Research

PhD. Research (1998-2002)

Nassar M. (2002), An evaluation of the Web as a strategic marketing tool for the Egyptian hotel sector, PhD thesis, University of Wales: UK. Five-year research effort to evaluate the Web as a strategic marketing tool for small hotels during my work as a doctoral candidate at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Wales – UK.

“An analysis of the literature on web marketing of hotel websites reveals the potential of the Web to enable small hotels to compete with international chain hotels in the global marketplace. However, the literature also emphasizes the importance of branding in determining consumer choice. Thus the Web presents an inherent dilemma for small hotels unless they effectively utilize the unique characteristics of the Web to positively enhance their images in the mind of customer, i.e. to build their brands. However, little attention has been paid to how a website can be used to build a hotel brand – an issue which is critically important to the survival of small hotels and the focus of this thesis.

This constructionist study adopts a phenomenological perspective to evolve a model for the evaluation of small hotels websites in terms of their brand-building capacity and identifies 28 consumer-relevant features grouped into a pyramid of six considerations (accessibility; information; credibility; e-commerce; immediacy; customer relationship). Each feature is codified in terms of good, satisfactory and sub-optimal performance into an EXCEL spreadsheet set up to produce a radar plot for visual presentation of the results. From this, areas of weakness in website design can be determined and remedial action prioritized.”

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• Nassar M. (1999) An evaluation of the World Wide Web as a strategic marketing tool in the hotel sector’, Post Graduates Research conference, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cardiff- Wales, 4 December 1999.
• Nassar M. (2000) Branding in the marketing of hospitality products: A typology of hotel web sites, Post Graduates Research conference, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cardiff- Wales, March 2000.

• Nassar M., Jones E., and Morgan N. (2002) Branding in the marketing of hospitality products on the Web, Tourism Research 2002, Proceedings of an International Interdisciplinary Conference in Wales, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cardiff 4th -7th September 2002.

• Nassar M., Jones E., and Morgan N. (2002) Business Motivations: Branding Hospitality Products on the Web, Proceedings of an International conference on Small firms in the Tourism and Hospitality Sectors, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds 12th- 13th September 2002.

• Conference of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels . Alex. University Scientific Tourism from 18-22 April 1992.
• Conference of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels Alex. University ” The ancient and new library of Alexandria and its impact on Tourism development ” from 4th-6th May 2003.
• International Conference on Managing Sustainable Development in Emerging Markets, Sustainable Development Forum, January 8&9, 2003, Alexandria, Egypt.
• Capitals and Larg Cities in Egypt in Ancient and Modern Times″, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo Universaity, Fayoum. April 2004.
• Alexandria the City of Civilizations and Cultures. Alexandria, Egypt. 2003
• Education, Investment and job Opportunities Conference, Organized by, Alexandria university, Alexandria, Egypt. 2004
• The Egyptian North Western coast on The International tourism Map Conference, Organized by: Alexandria university, Alexandria, Egypt, 17th -19th May 2005.
• Fifth Annual Conference for the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University, Alexandria 17-19 April 2006.
• The Crisis of the Human Sciences: False Objectivity and the Decline of Creativity, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait,6 to 8 March 2011.

REFEREED JOURNAL PAPERS

1. Nassar, M. (1999) An evaluation of the World Wide Web as a strategic marketing tool in the hotel sector. A case study of Egypt, Concord, 9, (2), 7-13.
2. Nassar, M. (2000) Branding in the marketing of hospitality products: A typology of hotel web sites, Concord, 9 (3).
3. Morssi M., Nassar M., and Hewidi M. (2003) Web-based training (WBT): A powerful tool to enhance cognitive training programs in hotels: Case study of the Egyptian hotel sector,
4. Nassar, M. (2010) Impact of Icelandic Volcano Ash on Air Travel in 2010 and Its Future Implications, Journal of the faculty of Tourism and hotels, University of Alexandria.
5. Nassar, M. (2011) Impact of Icelandic Volcano Ash on Air Travel, Journal of Travel and Tourism Research, Spring 2011.
6. Nassar, M. (2011) Web Marketing Practices of Low-Cost Airlines in the Gulf Region: A Case Study, International Journal of Tourism Perspective, 1 (4).
7. Nassar, M. (2012) Exploring current benchmarking practices in the Egyptian hotel sector, Benchmarking: an International Journal
8. Nassar.M (2012) Impacts of Political Instability on the Egyptian Tourism Sector: An Ethnographical Inquiry, forthcoming.
9. Nassar.M (2012) Hotel managers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of social media branding, forthcoming.
10. Nassar.M (2012) Perceptual differences between adopters and non adopters of social media branding for the Egyptian hotel sector,

1. Nassar, M., Jones, E., and Morgan, N. (2003). The Web as a Strategic Marketing Tool for Independent Tourism and Hospitality Businesses: Branding and the Battle on the Search Engines. In: M. Ranga, ed. Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st, Century, New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House, pp 377-399.

1. Nassar, M. (2003) Marketing in the hotel industry, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Alexandria.
2. Nassar, M. (2004) Principals of business management and organization, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Alexandria.
3. Nassar, M. (2005) , Technology and Information Systems: Applications in the tourism and hotel sectors, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Alexandria.
4. Nassar, M. and Fathy I. (2005) Front office management, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Alexandria.