Tourist arrivals and overnight stays in Slovenia from 2008 to 2017. Data taken from the SURS—Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
\r\n\tFinally, I want to emphasize that, in this book, I expect to have excellent contributons on the subjects other than muscle systems, so that the book will be widely read by people interested in non-muscle motile systems as well as by muscle researchers.
",isbn:null,printIsbn:null,pdfIsbn:null,doi:null,price:0,priceEur:null,priceUsd:null,slug:null,numberOfPages:0,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"862ba53997da17b644b918fe44e97d4a",bookSignature:"Emeritus Prof. Haruo Sugi",publishedDate:null,coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/7021.jpg",keywords:"Musculo-skeletal system, Cardio-vascular system, Porter myosins, Cellular transport, Motile systems, cell division, Contractile ring formation, Mitotic apparatus, Ciliary Movement, Flagellar Movement, Amoeboid movement, Novel motile systems",numberOfDownloads:null,numberOfWosCitations:0,numberOfCrossrefCitations:0,numberOfDimensionsCitations:0,numberOfTotalCitations:0,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"August 13th 2018",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"September 3rd 2018",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"November 2nd 2018",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"January 21st 2019",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"March 22nd 2019",remainingDaysToSecondStep:"3 years",secondStepPassed:!0,currentStepOfPublishingProcess:5,editedByType:null,kuFlag:!1,biosketch:null,coeditorOneBiosketch:null,coeditorTwoBiosketch:null,coeditorThreeBiosketch:null,coeditorFourBiosketch:null,coeditorFiveBiosketch:null,editors:[{id:"140827",title:"Emeritus Prof.",name:"Haruo",middleName:null,surname:"Sugi",slug:"haruo-sugi",fullName:"Haruo Sugi",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/140827/images/system/140827.jpg",biography:"Haruo Sugi was appointed instructor in the Depertment of Physiology of the University of Tokyoin 1962, and worked at Columbia University and the National Instututes of Health, USA, from 1965 to 1967. He was a professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology, Teikyo University Medical School from 1973 to 2004, when he became emeritus professor. Professor Sugi organized international symposia on muscle contraction seven times, each followed by publication of proceedings. He also edited 4 books. 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From chapter submission and review, to approval and revision, copyediting and design, until final publication, I work closely with authors and editors to ensure a simple and easy publishing process. I maintain constant and effective communication with authors, editors and reviewers, which allows for a level of personal support that enables contributors to fully commit and concentrate on the chapters they are writing, editing, or reviewing. I assist authors in the preparation of their full chapter submissions and track important deadlines and ensure they are met. I help to coordinate internal processes such as linguistic review, and monitor the technical aspects of the process. As an ASM I am also involved in the acquisition of editors. 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Venkateswarlu",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/371.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"58592",title:"Dr.",name:"Arun",surname:"Shanker",slug:"arun-shanker",fullName:"Arun Shanker"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"72",title:"Ionic Liquids",subtitle:"Theory, Properties, New Approaches",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"d94ffa3cfa10505e3b1d676d46fcd3f5",slug:"ionic-liquids-theory-properties-new-approaches",bookSignature:"Alexander Kokorin",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/72.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"19816",title:"Prof.",name:"Alexander",surname:"Kokorin",slug:"alexander-kokorin",fullName:"Alexander Kokorin"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"314",title:"Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering",subtitle:"Cells and Biomaterials",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"bb67e80e480c86bb8315458012d65686",slug:"regenerative-medicine-and-tissue-engineering-cells-and-biomaterials",bookSignature:"Daniel Eberli",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/314.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"6495",title:"Dr.",name:"Daniel",surname:"Eberli",slug:"daniel-eberli",fullName:"Daniel Eberli"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"57",title:"Physics and Applications of Graphene",subtitle:"Experiments",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"0e6622a71cf4f02f45bfdd5691e1189a",slug:"physics-and-applications-of-graphene-experiments",bookSignature:"Sergey Mikhailov",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/57.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"16042",title:"Dr.",name:"Sergey",surname:"Mikhailov",slug:"sergey-mikhailov",fullName:"Sergey Mikhailov"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"1373",title:"Ionic Liquids",subtitle:"Applications and Perspectives",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"5e9ae5ae9167cde4b344e499a792c41c",slug:"ionic-liquids-applications-and-perspectives",bookSignature:"Alexander Kokorin",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/1373.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"19816",title:"Prof.",name:"Alexander",surname:"Kokorin",slug:"alexander-kokorin",fullName:"Alexander Kokorin"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}}]},chapter:{item:{type:"chapter",id:"68489",title:"A Review of the Macroscopic, Microscopic, and Ultramicroscopic Characteristics of Some Key Oocyte Developmental Processes in Fish Species",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.87967",slug:"a-review-of-the-macroscopic-microscopic-and-ultramicroscopic-characteristics-of-some-key-oocyte-deve",body:'\nThe knowledge on the reproductive characteristics of fish is fundamental to understand the adaptations developed to maximize the reproductive success in a given environment, considering the life history aspects of each species [1]. Studies involving the reproductive biology of fish have several possibilities of approach, such as the understanding of gonadal development and the reproductive cycle of the species. Analyses of gonadal morphology are important for the understanding of the biology of the species and have been widely applied in Teleostei, as in recent studies on spermatogenesis [2, 3, 4, 5], folliculogenesis [6, 7, 8], reproductive cycle [8, 9, 10, 11, 12], and fecundity [13].
\nStudies have been carried out to describe and classify the stages of gonadal development and reproductive stages of fish in the Neotropical region. One of the most classic and used bibliographic sources has been Vazzoler [14]. However, other proposals for description have already been made by Grier and Taylor [15], Grier [16], and Lo Nostro et al. [17], which detail the continuity and discontinuity of the germinal epithelium and the cell types present in the gonads. Recently, Brown-Peterson et al. [18] developed a simpler terminology to facilitate the communication and comparison of studies on the reproductive biology of fish. Still in order to make the nomenclature more comprehensive, the stages of oocyte development were simplified by Quagio-Grassiotto et al. [19], and the development of stages of atresia, which are characterized as involutive processes, follows according to Miranda et al. [20].
\nGonadal development can be analyzed macroscopically, and changes in shape, size, color, and texture of the gonads have been used as parameters for the classification of maturation status in many studies of ecology and reproductive dynamics[14, 21]. However, the most used analysis has been of the microscopic characters, since it allows a more detailed and precise description of the transitions and morphological and structural transformations that happen during gonadal development [8, 22, 23]. Thus, regarding the microscopic aspects of the gonad, it is verified that [24]:
Spermatogenesis shows stages of development that include spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids, and spermatozoa.
Oogenesis usually shows the following progression: oogonia, primary growth oocytes, a previtellogenic stage in which oocytes grow larger and often have cortical alveolar vesicles, an extensive vitellogenic phase, oocyte maturation, and ovulation.
The oocyte development in a mature egg is a complex process modulated by numerous environmental and endocrine factors [25], and understanding the morphological characteristics of oocytes is important to interpret the dynamics of oogenesis [26]. Among the oocyte processes, folliculogenesis results in the removal of the primary oocyte from oogonium nests and consequent formation of ovarian follicles [27]. Descriptions for the germinal epithelium made by Grier [28] conceptualized “follicular complex” as the functional unit of the ovary. This complex is formed by two compartments separated by a basement membrane. One compartment is the follicle, which consists of the oocyte surrounded by follicular cells and originated from the germinal epithelium. The second compartment is the theca, made up of undifferentiated ovarian stromal cells.
