ICTHR and Professor Dimitrios Buhalis supports global tourism recovery from COVID with a range of keynotes, panels and interventions. Please join us at these events.

The International Centre of Tourism and Hospitality Research supports global tourism recovery from COVID.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis will deliver a range of keynotes, panels and interventions around the world.
Please join us at these events.

PHILIPPINES Wednesday 17 March 2021, 15:45 – 16:15 Manila time 07:45 – 8:15 am, London time.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis,  Smart Tourism within Smart Cities
Department of Tourism, REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Tourism Promotions Board: Tourism in the Philippines
Tourism and Technology Forum, Manila, The Philippines,
Register to attend the event at https://www.bit.ly/TravelTourismForum

 

 

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LONDON Wednesday 17 March 2021, 10:30 – 12:15 Association of British Travel Agencies (ABTA)
Business Resilience Webinar Series:  Managing Travel Workforces
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR)
Future Talent in Tourism
REGISTER https://www.abta.com/events/abta-webinar-managing-travel-workforces

 

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18-20 March 2021 INDIA Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Global Hospitality and Tourism Conference on Experiential Management and Marketing
GHTC 2020 Conference https://www.ghtconference.org/
Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, North -Eastern Hill University,  Shillong (India)

Thursday 18 March  2021, 14:00 AM to 15:00 (IST) – 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM (London Time).

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Smart Tourism and Restart of Tourism.

Friday 19, March 2021 14:30 to 16:00 (IST) – 09:00 AM to 10:30 AM (London Time).

Workshop on Publishing Tips in Top Tier Tourism and Hospitality Journals

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Getting Past the Pandemic – Working Together
TTI Spring Conference webinar – Thursday 18 Mar 10:00 – 13:00 (UK)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/getting-past-the-pandemic-working-together-tickets-140256217121

Detailed Agenda
10:00  Welcome & TTI Update Tim Wright, Chairman, TTI
10:10 Addressing the Tourism Industry Tom Jenkins, Director, European Tourism Association
10:35 Tourism Post COVID Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University Business School
11:00 A Return to Hospitality Rob Paterson, CEO, Best Western Hotel Group GB
11:25 Coffee Break
11:45 Will  Airlines Take Off Again? Simon McNamara, Country Manager United Kingdom, IATA
12:10 Testing – Crucial to the New Normal Angus Urquhart, Sales Director, GeneMe UK
12:35 Leveraging Tech and Data Towards a Post-Pandemic World Richard Baker, Chief Commercial Officer, Inspiretec
13:00 Chairman’s Summary and Close Tim Wright, Chairman, TTI
Moderator: Paul Richer, Genesys Digital Transformation

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Wednesday 24 March 2021 – 13:45-14:45 South Africa time – 11:45-14:45 London time
Johannesburg Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South Africa
Africa Business Tourism and MICE
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis – Digital Transformation – new reality for survival recovery and growth
Moderator: Natalia Bayona UNWTO
Register https://virtualproductions.flockplatform.com/ep/?event=2021-Africa-Business-Tourism-and-MICE-Masterclass

 

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Virtual Reality (VR) Innovations in Tourism & Destination Marketing
You are invited to attend this PATA Youth Webinar co-hosted by the Bournemouth University International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research
25 March 2021 – 09:00 London Time – 16:00 in Bangkok Time
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3616158045802/WN_aLW3IMa3QN-Q-DCPVQ5hlQ
What is the impact of Virtual Reality (VR) on the Tourism industry? We know that it is immersive, engaging and opens up new ways for destinations to engage with travellers. We know that the technology is exciting and as youth, we want to be at the forefront of this upcoming trend.
Dive into the world of VR with our expert guest speakers from Hong Kong Tourism Board, Spherie and Teleport to learn about VR Trends within the industry, opportunities with new technology and the decision-making process that happens behind the scenes.Questions we’ll ask in the panel discussion:
– What’s the wildest dream you have for the future of VR technology within the space of tourism?
– To Hong Kong Tourism Board, as a destination, what are the factors that you have to take into consideration, before choosing VR as a tool/technology in your marketing strategy?
– To Spherie and Teleport, what advice would you give to youths interested in breaking into the VR space as an entrepreneur?

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis will be contributing to theAssociation of British Travel Agencies (ABTA) Business Resilience Webinar SeriesManaging Travel Workforces

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) will be contributing to the

Association of British Travel Agencies (ABTA) Business Resilience Webinar Series

Managing Travel Workforces 17 March 2021, 10:30 – 12:15 –

Venue: Zoom followed by a virtual networking platform

REGISTER https://www.abta.com/events/abta-webinar-managing-travel-workforces

This webinar will provide an essential update for those responsible for managing workforces in travel. Listen to sessions on key areas affecting travel employment before taking part in a new virtual networking session with other HR and industry peers.

