Preface

Chapter 8 **Systematic Competitiveness in Colombian Medical Tourism: An**

**Examination 125**

**VI** Contents

**Tourist Regions 143** Dimitrios Dimitriou

**in Tourism 159**

**Bratislava IV) 189**

Mario Alberto De la Puente Pacheco

Chapter 9 **Air Transport Economic Footprint in Remote**

Chapter 10 **A Comprehensive Review of the Quality Approach**

Chapter 12 **Spatial Development Follows Digitization 209** Lars Rettig and Morten Friedrichsen

Ksenija (Née Jovović) Štahan

**Context, Challenges and Solution 221**

Diana Foris, Maria Popescu and Tiberiu Foris

Chapter 11 **Assessment of Selected Cultural Ecosystem Services: Benefits of Land Cover Ecosystems for Ecological Models of Tourism Development (Case Study of Devín, the District of**

Zdena Krnacova, Peter Barancok and Katarina Pavlickova

Chapter 13 **Energy-Efficient Architecture and Sustainable Urban Tourism:**

The notion of "mobilities," when looked at from a practical point of view, turns out to cover many different kinds of human social activity. It is not surprising, then, that when ap‐ proached from an academic perspective, it reveals enormous potential for interdisciplinary research, which, as this monograph testifies, has proven extremely attractive to many schol‐ ars from different continents, disciplines, and schools of academic inquiry. The authors of this volume focus on the specific aspects of mobilities, namely, tourism and travel behavior, but approach them from a plethora of positions; they are economists, geographers, sociolo‐ gists, experts in culture, anthropologists, management specialists, and others. Such a myriad of perspectives is bound to be challenging in methodological terms, but it seems there is a growing agreement as to the worthiness of such interdisciplinary research. By means of combining social, cultural, geographical, economic, and other types of approaches, research‐ ers obtain access to a fascinating and increasingly ubiquitous phenomenon of contemporary human mobility—related to tourism, leisure, and travel behavior.

Academic and practical approaches to the challenge of facing such multifaceted phenomena can be witnessed in this volume. It contains 13 chapters divided into 2 sections. The first one, consisting of five works, is concerned with various aspects of tourism presented in dif‐ ferent social, cultural, and psychological contexts. Also a religious aspect of tourism, seen from a Muslim perspective, is present as in the case of the chapter devoted to travel behav‐ ior in relation to the Halal tourism industry. In the second chapter, the concept of cultural tourism with an example of musical events organized on the coastal destinations of Istria as case studies has been described by the authors from the Croatian universities of Zadar and Pula. Another study of empirical character proposes a model in which tourist satisfaction is a consequence of the functional, hedonic, and symbolic benefits, wherein they are under‐ stood by the author from the Chilean University of Santiago as the effect of cognitive per‐ ception and affective evaluation. In turn, the results of the survey research devoted to the identification of the long-haul travel motivation by international tourists to Penang have been proposed by two authors from the Universiti Sains Malaysia. And finally, the first sec‐ tion ends with a qualitative study of psychological and social character. Its author from the National Tsing Hua University deals with the problem of decision-making and travel behav‐ ior of Taiwanese graduates participating in working holidays.

The second section of the book is mostly related to the issue of sustainability—understood by particular authors in various contexts. It contains eight chapters that deal with different economic, spatial, environmental, and even virtual issues of contemporary tourist mobili‐ ties. The first paper explores the problem of cruise tourism and sustainability. Its two au‐ thors, representing both academic and business environments, focus on the case of Venice and its role as home port for cruise tourism in the Mediterranean area. The original topic of

