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Purpose/Objective: This research aims to ensure that the technologies that promote the digital tourism economy play an important role in its development in the near future, and students will have an open attitude towards digitisation, artificial intelligence (AI), robotisation, and gamification in tourism. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey questionnaire collected primary data. Simple random sampling was used, and the sample size was 40 students. The questionnaire was distributed via email in March 2024. Data obtained from the questionnaire were analysed based on correlations. Findings: AI usage in the education system for tourism students should be to personalise the learning process as much as possible, provide personalised learning paths according to student's strengths and weaknesses, and adapt learning materials to the characteristics of students while maintaining the quality of education and the principles of integration into the educational system. Significance/Implications/Conclusions: Intelligent IT systems fully support people's needs and intuitively respond to their problems. However, creating such support requires long hours of work and programming. Indeed, the challenge of providing AI that can intelligently interact with humans remains significant. Rephrasing requests to obtain specific and accurate answers is unnecessary. Limitations: Students' attitudes towards AI are not always positive, as attested by their attitudes towards AI in tourism in the research analysis carried out in the chapter. This could lead to limited perspectives on AI in education. Future Research: Specific strategies implemented by companies to offer customers virtual guided tours, allowing them to visualise a place before they get there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of COVID-19 on tourism expenditures by analyzing survey data collected from participants of one of the major amateur cycling races in Italy—the Nove Colli. We gathered information from different types of participants (tourists, residents, day-trippers) about their travel expenses, accommodation, food and beverage, and side goods such as sports equipment. The survey covers three race editions: pre-COVID-19 in 2016, post-lockdown in 2021, and post-COVID-19 in 2022, for a total of 2734 respondents. Using a quasi-difference-in-differences approach, we find a significant increase in total tourism expenditures due to COVID-19, primarily driven by a substantial increase in side goods expenses, which more than doubled the rise in food and beverage expenses. This result can be partly explained through revenge spending as a form of compensatory consumption behavior and inform policy-makers on how individuals' spending patterns may change in the aftermath of an exogenous shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits a recent natural experiment to analyze the effect of volcanic eruptions on tourism expenditure. Using a Difference-in-Differences methodology, we find that volcanic eruptions have a positive impact on tourism expenditure, both aggregate expenditure and expenditure by category, and both during the eruption and the post-eruption period. We investigate the mechanisms behind the increase in expenditure and obtain strong support for the empathy mechanism, prevailing over other mechanisms such as changes in prices, the profile of tourists, or simply curiosity. Our results suggest that tourist empathy with the affected community manifests through consumption, finding that prosocial consumption increases in the cultural identification of the tourist with the affected area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the well-being and social value of playing different forms of soccer for men and women by employing the compensating variation approach to survey data from eight European countries. Framed by the desired objective of Title IX, this research assesses possible gender differences in the social benefits of sport. Social values are higher than the well-being derived from playing soccer, with the values of both being greater for women. Less formal forms of soccer yield generally higher monetary values than the competitive 11-a-side format. As the marginal returns are greater, investment should promote women's engagement and more informal playing opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the existing study is to present the mediating influence of employee performance on the relationship between transformational leadership style and green innovation. This study conducted in the hotel sector in Amman, Jordan, where exploratory studies related to the hotel sector are limited. A total of 20 five-star hotels in Amman were involved in the research sampling process, targeted respondents were employees with titles below supervisor level (rank-and-file) were those employees who provide the services and are in direct contact with customers, and a simple random sampling was utilized to gather the data, 359 employees participated in this study, and survey form was sent to heads of departments at the targeted hotels to help in the distribution process. The data was analyzed using Smart-PLS software. The results showed a partially positive mediation of employee performance among both constructs of individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation of green innovation in the hotel sector. Moreover, these results proved the power of the relationship between employee performance and the adoption of green innovation. The current study contributes positively to the area of hospitality industry studies and its related activities. It provides better insights for hotel leaders on improving the adopted leadership styles, leading to outstanding employee performance, and green innovation to sustain market competitiveness and provide exceptional and innovative services for a better hospitality industry.