\nIn the previtellogenic oocyte phase, multiple nucleoli are observed, as described by Grier et al. [29]. These oocytes are also called perinucleolar oocytes, when the nucleoli migrate to the nuclear periphery. There is also the formation of the zona pellucida, a complex structure consisting generally of two layers crossed by pores or channels containing the oocyte microvilli and/or follicular cell extensions. The zona pellucida reflects adaptations to different ecological conditions in which the eggs develop [30], whose inner layer protects the egg from mechanical damage and whose outer layer protects it from microorganisms.
\nAnother cell characteristic that is used to describe the stages of oocyte development is the presence of nüages, Balbiani corpuscles, and cortical alveoli. The nüages are originated by the transfer from the nucleus to the cytoplasm of large amounts of heterogeneous and ribosomal RNA synthesized [31] and associated with proteins. Balbiani corpuscles or yolk nuclei, described by Hubbard [32], were recognized as clusters of organelles located near the nucleus, which proliferate intensely and spread throughout the cytoplasm. And, the cortical alveoli, as observed by Grier et al. [29], are vesicles filled with glycoproteins, formed by depressions of the oocyte membrane that become progressively larger, marking the final stage of primary or previtellogenic growth.
\nThe described changes are followed by an expressive growth of the oocyte during vitellogenesis, in which the oocyte accumulates the nutritive reserves necessary for the development of the embryo. The oocyte also accumulates RNA and completes the differentiation of its cellular and noncellular envelopes. During this time, the oocyte interrupts the meiosis at the end of the prophase and in the diplotene stage. Maturation processes are characterized by the reduction or halting of endocytosis, resumption of meiosis, breakdown of the germinal vesicle, formation of a monolayer of cortical alveoli under the plasma oocyte membrane, and dissolution of yolk platelets; pelagic oocytes still undergo hydration [6].
\nThe understanding of cellular modifications is used to describe the reproductive cycle. This allows the recognition of the reproduction period and the gonadal morphological changes that occur. Descriptions of the reproductive cycle were initially elaborated by Yamamoto [33] and Agostinho et al. [34, 35], revalidated by Vazzoler [14], and later used by many authors. Next, Nuñez and Duponchelle [10] defined five stages of ovarian development with greater cellular detail and other four stages of testicular development based on macro- and microscopic characteristics. The last descriptions made by Lowerre-Barbieri et al. [24] and Quagio-Grassiotto et al. [19] on oocyte development, coupled with the stages of the reproductive cycle described by Brown-Peterson et al. [18], brought a proposal to homogenize the terms used and that has been applied in more recent studies. Research on the reproductive cycle of a given species helps to define determinant phases of gonadal development, as well as the “triggers” that initiate the process of cell proliferation and differentiation in the formation of gametes [14, 36, 37, 38].
\nThe growth and maturation of the ovarian follicles depend on carefully crafted communication between the somatic cells of the follicle and the oocyte. This association between somatic cell and germ cell in the ovaries of various vertebrate and invertebrate species is established through intercellular junctions [39, 40, 41, 42, 43]. In vertebrate ovarian follicles, direct cytoplasmic connections between the oocyte and follicular cells of the granulosa layer associated with it are established early in the oocyte development. In fish, amphibians, and mammals, these cytoplasmic connections are established at the points of contact between the oocyte microvilli and follicular cells or between follicular cell microvilli and oocyte, via specialized membrane junctions known as GAP junctions [44, 45, 46, 47].
\nGAP junctions are intermembrane channel aggregates between adjacent cells composed by connexin proteins [48]. These junctions are considered homologous when they connect follicular cells to follicular cells and heterologous when they connect follicular cells to the oocyte [49]. Recent observations suggest that the functional coupling of GAP junctions, especially homologous ones, is necessary for the occurrence of the oocyte maturation process [50]. A possible role for the heterologous GAP junctions is the transfer of cAMP (PKA activator) from the follicular cells to the oocyte in order to induce the production or activity of membrane receptors for the maturation-inducing hormone, or MIH [50], indirectly participating in the oocyte maturation process. GAP junctions may also be involved in specifying the pattern of polarity in the oocytes of various animal groups, so this junctional route can be used to pass intercellular signals from follicular cells to the oocyte to determine oocyte symmetry [51].
\nAs previously reported, the fish oocyte is enveloped by the zona pellucida (microvillus area), by the follicular cells and by the basement membrane. Thus, from a morphological and functional point of view, it is important to know if there are any tight junctions between adjacent follicular cells, since these joints promote barriers for the passage of fluids through the extracellular space between adjacent cell membranes and maintain tissue and cell integrity [45, 52, 53, 54]. The main components of the intercellular junctions are the tight junctions [55, 56], which are composed of different transmembrane proteins that promote a homophilic interaction. The cytoplasmic domain of the transmembrane adhesion molecules connects the binding proteins which, in turn, anchor the cytoskeletal adhesion complex. Of these molecules, occludins and claudins are the most extensively studied. Although occludin is a highly conserved molecule, claudins comprise a family of more than 20 different proteins, some of which are expressed in a tissue-specific manner [57, 58, 59].
\nAs claudins, cadherins are a transmembrane superfamily of proteins that contain several homologous members, exhibiting tissue diversity and distinct binding specificities [60, 61, 62], with a highly conserved cytoplasmic domain [63, 64]. These molecules mediate cell-cell contact at adhesion junctions also anchored in the cytoskeleton, thus playing an important role in the separation, positioning and control of cell movements, and in morphogenesis [65, 66, 67]. In a study with
All intracytoplasmic and cortical events in oocytes involve a precisely organized and collaborative contractile system and a stable support matrix [68]. The cytoskeleton of the oocytes and embryos is implicated in key developmental events, such as creation and maintenance of axial polarity, cytoplasmic reorganization, cell division, change of surface architecture, morphogenetic motions, and internal arrangement of organelles [69]. It seems very likely that cytoskeletal structures are responsible for spatial distribution of yolk, cortical and pigment granules, lipid droplets, or mitochondria [68, 70]. Thus, the spatial organization of cytoskeletal filaments may be important for the preservation of oocyte viability [71].
\nAmong the different proteins expressed in the cytoskeleton, the intermediate filament proteins are exceptionally complex [72, 73], especially in the class of cytokeratins. This is a class of proteins typical and specifically induced in cells compromised for epithelial differentiation [72, 74, 75], and their identification in oocytes and eggs presents an interesting contrast when comparing to other cytoskeletal proteins in germ cells. Cytokeratins are not synthesized in previtellogenic oocytes but are expressed and accumulated in the vitellogenic stage. These filament proteins are first detectable in the cortex of oocytes in later stages of previtellogenesis; at the beginning of vitellogenesis, they are distributed primarily in the region closest to the nucleus and appear to become cortical again in mature oocytes [76]. Intermediate filaments of cytokeratin contribute to the complex structure of the oocyte and egg cortex, which is also rich in other cytoskeletal filaments such as actin filaments and microtubules [68, 77, 78, 79].
