ABSTRACT. The Place of Tourism in the Academy Today

ABSTRACT. Information Technology has heavily impacted tourism and the way travellers acquire and use relevant information. Over 10 percent of Internet searches are related to travel, while 60 percent of people 15 years old or older tend to use the Web to search travel and tourism information and purchase relevant products. Not surprisingly, therefore, travel and tourism oriented web-vendors have become very active, significantly influencing the access of travellers to tourism products and services. Still, research on the complexity of online travel and tourism purchasing decisions and behaviour is rather limited. This is surprising given the role of technology in shaping consumer behaviour in advanced modern societies.

This paper focuses on website vendors in tourism. It synthesises previous research (i.e. what we know) on the main elements (variables) affecting tourism online purchasing intentions in terms of marketing activities; perceived benefits; risks and confusion by over-choice; price and quality issues; consumer trust; and intention to purchase. Most importantly, however, it steps beyond a simple synthesis to discuss what we do not know very well, i.e. how complexity affects the attributes of tourism online purchasing intentions. Given the sheer scale of online bookings and the inherent risks associated with Internet use, understanding and evaluating consumer behaviour through the theoretical lens of complexity is a relatively uncharted territory worth exploring further. To do so, the paper implements Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), which is relatively new in tourism research, while only a few studies have generally employed it in the service sector. Eight elements (i.e. marketing activities, perceived benefits, perceived risks, over-choice confusion, price issues, quality issues, consumer trust and intention to purchase) are identified as of principal importance. Based on a sample of 735 holidaymakers, the empirical findings stress the role of perceived benefits in e-marketing activities; the significance of perceived risks for price and quality issues; and the importance of over-choice confusion to e-shopping. QCA results are compared to regression highlighting the possible superiority of the innovative non-linear mixed method. The paper also progresses from fit to predictive validity and discusses several theoretical, methodological and managerial implications.

On these grounds, the contribution of the study is both theoretical and methodological. Concerning literature, it provides a better understanding and possible explanation of online tourism decisions based on complexity theory. In terms of methodology, it applies an innovative asymmetric analysis technique whose possible superiority and suitability for tourism research is assessed by directly comparing its results with dominant linear (i.e. Structural Equation Modelling) regression analysis using Pappas (2015) and its associated dataset as a benchmark.

Pappas, N. (2015). The effect of marketing activities, benefits, risks, confusion due to over-choice, price, quality and consumer trust on online tourism purchasing. Journal of Marketing Communications. DOI: 10.1080/13527266.2015.1061037

ABSTRACT. Hands down, the modern ‘battlefield’ for hotels is the internet. Concepts like “online presence and distribution” have evolved from unknown terms to everyday language. Until 2006, modern online booking giants were smaller and less influential. Essentially, the puzzle of creating, distributing and selling the hotel product had much less pieces. Fast-forward to the beginning of this decade, and one may observe online booking platforms popping up in the market and (re)selling hotel rooms. Traditional tour operators are slowly but steadily losing their grip and negotiating power while at the same time an increasing number of properties worldwide find themselves helpless and with no influence or control over their online presence. As “ownership of the guest” is shifting to 3rd parties, hotels must find a way to increase their influence and reclaim ownership. Properties are also in a continuous struggle to maintain independence from 3rd parties usually by increasing direct bookings and delivering their product to the masses (Doman, 2015). With the layout of online presence changing rapidly, an accommodation cannot just speak about long term strategy – it has to have a plan for short term & mid-term distribution as well as unremitting fine tuning, in essence maintaining constant vigilance. The emergence of the internet created for all properties the chance to find a more direct way of distributing their product. When the first OTAs appeared they presented an appealing way for properties to disengage themselves from ‘older habits’. However, just like any new innovation, the OTAs quickly gathered around them the bulk of the properties. In essence, hotels are now relying on OTAs to increase their occupancy much like how they relied on Tour Operator in earlier years. It seems therefore that the accommodation sector is locked in a continuous loop of dependence-innovation-new dependence as it is normal in the Tourism Area Life Cycle (Papatheodorou, 2006). Properties can balance this dependence is by creating a powerful brand name and taking steps towards influencing directly as many guests as possible. There are several ways properties can achieve this, either simple and must-haves, or more complex. - Creating a simple, informative and mobile friendly website. - Managing their content intelligently - Handling their guest reviews: the (electronic) word-of-mouth still remains a powerful tool to drive business - An easy to use booking engine at the property’s website that can also be connected to metasearch sites (Trivago, Tripadvisor, etc) for direct selling of the hotels’ rooms - Using the emerging trend of chatbots for a more complete and thorough concierge and customer service experience - Incorporating Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality to the presentation of their product, thus creating an exact image of what the experience of the prospective customer will be. The idea behind this is to create the need to the guest to visit the real site/property and help the traveller decide on the destination (Graham, 2016). The main purpose behind the above is to shift the interest from the area and the destination to the property instead – transforming the individual property to an individual destination and brand name. The researcher will focus on primary research with hoteliers (interviews and questionnaires) in different areas of Greece as well and level of expertise as well as own research in an attempt to ascertain which of the above mentioned tactics are a) known by the hoteliers, b) applied by them or planned to be applied and in general understand the level of digital maturity. The research will use questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaires will list the innovative and standard practices and ascertain whether they are being used by hoteliers and to what extent. (Semi) structured interviews will determine whether professionals are aware of the full potential of these practices and also to what extent (and if) they intend to use them in the future. In addition –while targeting medium and larger size properties- the research will attempt to decide whether if all of these practices are necessary for all properties. The questionnaires will also use Likert scales (e.g. ranked from least likely to most likely) to attempt to indicate the current and future level of digital maturity of properties.

ABSTRACT. Augmented reality, commonly abbreviated "AR" can be defined as computer-generated content overlaid on a real world environment (techterms.com). Despite the fact that one of the very first papers on the subject of AR is dated 1993 (Drascic et al., 1993), it took over 20 years since then for AR to become not only one of the biggest subjects of interest within scientific literature, but recently also within the destination and place branding domain, which currently aims at creating meaningful experiences with their target groups (Hanna & Rowley, 2013; Hudson & Ritchie, 2009). Experiences are the take-away impressions that customers glean from the various clues (Carbone & Haeckel, 1994) and as such, for city branding purposes, AR is an attractive tool to build these impressions. Although much of the discussion in the literature focus on extraordinary experiences that produce powerful emotional responses and long-lasting memories which all brands want to create and achieve (Arnould & Price, 1993; LaSalle & Britton, 2003), AR is also an appropriate tool to strengthen and intensify the everyday experiences people have with a city as residents or tourists, which Carù & Cova (2003) find also important as they occur as part of everyday life. The purpose of this paper is to present the continually growing significance and possibilities of AR use in developing city brand experience, especially the present AR solutions that are implemented in different cities. The methods of desk research and case study have been used to support the abovementioned purpose.

