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Handbook of Research Methods for Tourism and Hospitality Management

As research in tourism and hospitality reaches maturity, a growing number of methodological approaches are being utilized and, in addition, this knowledge is dispersed across a wide range of journals. Consequently there is a broad and multidisciplinary community of tourism and hospitality researchers whom, at present, need to look widely for support on methods. In this volume, researchers fulfil a pressing need by clearly presenting methodological issues within tourism and hospitality research alongside particular methods and share their experiences of what works, what does not work and where challenges and innovations lie.

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Robin Nunkoo, Ph.D

The tourism and hospitality research landscape is constantly evolving and the field is growing in maturity. One of the distinguishing features that characterize this evolution is the proliferation of academic journals. The number of tourism and hospitality journals has increased from less than 10 before the 1980s to around 300 in 2017 (Shani & Uriely, 2017). Among the various knowledge dissemination channels that exist, academic journals play a leading position and serve several important functions. They play a central role in knowledge production and are considered key to knowledge advancement in any discipline (Xiao & Smith, 2007). Journals signify the existence of a scientific domain, niche discipline, or school of thought (Nie, Ma, & Nakamori, 2009). The various tourism and hospitality journals constitute the main reservoir of knowledge for researchers, students, and practitioners alike. Interestingly, these journals have been in their own right, the focus of investigations, described by Figueroa-Domecq, Pritchard, Segovia-Pérez, Morgan, and Villacé-Molinero (2015) as “the scholarship on the scholarship” of tourism and hospitality research (p. 88). Within these groups of studies, feature fervent debates on research methodologies and related aspects. For example, Xiao and Smith (2006a) noted a rise in the number of articles published in Annals of Tourism Research that has as main objective, the the dissemination of new concepts, models, and methods. Such an argument can also be extended to other journals in the field, where articles focusing on research methods are common.Informed by the above debates, this volume contains discussions on various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches, as well as other chapters on contemporary tourism and hospitality research that are common to both approaches. It raises wider methodological debates by drawing together the wealth of research methods experience gained by tourism and hospitality researchers in one volume. The handbook comprises of 43 chapters authored by 60 individuals from diverse educational and research backgrounds and geographical locations. The handbook also has an adequate representation of female authors in the field. It is my hope that such heterogeneity in the authors’ characteristics has led to a handbook that reflects adequately the diverse research methods and methodologies used by tourism and hospitality scholars world-wide and the debates that abound.

shiva jahani

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Prof. Hossein Olya

Tourism Review

Davide Provenzano

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of past perspectives and future trends in tourism and hospitality research. Design/methodology/approach The study grounds the discussion on the timeline evolution of quantitative research methods. Findings Although still under-recognized by scholars, mixed methods represent the future of research in tourism and hospitality. Research limitations/implications The investigation is confined to quantitative methods. Originality/value No other surveys sketch a period of 150 years of quantitative analyses in tourism and hospitality.

Chuck Goeldner

Serafeim Polyzos

Scientometrics

Antonis Theocharous

Handbook of Research on Global Hospitality and Tourism Management

Alecia Douglas

International Hospitality Review

Ankita Ghosh

PurposeThis study aims to describe the development of hospitality research in terms of research methods and data sources used in the 2010s.Design/methodology/approachContent analyses of the research methods and data sources used in original hospitality research published in the 2010s in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CQ), International Journal of Hospitality Management (IJHM), International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM), Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research (JHTR) and International Hospitality Review (IHR) were conducted. It describes whether the time span, functional areas and geographic regions of data sources were related to the research methods and data sources.FindingsResults from 2,759 original hospitality empirical articles showed that marketing research used various research methods and data sources. Most finance articles used archival data, while most human resources articles used survey designs with organizational data. In addition, only...

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Advanced Research Methods in Hospitality and Tourism

Table of contents, introduction, a critical view on mixed-method approaches to tourism and hospitality research.

