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The Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected the tourism industry. The highly contagious coronavirus-19 has brought the whole industry to its knees, initiating catastrophic effects in terms of loss of jobs and revenue. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the innovative coping strategies adopted by small tourism companies (STCs) to revive business and cope with the pandemic.

This study used qualitative exploration and asked open-ended questions to senior executives of STCs in India. Written responses were obtained from the respondents. Thematic analysis was performed to analyse the responses of the participants.

The findings highlight the innovative strategies adopted by STCs to cope with Covid-19-related business loss and present suggestions given by them to benefit the tourism industry.

This study offers insightful practical and theoretical implications for tourism companies, marketing practitioners and policymakers.

The study builds on social practice theory, and the findings (prominent themes) are uniquely mapped with the elements of social practice theory.

This paper aims to examine how modern small-medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the tourism industry perceive and define corporate performance, and how they measure and monitor businesses’ achievements. Actual performance measurement activities are expected to show how (and if) companies manage the key factors that drive value creation and value erosion processes. Are effective performance measurement activities aligned with main theoretical prescriptions?

Theory and previous empirical research on SMEs’ performance is instrumentally used to identify those key factors that are supposed to drive small/medium hotels’ business performance; building on a resource-based view (RBV) framework, which provides the theoretical perspective to link resources, capabilities and actions to firm performance, a model based on the financial, the operational and the organisational dimension of firm’s success is developed through the selection of a set of consistent financial and non-financial indicators. The balanced performance measurement model is then tested via a field research study based on a semi-structured questionnaire sent to 540 selected SMEs active in the tourism sector.

The results suggest that small-medium Italian hotels, typically family firms managed by owners, tend to adopt a balanced system of performance measurement that keeps track of the financial and non-financial dimensions of hotel’s performance; customer orientation proves to be an extremely important leading indicator of non-financial corporate performance. Amongst traditional financial indicators, net profits, profitability ratios such as return on investment and return on sales, revenues for available room, occupancy rate and some cost efficiency ratios are found to be relevant, whereas extensive use is made of non-financial metrics such as customer satisfaction, number of complaints, number of new and repeat customers, employee competencies and staff abilities. Furthermore, some interesting results about frequency of measurement and purpose of measurement are also presented.

Data used in this study do not allow for a comprehensive analysis of the correlation between hotel performance and a specific measurement model implemented. Further future research that is meant to be developed will focus on the issue of addressing the nexus between firm performance and resource and capability used as strategic factors and monitored with an effective performance measurement system. The sample can also be expanded to carry out comparative analysis.

The results shed some further light on performance measurement activities actually implemented by Italian hotels. The evidence gives a contribution to understanding the relationship between critical resources and capabilities that need to be developed and effectively managed to reach superior business performance. Furthermore, the study highlights the need to design and implement a customised performance measurement model, which accounts for firm-specific resources and capabilities and sector-specific features for the hotel to properly manage those strategical success factors that can deliver sustained competitive advantage to the firm.

This research paper contributes to performance measurement literature, by suggesting that the development and the implementation of a simplified but structured and complete performance measurement system, designed on the specific needs and features of SMEs, seems to be a sensible way to improve resources and capabilities utilisation and to obtain a holistic understanding of the achievements of these organisations.

This paper aims to determine a uniquely Canadian training path for tourism companies to follow to embed sustainable tourism practices in their companies.

The foundation of this paper was laid by conducting in-depth executive interviews with leading tourism companies in Canada. Based on the interviews, an eight-question survey was developed and sent to 22 Canadian tourism companies with a response rate of 36 per cent. The results of best practice research conducted in the UK and Ireland were considered in relation to implementation in Canada.

This paper suggests a Canadian process and key concepts to consider for embedding sustainability in tourism companies.

This paper provides a practical training process, geared for Canadian tourism companies, that embeds sustainability in all divisions of the company. A step-by-step process is described that all tourism companies, no matter their size, can use to embed sustainability.

This paper draws upon the author’s experience in working with Canadian tourism companies and incorporates best practices shared in a partnership with The Travel Foundation. As the paper represents both original research and industry best practice, it is of interest to academics, tourism training centres and tourism companies in Canada. Learning an effective and efficient process developed specifically for Canadian tourism companies will allow companies to economically embed sustainability and ultimately create a unique market position for the company.

The purpose of this interview aims to offer a means to better understand tourism as it relates to small businesses within a global network.

A semi-structured interview was used.

