Session on Regenerative Tourism

Michele Thornton, State University of New York, USA

Regenerative Tourism is an approach that proactively improves local economies and promotes meaningful visitor experiences, while also protecting the natural environment and being responsive to residents’ concerns and desires. Regenerative Tourism embeds tourism practices within local communities and often addresses areas like: climate change, pollution, marine debris, urbanization, justice, and inequality. Regenerative Tourism specifically evolves from Indigenous perspectives and known ecological knowledge (as well as Western science), and in this way has emerged as a practice aiming to improve both the visitor experience and the social/ecological systems in areas where tourism is an economic driver. 

The presentations provide an introduction to the concept of regenerative tourism, discuss the steps needed to support the development of the industry, share an intellectual framework for their study, and offer grounded examples of early impacts of this approach to tourism from around the globe.

Session on Marketing Perspectives on Turbulent Times

Eirini Papadaki, Tourism and Entrepreneurship Laboratory, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Greece

The aim of the session is to bring together scholars utilizing various approaches (either theoretical and/or empirical) in order to explore challenges and developments affecting tourism businesses and various tourism stakeholders in general. In particular, the session will examine and discuss trends, practices and problems in various aspects of the tourism industry and offer innovative courses of action. The focus of the session is international in nature and papers within this framework are encouraged.

Prokopis Theodoridis

Track theme: Sustainable Development and Marketing

Sustainabledevelopmentis considered interdisciplinary, as it combines a variety of sciences and methods. The last decades the conversation regarding a sustainable model of development is in the center of global interest. Thismodelaims in providing solutions in a series of problems regarding the environment, the society and the economy.

There is great need for the promotion of knowledge regarding the linkage between Sustainable Development and Marketing. This new era dictates that Marketing is part of the solution. Forthisreason,we should better understand the process of development ofbusinesses’ sustainability, the connection of sustainability to the behavior of productive and consuming powers.

To underline these concerns and arguments, the International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism 2020 (ICSIMAT)is announcing a call for papers for the purpose of advancing knowledge on sustainable development and marketing.

The subjects of thepapers to be submitted may include a variety of issues, taking into account the broad scientific base related to sustainable development. The papers could be either conceptualorempiricalinnature, ofdomesticorinternationalfocus, andpursueeither theory‐buildingortheory‐testing. In terms of methodology, papers may be based on empirical techniques (e.g., case, survey, archival research) or on modeling techniques (i.e., optimization or simulation).Papers that integrate multiple perspectives and/ormultiple methodologies are especially encouraged.

 

Session on Digital Marketing: Communication and Interaction via Social Media and Mobile Marketing, organized by Ioannis Rizomyliotis, University of Brighton, UK and Kleopatra Konstantoulaki, University of Westminster, UK. Session on Crises, Disasters and Business Operation in Austerity, organized by Foteini Giannopoulou, IRIS Consulting and Anastasios E. Politis, HELGRAMED, Greece

The present session is twofold: The first part deals with crises and disasters, which have increased the last two decades with major negative effects. The second part deals with business and austerity and the reaction of companies in Greece.

A. Crisis and disasters: Why are These a Big Challenge for Hospitality Leaders?

Tourism industry is the world’s largest income generator but on the other hand is volatile to crises and disasters. Crises and disasters have increased the last two decades with major negative effects. Hospitality leaders are facing a big challenge to find ways and develop strategies to be prepared to confront with unforeseen events. But in which degree the industry is prepared? Are these threats taken seriously or because crises and disasters are low probability events, will not affect “us”. This session welcomes papers that examine the concept of crisis and disaster management within the hospitality industry, prevention, response and recovery strategies and the role of Knowledge Management as a tool to shape effective crisis management strategies.

B. Confronting with Financial Crisis and Austerity: Examples from Greece

This session deals with the consequences from the long-term economic crisis and the austerity that has been taking place in Greece in the last ten years. In particular the session is welcoming papers, with case studies of successful strategies and orientation of companies for successful business operation within such hassle environments.

 

Session on Digital Marketing: Communication and Interaction via Social Media and Mobile Marketing, organized by Ioannis Rizomyliotis, University of Brighton, UK and Kleopatra Konstantoulaki, University of Westminster, UK.

