ABSTRACT. From Destination Governance to Destination Design: problems and perspectives of interconnections between DMO's and businesses

ABSTRACT. In 2016, almost one out of five adults in Europe take into account environmentally-friendly practices of the destination in his or her choice of vacation. Similarly, 14 per cent of the Europeans cherish environmentally-friendly practices of the accommodation (e.g. energy or water saving measures, recycling, fair-trade food, etc.) as important for the choice of destination. Environmentally certified destinations (such as the European green city award) also affect the travel plans, although to a lesser degree (ten per cent of the European travelers). Another important aspect of green travel is the choice of the transportation mode. About 16 per cent of the travellers prefer a transport with a limited impact on the environment (low carbon travel or slow travel). However, the percentage of travellers that regards both environmentally-friendly practices and low carbon travel as important factors for their choice of holiday destination is surprisingly low, around six per cent. This study investigates the characteristics of so called green travellers in Europe, who regard environmentally-friendly practices at the destination as important for their choice of. In addition, individuals that choose a low carbon transportation mode, receive specific attention. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) probit model is used to estimate jointly the individual correlates of two different criteria for the destination choice: Individuals who find environmentally-friendly practices at the destination as important, those who consider a low carbon transport mode attractive and those who judge both factors equally important. Cross-country differences are taken into account as well as the role of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics in shaping the different attitudes towards environmentally-friendly travel. Data underlying the analysis originate from the 2016 Flash Eurobarometer on 20,000 individuals from European countries who travelled at least once in 2015. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of the importance of environmentally-friendly tourism and slow travelers and the extent to which environmentally based travel motivations differ across country of residence and sociodemographic characteristics (It is well known that ecological footprint of tourists is mainly driven by the choice of transport mode rather than the actual holiday activities. Previous literature finds that leisure related air travel is the main contributor of global warming. People using more carbon friendly forms of transportation differ significantly in their characteristics. The novelty of the study is the joint modelling of two environmentally related travel decisions, including way of travel and green destination. Previous studies have often used a single-equation approach to study the different motivations. In addition, the use of internationally comparable data for a large set of countries is also new. Results based on the bivariate probit model show that the probability of considering environmental practices at the destination depend significantly on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as well as on country of residence. Nature based tourists and sport tourists as well as women are more likely to choose a destination with environmentally friendly practices while older and skilled persons are less likely to bother. Furthermore, there are remarkable cross-country differences in the probability of choosing destination with environmentally friendly practices with the highest levels recorded in the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg, and the lowest in some eastern European countries. When it comes to low carbon travel mode, individuals who spend their main holiday in their home country or undertake city trips are more likely to pay attention to their carbon footprints. In contrast, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics do not play a role in choosing a low carbon transport mode.

ABSTRACT. Various researches have been argued that a determinant for sustainable tourism development is community involvement to several stages of destination planning and management. There are cases that underline the significance of integrating local people to the process of tourism development. Current paper focuses on community involvement in the implementation of events and event tourism in destinations. Specifically, hallmark events are examined. These events tend to be distinctive characteristics of the host destinations, mainly because of their success and yearly recurrence.

Hallmark events are considered to be an important sector of festival market globally, and play a significant role to the development of host communities. Various destinations utilize such events as tools for economic, cultural, tourism and social development. As a result, they become vital elements of local culture and they interact with locals and host communities, regardless of their theme and the connection with the local tradition. It has been argued that hallmark events are capable of supporting local tourism product and business and improving the image of the host destination. In this context, the necessity of their success is vital for the overall performance of the destination.

This paper argues the importance of community involvement to the success of a hallmark event based on secondary and primary research. Firstly, the relative theoretical background is presented together with findings from previous researches that highlight the significance of engagement of local people. The paper presents findings from cases from the Greek festival market and comes up with important statements for destinations that focus on events to support and develop their own tourism image and product.

ABSTRACT. The present paper represents a benchmarking exercise focusing on the range of treatments, facilities and other services offered at Greek hotel spas. The aim of the paper is to determine what is actually offered at Greek hotel spas and to provide actionable input to any hotel interested in creating or upgrading such a department in accordance with – or with the aim of surpassing – the industry “average”.

The method employed for conducting the empirical research has been a content analysis. This analysis utilized information provided in the spa menus that were downloaded from the respective hotel websites.

