Search results for: MICE tourism

Authors: Li Yang

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Tourism is employed by many countries to facilitate socioeconomic development and to assist in the heritage preservation. An “ethnic culture boom” is currently driving the tourism industry in China. Ethnic minorities, commonly portrayed as primitive, colorful and exotic, have become a big tourist draw. Many cultural attractions have been built throughout China to meet the demands of domestic tourists. Sacred cultural heritage sites have been rehabilitated as a major component of ethnic tourism. The purpose of this study is to examine the interconnected consequences of tourism development and tourism-related leisure property development and, and to discuss, in a broader context, issues and considerations that are pertinent to the management and development of ethnic attractions. The role of real estate in tourism development and its sociocultural consequences are explored. An empirical research was conducted in Yiren Ancient Town (literally, "Ancient Town of Yi People") in Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, China. Multiple research methods, including in-depth interviews, informal discussions, on-site observations, and secondary data review were employed to measure residents and tourism decision-makers’ perceptions of ethnic tourism and to explore the impacts of tourism on local community. Key informants from government officials, tourism developers and local communities were interviewed individually to gather what they think about benefits and costs of tourism, and what their concerns about and hopes for tourism development are. Yiren Ancient Town was constructed in classical Yi architecture style featuring tranquil garden scenery. Commercial streets, entertainment complexes, and accommodation facilities occupied the center of the town, creating culturally distinctive and visually stimulating places for tourists. A variety of activities are presented to visitors, including walking tours of the town, staged dance shows, musical performances, ethnic festivals and ceremonies, tasting minority food and wedding shows. This study reveals that tourism real estate has transformed the town from a traditional neighborhood into diverse real estate landscapes. Ethnic architecture, costumes, festivals and folk culture have been represented, altered and reinvented through the tourist gaze and mechanisms of cultural production. Tourism is now a new economic driver of the community providing opportunities for the creation of small businesses. There was a general appreciation in the community that tourism has created many employment opportunities, especially for self-employment. However, profit-seeking is a primary motivation for the government, developers, businesses, and other actors involved in the tourism development process. As the town has attracted an increasing number of visitors, commercialization and business competition are intense in the town. Many residents complained about elevated land prices, making the town and the surroundings comparatively high-value locales. Local community is also concerned about the decline of traditional ethnic culture and an erosion of the sense of identity and place. A balance is difficult to maintain between protection and development. The preservation of ethnic culture and heritage should be enhanced if long-term sustainable development of tourism is to occur and the loss of ethnic identities is to be avoided.

Keywords: ancient town, ethnic tourism, local community, real estate, China

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Authors: Ketwadee Madden

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Product or service image is among the vital factors that predict individuals’ choice of buying a product or services, goes to a place or attached to a person. Similarly, in the context of tourism, the destination image is a very important factor to which tourist considers before making their tour destination decisions. In light of this, the objective of this study is to conceptually investigate among French tourists, the determinants of Thailand’s tourism destination image. For this objective to be achieved, prior studies were reviewed, leading to the development of conceptual framework highlighting the determinants of destination image. In addition, this study develops some hypotheses that are to be empirically investigated. Aside these, based on the conceptual findings, suggestions on how to motivate European tourists to chose Thailand as their preferred tourism destination were made.

Keywords: cognitive destination image, affective destination image, motivations, risk perception, word of mouth

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Authors: Merly Patiño Villanueva, Dubys Villarreal Torres, Eduardo Salazar Araujo, Lezly Ramos Macedo

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The concept of sustainability has been influencing business thinking from the perspective of various economic sectors and their environment, looking for concerns related to the risks associated with the indiscriminate consumption of the planet's resources, which have been widely studied and exposed by different public and private organizations. Tourism is not outsider to this reality; therefore, the concept of sustainable tourism evolves towards the integral management of resources, attending the needs of tourists, host communities and service providers, protecting ecosystems and assuring the conservation of the environment and its biodiversity. Considering the above, the purpose of this paper is to identify trends aimed at promoting sustainable tourism in the destinations of Barranquilla (Colombia) and Nayarit (Mexico). This study is part of the realistic epistemological paradigm, based on the existence of a specific environment for the development of tourism activity and the best sustainability practices associated with this industry, which can be observed and studied, therefore, this research contemplates qualitative research techniques such as the focus group and the interview, applied to 8 experts who are part of the value chain of the sector under study, added to a documentary review taken from the scientific databases Wos and Scopus, as well as statistical information published by official bodies. The data obtained were processed with the qualitative analysis software N-VIVO version 13. As a result, trends and actions to promote tourism are identified for the positioning of the cities of Barranquilla (Colombia) and Nayarit (Mexico) as sustainable destinations: first, the recovery of green areas and environmental spaces, as well as the realization of cultural events; promotion and encouragement of the creative industry and finally the realization of international events. It is concluded that both cities develop activities, projects and investments of public initiative, aimed at positioning them as sustainable tourist destinations.

