online
questionnaires: the first from July to August 2017 and
the second in March 2018. The reason for this was the
different goals of each questionnaire. The first ques-
tionnaire was done to prove the first hypothesis and
the second questionnaire was done to prove the sec-
ond and third hypotheses. Both questionnaires used
a non-probabilistic sample, i.e. a sample that includes
a group of individuals available in a certain situation.
The respondents represent a target group, i.e. users
who use social networks the most. As Lo et al. (2011)
showed in their research, 79.5 of people aged 25 or
less and 63.5 of people aged 26 to 35 have posted pho-
tographs online. These groups represent active social
network users and are more engaged personally in the
information search process. Therefore, the sample is
an optimal choice, and it is homogeneous. Each re-
spondent has independently determined the optimal
time to take the survey and chose the space in which to
take it. The survey started simultaneously, the groups
did not have different questions, and they were not
separated.
The questionnaires were completed online via the
SurveyGizmo service, and its url links were distrib-
uted via the respondents’ email addresses. One hun-
dred respondents completed the first questionnaire, 80
of which were in the age range of 26–35 and 20 in the
age range of 19–25. Fifty-seven respondents completed
the second questionnaire. Five of themwere in the age
range of 45+, 30 in the age range of 30–44 and 22 in the
age range of 16–29; 15 of them were male and 42 were
female.
Instrument
First Questionnaire and Attractiveness Research
The method used in this research is an online sur-
vey. The target group were people aged 19–35 who use
smartphones, frequently consume multimedia con-
tent, and are constantly online. The visual message
used in this research was designed with sea, vacation,
and relaxation in mind. As active vacations are impor-
tant to young people, displaying motifs for vacation
and relaxation can attract their attention.
In order to determine the results of whether the ad-
dition of an illustration in a photograph impacts the
attractiveness of a visual message, it was necessary to
determine the following parameters:
• How many people does the visual message con-
tain (from 0 to 3)?
• Does the visual message have an illustration or
not, does the visual message have a product or
not and does it have a simple or a complex back-
ground?
Each variable will be permuted with another vari-
able in order to determine which element would im-
pact the attractiveness of the message the most. In this
way, variables which contribute to the attractiveness of
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 7
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Figure 1 Figures Used in the First Questionnaire
a visual message (illustration, number of people, back-
ground, and element composition) were researched.
There were 19 figures for which the respondents had
to answer the given questions (see Figure 1).
To get the most data from the answers, a 5-point
Likert scalewas used in order to determine the inclina-
tion to one type of question or another. For each figure,
each user was asked the same question. The questions
for each figure were the following.
1. Grade the attractiveness of this visual message (1
– I don’t like it, 5 – I like it a lot).
2. What is the first thing you notice in the visual
message: (a) the illustration, (b) the people, (c)
the background, (d) the product, (e) the element
composition?
3. Determine what is bothering you in the visual
message: (a) the illustration, (b) the people, (c)
the background, (d) the product, (e) the element
composition.
4. Would you forward the previous content to your
friends (1 – No, 5 – Yes).
5. Would you like to research the content further on
the internet (1 – No, 5 – Yes).
8 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Figure 2 Figures Used in the Second Questionnaire
Second Questionnaire and Sharing Research
The method used in this part of the research is also a
questionnaire. The target group is the same as for the
first one. The questionnaire consisted of two groups
of figures (most efficient campaign group and research
campaign group). The first group consisted of nine fig-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 9
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Figure 3 The Most Attractive Visual Message is the Figure
C, and the Least Attractive One is Figure R
ures from the top three most efficient marketing cam-
paigns in 2015, 2016. and 2017 according to warc, a
marketing intelligence service, using their global in-
dex of effectiveness in advertising. The second group
consisted of a research campaign (11 ads)whose figures
are a refinement of the figures from the first question-
naire. The figures in the research campaign were pre-
pared after the results from the first questionnairewere
known. Variables that contributed to visual messages’
attractiveness in the first questionnaire were used to
set 11 figures in the research campaign. Those variables
(background, illustration), chosen from the first ques-
tionnaire based on the results from Table 1, were fur-
ther alteredwith the additional ones – length of ames-
sage, complexity of illustration, product size. In this
way, 11 figures were formed. The goal of the research
was to get the answers for the second and third hy-
potheses set out in this paper. There were 20 different
ads (figures) in total (see Figure 2).
The variables that were researched are: ad attrac-
tiveness, willingness to share, campaign type (ques-
tions 1–59 refer to the most efficient campaigns, ques-
tions 60–125 refer to the research campaign), message
length, message comprehensibility, complexity of il-
lustration, product size, products role (primary or sec-
ondary). In this research, picture size as well as the
platform (desktop or mobile) was not taken into ac-
count because the goal was to research the variables
within the format.
There were 125 questions in total. The first five
questions had the goal of describing the respondent
(travel preferences and factors that help respondent
choose a travel destination, gender, age, the purpose
for which the respondent uses his smartphone). Each
respondent had to answer six questions for each figure:
1. Do you find the visual message attractive (1 – No,
5 – Yes)?
2. Do you find its message understandable (1 – No,
5 – Yes)?
3. The shown message is: (1 – too short, 5 – too
long).
4. Do you understand which product is being pro-
moted (1 – No, 5 – Yes)?
5. The size of the product is: (1 – too small, 5 – too
big).
6. Would you share the content that you have seen
(1 – No, 5 – Yes)?
A 5-point Likert scale was used to determine the
inclination to one type of question or another. The re-
sponses from the respondents are shown in Table 1.
Based on the second part of the research, a statisti-
cal analysis was carried out and the answers between
the most efficient campaigns and the research cam-
paign were compared. With the analysis, the possibil-
ity for sharing the visual message is explored.
Results and Hypotheses Testing
The results from the conducted questionnaires are the
following.
First Questionnaire. For Figure C, most respondents
gave the highest grades for the following questions:
‘How attractive is the previous content?’ (10 respon-
dents, average grade 2.9), ‘Would you forward the pre-
vious content to your friends?’ (15 respondents, aver-
age grade 2.25). In total, 15 respondents gave the grade
of 4 out of 5 for Figure C.
In contrast, the least attractive visual message was
Figure R, for which 60 respondents gave the lowest
grade (average grade 1.7). The lowest grade for the
questions ‘How attractive is the previous content?,’
‘Would you forward the previous content to your
friends’ (average grade 1.4) and ‘Would you like to re-
search the content more on the internet?’ was given
to Figure R (70 respondents gave the grade 1 out of 5)
(see Figure 3). From this, it is clear that the most at-
tractive visual message has the greatest probability of
being shared. At the same time, the least attractive vi-
sual message has the lowest probability of being shard.
10 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Table 1 Answers from the Respondents
Figure Question
q q a q q a
A      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
B      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
C      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
D      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
Continued in the next column
It can further be seen that themost attractive visual
message is the one that has a combination of illustra-
tions and photographs. From the visual messages in
which an illustration of a woman’s back is shown, the
most attractive is the one in Figure C. As seen from
Table 1, the illustration of a woman’s back attracted re-
spondents’ attention the most (40 of them) in Figure
Table 1 Continued
Figure Question
q q a q q a
E      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
F      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
G      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
H      a
     b
    c
    d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
Continued in the next column
C. The parameters element composition (40 of them)
and background (20 of them) have also attracted re-
spondents’ attention the most in Figure C. Figure C is
also the figure for which most of the respondents (40
of them) said that nothing bothered them in that visual
message. Although the possibility of sharing content
on social media is 40 percent (Mhlanga & Tichaawa
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 11
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Table 1 Continued
Figure Question
q q a q q a
I      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
J      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average .  / /
K      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
L      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
Continued in the next column
2017), this does not guarantee that anybody who looks
at the ad will share it with his friends. It is essential to
know your target group’s needs, wishes and to know
when to offer them the product or service. Not only
is this information and the message being communi-
cated to the users important, but it is also important
to know how to show the message visually. It must be
Table 1 Continued
Figure Question
q q a q q a
M      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
N      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average  . / /
O      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
P      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
Continued in the next column
meaningful to them and it must be something they
want, something they search for, something they need.
If this is done correctly, the target group will be able
to instantly and unequivocally understand the visual
message.
It can be seen in Figure 4 (p. 14) the majority of
the respondents would not want to forward the visual
12 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Table 1 Continued
Figure Question
q q a q q a
R      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
S      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average . . / /
T      a
     b
     c
     d
     e
/ / / /  f
Average  . / /
Notes Questions: q1 – Grade the attractiveness of the pre-
vious visual message (1 – I don’t like it, 5 – I like it a lot). q2
–Would you forward the previous content to your friends (1
– No, 5 – Yes)? q3 –What was the first thing you noticed on
a visual message? q4 – Determine what’s bothering you on
a visual message. a2 – (a) the illustration, (b) the people, (c)
the background, (d) the product, (e) the element composi-
tion, (f) nothing is bothering me.
message (of the displayed figures) to their friends. For
the most attractive figure, the number of those who
would want to share the visual message was the high-
est (with an average grade of 2.25). For the respon-
dents who found the content visually attractive, which
also implies that they understand the visual message,
in 62.5 percent of the cases they would want to share
the same content with friends. It can be concluded that
attractive content increases the possibility of its be-
Table 2 Average Grade Values from all 57 Respondents
from Questions q6 to q125
Figure Question
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
Continued in the next column
ing shared on social networks. Therefore, it is possi-
ble tomake a relation to Buscall’s research (Mhlanga&
Tichaawa 2017); 31.6 percent of the respondents from
the research in this paper thought that the content was
attractive. From the users who considered the visual
message attractive, 62.5 percent would share the con-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 13
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
Table 2 Continued
Figure Question
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
a q q q q q q
     
Notes Each image had the same questions in the fol-
lowing order: 1. Do you find the visual message attrac-
tive? (1 – No, 5 – Yes) – q6, q12, q18, q24, q30, q36,
q42, q48, q54, q60, q66, q72, q78, q84, q90, q96, q102,
q108, q114, q120, 2. Do you find its message understand-
able? (1 – No, 5 – Yes) – q7, q13, q19, q25, q31, q37, q43,
q49, q55, q61, q67, q73, q79, q85, q91, q97, q103, q109,
q115, q121, 3. The shown message is: (1 – too short, 5 – too
long) – q8, q14, q20, q26, q32, q38, q44, q50, q56, q62,
q68, q74, q80, q86, q92, q98, q104, q110, q116, q122, 4.
Do you understand which product is being promoted? (1 –
No, 5 – Yes) – q9, q15, q21, q27, q33, q39, q45, q51, q57,
q63, q69, q75, q81, q87, q93, q99, q105, q111, q117, q123,
5. The size of the product is: (1 – too small, 5 – too
big) – q10, q16, q22, q28, q34, q40, q46, q52, q58, q64,
q70, q76, q82, q88, q94, q100, q106, q112, q118, q124, 6.
Would you share the content that you have seen? (1 – No, 5
– Yes) – q11, q17, q23, q29, q35, q41, q47, q53, q59, q65,
q71, q77, q83, q89, q95, q101, q107, q113, q119, q125. A 5-
point Likert scale was used in order to determine the incli-
nation to one type of question or another.
tent with friends. That means that 19.75 percent of so-
cial media users who saw the content, and fond it vi-
sually attractive, would want to share it with others.
Because visual messages are viewed 94 percent more
than plain text messages on social networks, it can be
expected that 18.57 percent of users will share the con-
tent.







   
A
ttr
ac
tiv
en
es
s
Content sharing

 

 

Figure 4 Displaying Figures Which the Respondents
Would Want to Share with Friends
When observing figures in total, the following can
be seen. From all the variables from all the figures that
attracted the respondents’ attention, element compo-
sition attracted their attention the least. In response
to the task ‘Determine what bothers you on the vi-
sual message’ most of the respondents wrote that the
people those who bothered them on the shown visual
messages. Interestingly enough, the illustration was
the variable that bothered the respondents the least.
Because people are thosewho bothered the respon-
dents in the visual message and decreased the overall
attractiveness, as seen from the results in Table 1, they
were left out in the second research.
Second Questionnaire. Several statistical analyses were
conducted to research the relation between the attrac-
tiveness of a visual message and its possibility of being
shared.
The first analysis researched the relation between
the attractiveness and the possibility of being shared.
More precisely, the relation between the questions ‘Do
you find the visual message attractive?’ and ‘Would
you share the content that you have seen?’ was re-
searched. This research was done with both groups
(the most efficient campaigns and the research cam-
paign). It has shown there is a statistically significant
correlation between ad attractiveness and willingness
to share it.
The second analysis was similar to the first one.
The researchwas about checking the relation of the at-
tractiveness and the possibility of sharing between two
groups (the most efficient campaigns and the research
campaign).
14 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
The second analysis has shown that the correlation
is statistically significant no matter which campaign
type was analysed. The respondents did not make
any difference between the two researched groups (1st
group – the most efficient campaigns and 2nd group
– research campaign). This means that visual style is
not the only thing that affects the overall effectiveness
of a campaign.
The third analysis researched the relation of the at-
tractiveness of a visual message and the length of a
message. This analysis explored the relation between
the following questions: ‘Do you find the visual mes-
sage attractive?’ and ‘The shown message is: (1 – too
short, 5 – too long).’ It has shown that there is no sta-
tistically significant correlation between ad attractive-
ness and message length.
The fourth analysis researched the relation be-
tween the understanding of a visual message and the
sharing of that message. The aim of this research was
to determine whether an understandable visual mes-
sage would be shared more than the one that was not
understandable. The fourth analysis explored the re-
lation between two questions: ‘Do you find its mes-
sage understandable?’ and ‘Would you share the con-
tent that you have seen?’ This analysis has shown that
there is a statistically significant correlation between
message comprehensibility and willingness to share.
Regardless of whether the group was the first one (the
most efficient campaigns) or the second one (the re-
search campaign), the respondents wanted to share
the visual messages which they understood.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests showed that ratings on
each itemwere not normally distributed (all p<0.001),
and therefore nonparametric statistical analyses were
used. The degree of association between dependent
variables was calculated using Spearman’s correlation
analyses and a partial correlation analysis. There was a
positive relationship between the ad attractiveness and
willingness to share, rs = 0.616, p < 0.001. This corre-
lation remained significant even when campaign type
was partially out, r = 0.629, p < 0.001. However, there
was no significant relationship between the ad attrac-
tiveness and message length, rs = 0.059, p = 0.046.
Willingness to share was also correlated with message
comprehensibility, rs = 0.264, p < 0.001, indicating
that understandable ads are more likely to be shared.
Based on the results from the second question-
naire the following conclusions can be made for the
researched variables:
• Complexity of illustration: by adding up the av-
erage values from all the respondents regarding
the question about attractiveness, one can con-
clude that a more complex/a more detailed illus-
tration was graded better (60 percent of respon-
dents graded it attractive) than a simple one (55
percent of respondents graded it attractive).
• Product size: by adding up the average values
from all the respondents regarding the question
about attractiveness, one can conclude that the
small product size is more attractive (60 per-
cent of respondents graded it attractive) than
the bigger product size (57 percent of respon-
dents graded it attractive) as shown in Figure 2. It
also shows that respondents tend to like ads that
have products with secondary roles more than
products with primary roles (which take a lot of
ad space). The ads from the most efficient cam-
paigns do not give the product a primary role.
The message is more connected with people’s
lives, their habits, and their struggles than with
the product itself. In this way, people can con-
nect with the product (brand) more easily and
can find a common ground between the product
and themselves.
Discussion
Based on the research, it can be concluded that the
combination of illustration and photographs is the
combination that attracts the user’s attention themost.
The same combination has the highest possibility of
being shared. Furthermore, this combination has the
highest probability that the user will view the visual
message longer than other variations. This in turn
makes it easier for the user to comprehend the visual
message and take the necessary action that is asked
of him. With this, the first hypothesis of this paper is
confirmed. If the visual message is understandable to
the user, he/she will find it more attractive. Moreover,
respondents would want to share the visual messages
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 15
Filip Cviti and Mario Plenkovi Attracting User’s Attention for Travelling Purposes
which they understood.With this, the second hypoth-
esis is confirmed. It was thought that the length of the
message affects the attractiveness of the visual mes-
sage. Based on the research, the hypothesis that length
affects a visual message’s attractiveness is rejected.
As stated in the introduction section of this paper,
to date there has been little or no research that address
the visual parameters that show the relation between
visual message’s attractiveness and sharing outcome in
the tourism industry. Mack et al. (2008), Zheng and
Gretzel (2010), and Akehurst (2009) have stated that it
is important to attract online user’s attention but have
not yet given quantitative research on attraction and its
influence on sharing. In comparison to other research
(Gaitho, 2018; Pfeil et al., 2009; Strano, 2008; Tram-
mell & Keshelashvili, 2005; Tussyadiah, 2012; Tussya-
diah et al., 2011), which have provided valuable infor-
mation regarding sharing, this paper has provided in-
sight into parameters that attract online user’s atten-
tion when shown visual messages for promotion pur-
poses. As 42 per cent of Facebookusers share the infor-
mation about where they travel (Alizadeh & Mat Isa,
2015), the knowledge from this paper will help compa-
nies in creating more efficient visual messages on so-
cial networks.
Conclusion
Illustrations enable additional manipulation with the
visual message, which cannot be easily achieved just
with photographs. In this way, the content of the mes-
sage becomes more flexible and personal for the user.
Based on the research in this paper the following
can be said for visual message’s attractiveness.
A visual message is attractive if it has a complex/a
detailed illustration besides a photograph, and if it has
a small product size that does not interfere with other
elements in the visual message. It is also noteworthy
that respondents find the ad more attractive if the role
of the product is secondary. In other words, content
that takes a great part of the ad should be connected
to the product and show something other than just a
plain product picture. The most effective campaigns
used in this research have also given their products
a secondary role. The study has also shown that the
length of the text inside the visualmessage does not af-
fect the overall attractiveness for the user. Visual mes-
sages that were understandable for the user are more
likely to be shared.
Based on this research, a visual message done in
such a way will be shared by 18.57 per cent of users
who have seen it.
By following these guidelines, marketers can im-
prove the attractiveness of their visual messages for
promotional activities. As marketers are already using
different online tools for promotional activities (De
Bruyn & Lilien, 2008), the study of this paper can help
them further increase the possibility for sharing con-
tent by making visual messages attractive. We are liv-
ing in an age of intensive image sharing especially by
young audiences whose income is higher than other
groups, so knowing how to make visual messages at-
tractive for them is crucial for promotional success in
the travel industry.
Although this study has given insight into parame-
ters of attraction for visual messages and its influence
on online sharing, the study did not take specific plat-
forms into consideration because of high burden for
respondents.
In future research, we want to find a deeper under-
standing of the parameters that influence user’s attrac-
tiveness, which were presented in this paper. By com-
paring visual messages on different platforms (desk-
top and mobile), we could further improve the study
as today smartphones are a primary medium for on-
line engagement. Furthermore, by researching differ-
ent colour palettes it can be determined which domi-
nant combinations and how many colours in a single
visual message influence attractiveness. With this ad-
ditional research, it can be found which colour con-
trast between more and less important information
has the greatest impact on user’s attention. This can
give further insight into visual message effectiveness
for promotional purposes.
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18 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Original Scientific Article
Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability:
Challenges and Innovations
from a Slovene Perspective
Vinod Sasidharan
San Diego State University, usa
vsasidhar@mail.sdsu.edu
Dejan Križaj
University of Primorska, Slovenia
dejan.krizaj@fts.upr.si
To gain new insights regarding the implementation of social sustainability prac-
tices, this study examined the sustainability performance of five tourism businesses
in Slovenia. Each of the five has been awarded the Slovenia Green Certificate or
a national award for innovative achievements (Sejalec, Snovalec) by the Slove-
nian Tourist Board. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among the tourism
providers based on environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Findings from
the study can help in the stimulation and achievement of higher levels of social sus-
tainability performance within Slovenia’s growing tourism industry while position-
ing the country as not only a green tourism leader but also as a socially-responsible
destination.
Keywords: social sustainability, ecolabels, innovation, Slovenia
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.19-29
Introduction
Emerging tourism destinations can play a globally sig-
nificant role in championing the adoption of sustain-
able tourism development, and in setting the stage for
other destinations to follow. The implementation of
sustainability practices within tourism settings will
be crucial for a destination’s enhanced tourism com-
petitiveness, tourist brand loyalty, corporate social
responsibility among tourism organizations, innova-
tion, and overall community and economic well-being
(Lai, Chiu, Yang, & Pai, 2010). In recent years, desti-
nations as a whole, as well as private enterprises and
public entities within the tourism industry have be-
come increasingly responsive to new societal priori-
ties associated with sustainable development and the
surging demand among tourists for sustainable expe-
riences, including products and services, which are
ecologically and socially responsible (Chatterji & Tof-
fel, 2010). This trend has provided emerging tourism
destinations with the opportunity to develop tourism
amenities, attractions, and facilities, while directly re-
sponding to the growing awareness among tourists
regarding the benefits of sustainable development and
their increasing propensity to purchase tourism prod-
ucts and services from enterprises with a proven track
record of promoting sustainability through their day-
to-day operations. As a result, there has been sig-
nificant growth in tourism enterprises and organiza-
tions offering ‘green’ experiences to tourists (Vaccaro
& Patiño, 2010) since the mid-1990s.
‘Green’ assertions made by tourism establishments
are often unverifiable due to the lack of clear gov-
ernment policies and industry regulations for mon-
itoring the alignment of the marketing rhetoric used
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 19
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
in juxtaposition with the actual sustainability perfor-
mance of the enterprises claiming to be environmen-
tally and socially conscious in their practices. Tourism
enterprises, organizations and, suppliers have the po-
tential to capture a significant proportion of the in-
ternational tourism market share by educating and
directing the industry regarding ways to go beyond
mere ‘green’ rhetoric (Sandhu, Ozanne, Smallman, &
Cullen, 2010; Wu, 2010). Within the last two decades,
there has been an exponential increase in various
voluntary ecolabeling/eco-certification schemes and
csr assessment programs for verifying the ecological
and social responsibility claims of tourism businesses
(Font, 2002) and for recognizing sustainability lead-
ers within the tourism marketplace (Buckley, 2013).
Globally, more than one hundred eco-certifications
for tourism organizations are currently available (Dzi-
uba, 2016), and half of these schemes are specific to the
tourism industry of the European Union (Margaryan
& Stensland, 2017).
Tourism ecolabeling schemes provide certificates,
plaques, trademarks, or logos to those tourism enter-
prises that either meet or supersede the sustainability
parameters and performance metrics established by
the certifying organization (Margaryan & Stensland,
2017). Generally, tourism ecolabels are awarded to an
enterprise after a voluntary third-party audit/assess-
ment of the institution’s sustainability practices is con-
ducted (Honey & Rome, 2001). Following this step,
a written statement of assurance and/or a marketable
‘seal of approval’ is issued by the certifying body to
promote the environmental achievements of the com-
pany and to generate a positive image and goodwill
among tourists regarding the organization (Middle-
ton & Hawkins, 1998). From a marketing perspective,
an ecolabel serves as a tool for a tourism enterprise to
distinguish itself from competitor(s) based on a third-
party endorsement of its superior sustainability per-
formance – the ecolabels are displayed by tourism en-
terprises both onsite and throughweb-based and print
media channels to highlight their sustainability ac-
complishments to tourists and stakeholders (Morgan,
1999). In addition, tourism ecolabels encourage the
adoption of sustainability practices among both pri-
vate and public sectors of the travel industry, thereby
stimulating the creation of innovative and organic so-
lutions (through products and services) for addressing
sustainability issues and for mitigating the adverse en-
vironmental, social, and economic outcomes of their
operations through improved sustainability perfor-
mance (Mihalic, 2000).
Although the predominant focus of tourism ecola-
bels is on the environmental performance of organiza-
tions, most schemes also include metrics and indica-
tors for evaluating social sustainability practices, be-
yond compliancewith ecological and economic guide-
lines. The general criteria (Dawkins, 2010) employed
by most tourism ecolabeling agencies for assessing the
sustainability performance of organizations are: envi-
ronmental responsibility (improvement of air, water,
and soil), pollution control and prevention (manage-
ment, reduction, prevention, reuse and recycling of
materials, including paper and waste), energy conser-
vation (use of solar, wind, water, geothermal, and bio-
fuel energy sources), water conservation (water effi-
ciency, reduction and/or elimination of the amount of
water required to do business), education (encourage-
ment of employees, suppliers, and tourists to practice
environmental responsibility and sustainability), com-
munity initiatives (sponsorship, development or sup-
port for community, educational, civic, or industry-
related initiatives), and socio-cultural impact (man-
agement, preservation and stewardship of cultural and
natural heritage). Despite the availability of several
commonly used measures for the assessment of en-
vironmental and economic performance within the
tourism industry, to our knowledge, there is a lack of
reliable measurement outlines to evaluate the social
sustainability practices and outcomes of tourism or-
ganizations. Although ecolabels provide tourism en-
terprises with a platform to attract travelers through
the promotion of products and services that cater to
their sustainability preferences and demands, it should
be noted that the majority of eco-certified organi-
zations demonstrate higher sustainability standards
and achievement levels in the areas of environmental
and economic performance, compared to lower lev-
els of accomplishments in the social criteria for sus-
tainability, chiefly due the lack of proper guidelines
and indicators for social sustainability performance
20 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
among current tourism ecolabeling schemes (Sasid-
haran, 2017).
Underperformance in the social component of sus-
tainability among eco-certified tourism enterprises
can be attributed to the ethical obligation perceived
by tourism managers (Sandve, Marnburg, & Ogaard,
2014) regarding the extent to which ‘unclear’ social
sustainability parameters need to be met as opposed
to the ‘clearly’ articulated environmental performance
guidelines identified by ecolabeling schemes. In order
to better understand the challenges associated with
the implementation of social sustainability practices
among eco-certified enterprises with the tourism in-
dustry, this study examined the sustainability perfor-
mance of five tourism businesses in Slovenia; each of
the five has been awarded the Slovenia Green Cer-
tificate by the Slovenian Tourist Board (stb) or the
national award for innovative achievements. Findings
from the study can be employed by the stb to stimu-
late the achievement of higher levels of social sustain-
ability performancewithin Slovenia’s growing tourism
industry while positioning the country as not only a
green tourism leader but also as a socially-responsible
destination.
Background
Slovenian tourism recorded a 9 per cent increase in
tourist arrivals in 2016 and 8 per cent more overnight
stays than in 2015, reaching the limit of 11 million
overnight stays. With 11 per cent more foreign tourist
arrivals and 10 per centmore foreign overnight stays in
2016, it is ranked above the European and global av-
erage (Slovenian Tourist Board, 2017). The stb also
estimates that the 2017 inflows from exports of travel
will reach new record numbers, as the growth of ex-
ports of travel for the first eleven months of 2016 is
4 per cent. Findings suggest tourism is an increas-
ingly important industry in Slovenia, with potential
for further growth, currently contributing close to 13
per cent to the gross social product, accounting for
8 per cent of total exports and 37 per cent of exports
of services (Slovenian Tourist Board, 2017). With the
expected evolvement and several green characteristics
(for instance, relative forest coverage in eu puts Slove-
nia in the third place, following Finland and Sweden),
green tourism became a necessary direction for the
stb, which has committed itself to be green and sus-
tainable (see http://www.slovenia.info/zelenashema).
The stb’smission in green tourism is to inform stake-
holders about the tourism impacts and to encourage
actions in adapting and mitigating climate change.
Among their key strategic orientations are the green
economy, incentives to develop green business models
and sustainable development models, and sustainabil-
ity awareness raising among tourists.
To support the represented results, outlooks and
orientations, the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism
(gsst) has been developed. The gsst enables inter-
national comparison of Slovenian tourism and facil-
itates the positioning of green Slovenia globally. In
2015, following several developments and national co-
ordination steps, gsst was applied to the tourism in-
dustry level in partnership between the stb, Good-
Place (a Slovenian private r&d institute), and Green
Destinations (a non-profit organization for sustain-
able tourism with headquarters in the Netherlands).
The stb manages and develops the gsst, offers ed-
ucational support, and (most importantly) establishes
internationalmarketing channels for the promotion of
destinations and tourism providers with the Slovenia
Green certificate. GoodPlace is the accredited gsst
partner with a license to issue certificates in accor-
dance with the global Green Destinations’ tool.
gsst’s Slovenia Green certification/standard is ba-
sed on the Green Destinations standard, created in
cooperation with the European Centre for Eco and
Agro Tourism, the Coastal & Marine Union, and the
Global Sustainable TourismCouncil. For tourism des-
tinations, the certification process runs through a ded-
icated online platform, where they self-assess their
sustainablemanagement and policies, obtain feedback
from consultants and the auditor, and receive a final
assessment of sustainability. For tourism providers,
the process is not run in-house, but there are six in-
ternationally recognized certificates, which when ob-
tained automatically earn them the Slovenia Green
certificate. Similarly, there are two international cer-
tificates that are valid for nature parks.
