Дисертації з теми "New tourism practices"

Tourism, as a human activity, is not likely to be managed effectively if there was a lack of management focus on the visitors. Visitor management plays a vital role in a tourism destination in terms of increasing visitors' experience and level of enjoyment, as well as modifying their on-site behaviour to be more appropriate. Through a combination of various techniques, visitors are provided with controlled access to experience the tourism resources. In so doing, visitors' understanding and appreciation of the features at a site may be increased through the use of interpretation, while restrictions, regulations and resource alteration methods are used to protect the resources from inappropriate visitor activity. Interpretation, restrictions, regulations and other management-related/administrative information need to be delivered to visitors. Furthermore, persuasive communication is effective to modify visitors' on-site behaviour. Regulations and restrictions are usually law-enforced. Because their persuasive function is of coercive type (the managing agencies have the ability to administer punishment if visitors fall to comply with the regulations), visitors' level of enjoyment and understanding of the features at a site is less likely to be increased. A softer style of persuasive communication with visitors (interpretation, marketing and visitor codes) is therefore necessary in order to advise visitors about the sensitivity of the resources and the appropriate behaviour to conduct during their visit. In other words, the hard and soft approaches of visitor management should be used interdependently. Hence, the understanding of (1) how people's intention to behave in a particular manner is formed, and (2) how to maximise the effectiveness of communication, is necessary in order to plan and implement successful visitor management. The visitor survey was carried out in the calendar year of 1999, and 1,053 visitors participated in the research.T he questionnaire-baseds urvey of visitors was conducted at several locations in the New Forest, and the number of surveys to be carried out was distributed throughout the year of 1999 based on the tourism seasonality of the New Forest. The research findings point out that imposing more regulations is not perceived necessary in the current visitor management in the New Forest. Instead, the sampled visitors would like to know more about the environmental aspects about the site, and the appropriate activities to participate in. Moreover, infori-nation provided through interpretive panels and bulletin boards is thought to be less than adequate by the visitors, and they think the signage in the site is not maintained to a high standard. Give the fact that signage is one of the favoured media, the quality and information contents of signage in the New Forest need to be improved. Moreover, with respect to the interpretation of the New Forest, visitors thought the information relating to the envirom-nental aspects of the site and the appropriate visitor activities to be carried out should be improved in terms of the quantity. The analysis shows that in general, visitors would be willing to alter their behaviour to be more appropriate if they were made aware of such interpretive information. In addition, the majority of the visitors, except for the New Forest District local residents, do not object to be charged for the use of tourism facilities such as car parks, providing the revenue is used for resource protection purpose. In other words, visitors value the significance of the New Forest in terms of being resource rich and being an important site that offers recreational opportunities to them. Thus, they expressed their willingness to contribute financially to help the management and protection of the site. The research findings are expected to provide organisations that are responsible for the management of tourism destinations with information relating to the planning and implementation of effective visitor management approaches, because successful visitor management is a step forward towards the long-ten-n sustainable tourism development.

This thesis explores the engagement of a group of Mapuche-Pewenche communities with tourism in southern Chile. I argue that Trekaleyin, their tourism initiative, is part of a broader and long history of resistance and struggles for autonomy, territory and decolonisation, in which identity, development, agency and relations with other beings are negotiated, revitalised and re-produced. From my experience working as a development practitioner with these communities in the beginnings of Trekaleyin, I became interested in understanding the ways in which, as a collective experience, it is embedded in and articulated with political concerns and contestation with regards to neoliberalism and multiculturalism. I also became interested in how the communities are incorporating and reactivating diverse and solidarity economies in their work on tourism, while at the same time reworking their relations with and the market economy itself. I suggest that through Trekaleyin, the communities are also re-producing a relational and open sense of place and connectivity, mobilising particular ways of knowing, being and relating to territory and more-than-human beings in a context of global neoliberalism, reshaping scales and their possibilities. With this thesis I aim to explore how, through their engagement in tourism, community members are disrupting, expanding and hybridising discourses and practices around development, the economy, nature and cross-cultural relations, reworking them so as to craft a better position from where they can participate in them, but the consequences of which extend beyond the “local”, affecting us all, both indigenous and non-indigenous. Therefore, from an ethnographic site and poststructural, post-human and decolonising geographic approaches, this thesis brings new perspectives to the study of development, tourism and the environment, particularly among indigenous peoples, in which autonomy, hybridity, diversity and relational ontologies are articulated.