Keywords: marketing, sustainability, tourism management, policies

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Authors: Briante Barretto, Haley Carreon, Anesha-Maelene Ignacio

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This research paper explores the dynamic process of cultural resilience within the context of the modern tourism of two traditional island communities (Bali, Indonesia and Guam, Micronesia). It asks the question: How do indigenous people hold on to their foundational values that define their culture while moving forward in the modern world? Both Bali and Guam serve as famous destinations for tourists from all over the world, with millions of visitors on an annual basis. Both are continually being shaped in profound ways by the forces of modernity through globalization. And both are demonstrating cultural resilience while striving to find creative ways to sustain, preserve and strengthen their values and traditions within the context of a thriving modern tourist economy. This research paper, drawing on ethnographic methodologies, and in particular participant observation and in-depth interviews, explores the many challenges both communities face and the strategies and approaches they are learning to employ that help promote sustainable tourism while contributing to cultural preservation. Drawing on the insights gained from field work in both island communities, as well as the growing literature in this field study, the paper posits important lessons that can guide and inform indigenous communities that are being drawn into the global tourism market. One powerful idea emerges in the research and one that seems to guide and shape tourism policy both indigenous communities - that this current generation should be thought of as the ancestors of future generations, and thus they have a weighty responsibility to continue to learn and strive to sustain and preserve their cultures and traditions, their natural environments, and spiritual foundations for the future.

Keywords: bali, culture, environment, guam, tourism, values

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Authors: Huan Peng, Chenye Zeng, Zhao Wang

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that is a leading cause of dementia syndromes and has become a huge burden on society and families. The main pathological features of AD involve excessive deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) and Tau proteins in the brain, resulting in loss of neurons, expansion of neuroinflammation, and cognitive dysfunction in patients. Researchers have found effective drugs to clear the brain of error-accumulating proteins or to slow the loss of neurons, but their direct administration has key bottlenecks such as single-drug limitation, rapid blood clearance rate, impenetrable blood-brain barrier (BBB), and poor ability to target tissues and cells. Therefore, we are committed to seeking a suitable and efficient delivery system. Inspired by the possibility that exosomes may be involved in the secretion and transport mechanism of many signaling molecules or proteins in the brain, exosomes have attracted extensive attention as natural nanoscale drug carriers. We selected exosomes derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EXO) with low immunogenicity and exosomes derived from hippocampal neurons (HT22-EXO) that may have excellent homing ability to overcome the deficiencies of oral or injectable pathways and bypass the BBB through nasal administration and evaluated their delivery ability and effect on AD. First, MSC-EXO and HT22 cells were isolated and cultured, and MSCs were identified by microimaging and flow cytometry. Then MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were obtained by gradient centrifugation and qEV SEC separation column, and a series of physicochemical characterization were performed by transmission electron microscope, western blot, nanoparticle tracking analysis and dynamic light scattering. Next, exosomes labeled with lipophilic fluorescent dye were administered to WT mice and APP/PS1 mice to obtain fluorescence images of various organs at different times. Finally, APP/PS1 mice were administered intranasally with two exosomes 20 times over 40 days and 20 μL each time. Behavioral analysis and pathological section analysis of the hippocampus were performed after the experiment. The results showed that MSC-EXO and HT22-EXO were successfully isolated and characterized, and they had good biocompatibility. MSC-EXO showed excellent brain enrichment in APP/PS1 mice after intranasal administration, could improve the neuronal damage and reduce inflammation levels in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice, and the improvement effect was significantly better than HT22-EXO. However, intranasal administration of the two exosomes did not cause depression and anxious-like phenotypes in APP/PS1 mice, nor significantly improved the short-term or spatial learning and memory ability of APP/PS1 mice, and had no significant effect on the content of Aβ plaques in the hippocampus, which also meant that MSC-EXO could use their own advantages in combination with other drugs to clear Aβ plaques. The possibility of realizing highly effective non-invasive synergistic treatment for AD provides new strategies and ideas for clinical research.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cell, intranasal administration, therapy-carrier dual roles

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Authors: Maria Ilyushkina

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The article addresses the problem of translating vocative texts with intertextual references and describes the influence of language on how knowledge and meaning are developed in the field of advertising. The starting point of the article takes advertisements from the sphere of tourism and the way we choose, translate, and interpret intertexts. The article focuses on the perception and understanding of the information in printed texts advertising recreational facilities and services for tourists as the target audience by representatives of other cultures and the knowledge intertexts convey. The authors argue that intertextuality complicates translation leading to knowledge asymmetries. Studying typical communicative failures is considered to be of great importance, allowing for improvement in the practice of translation in the sphere of advertising as well as preventing the fallacious transfer of knowledge when translating foreign intertexts.

Keywords: advertising, translation, intertext, Russian culture, knowledge asymmetries, tourism, vocative texts

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Authors: Lian Zeng

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Double-Spear 1-H2-1 (DS1-H2-1) is an oncolytic virus and an innovative biological drug candidate. The chemical composition of the drug product is a live attenuated West Nile virus (WNV) containing the human T cell costimulator (CD86) gene. After intratumoral injection, the virus can rapidly self-replicate in the injected site and lyse/kill the tumor by repeated infection among tumor cells. We also established xenograft tumor models in mice to evaluate the drug candidate's efficacy on those tumors. The results from preclinical studies on transplanted tumors in immunodeficient mice showed that DS1-H2-1 had significant oncolytic effects on human-origin cancers: it completely (100%) shrieked human glioma; limited human neuroblastoma growth reached as high as 95% growth inhibition rate (%TGITW). The safety data of preclinical animal experiments confirmed that DS1-H2-1 is safe as a biological drug for clinical use. In the preclinical drug efficacy experiment, virus-drug administration with different doses did not show abnormal signs and disease symptoms in more than 300 tested mice, and no side effects or death occurred through various administration routes. Intravenous administration did not cause acute infectious disease or other side effects. However, the replication capacity of the virus in tumor tissue via intravenous administration is only 1% of that of direct intratumoral administration. The direct intratumoral administration of DS1-H2-1 had a higher rate of viral replication. Therefore, choosing direct intratumoral injection can ensure both efficacy and safety.

