Dr. Alkmini Gkritzali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism Studies at the University of Piraeus, specialising in Marketing of Alternative and Special Interest Tourism. She holds a BSc in Marketing and Communication from Athens University of Economics and Business, an MA in Creative and Media Enterprises from the University of Warwick, and an MRes and PhD from Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London.

Before joining the University of Piraeus, she held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism at the Ionian University from 2021 to 2026. From 2014 to 2021, she was a Senior Lecturer at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, where she also served as Programme Director of the MSc in International Tourism Management. She has also taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level at Bayes Business School, ESCP Business School, the Athens University of Economics and Business, the International Hellenic University, the Hellenic Open University and the Open University of Cyprus.

Her research focuses on destination marketing and branding, with particular emphasis on how destinations and their images are shaped and transformed through popular culture, film, online and offline storytelling, and social media. Her work also explores destination image management during crises, value co-creation, sustainability marketing, and the development of resilient and sustainable tourism destinations.

Her research has been published in leading international academic journals, including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Journal of Business Research. She has participated in national and European research projects and has collaborated with international organisations and institutions, including the World Tourism Organization, UEFA and Barcelona City Council. She is also co-editor of the academic textbook Digital Marketing, published in 2025 by Kritiki Publishing.

Research interests

• Destination marketing and branding
• Alternative and special interest tourism
• Film tourism and popular culture
• Online and offline storytelling
• Value co-creation in tourism
• Sustainability marketing
• Destination resilience and crisis management

1. TSK401. Tourist Consumer Behavior and Psychology (4th semester)
2. TSK502. Alternative and Special Forms of Tourism (5th semester)
3. TSK613. Special Forms of Tourism 6 – Conference, Educational, School Tourism (Elective)
4. TSK612. Special Forms of Tourism 2 – Agritourism, Ecotourism, Gastronomic, Oenological Tourism (Elective)
5. TSKER01-02. Research Project (Elective)

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&gmla=AKCpqFwu1JafTrKJ0pu5ZdA7_mnSKhnGg17Mz1nZ1Tv94zu980Gq8-4ntL7PoZ3qckNTjox0AmlPvDLIeWn7DQ&user=Q-hoiiYAAAAJ

JOURNAL ARTICLES (INTERNATIONAL PEER-REVIEWED)

1. Luong, V. H., Manthiou, A., Gkritzali, A., & Klaus, P. (2026). Value co-creation in regenerative tourism: A profound impact on tourists. Tourism Management Perspectives, 63, 101494.
2. Fragkoudi, V., & Gritzali, A. (2026). “Heritage-Led Urban Regeneration and Institutional Logic: A Comparative Analysis of Tobacco Warehouses Across Europe”. Tourism and Hospitality, 7(1), 9.
3. Gkritzali, A. & Vogklis, K. (2024). “Waste crisis and destination image: the case of Corfu”. Annals of Tourism Research. 107(C).
4. Gkritzali, A. (2023). “On-screen tourism and destination development: a sociocognitive approach”. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. 1–17.
5. Tian, W., Lundberg, C., Gkritzali, A. & Li, S. (2021). “Millennials’ attentional responses to verbal and visual cues on the destination marketing website: an eye-tracking study”. Journal of Travel Research. 60(8), 1802–1820.
6. English, R., Font, X., Tian, S. & Gkritzali, A. (2021). “Value co-creation in sustainable tourism: a service-dominant logic approach”. Tourism Management. 82, 104200.
7. Smit, B., Melissen, F., Font, X. & Gkritzali, A. (2021). “Designing for experiences: a metaethnographic synthesis”. Current Issues in Tourism. 24(21), 2971–2989.
8. Gkritzali, A., Mavragani, E. & Gritzalis, D. (2019). “Negative MWOM and value co-destruction during destination crises”. Business Process Management Journal. 26(4), 839–856.
9. Sangkaew, P., Jago, L. & Gkritzali, A. (2019). “Adapting the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for business events – the event organiser perspectives”. Event Management. 23(6), 773–788(16).
10. English, R., Font, X. & Gkritzali, A. (2018). “Mainstreaming sustainable tourism with user-centred design”. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 26(10), 1651–1667.
11. Gkritzali, A. (2017). “Online destination sentiment recovery during a sustained crisis”. Annals of Tourism Research. 66, 183–185.
12. Gkritzali, A., Gritzalis, D. & Stavrou, V. (2017). “Is Xenios Zeus still alive? Destination image of Athens in the years of recession”. Journal of Travel Research. 57(4), 540–55.
13. Gkritzali, A., Lampel, J. & Wiertz, C. (2015). “Blame it on Hollywood: the influence of films on Paris as product location”. Journal of Business Research. 69(7), 2363–2370.

BOOK CHAPTERS (INTERNATIONAL PEER-REVIEWED)

1. Vogklis, K., Gritzali, A., & Beneki, C. (forthcoming). “Algorithmic Placemaking: AI, Affect, and the Mediation of Place in Contemporary Culture.” In D. Skandali, P. M. Pardalos, & M. Tsioufis (Eds.), AI and Optimization in Marketing. Springer Optimization and Its Applications, Vol. 246. Springer. (Chapter 22).
2. Tian, W., Lundberg, C. & Gkritzali, A. (2024). “Millennials’ responses to popular culture-induced visual and verbal cues: an eye-tracking investigation”. In Touristic World-Making and Fan Pilgrimage in Popular Culture Destinations, Tourism and Cultural Change Series. Channel View Publications.
3. Gkritzali, A., Morgan, N. & Kinchin, I. (2024). “Pedagogic frailty and conventional wisdom in tourism higher education”. In Value Creation in Tourism Education. CABI (forthcoming).
4. Sangkaew, P., Jago, L. & Gkritzali, A. (2022). “Technology innovation in business events”. In The Routledge Handbook of Business Events (pp. 178–187). Routledge.

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The office hours for the fall semester 2026-2027 are:

• Tuesday: 10:00-12:00
• Wednesday: 12:00-14:00

Note: Please contact by e-mail for arranging an appointment.

For the Full CV press here.