Tourism Management, Marketing, and Development

Marcello M. Mariani is Professor of Strategic Management and Marketing and Director of the Master in Digital Marketing for Tourism and Events Management at the University of Bologna, Italy. He has published extensively in the fields of management and accounting applied to the cultural and tourism sector. Wojciech Czakon is Professor of Management and Head of Management Theory Department at the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland. He is Vice President of the European Academy of Management.Dimitrios Buhalis is Professor and Director of the eTourism Lab at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University, UK. He is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Technology and Tourism and the author of 18 books and over 100 articles.Ourania Vitouladiti is Assistant Professor of Tourism Marketing at the Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I) of Athens, Greece. She has professional experience in tour operating and researches and publishes in the field of tourism.

• Introduction1. The Separation of the Naïve from the Reevaluated Destination Image by Using Benefit Segmentation and the Analysis of the Resulting Perceptions; Ourania Vitouladiti2. Forecasting Tourism Flows from the Russian Federation into Mediterranean Countries; Kirill Furmanov, Olga Balaeva, and Marina Predvoditeleva3. Entrepreneurship and the Discovery and Exploitation of Business Opportunities: Empirical Evidence from the Malawian Tourism Sector; Aravind Mohan Krishnan4. St. Petersburg as a Tourist Destination: Searching for the Gastronomic Brand; Valery Gordin and Julia Trabskaya5. Internal Features and Agglomeration Externalities for the Hotels' Competitiveness in Emilia-Romagna; Cristina Bernini and Andrea Guizzardi6. Tourism Destination Competitiveness and Firm Performance through a Financial Crisis: An Empirical Analysis of the Italian Hotel Industry; Lorenzo Dal Maso, Giovanni Liberatore, and Marco Fazzini7. The Role of Institutions in Interorganizational Collaboration within Tourism Regions: The Case of Poland; Katarzyna Czernek and Wojciech Czakon8. The Role of Partnerships in Staging Tourism Experiences: Evidence from a Festival; Marcello M. Mariani 9. Towards a Sustainable Tourism; Malgorzata Ogonowska and Dominique Torre10. Sustainable Tourism Development Through Knowledge Transfer; Jana Kalabisová and Lucie Plzáková11. Entrepreneurs' Experiences, Motivations, and Sustainability of Tourism; Ornella Papaluca and Mario Tani12. The Adoption of Environmental Management Systems by Shelters; Sophie Gorgemans and Josefina L. Murillo-Luna

General reaction: My overall reactions to this project are favorable. This is a timely project that is sorely needed in our field. My specific comments are below. Strengths: A major strength of this project is the expertise of the book editors (Marcello, Baggio, Buhalis, and Longhi). These are four of the leading experts within this knowledge domain. Consequently, they will be able to work with the contributors to ensure that each chapter is meaningful. Further, the reputations of the co-editors serve to anchor the credibility of the book. As of now, there are no other books of which I am aware that can compete with the proposed book at hand. Even if competing books are subsequently developed, this book will remain a 'must have' for those interested in tourism networks and ICT's. Another strengthen is structure. Part I focusing upon ICT and Part II focusing upon systems and networks should be appealing to target audiences. Moreover, the titles of the proposed chapters seem to indicate that both ICTs and networks will be addressed from a number of unique perspectives. Potential shortcomings: Because English does not appear to be the first language of most of the chapter contributors, the co-editors will need to work to ensure that the readability of the chapters is of sufficient quality. The project might be strengthened with chapter contributors representing Asia and North America. Sales Forecast: I envision primary purchasers of this book to be: 1) Tourism scholars and researchers; 2) Graduate students required to purchase the book as supplemental reading for coursework; and 3) University libraries In my assessment, the book will likely sell quite well in these primary markets. The co-editors have the capability to publicize the book within the academic channels (e.g. IFITT). Secondary audiences for the book might include tourism practitioners and undergraduate course adoption. Conclusion: To reiterate, my overall reactions to this proposal are positive. I envision this book selling well in the above primary markets. The prominence and visibility of this topic area will continue to increase in the coming years - further driving book demand.