Keywords: oncolytic virus, WNV-CD86, immunotherapy drugs, glioma, neuroblastoma

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Authors: Benjaporn Yaemjamuang, Sasitorn Jetanont

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The three star hotels in Sukhumvit area of Bangkok and the potential to be in the tourism industry joining the ASEAN Community were studied. The findings revealed that the representative samples satisfy the potential of hotel services at a high level in all aspects. The level of service satisfaction by gender is not different. On the other hand, for different ethnic origins, ages, occupations, levels of education, the satisfaction on the services varies in significance level of 0.05. Factors associated with satisfaction in the services of the hotel include a potential location and environment. It was also found that satisfaction with the service aspects are related as follows: services (r = .810), food (r = .807), booking service (r = .768), room condition (r = .762) and security (r =.756) which is aligned with the coefficient .826.

Keywords: three star hotel, ASEAN community, potential in tourism industry, Bangkok

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Authors: Manoj Gupta Charan Pushparaj

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Tourism related activities are getting popular day by day and tourism has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Ecotourism initiatives have grown enormously in the past decade, and the concept of ecotourism has shown to bring great benefits in terms of environment conservation and to improve the livelihood of local people. However, the potential of ecotourism to sustain improving the livelihood of the local population in the remote future is a topic of active debate. A primary challenge that exists in this regard is the enormous costs of limiting the impacts of tourism related activities on the environment. Here we employed systems modeling approach using computer simulations to determine if ecotourism activities in the small hill town of Yercaud (Tamil Nadu, India) can be sustained over years in improving the livelihood of the local population. Increasing damage to the natural environment as a result of tourism-related activities have plagued the pristine hill station of Yercaud. Though ecotourism efforts can help conserve the environment and enrich local population, questions remain if this can be sustained in the distant future. The vital state variables in the model are the existing tourism foundation (labor, services available to tourists, etc.,) in the town of Yercaud and its natural environment (water, flora and fauna). Another state variable is the textile industry that drives the local economy. Our results would help to understand if environment conservation efforts are sustainable in Yercaud and would also offer suggestions to make it sustainable over the course of several years.

Keywords: ecotourism, simulations, modeling, Yercaud

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Authors: Soumeya Krimat, Tahar Dob, Aicha Kesouri, Ahmed Nouasri, Hafidha Metidji

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Lavandula antineae Maire is an endemic medicinal plant of Algeria which is traditionally used for the treatment of chills, bruises, oedema and rheumatism. The objective of this study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory of hydromethanolic aerial parts extract of Lavandula antineae for the first time using carrageenan-paw edema and croton oil-ear odema models. The plant extract, at the dose of 200 mg/kg, showed a significant anti-inflammatory activity (P˂0.05) in the carrageenan induced edema test in mice, showing 80.74% reduction in the paw thikness comparable to that produced by the standard drug aspirin 83.44% at 4h. When it was applied topically at a dosage of 1 and 2 mg per ear, the percent edema reduction in treated mice was 29.45% and 74.76%, respectively. These results demonstrate that Lavandula antineae Maire extract possess remarkable anti-inflammatory activity, supporting the folkloric usage of the plant to treat various inflammatory and pain diseases.

Keywords: lavandula antineae maire, medicinal plant, anti-inflammatory activity, carrageenan-paw edema, croton oil-ear edema

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Authors: Ramasamy Tamizhselvi, Leema George, Madhav Bhatia

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We have earlier shown that mouse pancreatic acinar cells produce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and play a role in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. This study is to determine the effect of H2S on TLR4 mediated innate immune signaling in acute pancreatitis via substance P (SP). Male Swiss mice were treated with hourly intraperitoneal injection of caerulein (50μg/kg) for 10 hour. DL-propargylglycine (PAG) (100 mg/kg i.p.), an inhibitor of H2S formation was administered 1h after the induction of acute pancreatitis. Pancreatic acinar cells from male Swiss mice were incubated with or without caerulein (10–7 M for 60 min) and CP-96345 (NK1R inhibitor). To better understand the effect of H2S in inflammation, acinar cells were stimulated with caerulein after addition of H2S donor, NaHS. In addition, caerulein treated pancreatic acinar cells were pretreated with PAG (30 µM), for 1h. H2S inhibitor, PAG, eliminated TLR4, IRAK4, TRAF6 and NF-kB levels in an in vitro and in vivo model of caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis. PPTA gene deletion reduced TLR4, MyD88, IRAK4, TRAF6, adhesion molecules and NF-kB in caerulein treated pancreatic acinar cells whereas administration of NaHS resulted in further rise in TLR4 and NF-kB levels in caerulein treated pancreatic acinar cells. In addition, acini isolated from mice and treated with PPTA gene receptor NK1R antagonist CP96345 did not exhibit further increase in TLR4, IRAK4, TRAF6, adhesion molecules and NF-kB levels after NaHS pretreatment. The present findings show for the first time that in acute pancreatitis, H2S up-regulates TLR4 pathway and NF-kB via substance P.

