This article analyzes the potential of wine tourism to create experiences for the tourist. For this purpose the authors benefit from Scheurer's (2003) Scheurer, R. 2003. Erlebnis-setting – Touristische angebotsgestaltung in der erlebnisökonomie [Experience–setting — The staging of tourism supply in an experience economy], Bern: Forschungsinstitut für Freizeit und Tourismus (FIF) der Universität Bern. [Google Scholar] and Mueller and Scheurer's (2004) Mueller, H. R. and Scheurer, R. 2004. Tourismus-Destination als Erlebniswelt: Ein Leitfaden zur Angebotsinszenierung [Tourism destination as an experience world: A guideline to stage experiences][Research Institute for Leisure and Tourism, University of Berne], Bern: Forschungsinstitut für Freizeit und Tourismus (FIF) der Universität Bern. [Google Scholar] experience setting model. A literature review reveals research gaps in the field of experience-oriented wine tourism services and products and calls for more empirical investigations. Therefore, the empirical part of the article presents the case study of the South Tyrolean Wine Route in Italy and applies the experience setting model to assess the potential of experience-orientation of wine routes. The article concludes with tourism policy and management implications and derives questions for further research.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the pertinent issues of innovation and service experiences in family firms in the tourism industry, which are mostly small- and medium-sized enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual paper, building on social identity theory, undertakes a thorough review of the relevant literature before developing propositions regarding innovation and service experiences for small family firms in the tourism industry. Findings: Small tourism family firms are faced with deficits in strategic orientation and innovation, and cooperation seems to be a means to overcome size deficits in family-run businesses. Customers integrated into the service experience enhance innovative developments and foster innovation in small tourism firms. As a prerequisite, the service experience must be appropriately managed by collecting and evaluating relevant data on customers’ needs, expectations and satisfaction. An open-minded and consumer-focused market-driven strategy seems to be an advantage. Practical implications: Future research should undertake empirical studies to validate and/or modify the propositions presented in this conceptual paper. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies to have addressed the relationship between service experiences and innovation for family-run small businesses in the tourism industry.

Responsible tourism implies that all actors involved in tourism take responsibility for their actions. The concept of responsible tourism has been extensively addressed in tourism research and practice. However, studies analyzing the tourists’ contribution to responsible tourism have been neglected. Considering that tourists have the potential to contribute to economic, environmental socio-cultural, and institutional sustainability, this study focuses on the role tourists can play in responsible tourism. It also examines how responsible behavior among tourists has been triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, drawing on a planned behavior perspective by concentrating on the tourist contribution to sustainable tourism, responsible tourism behavior is investigated by means of 19 semi-structured interviews. The study found that tourists are not only sensitive to sustainability but that they also behave responsibly both on site and in their travel choices. At the same time, tourists pass the buck to suppliers and providers by requesting rules, information and opportunities for responsible tourism to be created. In this regard, implications for theory and practice can be derived by informing suppliers and providers about their requested responsibilities, as well as by adding a crisis perspective to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).

SUMMARY This paper discusses the importance of innovation as a key component of business strategy in tourism, as well as determinants of innovation processes in the small and medium sized hotel industry in alpine tourism destinations of Europe. Initially, the paper delivers a literature overview on innovations as prerequisites for competitive advantages. Furthermore, the authors shed more light on the measurement of innovation in the tourism industry. The empirical study has been carried out in alpine tourism destinations focusing on the assessment of innovation activities in small and medium sized (SMEs) hotels. Diverse functional areas of hotels have been analysed and the results show rather low degrees of innovation in all areas of the hotel value chain.