La poussée touristique chinoise s'est faite, et se fait encore, sur un modèle "quantitatif" aujourd'hui. Pourtant, des choses changent, en particulier dans les espaces ruraux et montagneux, avec l'accent mis par l'État chinois sur la revitalisation rurale et le nombre croissant d'une nouvelle génération de touristes de la classe moyenne. Cette thèse propose de s'interroger si un nouveau "modèle touristique chinois" émerge, à partir du district de Songyang, un territoire rural et montagneux en retard de développement situé dans la province parmi les plus riches et les plus innovantes. Il s'agit d'un modèle de mise en tourisme "qualitatif", éloignant de l'ancienne logique standardisée autour du tourisme qualifié comme "quantitative" ou "de masse". Ce travail met l'accent tout d'abord sur le rôle fondamental de l'État central et sur la construction de goûts "stéréotypés" dans l'esthétique paysagère des touristes afin de souligner le contexte politique, culturel et esthétique positif dans le développement du tourisme rural. Les rôles des investisseurs extérieurs et des architectes, en tant que porteurs de valeurs et de regards urbains, dans la mise en tourisme et dans la construction de l'image territoriale, ont été abordés. Néanmoins, nous remettons en question des hébergements ruraux de qualité et des architectures comme révélateurs du territoire et comme leviers du développement. Notre travail analyse ensuite les pratiques touristiques des touristes chinois dans la campagne. Nous nous interrogeons aussi sur la "ruralité" et l'"authenticité" recherchées par les touristes. L'intérêt de ce travail est également de montrer la valeur exemplaire et expérimentale du modèle de Songyang à d'autres zones rurales confrontées à des difficultés de développement
Tourism development in China has been, and still is, based on a "quantitative" model. However, the situation is changing, especially in rural and mountainous areas, with the Chinese government's focus on rural revitalization and the increasing number of new generations of middle-class tourists. This thesis proposes to examine whether a new "Chinese tourism model" is emerging, using Songyang County as the subject of this study, a rural and mountainous region located in one of the wealthiest and most innovative provinces. This is a "qualitative" model of tourism development, moving away from the "quantitative" or "mass" logic of standardization that has been described around Chinese tourism in the past. This thesis begins by emphasizing the fundamental role of the Chinese national government and analyzes the construction of "stereotypical" tastes in tourists' landscape aesthetics to highlight the active political, cultural and aesthetic context in rural tourism development. The role of outsider urban investors and architects, as bearers of urban values and perspectives, in tourism and territorial image building has been discussed. However, we question the role of high quality rural accommodation and architecture as levers for the revelation and development of the territory. This thesis then analyzes the tourism practices of Chinese tourists in the countryside. We also question the "rusticity" and "authenticity" sought by tourists. This work is also relevant to show the exemplary and experimental value of the Songyang model to other rural areas facing development difficulties

Organisations can create a competitive advantage through the way they design their human resource systems. High involvement work systems are considered to be a way to increase organisational performance and decrease employee turnover. However, the components involved are difficult and complex to define, and the synergy amongst the different components hard to evaluate. The literature suggests that the research is not uniform in its approach, and most research does not clearly define the variables involved or agree on the expected results of such systems. This research looks at high involvement work systems in the New Zealand organisational context, and relating these systems to employee turnover and organisational performance. The results of the study suggest that there does not appear to be a relationship between high involvement work systems, and employee turnover and organisational performance; but high involvement systems may contribute to increased labour productivity in New Zealand organisations.