This session aims to provoke discussion about the use of social media and mobile tools both from a customer and a company marketing perspective. The ongoing conversation between customers and organizations is increasingly taking place in social media and mobile platforms and eventually becomes a dialogue, a relationship. We invite submissions on a wide range of topics within the digital marketing field and particularly welcome papers that advance our knowledge and understanding of the use of social and mobile technologies platforms in marketing. Topics may refer to social media advertising, professionals’ social media adoption, the role of social media influencers, the use of wireless technologies in MarComs, mobile advertising etc.

 

Session on Crises and Disasters. Why are These a Big Challenge for Hospitality Leaders? organised by Foteini Giannopoulou, IRIS Consulting.

Tourism industry is the world’s largest income generator but on the other hand is volatile to crises and disasters. Crises and disasters have increased the last two decades with major negative effects. Hospitality leaders are facing a big challenge to find ways and develop strategies to be prepared to confront with unforeseen events. But in which degree the industry is prepared? Are these threats taken seriously or because crises and disasters are low probability events, will not affect “us”. This session welcomes papers that examine the concept of crisis and disaster management within the hospitality industry, prevention, response and recovery strategies and the role of Knowledge Management as a tool to shape effective crisis management strategies.

 

Session on Architectural Design as an Effective Aspect for the Quality Tourism, Relations and Principles organised by Dionysia Fragkou, University of West Attica, Greece.

The session will discuss issues on Cultural Heritage (tangible and intangible) and space design; archaeological sites, monuments and traditional villages, integrated into tourist network; Planning, management and development of tourism and culture; Experiential tourism-communication and local development; Authenticity and identity in the hosting spaces design, redesign and sustainability. The abovementioned will be discussed within the framework of the Impact of Mass Tourism.

 

Session on Intangible Cultural Heritage (including folk dances) Reconstruction and Preservation for Boosting Education, Employment and Cultural Tourism organized by Nikolaos Grammalidis, Information Technologies Institute of Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH-ITI) and Anastasios D. Doulamis, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) Greece.

Europe’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, including crafts, skills, music, folk dances, gastronomy, festivals, crafts, etc. is a very important economic and social resource and are associated with a wealth of knowledge. This special session will address new challenges and opportunities in the field of reconstruction and preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), created by the availability of new ICT technologies (including new sensors and computer vision techniques) for the multimodal capture, modeling, semantic analysis of Intangible Cultural Heritage (including its tangible aspects), as well as new computer graphics and game technologies for the visualization of ICH. The workshop will focus on interdisciplinary research on DCH and serve as a forum for interaction between IT/ICT specialists and education/culture/tourism and marketing experts. It will feature presentations on the topic by experts that should lead to a roadmap of future activities for this challenging area of research. Topics will l include but not limited to ICH Acquisition, ICH Documentation, ICH Visualization, Gaming and e-Learning applications of ICH, ICH and new cultural tourism, employment and marketing opportunities, Semantic Media Analysis and metadata, Human body motion analysis.

 

Session on Cyber Security of Critical Infrastructures, organized by Leandros A. Maglaras, General Secretariat of Digital Policy, Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, Greece and De Montfort University of Leicester, U.K. and Mohamed Amine Ferrag, Guelma University, Algeria.

The Directive on security of network and information systems (NIS Directive) is the first piece of EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity. It provides legal measures to boost the overall level of cybersecurity in the EU. The purpose of this session is threefold: (a) to increase our understanding with regards to business-related barriers and challenges stemming from the NIS directive, (b) to strengthen the capacity of both public and private sectors on protection of critical infrastructure, including Internet, cyber and tourism security, in order to prevent and react in an efficient manner to potential risks and threats to related facilities and (c) to promote awareness and understanding of the necessary balance between economic and security issues.

 

Session on the evolution of tourism destination branding: opportunities and challenges organized by Kalliopi Chatzipanagiotou, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, UK and Dahlia El-Manstrly, University of Edinburgh Business School, UK

 The specific track invites papers, which focus on topics, methodologies, theories, models or applications in tourism destination branding. The track welcomes research in place branding strategies, geographic versus thematic branding, regional brand development, innovative destination marketing campaigns and their effectiveness, tourism destination brand equity models, tourism destination image and identity.

