Sarah Schönherr

PurposeOrganisational learning drives tourism organisations towards more sustainable tourism. Digital transformation also provides opportunities for sustainable tourism development. This study aims to combine these perspectives and explore how digital transformation enables organisational learning to contribute to sustainable tourism, following organisational learning theory (OLT).Design/methodology/approachBased on a critical realist paradigm, this study focuses on developing an in-depth understanding of organisational learning in tourism organisations. Thirty qualitative interviews with tourism organisations participating in an executive development programme (EDP) show how tourism organisations create, retain and transfer knowledge.FindingsThis study demonstrates that the EDP initiates knowledge creation through content transmission and exchange, triggers knowledge retention through utilisation of …

Dieser Beitrag stellt den Innovationslehrgang Digital Tourism Experts (DTE) vor, der von 2019 bis 2021 an der Universität Innsbruck durchgeführt wurde. Unternehmen und Hochschulen in Österreich werden im Rahmen von Innovationslehrgängen zusammengeführt mit dem Ziel, Wissen rund um aktuelle Forschungsthemen zu vermitteln. Konkret wurde im DTE im Bereich der Digitalisierung Wissen gelehrt und Digitalisierungsthemen im Unternehmenskontext wurden diskutiert. Im Rahmen des Innovationslehrgangs haben fast 280 MitarbeiterInnen von insgesamt 44 Organisationen an mehreren Modulen teilgenommen. In der letzten Phase des Projekts wurden schließlich Projekte, gecoacht von den ModullektorInnen, mit den jeweiligen Organisationen durchgeführt. Der Beitrag stellt das Projekt vor und zeigt Grenzen, Chancen und Herausforderungen der Vermittlung digitalen Wissens auf.

PurposeEnvironmental tourism impacts are considered to be unbalanced. The implementation of environmental sustainability focuses on restoring a balance through environmentally responsible behavior. As Generation Z was found in recent studies to exhibit divergent levels of environmentally responsible behavior compared to other generations, but also to have intra-generational differences, this study aims to explore the underlying reasons and explanations behind their attitudes and behavioral attempts.Design/methodology/approachFour focus group discussions with young people belonging to Generation Z allow to probe deep into their environmental sustainability orientation.FindingsThe results of this study demonstrate that Generation Z’s environmental attitude is triggered by social pressure, social media, as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic. For their touristic behavioral intention, they concentrate …

Світова практика показала, що туризм, як соціальне явище, має значний вплив на економіку багатьох розвинених країн і є однією з найбільш прибуткових галузей. Туризм є невід ‘ємною частиною економічного розвитку кожної країни, є найважливішим фактором економічної стабільності. Щорічно у світі відбувається майже мільярд туристичних поїздок.Основні проблеми, які були і залишаються в наш час актуальними в цій сфері, є реалізація концепції сталого розвитку в туристичній галузі. Для досягнення цієї мети необхідно забезпечити ефективну природоохоронну діяльність, підвищити професійний рівень персоналу в індустрії туризму відповідно до вимог сталого розвитку, забезпечити на належному рівні туристичну інфраструктуру тощо [1].

Given the great potential of Generation Y for the tourism industry, their perceptions, and opinions of family-run hotels, which dominate tourism, were explored through 20 semi-structured interviews. The study shows that Generation Y perceives the image of family-run hotels positively and emphasizes traditions, small-scale structures, authenticity, and trust while highlighting their hospitableness. Our results underline the assumption of responsibility to family firms, including the importance of word-of-mouth, in the communication between Generation Y and family firms. Based on organizational identity theory, family-run hotels can build on their core values to build family firm images, contributing to differentiation, and establishing customer relationships. This study relates Generation Y to the tourism industry context, which family firms mainly run. The findings suggest that Generation Y should be targeted as a segment for …

This study discusses the application of Doxey's irritation index in the face of existential crises. Building on the COVID-19 pandemic, data was collected at two time points (prior to the crisis and after the first wave). Our two sequences of data show that residents' attitudes are by no means fixed, with perceptions of overcrowding bouncing back and concerns about reduced economic benefits. In an attempt to develop ample descriptions of emerging concerns during existential crises, three archetypes of residents are identified and displayed using alluvial diagrams: (a) advocates of positive tourism impacts; (b) demanders of sustainable tourism; and (c) boycotters of further tourism developments. Theory is complemented by recalibrating the irritation index with an empirically-grounded existential crisis perspective that demonstrates shifting attitudinal patterns and provides grounds for discussions on the progress of Doxey …

Responsible tourism studies have neglected divergent tourism actors’ contribution to sustainable tourism development via their behavior, as well as the impact of recent crises on research. Thus, a bibliometric and thematic analysis was conducted, involving an examination of 154 recent studies that were clustered around four research streams: (1) tourists’ responsible behavior; (2) residents’ responsible tourism accounts; (3) tourism businesses’ responsible actions; and (4) destination management’s role in responsible tourism, showing that responsible tourism research is predominantly focused on tourists’ responsibility. Tourism businesses and residents are less frequently investigated. Similarly, the role of destination management is only recently emerging, while governments’ contribution to responsible tourism has been neglected in research. Environmental responsibility studies dominate on the tourist and …

The relevance of sustainable tourism policies that aim to balance the positive and negative impacts of tourism has become particularly evident during the COVID-19 crisis, which has shown the need for more research on the impact of crises on tourism policy. The findings of this study are based on twenty-four in-depth interviews with tourism organisations responsible for tourism policy development across the globe, showing that policymakers are (1) aware of the relevance of the development of sustainable tourism during the crisis, (2) agendas such as strategies for sustainable tourism are being developed and policies do translate into (3) measures related to environmental, economic, socio-cultural and community instruments. This study carries value for the development of sustainable tourism research following the theory on the penetration of environmental awareness and also informs about the variation in …