Mixed methods research (MMR) represents an alternative methodological approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research styles, and enabling researchers to explore complex phenomena in detail. This chapter provides a critical view of mixed methods research and its application in social science research, with examples from tourism and hospitality used to guide those aiming to undertake mixed-methods research projects. The chapter provides insight into the characteristics of MMR, distinguishing it from a multi-method approach. It also provides a detailed explanation of different MMR designs and highlights the advantages and challenges of adopting a mixed-methods approach. Moreover, the chapter discusses approaches to analysis which are pivotal to MMR design. Finally, the chapter concludes with recommendations for researchers hoping to adopt a mixed-methods approach.

An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Design: A Research Design for Small Tourism Enterprises in Ghana

This chapter examines the application of exploratory sequential mixed methods design in the context of small accommodation enterprises (i.e., home-stay). This study, therefore, discusses the exploratory sequential mixed methods of data collection and analysis and provides practical illustrations based on a study of small tourism enterprise sustainability practices in Ghana. The findings demonstrate that mixed methods overcome the weaknesses of a mono-method and offer an in-depth understanding of tourism and hospitality phenomena. In addition to providing a practical guide to emerging tourism scholars, the current study highlights the ability of mixed methods to develop emerging practitioners' skills in both qualitative and quantitative data. In conclusion, the exploratory sequential mixed methods design offers pragmatic data collection techniques that are non-existent in mono-methods. Accordingly, it is recommended for exploring research questions when there is limited information and high flexibility is needed.

Systematic Review of Scale Development Practices in the Field of Tourism and Hospitality

Numerous scales have been developed and utilized in the tourism and hospitality field, yet, their psychometric properties have not been systematically reviewed and evaluated. This gap compromises researchers' ability to develop better measures and improve measurement decisions. In this current study, 56 scales were identified and evaluated in terms of their psychometric properties. It was found that most scales were imperfect in measuring tourism and hospitality domains, and most scales did not provide explicit information about the scale development procedures that were adopted. The scale development procedure and psychometric properties of the reviewed scales are summarized, evaluated, and recommendations are made for future tourism and hospitality scale development.

Using Neuromarketing Tools in Hospitality and Tourism Research

This chapter explains and discusses the role and potential of psychophysiological tools of research in tourism and hospitality. As tourism and hospitality services are in general inseparable, i.e. the delivery and the consumption of the service mostly take place at the same time, they tend to involve service encounters which intense and frequent contact and social interactions between the customers and the service providers. These intense and frequent contact and social interactions during service encounters may determine the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the customers. Hence, the measurement of actual emotions to understand the reactions of customers to various aspects of the service is of paramount importance. Psychophysiological tools, often referred to as neuromarketing tools, allow the collection of realistic data regarding the emotions of the customers. Based on the above background, this chapter explains and discusses the use of tools such as the EEG, Eye Tracker, Galvanic Skin Response, and Facial Expression Recognition in understanding tourism and hospitality customers' reactions and emotions to various aspects of the service.

Using Archival Material in Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Studies: Beauty and the Beast

The aim of this chapter is to emphasize the importance of archival material and how, despite its secondary nature, it is capable of providing first-hand information for researchers. By providing a variety of examples from tourism, hospitality and leisure, this chapter demonstrates how this underused data can be a valuable resource for these areas of study. In order to illustrate how to use archival material as data, a step-by-step process to analyzing archival photographs is provided. The chapter discusses the challenges and ethical considerations associated with using archival material while also providing suggestions for the use of this data source in future studies.

Tourism Online Reviews: Databases and Samples

Millions of ratings and reviews about products are available on the Internet for free, and they are used by academic researchers in the tourism sector. Data from websites like TripAdvisor are replacing or complementing traditional questionnaires and interviews. The authors are proposing a methodology to estimate the percentage accounted for by the sample of self-interviewed individuals over the total study population, in order to calculate the reliability of the results obtained. Average percentages obtained for hotels cannot be easily generalized due to the high dispersion in participation rates among hotels, even in the same city. Participation levels for tourist attractions are substantially lower than those for hotels and are likely biased, due to the fact that some tourists evaluate places without actually visiting them, merely after viewing them from the outside.

