Tourism and the refugee crisis in Greece: Perceptions and decision-making of accommodation providers

Abstract

This paper focuses on the tourism impacts of the 2015-16 refugee crisis in Greece. It examines the implications of the related publicity for the perception of Greece and the expected reaction of inbound tourists; the way refugees are regarded from a security and cultural aspect; the interaction between refugees and host communities; and the decisions made by the Greek tourism accommodation sector to face the crisis. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis the paper employs a nationwide survey of 811 tourism accommodation managers. The results reveal three configurations explaining the decisions of respondents characterized by refugee-centric orientation; the emphasis on the visitors-locals nexus; and the host communities' behavioural impact on tourism. The paper also compares asymmetric with symmetric analysis highlighting the suitability of the former when dealing with complexity. The modelling exercise also steps forward from fit to predictive validity. The findings contribute to both managerial and methodological aspects of tourism.

Understanding the Influence of Airport Servicescape on Traveler Dissatisfaction and Misbehavior

“…As such, traveler attitudes and behaviors in airports are nuanced, and complexity theory can be used to understand the non-linear interactions of servicescape components and traveler behaviors in this context (Pappas and Papatheodorou 2017). The complexity of associating servicescape dimensions in international airports with traveler behavior is derived from their inherent self-service, remote, and interpersonal characteristics.…”

Nepotism, employees’ competencies and firm performance in the tourism sector: A dual multivariate and Qualitative Comparative Analysis approach

“…A close look at Table 2 shows that very few of the estimated correlation coefficients has an absolute value higher than 0.60. This implies that the tested relationships between the competencies variables and the performance of travel agencies could be asymmetric, and hence alternative combinations of causal conditions could generate the same outcome (Pappas, Kourouthanassis, Giannakos, & Chrissikopoulos, 2016;Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017). In light of this, this research adopts a configuration approach through fsQCA in order to provide a more holistic insight into the employees' competencies determinants of travel agents' performance.…”

“…Consequently, limited practical guidance can be offered to policy makers and firm managers seeking to develop competitive advantages (Kunc & Morecroft, 2010). A configurational approach would therefore provide great opportunities to overcome such a limitation and offer practical insights into developing small business management literature (Nordqvist et al, 2014) as well as tourism literature (Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017).…”

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in Spatial Planning Research and Related Disciplines: A Systematic Literature Review of Applications

“…Referring specifically to spatial science research, Cairns, Wistow, and Bambra (2017) state that "the major benefit of QCA is that it can handle complexity by exploring different pathways that generate the same outcome, which applies to much spatial research" (p. 396). Other authors (e.g., Pappas and Papatheodorou 2017) are even more explicit, explaining that they applied fsQCA in order to "capsulate the essence of complexity" (p. 34).…”