The key findings are in line with Masco’s (2017) research that asserts “change can be selective and/or optional for the tourism stakeholders (e.g. tourists, operators, destination organizations, policymakers, local communities, employees), the nature and degree of crises-led transformations depend on whether and how these stakeholders are affected by, respond to, recover and reflect on crises”, particularly small minority-owned tourist companies.

This interview provides a lens to better understand how small businesses operate within the global market and remain at the cornerstone for sustaining domestic and international markets.

This study highlights small minority-owned business and their ability to become resilient. This interview illustrated that grounded small businesses, while implored with challenges from natural disasters, also have the resiliency to overcome such challenges when the agency has the ability to provide “turn-key” services for their clients thereby providing clients a sense of agency and value-laden experiences via personalization of services.

This study explores the role of international tour operators as the agents assuming the governance and the upgrading of the tourism global value chains (TGVCs), with a special focus on their influence on the development of technological capabilities (TCs) in the hotel industry.

The data used in this article originates from a survey carried out in 2016 on Spanish small and medium-sized hotel companies. An ordinal regression analysis is employed to test the hypotheses proposed in this research.

This study finds that tour operators exert a positive effect on the technological upgrading process in the hotel industry by stimulating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to invest in TCs. The causal mechanisms through which these effects take place differ across the various stages of the relationship between hotel companies and tour operators.

The results have implications both for hotel management in terms of how hotels take advantage of technological upgrading to become more competitive, and for public administrations in terms of what measures can boost the development of hotel TCs in order to increase their added value.

To date, very few studies have analysed the tourism sector based on the influence on the development of TCs of SME hotels by combining GVC concepts and the resource-based view. It is also the first time that the causal mechanisms are shown to explain such influences.

The Internet has encouraged rural tourism experience providers to develop a new management strategy that opts for disintermediation to access the market. In this context, incoming travel agencies (destination management companies [DMCs]), despite the local component, lose capacity to promote the rural tourism. The main question is what kind of relationship between stakeholders would enhance effective intermediation processes between them. The paper examines such constraints and limitations of existing relationships between small local rural tourism producers and DMCs.

Using the Basque Country region of northern Spain as a case study, the authors used a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology based on semi-structured in-depth interviews and an online survey. The data analysis strategy used incorporated descriptive and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

In this research, most of the tourism disintermediation factors identified in previous literature were reinforced when tested in the rural context. The results confirm that power, value, product differentiation, digitisation and stakeholder collaboration are key elements. The value provided in the international segment by DMCs, though, was found to be irrelevant.

This article contributes to filling a gap in the literature on rural tourism destination management from a holistic view of the destination understanding the business-to-business (B2B) relationship among stakeholders in rural tourism. This paper focuses on those elements that create value for local producers to sell the products through intermediaries and provides a framework for understanding the factors involved in value creation in rural tourism intermediation, which is applicable to further empirical studies and provides interesting managerial implications.

The literature on the factors generating loyalty towards tourism destinations has seldom focussed its attention on relationship marketing, which has left a gap in the understanding of destination loyalty. This paper aims to examine the influence of relationship quality on rural destination loyalty, approaching this through the variables of trust, attachment and satisfaction.

This study used a quantitative methodology based on an on line survey conducted in Spain. The sample consisted of 464 tourists who participate in rural tourism. The analysis of the proposed model was carried out based on the partial least squares method.

The results confirm that the model has a substantial to moderate explanatory capacity for overall satisfaction and loyalty, in which overall satisfaction acts as a mediator between the variables that make up relationship quality in reference to loyalty.

The main limitations of this research arise from the scarcity of works which aim to understand relationship quality in tourism destinations. To broaden results, it should be applied in other tourism destinations, products, services and experiences.

Destination managers should give relationships a special role in their tourism development programmes in rural tourism contexts.

Rural tourism destinations and companies are generally small-sized organisations that need managerial tools. These can benefit from developing sustainable relationships.

The significant role played by relationship quality regarding destination loyalty is studied in detail in this model.

La literatura sobre los factores que generan lealtad a los destinos turísticos poco ha centrado su atención en el marketing relacional, lo que ha dejado un vacío en la comprensión de la lealtad al destino. Este artículo examina la influencia de la calidad relacional en la lealtad a los destinos rurales, a través de las variables confianza, apego y satisfacción.

Este estudio usa una metodología cuantitativa basada en una encuesta on line realizada en España. La muestra estaba formada por 464 turistas que practican turismo rural. El análisis del modelo propuesto fue llevado a cabo con el método partial least squares.

