Dr Zaid Alrawadieh

A stream of research focusing on refugee entrepreneurship within the hospitality realm has recently gained momentum. However, existing research seems to place emphasis on the host country’s ecosystem overlooking the home country’s situation in the entrepreneurial course of refugees. This omission is intriguing given the crucial role of home experiences of refugees on their entrepreneurial journeys in their host countries. Drawing on mixed embeddedness theory, this study explores the entrepreneurial experience of Iraqi refugee entrepreneurs in the restaurant business in Egypt based on a multiple case study approach involving four Iraqi refugee entrepreneurs. The study examines refugee entrepreneurial experience whereas the economic and political instability in the host country can have a noticeable impact on business development. It also discusses the effect of the situation in the refugee sending country on business in the host country. The study adds to a still-maturing stream of research on refugee entrepreneurship and provides several theoretical as well as practical implications.

A growing yet fragmented debate addressing digital nomadism has recently emerged across different disciplines, including management, organizational behavior, and mobility studies. However, the intersection between digital nomadism and leisure and tourism activities remains blurred. Integrating existing theoretical assessments, this conceptual paper scrutinizes digital nomadism from a tourism and leisure perspective, and attempts to provide a broader understanding of this phenomenon. The paper repositions digital nomads in the center of tourism and travel discourse by describing their key characteristics, mobility motives, destination selection process, and critical features, singling them out from conventional business/leisure tourists. This paper significantly contributes to an emerging stream of tourism research addressing digital nomadism as an emerging lifestyle market and provides timely practical implications for policymakers and industry practitioners.

Purpose – This study examines the role of hospitableness towards refugees, as embraced by local hosts, in engendering positive social outcomes including fostering favourable attitudes and empathy towards refugees, satisfaction from hosting refugees in private dwellings, and advocacy for hosting them.

Methodology – Rooted in the Contact Theory and drawing on a hospitality social lens framework, the study employs a mixed-methods approach using a sequential quantitative-qualitative design to understand the interface between hospitableness, attitudes and empathy towards refugees, satisfaction from hosting refugees in private dwellings, and advocacy for hosting them. A conceptual model is proposed and tested using 160 valid surveys collected from individuals hosting Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia. SEM-PLS is used to test the proposed model. Twenty-five in-depth interviews with Slovakian individuals hosting refugees in private dwellings were also conducted to explain and further explore the initial quantitative results.

Findings – The findings indicate that hospitableness has a positive effect on attitudes towards refugees, fosters a sense of empathy, and results in satisfaction from hosting refugees. Interestingly, while hospitableness per se does not directly affect advocacy for hosting refugees, it does so indirectly via favourable attitudes towards refugees and satisfaction from the hosting experience. While qualitative findings largely support and further explain the quantitative results, interesting insights are also obtained.

Practical implications – The study advocates that hospitableness should be addressed from a social lens beyond its traditional commercial boundaries. Several implications for policy-makers, NGOs, and other stakeholders involved in hosting refugees are proposed. Overall, policies need to be oriented toward harnessing the power of refugee hosting schemes thus increasing the role of hospitableness in addressing societal challenges such as the refugee crisis.

Originality/value – While not new, private hosting of refugees has recently gained momentum following the outbreak of the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Despite some valuable research delving into hosting experiences from the refugees’ and hosts’ perspectives, this research stream is notably fragmented and largely exploratory. Specifically, there seems to be no comprehensive understanding of how hospitableness towards refugees, as embraced by hosts, can engender positive social outcomes including fostering favourable attitudes and empathy towards refugees, satisfaction from hosting refugees, and advocacy for hosting refugees in private dwellings. Overall, hospitality research is notably biased towards commercial settings focusing on instrumental benefits rather than societal outcomes. This study focuses on the societal outcomes of hospitableness as a tool to address the refugee crisis.

