All countries have suffered significant economic losses due to COVID-19 but some are affected more than others. A number of vulnerabilities explain the magnitude and differences in the economic shocks felt worldwide. This paper uses Ordinary Least Squares regression techniques to estimate the role of tourism dependency in explaining the differences in the COVID-19 induced economic shock in a sample of Small Island Developing States. The model also includes remittances, natural resource dependency, government debt and a measure of the quality of governance. The results confirm tourism dependency plays a significant role in explaining the cross-country differences in economic shocks. The economies that are more dependent on tourism have suffered larger economic shocks but remittances and natural resources have mitigated the negative impacts. The differences in the quality of governance also matter but debt levels do not explain the cross-country variations in the economic shocks. Hence, these fragile and small island economies need to develop appropriate economic diversification strategies, strengthen traditional economic activities and adapt new strategies, products and innovative business models for their tourism industry as the pandemic recedes and global travel resumes.

Developing well-rounded revenue management professionals is a key challenge for the hotel industry. Traditional approaches toward revenue management training have typically developed sound technical expertise without developing other important business skills. Simulations have been advocated as a solution to deliver holistic revenue management education. This paper aims to identify the learning outcomes achieved through a simulation-based revenue management training program. It reports the learning outcomes of students engaged in a hotel revenue management simulation. Thematic analysis reveals six sets of critical learning outcomes: revenue management strategy; hotel operational knowledge; decision-making ability; value of teamwork; communication skills; and personal readiness for the workforce.

Whilst many studies have examined social media use from a consumer perspective, relatively few have examined its use by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), a group for whom it is becoming increasingly important. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of an under-researched area, the experience of SMEs during the process of adopting social media, by identifying the factors that influence SMEs to either adopt social media or not and, if they adopt it, how they use it and evaluate its usefulness. The study involves analysis of in-depth interviews with 42 Australian businesses. Roger's innovation decision process is used in an innovative manner to classify SMEs into five key stages of adoption of social media and identify the factors that influence the progression of SMEs across the various stages of adoption. The results show that the story of social media use is richer than just whether SMEs adopt it or not. Most participants used Facebook, suggesting it has become the de facto platform of choice to engage with social media. However, opinions of its perceived usefulness for SMEs varied widely across users. There was confusion surrounding the role of Twitter, its value, and concern about the amount of time needed to use it. YouTube was used by some SMEs to showcase their products or services. The study contributes to the literature by identifying key facilitators which appear critical to the decision by SMEs to continue use of social media - namely increased sales; brand development and a feeling of pressure that they 'have to be there'. It also identifies some inhibitors to sustained use by SMEs, typically a lack of compatibility to industry sector; insufficient followership; and limited return on investment compared to effort required. Finally, the study shows how SMEs differentiate between social media platforms.

This research explores the underlying determinants of guest satisfaction with accommodation purchased through daily deal promotions. The results of a survey of three hundred buyers find a generally high level of satisfaction with the overall experience of accommodation daily deals. The research contributes to the literature by identifying five factors, which underpin guest satisfaction with accommodation daily deals. It presents the first published research, which identifies the factors which significantly influence the level of satisfaction reported by guests for accommodation daily deals. The five factors identified are trade-offs associated with purchasing via a daily deal; the value and integrity of the deal; customer delight with the stay; hotel staff's knowledge of the deal; and redemption challenges. With the exception of redemption challenges, all other factors are shown to have a significant influence on the guest's overall satisfaction with their accommodation deal stay experience.

This article aims to understand the importance of various destination attributes to the competitiveness of tourism destinations from a consumer perspective, while at the same time contrasting these in a mature versus developing destination. A sample of Australian-based domestic tourists were surveyed to assess the relative importance of tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) attributes in the context of developing and mature destinations. This research firstly appears to verify that the importance of many TDC elements, highlighted by consumers, is not dissimilar from other stakeholder-based TDC studies. Furthermore, this research effort established that in terms of attribute performance, relative destination immaturity may well constrain a developing destination's ability to satisfy the needs of consumers.