Application of Text Mining Approaches in Hospitality and Tourism

The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on researchers and practitioners about sentiment analysis in hospitality and tourism. The technical details described throughout the chapter with a case study to provide clarifying insights. The proposed chapter adds significantly to the body of text mining knowledge by combining a technical explanation with a relevant case study. The case study used supervised machine learning to predict overall star ratings based on 20,247 comments related to Royal Caribbean International services for determining the impact of cruise travel experiences on the evaluation company process. The results indicate that travelers evaluate their travel experiences according to the most intense negative or positive feelings they have about the company.

Qualitative Analysis of Social Media Historical Data: A Case Study of Twitter and Tourism Boycotts

Social media is noted for its usefulness and contribution to destination marketing and management. Social media data is particularly valued as a source to understand issues such as tourist behavior and destination marketing strategies. Among the social media platforms, Twitter is one of the most utilized in research. Its use raises two issues: the challenge of obtaining historical data and the importance of qualitative data analysis. Regarding these issues, the chapter argues that retrieving tweets using hashtags and keywords on the Twitter website provides a corpus of tweets that is valuable for research, especially for qualitative inquiries. In addition, the value of qualitative analysis of Twitter data is presented, demonstrating, among other things, how such an approach captures in-depth information, enables appreciation and inclusion of the nonconventional language used on social media, distinguishes between “noise” and useful information, and recognizes information as the sum of all parts in the data.

Photo-Elicitation Using Q-Method to Extract Group Sense of Place for a Marine Park in Borneo

This study identifies and interprets the experiences and relationships of a host community to a marine national park in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, as it transformed from a local recreation site into an international tourist destination. This chapter elaborates on an original and innovative amalgamation of qualitative methods used to collect data consisting of verbal and pictorial techniques, including focus group interviews, visitor employed photography, and an adapted Q-methodology incorporating photo-elicitation. The research design for data collection is provided as a guideline to illustrate how the study progressed through two essential parts. This study contributes to a gap in method on how to extract pictorial measures on a collective basis to systematically to produce group place meanings. Recommendations are suggested based on the challenges faced in this study. This innovative qualitative method was successful in deriving sense of place for a marine park.

Including the ‘Voices’ of Animals in Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Research

In recent decades, our knowledge and perceptions of animals have changed considerably. An increasing number of scholars are interested in exploring animals and their roles in the context of tourism, hospitality and leisure. Recent studies have covered both practical and theoretical aspects of this topic, sometimes including considerations of animal ethics. This chapter argues that it is time to reflect on the research ethics and methodological implications of such emerging perspectives. The chapter presents a literature review addressing the shift in tourism, hospitality and leisure studies from a human/animal dualism and anthropocentrism focus to a recognition and inclusion of animals' perspectives. It develops a set of guidelines for a methodology intended to underpin research about and involving animals, inspired by the ecofeminist care tradition and elaborated on in light of the reviewed literature and the author's personal experience. Three main approaches are identified: fictional, multispecies ethnography, and multispecies technology-based approaches.

• Fevzi Okumus
• S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh
• Shiva Jahani

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EU Guidebook on Sustainable Tourism for Development

In recognition of the considerable opportunities and issues involved in the development of tourism, in 2012 the European Commission's Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid established the project “Enhancing capacities for sustainable tourism for development in developing countries”. The project was undertaken in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which was commissioned to prepare a Guidebook on Sustainable Tourism, as an engine for development, trade in services, job creation and poverty reduction.

The Guidebook is intended to enhance the understanding of tourism in all its dimensions, how it relates to the EU Agenda for Change so as to enable EU services in Brussels and the EU Delegations in 180 countries as well as other development institutions to include sustainable tourism development in their programme cycles.

UNWTO endeavours to maximize tourism’s contribution to, inter alia, development and international understanding, while minimizing its negative impacts, paying particular attention to the growth potential of developing countries. Likewise, the European Union is well placed to support developing countries in identifying and implementing interventions in sustainable tourism.

