CACTUS - Journal of tourism for research, education, culture, and soul

11-16

Authors: ADINA-GABRIELA, CROITORU DANIELA FIROIU

In a global society, defined by the disappearance of borders of any kind, the unprecedented intensification of competition compels companies, regardless of the economic sector in which they operate, to permanently adapt their products and services to customers’ requirements. However, the challenge lies precisely in the fact that consumer demands are in a constantly and increasingly accelerated change. If until some time ago products and services were generally chosen based on value for money, now the trend is to make choices based on the fact that these represent a new concept, a new experience, so that innovation is more and more appreciated and gradually turns into the most appropriate way to bring added value to companies. The concept is evolving fast, however, and innovation no longer refers only to the creation of new products or services, but also, why not, even to the development of new strategies, most often marketing and management strategies, aimed at enhancing performance at the microeconomic level. It is obvious that pioneers in the creation of such successful strategies are primarily companies with economic power and know-how, often multinational companies, which outline directions in this respect and become real business performance models. Concrete examples regarding the use of innovation for achieving business excellence can be easily found in tourism, which is currently the fastest growing economic sector in the world. Thus, development strategies existing especially in the international hotel chains turn into real best practices not only for the hospitality industry, but also for other areas, contributing primarily to the companies’ success, but, furthermore, also to increasing the competitiveness of the whole world economy. This article aims to bring to the fore some of the innovative strategies successfully used by one of the largest hotel groups globally and, starting from the analysis of the current state of the hospitality industry in Romania, to identify some ways forward for increasing business performance.

25-28

Authors: RALUCA GEORGIANA STOIAN

The objective of this article is to shed insight on the tourism assistance and services that can be developed to optimize the tourism flow. This article will expose the fact that tourism combines several services, such as transport, accommodation, food, recreation, events, that make up the integrated tourism product and its marketing arrangements. Part of tourism services are designed to cover basic, everyday needs like rest, food, and another part is dedicated to specific necessities and particularities of tourism services (recreation, treatment, travel arrangements, etc.). The dynamism of tourism leads to the need for improvement of existing tourism services and develop new forms of tourism. Meanwhile developing tourism assistance and services leads to regional economic growth and professional development of people. Tourism plays an important role in the development of Romania's economic future and it is important to ensure that tourism resources are fully valued. Business trips or trips to congresses, conferences, meetings, etc. continue to develop, with increasing benefits for organizers. Many people who are involved in such activities are, in the same time, “holiday” tourists who want to discover the area that they are visiting. Tourism products and services are designed and developed to meet the needs of existing and potential customers. Tourists are becoming more experienced and sophisticated and expect high quality attractions, utilities and services, and rates / prices suited to their travels quality. Provided that everything mentioned above is the main reason or motivation to develop tourism and its services for visitors to events in which they participate; we will analyze possible options for improving the above mentioned services.

41-55

Authors: LIVIU DEDIU

Online reviews represent one of the basic functionalities implemented under the Web 2.0 concept. Implementing the functionality of achieving reviews was made on public platforms and became the de facto standard for all web applications involving interaction between service/products providers and Internet users. Reviews information sources are used differently: first are followed peripherals clues (synthetic evaluation based on stars or ranking) as a stage of information retrieval and, after that, the processing of basic information (reviews) is shaping the person’s choosing alternatives. The study involved the use of exploratory research method. In this research we have undertaken an investigation which used a survey which was completed by 230 heterogeneous people The research resulted in finding preferred media information and the type of users who use them. Throughout our paper, the answers to two core questions concerning the approached theme can be found: • How important is, for a potential client, the online information, based on reviews published by other clients, made before choosing a tourist service? • How much do the online reviews influence the decision of buying a travel package? During the survey challenges have emerged whose solution requires additional research, thus reinforcing the importance of the chosen theme.