The content analysis covered a sample of 100 Greek hotels that made their spa menus available for download on the websites. Previous research has shown that approx. 330 Greek hotels are operating spas, however not all of them featured complete menus on the website. Thus, the present sample of 100 hotels can be considered as representative for the sector of hotel spas in Greece.

A detailed checklist was used for extracting information from the spa menus that was used for preparing a series of statistical indicators. These indicators can be grouped as follows:

• Wellness facilities provided at Greek hotel spas • Range of massage treatments on offer • Range of body treatments on offer • Range of facial treatments on offer • Range of beauty treatments on offer • Range of special treatments on offer • Sports activities on offer • Treatments emphasizing body, mind and soul balance • Signature treatments on offer • Treatments aimed at couples, men and at children

The findings from the content analysis are then used for formulating several recommendations aimed at properly designing and upgrading the offerings of a hotel spa. Specifications for operating a hotel spa include the proper combination of treatments as well as wellness facilities. Recommendations also cover aspects of effectively marketing a spa on the respective hotel websites.

ABSTRACT. Asian travelers provide record numbers to the global tourism industry. By 2030, 50% of all global travelers are expected to origin from Asia. The number of young wealthy Chinese tourists that show an interest for long distance travel is continuously increasing. Greece is one of their top choices as a romantic destination where the outstanding sunsets and blue waters, found mainly in the Aegean islands, are the center of attention for the young visitors. A new channel in the tourism industry is rapidly growing with great investing and economic potential, with the luxury traveler being the main point of interest. There is no clear definition for luxury tourism; it mainly includes qualitative services and products provided to the visitors in a convenient and extraordinary way. The Asian luxury visitor is very different from the ones with European or American origin, they travel often and look for unique and exclusive experiences. What are the characteristics of this group of tourists? How do they choose their destinations and what do they prefer on their travels? Are some of the first questions that should be examined. Chinese travelers are redefining their travel needs and 50% of the total Chinese tourists choose to travel in luxury, paying great attention to the “quality” of the trip. The wealthy and experienced Chinese travelers have more exclusive tastes with many travel programs and tours being insufficient for their needs. Most wealthy Chinese tourists are in search for quality, personalized experiences, greater flexibility and tend to spend money on adventures, gastronomic delights and wine tasting. Furthermore, they are highly environmentally sensitive, they prefer nature-encountering events, while they are willing to pay extra for their stay in an eco-friendly accommodation. The new generation of luxury Chinese tourists use very specific channels to interact with the outside world. The increasing dependence from the mobile technology shapes the way smartphone users interact with commercial industries. Websites and user-friendly apps are the rule not the exception anymore. Luxury accommodation and travel services that do not provide easy access to necessary information and products are risking alienation from their target groups and will eventually lose their reliance in the years to come. With the rapid increase of Chinese travelers going global, there are some vital questions that are still to be answered; What are the technological needs for the high class trips? How will the market adapt in the needs of the luxury Asian consumers? What is the outcome of luxury travel for local communities? The answers to those questions must be given promptly while tourism destinations and industries shall adapt their services to the expectations of the Chinese luxury traveler, in order to secure a spot in the market of Asian luxury tourism.

ABSTRACT. Erasmus is the world’s most successful student mobility programme that has provided millions of European students with the opportunity to go abroad and study at a higher education institution or train in a company. Many studies have been carried out to examine the impact that Erasmus mobility has on professional careers and academic development and its effects on skills enhancement, employability and institutional development. However, there are no studies focusing on the impacts that Erasmus students may have on the country where they study. Indeed, Erasmus students are similar to tourists that visit other cities within the country, creating a certain image of the destination. Afterwards, when returning to their home country they may recommend the country to friends and family, contributing to the development of a positive image of the country which, in turn, can contribute to the development of tourism. Indeed, research has consistently evidenced that the image of a destination directly influences intentions to revisit and recommend the destination to others (Alcaniz et al., 2005; Bigné et al., 2001; Qu et al., 2011).

In the past 10 years Portugal has received more than 60,000 Erasmus students. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the image they have of Portugal and their contribution in promoting Portugal in their home countries. This study is exploratory and consists of interviews with 12 students from different nationalities that have done Erasmus in Portugal. The interviews were conducted in order to examine students’ perceptions of Portugal and how they have contributed in promoting Portugal. The findings of this research will provide insights that will be useful to understand how the Portuguese brand is perceived by foreigners that live for short periods in Portugal and how they can contribute to the development of Tourism.