Bibliography

Arnould, E. J & Price, L (1993) River Magic: extraordinary experience and the extended service encounter, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, No 1, pp. 24-25. Carbone, L. P., & Haeckel, S. H. (1994). Engineering customer experiences, Marketing Manage¬ment, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 8–19. Carù, A., & Cova, B. (2003). Revisiting consumption experience: A more humble but complete view of the concept, Marketing Theory, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 267–286. Drascic, D., Grodski, J. J., Milgram, P., Ruffo, K., Wong, P., & Zhai, S. (1993). ARGOS: A display system for augmenting reality. Video Proceedings ofthe International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction '93: Human Factors in Computing Systems. Also in ACM SIGGRAPH Technical Video Review, 88. Extended abstract in Proceedings ofINTERCHI '93,521. LaSalle, D. & Britton, T.A. (2003) Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences. Boston, MA, Harvard Business School Press. techterms.com, https://techterms.com/definition/augmented_reality, [12.06.2017] Hanna, S. and Rowley, J. (2013) Place Brand Practitioners' perspectives on the Management and Evaluation of the Brand Experience, Town Planning Review, Vol. 84, No. 4, pp. 495-515. Hudson, S. & Ritchie, J. R. B. (2009), Branding a memorable destination experience. The case of ‘Brand Canada’, International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 11, Iss. 2, pp. 217–228.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the structure of the tourism information channels employed, as well as the existence of networks for the promotion of religious tourism in the prefecture of Arcadia, in Peloponnese, Greece.Quantitative methodology was employed with the use of a field survey research based on 775 valid questionnaires, in the province of Arcadia, including Greek and foreign tourists. Results regarding the type of the tourism information channels employed from the key stakeholders involved in the promotion of the region of Arcadia, reveal that the existence of networks in regard to religious tourism in Arcadia, Greece, is extremely limited, if not existing at all; religious tourists depend firstly on the traditional channel of word of mouth, as recommendations from friends and relatives is their first information channel choice, followed by the internet and thirdly, by hotel listings. However, all information channels do not take advantage of the density of the region and do not cooperate for marketing the area as a whole; the promotion of specific areas and businesses over others does not allow the expansion of networks to take place, as research has shown. The absence of network creation in the region under study illustrates an area that could be further improved, a goal of significant importance for economic development, especially in a period of economic crisis in Greece.

ABSTRACT. This paper attempts to review the contexts and dynamics for a strategic shift of focus of Athens tourism, and to discuss the implication of the changes for a sustainable destination development. We will especially focus our research and policy recommendations on crucial topics, issues and policies related tο the changes of the city's infrastructure and resources on matters related to the characteristics of a Metropolitan City which is also a tourism destination.  For this purpose a qualitative research on key informants was conducted searching their expert opinions on the prospects of Athens as a competitive tourism destination, highlighting the most important advantages and disadvantages of the city, while attempting to capture the most important actions that will help Athens towards this direction.

The results suggested that Athens has the prospect of becoming an attractive and popular tourism destination. However, the identity of the city should be strengthened with the differentiation of the tourism product. Furthermore, the role of relevant parties, specifically stakeholder, is crucial for an integrated tourism plan. Both the design and implementation of a realistic strategic plan require collaboration, making Athens a dynamic tourism destination as a European city.

According to the strengths/weaknesses and threats/opportunities of the area, the paper suggests sustainable development strategies, regarding the problems which derive on the city's effort to swift into a dynamic tourism destination.

ABSTRACT. I am interested in submitting a full paper.

Tourism is one of the main branches of the Bulgarian economy. The share of tourism in the Gross Domestic Product of Bulgaria is above the European Union average. The economic potential and employment opportunities of tourism is an important factor for the development of the regions and the economy of the country. This article reviews the statistics of tourists' visits to Bulgaria in the last 5 years. The results show that there is an upward trend of the number of foreign tourists and the revenues generated by them. An expected increase is forecast for the summer season of 2017. The paper explores the reasons for this positive trend of the sector. Some of the factors pushing up the tourism sector are the new routes of low cost carriers coming to Bulgaria, the improvement of seawater quality in the country, the extension of the summer season and above all the development of different types of tourism on the territory of the country. There is a brief presentation of the different alternatives for tourism, including sea, cultural, ecological, mountain/ski tourism, spa/wellness tourism, rural and congress tourism. The paper investigates the main problems faced by the tourism sector of Bulgaria. The most significant problem is the lack of qualified staff. The partially improved infrastructure is no longer the biggest obstacle to the development of successful tourism. There is lack of specialized personnel especially positions, which are intended to serve the tourists and create a comfortable ambience for them. The paper addresses the problems with the human factor in tourism in the aspect of the insufficient commitment of the staff to the goals of the company. A research is carried out to find out if the lack of motivation of the staff is a consequence of the management's under-assessment of the importance of internal branding. The image of the companies in the tourism sector is worsened by staff's lack of commitment to the job. In the end, this is could be a reason to make customers reluctant to repeat their visits in Bulgaria. An important step in this direction is the introduction of the basic features of the branding and the opportunities that its application gives to increase the quality of service. The article proposes guidelines for solving the problems, some of which indicate actions already taken by the government and the responsible institutions.

