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

16-23

Authors: Mirea Cosmin Nicolae, Sârbu Alexandra Maria, Ionescu Andra Maria

At national level, the contribution of tourism to the formation of the Gross Domestic Product is quite significant, considering the year 2019, when the contribution of tourism was 6.1% (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2021). Thus, the connection between tourism and Gross Domestic Product is indisputable. The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of the number of tourists arriving in the development regions of Romania on the Gross Domestic Product. The regression method was applied for data processing, using the statistical program EViews. The highest increase in the Gross Domestic Product, depending on the increase in the number of tourists, is registered in the South-Muntenia Development Region, and the smallest increase is registered in the BucharestIlfov Development Region. The results show that a large number of tourists does not necessarily mean generating a considerable increase in Gross Domestic Product.

38-45

Authors: Ana-Maria Nica, Adina Irina Lăceanu

The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Congresses, Exhibitions) market has recently experienced a rapid growth, as actors at both macroeconomic and microeconomic levels recognized the great potential of this kind of tourism income generator. The events have also become elements that helped shape a tourism destination image or brand, through organized systems such as the portfolio model. However, the Covid pandemic, with its subsequent limitations and economic crisis, has severely impacted the events industry. No events, at any scale, were allowed to be organized, thus resulting in losses of billions of euros worldwide. With the economies slowly reopening, due to the partial lifting of Covid-related limitations, there seems to be room for the revival of tourism destinations. The analysis of previous studies has revealed a scientific gap, related to the possibility of reviving an urban destination through a large scale event. Therefore, the aim of the present scientific paper is to fill this gap, by looking into the perception of potential tourism demand on this subject. It also investigated the specifics of such an event, with a focus on the Romanian city of Sibiu. To this end a survey was conducted in the beginning of the year 2021, and its main results are presented in this article.

56-64

Authors: Ana-Maria Badea

COVID-19 is an extremely infectious disease and a danger to human health, causing deaths worldwide. The aim of the paper was to identify how the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. The study starts from the hypotheses that entrepreneurial intentions among young people have decreased due to the pandemic and that the existence of entrepreneurs in the family or circle of friends can positively influence young people. A review of the literature has created an overview of the importance of entrepreneurship in a country's economy and how the pandemic affected the entrepreneurs. To collect data, a questionnaire was distributed among young people between 16 and 35 years old. Following the evaluation of the respondents' answers, the two hypotheses were validated. It was found that young people who already have their own business also have relatives or friends who are entrepreneurs, who influenced them to follow the path of entrepreneurship. The pandemic has negatively affected young people, as before March 2020, 35.6% of young people wanted to start their own business, now 24.4% are undecided due to restrictions and uncertainty, and 1.6% gave up the idea setting up a business. Thus, we can conclude that the pandemic has caused disruptions to the economy and entrepreneurship, raising many challenges for current and future businesses.

14-27

Authors: Maria-Cristina Iorgulescu, Luciana-Floriana Holostencu, Mădălina-Ionela Iordache, Mădălina-Lavinia Țală, Ileana Vălimăreanu (Mircioi), Georgiana-Geanina Bursuc

The increasing rate of students enrolling into higher education leads undoubtedly to a more contrasted student body, impeding the identification of potential sources that might determine their option into continuing or dropping out of university, mainly after the first year of admission. Although there are various reasons why students drop out of university, ranging from personal, social or even technical ones (considering online blended learning), we will focus mainly on difficulties encountered by students related to specific subjects or teaching techniques, known as academic difficulties. Therefore, considering Romania’s higher education is facing retention problems among students in various universities around the country, the purpose of the present study is to analyze the influence of a particular variable which, lato sensu, consists in students’ inability of channeling their resources into getting a deeper understanding of various university subjects in order to achieve effective learning and therefore successfully continue their studies. A quantitative study consisting in a two-stages questionnaire was carried out with 70 first year students enrolled at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Faculty of Business and Tourism who agreed to take part into the development of their academic performance by joining the agenda provided via the Secondary Education Project – ROSE BT. The present research offers empirical evidence that might be useful for future decision-making in order to improve educational processes and both students’ and professors’ accomplishments in university settings. Also, the results have indicated that students who have difficulties into understanding first-year subjects are more open to engage into further communication and academic activities with their professors and also to adapt to improved teaching and interaction techniques or strategies