ABSTRACT. As part of the strategic redesign of the tourism product of Greece, is growing rapidly the model of the "smart tourism", which on basis constitutes a model of tourism and policy development and aim to the promote of tourism process and the broader development of the strengthening of all economic activities, where the intervention area shows local comparative or competitive advantages. Greece has recently entered the health tourism market, which is a specialized segment with significant dynamics both because of the expected revenues and the ongoing liberalization of medical services in Europe. Several studies that have occasionally drawn up, according to the literature, regarding “sustainable” tourism development based on alternative and special forms of tourism. Only few, if non-existent, are the studies of those who propose a new model for regional tourism development, grounded in business clustering and “Smart Tourism” with the active participation of all stakeholders and optimal use of available tourism resources. This paper aims to investigate the opportunities for the increase of regional economy and entrepreneurship through the development of business clustering of thematic forms of tourism such as health tourism via the use of the model of “Smart Tourism” which is based on economic and development characteristics of the geographical unity of Peloponnese. To achieve the aims and purpose of this research proposal is necessary to use both the secondary and primary research. Regarding the secondary research will be a complete analysis of International and Greek literature of Smart health tourism, the institutional framework as well as an inventory and assessment of the current situation (in general and socio-economic data, supply and demand). The trends and the basic parameters of the study area regarding the health tourism through the analysis of available data involved relevant departments, organizations, institutions and business networks will also be examined. The primary research will be applied in the geographical unit of Peloponnese with the ultimate goal to investigate development of Cooperative Business Figures (Clusters) of Thematic Forms of Tourism and specifically Health Tourism, as a means of strengthening local development and economy and the strategic redesign of the tourism product through “Smart Development” which requires the best use of “strong” points of the local economy, the exploitation of local social capital and the commitment of productive parties (stakeholders) for high quality standards. The method of stratified sampling will be applied using a structured questionnaire and a sample survey are defined as entrepreneurs in tourism and health sector and the other institutions (public and private) which are involved in the development process (stakeholders) of Peloponnese. Through appropriate statistical processing and analysis will attempt to draw useful conclusions regarding the investigate questions that have been already be mentioned and develop proposals for political strengthening of this new model of "Smart Tourism development" for Peloponnese

ABSTRACT. The main purpose of this paperwork is to represent the developing proposals for understanding the importance of the Water as key element to the Destination Management System in Destination Development, during the process for the WaterNet EU Cross Border Project implementation. First part of the paper is focused on the theory and concepts related to the topic while in the second part presented a benchmarking approach for comparisons between other EU areas in the SE Europe for better understanding the best practices improving the Destination Management Networking activities in the cross border area of Thessaloniki-Edessa-Ohrid as a useful tool to Destination Management Competitiveness. The last part contains the conclusions and the proposals for improving the tool of EU Project as an activity of the Destination Management towards Environmental Protection Actions.

ABSTRACT. Tourism is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic forms of social and cultural exchange, economic activity and also a driver of development. The major components of contemporary tourism are world heritage sites and their cultural and natural values and that this reality will continue. On the one hand tourism is a substantial tool to protect cultural and natural values of the heritage sites and to cope with poverty by generating economic income (Hall&Piggin, 2002) but on the other hand growth of tourism has created new problems for heritage areas in terms of increasing number of visitors and potential harmful effects on the nature that is evident in unique and fragile environments such as world heritage sites (Gilmore et al., 2007). Bandarin (2007) states that the second most reported danger after development pressures in world heritage sites is tourism. As the components of the tourism assests, preserving natural and cultural properties through management plan is vital for development of sustainable tourism in world heritage sites. Cultural heritage management as a systematic preservation of the cultural values of cultural heritage assets for the benefit of present and future generations (McKercher&Cros, 2002). Without a management plan for the protected area; activities for the conservation and development of the area will take place in a unsustainable way. As a result, resources and values of the area will be destroyed in an irreversible manner (Thomas et al., 2003). Protecting the values of world heritage sites and providing them with the experience of tourists without the environmental, economic and socio-cultural damaging effects can be achieved with a sustainable management approach. Within this context, "Sustainable Tourism Principles in World Heritage Sites" was approved by the World Heritage Committee in 2010. Integrating sustainable tourism principles into world heritage site management plans may provide mitigation of tourism damaging impacts on heritage sites. The main purpose of this study to analyze Turkey’s world heritage sites -Turkey has 17 cultural property inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as of 2017- management plans through sustainable tourism principles and to examine the focal point of management plans about sustainability (social, economic and environmental). The paper will summarise the fundamental relationship between sustainable heritage management and tourism in the context of world heritage site management plans.