online conversations for giving sense to sustainable tourism on the example of the Adriatic-Ionian Region constitutes the subject of the next chapter authored by two scholars from the University of Macerata (Central Eastern Italy). They present the outputs of empirical study in which the conversations retrieved from Twitter were analyzed. Another original topic connected with competitiveness in Colombian medical tourism has been presented by a re‐ searcher from the Universidad del Norte, located on the Caribbean coast of this South Amer‐ ican country. The next chapter deals with the estimation of the footprint created by the air transport sector on regional development with the example of a chosen Mediterranean re‐ gion (Crete). As an empirical method of research, the author from Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) applies the input-output computational modeling framework. In turn, a comprehensive review of the quality in tourism is the subject of interest of three Romanian authors. They analyze, and finally summarize, the evolution of this approach in the travel and tourism sector. In the next chapter authored by three scholars from Slovakia, a function‐ al-chorological approach is applied to assess the natural prerequisites of tourism, which makes it possible to arrange the territorial model of tourism more accurately. The authors use for this purpose the Bratislava district of Devin as an appropriate area for the case study. A completely different topic constitutes the subject of research of two scholars from the West Coast University of Applied Sciences in Heide (Germany). They try to examine which portfolios of spatial- and content-related academic courses are necessary for shaping future competences in the Fehmarn-Belt Fixed Link Area—the region in Northern Germany that strongly depends on mobility, mostly logistics and tourism. And finally, the problem that is concerned with tourism as a factor of sustainable urban development is raised by an inde‐ pendent researcher from Zagreb (Croatia). She analyzes the original issue of energy-efficient architecture in the context of tourism sustainability in urban environment.

After this short review of chapters presented in this volume, it is worth emphasizing that their authors make an attempt to grasp an extremely complex, real-life phenomenon. This proves problematic at times, but unless we make an effort to conceptualize the complexity of our social existence, we are bound to be at a loss when confronted with ever more compli‐ cated real-life situations. Thus, the value of this volume lies, on the one hand, in its paving the path for further research in the area. This is not to say, however, that no immediate prac‐ tical applications are offered. On the contrary, many of the presented texts deal with very specific issues, producing readily acceptable recommendations and perspectives for possible follow-up studies.

If we subtitled the volume "Contexts and Boundaries," it is because we believe that ap‐ proaching complex issues considering the relevant context warrants accuracy and that we are convinced that in interdisciplinary study, the boundaries there should be crossed.

> **Leszek Butowski** The University of Lodz, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Poland

**Social, Cultural and Psychological Aspects of Tourism**

online conversations for giving sense to sustainable tourism on the example of the Adriatic-Ionian Region constitutes the subject of the next chapter authored by two scholars from the University of Macerata (Central Eastern Italy). They present the outputs of empirical study in which the conversations retrieved from Twitter were analyzed. Another original topic connected with competitiveness in Colombian medical tourism has been presented by a re‐ searcher from the Universidad del Norte, located on the Caribbean coast of this South Amer‐ ican country. The next chapter deals with the estimation of the footprint created by the air transport sector on regional development with the example of a chosen Mediterranean re‐ gion (Crete). As an empirical method of research, the author from Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) applies the input-output computational modeling framework. In turn, a comprehensive review of the quality in tourism is the subject of interest of three Romanian authors. They analyze, and finally summarize, the evolution of this approach in the travel and tourism sector. In the next chapter authored by three scholars from Slovakia, a function‐ al-chorological approach is applied to assess the natural prerequisites of tourism, which makes it possible to arrange the territorial model of tourism more accurately. The authors use for this purpose the Bratislava district of Devin as an appropriate area for the case study. A completely different topic constitutes the subject of research of two scholars from the West Coast University of Applied Sciences in Heide (Germany). They try to examine which portfolios of spatial- and content-related academic courses are necessary for shaping future competences in the Fehmarn-Belt Fixed Link Area—the region in Northern Germany that strongly depends on mobility, mostly logistics and tourism. And finally, the problem that is concerned with tourism as a factor of sustainable urban development is raised by an inde‐ pendent researcher from Zagreb (Croatia). She analyzes the original issue of energy-efficient

architecture in the context of tourism sustainability in urban environment.

follow-up studies.

VIII Preface

After this short review of chapters presented in this volume, it is worth emphasizing that their authors make an attempt to grasp an extremely complex, real-life phenomenon. This proves problematic at times, but unless we make an effort to conceptualize the complexity of our social existence, we are bound to be at a loss when confronted with ever more compli‐ cated real-life situations. Thus, the value of this volume lies, on the one hand, in its paving the path for further research in the area. This is not to say, however, that no immediate prac‐ tical applications are offered. On the contrary, many of the presented texts deal with very specific issues, producing readily acceptable recommendations and perspectives for possible

If we subtitled the volume "Contexts and Boundaries," it is because we believe that ap‐ proaching complex issues considering the relevant context warrants accuracy and that we are convinced that in interdisciplinary study, the boundaries there should be crossed.

> **Leszek Butowski** The University of Lodz,

> > Poland

Faculty of Geographical Sciences,

**Provisional chapter**
