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Given the growing attention on service ecosystem and the role played by technology and institutions in shaping of actors’ relations and interactions, the purpose of this paper is to examine a tourism environment with the lens of service ecosystem in order to derive a deeper understanding on the underlying mechanisms.

A mixed methodology was used. First, literature review based on service ecosystems framework was conducted to critically analyze the roles of technology and institutions to shape a tourism service ecosystem. Then a case study was conducted.

Two main findings are described: the role and the characteristics of physical and virtual engagement touchpoints in the emergence of a tourism service ecosystems; and the relationship between technology and institutions in the resource integration. In particular, the authors conclude that institutions can shape the usage of technology which, in turn, can enable and imply the emergence of new institutions, continually adjusting the system of the tourism service ecosystem.

The analysis contributes to deepening the knowledge about value co-creation processes and engagement expedients in tourism destination, explaining the role of institutions and technology in helping actors to integrate resources and exchange services. The study can also be useful for practitioners in search for powerful tool to increase the competitiveness of a tourism destination.

The study is one of the first attempts to conceptualize and operationalize a tourism destination in a service ecosystem framework. In this way it contribute to enhance scientific knowledge in a tourism management literature.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role that food and beverage (F&B) sensory stimuli play in building non-food-themed touristic experiences, such as wellness tourism experiences.

This paper adopts an asynchronous netnographic approach supported by software (T-Lab, 2021). The study was conducted on a database consisting of 3,141 reviews in English, left by customers of 38 wellness facilities (Spa Retreats) spread across 5 continents.

The analysis reveals that F&B stimuli contribute significantly to the tourist's perception of the wellness experience in a two-fold manner: on the one hand, they support the wellness experience, and on the other, through specific proposals (e.g. wine, vegan, detox, etc.), they qualify and differentiate the wellness experience in a hedonic rather than eudaimonic way.

The present study contributes to managerial literature on the topic of gastronomic tourism and wellness tourism by providing, on an international scale, empirical evidence of (a) the importance and role of F&B touchpoints in hybrid gastronomic experiences; and (b) the presence of a variety of “wellness experiencescapes”.

This study is the first attempt to measure the role of F&B in tourists' perceptions of non-food-themed experiences. The research not only provides new data on the wellness experience through a cross-continental analysis but also offers useful theoretical and managerial insights for the design of wellness tourism experiences.

This paper aims to present an interdisciplinary approach for the development and design of place brands, which goes far beyond communication strategies and advertising campaigns. The so-called “Brand-driven Identity Development of Places” (short: BIDP) approach provides a structured three-phase model that can serve as a practical guide for the development of commercial, touristy, urban and rural places.

Longitudinal collaborative action research over a time span of 20 years plus extended case study research supported the evolution of the BIDP approach.

BIDP is a circular three-phase model starting with the definition of the intended place brand identity, which in Phase 2 becomes translated into concrete touchpoint experiences along the main constituents of the place, and finally materialising into the new place format. The case study of the City of Innsbruck is prototypically used to illustrate the application of the designed approach and to report achieved results.

Place brand development based on translating socio-cultural meanings into touchpoint experiences to materialise and align place constituents is opening up new avenues to initiate and govern place development. At present, the approach is based on case studies in the western region of Austria and South Tyrol.

The three-phase model represents a practical tool for place brand managers, who want to renew and to develop their place format in a structured way. The BIDP model can be applied for all forms of places.

Foremost, the described place branding collaborations reassure the proposition of Olins (2002) and Schmidt (2007) that place branding is a crucial internal project that unites groups of people around a common strategic vision providing sense and direction besides reaching out to the traditional customer–stakeholder audience.

A structured model for brand-driven place development, which evolved during 20 years of longitudinal collaborative action research with executives and representatives of commercial, touristy, urban and rural places, BIDP locks into anthropological research findings where cultural meanings are considered as the main source for the construction of brand identities.

This study aims to provide an exploratory analysis of the role of virtual reality (VR) in the cruise context as a contribution to the limited literature on this topic. In particular, the research investigates immersive VR as a critical touchpoint at the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey.

To achieve the research aims, the authors use a case study approach by analysing the “immersive configurator” (essentially a virtual catalogue) implemented by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

Three innovative functions emerged from the study of the MSC’s virtual catalogue. First, it improves the customer experience and engagement through its interactivity. Second, it allows customization of the prospective cruise experience by selecting and changing types of ship, the level of service, the position of the cabin and much more. Third, it becomes a new digital marketing system endowed with large amounts of data.

This study advances the current state of knowledge by presenting an empirical case study on the role of immersive VR at the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey. Second, it offers interesting implications for managers who want to take advantage of the opportunities offered by VR.

The present study analyses the pre-purchase stage in tourism marketing focused on the use of VR in the tourist experience at the time of service delivery. Second, it enriches the tourism literature by integrating supply-side and demand-side perspectives. Third, from a methodological point of view, this paper offers an in-depth qualitative study in a context where scholars have mostly applied quantitative methods.