Keywords: preprotachykinin-A gene, H2S, TLR4, acute pancreatitis

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Authors: Pornnapat Berndt

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The purpose of this research is to explore challenge and opportunities to establish cultural learning center of Wayang Artwork for creative tourism within the house of Mr. Sa-ngat Jaiprom. To accomplish the goals and objectives, qualitative research will be applied. The research instruments used are observation, questionnaires (pretest and posttest), basic interviews, in-depth interviews and interviewed of key local informants. The study also uses both primary data and secondary data. From research result, it is revealed that the sample groups more realized valuable heritage value after learning about the history of wayang and the way to practices. The sample group indicated that it not too difficult for them to carving Wayang artwork as they have knowledge about Thai art before. However, in their opinion, they comment that it might difficult for others who have no basic knowledge to learn to carve wayang artwork.

Keywords: creative tourism, local community, cultural learning center, wayang artwork  

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Authors: Md. M. Hossain, Regan Roat, Jenica Christopherson, Colette Free, Zhiguang Guo

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Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation, and their epigenetic landscapes have been shown to be involved in many human diseases. However, their regulation in diabetes through governing islet’s β-cell function and survival needs to be elucidated. Due to the technical and ethical constraints, it is difficult to study their role in β-cell function and survival in human under in vivo condition. In this study, humanized mice have been developed through transplanting human pancreatic islet under the kidney capsule of NOD.SCID mice and induced β-cell death leading to diabetes condition to study lncRNA mediated regulation. For this, human islets from 3 donors (3000 IEQ, purity > 80%) were transplanted under the kidney capsule of STZ induced diabetic NOD.scid mice. After at least 2 weeks of normoglycecemia, lymphocytes from diabetic NOD mice were adoptively transferred and islet grafts were collected once blood glucose reached > 200 mg/dl. RNA from human donor islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with either adoptive lymphocyte transfer (ALT) or PBS control (CTL) were ribodepleted; barcoded fragment libraries were constructed and sequenced on the Ion Proton sequencer. lncRNA expression in isolated human islets, islet grafts from humanized mice with and without induced β-cell death and their regulation in human islets function in vitro under glucose challenge, cytokine mediated inflammation and induced apoptotic condition were investigated. Out of 3155 detected lncRNAs, 299 that highly expressed in islets were found to be significantly downregulated and 224 upregulated in ALT compared to CTL. Most of these are found to be collocated within 5 kb upstream and 1 kb downstream of 788 up- and 624 down-regulated mRNAs. Genomic Regions Enrichment of Annotations Analysis revealed deregulated and collocated genes are related to pancreas endocrine development; insulin synthesis, processing, and secretion; pancreatitis and diabetes. Many of them, that found to be located within enhancer domains for islet specific gene activity, are associated to the deregulation of known islet/βcell specific transcription factors and genes that are important for β-cell differentiation, identity, and function. RNA sequencing analysis revealed aberrant lncRNA expression which is associated to the deregulated mRNAs in β-cell function as well as in molecular pathways related to diabetes. A distinct set of candidate lncRNA isoforms were identified as highly enriched and specific to human islets, which are deregulated in human islets from donors with different BMIs and with type 2 diabetes. These RNAs show an interesting regulation in cultured human islets under glucose stimulation and with induced β-cell death by cytokines. Aberrant expression of these lncRNAs was detected in the exosomes from the media of islets cultured with cytokines. Results of this study suggest that the islet specific lncRNAs are deregulated in human islet with β-cell death, hence important in diabetes. These lncRNAs might be important for human β-cell function and survival thus could be used as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for diabetes.

Keywords: β-cell, humanized mouse, pancreatic islet, LncRNAs

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Authors: Faduma Ahmed-Ali

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The up and coming new generation of travelers will change how the world will achieve its global connectivity. The goal is that through people and technological advancement world-wide, people will be able to better explore the culture and beauty, as well as gain a better understanding of the core values of each host countries treasures. Through Rika's unique world connection model approach, the tourist can explore their destination with the help of local connections. Achieving a complete understanding of the host country while ensuring equal economic prosperity and cultural exchange is key to changing the face of tourism. A recent survey conducted by the author at Portland International Airport shows that over 50% of tourists entering Portland, Oregon are more eager to explore the city through local residents rather than an already planned itinerary created by travel companies. This new model, Rika, aims to shed light to the importance of connecting tourists with the technological tools that increase connectivity to the locals for a better travel experience and that fosters shared economic prosperity throughout a community achieving the goal of creating a sustainable, people driven economy.

Keywords: RIKA, tourism, connection, technology, economic impact, sustainability, hospitality, strategies, tourism development, environment

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Authors: Mrinal Gupta, Mohammad Rumman, Babita Singh Abbas Ali Mahdi, Shivani Pandey