Los resultados confirman que el modelo tiene una capacidad explicativa sustancial-moderada para la satisfacción global y la lealtad, en la que la satisfacción global actúa como mediadora entre las variables que conforman la calidad relacional y la lealtad.

La principal limitación de esta investigación surge de la escasez de trabajos cuyo objetivo se centra en la comprensión de la calidad relacional en los destinos turísticos. Para ampliar los resultados, habría de aplicarse en otros destinos, productos, servicios y experiencias turísticas.

Los gestores de destinos deberían otorgar un papel especial a las relaciones en sus programas de desarrollo turístico en el medio rural.

Los destinos y empresas de turismo rural son por lo general organizaciones de pequeñas dimensiones que necesitan herramientas para la gestión. Ellas pueden beneficiarse del desarrollo de relaciones sostenibles.

El papel significativo que juega la calidad relacional con respecto a la lealtad al destino, estudiado en detalle en este modelo.

Marketing relacional, Calidad relacional, Lealtad, Destinos rurales, Partial least squares (PLS)

Artículo de investigación

This study aims to explore the patterns and transformational dynamics of the executive–interpreter network in the innovation processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises in hospitality.

Grounded in social network theory and adopting a case-based approach, this study features a multi-case design focusing on three Chinese boutique hotels. Data were collected through Web page and document reviews, participant observations and semistructured interviews.

Results capture how executive–interpreter network dynamics contribute to innovation in small- and medium-sized hotels. Key factors in social networks (e.g. size, scope and strength) shift throughout innovation. This study presents a design-driven approach as a means of innovation. Findings also delineate the network development conditions under which innovation dynamically occurs in boutique hotels.

Practical implications center on how network dynamics help small- and medium-sized hotels innovate more effectively. These insights can assist hotel operators and prospective market entrants in improving their hotels’ performance and competitiveness.

This study blends social network theory with a design-driven approach to explore innovation mechanisms in small- and medium-sized hotels. It offers empirical evidence for practitioners regarding design-driven innovation. Findings enrich the body of knowledge on both design-driven innovation theory and hospitality innovation.

The purpose of this study is to assess the level of adjustment of the activities of health tourism and hospitality enterprises to the sustainable development criteria developed by the global sustainable tourism council.

The main research method used in this study was a diagnostic survey – an in-depth interview. This research was conducted among managers of 18 of the largest enterprises that conduct tourism and wellness activities in Polish health resorts.

The analysis of the research results indicated that only every other surveyed health resort entity implemented a sustainable development system or program. Most health resort entities undertook initiatives to support the local community in the field of education, health, sanitary safety and mitigating the negative effects of climate change. The respondents also unequivocally stated that they used good practices in promoting cultural heritage among health resort guests. Almost all of the analyzed enterprises applied solutions aimed at saving natural resources, i.e. reducing unnecessary purchases and saving electricity and water. Participation in programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and means of transport usage was very rarely declared.

It is recommended to include environmental issues in the business models of health tourism entities, e.g. by including them in the strategy, including mission, communicating pro-environmental goals and actions to stakeholders, and applying environmental management systems and concepts.

The research problem is a strong point of the work, as the issue of sustainable development of tourist organizations has rarely been discussed so far. Health resorts were also not considered the subject of research in this area. In this research, the authors assessed the degree of compliance of health tourism enterprises with the requirements of sustainable development, which is a contribution to the science system.

This study aims to examine the development of dynamic capabilities and their effect on the competitive advantage of restaurants in 2009, one year after the beginning of the global financial crisis.

The restaurants were personally surveyed to discern the importance of proactive and reactive strategies for the organization. The resulting two organizational effects – cost cutting and the development of dynamic capabilities – were tested for their influence on competitive advantage.

The findings show that both proactive and reactive strategies reduce costs; however, only proactive strategies develop dynamic capabilities that improve competitive advantage.

The conclusions are drawn from a small sample of restaurants in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Given that Madrid enjoys a higher standard of living and greater business expenditures than other cities, the results may not be generalizable to the rest of the country or to other southern European capitals.

Managers must use proactive strategies for companies to survive during times of crisis. A focus on proactive strategies will improve a company’s competitive position.

Policy makers should support the development of proactive strategies and provide an adequate infrastructure of counseling and network creation.

To the best of our knowledge, no previous research specifically analyzes both the type of strategy deployed and its subsequent effect on dynamic capabilities and the consequences of the strategy on competitive advantage during a financial crisis.