References Bandarin, F. (2007). “World Heritage–Challenges for the Millennium”, Labadi, S., UNESCO World Heritage Center, Paris, 32: 187-190.

Gilmore, A., Carson, D., and Ascenção, M. (2007). “Sustainable Tourism Marketing at A World Heritage Site”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 15(2): 253–264.

Hall, C. M. & Piggin, R. (2002). “Tourism Business Knowledge of World Heritage Sites. A New Zealand Case Study”, International Journal of Tourism Research, 4: 401-402.

McKercher, B. & Cros, D. H. (2002). “Cultural Tourism: The Partnership Between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management”, The Haworth Hospitality Press, New York, 43–55.

Thomas, L., Middleton, J. And Adrian, P. (2003). “Guidelines for Management Planning of Protected Areas”, Philips, A., IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, 1-9.

UNESCO World Heritage Center (2010). “Audit Report on the UNESCO World Heritage Center”, UNESCO World Heritage Center, Paris, 22.

ABSTRACT. It is difficult to find a consensus definition of soft skills (Matteson, Anderson, & Boyden, 2016). Rainsbury, Hodges, Burchell, and Lay (2002) define them as “interpersonal, human, people, or behavioral skills, and place emphasis on personal behavior and managing relationships between people” (p.9). A more recent definition views soft skills as a combination of personal qualities and interpersonal skills that help an employer perform their job (Wesley, Jackson & Lee, 2017). Some of the most important soft skills identified by executives are Communication, Flexibility, Integrity, Interpersonal Skills, Positive Attitude, Professionalism, Responsibility, Teamwork and Work Ethic (Robles, 2012). Several studies have stressed the importance of soft skills. For instance, research has shown that soft skills complement hard skills (Shulz, 2008). In the hospitality field, studies have shown that soft skills are the most essential competencies for hospitality graduates to possess (Sisson & Adams, 2013) and are needed in entry-level hospitality management positions (Weber, Finley, Crawford and Rivera, 2009). A study conducted by Kim, Erdem and Jeong (2011) found that Hotel employees are aware of the importance of soft skills to be successful at their workplace, identifying serving customers properly, working with diverse groups, responsibility, sociability, self-management, problem solving, participating as a team member as some of the most important soft skills. According to Burns (1997), Hospitality gains profitable value-added from the highly developed social skills of its so-called ‘unskilled’ labour force. However, there are few studies analyzing the importance of soft skills in leading jobs in the hospitality industry. It is crucial to investigate and identify the essential competencies in order to meet these demands. According to Weber et al. (2009) the identification of competencies needed by hospitality managers has been investigated since the 1980s, however a comprehensive list of soft skills has not been identified. This study examines which soft skills are more important to achieve leading jobs in the hospitality industry. In order to accomplish this, 44 employees of one of Portugal’s biggest hotel groups – Montebelo Hotels & Resorts - were examined. Montebelo Hotels & Resorts has 12 hotel units distributed between Portugal and Mozambique and over 400 employees. The employees that were examined occupy leading positions at these hotels, such as hotel managers and assistants, restaurant managers and kitchen managers. When hired, all of them were evaluated by trained personnel and their soft skills were assessed. The findings of this study are important to several parties. First of all, to people that are searching for leading jobs in the hospitality industry. By knowing which soft skills are the most important, they can enhance their chances to be recruited (Weber et al., 2009). It is also important for recruiting managers in the hospitality industry. Finally, the findings are also important for hospitality industry educators, in order to revise the curriculum to develop the skills that are necessary to achieve top leadership jobs in the hospitality industry.