The approach has been based on the experience of UNWTO and its work with a wide range of partner agencies and governments. In particular, the results of the study have been field tested in six countries during and following the preparation of the document, namely Kenya, India, Vietnam, Senegal, Botswana and Timor-Leste . The guidebook was publicly launched with the EU on the 27th of June 2013 in Brussels.

Background- Sustainable Tourism for Development

Over the last decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and increased diversification, becoming one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. The business volume of tourism today equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, food products or automobiles, offering millions of direct entry points into the workforce, particularly for youth and women, and a diversity of investment opportunities for young entrepreneurial talents. Tourism has become one of the major sectors in international trade, at the same time representing one of the main income sources for many developing countries.  It is their only service sector with recorded surpluses in trade compared to the rest of the world.

However, tourism can also be a source of environmental damage and pollution, a threat to the socio-cultural structure, a heavy user of scarce resources and a potential cause of negative externalities in society.  What must be done?

Tourism in the Global Development Agenda: The future we want Rio+20 outcome document

" Sustainable tourism is highlighted in the final outcome document of Rio+20 as a thematic area and a cross-sectorial issue within the framework for action and follow-up.

130. We emphasize that well-designed and managed tourism can make a significant contribution to the three dimensions of sustainable development, has close linkages to other sectors, and can create decent jobs and generate trade opportunities (…)

131. We encourage the promotion of investment in sustainable tourism, including eco-tourism and cultural tourism, which may include creating small and medium sized enterprises and facilitating access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor, indigenous peoples and local communities in areas with high eco-tourism potential (…)"

• Rio+20: The Future We Want
• Green Economy Report leaflet

In recent years, sustainability has emerged as a critical concern that must be addressed in any viable tourism development strategy. Expressed simply, sustainable tourism can be defined as “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities”. Tourism is one of the ten economic sectors identified in the UNEP Green Economy Report, whose greening could increase prosperity, create employment and reduce poverty. In addition, tourists are increasingly demanding the greening of tourism. Tourism development should hence have a sustainable approach , to be able to promote growth in the long-term while maintaining a balanced use of resources. This should be supported at local, national, regional and international levels.

Developing Countries surpassing advanced economies’ international tourist arrivals in 2015

Although developed countries remain both the major tourism destinations and source of international tourism, developing countries are reducing the gap. In recent decades there has been a substantial diversification in international tourism destinations, and many developing countries have registered phenomenal growth in tourist arrivals and receipts. Tourism also particularly thrives on assets such as natural environment, warm climate, rich cultural heritage and plentiful human resources, where developing countries have a comparative advantage.

• Tourism is the first or second source of export earnings in 20 of the 48 LDCs
• In some developing countries, notably small island states, tourism can account for over 25% of GDP.
• From 2015, emerging economies will, for the first time receive more international tourist arrivals than advanced economies
• By 2030, 58% of international arrivals will be to emerging economy destinations of Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa

However, tourism can also be a source of environmental damage and pollution , a heavy consumer of scarce resources and a cause of negative impacts in society.  For these reasons, it is imperative that it is well planned and managed , embracing the principles of sustainable tourism which is defined as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry the environment and host communities” .

The Purpose of the Guidebook- Sustainable Tourism for Development

The document is aimed at two main audiences:

• The EU and other development assistance agencies – to help them understand and identify opportunities to assist the tourism sector in delivering sustainable development.
• Governments and other stakeholders within developing countries – to help them identify where they may need to strengthen their approach to sustainable tourism, and if necessary to seek assistance, within the context of international priorities and policies for sustainable development.

In particular the document provides a basis for discussion between the above two groups in agreeing on priorities and actions for supporting sustainable tourism.

The study is seen as informing the existing cooperation frameworks and common assessment and coordination processes in Official Development Assistance and Aid for Trade . This applies particularly in the field of trade, in which tourism plays an important part, including the work of the Enhanced Integrated Framework in promoting Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies and in the delivery of Aid for Trade.

