Regional Tourism Indicators and Smart Specialization Strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/14.3.419-430(2016)Keywords:
regional policies, specialization strategy, regional development, tourism, ICT in tourism, web presence, tourism industryAbstract
National and local governments are harmonizing the regional policies to enable balanced development of regions. Related research is questioning whether priority should be given to information and communication technologies in the implementation of the Smart Specialization Strategy in a regional level. The objective of this article is to find out whether ICTs have any impact on key tourism statistical performance indicators. Such an impact would justify the priority of ICT in regional policies. 2.181 tourism industry entities were checked for web presence; the region of the entity’s activity was recorded. The correlation between the on-line presence and the key statistical indicators was analyzed. Only 655 (30 %) are present on the Internet by a means of a web page. There is a strong positive correlation (τb=0,656, p<0,05) between the on-line presence and the number of tourist arrivals in a region. The analysis has exposed a stunning fact that less than one third of entities active in tourism sector are present on the Internet. There is a clear need for priority to be given to ICTs in the implementation stage of the smart specialization strategy on the regional levels.
References
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Buhalis, D. (1998) Strategic use of information technologies in the tourism industry, Tourism Management, 19(5), pp. 409-421. doi: 10.1016/s0261-5177(98)00038-7.
Buhalis, D. (2003) eTourism: Information technology for strategic tourism management (London: Prentice Hall).
Buhalis, D. & Law, R. (2008) Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research, Tourism Management, 29(4), pp. 609-623, doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2008.01.005.
Cohen, P., Cohen, J., West, S. & Aiken, L. (2002) Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 3rd ed. (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishers).
Cvetović, S. (2013) Planet Siol.net z najvišjo branostjo v zgodovini (Ljubljana: Planet Siol.Net).
David, P., Foray, D. & Hall, B. (2009) Measuring Smart Specialisation: The concept and the need for indicators, Knowledge for Growth Expert Group.
Doolin, B., Burgess, L. & Cooper, J. (2002) Evaluating the use of the Web for tourism marketing: a case study from New Zealand, Tourism Management, 23(5), pp. 557-561, doi: 10.1016/S0261-5177(02)00014-6.
eMarketer (2008) First Summer Vacation Stop: The Internet, available at: http://www.emarketer.com/Articles/Print.aspx?R=1006344 (February 15, 2013).
Fesenmaier, D. R., Cook, D. S., Zach, F., Gretzel, U. & Stienmetz, J. L. (2010) Travelers' use of the Internet, 2009 (Travelers' use of the Internet).
Fesenmaier, D. R., Sheatsley, D. W. & Stienmetz, J. L. (2012) Travelers' use of the Internet, 2011 (Travelers' use of the Internet).
Foray, D., David, P. A. & Hall, B. H. (2011) Smart specialisation From academic idea to political instrument, the surprising career of a concept and the difficulties involved in its implementation (Lausanne, Switzerland: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne).
Gretzel, U., Mitsche, N., Hwang, Y. H. & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2004) Tell me who you are and I will tell you where to go—Use of travel personalities in destination recommendation systems, Information Technology & Tourism, 7(1), pp. 3-12.
Haynes, P. J., Becherer, R. C. & Helms, M. M. (1998) Small and mid-sized businesses and internet use: unrealized potential?, Internet Research, 8(3), pp. 229-235, doi: 10.1108/10662249810217786.
Hopkins, H. (2008) Hitwise US travel trends: how consumer search behavior is changing, available at: http://www.hitwise.com/registration-page/hitwise-report-travel-trends.php (October 10, 2015).
Law, R., Qi, S. & Buhalis, D. (2010) Progress in tourism management: A review of website evaluation in tourism research, Tourism Management, 31(3), pp. 297-313. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2009.11.007.
Lu, Z., Guo, L. & Bai, C. (2004) An Evaluation of User Satisfaction at Tourism Website in Hebei Province, Geo-information Science, 1, p. 15.
Mazanec, J. A., Wöber, K. & Zins, A. H. (2007) Tourism destination competitiveness: From definition to explanation?, Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 86-95, doi: 10.1177/0047287507302389.
McCann, P. & Ortega-Argilés, R. (2015) Smart Specialization, Regional Growth and Applications to European Union Cohesion Policy, Regional Studies, 49(8), pp. 1291-1302, doi: 10.1080/00343404.2013.799769.
O’Connor, P. & Frew, A. J. (2000) Evaluating Electronic Channels of Distribution in the Hotel Sector, In: Fesenmaier, D. R:, Klein, S. & Buhalis, D. (eds.) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2000 (Vienna: Springer), pp. 324-335.
O’Connor, P. & Frew, A. J. (2004) An evaluation methodology for hotel electronic channels of distribution, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 23(2), pp. 179-199. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2003.10.002.
Rangus, M. & Kurež, B. (2014) Tourism exhibitionism of a socialist destination : a gaze at socialist Yugoslavia, Teorija in praksa, 51(6), pp. 1148-1164.
Rejec, R. (2014) Slovene Regions in Figures (Ljubljana:Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia).
Scharl, A., Wober, K. & Bauer, C. (2003) An integrated approach to measure web site effectiveness in the European hotel industry, Information Technology & Tourism, 6(4), pp. 257-271.
So, S.-I. A. & Morrison, A. M. (2004) Internet Marketing in Tourism in Asia: An Evaluation of the Performance of East Asian National Tourism Organization Websites, Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing, 11(4), pp. 93-118. doi: 10.1300/J150v11n04_07.
Travel Industry Association of America (2013) Travelers’ Use of the Internet, 2011, available at: http://www.ustravel.org/research (February 22, 2013).
Turism Economics (2013) The Impact of Online Content on Tourism in Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford Economics).
WTO (1999) Marketing Tourism Destinations Online: Strategies for the Information Age (Madrid: World Tourism Organization Business Council).
WTTC (2015) Travel & Tourism: Economic impact 2015 Slovenia (London, UK: World Travel & Tourism Council).
Xiang, Z., Wöber, K. & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2008) Representation of the online tourism domain in search engines, Journal of Travel Research, 47(2), pp. 137-150.
Zafiropoulos, C. & Vrana, V. (2006) A Framework for the Evaluation of Hotel Websites: The Case of Greece, Information Technology & Tourism, 8(3-4), pp. 239-254, doi: 10.3727/109830506778690812.</span></p>
Published
2016-07-31
Issue
Section
Conference Paper (Annual Conference 2020)
