ICTs and Tourism Marketing for Regional Development

A strategic policy scenario analysis framework for the sustainable tourist development of peripheral small island areas – the case of Lefkada-Greece Island

“…Moreover, accessibility benefits gained through ICTs increase travelers' knowledge on potential destinations, thus enhancing decision-making potential [17]. Based on that knowledge, tourists nowadays appear as 'mature consumers', i.e.…”

“…As today's tourists are well-travelled, sophisticated and demand quality and value, it is important for destination management to develop targeted and increasingly theme-based tourism products and services that are broadly oriented to one or a combination of three e-words: entertainment, excitement and education/experience of visitors [25]. Destinations' marketing has also been largely affected by developments of information technology and social media, increasing competition among destinations but also strengthening the potential of remote and peripheral regions to ambitiously enter the tourist market [17,18]. Coordination of marketing communication needs and networking among local decision makers and important tourist stakeholders could facilitate the ultimate goal of providing a holistic and coherent message towards tourist clients [26].…”

“…The reason for that derives from the need to compromise economic, social and environmental objectives lying behind such an exercise [23,40]. This implies a meaningful balance among different stakes so that the planning outcome responds to the needs and expectations of various stakeholders' groups [17], which in turn leads to commitment and ownership of planning goals and objectives and thus increases successful implementation of planning outcomes [41]. Moreover, it also needs to successfully compromise economic with social and environmental dimensions, in an effort to embody the social and environmental concern in the planning outcome, since tourism is an industry capitalizing on nature's endowments and society's heritage [39,42,43].…”

Improving Tourist Offer Through Inter-Destination Cooperation in a Tourist Region

“…The realisation of all aims is planned by a joint promotion in fairs and similar larger events, which again reduces inter-destination cooperation to a marketing function, which is logical considering the formulation of the purpose of the entire project. Although some authors claim that precisely marketing is the basis of the development of inter-destination cooperation (Naipaul et al, 2009), that cooperation cannot be reduced solely to marketing and especially not if it is not based on modern information technologies and wide possibilities that it offers (see: Stratigea et al, 2008;Del Chiappa & Baggio, 2015).…”

Cultural Tourism in a Digital Era

“…Coping with the negative impacts of tourist development calls for a comprehensive destination management, focusing on a sustainable tourist development pattern that leads to the management of resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled, while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems, being a process which meets the needs of present tourists and host communities whilst protects and enhances needs in the future (WTO, 2001). They also call for an active participation of all stakeholders involved in tourist destinations, namely hotels and resorts, local communities, municipalities and the tourists themselves (Stratigea, Papakonstantinou, & Giaoutzi, 2008).…”