When a tourismdestination enters the certification
process, it follows 11 steps (see http://www.slovenia
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 21
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
.info/zelenashema): 1. Definition of the Green Coor-
dinator, 2. Creating aGreenTeam, 3. Increasing aware-
ness, getting support, 4. Signing a Green Policy, 5.
Surveying destinations’ stakeholders and resources,
6. Collecting and inputting data into the online plat-
form, 7. Submitting the report and the request for as-
sessment, 8. Preparing and approving the Action Plan,
9. Defining the local character and green unique sell-
ing points, 10. Submitting a field visit application, and
11. Implementingmeasures and reassessment. The cer-
tification costs vary: for destinations they amount to
€1,220 plus vat, for tourism providers and parks the
cost is €100 plus vat.
The SloveniaGreen certification scheme comprises
100 criteria and 147 indicators, summarized accord-
ing to the Green Destinations and Global Sustain-
able Tourism Council standards. The criteria are di-
vided into six themes: Destination Management, Na-
ture and Landscape, Environment and Climate, Cul-
ture and Tradition, Social Climate, and Tourism Busi-
ness. Destinations are graded on a scale of 1 to 10 and
receive three types of Slovenia Green Destination cer-
tificates (gold, silver, bronze), according to their score.
Thus far, the Slovenia Green certificates have been
granted to 22 tourism destinations, 13 accommoda-
tion providers, three nature parks, and two tourism
agencies.
The stb sees orientation to sustainable develop-
ment as ‘the only real development opportunity’ for
Slovenia and its tourism offerings, aiming for the de-
velopment of high quality and innovative tourism
products (see http://www.slovenia.info/zelenashema).
Therefore, in the certification process, destinations
and providers sign theGreenPolicy of SlovenianTour-
ism, expressing the fundamental commitment to op-
erate according to sustainability principles and to con-
tinuously strive for improvements. The certificate
brings further advantages to its recipients in terms
of raising visibility and promotion through national
and international channels through which the stb
supports sustainability efforts of the involved destina-
tions, tourism providers, and nature parks. Supported
activities include regular announcements of the cer-
tificate recipients on the www.slovenia.info portal and
related social network campaigns, their participation
in fairs, pr announcements and materials, study trips
for journalist and agents, etc. Special media attention
was given to the country and its gsst certification
project at the itb Berlin 2017 event, where the stb
was announced as the winner of the National Geo-
graphic World Legacy award in the category of Desti-
nation Leadership. The category assesses the best en-
vironmental practices, the protection of natural and
cultural heritage, the impact on the local community,
and the education of travelers in the field of sustainable
tourism.
Methodology
Slovenia has a long history of promoting tourism in-
novation, which in recent years has been further stim-
ulated by promoting sustainable development. In pro-
moting innovation in tourism, the stb and the Min-
istry of Economic Development and Technology have
financed activities to promote and stimulate inno-
vation in tourism since 2004 (Križaj & Zakonjšek,
2011).
The main promotional activity is the annual na-
tional award for themost innovative tourismproducts,
known as the Sower (‘Sejalec’ in Slovenian), whichwas
founded in 2006 by the Bank of Tourism Potentials in
Slovenia (btps) portal. btps has received unwto,
oecd, and eu acknowledgements for its systematic
promotion of innovation in tourism. In 2009, an ad-
ditional tender for the most promising tourism ideas
(known as Creator; ‘Snovalec’ in Slovenian) was intro-
duced. In recent years, more than 50 tourism products
have been granted one or both awards.
In cooperation with the stb, the authors of this
manuscript visited a select group of recipients of Cre-
ator and Sower award and Slovenian Green Certifi-
cates to identify challenges and innovations relating to
the implementation of sustainability practices. Prior
to these visits, the stb sent invitations to the recip-
ients of the Creator and Sower awards and to the
Slovenian Green Certificate recipients. In the invita-
tion, it was mentioned that the authors will visit in-
terested tourism providers in Slovenia and will carry
out short individual development workshops aimed at
addressing sustainable development and innovation
challenges faced by tourism providers in their every-
22 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
Figure 1 Locations of the Selected Tourism Providers (1–5) and Slovenia Tourist Board (stb)
day business operations. Altogether, eleven tourism
providers from all over Slovenia responded to the in-
vitation, of which, due to resource constraints, the au-
thors could choose and visit only five businesses (see
Figure 1).
The Ortenia Apartments (1) is located in Podčetr-
tek (https://www.ortenia.com), near one of the nu-
merous Slovenian spa resorts with a long tradition, on
the border with Croatia (Ortenia Apartments, 2018).
Theymarket themselves as the first eco-friendly apart-
ments in Slovenia, designed using the principles of in-
novative sustainable construction. Podčetrtek lies in
the culturally and historically rich province of Koz-
jansko, situated close to a monastery from the 16th
century, and has many opportunities for recreation in
nature through a network of hilly and mountainous
roads. The apartments are privately owned; the own-
ers have recruited staff who run the entire operation
of six accommodation units of a higher price/quality
range. TheOrteniaApartments has received theGreen
Globe certificate and Slovenia Green Accommodation
certificate.
Matjaž Pavlin, owner of Matjaž Homestead (2) in
the village of Paha (http://www.matjazeva-domacija
.si) has been the longtime owner and director of a
renowned travel agency in the nearby city of Novo
mesto, the urban centre of the Dolenjska region. Close
to the homestead is a large spa centre, surrounded by
the hilly landscape along the Krka River and its tribu-
taries. There are numerous opportunities for tourism
activities among the many vineyards that give the
landscape its historical, geographical, and culinary
mark. Matjaž Pavlin has received four Sower awards
for his tourism projects.
The Green Gold beer fountain (3) was built in the
middle of the city/municipality of Žalec (https://www
.beerfountain.eu), which has been regarded as the cen-
tre of the Slovenian hops industry since the end of
the 19th century. When Slovenia was still part of the
Republic of Yugoslavia, hop collectors from all its re-
publics then gathered in Žalec for commerce. Žalec
was not a significant tourist centre before the ap-
pearance of the beer fountain. Since then, diversified
tourism facilities and services have been developing
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 23
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
rapidly, connected to the story of the beer fountain as
well as stories of the nearbymuseumof hops andbrew-
ery industries built in 2009. This well-visited fountain,
the first of its kind in the world (according to the own-
ers) has received the Creator and Sower awards and is
being mentioned in global media.
The Spa Snovik (4) lies in the green valley between
Kamnik and Vransko (http://terme-snovik.si), on the
threshold of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. On approxi-
mately 1000 m2, the spa centre offers indoor and out-
door thermal pools, saunas, massages, and a restau-
rant. For guests staying on a longer holiday, they offer a
four-star apartment complex with 370 beds. Activities
in the surrounding area include hiking, biking, walk-
ing, and golf. Organic farms and baroque churches can
also be seen in the vicinity. Spa Snovik is the recipient
of the eu Ecolabel and Slovenia Green Accommoda-
tion Certificate.
The Eco Camp Koren (5) is located in the vicinity
of Kobarid (http://www.kamp-koren.si), on the bank
of the emerald-green Soča River, which is in its up-
per reaches and one of the five best-preserved natu-
ral rivers in the European Alps. The camp’s visitors
– settled in tent sites, camper and caravan sites, or
eco chalets – mainly enjoy diverse adrenaline activ-
ities along the river bank, on the rapids of the river
or surrounding natural climbing walls or explore un-
spoiled nature on hiking and biking tours or during
fly fishing trips. Near the camp, the Soča river creates
a short, scenic canyon, and the river’s vast and scenic
gravel beds are located close to the camp. In addition
to that, tourists can visit the waterfalls of the Kozjak
brook and the extensive restored front line from the
1st World War. Kobarid is also the location of a World
War I Museum, which is considered one of the best
of this kind in Europe. Camp Koren is the recipient of
the eu Ecolabel and Slovenia Green Accommodation
Certificate.
The authors visited the above-mentioned five tour-
ism providers and conducted semi-structured inter-
views in which they analyzed the topics described fur-
ther below. The beginning of the conversation was left
to the tourist provider to present their product services
and facilities, as well as challenges in any form, and
then the authors led a systematic discussion covering
the key research questions related to sustainability and
innovation in tourism:
1. What were the environmental aspects of their
sustainable operation?
2. What were the social responsibility aspects of
their sustainable operation?
3. What were the economic aspects of their sustain-
able operation?
4. Did they face any challenges in the area of sus-
tainable development and certification?
5. In their opinion, what is the added value of sus-
tainable engagement?
6. How would they access their sustainable bench-
marking with direct and indirect competition?
7. Which opportunities do they see in adopting and
developing sustainable innovations and improve-
ments?
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to de-
termine the current sustainability performance gaps
among each of the five tourism providers based on the
environmental, social, and economic dimensions. As
a triangulation measure, the interview findings were
shared with the companies for their feedback and ver-
ification. Qualitative data received from the interviews
with the five businesses were evaluated to obtain a gen-
eral profile of the sustainability efforts and innovations
of these companies and to identify themain challenges
faced by them in the area of sustainability operations.
The following sections provide a detailed description
of the study’s findings.
Results and Discussion
Promoted as the first eco-friendly apartments in Slove-
nia, the Ortenia Apartments utilized the principle
of innovative sustainable construction and design,
energy and water conservation efforts, and the use
of organic fabrics and cosmetics to implement envi-
ronmental sustainability within their operations. The
plants surrounding the apartments were saved from
the old garden of the house that stood at the site prior
to the construction of the apartments, and fruit from
some of the plants are used for making jams served
to the apartments’ guests. A key indicator in most
24 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
tourism ecolabeling certifications is the usage of pa-
per – it was observed that paper usage by the apart-
ments was relatively higher compared to the other
cases. For example, the management still relied on
paper for guest food order/request forms, bathroom
towels, etc., and these were not recycled after use. In
the dimension of social sustainability, no extensive ef-
forts were in place to address local needs and to engage
with the local community. With regards to economic
sustainability and contributions to the local economy,
the apartments hired some staff from the area and pro-
vided its guests with discount coupons to promote
some of the restaurants in the area. Additionally, it
was noted that the apartments provided local wines
and fresh tea (leaves), from amonastery located in the
neighbourhood, to its guests.
The Matjaž Homestead’s main environmental sus-
tainability effort focused on the use of recycled wood
and household furnishings for the construction of
cottages and farmhouses, highlighting the traditional
farmer views regarding the interconnectedness be-
tween farm life and the surrounding environment.
With regards to social sustainability performance, it
became clear that the Homestead was committed to
promoting local wine and food and had a guest infor-
mational video to illustrate the culinary distinctions of
the region. In addition, the Homestead was involved
in several local initiatives, such as the restoration of
historic buildings (e.g., local churches, farmhouses),
the introduction of farm voluntourism, etc., which
sometimes extended beyond the scope of tourism
development, and related more to the broader con-
text of regional community development and engage-
ment. From an economic sustainability perspective,
the Homestead is part of a larger initiative to create a
network of local value chains including private wine
cottages and farms by utilizing a scattered develop-
ment model to stimulate the regional economy.
The Fountain of the Green Gold, the first beer
fountain in the world, aligned well with the preser-
vation of the hops industry in the region. Other than
this connection to the environment, no specific ini-
tiatives relating to environmental sustainability, i.e.,
conservation and protection, were observed. In the
dimension of social sustainability, the beer fountain
has been instrumental in stimulating engagement be-
tween the local municipality, residents, and tourists.
Since its creation, the beer fountain and surrounding
gardens has become a local gathering place of cul-
tural significance and has instilled a sense of pride
among the residents of the community. In a region
where hops production is an essential part of the lo-
cal economy but hops farms are not utilized to their
full production capacity due to external economic fac-
tors (particularly market competition), the beer foun-
tain has contributed to the area’s economic sustain-
ability, by boosting the local economy, particularly
in the neighborhood and around the main square on
which the fountain is located. For example, the Open
Kitchen programme connected with the fountain has
promoted new opportunities for local entrepreneurs
connecting the guest dining experience with the local
hops culture.
The Spa Snovik’s approach to environmental sus-
tainability is emphasized through their stated com-
mitment to nature-friendly operations, with a par-
ticular focus on reducing energy consumption. The
resort was created based on the underlying principle
of energy conservation and use reduction. For exam-
ple, electricity is disconnected from every apartment
in the resort when the space is not being used by the
guest(s). Additionally, the spa has implemented onsite
guest education programs for generating environmen-
tal awareness, such as planting of local trees and herb
gardens (for guest use) along with markers to identify
the flora and naming of apartment blocks in the resort
based on the endemic trees of the area. In terms of
social sustainability, it is essential to acknowledge that
the resort idea originated from a local entrepreneur
whose main goal was to integrate the resort with the
community. To that effect, local community mem-
bers have reduced-fee access to the resort’s amenities,
including spa, pools, and recreational facilities. Fur-
thermore, the spa’s apartments showcase the region’s
heritage and culture through locally-made furnish-
ings and vintage photographs of the area’s residents.
The spa’s efforts in supporting economic sustainability
were observed through their local hiring practices and
purchase of produce from local farmers only. While
the spa has been involved in some commercial projects
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 25
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
with the locals (such as the spa’s guests attending com-
munity festivals jointly organized by the spa and local
residents), these efforts have not yet reached their full
potential in terms of stimulating the local economy.
The stated aim/virtue of Eco Camp Koren, the first
eco-friendly camp in Slovenia, is the respect of nature
and fellow human beings. The camp clearly addressed
environmental sustainability throughout most of its
operations, including design and construction, energy
conservation, environmental management, guest and
community education, and agriculture. The camp’s
efforts in social sustainability include spearheading
municipal initiatives in collaboration with other lo-
cal tourism providers to boost the economy and im-
provework conditions in the industry, sharing tourism
know-how and information from national level meet-
ings among local businesses, engaging guests with
community members through joint activities such as
camping skills workshops, organizing camp dinners
created by local chefs using local ingredients, inviting
the area’s residents to join camp guests at concerts and
events held at the camp, etc. From the perspective of
economic sustainability, the camp employed local stu-
dents, partnered with local ‘adrenaline’ sports activity
providers to offer camp packages and promoted their
services through the camp’s information services, sold
local products through the souvenir shop, and hosting
local sports competitions at no cost to the participants.
While all five businesses examined in this study
were recipients of the stb’s Creator/Sower award and/
or Slovenian Green Certificate, it became apparent
that their respective sustainability performances var-
ied greatly along environmental, social, and economic
dimensions. Although most of the businesses were
able to reasonably integrate environmental and eco-
nomic sustainability criteria within their respective
management and operational frameworks, only a few
were able to satisfactorily position their initiatives to-
wards supporting social sustainability and community
development. Overall, none of the businesses had ar-
ticulated long-term plans for addressing critical social
sustainability indicators such as supporting and pro-
moting cultural and heritage conservation, maximiz-
ing cultural and heritage benefits, minimizing neg-
ative cultural and heritage impacts, adopting codes
of cultural behavior for guests, providing in-kind or
philanthropic assistance for local, community-based
social empowerment projects, advocacy groups, etc.
During the interview phase, the authors also observed
that the concept of social sustainabilitywas interpreted
differently by each of the five businesses and they were
unable to deliberately operationalize this dimension
within their respective sustainability-related efforts in
an effective manner with future positive implications
for the local community. Some businesses expressed
interest in learning more about social sustainability
and how to incorporate this dimension within their
operations. These businesses indicated that since they
had received the Slovenian Green Certificate from the
stb, it would be beneficial if the stb could also pro-
vide technical know-how (including legal guidance),
training and workshops to assist them in operational-
izing social sustainability and implementing commu-
nity development/engagement projects.
The sustainability performance analyses of each
of the five tourism businesses certified by the stb re-
vealed that therewas a consensus among the establish-
ments regarding guidelines/indicators for achieving
environmental and economic sustainability, although
some of them had long-term systems in place to im-
prove their initiatives related to these dimensions,
whereas others exhibited a short-term/reactive ap-
proach to these sustainability goals. The most notable
variances/gaps in the sustainability performances of
the businesses were notably observed in their levels of
commitment to implementing long-term social sus-
tainability initiatives. Froma csr standpoint, it would
be prudent for the stb to determine strategies and so-
lutions for addressing this gap in the social sustainabil-
ity performance of the tourism businesses which have
been awarded the Slovenian Green Certificate. Estab-
lishing clear social sustainability goals as well as track-
able and measurable criteria and respective indicators
that connect the stb’s commitment to Slovenia’s long-
term community development agenda would not only
help increase social sustainability performance among
the stb’s certificate recipients (and non-recipients),
but could also position the country as a green tourism
leader with a social-responsibility commitment to its
citizens and visitors.
26 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
The companies were also asked why and how their
tourism product offers inspiration to other innovators
of sustainable tourism and about what problems the
national stakeholders, such as the stb and munici-
palities, should be cautioned. All five companies indi-
cated that they are quite regularly mentioned as good
cases (because of the prizes and labels they received or
due to their diversified tourism offering). Guests of the
Ortenia Apartments are often interested in the build-
ing, entirely designed with natural materials. Many of
them come to check the premises since they want to
build their own dwelling in a similar manner. Matjaž
Pavlin mentions that he provides a ‘before-then situ-
ation’ presentation to many visitors, showing how he
started rebuilding at the beginning when he bought
the farm and preserved the heritage of the farm by
keeping the old buildings rather than demolishing
them. According to him, the groups are enthusiastic
and inspired by his presentation to transfer his ap-
proach to their home environment. The Green Gold
Beer Fountain managers see their greatest achieve-
ment in the fact that they succeeded with an idea that
seemed unusual and initially had many opponents
and skeptics. Now, they are an example to many en-
trepreneurs and individuals that tourism innovations
can be realised if there are sufficient desire and interest
among stakeholders. Both Spa Snovik and Eco Camp
Koren inspire other innovators with top-notch nature
conservation approaches that include iso standards,
ecolabels, renewable heating approaches, energy con-
sumption reductions, employing mostly locals, etc.
Both already have new development plans from in-
corporating traditional holistic treatment methods
to new green accommodations, fitness, and meeting
space/convention investments.
Although all companies agreed that in the previous
year, the promotion of natural and ecological tourism
offerings has grown, they felt that there is room for
improvement. The state (and especially the munici-
palities in which certified tourism providers are lo-
cated) would, in their opinion, still have to do more
to emphasize and promote the sustainability move-
ment. This would, according to Ortenia Apartments,
additionally increase the customers’ and providers’
awareness regarding contemporary sustainability is-
sues. Matjaz Pavlin, in contrast, thinks that he has
never sought excessive help from the state and, there-
fore, it cannot help or disappoint him. TheGreenGold
Beer Fountain had a different state-related experience.
Once the first acknowledgements for innovation were
received by the beer fountain from outside Slovenia
and their town, the local environment became more
perceptible to this innovation. It would be difficult
for them to suggest what more the state could do.
In their opinion, the Sower and Creator awards that
they have received are indeed examples of positive in-
centives, which helped to convince their local stake-
holders that they are on the right track. When Spa
Snovik became the first green provider of Slovenian
tourism ten years ago, they tried to encourage and
seek out related providers. After a decade of efforts by
Spa Snovik (as well as interventions by the stb), the
number of such sustainability-oriented partners has
started to rise rapidly. Similarly, Eco Camp Koren has
been a local sustainability champion for many years,
but hopes for their entire destination to be certified
aside on gsst so that the company can be considered
as a sustainable tourism provider in a certified sustain-
able destination.
Conclusion
With the growing trend of businesses obtaining eco-
labels within the tourism sector (Margaryan & Stens-
land, 2017) and the rapid ‘greening’ (Vaccaro & Patiño,
2010) of the world’s largest industry, a significant con-
cern is the potential utility of eco-certifications to ef-
fectively address the social responsibility dimension of
sustainable tourism. The results of this study indicated
that sustainability performances of eco-labelled/eco-
certified tourism businesses vary greatly along en-
vironmental, social, and economic dimensions. Al-
though tourism businesses are generally prepared to
implement environmental and economic sustainabil-
ity initiatives as part of their regular operations, there
is an overall lack of consensus with respect to the
adoption of social sustainability owing to the lack of
clear parameters and guidelines for operationalizing
the performance indicators associated with the cri-
teria established by ecolabeling organizations (such as
the stb). Furthermore, variations among eco-labelled
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 27
Vinod Sasidharan and Dejan Križaj Tourism Ecolabels and Social Sustainability
tourism establishments in terms of their levels of en-
gagement in and commitment to social sustainabil-
ity is also, perhaps, correlated with the perceptions of
owners, managers, and staff regarding the ‘bottom-
line’ effect of adopting measures to boost the business’
sustainability performance along this dimension. To
address social sustainability performance gaps among
tourism businesses, destination management orga-
nizations and tourism governing bodies responsible
for awarding eco-certifications will need to identify
and articulate specific, measurable, and trackable so-
cial/community development targets and goals which
could be satisfactorily achieved by the various sectors
of the industry.
In Slovenia, awareness of sustainable development
concepts in tourism is rapidly gaining momentum,
which means that companies are realizing the busi-
ness sense in consistently offering (mostly environ-
mental and economic) sustainable tourism products
and experiences. Although in the beginning, energy-
efficient infrastructure, as well as green services, are
more expensive, Snovik Spa calculations showed that
their returns-on-investment in such infrastructure
were realized sooner than anticipated (Zlatoper, per-
sonal communication, November 2017). According to
all of five businesses, the company that is presented as
a green provider in the tourist market has increasingly
more opportunities to acquire high-quality partners
and guests with higher levels of loyalty and spending
capacity.
While the sustainable tourism innovation activi-
ties are still ongoing in Slovenia, it is highly likely that
the majority of tourism providers in the country will
start to adopt greater standards for environmental and
economic sustainability, although the next focus of
tourism companies (especially among early adopters)
needs to be directed towards social sustainability in
tourism, in the coming years.
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Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 29

Original Scientific Article
Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian
Restaurant SMEs
Tanja Planinc
University of Primorska, Slovenia
tanja.planinc@fts.upr.si
Marko Kukanja
University of Primorska, Slovenia
marko.kukanja@fts.upr.si
Saša Planinc
University of Primorska, Slovenia
sasa.planinc@fts.upr.si
Focusing on the characteristics of restaurant smes, the purpose of this paper is to
use (1) a cluster analysis (ca), and (2) data envelopment analysis (dea) approach
to classify restaurant smes into different groups based on their physical and man-
agerial characteristics and attempts to determine whether differences exist in the
efficiency performance of different groups. The study has conducted a two-step ca
and dea analysis to identify the effects of restaurant characteristics on efficiency
performance. This method takes into consideration the presence of heterogeneous
subsets in efficiency assessment. Restaurants were preselected based on their op-
erational characteristics. smes whose only source of income was their restaurant
business were included in the study. Surveys were performed with restaurant man-
agers, and the firms’ financial reports were analysed. Two diverse groups were iden-
tified: smaller restaurants with younger and less experienced managers, and bigger
restaurants with older andmore experiencedmanagers. The various physical (num-
ber of seats, years of business activity) andmanagerial (age, and professional experi-
ence) characteristics appeared to significantly affect restaurant types differently. Es-
tablished restaurants with more seats, older andmore experiencedmanagers proved
to be more efficient. This is the very first study to analyse Slovenian restaurant busi-
nesses efficiency with a combined ca-dea approach. Primary data was collected
by surveying restaurant managers while secondary financial data was provided by
national tax authorities after the implementation of fiscal cash registers.
Keywords: cluster analysis, dea, efficiency, restaurant industry, Slovenia, smes
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.31-42
Introduction
This study analyses the productive efficiency of small
and medium-sized (sme) restaurant businesses in
Slovenia. Recently, a considerable body of literature
has developed around the theme of efficiency mea-
surement. The literature has extensively reviewed ef-
ficiency practices for the lodging industry (Assaf &
Agbola, 2014; Assaf & Barros, 2013; Wu, Liang, &
Song, 2010), but there is less evidence from the restau-
rant sector (Reynolds & Thompson, 2007; Roh &
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 31
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
Choi, 2010) and even less from restaurant smes (As-
saf, Deery, & Jago, 2011).
This research was performed in Slovenia, where
restaurant smes represent a significant part of the
tourism sector within the national economy. Statis-
tical and financial data show that tourism is one of the
most important facets of the Slovene national econ-
omy. In 2016, tourism provided employment to 13 of
all employees in the country and contributed 12.7 to
the Slovenian Gross Domestic Product (gdp) (World
Travel & Tourism Council, 2018; http://pxweb.stat.si/
pxweb/Database/Economy/Economy.asp). The food
and beverage (f&b) service sector is a vital and in-
tegral element of tourism, and an essential economic
activity (Kukanja, 2015). In 2016, there were 2,516 com-
panies operating in the f&b sector (3.96 of all com-
panies in Slovenia), employing a total of 8,988 peo-
ple (2.08 of all employees). The f&b service sector
represents a significant part of the Slovene national
economy. Its performance has significant impacts and
spill-over effects that go well beyond customers’ needs
for food and beverage. Specifically, the f&b service
sector has a multiplier effect on many economic activ-
ities and significantly boosts businesses that are los-
ing their competitive advantage in the international
marketplace (e.g., local food production). An essential
subsector of the f&b service sector is the restaurant
sector, which includes almost 43 of all f&b facilities
in the country (see http://www.ajpes.si). According
to official statistical classification of economic activi-
ties (the nace classification) in the European Union
(eu), the restaurant sector is classified as i56.101 –
Restaurant and Inns. In this study, we focus on the
efficiency analysis of the restaurant sector in Slove-
nia, which is by far the largest and the most impor-
tant. This subsector is dominated by smes, with sev-
eral industry-specific characteristics: the restaurants
are mostly family-run businesses; on average, restau-
rants have 20 years of business activity; and the av-
erage number of employees is 8.7 per restaurant unit
(Kukanja, 2015). Competition in this industry is severe
and, as in other service industries, the restaurant in-
dustry is also highly sensitive to economic trends and
changes in real household disposable income (Kosi &
Bojnec, 2013).
On the market, restaurant businesses are charac-
terized by high levels of uncertainty and change (Kim,
Li, & Brymer, 2016). The industry is experiencing fast
growth, globalisation pressure, high competitiveness,
and international trends. Together, these aspects sig-
nificantly add to current complexities and challenges
in the industry. As noted by Parsa, van der Rest, Smith,
Parsa, and Bujisic (2015), approximately 30 of all
restaurant businesses in the usa end up failing. Sim-
ilarly, Lee, Hallak, and Sardeshmukh (2016a) reported
that approximately three fifths of all restaurants in
Australia earn an average net profit of just 2 after
taxes, which makes the survival rates in the industry
extremely low. Thus, understanding restaurants’ effi-
ciency performance is critical for the success of the
restaurant and tourism sector, as well as for the liveli-
hood of regions and countries depending on tourism
income to survive. Consequently, the need for smes’
managers and business owners to have a strong knowl-
edge of operational, marketing and financial skills is
arguably greater than ever before (Assaf et al. 2011).
Management skills and knowledge are extremely im-
portant, as superior efficiency performance is strongly
correlated with restaurant firms’ superior financial
performance (Kim et al., 2016). Due to the impor-
tance of the restaurant sector in the national econ-
omy, it is important for academics and practitioners
to have more accurate information about restaurants’
efficiency practices.
In previous studies (Reynolds & Biel, 2007; Roh
& Choi, 2010), restaurant efficiency was mostly as-
sessed based on managers’ subjective feedback and
simple ratio measures (e.g., input to output analy-
sis). According to Assaf, Barros, and Josiassen (2012),
conventional ratio approaches are limited, because
they integrate too few operational characteristics to
evaluate an overall operational efficiency. Efficiency
measurement, in contrast, is based on the concept
of a production possibility frontier (Barros, 2005)
and econometric linear programming methods, such
as dea, which provides a useful diagnostic tool for
analysing efficiency-based performance improvement
at the individual unit level by simultaneously incorpo-
rating multiple inputs and outputs. dea has proven
to be an efficient internal benchmarking technique
32 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
in the service industries. In hospitality research, sev-
eral researchers have applied dea to measure hotel
efficiency (Alberca-Oliver, Rodríguez-Oromendía, &
Parte-Esteban, 2015; Barros, 2005; Sigala, Jones, Lock-
wood, & Airey, 2005) and restaurant efficiency (Assaf
et al., 2011; Fang & Hsu, 2014; Reynolds & Biel, 2007;
Reynolds & Thompson, 2007). Although dea proved
to be an effective tool for efficiency measurement, its
major drawback is its inability to distinguish different
decision making units (dmu) based on their opera-
tional characteristics. Therefore, this paper applies ca
to increase the discriminatory power of dea and to
improve the classification of restaurants. First, restau-
rant businesses were divided into different groups
based on their physical andmanagerial characteristics.
Taking a post hoc approach to restaurant market clas-
sification, dea was introduced to analyse restaurants’
efficiency based on financial data officially provided
by the national tax authorities. This study presents
an alternative approach to efficiency measurement.
