TY - JOUR AU - Mele, Emanuele PY - 2022/05/04 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Emerging Scholar Profile- Dr. Emanuele Mele JF - e-Review of Tourism Research JA - eRTR VL - 18 IS - 5 SE - Emerging Scholar Profiles DO - UR - https://ertr-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/ertr/article/view/825 SP - 798-800 AB - <p>My interest in research and teaching started during the Bachelor in Rome (Italy), where I studied Foreign Languages and Cultures. After obtaining the degree, pursuing my passion for academia, I moved to Lugano, Switzerland, where I completed a 2-year Master in Economics and Communication, Major in International Tourism at <em>USI – Università della Svizzera italiana</em>.</p><p>A few months after finishing the Master, I started a PhD in Communication Sciences at the same university, focusing on cultural differences in tourism marketing and communication. During the studies, I received an 18-month SNSF Doc.Mobility grant, which allowed me to complete my PhD research as well as expand my knowledge in quantitative methods at the <em>Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam</em> (the Netherlands).</p><p>Currently, I am a Lecturer in Digital Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism at the <em>International University of Languages and Media</em> (IULM), in Milan (Italy), and an External Research Associate at the <em>UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites</em> (at USI). My research interests are in online marketing and communication, social media, and cultural tourism. In this regard, I am currently working on a study on crisis communication and social media in tourism.</p><p>My PhD dissertation analyzed the role and effectiveness of cultural adaptation (localization) in online tourism promotion. Taking a mixed-methods approach to investigate the topic of localization, the cumulative thesis was composed of five studies. In short, <strong>Study 1</strong> (Mele &amp; Cantoni, 2018) provided a “helicopter view” of the definitions of localization, examples and discussion on possible limitations. <strong>Study 2</strong> (Mele, Kerkhof, &amp; Cantoni, 2021) used a manual and an automated content analysis to explore whether official (cultural) tourism promotion on Instagram differed, from a cultural perspective, across four National Tourism Organizations (NTOs). Using interviews, <strong>Study 3</strong> (Mele &amp; Cantoni, 2017) investigated the viewpoints of experts, from 11 Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), on the role of localization activities for tourism marketing. <strong>Study 4</strong> (Mele, Kerkhof, &amp; Cantoni, 2020) tested via two highly powered experiments the effects of localizing cultural values (e.g., Collectivist vs Individualist cues) on participants’ perceived image and willingness to visit a heritage site. Finally, <strong>Study 5</strong> (Mele &amp; Lobinger, 2018) – consisting of a semiotic analysis of tourism pictures – was used as basis to build the framework for the content analysis of Study 2 and to elaborate the experimental manipulations of Study 4.</p><p>Findings of the PhD dissertation showed that, overall, (cultural) tourism promotion on Instagram differed across NTOs, from a cultural perspective; DMOs considered localization as an important set of practices to market a destination to an international audience; localizing cultural values – which is one type of localization – had limited benefits (at best) for publics from the same geographical region of the destination (e.g., Europe).</p><p>&nbsp;Besides research, I have taught courses in tourism, (social media) marketing analytics, and online communication to university (Bachelor and Master level) as well as hospitality school students. I have also taught web/mobile marketing and e-commerce to professionals, including the definition of business strategies, audience segmentation and performance measurement. Following my passion for teaching, I have also been Teaching Assistant for two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on e-Tourism and Tourism Management.</p><p>In parallel, I have been an active member of the <em>International Federation for IT, Travel and Tourism</em> (IFITT) since 2015. I started as Coordinator of Volunteers at the annual IFITT event, ENTER2015, served as Online Communication Officer for 1 year (2016-17) and then as General Secretary (2017-18). It was (and it still is) a fantastic experience that allowed me to meet many great, inspiring researchers. Other activities include my research collaboration with the <em>UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites</em>, whose Chair Holder is prof. Lorenzo Cantoni (at USI), and my passion for data analysis and machine learning using Python – with libraries like Pandas and Scikit-learn.</p><p>With the conclusion of my PhD in October 2020, I have moved to Geneva (Switzerland), with my wife Laura, where I am currently looking for a research and / or teaching position in a university in the Francophone region of Switzerland. Apart from this, I am always open to teaching and research collaborations on topics concerning online communication and marketing.</p> ER -