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Over the past two decades, online booking has become a predominant distribution channel of tourism products. As online sales have become more important, understanding booking conversion behavior remains a critical topic in the tourism industry. The purpose of this study is to model airline search and booking activities of anonymous visitors.

This study proposes a stochastic approach to explicitly model dynamics of airline customers’ search, revisit and booking activities. A Markov chain model simultaneously captures transition probabilities and the timing of search, revisit and booking decisions. The suggested model is demonstrated on clickstream data from an airline booking website.

Empirical results show that low prices (captured as discount rates) lead to not only booking propensities but also overall stickiness to a website, increasing search and revisit probabilities. From the decision timing of search and revisit activities, the author observes customers’ learning effect on browsing time and heterogeneous intentions of website visits.

This study presents both theoretical and managerial implications of online search and booking behavior for airline and tourism marketing. The dynamic Markov chain model provides a systematic framework to predict online search, revisit and booking conversion and the time of the online activities.

This study aims to investigate a sharing economy context, where vacation rental units that are owned and operated by individuals throughout the world are rented out through a common website: vrbo.com. It is posited that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a common indicator of the level of economic development of a nation, will impact the likelihood that prospective travelers will choose to book accommodations in the sharing economy channel (vs traditional hotels). The role of online customer reviews in this process is investigated as well, building upon a significant body of extant research which shows their level of customer decision influence.

An empirical analysis is conducted using data from the website Vacation Rentals By Owner on 1,940 rental listings across 97 countries.

GDP per capita serves as risk deterrent to prospective travelers, making the sharing economy an acceptable alternative to traditional hotels for the average traveler. It is also found that the total number of online customer reviews (OCR volume) is a signal of popularity to prospective travelers, while the average star rating of those online customer reviews (OCR valence) is instead a signal of accommodation quality.

This study adds to a growing agenda of research investigating the effect of online customer reviews on consumer decisions, with a particularly focus on the burgeoning sharing economy. The findings help to explain when the sharing economy may serve as a stronger disruptive threat to incumbent offerings. It also provides the following key insights for managers: sharing economy rental units in developed nations are more successful in driving booking activity, managers should look to promote volume of online customer reviews and positive online customer reviews are particularly influential for sharing economy rental booking rates in less developed nations.

Ubiquitous web applications (UWA) are a new type of web applications which are accessed in various contexts, i.e. through different devices, by users with various interests, at anytime from anyplace around the globe. For such full‐fledged, complex software systems, a methodologically sound engineering approach in terms of model‐driven engineering (MDE) is crucial. Several modeling approaches have already been proposed that capture the ubiquitous nature of web applications, each of them having different origins, pursuing different goals and providing a pantheon of concepts. This paper aims to give an in‐depth comparison of seven modeling approaches supporting the development of UWAs.

This methodology is conducted by applying a detailed set of evaluation criteria and by demonstrating its applicability on basis of an exemplary tourism web application. In particular, five commonly found ubiquitous scenarios are investigated, thus providing initial insight into the modeling concepts of each approach as well as to facilitate their comparability.

The results gained indicate that many modeling approaches lack a proper MDE foundation in terms of meta‐models and tool support. The proposed modeling mechanisms for ubiquity are often limited, since they neither cover all relevant context factors in an explicit, self‐contained, and extensible way, nor allow for a wide spectrum of extensible adaptation operations. The provided modeling concepts frequently do not allow dealing with all different parts of a web application in terms of its content, hypertext, and presentation levels as well as their structural and behavioral features. Finally, current modeling approaches do not reflect the crosscutting nature of ubiquity but rather intermingle context and adaptation issues with the core parts of a web application, thus hampering maintainability and extensibility.

Different from other surveys in the area of modeling web applications, this paper specifically considers modeling concepts for their ubiquitous nature, together with an investigation of available support for MDD in a comprehensive way, using a well‐defined as well as fine‐grained catalogue of more than 30 evaluation criteria.

The purpose of this study is to explore the onboard activity choice of Chinese cruise tourists on three international cruise ships departing Shanghai, China.

A qualitative research method was adopted for this study. Data was collected using participant observation, casual conversation and semi-structured in-depth interviews from 76 Chinese cruise respondents. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.