The overall aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the area of new sustainable tourism in theory and practice. The theoretical part, which consisted of a literature study, was made to help find the essence of new sustainable tourism. To bring out tourisms impact on society and environment in practice, a case study was made during an excursion with Södertörn University College to Babati in Tanzania. Semi structured interviews were held with people in Babati. The excursion is being evaluated according to WTO’s sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices, and finally, these guidelines are analysed. The result of the literature study showed that there is no absolute true core in new sustainable tourism. It is a highly subjective judgment if a tourism venture is sustainable or not, depending on personal values, ideology and personal interests. There is features commonly associated and used in new sustainable tourism, like the sustainability of the three pillars of sustainable development, and the focus on the local, educational and conservational effects, but the essence is subjective. The evaluation of the excursion showed that it is by two third a sustainable tourism venture. It is the economic part that fails, since the guidelines put much focus on stable employments and frequency; ingredients that the excursion lacks. The analysis of the WTO guidelines resulted in confusion. They could be both very useful, but also very poor, according to how they were interpreted and used. The results highly depend on the user. Positive is that the guidelines address all pillars of sustainable development equal, and that the interaction between host and guest gets highlighted. Shortages are that the guidelines lack a gender perspective, a historical and political sensibility, a place specific flexibility and a perspective of inter- and intra-generational equity.

Tourism can degrade the very environments that attract visitation. A sustainable trajectory is therefore essential. Sustainable tourism quality control tools (QCTs) are mechanisms that translate sustainable tourism concepts into practice, voluntarily adopted at business discretions. Conceptualised on a weak-to-strong continuum, they include policies, codes of conduct, awards, and certification programs. Certification programs, although recognised as the aspired trajectory of sustainable tourism practice, attract low industry uptake. Various structural and perceptual factors influence this low uptake, but this apparent conundrum implicates another critical, yet under-researched question; if businesses are not adopting certification programs, what QCTs are they adopting, if any? Accordingly, through six research questions and a multi-method qualitative methodology, this study identified the diversity of contemporary QCT practice to inform a more optimal mode of engagement with sustainability. The most recent attempt to structure this knowledge, in 2006, consisted of just four QCTs organised along the single dimension of strength, without further specification (Weaver, 2006). Addressing this major gap in the literature, the first research phase inductively and content analysed the extant literature to identify QCT diversity as per the literature (RQ1), and creates an organisational framework that captures this (RQ2). Building upon these outcomes, the second empirical phase employed a case study approach in the ski resort destination of Park City, Utah to identify QCT diversity (RQ3), refine the framework to capture the revealed diversity in the literature and industry practice (RQ4), and identify QCT prevalence in industry practice (RQ5). Data collection techniques included semi-structured interviews, online and documented material review, observations, and site visits. These materials were coded, thematically and content analysed. The third propositional phase leveraged the collective insights and presents a framework for practical and theoretical progress of sustainable tourism (RQ6). The first phase culminated in a three dimensional framework that effectively organises the diversity emerging from the literature, entailing 15 QCTs organised across five function categories (how QCTs primarily progress sustainable tourism), three “toolboxes” (expressions of conceptual strength), and two “menus” (expressions of conformance) (RQ2). Diversity was subsequently assessed across these key barometers. This revealed that conceptually weak, opportunistically adopted QCTs constituting a metaphorical QCT “Buffet” were the most numerous and diverse in strength and function compared to the conceptually strong, highly structured QCT “Set Menu” (RQ1). In the second phase, the organisational framework was refined to accommodate another empirically added 11 QCT showing new diversity that warranted new classifications. The revised framework capturing the diversity revealed collectively in the literature and empirically entails 26 QCTs organised across five function categories, four toolboxes, and three menus (RQ4). The rudimentary, opportunistic Buffet QCTs, again, were the most diverse across central barometers (RQ3). Investigation of QCT prevalence revealed the ubiquity of a proposed Buffet Effect in the case study site (n=27). Unlike conventional thought advocating standardised models of singular, homogenous practice, the contemporary situation in Park City reveals an adaptable model of multitudinous and heterogeneous practice, with each business using multiple QCTs and all combinations unique (RQ5). In the third phase, collective insights informed a framework for the subsequent progression of sustainable tourism theory and practice. Underpinnings of sustainable tourism theory and practice were aligned with QCTs themselves. In the spirit of dialectal interchange, the relative merits of the revealed standardised and adaptable models of QCT practice were fused. The proposed new model encourages (a) flexibility and idiosyncratic QCT practice, (b) diverse, multitudinous QCT practice for synergistic effects, and (c) guidance rather than conformance sustainability (RQ6).
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Dept Tourism, Sport & Hot Mgmt
Griffith Business School
Full Text