ABSTRACT. Tourism distribution channels are important players of the industry as they are the intermediaries to bring buyers and sellers together by providing convenient points of sale away from the location of production (Middleton, 1994). Conventionally tour operators and travel agencies (TAs) are recognized as the main members of tourism distribution channels (Buhalis, 2000). However, by the development of the Internet and by the growing inclusion of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the industry, electronic intermediaries started to challenge these traditional distributors (Buhalis & Law, 2008). ICT developments are discussed to impact the competitiveness of enterprises (Porter, 2001) and also to shift the power balances in the field of tourism distribution channels (Berne et al., 2012). As ICTs threaten the survival of traditional intermediaries, Buhalis and Law (2008) argued that they are forced to reconsider their operations and strategies. Additionally resource dependence theory suggests that organizations do not adapt passively to their environments but they have strategies to enhance their autonomy and to pursue their interests (Davis & Cobb, 2009). To minimise their environmental dependencies and to manage power relations in favour of themselves, organizations try to be a member of a larger and powerful associations (Hillman et al., 2009). Where organizations are unable to control the larger systems of the environment, like in the case of global distribution channels, Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) argue that they could also attempt to use political mechanisms to manipulate environmental contingencies. According to theory, organizations may try to shape governmental regulations and control their interdependencies through law to create a favourable environment. In this respect, “booking.com case” of Turkey could be examined as a typical case of political action to manage competition between tourism distribution channels. Recently, Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) sued against booking.com by the reason of unfair competition and consequently, access to the website to book a room in Turkey is restricted for Turkish customers by the court decision. The claim was that the international company does not follow the regulations of Turkey for TAs, which requires all TAs to be a member of TURSAB and to pay a certain amount of tax to the state. Hotels’ reaction to TURSAB was strong, who accused the association for not considering what the best is for tourism industry of the country but only a few TAs’ interests. In response to the arguments and to the media coverage, TURSAB declared that it is their responsibility as a professional union to protect its members’ economic interests and to prevent unfair competition. As yet, the restriction for booking had provided an opportunity for its competitors in domestic tourism market. For example, a Turkish company experienced a 30% of increase in its online reservations (Eser, 2017). This might not be the best strategy for sustainable competitive advantage for TAs in the long run. However “booking.com case” of Turkey presents a recent example of ICT threat to traditional intermediaries cited in the literature (Buhalis & Law, 2008; Berne et al., 2012) and also the strategies of organizations to create a favourable environment by using the power of associations and also political mechanisms through law and sanctions (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978).

REFERENCES Berne, C., Garcia-Gonzalez, M., & Mugica, J. (2012). How ICT shifts the power balance of tourism distribution channels. Tourism Management, 33, 205-214. Buhalis, D. (2000). Relationships in the distribution channel of tourism. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 1 (1), 113-139. Buhalis, D., & Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the internet-the state of e-tourism research. Tourism Management, 29, 609-623. Davis, G. F., & Cobb, J. A. (2009). Resource Dependence Theory: Past and Future. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 28, 21-42. Eser, E. (2017, May 2). Booking.com'a yasak rakiplerine yaradı [The restriction of booking.com served to its competitors]. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from https://www.dunya.com/sektorler/turizm/bookingcoma-yasak-rakiplerine-yaradi-haberi-360678 Hillman, A. J., Withers, M. C., & Collins, B. J. (2003). Resource dependence theory: A review. Journal of Management, 35 (6) 1404–1427. Middleton, V. (1994). Marketing in travel and tourism (2nd ed.). London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row. Porter, M. (2001). Strategy and the internet. Harvard Business Review, 79 (3), 63-78.

ABSTRACT. The main target of the extant paper is to get into real depth and to conduct a discursive analysis over the areas of conflict of interest among hotels and tour operators as well as over the strategies of negotiation that are being used and could be used for the benefit of all the involved parties. The globally raised issue is that tour operators possess airlines, large hotels chains etc. The majority of hotels neither are owner of airlines nor of tourism mediators. Tour operators’ vertical integration allows them to affect the tourism demand and hence the price of the tourism product. Tour operators are the wholesalers of the tourism product, while hotels are the retail sellers. Tour operators press room prices as much as low they can. On the other hand, although hotels struggle to resist on that downward pressure they don’t come up with positive results. The fear of “no booking” and having “empty rooms” make hotels to give in and sell their rooms at low prices that make them suffer economic losses and perform at a level below average cost. The research is being divided in four basic parts: rivals’ configuration of initial conflict behavior, creation of power budget to allocate power properly and efficiently, investigation of the efficient use of power under given conditions and fourthly evaluation of various alternative types of negotiating behavior along with their concomitant consequences and selection of the most beneficiary behavior. The investigation of the conflicts of interest and the possible and feasible strategies of negotiation for the resolution of them are of paramount significance and importance. The aforementioned significance of the paper is hidden in the fact that tour operators seem to influence not only the tourism demand but also the marketing strategies and the type of management of hotels. Hotels’ economic losses from the pre mentioned dominance create the intensifier need to change the landscape, the terms and the result of the negotiation among hotels and tour operators, which also creates the field of our research, and drive us forward to deeply analyze hotels’ and tour operators position in the market and in the negotiation. The principle objective of the paper is to explore new, alternative and innovative strategies of negotiation among the two rivals for their mutual benefit. Respectively, the specific objectives are: a) to detect and estimate the size of that conflict, b) to outline the structure of the relationship between the disputants, c) to discover whether there is a manifest conflict or a perceived conflict (Pondy 1967 Conflict Model), d) to estimate the amount of disposable power of each rival and how this is being allocated over both the areas of conflict we are interested in as well as over the parallel fields of conflict the rivals are confronted with, e) to outline the conditions (economic, political, social, technological, temporal, cultural, legal and supplementary conditions) under which conflicts are taking place and f) to create alternative mutually beneficial strategies of negotiation based on the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) of each player and predicting the consequences of potential negotiating behaviors (disputants’ reaction to alternative negotiating scenarios and actions). The unique and innovative feature of the paper is that the well and broadly known conflict among hotels and tour operators is being analyzed for the first time on the scientific base of conflict and negotiation theories. Theretofore conflict and negotiation scientific theories are dependent theories, officially distant from tourism theories and tourism industry. This is the first effort at combining conflict and negotiation theories with scientific tourism theories and tourism industry for the anatomy of the aforementioned conflict and the resolution of it.

