DRIVERS OF INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT – THE CONEPT AND CASE OF ISTRIA DESTINATION Robert Ribarić, M.Sc. PhD student, Faculty of Tourism

DRIVERS OF INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

– THE CONEPT AND CASE OF ISTRIA DESTINATION

Robert Ribarić, M.Sc. PhD student, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality

Management, Opatija

ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of LifeUniversity of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija

INTRODUCTIONSustainable tourism development requires:- participation of all relevant stakeholders- strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consesus

Stakeholders should:- promote sustainable, integrated and innovative tourism product- promote wellbeing of local community- reduce negative impact at tourism destinations- share and integrate diverse knowledge and skill required to create sustainable

tourism product


RESEARCH PROBLEM, OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES

The purpose of this research: - empirically investigate the stakeholder’s attitudes based on proposed drivers of

innovation in order to create integrated sustainable tourism product

- to date, the research problem in terms of the level of innovativeness of integrated tourism product, observed by stakeholders in Istria destination, has not been systematically researched



This research intented to:

‐ define the basic stakeholders in Istria as tourist destination, in the context of integrated sustainable tourism product

‐ enumerate potential drivers of innovation for integrated sustainable tourism product in Istria as tourist destination

‐ evaluate the impact of potential drivers of innovation on sustainable tourism product of Istria destination, up to present, in order to create integrated sustainable tourism product in the future

‐ assess the determinants of innovativeness of sustainable tourism product of Istria destination



Research hypothesis:

innovation behavior of stakeholders based on proposed drivers of innovation is not unique and only partially contributes to the creation of an integrated and sustainable tourism product of Istria as tourist destination. The success of an integrated and sustainable tourism product of Istria destination depends on innovation networks and collaboration among stakeholders. From the stakeholders’ perspective, sustainable tourism product depends on the structure created by the latent variables as a result of factor analysis.


RESEARCH INSTRUMENTQuestionnaire:

A) 19 attributes relating to the impact of potential drivers of innovation on sustainable tourism product of Istria destination, up to present

B) 21 attributes in order to measure the share of presented attributes as determinant of innovativeness of sustainable tourism product of Istria destination

C) respondents’ demographic information: gender, level of education, age and position of respondent

- seven point Likert scale

- the attributes structure were selected from studies conducted by research paper of Carlisle, Kunc, Jones and Triffin (2013), Grissemann, Pikkemaat and Weger (2013), Hjalager (2010), Hjalager and Flagestad (2012), Sundbo, Orfila-Sintes and Sorensen (2007)


SAMPLE

- total of 344 questionnaires were distributed to stakeholders

- data was collected during January and February 2015

- a total of 116 questionnaires were returned

- because of incompleteness, 2 questionnaires were eliminated and 114 useful questionnaires were obtained with yield of 33,13 % response rate


DATA ANALYSIS

- statistical software SPSS, Excel- explorative factor analysis

- internal consistency: Cronbach’s alha coefficient (higher than 0,6)- suitability of conducting factor analysis: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, Bartlett’s test of

sphericity- the criteria for the number of factors extracted were based on communalities

(equal or greater than 0,50) eigenvalues (equal or greater than 1), percentage of variance (at least 60% of total variance explained) and significance of factor loading (above 0,40)


RESULTS OF THE RESEARCHDEMOGRAPHIC CHARACHERISTICS:

GENDER (N=114): male 55,26%female 44,74%

LEVEL OF EDUCATION (N=114):Secondary school 4,39%College, University 89,47%MSc, PhD 6,14%

AGE (N=114):25-35 2,63%36-45 27,19%46-55 54,39%56-65 15,79%


RESULTS OF THE RESEARCHSHAREHOLDERS (N=114): Academic community (professor, researcher…) - (3,51%)Architects - (2,63%)Communal company managers - (1,75%)Development managers – (0,88%)Ecological project managers – (0,88%)Hotel managers - (13,16%)IT managers - (5,26%)Local government (mayors, councilors…) - (20,18%)Marketing, sales managers - (4,39%)Museum managers, curators - (11,40%)Natural heritage, national park or nature park managers - (2,63%)Restaurant owner/managers - (8,77%)Tourist board managers – (14,91%)Travel agency managers – (9,65%)


THE IMPACT OF POTENTIAL DRIVERS OF INNOVATION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PRODUCT OF ISTRIA DESTINATION

No. of attribute Attributes Factor

loadingF1

FACTOR 1: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COOPERATIONPD/8 Business intelligence development 0,870

PD/7 Implementation of the latest IT applications during new tourist products and services developing 0,856

PD/12 DMO development 0,831

PD/9 Cooperation with collaborators to create new tourist products and services 0,827

PD/5 Positive attitude towards the use of IT 0,825

PD/11 Appreciation of the preliminary assessment of external partners for developing new tourist products and services 0,819

PD/10 Maintaining a close network with collaborators and competitors 0,793

PD/6 Role of IT in the development of new tourist product and services 0,655




loading

F2

FACTOR 2: MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

PD/4Employees integration in the development of new tourist product and service offering 0,862

PD/2 Continuous professional development 0,847

PD/3 New ideas and positive attitude towards new tourist product and services 0,791