Connectedness to nature (CTN) has been widely acknowledged as having a favourable impact on individuals participating in nature-based activities. However, existing research seems to focus on environmental outcomes overlooking the potential impact of CTN on tourist experience and well-being of individuals in general and the elderly in particular. Considering this omission and drawing on a transformative tourism perspective, the present study proposes and tests a conceptual model linking CTN with tourist experience, tourist well-being, and life satisfaction. Drawing on data collected from 211 senior individuals aged 60 and over participating in nature-based activities in the UK and Turkey, the findings confirm the positive effect of CTN on tourist experience, tourist well-being, and life satisfaction. As predicted, the findings also show that tourist well-being has a positive spill over effect on the life satisfaction of the elderly. The study makes theoretical contributions to CTN research and senior tourism scholarship and suggests important implications for both the commercial travel trade as well as local councils, NGOs, and other community associations concerned with the elderly's welfare and quality of life.

Despite a growing stream of research addressing hospitableness in destinations and hospitality settings, very little is known about the role of hospitableness in fostering favorable social outcomes for vulnerable individuals such as refugees. This omission is intriguing given the heated debate on how local communities in refugee hosting countries can contribute to tackling the refugee crisis. Drawing on data collected from Ukrainian refugees hosted by locals in Slovakia, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model linking hospitableness, social inclusion, self-esteem, loneliness, psychological distress, psychological resilience, and subjective well-being. Using SEM-PLS, the findings confirm that hospitableness can positively enhance social inclusion while mitigating loneliness. Contrary to our predication, however, our results fail to confirm the positive effect of hospitableness on subjective well-being both directly and indirectly mediated by self-esteem and social inclusion. Psychological resilience significantly moderates the relationship between hospitableness and social inclusion. The study makes significant theoretical contributions to the corpus of literature on the social outcomes of hospitableness and provides timely implications for policy makers to utilise “refugee hosting by locals” schemes and “private sponsorship of refugees” programmes as a viable solution to enhance refugees’ social inclusion and foster their overall well-being.

The emotional aspects of heritage experiences remain so far under-researched with the emotional accessibility at such sites ignored. Using cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) and reversal theory, this study evaluates the role of motivation, tourism impacts, emotional accessibility and felt emotions in determining tourist satisfaction at heritage sites. Based on a sample of 1531 international visitors to Petra, this study confirms that tourist motivation affects perceived positive but not negative tourism impacts. Tourist motivation contributes positively toward visitors accessing their emotions (emotional accessibility) derived from the site visit. However, only positive tourism impacts contribute to emotional accessibility, and the latter informs both felt positive and negative emotions. Significant relationships exist between these factors and tourist satisfaction. Implications for cultural sustainability and tourist experience management at heritage sites are suggested.  

The role of hospitableness in hedonic service settings has been subject to considerable theoretical and empirical investigation; however, its role in utilitarian service settings (e.g., hospitals) has received notably scant attention. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model linking hospitableness, patient experience, positive emotions, overall satisfaction, subjective well-being, and recommendation intention. Drawing on quantitative data (n = 204) collected from inpatients in hospitals, the findings largely support the proposed theoretical model and confirm that hospitableness can positively influence patient experience and positive emotions, but not overall satisfaction. Interestingly, while hospitableness does not seem to directly influence overall satisfaction, this effect is indirectly achieved via patient experience. The findings also reveal that patients’ subjective well-being may be enhanced by positive emotions but not overall satisfaction. Both positive emotions and overall satisfaction have a positive effect on recommendation intention. The study makes several theoretical implications and proposes significant practical implications both for the hospitality and healthcare sectors.

