Topic outline

  • Economics and Management of Tourism and Cultural Activities

    foto del corso

    The lessons proposed in this course were carried out in the context of the XIII Edition 2019-2020 of the Post-Graduate Course in Economics and Management of Tourism and Cultural Activities - MEMATIC of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. They contribute to increasing the entrepreneurial and managerial competences, as well as digital skills necessary for those who work (or intend to work) in tourism firms (decision makers) and in institutions (policy makers) including religious ones, operating at different levels in the four areas of the tourism system: Destinations, Accommodation, Mobility, and New Technologies. In particular, these lessons allow to raise the understanding of how to govern, direct, organize, and manage tourism firms and destinations in the current global competitive dynamic. In addition, they shed light on the opportunity to consider tourism firms and destinations as interdependent systems, interacting with each other, and constantly evolving with their environments (general/institutional, competitive, and natural). In fact, due to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and its extremely intensive impact on the tourism sector, the development of innovative sustainability-oriented business models and new holistic approaches to the governance and management of tourism firms and destinations – involving entrepreneurs, policy makers and all stakeholders – plays a key role for the progress of the whole society towards sustainability. In fact, according to art.3 of UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, «Tourism [is] a factor of sustainable development».

    The course "MEMATIC" addresses 5 main topics through 23 different lessons. The lessons are composed by: videos, slide, essays, and academic articles.


    • Opening Webinar MEMATIC URL

      This webinar is devoted to the analysis of the tourism sector in Italy and Europe that, in the current framework, can guide the tourism recovery through the resilience of entire communities and countries. The focus of the webinar is the solidarity collaboration between firms, institutions, and citizens as vital to face tourism challenges, primarily linked to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The need for immediate, collective, and courageous action was highlighted to give concreteness to shared goals based on a common vision of the future. In addition, emphasis was given to the role that research and education play in generating the necessary knowledge and competences to ensure that tourism continues to be a driving force for employment and for a development increasingly sustainable and human.

  • Tourism firms and destinations: governance, management, and entrepreneurship

    In this topic you can find lessons devoted to the governance, management and entrepreneurship of tourism firms and destinations in both theoretical and practical terms

    • Governance and management of tourism firms and destinations systems: the basic concepts File

      This lesson presents some of the most consolidated management concepts of tourism firms and destinations, both conceived as systems, shedding light on their mutual functionality. Special attention is devoted to the key conditions - i.e., conditions of systemness (Cafferata, 2016) that need to be verified by tourism firms and destina5ons to become and remain competitive systems. On this conceptual base, we explain the concepts of governance and management of the aforesaid systems, highlighting their protagonists, key decisions, and operations. In addition, some useful management tools – for tourism firms and destinations that aim to become and remain competitive systems over time – are briefly presented. Through this lesson, the reader can acquire specific knowledge about the opportunity offered by ‘‘systems thinking” to understand the nature of both tourism firms and destinations, their general administration, and the basic conditions of their competitiveness and evolution.

    • Tourism and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Public policy response measures in Italy File

      Annalisa Cicerchia (Vice Director Master MEMATIC)

      This lesson offers a brief outline of the impact of COVID-19 impact on the tourism sector at the OECD Countries level and a review of the measures adopted by the Italian Government as a response: A first package of measures addresses enterprises, jobs, and destinations; Another package offers support and incentive to the domestic demand; A third package contains measures for the cultural heritage sector. The learning outcome of this lesson is to understand in practical terms how policies are ready to respond to emergencies in the tourism sector and the levers they prioritize for such interventions.

    • Decision making and problem solving tools for tourism firms and destinations File

      Matteo Cristofaro (Research Fellow in Management) 

      This lecture presents the theme of decision-making processes, with particular reference to their implementation in tourism firms and destinations. The first part introduces the concepts of bounded rationality and cognitive errors; in the second part, after introducing the 'traditional' decision making scheme, the analysis tools for organizational problems are deepened. Through this lecture it is possible to learn specific skills in the area of decision making and the problem solving tools useful within organizational life.

    • Female Entrepreneurship Research: Established Knowledge and Emerging Trends File

      Sara Poggesi (Associate Professor in Management) and Michela Mari (Associate Professor in Management)

      The lesson presents the topic of female entrepreneurship, that is a complex topic of key relevance for developed as well as for developing economies in every sector of activity and, especially, in tourism. Through this lesson, the reader can acquire specific knowledge about what is female entrepreneurship and what has been the evolution of academic literature dealing with it. The most relevant streams of research will be here discussed.

    • Women entrepreneurs and work-family conflict: an analysis of the antecedents File

      Sara Poggesi (Associate Professor in Management) and Michela Mari (Associate Professor in Management)

      The lesson presents the topic of work-family conflicts (WFC) experienced by women entrepreneurs. Although academic attention towards WFC has increased over the years, the conversation on WFC issues in relation to entrepreneurs is still scarce. Given that women own about 46% of all the businesses in the world, understanding the antecedents of women entrepreneurs’ WFC and their mechanism seems to be particularly relevant for helping women, but also policy makers, to identify more targeted actions to reduce the strain of WFC and thus reduce the negative highlighted consequences. Through this lesson, the reader can acquire specific knowledge about what is WFC and which are the main antecedents of WFC experienced by women entrepreneurs.