This thesis analyses and explores the Culture and Practices of Public Managers involved in implementing projects in Papua New Guinea. Project Implementation is an integral part of the overall project management cycle that has received a great deal of attention as a major development problem. In order for us to gain an insight of the theme of the thesis, the National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) was selected as the site for this case study. To investigate'how things were done in NACS', a variety of approaches were used to gauge the views, perceptions and experiences of programme and project managers in NACS, to help us understand the factors that affect staff practices. Poor management practice and the lack of a sound management culture and work ethic in PNG, is often blamed for the break down in the state?s capacity to deliver public goods and services to its citizens. Performance culture and good practice by public managers employed in State Institutions to handle projects have regressed in the last three decades, and as a result, projects are seen as failing to meet the goals and objectives of the state. The research question which the case study had to answer was: What is the nature of project management culture and practice among public sector managers in the National AIDS Council Secretariat? The study sought to investigate the extent to which the areas of command and control, project training, project knowledge and staff motivation were important integral managerial qualities in the attitudes and practice of public managers. The study showed that, of the four elements of managerial practices investigated, the inability of public managers to assume leadership, command and control and motivate their staff, were the most important elements missing among managers in NACS. Based on the findings and the evidence collected during the research, this thesis argues for substantial capacity building programmes to be designed and conducted around 'programme and project management' roles in state institutions and agencies in PNG, as the way to improve staff capabilities so as to enable project managers and their staff to efficiently implement projects.

The corporate governance best practice code (Code) of the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) came into effect on October 29, 2003. However, so far there is no systematic study of compliance with and impact of NZX Code on the performance of NZX companies. This study attempts to provide some answers to the perceived knowledge gap. The NZX Code recommends certain governance mechanisms to enhance corporate performance. The mechanisms analysed in this study are the percentage of independent directors, duality, presence of board subcommittees (audit, remuneration, and nomination), and the performance evaluation of board and individual directors. This thesis examines the possible relationship between recommended governance structures and the performance of NZX companies for the years 2003 (pre-Code) and 2007 (post Code), using data from the same 89 companies for each year. Although the number of companies adopting the NZX structures has increased, the rate of full compliance of the Code remains disappointingly low, rising from 5.6% in 2003 to just 22.5% in 2007. Probably due to the small sample size relative to the number of independent variables, and the problem of co-linearity, the multiple linear regression results do not seem to be conclusive and may be unreliable as the basis to form any formal statistical inference. However, treating the 89 companies as the whole population (89 out of 90), and using a simpler and more descriptive statistical tool to analyse the impact of individual independent variables on firm performance, the 2007 results show a consistent pattern of a positive relationship between Code compliance and firm performance, assuming all other factors being constant. This positive relationship is further reinforced by dividing the population into the various industry groupings as classified by the NZX, which also results in a consistent pattern of companies which comply fully with the Code structures financially outperforming companies that only partially comply with the Code during 2007. Surprisingly, listed companies adhering to the Chairman/CEO dual role do not seem to have impacted negatively on firm performance, contrary to agency theory expectation.