 

Session on Luxury Brands and Consumption organized by Prokopis K. Theodoridis, University of Patras, Greece and Antigone G. Kyrousi, Deree – The American College of Greece

The luxury industry represents a dynamic sector of global business. Luxury brands are marketed by a wide array of organizations, from global brand powerhouses to local boutique firms offering products and services of value to customers. This session invites conceptual or empirical papers that focus on luxury brands and corresponding marketing practices, as well as consumer attitudes and behaviors toward the former. We are looking forward to contributions that could stimulate discussion on topics including but not limited to: conceptualizations of luxury, luxury branding, marketing strategies in the luxury sector, personal and social influences on luxury consumption, ethical issues regarding luxury, luxury brand experiences, luxury brand-consumer relationships.

 

Session on innovative marketing strategies for eco products, services and destinations, organised by Ioannis Papadopoulos, Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Greece, and Marios Trigkas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

The aim of the session is to bring together basic and applied research in the fields of eco products, services and destinations in relation to the development of innovative marketing strategies for value creation, capture and deliverance to related stakeholders. The strategic aim for sustainable development of the economies, encompasses efforts for efficient use of natural resources, development of eco innovations, sustainable manufacturing, protection of natural environment and new culture of responsible consumer behavior. The session try to contribute to the scientific debate on the above fields with an interdisciplinary and cross sector approach.

 

The Role of Human Resource Management in the Hospitality & Tourism Services session organized by Barry Friedman, State University of New York at Oswego, USA

Hospitality and tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry driven by market demand (e.g., individuals with available free time and disposable income), marketable attractions, (e.g., natural wonders, unique cuisine, adventure), and human resources. The latter is the focus of this session: innovative human resource management (HRM) practices in the hospitality and tourism industry. We welcome conceptual or empirical papers that address innovative HRM practices for the attraction, motivation and retention of employees that contribute to organizational effectiveness. These practices may include, but are not limited to, strategic HRM, big data analytics, staffing, reward systems, performance management, and talent management.

 

Session on Museum and Creative Industries invites submission on the following topics:

Mapping innovation: communication, marketing and tourism for Museums and Creative industries organized by Stella Sylaiou, Hellenic Open University & Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Museum Communication, Arts marketing, Strategic marketing in museums, Promotion of cultural and creative industries (CCI), CCI, their social and economic contribution, Arts, culture and sustainable tourism, Destination Branding and Cultural Management, Museums and branding, Cultural diplomacy, Culture and International Relations, and ICT, marketing and cultural organisations

 

Session on The impact of Emerging Technologies on Management & ​Marketing​: Sectorial Approaches organized by Dorin Coita, University of Oradea, Romania

This session will examine how do Internet of things, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain impact the way people use to do business, management, marketing, tourism, education. Papers are welcome that are associated to the themes covered under this session.

 

Session on Cultural-Event Management  organized by Evgenia Bitsani, Technological Educational Institute of Peloponnese, Greece

The session’s scientific interest and research focuses on issues like advance of cultural policies cultural heritage management, models of intercultural management, art- cultural management and planning cultural policies especially in multicultural societies. In addition, it focuses on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods to the study of regional man-heritage-landscape systems, national/local/identity – art-heritage- strategies and policies, intercultural networks and strategies of intercultural management and relationships in the global world.

 

Session on Destination Marketing organized by Andreas Masouras, University of Neapolis, Cyprus

Globally, a lot of changes and transformations are taking place, particularly, in social, economic, technological and environment-related aspects. While the giant-sized developed economies have the resources to attract huge crowds to their nations and tourist-destinations, small economies find it quite challenging not only to channelize huge investments on tourism ventures and projects but to attract tourists to their respective destinations in a sustainable manner. Based on the above framework, academics and practitioners interested in destination marketing and management are welcome to attend and to discuss key trends and current debates on the below mentioned issues:  Food tourism as an element of destination marketing,  destination product innovation, wedding destinations and event management, cultural tourism and destinations, marketing and managing tourism destinations-destination branding. We invite you to explore this industry's expanding role in the global travel and tourism economy and in the local communities that they foster and grow.

 

Session on Consumer Markets & Web 4.0.organized by Emel Yarimoglu Kursunluoglu, Yasar University Izmir, Turkey and Eda Yasa Ozelturkay, Cag University, Turkey

This session welcomes papers examining the role of technological improvements in marketing.  Internet has developed from read-only concepts to the current open linked, ultra-intelligent, symbiotic web of 4.0. Therefore, this track will cover scientific papers related to the web 4.0 technologies (IoT -smart wearable devices,etc.-, crowdsourcing, virtual worlds et al.) and their applications mainly for consumer markets.  The connection between human and machine create interactive relations for both sides, and highly effective on consumer decisions in today’s environment is also an issue to be examined and debated under this session.

