1. Travel 2.0.
An Opportunity for Hospitality
Organizations and Tourism
Destinations.
Cristina Fabi
cristina.fabi@live.it
PhD Candidate
Department of Social Policies
and Local Development
University of Teramo, Italy
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
NAPLES 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 – DOCTORAL WORKSHOP 1

2. Introduction
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the Web 2.0
have changed the field of tourism
The Post-Modern Tourists search The buying decisions are mixed with the
on-line information to package social aspects of the net, the
their holidays, to find advice during their trips on-line dialogues are provided by
and to easily share feed-back and photos other users during whatever phase
around the world of the journey they might be in.
This behaviour can be traced back to the
model of digital prosumer that gives to the
consumption a creative value and the capability
to transform the bought product in a
personal significance
(Toffler, 1980; Ritzer e Jurgeson, 2010).
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
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3. Problem definition
Tourists Industry and Public Organizations
Encourage the formation Not always rank this as a great
of the real virtual communities, with opportunity, but as an actual threat,
the aim to maintain a direct because they have the feeling they
relationship with their clients/users. cannot control the client’s opinion
The e-tourism has affected dramatically the
strategies and the operational management of
tourism companies and organizations,
but at the same time it has opened up new
possibilities for the smaller and medium-sized
tourism enterprises and the “lesser known”
territories (Buhalis, 2003).
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
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4. Theoretical Background
A website’s quality is dependent on The term Web 2.0 is introduced by Tim
the following factors: quantity/quality O’Reilly in order to define the second
of the contents, interaction services generation
offered, advantages to the end user, of web services based on UGC that
ease of use, and level of user emphasises on-line
involvement (Baggio, 2011) collaboration and sharing among users
The Web Interface plays a critical role in the Web 2.0 tourism research.
The web site evaluation as the act The long tail (Anderson, 2006) extends itself
of determining a correct and comprehensive to satisfy a high number of niche markets
set of user requirements, ensuring that a and opens new possibilities to the lesser-
website provides useful content that known territories and to the small and
meets user expectations and a setting medium companies, which can now compete
of usability goals at a global level.
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5. Research Hypothesis
Assuming that, the use of Web 2.0 can support
destination and tourism establishments for the
promotion and information activities
Type of structures
Small, Medium, Large Dimension
It is suppose that, in a defined Coast, Countryside, Mountain Location
tourist destination, the on-line
presence could differ on the base of
structural characteristics of the
accommodation and
others factors Types of tourism
Types of customers hosted
Firms to Firms
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
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6. Objectives
How the Tourist Industry is managing its
on-line presence in relation to the
consumer’s changing attitudes?
How different characteristics influence a
A map showing
different model to be present on line? the usage of Web and Web 2.0
How the implementation of ICT and Web
2.0 is able to support the promotion and
information activities of the Tourist
Industry located in a destination? A typology of
hospitality operators
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
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7. Methodology
- Overview of those structural elements which characterise the Web 2.0: a descriptive background
analysis to understand the most used social networks, especially for travelers
- Choice of the case study: the Province of Teramo - Abruzzo Region
- Website evaluation: selection of the counting method and the success factors to evaluate the
websites of hospitality establishments
- Analysis of the web sites and social involvement
- Choice of particular witnesses to submit one-on-one in-depth interviews to obtain qualitative
data to understand operators’ feelings, and reason that push and pull their decision to utilize ICT
- Analysis quantitative data: open source program R for the normal and bivariate distribution,
the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and the hierarchical clustering on principal
components (HCPC)
- Analysis of qualitative data: Atlas.ti
- Final draft of the research project
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8. The case study
The northernmost Province of the
Region on the Adriatic Coast
The case study:
The Province of Teramo
in the Abruzzo Region
The main tourist destination in terms
of capacity accommodation and
overnight stays
A context mainly characterised by
small and medium firms
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
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9. Preliminary results
On-line presence made up of type of structures (Province of Teramo)
Web site
Web site SN Absent Total
and SN
N % N % N % N % N %
Hotels 96 33.9 140 49.5 7 2.5 40 14.1 283 100
Campsites and
Holiday Villages 16 47.0 14 41.2 0 0 4 11.8 34 100
Residences 8 22.9 19 54.2 1 2.9 7 20 35 100
Bed & Breakfasts 35 33.3 22 21.0 1 1 47 44.7 105 100
Country Houses 4 16.7 16 66.6 1 4.2 3 12.5 24 100
Others 25 30.1 6 7.2 1 1.2 51 61.5 83 100
Total 184 32.6 217 38.5 11 2.0 152 26.9 564 100
- Campsite and Villages chose the web site for their promotional activities
- Most of the Country House usually mix their on-line presence with a web site and SN
- A great percentage of B&B and Other Accommodation are absent
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10. Preliminary results
On line presence made up of location (Province of Teramo)
Web site
Web site SN Absent Total
and SN
N % N % N % N % N %
Coast 127 34.1 174 46.8 8 2.2 63 16.9 372 100
Countryside 31 26.5 33 28.2 3 2.6 50 42.7 117 100
Mountain 26 34.7 10 13.3 0 0 39 52.0 75 100
Total 184 32.6 217 38.5 11 2.0 152 27.0 564 100
In the comparison between the accommodation establishments present on-line with
a website and SN and those who are absent. The first are mainly located in the
coastal area, while the latter are in the mountain area.
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ENVIRONMENT NAPLES 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 – DOCTORAL WORKSHOP

11. Preliminary results
On line presence made up of dimension (Province of Teramo)
Web site
Web site SN Absent Total
and SN
N % N % N % N % N %
Small 110 31.5 90 25.8 6 1.7 143 41.0 349 100
Medium 54 33.5 99 61.5 4 2.5 4 2.5 161 100
Large 6 21.4 22 78.6 0 0 0 0 28 100
Total 184 32.6 217 38.5 11 2.0 152 27.0 564 100
The profile of the firms without a web site is smaller, in the other side
medium and large firms are present on-line with a web-site and SN
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12. Preliminary results
Web sites Low Product Orientation
71% of the accommodation structures 2.4% of the web sites offer the on-line
of the Province of Teramo are present booking service
on the Web (401/564) 30% offers sale promotion
14.4% holiday packages
1.7% last minute
Visual Appearance and
Destination Orientation
83% images and photo galleries
68% information of the tourist
context Promotion of the Region
as a key factor
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13. Five ideal-types of the
accommodation establishments
Cluster 1 “offliner” includes n. 150 cases, 27%: they are totally absent on the web
Cluster 2 “on-line showcase” includes n. 179 cases, 31.3%: they are present on-line with
a showcase website that gives only the most important information to the users, but it is
lacking in any interactive solution
Cluster 3 “on-line beginner” includes n. 99 cases, 17.8%: they have an informative web
site, but they differ from the informative group because they try to use a SN, precisely
they create a FB profile
Cluster 4 “on-line interactive” includes n. 54 cases, 9.7%: they own an interactive web
site where the users could contact the business, in some cases the traveler could book
the accommodation directly on-line or in a OTA web site. Furthermore they use fruitfully
a FB page and other SN
Cluster 5 “on-line social” includes n. 71 cases, 13%: they productively use the Web 2.0
instruments. They usually are active on-line, and they stimulate the interaction with their
guests with posts, contests and competitions.
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14. Thank you
Any Question?
Cristina Fabi
cristina.fabi@live.it
PhD Candidate
Department of Social Policies
and Local Development
University of Teramo, Italy
ET COMPETITION AND INNOVATION IN TOURISM: NEW CHALLANGES IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT
NAPLES 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 – DOCTORAL WORKSHOP 14