\nThe microtubule matrix seems to be a very important component in the immature oocyte cortex in fish. The function of the cortical matrix of microtubules in oocytes remains undetermined but may be related to the mechanical stiffness that has been attributed to the cortex [80]. Even the basic mechanism of germinal vesicle migration and its mechanical anchoring in the region of the animal pole occur from the depolarization of the microtubules, leading to a consequent change in the position of the germinal vesicle [80, 81].
\nEvident changes occur in the distribution and localization of tubulin-containing structures in growing oocytes. In previtellogenic oocytes, a great amount of tubulin is concentrated in the Balbiani corpuscle [82, 83, 84, 85]. During vitellogenesis, mitochondria are displaced from the Balbiani corpuscle to the surface of the cell, while others remain around the nucleus [82, 86], and this movement seems to be related to the reorganization of tubulin [87]. With the disintegration of the Balbiani corpuscle, due to the anterior displacement of membranous organelles, the released space is gradually filled with yolk, i.e., the yolk granules are in a tubulin-positive region. As vitellogenesis progresses, rearrangement of cell growth and its contents occurs with the movement of endosomes to transport yolk through the microtubules [87].
\nThe proper organization and assembly of the cytoskeleton microtubule is an integral phenomenon, which is related to the expression of cellular asymmetry. Particularly in oocytes, the microtubules exhibit a unique paradigm as forming an eccentric meiotic spindle which, consequently, gives rise to asymmetric cytokinesis to form the first and second polar bodies. Its existence and function are dynamically regulated throughout the process of cell division, particularly during the S and M phases of the cell cycle [88].
\nAnother element that contributes to the oocyte asymmetry is the actin cytoskeleton. In oocytes, the actin filaments are not randomly distributed within the cell [89]. In germ cells, as in many other cells, two types of actin are present: filamentous (F-actin) and non-filamentous (G-actin) actins [90]. Actin polymerization-depolymerization process is essential for the translocation of many organelles, as mitochondria [91], Golgi system [92], and cortical granules [93, 94], as well as for the regulation of ion channel activity [95]. In addition, a certain proportion of F-actin and G-actin is required for the normal course of meiotic and mitotic divisions [96].
\nIn many cells, a significant part of these filaments is in the area of the cellular cortex, so it has been proposed that they take part in the transduction of transmembrane information signals, including hormonal signaling [97, 98]. Still in the oocyte cortex, the cortex-specific F-actin layer is peculiarly absent in the space between the germinal vesicle and the plasma membrane at the animal pole. In fact, it is through this “corridor” that the two polar bodies are extruded in the posterior phase of meiosis [99, 100].
\nThe formation of actin bundles in the oocyte cortex is one of the first morphological markers of induction to maturation [99]. The role of actin microfilaments in oocyte maturation seems to be related to the translocation of the endoplasmic reticulum structures to the germinal vesicle area and to the coordination of the cortical granules in the plasma membrane zone [93, 101]. Even during follicular atresia, the actin cytoskeleton undergoes changes associated with the yolk degradation, while it remains preserved in follicular cells. Thus, maintenance of the actin cytoskeleton may be a sign of survival for follicular cells during early and/or advanced atresia processes [102]. Cytoskeleton changes have been extensively reported in apoptotic cells, among which changes in cell shape and anchorage are dependent on the reorganization of actin filaments and focal adhesion contacts [103].
\nAtresia is a degenerative process by which the ovarian follicles lose their integrity and are eliminated [104]. It is a common process in vertebrate ovaries under natural and/or experimental conditions [105] and can be induced by a series of exogenous and endogenous factors [106, 107, 108, 109]. Oocyte degeneration, or follicular atresia, is a process that may occur before spawning, in oocytes that have not reached maturity and thereafter in oocytes that are no longer ovulated [110, 111]. In fish, atresia is involved in normal ovary growth [112, 113] and postovulatory regression [114, 115, 116], especially in females that are not able to perform maturation or ovulation after the vitellogenesis process [117].
\nFish, in general, exhibits a reproductive periodicity, and, therefore, oocytes at various stages of development may be resorbed with the resultant formation of an atretic body. Considering the foregoing, Rajalakshmi [118] made a classification of the atretic processes taking into account the following stages: (1) “immature oocyte atresia” begins with the distortion of the cell shape, followed by loss of cytoplasmic homogeneity and reabsorption of the structure (in this type of atresia, the follicular cells do not exhibit any activity so the reabsorption of oocytes without yolk seems to be a relatively simple process); (2) “mature oocyte atresia” begins with the loss of the soft outline of the zona pellucida and dissociation of the follicular cells, which will then present phagocytic characteristic (i.e., enzymatic activity of acid phosphatase that will liquefy the yolk), followed by a slow dissolution of the zona pellucida and culminating in total resorption of the follicle; (3) “postovulatory complex atresia” begins with the distortion of the follicular cell shape, followed by loss of cell boundaries and formation of a syncytial structure, and finally the follicle shrink, with consequent degenerative changes.
\nThe morphological characteristics of the atretic bodies and their stages of involution, independent of cellular development stage, were summarized in the study of Miranda et al. [20], as (1) initial atresia, with the disintegration of the oocyte nucleus, fragmentation of the zona pellucida, and follicular cell hypertrophy; (2) intermediate atresia, with follicular cells presenting phagocytic characteristics and ingesting the yolk; (3) advanced atresia, with numerous myelinic figures in the cytoplasm of follicular cells; and (4) final atresia, with the reduction in the number of follicular and theca cells and presence of granules of lipofuscin and granulocytes near the atretic follicle. With the current emergence of the theme of cell death pathways, studies about ovarian involutive processes in fish were brought to the spotlight again with new descriptions being made [102, 108, 116, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124] that add and/or corroborate those morphological characteristics already proposed by Miranda et al. [20].
\nIn fish, mammals and, presumably, other vertebrates, the molecular mechanism responsible for ovarian follicular atresia is cell death by apoptosis [102, 124, 125]. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a physiological process controlled by various hormones and growth factors. This is an evolutionarily conserved process, involved in remodeling, differentiation, and tissue degeneration in a variety of cell types [125]. It is characterized by biochemical and morphological changes such as chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, and the formation of apoptotic bodies [126]. The main effector proteins in apoptosis are the caspases, a family of highly conserved cysteine proteases [127, 128]. Among the caspases, caspase-3 is the major effector one, including in the ovarian tissue in which it is expressed in the follicular cells of atretic follicles of fish and mammals [102, 124, 129].
\nIn addition to apoptosis, Thomé et al. [130] presented a new route to cell death—the autophagy. This route differs from apoptosis by the purpose of the processes: apoptosis is the programmed cell death, and autophagy is a stress adaptation to prevent cell death. The functional relationship between apoptosis and autophagy is complex. In some cases, autophagy is a form of adaptation to suppress apoptosis, whereas, in other cases, autophagy constitutes an alternative pathway of cellular elimination called autophagic or type II cell death [131, 132, 133]. It has been understood that apoptosis is the main mechanism involved in the involution of postovulatory follicles [116, 121], while autophagy contributes to the regression of atretic follicles [20, 130]. Even though the limits and interrelationships between these two processes have not yet been well established, recent studies have shown that there may be a crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis pathways in the ovarian involution processes. A fine balance between the signs for survival and cell death appears to be essential for determining the fate of follicular cells, particularly in follicular atresia [102, 124].