 

Session on Linking Cultural Information to Marketing and Tourism organized by Charalambos Patrikakis, University of West Attica, Greece

Cultural heritage and cultural information globalization has become a phenomenon of expanding socioeconomic dimensions. This lead to a substantial need for understanding, among other issues transcultural marketing and tourism, the role of cultural information in tourism, as well as tourism based on active participation, authentic and cultural experiences. Accordingly, cultural information is closely linked to employment of innovative information technologies and online services. The aim of this session is to highlight how cultural information and communication strategies may promote marketing and assist destination selection decisions and visitors’ behaviours and experiences. This may include cultural information management, communication strategies based on the use of new media and innovative information technologies, cultural information promotion and marketing, marketing of cultural organisations for the tourism industry, cultural information services management (archives, libraries etc.), understanding visitors’ cultural information seeking behaviour, intangible regional and national cultural resources promotion, design, development and promotion of creative tourism services, development of online cultural communities at a local, regional, national, and international level etc. This session invites researchers and practitioners to submit their work presenting new research, case studies, surveys, theories, position papers, and standardization efforts within the context of cultural information and communication strategies for marketing and tourism.

 

Session on HealthCare Management organized by George Pierrakos, University of West Attica, Greece

Session Health Management addresses the following topics such as patient satisfaction issues, management systems in specialized health and long term care services, health professionals’ relationships, and organizational culture as well as issues related to the sustainability and performance of the system.

 

Session on Transport Marketing & Management organized by Efstathios Kefallonitis, University at Oswego, USA 

The session on modes of transport, hospitality and tourism marketing will discuss and debate New trends in transport (air, rail, automotive, ship/cruise etc.) marketing, the role of innovation and the use of new technologies in diversifying and enhancing transport marketing strategies, consumer trends, behavioral issues and biometrics as a catalyst in designing new transport marketing campaigns (airlines, rail operators, cruise lines, etc), the relationship between modes of transport, hospitality & tourism.

 

Session on International Marketing and Emerging Technologies organized by Apostolos Giovanis, University of West Attica, Greece

The track welcomes especially papers focusing on new and innovative marketing strategies in international markets using emerging technologies (i.e. digital marketing, social media, etc.). Also papers related more traditional topics like standardization vs. adaptation of marketing mix elements, brand strategies, international advertising and international consumer behavior are welcome; especially papers focusing on dynamics in the behavior/strategies, comparing e.g. strategies between two areas/countries, and/or international marketing behavior/strategy – performance relationship focusing papers. Furthermore, related to the methods quantitative and qualitative as well as mixed method papers are welcome.

 

Session on Wine in the Digital Economy: Leveraging the distribution of wine by means of social media and collaborative consumption organised by Jean-Éric Pelet, ESCE Business School, Paris, France

E-commerce websites that promote and sell food & beverages exist but are not as popular as the interactive “Trip Advisor”- like websites. In order for professionals of food & beverages to reach a world-class standard in distribution, it is necessary to implement the industry’s best practices and continuously adapt their distribution processes. The decision-making process to purchase wine (online) requires searching for information concerning the characteristics of the product with a high level of credence. Understanding consumers’ perceptions of mobile commerce and social media and the factors that might positively and negatively affect these perceptions is thus important for wine marketers. We invite submissions on a broad range of topics in this regard, and welcome both conceptual and empirical contributions. Some suggestions for broad themes include:

• How does tourism about wine spread on social media? What compels consumers to associate wine and tourism either by digital or traditional means?
• Conceptual models of and theoretical expositions on how wine is impacted by the digital economy Is all digital economy the same, or is digital economy about wine conceptually or empirically different?
• How consumers process and respond to digital economy about wine?
• How does digital economy about wine spread on social media? What compels consumers to share digital economy either by digital or traditional means? To what extent does emotion or content attributes play consumers’ sharing intention?
• What insights do data from social media provide regarding digital economy and wine brands?
• What lessons can be learned from famous case studies of wine and digital economy?