ABSTRACT. I am interested in submitting a full paper.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current conditions of the tourism market in Bulgaria. The authors investigate some of the most important problems facing the tourist industry and search for possible solutions to them. The paper starts with an observation of the worldwide trends in tourism, analysing the impact of this sector to certain parts of the economy including employment and revenues from international tourism and GDP. The research is then narrowed to the Bulgarian touristic market. The exploration, included in the current study, is based on analysis of secondary data. The sources of the general data, concerning the world-wide trends, are from UNWTO, ILO, WTTC, EC and OECD. The country-specific data are primarily from government institutions like the National Statistical Institute, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Economics and Energy. The gathered data is concerning most generally accommodation establishments, seasonality of the bed occupancy and their location, revenues from tourism and workforce. The first important topic discussed is the seasonality of Bulgarian tourism. The accommodations are mostly used for only three months of the year and namely in June, July and August. The sea resorts attract the majority of the tourist and the hotels there provide about 2/3 of the revenues from tourism. At the same time, the high seasonality of tourism gives the chance to try to find ways to make Bulgaria an all-year-round tourist destination. Then the research is focused on the uneven distribution of the bed occupancy in the country. Most of the accommodations are concentrated in certain locations on the Black Sea coast. At the same time, there are regions with an underdeveloped infrastructure, which are hardly accessible but could offer excellent conditions for tourism. Finally, the paper gives suggestions of how to overcome the obstacles in front of the growing tourism sector and ensure its sustainability. It points out the importance of positioning Bulgaria as a well-known and preferred year-round destination with an easily recognizable national identity, preserved culture and nature and a leading tourist location in Central and Eastern Europe. In order to achieve this, it is necessary that the Government should be active in different aspects. It could advertise Bulgaria as a safe reliable place offering ski facilities, hot mineral water springs, divine nature and idyllic small villages in the mountains and numerous historical and archaeological sites. The state could farther improve the infrastructure of the country, so that a larger number of potential places of interest could be reached.

ABSTRACT. This proposal examines the role of “grey” holiday/ touristic infrastructure in the development and management of Greek destinations. The term “grey” holiday/ touristic building describes building mainly for touristic and holiday purposes, which by-passes all planning and inspection procedures. It mainly concerns illegal building, but also legal structure that changes its use from being a second home to being a touristic infrastructure, depending on the circumstances created at different periods of time. In the current period, networking, information and interactivity offered by new technologies, as well as a series of given facts such as the liberation of the touristic laws and the development of sharing economy help unregulated forms of tourism. These data form a series of new challenges in the management of Greek tourist destinations The first hypothesis discussed in the proposal is that in the case of Greece spatial and developmental policies applied over the years, favored the creation of “grey” building with non-standard characteristics. The second hypothesis discussed in the proposal is that, in the case of coastal and island areas, “grey” building has acquired an urban planning dimension, as well as that the lack of restriction mechanisms prevents all efforts of having a viable spatial planning and undermines sustainable tourism development. The two research hypotheses are approached through three case studies, specifically those of Athens, Santorini and Chania. Each of the selected areas faces different issues and challenges in managing the “grey” holiday/ touristic building. The methodology approaches the subjects at two levels; at a first level, through the review of the implemented regulation framework and the policies applied along with a critical analysis of their results, and at a second level, through the examination of the issues rising in the management of destinations with specific spatial and developmental characteristics. References Ikonomou D. (2000), "Systems of spatial planning the Greek reality and the international experience". Review of Social Research, volume 101-102, Α’-Β’ 2000, pp. 358, (in Greek). Sarantakou E.2017 “Mechanisms for the formation of tourism organization models in Greece through a comparative analysis of ten Greek destinations' development”, in the book: “Socio-Economic Sustainability, Regional Development and Spatial Planning: European and International Dimensions & Perspectives’, Korres G, Kourliouros E., Michailidis Cambridge Scholars publishers Sarantakou E. 2017,“Spatial planning and tourism development – The case of Greece”, Journal of Regional Socio-Economic Issues, Vol 7 p. 59-69 Sarantakou E , Tsartas P, Bonarou Chr., 2017, “How New Technologies Influence the Perception of Athens, as a Touristic and Cultural Destination” 4th International Conference “Innovative Approaches to Tourism and Leisure: Culture, Places and Narratives in a Sustainability Context”, Athens

Sarantakou E , Tsartas P. (2015), “A critical approach to the new framework for creating tourism investment during the current period of economic crisis 2010- 2014”,“Special Issues of Financial Developments” vol. 26

ABSTRACT. Jakub Gazda Poznań University of Business and Economics, Poland email: j.gazda@ue.poznan.pl

Magdalena Florek Poznań University of Business and Economics, Poland email: m.florek@ue.poznan.pl

Abstract

Purpose: This paper is going to evaluate the influence of airport related variables (e.g. dynamic of number of passangers, dummy variable – presence of airport in the region) on destinations development.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The foundation for the study is provided by the database developed by its authors for European NUTS2 regions. Using the BMA (Bayesian Model Averaging) (Gazda 2016) method, a group of explanatory variables was proposed for potential factors responsible for differences in development level. Bayesian inference, along with the MC3 algorithm, allows the selection of the most likely combination of independent variables (i.e. factors responsible for development level) from a very large set of variables to be made, as well as the calculation of the explanatory power of all the interesting models and their ranking from the most to the least likely one, and the averaging of posterior estimations, weighted with the posterior probability of the models (Sala-i-Martin 1997).

Findings: Airport related variables may be located in the group of potential variables responsible for destination’s economic development level. As such, marketing support and closer cooperation between airport and destination might be necessary and justifiable.

Originality/Value: The Bayesian approach is new in the field of measuring the impact of airport variables for destinations (regions) that has not been used so far.

Key Words: Bayesian Model Averaging, Airports, Destination, Economic Development

Gazda, J., (2016), SOURCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH – GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE w: Fernando Alonso Guinea (red.), XVIII Reunión de Economia Mundial : Actas, Sociedad de Economía Mundial, Alcalá, s. 1442-1452. Sala-i-Martin, X. (1997), “I just ran four million regressions”, NBER Working Paper No. 6252, November.

ABSTRACT. Abstract

Tourism industry, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), still remains as one of the most significant sectors in global economy. With a major contribution to world economy, and further more increase in investments as well as in human resources employment, place tourism, among others, as one of the most profitable industries (WTTC, 2017). Nowadays the “new tourist” (Poon, 1997) is seeking for new tourism products including experiences related to natural environment, local cultures, gastronomy etc., forcing in this way the industry to evolve rapidly. Thus, while some tourism destinations become established, some new are emerging giving tourists the opportunity to explore and discover them (Butler, 1980). These evolving tourism destinations pass through the basic stages of the Tourism Area Life Cycle model (TALC) which place them to the process from the exploration to the development stage (Butler, 1980). In search for discovering new destinations tourists seek for relevant information. The acquisition of this specific knowledge is the starting point of tourist decision making progress. The availability as well as the easiness to access these information sources, becomes a key factor for tourists searching either for alternative destinations or relatively well-known ones (Banasree Dey et al., 2009). Today, emerging tourism destinations become more and more popular due to the evolution of tourist behavior and preferences for new alternative, to mass tourism, products. Among other factors, such as accommodation and recreation, air transportation from the place of the origin of the tourist to the destination, plays a critical role for the development of the emerging tourism destination. Transportation as one of the key elements of the tourism industry mostly is operating by private sector companies (Luis Moreno et. al., 2015a).