\nDuring follicular development, a low rate of follicular cell apoptosis can be considered as a physiological event for the control of the appropriate number of cells and elimination of the undesirable ones [134]. However, high apoptosis values can be observed under unfavorable conditions, compromising follicular viability [135]. Thus, organic homeostasis is dependent on the balance between cell proliferation, differentiation, and death, so populations of rapidly proliferating cells usually have high rates of cell death by apoptosis [125, 136].
\nThe mechanism of cell proliferation is a highly regulated process that seems to be essential for the maintenance of ovarian homeostasis [137], and yet the hormonal mechanism controlling oocyte proliferation and recruitment of oocytes is not understood completely for any vertebrate [6]. In contrast to mammals, oogonia continue to proliferate in adult female fish [138], thus renewing stocks of young oocytes and follicles [139, 140]. The pre-follicular and follicular cells begin to proliferate when in the folliculogenesis phase, to support the oocyte growth [19]. However, ovarian mitosis in fish is usually observed at the end of each reproductive cycle [137], when ovarian tissues are reorganized [141, 142]. Throughout ovigerous lamellae in adult females, germ cell proliferation and the formation of germline cysts result in extensions of the germinal epithelium that are segregated from the connective tissue by a basement membrane [19]. These extensions of the germinal epithelium are known as oogonium nests [28, 143] and mark the beginning of the reproductive cycle again.
\nDuring the reproductive cycle, ovarian tissue is constantly remodeled, with extensive cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as extracellular matrix changes from early follicular development to tissue involution after ovulation [144]. Among the processes and factors involved in tissue remodeling are apoptosis, changes in hormone levels, and degradation of the extracellular matrix in contact with cells [134].
\nThe extracellular matrix is an insoluble network of several structural and functional macromolecules found in connective tissues and basement membranes [145]. It is both a barrier that separates the organism into tissue compartments and a substrate for cell adhesion [146]. In addition to these structural functions, the extracellular matrix is an essential regulator of cellular physiology, predominantly in cell survival, cell cycle, cell migration, and morphogenesis [147].
\nA coordinated interaction of signals is necessary to regulate the proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration of specific cell types for the development and organization of structural tissues [148]. During the normal development of an organ or in pathological modifications, the matrix undergoes intense changes in its composition. This process, called matrix remodeling, is involved in many physiological processes, such as activation of immune cells [149], wound healing [150, 151], embryogenesis [152, 153], or reproductive cycle [154].
\nThe extracellular matrix-cell interactions influence gene regulation, cytoskeletal structure, differentiation, and many aspects of cell growth [155]. Changes in the expression of components that make up the extracellular matrix accompany follicular growth, ovulation, and involution of postovulatory follicles, which in its turn may influence follicular maturation, cell survival, and steroidogenesis [134, 156, 157]. Studies with mammals demonstrate that gonadal support cells synthesize a variety of components comprising the extracellular matrix and the basement membrane, such as collagen, laminin, keratin, fibronectin, lectin, and fibril chains [158, 159].
\nThe balance between the degradation and regeneration of the extracellular matrix in ovarian tissues is maintained, in part, by the action of extracellular proteolytic enzymes that are secreted by the local cells. Most of these enzymes are matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which depend on the Ca+2 or Zn+2 binding to their activity [160]. During oogenesis, great changes in the extracellular environment of the ovary were largely attributed to the action of MMPs [144]. MMPs play an important role in the ovulation process in different groups of vertebrates, acting on follicular rupture, basement membrane fragmentation, and follicular connective fibers [144, 161, 162].
\nThe integrity of the basement membrane is also evidenced by the continuous marking of laminin-β2 and type IV collagen, which allows the development of ovarian follicles [159, 163]. On the other hand, the discontinuous labeling of laminin-β2 and type IV collagen in the basal membrane of postovulatory follicles indicates that basement membrane degradation occurs due to the breakdown of these major components [134]. The loss of the basement membrane integrity may contribute to the increase of follicular cell apoptosis, suggesting its influence on the survival of postovulatory follicle cells [116].
\nFibronectin and laminin have been shown to be extracellular matrix proteins synthesized by follicular cells [164, 165]. The presence of fibronectin on the surface of postovulatory follicle cells is due to the need of interaction between their domains with type IV collagen and cell surface integrin, and it is important for the maintenance of cell adhesion in the extracellular matrix [159]. According to Iwahashi et al. [166], the type IV collagen detected in the connective tissue among theca cells may be involved in the organization of extracellular fibronectin. This interaction between type IV collagen and fibronectin may act on cell migration that occurs during the late remodeling of postovulatory follicles [134].
\nThus, the structure and composition of the extracellular matrix play an important role during follicular development and post-spawning involution in teleost fish. The basement membrane integrity is important for follicular cell survival, and the loss of integrity contributes to increased follicular apoptosis. In addition, MMP-9 may be involved in the final oocyte maturation and regression of postovulatory follicles [134]. Therefore, it follows that different combinations and proportions in the assembly of extracellular matrix components, together with the presentation of a large variety of proteoglycans at various times during the development and maturation of the gonads, can orchestrate distinct gene expression programs and culminate in more diverse tissue variations and adaptations [148].
\nStudies in gametogenesis help to understand the ecological, adaptive, and evolutionary relationships in the groups of species, especially when the oocyte structures are analyzed in an ultrastructural level. This is even more important when we consider that there are few fish species that present descriptions with adequate morphological and/or functional detail. Most of the studies do not evaluate the reproductive characteristics with the necessary histological and ultrastructural details, which can lead to incomplete interpretations of the reproductive characteristics of the species. Likewise, studies involving organelles and their distribution throughout the reproductive cycle and cellular development in fish species are punctual or restricted to a developmental stage. The understanding of these processes is then due to the sum of several studies at different stages of development, but they do not necessarily represent the same environmental, behavioral, and population pressures that are being addressed to the individuals of a given species. Thus, the continuous study of these variables throughout the reproductive cycle of key species may allow more real parameters on the dynamics of the intracellular structures in germ cells and follicular cells, as well as the extracellular matrix. All of the above is even more relevant when applied to such a diverse group, as fish, that have great ecological, social, and economic importance.
\nI would like to thank all those who did or are part of the laboratories where I conducted my undergraduate and graduate studies and who culminated in the improvement of the knowledge reproduced here. I thank Dr. Adelina Ferreira, Dr. Mahmoud Mehanna, and Dr. Débora Fabiane Neves da Silva, advisors and colleagues at the Morphology and Morphometry Laboratory of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), for the first steps taken in the area of Animal Reproduction. I would also like to thank Dr. Maria Inês Borella, Dr. Chayrra Chehade Gomes, Dr. Gisele Cristiane de Melo Dias, Dr. Lázaro Wender Oliveira de Jesus, MSc Giovana de Souza Branco, MSc Marília de Paiva Camargo, and laboratory technician Cruz Alberto Mendoza Rigonatti of the Laboratory of Fish Endocrinology, University of São Paulo, for the support during the doctorate and for all the knowledge obtained in that period. Lastly, I would like to thank the FAPEMAT, CAPES, and FAPESP funding agencies for the financial support provided during my academic trajectory, which culminated in the formulation of this chapter.
\nThe author declares that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this chapter.