 

Session on Medical/Healthcare Tourism organised by Michele Thornton, State University of New York at Oswego, USA

The health care economy is historically seen as a locally-driven market, with high costs, access challenges, and competition in quality. It has often led patients to seek care outside of their home countries. This session explores the emerging global market for the provision of health care. As destinations around the world compete to attract patients, the medical tourism industry has evolved to market and support the various locales in an attempt to instigate demand. We encourage researchers and practitioners to submit work that: (a) explores patterns in patient travel and expanding markets, (b) health marketing and communication campaigns, (c) alternative strategies in the finance of care outside the home country, and (d) methodologies that explore patient-provider-funder decision making to support the expansion of this trend.

 

Session on Innovation, Tradition and Cultural Tourism organized by Olga Tsakirides, National Centre for Social Research, Greece

The aims and goals of this session are to highlight and promote innovative actions and products based in traditional resources coming from the first steps of civilization. How these innovative goods could “connect” with cultural tourism? Are there any other “secret corners” in tradition, that could inspire young entrepreneurs and new start ups? How to implement creative ideas? What specific actions must be undertaken (and by whom) in order to establish innovation through tradition in cultural routes of the next generation? Can we create and establish innovation embracing tradition? In the session we are searching for: best practices, original case studies, research findings, high innovative combination of new technologies with tradition for tourists (such as robotics and matrix apps).

 

Session on Cultural Leadership, Creation and Tourism organized by Olga Tsakirides, National Centre for Social Research, Greece

Leadership is not a simple task, especially when it concerns to cultural organizations. Nowadays, cultural organizations are trying to exploit the creativity that exists in their basic capital: their human potential. How do modern leaders envision to inspire them, to support them, and at the same time ensure that the organization is stable and stands as dynamic as possible? How can they use modern media and innovations? What visions do they have? How do they plan to connect their production with the tourism industry? In the session we are searching for: best practices, original case studies, research findings, success stories and above all, creative plans and visions.

 

Session on Entrepreneurship and Human Resources organized by Dimitrios Stavroulakis and Alexandros Sahinidis, University of West Attica, Greece

The session focuses on the role of human factor in business by means of the ways through which individuals and organizations utilize assets and exploit business opportunities. Topics of the session welcome papers on entrepreneurial intentions, opportunity recognition, social capital, gender issues in business, ethnic entrepreneurship, financing new ventures, innovation & entrepreneurship, family business, intrapreneurship, motivation, personnel recruitment & selection, career development, reward systems, and performance management.

 

Session on Services Marketing and Management organized by Dimitrios Belias, Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Greece

This session welcomes papers examining the role of services marketing- management in the digital era, new technologies in tourism services marketing and the role of social media, e-services, robots and services marketing, knowledge of key service marketing issues, trends, current and emerging debates.

 

Session on Smart to Intelligent Packaging Technology, organized by Nomikos Spyridon, University of West Attica, Greece

This session will discuss the connection between different types of science and technologies in order to have a holistic perspective of intelligent packaging. Topics, issues, debates and current trends will be presented that are associated with conventional packaging science and technology from Smart to Intelligent. Furthermore, intelligent packaging as a dynamic marketing tool will be evaluated, recording holistic packaging design and the production of intelligent systems. The effect of intelligent packaging on brands, manufacturing, sustainability packaging, science of materials and the environment will be the main axes of this session. Intelligent packaging is an emerging technology that uses the communication function (Graphic Design) of the package to facilitate decision making in order to optimize its benefits. Last but not least, the impact of smart technologies will be studied on the cultural product and the possibilities that arise from the involvement of technology in the cultural product with emphasis in Tourism as well.

 

8th Symposium on Management Challenges (IANOS): Crisis Kills or Links? (2018) organized by Panagiotis Trivellas, Technological Educational Institute of Central Greece

This symposium casts light on concurrent advances on the fields of Organisational Behaviour, HRM, Innovation & Knowledge Management, Strategic Leadership, Sustainability, SCM, Cultural Heritage and Higher Education. Diverse and modern perspectives on the development and evolution of the relative disciplines on regional and national level will be discussed and debated. However, does the current crisis impose threats to survival (kills?) or yield opportunities for changes and synergies to growth (links?)? Are the same fundamental cornerstones such as leadership, strategy, knowledge and innovation that produce both excellence and perish? (Knowledge Innovation Leadership Learning Strategy: KILLS? Leadership Innovation Networking Knowledge Strategy: LINKS?) In the light of the current recession, this symposium aims to track different views, discuss and publish research on the challenges in the field of management which influences societies, cultures, networks, organizations, teams, and individuals. Furthermore, this session will put special emphasis on the investigation of those business processes fostering innovation and facilitating management transitions from dominant structures to more evolutionary, developmental paradigms.