ABSTRACT. With the advent of mass tourism, the saying “Hotels are just for sleeping” became more and more popular. This research however went toward the opposite direction as it aimed to investigate in which extend hotels may be an important part of the tourist experience at the destination. The methodology consisted essentially of exploratory studies and field researches in tourist destinations in 23 countries in both Latin America and Europe: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, The Check Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Republic of Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine, where the author of the research had ordinary guest experiences. The results showed that there are hotels that offer more than o good night sleep and might be a plus to the tourist experience, even improving his/her interpretation of the destination. In order to organize this growing and flourishing offer, the results of the investigation are shown and discussed through the following categories: (i) historical hotels; (ii) thematic hotels; (iii) hotels that had artists and other celebrities among theirs guests; (iv) hotels where artists or other celebrities lived in the past; (v) hotels with spectacular views; (vi) hotels where an important fact took place; (vii) hotels that are installed in refuncionalized former buildings; (viii) hotels which building is an architecture icon; (ix) hotels installed in ships and boats.

ABSTRACT. The process of opportunity recognition is an important theme of research in entrepreneurship. Most researchers try to answer: “why some people can recognize business opportunities and some cannot?” in order to discover the influencing factors in the process of identification of the opportunities to start a business (Baron, 2006). It has been shown in the literature that alertness plays an important role, and people who possess it have more possibilities to recognize business opportunities. At this point, in my research I am going to explore whether people who are alert and influenced by their social networks and by their prior knowledge have the advantage, the ability to identify more business opportunities than others. The power of information is the key aspect in the process. This study aims to broaden our understanding of opportunity recognition, by analyzing the influencing role of social networks and prior knowledge in the identification process of a sample of 116 novice entrepreneurs in Greece, in the hospitality industry. According to the empirical findings of my study, alertness has a positive effect to the opportunity recognition, thus confirming the previous literature on the topic. On the other hand, social networks and prior knowledge do not influence the relationship. This finding is surprising. I conclude by discussing potential reasons and implications of the results of this study.

ABSTRACT. Over the last few decades, driven largely by digital technologies and massively increased connectivity, the economy has been moving beyond narrowly defined industries built around large, vertically integrated, and mainly “self-contained” corporations. New means of creating value have been developing everywhere in the form of ever-denser and richer networks of connection, collaboration, and interdependence. Successful businesses are those that evolve rapidly and effectively. Yet innovative businesses can’t evolve in a vacuum. They must attract resources of all sorts, drawing in capital, partners, suppliers, and customers to create business ecosystems (Moore,1993; Iansiti and Levien, 2004; Kelly, 2015).

Ecosystem thinking provides a new frame and mindset that captures a profound shift in the economy and the business landscape. The importance of relationships, partnerships, networks, alliances, and collaborations is obviously not novel—but it is growing. As it becomes increasingly possible for firms to deploy and activate assets they neither own nor control, to engage and mobilize larger and larger numbers of participants, and to facilitate much more complex coordination of their expertise and activities, the art of the possible is expanding rapidly (Kelly, 2015).