Competitiveness is a generally accepted concept that emerges in all social and economic spheres, so understanding competitiveness in the sphere of tourism is also essential for destinations to attract a significantly larger number of tourists and increase tourism expenditure. The aim of the research in this paper is related to the verification of the applicability of the Integrated Competitiveness Model, which was created by Larry Dwyer & Lee Kim. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the Integrated Competitiveness Model using the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the paper established a clear methodological framework based on a questionnaire as the main research instrument, which was interpreted by applying a Likert scale, and the responses were analyzed using measures of descriptive statistics. The statistical processing of the collected responses indicates the successful applicability of the Integrated Model, according to which Bosnia and Herzegovina is a moderately competitive destination. A particular significance of the model is its precise suggestion of the multidimensionality and interdependence of competitiveness determinants, highlighting those that need improvement. The research, which utilized an innovative approach through a survey questionnaire, achieved representativeness through careful sample selection, encompassing not only tourists but also representatives of the tourism industry, resulting in original conclusions.

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Understanding the motivations behind consumer engagement on sports club social media can help clubs and marketers tailor their strategies to better connect with fans, fostering deeper loyalty and more meaningful interactions. By identifying what drives fans to engage—whether it is a genuine love for the brand or the pursuit of rewards—clubs can create more targeted content that not only boosts engagement but also strengthens the overall fan experience and community.

This paper presents a model that examines sports teams' strategic choices about the extent of offense/defense to adopt in competing with other teams. The mathematical formulation adopted permits the derivation of a team's optimal strategy under different game scenarios (current score and time left to play), and team characteristics (playing at home or away, and each team's quality). A novel feature of the model is that teams can choose a strategy at several moments in the game, thereby incorporating a comprehensive dynamic element. The National Hockey League is used as an application. Optimal coaching behavior is derived in this setting, and the impact of rule changes is assessed. The study found that removing the overtime period, disproportionally increasing the rewards for a win, or removing the point that is currently awarded to the team that loses the shootout at the end of overtime, would all lead to the adoption of more offensive strategies during the game. That outcome is aligned with higher fan interest and team revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the relationship between National Basketball Association player career performances and their market values as revealed by their rookie card prices and their career salaries. This permits a novel identification of the similarities and differences between card collectors and team owners in how they value the same sample of 185 players. The analysis includes all players who began their careers in 1993 or after and completed their careers by 2019, and who renegotiated their rookie contract so that their card price and salary values are based on their National Basketball Association performances. Offensive statistics largely determine a player's salary and card value. Team owners place greater value on team attributes such as tenure with the team and games started, while card collectors place greater relative value on individual performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests for potential cross-border substitution in casino gambling between Illinois and Missouri due to the launch of sports betting in Illinois. Using casino-level gambling revenue and admissions data, difference-in-differences, event study analysis, and regression discontinuity design, our findings suggest that the launch of sports betting increased casino revenues and admissions in the Illinois casinos and decreased revenue and admissions in Missouri casinos close to the border of Illinois and Missouri. Thus, Missouri not only lost potential sports betting tax revenue but also tax revenue from casino gambling revenue and admissions resulting from cross-border substitution between Missouri and Illinois after the launch of sports betting. The size of the lost casino and foregone sports betting tax revenues suggests Missouri and other states in similar circumstances are likely to experience continued fiscal pressure to legalize sports betting despite possible moral objections or an intent to minimize social costs through prohibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism country’s competitiveness is important especially when countries strive for bigger market shares as European countries are. The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on tourism and the entire tourism industry must be rethinking and reshaping given some opportunities and challenges to the entrepreneurs, local communities, local administrations, governments of competitiveness destinations. In this paper we measured if the Google and Apple mobility indices cand predict (or not) the movement of TTCI during pandemic compared with pre-pandemic TTCI ranks by using grey system theory and statistical methods. The aim of the paper is to validate the Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) as identifier of the good predictor (statistically significant for p-value< 0.05) for European tourism competitiveness (measured by TTCI) in particular conditions, especially before and during COVID-19 pandemic time by take into consideration the Google Mobility and Apple Mobility data and their relationship with overnight stays for 11 European countries. To validate the GRA as method for good and accurate predictor for tourism competitiveness for TTCI 2021 (during COVID-19 pandemic time) a GLM – General Linear Model ANOVA with interaction effects and Tukey HSD Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons was applied. Our results validated the powerful of GRA for tourism competitiveness, statistically significant according to GLM with interaction effects, and emphasis (especially for entrepreneurs) that the overnight stays will give the right rank on top of tourism competitiveness, prior to other ITC support as Google and Apple Mobility indices proved by reflection of overnights on TTCI 2021 – during pandemic.

