Matteo Beghelli (p)

Khalid W. A. Shomali

The purpose of this work is, firstly, to provide a determination of the magnitude of the tourism sharing economy phenomenon and its various components for an Italian tourism destination. The second goal is to evaluate the relationship between the tourist sharing economy (or sharing hospitality) and the hospitality managed professionally in terms of direct / indirect competition. Furthermore, the analysis of the turnover associated with different types of accommodations that can be booked on portals will lead to the evaluation of the percentage of "core sharing" in the business of the portals and to an esteem of new tourist flows generated by these tools. The updating of these issues was framed in the situation experienced by the tourism sector following the outbreak of the CoVid-19 and the second year of pandemic. The work therefore also questions the - contrasting - effects of the CoVid-19 on sharing hospitality. An in-depth analysis was carried out on Airbnb which, although not the only active portal in the area analyzed, is generally considered to be the one capable of developing the greatest traffic for the tourist facilities present therein. The analysis shows that, typically, only 20% of the turnover recorded by Airbnb in the metropolitan area of Bologna can be associated with the "pure" sharing economy, while the remaining 80% has different degrees of professional management which, in many cases, undermine the peer-to-peer relationship of the transaction established between the parties involved. Of this 80% of turnover, while 44% is associated with facilities that can be considered in direct competition with hotels, 36% is made up of tourist accommodations which, to varying degrees, play an indirect competition with hotels, thus activating new tourist flows to the destination's area. While this abstract is being presented, the analysis is being updated and expanded using the most recent data. The work also investigates the various consequences of the spread of tourist sharing in urban and extra-urban areas, highlighting the risk of displacement of habitual inhabitants from the most touristic parts of the cities and the permanent destination of the latter at the service of mass tourism, resulting in adverse social reactions.
In the moment this abstract is presented, a complete revisiting of the work is undergoing to integrate new data-set.

Bernardina Algieri, Rosetta Lombardo, Fernanda Ricotta

Matteo Beghelli

The present study, thus, aims at examining the ability of Italian provinces to attract foreign tourists and evaluate the changes of tourist inflows over time. To this purpose, we consider several factors including climate, seasonality, cultural heritage, technology, competitiveness and infrastructures as possible driver of tourism demand and evaluate their influence on tourism performance. We try to assess which provinces are efficient and which inefficient.

Michele Bettin (p), Emma Magistri (p)

Bernardina Algieri

The research on tourism carrying capacity seeks to comprehend the adverse effects exerted by overwhelming tourist pressure on a destination's resources. The primary goal is to foster the development of effective response strategies to support more sustainable tourism. However, the implementation of these strategies often faces challenges, leading to the frequent imposition of difficult-to-enforce limits on tourist flows. This necessitates the exploration of alternative and more adaptable approaches. This study aims to underscore the significance of a data-driven approach in identifying crucial pressure points. These points, referred to as bottlenecks, are systematically evaluated through the segmentation of the tourism subsystem and the analysis of various visitor types. This method provides a more precise and detailed understanding of tourist flows, guiding the formulation of intervention strategies that prioritize adaptability and optimization of tourist resources over rigid flow limitations. Three case studies are examined within their systemic context, utilizing a carrying capacity scenario simulator and a predefined set of indicators. The results highlight the effectiveness of adopting soft policies to address excessive tourism pressure, without the need for stringent measures and significant infrastructure investments.

Nicola Camatti (p), Ilenia Confente, Valentina Mazzoli, Dario Bertocchi

Michele Bettin

This empirical study presents a longitudinal fieldwork (covering a ten-year period) that investigates how tourists experience travel destination attractions. By doing so, it contributes to filling the literature gap on sustainable real behaviours in tourism, overcoming the limitations of traditional research methods that fail to address the attitude–behaviour gap. By combining multiple sources of big data (including mobile phone network data and user-generated content) and identifying tourists’ mobility flows among points of interest throughout a travel destination, this paper offers a new methodological approach for analysing real behaviour patterns. To achieve this goal, this research extends the application of Social Network Analysis techniques to identify sustainable behaviour patterns and understand how tourists’ behaviours evolve over time based on the network structure of the collected user-generated content. In particular, it strives to identify sustainable behaviours that can reduce overcrowding in specific areas, distribute visitor flows throughout the destination and maximise the diversification of economic opportunities. Moreover, the proposed methodology holds potential utility for local authorities by enabling them to monitor and track tourists’ real behaviours. It also facilitates the identification of emerging patterns conducive to a more sustainable approach to tourism. Consequently, local authorities stand to derive considerable benefits from this analytical framework, thereby fostering more informed decision-making in the context of sustainable tourism management.

Khalid W. A. Shomali (p)

Nicola Camatti

Officially branding local heritage through recognized labels is a strategy that regions can use to promote economic development. Regions increasingly seek more sustainable tourism development, which can be captured by the quality of local tourist service development. This paper examines whether the UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) label is associated to local tourism development of higher quality and offers a first comparative study across European regions. Using TripAdvisor reviews of over 38,000 European locations, our results reveal a positive correlation between WHS labelling and measures of perceived quality and breadth of local tourist services.