Presentation done by Michael Beier and Kerstin Wagner, during "Tourism & Co-creation" workshop, of the ENTER2015 eTourism conference.

1. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 1
Crowdfunding Success of Tourism
Projects. Evidence from Switzerland.
Michael Beier, Kerstin Wagner
Swiss Institute for Entrepreneurship,
University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur, Switzerland
michael.beier@htwchur.ch

2. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 2
Introduction
• “Crowdfunding is an open call through the internet for the
provision of financial resources, either in the form of
donation or in exchange of the future product or other
forms of monetary or non-monetary rewards over a fixed
time limit” (Belleflamme et al. 2013).
• Two very different types of crowdfunding:
– Monetary (lending/equity)
– Non Monetary (donation/reward-based)
• Specification of Crowdsourcing & Co-creation
(Zhang/Bai 2012)
• Infrastructure is a mixture of Social Media & eCommerce
(Beier/Wagner 2014)

3. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 3
Crowdfunding-Platform

4. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 4
Crowdfunding and Tourism
• Until now crowdfunding literature does not differentiate
between industries and therefore empirical evidence only
covers general success patterns.
• Concerning the field of tourism, merely some first
exploratory studies on crowdfunding in general have been
published describing tourism projects as exemplary cases
(Belleflamme et al. 2014, Yoo/Choo 2014).
• Here, we analyse empirically the factors that lead to
fundraising success of tourism crowdfunding projects.

5. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 5
H1: Project Characteristics
A higher number of project initiators should have a positive
influence because of enhanced human capital, networks and
confidence (Hsu 2007, Franke et al. 2008).
H1c: The number of reward segments offered in a crowdfunding campaign is
positively related to crowdfunding success of tourism projects.
H1a: The number of project initiators is positively related to crowdfunding
success of tourism projects.
Projects attract mainly local donors (Agrawal et al. 2013).
H1b: Tourism projects listed in the national currency will show higher rates of
crowdfunding success than others.
Rewards are the most relevant compensation for donors, which
allow to match different customer preferences and price levels.

6. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 6
H2: Project Presentation
• Media Richness Theory (Daft et al. 1987)
• Exploratory results from crowdfunding in general show
that projects with a video are more often funded
successfully (Kuppuswamy/Bayus 2013).
• Photos and videos are crucial for communication and
promotion of tourism products (Garrod 2009, Lo et al.
2011).
H2a: The number of photos included in the project description is positively
related to crowdfunding success
H2b: Tourism projects including a video in the project description will show
higher rates of crowdfunding success than others.

7. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 7
H3: Additional Off-Page Media
• allow individual communication with the stakeholders,
what leads to increasing trust and perceived proximity
(Wang/Emurian 2005).
• influence the willingness to pay as well as the intention to
purchase (Gregg/Walczak 2010).
• generate traffic to the project page on the CF-platform.
H3a: The use of a homepage additional to the project page on the crowdfunding
platform is positively related to crowdfunding success.
H3b: Application of a Facebook account additional to the project page on the
crowdfunding platform is positively related to crowdfunding success.
H3c: Application of a Twitter account additional to the project page on the
crowdfunding platform is positively related to crowdfunding success.

8. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 8
• data from 100-days.net - one of the two dominant
crowdfunding platforms in Switzerland
• 492 projects started and completed on the platform
between Feb 2012 and Nov 2013
Data
Categories #
“Food & Beverages” 30
“Dance & Theatre” 18
“Outdoor” 3
“Culture” 23
“Events” 23
“Concerts” 7
Observations in Tourism 104
Other Categories 388
Observations in Total 492

9. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 9
Results - Descriptives
Variables MIN MAX MEAN STDDEV
Dummy: Language is German 0 1 0.97 0.168
Dummy: Initiator is a Company 0 1 0.71 0.455
Funding Goal 300 29'000 5'821.14 5'429.615
Number of Project Initiators (H1a) 1 12 1.56 1.525
Dummy: Currency is CHF (H1b) 0 1 0.93 0.252
Number of Rewards (H1c) 1 27 6.27 3.768
Number of Photos (H2a) 1 6 3.34 2.088
Dummy: Description Contains Video (H2b) 0 1 0.64 0.484
Dummy: Homepage (H3a) 0 1 0.84 0.372
Dummy: Facebook (H3b) 0 1 0.88 0.332
Dummy: Twitter (H3c) 0 1 0.25 0.435
Observations: 104

10. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 10
Results – Regression Analysis
Variables Model 1 Model 2
Dummy: Language is German 5.232 4.962
Dummy: Initiator is a Company 0.089 -0.465
Funding Goal -1.098** -1.786***
Dummy: Category is “Dance & Theatre” -0.185 -0.253
Dummy: Category is “Outdoor” -0.091 -0.078
Dummy: Category is “Culture” -0.178 -0.235
Dummy: Category is “Events” -0.167 -0.218
Dummy: Category is “Concerts” 0.002 0.006
Number of Project Initiators (H1a) 0.425*
Dummy: Currency is CHF (H1b) 1.078**
Number of Rewards (H1c) 0.447*
Number of Photos (H2a) -0.309
Dummy: Description Contains Video (H2b) 0.426
Dummy: Homepage (H3a) -,434
Dummy: Facebook (H3b) 0.062
Dummy: Twitter (H3c) 0.584**
Constant -1.37
Observations 104 104
Nagelkerkes R2
0.154 0.400
Notes: * 0.1 > p ≥ 0.05; ** 0.05 > p ≥ 0.01; *** p < 0.01 Dependend Variable:
Funding SucessReference Category is “Food & Beverages”

11. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 11
Limitations / Outlook
• Crowdfunding data profide very detailed insights on
innovation, projects, teams and networks in tourism
 More qualitative analyses of platform data and content
• Crowdfunding is much more than just a new way of
fundraising: Premarket-Checks, Preorder-System, Open
Innovation Tool, Online-Marketing
 Project with DMOs of Davos / Klosters and St. Gallen / Bodensee
and Swiss Alpine Club (SAC)

12. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 12
Contact
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/michaelbeierorganization
• Facebook: facebook.com/michaelbeier.org
• Blog: michaelbeier.org
• Email: michael.beier@htwchur.ch