Linda Osti | Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (original) (raw)
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Papers by Linda Osti
Tourism Culture & Communication, 2012
Many cultural events are an adoption of past rituals and traditional customs created by destinati... more Many cultural events are an adoption of past rituals and traditional customs created by destination managers in order to advance tourism development. However, to be successful, such cultural events need to be authentic and need the support of the local community and the capacity of the locals to identify themselves with what is staged. In this article, the authors analyze the perception of authenticity by tourists and local residents at Christmas Markets in Northern Italy. The main objectives of this article are to determine the level of authenticity perceived by visitors and to examine any differences between tourists and local residents. To do so, a logistic regression model was employed. The results show not only a difference between the two groups, but especially the need for local organizers to focus on the involvement of local residents in the organization of fringe events based on deeply rooted local customs. This will provide tourists with a broader experience of the local t...
Tourism Management, 2016
Illustrates the nexus between postmodern tourist and fuzzy clustering. A procedure that embraced ... more Illustrates the nexus between postmodern tourist and fuzzy clustering. A procedure that embraced fuzzy theory from the beginning to the end is proposed. A procedure that is able to handle the uncertainty that characterize postmodern era. Levels of satisfaction with the destination are used to segment tourists.
Journal of Sport & Tourism
Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of tourists towards positive and ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of tourists towards positive and negative landscape features. Its objective is to classify rural tourists into homogenous groups according to their sensitivity towards specific landscape characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The work is based on quantitative data collection among tourists spending a vacation at agritourism farms. Altogether, 378 valid questionnaires were collected. A K-mean cluster analysis is conducted to group respondents into homogenous groups. Findings The research revealed that tourists particularly enjoy the presence of a landscape comprising orchards, flowery/grassy meadows and vineyards. In contrast, tourists find landscapes that reflects a neglected environment, views of factories and congested roads to be particularly unpleasant. This work has also identified the presence of three different clusters with distinct sensitivity towards landscape attributes: there are tourists who are highl...
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the “motivation-satisfaction-loyalty” framework. T... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the “motivation-satisfaction-loyalty” framework. Through a structural equation model (SEM), it is possible to disentangle attitudinal and behavioral loyalty as a multifaceted latent variable. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on data collected in wineries located in two important wine destinations: Trentino and South Tyrol (Italy). Notably, the motivation–satisfaction relationship is confirmed, and the SEM has also assessed the importance of winery services in affecting loyalty, expressed in terms of “visit other cellars,” “repeat a wine vacation” and “recommend wine routes.” Findings Destination managers should consider the wine-related “relaxation” as the main push motivation, while the interactions experience are important pull motivations to drive wine tourists’ satisfaction. Nevertheless, the findings reveal that more proactive policies are needed to enhance local wines loyalty. Originality/value The novel...
International Journal of Tourism Research
Benchmarking an International Journal, 2011
An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a sour... more An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a source of information for potential tourists and service consumers. The growth of the Internet and interactive websites has lead to the creation of online communities that serve as points of reference for word of mouth and in particular for independent, personal and experiential information. Recent articles have noted the growing interest of tourism companies and destinations to include UGC areas in their official websites to provide their users with these types of information and interactivity among each others. However, so far little research has been performed on the success factors of online communities. This paper wants to create a platform for further research on the topic. If destinations want to boost visits to their websites through UGS areas and create a "buzz" through positive word of mouth, it is necessary to know the correct ingredients for success. Some of these ingredients have been discovered through a netnographic analysis of an Italian virtual mountaineering community. The analysis has shown that some of the most important issues when creating online communities are the reliability of information, the ease of finding information and creating threads and posts, the constant appearance of interesting threads and discussions, the respect for other members, the passion of all of the active users for the same topics and a certain homogeneity within the users.
Sustainability
Large-scale tourism represents one of the main causes of environmental problems faced by many sea... more Large-scale tourism represents one of the main causes of environmental problems faced by many seaside destinations in developing countries. A survey was carried out among tourists in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, one of the most visited coastal destinations worldwide. This study explores whether the destination is meeting tourists’ demand for sustainable practices and whether the sustainable initiatives implemented, as perceived by tourists, have a role in explaining tourists’ satisfaction. An importance-performance analysis and a principal component analysis, followed by an ordered logit model, were performed. Findings show that tourists’ expectations in terms of sustainability are not adequately met and that environmental and socioeconomic sustainability are positively associated with tourists’ satisfaction.
papers.ssrn.com
... E-mail adresses: JuanGabriel.Brida@unibz.it; marta.disegna@unive.it; Linda.Osti@unibz.it ... ... more ... E-mail adresses: JuanGabriel.Brida@unibz.it; marta.disegna@unive.it; Linda.Osti@unibz.it ... In the following years (1998) other two towns in South Tyrol, Vipiteno and Brunico, opened their Christmas markets; Trento (capital city of the nearby province of Trentino in Northern Italy ...