After U.S. Civil Aviation Board loosened control of airline prices in 1979, Europe followed with the so called deregulation of air transportation that took place in the mid 1990’s (Garrett J. van Ryzin et al., 2005). Since that period, the aviation industry has become one of the fastest growing and simultaneously highly profitable industry, transporting every year millions of passengers and gaining huge revenues (IATA, 2017). It is true that over the last fifty years, the air transport industry has been the principal driving force behind international leisure travel (Dwyer et al., 2010). Furthermore, due to the appearance of the so called Low Cost Carries (LCCs) and the consequent decrease of the air fares, airline passengers have significantly increased (Graham, 2000). According to Khan (2014), the market shares in aviation industry from 2005 until 2014 rapidly increased from 20% to 45%. Operation of LCC’s gave, from one side, the opportunity for development of many airports, mostly regional (Carlisle, 2015), and from the other side, they generated a behavioral and interest change of users creating the desire of exploring secondary destinations. Many researchers consider this as a new type of tourism that differs from the traditional one (Mills &Law, 2008). Furthermore, some claim that tourists transform themselves from visitors to citizens fully participating into the local societies (Bouhalis & Law, 2008). Additionally, applying online information and communication technology (ICT) passengers has easy access to tourism information as well as airlines the ability to develop strong e-commerce online (Luis Moreno et al. 2015b). This ICT development has accomplished significant changes to tourism industry and the way the passengers transport from one place to another. The evolution of LCC’s has changed the tourism’s industry parameters, by fostering new destinations to the detriment of traditional tourist centers (Morgan, 1991; Knowles and Curtis, 1999).

The purpose of this article is to highlight the role of LCC’s in developing new (emerging) tourism destinations. As a case study, findings of secondary and primary research will justify to which extent the operation of LCC’s to Thessaloniki-Macedonia Airport, promote and sustain the development of Thessaloniki as a city brake, and not only, tourism destination.

ABSTRACT. The latest crucial changes in European Aviation market including air transport liberalization and airport management privatization are interlinked with positive direct and indirect effects in tourism development and destination competitiveness (Efthymiou et al., 2016; Farmaki and Papatheodorou, 2015; Bieger and Wittmer, 2006). Greece implemented the Third Liberalisation Package of EU aviation policy measures in 1998, while Athens International Airport and other fourteen regionals airports today operate as private entities. As the Greek economy is facing a financial downturn and domestic tourism flows are deteriorated, several intiatives are needed to boost inbound tourism that is evidently linked with air transport (Papatheodorou and Arvanitis, 2014).

In fact, destination stakeholders are aware of the important role that airports and airline networks play in the development of tourism but incentive schemes covering marketing and advertising expenses cannot be applied to the extent of the past, due to the European Commission Guidelines (EC 2014) that adopt a more restricted attitude towards them (Malina et al., 2012; Allrogen et al., 2013). Because of the interrelation of the three parties and the fact that any conflicts between them bear huge transaction costs that in other cases could have led to vertical integration (which cannot be adopted in this case), new collaborative practices that will lead to a triple win situation should emerge and be adopted (Papatheodorou, 2016).

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the way ICTs can be used jointly by Airports, Airlines and Destination authorities in order to reinforce brand image co-creation process and have a direct impact to the destination’s tourism development by presenting the case of “Athens Tourism Initiative”. The latter consists a partnership of Athens International Airport, Aegean Air and Athens Development and Destination Management Agency that was launched in December of 2016 in order to built Athens brand identity as a city-break destination. This paper contributes to the branding theory by conceptualising current participatory practices that are adopted by the three parties. It also assists destination authorities; airports and airlines to better understand their role in the co-creation process.

Literature Allroggen, F., Malina, R., & Lenz, A. K. (2013). Which factors impact on the presence of incentives for route and traffic development? Econometric evidence from European airports. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 60, 49-61.

Bieger, T., & Wittmer, A. (2006). Air transport and tourism—Perspectives and challenges for destinations, airlines and governments. Journal of Air Transport Management, 12(1), 40-46. Efthymiou, M., Arvanitis, P. and Papatheodorou, A. (2016) Institutional Changes and Dynamics in the European Aviation Sector: Implications for Tourism In Pappas N. & Bregoli, I. (eds) Global Dynamics in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality. Hershey Pennsylvania: IGI Global. ISBN: 9781522502012

European Commission. (2014). State aid: Commission adopts new guidelines for state aid to airports and airlines. Brussels: European Commission.

Farmaki, A., & Papatheodorou, A. (2015). Stakeholder perceptions of the role of low-cost carriers in insular tourism destinations: The case of Cyprus. Tourism Planning & Development, 12(4), 412-432.

Malina, R., Albers, S., & Kroll, N. (2012). Airport incentive programmes: a European perspective. Transport Reviews, 32(4), 435-453.

Papatheodorou, A. (2016). The Airline - Airport - Tourism Destination Authority Relationship: An Eternal Business Triangle?. Presented at the 23rd annual Global Airport Development (GAD) conference, Lisbon, November 2016

Papatheodorou, A., & Arvanitis, P. (2014). Tourism and the economic crisis in Greece: Regional perspectives. Region et Développement, 39, 183-203.