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Introduction: Berberine (BBR), a bioactive compound isolated from Coptidis Rhizoma, possesses diverse pharmacological activities, including anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypolipidemic, and anti-diabetic. However, its role as an anti-diabetic agent in animal models of dexamethasone (Dex)-induced diabetes remains unknown. Studies have shown that natural compounds, including aloe, caper, cinnamon, cocoa, green and black tea, and turmeric, can be used for treating Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Compared to conventional drugs, natural compounds have fewer side effects and are easily available. Herein, we studied the anti-diabetic effects of BBR in a mice model of Dex-induced diabetes. Methods: HepG2 cell line was used for glucose release and glycogen synthesis studies. Cell proliferation was measured by methylthiotetrazole (MTT) assay. For animal studies, mice were treated with Dex (2 mg/kg, i.m.) for 30 days and the effect of BBR at the doses 100, 200, and 500 mg/kg (p.o.) was analyzed. Glucose, insulin, and pyruvate tests were performed to evaluate the development of the diabetic model. An echo MRI was performed to assess the fat mass. Further, to elucidate the mechanism of action of BBR, mRNA expression of genes regulating gluconeogenesis, glucose uptake, and glycolysis were analyzed. Results: In vitro BBR had no impact on cell viability up to a concentration of 50μM. Moreover, BBR suppressed the hepatic glucose release and improved glucose tolerance in HepG2 cells. In vivo, BBR improved glucose homeostasis in diabetic mice, as evidenced by enhanced glucose clearance, increased glycolysis, elevated glucose uptake, and decreased gluconeogenesis. Further, Dex treatment increased the total fat mass in mice, which was ameliorated by BBR treatment. Conclusion: BBR improves glucose tolerance by increasing glucose clearance, inhibiting hepatic glucose release, and decreasing obesity. Thus, BBR may become a potential therapeutic agent for treating glucocorticoid-induced diabetes and obesity in the future.

Keywords: glucocorticoid, hyperglycemia, berberine, HepG2 cells, insulin resistance, glucose

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Authors: Wanida Suwunniponth

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This research paper aimed to developing a causal relationship model of success factors of customer relationship management of tourism in Thailand and to investigating relationships among the potential factors that facilitate the success of customer relationship management (CRM). The research was conducted in both quantitative and qualitative methods, by utilizing both questionnaire and in-depth interview. The questionnaire was used in collecting the data from 250 management staff in the hotels located within Bangkok area. Sampling techniques used in this research included cluster sampling according to the service quality and simple random sampling. The data input was analyzed by use of descriptive analysis and System Equation Model (SEM). The research findings demonstrated important factors accentuated by most respondents towards the success of CRM, which were organization, people, information technology and the process of CRM. Moreover, the customer relationship management of tourism business in Thailand was found to be successful at a very significant level. The hypothesis testing showed that the hypothesis was accepted, as the factors concerning with organization, people and information technology played an influence on the process and the success of customer relationship management, whereas the process of customer relationship management factor manipulated its success. The findings suggested that tourism business in Thailand with the implementation of customer relationship management should opt in improvement approach in terms of managerial structure, corporate culture building with customer- centralized approach accentuated, and investment of information technology and customer analysis, in order to capacitate higher efficiency of customer relationship management process that would result in customer satisfaction and retention of service.

Keywords: customer relationship management, casual relationship model, tourism, Thailand

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Authors: Faraz Nikpour Arani, Shahin Haghi Navand

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After Two years of operation, the “Nahj Al Balaghe” riverside park, redesigning research was ordered by second region of Tehran municipality, the goal was to construct the first cultural tourism center in city of Tehran. After Pathological and analytical studies of existing situation, that made by field work research’s and interviews, the main problems was identified as lack of thematic design and some physical problems that reduced the activity and livability ratio of the park. The main approach of this project was thematic physical redesign and redefinition of activities in order to the “Nahj Al Balaghe’s” ideas, cultural days in “shamsi calendar”, the “7 artistic dimensions” and “four classical elements”. This paper is the abstraction of a full research that was done by writers.

Keywords: thematic redesign, Nah Al Balaghe riverside park, cultural tourism center, Tehran

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Authors: Sakul Jaariyachamsit, Kevin Wongleedee

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The objectives of this research were to study five perceptions of service quality from international tourists who visited Bangkok, Thailand. The independent variables included gender, age, levels of education, occupation, and income while the dependent variables included their opinion on the service provided by employees in Thai tourism. An accidental random sampling method was utilized to get 215 respondents. The respondents were both male and female in the same proportion and most were between 21-40 years old. Most were married and had a graduate degree. The average income of the respondents was between $20,000-40,000. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents came to Thailand for the first time and spent about 6-8 days in Thailand and preferred to travel in small groups with no children. The five service perceptions of employees in tourism by the international tourists in descending order according to mean were reliable employees, neat and clean employees, polite employees, timely employees, and competent employees.

