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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the comprehension of the importance of “Accessible Tourism” for the specialized travel agencies by proposing suggestions and key factors to improve the supply of accessible tourism offers.

The paper adopts specialized travel agencies on the accessible tourism perspective of disabled tourist flows. Also, this paper describes the circumstances, social, politic, economic consequences and key decisions that thereby Turkey would be recognized, preferring, establishing on the intention of purchased and suggested positive word of mouth among people.

According to European Commission (EU) (2013) more than half of the individuals with disabilities in the EU made approximately 170 million day trips and a similar number of overnight trips within the EU during the 12 months between mid-2012 and mid-2013. Despite the developments in tourism, lack of product/service appropriate to the travel rights of the individuals with accessibility needs is one of the obstacles should be overcome. Accessible tourism is one of the keys for the survival of the specialized travel agencies in the future. Providing appropriate product/service by targeting the individuals with accessibility needs together with a correct approach and strategy, the specialized travel agencies will be able to have a competitive advantage and continue their activities. Also this market segment will create having sustainable activity and a golden opportunity for the specialized travel agencies in the future.

Little research has been done on accessible tourism, future development and on the impact that disabled tourists have on tourism. The paper presents suggestions on what the specialized travel agencies should do with regards to making Turkey be preferred in the future by the individuals having accessibility needs.

This paper discusses the attitude and views of travel consultants on the impact of Internet related technologies on their future employment and their abilities to cope with the threat of dis‐intermediation. The authors anticipate that changes in the travel distribution process brought about by the Internet and other technologies will result in retail travel agencies experiencing lower business volume and hence difficulty in maintaining business viability. Against this background, a number of questions need to be addressed. What is the attitude of consultants towards new technologies in travel distribution? Are travel consultants prepared to meet the new challenges? What will be the role of travel consultants? Using a survey of 102 travel consultants, the paper shows the lack of awareness and negative attitude displayed by travel consultants in this rapidly changing distribution environment. The paper further suggests measures and training programs that could be undertaken to address the situation.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to explore the current usage of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in travel agencies (TA) and tourist information centres (TIC), and to provide insights about the future deployment of those technologies in the operations of travel agencies and tourist information centres

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter makes a review of travel agencies’ operations in the context of tourist consumer behaviour and then explores the current technologies utilized by TAs and TICs. There are forecasts about the future development of technologies in the TAs, discussing emerging issues and challenges, and final implications with concluding thoughts.

Findings: TA and TIC have incorporated a lot of automated technologies in their operations by numerous software applications; AI is still to proliferate and further excel, and the whole customer interaction tends to take place almost entirely in the digital space.

Research implications: TAs will continue to develop B2C or B2B software to increase their distribution efficiency and footprint through powerful computing capabilities, user-friendly systems, transparency, low fault rate, ease of search and real-time confirmation; virtual and augmented realities will become a standard. Back office tedious tasks and processes will be eliminated by the right software, which will further reduce the paper flow, increase cost-effectiveness and leverage the human involvement in the ordinary procedures of filing, reporting, administering, and analysing data

Social implications: The advance of technologies has certainly empowered the end customers, making them not only informed, but also more engaged. Consequently, the future technological development in TAs operation will focus on higher personalization, but at the expense of higher standardization of technologies.

Originality/value: TAs have certainly embraced technology integration as the only pathway to remain competitive and viable. The future development of RAISA in TAs seem to progress to full automation and AI integration where appropriate. The most challenging obstacles connected with technology introduction in TAs seem to be legal regulations, personal data protection, security issues and technical compatibility, but also moral issues like ethics and cultural understanding.

Socially responsible innovative behaviour should reduce the incidence of one-sidedness in the behaviour of persons employed or active in tourism organizations. People with disabilities are often poorly integrated, even in the advanced societies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

With a requisitely holistic approach in dialectical systems theory and an overview of relevant literature, the common characteristics of tourists with disabilities are briefly described. A dialectical systemic analysis was used to determine whether people with disabilities want to travel and what their requirements are. A questionnaire was used to identify their recent travelling experiences; tourism organizations were interviewed about their experiences, too. A model of a travel agency, specialized for people with disabilities, is presented.

The usual approach to people with special needs is too one-sided. A more requisitely holistic approach to understanding their needs in tourism, based on existing literature and an empirical analysis, is presented. A more innovative management of tourism organizations is proposed, increasing social responsibility (SR).

The authors contribute to the integration of people with disabilities in society, focusing on innovation in the management of tourism organizations.

This new, more systemic and socially responsible innovative management in tourism is widely applicable. Tourists with disabilities, their family members, and their travelling companions could become more included in tourist activities and represent a potentially significant share of the market. A requisitely holistic approach can provide advantages for tourists with disabilities and tourism organizations.

The concepts were not found in available literature neither is the selection of viewpoints of dialectical systems thinking and SR in tourism. They support understanding, designing and managing activities in tourism for people with various limitations or specific needs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the most important characteristics of the religious package tour as perceived by consumers who travel to the Holy Land and to examine the marketing components that play an important role for pilgrims.

In‐depth interviews were conducted with Greek Orthodox travellers who were about to leave for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Content analysis was used in order to analyse the transcribed interviews.

Results show that regarding the product mix, hotel ratings and extra benefits are considered of minor importance by the interviewed travellers. However, the tour guide and the trip's schedule and program are the most important factors that influence consumer decisions regarding the purchase of a specific tourism product. In addition, the travel agent's reputation for organising religious trips plays a crucial role. Alternatively, price does not seem to influence travellers to sacred places.