No previous study classified restaurants according to
their operational characteristics (ca) and efficiency
performance (dea). Applying ca-dea methodology
enables practitioners and researchers to better un-
derstand restaurants’ efficiency based on their oper-
ational characteristics. Using this approach, this study
presents an important insight into restaurant smes’
efficiency performance. As noted by Lee, Hallak, &
Sardeshmukh (2016b), an academic approach to effi-
ciency measurement is essential, as entrepreneurs of-
ten do not possess sufficient resources for a complex
data and benchmarking analysis.
The present study is the first to explore restaurant
smes’ efficiency in Slovenia. The specific objectives of
this study were as follows:
1. to determine differences between restaurant smes
based on their managerial characteristics and the
restaurants’ physical characteristics;
2. to measure the overall efficiency of restaurant
smes in Slovenia; and
3. to identify potential differences in efficiency per-
formance between homogeneous clusters (gro-
ups) of restaurants.
The overall structure of the study takes the form
of four sections, including this introduction. Section
2 begins by laying out the theoretical dimensions of
the research. Section 3 is concerned with the method-
ology, research results, and findings. Finally, the con-
clusion presented in Section 4 gives summary and cri-
tique of the findings.
Literature Review
Traditional Approaches to Efficiency Measurement
The term ‘efficiency’ in economic theory was broadly
defined by Farrell (1957) as the maximum output from
a given set of inputs. Based on his definition, service
industries have historically utilized partial ratio anal-
ysis to analyse a firms’ efficiency and to benchmark
its performance with competitors (Coelli, 1995; Ri-
ley, 1999). Given the labour-intensiveness of tourism-
related businesses, interest in productivity has pre-
dominantly focused on labour and its corollaries (e.g.,
service outcome per employee). While useful for spe-
cific intrafirm analysis, these partial-factor statistics
measures have limited utility, as they reflect only spe-
cific operational attributes. In terms of benchmarking
analysis, these methods have some major drawbacks,
as most partial-factor ratios fail to account for poten-
tially meaningful differences among food-service op-
erations. Therefore, the use of single input-to-output
ratio measures should be treated with extreme inter-
pretative caution (Joppe & Li, 2016). According to As-
saf and Matawie (2009), another potential problem is
that many partial measures (single statistics) could be
difficult to interpret if some indicators move in op-
posite directions over a given period. Nevertheless,
Reynolds and Biel (2007) state that the use of simple
ratio measures remains the most common practice
to evaluate operational performance in the restaurant
industry, although these measures have been proven
to provide limited and inconsistent benchmarking in-
formation. The focus on efficiency measurement has
evolved dramatically since themid-1990s. Building on
Reynolds’ (1998) definition of productivity as the ef-
fective use of resources to achieve operational goals,
researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the
importance of productivity measures that are more
comprehensive than any single-factor indices. Don-
thuHershberger&Osmonbekov (2005) advocated the
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 33
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
need for more rigorous methodological approaches
(presented below) to handle multiple inputs and out-
puts simultaneously. Ideally, these methods would
substantially mitigate shortcomings associated with
traditional measurement techniques.
Efficiency Frontier Approaches – DEA
Efficiency is based on the concept of a production pos-
sibility frontier (Barros, 2005). The production pos-
sibility frontier represents the maximum output at-
tainable from each input level. Productive efficiency,
therefore, refers to whether internal resources in the
production process were used efficiently to produce
operational service capacity effectively (Huang, Ho,
& Chiu, 2014). With the knowledge of the frontier,
one can estimate different components of productive
efficiency – specifically, technical and allocative effi-
ciency. The former reflects a firms’ ability to obtain
maximum outputs from a given set of inputs, whereas
the latter reflects the ability to use the inputs in opti-
mal proportions given their input prices. These two
measures are then combined to provide a measure
of total cost efficiency. Thus, if an organization is al-
locatively and technically efficient, it can be said to
have achieved total cost efficiency. According to As-
saf and Matawie (2009), the efficiency frontier analy-
sis is described as an effective tool for identifying ar-
eas of cost containment and cost reduction. In scien-
tific literature (Coelli, 1995; Reynolds, 2003; Reynolds
& Biel, 2007), different holistic analysis techniques
for efficiency measurement have been proposed. The
most common ones are dea (presented below) and
stochastic frontier analysis, or sfa (a complex para-
metric technique that requires function specification
of the functional form).
While still residing in the output-to-input ratio
measurement domain, dea solves many of the prob-
lems associated with the aforementioned measures
by integrating multiple outputs and inputs simulta-
neously, and it is especially useful for the analysis of
firms that are characterized by multiple resources and
multiple services. This approach allows for both con-
trollable (discretionary) and uncontrollable (nondis-
cretionary) variables, producing a single relative-to-
best productivity index that relates to all units under
comparison. Mathematically, dea is the ratio of the
weighted sum of outputs to the weighted sum of in-
puts (Wei, 2001). On a more general basis, if the num-
ber of inputs and outputs is potentially infinite (this
form of dea is known as the ratio form), the weights
estimated for one unit are such that, when they are
applied to corresponding outputs and inputs in the
analysis, the ratio of weighted outputs to weighted
inputs is less than or equal to 1. Since dea seeks an
optimization contingent on each separate unit perfor-
mance (also referred to as the unit relative efficiency
or productivity) in relation to the performance of all
units, those with the greatest productivity have a score
(P) of 1, suggesting 100 efficiency when compared
with those in the competitive set. Finally, if a firm uses
multiple inputs, defined by the point P (the isoquant
of a fully efficient firm is 1) to produce a unit of out-
put, the technical (in)efficiency ratio could be repre-
sented by the distance to the point P = 1 value, which
is the proportional reduction in all inputs that could
be theoretically achieved without any reduction in the
output(s).
DEA in Restaurant Efficiency Studies
dea has been applied to several restaurant industry
studies (Assaf et al., 2011; Banker & Morey, 1986; Fang
& Hsu, 2014; Hruschka, 1986; Reynolds & Biel, 2007;
Reynolds&Thompson, 2007). For example,Hruschka
(1986) determined differences in efficiency among ten
different restaurant groups, Banker and Morey (1986)
analysed efficiency in a fast-food chain with 60 restau-
rants. Reynolds (2003) used dea to evaluate the per-
formance of a chain restaurant and suggested that the
average efficiency score could be increased by asmuch
as 22. Reynolds and Thompson (2007) further as-
sessed the multiunit restaurant efficiency score for a
chain of 62 full-service restaurants and found that
their average efficiency level was 82. Reynolds and
Biel (2007) analysed the efficiency score of 36 same-
brand units of a casual theme restaurant chain in the
usa. Authors found that only eight units were fully
efficient, with the average efficiency score at 86. In
their study, Roh and Choi (2010) assessed the effi-
ciency of different brands within the same franchisor
using dea; the results indicated a low average effi-
34 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
ciency (73) and showed that the efficiency of each
establishment and brand differed significantly from
the others. Similarly, Assaf et al. (2011) used dea to
assess the efficiency and return to scale of the 105 Aus-
tralian restaurants. The results revealed a low level of
efficiency (on average 46.17) andhighlighted the crit-
ical impact of factors such as restaurant size and man-
agement experience on the efficiency results. A differ-
ent approach was implemented by Taylor, Reynolds, &
Brown (2009) and Fang andHsu (2014). These authors
implemented dea for multiple factor menu analy-
sis to increase menu items’ financial performance. In
their study, Fang and Hsu (2014) also investigated dif-
ferences between two frontiers using the metafrontier
value for different dining periods as well as for the ef-
ficiency of different menu items. The results revealed
that the efficiency of the metafrontier dea method
increased profitability by 15 compared with the tra-
ditional menu engineering method.
O’Donnell, Rao, and Battese (2008) further indi-
cated that dea might also produce inaccurate results
if samples are considered in different environments
(e.g., different dishes served during lunch and dinner,
different chefs’ proficiencies, etc.) and thus should not
be treated as a homogeneous frontier. To account for
this problem, Battese, Rao, and O’Donnell (2004) first
introduced the technology-gap ratio; later, O’Donnell
et al. (2008) introduced the metatechnology-gap ra-
tio (mtr), which quantifies the efficiency of heteroge-
neous groups based on their distances from a common
frontier. As production frontiers may change in differ-
ent periods or even within a single unit analysis, the
traditional (common) production frontier cannot be
applied generally. Therefore O’Donnell et al. (2008)
employed dea to construct a metafrontier to dea
analysis (mdea) by pooling all observations from all
groups and by constructing various group frontiers
to measure their efficiencies and mtrs relative to the
metafrontier. The metafrontier dea model is a com-
plex academic model able to calculate the comparable
efficiencies for firms operating under different tech-
nologies. However, on a daily basis, it provides little in-
formation of practical value for restaurant managers,
and it does not facilitate restaurants’ benchmarking
process (Assaf & Josiassen, 2016).
CA in Restaurant Studies
ca has long been used as a preliminary method for
market segmentation (clustering). Traditionally, re-
searchers’ segment market groups a priori: first select-
ing a defining variable, then segmenting based on this
specific variable. Characteristics of the segments are
then described based on the specifics of this original
descriptor variable (e.g., lifestyle, demographic, geo-
graphic measures etc.), as well as other distinguishing
attributes. Often consumers are grouped by age, gen-
der, service preferences or purpose (Yüksel & Yüksel,
2003). While these descriptive methods provide use-
ful data, they cannot reveal objective patterns or im-
ply causation. Therefore, scholars (Mooi & Sarstedt,
2011) call for the industry to implement multivariate
statistical techniques instead of traditional descrip-
tive methods to gain a better understanding of mar-
ket segments. One of these multivariate methods is
ca, which is commonly used in tourism (mostly hotel
and travel) andmarketing research to segment market
groups.
In terms of restaurant industry research, only few
studies have used this technique for segmenting restau-
rant guests (Carlson, Kinsey, & Nadav, 2002; Gursoy,
McCleary, & Lepsito, 2003; Swinyard& Struman, 1986;
Yüksel & Yüksel, 2003) and managers (Marzuki, Hall,
& Ballantine, 2014). As Duncan, Josiam, Kim, and
Kalldin (2015, p. 1381) point out: ‘Since 2000 the ca
has increased in popularity but is still infrequently
used in the academic literature pertaining to the restau-
rant industry to divide customers into distinct market
segments.’
To date, no research has been found that measured
restaurant efficiency pre-based on ca, although this
approach has been widely used in other service in-
dustries, such as hotels (Denizci Guillet, Guo, & Law,
2015), banks (Dharmapala &Edirisuriya, 2011), and lo-
gistics (Marchetti & Wanke, 2017).
Research Methodology
Instrument Development and Variable Identification
A questionnaire was developed for this research. It
comprised over 25 items and was grouped into two
major areas: general information about respondent
(manager) and restaurant facility. General informa-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 35
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
tion items (primary data) derived from previous stud-
ies (Fang & Hsu, 2014; Kukanja & Planinc, 2013; Rey-
nolds & Taylor, 2011) and were used for classification
purposes in the ca analysis (see Table 2). In the next
step, financial variables (secondary data) for restau-
rants efficiency assessment (dea) were identified.
According to Reynolds (2004), the application of
dea to the restaurant industry is particularly advan-
tageous because the method accommodates both con-
trollable input variables (those within managers’ pur-
view; e.g., labour hours, cost of goods, employee satis-
faction, etc.) and uncontrollable input variables (envi-
ronmental factors; e.g., number of competitors, park-
ing capacity, number of seats, rent and taxes, location,
etc.). Similarly, the selection of output variables en-
ables the inclusion of several financial (e.g., operating
revenue, gross profit, etc.) and non-financial variables
(e.g., guest satisfaction, restaurant popularity, etc.).
According to Sigala (2003), the analysis process can
include any number of input and output variables.
While the number of potential variables is relatively
limitless, the literature review suggests that some (e.g.,
revenue) are ‘essential,’ while others offer provoca-
tive possibilities. Reynolds (2003) and Reynolds and
Thompson (2007) proposed the basic groups of vari-
ables that have proved to be important for restaurants’
efficiency analysis: financial, physical, and compos-
ite (reflecting both financial and physical variables).
Regarding outputs, the critical variables are revenue,
profit, guest/employee satisfaction, and retention eq-
uity. Regarding inputs, financial measures that have
proven to be significant include labour costs, cost of
goods sold, controllable fixed expenses, and uncon-
trollable expenses. Physical inputs that have proven to
be important include service capacity (square footage
or number of seats) and environmental characteris-
tics (e.g., competitive conditions) (Reynolds & Tay-
lor, 2011). According to Lynn (2001), the validity and
usefulness of such a generalised approach to variable
selection is somewhat problematic, as, due to lack of
available and reliable information, researchers often
base their studies on several assumptions. For exam-
ple, Reynolds and Thompson (2007) used restaurant
sales as a surrogate for profitability, since they did not
have access to profitability data. Reynolds (2004) used
charged tips as a surrogate measure of customer sat-
isfaction; similarly, Reynolds and Thompson (2007)
also assumed that paid gratuities serve as an adequate
measure of customer satisfaction. According toWöber
(2007), all dea variables must be thoroughly prese-
lected in accordance with the availability of reliable
data.
The major advantage of the present study is that it
avoids the problem of assumptions (surrogates) and
subjective self-reported primary data. In the present
study, secondary financial data provided by the na-
tional tax authorities were used to assess restaurants
efficiency. Prior to applying dea, the authors of the
present study ensured that each input was related to at
least one output (see Table 1), as previously suggested
by Reynolds (2003).
The analysis beganwith pre-selecting the financial-
based input variables. To begin this process, all oper-
ating items included in the standardized profit and
loss (p&l) report were used as potential input vari-
ables. Based on the correlation analysis, only the fol-
lowing operational variables had positive correlations
(p < 0.01) and were therefore suitable for the subse-
quent dea application: f&b cost of goods sold, cost
of part-time employees, cost of full-time employees,
and depreciation (see Table 1). Regarding output vari-
ables, only net sales revenues were included in the
study. Specifically, a potentially negative financial out-
put value in dea (e.g., negative profit) might project
this inefficient unit onto the efficient frontier as a ra-
dial expansion and make the mix of efficiency results
even more negative.
The results of the correlational analysis clearly in-
dicate that only five financial variables are suitable for
efficiency measurement using dea.
Data Collection and Sample Description
Given the research objectives, datawere collected from
142 restaurant sms located throughout the country.
Since the identification of a competitive set is cru-
cial for a successful benchmarking process (Barrows,
Vieira, & DiPietro, 2015), the authors of the present
study focused only on those restaurants that operate
with comparable operational variables. This research
is, therefore, predicated on the following precondi-
36 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
Table 1 Correlation Coefficients between Input and Output Variables
Input Output
Acquisition costa Costs of services Labour costs Depreciation
Net sales revenues Pearson Correlation .** .** .** .**
Sig. (-tailed) .** .** .** .**
Notes a Of goods and material sold and costs of material. **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
tions: smes with similar physical characteristics offi-
cially classified as restaurants, inns, or snack facilities;
independently run restaurant facilities (not part of a
hotel or food chain); and the restaurant business is the
only source of income in restaurant firms’ financial
statements. The last of these preconditions presented
one of the major challenges to identifying appropriate
sample firms. Specifically, restaurant firms often di-
versify their business activities, which are aggregated
in common financial statements; restaurant firms are
frequently officially registered for several business ac-
tivities; seasonal facilities are commonly registered as
full-time businesses; and closed facilities are not au-
tomatically deleted from the official business regis-
ter. To ensure that all restaurant units included in the
studymatched the research criteria, randomly selected
businesses (n = 850) were pre-checked by ten inter-
viewers in a vast field research during the winter and
spring of 2017. If the restaurant appeared to match the
research criteria and the manager agreed to partici-
pate in the study, the manager was asked to complete
the questionnaire by providing general information
about himself and the restaurant. The final analysis is,
therefore, based on 137 independently operated restau-
rants located throughout the country (five restaurants
were excluded from further analysis due to incomplete
data).
In the next step, restaurant firms’ annual financial
reports (balance sheets and income statements), which
are in the public domain under Slovene legislation,
were thoroughly analysed. The authors of this study
focused on the 2016 fiscal year. Namely, in 2016 fis-
cal cash registers (also referred to as fiscal memory
devices are electronic devices used for registering and
controlling tax revenuesat a point of sale) were imple-
mented. Therefore, it can be assumed that the official
financial data represented a solid base for reliable effi-
ciency analysis.
Analysis and Findings
In the first step, descriptive statistics were used to anal-
yse respondents’ demographics and restaurants’ phys-
ical characteristics (n = 137). Most respondents were
slightly less than 45 years of age on average, and the
sample was composed of a majority of male man-
agers (60.1). The highest number of managers had
completed secondary (vocational) education (70.9);
26.4 of managers had acquired a high school educa-
tion; 2 had finished elementary school; and 0.7 of
managers had obtained a master’s degree. On average,
managers had 21 years of experience in the industry. In
addition to demographic data, restaurant characteris-
tics were also analysed. Results show that most restau-
rants (41.1) employed from six to ten employees, fol-
lowed by restaurants employing two to five employees
(31.5), while only four restaurants (2.7) employed
more than 20workers.On average, the restaurants had
less than 20 years of business activity (19.9 years), co-
inciding with managers’ (owners’) average years of ex-
perience (21 years). Following Reynolds (2004), man-
agers were asked to indicate the number of competi-
tors within a 1 km radius.
Results reveal a relatively uniform distribution of
responses regarding the number of competitors. Most
managers (28.4) indicated one to two competitors,
18.2 of managers identified no competition, and
17.6 of managers identified more than seven com-
petitors within 1 km radius.
A ca was applied to classify restaurants into mu-
tually exclusive groups (physical and managerial vari-
ables). ca was conducted using spss 24. The two
step ca was used, since it can automatically deter-
mine the optimal number of clusters. This method
is conducted in two steps. Formation of original cases
into pre-clusters is the first step, followed by the sec-
ond step, in which the standard hierarchical clustering
algorithm is used. In the second step, the pre-clusters
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 37
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
are combined into optimal number of clusters (Liew,
2013). In addition, with this method, data transforma-
tion is not required. The log-likelihood measure was
used to reveal natural clusters. Schwarz’s Bayesian in-
formation criterionwas used to determine the optimal
number of clusters. A drawback of this method is that
missing values are not allowed and, therefore, cases
with missing values are not included in the analysis
(ibm Knowledge Center, 2013).
A two-cluster solution (see Table 2) was identified
based on the following variables: managers’ age; man-
agers’ years of experience; years of restaurant opera-
tion; and number of seats. The two clusters are com-
parable by their size (cluster 1 = 68 restaurants; clus-
ter 2 = 69 restaurants). To provide additional distinc-
tive information about the two clusters and to confirm
significant differences between variables in each clus-
ter, an independent-samples T test was performed. As
shown in Table 2, there were statistically significant
differences between variables in both clusters.
• Cluster 1: Smaller – Younger and Less Experienced.
As shown in Table 2, restaurants in this cluster (n
= 68) had fewer seats (98 seats) and fewer years of
business operation (11.8 years). In contrast with
the other cluster, managers of this cluster were
much younger (37.97 years) and with less profes-
sional experiences (15.02 years). Therefore, this
cluster was designated as ‘smaller – younger and
less experienced.’
• Cluster 2: Bigger – Older and More Experienced.
Compared with the other cluster, this cluster (n
= 69) was characterized by bigger sitting capacity
(146.91 seats), and older (52.19 years) and much
more experienced managers (29.46 years). In ac-
cordance with its dominant characteristics, this
cluster was named ‘bigger – older and more ex-
perienced.’
The results of ca clearly indicate that restaurant
smes can be classified in two distinctive groups based
on managerial and physical characteristics.
In the next step, dea was performed using deap
Version 2.1 software. The input-oriented dea model,
which measures a unit’s ability to convert inputs to
outputs, was employed, as suggested by Reynolds and
Biel (2007). Radial efficiency measures were taken us-
ing the dea-ccr model. This model provides an ob-
jective method to structure various measures into a
single (aggregate) meaningful performance score of
technical efficiency (Roh & Choi, 2010), which leads
to the unit-efficiency scores described in the following
section. The ccr model presumes constant returns to
scale (crs), whichmeans that an increase in inputs re-
sults in a proportionate increase in the output levels.
Seiford (1996) referred to this practice as ‘relative effi-
ciency,’ since a unit’s variables are calculated to maxi-
mize the efficiency ratio, followed by comparing them
to similar ratios of the best performing units.
Building on the correlation results fromTable 1, the
final set of variables included four input variables and
one output variable. Following Fang and Hsu (2014),
a fixed selection of input variables was chosen. The
selected financial variables present key input elements
(also referred to as requisite assets) of any restaurant
production process (labour, direct materials, produc-
tion assets). The items in the preceding parentheses
are expressed in financial terms as labour cost, cost
of goods sold, and depreciation, respectively. Most
restaurants are privately owned; therefore, their man-
agers do not have to pay rent. As the restaurant busi-
ness is the managers’ only source of income, net sales
revenues were used as an output variable to complete
dea.
First, the efficiency for the overall sample was anal-
ysed (n = 137). Results indicate that 21 of the units were
efficient (showing scores of 100), with the average ef-
ficiency score at 85, which indicates that restaurants
in the sample are 15 from achieving their maximum
efficiency. The lowest-scoring restaurant had an ef-
ficiency score of 0.56 (or 56), while 54 restaurants
were above the average efficiency score (85), and 62
restaurants were below the average efficiency score.
The results also revealed that, in most restaurants,
the cost of goods and cost of part-time employees are
well-managed and provide little room for improve-
ment. When analysing underperforming restaurants,
it is evident that principal areas of potential efficiency
enhancement are depreciation and labour costs. Com-
paring the two results, the underperforming restau-
rants could, on average, decrease their depreciation
38 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
Table 2 Average Values of Variables in Both Clusters
Variable Cluster  (n = ) Cluster  (n = ) t-values
Age of the managers . . –.*
Years of managers’ experience in the industry . . –.*
Years of restaurant operation . . –.*
Number of seats in restaurant . . –.*
Notes *t-values significant at the 0.000 level (2-tailed).
costs by more than 36 and their labour costs by more
than 23 to achieve the same level of net sales rev-
enues.
Next, efficiency was analysed within each cluster.
The relative efficiencies of each subset demonstrated
that the restaurants in Cluster 1 achieved an average
efficiency score of 83, while restaurants in Cluster 2
achieved an average efficiency score of 87. The dif-
ference of efficiency achievement in both clusters was
statistically significant (p < 0.05).
A possible explanation for these results might be
that bigger restaurants performed better due to the
economies of scale (measured as sitting capacity),
which resulted in cost advantages due to their scale
of operation. This conclusion is in line with previ-
ous results (Assaf et al., 2011). Another source of scale
economies is the possibility of purchasing inputs at
a lower per unit cost purchased in large quantities.
These results are likely to be related tomanagers’ years
of experience. More experienced managers seem to
better organise the production cycle in terms of effi-
ciency management than their younger colleagues. As
managers’ years of experience seem to prevail, further
long term studies that account for these variables will
need to be undertaken.
According toAssaf et al. (2011), differences inmeth-
odologies and data used in different studies can in-
terfere with the comparison of dea efficiency results.
Nevertheless, the efficiency scores identified in our
study are mostly in line with the findings of previ-
ous studies. For example, Assaf et al. (2011) reported
that Australian restaurants operate with an average ef-
ficiency score at 46.17, while Fang and Hsu (2014)
identified the average scores of two same-franchise
restaurants in the usa as 87 (lunch) and 89 (din-
ner). Similarly, Reynolds and Biel (2007) reported that
the average efficiency score of corporate-owned, same-
brand casual theme restaurants in usa was 86; in a
similar study, Reynolds and Thompson (2007) iden-
tified the average score as 82. By analysing three
brands’ restaurants operating under the same fran-
chisor in usa, Roh and Choi (2010) concluded that
their average efficiency score is 73. The comparison
of results reveals that restaurants in Slovenia are rela-
tively successful (in terms of efficiency scores).
Conclusion
This article has addressed the issue of efficiency mea-
surement for the Slovenian restaurant industry. Re-
search results suggest that the average level of restau-
rant smes’ efficiency in Slovenia is 85. These results
suggest that a substantial reduction in cost could be
obtained if managers were to improve their current
performance practices. The second major finding was
that both identified groups of restaurants operate with
different average efficiency scores – ‘Smaller – younger
and less experienced’ (83) and ‘Bigger – older and
more experienced’(87).
The analysis was based on the ca-dea model,
which allows the integration of multiple environmen-
tal variables in determining the relative efficiency of
differentmarket groups. The results of this study clearly
support the effectiveness of such approach as different
efficiency scores for both groups of restaurants were
identified. The insight of this method paints a deeper
image of efficiency measurement, allowing for schol-
ars and practitioners to develop tailored plans for effi-
ciency improvement of different restaurant groups.
The present time is highly challenging for the res-
taurant industry. Increased efficiency and appropriate
management seem to be the prerequisites for long-
termfinancial survival (Hua&Lee, 2014). The fact that
the industry is made up largely of smes poses ma-
jor challenges in relation to increasing the overall effi-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 39
Tanja Planinc et al. Classification and Efficiency Analysis of Slovenian Restaurant SMEs
ciency of the restaurant industry. Previous attempts at
restaurant industry assessment mainly focused on in-
dustry reports (Roh&Choi, 2010) andmanagers’ feed-
back (Reynolds, 2004). The current study is the first
to introduce reliable and comparable financial indica-
tors, providing amore comprehensive and comparable
assessment of restaurants’ efficiency.
The results of this study could benefit the indus-
try in several ways. First, we have provided restau-
rant managers with an opportunity to assess their
level of performance against other competitors and
to re-evaluate their management practices relative to
efficient producers. Second, accurate efficiency mea-
surement can provide a significant competitive advan-
tage (e.g., operational optimization, employee perfor-
mance management, etc.). Third, results can also be
compared to regional operators that operate in com-
parable market circumstances. In sum, these results
should draw the attention of managers to the poten-
tial improvements in overall performance, in terms of
both effective utilization of inputs and financial per-
formance.
While provocative, this study has several limita-
tions. Firstly, dea is not stochastic in nature, which
means it does not allow for an error structure. Sec-
ondly, as there is no general, industry-wide acceptable
method regarding the inclusion of variables, we fo-
cused on financial indicators. However, the inclusion
of other variables (e.g., guest satisfaction) might help
us to establish more accuracy on this matter. The ma-
jor limitation of this study is the limitation to one year
of operational data. Therefore, the investigated rela-
tionships could differ from country to country (espe-
cially outside the eu) due to industrial composition,
industry regulations, and other factors.
What is nowneeded is a longitudinal, cross-nation-
al study with a substantially larger dataset. More re-
search is needed to better understand the efficiency of
restaurants, especially in terms of determining the best
performing practices. A follow-up qualitative study
(interviews with managers), as previously done by
Hummel and Murphy (2011), could also provide ad-
ditional information. Given the growing importance
of both financial and non-financial disclosures, it is
suggested that future studies incorporate a set of non-
financial measures of performance (e.g., innovation;
corporate social responsibility). Finally, performing a
similar study on different service industries could sig-
nificantly contribute to the existing body of research.
In terms of practical implications, these findings
suggest several courses of action for restaurant man-
agers. The identification of the importance of differ-
ent variables for efficiency performance (established
restaurants with more seats, and older and more ex-
perienced managers proved to be more efficient) and
the identification of average efficiency ratios provides
a starting point for managers to study the processes of
their own businesses and to easily benchmark distinc-
tive differences in comparison to other properties.
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42 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Original Scientific Article
Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel):
Case Study of Slovenia
Saša Zupan Korže
Vanadis d.o.o., Slovenia
sasa.zupan@vanadis.si
In the second decade of the 21st century, Albergo Diffuso (ad), a new type of tourist
accommodation,which originated in Italy, emerged in other countries of Europe, e.g.
in Croatia, Switzerland, Slovenia and others. The purpose of this paper is to set out
an in-depth understanding of how ad is understood in Italy and to present the evo-
lutionary path of ads in Slovenia. The goals of the research are (a) to point out the
key characteristics of ad, its structural and legal features as implemented in Italy, (b)
to compare ad to a traditional hotel and (c) to present the first Slovenian ad with
some related legal and organisational considerations. The research started in June
and was completed in December 2017. A number of different qualitative methods
were used in the process of data collection (review of existing literature, websites,
regulations and four in-depth semi-structured interviews, two site-observations)
anddata processing (description, compilation, comparison, analysis, interpretation).