Keywords: experience, international tourists, service quality, Thailand

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Authors: Yobo Opare-Addo

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Ghana came under a military and democratic rule of the same leadership from 1981-2000. These were the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), a military government and a democratic government, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) both under the leadership of Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings. Meanwhile the year 1985 marked a turning point in the development of the tourism industry in Ghana. Interest in tourism among African governments and for that matter the ‘PNDC cum NDC Government’ (PNDC/NDC) arose because of adverse developments in intangible exports and a corresponding decline in commodity export earnings. The ‘PNDC/NDC Government’ undertook measures and policies to improve the tourism industry and at the same time embarked on export diversification to reap the foreign exchange that the industry could generate in Ghana. The objective of this paper is to examine the measures and policies of the PNDC/NDC to improve the tourism industry in order to reap the foreign exchange. It specifically interrogates the role of the government as an agent of tourism development, through its deliberate creation of a conducive environment for tourism to flourish, the involvement of the private sector both foreign and local and the provision of tourism facilities and infrastructure and how these factors impacted on the tourism industry in Ghana. In the final analysis it evaluates the degree of success of the PNDC/NDC Government in this arena of Ghana’s socio-cultural and economic development. Introduction The Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), a military government under the leadership of Flt. Lt J.J. Rawlings overthrew a constitutionally elected government of People’s National Party in 1981. In 1992, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) won the general election conducted in December. Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings, the party’s leader became the President of the Fourth Republic from January 1993 to December 2000. It was refreshing to see Ghanaians embrace democracy with renewed energy, zeal, and enthusiasm. This paper takes a critical look at the efforts of the PNDC cum NDC Government (PNDC/NDC) to develop tourism in Ghana during the period from 1981-2000 Methodology: Qualitative method of research was adopted for the study. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources, and analysis was done using descriptive analysis because descriptive analysis made it possible to describe or summarize the statistical data in the research. To gather data from primary sources, questionnaires, oral interviews, and semi-structured discussions were conducted. Respondents included public officials from Ghana Tourist Board, Ministry of Tourism, Hoteliers, restaurant operators and travel and tour operators in Accra. Secondary data sources included articles in journals, reports, magazines, bulletins, and books. The major findings included statistical data for tourism arrivals and receipts during the period and the status of the industry by the year 2000. Conclusion: The paper contributes to knowledge on political and historical aspects of tourism development in Ghana, which is almost non-existent, attitudes of the PNDC cum NDC government towards tourism development and the debates on the generation of foreign exchange to Ghana and third world countries.

Keywords: ghana, infrastructure, policies, privatization, tourism facilities

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Authors: Seetanah Boopen, Padachi Kesseven, R. Juwaheer , R. V. Sannassee, M. L. Lamport

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This study aims primarily at investigating the importance of soft infrastructure in tourism development for the case of an island economy namely Mauritius. The study in the first place assesses the level of perceived and actual satisfaction of the present state of the different types of soft tourism infrastructure and the allied services provided by tourism stakeholders in Mauritius and address the identified gaps. In order to address the study objectives, a rigorous survey analysis among 1741 international tourists at the departure lounge of the Sir Seewoosagur International Airport of Mauritius was carried out. The respondents placed significant emphasis on the different elements of the soft infrastructure dimension, where many of the elements falling under this dimension were rated with a high mean score. In particular the visitors rated communication, both internet and telephone services, and security to be most important. Significant gap has been found in the categories of ‘Health’ and ‘Security’. This indicates that the tourists ascribe high importance to the soft infrastructure dimension. The link between the respondent profile and the key variables which influence the tourist choice of the island as a destination are found to be equally important for most of the international tourists. However, these were deemed to be more critical for tourists travelling with family members. Although the survey instrument attempted to measure any gap between on the one hand, the importance of the infrastructure dimension and on the other hand, the level of satisfaction with the infrastructure dimension, overall the results do not show any statistically significant gap among the different elements of the infrastructural dimension. The study dwells into further analysis by engaging into an econometric framework related to a Probit Model, using the data collected, to gauge the effect of soft infrastructure on tourist intention to repeat or recommend the destination. The results confirm that soft infrastructure is found to be sensible to tourists, although relatively less sensitive as compared to tourism and transport and hotel infrastructure.

Keywords: tourism development, soft infrastructure, Mauritius, hotel infrastructure

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Authors: Ladaporn Pithuk

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This research attempts to explore the satisfaction of international tourists toward Thai economy and Bangkok attributes. Due to tourism industry provides high rate of revenue for Thailand, and the outcome from this business drives every sections of Thailand. Unfortunately, some incidents in the country, such as some turmoil, have ruined the city’s image which obviously impacts to tourism industry. Hence, this survey was established to better understand the tourist’s satisfaction in these matters. The size of this research was 400 international tourists who visit Bangkok, Thailand during the 1st – 20th March 2009 and age between 20 – 65 years. The results reveal that tourists satisfy with all of Bangkok’s attributes including general attractions, heritage attraction, maintenance factors and cultural attraction. Also, tourists’ perception toward Thai politics is significantly related to their satisfaction of Bangkok’s attributes but their perception toward Thai economy is not significantly correlated to their satisfaction of Bangkok’s attributes.

Keywords: Bangkok’s attributes, satisfaction of international tourists, Thai economy, and tourism industry

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Authors: Reva Sharan Thakur, Mrinalini Tiwari, Jyoti das

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Cerebral malaria-associated over expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines ultimately results in the up-regulation of adhesion molecules in the brain endothelium leading to sequestration of mature parasitized RBCs in the brain. The high-parasitic load subsequently results in increased mortality or development of neurological symptoms within a week of infection. Studies in the human and experimental cerebral malaria have implicated the breakdown of the integrity of blood-brain barrier during the lethal course of infection, cerebral dysfunction, and fatal organ pathologies that result in multi-organ failure. In the present study, using Plasmodium berghei Anka as a mouse model and in vitro conditions, we have investigated the effect of MSCs to attenuate cerebral malaria pathogenesis by diminishing the effect of inflammation altered organ morphology, reduced parasitemia, and increased survival of the mice. MSCs are also validated for their role in preventing BBB dysfunction and reducing malarial toxins. It was observed that administration of MSCs significantly reduced parasitemia and increased survival in Pb A infected mice. It was further demonstrated that MSCs play a significant role in reversing neurological complexities associated with cerebral malaria. Infusion of MSCs in infected mice decreased hemozoin deposition; oedema, and haemorrhagic lesions in vascular organs. MSCs administration also preserved the integrity of the blood-brain barrier and reduced neural inflammation. Taken together, our results demonstrate the potential of MSCs as an emerging anti-malarial candidate.

