Proceedings of The 14th International Conference on Management, Economics and Humanities
Year: 2023
DOI:
[PDF]
A Comparison of Potential Young Rural Tourism Entrepreneurs in Cordoba, Eskisehir, And Treviso in Terms of Digital Skills
Semra Günay, Yeliz Mert Kantar, Sema Ekincek, Merve Özgür Göde, İsmail Yenilmez, Önder Yayla, Şükrü Acıtaş, Jesús Blas Ruiz Leal, Handan Akarsu Scarabello
ABSTRACT:
Tourism is extremely important in the economies of Spain, Italy and Turkey. At the same time, these three countries are among the EU countries with similar conditions due to their location in the Mediterranean basin. This similarity also applies to tourism and the conditions affecting tourism. In all three countries, there is youth unemployment as well as the emptying of rural areas due to urbanization. Therefore, rural tourism emerges as an option that can provide an important opening. The increased attractiveness of secluded and rural areas for tourists after the Covid-19 pandemic can be considered as an opportunity for rural tourism entrepreneurship. In the digitalizing world, the use of digital tools for all businesses is becoming widespread. However, for non-global companies, especially for small rural tourism businesses, digital marketing is a more vital competency for survival and globalization. This study aims to determine the competencies of young rural tourism candidates in these three countries to use digital tools. Because within the scope of the project, young people will be offered an accelerated development program on rural tourism entrepreneurship using non-formal education methods. A 3-item questionnaire was administered to young people in Italy, Scotland and Turkey. 185 people from Turkey, 50 from Italy and 44 from Spain responded to the questionnaire in January-April 2023. The evaluation of the data shows that although young people consider themselves competent in using digital tools, they need support in areas such as web page design and social media use. Following this study, it was concluded that young people should be trained in digital marketing and a vision should be created to improve themselves.
keywords: Rural tourism, Tourism entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs, Digital skills, Italy, Spain, Türkiye