The limited amount of available data was the prime reason for the use of a descrip-
tive type of research. Results of the study are presented according to the research
goals. Firstly, the results show that ads in Italy are understood to be a formal sub-
type of hotel with the following characteristics: with deep ties to the surrounding
territory and the local culture, with some special physical features and a hospitality
service that distinguishes them from traditional hotels and other traditional types
of private tourist accommodations. Secondly, several initiatives for creating ads in
Slovenia started after 2010; however, only one was realised: in December 2017 the
first ad, Konjice, was opened, even though official tourism documents in Slovenia
are still overlooking the concept. The contribution of the paper is to provide insight
into the evolution of ad in Italy and to present the evolution of ads in Slovenia de-
spite the gap between the strategic approach of Slovene tourism policy makers and
the private tourism sector. ads are a somewhat new research topic. There are some
research studies about ads in Italy and Croatia, but none about ads in Slovenia.
This paper represents the first step in filling this gap, which calls for further studies
on ads in Slovenia.
Keywords: Albergo Diffuso (ad), diffused/dispersed hotels (dh), scattered hotels,
legal framework, organisational issues
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.43-56
Introduction
Tourist accommodations (tacs) are various func-
tionally designed spaces used by travellers for tempo-
rary stays: hotels, motels, private rooms, apartments,
campsites, etc. There are some key facts about tacs
evident fromcurrent theory andpractice. Firstly, tacs
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 43
Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
differ from each other according to the technical char-
acteristics, content and quality of their facilities and
services (Vallen & Vallen, 2013; Cerović, 2010). Sec-
ondly, due to different cultural, geographical and his-
torical characteristics of individual countries, the cri-
teria for tac classification vary among countries.
Thirdly, countries differ from each other with respect
to whether tacs are (or are not) regulated by the
state. Fourthly, there are types of tacs that are spe-
cific for certain countries, e.g. paradores in Spain (http:
//www.paradores-spain.com), pousadas in Portugal
(https://www.pousadas.pt), Albergo Diffuso in Italy
(http://www.alberghidiffusi.it), and diffused and in-
tegrated hotels in Croatia (‘Pravilnik o razvrstavanju,
kategorizaciji i posebnim standardima ugostiteljskih
objekata iz skupine hoteli,’ 2016).
Since the turn of the millennium, new forms/types
of tacs have been created: e.g. glamping, tree houses,
ice rooms, ‘capsules’ etc. (Page & Connell, 2014). Some
of them are – due to their innovative design – difficult
to classify according to standard criteria. In Slove-
nia, innovative developments in the field of tacs
has been evident in Garden Village in Bled (https:
//gardenvillagebled.com), Herbal in Ljubno (http://
www.charmingslovenia.com), Ecoresort beneath Ve-
lika Planina (http://sloveniaecoresort.com), and oth-
ers. Slovenian tacs of this new era are innovative in
the functional arrangement of their accommodation
units or in their comprehensive, holistic hospitality
facilities and services. Officially, they are classified ac-
cording to Slovenian regulations. However, for mar-
keting purposes they use – instead of an official tac
type – terms that briefly indicate their facilities and
services (e.g. tourist ecological complex, glamping re-
sort, etc.). Guests reward their service with excellent
reviews (see, e.g., https://www.booking.com or https:
//www.tripadvisor.com).
Different types of tac meet the requirements of
the different target niches of tourists. Experience from
ads in Italy indicates that ads have specific charac-
teristics that are particularly attractive to a certain
niche of traveller. This paper aims to explore them
and to investigate its potentials in Slovenia.
In this paper, we present the answers to the follow-
ing research questions:
1. What was the evolution path of ads in Italy from
the initial idea until the present?
2. How has the idea of ad evolved in Slovenia?
3. What are the organisational and legal frame-
works for ad in Slovenia?
Theoretical Background
Terminology
ad is an Italian phenomenon (Confalonieri, 2011) and
a relatively new research topic (Presenza, Yucelen, &
Camillo, 2016; Russo, Lombardi, & Mangiagli, 2013).
Thus, the amount of research is rather limited, par-
ticularly that of a quantitative nature. Most existing
research studies on ad are qualitative and geographi-
cally limited, mostly to Italy and Croatia.
The review of existing literature revealed some dif-
ferent approaches of scholars and practitioners to the
topic, e.g. use of different terms when the Italian term
‘ad’ is translated to English, different viewpoints of re-
searching ad, etc.
In the existing literature, there are several different
translations of ‘ad:’ ‘diffuse hotels’ (Županović, 2015),
‘diffused hotels’ (Ðurkin & Kolarić, 2016; Dragicevic,
Tomasevic, Stanovic, &Avejic, 2016; Russo et al., 2013),
‘scattered hotels’ (Scarcelli, 2017; Pollice, 2016; Fumo
& Feltria, 2012) and ‘widespread hotels’ (Monge, Cat-
taneo, & Scillia, 2015). The majority of authors use
the original Italian word: ‘ad’ (Ideass, n.d.; Verges
Palazon, 2016; De Montis, Serra, Ledda, & Ganciu,
2014; Valone & Veglio, 2013; Dropulić, Krajnović &
Ružić, 2008). ‘Difuzni hotel’ is the official expression
for ad in Croatia (‘Pravilnik o razvrstavanju, kate-
gorizaciji i posebnim standardima ugostiteljskih ob-
jekata iz skupine hoteli,’ 2016). The corresponding ex-
pression for ad in the Slovene language is ‘razpršeni
hotel’ (http://razprsenihotel.si; Blatnik, 2017). How-
ever, Slovenes translate the term in English as ‘dis-
tributed hotel’ (http://razprsenihotel.si) or ‘diffusion
hotel’ (Blatnik, 2017). Those two terms are exceptions
to the existing English-related literature on ad. In this
paper, we use the original Italian term ad or ads (for
plural).
Scholars and practitioners define ad from differ-
ent perspectives. ad is understood as a:
44 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
• Tourist/hospitality model: a form of innovative
tourist facilities and services (Dragicević et al.,
2016), a new kind of hospitality (De Montis et
al., 2014), a hospitality model (Vallone & Veglio,
2013), an innovative form of hospitality (Ideass,
n.d.), a hospitality concept (Dragicevic & Letu-
nic, 2015; Verges Palazon, 2016);
• Sub-type of hotel: new hotel model (Monge, Cat-
taneo & Scillia, 2015), particular type of hotel
(Ideass, n.d.), a new alternative to traditional
tacs (Canfalonieri, 2011), emerging concept of
hotel typology (Presenza, Yucelen & Camillo,
2016), or
• Tourist accommodationmanagement system (De
Montis et al., 2014).
Characteristics
Dall’Ara (2015) defines an ad as an original model of
hospitality and a model for tourism development of
the territory. It is suitable for the ‘third generation’ of
tourists who desire to experience a unique vacation,
new and different places, personalised services, au-
thenticity andwant to immerse themselves in the local
cultures and unique situations (Ideass, n.d., Dall’Ara,
2015; Verges Palazon, 2016). Dall’Ara thinks ‘of an ad
as a novel that tells the story of a culture. Guests are
brought into the story temporarily, so they better un-
derstand the way of life’ (Murphy, 2011).
An ad is characterised by its deep ties with the
surrounding territory and the local culture; in fact,
territory and culture are an integral part of its service
(Vallone, Orlandini & Cecchetti, 2013). It provides an
experience of authentic life in a historical centre (or
rural village) – ‘network of “local flavour” houses, un-
inhabited and pre-existing, that are able to operate as
a hotel’ (Monge, Cattaneo & Scillia, 2015, p. 69).
The innovation lies in the involvement of differ-
ent tourism-related services that develop a form of
hospitality under one coordinatedmanagement. They
intend to valorise the potentialities of the area, e.g.
culture, history, traditions, food products, scenery etc.
with little impact to the environment. Despite having
different owners, the unified management promotes
the integrated service of the territory (Vallone & Veg-
Table 1 Combination of Feelings in an ad
Feeling at home Feeling in a hotel
Courtesy and kindness Provision of professional
services
Authenticity Efficiency
Non-standardised rooms Easy booking
Local and warm furniture Variety of tariffs, according
to the different rooms
Attention to details Comfort
Link with the territory Wide range of services
Contacts with the local
residents
Contacts with other guests
Informal environment Privacy
Notes Adapted from Ideass (n.d., p. 4).
lio, 2013). An ad offers guests some typical hotel ser-
vice, e.g. customer assistance, cleaning, food, beverage
etc. (Dall’Ara, 2010) and promotes other activities e.g.
selling of local products, storytelling, local guidance
etc. Dragičević & Letunić (2015) present an ad as a
concept that connects small tourism providers in a
specific small geographic area into a broader andmore
complete range of tourist services.
This new kind of hospitality is based on a network
of houses built usually in a historic centre or in a vil-
lage. The visitors have the opportunity to ‘live the area’
by taking part of the life in it while enjoying the com-
fort of a hotel (De Montis et al., 2014, p. 1).
A set of distinctive features enable an ad to estab-
lish itself on the tourist market as a competitive player
(Vallone, Orlandini & Cecchetti, 2013). It positions it-
self ‘between the idea of [the] family house and tra-
ditional hotel accommodation’ (Presenza, Yucelen &
Camillo, 2016, p. 226). Due to its features, an ad com-
bines feelings of home and of hotel (see http://www
.alberghidiffusi.it). A combination of both is presented
in Table 1.
From a technical point of view, an ad is charac-
terised by a horizontal framework, not a vertical one
as in a traditional hotel. Its components are ‘scattered’
within different buildings in the same urban (rural)
area; thus, it is not a typical condominium-like tra-
ditional hotel (see http://www.alberghidiffusi.it). The
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Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
centre of an ad is located in the main building with
reception and common spaces. In the inner lobby, the
receptionist informs guest about activities in the are.
Examples of local art and handicrafts reinforce the
identity of the locality. A local urban centre, which
guests feel to be a lively welcoming community, repre-
sents the outer lobby of an ad (Vallone, Orlandini &
Cecchetti, 2013). Accommodation units are scattered
around the area within walking distance to the main
building.
The characteristics of an ad can be summarised as
(Central Europe Programme, 2013):
• Joint management;
• Presence of common areas for the hotel guests;
• Range of hotel services (cleaning, breakfast, re-
ception, assistance to the guests);
• Presence of hosting community;
• Integration in the territory and in its culture;
• Honest environment;
• Reasonable distance between guest units and ar-
eas (200–300 m).
Ideass (n.d.) points out the following advantages of
ads. Firstly, an ad generates high-quality services in
local areas and territories on a sustainable basis. There
are no negative environmental impacts while existing
houses are restored and networked, not newly built.
They prevent the abandoning of historic centres. Fur-
thermore, they help to develop and network the local
tourist supply and increase sustainable tourism devel-
opment in the off-the-beaten-track areas.
Promoting participation within the local communi-
ties is a particular benefit of ads. Stakeholders in the
local community become aware of the advantages of
the image, social life, economic returns and preserva-
tion of the resources. Non-productive space of pub-
lic administration can get a new function – common
space for tourists. New events and new personal assis-
tance services can be encouraged by local associations.
The owner of houses starts to look at their property in
a different manner. Local enterprises and the services
sector (e.g. handicraft, food and fine sector) can use
ads as a means of increasing their revenues (ibid.).
This ‘innovative form of hospitality can bring [. . .]
sustainable development, triggering economic anima-
tion and providing opportunities for the balanced util-
isation of the local resources and tourist potentials’
(Ideass, n.d., p. 6). The guidelines of the ad model re-
spect the value of sustainable development in many
ways (Racin, 2012):
• Promote local culture (visitors select an ad to
enjoy an authentic local experience);
• Stimulate the local economy (ads encourage
homeowners to participate in an organisation
(sometimes a cooperative) and support the de-
velopment of small business in traditional sec-
tors, e.g. handicrafts, food preparation, other lo-
cal products);
• Protect the environment (preserving existing bu-
ildings and giving them ‘a new lease on life’).
The organisational structure and ownership of ads
are not determined.An ad canbe constituted through
a private initiative (by one or more entrepreneurs)
or in a coalition of the public and private sectors on
the particular area (Confalonieri, 2011). Dropulić et al.
(2008) point out three ownership structures:
• One owner (e.g. family, with special arrange-
ments for rent with the owners of rooms and
apartments);
• A commune as a hotel owner (e.g. ‘community
hotel,’ the Bethlehem experience – Pollice, 2016);
• Common rooms fund run by a cooperative.
For Ideass (n.d.), there are twomajorways to create
an ad:
• An investor purchases or rents the accommoda-
tion units and becomes the manager;
• A group of locals creates a consortium and dele-
gate the management of the structure to a private
subject, e.g. to the cooperative.
In the initial phase of creating an ad, the local ad-
ministration plays an essential role. Its priority is to
‘incubate’ the idea of the ad in the local area and sup-
port it, e.g. with the facilitation of the legal aspect, in-
vestments in local infrastructure, etc. It is deeply en-
gaged in the first step in the path of creating an ad
that continues with (Ideass, n.d.):
46 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
• Territorial analysis (verifying the existence
of conditions for creating an ad);
• Marketing analysis;
• Technical phase (preparing a sound business
plan);
• Provision of start-up support (financing);
• Management.
The characteristics of the environment (the terri-
torial ties and the influence of the local community on
the structure), the characteristics related to the mar-
ket or to the market segment, and the strategies im-
plemented by the economic actors are the three most
important classes of critical success factors for an ad
(Monge, Cattaneo & Scillia, 2015; Vallone, Orlandini
& Cecchetti, 2013). However, all three critical success
factors have value only if some basic determinants of
territorial attractiveness exist: (a) the presence of a ter-
ritorial network, (b) the sensitivity of the population
to the management theme and (c) the legislation that
allows the development of the initiatives (ibid.). Thus,
there has to be ‘a strong organic link between an ad
and its territory;’ an ad has to be connected to local
characteristics (e.g. morphological, climate, wildlife,
economic production etc.) and socio-cultural specific
features that ‘the flow of history has produced in that
territory’ (Vallone, Orlandini & Cecchetti, 2013, p. 32).
It is necessary that a national (or regional) adminis-
tration formally recognise an ad as a new type of hos-
pitality and in this way enable it in legal and economic
terms. Moreover, governments have to set up special
financial schemes to support the creation and opera-
tion of ads (Ideass, n.d.; Vallone, Orlandini, & Cec-
chetti, 2013; Russo et al., 2013).
Methodology
The research was conducted in Slovenia from June to
December 2017. For data collection and for data pro-
cessing different qualitative methods were used that
corresponded to the research goals.
Data were collected from primary and secondary
sources. The following relevant secondary sourceswere
used: scientific and professional articles, magazines,
books, tourism-specific regulations in Italy and in
Slovenia, websites, media official pages and other ma-
terials. Data from primary sources were collected (a)
during four in-depth semi-structured interviews and
(b) during site-observations at ad Konjice, Slovenske
Konjice. Site-observation helped us to collect addi-
tional data to examine specific relevant facts or to clar-
ify the data collected with other methods.
To achieve the research goals, interviewees were
sought to provide relevant information:
1. On strategy and on the legal framework on ads
in Slovenia;
2. On operational activities on ads development
in the state.
The results of the preliminary investigation on par-
ticipants in interviews showed that there were four
relevant people who were engaged in ad projects in
Slovenia: two representatives of the government and
two representatives of the tac sector, who were in-
volved in ad operational projects in Slovenia.
1. Secretary of State, responsible for tourism at the
Ministry for Economics, Development and Tech-
nology (hereinafter mgrt). This interviewee was
themost relevant participant to provide informa-
tion on current and future regulatory framework
on ads in Slovenia.
2. Secretary of State in the Cabinet of the President
of Government of Republic of Slovenia responsi-
ble for establishing a dialogue with civil society,
for coordination of citizen initiatives and for so-
cial entrepreneurship (hereinafter Secretary of
the State in Government). The interviewee has
been involved in developing and implementing
ideas about ads in Slovenia from its beginning.
He was also engaged in an operational phase of
opening the first ad in Slovenia.
3. Two representatives of the private sector, involved
in ads in Slovenia: the project manager of the
first ad in Slovenia (ad Konjice) and the initia-
tor of another potential ad in Slovenia.
All four potential participantswere asked to partic-
ipate in this research, informed by the research goals
and asked for permission to use their names. We sent
them reminders with the pre-set interview-questions
in advance.
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Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
The research questions were adapted to the area
of evolvement of each participant in the interview
and designed to elicit answers to the research ques-
tions. Different open-ended questions were prepared
for each participant (Table 2).
The interviews with the Secretary of the State in
mgrt, with the Project Manager of ad Konjice and
with the initiator of another ad in Slovenia were con-
ducted by the author of the research in person at the
interviewees’ premises; however, the interview with
the Secretary of the State in Government was con-
ducted over the telephone. Each interview lasted an
hour on average. The statements of the interviewees
were documented in writing while the interview was
being carried out. Particular attention was paid to
make verbatim notes of the most interesting state-
ments.
Data were processed by using the method of con-
tent analysis. For the first part of the results section,
the method of description and compilation were used
and in the second part, content analysis of data from
semi-structured interviews. A part of the findings is
presented in the interviewee’s own words. Most of-
ten, their comments, answers and points of view are
paraphrased. Observations, data and answers are in-
terpreted and significant findings highlighted.
Results
Results of the research are presented in the parts of the
section, following the answers to the research ques-
tions. In the first part, the results of the research on
the evolution of ad in Italy in the last two decades are
presented and in the second part the results of how
the concept of ad has been transformed from an idea
to the opening of the first ad in Slovenia. In the third
subpart, the results highlight the organisational and le-
gal framework for establishing an ad in Slovenia.
Evolution of AD in Italy
The ad is an Italian concept that ‘combines the very
old with the contemporary’ (Racin, 2012). It was orig-
inated in 1982 in Carnia, in the Italian Region Friuli
Venezia Giulia. After the severe devastation of the ter-
ritory caused by the earthquake in 1976, a technical
working group aimed to restore and improve small
centres. Giancarlo Dall’Ara, a professor of marketing,
engineered a new hospitality model: ad (Ideass, n.d;
Vallone & Veglio, 2013).
Initially, the ad was thought to respond to the
need of restoring houses in historic centres that were
not attractive as tourist resources (Ideass, n.d.). In the
following years, amodel of the ad spread to others re-
gions in Italy. As a formof ‘distributed hospitality’ ads
have changed the perceptions of Italian tourist facil-
ities and services (Dall’Ara, 2015). Differences among
ads that appear within the country are metaphori-
cally described as ‘artists’ palettes with colours’ (Drop-
ulić et al., 2008, p. 610). In 2017, one of Italy’s leading
newspapers, La Republica, reported on 200 ads in
Italy. Only 76 reflected the idea of mixing preservation
and hospitality; of those only 35 are officially accred-
ited (see http://www.reidsitaly.com). The ad has been
registered as a trademark valid at the European level
(Ideass, n.d.).
Common aspects of an ad are the following (see
http://www.alberghidiffusi.it):
• ‘Horizontal hospitality’ (rooms and services lo-
cated in different buildings);
• Buildings, located in culturally, historically, envi-
ronmentally important territories;
• Typical food from the area;
• ‘ad’ doc (the ideal concept);
• Centralised management;
• Hospitality unit;
• Location in historical centres;
• Integrated hosting community;
• Shared restrooms for the guests;
• Reasonable distances between housing units and
common spaces;
• Original environment with typical houses (fur-
nished and refurbished);
• High-quality standard (comparable to a three-
star hotel or higher);
• Integration of the tourist in the area and the cul-
ture.
In 2012, the visitors of ads in Italy were foreign
travellers (46); most of the guest were couples (55).
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Table 2 Set of the Questions Prepared for Each Interviewee for Semi-Structured Interview on ad in Slovenia
Interviewee Questions
Secretary of
State in mgrt
How do you understand the implementation of ads in Slovenia?
Is the government going to regulate ads as a new type of tac?
Secretary of
State in Gov-
ernment
How has the idea of ads evolved in Slovenia?
What are other initiatives in Slovenia referring to ads, apart from the ad in Konjice?
What are key issues of the initial phase of the ad Konjice and potential other ads in Slovenia?
What are the benefits of se and cooperatives as organisational forms in the case of ads in Slovenia?
How did the government support the establishing of ad Konjice and how it will support it in the future?
Project man-
ager of ad
Konjice
How do you understand the implementation of ads in Slovenia?
Is the government going to regulate ads as a new type of tac?
The Secretary of the State in the Government was asked the following:
What is general relationship/mood of the local inhabitancies toward ad Konjice?
What are the benefits of the current organisational form (cooperative) of ad Konjice?
What legal background is supposed to be used for regulating the relationship between ad Konjice and
those who would like to participate in ads with their properties and other activities?
Was there a feasibility study or a business plan for ad Konjice made for checking its long-term financial
performance?
Who is supposed to work in ad Konjice and how will they be paid?
Initiator of
another ad in
Slovenia
What benefits do you see in potential ads?
What kind of organisational form would you choose for it?
Senior guests accounted for only 3 in the guest struc-
ture. The primary interest of ad guests were environ-
ment and nature, food and wine, and typical places.
An average stay in an ad was 2.9 nights, and the av-
erage occupancy rate was 68. On average, 4.7 people
worked in ads, mostly Italians (75) (Presenza et al.,
2016).
From the constitutive point of view, the majority
of Italian ads have been established by private en-
trepreneurial initiative, by individuals strongly rooted
with the territory of their residence. Only in some
cases, Ads were created from the impulse of a group of
local actors (Russo et al., 2013).
Via the Code of Tourism, the Italian Government
in 2011 (30 years after the creation of the idea of ads)
acknowledged ad as a tac type within the cluster of
hotels and other forms of tac (‘Codice della norma-
tiva statale in terma di ordinamento e mercato del
turismo,’ 2011). According to this legislative decree,
the ad is characterised ‘by accommodation in sep-
arate buildings, close together, mainly located in his-
toric centres and placed a short distance from a central
building in which reception, concierge and other re-
lated services are offered’ (article 9). Apart from ads,
there are three other sub-types of hotels: Paese Albergo
(Eng. village hotel), Residence Diffuso (eng. scattered
residence) and Albergo Diffuso di Campagna (Eng.
country ad) (Dall’Ara, 2015).
Regulation on ads has been enacted by all Italian
regional administrations; Sardinia was the first Ital-
ian region that issued a specific law on Ads, in 1998,
Molise was the final one, in 2014 (De Montis et al.,
2014). However, not all regulations are adequate and
complete; Italian regional administrations have indi-
cated a variety of requirements concerning ads (De
Montis et al., 2014):
• The minimum accommodation capacity in dif-
ferent forms, e.g. eight bedrooms, two indepen-
dent buildings, thirty bedrooms etc.;
• Maximumdistance from the central building and
the rooms: ranging from 200 m to 1,000 m;
• Contextual aspects of ad design: an ad can be
realised under certain circumstances – locations
are limited to the municipalities with maximum
5,000 inhabitants, in historic centres with maxi-
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Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
mum 3,000 inhabitants, an ad can be extended
to inter-municipal areas.
National Association of Scattered Hotels (Associ-
azione Nazionali Albergi Diffusi – adi), established
in 2006, promotes and supports the development of
ads in Italy, protects its image and its public reputa-
tion. One of the founders of the adi and its president
is the ‘father of the ad model,’ Dall’Arra (see http://
www.alberghidiffusi.it). International School special-
ising in ads is the only school specialised in ads and
‘spread hospitality industry;’ it operates within the
framework of ‘4e development model:’ Effectiveness,
Efficiency, Equity, Ecologic sustainability (see http://
www.sisad.it).
In 2008, the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme convention in Budapest gave Dall’Ara’s con-
cept of ads an award for best economic growth prac-
tice capable of being transmitted to other countries
(Ideass, n.d.). In 2010, Dall’Ara received the World
Travel Market Global Award in London, given yearly
to original thinkers in the tourism industry (Fumo &
Feltira, 2012).
ad in Italy is understood as a sub-type of hotel that
is distinct from a traditional hotel. A hotel is – from
the users’ point of view – ‘an institution of commercial
hospitality, which offers its facilities (rooms, public
areas, restaurants, bars, meeting rooms, recreation fa-
cilities) and services for sale’ (Medlik & Ingram, 2000,
p. 13). It is a functional facility under common man-
agement, which has – in most cases - a similar phys-
ical structure: public space for accepting guests, hotel
rooms/accommodation units – usually on the floors
– and service area for staff (Cho & Sparrowe, 2000).
Traditional hotels usually have a vertical scheme. ads,
however, are characterised by a horizontal framework;
in a traditional hotel, reception, public spaces and
accommodation units are usually placed within one
building; in ads, those parts have different locations
within a specific area (De Montis et al., 2014).
The critical difference between ads and tradi-
tional hotels and private tacs is the ‘symbiotic re-
lationship’ of the tourist facilities and services within
the area of ads; an ad contributes to the growth of
the whole area, while traditional hotels and private
tacs mostly focus on their own profit (Dropulić et
al., 2008).
For Pollice (2016), private investors in a traditional
tac usually create a model of tourism that has noth-
ing to do with the typical characteristics of the place;
moreover, it reduces the quality of the landscape and
environment. ads – in contrast to traditional tacs –
have a more sustainable note.
The role of a hotelier in an ad overlaps with the
role in a traditional hotel structure. However, the sig-
nificant differences lie in the style of management and
in the importance attributed to the overall perfor-
mance. Instrumental benefits in ads are essential and
distinctive elements of the hospitality system (Valone
et al., 2013).
Service excellence for ads is different from tradi-
tional hotels (Vallone & Veglio, 2013). The high qual-
ity of an ad is derived from innovative services, e.g.
friendly staff, the integration of tourists and the lo-
cal community, cultural and artistic events, traditional
rooms, local wine and food etc. It offers an original at-
mosphere of hospitality and ties with the territory; it
is designed to encourage guests to have contact with
residents of the community and in this way become
a ‘temporary residents.’ An ad guest has diverse op-
tions to buy local products and participate in local
events. Thus, the ad is characterised by the elastic-
ity of the services, which is not typical for traditional
hotels. Furthermore, guests of ads are more willing
to accept some negative aspect of ads than guests in
traditional hotels are, e.g. small rooms and bathrooms,
steep steps, no internet connection, etc. (Vallone &
Veglio, 2013).
Some significant differences between Ads on one
side and traditional hotels and private tac on the
other are summarised in Table 3.
ADs in Slovenia: From the Initial Idea to the First AD
Since 2010, the Association of Municipalities and
Towns of Slovenia has been seeking interesting busi-
ness solutions andmodels in tourism. In 2012, the case
of the revitalisation of Bale in Istria, Croatia, and its
tourist transformations rose attention at the summit
on social entrepreneurship in Slovenske Konjice (T.
Slapnik, personal communication, 8 December 2017).
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Table 3 Differences between ads, Traditional Hotels and Private tac
Item ads Traditional hotels Private tac
Number of premises Three or more One One or more
Reception In the area In hotel On proprietors’ home
Location of acc. units Spread in the area Single location Single location or spread
Furniture Traditional Standardised/modern Standardised/modern
Services Professional Professional Self-service
Connection with The locals Other hotel guests The locals
Type of experience Exploration Holidays/relaxation Holidays/relaxation
Influence of environment Very important Not important Not important
Seasonality Not important Partly important Partly important
Location Rural areas, villages Cities, urban areas Small towns, suburbs
Cooperation of locals Very important unimportant unimportant
Guest structure Middle-age or senior indi-
viduals and couples
Couples, families
of all ages
Individuals, couples, families
of all ages
Impression Authenticity Efficiency Practical
Notes Adapted from Črnigoj Marc (2016, p. 21).
The same year, Mrak, Zavodnik, and Fikfak (2012)
presented an Italian ad model as a solution for the re-
vitalisation of rural countryside in the Slovenian Alps.
The government of Slovenia started supporting
ads in the context of the development of social en-
trepreneurship and cooperatives. The governmen-
tal working group organised several presentations
about best practices of ads in Italy and Croatia for
Slovenianmunicipalities, who showed interest in ads
(e.g. Municipalities of Piran, Koper, Bohinj, Slovenske
Konjice, etc.) (T. Slapnik, personal communication, 8
December 2017). In 2015, Over 50 interested represen-
tatives of Slovene municipalities (predominantly from
Istria, some from Styria, Prlekija, and Gorenjska) vis-
ited ads in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia and experienced
how cooperatives can successful in rural areas (see
https://skupnostobcin.si).
Piran has been intensively developing initiatives
for establishing tourist cooperatives and consequently
ads. In 2011, The municipality of Piran, together with
the organisers of excursions, formulated the concept
of ‘tourist experience’ in Padna. The village commu-
nity and some of its inhabitants developed attractive
services and facilities. As there were vacant premises
that needed reconstruction, the local community and
municipality planned to connect them in ads and
devote them to tourism (Širok, 2016). In 2016, the
conceptual architectural design of ads was prepared
(Černigoj Marc, 2016). The initial idea was to include
all providers in the village in ads; an ad should be
managed as a cooperative. The investment of the first
phase of the renovation was estimated at one million
euros (Širok, 2016). Thus, Padna had all the major
foundations for creating ads: an excellent location,
the locals and municipality who supported ads, and
34 available beds for tourists. It was foreseen that the
first ad would be created there. However, by the end
of 2017, the plans had not been realised.