I investigated the past, present and possible futures of Australia’s ocean pools, over a hundred public seawater pools sited on rocky surfcoasts, so that waves wash over their walls. My interdisciplinary analysis informed by actor-­‐network theory explored their contributions to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts. Ocean pools have since the nineteenth century been far more significant in the surf, beach, pool and body cultures of Australia and South Africa, than in those of Britain and the United States. Most of Australia’s ocean pools lie within state of New South Wales, and my work strengthens the case for recognising Australian and NSW ocean pools as having distinct collective identities and affinities with their South African counterparts. Ocean pools are sites of social and environmental learning that challenge efforts to establish human mastery over wild natures and depictions of coastal environments as mere stages for enacting human activities unconstrained by non-­‐human nature. They also challenge the notion that people prefer to swim and bathe at patrolled beaches or in private or public pools far less wild than an ocean pool. They are evidence that supervision by suitably trained and equipped lifeguards or lifesavers is not the only or the most satisfactory way to adequately safeguard bathers and swimmers from the dangers of the sea. Australia’s ocean pools demonstrate that regardless of race, class, gender, age or ability, people can and do make themselves at home in pools shared convivially with wild nature and well-­‐suited for sustained, unsupervised recreation and sport on rocky surfcoast. Ocean pools serve as places of refuge, therapeutic and restorative environments, adventure playgrounds, convivial public spaces, visually appealing cultural landscapes, brands, icons and symbols. Australia’s ocean pools are unified by their sites, their affordances and core actor-­‐ networks linked to their fundamental and enduring identity as ‘wild but safe enough surfside pools’. Rocky shores and coastal waters characterised by surf, sharks and rips are among the most persistent macro-­‐actors in these networks that include bathers, swimmers, tourism and transport networks, news media, local councils and progress associations. Australian ocean pools that gained a further identity as ‘public pools for competition and carnivals’ acquired additional actor-­‐networks strongly linked since the late nineteenth century to amateur swimming clubs and schools, and since the twentieth century to surf lifesaving clubs and winter swimming clubs. Those ocean pools nevertheless, remained predominately recreational facilities. As other types of public pools became more affordable, Australia’s ocean pools remained popular despite gaining new identities as an ‘unusually hazardous type of public pool’ and ‘a type of facility no longer created’. The growing threats to ocean pools and their actor-­‐networks are a further unifying factor. As sport and recreation venues cultivating healthy, convivial relationships with wild nature and possessing unrealised potential as centres for community engagement, learning and research, ocean pools are worth emulating on other rocky shores and in other public places. My work strengthens efforts to sustain and create ocean pools and supports further studies on seawater pools and their actor-­‐networks.

The New Zealand innovation sector is dominated by Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs make up more than 97% of all businesses and account for about 30% of total employment. There is, however, limited research available on the New Product Development practices of these companies. For New Zealand to compete with major economies of the world, investment in innovation is paramount. This can be achieved by effective management of New Product Development practices and systems. This report presents findings of the research based on the “Establishing an NPD best practices framework” survey which was designed to conduct similar studies in the US, UK and Ireland (Kahn, Barczak and Moss 2006). The study identified seven dimensions of New Product Development practices – strategy, process, research, project climate, company culture, metrics & performance measurement and commercialisation. The survey was designed to measure the relative importance of each of the seven dimensions. The survey further listed various characteristics under each of the seven dimensions and respondents were asked to identify which of these constituted poor, good, better and best practices. Strategy was ranked the highest among the seven dimensions followed by commercialisation, research, company culture, process, project climate and metrics. The results were broadly consistent with those from the US, UK and Ireland which ranked strategy the highest and metrics the lowest. Commercialisation was ranked the second most important dimension where as in the US, UK and Ireland studies, research was ranked above commercialisation. Respondents indicated that a formal strategy helped reduce processing time. Decisions were taken quickly because the head of the firm was directly involved in the product development process. A vision statement for the company which incorporates NPD was also cited as an important part of the overall NPD strategy. This includes “well-defined NPD goals and long-term strategic support for NPD projects”. The study also considered the characteristics of the seven dimensions of NPD. Respondents were asked to review those characteristics and indicate whether they reflected a Poor, Good, Better or Best NPD practice. The US, UK and Ireland samples indicated that poor practices were more well-known than best practices were each of the seven dimensions. There was one significant difference between NZ results and those from the US, UK and Ireland. NZ professionals identified best practices for the Metrics dimension. This indicated that even though Metrics as a dimension ranked the lowest among the seven for NZ professionals, there was a general awareness of the characteristics that constitute best and poor practices for this dimension.