  • The relationship between tourism firms and destinations: innovation, sustainability, and competitiveness

    In this topic you can find lessons devoted to the analysis of the relationship between tourism firms and destinations and how this relationship is able to generate innovation, sustainability and competitiveness. The lessons provide theoretical elements and practical evidence.

    • Introducing sustainable tourism File

      Annalisa Cicerchia (Vice Director Master MEMATIC)

      This lesson offers a few introductory notes on sustainable tourism, its definition at a global scale and the key concepts upon which it is built. The most relevant dimensions of tourism sustainability are also presented in a synthetic way, to invite reflection. They are the prerequisites for developing practical tools for measuring and assessing tourism sustainability by means of indicators (not covered in the present lesson). Special attention is devoted to the role of tourism in the Sustainable Development Goals. The learning outcome of this lesson is getting acquainted with the conceptual building block on sustainable tourism.

    • Managing the Tourism Firms-Destinations Relationship to progress towards Sustainability: a Co-evolutionary perspective File

      Paola M.A. Paniccia (Full Professor of Management). 

      This lesson deals with the topic of tourism organizations’ evolution in order to understand how tourism firms can create and develop sustainable and innovative business models within and across destinations, maintaining them sustainable over time. The topic is complex and of key importance for competitiveness and sustainable development of many destinations and tourism firms, especially to face the challenges related to the strong negative impact of COVID-19 on tourism worldwide. Although academic attention to these models has increased over the years, the processes that drive them are still poorly understood. A general justification of this research gap is the lack of appropriate theoretical perspectives for an holistic interpretation of the complex dynamics underlying sustainable tourism paths (Bramwell, Higham, Lane & Miller, 2017). Accordingly, this lesson presents a co-evolutionary framework that allows us to explaining the intertwined evolutionary socio-ecological dynamics  of tourism firms’ and destination’s change underlying the aforesaid business models, and their key determinants.  This framework has been developed and applied by some management scholars (Paniccia et al., 2017a,b; Paniccia & Leoni, 2019) in the tourism filed showing its effectiveness in the interpretation of phenomena such as innovation and sustainability. In this regard, the lesson also presents evidence through ad hoc case studies. Through this lesson, the reader can acquire specific knowledge about the co-evolution concept and on the two main key benefits in using the aforesaid co-evolutionary framework to understand how tourism firms and destinations can progress towards sustainability. First, it allows conceiving sustainable and innovative business models in the tourism sector as a result of effective multilevel co-evolutionary adaptations, according to a holistic and dynamic view of sustainability. Second, it allows to provide entrepreneur and policy makers with valuable tools to enhance the destinations’ identities through the propagation of the aforesaid business models, thus positively affecting the competitiveness of the destinations where they are located.

    • The Albergo Diffuso business model: from evolution to co-evolution File

      Luna Leoni (Assistant Professor in Management)

      The lesson presents the Albergo Diffuso (AD) topic as an example of virtuous co-evolution between firms and territories. The following slides explain the AD phenomenon, also through some successful cases of Italian AD. In support of these slides, a scientific article on the topic is provided. Through this lesson, the reader can acquire specific knowledge on the systemic and co-evolutionary management of the firms-environment relationship and how this relationship can create sustainability-oriented and innovative business models.

    • Religious tourism and the evolution of religious accommodations File

      Silvia Baiocco (Research Fellow in Management)

      The lesson presents the topic of religious tourism widely considered as one of the most important historical antecedents of modern tourism, and still relevant in terms of number of travelers and turnover. Through this lesson, specific knowledge is acquired about the main features of religious tourism and pilgrimages and about the evolution of religious accommodation over time. The learning outcome of this lesson is twofold: i) the understanding of religious tourism and pilgrimages as tourism products, thus implying both tourism offering and demand with specific characteristics; ii) the comprehension of a new sustainability-oriented hospitality model.

    • Quality Tourism in Cultural Heritage Management: the HGES model File

      Maurizio Quagliuolo (HERITY International Secretary General)

      This presentation is aimed to introduce the HERITY Global Evaluation System (HGES) in the framework of Quality Tourism. The Value-Conservation-Communication and Business cycle will be discussed in the context of a balance between use and conservation on the sites.

    • Rome: where everything begins File

      Maria Cristina Selloni (Past Director of the Tourism, Training and Work Department of Rome)

      Italy boasts a constant growth of its tourist flows and, in 2019, confirmed itself as the fifth world destination for international arrivals. Rome, the Capital, represents the “main tourist goal” being the most desired and wished destination by all travellers in the world even if it’s “only” the 15th touristic destination on a world level and the third one in Europe, after London and Paris. Rome is a unique destination because of its extraordinary historic, artistic and cultural sites, its naturalistic resources and the richness and variety of its food&wine, artisanal and fashion typical offer. Today I’m going to highlight the main “strengths and weaknesses” of Rome as a tourist destination.

