Key Performance Indicators and Data Envelopment Analysis in Greek Tourism: A Strategic Planning Tool for Destinations and DMMOs

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

-     The article proposes to measure the effectiveness of hotel performance based on pre-established key indicators in the context of hospitality;

- It provides a theoretical and appropriate framework for the indicators in question and justifies its methodology with a number of other similar studies carried out on the subject;

-        The language is clear and understandable in terms of the subject matter

-        The methodology used is well known, as are the indicators in question;

-        Although measuring hotel performance is important for the management of a DMO, the study is reductive, given that many other economic, social and cultural factors coexist in the management of a destination and are themselves largely responsible for hotel occupancy in each region;

-        Furthermore, tourist accommodation is not only provided in hotels but also in other ways, including on the ships that dock near the islands.

-        It could have been innovative to include a hotel sustainability indicator;

-        It would be important to know when this study was carried out, month/year?

-        The sources used are almost entirely references from more than 5 years ago - only 1.7 per cent correspond to sources from the last 5 years.

Suggested reading in view of what has been presented and indicated:

 (DMO)

https://stec.univ-ovidius.ro/html/anale/RO/2022-issue2/Section%204/43.pdf  

 (Sustainability Indicators in Hotels)

https://fslmjournals.taylors.edu.my/wp-content/uploads/APJIHT/APJIHT-2022-11-1/APJIHT-111_P7.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

We would like to thank you for providing valuable insights to our research and we would like to let you know that we did our best, to make changes on point with your comments. With your comments the result of our research work has been sufficiently upgraded.

In accordance with Report 1, we recognise that hotel sustainability indicators could play a pivotal role in destination management, so we mentioned that any future research should consider applying them in Section No.5. Moreover, in the Methodology section we stated that our study was carried out using data from 2023 and we added more recent sources, including the one which was suggested.

We would like to thank you for your time and guidance

Reviewer 2 Report

This study employs Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of Greek hotels by region, aiming to identify effective practices and strategic improvements. By analyzing turnover and tourism nights relative to capacity, the research provides actionable insights for both effective and underperforming hotels, facilitating strategic planning and resource management at the regional level, and enhancing decision-making processes for the tourism sector in Greece.

However, several major issues must be considered and addressed by the authors before this manuscript gets accepted for publication:

1.    The abstract is well written; however, I believe it would add value to more clearly highlight the significance of the research. To whom is the research useful and what are the implications for practice? What about impact?

2.    Citations are missing in several parts of the Introduction section.

3.  More solid justification for the use of the DEA technique is required in the last paragraph of the Introduction.

3.    The managerial and theoretical implications of the study are completely missing and should be provided in a separate section, after the findings.

4.    The directions for future research should be more solidly addressed and be insightful for the relevant community and policymakers.

5.    In the conclusion section, the authors need to give a frank account of the research limitations or the weaknesses of their framework.

6.     While reading through the Introduction section, I found the background information to be somewhat limited in providing a comprehensive overview of the context of the study. To strengthen the introduction, I recommend expanding upon the background and context of the research topic.

7.     It would be beneficial to clearly articulate the unique contributions that your research brings to the field. As the Introduction sets the stage for the rest of the manuscript, explicitly stating the novel aspects of advancements your study offers can help readers better understand its significance.

8.     While reading through the research review section, I noticed that some of the sources cited are primarily from a few years ago. To ensure a more convincing line of argumentation and demonstrate the currency of your research, I strongly recommend incorporating more up-to-date sources (2023 onwards).

Extensive editing of the English language is required. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

We would like to thank you for providing valuable insights to our research and we would like to let you know that we did our best, to make changes on point with your comments. ith your comments the result of our research work has been sufficiently upgraded.

Following your Report 2, we specified that this research could be useful to regional policy makers as well as destination managers and we added an extra section for the managerial implications that could be extracted. In addition, we elaborated on the use of Data Envelopment Analysis in the introduction, as well as on the research’s limitations in the conclusion. Finally, in the closing part of the introduction, we stated what we believe our study could offer to the readers.

We would like to thank you for your time and guidance

Reviewer 3 Report

The article is far too wordy in its presentation, and will, I hazard, dissuade readers from getting beyond the opening paragraphs. The methodology is rigorous, but the conclusion is way too simplistic for such a display of mathematical competence/wizardry. Please consider a proper conclusion which would be of some  for the enterprises, especially in your third category.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

We would like to thank you for providing valuable insights to our research and we would like to let you know that we did our best, to make changes on point with your comments. With your comments the result of our research work has been sufficiently upgraded.

Following your Review Report 3, we enhanced the conclusion with added emphasis on the strategic changes and we added one extra column in Table 2 to point out the «strategic peer units» that every underperforming decision-making unit needs to rely on and by how much.

We would like to thank you for your time and guidance

Reviewer 4 Report

The author proposed an idea for Key Performance Indicators and Data Envelopment Analysis in Greek Tourism. From the observations extracted from the manuscript, this paper does not present any research value. Its only focused on presenting statistical analysis of the tourism data.  Some drawbacks can be listed as follows:

1. What is the purpose of equation in section 2.2

2. In Table 2 , some regions only have efficiency value?

3. What is the benefit of calculating mea n, standard deviation, min max in Table 1? the description didnt explaining this issue.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

We would like to thank you for providing valuable insights to our research and we would like to let you know that we did our best, to make changes on point with your comments. With your comments the result of our research work has been sufficiently upgraded.

regarding Review Report 4,  equations in 2.2 could be a useful and simplistic introduction for readers that are not familiar with Data Envelopment Analysis, as it is considered a complexed linear programming methodology. As for Table 1, it gives a brief description of the inputs/outputs that will be later used in the DEA. DEA findings can be seen in Table 2, with the first six decision-making units being fully (100%) effective. Consequently, the following columns which indicate the changes are blank for the effective ones and feature the actions that should be considered by the non-effective.

We would like to thank you for your time and guidance

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

-        Although measuring hotel performance is important for the management of a DMO, the study is reductive, given that many other economic, social and cultural factors coexist in the management of a destination and are themselves largely responsible for hotel occupancy in each region;

-        Furthermore, tourist accommodation is not only provided in hotels but also in other ways, including on the ships that dock near the islands.

-        It could have been innovative to include a hotel sustainability indicator;

-        It would be important to know when this study was carried out, month/year?

Reviewer 2 Report

Accept.

No particular issues.

Reviewer 3 Report

In my original review, I requested more focus in the presentation, particularly the argument, and a more comprehensive, reader friendly conclusion. I believe you have substantially incorporated my concerns in this version .

Reviewer 4 Report

Author has done extensive revision