While a plethora of research examines the antecedents and outcomes of favourable employee-to-customer interaction in the hospitality industry, little empirical investigation has been conducted so far to understand the effect of employee-to-customer interaction on customers’ social well-being. This omission is particularly intriguing in the context of elderly care homes whereby employee-to-customer interaction is both intense and crucial. Building on a transformative service research perspective, the present study draws on a mixed-methods approach using a sequential quantitative-qualitative design to understand the interface between favourable employee-to-customer interaction, social connectedness, and social well-being. Using data from 267 elderly individuals in care homes combined with data from three focus groups in China, the study confirms the role of favourable employee-to-customer interaction in enhancing the social connectedness of elderly customers. Both employee-to-customer interaction and social connectedness are also found to positively influence elderly customers’ social well-being. Findings from the qualitative study lend support to the proposed theoretical model and further demonstrate how elderly consumers’ social well-being is impacted in a transformative way by favourable interactions with employees. Qualitative findings show how both employees and elderly customers deploy different resources to pursue transformative outcomes of value exchange and value co-creation. The study advances transformative service research and suggests implications for policy and managers in elderly care homes and the wider hospitality industry.

Purpose – A burgeoning stream of tourism and hospitality research highlights the role of entrepreneurship in bringing about positive social and economic outcomes for both refugees themselves and their host countries. Yet little has been done so far both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and tourism scholarship to explore how motivations influence perceived entrepreneurial success of refugees and how this eventually affects their subjective well-being. To address this gap, the present study proposes and empirically tests a conceptual model postulating relationships between contextual and individual entrepreneurial motives, perceptions of entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on quantitative data collected through 172 surveys of refugee entrepreneurs venturing in different sub-sectors within tourism and hospitality in Turkey and the UK. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed theoretical model.

Findings – The results reveal that contextual and individual entrepreneurial motives have a significant positive impact on perceived entrepreneurial success. As predicted, perceived entrepreneurial success is found to have a significant positive impact on life satisfaction. A multi-group analysis involving host country (Turkey vs the UK) and mode of entry (founder vs takeover) indicates no significant difference based on host country whereas the strength of relationships for takeovers is relatively greater as compared to founders.

Practical implications – The study advocates that the reductionist approach viewing refugees as temporary “outsiders” who are in consistent need of public provision and welfare services should not prevail against their ability to achieve self-efficiency through entrepreneurship. Hence, policies need to be oriented toward supporting refugee entrepreneurial activities over various business stages and modes of entry. More importantly, ensuring high success rates among refugee entrepreneurs should be viewed as a pivotal tool to address the well-being of refugees, their families, and their fellows.

Originality/value – While previous research identifies drivers of entrepreneurship success and the potential favorable outcomes, none of these studies empirically models refugee entrepreneurship motives, self-reported entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction as a distinct and growing cohort of entrepreneurs. The study makes significant theoretical contributions to the corpus of literature on the social outcomes of entrepreneurship and provides timely implications for policy makers to utilize entrepreneurship as a market-based solution to address refugees’ subjective well-being.

The reciprocity norm theory suggests that individuals develop a sense of obligation and indebtedness to reciprocate the favorable treatment they receive. Rooted in the notion of reciprocity norm, organizational support is regarded as essential for organizations to maintain long-term relationships with their employees. Despite an established academic discussion on organizational support and its outcomes in behavioral and applied psychology research, a comprehensive understanding of its role in enhancing employees' well-being is surprisingly limited in the field of tourism. Drawing on the organizational support theory and theoretical conceptualizations on well-being, the present study proposes a conceptual model linking perceived organizational support (POS) with quality of work life, life satisfaction, and burnout. Using data from 301 tour guides, the results show that POS enhances tour guides' quality of work life and reduces their levels of burnout. The findings also show that while POS does not have a direct effect on life satisfaction, this effect emerges mediated by the quality of work life. As predicted, quality of work life was found as a key antecedent of life satisfaction. The current study highlights the role of POS in enhancing the well-being of tour guides and shows how well-being at the workplace is associated with well-being in life.