The primary goal of this research is to determine the impact of the efficiency of the tourism sector in the European Union (EU).

The hedonic pricing method has been applied in the analysis of hotel room rates since the early 1990s and ever since has become the norm in the investigation of hotel room price determinants. A usual problem in the specific literature is that there are no theoretical guidelines in selecting the explanatory variables in hedonic pricing models. Therefore, scholars employed in such kind of research face the challenge of which of the numerous price determinants proposed in the literature should they include in their own analysis, with the hazard of multicollinearity complicating the issue even further. The current article proposes a strategy where both the variable selection problem and the potential multicollinearity are faced by utilizing a combination of stepwise regression techniques with a proper categorization of the candidate regressors. This procedure is used in analysing the determining factors of the hotel accommodation prices in Cyprus, a country whose economy is highly dependent on tourism, for 12 consecutive months, in order to account for the inherent seasonality. The main findings suggest that adding some attributes to the advertisements of the hotels significantly increase hoteliers' remunerations, but advertising certain other features may be actually sending negative signals, therefore hoteliers should consider excluding them from their brochures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish tourism sector and economy in general, at the national and regional levels, through a comparative analysis between the evolution observed in the sector and the evolution that could have happened had the pandemic not occurred. This study was conducted in two stages. First, the total tourist expenditures for 2020 and 2021 were predicted under the assumption that the pandemic had not occurred. In the second stage, the losses in terms of turnover, jobs and the contribution of the tourism sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) that would have occurred without the pandemic were estimated. We applied the input–output method and found that for every €1000 less of tourist spending due to the pandemic, €1883 less were contributed to the GDP, and for every €100,000 less in spending, 2.8 jobs were lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relationship between sports commodity imports and the green growth index in G20 economies from 2000 to 2020, using the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag technique. Our findings reveal a significant positive correlation, indicating that a 1% increase in sports commodity imports corresponds to notable short-term and long-term increases of 0.38% and 0.46%, underlining the sports industry’s vital role in advancing environmental sustainability. Conversely, detrimental effects on the green growth index are observed for the carbon footprint, waste generation, health expenditure, and foreign direct investment, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices. The enduring impact of these factors is consistently demonstrated. A robustness analysis, substituting the green growth index with green energy deployment, reaffirms the positive impact of sports commodity imports. Recommendations include incentivizing eco-friendly sports technologies, implementing stringent environmental standards, fostering collaboration, introducing tax incentives, and conducting comprehensive awareness campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effect of televised international sporting events (e.g., FIFA World Cup or Summer Olympics) on crime in Jamaica. We use a fixed effects model that compares, within each police division, the level of crime that occurs during these international sporting events to the rate of crime on similar days when these events are not occurring. We found that on days when the FIFA World Cup matches are held, there is a reduction in the number of murders (23.3%), shootings (20%), break-ins (19.4%), and robberies (11.7%), relative to the average number of each incident. We found no evidence of crime displacement, as these crimes also reduced during nonmatch periods during the FIFA World Cup. On the other hand, our results suggest that the international events that are less popular in Jamaica (the World Athletics Championship, the Summer Olympics, and the Winter Olympics) had a minimal impact on crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]