This article expands on knowledge about modeling tourism business. The basic scientific problem of the conducted research was the need to modernize the way of doing business in spa tourism enterprises by popularizing the business model and to provide an indication of the elements of the business model that should be grounded in the principles of sustainable spa development. The aim of the article is to present the results of our own research carried out in Polish spa enterprises in 2018. The key scientific issue was to examine the range of use of the business model templates in the management of tourism-treatment activities carried out in spas. Discussing the research results was preceded by a review of the literature on business models and the characteristics of activities carried out by spa tourism enterprises. The conducted research used qualitative methods, especially in-depth interviews, conducted with managers of the largest enterprises of spa tourism in Poland. Quantitative research was also conducted to examine the needs of tourists and patients. Our own scientific research has shown that spa enterprises in Poland very rarely and only within the scope limited to some elements of their activity, use the business model, and are not always aware of the wide range of its applications. As a result of the applications received, a business model dedicated to spa enterprises was developed. The article refers to the overtourism phenomenon in spas and indicates the need to put in business models, which are activities that protect spa areas against excessive pressure on tourism and the exploitation of natural resources.

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The concept of Smart Tourism is rapidly developing alongside Smart Cities, with increasing numbers of ICT solutions being applied for the convenience of travelers as well as for gathering information, which has become a valuable resource. The vast progress in the development of Information Technologies has also impacted the needs and expectations of tourists. However, various branches of tourism are adopting this concept at a different pace, and thus a growing development gap might emerge. Cases from all over the world show that museums are not immune to this, and it is important for their future to meet these expectations. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the use of modern technologies in Polish museums and assess their readiness for adopting Smart Tourism. For this purpose, a nationwide online survey was conducted with a sample size of 218 museums (from 500 unique entities in total). The results show that the issue of Smart Tourism in Polish museums is ambiguous. The results reveal that, currently, the status of Smart Tourism adoption in museums is quite low, and significant gaps in some areas are shown; at the same time, other areas revealed a high potential for the future application of Smart Tourism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the way tourism activities are conducted. Restrictions on moving from place to place have likely limited the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus but have also led to economic crisis in many countries around the world. In this article, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the activities of cultural heritage tourism sites in Europe. Scientific research was carried out in industrial heritage tourism sites associated with the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). Analysis of the literature and the results of our own research indicated a strong impact of the pandemic on the examined sites, expressed in the limitation of the operating time of the sites, a decrease in the number of tourists attended to, and a decrease in revenues. No significant reduction in employment was noticed. These sites were not generally used in preventive actions during the health crisis. Only some managers took an active part in supporting emergency services in a difficult situation. We concluded that taking up innovative functions by tourism enterprises should be open innovation.

The aim of this article was to identify features and attributes of tourist facilities that affect trust among them and allows estimating the level of trust among any given site on a touristic route. The level of trust can be a key feature that affects the capability of tourist facilities to create and enter complex relations. It is also crucial for planning their future and sustainability. Therefore, measuring trust between tourist facilities plays a major role in the management of inter-organizational relations. The authors used statistical methods in order to identify features that influence the level of inter-organizational trust between these kinds of facilities. The analyzed data comes from research that was conducted in 2017 and describes 42 tourist facilities that operate within the Industrial Monuments Route (IMR)—a Polish route in the region of Silesia. A strong linear correlation was found between variables that described efficiency of communication and trust level. The Classification and Regression Trees (C&RTs) method was used to identify features of tourist facilities that determine the efficiency of communication among them. Afterwards, the obtained data was used to create a multiple regression model that allowed estimating the level of trust between any given site on the route, identifying at the same time that features like communication efficiency, proximity and some institutional similarities have the greatest impact among tourist sites with regard to inter-organizational trust.