Travel agents that offer tour packages to pilgrims, as well as tourism companies wishing to promote pilgrimages can take into consideration these findings in order to design effective marketing plans.

Although tour packages for pilgrims are profitable, only few studies have focused on this type of traveller. As travel for religious purposes increases, the design of an effective marketing plan may help to further develop the market for pilgrimages.

Because of the amount of data and multimedia content available, searching the Web is a monumental task. Online commercial sites are growing, and travel is the fastest growing segment of online commerce, with no sign of slowing down. This article presents a selected list of travel sites to help librarians, and the traveling public, locate information to fit their needs. The sites are arranged in ten major categories: megasites, practical matters, lodging and restaurants, budget travel, specialty travel, transportation, maps, regional/country/city‐specific links, the travel business, and travelogues/current news/journal articles.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and test a model which integrates the antecedents and consequences of adopting information technology (IT) with suppliers (i.e. online communication and e‐procurement) in the context of the travel agency supply chain.

A mail survey was conducted among 101 managers of travel agencies. A structured questionnaire was developed to measure the informants' scores on a set of the model constructs (i.e. IT adoption, B2B interactions, environmental factors, sales performance, efficiency, and relationship development).

The findings confirm the influence of e‐communication on e‐procurement in supply chains. Regarding the antecedents, relationship intensity and environmental factors partially enhance the e‐business adoption. The impacts of IT adoption on supply relationships are also supported.

Even though this study is cross‐sectional, it may be interesting to develop a longitudinal study to understand the evolution of this phenomenon.

IT adoption requires an integrative approach in supply chain relationships. The adoption of IT needs to be taken into account by any service business, given its positive effects on the sales growth, cost reduction and favourable long‐term B2B relationships.

The primary objective of the paper is to provide some new perspectives in explaining how IT can enhance service firms' productivity and ensuring long‐term B2B relationships. Interestingly, while previous studies in manufacturing companies have provided theoretical clues to analyze antecedents and outcomes of e‐business, no previous study has been applied in services supply chains.

Luxury consumption in the Czech Republic and other post-socialist countries has a shorter history than in the developed Western countries. The historical development of these countries still reflects the differences in buying behaviour. The chapter focusses on luxury travellers' behaviour and consumption patterns in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic, where the concept of old luxury has prevailed, it is already possible to observe a gradual shift towards a new luxury travel model. This new luxury model is associated with a high level of comfort and privacy, exclusive location and first-class services and new elements such as travelling, authenticity and sustainability.

The chapter provides different perspectives on consumption patterns. It points to consumer behaviour in luxury travel in dependence on the selected sociodemographic variables and spatial determinants. It also reveals the luxury-driven travel motivation and preferences on a luxury holiday. The results show that Czech luxury travellers are different in comparison with the traditional European markets. The Czechs fall behind the European luxury travellers, especially regarding the financial possibilities. As far as the Czech luxury traveller profile is concerned, the category of baby boomers with tertiary education and regular income is the most dominant among Czech affluent clients. The satisfaction of the needs for relaxation and the exploration of new destinations are the primary motives for taking luxury holidays. Concerning the regional income inequality, disparities between the capital city of Prague and the rest of the country are observed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities and the growth prospects of medical tourism in Greece, while particularly focusing on the dialysis process. Patients with end-stage renal failure have the right to any treatment deemed necessary during their journey to another city or country away from the place where their treatment normally takes place.

The survey has been conducted among 193 kidney disease patients that underwent extra-renal dialysis in two public and three private artificial kidney units in Thessaloniki. The study population consists of patients with end-stage chronic renal failure (CRF) that undergo dialysis. For the purpose of this study, quantitative research was carried out via a structured and anonymous questionnaire. The design and structure of the study were based upon questionnaires from two relevant questionnaires. The questionnaires were modified appropriately to respond to the subject in question. Finally, for the analysis of the data, the SPSS software has been used.

One of the most obvious results is that patients on dialysis treatment have limited both the frequency and the duration of their vacation. The 8.3% of patients that did not use to travel increased to 37.8%, whereas only 22.3% continue to travel 2–4 times a year. Patients that keep on going on vacation frequently claim that a break from the daily routine improves their quality of life. Most of the participants (up to 36.3%) claim they feel healthier, while 34.2% stated they experience a normal life when they escape their everyday life and travel far from home. The 69.9% claim that Greece has the potentials to be a popular medical tourism destination. However, a well-structured and government-financed assistance programme is absent. The processing of data has revealed a positive correlation between age and tourism behaviour. Additionally, according to the research results, younger patients tend to be better informed regarding medical tourism in comparison with older ones.

Considering the patients to be potential travellers facilitates the development, realization and promotion of medical tourism.

This study attempts to investigate, for the first time, the tourism behaviour of chronic kidney disease patients. The study highlights a sensitive issue, patients’ right to treatment without geographical or distance-related obstacles.

This paper aims to discuss recent developments in the Russian tourism industry and the main reasons for new initiatives in local destination development.

The study is based on qualitative research methodology. A summary of key literature is presented alongside the analysis of the survey results.

This paper sheds light on the challenges and changes that took place in the Russian tourism business between 2014 and 2017. The subject is poorly covered in academic literature. The basic data for analysis presented in official statistics are scarce. Therefore a more effective way of obtaining relevant information was to conduct a survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, with tourism business actors as respondents.

This paper provides mostly conceptual analysis based on limited empirical data; directions for further empirical research are proposed in the conclusion.

The paper reveals something of the impact of economic and geopolitical factors, both negative and positive ones, on the restructuring of the Russian tourism market and the emergence of promising opportunities for the development of new domestic destinations. As a result, tourism market actors are able to become more diverse.