碩士
銘傳大學
新媒體暨傳播管理學系碩士班
107
Since the advent of the We-media era, most people have become accustomed to using the Internet to search and browse information. Especially in tourism, in recent years, more and more people use the social network to collect various information before planning their trip. Therefore, various types of travel website platforms have developed rapidly and brought many business opportunities. This study is based on the theme of Macau tourism. By setting up a website and Facebook fan page, to assist those who are interested in Macau tourism, Provide the latest information and share the human history about Macau. Let more people know more about the story behind this city while traveling. Use social media to conduct Internet Marketing activities, improve the visibility of websites and Facebook fan pages, and promote interaction with users. And use Google Analytics, Facebook fan pages insight report and Facebook Analytics data to analyze user behavior of websites and social media. In order to optimize the operation and marketing strategy in the future. Based on the data of various analysis tools, it is found that the "MoLeisure Life Macau Travel” website and the Facebook fan page are more likely to attract the interest and interaction of middle-aged men. This means that middle-aged men are also interested in tourism. In the future planning and marketing, we can focus on more content optimization for this customer base. And turn potential readers into real sources of income.

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the changing relationship between collectivist ideals and individualism within dispersed, transnational, and heterogeneous cultural spaces. I focus on musicians working in professional folk music, a field that has strong, historic associations with collectivism. This field consists of folk festivals, music camps, and other venues at which musicians from a range of countries, affiliated with broad labels such as ‘Celtic,’ ‘Nordic,’ ‘bluegrass,’ or ‘fiddle music,’ interact. Various collaborative connections emerge from such encounters, creating socio-musical networks that cross boundaries of genre, region, and nation. These interactions create a social space that has received little attention in ethnomusicology. While there is an emerging body of literature devoted to specific folk festivals in the context of globalization, few studies have examined the relationship between the transnational character of this circuit and the changing sensibilities, music, and social networks of particular musicians who make a living on it. To this end, I examine the career trajectories of three interrelated musicians who have worked in folk music: the late Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer (1956-2008), the Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy, and the Italian organetto player Filippo Gambetta. These musicians are all notable for their taste for transnational collaboration and their reputations as mavericks and boundary-pushers. Through case studies of their projects, relationships, and collaborative networks, I explore transformations in the collectivist folk ideal by focussing on how these musicians are implicated in three phenomena: transnational festivals, new folk music sensibilities, and touring as social practice. This research is based on multi-dimensional, multi-sited fieldwork undertaken in Toronto, Genoa, Edinburgh, and at various festivals in Europe and North America between 2007-2013. I conclude that Schroer, Kennedy, and Gambetta experience transnational folk music space as a field of intersecting transnationalisms that are imaginaries and collectivities of varying size and scope. While festivals in this space increasingly celebrate a transcultural ideal and foster the formation of transnational networks, stable, heterogeneous transnational relationships are proving more difficult to attain. I argue that touring on this circuit generates a desire for community continuity that becomes part of the poetics of new instrumental folk music.

This thesis has addressed a gap in the literature regarding perceptions among local government in the Australian State of Tasmania towards tourism and its integration with sustainable practise. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2008) has advocated implementing the concept of sustainable tourism at destination levels in mitigation of the negative externalities acknowledged to precipitate socio-cultural and environmental change in local communities where tourism influxes proliferated (Helbling, 2010). But the exclusivity of neo-liberal progrowth tourism policy agendas evident at National and State Government levels may have overlooked a duty of care regarding the effects of tourism influxes and prompted questions in respect of the consequences from increased demand generation and the ensuing commodification of both community and environment (Tribe, 2008; Bramwell and Lane, 2011; Buckley, 2012). Australia has since discontinued membership of the UNWTO and dialogue regarding the integration of sustainability and care of the tourism product has appeared disproportionate to the importance placed on maximising its economic contribution. This study has explored grounds for suggesting that tourism policies in Tasmania, by pursuing short-term agendas to maximise tourism’s economic contribution, may have overlooked the associated longer term social and environmental risks were the resource base on which tourism is dependent is rendered unsustainable. Relative to other Australian States the greater importance placed on tourism’s contribution to Tasmania’s economy when coupled to the high touristic value bestowed on the State’s pristine topography (Government of Tasmania, 2013a), has argued strongly for its effective management as a sustainable resource in accord with UNWTO advocacy. The research question asked - to what extent are the UNWTO principles of sustainable tourism evident in the policies and planning practices of Tasmanian local government? A two-phase inductive research design was applied comprising a content analysis of council planning documents and interviews with local government employees. Collectively, these interrogated the local status of tourism in Tasmania and whether stakeholders from within, but also outside the State’s tourism industry, acted to progress or resist the integration of sustainable tourism. Rational choice theory was used to explore the differing responses of industry and governments (Burns, 1972; Scott, 2000, Boudon, 2009). The study determined that governmental arrangements regarding tourism’s management in Tasmania have acted to blunt its competitive edge, its amenability to the integration of sustainable tourism, and exposed the socio-cultural and environmental integrity of its communities to long-term risk.