PD/1 Education and acquired knowledge 0,718




loading

F3

FACTOR 3: INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

PD/17 Managers involvement in all stages of the innovation process 0,917

PD/16 Promoting an innovative environment 0,878

PD/19Informing employees about the current innovation process of new tourist products and services 0,868




loading

F4

FACTOR 4: CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

PD/14 Measurement of customer satisfaction in order to develop a new tourist products and services

0,883

PD/15 Customer relationship management (CRM) development 0,836

PD/13 Comprehension of customer demand and complaint in order to develop a new tourist product and services

0,797

PD/18 Managers creativity and willing to take a risk 0,515



Attributes Factor loading

F1 F2 F3 F4

Eigenvalue 10,300 3,055 1,609 1,133Eigenvalue - total 16,096

% of Variance 54,208 16,080 8,467 5,962

Cumulative % of Variance 54,208 70,288 78,755 84,717

Cronbach alpha 0,962 0,954 0,991 0,804

Cronbach alpha – total 0,944

KMO = 0,815

Bartlett's test: χ2=3541,097 df=171 Sig.=0.000


ASSESSING THE DETERMINANTS OF INNOVATIVENESS OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PRODUCT OF ISTRIA DESTINATION

No. of attribute Attributes

Factor loading

F1

FACTOR 1: ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

STP/14 Architecture blended in with landscape 0,934

STP/11 Golf course construction 0,906

STP/15 Light pollution 0,905

STP/12 Urban planning 0,898

STP/13 Regional development plans 0,773

STP/10 Landscape conservation 0,771




Factor loading

F2

FACTOR 2: ENERGY MANAGEMENT

STP/1 Utilisation of renewable sources of energy 0,812

STP/5 Recycling possibilities or composting in the destination 0,810

STP/2Regional public awareness campaigns and energy saving programs and measures 0,807

STP/3 Programs to encourage use of renewable energy 0,804

STP/4 Separation of different types of waste 0,750

STP/16 Information material from regional and local authorities 0,745




Factor loading

F3

FACTOR 3: TRADITION VALUES, LOCAL COMUNITIES

STP/18 Traditional values and tolerance conservation 0,967

STP/21 Visit to local communities, cultural events 0,902

STP/20 Organic, traditional food and beverages, locally produced 0,889

STP/19 Regional product designed for tourists 0,885

STP/17 Bicycle and hiking trails 0,647




Factor loading

F4

FACTOR 4: COASTAL PROTECTION

STP/6 Method of beach cleaning 0,897

STP/7 Collection of waste 0,882

STP/8 Protection of beach 0,869

STP/9 Integrated coastal zone management 0,768



Attributes Factor loading

F1 F2 F3 F4

Eigenvalue 8,507 5,336 2,582 1,248Eigenvalue - total 17,673

% of Variance 40,509 25,411 12,295 5,941

Cumulative % of Variance 40,509 65,920 78,215 84,155

Cronbach alpha 0,956 0,951 0,943 0,924

Cronbach alpha – total 0,917

KMO = 0,695

Bartlett's test: χ2=3651,398 df=210 Sig.=0.000


LIMITATIONS- sample size

- limited regional area

- different demographic characheristic

- this research cannont represent other regional tourist destinations

- presented set of attributes can be complemented with other relevant items (e.g. continental area)

- these limitations dont’t reduce the validity of reported result, they can be used to provide suggestions for future research


FUTURE RESEARCH- future research might use more representative sample in different tourist

destination in order to ensure more comprehensive results (local comunity, tourists...)

- researchers, academic or practitioners, might be interested in testing the difference attitudes regarding the different demographic characteristic of stakeholders


CONTRIBUTIONThe study provides reliable and comprehensive information for:

PRACTITIONERS:- practitioners in tourist destination can more effectively deploy development

concept in the direction of sustainable tourism product based on innovation drivers and innovation network

- this study allows them to concentrate on those factors that have the greatest impact on sustainable tourism product in the future and to improve the others

ACADEMIC:- considering the lack of research in the field of innovation activities in tourist

industry, particularly in destination management, this research may expand the knowledge in this context

- the methodology could be applied in future scientific research


CONCLUSION- 14 main stakeholders in Istria as tourist destination are devided in four groups:

private sector, government, institutions and academic community

- these stakeholders are the basis of innovation network

- the author proposed 19 potential drivers of innovation, the factor analysis revealed four dimensions of potential drivers of innovation with impact on sustainable tourism product of Istria destination: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT, INNOVATION MANAGEMENT and CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

- the author proposed 21 attributes representing determinants of innovativeness of sustainable tourism product, the factor analysis indicates that determination of innovativeness can be described with four dimensions: ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING, ENERGY MANAGEMENT, TRADITION VALUE AND LOCAL COMUNTY and COASTAL PROTECTION


CONCLUSION- the most important factors that influence the defining of goals and strategies

within the concept of sustainable development in the future are defined as four main factors as result of factor analysis

- tourism policy should involve managers in all stages of the innovation process, promote an innovative environment and inform employees on the lower organizational level about innovation processes of new tourism products and services

Thank you for your attention!

Robert Ribaric, M.Sc.PhD studentUniversity of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management E-mail: [email protected]

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DRIVERS OF INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT – THE CONEPT AND CASE OF ISTRIA DESTINATION Robert Ribarić, M.Sc. PhD student, Faculty of Tourism