Chinese cruise tourists were offered various onboard activities, most of which were Western. Booking these activities involved tourists searching information and assessing and choosing what appealed to them. They chose these activities according to the consumption values, and their decision was influenced by both context-dependent variables—the variety and style of the activities and their capacity to appeal, and the personal variable—age. Chinese tourists were satisfied with the array of onboard activity options and viewed them as an opportunity to experience Western culture. However, when they were unfamiliar with or did not understand some activities, they preferred Chinese activities.

This study formulates propositions to underlie a conceptual framework of how cruise tourists choose an onboard activity. The findings derived from the data will be valuable to cruise lines seeking to better manage tourists’ onboard experiences.

This paper aims to explore and discuss the impact of digital innovations from a business eco-systemic perspective. Key smart technology application themes in the cruise industry are extracted and synthesised in a “Smart Cruise Ecosystem” (SCE) framework.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) advancements and smart tools revolutionise interactions and affect all transactions, transforming the cruise experience. Gradually a Smart Cruise Ecosystem emerges by incorporating all technologies available and involving cruise passengers, who as smart actors interact dynamically with stakeholders, creating value before, during and after the cruising experience. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak stressed the need for touchless and digital interactions as well as real-time information, fast-tracking the deployment of smart technologies. The diffusion of ICTs in the cruise industry is multi-faceted and dynamic, resulting in a number of smart-technology use-cases.

Smart technology constitutes a comprehensive smart ecosystem to manage all actors, controls, devises and systems to optimise ship operations and management, while co-creating value for guests and crew in an effective way. The multiplex SCE proposed is enabled by digital technologies collecting, storing, accessing and processing big data dynamically, including: object detection, Internet of Things, Internet of Everything, satellite communications, Big Data, automation, robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learnin, Cloud Computing, Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality. A range of interoperable and interconnected supporting systems form the basis of the smart ecosystem.

The proposed framework offers a holistic perspective of the smart-cruising domain, highlighting innovations, interfaces, dependencies, along with the corresponding key limitations and challenges. The synthesis and conceptual structure provided serves as a topology for guiding and connecting further research in smart cruising.

本文从商业生态系统的角度探索和讨论了数字创新的影响。在“智能邮轮生态系统”框架中提取和综合邮轮行业的关键智能技术应用主题

信息通信技术 (ICT) 的进步和智能工具彻底改变了交互并影响所有交易, 从而改变了邮轮体验。通过整合所有可用技术并让邮轮乘客参与其中, 智能邮轮生态系统逐渐出现, 他们作为聪明的参与者与利益相关者动态互动, 在巡航体验之前、期间和之后创造价值。 COVID19 大流行的爆发强调了对非接触式和数字化交互以及实时信息的需求, 以快速跟踪智能技术的部署。信息通信技术在邮轮行业的传播是多方面的和动态的, 产生了许多智能技术用例

智能技术构成了一个全面的智能生态系统, 用于管理所有参与者、控制、设计和系统, 以优化船舶运营和管理, 同时以有效的方式与用户和船员共同创造价值。提出的多元智能巡航生态系统（SCE）由数字技术实现, 包括物体检测、物联网、卫星通信、大数据、自动化、机器人、人工智能、云计算、AR、VR, 动态收集、访问和处理大数据。一系列可互操作和互连的支持系统构成了智能生态系统的基础。

本研究提议的理论框架提供了智能巡航领域的整体视角, 突出了创新、接口和依赖关系, 以及相应的关键限制和挑战。所提供的综合和概念结构用于指导和连接智能领域的进一步研究提供划分类型。

This study aims to critically review the emerging technological developments and digitalization efforts in the hospitality and tourism (HT) industry and discuss the implications of digitalization on various stakeholders (e.g. consumers, employees, companies and operators) with reference to value creation.

This paper is a conceptual, critical reflection paper. Thus, the study reflects the authors’ assessment and reflection of the current digitalization efforts in the HT industry with a particular interest in value creation.

The study suggests that digitalization is still in its infancy state in terms of adoption and value creation in the HT industry. Yet, there are various opportunities for all stakeholders to benefit from existing and emerging digitalization applications.