In the morning, get an employment law update, including the latest information on the furlough scheme, and what the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement means for your staff. Following the Government’s COVID-19 roadmap announcement, understand your responsibilities for homeworkers and staff returning to the office. Learn the key considerations for when you are developing and implementing new remote working policies, and get an insight on how you can use technology to support your staff. Hear expert advice on training, motivating, and engaging with staff that have worked through the pandemic and those returning from furlough. Get guidance and advice on how you continue to look after your staff as working patterns change, providing support both in the office and at home. Finish the morning by taking part in a new interactive networking session. This discussion group on an innovative   platform ‘Wonder’ will allow you to discuss common issues with colleagues, and follow up directly with webinar speakers.

 

 10:30 Welcome from the moderator 

Vicki Wolf, Education Manager, ABTA 

10:35 Employment law update 

  • •Furlough – understanding the latest extension
  • •Sending staff to work in the EU – considerations following the EU-UK Trade and Cooperationagreement
  • •Possible legislative changes coming in 2021
  • •Employer duty of care – planning your return to the office

 

Ami Naru, Employment Partner, Travlaw

11:00 Hybrid workforce – what does this mean? 

  • •Staff collaboration and communication channels
  • •Remote working, transformation and duty of care

 

Simon Johnson, General Manager, UK&I, Freshworks

11:20 Staff wellbeing and engagement 

  • •Motivating, managing and engaging with returning staff
  • •Looking after your staff remotely and in the office
  • •Redundancy support

 

Hazel Craig, Senior Data Analytics Consultant, Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing

11:40 Panel discussion: future talent in travel 

  • •Developing future talent pipelines
  • •Filling skills gap because of COVID-19
  • •Utilising apprenticeships
  • •Diversity and inclusion

 

Moderated by: Vicki Wolf, Education Manager, ABTA

Jo Roche, Managing Director, Northern Training Academy

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Professor in Marketing, Strategy and Innovation, Bournemouth University

Carole Hodgson, Apprenticeship Delivery Manager, Hays Travel (TBC)

12:10 Summary and close of webinar 

Vicki Wolf, Education Manager, ABTA 

12:15 Networking and discussion 

ABTA is hosting a virtual discussion group on an innovative platform, specifically designed to make networking easy and fun. Meet your industry colleagues and discuss common issues surrounding your workforces. The interactive platform will have a number of areas to help start discussion, feel free to join a specific meeting group or network informally with colleagues. Discussion groups to include:

  • •IT resources
  • •Restructuring and workforce management
  • •Diversity and inclusion
  • •Apprenticeships
  • •Staff engagement

 

NEW RESEARCH JUST PUBLISHED ON BIG DATA: Stylos, N., Zwiegelaar, J. and Buhalis, D. (2021), “Big data empowered agility for dynamic, volatile, and time-sensitive service industries: the case of tourism sector”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

NEW RESEARCH JUST PUBLISHED ON BIG DATA

Stylos, N., Zwiegelaar, J. and Buhalis, D. (2021), “Big data empowered agility for dynamic, volatile, and time-sensitive service industries: the case of tourism sector”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2020-0644

Purpose-Dynamic, volatile, and time-sensitive industries, such as tourism, travel and hospitality require agility and market intelligence to create value and achieve competitive advantage. The aim of the current study is to examine the influence of big data (BD) on the performance of service organizations and to probe for a deeper understanding of implementing BD, based on available technologies. Design/methodology/approach-An ethnographic study was conducted following an abductive approach. A primary qualitative research scheme was used with 35 information technology and database professionals participating in five online focus groups of seven participants each. Analytical themes were developed simultaneously with the literature being revisited throughout the study to ultimately create sets of common themes and dimensions. Findings-BD can help organizations build agility, especially within dynamic industries, to better predict customer behavioral patterns and make tailor-made propositions from the BD. An integrated BD-specific framework is proposed to address value according to the dimensions of need, value, time and utility. Research limitations/implications-Little research exists on the key drivers of BD use for dynamic, real-time and agile businesses. This research adds to the developing literature on BD applications to support organizational decision-making and business performance in the tourism industry. Originality/value-This study responds to scholars’ recent calls for more empirical research with contextual understanding of the use of BD to add value in marketing intelligence within business ecosystems. It delineates factors contributing to BD value creation and explores the impacts on the respective service encounters.

New article just published: Stoyanova-Bozhkova, S., Paskova, T., & Buhalis, D. (2020). Emotional intelligence: a competitive advantage for tourism and hospitality managers. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-13.

New article just published: 

Stoyanova-Bozhkova, S., Paskova, T., & Buhalis, D. (2020). Emotional intelligence: a competitive advantage for tourism and hospitality managersTourism Recreation Research, 1-13.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1841377

ABSTRACT 

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of tourism and hospitality management through exploring the perceptions of and the application of emotional intelligence (EI) in the practices of managers. The effect of EI on improving business performance is widely acknowledged in business and management studies. However, there is limited research in the context of tourism and hospitality industries. The paper contributes to the literature through a qualitative study of the perceptions and experiences of middle-level managers. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in tourism and hospitality organisations in the UK.

The findings of the study reveal that EI can have a positive contribution to improving staff satisfaction, motivation and overall business productivity. They highlight the importance of building quality relationships among staff and the critical role middle management has in an organisation. Based on the finding from the qualitative inquiry, the authors propose a model conceptualising the role of managers’ EI in creating a competitive advantage for the organisation. Practical implications are discussed and recommendations for further research are provided. 

