Marchiori, E.; Di Nardo, C.; Mariani, M., M.; Cantoni, L. at ENTER2016 eTourism Conference in Bilbao

1. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 1
The co-creation process of the
online image of an Italian World
Heritage Site: the Sassi of Matera
Elena Marchiori
Canio Di Nardo
Marcello M. Mariani
Lorenzo Cantoni
webatelier.net; Faculty of Communication Sciences, and
UNESCO chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites
USI – Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano (Switzerland)
{elena.marchiori; lorenzo.cantoni}@usi.ch
and
Department of Management, University of Bologna, Italy
marcello.mariani@unibo.it

2. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 2
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Sassi of Matera
• Research Design
• Results
• Implications
• Conclusions
• Future Research
Agenda

3. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 3
ICTs & Tourism

4. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 4
ICTs and Sustainable Tourism
The case of UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
«Identification, protection, conservation, presentationpresentation
and transmission to future generations of the cultural
and natural heritage» (Art. 4)
Struggle: Protection Vs Presentation
UNESCO WHSs need to be properly communicated in
order to achieve sustainable tourism
Implementation of ICTs in World Heritage Sites

5. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 5
Co-creation of tourism-related experiences
In the service-dominant (S-D) logic co-creation experiences are considered
the driving force for value creation (De Jager, 2009; Vargo and Lusch, 2008)
Tourism  an industry where experiences play a primary role (De Jager, 2009)
In this context, users become co-creators of contents and work
alongside the official information sources (Neuhofer and Buhalis, 2012)
Consequently, the image of the destination is being constantly co-
created in the online domain because of the spreading of online
conversations (Marchiori and Cantoni, 2012)

6. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 6
Focus on the co-creation processco-creation process of the online image
of a World Heritage Site located in Italy: the “SASSISASSI
OF MATERAOF MATERA”, declared UNESCO WHS in 1993.
WHY the “Sassi of Matera”?
BECAUSE they represent a vivid example of a successful WHS that
has increased, after the designation, its local tourism.
HOWEVER, even if the Sassi of Matera are a world recognized
tourism destination, they suffer from a lack of proper institutional
tourism-related online communication.
To date, the Sassi of Matera have not a dedicated website for the
promotion of the UNESCO heritage itself, while other online
stakeholders are co-creating its online communication.
Object of the study

7. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 7
• An unbroken timeline, Matera’s
paleolithic past has made it a
thriving tourist destination
• Awarded European Capital of
Culture 2019
Case study: SASSI of MATERA

8. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 8
Research Question:
How different online stakeholders are co-creating the online image of the Italian WHS
of “Sassi of Matera”?
Methodology:
Data collection has been performed in January 2015 and was about the Online
representation of the Sassi di Matera WHS from the following 3 stakeholders
perspectives:
1) Phase A: DESTINATION perspective: content analysis of 59 Google results by
searching the following keywords: “Sassi di Matera UNESCO” and “Sassi Matera”.
2) Phase B: HOSPITALITY perspective: 24 Hotel and 95 B&B websites present on
TripAdvisor
3) Phase C: UGC perspective (eWord-of-Mouth): 420 travel reviews published from
21/08/2014 to 08/12/2014 on TripAdvisor have been content analyzed. The analysis
was performed using UAM Corpus Tool version 3.1.14
Research Design

9. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 9
ResultsResults
Destination perspective
Sample: 59 websites (eliminating copies)

10. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 10
Hospitality perspective
Sample: 119 accommodation websites (24 hotels and 95 B&Bs)

11. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 11
UGC perspective
Most frequent Topics
View/ Panorama
Night
Religion and churches
Local cuisine
Nativity scene
People
UNESCO WHS
European Capital of Culture (ECOC)
Environment & Maintenance
Museums
Craftsmanship
Cinetourism
Sample: 420 Online Travel Reviews on TripAdvisor

12. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 12
Positive Vs Negative arguments

13. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 13
ImplicationsImplications
Practical implications from the case study of Sassi of Matera:
1) Accessibility and mobility issues within and from/to Matera
2) Stronger care and maintenance of the location
3) Better organization of the tour-guides and places to visit at the
destination
4) Create an official tourism-destination website and, if possible, be
actively present on the main social media platforms
5) Enhance the online communication of the destination regarding the
values of the local WHS among the interested stakeholders

14. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 14
ConclusionsConclusions
““Every World Heritage site should have, at the very least, aEvery World Heritage site should have, at the very least, a
basic website”basic website” (UNESCO WH Sustainable Tourism Toolkit)(UNESCO WH Sustainable Tourism Toolkit)
 Digital communication is crucial
 Managing an official website
 Having a clear online strategy
 Monitoring and listening of what it is said online
about the heritage
 Enabling people in the co-creation process
through UGC

15. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 15
Future ResearchFuture Research
 Replicate the study with other
WHSs, including both WHSs
nationally and internationally
 Extend the time frame analysed
 Triangulation of the data
stemming from different online
sources by using a research tool,
such as NVIVO10

16. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 16
Thank you!
Elena Marchiori
webatelier.net; Faculty of Communication Sciences
USI – Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano (Switzerland)
elena.marchiori@usi.ch