According to Deloitte's (2017) and Accenture’s (2017) Tech Trends Reports, business ecosystems are one of the key trends that will transform the business landscape in 2017 and beyond. Businesses around the world are responding. Some view the rise of ecosystems and the transformation consequences as an opportunity for creating powerful new competitive advantage.

Companies in tourism businesses increasingly participate in and compete against business ecosystems that are comprised of: tourism service providers; regulators; technology providers; communities; and consultants (Baggio and Chiappa 2014, Kline et al. 2014). The competition is complemented by an increased cooperation in order to boost agility, flexibility and efficiency, often leading to an environment of coopetition (Sigala 2008, Kylanen and Rusko 2011).

Recently, research has highlighted the relevance of managing a wide range of shared capabilities towards common goals, and collaborating to co-create and co-deliver sustained value for all network partners leading to the need for effective strategic management across tourism business ecosystems (Gereffi et al. 2005, Gligor and Holcomb 2012, Halldorsson et al. 2007, Lemmetyinen and Go 2009, Pechlaner et al. 2014, Romero and Tejada 2011, Stank et al. 2011, Wong et al. 2012).

The investigation of the governance issues arising from the integration of new tourism distribution channels at the wider business ecosystem in a tourism context addresses a gap in the literature, as recently stated by Song et al. (2013). The latter also argue that "research on the governance environment, structure, mechanisms, and outcomes in the tourism value chain has been carried out mostly in isolation, with their interrelationships largely ignored. These relationships should be extensively investigated" (Song et al., 2013).

In today’s tourism environment, every tourism company needs an ecosystem strategy to move forward. A strategy that prepares them for a future of disruptive innovation and enables them to explore the myriad of new value creation opportunities. To that extent, our research aims to create a framework for tourism-related organizations who wish to engage in ecosystem-based growth. The practical implication is to help tourism businesses transform, in order to carve their desired roles in the fragmented and saturated tourism markets by co-creating new forms of value and competitive advantage.

ABSTRACT. The goal or every business owner in the travel industry is to maximize sales of their holiday products or services. In this paper we show that there is hidden value and potential revenue to be acquired even after they sell their products/services. This potential revenue is hidden their clients "micro-moment" needs. After defining micro-moments we focus on how the concept can be moved to the offline world and become a way to enhance traveler experience while providing added value and revenue to holiday businesses. According to Google micro-moments are moments when people turn to a device with intent to answer an immediate need. In this paper we focus on micro-moments that: a) occur during the travel experience b)are based on information needs of a traveler at a specific time c)tend to incorporate a sense of urgency and d)are usually tied to mobile devices. An example of a micro-moment in the travel industry is when a client turns to his/her smartphone while in a hotel room when they start feeling hungry. They will probably search for restaurants nearby and choose a restaurant from the first page of a SERP that has good reviews. There are several micro-moments that occur when travelling. They can occur before, during or even after the travel experience. According to Google there are: dreaming, planning, booking and experiencing moments. We will focus on the "experiencing" micro- moments. These can be broadly defined as moments when a traveler has a need for a new experience while on vacation and turns to a device for a solution. Once a traveler is all set-up at a destination, experiencing moments start popping up: I need to eat, I need to visit an attraction, I need to go to the closest beach, I need to buy an extra SD card. These moments can occur in a hotel room, in a car while driving, while walking, while in a shop, while eating at a restaurant and so on. The traveler will impulsively turn to their smartphone (probably Google) to get answers. This is where online advertising through SEM comes into play and can be very successful. By predicting potential micro-moments a company can be in the right place (on top of a SERP) at the right time (when the user turn to their devices for answers) and get that client. In the online world addressing micro-moments is based on the concept of individual businesses working independently. Every business focuses on their product or service and gets revenue out of selling it. A hotel doesn't care about addressing their clients' micro-moments that don't concern them. For example hotels don't care where clients eat or which beach they go to. But this is not true in the real world. Even if hotels don't care, clients will ask them. Based on that observation, in this paper we use the micro-moments online concept and show how it can be used in the real world (offline) by any holiday business to produce new streams of revenue. Hotels should care and maybe even influence where their clients eat. Our approach is based on the idea that a holiday company that has acquired a client can operate in a way that influences that client's decisions as a response to their micro-moments. We call this business practice the MCF (My Client First) model. We analyze the model extensively and show that it is based on mutual references based on B2B affiliations (cluster based model). We show how the model can be implemented by holiday business in a way that is beneficial and transparent to the customer, how it can produce extra revenue streams and how it can increase traveler satisfaction. A version of the MCF model exists today in the online world. When Easyjet for example, proposes hotels after you've booked a ticket, it's actually saying that "since you are my client, now I have the right to address your next micro-moment which I anticipate will be to book accommodation". Here, we move this online model to a local travel destination and show how it can be implemented. We first present a timeline of possible traveler micro-moments based on research findings and then show how local businesses can take advantage of that timeline to address the next anticipated travel micro-moment. In this paper we turn well known and practiced digital advertising concepts, practices and techniques such as micro-moments, affiliated marketing and search engine marketing into real world (offline) business practices through the introduction of the MCF business model. We show that this model is very practical and apart from creating new and still unexplored revenue streams for holiday businesses, can lead to the creation of holiday business clusters that depend and promote each other. All of this would be very beneficial to local tourism based economies.