Although tourism is generally understood as people traveling for pleasure, it is nevertheless a complex activity that involves a number of issues that intersect over several branches in the economic and social sectors [1]. Defined by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) [2] as “a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes”, tourism today is recognized as one of the world’s largest economic sector, supporting more than 313 million jobs in 2017 and generating 10.4% of global GDP [3]. Considering the predictions of increased global growth and the unique connectedness of tourism sector, it is clear why UNWTO has recognized tourism as one of the drivers for realization of the sustainable development goals [4] and even dedicated a separate website to the promotion of the idea and mission [5]. It has long been established that short-term market success might in fact lead to the deterioration of the destinations and therefore natural environment. Sustained market competitiveness requires a balance of growth orientation and environmental commitment at an acceptable rate of return to all industry partners involved in the marketing of a destination [6]. For this reason, it is critical for future of the tourism development to adapt marketing in tourism to preserve both natural and cultural heritage. In achieving this, the appropriate use of the key enabling technologies plays the crucial role.
In this book chapter we introduce the largest government-sponsored research project in Slovenian tourism called Tourism 4.0, together with the main marketing challenges of the project itself and solutions developed in it. Slovenia is a small country located in the south of Central Europe with a long history of tourism. For instance, records of people traveling to the spas of Rogaška Slatina go back to the middle of the seventeenth century [7], while modern cave tourism in Postojna began in 1818 [8]. Hence, it is not surprising that the Tourism 4.0 partnership has been established here. Its ambition is to create a testbed in order to transform the tourism industry into an innovation-driven economy by enriching tourism experiences with the use of technology and data. The term originates from the modern paradigm in industry, known as Industry 4.0 [9] and aims to improve the added value to tourism through innovation, knowledge, technology and creativity. This is planned to affect every field around it by creating an ecosystem, in which physical and digital space, infrastructure, personnel and technology behind it merge into one seamless experience of many personalized outputs. The knowledge, expectations and experiences of tourists, defined as Tourist 4.0 in the project frame, will be utilized to build the new services and products to rise up the satisfaction with the experiences of all stakeholders in the tourism ecosystem.
By uniting managers of physical spaces in the ecosystem (towns, municipalities) with leading Slovene research and educational institutions, as well as technology experts and developers, a collaborative ecosystem is being created, which treasures the history and knowledge of tourist business and at the same time transfers it into the digital world. The result will be a new format of dynamic collaboration system among all tourism stakeholders sprouting a new generation of tourist applications and services, which are built on real tourist needs and wishes by using the key enabling technologies from Industry 4.0 harmonized with the Tourism 4.0 principles.
Subsequent to this introductory section, the following chapter is organized as follows: Section 2 provides the description of the future tourism we want to create with Tourism 4.0, in Section 3 the implementation and ambition of the project is shared, Section 4 discusses the marketing challenges as well as introduces the Twirl marketing model of a paradigm shift and in the last section the chapter is reviewed.
Tourism is ought to be an enjoyable experience for visitors, while at the same time providing a substantial source of income for many destinations and even entire countries. Unfortunately, several studies, even dating back to the 1960s [10, 11] and 1970s [12, 13, 14], have indicated the existence of many worrisome consequences of tourism. The areas negatively affected have found out to be [15, 16]:
Environmental—increased consumption of electricity and water, extra waste production, overcrowding, reduction in accessibility, increase in population density, etc.
Economic—increase in real estate and land price, shift from market prices to higher tourist prices [17], employment fluctuation, economic dependence on a single industry, etc.
Social—illegal goods and people trafficking, excessive commercialization, loss of cultural identity, etc.
Since the number of annual international tourists travels has more than doubled in the last 20 years (to over one billion, shown in Figure 1) reaching 1323 million in 2017 [18], it is essential to ensure sustainable growth of tourism in order to avoid the deteriorating effects on both the social and natural habitat.
Number of international tourist travels over the last decade. Source: World Tourism Organization, Yearbook of Tourism Statistics [
Many cases of extreme ramifications of tourism can put pressure on resources and the host communities, hence leading to a decline in the quality of living. All of this brought about the issue of overtourism, defined as “the excessive growth of visitors leading to overcrowding in areas where residents suffer the consequences of temporary and seasonal tourism peaks, which have enforced permanent changes to their lifestyles, access to amenities and general well-being” [20].
In 2017, Slovenia recorded more than 4.9 million tourist arrivals and almost 12.6 million overnight stays, which is 13% more than in 2016 [21]. As shown in the Table 1, the growth is continuous for 4 years already, with this tendency expected in 2018 and also predicted for the near future. By making a total contribution to 11.9% of GDP in 2017, with a forecast of rise to 14.5% in 2028 [22], tourism is becoming a more and more important economic activity.
Year | Tourist arrivals | Overnight stays | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Foreign | Total | Foreign | |
2008 | 3,083,713 | 1,957,691 | 9,314,038 | 5,351,282 |
2009 | 2,984,828 | 1,823,931 | 9,013,773 | 4,936,293 |
2010 | 3,006,272 | 1,869,106 | 8,906,399 | 4,997,031 |
2011 | 3,217,966 | 2,036,652 | 9,388,095 | 5,463,931 |
2012 | 3,297,556 | 2,155,612 | 9,510,663 | 5,777,204 |
2013 | 3,384,491 | 2,258,570 | 9,579,033 | 5,962,251 |
2014 | 3,524,020 | 2,410,824 | 9,590,642 | 6,090,409 |
2015 | 3,927,530 | 2,706,781 | 10,341,699 | 6,614,443 |
2016 | 4,317,504 | 3,032,256 | 11,179,879 | 7,342,118 |
2017 | 4,948,080 | 3,586,038 | 12,591,562 | 8,572,217 |
Tourist arrivals and overnight stays in Slovenia from 2008 to 2017. Data taken from the SURS—Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
The rapid rising of numbers put Slovenia ahead of new challenges. While each destination has to constantly strive to improve and innovate in order to stay competitive, local communities (not just tourist service providers and the government) must play a key role in the future development of tourism. Another issue in need to be addressed is the fact that there has been a lack of research in Slovenian tourism [23]. Existing studies pointed toward outdated business methods, lack of cooperation between public and private sector tourism managers, a low level of awareness by the government on the importance of responsible tourism practices as a major impediment in improving competitiveness [23, 24]. Fortunately, in the last years this attitude is changing and in 2017, the efforts of Tourism and Hospitality Chamber of Slovenia in the area of sustainable tourism have finally been recognized and included in the development areas of the smart specialization strategy [25]. With this action, the tourism industry has been set up alongside health and medicine, circular economy, factories of the future and others as a prospective field justified for government co-financing on research and development projects. The specific objectives aimed to be achieved are: an increase of energy efficiency in tourist facilities for 20% by 2021; an increase in the number of the fast-growing companies in tourism from 29 in 2015, to 50 in 2021; a raise in the level of knowledge and quality in Slovenian tourism and a raise in the added value in tourism for 15%.
Accordingly, the prevailing approach needs to change. Therefore, the aim of Tourism 4.0 is to develop a model of collaboration that minimizes the negative impact of tourism, while at the same time improving the overall experience. This goal will be obtained by using the concepts and tools provided by smart tourism [26, 27, 28, 29]—a phenomena describing the convergence of information and communications technology (ICT) with tourism experience, expanding them even further, and integrating them into a platform that will involve all stakeholders active in the tourism sector: the local community, government, tourist service providers and of course tourists—presented in Figure 2.
