Description
Tourist visits used to be a less common activity in the past. However, more people than ever now make leisure trips, making this an era of mass tourism. This drastic change in spatial behaviour is not only caused by economic prosperity, but the scale of this phenomenon means that it is able to generate economic growth, making tourism a key factor in regional development policy. One of the main challenges of current regional policy is to market the attractiveness of an area, thereby increasing tourist visits and subsequent revenue. In particular, regions are attempting this through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which offer information on interesting places, and efficient methods for organizing and booking trips. This book examines the interconnections between tourism, ICT and regional development. Bringing together a range of European case studies illustrating various ICT and policy innovations, it not only critiques current activity by regions in terms of tourism development, but also considers how this sector is likely to continue to grow.
Table of Contents
Contents: Emerging trends in tourism development in an open world, Maria Giaoutzi and Peter Nijkamp. Tourism, Regional Development and Communications Technology: Information technologies and tourism development, Elvira Morella; 'Reverse network engineering': a top-down and bottom-up approach in the tourist market, Dirk-Jan F. Kamann and Dirk Strijker; The potential of virtual organizations in local tourist development, Anastasia Stratigea, Maria Giaoutzi and Peter Nijkamp; E-travel business: e-market places vs. tourism product suppliers, Dimitris Papakonstantinou; ICTs and local tourist development in peripheral regions, Anastasia Stratigea and Maria Giaoutzi; European informational cultures and the urbanisation of the Mediterranean coasts, Lila Leontidou. Methodological Advances in Tourism Research: Economic impacts of tourism: a meta-analytic comparison of regional output multipliers, Eveline S. van Leeuwen, Peter Nijkamp and Piet Rietveld; Competition among tourist destinations: an application of data envelopment analysis to Italian provinces, M.Francesca Cracolici and Peter Nijkamp; Delineating ecoregions for tourism development, Thomas Hatzichristos, Maria Giaoutzi and John C. Mourmouris; Tourism and the political agenda: towards an integrated web-based multicriteria framework for conflict resolution, Andrea De Montis and Peter Nijkamp; A methodology for eliciting public preferences for managing cultural heritage sites: an application to the temples of Paestum, Patrizia Riganti, Annamaria Nese and Ugo Colombino. Policy Strategies on Tourism: The importance of friends and relations in tourist behaviour: a case study on heterogeneity in Surinam, Pauline Poel, Enno Masurel and Peter Nijkamp; Technology transfer to small businesses in the tourist sector: supporting regional economic development, Peter M. Townroe; Possibilities for using ICT to realize heritage and eco-tourism potential: a case study on the Zululand region of South Africa, Peter Robi