36-45

Authors: Carmen Florentina Vlăsceanu

This article examines service quality in regard to cruise lines service performance from a customer perceived satisfaction perspective. The article provides a descriptive observation based on the empirical developments within the research community in terms of theory and practice underlining the service quality as a subjective trait, depending on a series of influential factors and market determinants. The first part of the article focuses on a theoretical explanation of the dimensions linked to service excellence within the cruising industry and the importance of market segmentation determinants in relation to building sustainable relationships with the customers in all phases of the service life cycle. This section is followed by a scrutiny of perceived value and quality management, from an efficient marketing mix perspective. Theories and thoughts of experts of the crosscultural field are highly regarded, providing a detailed look at the motivational factors of consumers purchase decision inspired by the four psychosomatic factors: learning, motivation, perception and attitude. Service quality, customer satisfaction and experiential travel receive outmost attention in cruise hospitality and travel organizations, as customers’ preferences are influenced by the development of marketing tools and the impact of social media on travelers’ behavior, top management makes it a priority of increasing their focus on diversifying the offer in order to make their products and services appear unique. Conclusions are drawn and discussed following a brief overview of cruising industry’s’ trends within the contemporary transformational global business context.

54-59

Authors: Gabriela Țigu, Oana Diana Crismariu, Dan Anghelescu, Miguel Angel Gonzalez Suarez

Sustainability is no longer an extraordinary challenge nowadays for the service providers in Tenerife; this has become a habit for several years. Gradually, they try to instill in tourists care and respect for compliance with the rules that sustainability implies. The hotels have resorted to various ways in which they can carry out their activity in a sustainable way, trying to inform their tourists very well about them. Destinations on the island - regardless of their profile (cultural, coastal, ecotourism, rural, gastronomic, etc.) - are role models for other tourist areas of the world, both through sustainable development and promotion solutions, and by locals’ hospitality and openness to everything that is new. The article explores experiences in the south of the island, which highlight the above.

17-25

Authors: Powel Maxwell Worimegbe, Agbaje Ifedayo

Organizations rebrand as the need arises. The effect of this strategic action has divergent results in the literature, depending on the measure of performance. This study examines the effect of rebranding and how it drives customers’ retention in the telecommunication sector in Nigeria. The study is premised on the corporate identity, reposition, perceived quality and product features. The study employed the descriptive survey research design. Questionnaires were administered to 400 customers of 9Mobile Nigeria who were purposively selected. Using the simple regression, the result reveals the corporate reposition, corporate identity and perceived quality significantly affects customers’ retention while the product features dimension was non-significant in explaining customers’ retention in the telecommunication industry. The study recommends that firms should pay more to repositioning their brand in order to retain their customers. Corporate identity and perceived quality should be part of firms’ strategic plan. This will foster a sense of trust in the customers and give the business a touch of personality and culture. The study contributes to knowledge by establishing how corporate rebranding can be utilized as a strategy to retain customers in an organization.

35-45

Authors: Aydın Unal, Baran Sinan Bayar

The study aims to determine the assessments of the locals living in the destination of 23rd Manavgat Peace Water Festival organized on 22-28 July 2019, which is a festival organized regularly every year in Manavgat district of Antalya province. 550 questionnaire forms prepared within this framework were delivered to the local people living in the relevant destination through face-to-face communication during the festival. The data obtained from the returned questionnaire forms and found eligible for analysis (502 questionnaires) were analyzed via the SPSS 22.0 statistical data program. The results of study suggest that the local people consider the festivals useful for their destinations (89%) and have a positive perspective (91%) on the tourists who visit their destinations. Furthermore, the dimensions of the evaluation scale of the locals for festivals on the destinations they live were identified as the positive support for the development of the festivals, negative sociocultural effects of the festivals, positive economic effects of the festivals, satisfaction for development of the festivals, and positive personal effects of the festivals. It was also determined that the local community consider the following four dimensions of study as high and positive: positive support for the development of the festivals,positive personal effects of the festivals, positive economic effects of the festivals and satisfaction for development of the festivals, consider the following dimension of the study as low and negative: socio-cultural effects of the festivals