Sinergie Italian Journal of Management 39(1):61-80, 2021
Purpose of the paper: This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of natural and... more Purpose of the paper: This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of natural and cultural resources meet tourist expectations and whether they have an influence on their satisfaction and re-visiting intentions. Methodology: A quantitative questionnaire was developed and administered to European tourists in Hua Hin, one of the most visited coastal destinations in Thailand. To identify and analyse possible effects, importance-performance analysis, principal component analysis and structural equation modelling have been employed. Results: Results show that the visitors' expectations in terms of quality and preservation of local resources are not adequately met, thus should be improved. Findings also show that they affect tourist satisfaction and intention to return. Limits: The main limitations of this paper are the characteristics of the sample, which do not allow a complete generalization of the results, and the limited number of variables considered in the analysis. Implications: The study suggests that the quality and preservation of local resources are issues on which coastal destinations in developing countries should concentrate and invest in, in order to meet a growing tourists' demand for sustainability. Originality of the paper: This paper is one of the few contributions examining if quality and preservation of tourism resources affect tourist loyalty in coastal destinations in developing countries.
Tourism Culture & Communication, 2012
Many cultural events are an adoption of past rituals and traditional customs created by destinati... more Many cultural events are an adoption of past rituals and traditional customs created by destination managers in order to advance tourism development. However, to be successful, such cultural events need to be authentic and need the support of the local community and the capacity of the locals to identify themselves with what is staged. In this article, the authors analyze the perception of authenticity by tourists and local residents at Christmas Markets in Northern Italy. The main objectives of this article are to determine the level of authenticity perceived by visitors and to examine any differences between tourists and local residents. To do so, a logistic regression model was employed. The results show not only a difference between the two groups, but especially the need for local organizers to focus on the involvement of local residents in the organization of fringe events based on deeply rooted local customs. This will provide tourists with a broader experience of the local t...
Tourism Management, 2016
Illustrates the nexus between postmodern tourist and fuzzy clustering. A procedure that embraced ... more Illustrates the nexus between postmodern tourist and fuzzy clustering. A procedure that embraced fuzzy theory from the beginning to the end is proposed. A procedure that is able to handle the uncertainty that characterize postmodern era. Levels of satisfaction with the destination are used to segment tourists.
Journal of Sport & Tourism
Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of tourists towards positive and ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of tourists towards positive and negative landscape features. Its objective is to classify rural tourists into homogenous groups according to their sensitivity towards specific landscape characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The work is based on quantitative data collection among tourists spending a vacation at agritourism farms. Altogether, 378 valid questionnaires were collected. A K-mean cluster analysis is conducted to group respondents into homogenous groups. Findings The research revealed that tourists particularly enjoy the presence of a landscape comprising orchards, flowery/grassy meadows and vineyards. In contrast, tourists find landscapes that reflects a neglected environment, views of factories and congested roads to be particularly unpleasant. This work has also identified the presence of three different clusters with distinct sensitivity towards landscape attributes: there are tourists who are highl...
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the “motivation-satisfaction-loyalty” framework. T... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the “motivation-satisfaction-loyalty” framework. Through a structural equation model (SEM), it is possible to disentangle attitudinal and behavioral loyalty as a multifaceted latent variable. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on data collected in wineries located in two important wine destinations: Trentino and South Tyrol (Italy). Notably, the motivation–satisfaction relationship is confirmed, and the SEM has also assessed the importance of winery services in affecting loyalty, expressed in terms of “visit other cellars,” “repeat a wine vacation” and “recommend wine routes.” Findings Destination managers should consider the wine-related “relaxation” as the main push motivation, while the interactions experience are important pull motivations to drive wine tourists’ satisfaction. Nevertheless, the findings reveal that more proactive policies are needed to enhance local wines loyalty. Originality/value The novel...
International Journal of Tourism Research
Benchmarking an International Journal, 2011
An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a sour... more An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a source of information for potential tourists and service consumers. The growth of the Internet and interactive websites has lead to the creation of online communities that serve as points of reference for word of mouth and in particular for independent, personal and experiential information. Recent articles have noted the growing interest of tourism companies and destinations to include UGC areas in their official websites to provide their users with these types of information and interactivity among each others. However, so far little research has been performed on the success factors of online communities. This paper wants to create a platform for further research on the topic. If destinations want to boost visits to their websites through UGS areas and create a "buzz" through positive word of mouth, it is necessary to know the correct ingredients for success. Some of these ingredients have been discovered through a netnographic analysis of an Italian virtual mountaineering community. The analysis has shown that some of the most important issues when creating online communities are the reliability of information, the ease of finding information and creating threads and posts, the constant appearance of interesting threads and discussions, the respect for other members, the passion of all of the active users for the same topics and a certain homogeneity within the users.