Parallel to the development of ads in Padna, some
of the Slovenian Local Action Groups (las – Between
Snežnik and Nanos, Istria, from Pohorje to Bohor,
Gorenjska Košarica, Soča Valley, Dolenjska and Bela
Krajina, Barje) joined the project of cooperation under
the name ‘Pilot Model of an ad’ (Društvo Podeželje,
2017). Through projects of participation in the las,
local partnerships can carry out projects in the entire
territory of Slovenia. The first phase is dedicated to
joint activities for the preparation of the ad model
and the implementation of motivational activities for
obtaining the locations of individual hotels in the field
of partner las. In the second phase, the project will
include the implementation activities of the ad at se-
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Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
lected locations (U. Buda, personal communication,
20 July 2017). The relationship between partners is
planned on an entrepreneurial basis.
The project aims to establish the conditions for the
establishment of ads in Slovenia and a business sys-
tem that would connect Slovenian ads into a joint
story or joint offer (U. Buda, personal communication,
20 July 2017). Due to various problems, the project is
expected to start in 2018 (Društvo podeželje, 2017).
Tavčar (2017) defines this type of ads as a Slovenian
alternative to Airbnb, but with a significant difference:
the organisers will take a much lower commission for
their work than specified byAirbnb. By using andmar-
keting existing tourist accommodation capacities in
Slovenia, it would not be necessary to build many new
hotels. This approach is in line with the European Cir-
cular Economy (circe) project that covers tourism,
waste, and mobility (Tavčar, 2017). A proposal for an
action plan for the transition to a circular economy,
prepared by the government of Slovenia in 2017, is ex-
pected to be implemented in 2018 (T. Slapnik, personal
communication, 8 December 2017).
In 2016, four municipalities in Štajerska: Slovenske
Konjice, Vitanje, Oplotnica and Zreče decided to join
their tourism development in the Rogla-Pohorje des-
tination. In April 2016, the Cooperative Konjice an-
nounced the plan for the creation of an ad at the end
of the year (Mernik, 2017).
On December 15, 2017, the first ad in Slovenia was
opened: ad Konjice (Novice.si, 2017). The central lo-
cation of ad Konjice is in Trebnik Castle on the out-
skirts of the town of Slovenske Konjice. There is a re-
ception in the building (reception can also be ‘virtual’),
breakfast room and six rooms of the three-star cate-
gory. In accordance with the Social Entrepreneurship
Act (‘Zakon o socialnem podjetništvu,’ 2011), those
rooms are rented free-of-charge for the following three
years from theMunicipality of Slovenske Konjice. The
remaining five accommodation units are located in
Dravinja Ranch, which joined the ad immediately af-
ter its opening (Novice.si, 2017). In continuation, new
locations in Rogla-Pohorje destination will gradually
be added to the ad. In presentation workshops on
ads in the above-mentioned four municipalities, the
interest of property owners and other tourist suppli-
ers for joining ads has already been expressed. Due
to the positive orientation of the local population to
ads, there are expected to be at least 50 beds avail-
able in the ad Konjice by the end of 2018 (J. Ivanuša,
personal communication, 27 December 2017).
In the first phase, the key issue of ad Konjice is a
single-entry site for future visitors of Pohorje-Rogla;
this site enables them to choose the location of their
residence and other activities in the destination only in
one entry point (T. Slapnik, personal communication,
8 December 2017). Accommodation units of ad Kon-
jice are marketed and can be booked through online
platforms. The price of a room with breakfast starts at
€70 (see http://razprsenihotel.si).
Before the opening, the initiators of ad Konjice
were closely linked by volunteering work, enthusi-
asm and confidence in the ad’s success. In the start-
up phase, they did together everything that needed
to be done in a given situation. ‘When it was neces-
sary to clean, we all cleaned; when it was necessary
to do the administration, we did it jointly’ (J. Ivanuša,
personal communication, 27 December 2017). After
opening the ad, operational (booking, reception of
guests) and themanagerial function was contracted to
the associate member ad. By the end of 2018, at least
one person should be employed (J. Ivanuša, personal
communication, 27 December 2017).
For the start-up phase of ad Konjice, the cooper-
ative obtained a €20,000 grant from the European Re-
gional Development Fund (Operational Program for
the Implementation ofCohesionPolicy in 2014–2020).
The tender document of cooperative contained some
elements of traditional business plans; however, there
were no financial projections to justify the economic
performance of the ad. In cooperatives, positive re-
sults of their operation are usually assessed by other
dimensions, not only by financialmeasures;moreover,
there is no short-term success (J. Ivanuša, personal
communication, 27 December 2017).
ad Konjice is organised as a cooperative. The pro-
prietors of tacs can engage in cooperative as a mem-
ber or as a ‘landlord.’ In the first case, the proprietor
can become the member of the cooperative and mar-
ket their tac through ad; for its service, the coop-
erative charges them the agreed fee. The second way
52 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
(but not the preferable one) is that the Cooperative
rents and manages the proprietors’ tac (T. Slapnik,
personal communication, 8 December 2017).
Slapnik (personal communication, 8 December
2017) is convinced that further development and per-
formance of ad Konjice will be significantly influ-
enced by two key factors: by ad management and by
the willingness of property owners in the destination
to include their premises in the ad. The manager of
ad Konjice is supposed to be a person with experi-
ence in tourism, a visionary who will be convinced
in the development of the ad. The manager will also
have to coordinate the activities between all coopera-
tive stakeholders and guests. The most desirable per-
sonal characteristics of the manager-coordinator of
ad Konjice are a friendly/warm attitude toward stake-
holders, hospitality, and empathy (J. Ivanuša, personal
communication, 27 December 2017).
According to Slapnik (personal communication, 8
December 2017), the willingness of the local popula-
tion to include their real estate in ad Konjice can be-
come a severe issue; it is partially related to the tradi-
tional attitude of Slovene population to real estate. Be-
ing a property owner for Slovenians still represents a
certain status. However, Slapnik assumes that the new
socio-economic conditions (aging of the population,
inability to maintain real estate, tax policy, etc.) will
trigger a change in the attitude of the local population
in the Rogla-Pohorje area to their unused real estate,
i.e. ‘dead capital.’
The Rogla-Pohorje destination offers a good po-
tential for the success of ad Konjice. It is up to public
and private actors in the territory to decide how they
will exploit the available potential. In any case – suc-
cess or failure – ad Konjice will become an example
for other ads in Slovenia (T. Slapnik, personal com-
munication, 8 December 2017).
Organisational and Legal Framework for ADs
in Slovenia
Cooperatives are regulated by a special law (‘Zakon o
zadrugah,’ 2009). Cooperatives ‘combine the positive
features of corporate governancewith what is good for
the community’ and that is their advantage over cor-
porate organisational forms (T. Slapnik, personal com-
munication, 8 December 2017). In commercial com-
panies, e.g. limited liability companies, shareholder
corporations, etc. (‘Zakon o gospodarskih družbah,’
2009) there is more focus on the owners than on
guests. In cooperatives, however, the personal own-
ership puts the personal relationship with the guest in
the first place.
The key regulation on hospitality in Slovenia, the
Hospitality Act (‘Zakon o gostinstvu,’ 2007), does not
define ads as a special type of tac. Similarly, there
are no regulations about ads in both by-laws: Rules
on Minimum Technical Conditions and The Mini-
mum Level of Hospitality services (‘Pravilnik o min-
imalnih tehničnih pogojih in o minimalnem obsegu
storitev za opravljanje gostinske dejavnosti,’ 2017) and
the Rules on the Categorisation of Accommodation
Facilities (‘Pravilnik o kategorizaciji nastanitvenih o-
bratov,’ 2008). Moreover, ads are overlooked even in
the new Strategy for the Sustainable Growth of Slove-
nianTourism from 2017 to 2021 (Ministrstvo za gospo-
darski razvoj in tehnologijo, 2017). For the government
representatives responsible for tourism, ads were (in
July 2017) an ‘expression’ for a new type of tourist
service that links private tac owners; there was no
plan to propose the Government of rs to change the
tourist regulations because of it (E. Štravs Podlogar,
personal communication, 14 July 2017).
The absence of a legal determination of ads has
not been an obstacle to the applicants for obtaining
eu grants for ad purposes. In the Rural Develop-
ment Program for the period of 2014 to 2020, there
are several measures that are suitable for ads: a vil-
lage renewal measure in rural areas, support for pi-
lot projects and the development of new products,
practices, processes and technologies, support for lo-
cal development under the leader initiative (Local
Community Leadership – las) etc. (Ministrstvo za
kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano, 2017). Within the
programs that include an ad model applicants can
compete for the funds.
Successful operation of ads in Slovenia, particu-
larly on a cooperative basis, is also supported by vari-
ous nongovernmental organisations. In the middle of
2017, the Manual for ads was published (Škofljič Vr-
bica, 2017). In November of the same year, the first
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 53
Saša Zupan Korže Albergo Diffuso (Diffused/Distributed Hotel)
free motivation workshop on ads was held (Podjet-
niški portal, 2017).
Slapnik (personal communication, 8 December
2017) believes that the legal framework for ads as a
tac type in Slovenia at the present stage is not a neces-
sary condition for the further development of ads on
the tourist market. However, if ads will prove to be
a successful hospitality model, Slovenia should follow
the practice of Italy and Croatia and formally define
them.
Conclusion
The results of this research show the evolutionary
path and organisational and legal framework of ads
in Italy and Slovenia.
In Italy, the concept of ad appeared in the 1980s.
ads been spread over the country since then and have
been developing for over three decades. At present,
ad is determined by the Italian regulations as a sub-
type of hotel. Specific characteristics differentiate it
from other tourist accommodations: horizontal struc-
ture, scattered facilities around the area (but with joint
management), different hospitality approach, close
ties with the territory, heritage and community and
flexible tourism-related services. Additionally, ads
in Italy usually support the sustainable development
of the territory. ads have changed the view of Italian
hospitality. The legislative context, a national organi-
sation, a special school and trademark protection at-
tempt to direct their development path. However, in
practice, their diversity is a consequence of different
regional regulations and characteristics of the terri-
tory, natural heritage and local community.
In Slovenia, the idea of establishing the ads have
started after 2010 through a public initiative (in the
context of fostering social entrepreneurship and co-
operatives). In 2016 and 2017, two mainstream de-
velopment directions of ads appeared: (a) integra-
tion of various entrepreneurial initiatives into the ad
framework (e.g. the las project), and (b) creation of
an ad as a cooperative (e.g. ad Padna, ad Konjice).
The first example of an ad model aims to connect
providers of various tourist services in Slovenia and to
ensure a higher flow of tourists among them. The sec-
ond example of an ad model aims to connect mem-
bers (tac proprietors or providers of other tourist
services) in cooperatives. Several initiatives in Slove-
nia promote the second model. The first ad in Slove-
nia, which opened in December 2017, was ad Konjice
(Slovenske Konjice, Rogla-Pohorje destination). The
characteristics of the territory (destination) and sup-
port of the local community offer a good potential
for its successful long-term performance. However, as
a ‘newcomer’ in the tac sector, it is expected to be
faced by some administrative barriers (of legal nature)
and issues (future funding, management, engagement
of proprietors of tacs, etc).
The key finding of this research is that the imple-
mentation of ads in Slovenia is not supported by the
current tourism policymakers; however, the case of
ads in Italy indicates that ads have more potential
for development with the support of the local and the
state policymakers than without it. Thus, further re-
search is necessary to investigate the performance of
the first ad in Slovenia, to follow the pace of appear-
ance of new ads in Slovenia in the future and po-
tential changes in attitudes of the government toward
ads.
There are certain limitations to this research. Firstly,
there was a limited scope of available literature on
ads. Secondly, there was a limited number of peo-
ple in Slovenia who were engaged in ads develop-
ment projects and could participate in the research.
Thus, the number of interviewees was only four. De-
spite the fact, that they were the relevant participants
who could provide qualitative answers about ads in
Slovenia, more participants in the research could have
revealed new perspectives on the topic. We hope to
overcome those limitations in further research.
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56 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Original Scientific Article
Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
Sonja Šterman
University of Maribor, Slovenia
sonja.sterman@um.si
Corporate clothing in tourism has characteristics that are distinct from other for-
mal uniformed groups. This article deals with innovative approaches and the multi-
functional design of corporate clothing in order to satisfy the needs of the end user.
The research was limited to the corporate clothing used in the tourism sector, with
a focus on accessories as part of corporate clothing, in this case on men’s ties. One
of the main questions was how to offer aesthetically pleasing and useful accessories
for corporate clothing in the tourism sector, using a recognisable geographical sym-
bol or a traditional story. The method of gathering and analysing information with
the help of a survey, fashion design research, and design development was used. The
purpose was to design men’s ties that correspond to the requirements of users to
offer youthful, relaxed, and innovative ties that reflect the identity of the company.
The typical problems with wearing ties, which are uncomfortable and feel hot when
worn, were considered. Development from the idea to the final product was a chal-
lenge, as well as the cooperation between the subscriber, the designer, the suggested
manufacturer and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor; all
needed to work together to satisfy the end user. A tie was developed in the shape of
an innovative, buttoned band that could replace the traditional tie and give the user
much more freedom when wearing it in different weather conditions. At the same
time, the tie maintains the elegance expected of a traditional tie. The surface is us-
ing the unique technique of air lace, which includes storytelling in the design and
personalisation in the making. The design took a sustainable approach, which re-
sults in the use of significantly less material. The combination of the above features
represents an innovative approach to developing fashion accessories for corporate
clothing design.
Keywords: corporate clothing, innovative accessories, multi-functionality,
functional design, tie, tourism
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.57-65
Introduction
Tourism workers are an essential part of the tourism
system. They serve guests with their professionalism
and kindness. With their visual appearance and their
communication skills, they influence the experience of
their guests. In this context, it is imperative that work-
ers who are selling their knowledge, services, prod-
ucts, and capacities feel self-confident and comfortable
in their uniforms. Successful communication also de-
pends on their human capital (Kaluža & Bojnec, 2016)
from the point of view of clothing as non-verbal com-
munication (Bernard, 2002). Corporate clothing with
its style and colour has a significant impact on soci-
ety and user acceptance (Adomaitis & Johnson, 2005).
Clothes should have a strong identity, transforming lo-
cal features into visual information, in the formof lines
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 57
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
and details that will activate tourists’ senses and tell
stories about the organisation, town, region, or coun-
try.
Appropriate functional clothing is comfortable and
of high quality, thus enabling those wearing it to be
focused on their important tasks and their working
result and visual impact can be better. Inappropriate
material, the design of the model, or incorrect sizing
can disturb their work and lead to workers who are
not focused primarily on their tasks. The same applies
to accessories as a part of corporate clothing. If they
are not appropriate, they can disturb the normal work
process. Some accessories in corporate clothing have
a more functional impact on clothing, such as a belt,
while others, such as ties or scarves, have a more aes-
thetic impact.
The critical elements in the design are innovation
andmulti-functionality. Innovation is an attribute that
is expected of every new product. Innovation can be
expressed with new shapes, materials, colour combi-
nations, themanner ofmaking, or byway of use.McK-
elvey and Munslow (2003) see innovation as ‘some-
thing that comes from thinking in different ways, hav-
ing different approaches, by searching for something
new’ Functionality in corporate clothing is one of the
most important criteria. With multi-functional de-
sign, a product can be used in many different ways.
As an example, we will present corporate clothing
for the staff of Spirit Slovenia at the Expo Milano 2015
Trade Fair (Šterman & Kreševič Vraz, 2017). The re-
quirements of the client were clear: they would like
their corporate clothing to reflect freshness and youth
and had to provide free-moving, durable clothingwith
the possibility of home washing. In designing uni-
forms, we considered a design that has both an in-
novative multi-functional approach, and storytelling.
We focus primarily on accessories that are often a part
of the corporate clothing image. For women, scarves
are very often used, and for men ties are common-
place. We would like to review the innovative solution
for a man’s tie, which was seen for the first time in the
way it was presented here. It is a good solution for all
the staff, working in similar conditions in Tourism, or
other fields.
In this case, the starting point of research and de-
signwere the needs of the users and their working con-
ditions. We recognised users as young staff and their
working conditions as described.Working in crowded
areas in hot weather conditions demanded research
into an innovative accessory that suited the user bet-
ter than the traditional tie. We used innovative and
multi-functional ideas and applied technical solutions
for (buttoning and) wearing.
When designing for an international event, we in-
tend to project a story about that country. In our case,
it was Slovenia, and we were glad to introduce peo-
ple to it. Local characteristics were presented in the
unique design and included unique shapes and sur-
faces, with storytelling about local identity. Lines tell
stories about different symbolic meanings: Slovenian
symbols, cities, population density, local specialities,
forests, rivers, and other features.
In this case, the stories in air lace accessories show
that an innovative approach can give creative, func-
tional and user-friendly results.
There were no limitations in the presented exam-
ple, where all measurements from the shirt buttoning
and from the tie are fitted. If someone would like to
use that tie with another shirt, the buttoning probably
will not fit completely. That is a technical challenge for
the next version.
For every profession, it is necessary to consider
starting points and requirements. For tourism work-
ers, it is necessary to wear clothes that correspond to
working conditions, and the include storytelling and
functional design. We would like to explain how we
can prepare aesthetically balanced, functional, and
useful corporate clothing design, with emphasis on
accessories, which includes powerful local stories.
The research question is: How can we implement
an innovative approach andmulti-functional design in
corporate clothing, to satisfy the needs of the end user
working in the tourism sector and, at the same time,
implement the story of a specific area into the design?
Literature Review
Corporate Clothing and Dress Codes
Workers in different areas of work have different rules
of wearing that are sometimes subordinated to the
dress code, especially those who wear formal wear
58 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
(Pisani, 2016). Other workers wear corporate clothing
with personalised rules or the dress code of a company.
In defining why to wear uniforms, one answer is
that (UniFirst, 2017):
a uniform promotes a consistent brand im-
age, identifies employees, and can convey many
things, from a position of authority to a level of
service. Uniforms evoke assumptions and asso-
ciations about the wearer. It is important to un-
derstand how uniforms affect consumers and
their decision-making processes.
Companies and associations that would like to
build a recognisable corporate identity through cloth-
ing often decide to adopt a policy of corporate cloth-
ing. Through clothing, they represent a membership
of a group in society or a group of workers in a com-
pany (utsa, 2017):
Consumers associate certain positive traits with
uniformed employees. A uniform conveys a
higher work ethic and instills in a consumer
a greater sense of trust and confidence. When
a consumer sees an employee in uniform, they
feel that they receive a better product andhigher
quality of service.
The answers in a questionnaire (utsa, 2017) show
that 82 of the participants can more easily identify
with workers that wear uniforms; 61 of them think
that employees in uniforms increase their confidence
in their ability to do their jobs; 57 think that if em-
ployees are in uniform, the product quality will be
higher than if the employee is not in uniform; 55
trust employees in uniform more than they trust em-
ployees not in uniform; 54 feel more comfortable
explaining their purchase requirements to employees
in uniform than to those not in uniform.
Corporate clothing, as one of many clothing sys-
tems, has symbolic communication with society (Ber-
nard, 2005;Damhorst,Miller-Spillman,&Michelman,
2005). It communicates through its style and colour,
showing a person’s role, status, affiliation with a group,
and the position of that person in the group (Bernard
2005).
In the design of corporate clothing, many crite-
ria must be considered using multi-criteria decision-
making (Šterman, 2014). There aremany essential fac-
tors needed for the optimal design solution. It is at-
tained through the design of manymodels that are in-
corporated into the unified solution made from cloth-
ing, shoes, and accessories.
In designing, we very different conditions of work
and weather conditions must be considered. End-user
acceptance and feedback are the keys to deciding be-
tween different ways of design (Šterman, 2014). All in-
formation influences the process of choosing fabrics
and style of design. Regarding different groups of uni-
forms, we can also conclude that, for example, uni-
forms for civil authorities, have entirely different re-
quirements to uniforms for Tourism.
The statement that the product should be aesthet-
ically acceptable and useful at the same time (Ljung-
berg & Edwards, 2003) is critical in corporate cloth-
ing, especially for tourism, for which meeting peo-
ple and communication to achieve the main results of
a business plan are of crucial importance. The need
for uniqueness in the tourism context (Čivre & Kolar,
2014), and the area of corporate clothing for tourism
workers, where design became a part of the story-
telling in the tourism context should also be discussed.
Ties as an Important Part of Corporate Clothing
Ties and scarves belong to the broad group of acces-
sories. They are worn for functional or aesthetic rea-
sons, and the market is full of different kinds of ac-
cessories (Jersey, 2016), which are an essential part of
styling in everyday use and as a part of uniforms. Ties
complete the clothing image, stress parts of the body,
or styling, and complement the wearer’s look. In addi-
tion, the tie attracts the eye to the face (Pisani, 2011).
Today, the tie is part of a traditional formal business
suit in the corporate and political realms, and for very
formal business opportunities and ceremonies. The tie
is also part of the corporate clothing image, crucially
so in Tourism.
The oldest historical example of a tie is found in
ancient Egypt (Pisani, 2011). A rectangular piece of
fabric tied around the neck was an important part of
the Egyptian male’s clothing image, as it indicated the
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 59
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
social position of an individual. A similar example can
be found in the Roman Empire, where accessories re-
sembled today’s ties. The development of the tie, as
we know it today, began in Europe in the 17th cen-
tury, when the French king Louis xiv founded the
elite Equestrian Regiment La Royal Croate in Paris.
Croats wore the white route, tied around the neck in
a unique way. It was part of a military uniform and,
at the same time, a recognisable sign. Then the ‘Hra-
vatian’ or ‘Croatian,’ as they called the tie, began to
appear in the Court of Versailles, though with certain
style modification. The original canvas was replaced
by silk, decorated with rich Venetian lace. Over the
centuries, ties took on different symbolic meanings.
The tie was quickly established as a symbol of culture
and elegance in the bourgeois fashion of the time. At
the end of the 19th century, a narrower version of the
necktie was created and retained as an essential part
of the men’s wardrobe. Through various models and
styles of tying, to this day, the tie has demonstrated
both the individual’s individuality and social position
and has no other useful function (Pisani, 2011).
When a Problem Became a Challenge
for the Innovative Approach
Sometimes men do not feel comfortable wearing a tie
at work. There are many reasons why. Some of them
asserted that wearing a tie in hot weather makes them
feel uncomfortable. If we consider the weather condi-
tions of 35° C, we can understand. If they loosen the
tie, the look is even worse than if there was no tie. A
waiter, if he does not wear a jacket or vest that fixes
the position of the tie, can have an unpleasant situa-
tion with serving food while wearing a tie. This was
the reason for this research: to find a way of more ap-
propriate design for ties.
Corporate clothing must, first of all, be designed
functionally. The designing process is, thus, more ori-
ented to specific user requirements (Gupta, 2011), sub-
ordinated to comfort. Functionality refers to the wear-
ing and caring of the item. Many authors have written
about user-centred thinking and the designing pro-
cess. The first writer that categorised people’s needs in
relation to design, and life itself, was AbrahamMaslow
(Parsons, 2009). Results of the research were concen-
trated on psychological, safety, love, esteem, cognitive,
aesthetic and self-actualisation needs. Nowadays, the
trend in products, services, and experiences is to de-
velop them in a way to be enjoyed by a broad audi-
ence, regardless of age or ability, and oriented towards
user-centred and inclusive design.
One of the sustainable approaches to design ismul-
ti-functional design, according to which one model
can be used inmany different ways. Consumption and
environmental impact will be reduced if we can use
clothing in many ways. Multi-functionality is, thus,
one of the principles of slow fashion (Niinimäki, 2010).
Amodel can be created frommany parts. A variety
of components can be used, separately or in different
combinations, and the user can save space and have
more pieces in one (Mollerup, 2001). This is modular-
ity. In fashion design, this can be seen in the so-called
‘onion’ way of wearing, in which modular clothes de-
tach and make many possibilities, according to the
weather conditions.
This problem leads to the functional design idea
about a detachable tie, that looks similar to the tra-
ditional tie, but, with its approach to different ways
of use, solves the problem of fixed wearing without
limiting movement. Thus, the context of wearing was
solved. Regarding the surface of the tie, storytelling is
still needed.
Empathic Approach to Storytelling Design
There have been many proceedings published relat-
ing to the number of ways in which people can be-
comemore emotionally attached to products (Parsons,
2009). Their relation to a product is different if they
know somethingmore about the product and can have
an emotional connectionwith it. In this case, the prod-
uct has no personal story, and people have no emo-
tional attachment to it. If people are co-creators of the
product, or the product relates to a person or event
connected to the story of the product, the emotional
connections to the product are stronger.
The emotional durability of a product impacts its
duration of use and life cycle. Owners have a greater
sense of care of products with an emotional connec-
tion (Parsons, 2009; Niinimäki, 2011). This kind of
product is kept longer, in comparison to a product
60 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
that is not personal or connected emotionally to the
user. The longer life cycle of a product leads to less
consumption, less energy used and, finally, less waste.
This kind of design thus has a more sustainable im-
pact. Authors (Niinimäki & Koksinen, 2011) discuss
this relationship, in which the ‘empathic approach can
be of primary importance in promoting sustainable
product relationships by deepening current methods
of understanding consumers’ needs, values and emo-
tions.’
If all aspects are considered when designing, prod-
ucts are created that take into account the wishes of
the customer. We accept the visual and functional
properties of the product. We understand the message
through different shapes and lines, details and propor-
tions. ‘Products communicate with us through visual
language’ (Parsons, 2009). All these artistic principles
communicate the product and its characteristicswith a
visual story that we translate into our feelings. The em-
pathic approach includes storytelling as one of many
principles of design. It is ‘a method of creating im-
agery, emotions, and understanding of events through
an interaction between a storyteller and an audience’
(Lidwell, Holden, & Butler, 2010). Storytelling can be
oriented in two ways from the designer’s perspective
(Johansson, 2017): as input and output in communica-
tion. Storytelling represents powerful images and gives
values more dynamic context (Fog, Budtz, Munch, &
Blanchette 2010) in different areas of work. Like in de-
sign, empathy is also used in photography to expose
themain story (Laigneau, 2017). Laigneauwrites about
many different approaches to expose themain story in
photography, but some of them can be very useful to
compare with exposing the story in designing acces-
sories. She exposes unique expressions of life, idiosyn-
crasies in the crowd, urban geometry and architectural
lines, complementarity of colours and shapes, patterns
and repetitive elements, which comprise a convincing
story.
Storytelling is also an effective device for fashion
design. Sung and Kwon (2009) state that ‘a story used
interactively is a powerful tool for attention, under-
standing, and change in both individuals and com-
munities.’ The story of clothing can be told through
its colour, shape, detail, and textile patterns. Patterns
often include local motifs, which is a critical part of
tourism promotion. Some corporate clothing that in-
cludes certain motifs, colours or design, is typical of
one area or country. Motifs are used especially for t-
shirts and accessories. The importance of local mo-
tifs is shown in the research that explores ‘the com-
munication of Australasian cultural motifs to overseas
tourists through the production and sale of designer
apparel’ (Asplet & Cooper, 2000). This example shows
the importance of authenticity that derives from cul-
tural heritage, as well as that of locally made textile
articles.
In tourism, storytelling is included in four differ-
ent fields: marketing, product development, interpre-
tation, and tourists’ recounting of their experiences
(Turnšek Hančič & Trdina, 2017).
Methods
Based on the research question, ‘How can we imple-
ment an innovative approach andmulti-functional de-
sign in corporate clothing to satisfy the needs of the
end user?’ we made the next steps through research.
For the first question, ‘What does innovative andmul-
tifunctional designmean?’ we usedmethods of gather-
ing and analysing information.We discovered that the
question correlated to theory background, and, fur-
thermore, was connected to corporate clothing and ac-
cessories.
For the question ‘Why are these kinds of acces-
sories used in tourism and how can we improve the
user experience?’ it was important to research and de-
sign with empathy, using a questionnaire. What does
the user feel in certain weather conditions when wear-
ing a uniform? How can he be elegant and relaxed
when wearing a tie? The method of obtaining answers
was fashion design research and developing design
and prototypes. We obtained the users’ opinion by
conducting a survey.
The next research question we focused on was,
‘How can attractive and useful corporate clothing with
local stories be offered?’ The method of solving that
challenge was research in the area of the storytelling
theory, and research of local characteristics. We dis-
covered how to implement ideas and make them into
products with innovative technical solutions.
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 61
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
Challenging starting points and expected results
required the inclusion of thementionedmethods. The
procedure makes the concept and design of acces-
sories in the frame of corporate clothing as a unified
combination. The technical aspects require planning,
and development of a prototype and its realisation
in accordance with other parts of corporate clothing
that correspond to the requirements of the subscriber
(Spirit Slovenija, 2015). The process of realisation re-
quires individual and team work, which has to be well
planned and coordinated.