15-22

Authors: Oana-Diana Crismariu, Gabriela Tigu

The ambiance in the hospitality industry is represented by the material, social or moral environment, where customers can enjoy the facilities. The correct perception of this has a very important role in creating a truthful experience. In the actual context, the customers are not willing to compromise anymore, accepting some services of bad quality. Because they have a various scale of restaurants and hotels, they are looking for good experiences, which means serving excellent food, sleeping in great places, living unforgettable moments in an agreeable surrounding, this way benefiting by the best services. The present paper is made of four components synthetically presented. The first one, named "Outlooks of client experience in the hospitality industry" contains the main aspects about what experience means in hotels and restaurants, the second one ”Hotel and restaurant ambiance – a tool used to outline the client experience” explains what ambiance is in the hospitality industry. The third part contains “Main components of hotel and restaurant ambiance”. In the last part named "The impact of hotel and restaurant ambiance over Romanian tourists" the results of two quantitative investigations are presented, applied to find out what characteristics related to the restaurant and hotel surroundings are influencing the creation of a positive experience. The aim of this investigation is to discover the importance of the perception of a restaurant and hotel’s surroundings has in creating the experience of customers. The success in this meaning can come from a professional landing regarding a succession of surroundings factors, which can determine the improvement of the restaurants’ and hotels’ services

31-37

Authors: Andreea Fortuna Schiopu, Daniela Georgiana Zloteanu

This article takes a customers’ perspective approach to reflect on the importance of innovation in the restaurant industry. Innovation in restaurants is vital for the business to remain distinct, to attract new customers, and to differentiate themselves from competitors. The aim was to identify the main characteristics and habits of restaurants’ customers, to find out what customers value in a restaurant offer, and to identify the perspective of customers on new and innovative dishes from restaurants’ menus. The focus was on the innovations that the customers expect from restaurants. The authors conducted a survey which reveled that most people dine out for dinner and lunch and have a varied diet. Image is a significant feature in choosing a dish; the combination of ingredients is the most prominent innovative aspect of a dish. In terms of dishes that people want but could not find in restaurant menus, a special mention goes to desserts such as semolina/rice pudding, or plum dumplings, followed by vegetarian options such as cashew cheese and vegan broths. Modern dishes are associated with exotic ingredients such as avocado, Chia seeds, Matcha powder, or vegetable noodles. People seem to be ready to try new things and ready to take in new offers from operators. The likelihood of picking a new dish f

7

Authors: Aura-Mihaela Voicu

The competitive advantage of a company brings together the unique elements and attributes that it owns and exploits them in order to set apart significantly from its competitors. Advantage benefit sources are multiple, and a combination thereof leads to a series of unlimited opportunities for strengths diversification against the competitors. One of the most valuable sources is the employees, whose contribution is vital to gaining competitive strengths. This paper aims to investigate the perception of the employees of the luxury hotels in Bucharest regarding their own contribution to the creation of the competitive advantage. The research was conducted using a questionnaire applied to people with work experience in 4- or 5-star hotels in the capital city, regardless of the position held, and was based on three main objectives. The first set goal was aimed to test the hypothesis according to which employees are the most important source of competitive advantage, but this was not fully confirmed by the respondents. The second hypothesis refers to the fact that all positions held within a luxury hotel can contribute to the creation of the competitive advantage, which is unanimously confirmed by the interviewees. The third objective of the research was to discover how the employees of the luxury hotels in Bucharest assess their own contribution to the creation of the competitive advantage within the hotel where they work; The conclusion for the proposed objective was that they assess on average their own contribution with a grade of 8 out of 10. The implications of this article may be found in other researches that could, for example, address the competitive advantages of luxury hotels in other cities worldwide, compared to those in Bucharest or the differences between luxury hotels in Bucharest and those located in other large cities in Romania, in terms of competitive advantage

10

Authors: Vlad Diaconescu

Students’ perception regarding a career in sales has long been studied, especially in the US, but with fewer studies in Europe. There is less research in Romania. The present paper questions students from five faculties within the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the number of valid answers being 167. The main research results show that although they do not have a negative perception on the field, as it was generally indicated by the previous studies carried out in the Anglo-Saxon countries, students are not very attracted to a career in sales as a first professional option. The situation changes to some extent if there is a firm job offer that many more would accept. Another important aspect is the influence of socio-demographic variables on the decision to pursue a career in sales, with particular regard to differences between boys and girls and income levels. Although in general, they believe that the subjects studied in college would be of use for them in order to work in sales, most of the students do not intend to make this professional choice. The overall conclusion of the study is that students from Bucharest University of Economic Studies do not have a deepened knowledge of the field, and the lack of interest in a sales job is the result of the unawareness of this field rather than a negative perception.