Consumer-generated media (CGM) are created when consumers submit, review or respond to online content. The bulk of research into CGM has focussed upon its use by consumers, with less research examining the use of CGM by small businesses. This article discusses small business sector use of online technologies such as CGM, concentrating on tourism small businesses as a key industry sector affected by CGM activities. A CGM ‘strategy’ framework, developed from an existing small business strategy framework, is proposed. This serves as a practical tool for developing CGM strategies and as a theoretical foundation for conducting research into the use of CGM. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Several recent studies have examined how Australian small businesses engage with social media with most studies tending to involve simple 'yes/no' questions to determine whether small businesses use social media tools. Notably, there is limited researchthat examineshow small businesses actually engage with social media. This article reports on a study of 40 Australian small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) that used in-depth interviews with owners, managers or key employees. The key factor linking all of these firms was an interest in social media, which was ascertained when businesses were recruited. Most of the participant SMEs were Facebook users, indicatingthat Facebook has become the de facto choice for Australian SMEs wishing to engage with social media. However, satisfaction levels in regards to Facebook variedacross participants from those that viewed it as being of little or no use to those that found it to be very useful. Just under half of the businesses had experienced negative comments through Facebook. The results suggest that an SME has to be ready to deal with different types of negative feedback and be prepared to use different response strategies. Over three quarters of participants used third party directories, such as the Yellow Pages, to advertise their businesses. Some of these provided the opportunity for consumers to post reviews about businesses. Around one quarter of businesses indicated that they were aware that customers could post reviews on these sites. Other social media tools (including Twitter, LinkedIn, and TripAdvisor) were used by some participants. There was some confusion surrounding the nature and role of Twitter, with unsureness about its value and concern about the amount of time needed to use it. The use of TripAdvisor and similar services was limited to tourism and hospitality businesses, given the travel focus of this particular social media platform. As other studies have shown, the tourism sector was the best developed with regards to engaging with social media.

The growing popularity of social coupons presents new marketing opportunities for the travel industry, with accommodation properties promoting deals to entice new visitors through the promise of a highly discounted stay. While their popularity has been well determined, little is known about the experience of guests who have purchased via these deals. This article explores guests' evaluations of Australian accommodation properties by travelers who purchased their accommodation through daily deals, otherwise known as "social coupons." A qualitative analysis of approximately 500 online reviews from travelers who had purchased an accommodation "daily deal" reveals 11 key themes in their poststay evaluations. Key issues integral to the success of social coupon promotions are delivering on the value adds promised, providing deal guests with an equitable level of service compared to nondeal guests, and ensuring that consumers are fully aware of the conditions associated with the deal.

While Daily Deal accommodation promotions through sites such as LivingSocial, Groupon, Scoopon, Ouffer and Cudo have become increasingly popular amongst industry operators and travellers alike, there is limited research about the extent to which they satisfy the end-users expectations. Consumers‟ self-reported evaluations of accommodation promotions sold through Daily Deal sites are analysed in this paper based on a content analysis of more than 500 online reviews submitted to TripAdvisor® by travellers who had purchased a „daily deal voucher‟ to be used across a variety of Australian properties. The results find that while the majority of reviewers rated their stay experience positively and that many recommend the property to others, their own return was questionable without a similar deal.

Consumers are increasingly turning to the online environment to provide information to assist them in making purchase decisions related to travel products. They often rely on travel recommendations from different sources, such as sellers, independent experts and, increasingly, other consumers. A new type of online content, user-generated content (UGC), provides a number of legal and social challenges to providers and users of that content, especially in relation to areas such as defamation, misrepresentation and social embarrassment. This paper reports research that examined the level of trustworthiness of online travel information from these different sources. The study used a survey of Australian travel consumers ( n = 12,000) and results support the notion that there are differences in the level of trust for online travel information from different sources. Respondents ‘tended to agree’ that they trusted information provided by travel agents, information from commercial operators and comments made by travellers on third party websites. However, the highest level of trust was afforded to information provided on State government tourism websites. These results suggest that greater trust is placed in online travel comments when they are on a specific travel website than when they are on a more generic social networking website. However, respondents were ‘not sure’ that they trusted comments made by travellers on weblogs and on social networking sites. Some 88% of respondents that had not visited UGC websites (or were unsure if they had) indicated that they thought that UGC would be useful in the future – suggesting that they feel that any concerns they may have in relation to legal and social problems resulting from its use will be resolved.