    • Wine tourism and brand authenticity: The case of Antonelli Italian winery File

      Michela Mingione (Research Fellow in Management)

      This lesson explores what wine brand authenticity is, with special regards to brand authenticity in the new Era of Digitalization. The following slides explain what brand authenticity is (with a focus on its antecedents and consequences), along with the contexts that studied the phenomenon. The lesson is supported by a single case study on an Italian winery, a leading one in the sector of wine tourism, the Antonelli winery. Thanks to this lesson, knowledge on brand authenticity in the context of wine tourism can be acquired. A special focus on wine tourism Post-Covid is also highlighted. In particular, readers we can learn: the specific sources of brand authenticity in the new era of digitalization and what responsibilities a brand face in the digital age, when attempting to maintain its authenticity.

  • The role of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector for the development and competitiveness of tourism destinations

    In this topic you can find lessons devoted to the analysis of the MICE sector with particular emphasis on events, congresses, and convention bureaus.

    • Meeting & Event Industry and live communication overview File

      Massimo Melis (Partner & Managing Director of Future4 Communication)

      The issue of this lesson is an overview of the “Meeting & Event Industry”, a strategic sector for Europe that in Italy count 569 thousand employees and produce 65.5 billion Euro in turnover and 36.2 billion Euro impact on GDP: you will find in next slides in details main player, event’s typology, key success factors of a meeting & event destination. The lesson also describes what is “Live Communication” and which is the effects of digital solution to support events.

    • The new generation of Territorial Convention Bureaus: the cases of Convention Bureau of Rome and Lazio and Convention Bureau Terre di Siena File

      Paolo Novi (CEO Integrare srl, Member of the Board of Directors of the Convention Bureau of Rome and Lazio)

      The lesson analyses the importance of Convention Bureaus in the tourism sector as well as the role they can play in the current economy in order to overcome the many challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the lesson presents two case studies: the Convention Bureau of Rome and Lazio, and the Convention Bureau Terre di Siena.

    • The international and national MICE demand File

      Mario Liguori (Lecturer in Management and Executive Director New Business & Board Member EGA Worldwide Congress & Events)

      In this lesson the MICE demand, at both national (i.e., Italian) and international level is presented and discussed. In particular, the lesson addresses the main characteristics of the different subjects involved in MICE. Moreover, a specific part of the lesson is centred on congress tourism. The lesson is supported by an academic article on these topics.

    • Organizing an international congress: preliminary project, negotiation approach, and risk management File

      Claudia Maria Golinelli (Full Professor of Management and Vice President & Partner EGA Worldwide Congress & Events)

      This lesson explains how to organize an international congress. In particular, the different phases of the organizational process are described with a focus on specific elements such as: the preliminary project, the choice related to the negotiation approach, and the risk management

    • Events: from acquisition to impact assessment File

      Claudia Maria Golinelli (Full Professor of Management and Vice President & Partner EGA Worldwide Congress & Events)

      This lesson is centred on the Events (as part of MICE industry). In particular, the different typologies of events are described, together with their main characteristics as well as their relationship with the territory and stakeholders. Finally, the main phases related to the organization and management of an event are presented together with the different types of impacts generated by the event itself.

  • Digitalisation in tourism

    In this topic you can find lessons focused on the relationship between tourism and digitalization and how this latter is changing and reshaping the tourism sector as a whole. These lessons go deeper into the key trends that can help us to achieve intelligent and equitable management of resources, provide more satisfactory services to new requests, review and implement effective business strategies and increase the involvement of local people and communities – such as Big Data, social, mobile, etc.

    • Designing and Managing the Digital Transformation in the Tourism Sector File

      Gabriele Milani (FTO National Director)

      This lesson addresses how the tourism sector is increasingly influenced by the use of digital technologies, how digital is changing our life model and we will focus on the new "tourist figure" that is emerging.

    • Big Data: Analysis, Challenges, Careers File

      Damiano Sabatino (VP & Managing Director, Account Management, Europe – Travelport)

      This lesson analyzes the meaning and the role of big data in tourism, together with the related main challenges and career opportunities.

    • Travel Management Companies and Business Travel File

      Sandro Gargiulo (Country Manager, Italy and Malta – Travelport)

      This lesson is focused on travel management companies and business travel. In particular, on the challenges and opportunities for travel management companies as well as their relationship with the digital transformation.

    • Mobile first File

      Sergio Pellegrini (Marketing and Communications Manager, Southern Europe – Travelport)

      In this lesson the role and the importance of the mobile in the current competitive environment is discusserd, together with datafication, virtual and augmented reality; useful examples related to airline companies are also provided.

    • Social media management in the travel industry File

      Laura Capasa (Senior Marketing Manager – Travelport)

      This lesson focuses on the importance of social media management in the travel industry. It presents the main social media networks, storytelling practices and gamification.