ABSTRACT. Increasing interest for domestic tourism in Russia formulated a new challenge for transport infrastructure. Russia has an extremely big territory; the trip through the whole country takes 10 hours by airplane or 8 days by train. It’s obvious that the volume of tourism flows is directly correlated with the accessible of territory by land or air. To meet the strong demands on domestic tours, activities of all “market players” mainly focus on the improving infrastructure and service quality. Local carriers faced a number of problems caused by the economic recession, the declining number of passengers, revenue loss of payments from bankruptcy tour operators. The most important problem was struggle for survival of two biggest national air companies – Utair and Transaero. The first one survived, the second has become a bankrupt. Why does the bankruptcy of the second largest aircraft carrier have negative influence on the Russian tourist market? Firstly, it’s clear that the disappearance of the one of the major “players” leads to monopolization. The biggest part of Transaero routes were transferred to Aeroflot Russian airlines and as it was expected, the ticket prices were raised. Secondly, Transaero was not only a regular carrier, but it also performed a lot of charters from different airports in Russia. Direct charters to the popular tourist destinations provided low-cost air tickets and generated a mass tourist flows. Fly connections reduce not only the money, but also save time and provide a bigger comfort for Russians who do not live in Moscow. Finally, there is a problem of poor connectivity between regions and occupancy in local airports. After Soviet period most of regional routes were disappeared and bankruptcy of Transaero made this problem more complex because it operated on local routes too. For the present investigation we analyze initiatives of private investors to modernize airport infrastructure using different business models for success of destination development. There is an obvious need to consider drivers and barriers to the airport infrastructure modernization in Russia based on multi-level strategical point of view to destination development. Internal route development activity in modernized airports is analyzed. Systemic approach to success destination development includes inter-regional routes. The results give a complex overview of key tendencies of the airport infrastructure modernization.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to explore the practical issues and concerns of the organizers of BDSM non-play events. Previous research has shown that these events are critical elements in their lifestyle/community. While something is known about the events and their centrality in BDSM culture, no research has yet investigated the munch from the perspective of the organizer of munches and similar events. This article investigate the munch to show how organizers deal with the challenges of organizing munches throughout the world. In this work, the data from a survey of over 200 organizers of various non-play BDSM events internationally show what concerns that organizers have had when organizing these events, including practical issues such as parking at venues, food and drink choices at venues, and issues of protecting the confidentiality of participants at munch venues. The findings highlight the practical issues that may be common in many different types of meetings but also shows how a group that needs to protect the confidentiality of its members works in ways to protect confidentiality while promoting open meetings. The findings from this international survey show that the munch organizers face challenges. The research highlights common practice of munch organizers, creating inclusive events that are open to all the public but at the same time protect the identities of participants.

ABSTRACT. Greece is a country gifted with rich flora and fauna, unique beaches, wonderful mediterranean climate, astonishing mountain formations, hospitable people and great historical and archeological heritage. All these have established her as one of the most important tourism destinations internationally. But now, the consequences from the development of the model of mass tourism are visible more than ever, especially in the coastline areas which have constituted his main field of development. The world wide competition has increase and the moment has come to re-determine the tourism product that we provide. The main purpose of this study is to explore the potentials for development of mountain tourism in Greece. Given that Greece is a country which is made mostly from mountains, it is essential to examine what can be the potential of mountain tourism into this country. Indeed, Greece has developed a reputation as a summer destination due of the image made within and outside of the country. However, Greece has to offer many hidden treasures, including 21 ski centres and the 80% of the mainland which is made from mountains. Mountain tourism has been on the rise in Greece since the past 10 years. The outcome is that Greece has started to emerge as a key winter destination. This can become a driver of change and of sustainable development for many of its isolated and remote areas. Indeed, much of the hinterland of Greece has been almost forgotten from the tourist industry for years. While the islands and summer destinations have flourished and benefited all those years, on the other hand the rest of Greece has not seen the light of tourist development. This is something that everyone in Greece knows and it was a matter of time till the decisions were taken so to open the chapter of mountain tourism in Greece. It would be absord having a country which has more than 100 summits which are over 2000 mtrs without having an effective mountain tourism policy. The essay examines the ways that mountain tourism can flourish in Greece but also what are the current policies and practices in mountain tourism in Greece. The aim is to prepare the ground for a future research which will involve the specialists of this industry but also the tourists who will provide their own experiences from mountain tourism in Greece.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents an analysis of two renowned international arts festivals visitors’ motives and profile characteristics, in Greece: the Kalamata International Dance Festival and the Drama International Short Film Festival. The purpose of the study was to determine the reasons visitors attend these festivals, necessary for building more concise marketing strategies and, therefore, more successful and sustainable events, with long-term benefits, ranging from the local to the national levels. Primary data were collected with the aid of online structured questionnaires, distributed and collected during autumn 2016. 130 questionnaires were answered by visitors of the Drama International Short Film Festival and 186 questionnaires were answered visitors of the Kalamata International Dance Festival. Even though both festivals share similar characteristics regarding their organization and their aims, our analysis emphasized the heterogeneity of the motives of attendance, for each event. While some similarities were found, especially between demographics characteristics and visitors’ profiles, the general picture to emerge from the findings indicates significant differences between the two cases. Arts festivals-goers do not appear to constitute a single homogeneous market; rather, each event appears to attract different audiences for different reasons. The implications of these findings, deriving from factor and cluster analysis, are discussed and suggestions for further research are outlined.This research aims to contribute to knowledge concerning the marketing strategies of International Arts Festivals in medium-sized cities, useful for research and academic purposes, as well as to local and national authorities and other agencies and bodies, responsible for urban tourism and cultural city/town planning and management.

ABSTRACT. Managing crowds and carrying capacity in tourism destinations: doing it smarter not harder

ABSTRACT. To date mostly governments, tourism firms, travel agencies have been mainly and significantly paid rather than local communities which have usually gained almost no economic benefits from ecotourism, yet it is generally taken for granted that ecotourism aids rural residents. Therefore, in this paper in order to better address the need for an approach to ecotourism activities beginning from the concerns and welfare of local host communities, we included the voices of multiple actors (entrepreneurs, NGOs, municipalities) of the sustainable and ecotourism community in which various diverse stakeholders affect/are affected by tourism development.

            Given the mixed and inconclusive findings in the literature, we aim to explore under which conditions ecotourism work against and/or in favor of the interests of the local community. Local community perspective with an empowerment approach suggested by Scheyvens (1999) was adopted as the main guiding framework for the in-depth analysis of the social, economic, psychological and political impacts of ecotourism on local communities. We followed a semi-structured interview method, which is preferable when the topic at hand is under-researched. We run 37 in-depth interviews to elicit responses to a set of questions including the life stories of entrepreneurs, motivation to start up their businesses, barriers and challenges they faced throughout the process, their sustainability practices, own perception and understanding of ecotourism, the relationship with the local community including any possible conflicts and tensions between entrepreneurs and locals, any changes introduced in the local community with the emergence of ecotourism initiatives in the region.

