Vol. 6, no. 1/2024

Is technology boosting or undermining travel agencies' competitive advantage?

By Claudia-Elena Țuclea

Navigating corporate culture: perspectives from Generation Z business students

By Vlad Diaconescu

This research is a qualitative study based on the focus group technique and examines the opinion of business students, as a niche of Generation Z, in relation to organizational culture and its role in choosing and keeping a job. For this purpose, 3 focus groups were conducted with students from the Faculty of Business and Tourism of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. The first focus group had only 3 participants and served more to test the discussion guide. The next two focus groups had 10 and 12 participants respectively, boys and girls, with the difference that the second group consisted of undergraduate students and the third of students in a master's program. A surprising finding was that none of the 25 student participants in the 3 focus groups were familiar with the concept of organizational culture. However, after some brief explanations, they understood what the concept referred to and were able to participate in in-depth discussions. The key findings made it clear that Gen Z students are looking for companies with a positive culture and a workplace that allows them to have a good work- life balance. These aspects become even more important than a higher salary if it is to be achieved in a company with a toxic culture.

Beyond the screen: how virtual reality shapes sustainable behaviours in ecotourism through uses and gratifications theory

By Remus-Ion Hornoiu, Delia Popescu, Ionuţ-Andrei Militaru, Angelina De Pascale, Luciana-Floriana Poenaru, Marius Lucian Breabăn

This study examines the relationships between ascribed responsibility, uses and gratifications, behavioural involvement, and visit intentions among Sicilian tourists using virtual reality (VR) to explore Romanian rural ecotourism destinations. Utilizing the Uses and Gratifications theory, it investigates how VR content's informativeness, playfulness, and social interactivity impact user engagement and behavioural intentions. Findings reveal that higher ascribed responsibility enhances gratifications from VR experiences, which increases behavioural involvement, essential for ecotourism. However, ascribed responsibility alone does not directly influence visit intentions, indicating the role of additional factors. A significant contribution of this research is the identification of a serial mediation model where uses and gratifications and behavioural involvement totally mediate the ascribed responsibility-visit intention relationship. This model highlights the complex interplay between cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses, demonstrating that ascribed responsibility enhances uses and gratifications, leading to increased behavioural involvement and, ultimately, visit intentions. The study extends the Uses and Gratifications theory into VR and ecotourism, emphasizing environmental responsibility in media engagement. Practical implications include strategies for tourism marketers to foster environmental responsibility and for VR developers to create engaging, informative, and interactive experiences. Policymaker scan use these insights to promote sustainable tourism through supportive VR content development.

Navigating the metaverse: unraveling its impact on tourism

By Anton-Liviu Petrica

This study aims to explore the influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social norms and attitudes towards the use of metaverse on the behavioural intention to use Metaverse in tourism, providing valuable insights into the potential impact of metaverse on the future of the tourism industry. To assess the influence of the variables, a questionnaire was administered to 50 participants from generations X, Y and Z with a gender distribution of54% male and 46% female participants. The survey demonstrated good internal reliability and validity. The results indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude have an impact on participants' behavioural intentions. However, the influence of social norms on behavioural intention was not found to be significant in this study. These results provide valuable insights into understanding the factors that influence people's behavioural intentions when using metaverses in tourism. Further studies with more refined questions and larger samples need to be conducted.

The competitive advantage of Airbnb in perception of tourists

By Maria-Alexandra Sandu, Elena-Mihaela Purecel

Airbnb has experienced rapid growth, with millions of tourists using its service. This study seeks to identify the main reasons why tourists choose to use the Airbnb platform and its competitive advantages. To this end, online research was conducted with a sample of 49 respondents who have already used this type of service. The main results of the study show that price (53.1%), followed by the flat's facilities (22.4%) and location (20.4%) are the main motives for choosing Airbnb accommodation. When rating the importance of the main features that characterise Airbnb, 67.35% of respondents considered price to be very important and 65.31% rated location the same. In terms of satisfaction, the majority of respondents (59.2%) said they had a very satisfactory experience. Had Airbnb not existed, 53.1% of respondents would have opted for a hotel room. Hotels are therefore a major competitor for Airbnb and the advantages and independence of the services should be maintained or even improved.

Generation Z and their personal relationships

By Ioana-Ruxandra Cazan

In the ever-changing 21st century, a new generation has emerged that is ready to change the way we see and interact with others. The aim of this article is to observe the intricacies and complexities of Generation Z's personal relationships. To study this particular generation in more detail, we conducted a quantitative study, a survey to be precise, and the results were interesting. We were able to observe how much value these people place on their personal relationships, how they maintain them, how they engage with each other and how important these relationships are to them personally. Personal connections were highly valued by the majority of participants and had a major impact on their lives. Most of them enjoy meaningful relationships and are satisfied with their circumstances. Despite the fact that this generation is chronically online, it seems to be much easier for most of them to build relationships offline, face-to-face. The ability to express ourselves better in person, the fact that we are social creatures, and the fact that real friendships can form and last much longer are just some of the reasons why some people find it easier to build relationships offline.

The negative spillover effects of tourism on society

By Boitumelo Caroline Rasethuntsa

It is well known that tourism plays a prominent role in increasing global economic growth. As much as tourism can be used as a tool to accelerate economic growth, research has shown that tourism is a double-edged sword that can also produce undesirable and harmful outcomes for host societies. With this in mind, this study seeks to understand how host communities are negatively impacted by tourism activities. The study utilises a literature review approach as a data collection tool to identify the negative impacts of tourism activities on societies. The results of the study show that the dimensions of these negative impacts are based on issues such as the destruction of local cultural values, tourists' expectations, physical damage, the commercialisation of social culture, the production of inauthentic products, social instability, and crime. The study also identifies some future areas of research that can be explored by future researchers on this topic.