The use of new technologies in tourism is bringing about a genuine revolution in the sector, where automated services, such as chatbots, are increasingly being used to perform some of the tasks involved in service delivery. However, the emergence of new technologies in a sector as globalized as tourism can mean that not all users are able to perceive the benefits of these innovations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine whether the digital literacy (DL) of a tourist may lead to different evaluations of the quality of the electronic service they received, both overall and as per the different dimensions of quality. This study compares a more innovative and interactive service-provision technology (a chatbot) with a more traditional one (email). To this end, an experiment was conducted in which 124 participants from Spain (higher DL) and the Czech Republic (lower DL) were asked to interact with these two technologies in a simulated hotel customer-service scenario. The results show that individuals with higher DL rated the quality of service received via chatbot higher than individuals with lower DL. The latter prefer email because they perceived it to provide greater security, empathy, reliability, and information quality. However, participants with higher DL preferred the chatbot due to its greater competence in completing the task. Finally, the participants rated the responsiveness of the chatbot higher than that of email. These results can help the introduction of chatbot-based customer service in the tourism sector.

Those in positions of leadership are accustomed to having to deal with complex and uncertain situations. However, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has taken this challenge to a new level of complexity. Although econometric models are being used to predict economic scenarios relating to the fall-out from the pandemic, these forecasts do not factor-in the uncertainty generated by new changes announced weekly by policymakers. The aim of the present study is therefore to apply a fuzzy approach to develop a method for providing consistent and reliable forecasting scenarios that facilitate managers’ and policymaker’s decision-making in complex and uncertain situations. The chosen context of the study is the case of the potential consequences of COVID-19 for the international tourism sector in Spain, using fuzzy cognitive maps. This semi-quantitative model can help researchers to forecast the potential impact of major events in fuzzy or uncertain environments by constructing flexible and adaptable scenarios.

Olive oil tourism offers enormous potential in rural areas where extra virgin olive oil is produced. This sector is characterized by the high seasonality of its economic activity (from November to February), which generates huge inequalities between rural and urban areas, leading to high rates of unemployment and depopulation due to the lack of stable work throughout the year. The set of activities that revolve around olive oil tourism help to structure the offer and generate satisfaction with the service. This could generate a constant flow of income throughout the year and complement agricultural activity, thus reducing the seasonality problems mentioned above. In this respect, the configuration of these olive oil tourism activities represents a challenge from the supply-side perspective, especially if we take into account the differences that may arise between different groups of tourists. This article seeks to analyse and structure the main olive oil tourism activities using Importance-Performance (I-P) analysis in relation to national and international tourists’ satisfaction. The aim is to select and structure the key activities in the supply of olive oil tourism, and determine which need to be improved in order to offer a better service. These key activities differ between the two study target audiences, where a higher requirement is observed on the part of international tourists, so a series of strategies are recommended to help the management of these destinations.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic (and previous health crises) have included measures to restrict interaction between people and minimize non-essential mobility. Therefore, tourism travel is one of the main areas affected by the restrictions. Even when the majority of the population is vaccinated, some risk of infection will remain, and governments are obliged to consider NPI measures that balance the health risk of outbreaks against the economic and social benefits of resuming tourist activity. This study analyzes the effect of each of four categories of NPIs (Social Distancing; Public Healthcare-System Improvements; Tourist Controls; and Capacity and Opening-Hours Regulation) on three major objectives (the resumption of tourism activity; tourist travel intention; and the minimization of public health risk), taking a triangular perspective (destination managers, domestic tourists, and public healthcare managers, respectively). While it is difficult to fulfil public healthcare objectives while simultaneously responding to the economic interests of tourism-industry stakeholders, the study finds that, under vaccinated-population conditions, tourist controls (e.g. COVID Certificate) alongside improvements to the public healthcare system (e.g. adequate resourcing and an efficient epidemiological monitoring system) could constitute a viable combination of measures.

Policy makers and tourism investors have a limited vision of how a certain level of tourism development is possible depending on country-specific conditions such as incomes and competitiveness factors. In this context, the aim of this research is to identify different strategies or solutions, based on different drivers of tourism competitiveness, that lead to tourism development in countries with different levels of per capita income. To this end, the Travel & Tourism Development Index will be used to answer the research questions raised. This paper proposes the use of an alternative methodology such as fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). As a result, a total of eight different strategies which lead to tourism development have been identified for the different categories considered, identifying the key drivers to achieve such development for the different economies.