This article reports on destination marketing best practices from 21 regional destinations around Australia. The results advocate an integrative approach to destination marketing that aligns with destination management and development objectives. From this, a framework is developed, within which nine best practice principles are identified as essential to successful and sustainable marketing of regional destinations. The key initiatives used to achieve success are discussed in detail, highlighting the need for destination stakeholders to foster a cooperative and strategic approach and ensure consistent design and delivery of a destination brand and image which is supported by tactical advertising and promotional strategies, effective visitor information services, and events to support the destination brand and image to target appropriate visitor markets.

This paper explores the influence of consumer - generated media (CGM) on hospitality consumers based on the results of a large online survey . Consumers surveyed like CGM information when booking travel for a number of reasons primarily as it is developed by ‘real travellers’; presents a range of different traveller’ opinions ; and is relevant to the user. At the same time, there were concerns raised about relying on CGM when booking travel, particularly related to the option for hospitality businesses to post ‘fake’ content and for the opinions presented on these sites to be extremely biased. -- International Conference on Hospitality and Leisure Applied Research (I-CHLAR 2011)

This article proposes a Web 2.0 classification scheme developed from a study of tourism websites that have adopted Web 2.0 features. The article goes on to outline various website analysis techniques noted and reported in the literature. Moreover, the authors contend that these previously documented approaches are inadequate when used to analysis commonly encountered features associated with typical Web 2.0 website – many sites containing a combination of weblogs (blogs), videos, rating systems, images or other forms of user-generated content. The article continues with an example of how the authors developed their own approach to the analysis of Web 2.0 websites for a research study conducted on Web 2.0 tourism websites. A „snapshot‟ of comments from the blogs on each Web 2.0 website was classified according to a blog classification scheme proposed by Nardi, Sherman and Mansfield [2004]. The usefulness of the classification is highlighted as it provides a new perspective on the analysis of blog comments.

The term Web 2.0 was coined around 2004 and was used to describe more interactive types of websites developed after the dot-com crash. An important characteristic of Web 2.0 sites is premised on being able to incorporate various technologies and applications within the site to enhance functionality. This enhanced functionality is primarily associated with such sites being able to publish and display diverse content— content that is user-contributed, or where the site might draw information synergistically from a third party. This increased functionality potentially affects two traditional areas of website implementation. Firstly, the embedding of applications within a website tends to increase design complexity that can contribute to a detrimental user experience when browsing— in turn, affecting website usability. Secondly, Web 2.0 sites in allowing users to publish, display and list diverse views, opinions, pictures, sounds, and so forth, will impact content and design features that are not encountered on traditional websites. Consequently, this chapter investigates a set of Web 2.0 tourism sites for their usability as well as reporting an overview of website content encountered. In examining these issues the paper provides a background primer on the advent of Web 2.0 sites, novel aspects of their design, including the potential for incorporating user content. Tourism sites are the focus of this chapter— both commercial and noncommercial Web 2.0 sites being of interest.