Sustainability
Large-scale tourism represents one of the main causes of environmental problems faced by many sea... more Large-scale tourism represents one of the main causes of environmental problems faced by many seaside destinations in developing countries. A survey was carried out among tourists in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, one of the most visited coastal destinations worldwide. This study explores whether the destination is meeting tourists’ demand for sustainable practices and whether the sustainable initiatives implemented, as perceived by tourists, have a role in explaining tourists’ satisfaction. An importance-performance analysis and a principal component analysis, followed by an ordered logit model, were performed. Findings show that tourists’ expectations in terms of sustainability are not adequately met and that environmental and socioeconomic sustainability are positively associated with tourists’ satisfaction.
papers.ssrn.com
... E-mail adresses: JuanGabriel.Brida@unibz.it; marta.disegna@unive.it; Linda.Osti@unibz.it ... ... more ... E-mail adresses: JuanGabriel.Brida@unibz.it; marta.disegna@unive.it; Linda.Osti@unibz.it ... In the following years (1998) other two towns in South Tyrol, Vipiteno and Brunico, opened their Christmas markets; Trento (capital city of the nearby province of Trentino in Northern Italy ...
Sinergie Italian Journal of Management 39(1):61-80, 2021
Purpose of the paper: This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of natural and... more Purpose of the paper: This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of natural and cultural resources meet tourist expectations and whether they have an influence on their satisfaction and re-visiting intentions. Methodology: A quantitative questionnaire was developed and administered to European tourists in Hua Hin, one of the most visited coastal destinations in Thailand. To identify and analyse possible effects, importance-performance analysis, principal component analysis and structural equation modelling have been employed. Results: Results show that the visitors' expectations in terms of quality and preservation of local resources are not adequately met, thus should be improved. Findings also show that they affect tourist satisfaction and intention to return. Limits: The main limitations of this paper are the characteristics of the sample, which do not allow a complete generalization of the results, and the limited number of variables considered in the analysis. Implications: The study suggests that the quality and preservation of local resources are issues on which coastal destinations in developing countries should concentrate and invest in, in order to meet a growing tourists' demand for sustainability. Originality of the paper: This paper is one of the few contributions examining if quality and preservation of tourism resources affect tourist loyalty in coastal destinations in developing countries.
TOURMAN 2021 Restarting tourism, travel and hospitality: The day after, 2021
Islands are major tourism attractions worldwide, often presenting fragile environmental condition... more Islands are major tourism attractions worldwide, often presenting fragile environmental conditions (Kerr, 2005), where negative impacts are more evident than in other types of destinations (Carlsen and Butler, 2011; Gossling, 2003). This study was conducted in Santa Teresa di Gallura, a coastal tourism destination located in Sardinia (Italy), the second larget island in the Mediterannean. Specifically, it aims to investigate whether visitors’ expectations in term of quality and preservation of tourism resources is met in the destination under analysis (R1), and to analyse the relationship between the stewardship of local tourism resources and the intention to return to the destination in the short term (R2).
Italian Marketing Society Conference “Marketing 4.0: le sfide della multicanalità”, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza (Italy). October 24-25, 2019. ISBN: 978-88-943918-3-1., 2019
This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of destination’s resources meet tour... more This paper investigates whether the quality and preservation of destination’s resources meet tourists’ expectations and is capable to influence their satisfaction and intention to return. A quantitative questionnaire was developed and administered to tourists in Riva del Garda, Italy. An importance-performance analysis, a principal component analysis and a structural equation model have been developed. Findings reveal that the preservation of local resources is a critical area that needs to be improved. Results also show that even if the quality and preservation of destination’s resources are primary issues for tourists, only quality affects their satisfaction and intention to return to Lake Garda. However, quality and preservation are not disconnected constructs, as the quality of destination’s resources in the mid- and long-term is affected by their preservation. Lake Garda due to the richness and diversity of its natural and historical heritage is in a strong competitive position. The challenge for destination managers is to connect tourists to its history, people and culture, while at the same time preserving the local environment.
ITBM 2000 Information Technology for Business Management, 16th IFIP WCC, Beijing, China, 2000
In recent years communication systems have developed rapidly and innovatively, and the trend seem... more In recent years communication systems have developed rapidly and innovatively, and the trend seems inexorable. Internet is a typical example. As a consequence of the information concerning the market that has been gathered, marketing and management strategies will certainly benefit from this major trend. However, for this to come about it is necessary first to identify the most suitable method and tools among those under experimentation. In our research we used an online quantitative survey and the Delphi online method to identify future development trends in alpine skiing in the Dolomites. The results obtained confirm the validity of both, although the Delphi method yielded more complete results. The possession of high quality information facilitates the taking of corporate decisions and makes their implementation less risky. The Delphi method seems to be the best one if a company has to take decisions about future trends and the requisite information either does not exist in structured form or is difficult to obtain at low cost and with relative rapidity.