The study contributes to the positioning of tourism within the overarching framework for action on green growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development post-2015 , stemming from Rio+20 and addressed by the European Commission in Communication (2013) 92 A Decent Life for All: Ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable futur e

Related links

• A Decent Life for All: Ending poverty and giving the world a sustainable future

“Sustainable Tourism for development in developing countries”: A document in three interlinking parts

The Guidebook takes a comprehensive approach to tourism, covering a wide range of topics relating to its planning, development, management and impact. By working through the whole document, users are able to identify priorities for intervention across a spectrum of issues.

The Guidebook’s aim is to mainstream tourism by:

• Enhancing understanding and commitment to sustainable tourism.
• Providing guidance to assess the tourism sector’s importance, identifying opportunities for sustainable tourism development, planning actions, and enhancing sustainability of projects.
• Delivering a “Sustainable Tourism for Development Study” which will enable the EU and other development institutions to include sustainable tourism development in their programme cycles.

The guidebook is divided in the three parts described below:

• GUIDANCE NOTE:  Relates the UE framework for development, e.g. the EU Agenda for Change and Tourism pillars (methodology) and relates to EU priorities. It aims at providing guidance to EU services on the approaches required to ensure the effective implementation of priorities for sustainable tourism in developing countries. 
• SITUATION ANALYSIS : Describes the macro-economic dimensions of tourism; its contrubution to improve the situation of a country and its relation with other sectors; policies in place to develop the sector and its contribution to sustainable development and reviews the existing policies and programmes auming at developing sustainable tourism in developing countries.   
• METHODOLOGY:  Designes to ptovide EU delagrions with a sustematics approach to understand the impact and value of the tourism sector in the country and the way it is managed and operated; and to understand which actions are appropriate to improve the situation through tailored interventions. 

“The Methodology”: How to assess priorities for Sustainable Tourism in Developing Countries?

The Methodology follows a systematic structure which, through a series of questions * under each issue, enables the situation to be assessed, weaknesses and gaps identified and possible actions considered, while also pointing to existing services that are available. It focuses on five key pillars of sustainable tourism in developing countries:

Assess your needs!

• Questionnaire Pillar 1- Tourism policy and governance
• Questionnaire Pillar 2- Trade Investment, Data and Competitiveness
• Questionnaire Pillar 3- Employment, Decent Work and Capacity Building
• Questionnaire Pillar 4- Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion
• Questionnaire Pillar 5- Sustainability of natural and cultural environment

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Developing a model for smart tourism destinations: an interpretive structural modelling approach

• Original Research
• Published: 24 November 2022
• Volume 24 , pages 511–546, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Sanaz Shafiee 1 ,
• Ali Rajabzadeh Ghatari 2 ,
• Alireza Hasanzadeh 3 &
• Saeed Jahanyan 4  

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The smart tourism concept emerged from smart city development and is a particular application area within smart city initiatives. Smart tourism is broadly applied as a strategic tool to enhance the competitiveness of tourism destinations. This study creates a framework to identify, explore, and rate the effective factors of developing smart tourism destinations. The effective factors were identified through a review of the research literature and by surveying experts. The identified factors were rated using an interpretative-structural modelling approach. A Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to determine the power and dependence of these factors. The findings show 20 indexes at ten levels. Financial resources, government support, and smart tourism policies were identified as the most important factors in modelling smart tourism development. By identifying effective factors for developing smart tourism destinations, the policymakers can encourage innovation of smart destinations, support smart tourism and highlight the multi-faceted contribution of smart destinations to sustainable development.

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Department of Information Technology Management, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Sanaz Shafiee

Department of Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Ali Rajabzadeh Ghatari

Department of Information Technology Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Alireza Hasanzadeh

Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

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Shafiee, S., Ghatari, A.R., Hasanzadeh, A. et al. Developing a model for smart tourism destinations: an interpretive structural modelling approach. Inf Technol Tourism 24 , 511–546 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-022-00236-7

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Received : 10 July 2021

Revised : 20 September 2022

Accepted : 22 September 2022

Published : 24 November 2022

Issue Date : December 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-022-00236-7

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