As the social phenomenon that takes into account cultural venues and facilities and cultural participation and attractiveness, the cultural strength of a city is a significant dimension of each city relevant for its inhabitants, as well as its visitors. The results of a research study on the nature of the relationship between cultural strength, on the one hand, and reputation and tourism intensity, on the other, are presented in this paper on a sample of the 20 European cities with the best reputation index according to the report entitled “The World’s Most Reputable Cities” (2018 City RepTrak^®). The primary goal of the study is to determine the relationship between the cultural strength and reputation of these cities. The secondary goals are focused on determining the relationship between cultural venues and facilities as a segment of cultural strength and tourism intensity. The methodology used in the study comprises: the definition and analysis of the city reputation concept, as well as the determination of the differences in comparison with the reputation of an urban tourism destination, the identification of the constituents of the cultural strength of the cities and their role in tourist attractions, and finally, the investigation of the nature of the relationship between cultural strength, on the one hand, and tourism intensity, on the other. In order to conduct the analysis of these relationships and their interdependence, correlation and regression analyses are used. One of the conclusions of the paper is that cultural venues and facilities are not connected with the reputation of cities, whereas the correlation regarding cultural participation and attractiveness is confirmed. The results of the study also show the most important “cultural venues and facilities” indicator in relation to tourism intensity. In terms of this and based on the obtained research results of the study, the role that cultural strength plays in positioning cities in stakeholders’ perception through the strategic process of the creation and management of cities’ reputation, as well as the tourism attractiveness of cities and a consequent increase in the number of tourists as important stakeholders and ensuring their satisfaction, are presented in the paper.

Tourists’ expectations related to urban tourist destinations, which often derive from wider concept of destinations’ images, encompass a wide range of needs, desires and anticipations that tourists develop prior to visiting a particular destination. They are formed under the influence of different factors, one of which is traditional and digital communication channels. The objective of this research is to determine whether different communication channels and multimedia formats, used by tourists in the pre-travelling phase, could shape their expectations related to tangible and intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. The data gathering was conducted by applying Computer-Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) on a representative sample of 312 adult citizens residing in Belgrade, the capital of the Republic of Serbia. The findings indicate that both traditional and digital communication channels, alongside personal recommendations used prior to the trip, significantly contribute to shaping respondents’ expectations concerning tangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. Digital communication channels and personal recommendations appeared to be more important in shaping expectations related to the intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. Also, different formats of online media content exhibited positive associations with expectations concerning the tangible and intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. The obtained results provide recommendations for tourist organizations and local government entities, valuable for developing effective communication strategies for targeting potential tourists.

The paper presents research results of efficiency of tourism sector in certain European countries and regions obtained by applying DEA method. The primary goal of the paper is to determine to what extent tourism sector in certain European countries and regions is efficient in relation to set parameters, while the secondary goal is aimed at providing recommendations for its improvement. In relation to this, the methodology of the DEA analysis is based on the input and output parameters which were used to determine the efficiency. The input parameters included: number of hotels and similar accommodation capacities, number of rooms and number of bed places, whereas the output parameters included: number of inbound tourists, number of bed-nights and tourism expenditure during their stay abroad. One of the conclusions of the paper is that the total efficiency was shown in Croatia, Belgium, and Denmark, while the technical efficiency was also present in North Macedonia, France, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

Social media represents a global phenomenon that has a great influence on society, primarily in terms of opportunities for new ways of communication that found wide application in modern business. In that sense, the paper analyzes the complex situation between social media communication and tourism. Main goal of the paper is identifying and defining the role that social media have in contemporary tourism. Methodology in the paper, related to contemporary tourism business includes: defining and analyzing social media with special emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages, then analysis and determining the importance of strategic online communication and finally identifying and analyzing the characteristics of individual social media that are of the greatest importance in this strategic process. One of the research conclusions is that the strategic approach of social media and online communication represents one of the key activities in modern tourism business. The set research goal was fulfilled through research analysis, i.e. the role of social media and strategic online communication in modern tourism business was determined, as well as characteristics of social media that have the greatest impact on it.

The global tourism market is characterised by intense competition, whereby the reputation of a tourist destination is one of the most important resources for gaining a competitive advantage. Since reputation represents a manageable category, this study aims to identify the key constituents of the reputation of an urban tourist destination and determine the nature of the relationship between these constituents and the intentions and behaviours of tourists towards urban tourist destinations with a good reputation. To examine the above-mentioned relationships, a conceptual model is proposed. To verify the model, a survey was conducted on a representative sample of 376 respondents from the capital of a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country, the Republic of Serbia. The research results indicate that both tangible and intangible constituents affect consequential intentions and behaviour, such as in-person positive review and recommendation, positive online review and recommendation, willingness to visit a destination again and willingness to permanently move to a destination. Moreover, it is demonstrated that this relationship is affected by the demographics of tourists—their age and income, which contributes to the current literature in the field and offers valuable insights for effective urban tourist destination management.

At the very core of an urban tourist destination is a multidimensional construct of tourist attractiveness, which should be appealing...