            One of the main issues of ecotourism which has been pointed out by all the participants is the lack of legislative framework. There is no specific legislation or regulation as well as monitoring mechanism with regards to ecotourism in the Turkish context. Given this huge legislative gap in this field, it remains unclear to what extent the entrepreneurs comply with the criteria and fulfill the indicators of being a “good” ecotourism venture. For most participants, the experiences with bureaucracy became troublesome as bureaucracy posed a significant barrier throughout their entrepreneurial lifecycle. The bureaucratic challenges, licensing issues along with the lack of government incentives and support mechanisms appeared as the major signs of political disempowerment. On the other side, ecotourism activities are very much linked to farming and agricultural production which is no longer seen as economically sustainable due to the major agricultural policy shifts in the last decade. There is certainly a need to economically empower entrepreneurs to maintain their survival whilst creating local impacts for the region in which they are embedded. The entrepreneurs in ecotourism have been found to show great enthusiasm to build a sense of cohesion and integrity with the local community by launching projects to grow awareness and socially empower disadvantageous people in their local context. However, the relationship between the entrepreneur and local community may also involve some tensions and conflicts. Finally, ecotourism can offer invaluable opportunities for the members of local communities by gaining new skills and respects and thereby improving their self-esteem and confidence.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Ecotourism, Local community, Empowerment, Turkey

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to examine ecological and sustainable tourism projects in Turkey from the viewpoint of gender aware framework drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with women and male entrepreneurs, local municipalities and local communities in which sustainable tourism activities take place. This research has a potential to make a significant contribution to the mainstream research in the area of sustainable and ecotourism which can be considered to a great extent as ‘‘gender blind’’ except a few noteworthy attempts (such as Dilly, 2003; Reimer & Walter, 2013; Schellhorn, 2010; Scheyvens, 2007; Tucker & Boonabaana, 2012).

Only few studies in the literature point out the unequal gendered power relations embedded in the tourism sector in general (Schellhorn, 2010; Vandegrift, 2008) and sustainable tourism in particular (Ferguson & Alarcon, 2015). Accordingly, the current literature on gender and tourism is far from transforming unequal gendered power relations in the industry. Based on Ferguson & Alarcon (2015), this situation stems from the fact that sustainable tourism dominant paradigm shows resistance to adopt post-structuralist feminist arguments and challenge the hetero-patriarchal order in the field. To date, beyond the studies discussed above, relatively little research has examined gender as a social construct and as an analytical category in community-based ecotourism (Tran & Walter, 2014; Reimer & Walter, 2013; Weaver & Lawton, 2007).

Gendering of tourism experiences and processes is part of a much wider discursive framework grounded in complex, multidimensional cultural, social, and historical systems (Pritchard & Morgan 2000: 887). This is why we have adopted Bourdieu theory of capitals (economic, social, cultural and symbolic) in this paper to account for the contested, multifaceted and relational nature of gender in sustainable and ecotourism. Based on insights from Karatas-Ozkan & Chell (2015), we demonstrate the gendered dimension of underlying structures in sustainable tourism by raising the following key questions: • How might the application of Bourdieu’s conceptual framework elucidate the nature of gendered experience in the context of sustainable tourism? • How gender relations are constructed in ecotourism projects in Turkey? • How gender is understood and negotiated in this context?

Given the aforementioned facts and arguments, it can be clearly seen that there is still much more work required for gender to be incorporated into the theory, practice and the agenda of sustainable tourism. To address this gap in the scholarly research, we undertook qualitative research by bringing critical aspects to the area of gender in sustainable tourism in the context of Turkey. It is important to examine in-depth how activities, products, services, daily work, gender relations (masculinities/femininities) and identities (male and female identities) are constructed, (re)produced, performed and negotiated in the context of agro/eco tourism projects in Turkey. This study seeks to explore the motivation and strategies for women’s entrepreneurship within rural/agro and ecotourism and the conditions, possibilities and restrictions imposed on women’s daily lives, the role of rural tourism on women’s livelihood strategies and practices and finally to the extent these livelihood practices adopted by women reflect or challenge traditional gender relations and identities.

ABSTRACT. In Greece, most of the country's GDP is in the third sector. In Corfu, 80.25% of the employees work in this sector with the number of employees being 35.594 (ELSTAT, 2011). The contribution of tourism makes a remarkable reason for contributing to its activities directly or indirectly related to it. The design of the Regional Policy of the Ionian islands must be formulated with the main aim of maximizing its contribution to the development of the tourism industry and therefore a Special Framework for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development is applied for tourism. The islands of the Ionian Islands Region belong to category E (islands and coastal areas). Corfu is ranked in Group III, which includes islands, which have developed a large number of touristic activities that attract interest both at regional, national and international level. However, it faces environmental problems because its population is growing and does not spread normally in space. It is imperative that its development must be guided by the Special Framework for Spatial Planning and Sustainable development. It is proposed that the tourism model of Corfu's development must be turned into alternative forms and mass tourism, which has played an important role in recent decades, must not be promoted anymore. At the same time, this Special Framework for Spatial Planning and Sustainable development encourages the development of urban tourism in the country of Corfu, utilizing its archaeological sites, its monuments and upgrading the quality of its residential (urban) fabric. It also gives weight to the development of Nature Tourism, Sea Tourism and Athletic Tourism. Also the development of combined transport in order to improve accessibility in areas where access is difficult is also highlighted. In Corfu, the use of sailplanes for the interconnection of islands has been licenced and is going to be applied. It is of major importance that it is one of the 3 regions of Greece, which has been allowed to serve transport through them. It is remarkable, that the island of Corfu has excellent prospects in the exploitation of its wind potential in order to produce renewable energy. In recent years, particular emphasis has been placed on the sustainable and sustainable development of tourism, with the main objective of reducing environmental degradation by reducing the impact of economic and social activities. It also improves the quality of services provided in hotels and accommodation, and in other areas too, improving their energy efficiency. This article aims to promote the abilities for the sustainable development of the island of Corfu.

ABSTRACT. The increasing international tourist competition forces local public and private sector bodies to take initiatives to enrich and diversify tourist products. Especially for mass and mature destinations is vital of applying enriched mixtures of tourism products, in order to achieve their touristic rejuvenation), as well as the repositioning at the international tourism markets. As globalized markets are steadily moving towards the homogenization of consumer’s behavior and productive practices, the exploitation of local authenticity seems to be a promising option to diversify and shield the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Tourism industry has currently turned its attention to the creation of modern tourist products based on local authenticity. These products are related to local gastronomy, traditional markets, local “way of living” and amusement, and offer creative combinations of entertainment and culture. The compound and promotion of new tourist products at destination level, through dynamic private initiatives, is an alternative that already has tangible results in Greece. An indicative example of these practices is the island of Crete which is a well-known destination of the traditional “mass-tourism product” in the Mediterranean. Despite the established image of the destination a group of entrepreneurs from the wider tourism sector has create the "We do local" concept. The product aims to satisfy the internal needs of returning to one’s own roots and having a better quality of life - elements that Crete is well known. The philosophy behind the “we do local” project focuses on spreading the local customs and traditions, introducing local cuisine, supporting local producers and workforce, with respect to the environment and sustainability. The question is whether this seemingly reasonable strategy direction yields the expected results in practice. The aim of the current research is to investigate the perceptions of participants about the impact of "we do local" project on their businesses and customers from the marketing perspective.