 

Session on Internet of Things Business Application organized by Ashraf Darwish, Helwan University, Egypt and Abo Ella Hassanien, Cairo University, Egypt, Scientific Research Group in Egypt (SRGE)

The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications and functions offer insights as to their potential impact on organizations and business applications such as smart tourism, smart cities, smart energy, smart logistics and supply chain management where they can facilitate different activities and satisfy the diverse needs of the users. In smart tourism, there is a networked system of tourism destination including industries, services, and tourists in emerging forms of technological infrastructure that facilitates the process of data transformation into value propositions, supports cooperation, knowledge sharing, tracking, and open innovation. The tourism supply chain management can be enhanced with geospatial data enabled by IoT technology to improve the sustainability process in tourism destinations. IoT technologies play an important role to shift the marketplace from a technology innovation experiment to a compelling business strategy by unlocking the excess capacity of physical assets, creating a liquid and transparent marketplace, enabling radical re-pricing of credit and risk, improving operational efficiency; and digitally integrating value chains. For the business-related IoT prospects, recognizing the importance of opportunities and adjusting their strategies according to the market and users’ preferences will improve the performance of organizations. In addition, business operations will be transformed from digitalizing and connecting physical assets to the IoT technology This session focuses on the issues of value creation, strategy, innovation, design and security among other things. Original contributions, not currently under review to another journal or conference, are solicited in relevant areas including, but not limited to: Smart tourism, Tracking systems, Smart logistics and supply chain management, Industrial plants and manufacturing, Smart Energy, Entertainment and gaming, Smart environment, Smart city, Business related IoT applications.

 

Session on Data protection in today’s digital business environments: challenges and sustainable solutions organized by Charalampos A. Tziogas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and Naoum K. Tsolakis,  Centre for International Manufacturing,  University of Cambridge, UK

Digital-enabled business paradigms (e.g. Industry 4.0 in Germany, Industrial Internet in the US) allow, amongst others, real-time end-to-end value chain visibility, enhanced customisation and quality delivery. In this context, data management and analytics are the determinant constituents in driving growth to a plethora of economic activities, from distributed manufacturing and pharmaceutical processing to bio-based applications and e- commerce services. However, as the global business landscape increasingly relies on data, cybersecurity issues emerge with regards to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. To this end, in the light of recent data-related scandals and the enacted EU General Data Protection Regulation, the purpose of this session is threefold: 

• to increase our understanding with regards to business-related barriers and challenges stemming from data protection regulations, 
• to identify emerging growth opportunities that can drive sustainable development of businesses, and
• to articulate meaningful business practices with regards to data collection, processing and utilisation.

 

Session on Public-Private-People Synergies and Co-innovation for Sustainable Tourism organized by Varelas Sotirios, University of Peloponnese, Greece

The session provides synergies with a comprehensive and integrated approach to the discipline of cooperation between the critical private and public sector of tourism. The session follows a modern approach to providing the necessary knowledge for the understanding of co-innovation as a marketing tool.

 

Session on Distribution Channels, Sharing Economy and New Business Models in the Tourism Industry organized by Alexios-Patapios Kontis, University of the Aegean, Greece

The rapid development of tourism and the intensive international competition of tourism enterprises have brought forward the essential role of the classic and new forms of tourism marketing channels. Without neglecting the fact that the main components of each product or service play significant role in regards to their success in the market, it is obvious that the way products or services are distributed is of equal importance. This session aims to explore and highlight international trends and practices in the digital era, related to new business models and innovative distribution channels in the tourism industry and their impacts on the supply side on tourism destinations.

 

Session on Bridging the gap between industry and academia in Management, organized by Patricia Orozco, Laurentian University, Canada and Sofia Asonitou, University of West Attica, Greece

Skills development increases the competitiveness of any country at the global level. This session will examine, and discuss the different aspects, strategies, methodologies and best practices of skills development for students in management, communications, marketing with new technologies. The session will cover and discuss several aspects to bridge the gap between industry and academia.