Citation (2009), "Advances in business marketing and purchasing", Glynn, M.S. and Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Business-To-Business Brand Management: Theory, Research and Executivecase Study Exercises (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, p. ii. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1069-0964(2009)0000015016 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited Book Chapters Advances in business marketing and purchasing Business-to-business brand management: Theory, research and executive case study exercises Copyright page List of Contributors Editorial review board Editors’ biographical sketches Chapter 1 Effective business-to-business brand strategies: introduction to business-to-business brand management Chapter 2 Building a strong business-to-business brand Chapter 3 Manufacturer brand benefits: mixed methods scaling Chapter 4 Building brand equity between manufacturers and retailers Chapter 5 Managing business-to-business service brands Chapter 6 Brand meaning and impact in subcontractor contexts Chapter 7 Brand image, corporate reputation, and customer value Chapter 8 Enacted internal branding: theory, practice, and an experiential learning case study of an Austrian B2B company Chapter 9 Pricing theory and practice in managing business-to-business brands Subject index

This paper examines the views of travel consumers that search for information online in relation to the specific benefits and concerns identified with user-generated content (UGC). Real contrasts in relation to views about UGC content were identified in the literature. For instance, UGC is perceived as being ‘credible’ or ‘not credible’ as an information source depending upon the view of the user. The paper reports research that examined the use of UGC by online travel consumers, sourced from an Australian tourism organisation’s online subscriber database. The study highlighted a similar range of areas that were seen as benefits and concerns in the use of UGC to support travel decisions as identified in the literature – and also similar contrasts. The most notable of these is the level of trustworthiness and reliability that is associated with the postings – they can be trusted because they are 'real' experiences by 'real' people who are independent – but can also be not trustworthy because the content that is posted may be faked by someone with a vested interest. Similar paradoxes existed elsewhere. One of the theoretical contributions of the paper is the derivation of a matrix for classifying recommendations associated with online UGC.

In the literature on product branding, significant attention is given to brand equity in the consumer context, but relatively little attention is paid to the application of the concept in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Even less research exists on the role of brand equity in the retailing context. Retailers are often seen as irrelevant to the source of brand value, resulting in manufacturers not targeting retailers to help them build stronger brands. Potential occurs, therefore, for some channel conflict to exist between manufacturers and retailers. On the one hand, retailers tend to focus on building their own, private brands to differentiate themselves from other retail competitors and to increase their power in relation to manufacturer brands. At the same time, most retailers still need to create a good image in the consumer marketplace by selling famous, manufacturer-branded products. In other words, retailers often have to sell famous brands even if they would prefer to sell other brands including their own. Manufacturers tend to focus their brandbuilding efforts on the consumer market to entice consumers to insist that retailers stock their brands, rather than placing any real emphasis on building a strong and positive brand relationship with the retailer directly.

Providing broad and deep coverage, this volume focuses on sensemaking, decisions, actions, and evaluating outcomes relating to managing business-to-business brands including both product and service brands. This book goes well beyond basic marketing textbooks to provide extensive reviews of relevant studies, original research reports, and in-depth implications for the following B2B brand management issues: Building a Strong B2B Brand; Building a Strong Brand to Resellers; B2B Brand Equity - Theory, Measurement, and Strategy; Effective Strategies for B2B Service Brands; Brand Meaning and its Impact in Subcontractor Contexts; Brand Image, Corporate Reputation, and Customer Value; Internal Branding Theory, Research, and Practice; and, Pricing Theory and Strategy Applications in B2B Brand Management. Collectively these chapters address most aspects of the marketing mix for business-to-business and industrial marketers. Each of the papers provides valuable brand management insights for managers. The chapters are original contributions by leading scholars and B2B brand managers; each chapter following the introductory chapter includes a brand management problem-exercise with a separate instructor's note.

This article reports on research that investigates how websites containing user-generated content (UGC) are used by consumers and the role they have on their information search and travel behavior. The research, conducted via an online survey, represents the views of more than 12,000 hospitality and tourism consumers. The results suggest that although these sites are popular, they are not yet considered to be as credible or trustworthy as existing sources of travel information such as government-sponsored tourism websites. UGC (or Web 2.0 sites, as they are also known) appear to act as an additional source of information that travelers consider as part of their information search process, rather than as the only source of information. The study is significant in that it appears to be one of the few investigations that captures the perceptions of the travel consumer and the way they relate to the information value associated with Web 2.0 sites.