This paper proposes and empirically assesses a social cognition conceptual model linking creativity (both artistic and scholarly), entrepreneurial personality traits, and entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, the study draws on social cognition perspectives to investigate the potential role of creativity as a mechanism underlying the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurial intention. Using a sample of 194 creative nascent entrepreneurs, the study tests the proposed model using Partial Last Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM). The study reveals that, among entrepreneurial personality traits, only risk-taking propensity is positively related to entrepreneurial intention. Interestingly, while artistic creativity seems to enhance entrepreneurial intention, scholarly creativity is found to stimulate a more cautious approach toward venturing. The findings also reveal that scholarly creativity fully mediates the relationship between tolerance for ambiguity and entrepreneurial intention. The study makes an original contribution by showcasing how both artistic and scholarly creativity developed in the same socially situated cognitive environment can influence decision making and the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurial intention, thus contributing to social cognition perspectives and research in entrepreneurship.

Heritage tourists' motives are heterogeneous but few studies examine the relationship between these motives, emotions felt after the visit, and tourists' perceptions of the attributes that contribute to World Heritage Status (WHS) listing of a site. Using cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) as the theoretical lens, we evaluate the relationship between motivation, emotion and site characteristics. Based on a sample of 1531 international visitors to Petra, we segment their motives and emotions and profile these with respect to perceptions of the attributes for WHS listing. The results show the existence of two motivation clusters “General Tourists” and “Heritage Tourists”, with the latter being drawn to Petra for reasons related to both site characteristics and heritage. Three clusters of emotions were identified namely, “Positive Arousals”, “Low Arousals” and “Mixed Arousals”. Significant relationships were identified between the motivation and emotion clusters and their respective perceptions of the attributes for WHS listing. A logit model confirmed that the emotion felt by the different clusters can be predicted by motivation clusters, demographic and travel characteristics. Implications for theory and practice are offered.

Previous hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship research has emphasized the economic and financial outcomes of entrepreneurship whilst paying less attention to social outcomes. Specifically, minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and hospitality and tourism scholarship, has been paid to entrepreneurship as a means to facilitate the integration of refugees and enhance their well-being. To address this gap, this study aims to showcase how entrepreneurial activities in the hospitality and tourism industry contribute to the integration and subjective well-being of entrepreneurs. Drawing on data collected through 38 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey and the UK, the findings reveal that several factors influence the contribution of entrepreneurial activities to the integration of entrepreneurs and their families within the host society. Entrepreneurial activities also appear to have positive spillover effects on subjective well-being. This paper offers new insights into the social outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship by conceptualizing and empirically supporting the relationship between hospitality entrepreneurship, integration and well-being.

Drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), and a gender perspective, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model postulating relationships between sexual harassment, burnout, perceived social and organizational support, psychological well-being, and job satisfaction. A survey of Turkish female tour guides resulted in 221 valid questionnaires. The results reveal that female tour guides’ sexual harassment experience has a negative impact on their job satisfaction and psychological well-being. Unlike perceived social support, perceived organizational support plays a significant and negative role in triggering sexual harassment. The findings also confirm the mediating effects of burnout on the relationship between sexual harassment and job satisfaction as well as the relationship between sexual harassment and psychological well-being. The study contributes to gender equality and sustainability research and offers several practical implications for stakeholders in the travel industry and public policy.

To maximize their revenues and protect their market share against traditional competitors (e.g. formal lodging businesses) and disruptive business models (e.g. Airbnb), the lodging industry increasingly relies on technology in various operations. However, the extent to which hotels adopt technology innovation in their revenue management (RM) operations, as well as the benefits of and barriers for digitalization, remains unclear. Moreover, the possible impacts of digital transformation on the future of revenue managers’ professions have been largely overlooked in previous studies. Drawing on qualitative data collected through 23 semistructured interviews with revenue managers in luxury and upscale hotels across Jordan, the findings suggest that RM is going through digital transformation with different levels of sophistication. While acknowledging the benefits of digital transformation in saving time, supporting the decision-making process, and yielding more revenues, the high cost of RM software emerges as a key barrier for digital transformation. The findings also reveal that the automation of various manual heuristics in RM is far from being possible, and therefore, digital transformation is unlikely to pose a threat to the future of the RM profession.

Purpose.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which budget and mid-range hoteliers perceive Airbnb as a threat, and the extent to which they are actively responding to the peer-to-peer accommodation business model.