The core of the Tourism 4.0 concept is to integrate all the stakeholders (local community, tourists, tourist service providers and government) in the sector within a collaborative innovation process centered around the local community.
The main ambition is to build an interactive platform based on the state-of-the-art technology infrastructure, guaranteeing the sustainable development of services and products, accessible to everyone at any time. It will facilitate the tourist’s integration into the destination, increase the quality of the experience and support individual’s interaction to develop tailored products and services. In other words, we want to foster the leap that was enabled by high technologies from Industry 4.0 at products level, by implementing them in tourism services.
For successful implementation of the project goals, the platform will integrate four main pillars or modules, which are at the same time different areas of research for understanding the tourism ecosystem:
Technology module. With the use of cutting-edge technologies enriched tourist experiences will be delivered. This includes:
Internet of things (IoT) for enabling networks of smart device for monitoring and collecting information;
High-performance computing systems (HPC) with artificial intelligence (AI) for the purpose of solving most complex challenges involving data;
Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), which can elevate or enhance the overall experience;
Blockchain solutions for a safe and transparent way of delivery.
Innovation module. Research and development of practices and methodologies dedicated to the creation and diffusion of innovation in the ecosystem with the aim to raise the level of competences among all stakeholders.
Ecosystem module. Understanding the tourism ecosystem and all its stakeholders in both the physical and digital world in order to create the space for the new generation of tourism.
Application module. Enabling systems and applications that improve and enrich the real and digital experiences in tourism with the focus on mobility and services (and processes behind) for persons with the purpose of holidays, leisure or recreation, business, health, education or other.
In the Tourism 4.0 ecosystem the local community is in focus while Tourists 4.0 are very active participants in all processes. They have a direct impact on their own experience and act also as co-creators of the tourist offer. With this in mind, we should not forget that the change is only possible by data sharing of all stakeholders of a given ecosystem, thereby acting as a driver for all of the processes on the platform. Furthermore, the data need to be analyzed, if they should be turned into useful information that can be used for strategic decisions and marketing purposes, such as people flow management.
After the initiative was launched by the company Arctur, lack of readiness level to embrace the use of the key enabling technologies, especially by small and medium enterprises in the tourist sector, has been identified. As a consequence, the partnership for Tourism 4.0 has been established to enable collaboration of any stakeholder in the world to participate in research or development of tourism of the future. It brings together a consortium of highly relevant industrial organizations, top research organizations in tourism and the leading research organizations in computer and informatics technology.
The partnership is growing continuously and already boasts with a number of prominent members, such as Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology as well as Ministry of Public Administration, Tourism and Hospitality Chamber of Slovenia, Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovenia, University of Ljubljana, University of Maribor, University of Primorska and many partners joining from all over the world. Not only research, also projects focused on validation and deployment of the technologies are planned in order to transform Slovenia into a testbed, Tourism 4.0 Living Lab Slovenia. Further activities in the area of Alps, Danube, Balkans and Mediterranean are set to spread the concepts to an international level.
Sustainable tourism [30, 31, 32] is at the core of Tourism 4.0 that is aspiring to using technology to encourage a positive environmental, social and economic impact and collaboration between all stakeholders in the ecosystem. Following the slogan of Slovene tourism: ‘Green, active, healthy’, new ways of motivating not only individual tourists but all stakeholders will be studied in order to encourage as much of positive contribution as possible for the local environment while traveling and visiting places. This will be achieved by establishing a system of motivation and rewarding for positive behavior i.e. behavior with positive impact on social, environmental and economic elements in a destination—both from tourists and other stakeholders. In this way tourism truly becomes the driver of the sustainable development of the whole society. These are heavily dependent on the quality and intensity of communication, if they are to be reached. For this reason, marketing has a key role in this endeavor since reshaping of the tourism ecosystems with the focus on the local community will not just happen even though this is a crucial step toward the tourism of the future.
The model, that has been so far only theoretically constructed, is named Collaboration impact model (CIM). For its implementation certain tools need to be developed to help with collection, understanding and integration of data. This includes data such as weather prediction, traffic density, number of tourists in a defined area, energy consumption in tourism, etc. In an interactive way, through gamification, we want to reduce the negative and encourage the positive behavior and promote positive attitude to inspire more responsibility among citizens of the globe. The CIM model will use the data of the ecosystem to help tourists with suggestions for tourist activities. When using this model, the tourists will receive real-time information and recommendations based on their own profile, which will help them decide, for example what places to visit or what activities to partake in. Furthermore, users will be able to switch between their own avatars since interest of tourists vary significantly according to their purpose of traveling, which is not limited to for business and pleasure only.
Collaboration impact model is supported by several technological solutions. The most impactful one is the creation of digital tokens, a boosting and rewarding tool of the positive impact accomplished through collaboration within the ecosystem T4.0. In our proposed system, they are named after the model and thus called collaboration impact tokens (CIT). The currency will be needless to say developed on the basis of the blockchain technology. These tokens will be awarded to stakeholders of the tourism ecosystem as incentives for performing certain actions that are beneficial to the local economy and environment. They could help preserve and promote cultural heritage, reduce the consumption of natural resources and support an effective dispersion of tourism.
Examples of CIT awarding are shown in Figure 3. However, there are many more. With this mechanism, responsible development of ecosystem is enabled by encouraging positive attitudes, using of more ecologically-friendly transportation and stimulating a more favorable allocation of tourists. The latter is a pressing issue as more and more destinations are struggling with negative consequences of overtourism. In the next step, we plan to go further and integrate attitudes that encompass most different aspects of society and include them in the rewarding system. For example, visiting elderly people and spending time with them for few hours or reporting a damaged public trash bin to the municipality could be encouraged by incentives in the form of tokens. We believe that step by step with the technological development as well as by raising awareness through strategic communication rewarding positive impact on wider society will become the norm.
Examples of methods and actions with which a tourist can earn the collaboration impact token—CIT and the attitudes we want to promote.
Anyhow, visitor management techniques can also be applied to select or deselect tourists, control their flows and influence their behavior through promotion and education [33]. With the help of internet of things, it is possible to monitor and thus measure many human activities. The most common example in the tourism sector is the water and energy consumption of each accommodation. Many hotels collect such data but they do not use them. In accordance to our collaboration impact model, the tourists, who exhibit ecologically conscious behavior, i.e. consume less than average consume of water and energy of tourists in that specific area, would receive a reward in the form of CITs. The received tokens can be used for purchase of other tourist products or services. In addition to increasing the sustainably driven attitude preserving the environment is this beneficial for the local economy. Another example of desirable behavior is visit during the low tourist season or places in the touristic periphery. An additional issue of significant importance due to the size of its impact is the mobility. Here good behavior is determined and rewarded by the use of public transport or sharing services besides renting a bike or an electric car. The underlying idea is that tourists are awarded and thus motivated to exhibit behavior with a positive impact more often.
The most important aspect of the collaboration impact token is the assignment of dynamic values according to location and time of its use. For an illustration, we examined the number of tourists’ overnight stays for each municipality in Slovenia in 2017 and normalized it to the municipality’s population density (residents/km2), as seen in Figure 4. The discrepancy can be noticed immediately. Some areas experience a much higher tourist density than others, with some parts already experiencing overtourism. The value given in the calculation is dependent on:
visits to the geographic area—lower in the red and higher value in the green areas;
tourist season—low season means higher value;
strategic development level of the region—higher value in less developed regions;
etc.