Negli ultimi anni il settore ricettivo, e in particolar modo quello alberghiero, ha iniziato ad attuare adozioni su base volontaria di marchi ecologici con l’obiettivo da un lato di invertire la pressione sull’ambiente che lo stesso settore ha provocato e, dall’altro di assicurarsi, in un panorama sempre più competitivo, quella fetta di mercato, continuamente in espansione, di clienti attenti ai temi ambientali. Attraverso uno studio deduttivo, mediante l’analisi di dati pubblici resi disponibili su database istituzionali (e.g. ISTAT, EUROSTAT, ISPRA, etc.), viene rappresentato in primo luogo il peso del turismo in Italia rispetto ai flussi turistici, alla capacità ricettiva e all’incidenza della stagionalità; successivamente vengono analizzate le nozioni chiave su cui si formula il concetto, ampiamente utilizzato, di “turismo sostenibile”. In seguito, la ricerca si concentra sul marchio di qualità ecologica dell’Unione Europea “Ecolabel UE”; vengono qui esposti i principali risultati ottenuti nel campo dei servizi ricettivi, analizzati i criteri sulla quale esso si basa e considerati i limiti di tale adozione. Successivamente, sulla base dei risultati ottenuti da uno studio esplorativo di tipo qualitativo che analizza migliaia di recensioni online confrontando il grado di soddisfazione di clienti di strutture ricettive “green” con quelli di strutture convenzionali, il candidato ha condotto una survey online, rivolta ai potenziali ospiti di strutture ricettive per valutare il grado di conoscenza e l’influenza degli aspetti ambientali sulla loro soddisfazione. Attraverso i risultati ottenuti, il fine della ricerca è valutare se i potenziali ospiti siano disposti o meno a pagare un sovrapprezzo (willingness to pay) per un servizio certificato per la sua sostenibilità ambientale. I risultati, frutto di analisi univariate e multivariate condotte utilizzando il software statistico SPSS, hanno evidenziato che: (1) la preoccupazione per i temi ambientali da parte degli ospiti è un antecedente significativo alla disponibilità di questi a pagare un sovrapprezzo (premium price); (2) la preoccupazione per i temi ambientali da parte degli ospiti influenza positivamente la scelta verso strutture che applicano green practices; (3) il grado di adozione di green practices delle strutture ricettive influenza positivamente la disponibilità di questi a pagare un sovrapprezzo; (4) il grado di adozione di green practices delle strutture ricettive è un antecedente positivo al grado di replicabilità delle azioni green; (5) la conoscenza dei marchi/certificazioni non influenza la disponibilità a pagare un sovrapprezzo da parte degli ospiti; (6) il grado di fiducia nei marchi/certificazioni non influenza positivamente né negativamente la disponibilità a pagare un sovrapprezzo da parte degli ospiti. I risultati della ricerca mostrano come le green practices sono riconosciute positivamente dai clienti delle strutture ricettive in quanto le considerano un valore aggiunto alla qualità del servizio; per questo motivo il presente studio offre un interessante spunto sia per gli attori privati che per quelli pubblici, al fine di implementare la promozione e l’adozione dei marchi nel comparto ricettivo.