KEYWORDS: Emotional intelligence, staff satisfaction, self-regulation, staff motivation, tourism and hospitality industries, qualitative methodology

emotional intelligence
emotional Intelligence Model
Manager Emotional Intelligence

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis was named by @webofscience as Highly Cited Researcher 2020.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis was named by @webofscience as Highly Cited Researcher 2020.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis Buhalis Highly Cited Researcher 2020
Each year, Clarivate™ identifies the world’s most influential researchers ─ the select few who have been most frequently cited by their peers over the last decade. In 2020, fewer than 6,200, or about 0.1%, of the world’s researchers, in 21 research fields and across multiple fields, have earned this exclusive distinction.
This is an elite group recognized for your exceptional research influence, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science™.

Smart technology and the Future of Hospitality and Tourism after COVID-19

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis contributed a presentation entitled
Smart technology and the Future of Hospitality and Tourism after COVID-19
to the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, PolyU, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

#IMPACT2020 Conference today.

https://youtu.be/YTqnN27khic

#CrisisManagement #Recovery #Strategy #TourismRecovery #RecoveryStrategy #Future #Hospitality #Tourism #Technology #COVID19 #PostCOVID19 

 

New Paper published: Buhalis, D., Volchek, K., 2020, Bridging marketing theory and big data analytics: The taxonomy of marketing attribution,

Interested in Marketing Attribution? and big data analytics?
 
New Paper published: Buhalis, D., Volchek, K., 2020,
International Journal of Information Management [IF= 8.2 Citescore=14.1] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102253
 
Abstract: The integration of technology in business strategy increases the complexity of marketing communications and urges the need for advanced marketing performance analytics. Rapid advancements in marketing attribution methods created gaps in the systematic description of the methods and explanation of their capabilities. This paper contrasts theoretically elaborated facilitators and the capabilities of data-driven analytics against the empirically identified classes of marketing attribution. It proposes a novel taxonomy, which serves as a tool for systematic naming and describing marketing attribution methods. The findings allow to reflect on the contemporary attribution methods’ capabilities to account for the specifics of the customer journey, thereby, creating currently lacking theoretical backbone for advancing the accuracy of value attribution.
 

New research paper published by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis in Journal of Advertising

New research paper published by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis in Journal of Advertising 

Ali Selcuk Can, Yuksel Ekinci, Giampaolo Viglia & Dimitrios Buhalis (2020):
Stronger Together? Tourists’ Behavioral Responses to Joint Brand Advertising,
Journal of Advertising https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1809574

free eprints https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/76JWSAAMIBF3ZHQXFEHT/full?target=10.1080/00913367.2020.1809574

 

Abstract 

Drawing on collaboration theory, this research investigates the effect of joint versus single brand advertising on tourists’ behavioral responses with two experiments. Study 1 employs a field experiment to examine the effect of joint brand advertising on tourists’ actual information search behavior. Study 2 uses a laboratory experiment to investigate the effect of joint brand advertising on tourists’ intention to visit a destination and measures whether this relationship is mediated by product interest. Study 1 suggests that, compared to single brand advertising, joint brand advertising increases tourists’ search behavior. Study 2 shows that joint brand advertising stimulates product interest, which in turn increases tourists’ intention to visit. The mediating role of product interest disappears when a destination brand forms a partnership with a lesser-reputed travel intermediary brand. The research provides implications for theory development in the area of tourism advertising, while also identifying best practices for advertisers on how to optimize the effectiveness of their campaigns.

 

How Will Emerging Economies Reliant on Tourism Survive the Crisis? 

How Will Emerging Economies Reliant on Tourism Survive the Crisis?

https://skift.com/2020/08/21/how-will-emerging-economies-reliant-on-tourism-survive-the-crisis/

21 August 2020

Dimitrios Buhalis, a professor of tourism at Bournemouth University, told Skift that countries which can temporarily divert their tourism workforce to other industries, such as to agriculture or fishing, may be able to weather the storm and see their tourism economies pick up where they left off, eventually. He pointed to the example of Bali, Indonesia, where the tourism workforce has largely shifted to more traditional economic means — certainly not without hardship.

But, Buhalis said, “where it’s more difficult is where tourism is 60, 70, 80 percent of the local economy and where you don’t have a local domestic market. Places where the country is small, geography does not support easy accessibility, and the social classes are very structured.” He noted that some Greek islands and countries such as the Maldives fall into this category.

Conversely, Buhalis said the emerging markets that will fare the best during Covid are those that have a large domestic population, an income distribution which means a sizeable percentage of locals can afford to travel, and the geography and infrastructure that allows them to do so.

Though he believes that tourism will recover — “we’ve seen how many people are desperate to travel” — he thinks the current moment represents something of a “fallow period” for tourism, one where governments who have already invested in tourism economies should continue to build up infrastructure and make industries more efficient for what he sees as tourism’s inevitable return.

“Apart from the health crisis we’re about to experience a major global recession beyond belief and that will damage tourism and will create a range of initiatives to prepare us for the next day,” Buhalis said. “We need to improve efficiency and we need to improve the way that we manage tourism.”