The number of tourists overnight stays in 2017 for each municipality normalized by its population density (i.e. residents/km2). The data is taken from the SURS—Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
As the example of the calculation demonstrates, the use of public data can already enable the first insight into understanding of tourist flows. Building an award-based collaboration ecosystem that helps to manage issues of people flow within a destination, region or even a country is very rational and strategic since it also supports less developed regions in establishing their touristic sites. By implementation of the CIT that provides instant award in discounts, tourism of the beaten path can rise significantly. This does not only reduce the unbearable crowds of tourists in one spot of a destination, but above all immensely improves the tourist experience.
It is the lack of capital, technology and marketing and management expertise that restrains the growth of tourism in many less developed regions in the world [33]. An adoption of societal marketing strategies will thus have to take place, where increased visitations are not the primary concern and visitors are not treated like any other commodity. This will include monitoring of both the tourist and host satisfaction for the purpose of optimizing the of tourism impact on the environment and consequently increasing the benefits for the local community [34, 35]. Since monitoring is dependent on data, access to them is increasingly relevant to the tourism sector as well. It allows for the provision of evidence-based decisions and the development and analysis of future scenarios, which infuse the whole sector with additional efficiency and productivity to face its current challenges. In addition to accessibility, green mobility and connectivity has been identified as a priority area for facilitating the flows of movement, and easing the negative impact of tourism on local environment, along with reducing the effect on climate change.
Moreover, the prevalence of smartphones and mobile devices are swiftly changing the face of technology use for destination marketing as people now have access to the virtual world in palms of their hands [36]. More importantly the new technology enables smaller and peripheral destinations to compete on equal footage with larger and more central ones. The gained competitiveness lies in reduced dependency on intermediaries for the distribution of tourism products. As a consequence, the providers of tourism services are able to improve their negotiation power, which fosters the development of a healthier distribution mix. As aforementioned, this is of even greater importance for remote, peripheral and insular destinations where local principals and authorities have a great dependency on tourism for their income but lack expertise and resources to undertake comprehensive marketing campaigns [31].
Only an advanced ICT infrastructure enables a more dynamic, less rigid, and fast interaction within organizations and between organizations at the tourist destination, which empowers stakeholders through the creation of a technological infrastructure for increased communication and collaboration [34]. Tourist destinations are now, more than ever, building competitive tourist places using state of the art business models. However, without a proper information environment these business models are often subjected to failure. The T4.0 platform facilitates the just-in-time information exchange between various stakeholders from different places or markets using the key enabling technologies available at this time (illustrated in Figure 5). This way, the platform reduces the information and choice overload, which currently presents one of the key barriers in conducting tourism business. What is more, various tourism providers can use the platform to share their services, products or information to users at all levels of the industry (e.g. G2C, B2B, B2C, C2C).
The enabling technologies for project Tourism 4.0.
The Tourism 4.0 platform actually enables the communication between stakeholders and collaboration within the ecosystem where users are involved in the development of new tourist products and provide free access to the collected data, thereby encouraging innovation through the use of modern technology. In the implementation of technological solutions of Tourism 4.0, local communities play a vital role, thus we are putting them at the center of the ecosystem of future tourism. As already presented in Figure 2, the Tourism 4.0 platform is envisaged toward four main target audiences:
The providers of tourism services and packages (e.g. local tourist organizations and tour operators). The interest of this group is in the direct access to their target audiences, which will be enabled through the platform. There is a number of niche web (and mobile) platforms that almost proverbially offer only one solution to the end user (e.g. only hotel reservations, only attraction tickets, etc.). Contrarily, the Tourism 4.0 platform will gather together a number of various but complementary proposers of tourist services that will be interested to promote through the platform due to the considerably reduced margin for the referred business.
The tourist. They will be encouraged to use the platform mainly because of its all-in-one portfolio and also its embedded features. The combination of an all-encompassing offer, accompanied by AI will enable the platform to produce a tailored offer to the user. The AI will have an overview of the interests and preferences of the end-user and the services at offer. By combining the two, the user will get offered first the most interested services for her or him in that moment followed by services listed accordingly to their relevance for the user.
Local inhabitants. Through the collaborative platform, it will be possible to measure, monitor and manage the impact that tourists have on the local environment. This can be used to control the quality of living of the population and the quality of the tourist experience of the guests. In a second step also measuring of attitudes of local inhabitants are planned to be included in order to incentives all stakeholders to strive for the positive impact.
Government. Providing a collection and aggregation of data that can help in understanding and development of appropriate policy regulations, which are not only able to react to disruptions but even boost innovations.
In understanding the ecosystem in such way, a question emerges on who is the consumer in this new paradigm of tourism, as every stakeholder is collaborating, profiting and co-creating. These are the challenges that need to be embraced by the marketing specialists in the near future.
Actually, from the technological and business aspect, tourism and e-tourism have always been in the background, in the sense that tourism was predominantly following innovation. In the latest technological wave, many of the most prominent startups and corporations of the new generation are strongly attached to tourism, mainly through sharing economy. Sharing economy is just the beginning of a trend that indicates how the technology allows the sharing of tangible and intangible elements of all kinds of user experiences, in tourism as well. The tendency will continue with the intensive incorporation of all other current trends (AI, VR, AR, IoT, Smart Mobility, Blockchain, etc.). It will not only be about new ways of sharing and building up these elements. For the economic sector, it is important that these elements are appropriately used in new, innovative business models. Therefore, the technological project outcomes will be adopted to the new and innovative business models in tourism in general, as well as in the areas of destination management and event management.
Here are some examples of the use of the key enabling technologies in tourism that will transform the tourism business in near future:
Virtual reality could help potential visitors to decide which destination they prefer to visit;
Augmented reality could enable a completely new touristic experience that is either historically informative or adventurous in nature;
Combination of external data such as weather forecast with travel information would implement an automatic rebooking of a trip in case of a rainy day.
Such and similar future applications could become a new income stream in tourism, especially in relation to natural landmarks since most of them can be experienced for free. We do not promote limited access to nature because access to it should stay free of charge. On the other hand, interactive experience offered via augmented reality app could be payable and the income acquired could be spent on preserving the nature in a given destination. This way we would not rely solely on demand management for sustaining tourism resources with effective marketing, which can channel tourist flow to places that are more impact-resilient, such as urban and seaside built environments rather than to more fragile wilderness areas [33]. With the income from the enriched tourist experience national parks and heritage sites would be able to invest into preservation of natural environment in addition to managing the ever increasing demand.
In fact, the sustainability of local resources is becoming one of the most important elements of the destination image, as a growing section of the market is not prepared to tolerate over-developed tourism destinations and diverts to more environmentally advanced regions. The degree of consumer satisfaction will depend on the assessment of the perceived overall experience of the destination versus anticipated expectations and perceptions [34]. Smart tourism will become the driver of social change due to its high innovation potential and above all impact on economic, cultural and natural environment. As explained, marketing has a crucial role here. Not only in promoting sustainability in tourism but also in marketing in an attractive way of less popular tourist destinations. Inefficient use of many tourist facilities (hotels, for example, often have annual bed occupancy rates of 50–60% in most countries), indicates that the effective marketing of these tourist resources is of great significance in reducing resource wastage as well [33]. Challenges and opportunities are many, especially because throughout the world tourism services are offered by small and medium tourism enterprises, which tend to be family managed. Hence, the challenge for destination management organizations is to provide leadership in the development of innovative products and create local partnerships for the delivery of seamless experiences [34]. The collaboration impact model can provide that but marketing and communication experts will need to develop new strategies to make better use of the new tools with the purpose of optimizing the positive impact of tourism while increasing the benefits of the local community.