以邮轮产业为背景, 鉴于少量的相关文献, 本研究对虚拟现实提供了初步研究。 本论文以侵入式虚拟现实作为顾客购买前关键体验点进行了探索。

为实现研究目的, 本论文运用了案例研究发来分析地中海航运公司MSC目前使用的“侵入式配置程序” （尤其作为虚拟目录）。

通过对MSC虚拟目录的研究, 我们发现了其三大创新功能。第一, 可有效的通过互动来提高顾客体验和参与。第二, 可允许对预期的游轮体验通过选择游轮种类, 服务等级, 船舱的位置等, 来进行量身定制。第三, 基于大量数据积累, 可作为数字营销系统。

通过实证案例研究, 本论文对侵入式虚拟现实在顾客预购体验中的研究文献进行了有效推进。其二, 本研究为期望运用虚拟现实的从业人员提供了新颖的实践知识。

本研究在聚焦在虚拟现实技术运用在旅游营销中的前期游客体验。第二, 本研究整合了供给和需求两方面的视角。第三, 从研究方法的角度, 本研究在普遍运用定量研究的领域提供了深入的定性研究。

In this study, the author aimed to measure the effect of customer loyalty on customer citizenship behavior as well as the effect of experience value perceptions of tourist railway journey customers on customer loyalty within the scope of social exchange theory.

The author obtained data from 126 participants who had experienced the tourist railway adventure through random sampling. In the next stage, the author extracted the data obtained with the bootstrapping sample technique to 5,000 samples. The author analyzed these obtained data with the PLS-SEM model with the Smart PLS 3 software.

The results of the research show that the most important experience value dimension that creates loyalty in the touristic railway journey is the emotional value dimension; the second important dimension is the hedonic value dimension and other experience value dimensions did not have any effect on customer loyalty intention levels. In addition, an important result of the study is that loyal customers mostly intend to advise other customers, and relatively less of them intend to give feedback to the firm.

The fact that the concepts of touristic railway journeys are different due to the nature of tourism is an important limitation of the study, which is only for individuals who have experienced the Touristic Eastern Express. The fact that the Touristic Eastern Express is a long journey and stops at many destinations on its arrival and departure route can affect customers' perceptions of the experience value.

The values that create customer loyalty in the touristic railway journey are mostly emotional and hedonic values. In addition, customers who are loyal as a result of this journey are more intent on advising other customers than giving feedback to the firm.

The study was carried out on the customers of the touristic eastern express, which started its activities in 2019. Ensuring customer loyalty for the sustainability of this trend has significant tourism potential; Afterwards, the transformation of customer loyalty into customer citizenship has a very important place. In addition, as far as we have examined the literature, the absence of similar studies in the tourism sector is an indicator of the study's originality. Considering these data, it is expected that the study will fill an important gap in terms of both sectoral and academic.

Creating memorable tourism experiences (MTE) is vital to obtain sustained tourism visits. In the digital era, infusions of various digital technologies in tourism services without admitting tourist emotions could jeopardize the experience. Drawing from a Service-Dominant Logic (S-DL) perspective, this study explains the complexity of digital tourism experience in the service system view, highlighting the importance of emotions as resources. It is composed of actors' orchestrations, connected by shared emotions, and enabled by sensory stimuli facilitated by the digital tourism ecosystem throughout the tourism journey. This study proposes a Memorable Digital Tourism Experience (MDTE) framework by identifying the focal actors, recognizing the emotions, and determining the moderating role of sensory stimuli enabled by various novel technologies. At last, several agenda and practical guidelines are proposed on how to operationalize the framework and different methodologies to explore Memorable Digital Tourism Experience.

Underpinned by the consumer-based model of authenticity (CBA), this study aims to investigate whether leisure involvement, object-based and existential authenticity, host sincerity and engagement stimulate positive memorable visitor experiences in a distinctive commercial hospitality setting: a living history site.

Quantitative data were gathered from living history site visitors (n = 1,004), with partial least squares structural equation modeling used to test the hypothesized relationships.

The results confirm the inclusion of the hypothesized relationships between leisure involvement, sincerity and authenticity, relative to engagement and subsequent memorability. The findings suggest that engagement can be a predictor of a positive memorable experience, contingent on CBA constructs (sincerity; object-based authenticity; existential authenticity). The significant association between object-based authenticity and memorable experience identified herein differs from some published studies, while other results are broadly consistent with extant research. Results also reveal significant differences for visitors who purchased souvenirs when compared to those who did not.

The research extends the CBA by positing sincere hospitality as a relationship-based encounter between host and guest that influences social interaction, engagement and memorability within the novel living history site context. Further, the ability to differentiate visitors based on their purchases at the site is illustrated.

Given the ubiquity of engagement and authenticity as precursors to memorable experiences within contemporary commercial hospitality and heritage discourses, the findings apply to hospitality experiences beyond the living history site context examined herein.

This paper aims to analyse the development of research on gastronomic tourism experiences and chart its relationship to foundational management and marketing literature as well as the tourism and hospitality field.

The author develops a literature review of papers in specialist journals and the SCOPUS database to identify major research themes and the evolution of experience and gastronomic experience research.

Gastronomy is an increasingly important element of tourism experiences. Gastronomic experience research in tourism mirrors the evolution in management and marketing theory from rational information processing approaches to emotional and hedonistic approaches and analysis of relationality and co-creation. The paper sketches a development from Experience 1.0 (producer-orientated) to Experience 2.0 (co-creation) to Experience 3.0 (foodscapes) in gastronomic experiences in tourism research.

Increasing complexity of gastronomic experiences requires a more holistic analytic approach, including more attention for relational and co-creational processes. Linking together different experience elements and experience phases requires more holistic and contextual research approaches.

Hospitality organizations should recognize the differentiated and complex nature of gastronomic experiences, the different touchpoints within the customer journey and their relationship to experience outcomes. The development of hybrid gastronomic experiences offers both opportunities and challenges for the future.

This quantitative and qualitative literature analysis underlines the need for a more holistic approach to gastronomic experiences, covering different experiential phases and contexts of production and consumption.