Browsing by Author "Formica, Sandro"

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    Destination Attractiveness As A Function Of Supply And Demand Interaction
    Formica, Sandro (Virginia Tech, 2004-09-13)
    The driving force of the tourism industry is represented by the attractions at destination. Travelers have no reason to visit destinations that have nothing to offer. Tourism research has demonstrated that attraction studies are necessary in the understanding of the elements that encourage people to travel. Achieving the goal of measuring destination attractiveness requires the understanding of its components and their relationships. There are two ways of examining attractiveness: by studying the attractions or by exploring the attractiveness perceptions of those who are attracted by them. As competition among tourism destinations increases and tourist funding decreases, it is of vital importance to understand how the inventory of existing attractions at destination relates to the perceptions that travelers have of those attractions. Tourism literature provides only a limited number of studies addressing destination attractiveness. Those studies focus exclusively on the measurement aspect of attractiveness and ignore the analysis of its components. The purpose of this study was to generate a new measurement tool for destination attractiveness and to examine the relationship between its elements. The principles of regional analysis, tourism planning, and tourism attraction research provided the foundation for a measurement and hypothesis testing model. This model is based on the assumption that tourism is a system, which is a function of supply and demand interaction. Four attraction dimensions - tourism services and facilities, cultural/historical, rural lodging, and outdoor recreation - were found to represent the attractiveness portfolio of the destination. According to the findings, no correlations were found between demand and supply importance of the four dimensions. Among demand representatives, market segments perceive and value attractions in different ways. The study explored the attractiveness evaluation of eight tourist regions and discovered correlations between demand and supply indicators. Additionally, it was established that the overall regional measures of demand and supply destination attractiveness explain the economic benefits of tourism in the same region. Among the contributions of this study is the development of a model that allows the simultaneous empirical assessment of demand and supply indicators of destination attractiveness. The findings of this study provided important implications for the development of robust tourism plans, promotional strategies, and resource allocation policies.
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    An exploratory study of the European hospitality and tourism education
    Formica, Sandro (Virginia Tech, 1996-05-05)
    The increasing importance of hospitality and tourism as the leading worldwide industry in terms of overall revenues has encouraged hospitality and tourism education to expand and acquire academic significance. Although Europe leads in international tourism as measured by arrivals for years little attention has been paid to the development of formal education in this field. In fact, to date there are no empirical published studies providing the profile of hospitality and tourism education in Europe. The purpose of this exploratory research project was to obtain information on the status of hospitality and tourism education in Europe. The study sought information from those European institutions offering higher education programs in hospitality and tourism. In particular, the study was primarily aimed at identifying respondents' profiles concerning: educational institution, curriculum of courses, programs offered, faculty, and student body. The research instrument consisted of a self-administered questionnaire, which was sent to 63 European educational institutions. A total of 31 European institutions offering higher education programs in hospitality and tourism responded and participated in this research study. The results showed that, in spite of late start, hospitality and tourism education in Europe offers a wide range of program opportunities and offer diplomas and certifications upon graduation in this field. Curricula leading to the Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. degrees are extensively offered and a significant number of students are actively pursuing these programs. It was recommended by the researcher that due to the rapid expansion and demand of change and the evolutionary trend of hospitality and tourism education in Europe, additional empirical studies exploring the supply and demand side of hospitality and tourism education be repeated periodically.