Research
Exposed National Identity in Storytelling Design
From research to design, we explored national and lo-
cal stories and planned how to portray our own story
on the surface of the tie. All models of corporate cloth-
ing are inspired by information received in the brief,
and further research into the meaning and personal
feelings gained from exploring the promotional titles
of the Expo Milano trade fair (‘Feeding the planet,
energy for life’) and Slovenian pavilion (‘I feel Slove-
nia. Green. Active. Healthy!’), as well as the logo ‘I feel
Slovenia.’
The main words and associations from research
represent a storytelling of design (Šterman & Kreševič
Vraz, 2017). The result of the research was to incline
toward asymmetrical models, colour accent lines, cuts
and cross-sections in the design of the clothes. This
part was inspired by expressions: fields, food, green-
ness, activity, health. The colour green symbolised
vegetation and the structures of nature as an accent,
which can be used for accessories.
Accessories can be unique and personalised, so we
included different stories of diversity in Slovenia. To
portray them in the best way, we planned tomake per-
sonalised designs. The paraphrases of structural and
textural characteristics of the form of Slovenia were
shown in accordancewith the promotional titles of the
fair and the Slovenian pavilion. Slovenian regions and
individual features are portrayed in terms of terrain
morphology, biotic diversity with forests, rural and ur-
ban areas connected logistically by the highway and
railway networks, as well as river basins. It is national,
as well as state symbolism. This leads to the creation
of pieces that complete stories on the topic of Slovenia
and express Slovenian identity; at the same time, they
spread ethnographic heritage to the realm of modern
interpretations and applications,which is an extremely
important contribution to themosaic of Slovenian cul-
ture and its image.
We also researched the use of informal materials
and special techniques that are not often used in acces-
sories, especially accessories corporate clothing. We
chose threads used in the technique of air lace. Green
fashion accessories, in the form of laces, are produced
on the basis of sewing the water-soluble embroidery
base with thread. When using a sewing machine, the
embroidery basis has only a temporary function and
is later removed. Thus, a minimalist record is created,
which illustrates diverse impressions of students’ views
of Slovenia. Structures emerging from thread surfaces
enable a 3d representation of the landscape and its
characteristics in the area (Šterman & Kreševič Vraz,
2017).
The idea of air lace accessories includes personal-
isation, uniqueness, and different stories about Slove-
nia. It was an engaging challenge for the students and
employees of the Laboratory for Clothing Engineer-
ing, Physiology and Garment Construction, the Fac-
ulty of Mechanical Engineering, at the University of
Maribor, who made the accessories, to represent their
personal views about Slovenia.
Innovative Approach to the Storytelling
Design of Ties
Men’s ties were made to coordinate with women’s
scarves as a part of a corporate clothing identity, but
the ties were in another shape. Instead of the tradi-
tional tie, the story of an innovative approach and,
considering of specifics and limitation of men’s ties,
results in an innovative model of a tie.
The tie for men is simple, effective and innovative.
It is in the shape of a band, made with the technique of
air lace. The first example in Figure 1 shows the air lace
band, where local specialities are shown. The structure
of seams clearly shows the symbolic meaning of the
band. Slovenia is rich in wines; therefore the motif of
the grape is clear and simple to portray this fact. The
same band also has a symbol of wheat that communi-
62 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
Figure 1 Examples of the Air Lace Bands with Stories
(Left) and Buttoned on the First Prototype
(Right) (Photo by Sonja Šterman)
cates that the north-eastern part of Slovenia is known
as ‘the breadbasket of Slovenia.’
The second example shows many lines that repre-
sent connections between people living in Slovenia.
On the shirt, the tie shows a connection between cities
in the region that wasmade under themap of traffic in
Slovenia. The left example in Figure 2 is made with the
map of the river basin of Slovenia. The right example
from Figure 2 shows lines and borders of fields. All ex-
amples show that the local stories are an essential part
of storytelling design and can be shown in very un-
usual and innovative ways.
The bands on the left part of Figure 1 present the
upper level of the tie, that is, from the bottom side,
finished with the fabric. That fabric has buttonholes
at the same distance apart as on the shirt, so it could
be simply buttoned onto the shirt (Figure 1).
The newmodel of a tie in this context could replace
the traditional tie. The only condition to its use is that
formality is not conditioned strictly to dress code. In
Figure 2, we can see how innovative design can solve
the problem of fixing the shirt and, at the same time,
offer free movement by working in it.
Innovative variation of the men’s tie (Figure 2)
shows its composition from the top material – air lace
– and material from the bottom of the shirt, which is,
in our case, the same as the shirt. Photos were taken at
the Expo Milano 2015 Fair, where this kind of tie was
used for the first time.
Discussion
Corporate clothing in tourismoften includesmany ac-
cessories. Some have decorative functions, and some
are part of the dress code or related to specific areas.
We focused on men’s ties, which are an excellent area
of creativity, which can tell stories, be personalised and
unique, and have an impact on the user, as well as
other people connected in business. In this case, ac-
cessories overtake the role of nonverbal communica-
tion. As corporate clothing at the state level, they have
to communicate the story of Slovenia: about regions,
rivers, forests, symbols, cities, population density, and
local specialities. They are made in innovative ways.
The starting point of the researchwas user require-
ments for appropriate corporate clothing that should
look free and fresh, but also formal and innovative.
When making a design, it is imperative to consider
the working conditions of the staff. In our case, the
staff had to work in hot weather conditions inside and
outside of a pavilion. Accordingly, the design had to
be functional and comfortable; therefore, a traditional
tie was not an appropriate solution. Furthermore, the
subscriber desired an innovative design representing
a country. To tell a story about Slovenia was a chal-
lenging task. The research question asked how a strong
identity using local features can be created. A unique
storytelling design about local identity was included as
the answer to the question of how to represent a story
about Slovenia.
Besides the lines and materials of the corporate
clothing, we decided to include innovative storytelling
accessories. For men, we chose special ties. We used
the air lace technique for accessories where the inno-
vative approach gave a creative, functional and user-
friendly accessory. Lines at the surface tell stories
about different symbolic meanings: Slovenian sym-
bols, cities, population density, local specialities, for-
ests, rivers, and other features.
After considering all the data, we designed simple,
effective, and innovative ties. As an answer to the re-
quirements, we developed a variation of the tie that
could be fixed onto the shirt at the bottom with but-
tons, and at the front, which was made as air lace. This
band replaced the classical tie for men. With an inno-
vative design, we have solved many problems: We of-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 63
Sonja Šterman Innovative Design of Corporate Clothing in Tourism
Figure 2 Staff of the Section Expo Milano in Corporate Clothing (Photo: Daniel Novakovič, sta)
fer freedom of movement when wearing a tie. The tie
is fixed with buttons, and the shirt could be buttoned
up to give a formal look. If the weather is too hot, the
person is able to unbutton the shirt and leave it open
for a more casual look. With the new design, we min-
imised the quantity ofmaterial in accordancewith sus-
tainable trends. From the historical point of view, we
kept elegance and the impression of corporate cloth-
ing that still looks professional but, at the same time,
personalised. This kind of tie is suitable for tourism
workers and can solve technical problems of wearing
ties in some other professions, where a dress code is
not necessary.
Acknowledgments
In this case, we showed the successful collaboration of
the subscriber Spirit Slovenia who chose the tender-
ing company who developed and produced corporate
clothing Moda Mi&Lan d.o.o.; international connec-
tions were organised by the Republic of Slovenia, Gov-
ernment Communication Office; Studio design and the
University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineer-
ing. Collaboration between these parties allowed a pos-
itive flow of knowledge, ideas, and experience. Every
project is finished successfully when the end users are
satisfied. In our case, the users gave positive feedback
about the uniforms and the way they felt when wearing
them.
I would like to thank the company Moda Mi&Lan d.o.o.
and theUniversity ofMaribor, the Faculty ofMechanical
Engineering, Laboratory for Clothing Engineering, and
the Lecturer S. Kreševič Vraz, msc., who made the air
laces shown in the Figures and mentored the students
when they were making them.
I would like to thank J. Geršak for the support, and
the colleagues and students for making the laces for the
project which convey the original theme of the Slovenian
presentation at Expo 2015: Rudolf, M. Abram Zver, S.
Veličković, T. Podkrajšek, A. Firbas, A. Vajd, N. Šimunič,
Š. Jerebic, A. Kožuh, A. Lilek, S. Emeršič, A. Ðurinek,
L. Spaskovič, K. Štampar, L. Görlichova, H. Vidmajer,
N. Petkovič, J. Harb, M. Hudournik, M. Šumak, and T.
Pompe.
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Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 65

Review Article
The Relationship between Income and Tourism
Demand: Old Findings and New Research
Helena Nemec Rudež
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia
helena.nemec@fts.upr.si
The purpose of this paper is to review the main findings regarding the in-
come/tourism demand relationship and discuss the development of this relationship
over time as well as its impact on tourism growth. The paper draws significant find-
ings regarding the income elasticity of tourismdemand, highlighting themost recent
research on this topic and examines future aspects of the income/tourism demand
relationship. A literature review along with unwto and imf reports was studied
and assessed to discuss the income elasticity research in recent decades as well as
more recent developments in this area. Income elasticity of tourism demand is today
lower than in the past due, firstly, to the long-term growth of tourism demand lead-
ing to demand saturation and stagnation of some tourism products, and, secondly,
fluctuations across the business cycle. The paper summarizes the main findings and
contributions of studies on the income elasticity of tourism demand thus far and
reflects tourism demand sensitiveness to income as a tourism growth driver.
Keywords: income elasticity, tourism demand, luxury product, necessity
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.67-73
Introduction
The relationship between income and demand is one
of the main concerns in economics. Meta-analyses re-
veal an extensive body of research on this relation-
ship in tourism demand (Crouch, 1995; Peng, Song,
& Crouch, 2014; Peng, Song, Crouch, & Witt, 2015),
air travel demand (Gallet & Doucouliagos, 2014), and
other areas, such as residential water demand (Dal-
huisen, Florax, de Groot, & Nijkamp, 2003). Regard-
ing tourism, income in origin markets is recognized
as a dominant explanatory variable of international
tourism demand bymany authors (Crouch, 1994; Lim,
1997; Peng et al., 2015).
The study of the relationship between income and
recreation demand relationship started in the 19th
century, explainedwith Engel’s law. Since then, a num-
ber of studies have been undertaken on the relation-
ship between income and tourism demand. Knowing
tourism demand, its characteristics and relationship
with income is of great importance to researchers and
practitioners especially because of the perishability of
tourism products. Indeed, Dwyer, Forsyth and Dwyer
(2010) highlight that the understanding of tourism de-
mand and its forecasting is essential for tourism mar-
keters, managers, planners and public agencies.
The relationship between income and tourism de-
mand is usually estimated with the income elasticity
of tourism demand-based macroeconomic data using
time data series as well as panel data. Furthermore,
studies on consumer surveys were undertaken lately
to assess the relationship between income and tourism
spending (Bronner & Hoog, 2016). Reviews of studies
on the income elasticity of tourism demand (Crouch,
1995; Song & Li, 2008; Peng et al., 2015) show that ex-
planatory and dependent variables, time periods of
data, methodologies and origin/destination pairs in-
fluence the income elasticity of tourism demand.
Song, Li, Witt, and Fei (2010) found that the most
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 67
Helena Nemec Rudež The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand
used proxies for tourism demand are the number of
tourist’s arrivals and tourist expenditures, but also the
number of tourist’s overnight stays and the length of
stay have been used. While the number of visitors is
difficult to measure undertaking frontier counts for
international visitors, the number of tourists’ arrivals
and overnight stays are easily available based on sta-
tistical reports of accommodation facilities. Tourist
expenditures are reported as international receipts
and international expenditures in country’s balance of
payment and are usually measured using visitor sur-
veys and, as such, being the subject of data collection
problems and leakages (Frechtling, 1987, in Song et
al., 2010). With regards to income, it is usually mea-
sured in nominal or real gdp or gdp per capita. Song
and Witt (2000) highlight that personal disposable
income or private consumption is a better proxy for
income when leisure tourism is investigated. Other
measures of income that were used in the past studies
exist, such as industrial production indices (Gonza-
les & Moral, 1995, in Peng et al., 2015), foreign travel
budgets (Smeral & Witt, 1996, in Peng et al., 2015).
Moreover, tourism demand can also be influenced by
past income in the origin market ‘since changes in in-
come may take some time to affect tourism demand’
(Lim, 1997, p. 842).
The purpose of this paper is to review the main
findings about income/tourism demand relationship
and discuss the change of this relationship over time
as well as its impact on tourism growth. The paper dis-
cusses significant findings about the income elasticity
of tourism demand, highlighting the most recent re-
search on this topic and examines future aspects of in-
come elasticity.
Income Elasticity of Tourism Demand
Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing concern
in research on the income elasticity of tourism de-
mand (Crouch, 1995; Smeral, 2004; Peng et al., 2014).
In fact, the relationship between tourism demand and
income has been widely researched in the form of
income elasticity, which measures the sensitivity of
tourism demand to changes in income. Specifically, it
is the ratio of the percentage change in tourism de-
mand to the percentage change in income.
Regarding the elasticity of tourism demand, in-
come elasticity is the most frequent variable assessed,
following own-price elasticity, cross-price elasticity
(referring to substitute tourism products or products
in joint demand), and the elasticity of habit persis-
tence and expectations.1 Tourism demand elasticity
can be estimated for any influencing factor, which is
adequately measured and reported.2
In line with the direction and magnitude of in-
come elasticity of tourism demand, tourism products
are classified as luxuries (having coefficient positive
and higher than 1 and being income elastic) or neces-
sities (having coefficient positive and between 0 and 1
and being income inelastic). The higher the coefficient
is, the more luxurious the tourism product is and, vice
versa, the closer to 0 the coefficient is, the more ne-
cessity is perceived in the tourism product. Products
with negative elasticity coefficient are perceived as ‘in-
ferior.’ In the same way, tourism destinations can be
classified.
A meta-analysis of tourism demand performed
by Crouch (1995) found that about 70 of estimated
income elasticities of international tourism demand
were income elastic with coefficients higher than 1,
and 5 of the estimated income elasticities were neg-
ative, referring to an ‘inferior’ destination or possible
estimation error. Since income is an essential influenc-
ing factor of tourism demand, income-elastic interna-
tional tourism demand has been an important driver
of tourism growth. Higher values of income elastic-
ity were found when tourism demand is measured in
terms of tourist arrivals than when it is measured in
terms of expenditure (Peng et al., 2015). Moreover, in-
come elasticity of tourism demand depends on how
1 It is measured by lagged tourism demand variable.
2 In a study of Italian domestic tourism, Massida and Etzo
(2012) calculated elasticities regarding population density,
aerial distance between town of origin and destination, in-
come (measured in gdp), price (measured in ratio of cpi at
destination to cpi at region of origin), the ratio of residents
travelers in the region of origin who travel abroad, regional
endowment of touristic places, regional expenditures in cul-
tural activities, ratio of national museums with entrance fee,
highways kilometres, the presence of minor crime over total
one, CO2 emissions.
68 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Helena Nemec Rudež The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand
income is measured, revealing that income elasticity is
higher when permanent income is included that when
current income is obtained in the study; it is also sen-
sitive to the sample population, specifically whether
only those that travel or the whole population is in-
cluded in the research (Alegre & Pou, 2016).
The study by Smeral (2004) investigated the in-
come elasticity of outbound tourism demand between
1975 and 1999, finding that international outbound
tourism was a luxury good, being income elastic in
24 out of 25 countries. Later studies also show that in-
bound international tourism is a luxury good, for in-
stance, the study on tourism demand in Spain (Garin-
Munoz, 2007) and Turkey (Dogru, Sirakaya-Turk, &
Crouch, 2017). In general, international tourism is
widely recognized in the literature as being income
elastic.
Nevertheless, international tourism can have char-
acteristics of necessities when destinations are close to
originmarkets. Nemec Rudež (2016) found that Slove-
nia as a close destination is recognized as a necessity
for tourists from Austria and Italy, probably due to
time and financial convenience. This is consistentwith
the findings of Peng et al. (2015) that long-haul travel is
considered more luxurious, having higher coefficients
of income elasticity than short-haul travel does.
Studies on the income elasticity of tourism demand
usually focus on the general tourism demand. From
the viewpoint of tourism suppliers, it ismore appropri-
ate to look at the income elasticity of specific tourism
products. Divisekera (2010) focused on specific prod-
ucts consumed by tourists while visiting Australia
from different foreign origin markets and found that
the coefficient of income elasticity of inbound tourism
demand varies across tourism products. Specifically,
accommodation is recognized as a luxury and shop-
ping as a necessity, whereas other tourismproducts are
income inelastic or income elastic depending on that
origin market. Investigations of the income elasticity
of specific tourism products aid in better understand-
ing the insights of tourism demand.
Changes in Income/Tourism Demand Relationship
The relationship betweenhousehold demand andhou-
sehold income was first described in 1857 by Ernst En-
gel, who stated that as household income increases,
the percentage of income spent on recreation and sim-
ilar products increases more than proportionally. This
happens when basic needs (like food) are satisfied.
In terms of income elasticity, it means that recreation
is income elastic and characterized as a luxury good.
However, a higher standard of living throughout the
20th century led to a decrease in the income elasticity
of tourismdemand. Costa (1997) estimated the income
elasticities of several recreational goods and found that
they had fallen during the period of more than 100
years between 1888 and 1991 from 4 to slightly above 1.
A downward trend of income elasticity of tourism de-
mand is present because the long-term increase in real
income increases the level of satisfaction with tourism
products and, consequently, makes tourism demand
less income sensitive. In other words, income elastic-
ity gives an insight into the future growth of tourism
demand. The lower the income elasticity of tourism
products is, the nearer the tourism market to is the
saturation level.
International tourism remains widely recognized
as a luxury good in many studies. In line with this,
tourism demand has been facing high growth rates
worldwide. However, if we look closely at the tourism
growth rate, it has been decreasing in the past decades
following a weaker sensitivity of tourism demand to
changes in income. As reported by unwto statis-
tics (unwto, 2005, 2011), there was a 10.6 average
annual growth rate in international tourist arrivals
worldwide between 1950 and 1960, followed by a 9.1
average annual growth rate between 1960 and 1970 and
a 5.3 average annual growth rate between 1970 and
1980, a 4.7 average annual growth rate between 1980
and 1990, and it fell to only 4.4 between 1990 and
2000; it was followed by a 3.4 average annual growth
rate between 2000 and 2010. Additionally, looking at
only advanced economies, the annual growth rate was
even lower (unwto, 2011).
Recent studies show that the income elasticity of
tourism demand further fell during the economic
crisis of the past decade. Gunter and Smeral (2016)
compared the income elasticity of tourism demand
in different world regions, finding that during the pe-
riod between 2004 and 2013 it was lower than pre-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 69
Helena Nemec Rudež The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand
viously because of the great recession between 2007
and 2009, financial crises, increasing unemployment,
and insecurity; in fact, during the decade between
2004 and 2013, tourism goods became income inelas-
tic with the coefficient varying from 0.20 in South-
ern Europe to 0.99 in Asia, reflecting the fact that
tourism has become a necessity. Additionally, Gunter
and Smeral (2017) investigated income elasticity across
the business cycle, dividing it into fast growth-periods
(expansion, peak and slowdown) and slow growth-
periods (recession, through and recovery), revealing
that between 2004 and 2014 tourism products were in-
come elastic during slow growth periods (luxurious)
and income inelastic (necessities) during fast growth-
periods. The reasons for the changing income elastic-
ity of the tourism demand across the business cycle are
loss aversion, liquidity constraints, and precautionary
savings (Smeral, 2016). During a crisis, consumers pay
more attention to spending and, thus, increase precau-
tionary savings because of higher uncertainty about
the future.
Consumers undertake different economizing strat-
egies during the recession, which enable them to par-
ticipate in actual tourism demand, such as reduced
length of stay, cheaper accommodation, closer to ho-
me, fewer holidays, changed period of travel and chea-
per transport (Campos Soria, Inchausti-Sintes, & Eu-
genio-Martin, 2015). Travelling closer home reflects
the substitution of the international travelwith domes-
tic travel. However, tourists’ economizing decisions on
tourism expenditure differ across climate conditions
of the origin country (Eugenio-Martin & Campos-
Soria, 2014), education, occupation and age (Campos-
Soria et al., 2015). Because of spending pattern changes
during different phases of the business cycle, promo-
tional strategies cannot remain unaffected by this phe-
nomenon. Lee, Taylor, and Chung (2011) highlighted
that the economic crisis has lead to the use of more
rational and functional features in promotional strate-
gies. The goal of promotional strategies should be, of
course, to turn the income/tourism demand relation-
ship to the favour of tourism suppliers and destina-
tions.
The most recent economic crisis also revealed how
the income/tourism demand relationship differs be-
tween different tourism products. Based on a ques-
tionnaire on holiday patterns, Brooner and Hoog
(2017) found that the main summer holidays have an
asymmetric tourism demand, belonging to the cat-
egory of necessities during crisis because of crisis-
resistance and to the category of luxuries exhibiting
considerable growth during the expansion phase of
the business cycle; in contrast, short in-between vaca-
tions and day trips are ‘classic luxuries,’ with symmet-
ric tourismdemand across the business cyclewith sub-
stantial demand decrease during recession and con-
siderable growth during the recovery. Regarding econ-
omizing priorities during crisis, themain summer hol-
iday exhibits a low economizing priority, which sug-
gests that consumers economize on other products.
In summary, the income elasticity of tourism de-
mand is continuously changing due to, firstly, long-
term increases in the standard of living and, con-
sequently, increasing levels of satisfaction with the
tourism products consumed, and, secondly, fluctua-
tion across the business cycle.
Future Tourism Growth and Income/Tourism
Demand Relationship
Gunter and Smeral’s recent study (2017) on the in-
come elasticity of tourism demand poses a question
of whether the income elasticity of tourism demand
could become elastic after the economic crisis in the
near future, highlighting that this largely depends on
economic and political frameworks. Moreover, both
income elasticity growth and tourism demand growth
will probably differ based on the tourism product type.
Higher income elasticity will be probably related to
the experience-oriented tourism products with high-
growth perspectives, while lower income elasticity will
be present for products with low-growth perspectives
or stagnation, such as mass-tourism products, accord-
ing to Gunter and Smeral (2016).
Indeed, tourism demand and its growth depend on
income and its elasticity as discussed by Gunter and
Smeral (2016). Income growth measured by the real
gdp annual growth rate in advanced economies is to-
day lower than in the past (Figure 1). According to the
imf’s economic forecasts (see https://www.imf.org),
the real gdp annual growth rate will be around 2
in advanced economies in the coming years. Along
with the low-income elasticity of tourism demand,
70 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Helena Nemec Rudež The Relationship between Income and Tourism Demand
−4
−3
−2
−1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
                     
Figure 1 Real gdp Annual Growth () of Advanced Economies in the Period between 1980 and 2016 and Forecasts
for the Period 2017–2022 (based on data from International Monetary Fund, www.imf.org)
it reveals that tourism growth, especially in terms of
tourism spending, will probably remain low. As men-
tioned above, experience-oriented tourism products
will probably have high tourism growth.
Tourism today faces the high growth of tourists’ ar-
rivals; however, from the economic standpoint, know-
ing the growth of expenditures is essential. Peng et al.
(2015) found that income elasticity has lower values
when measured in terms of expenditures than when
measured in terms of tourist arrivals. Tourism growth
during 2004 and 2013 was merely due to physical
tourism demand (tourist arrivals and overnight stays)
and not expenditures (Gunter and Smeral, 2016). It
can be concluded that tourism expenditures will not
be as high as they were in the past nor will they be in
terms of physical measures of tourism demand. Fol-
lowing forecasts of tourists’ arrivals for the 2020–2030
period (unwto, 2017), average annual growth rate of
tourists’ arrivals in advanced economies will be 1.8 ,
which is lower than in the past (2.6 forecasted for the
period between 2010 and 2020 and 2.7  in the period
between 1995 and 2010). Thus, tourism growth rate is
diminishing in terms of tourists’ arrivals, and probably
it will be even lower in terms of expenditures.
Conclusion
The income elasticity of tourism demand has attracted
much interest in the tourism literature. Understand-
ing how consumers respond to income changes pro-
vides a useful tool for tourism planning and gives crit-
ical insights into tourism demand to decision makers
for strategy and policy implementation. The paper dis-
cusses the relationship between income and consump-
tion in the field of tourism.
In general, tourism demand is currently growing
more slowly than income and gdp than in the past.
Consumers are less sensitive to income than in the past
because of the rising purchasing power, but income
elasticity of tourism demand varies cyclically across
the business cycle. Moreover, the tourism industry
in different countries is confronted with consumers
with different income elasticities that require market-
ing strategies adapted to each specific origin market.
Tourism products and destinations facing with low-
income elasticity can foster demand growth by tar-
geting new segments with a high-income elasticity of
tourism demand or/and design experience-based in-
novative products with high growth potential, such
as products oriented towards customer’s new experi-
ences, local knowledge and heritage issues.
As the final word, savings and savings regimes also
have a significant impact on tourism consumption as
noted by Wang (2014). Further research on the re-
lationship between savings and income elasticity of
tourism demand, especially among different income
groups, would be welcome.
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72 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Research Note
Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing
Business Model Development in Tourism Businesses
in the Stockholm Archipelago
Gustaf Onn
Södertörn University, Department of Environmental Science and Tourism Studies,
Sweden
gustaf.onn@sh.se
Tourism consumption in Sweden is booming, but it seems to be at a standstill in
the Stockholm archipelago, and most businesses of all kinds in it are small. There-
fore, an eu-Interreg-financed educational community engagement project aiming
at business model development in the archipelagos of Turku, Åland (both in Fin-
land), and Stockholm was launched, as Finland has a similar situation. In this paper,
the foundations of the project, the literature on the issues of being rural and in the
archipelago, and business models are reviewed and put in perspective through pre-
liminary empirical results of the project, in while municipality and some business
representatives have been interviewed. The rationale is that there is a weak scien-
tific understanding of business models in use in the archipelagos. Methodologically,
action research is being used in addition to document studies, with unstructured in-
terviews and observations as the primary empiricalmethods. The primary results for
which the empirical findings put light on the intersection of the abovementioned lit-
erature bodies are the impact of infrastructural and access problems due to isolation,
as well as indications of a community split between second homes and permanent
residents. The lifestyle-entrepreneurship jeopardises the economic well-being but
enriches the social well-being of the population. The primary conclusions are that
seasonality and second homers provide entrepreneurs with large output markets in
season, but small ones in the off-season. The business equation cannot omit place
since it is part of the social well-being of the lifestyle-entrepreneurs, which calls for
further research into configurational approaches to strategy in an archipelago con-
text.
Keywords: archipelago business, second homes, lifestyle entrepreneurship, business
model development, educational community engagement
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.73-86
Introduction
The previous decade of tourism development in Swe-
den was astonishing in economic terms, especially be-
cause it essentially bypassed the 2008 financial crisis.
At the same time, it seems that that the situation in the
Stockholm archipelago has been at a standstill, as will
be discussed in the next section. This is despite it be-
ing a potent tourist resource, which is being used to
market Stockholm. The situation seems to be similar
in the archipelagos of Turku and Åland in Finland.
To understand and alleviate this situation, a three-
year eu Interreg-project was initiated on October 1st,
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 73
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
2016, in which two Finnish universities and one Swe-
dish university, together with a foundation that pro-
vides innocation related services to students and re-
searchers connected to universities, catering to both
countries, set out to survey and give aid to the devel-
opment of the business models of the companies in
the archipelagos of Stockholm, Turku, and Åland. A
first issue to settle is analyse the current situation of
businesses active in the archipelago. After that comes
the assessment of their businessmodels, inwhich busi-
nesses are to be linked to students, in which the former
obtain access to up-to-date tools for business model
assessment in collaboration with the project partners.
The project is not in itself a research project, but a
project in interregional development. Hence, the re-
search part becomes split: one part is concerned with
how to improve conditions for the permanent resi-
dents in the archipelagos; the other focuses on how
educational community engagement can benefit both
the students and the community.
This paper discusses the foundations of that proj-
ect, which are three: the rurality issue, the business
models and strategy issue, and the pedagogic issues
of educational community engagement. Geographi-
cally, the paper deals foremost with the situation of
the Stockholm archipelago. Some preliminary project
results from pilot activities are available, but the find-
ings are not due until the project is finished.
archipelagos have been studied in numerous ways.