In marketing of new concepts, such as a new paradigm, the first issue everybody is facing is how to build trust and rise interest for complex and new solutions since trust and perceived risk are shown to be direct antecedents of intention to transact, suggesting that uncertainty reduction is a key component in consumer acceptance [37]. Hence, it is crucial to be aware of the lack of readiness level of the target groups in terms of lack of skills and lack of processes, in which research and development spirit could fit into strategies and implementation of changes.
To address this, the Twirl marketing model of a paradigm shift, presented in Figure 6, has been developed that shows in which process the appropriate target groups were identified and how the nature of communication has been growing into collaboration. In this process the communication starts with the informative phase addressing a broad public. It is upgraded in the second step with educational dimension that focuses on a smaller target group, which is then in the third step reduced to the key persons of each specific target group. With them conversations take place in order to find the possibilities to embrace the new concepts. This leads to collaboration, with which the amount of people reached via informational, educational and conversational communication raises again. In the best case, such organic growth occurs through community building. This is the reason for establishment of the Tourism 4.0 partnership, which is open to new interested stakeholders.1 In addition, an online form is available on the website, where anyone can share their idea or solution in the field of Tourism 4.0 and are later connected to potential partners.
Twirl marketing model of a paradigm shift.
How does the Twirl marketing model of a paradigm shift prove to work in practice? In the informative phase all available tools to spread information are used, such as digital presence (website with news section for updates, social media, newsletter, etc.) and participation or organization of events with good media coverage or specific to the topic performed. This enables the reach of the appropriate target groups. Tourism 4.0 as a new paradigm has been presented both at events organized locally and around the globe, in China and Mexico for example, but always accompanied with good national media coverage.2 The goal was to awake interest and give it relevance through international dimension. In the second phase, education in the form of presentations at conferences, forums3 and fairs were given in order to provide knowledge of the paradigm shift and its necessity while getting experts and policy makers in the tourism sector acquainted with the Tourism 4.0 objectives. To achieve this, concrete examples of technologies were presented in the form of vivid storytelling.4 The play of concepts around marrying tourism with technology has been created to help novices with low to limited knowledge of technology to embrace the new concepts and possibilities they bring. From persons targeted during the education phase some individuals, small groups and organizations showed interest for a further conversation, which is the activity of the third phase of the Twirl marketing model of a paradigm shift. This phase includes personal conversations with tourist organizations and institutions and service providers. At the same time, deep conversations will take place through an extensive survey conducted as a part of the
Only after informing the public, educating specific target groups and conversing with key decision makers an inclusive collaboration at a local or global level is possible. In the marketing model of a paradigm shift after performing the first ‘round of process’ further marketing strategy builds on an eternal interviewing of all communication methods from the first three phases for multiplication of collaboration. However, the precondition remains the trust of all stakeholders, which is being built by interaction that hopefully grows into collaboration. This interactivity is enabled by the modern tools for tourism marketing and management that can re-engineer the entire process of developing, managing and marketing tourism products and destinations as well as provide the competitive advantage with the ability to re-develop the tourism product proactively and reactively [39].
Therefore, the next step of the Tourism 4.0 project marketing strategy is testing of above-mentioned solutions with a series of products at TRL 6–8 stage.6 The goal is to test the prototypes in operational environment to support commercial activity in ready state in environments called living labs, where future reality and future tourism in it are simulated. Imagine a playground in which technology service providers can test their gadgets with tourists, who want to be part of such a testing experience accepting the violations of their privacy. At the same time, public decision makers can learn from the reality and adapt the legislation accordingly. Students, waiters and all other personnel in contact with tourists get the possibility to train how to deal with crypto tokens while children will be educated about their water consumption and challenges that we as citizens of the world are facing and how to behave to minimize our negative impact. Key to the marketing a paradigm shift is to understand that the marketing process needs to address all stakeholders. To mention the most crucial fact, we are aspiring to facilitate the break down the silos mentality where stakeholders do not wish to share information and provide feedback with one another. Such trials will connect consumers (both local community and tourists) and tourist providers, (local) government as well as high-tech companies in order to unify the dispersed ideas, experiences, knowledge and expertise with the intent of integrating them in a collaborative manner around the Tourism 4.0 platform and later used in real business environment.
With more than one billion persons traveling yearly around the world, a small change in this sector has a huge impact on the whole society. The new paradigm, Tourism 4.0, build around technologies from Industry 4.0 can path the way of transformation not only in tourism, but also as driver of the UN sustainable development goals. In Slovenia, the biggest research project on tourism in the history of the country called Tourism 4.0, which has already grown into a Tourism 4.0 partnership, gathering academia, business and public partners, is focused on defining the ecosystem, in which these changes could take place. Hence, the main objective is the development of a platform for a new form of active cooperation system among the local community, tourists, tourist service providers and the government.
The system aims to encourage positive behavior among all stakeholders in order to maximize positive impact on the local environment through the collaboration impact model. For its implementation certain tools need to be developed to help with collection, understanding and integration of data. This includes data such as weather prediction, traffic density, number of tourists in a defined area, energy consumption in tourism, etc. In an interactive way, through gamification, encouragement of the positive behavior and promotion of positive attitude to inspire more responsibility among citizens of the globe is foreseen. Digital token, to mention the most impactful one, is a boosting and rewarding tool of the positive impact accomplished through collaboration within the T4.0 ecosystem. The so-called collaboration impact tokens (CIT) is a currency developed on the basis of the blockchain technology. These tokens will be awarded to stakeholders of the tourism ecosystem as incentives for performing certain actions that are beneficial to the local economy and environment. In addition to gamification and incentives, social marketing strategies promoting sustainability and positive impact will be used.
The Tourism 4.0 ecosystem is built around the problems and wishes of local inhabitants and in only in the second step around those of other stakeholders. Hence, we are facing the shift from tourist-centered focus to a tourism-centered focus around the local community. During the development of such an ecosystem a question emerges about who is the consumer in this new paradigm of tourism as every stakeholder is collaborating, profiting and co-creating. As the right answer due to the collaborative nature of the Tourism 4.0 ecosystem is
To conclude, such an ecosystem does not only provide immense opportunities for technological innovation and new business models but also represents an extremely rich environment for identifying and studying new interaction paradigms and forms of value (co-)creation. The stakeholders interact with information and with technologies in new ways that have yet to be identified and understood, the challenges that need to be embraced by the communication and marketing specialists in the near future.
This work is carried out within the framework of the research project Tourism 4.0—enriched tourist experience (OP20.03536), co-funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the European Regional Development Fund. The consortium is led by Arctur company and includes top experts from three Slovenian universities: the Faculty of Tourism Studies—Turistica (University of Primorska), the Faculty of Tourism (University of Maribor) and the Faculty of Computer and Information Science (University of Ljubljana). We would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support from the Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia (Skupnost občin Slovenije—SOS).
The authors do not declare any conflict of interest.
The authors of this chapter would like to thank Dejan Šuc for providing the graphic designs.
IntechOpen - where academia and industry create content with global impact
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