Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine practices for the presentation of specific sites in Greece, and in particular the way the Acropolis, Greece, a World Heritage Site, is communicated at national, local, and international levels, seeking to identify the policy for the presentation of heritage in the specific venue with its historical and current developments.Design/methodology/approach -This study presents data collected from the analysis of archival documents and interviews with curators who offered the researchers ground to explain the purposes and reasons for the implementation of decisions related to the management of heritage following a case study design.Findings -The paper argues for the need of a critical approach towards the implementation of communication activities for many sites rather than the world-renowned ones. Issues that associate with the relationship of heritage with social aspects of the contemporary world receive little attention in the literature, let alone the masked political and economic implications that state governments often do not admit. The projection of the perceived distinct characteristics of a country, nationally and internationally, signifies the role that these properties may have when states present them at national level while retaining their international character.Originality/value -The article makes a theoretical and practical contribution to the way the marketing of heritage for the Acropolis can consist of a typical recourse for other sites in other areas and is associated with socio-economic and political implications.

This article examines the motivations for attending wine festivals in the region of Veneto, Italy, and the connection of such visitation with the gastronomical presence at wineries in an attempt to relate gastronomical and wine tourism and specify tourists’ typology. A total of 1330 respondents filled in a questionnaire at the festival called the ‘Veneto Wine Festival’ at Wine Roads, Veneto, which is the most active wine-producing region in Italy, to examine the significance that the combination of wine with gastronomical activities may play for visiting the region. This article makes a theoretical and practical contribution adding to the literature on segmentation of wine tourists and whether there is a differentiation among them, since there is little research on the segmentation of wine tourists for the area of Veneto. Results showed four categories for gastro-oenological visitors: the wine-friendly, the beginner, the occasional visitor and the tourist. Suggestions are also made for the supply side of wine tourism in order to adopt marketing strategies about products and prices on offer. Each wine festival is unique. Veneto does not have balanced tourism development; close urban centres such as Venice and Padova in Italy attract the majority of visitors. Therefore, the implementation of an advertising communication programme may promote information about the area and its wineries for the development of agrotourism.

The aim of the paper is the examination of the attitudes of the community, which incorporates the entrepreneurs of Istria, Croatia towards the promotion of rural and cultural tourism of the area and the examination of the factors, which formulate their attitudes. An isolated area as is Istria, would be expected that would be willing to open up itself to the world, to compete for tourism inflows and develop in a sustainable way since the region combines both cultural and natural elements as distinct characteristics. This research is part of a wider project called Rural Tour Marketing, which has the intention of promoting a model for the development of rural tourism, in sustainable and innovative ways and is applied in Central Eastern Europe to examine the host community's interest. Limited research has taken place in regard to the residents'attitudes on the promotion of tourism for this area. Residents filled in 350 questionnaires. It was found that residents who are also businessmen in the area are afraid that local culture is in danger to be distorted or destroyed due to tourism increase. It is suggested that partnerships and networks is a prerequisite for the acceptance of the sustainable tourist development of a community. The residents as part of the economic activity of the place need to be incorporated in the process of managing, communicating and advertising the region, realizing the benefits that may exist from such a process. By creating networks among the interested parties involved, the personal but also the common interest will be safeguarded and all activities will be more organized and coordinated.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the employment of qualitative research methodology within the framework of analysis of the way the World Heritage Sites located in the Greek territory are promoted; this is outstanding heritage that has been nominated to the World Heritage List of UNESCO used to promote a specific image of Greece nationally and internationally. Similar methodology has been followed for the examination of the purposes and reasons for the implementation of decisions related to the creation of intercultural relations and networks as well, taking Trieste, Italy as an example. The research follows a case study design using multiple measures, such as documents and archival analysis, interviews and promotional material, which comprised the method of enquiry and led to the triangulation of gathering of data. Sources of data, the approach to qualitative research, methods of verification of research and the role of the researchers are discussed. The aim is to identify topics for the creation of general themes that run throughout the data and create patterns for the research under interpretative phenomenological analysis. Then, the categorisation of themes under the umbrella of a superordinate theme takes place. Methodological challenges are discussed in regard to sampling issues, the management of data, data analysis and validity checks. The procedures followed in the specific research can be extended in the exploration of other cases; generalization in case studies is about theoretical propositions not about populations.

PurposeThe present paper is part of a study associated with the migration phenomenon and the formation of intercultural social and economic relations which emerged in Italy in the nineteenth century and its practical and social implications in the twenty‐first century. The city of Trieste, Italy consists of a case study which examines the formation of organizational networks in the Mediterranean and in Europe which consist of the basic body of the so called Greek commercial dispersion.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents data collected from the analysis of archival documents. It is part of the scientific field of social anthropology and is a case study where participative observation was employed. Interviews with people offered the researchers ground to explain the purposes and reasons for the implementation of decisions related to the creation of the organizational networks.FindingsThe article discusses the relation between the national group with its unique cultural identity and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the cultural characteristics of such relation. The consequences from the existence of these networks in all sectors of the life of the community of these areas are investigated. To a third level of discussion, the mapping and analysis of the cultural interactions which emerged as a result of these networks shaping an integrated cultural identity is examined.Originality/valueThe project succeeds in making a theoretical and practical contribution to the way the development of organizational networks presented for Trieste, Italy can consist of a typical recourse for other areas of the Mediterranean where cultures and identities intermingle nowadays and migration and policy directions need to be implemented.