Many texts deal with sustainability issues, foremost in
the ecological sphere, for example, the study by Mäki-
nen, Salmi, Salmi, and Kettunen (2008) on fish farms
in the archipelago Sea in Finland, or from a planning
perspective, such as the study of Bodén and Anckre
(2005). The literature does not seem to address the is-
sue of economically lagging archipelagos directly but
does occasionally make peripheral notes on issues of
business models in relation to other issues. As an ex-
ample, in the literature on island studies, Baldacchino
and Ferreira (2013) discuss how central planning use a
business model for transportation that negatively af-
fects the peripheral islands in the Azores, while the
marketing of those areas is kept under the control of
the central planning unit. Another body of literature
covers ict-related business modelling, an example of
which is Guzmán, del Carpio, Colomo-Palacios, and
de Diego (2013) who view archipelagos as living lab-
oratories for e-commerce, or Packalen’s (2008) inves-
tigation of ict-related networking on the Finnish ar-
chipelago. However, as of yet, the author of the current
paper has not found any studies aiming at the actual
business models in use in the archipelagos, and their
development potential. It is therefore somewhat un-
clear whether archipelagos differ from other rural ar-
eas regarding their actual business behaviour and po-
tential.
This paper aims to understand the intersection of
the two literature bodies in order to create a basis for
the further exploration of the relation between the
communities and business models. The community
engagement part seeks to improve education through
obtaining real life-problems for students to solve, as
well as providing new ideas for the entrepreneurs
while simultaneously connecting potential employ-
ers with potential employees. Its role in the paper is to
describe the way forward.
The paper will be organised accordingly: First, the
situation in the Stockholm archipelago and its relation
to tourism development at the national level is dis-
cussed, since these are the motivators of the project.
Thereafter, the issues of rurality and business models
will be presented in a literature review; then, meth-
ods will be discussed followed by the empirical results
thus far. After that, the educational community en-
gagement will illustrate how the issues are to be ap-
proached and finally a discussion will summarise the
findings.
The Situation on the Stockholm archipelago
The Stockholm archipelago is a 1,700 km2 area of
which 530 km2 are land, lying to the east of Stockholm
(Nationalencyklopedien, n.d.) In the south, Landsort
is often considered to be the border, and in the north,
most commonly Arholma 150 km north of Landsort,
but sometimes, Öregrund 66 km further north is used
as its limit. It has around 30,000 islands and around
10,000 permanent residents (Kustkulturen, n.d.) of
which 6,646 were living on Stockholm county islands
without bridges to the mainland (Länstyrelsen Stock-
holm, 2015). When the smaller demarcation is used,
74 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
the entire archipelago is within Stockholm county,
spread over several of its municipalities. When the
larger demarcation is used, parts of Östhammar mu-
nicipality in Uppsala County are added.
In 2015, tourism consumption in Sweden was sek
282 billion (€30 billion), which is an increase of 7
from sek 263 billion (€28 billion) in 2014 and 47
from sek 192 billion in 2005 (Tillväxtverket, 2016, p.
16). For all three of these years, tourism consump-
tion amounted to approximately 2.7 of Swedish gnp.
Proper statistics regarding the economic development
in the Stockholm archipelago are not at hand, partly
because the archipelago consists of parts of eight mu-
nicipalities. Hence, there is no entity for which statis-
tical information is gathered on a regular basis, and
what information is gathered for these municipalities,
the archipelago share is not separated. Even so, some
special reports are made from time to time. Guest
nights in the guest harbours may be taken to be a
proxy for development of tourism, although it does
not represent all types of tourism in the archipelago.
It may, however, work as an indication of the develop-
ment, even if it is not very robust. In 2015, there were
172,531 overnight guests in private yachts. Here there
has been a decrease of 28, even though the archipel-
ago is seen as a potent resource for tourism. Even if the
mean of the last ten years is taken in order to control
for fluctuations due to bad weather, 2014 (the third-
best year of the last decade) is up 7 from the aver-
age. During the same period, the other types of com-
mercial lodging in the country as a whole have had
a steady increase in overnight guests, totalling 41 in
the past decade. The impression is supported by visita-
tion statistics for 2007–2014 for Skärgårdsstiftelsen, a
Stockholm county-owned trust thatmanages approxi-
mately 12 of the land in the archipelago (Skärgårdss-
tifelsen, n.d.), for the recreational purposes of the
county’s population. If the measure were a reason-
able indicator of tourism development, it would mean
that while the country, as a whole, has booming de-
velopment, the archipelago, together with a few other
regions, is at a comparative standstill. The archipela-
go is nevertheless considered a good tourist amenity.
For example, almost 24 of all second homes in Swe-
den are located within 500 metres of the seashore,
indicating a desire for water (Marjavaara & Müller,
2007). The offshore islands close to metropolitan ar-
eas are domestic and international tourism destina-
tions of considerable significance (Aronsson, 1997).
According to Hansen (2016), the Swedish government
has pointed out the coastal and marine landscapes as
attractive and popular settings for recreational pur-
poses, though there is little to no knowledge on how
these should be planned and managed, on the part of
academics as well as managers. For that reason, field
studies of actual visitor attraction businesses in these
areas are necessary.
One common notion (dmo representative, perso-
nal communication, 8 May 2009) is that the archipel-
ago is overcrowded in July and almost empty the other
parts of the year; perhaps this is not entirely accurate
since there are large numbers of second homeown-
ers (Müller, 2007). The passenger statistics of the pub-
lic boat transport company in the archipelago (Wax-
holmsbolaget) support this opinion (Stockholms Läns
Landsting, 2016, p. 32). There is an evident concentra-
tion of passengers to in June–August in comparison
with the rest of the year, as seen in Figure 2. The situ-
ation seems to be similar in Finnish archipelagos.
According to a 2010 report (Löfmarck & Wolgast,
2010), more than 50 of employees worked for busi-
nesses with six employees or less, while 10 companies
supplied circa 25 of the jobs in the tourism sector,
and the seven largest companies constituted the top
quartile in terms of revenue; there were a few rather
large companies and many small businesses.
Over the years, many projects have been run with
the aim of helping the development of the economy of
the archipelago, including Skärgård i utveckling (ar-
chipelago in development); Öppen Skärgård – året
om! (Open archipelago, the whole year round); Scan-
dinavian Islands; Nya bostäder i skärgården (New
housing in the archipelago); Kika på Landsort/Via-
bal; Skärgårdssamarbete – Scandinavian Islands (Ar-
chipelago cooperation, within Scandinavian Islands);
Förstudie ‘Skärgård i samverkan för en stärkt besöks-
näring hela året’ (pilot study for Cooperation within
the archipelago in order to strengthen the visitation
industry); Visualisering av Dalarö Skeppsvraksområ-
de (Visualisation of the Dalarö ship wrecks area);
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Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
Skärgårdsstrategin – Destinationsutveckling av Stock-
holms skärgård för internationella marknader (The
archipelago strategy – Destination development of
Stockholm archipelago for international markets); Li-
der Stockholmsbygd; Hållbara Turistdestinationer
(Sustainable tourism destinations); Stockholm archi-
pelago; Roslagsmat, and Ö för Ö (Island-by-island).
Anecdotal evidence indicates little achievement
(Manager of a tourist office, personal communication,
11 May 2015), and entrepreneurs show signs of project
fatigue (Interviewee a&b, personal communication,
27 February 2017). For this reason, approaching busi-
nesses cannot be done with a ready-made solution,
but requires probing them on how they perceive their
problems, and then analysing if and how their prob-
lems can be solved through, for example, changes in
business models.
Literature Review
Though close to the metropolitan areas of Stockholm,
Turku, and Mariehamn, the areas covered by the pro-
ject (the archipelagos of Stockholm,Turku, andÅland)
are considered rural areas, using eu-Interreg’sCentral
Baltic criteriafor funding.
We are here interested in understanding why there
seems to be a standstill in the level of archipelago busi-
ness activity, and whether it is possible to help busi-
nesses to expand. To do so, one can look at the envi-
ronment the businesses are operating in and how they
are doing so. The former is discussed under the head-
ing of rurality and the latter under business models.
Rurality
Labrianidis (2006) notes that rurality traditionally had
been associated with resource-based economies, rely-
ing on natural resources, such as farming and forestry,
and that the landscape, in addition to this, has certain
distinct spaces, such as moorlands and mountains. It
seems that Labrianidis understands resources to be
primarily natural resources.
Mtika and Kistler quote Boto et al. when they char-
acterise rural areas thusly: ‘frequently suffer from in-
adequate enterprise creation, poor infrastructure, in-
adequate financial services, and insufficient provision
of social protection’ (Mtika & Kistler, 2017, p. 83).
Regarding the understanding of the concept of
rurality, Labrianidis (2006, p. 3) mentions more tra-
ditional geographical approaches, including ‘socio-
spatial characteristics,’ population densities and dis-
tance to urban areas, as well as a growing interest in
rurality as amental state rather than geographical fact;
one of the earlier works is that of Hoggart, Buller, and
Black (1995), noting the majority of people in the ru-
ral space switch from being producers in forestry and
farming, to being consumers of leisure and recreation,
thus blurring the earlier clear distinction between the
rural and the urban.
Rousseau (1995) reviews various definitions of ru-
rality from a health care perspective, including popu-
lation density, remoteness, dependency on agriculture,
and being a particular type of society. She concludes
that no single definition covers all cases of interest and,
therefore, the question at hand should guide the kind
of definition to be used. Glesbygdsverket (2008) con-
curs with Rousseau, and lists a few of the definitions
used by Swedish government agencies, and some Eu-
ropean countries. They do, however, classify all islands
without bridge connection to themainland as sparsely
populated rural areas, due to long transport times.
Laurent (2013) notes that there is something sus-
pect with the distinction between rurality and urban-
ity: areas are now not functionally distinct in the way
they were in the 1800s, and there seems to be little
support for differing behavioural characteristics. It is
epistemically less difficult to separate urban modes
of population density, production, and infrastructural
modes, from rural ones, in comparison to character
modes. Hence, he notes some scientific scepticism to
the adoption of the notion of rurality instead of be-
ing rural, and that ‘[o]ther “constructivist” researchers
contest the superimposition of a rural society on a ru-
ral space’ (Laurent, 2013, §2). He also notes that the
global urban society has components that idealise ru-
ral aspects of life. From this, he concludes that the
rural-urban dichotomy does not hold:
There are not two separate worlds, but a spatial
and ideational interpretation between the urban and
the rural. Boundaries are fading, the transitions and
niches are complex, as in the ‘blurred’ periurban spaces
which are both urban in their functioning (jobs, life-
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Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
style) and rural by way of landscapes (the place oc-
cupied by agricultural land use) and by way of per-
ceptions of the inhabitants who consider that they are
living ‘in the country’ (Laurent, 2013, §3).
Mtika and Kistler (2017) note that the development
of rural areas has begun to be viewed holistically rather
than sectorally when examining how to remedy devel-
opment needs. They conclude that, in line with ideas
of Shaffers and Summers, Cavaye, as well asMatarrita-
Casante and Brennan, community development in-
volves development in as well as of community, and
go on to conclude that these two sides need to be in-
tegrated. Using Gergen’s ideas on transformative di-
alogue, ‘community members learn from each other,
learning that is made easier when social networks of
ties for the transfer of ideas and communities of prac-
tice that promote mutuality are significant’ (Mtika &
Kistler, 2017, p. 91).
Ciolac (2012) expands on how agricultural regions
can open themselves to tourism (assuming that rural-
ity implies agriculture as the economic base). Never-
theless, a few relevant pitfalls are mentioned in her
text, namely, ‘the pursuit of higher earnings from the
beginning, the subjective assessment of agro-tourism
opportunities, guest neglect, a badmanagement of hu-
man resources, [and] poor quality services’ (Ciolac,
2012, p. 442). She posits that in development, there
are six areas that need to be covered: accessibility and
space factors, the need to integrate rural tourism in the
localities‘ frame, infrastructure and technology, work-
force, design, and financing.
Marjavaara (2007b, p. 29) notes that ‘islandness’
posits certain characteristics. With reference to Mac-
Leod, he observes that islands are of small-scale, iso-
lated, have weak economies, are separated, and are
dependent due to political and geographical/climat-
ic/ecologic circumstances and sensibility to ‘the va-
garies of the market.’ He goes on, with reference to
Cross and Nutley, to note limitations with respect to
industrialisation and endogenous growth. He notes
that many of these are shared with other rural and
peripheral areas, but Andriotis’ idea of the sea as im-
pediment creates a double isolation. Finally, he notes
that tourism is increasing as a mode of sustenance,
even if it often is seasonal (Marjavaara, 2007b).
Larsson andRobertsson (2012) conducted an inter-
view-based study around part-timers in second homes
in the Swedish west-coast archipelago and coast-land.
In this study, a part-timer is someone who stays in
their second home for more than the holiday sea-
sons. They interviewed business representatives on
their attitudes towards part-timers. Grocery stores and
other retailers are affected most by the seasonality,
and the part-timers smoothen out the variation: there
can be up to a 50 increase in turnover in the high
season when there is a heavy non-resident (Easter-
ling, 2005) tourism pressure. Restaurants experience
increased activity when the part-timers arrive since
these consume more than the permanent residents
do. Conference-venue operations are less vulnerable
to seasonal variation. Construction and artisanal op-
erations are not dependent on the part-timers, but
appreciate them as customers, since they are rather
aware of what services they want and can afford them.
These businesses are dependent on being within the
informal local construction network structures and
are sensitive to word of mouth. Service and experi-
ence companies are as mixed as can be expected, and
experience the seasonality of demand, but does not
let it affect their offerings. Though the part-timers are
an appreciated customer group to the businesses, per-
manent residents are preferred, because they have a
steadier demand for services of varying kinds.
Bardolet and Sheldon (2008, p. 910) suggest that
since land ‘is in short supply in archipelagos and is-
lands, regulation of its use becomes critical.’ However,
as noted byMüller (2007), putting restrictions on land
ownership and thus land-use is not without problems
in the eu. Also, their research is on the Balearic and
Hawaiian archipelagos, and hence their tourism of
sea-sand-sun characteristic, rather alien to the Nordic
archipelagos, which are influenced by second home
tourism to a much larger extent. Since these may be a
factor affecting development, we have examined some
of the relevant literature on second homes.
On Second Home Tourism
Müller (2007) notes that in the Nordic countries aro-
und 12 million people, approximately half the popula-
tion, had access to 1.5 million second homes. Of these,
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Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
almost 16 were located on islands (Marjavaara &
Müller, 2007). In some regions in Sweden, over 50 of
small houses are second homes, and the owners have
a strong connection to the place (Lundberg, 2017).
With reference to Kaltenborn, Müller (2007) notes
that these are often inherited over generations, and are
hence more permanent than the registered dwellings
of everyday life, thus making the urban home a sec-
ond home. Löfgren (1999) also notices this unwilling-
ness of second homers to let go of their childhood par-
adises, and the idealisation of life at the second home
being akin to that of rurality: a simpler life where so-
cietal demands are distant and change is or should
be non-existent. According to Larsson and Roberts-
son (2012), it is common in Sweden to use parents’ or
grandparents’ permanent dwellings as second homes.
The houses are kept in order to remain in contact with
the community in which they or their parents were
raised. The connection makes second-homers have a
strong local affiliation and thus extends community
participation.
From 1991 to 2005, around 164,000 persons moved
frompermanent houses to their secondhomes (Müller
& Marjavaara, 2012). Müller and Marjavaara (2012, p.
65) found two distinct groups: below 40s, who moved
primarily to houses that were commutable from the
larger metropolitan areas, whereas the elderly, 40+
group, went to ‘rural and amenity-rich areas outside
the metropolitan regions of Sweden. Seaside locations
seem to have a special appeal for this particular group.’
Fewer ties to work life are given as their rationale.
Nordin and Marjavaara (2012) observe that sec-
ond homeowners have a high level of participation in
associations of the community of the second home.
Lundberg (2017) found that local involvement may
be a modifying variable on social integration in the
community with respect to the stakeholder groups of
second homeowners and permanent residents.
In his work on displacement theory in the Swedish
second home destinations, Marjavaara (2007a, b) in-
vestigates if and how permanent residents are being
displaced by wealthy potential second homers. His
findings give no support for that idea, at least not at a
societal level. At some destinations, there are a few de-
creases in the amount of permanent homes, but rather
than being a de-populating area, it is repopulating,
especially in destinations nearby Stockholm. ‘Con-
sequently, any displacement of permanent residents
would be caused mainly by an increased demand for
permanent homes (Marjavaara, 2007a, p. 310). Swe-
den has experienced a marked relative increase in real
estate prices, with an essentially steady increase since
1997 in some places, for example, Stockholm.
Easterling (2005) divides the residents of a des-
tination into four groups: born-heres, comes-heres,
retired-heres, and second-homes-heres. In her study
of the resident stakeholders of Chincoteague Island,
Virginia, usa, she found more consensus than dis-
agreement towards tourism, understood as not being
part of these stakeholder groups – which is at odds
with many of the Nordic researchers’ treatment of
second-homers.
Larsson and Robertsson (2012) note, among other
things, that part-timers (see above) are a rather ho-
mogenous group, being a bit older, with good finances,
and having strong emotional ties to the second home,
socialising with permanent residents and their friends
and relatives, but not so much with other part-timers.
They also express that the new part-timers are rich and
arrogant and hence make everything expensive, and
that in-season tourists are seen as a necessary evil.
Lundberg (2017) note that second homeowners’
strong sense of relation to the second home is not ac-
companied by jurisdiction beyond those of ownership,
for example, voting rights, and may not be fully ac-
cepted by the permanent dwellers, and hence not able
to fully participate in the community.
With reference to Sandell, Müller (2002) divides
the handling of man-environment relationship into
three strategies; Fabric-strategy, home-strategy, and
museum strategy. In the first, the area is viewed as a
production system at a macro-level, with its division
of labour over space. In the second, there is a wish for
progress at a local level, without destroying the sense
of place through keepingmeaning carriers of the com-
munity intact. The museum strategy aims at conser-
vation. Müller (2002) notes that the latter strategy is
foremost found among second homers.
Since this project is aiming at understanding the
reasons behind the non-increasing business, we will
78 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
also examine the literature on family businesses and
lifestyle entrepreneurs.
On Family Businesses and Lifestyle Entrepreneurs
Peters, Frehse, and Buhalis (2009) note, with reference
to Middleton, that the tourism sector is dominated by
small business operations, and that the large major-
ity consists of lifestylers rather than rational, as I take
them to mean profit maximizing professionals. Many
small businesses are family run, and Getz and Carlsen
(2000, p. 548) claim, with reference to Dunn, that ‘it
was not uncommon for family businesses to accept
lower returns or longer paybacks on their investments
or to sustain a lifestyle rather than to maximise prof-
its or personal revenue.’ They go on to note that these
often either are run to support the family’s main line
of sustenance, farming for example, or as a remuner-
ating hobby or desired lifestyle. According to Atelje-
vic andDoorne (2000), this oftenmeans enduring low
profitability.With reference to thework of Stallinbrass,
Shaw and Williams, Williams et al., and Morrison et
al., they note that thismay constrain the regional econ-
omy and limit firms’ survival. This is, of course, a situ-
ation that, in the long run, threatens the very existence
of populated archipelagos.
Morrison (2006) discusses a classification that dis-
tinguishes between an entrepreneurial venture, an
entrepreneur, a small business, and a small business
owner, noting that the objects of study belong to dif-
ferent analytical spheres and that subsequent research
has criticised the distinction, due to inadequate bench-
marking abilities regarding what constitutes entrepre-
neurs, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial activity.
Instead, a contingency approach to entrepreneurship
measurement is suggested. She goes on to list the di-
mensions of family business: choosing fields that have
low barriers to entry for them, focus on life change
rather than career, prioritising lifestyle aspirations
over profit, often catering to domestic market and
driven by social rather than economic goals concern-
ing localisation, and ‘Businesses are dominated by the
entrepreneurial family that can act either as a valuable
competitive human asset or a detrimental drain on
the efficiency and quality of the operation’ (Morrison,
2006, p. 204).
These can be compared to the characterisation of
Peters et al. (2009) of lifestyle entrepreneurs, who pri-
oritise quality of life over growth, lifestyle over cus-
tomer service, limited interest in the optimal alloca-
tion of resources in utilisation and decision making,
limited competence in the running of business in ar-
eas such asmanagement,marketing, product develop-
ment, ict utilisation, quality management, have little
involvement in the interindustry activities and dmos
and other lobby and public bodies, are reluctant to ac-
cept external involvement or accept professional ad-
vice, have low innovation and are unwilling to coop-
erate, are ‘motivated by survival and sufficient income
to maintain their and their families’ way of life [. . .]
[and] unwillingness to let go or to sell their ventures’
(Peters et al., 2009, pp. 397–398).
Presenza, Yucelen and Camillo (2015, p. 458) char-
acterise lifestyle entrepreneurs as working with some-
thing for which they have a passion, talent, or knowl-
edge and choose a business model that furthers ‘long-
term, sustainable and viable living.’
For both categories, goals other than profit seems
to be a top priority, be it the possibility to remain on lo-
cation and keep the businesses going, or to work with
something interesting.
Now we move on to business models since the
project intends to attempt to help improve the situ-
ation in the archipelago, and business model develop-
ment is one way of doing so.
Business Models and Strategy
There seems to be little consensus on how to discuss
business models. According to Zott, Amit and Massa
(2011, p. 1022), it has been described as a statement, a
description, a representation, an architecture, a concep-
tual tool or model, a structural template, a method, a
framework, a pattern, and a set.
Much of the work is related to e-businesses, which
is not the focus of the project, even if it may turn out
to have significance in, for example, booking services.
Now, it is perhaps less interesting to attempt to develop
an exact definition covering every possible case, com-
paredwith, for example, the problemswith doing so in
the relatively well-specified field of visitor attractions.
More interesting is looking at the problems that
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Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
the business model is intended to solve. Amit and Zott
(2001) suggest business models’ ability for value cre-
ation lies in the direct effects, and the interrelations be-
tween novelty, lock-in, complementarities and/or effi-
ciency, each with a number of components. Zott et al.
(2011) contrast this findingwithHamel’s ideas on revo-
lutionary business models, and the idea of Casadesus-
Masanell and Ricart that firms are competing through
their business models. According to Hamel (2000),
the business models developed should be able to cre-
ate and capture value in value networks – a thought
that has been taken further in the co-creation litera-
ture. According to Teece (2010), it is more or less the
blueprint of the business with respect to organisational
and financial issues.
According to Osterwalder (2004), Business mod-
els should be assessed along the dimensions of Value
Proposition/Product/Value Leadership; Target Cus-
tomer/Market Share; Distribution Channel/Channel
Complexity; Relationships/Customer Integration;Val-
ue Configuration/Degree of Business Model Integra-
tion; Capabilities/Spread; Partnerships/Networked-
ness; Cost Structure/Low-Cost Leadership; Revenue
Model/Revenue Diversity. This is the notion that will
be the default choice of the project, even if efforts will
be made to be sensitive to better options in specific
cases.
Methodology andMethods
The project may be seen as a kind of inductive re-
search process, in which expectations on how things
are play a lesser role. The rationale for this is the low
level of previous studies on business models used in
archipelagos, and even rural areas with transportation
issues would render optional strategies questionable,
since a deductive approach requires a good knowledge
of the field under investigation. A key point is to en-
ter the situation and assess it and do what is appropri-
ate both in terms of research and in terms of project
outcomes. Methodologically, it may be viewed as ac-
tion research (Gummesson, 2002; Perry & Gummes-
son, 2004), a format in which the researcher is part
of the studied process and is attempting to affect out-
comeswhile simultaneously doing research on it; thus,
it is an extreme form of ethnography (Aspers, 2007).
Here, subjectivity problems of the researcher are bal-
anced by a superior epistemic position, leading to a far
better position to understand the phenomena at hand.
One negative aspect is that there is a risk of conscious
and unconscious bias, since people seldom are very
good at critically examining their own behaviour. As
with all subjectivistic methods, replication and objec-
tivity are not issues. Instead, the ideas of Lincoln and
Guba (1985) regarding trustworthiness and authentic-
ity are sought.
The methods used include document studies, un-
structured interviews with municipality representa-
tives, participant observation, and occasional unstruc-
tured interviews with archipelago business represen-
tatives. Interviews with municipality representatives
have been recorded and transcribed. Interviews with
business representatives have been ad hoc; therefore,
field notes have been made retrospectively. This latter
method has its pitfalls, of course, due to, among other
things, memory shortcomings, but it seems more ser-
endipitous to use them than not to.
For research events, interviews will, as much as
possible, be recorded and transcribed, but in ad hoc
situations, field notes will be made retrospectively. Re-
garding student-related events, such as match-making
seminars, and business clinics these will be followed
throughunstructured observations, forwhich research
notes are to be taken during the sessions. In the busi-
ness model development activities, Loop, a Business
ModelCanvas built on theworks ofOsterwalder (2004)
will be the main source. Coursework will be assessed
through both relevance to the businesses and its usual
academic merits while thesis work will be assessed on
its academic merits.
The process may be viewed as a business model de-
velopment of the educational side of academic work,
using the Osterwalder (2004) format of the Business
Model Canvas.
Empirical Results
Traditionally, the archipelago inhabitants have had to
combine their fields of work, since no single line of
business has been sufficient to ensure sustenance; typ-
ically, these have been the three Fs: farming, forestry,
and fishing. Few of the permanent residents in the ar-
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Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
chipelago are working in these traditional fields to-
day, since modernisation made the archipelago non-
competitive in these areas regarding price on the glo-
bal market, due to the low productivity of soils for
farming and forestry, while the topology of the archi-
pelagos makes large-scale fishing more or less impos-
sible.
According to one informant (Chairman of a busi-
ness council, personal communication, 26 April 2017),
there are a host of problems facing businesses; the fact
that they are island-based forces most entrepreneurs
to run multiple businesses. She runs five together
with her family, ranging frommaritime cargo through
events to a grocery store.
One problem in having a business in the archipel-
ago is caused by extensive second homeownership,
giving high seasonality for businesses catering to cus-
tomers present in the community, like visitor attrac-
tions. Furthermore, second homeowners may exhibit
substantial resistance to change (Interviewee C, per-
sonal communication, 29 July 2017).
There is scarcely any possibility to obtainmore real
estate than that at hand. Moreover, this means that
children growing up in the archipelago have difficul-
ties setting up households, since young people seldom
have the income to purchase, and banks are reluctant
to give credit. Access to labour is challenging; when
demand is high, there are difficulties finding housing
for seasonal workforce reinforcements (IntervieweeD,
personal communication, 27 February 2017).
Infrastructure is another issue: poor roads are com-
mon in many rural areas. This is an acute problem for
areas without road connection. One example is ship-
ping from wholesale warehouses situated in urban ar-
eas to the trans-shipment points, where supplies are
reloaded from trucks to boats for the grocery stores
and restaurants.
For archipelago grocery stores, there is a regulated
refrigeration supply chain, from which they are not
allowed to diverge (Chairman of a business council,
personal communication, 26 April 2017). This means
that if there is, for example, a carrier break-down, the
business may be out of supplies, with no legal way of
remedying it. This is in contrast with online food de-
livery stores, who are not under the same regulation
and hence can switch to any cheaper or better means
of distribution (Chairman of a business council, per-
sonal communication, 26 April 2017).
Furthermore, being in the Stockholm archipela-
go means that in winter the sea may be covered in
ice, making it unnavigable (this is also true for Turku
or Åland). Furthermore, in the Stockholm archipela-
go, Waxholmsbolaget, a tax-subsidised shipping com-
pany owned by Stockholm county, is required to cater
to residents only (Interviewee D, personal communi-
cation, 27 February 2017). This means that they need
not make any adjustments to the needs of the archi-
pelago businesses. To the businesses, the handling of
timetables of Waxholmsbolaget is allegedly a hazard,
as it reveals its schedule to them only shortly before
it is operational, giving the entrepreneurs little or no
time to plan, package, and communicate their offer-
ings to customers (Interviewee D, personal commu-
nication, 27 February 2017). For those who need to
purchase services, like house building, or seasonal
workers, the transport discounts are not applicable
to other than permanent residents of the archipelago,
and hence cost for engaging them is distinctly higher
than corresponding costs on the mainland (Intervie-
wee D, personal communication, 27 February 2017).
This is because transport at sea is both more expen-
sive per kilometre, and much more time consuming
(Länsstyrelsen Stockholm, 2015).
Though many larger islands have fibre optic cables
for high-speed internet communication, this is not the
case everywhere (Holmberg & Rosengren, 2017) and
the criterionused in decisions onwhich islands to con-
nect is based on the number of permanent residents.
For those without, the service of radio-based internet
is not so reliable; if one, for example, happen to live on
an island close to the ferry route between Stockholm
and Turku or Helsinki, then the internet connection
will be lost as the ferry passes, due to the many units
connecting to the local hub. One of the larger islands
still has internet access over mobile phone networks.
When the guest harbour is full, this has the conse-
quence that the portable credit card payment device
cannot connect to the banks, forcing the operations to
take cash, to the extent that the customers have cash,
which is rather rare in Sweden. Then they need to go
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 81
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
the bank to deposit the cash, which will take the larger
part of a day in transport. Regarding that and other
financial services, bank offices will be at the nearest
main town.