 

Session on Usage, Barriers and Measurement of Social Media Marketing in Various Business Sectors,  organized by Maro Vlachopoulou and Kostas Fouskas, University of Macedonia, Greece, Laboratory of Information Systems & e-Business – ISeBlab

This session focuses on innovative research regarding the role of social media on marketing and business transformation, highlighting the growing importance of SM in a C2C, B2C and B2B context, and examining social networking practices in particular industry sectors. Increasing numbers of businesses in various industries have already integrated or plan to integrate social media applications into their marketing programs, as social media are fundamentally changing the way we communicate, collaborate, consume, and create. Thus, social media platforms can be used by the enterprises as another means to deliver e-business applications, engage their customers and gain business value.

This session welcomes papers and research examining   the SM usage (what, how, why, how often?), the metrics/analytics and KPI’s of SM use, and the role of social media in different aspects of marketing regarding various business sectors.

 

Session on Mobile Applications and Location Based Marketing, organized by Konstantinos Fouskas and Maro Vlachopoulou, University of Macedonia, Greece, Laboratory of Information Systems & e-Business – ISeBlab

This session focuses on innovative research regarding the role of mobile applications and mobile location-based marketing on business transformation, highlighting the growing importance of mobile devices in the context of customer reach, customer experience and utilization of real-time location context in marketing and strategic decisions. People and organizations are utilizing mobile devices that produce a plethora of data every moment. The utilization of this data along with the opportunity to connect this data with time and location data to create valuable “geospatial information” provides unique opportunities in terms of marketing and strategic decisions. This session welcomes papers related to research examining mobile applications and real-time location-data usage (where, what, how, why, how often?) by private and public organizations and expects contribution in terms of frameworks and metrics/analytics revealing their impact on various business sectors.

 

Session on Collaborative Consumption in Digital Domain: the Chinese Context. Sharing Economy and Consumer Behaviour in Digital Domain organized by Jashim Khan and Meng Tao, Dongbei University of Economics and Finance, Dalian China

The session brings together Chinese scholars working and leading collaborative consumption in in digital domain. The session focus on sharing concept and produce insight into sharing economy: bike, carpooling, clothing and mobile phones. The emphasis remains on automated a-commerce, branding and cross-cultural and critical analysis.

 

Session on Perspectives on Audience Research, organized by Kali Tzortzi, University of Patras, Greece, Anastasia Doxanaki and Katerina Dermitzaki, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

The aim of this session is to explore the potential of studying and understanding audiences in museums, galleries, heritage sites and cultural organizations.

The session will cover the following themes: presenting ideas and aims in developing audience research; investigating emerging audience research techniques and methodologies, including the innovative use of technology; studying visitors’ behaviour; considering how audience data and research can illuminate cultural experience and meaning-making; testing the results of audience research through implementation.

 

Session on Tourism & Gastronomy: Towards 2020 organised by Magda Peistikou, Program Leader Hospitality & Culinary Arts Metropolitan College, GREECE

Gastronomy is the growing driver both for tourists and tourism destinations. The interrelationship between gastronomy and tourism is unquestionable and gastronomic tourism plays an important role in the international tourism market. A growing interest on the field has been noted both from academia and practitioners. The session focuses on exploring the different dimensions of tourism and gastronomy i.e. food trends, restaurant development and local identity, challenges in gastronomic tourism, food festivals, social media and food tourism, sustainability and food tourism.

 

Session on The Active Role of Cultural Heritage in Developing Sustainable Tourism organized by Chara Agaliotou, Loukia Martha and Maria Vrasida, University of West Attica, GREECE

Cultural heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Cultural identity can betangible such as the built environment, natural environment and artefacts or intangible such as habits, traditions, oral history, etc. By definition all of the above act as assets for tourism development and enhance the pull factor of a destination.  As the goals of tourism change from attracting more tourists, to attracting niche markets within the tourism pool, cultural heritage has an active role to play in defining and leading the tourism market. It is important to examine the role of cultural heritage and tourism in the private sector, the public sector and from the point of view of tourists.  Cultural heritage can no longer just exist to be admired but can and should act as the link between tourism development and sustainability and gain a more proactive and leading role. The aim of this session is to present examples, exchange good practices and theoretical models for the better and more active integration of cultural heritage in the tourism experience involving both tourist and locals.

 

HIGHLIGHT of ICISMAT 2019 INDUSTRY SPECIAL SESSION ON

Marketing Implementation Paradigms –Multinational Industry Perspectives organized by Diamantis Kitridis, Director and CEO of Citrine Marketing Communications Marketing Managers, Advertising and PR Practitioners are welcome to join under this session and provide up to date trends, evelopments and advancements in the field of media, communication, marketing, management and tourism.