Professor Lund-Durlacher held a presentation at this year’s Sustainability Conference 2008 (Nachhaltigkeitskonferenz 2008) in Pielachtal, Austria, where more than 100 industry experts discussed the role sustainability can take in the future development of the tourism industry. The integration of multiple aspects of sustainability – social, ecological and economical - was exemplified in the conference theme Sustainability as a Chance (Nachhaltigkeit als Chance).

The application of interactive media to destination or cultural attraction websites can enhance the user experience and is likely to increase user satisfaction. Media such as interactive maps, sound, videos or 3D models can engage the user longer on the site, increase variety and fun, facilitate heritage interpretation and offer a better experience to the user while increasing knowledge related to the attraction or destination.

Every city in Europe experiences a certain degree of demand seasonality, an undesirable aspect of tourism, which prevents a destination from the optimal use of its facilities and resources. Empty hotels during the off-peak season are only the most evident effect: seasonality impacts on all aspects of supply-side behaviour in tourism, including marketing, pricing, cash-flow, labour market and attraction of investment capital. A set of actions that smoothen out the demand pattern, ranging from the set up of the event calendar to differentiating the market mix, can be put into action by tourism managers. Evidently, these interventions require a deep insight into the phenomenon - to recognize suitable and efficient actions and to correctly prioritize them within the overall tourism policy.

Climate change is arguably the most serious environmental issue of our time, and tourism is not just a potential victim of it. Few studies have investigated tourism professionals’ attitudes towards global warming and their strategies to curb it. The University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde and MODUL University Vienna carried out a survey at the Berlin tourism fair (ITB) in 2007 and again in 2008 so as to fill this gap.

Online bookings of hotels have increased drastically in recent years. Online hotel booking, the second most important product in online tourism revenue is the focus of this research. Hotels make use of the Internet to not only offer services to customers but to simultaneously provide a platform for customers to give feedback on their stay in a specific hotel.

With the online travel market growing significantly, effective e-communication is becoming increasingly important. Research on e-mail communication shows that a timely response to e-mail inquiries and complaints is an element of quality. In the event of a complaint, an answer and the quality of the answer is even more important. This study investigated the e-mail response behavior in two important tourism sectors (airlines and national tourism organizations) through a mystery study.

How destination information is used, searched for and represented in electronic networks is the focus of a special session initiated by Astrid Dickinger and Karl Wöber at the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educators Conference.

Attractive coastal regions of Central and South America have recently experienced a rapid growth of second home developments. Informed by the experiences of Europe and the Americas, this study examines the socio-economic and environmental impacts of second homes on the South Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. An extensive review of Spanish, French and English academic literature as well as secondary data from the Rivas region were examined.