Design/methodology/approach.
The study draws on qualitative data collected through 19 semi-structured interviews with budget and midrange hotel managers in Istanbul, Turkey, covering how they view Airbnb and have responded to Airbnb’s rise.

Findings.
The results suggest that the managers believed they were losing some business to Airbnb, yet they generally neither perceive Airbnb as a serious threat nor were they generally taking concrete strategic measures to respond to Airbnb. Regulatory lobbying against Airbnb and exploiting Airbnb as a new distribution platform were the most common responses, and cutting rate also was commonly seen as a potential competitive strategy.

Originality/value.
The study responds to calls by several scholars for more research addressing the strategies adopted by traditional lodging facilities to protect their market share from Airbnb. This study does so with a specific focus on the budget and midrange hotel segments, which some studies suggest may be particularly vulnerable to Airbnb competition. Also, the limited research addressing Airbnb’s perceived impacts on traditional lodging has been conducted in mature economies, so the topic remains largely neglected in maturing economies like Turkey.

The well-being of employees in the tourism and hospitality industry remains an important area of investigation in tourism research. Building on the emotional labor theory and the well-being body of knowledge, this study develops and tests a model that examines the effects of emotional dissonance on the quality of work life and life satisfaction using data from professional tour guides in Jordan. Unexpectedly, results show that tour guides do not experience significant emotional dissonance and that there is no negative impact of emotional dissonance neither on quality of work life or life satisfaction. Contrary to theoretical predictions, the findings fail to suggest a link between emotional dissonance, quality of work of life and life satisfaction. However, the findings reveal that a positive relationship between quality of work life and life satisfaction exists. The study provides some theoretical and practical implications and suggests areas of inquiry for future research.

Tourist harassment has received some attention over the past two decades as a major challenge affecting travelers’ personal safety and their perceptions of tourism destinations. However, there is still a need to understand and explore in depth the types of behavior that constitute tourist harassment. Using a qualitative netnographic study approach, this study identified the types of harassment that tourists are likely to experience in archeological sites. Travelers’ anecdotes reporting harassment incidents in two Jordanian archeological sites, Petra and Jerash, were retrieved from TripAdvisor and examined using a hybrid content analysis approach. Six key categories of tourist harassment emerged from the data. These categories were labeled as vendors’ persistence, obtrusive on-site service providers, beggar children, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical abuse. Each category was explored in depth and exemplified using travelers’ anecdotes. A typology of tourists’ response to harassment was also developed based on the anecdotes. Results suggest that vendors’ persistence was the most frequently reported type of harassment. When experiencing harassment, tourists are likely to respond by resisting the harassers. The findings have several theoretical and managerial implications for both researchers and destination managers.

The exponential growth of open access publishing has sadly encouraged the emergence of numerous predatory publishers and journals harming the scientific community and threatening scholarly communication. While the issue has received some attention from the academic community in medical and applied sciences, much less work has been done within the realm of social sciences. Specifically, despite the gravity of predatory publishing as unethical practice and its negative effect on the progress and quality of tourism and hospitality research, empirical investigation on the topic remains very limited. The present study used a mixed method design combining data from 612 articles published in 13 potential tourism and hospitality predatory journals with data from two surveys drawing on authors’ experiences as well as tourism and hospitality most prolific scholars’ perceptions. The findings reveal that predatory journals are succeeding in targeting a wide range of researchers regardless of their career experience from both developed and developing countries. Lack of awareness of predatory journals, pressure for publication, and high rejection rates in legitimate journals were found to be the key motivations for publishing in predatory journals. Raising awareness of predatory journals and reconsidering tenure and promotion requirements were suggested as the best response strategies to curb predatory publishing. The study offers several theoretical and practical implications and proposes avenues for future research.

