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The concept of touristic space is continually evolving, due to the advent of new technologies. Today, physical space and virtual space are interwoven, creating a phenomenon that can be described using the term ‘phygital’. The perception of touristic space as well as the interaction with it has been altered by phygital appearances and changing travel behaviour. While interaction with the touristic space previously only occupied a physical dimension, virtual information now enriches all stages of the customer journey (CJ). Hence, this chapter deals with new technologies, analysing their impact on the perception of touristic space for the traveller throughout the whole CJ. Thereby Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are cited as examples of state-of-the-art technologies, which wield a direct perceptional impact, as they have the power to blend together one’s perception of real and virtual space.

Social entrepreneurship is gaining attention as a valid field for academic inquiry and a useful tool for funding a social mission and driving social change. As they are assimilated, innovative mechanisms and practices often require a new vocabulary and context to support precision in communication and clarity in analysis. This chapter takes a step toward merging previously disparate fields that may need to be aligned to help the advancement of social entrepreneurship and offers a neologism to describe this process. Primarily, it proposes that the real value of social entrepreneurship is an advancement in non-violent social change.

The chapter analyzes the modern features of the movement of foreign investments and the participation of the Republic of Belarus in this process. Trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in the context of different countries and the structure of investment capital in our country have been considered. A greater priority in attracting investments in large projects in the form of equity participation compared to debt instruments and profits refinancing has been justified. The largest projects with foreign investments as well as features of outgoing FDI have been considered. The activities of foreign transnational corporations and the factors hindering the internationalization of business activity of domestic enterprises have been studied in detail. The priority areas of government in activities to promote the attraction of FDI to the Republic of Belarus have been analyzed.

Public sector reforms of recent decades in Europe have promoted managerialism and aimed at introducing private sector thinking and practices. However, with regard to public sector executives’ self-understanding, managerial role identities have not replaced bureaucratic ones; rather, components from both paradigms were combined. In this chapter, we introduce a bi-dimensional identity approach (attitudes and practices) that allows for different combinations and forms of hybridity. Empirically, we explore the role identities of public sector executives across Europe, building on survey data from over 7,000 top public officials in 19 countries (COCOPS survey). We identify country-level profiles, as well as patterns across countries, and find that administrative traditions can account for these profiles and patterns only to a limited extent. Rather, they have to be complemented by factors such as stability of the institutional environment (indicating lower shares of hybrid combinations) or extent of reform pressures (indicating higher shares of hybrid combinations).

Application of technology and meeting accessibility requirements of guests are two essential areas to consider and improve in order to facilitate, ameliorate and accelerate the management of hospitality services furnished by hotels. These two trends carry great importance for competitivity of hotels' services and sustainability of tourism industry. They are two distinguishing characteristics that build a positive perception of hotels' image among its rivals.

This chapter aims to reflect the current level of conformance of the hotels' services to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for tourism, specifically, SDG 11 related to accessibility and SDGs 9, 12 and 13 related to technology. A qualitative research is conducted to find out the commitment and awareness levels of the hotel staff at managerial positions to the accessibility and technology requirements in line with the mentioned SDGs. The representatives of city centre hotels of İzmir, Turkey with three, four and five stars and boutique hotels categories are chosen as the target population. The results obtained via content analysis signal that the extent of conformity of hotels to technology and accessibility requirements in line with the adoption of the related SDGs depend on the creation of practical solutions on the educational, legal and managerial perspectives. The chapter contributes to academic literature in tourism management and brings suggestions for tourism practitioners to adapt and improve their services to meet the standards and requirements of SDGs related to accessibility and adoption of technology in hospitality services.

This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive overview of virtual tourism and its potential contribution to sustainable development in the tourism industry.

In this chapter, a qualitative approach is used to analyse relevant documents and resources to explore the relationship between virtual tourism and sustainability.

The findings of this study indicate that virtual tourism has numerous applications in the tourism industry, with evident potential for the future. Furthermore, this research identifies virtual tourism as a promising alternative for sustainable tourism, offering the potential to address key sustainability issues in the field.

This chapter adds to the existing literature by examining the link between virtual tourism and sustainability, highlighting the potential of virtual tourism as an alternative to traditional sustainable tourism practices. The insights generated from this study can inform the practices of both academics and practitioners in the tourism industry, promoting more sustainable and responsible tourism practices.