Keywords: cerebral malaria, mesenchymal stem cells, erythropoesis, cell death

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Authors: Milena Lakicevic

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The paper deals with the problem of optimizing management options for urban parks within different scenarios of nature protection and tourism importance. The procedure is demonstrated on a case study example of urban parks in Novi Sad (Serbia). Six management strategies for the selected area have been processed by the decision support method PROMETHEE. Two criteria used for the evaluation were nature protection and tourism and each of them has been divided into a set of indicators: for nature protection those were biodiversity and preservation of original landscape, while for tourism those were recreation potential, aesthetic values, accessibility and culture features. It was pre-assumed that each indicator in a set is equally important to a corresponding criterion. This way, the research was focused on a sensitivity analysis of criteria weights. In other words, weights of indicators were fixed and weights of criteria altered along the entire scale (from the value of 0 to the value of 1), and the assessment has been performed in two-dimensional surrounding. As a result, one could conclude which management strategy would be the most appropriate along with changing of criteria importance. The final ranking of management alternatives was followed up by investigating the mean PROMETHEE Φ values for all options considered and when altering the importance of nature protection/tourism. This type of analysis enabled detecting an alternative with a solid performance along the entire scale, i.e., regardlessly of criteria importance. That management strategy can be seen as a compromise solution when the weight of criteria is not defined. As a conclusion, it can be said that, in some cases, instead of having criteria importance fixed it is important to test the outputs depending on the different schemes of criteria weighting. The research demonstrates the state of the final decision when the decision maker can estimate criteria importance, but also in cases when the importance of criteria is not established or known.

Keywords: criteria weights, PROMETHEE, sensitivity analysis, urban parks

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Authors: Anilkumar L. Rathod

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This paper examines event tourism as a field of study and area of professional practice updating the previous review article published in 2015. In this substantially extended review, a deeper analysis of the field's evolution and development is presented, charting the growth of the literature, focusing both chronologically and thematically. A framework for understanding and creating knowledge about events and tourism is presented, forming the basis which signposts established research themes and concepts and outlines future directions for research. In addition, the review article focuses on constraining and propelling forces, ontological advances, contributions from key journals, and emerging themes and issues. It also presents a roadmap for research activity in event tourism. Published scholarly studies within this period are examined through content analysis, using such keywords as knowledge management, organizational learning, hospitality, tourism, tourist destinations, travel industry, hotels, lodging, motels, hotel industry, gaming, casino hotel and convention to search scholarly research journals. All contributions found are then screened for a hospitality and tourism theme. Researchers mostly discuss knowledge management approach in improving information technology, marketing and strategic planning in order to gain competitive advantage. Overall, knowledge management research is still limited. Planned events in tourism are created for a purpose, and what was once the realm of individual and community initiatives has largely become the realm of professionals and entrepreneurs provides a typology of the four main categories of planned events within an event-tourism context, including the main venues associated with each. It also assesses whether differences exist between socio-demographic groupings. An analysis using primarily descriptive statistics indicated both sub-samples had similar viewpoints although Maharashtra residents tended to have higher scores pertaining to the consequences of gambling. It is suggested that the differences arise due to the greater exposure of Maharashtra residents to the influences of casino development.

Keywords: organizational learning, hospitality, tourism, tourist destinations, travel industry, hotels, lodging, motels, hotel industry, gaming, casino hotel and convention to search scholarly research journals

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Authors: Roberto Coppo, Francesca Orso, Daniela Dettori, Elena Quaglino, Lei Nie, Mehran M. Sadeghi, Daniela Taverna

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Malignant melanoma is currently the fifth most common cancer in the white population and it is fatal in its metastatic stage. Several research studies in recent years have provided evidence that cancer initiation and progression are driven by genetic alterations of the tumor and paracrine interactions between tumor and microenvironment. Scattered data show that the Endothelial and Smooth muscle cell-Derived Neuropilin-like molecule (ESDN) controls cell proliferation and movement of stroma and tumor cells. To investigate the role of ESDN in the tumor microenvironment during melanoma progression, murine melanoma cells (B16 or B16-F10) were injected in ESDN knockout mice in order to evaluate how the absence of ESDN in stromal cells could influence melanoma progression. While no effect was found on primary tumor growth, increased cell extravasation and lung metastasis formation was observed in ESDN knockout mice compared to wild type controls. In order to understand how cancer cells cross the endothelial barrier during metastatic dissemination in an ESDN-null microenvironment, structure, and permeability of lung blood vessels were analyzed. Interestingly, ESDN knockout mice showed structurally altered and more permeable vessels compared to wild type animals. Since cell surface molecules mediate the process of tumor cell extravasation, the expression of a panel of extravasation-related ligands and receptors was analyzed. Importantly, modulations of N-cadherin, E-selectin, ICAM-1 and VAP-1 were observed in ESDN knockout endothelial cells, suggesting the presence of a favorable tumor microenvironment which facilitates melanoma cell extravasation and metastasis formation in the absence of ESDN. Furthermore, a potential contribution of immune cells in tumor dissemination was investigated. An increased recruitment of macrophages in the lungs of ESDN knockout mice carrying subcutaneous B16-F10 tumors was found. In conclusion, our data suggest a functional role of ESDN in the tumor microenvironment during melanoma progression and the identification of the mechanisms that regulate tumor cell extravasation could lead to the development of new therapies to reduce metastasis formation.