Recently, retraction has received considerable attention in several fields of research. The topic, however, remains neglected in the field of tourism and hospitality. The current investigation explores the current level of retraction in tourism and hospitality research. It also draws on the perceptions of the editors-in-chief of tourism and hospitality journals to understand their attitudes toward retraction. The findings reveal that retraction is quite rare in the field of tourism and hospitality (only 5 retracted articles were identified). Empirical evidence shows that editors-in-chief have mixed perceptions concerning the current level of retraction, varying between optimism and pessimism. Optimistic editors-in-chief agreed that the rareness of retraction is reflective of research integrity and identified awareness of the best practices in academic publishing, the youthfulness of tourism as an area of study, and the role of plagiarism detection software programs as significant factors. Pessimistic editors-in-chief were reluctant to consider the low retraction rate to be an indicator of a high level ofresearch integrity and they highlighted the difficulty of detecting malpractice, editors-in-chief’s unwillingness to engage in retraction, and the existence of unethical practices that do not lead to retraction. By identifying the retraction level and exploring the perceptions of editors-in-chief, the present study endeavours to track the progress, transparency, and integrity of tourism and hospitality research.

Purpose –With the proliferation of Web 2.0 and the travel-related user-generated content platforms, researchers can obtain abundant unsolicited data to examine guests’ perceptions, preferences and behaviors. Drawing on online reviews, this study aims to identify the key factors that determine guest satisfaction in lodging businesses.

Design/methodology/approach –A total of 400 English-language reviews posted about the bestrated hotels in Istanbul, Turkey, according to TripAdvisor’s ranking system, were selected and content-analyzed. A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive content analysis was adopted in this study.

Findings –Thefindingssuggestedthat the quality and size of rooms, along with the service quality from staff, mainly determine guest satisfaction. The findings also reveal that relatively young European male travelers who stay in couple and with family are more likely to share their accommodation experiences in cyberspace.

Originality/value –The study adds to the literature on the determinants of guest satisfaction by examining online reviews. Unlike research using conventional research methods, the present study contributes to the existing literature of guest satisfaction in the hotel industry by harnessing the power of the wordofmouse.

Purpose.
Drawing on a sample of 520 negative reviews posted on TripAdvisor against all five-star hotels operating in Petra, Jordan, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the response of luxury hotels to negative online reviews by considering the Response Rate (RR), the Response Time (RT) and the Response Content (RC).

Design/methodology/approach.
A deductive content analysis was used on hotels’ managerial responses. Based on the literature review, a four-construct scheme was identified to guide the analysis including Appreciation; Apology; Explanation; and Incentive. The managerial responses were carefully read and manually coded based on the four-construct scheme. The time between the review posting date and the date of the managerial response was also recorded. Luxury hotel managers were also surveyed to obtain insights into their perceptions and practices with respect to online reputation management.

Findings.
The findings call into question luxury hotels’ awareness of the harmful impact of negative online reviews. Specifically, the findings suggest that less than half of the negative reviews received a managerial response, and that more than half of these were standardized and did not refer to the issues raised in the reviews. The low response rate coupled with the hotel managers’ consensus on the importance of answering all online reviews indicates inconsistency between hotel managers’ perceptions and practices with regard to online reputation management.

Originality/value.
The paper adds to the ongoing debate on reputation management in the hospitality industry by considering the managerial response to negative online reviews. The paper discusses several managerial implications for hotel managers as well as avenues for future research. =

研究目的
本论文以TripAdvisor网站上520条关于约翰佩特拉古城五星级酒店的负面评论为样本, 分析豪华酒店如何应对网上负面评论, 具体评估变量包括反应率（RR）,反应时间（RT）,以及应对内容(RC)。

研究设计/方法/途径
本论文采用由繁入减的方法来文本分析酒店经理应对反馈内容。结合文献综述, 本论文共确立四个变量：（1）感谢；（2）道歉；（3）解释；以及（4）补偿。经理回复内容经过了研读和手动编码等过程进行分析。评论刊登和经理反馈时间差也经过审阅分析。此外, 豪华酒店经理还接受了问卷调查来获得他们关于在线名誉管理的意见和处理措施。