One interesting remark that was made is that the
more concrete the problem of the archipelago en-
trepreneur, the more difficult it seemed to be to get
help from, for example, municipality representatives
(Chairman of a business council, personal communi-
cation, 26 April 2017).
Businesses in the mice industry experience that
there is no one to easily start networking with, due to
the rurality constraints discussed earlier. This means
that what they cannot produce themselves will not be
done. This problem seems to be increasing with di-
minishing transport efficiency (Holmberg & Rosen-
gren, 2017).
Educational Community Engagement
To create the best possible conditions for developing
archipelago businesses and their workforce rejuvena-
tion, while simultaneously attempting to improve the
quality of higher education, the project will create a
nexus where businesses and students meet. There are
to be match-making seminars at which students and
businesses meet, business clinics at which businesses
are helped with understanding and possibly remedy-
ing distinct issues, such as accounting, or marketing
research, and for those businesses that have potential
and enough gusto and endurance, there will be an ac-
celerator programme, in which a deeper relation be-
tween academies and businesses is established.
Since launching the project, some preliminaries
have been undertaken. Interviews with several of the
municipalities’ trade and development representatives
have been conducted; student recruitment has been
commenced, including preliminary coursework in in-
termediate level net-based information system devel-
opment, and bachelor level destination and business
development courses; five graded bachelor essays and
two master’s theses are in progress. Of these, the es-
say of Holmberg and Rosengren (2017) is being used
in here, both for its empirical results and as an exam-
ple. Business recruitment has started on the Finnish
side, while student involvement has been lacking. On
the Swedish side, the opposite is the case, and com-
pany recruitment started on June 1st, 2017, and the
first business clinic is to be held on November 16th,
2017. When the format is fully operational, businesses
will take part in the assessment of utility merits as well
as the academies assessing their academic standard,
while the theses will be solely evaluated on academic
merits. Preliminary results on the challenges of the ar-
chipelago businesses include the transport of tourists,
where a shorter bus delay from the metropolitan area
may mean the cancellation of the whole trip, due to
severe difficulties in timetable coordination and com-
munication, lack of networking partners, competence
and means, and general accessibility issues.
The business model development will follow the
Osterwalder (2004) model of Business Model Canvas,
as will the project as a whole, meaning that there will
be a need to start where the businesses are in their
mental notions of their firms, seek what value they are
delivering to which customers, make a minimum vi-
able product, and pitch the minimum viable product
on potential customers, make pivoting changes where
necessary, and reiterating. The same holds true for the
project, where the ‘customers’ are both the students
and the businesses. Both constituencies need to be per-
suaded of the significance of the project.
Discussion
As Labrianidis (2006) notes, the historical associa-
tion between rurality and the resource-based econ-
omy seems to have faded in contemporary Western
society. Some activity remains in the sector, but it is
a minority of the businesses in the field (Löfmarck
& Wolgast, 2010). Rather, it is construction and arti-
sanal activities that account for the greatest number
of businesses. This seems to be in line with the situa-
tion on the west coast of Sweden, as found by Larsson
and Robertsson (2012), even though their study has a
slightly different focus.
Whether or not it is fruitful to distinguish the ru-
ral from the urban, if the two are different in kind, is
an open question. From a business development per-
spective, it is not necessarily interesting to explore the
mindsets of rural as opposed to urban populations.
Neither is theremuch to do about the area being ru-
82 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
ral, apart from that possibly qualifying projects for var-
ious planning bodies’ subsidies and project financing.
When relevant, this would warrant taking Rousseau’s
(1995) attitude to the definition of the rural.
In contrast, something worth assessing, and where
relevant, dealing with, are the constraints discussed by
Mtika and Kistler (2017). They claim that there is in-
adequate enterprise creation, or Marjavaara’s (2007b)
idea of limitationswith respect to industrialisation and
endogenous growth is somewhat put in doubt by the
claim that most residents are forced to run multiple
businesses. It is not the amount of enterprise creation
that seems to be the problem, but rather the lucrative-
ness of business activity, or the lack of possibilities to
obtain desired services, necessitating entrepreneurs to
perform them themselves. This is in line with the find-
ing of Holmberg and Rosengren (2017): what opera-
tors cannot produce themselves will not get done. The
claim of Mtika and Kistler (2017) about poor infras-
tructure seems to be true relative to urban areas, and
even mainland Sweden: poor roads, the cumbersome
trans-shipment, unclear reliability, and for some, reg-
ulated monopolies. These issues are also connecting it
to the idea of the sea as an impediment found in Mar-
javaara (2007b).
The size of the permanent population is a deter-
mining factor when it comes to public financing of in-
ternet infrastructure. This is encouraging migration
to more populated areas of the archipelago, a phe-
nomenon akin to urbanisation.
On the idea of Mtika & Kistler (2017) regarding
inadequate financial services, it can be observed that
there is a need to go to the nearest main town to visit
the bank. This may be cumbersome, to the extent that
the entrepreneur needs to have established relation-
shipwith the bank to obtain proper financing. Swedish
society is one of the more automated in the world with
respect to financial services, so if one has access to a
sufficient internet connection, it may be of lesser im-
portance. As seen above, this is, however, not always
the case. Social protectionmay be of lesser importance
in the studied archipelagos, since Sweden is a rather
stable welfare state, although this is perceived to be de-
clining.
Regarding development, there have been many
projects, but few seem to have had a lasting impact.
They have largely been sectorial, looking at, for ex-
ample, food, marketing, and ict. This seems to be in
line with switching to a more holistic perspective as
advocated by Mtika and Kistler (2017), warranting de-
velopment in and of the community. For this reason,
all dwellers should be considered, and second homers
are a substantial factor here, owning much of the land
in the archipelago.
In Larsson and Robertsson (2012), it is found that
part-timers, 40+ people who stay in the second home
beyond the holiday season, smoothen out the season.
These have probably been around for quite some time,
and do not necessarily pose an invitation to more
business beyond that already in place. With the Os-
terwalder (2004) notion of business model, it would,
however, be possible to test new offerings for the seg-
ment. Furthermore, land is scarce; Bardolet and Shel-
don (2008) note this for Hawai and the Balearics, and
Interviewee D (personal communication, 27 February
2017) for the Stockholm archipelago. Possibly part-
timers could supply housing, provided it does not in-
terfere with their own desires to utilise their homes.
Probably, that wouldmean inventing new seasonswith
relevant activities. These are topics thatmay be investi-
gated in the student-business matchmaking seminars
and business clinics of the project. The second homers
have high affinity to the community, and even though
there is evidence of them voicing museum-strategy
opinions, development of the community is not neces-
sarily impossible. After all, they likelywant the grocery
store to remain open, which may not happen if there
is no possibility of sustenance for the shopkeeper.
Returning to the idea of rurality, it may be argued
that the closeness to the metropolitan areas, where
at least some of the population who live close to the
mainland can obtain sustenance in the metropolitan
area, and the volatile population density off and on
season, would suggest that it is not perhaps (or at least
not only) proximity and population density that is an
arbiter; for example, place identification is also part
of the equation. Moreover, when there is high social
as well as economic value in the existing housing and
expectations on price increases in this sector as much
as is in the urban housing sector, the problem of mak-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 83
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
ing enough money to be able to stay is perhaps the
defining characteristic of rurality.
Conclusion
This project does not exclusively focus on the tourism
sector, since, as noted above,most entrepreneurs in the
archipelago are ‘jacks-of-all-trades’ by necessity, and
business models transgress industry boundaries (Zott
et al., 2011), but it does aim to obtain a better under-
standing on the business models used in the visitor
attractions segment. As noted above, most archipela-
go inhabitants have income from other sources than
the traditional 3fs. The second homers constitute a
rather big and steady demand for construction ser-
vices, such as carpentry, plumbing, electricity, and the
like. Moreover, in season, they are customers to re-
tail stores, primarily food and apparel, and restaurants.
This means that there is quite a large output market
on-season and a tiny one off-season, which supports
the claim of Labrianidis (2006) that rural output mar-
kets are small, but not in high season.
As suggested, there are weaknesses with the busi-
ness models in use in relation to the rurality restric-
tions under which the businesses operate. Obviously,
place is not a sufficient characteristic to create what
Amit and Zott (2001) call ‘lock-in,’ or Porter’s (1985)
traditional notion of barriers to entry. However, as
Bonow and Rytkönen (2013) note, if relevant, place
can be a strong brand, such as it may be in niche agri-
cultural products, a possibility for the still active food
producers of the archipelago. Furthermore, businesses
will be having discussions onwhat their real objectives
are with pursuing their enterprises, and the student ac-
tivities will focus on to what extent lifestyle-like prior-
ities can be put in accordance with business model de-
velopment to not threaten long-term viability as indi-
cated by Peters et al. (2009), Getz and Carlsen (2000),
and Ateljevic and Doorne (2000). Thus far, student
involvement has proven useful in the assessment of
the situation. It remains to be seen if it also helps in
developing business models in the archipelago.
Limitations and Further Studies
Case studies are idiosyncratic, and results are not
necessarily transferable to other areas. Furthermore,
the ethnographic approach is dependent on the re-
searchers involved, and interviews have bias risks in
terms of social desirability and potential attention and
memory-related problems. The sampling has a par-
ticipation bias. Even if these problems seem insur-
mountable, it would be of benefit if data could also
be matched to objective data, even if it may prove im-
possible to obtain objective behavioural data.
Speculation says that amenities for value creation
are at hand in the archipelago, but the problems with
value capture are rather severe, especially when en-
trepreneurs are thinking of creating more off-season
business, such company events, when the customers
are not already present in the archipelago.Hence, their
business modelling needs to better understand net-
working and communication in the business-gener-
ating region (i.e. the customers’ habitat).
The literature on rurality, including that on sec-
ond homes and on lifestyle entrepreneurs, suggest that
there are problems of infrastructure, possible short-
comings regarding business competence and the value
structures of the business people, along with access to
some services, such as banking. The business model
literature does not give specifics on how to handle
these but do give suggestions on where to look for
progression options. The student involvement in the
project has a potential to handle some of the problems,
but as the project is still underway, no conclusions
may be drawn on that part. Both the literature and the
students’ ability to deal with the problems need fur-
ther study. The need to consider place in the business
model merits a deeper investigation into a configura-
tional approach to strategy in an archipelago context.
In addition to the studied literature findings, there
is also the issue of political regulations and business
policies working to the disadvantage of the islander
businesses, such as the requirement to follow a pre-
specified supply chain, and discounts only for per-
manent residents on public transport. These issues
can hardly be solved by changing business plans, or
student-involvement, but perhaps ideas can be brought
up circumventing or solving the problems. Hence, the
handling of institutional hindrances, such as laws on
building permits, harbour utilisation, et cetera, needs
further study.
84 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Gustaf Onn Student Involvement as a Tool for Nurturing Business Model Development
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86 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Review
Book Review: Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage
Management, edited by Razaq Raj and Kevin Griffin
Tadeja Jere Jakulin
University of Primorska, Slovenia
tadeja.jerejakulin@upr.si
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.11.87
The 2nd edition of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage
Management: An International Perspective (Walling-
ford, England: cabi, 2015) with 21 chapters written by
342 by internationally renowned scientific researchers
and contributors, presents different areas of religious
tourism and pilgrimage management. The book con-
sists of three parts: the theoretical sections are pre-
sented as the first and second parts, encompassing
concepts in religious tourism and pilgrimagemanage-
ment representing the motivation and experience of
religious sites. The third part of the book is dedicated
to international case studies; this is the largest part and
has ten contributors.
The chapters of the first part lay the entire basis
of religious tourism, beginning with the introduc-
tion of the contents, religion, tourism and explana-
tion of the experience industry. Combining scientific
knowledge and practical research, the authors of the
first part present the benefits but also the threats and
doubts about masses of tourists visiting sacred places
and buildings, competition between faiths for a loca-
tion, and conflicts between pilgrimage and commer-
cial tourism. The authors discuss the motivation for
religious travel, events, globalisation through religious
tourism, British and Irish pilgrimage tourism, but also
tolerance gained through religious tourism and its op-
posite: terrorism and the mechanisms to limit acts
of crime against pilgrims, which one case study de-
scribes.
The chapters of the second part lead the reader to
the experience economy within pilgrimage and reli-
gious tourism and the co-operation with stakehold-
ers. One of the authors discusses the wto’s definition
of spiritual tourism (p. 147), which is (in the opinion
of this reviewer) contradictio in adiecto, since spiritual
travel is a path to oneself, not around the world as a
tourist. It is a place where groups of people cannot
penetrate, and it does not include ‘entrance fees but
meditation or contemplation. This is a good point for
further discussions.
Nine chapters of the last part present case studies
and lessons for the readers around the world, begin-
ning with the pilgrimage experience and consump-
tion of travel to the city of Makkah for the Hajj ritual.
Through the religious tourism experiences in South
East Asia, a Nordic Pilgrimage to Israel (A case of
Christian Zionism), Religious Tourism Sites in Africa,
Northern Portugal, Argentina, South Lebanon, and
Malta, the authors present international perspectives
on religious, cultural and pilgrimage tourism. Two of
the case studies explore a broader aspect of religious
tourism: one describes Ashura, a religious observance
marked every year by Shia Muslims and its commem-
oration in Iraq, and the other presents comparison of
classic Western insurance and Islamic insurance, fol-
lowed by a case study of the Takaful insurance com-
pany in Bahrain.
Lessons learned from the book are useful for schol-
ars, students, event organisers, researchers, religious
and pilgrimage intermediaries, and the tourism in-
dustry in general. The book offers excellent themes
for discussions of some recognised definitions, which
need new descriptions to present a deeper meaning of
tourism connected to religions and pilgrimages.
This paper is published under the terms of the
Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) License.
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 87

Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Pritegnitev pozornosti uporabnikov turističnih storitev z vizualnimi sporočili
Filip Cvitić in Mario Plenković
Slike imajo pomembno vlogo pri pritegnitvi pozornosti uporabnikov. Platforme, kot
so Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter in druge, omogočajo dostop do informacij že s pri-
tiskom na gumb. Družbena obrežja so pomemben dejavnik, kadar želi država, or-
ganizacija ali podjetje pritegniti turiste ali druge ciljne skupine. Uporabniki iščejo
informacije na spletu in analizirajo izdelke, ki jih želijo, zato so dandanes družbena
omrežja poglavitni usmerjevalci nakupnega vedenja (Manyika et al., 2011; Kumar,
Bezawada, Rishika, Janakiraman, & Kannan, 2016). Pri oglaševanju je treba poznati
ciljno skupino in imeti vizualno privlačno sporočilo. Namen tega članka je določiti
vpliv dejavnikov vizualnih sporočil, ki lahko povečajo njihovo privlačnost in mo-
žnost razširjanja. Namen raziskave je bil najti dejavnike, od katerih je odvisna prite-
gnitev pozornosti uporabnikov, in tiste, ki vplivajo na širjenje vsebin. Da bi jih našli,
sta bili s pomočjo anket opravljeni dve kvantitativni raziskavi. Nato so bile obliko-
vane usmeritve za ustvarjanje bodočih vsebin, ki imajo lahko večji vpliv na ciljno
skupino in oblikovanje kampanje na družbenih omrežjih.
Ključne besede: komunikacijske vede, mediji, družbena omrežja, vizualno
komuniciranje, vizualna sporočila, turizem
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 3–18
Turistični ekološki certifikati in družbena trajnost:
izzivi in inovacije s slovenske perspektive
Vinod Sasidharan in Dejan Križaj
Študija ponuja nove vpoglede v praktično izvajanje družbene trajnosti, temelječe na
trajnostni analizi petih slovenskih turističnih ponudnikov. Vseh pet ponudnikov je
prejelo certifikat Zelene sheme slovenskega turizma ali nacionalno nagrado za ino-
vativne dosežke v turizmu. Izvedeni polstrukturirani intervjuji s predstavniki or-
ganizacij naslavljajo okoljske, socialne in ekonomske vidike njihovega poslovanja.
Zbrane ugotovitve lahko pomagajo pri spodbujanju in doseganju višje stopnje druž-
bene trajnosti v rastoči turistični panogi Slovenije in njenem pozicioniranju ne le
kot ene od vodilnih države na področju zelenega turizma, temveč tudi kot družbeno
odgovorne destinacije.
Ključne besede: družbena trajnost, ekološki certifikati, inovacije, Slovenija
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 19–29
Razvrstitev mikro, malih in srednje velikih podjetij prehrambnega gostinstva
in analiza njihove učinkovitosti
Tanja Planinc, Marko Kukanja in Saša Planinc
Namen te raziskave je razvrstiti mikro, mala in srednje velika podjetja (msp) pre-
hrambnega gostinstva glede na njihove fizične in upravljalske lastnosti ter ugotoviti,
ali med različnimi skupinami msp-jev obstajajo razlike v učinkovitosti. Uporabljeni
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 89
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
sta bili clusterska analiza ter neparametrična metoda podatkovnih ovojnic. V razis-
kavo so bili vključeni zgolj managerji msp-jev, ki prihodke od prodaje dosegajo iz-
ključno preko prehrambne dejavnosti. Na podlagi analize smo identificirali dva se-
gmenta, in sicer manjše prehrambne obrate, ki jih vodijo mlajši in manj izkušeni
managerji, ter večje prehrambne obrate, ki jih vodijo starejši in izkušenejši mana-
gerji. Fizične in upravljalske lastnosti so vplivale tudi na učinkovitost posameznih
obratov: večji prehrambni obrati, s starejšimi in izkušenejšimi managerji, so dose-
gali višje stopnje učinkovitosti. Omenjena raziskava je prva, ki preučuje učinkovitost
slovenskega prehrambnega gostinstva v kombinaciji s clustersko analizo. Primarni
podatki so bili pridobljeni z anketiranjemmanagerjev, sekundarni finančni podatki
pa so od Agencije Republike Slovenije za javnopravne evidence in storitve.
Ključne besede: clusterska analiza, dea, učinkovitost, prehrambno gostinstvo,
Slovenija, msp
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 31–42
Razpršeni hoteli: študija primera v Sloveniji
Saša Zupan Korže
Razpršeni hotel (rh) kot nova vrsta turistična nastanitve, nastale v Italiji, se je v
drugem desetletju 21. stol. začel uveljavljati tudi v drugih državah Evrope, npr. na
Hrvaškem, v Švici in v Sloveniji. Namen prispevka je predstaviti, kaj pomeni rh
v Italiji in kako njegovo različico uvajamo v Sloveniji. V raziskavi (a) izpostavimo
ključne značilnosti rh v Italiji, njegove organizacijske oblike in zakonsko podlago,
(b) primerjamo rh s tradicionalnim hotelom in (c) predstavimo razvoj ideje o rh
ter poti njene implementacije v Sloveniji in sočasno izpostavimo nekatere organiza-
cijske in pravne izzive. Raziskava je potekala od junija do decembra 2017. Uporabili
smo različnemetode za zbiranje podatkov in za njihovo obdelavo. Zaradi omejenega
števila raziskav o izbrani tematiki del rezultatov raziskave podamo v opisni obliki.
Glede na zastavljene raziskovalne cilje podatke predstavimo v več vsebinsko zaokro-
ženih delih. Rezultati raziskave kažejo, da so v Italiji rh s pravili države opedeljena
(pod)vrsta hotelov, ki ima določene značilnosti: je močno povezana s področjem,
v katerem se rh nahaja in z njegovo kulturo; od tradicionalnih hotelov jih ločimo
glede na njihovo fizično pojavnost in po posebnostih storitve gostoljubja. Drugič,
v Sloveniji so se ideje o implementaciji rh začele pojavljati po letu 2010, vendar se
je do leta 2017 uresničila le ena: decembra 2017 je bil odprt prvi rh Konjice, kljub
temu, da je Slovenija v strateških in formalnih dokumentih prezrla rh kot posebno
obliko turistična nastanitve. Ključni prispevek te raziskave je predstavitev razvoja
rh v Italiji ter razkoraka med strateško usmeritvijo slovenskih kreatorjev politike
turizma do rh in razvojem rh v slovenskem turističnem zasebnem sektorju. rh
so novo raziskovalno področje; obstaja nekaj raziskav o rh v Italiji in rh na Hrva-
škem, ne pa tudi o rh v Sloveniji. Pričujoča raziskava predstavlja prvi korak v smeri
zapolnitve te vrzeli.
Ključne besede: razpršeni hotel, pravni okvir, organizacijski izzivi
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 43–56
90 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Inovativno oblikovanje korporativnih oblačil v turizmu
Sonja Šterman
Korporativna oblačila v turizmu imajo določene posebnosti, ki jih lahko izposta-
vimo bolj kot v nekaterih drugih uniformiranih skupinah. Članek obravnava ino-
vativen pristop in večfunkcionalno oblikovanje korporativnih oblačil, z namenom,
da bi zadovoljili končnega uporabnika. Raziskavo smo omejili na korporativna obla-
čila v turizmu. Osredotočili smo se na dodatke, natančneje, na moške kravate. Eno
od ključnih vprašanj je bilo, kako ponuditi estetske in uporabne dodatke za korpo-
rativna oblačila v turizmu ter pri tem uporabiti geografski simbol ali tradicionalno
zgodbo. Uporabili smometodo zbiranja in analize informacij s pomočjo ankete, raz-
iskave modnega oblikovanja in razvoja dizajna. Naš namen je bil oblikovati moške
kravate, ustrezajoče zahtevam uporabnika, ki želi mladostne, sproščene, inovativne
kravate, ki na eleganten način poudarjajo identiteto podjetja. Osredotočili smo se
na običajno izpostavljene težave pri nošenju moških kravat, vezane na neudobje in
hkrati na občutek vročine pri nošenju kravate. Razvoj od ideje do končnega izdelka
je bil izziv tudi v smislu sodelovanja med naročnikom, oblikovalcem, predlaganim
proizvajalcem in fakulteto, ki so vsi skupaj sodelovali pri zadovoljitvi končnega upo-
rabnika. Razvili smo kravato v obliki traku, ki se z gumbi zapenja na srajco in lahko
nadomesti klasično kravato ter uporabniku daje veliko več svobode pri nošenju v
različnih vremenskih pogojih. Hkrati kravata ohranja eleganco, ki je pričakovan ele-
ment klasične kravate. Površina kravate je izdelana v edinstveni tehniki zračne čipke,
ki vključuje oblikovanje z zgodbo in personalizacijo izdelave. Pri oblikovanju je upo-
števan trajnostni pristop, saj je poraba materiala manjša. Kombinacija naštetih zna-
čilnosti predstavlja inovativen pristop k razvojumodnih dodatkov na področju obli-
kovanja korporativnih oblačil.
Ključne besede: korporativna oblačila, inovativni modni dodatki,
večfunkcionalnost, funkcionalen dizajn, kravata, turizem
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 57–65
Odnosmed dohodkom in turističnim povpraševanjem:
stara dognanja in nove raziskave
Kiagho Bukheti Kilonzo
Članek daje pregled glavnih ugotovitev o odnosu med dohodkom in povpraševa-
njem ter obravnava glavne spremembe tega odnosa v času in vpliv tega odnosa na
rast turizma. Članek oriše glavne ugotovitve o dohodkovni elastičnosti turističnega
povpraševanja z usmeritvijo v najnovejše raziskave s področja in pogledom v pri-
hodnost. Študij literature s področja in poročila unwto in mds so bili uporabljeni
za diskusijo o raziskavah dohodkovne elastičnosti turističnega povpraševanja v pre-
teklih desetletjih in najnovejših izsledkih s tega področja. Dohodkovna elastičnost
turističnega povpraševanja je danes nižja kot v preteklosti zaradi strukturnih spre-
memb v potrošnji in vedenju potrošnikov: upoštevati moramo, prvič, dolgoročni
proces zasičenosti turističnega povpraševanja zaradi rasti kupne moči, in, drugič,
ekonomsko krizo. Članek povzema glavne ugotovitve študij o dohodkovni elastič-
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 91
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
nosti turističnega povpraševanja doslej in kaže na občutljivost turističnega povpra-
ševanja, učinkujočo na dohodek kot gonilo turistične rasti.
Ključne besede: dohodkovna elastičnost, turistično povpraševanje, luksuzen
proizvod, nujen proizvod
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 67–73
Vključevanje študentov kot orodje za razvoj poslovnegamodela v turističnih
podjetjih na stockholmskem otočju
Gustaf Onn
Turistična potrošnja na Švedskem je v razcvetu, medtem ko se zdi, da se je potrošnja
na stockholmskem otočju, kjer prevladujejo majhna podjetja, ustavila. Finska se je
znašla v podobnem položaju, zato je eu-Interreg poleg Stockholma financiral pro-
jekt izobraževanja skupnosti, namenjen razvoju poslovnega modela, tudi na otočju
Turku in Åland (na Finskem). V tem članku je preučena osnova projekta, literatura
o ruralnosti, otočju ter poslovnih modelih, ki se jih oceni glede na predhodne em-
pirične rezultate projekta, kjer so bile anketirane občine in predstavniki nekaterih
podjetij. Utemeljitev je, da obstaja šibko znanstveno razumevanje poslovnih mode-
lov, ki se uporabljajo na otočju. Metodološko se poleg akcijskih raziskav uporabljajo
tudi študije dokumentov z nestrukturiranimi intervjuji in opazovanji kot s primar-
nimi empiričnimi metodami. Primarni rezultat, kjer so empirične ugotovitve pred-
stavljene na presečišču literature, je vpliv infrastrukturnih problemov in problemov
dostopa zaradi izolacije pa tudi znakov ločevanja skupnosti med priseljenci in stal-
nimi prebivalci. Življenjski slog podjetništva ogroža gospodarsko blaginjo, vendar
obogati socialno blaginjo prebivalstva. Primarni zaključki so, da sezonskost in pri-
seljenci podjetjem zagotavljajo velike prodajne trge v sezoni, vendar majhne izven
sezone. Poslovne enačbe ne moremo izpustiti, saj je del socialne blaginje življenj-
skega sloga podjetnikov, kar zahteva nadaljnje raziskave konfiguracijskih pristopov
k strategiji otočja.
Ključne besede: otoško poslavanje, drugi domovi, podjetniški način življenja, razvoj
poslovnega modela, izobraževanje v skupnosti
Academica Turistica, 11(1), 73–86
92 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
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, 2009; 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 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 93
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 be structured
into the following sections: purpose, methods, results,
and conclusion. It should only contain the information
that appears in the text as well. It should contain no re-
ference to figures, tables and citations published in the
main 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
9 points, with consistent spacing and alignment. Font
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, 2009).
The list of references should only include works
that are cited in the text and that have been published
or accepted for publication. Personal communications
and unpublished works should only be mentioned in
the text. References should be complete and contain all
the authors (up to six) that have been listed in the title
of the original 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
94 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
list. Full titles of journals are required (not their abbre-
viations).
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 to five authors, first citation. Laroche, Bergeron,
and Barbaro-Forleo (2001) had found . . . It was
also discovered (Salamon, Sokolowski, Haddock,
& Tice, 2013) . . .
Three to five authors, subsequent citations. Laroche et
al. (2009) or (Salamon et al., 2011).
Six or more authors.Wolchik et al. (1999) or (Wolchik
et al., 1999).
If two references with six or more authors shorten
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).
For detailed instructions please see the Publica-
tion Manual of the American Psychological Association
(American Psychological Association, 2009, Chap-
ter 6).
Examples of Reference List
Books
American Psychological Association. (2009). Publica-
tion manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (6th ed.). Washington, dc: Author.
Swarbrooke, J., & Horner, S. (2007). Consumer beha-
viour in tourism. Oxford, England: 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. Re-
trieved from 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). Lon-
don, England: Routledge.
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). Bundoora, Australia: 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 presented at the conference To-
urism in Europe, Durham, England.
Theses andDissertations
Sedmak, G. (2006). Pomen avtentičnosti turističnega
proizvoda: primer destinacije Piran (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). University of Ljubljana, Lju-
bljana, Slovenia.
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
Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018 | 95
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
of the un nonprofitt handbook (Comparative Non-
profit Sector Working Paper No. 49). Baltimore,
md: Johns Hopkins University.
Web Pages
Croatian Bureau of Statistics. (2001). Census of popu-
lation, households and dwellings. Retrieved from
http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/
census.htm
For detailed instructions please see the Publica-
tion Manual of the American Psychological Association
(American Psychological Association, 2009, Chap-
ter 7).
Manuscript Submission
The main manuscript document should be in Micro-
soft Word document format and the article should be
submitted to http://pkp.turistica.si/index.php/test/
index
Please make sure that you do not leave any trace of
your identity in the submitted files. Otherwise, your
identity can be accidentally revealed to reviewers and
your manuscript might be rejected.
We are introducing new manuscript submission
system. The first responses from the authors are posi-
tive, but we still apologise for any inconvenience.
For technical assistance please contactmitja.petelin
@turistica.si and for additional information regarding
article publication contact the Editorial Board at
academica@turistica.si
96 | Academica Turistica, Year 11, No. 1, June 2018