ABSTRACT. Innovation, which was initially introduced by Rogers (1995) is considered a critical catalyst for both individual and organization’s performance (Jiménez-Jiménez & Sanz-Valle, 2011; Mattsson & Orfila-Sintes, 2014). Given the importance of understanding employees’ innovation behaviors in diverse organizations, a social network theory helps employees to pursue innovative behaviors and perceive a high level of occupational performance. In this regard, it is necessary to understand employees’ needs and wants based on the paradigm of adopting the advantages of social network activities (i.e., network size, network range, and network tie strength) in their successful performance (Bhandari & Yasunobu, 2009).

In an extended knowledge approach, integrating a social network theory (focusing on the internal social network activities) and the role of innovation is of considerable importance for promoting organizational performance. According to Kaasa (2007), those who pursue a variety of desired information are more likely to reduce the level of uncertainty when it comes to performing unfamiliar tasks at an organization, which in turn leads to their positive attitudes toward innovation behavior. This reveals that obtaining useful and diverse information from a variety of internal sources is critical for developing organizations’ internal social network strategies that help facilitate not only individual’s innovation behavior but also occupational outcomes. (Lee, Cho, & Hwang, 2013). Therefore, it is required to examine the role of social network factors (i.e., network size, network range, and network tie strength) in determining employee’s innovative behaviors and organizational outcomes in tourism firms (Cohen, & Levinthal, 1990; McFadyen & Cannella, 2004; Tortoriello, Reagans, & McEvily, 2012).

To reduce the research gap, the current study proposes a comprehensive research model underlying employees’ social networks that allow them to obtain novel knowledge and information, which in turn help generate employees’ innovative service implementation in travel agencies. More specifically, the current study aims to extend an empirical model that explores the causal relationship between three types of social networks (i.e., size of network, network range, and tie strength), innovation behavior, occupational outcomes (job performance and job satisfaction).

The proposed research model was developed by incorporating previous studies underlying study constructs in a variety of research domains. A structural equation modeling analysis was conducted using data from travel agency employees (n=234) in South Korea. The results showed that the associational activity of network size had a positive effect on innovation behavior, while the network range of network size had a significant negative effect on innovation behavior. Subsequently, innovation behavior positively influenced job performance and job satisfaction, respectively. Based on the results of the hypothesized model, the current study suggests valuable implications regarding not only a theoretical model that helps tourism scholars to extend the cognitive-behavioral model in a travel agency setting but also management guidelines for travel agency operators from a theoretical and practical perspective. Keywords: Social network theory, Network size, Network range, tie strength, Innovation behavior, Job performance, Job satisfaction.

References

Bhandari, H., & Yasunobu, K. (2009). What is social capital? A comprehensive review of the concept. Asian Journal of Social Science, 37(3), 480–510. Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1), 128–152. Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2011). Innovation, organizational learning, and performance. Journal of Business Research, 64(4), 408–417. Kaasa, A. (2007). Effects of different dimensions of social capital on innovation: Evidence from europe at the regional level. University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics & Business Administration Working Paper Series, (51), 3–35. Lee, B. C., Cho, J., & Hwang, D. (2013). An integration of social capital and tourism technology adoption-A case of convention and visitors bureaus. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 13(3), 149–165. Mattsson, J., & Orfila-Sintes, F. (2014). Hotel Innovation and Its Effect on Business Performance. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(4), 388–398. McFadyen, M. A., & Cannella, A. A. (2004). Social capital and knowledge creation: Diminishing returns of the number and strength of exchange relationships. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 735–746. Tortoriello, M., Reagans, R., & McEvily, B. (2012). Bridging the knowledge gap: The influence of strong ties, network cohesion, and network range on the transfer of knowledge between organizational units. Organization Science, 23(4), 1024–1039. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition (5th ed.). Free Press.

ABSTRACT. Tourism is a multidimensional activity which has beneficial effects on enterprises and spatial units (cities, regions and countries) as well. Many researches have highlighted the crucial role of tourism in national and regional development. Unfortunately, the ongoing economic crisis has affected the tourism industry, as all others, attracting much attention from researchers, especially since this affect has appeared in an uneven way among regions. However, recent data reveal that tourism is one of the industries that, although affected, at least not to the extent that this has happened to other industries, it has been the most resilient one. Of course, this resilience has uneven spatial results. It is well known that Greece has been a major tourist destination and attraction in Europe. It has attracted 26.5 million visitors in 2015, making Greece one of the most visited countries not only in the Europe but also in the world. But at the same time, Greece is the country most hit by the economic crisis from any other country in Europe. In this framework, the purpose of this article is to analyse the inter-regional and inter-prefectural allocation and also the spatial specialization of key tourist activities in Greece under the impact of economic crisis. These activities include the branches “accommodation and food service activities” and “activities of travel agencies, tour operators and other reservation services and related activities”, which, as it is well known, are strictly connected with the tourist industry. The methods used are Location Quotient and Shift-Share Analysis. Location Quotient is used to see the sectoral specialization of the spatial units. It estimates the share of an economic activity in a spatial unit compared with the corresponding share of this activity in the national economy. Shift-Share analysis attempts to identify the causes of regional economic changes over time (for a specific time period) of an economic variable within branches (or even for a specific economic branch) of a regional economy. It helps identify branches where a local or a regional economy has advantages over the national economy. In this framework, we explore the specialization and the spatial allocation (at regional and prefectural level) of the two above mentioned economic branches related to tourism in two comparing time periods, the pre-crisis period which refers to the years 2000-2007 and the period of crisis which refers to the years 2008-2015. The variables used are employment and gross value added in these branches of economic activity, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority data. This analysis will help us to see the changes occurred to the specialization of the spatial units due to the economic crisis, as well as the changes in the spatial allocation of the branches related to tourism.

ABSTRACT. This paper summarizes the main results and data issues of the first Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) pilot exercise for Greece, 2015 being the reference year, realized within a Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) provided by the European Commission to the Greek Ministry of Tourism during 2016-17 regarding the development of monitoring and reporting tools for Greek tourism.