This study can be used by industry professionals and scholarly researchers as a reflection of past and current digitalization efforts in the HT industry. Moreover, the study offers directions regarding the future digitalization movement in the HT industry and how such a movement might create important value propositions for various stakeholders.

The study is uniquely positioned as a critical reflection paper on the digitalization effort of the HT industry and offers new practical insights regarding how digitalization could create value for industry stakeholders as it finds more application areas. In this regard, it differs from prior review studies that focused solely on the use of new and emerging technologies in HT operations.

In the 1980s, as the United States encountered international economic and technological challenges, the very ability of the American educational system to produce a competitive labor force, able to learn and solve problems, was questioned. During this past decade, renewed concern about educational quality in the United States motivated over one hundred reports analyzing the shortcomings in our system of education and endorsing reform. All of the principal curriculum areas have been reviewed in this process; moreover, science education has been deemed particularly deficient. Major reports sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recommend both content revision of science courses and methodological changes in the way science is presented throughout the elementary and secondary grades.

This paper aims to strengthen the cultural communication and educational function of the library, bringing newspirits and vitality into the development of the librarianship.

In this paper, the practical research on the living book service in university libraries has given concrete cases, the existing problems are analyzed in detail and some suggestions for improvement are extracted when putting forward, which can be used as the reference and be corrected by colleagues and related scholars in the same field.

There have been many research results on the topic of living book service, but there are few ones with promotional function. Living book service not only satisfies the readers' curiosity and enables them to obtain knowledge and experience they need, but also establishes a good relationship of communication and understanding between “Real Person Books” and readers. It resonates by face-to-face discussion of different life experiences, living experiences or beliefs, and it is also an innovation of the traditional library service mode.

Brand activities are taken as examples, and some thoughts and enlightenment on the living book service in the university library are put forward, helping us to better understand and evaluate the library activities.

Research into the library as place investigates the role of public library buildings as destinations, physical places where people go for various reasons ranging from making use of the library's resources and services or seeking to fulfill an information or reading need to less easily identified reasons that may include using the library's building as a place to make social or business contacts, to build or reinforce community or political ties, or to create or reinforce a personal identity. This study asks: How are one rural US public library system's newly constructed buildings functioning as places? The answer is derived from answers to sub-questions about adult library users, user, and staff perceptions of library use, and observed use of library facilities. The findings are contextualized using a framework built of theories from human geography, sociology, and information studies.

This case study replicates a mixed-methods case study conducted at the main public libraries in Toronto and Vancouver in the late1990s and first reproduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006. It tests methods used in large urban settings in a rural, small-town environment. This study also expands on its antecedents by using thematic analysis to determine which conceptualizations of the role of the public library as place are most relevant to the community under investigation.

The study relies on quantitative and qualitative data collected via surveys and interviews of adult library users, interviews of library public service staff members, structured observations of people using the libraries, and analysis of selected administrative documents. The five sets of data are triangulated to answer the research sub-questions.

Thematic analysis grounded in the conceptual framework finds that public realm theory best contextualizes the relationships that develop between library staff members and adult library users over time. The study finds that the libraries serve their communities as informational places and as familiarized locales rather than as third places, and that the libraries facilitate the generation of social capital for their users.

The study aims to investigate the characteristics of the current situation of library programs and explore the possible reasons behind the low participation in Hong Kong. It focuses on the development of library programs in the era of digital technology, which can lead to discussion and reflections on the further development of library programs with innovative technology services.

This study applied a mixed-method research approach to investigate the current situation of library programming and the reasons for low participation in Hong Kong. The first part analyzes the characteristics of library programs offered by the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) through data collection from the HKPL website. The second part of this study investigated the reasons behind the low participation in library programs through quantitative research through an online survey.

The findings show that current library programs were dominated by reading activities and children's programs to a great extent, which both users and non-users are not very interested in. Further, most respondents expressed more interest in cultural and leisure events and hands-on activities (especially new technologies related) than traditional library programming. Many lapsed and non-users chose not to attend the library programs for boredom and uselessness. As a result, there is a need for HKPL to adjust its services to stay relevant to the needs and interests of local communities.

Scant studies explored the reasons behind non-users of public library programs, especially in Asia. This research contributes to the literature by analyzing and proposing the characteristics of the current situation of library programs and exploring the possible reasons behind the low participation in Hong Kong.