研究结果
本论文结果呼吁豪华酒店对于网上负面评论的严重影响的重视。其中, 研究结果表明, 不足一半的负面评论获得了经理回复, 而且, 一半以上的回复还是标准回答, 并没有涉及评论中提出的问题。低回复率以及酒店经理对于回复所有网上评论的统一认识表明, 酒店经理对于网上名誉管理的认知和措施存在于不一致性。

研究原创性/价值
本论文主要研究了经理应对在线负面评论的态度和措施, 其研究结果对于酒店业名誉管理方面一直以来存在的争论提供了科学检验。本论文讨论了多个酒店经理人管理理念以及提供了未来科研方向。

Refugee entrepreneurship has emerged as an economic activity that can potentially help refugees during their settlement and integration processes in the host countries. Only recently have refugee entrepreneurs received some attention in the academic debates. However, despite valuable research endeavors, empirical inquiry addressing the refugee entrepreneurship process remains limited. Specifically, the role of entrepreneurship in facilitating the integration process of refugees is still understudied. The present study draws on qualitative data collected through 29 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugees venturing in the hospitality industry in Turkey. Using the RQDA package for qualitative data analysis, the findings reveal that refugees’ motivations to venture cover a wide range of push and pull factors including survivability, desire for independence, and availability of resources. The findings also confirm that entrepreneurial activities help refugees integrate with the socio-economic fabric of the host country. The study also identified several factors facilitating and derailing refugee entrepreneurs’ integration process. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Tourist harassment is one of the major challenging issues influencing the competitiveness of various tourist destinations across the globe. While the topic has received some attention over the past two decades, there is still a dearth of research on the influence of tourist harassment on travelers' perceptions and behaviors. Drawing on qualitative data collected through 27 semi-structured interviews with international travelers visiting Petra, Jordan, the study reveals that the perceived destination image and travelers' behavioral intentions are unlikely to be influenced by harassment experiences. However, there is evidence that harassing tourists to achieve greater sales has an adverse impact on tourists’ expenditure level. That is, when harassed, tourists are less likely to be willing to make purchases. The study adds to a still-maturing stream of research on tourist harassment and provides several theoretical as well as practical implications.

This study assesses a conceptual model that postulates relationships between self-identification with a heritage site, engagement at the site, overall satisfaction and destination loyalty. The study contributes to the limited literature examining visitor engagement and its relationship with several other psychological variables. A survey of visitors in Petra, Jordan resulted in 249 useable questionnaires. The results confirm that self-identification with a heritage tourism site has a positive relationship with both overall satisfaction and visitor engagement. Overall satisfaction has a strong and positive relationship with destination loyalty. Visitor engagement has a positive relationship with destination loyalty. Implications for managing the heritage site and destination are offered.

In recent years, the refugee crisis has emerged as a major global challenge with social, economic, and political implications. Figures indicate that there are currently over 22 million refugees around the world. While refugees are usually regarded as a burden for their host countries, their entrepreneurial ventures might offer significant contributions to local economies. Although refugee entrepreneurship has become significantly evident in several economies, theoretical and empirical research tackling this issue is still scant. This study aims to explore the characteristics of and challenges faced by refugee tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs in Istanbul, Turkey. Drawing on qualitative data collected through 20 semi-structured interviews with refugee tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs, the findings suggest that refugee entrepreneurs were challenged by four key issues; legislative and administrative, financial, socio-cultural and market-related obstacles. The study also offers insights into characteristics of refugee tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs and their integration into their host communities.

A plethora of research has been conducted over the past few years to explore several aspects of the key exchange actors within the sharing accommodation sector (i.e. hosts and guests). However, despite the exponential growth in the sharing accommodation entrepreneurship, literature exploring the characteristics, motivations, and challenges of entrepreneurs venturing in this sector is still scant. This study draws on a qualitative study approach using semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs involved in the sharing accommodation sector in Petra, Jordan. Findings revealed that sharing accommodation entrepreneurs were mainly driven by the desire for economic and cultural benefits. The positive host-guest relationship (e.g., honesty toward guests and enhancing positive reputation) emerged as a key factor influencing the growth of the sharing accommodation businesses whereas market-related issues (e.g., severe competition and lobbying efforts from traditional lodging businesses) were found to be the key challenges derailing the businesses.