ABSTRACT. Abstract Since the turn of the century an increasing number of scholars have drawn attention to the work-related behaviours of the prevalent generations of workforce. Much of the focus has been on the work value priorities of generations within current workforce (Lyons & Kuron, 2014). For most observers, this interest is motivated by the belief that each generation “shares a different set of values and attitudes, as a result of shared events and experiences” (Parry & Urwin, 2011, p. 80). Emphasis has therefore been placed on the identification of the work value priorities of the young generation of workforce who has been referred to as Generation Y, Nexus Generation, Nexters, Gen Me and Millennials (Barnard et al. 1998; Johnson & Johnson, 2010; Strauss & Howe, 2000; Twenge, 2006; Zemke et al, 2000). In this study, the term “Millennials” is used to describe the generational cohort born after 1980, to keep up with the popular literature.

Indeed, the work values priorities of Millennial-aged samples have been reported extensively in studies across the globe in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Slovenia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and South Africa among others. Papavasileiou and Lyons (2015) have recently summarised the results from this strand of international research. Their study highlighted the intrinsic, prestige, extrinsic, and social typology of work values as a common typology for identifying the work identity of Millennials across different cultural contexts. Although this study provides an important first step in relation to the conceptualisation of Millennials’ work values, the structural relationship between the common types of work values (intrinsic, prestige, extrinsic, and social) has not been explicitly explained. Our study addresses this crucial gap in extant literature by providing a structural analysis of Millennials’ work values using a sample of Greek Millennial-aged undergraduate students.

References - Barnard, R., Cosgrove, D., & Welsh, J. (1998). Chips & Pop: Decoding the Nexus Generation. Toronto: Malcolm Lester Books. - Johnson, M., & Johnson, L. (2010). Generations, Inc. New York, NY: AMACOM. - Lyons, S., & Kuron, L.K.J. (2014). Generational differences in the workplace: a review of the evidence and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1), S139-S157. - Papavasileiou, E., & Lyons, S. (2015). A comparative analysis of the work values of Greece's ‘Millennial’ generation. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(17), 2166-2186. - Parry, E., & Urwin, P. (2011). Generational differences in work values: A review of theory and evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(1), 79-96. Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The history of America’s future, 1584 to 2069. New York, NY: William Morrow. - Twenge, J.M. (2006). Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable than Ever Before. New York, NY: Free Press. - Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. (2000). Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers and Nexters in Your Workplace. New York, NY: American Management Association.

ABSTRACT. The relations between the hotel and its customers are, in Greek civil law, regulated by the “Regulation of the relations between a hotelier and his customers”. A bylaw in its origin in 1976, when it was enacted by the general secretary of the National Organization of Tourism (Εθνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού – ΕΟΤ), it later acquired the status of law, when in 1982 it was included in statute 1652/82.

The provisions within this regulation still apply, insofar as Greek law is applicable, in every hotel guest’s contract with the hotel. They also apply, under the same condition, in every hotel contract, that is negotiated with a tour operator or travel agent. All this naturally in the context of the general civil law provisions, regarding all contracts and lease contracts in particular.

A great variety of issues of interpretation have arisen, as a result of poor legislative craftsmanship, and subsequent not thoroughly thought out amendments; but also because this regulation was mostly overlooked in the past by the legal academia. The text of the regulation has also suffered from the start for a variety of reasons, not least because of the somewhat rough transition from the official and legal Greek language of the seventies, to the one of today.

As a result, a need has arisen for a critical edition of the text of the regulation, and for a thorough commentary on its provisions and their meaning. Having undertaken such an endeavour lately, I present this paper as a small contribution to this effect.