Tourism Satellite Accounts are an internationally accepted framework for the measurement of the importance of tourism in an economy. Greece is one of the remaining countries in Europe that still has not developed a TSA, a fact that has deprived policy makers and scientific community from a measurement tool of tourism’s direct impact on production, imports, gross value added and employment.

The exercise involved a close collaboration with main data producers, namely the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) and the Bank of Greece (BoG), contained the documentation of available sources in terms of their consistency with TSA-concepts, checking the completeness and quality of the data, identifying data gaps, providing recommendations for improvements and filling the data into the pilot TSA Tables; The pilot character of the tables is due to the fact that certain data issues are not resolved and some of the data used are provisional; final TSA tables might differ in some results from the ones obtained from this project. A routine wise operation of TSA for Greece should be conducted by ELSTAT.

From establishing the tables total expenditures of inbound, domestic and outbound tourism as well as their structure by consumption categories are defined, which constitute the first step to relate tourism consumption with production and imports of products in the economy and measure the impact triggered by the additional demand that tourism generates. Additionally, results show how crucial it is for tourism analysis to properly measure all components included in tourism consumption, such as international transport of passengers and imputed value of owned vacation homes, and to separately treat overnight from same-day visitors.

ABSTRACT. The tourism sector is widely targeted by regional development funding programs, therefore public subsidies’ effectiveness in tourism is receiving increasing research interest. This paper aims to provide an empirical investigation of the relationship between capital subsidies’ allocation and the economic performance of hotel industry firms in Thira (Santorini) Island. Capital subsidization relates to public funding provided to enterprises aiming at implementing investment projects. Public subsidies constitute a widespread regional and industrial policy instrument in many European Union countries. In Greece, regional development funding programs have a long history in continuously providing financial incentives to firms. Research on the impacts of financial aid to firms is well developed in the regional development literature during the last years. A number of research works have examined the influence of capital subsidization on the performance of recipient firms, and have provided strong evidence of various effects. In Greece, most studies have mainly addressed the impact of capital subsidies on macroeconomic indicators at national and/or regional level, focusing on the impact on employment (job creation/maintenance), national or regional product and income. This paper examines the effect of public subsidies on the financial position of firms, focusing on the hotel industry. The empirical domain of the analysis is the hotel industry on the Island of Thira (Santorini), one of the main tourism destinations in Greece. The first part of the paper expands on a brief review of the literature regarding regional subsidies policy, at the European and national level, with particular reference to the South Aegean Region and more specifically Santorini Island. Next, the structure and the development of the hotel industry in Santorini over the last years are analyzed, followed by an overview of the proposed methodology. Working on the dataset of a representative sample of hotels operating in Santorini, the paper attempts to shed light on the impact of public subsidies on the performance of large, medium and small hotel businesses. The dataset used is obtained by several data sources, namely the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, and the companies’ websites. By conducting a comparative analysis between subsidized and non-subsidized hotel enterprises, their economic performance is investigated based upon four financial dimensions: efficiency, profitability, leverage and growth. We examine particularly whether there are differences based on hotel firm size. Finally, conclusions based on the research findings are drawn, to provide evidence on whether subsidized hotels compared to non-subsidized ones had substantial benefit from public subsidies, whereas proposals and issues raised for further research are highlighted.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the tax burden on the travel agencies sector in Greece, compared to the corresponding effect of taxes on the tourist offices of the competing countries in tourism. As part of this investigation a concise record of major changes in underlying direct and indirect taxes imposed by the Greek legislation in recent years is attempted. Next a comparison of the Greek tax system with the tax systems of the main competing countries which include: Spain, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Cyprus and Turkey. A primary survey conducted with the participation of tourist agents in the area of Athens regarding the impact of taxation on the tourism sector of the country in relation to the tourist offices of the competing countries. The sample consists the 2.93 % of the 1,162 tourist agencies of Athens and about 0.71 % of the 4,790 tourist agencies of Greece. The results of the research show that with the exception of Croatia (concerning V.A.T), Malta and Italy (concerning business income taxation), the rest of the competitive countries implement higher tax rates than Greece. The results of the research showed that the turnover increases with a decreasing trend in the years 2014-2016, while the package tours sales are falling, and the higher decrease is recorded in external package tour sales (-6.17%). The sales of internal package tours record a decrease of -1.44%. The tourist agencies believe they have financial losses and competitiveness decline because of the increase in income tax and VAT. Compared to competing countries the Greek tourist agencies consider that they experience a fall of approximately 2.67% in gross sales, as a results of losses from Cyprus, Turkey and Spain, due to the difference in rates in the taxation of VAT. They also consider that the difference in in the income tax rates results to a drop of approximately 1.80 in gross sales, which mainly are estimate that come from Cyprus, Turkey and Croatia. Besides, the Greek tourist agencies appreciate that the level of their competitiveness (based on of the differences in income tax and VAT rates) is the lowest (1.57) in relation to the competitor countries, valuing as more competitive tourist agencies those of Cyprus (3.23) followed by those in Turkey (3.00), Spain (2.87), Croatia (2.60), Italy (2.40), Malta (1.93). The limitations of this work include the issue of fiscal policy which focuses and explores the main taxation of income and VAT and their rates. Other "secondary" taxes, fines, etc. were ignored, as well as other parameters which affect the competitiveness of the tourist offices, such as safety, the economic situation in Greece and in the inbound tourist countries, infrastructure, training of the workforce, modernization of the product, costs etc. This work concludes with the impact of tax policy and proposals for a more efficient tax policy for Greece.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of terrorism on tourism demand in Greece using monthly data from 1977 to 2012. We aim to investigate whether this relationship is bidirectional and whether it exhibits persistence in the long run, by employing a large dataset of terrorist incidents. We perform cointegration and long-run causality tests. Also, we correct our data for cyclical seasonality and apply PCA to construct a terrorism proxy according to the severity of the incident in order to avoid multicollinearity issues. Our findings show concur that terrorism has a significant negative impact on tourist arrivals to Greece and that causality is noted from terrorism to tourism only. Additionally, this effect is persistent in the long run and thus cannot be neglected by authorities. The established need to minimise the economy impact of terrorism means that authorities should establish firm measures against terrorism. Further actions should be taken to promote tourism, safety and security, as a response to terrorist incidents. Our study is, to the best our knowledge, the first to approach terrorism using a three-factor proxy, which includes qualitative features, using an error correction model to establish the long run relationship between terrorist incidents and tourism demand.