Purpose

Travelers’ narratives disseminated online about destination experiences are an important source of information for measuring the performance of tourist destinations and understanding travelers’ perceptions, behaviors and expectations. Drawing on data from travel narratives, the purpose of this study is to examine the destination image of Istanbul as revealed in Western travel blogs. In addition, this study aims to identify the demographic characteristics of travelers who are more likely to engage in destination blogging activities.

Design methodology/approach

A deductive content analysis approach was used on a sample of travel blog entries retrieved from TravelPod.com. Based on the dimensions and attributes of destination image identified by Beerli and Martín (2004), a coding scheme was established to guide the coding process.

Findings

The findings suggest that the online destination image of Istanbul is generally positive. Specifically, the destination is mainly appreciated for its cultural and historical heritage, as well as for its tourist infrastructure. However, the findings also highlight some issues that concern Western travelers, such as safety and traffic congestion.

Originality/value

This study is timely as it explores the online destination image of a key destination in a period of instability. The findings are expected to offer insights for destination management organizations in Turkey on how Western travelers view Istanbul as a tourist destination. These insights are also important to help policymakers and tourism destination marketers design effective strategies.

Revenue generated from tourism taxes constitutes an important financial resource for local governments and tourism authorities to both ensure tourism sustainability and enhance the quality of tourist experiences. In order for tourism policy makers to create an efficient and fair tax system in tourism destinations, it is crucial to understand travelers’ perceptions concerning willingness to pay (WTP), tax rates, and their optimal allocation. The objectives of this paper, therefore, are to evaluate tourism taxes as a compensation tool to cover the costs of tourism and to measure tourists’ WTP. The paper also suggests a fair allocation of tax revenues based on tourists’ perceptions. A qualitative approach was used and data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with international travelers to Istanbul, Turkey. The findings suggest that tourists are more likely to pay an additional amount of tax when this is earmarked for improvements in their experiences, but they are reluctant to take on liability concerning matters relating to destination sustainability. Based on the travelers’ perceptions, the paper also identified areas that need investment to improve tourist experiences. An interesting highlight of this paper is that the majority of surveyed respondents reported that their travel decisions would not be negatively affected even if the total cost of their vacation increased by one third. The findings are expected to offer fresh and much-needed insights into tourist taxation for tourism policy makers and stakeholders.

The main objective of this study is to identify the nature of e-complaints directed at luxury hotels in Jordan. For this purpose, a content analysis was conducted based on 424 negative reviews posted for these hotels on the User-Generated Content (UGC) travel website TripAdvisor. The study found that the most frequent e-complaints were about service quality, the efficiency of hotel facilities, and cleanliness and hygiene. The study showed that e-complaints were mostly posted by British, American, and Emirati guests. The hotels’ responses to e-complaints were also examined. The findings suggested that less than one-half of the e-complaints (approximately 43%) received an online response from the hotel management and that more than one-half of these responses (56%) were posted within a week of the e-complaint’s posting date. Recommendations to effective e-complaint management in the hotel industry were given in light of the article’s findings. =

本研究的主要目的是确定对约旦豪华酒店的电子投诉的性质。为此，我们对在用户生成内容（UGC）旅游网站TripAdvisor上发布的相关酒店的424条评论进行了内容分析。研究发现，最常见的电子投诉涉及服务质量、酒店设施的效率、清洁卫生。研究显示，电子投诉主要来自英国、美国和阿联酋客户。我们还考察了酒店对电子投诉的回应。调查结果表明，不到一半的电子投诉（约43%）收到了酒店管理层的在线回应，其中超过一半的答复（56%）是在做出电子投诉之日起的一周内发布的。本文的研究结果对于酒店业高效管理电子投诉具有重要意义。