Keywords: melanoma, tumor microenvironment, extravasation, cell surface molecules

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Authors: Maulita Sari Hani, Abraham B. Sianipar, Jamaluddin Jompa, Natsir Nessa, Alan T. White

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Manta ray is an icon for tourism in Raja Ampat. The tourist volume has been increased for the past ten years which up to approximately 23,000 tourists in 2017. Since 2013, Conservation International Indonesia deployed satellite and acoustic tags on manta ray in Dampier strait to track the species and identify the aggregation areas. These findings encourage the government and the local community to boost conservation through the management of marine protected areas for tourism purposes. Community in Dampier strait including the village of Arborek, Kurkapa, Kapisawar, and Sawingray involved in variety of small scale tourism business including homestay, dive shop, tour operator, and crafts. Working groups of related local businesses were established to support the local community and to ensure the sustainability of the economic viability and environmental sustainability. In order to analyze the economic benefits of manta ray tourism, this study was conducted to identify the number of local business in Dampier Strait and the economic impacts in terms of local finance security, social, humanity, individual, and physical assets. The results of this study identify 30 homestays, 2 dive shops, 10 tour operators, 30 women involved in crafts, and about 50 villagers worked for dive resorts. In addition to community assets, we confirmed the welfare of community has been improved in terms of food security, households, education for children, savings, and health insurance.

Keywords: marine wildlife tourism, elasmobranch, conservation, ecotourism, co-management, economic viability, environmental sustainability

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Authors: Malek Jamaliah, Robert Powell

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In spite of the influence of climate change on tourism destinations, particularly those rely heavily on natural resources, little attention paid to study the appropriate adaptation efforts to cope with, moderate and benefit from the impacts of climate change. The existing literature indicated that the research of climate change adaptation in the tourism and outdoor recreation field is at least 5-7 years behind other sectors such as water resources and agriculture. In Jordan, there are many observed changes in climate patterns such as higher temperatures, decreased precipitation and increased severity and frequency of drought. Dana Biosphere Reserve (DBR), the largest protected area and the major eco-tourism destination in Jordan, is facing climate change, which gradually degrading environment, shifting tourism seasons and changing livelihood and lifestyle of local communities. This study aims to assess climate change adaptation practices and policies used in DBR to cope with climate change related-risks. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with key informants in DBR to assess climate change adaptation practices. Direct content analysis (or a priori content analysis) was used to determine the components and indicators of climate change adaptation. The results found that DBR has implemented a wide range of adaptation practices, including infrastructure development, diversification of tourism products, environmentally-friendly practices, visitor management, land use management, rainwater collection, environmental monitoring and research, environmental education and collaboration with stakeholders. These diverse practices implicitly and explicitly play an important role in coping with the social, economic and environmental impacts caused by climate change. Finally, this study demonstrated that climate change adaptation is closely related to sustainable management of eco-tourism.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, dana biosphere reserve, ecotourism, sustainable management

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Authors: S. Zolghadri, M. Mousavi-Daramoroudi, H. Yousefnia, F. Abbasi-Davani

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In this study, the absorbed dose of human organs after injection of ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATOC was studied based on the biodistribution of the complex in adenocarcinoma breast cancer bearing mice. For this purpose, the biodistribution of the radiolabelled complex was studied and compartmental modeling was applied to calculate the absorbed dose with high precision. As expected, ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATOC illustrated a notable specific uptake in tumor and pancreas, organs with high level of somatostatin receptor on their surface and the effectiveness of the radio-conjugate for targeting of the breast adenocarcinoma tumors was indicated. The elicited results of modeling were the exponential equations, and those are utilized for obtaining the cumulated activity data by taking their integral. The results also exemplified that non-target absorbed-doses such as the liver, spleen and pancreas were approximately 0.008, 0.004, and 0.039, respectively. While these values were so much lower than target (tumor) absorbed-dose, it seems due to this low toxicity, this complex is a good agent for therapy.

Keywords: ¹⁷⁷Lu, breast cancer, compartmental modeling, dosimetry

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Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Namdari, Hosein Torki

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Security as an abstract concept, has involved human being from the beginning of creation to the present, and certainly to the future. Accordingly, battles, conflicts, challenges, legal proceedings, crimes and all issues related to human kind are associated with this concept. Today by interviewing people about their life, the security of societies and Social crimes are interviewed too. Along with the security as an infrastructure and vital concept, the economy and related issues e.g. welfare, per capita income, total government revenue, export, import and etc. is considered another infrastructure and vital concept. These two vital concepts (Security and Economic) have linked together complexly and significantly. The present study employs analytical-descriptive research method using documents and Statistics of official sources. Discovery and explanation of this mutual connection are comprising a profound and extensive research; so management, development and reform in system and relationships of the scope of this two concepts are complex and difficult. Tourism and its position in today's economy is one of the main pillars of the economy of the 21st century that maybe associate with the security and social crimes more than other pillars. Like all human activities, economy of societies and partially tourism dependent on security especially in the public and social security. On the other hand, the true economic development (generally) and the growth of the tourism industry (dedicated) are a security generating and supporting for it, because a dynamic economic infrastructure prevents the formation of centers of crime and illegal activities by providing a context for socio-economic development for all segments of society in a fair and humane. This relationship is a formula of the complexity between the two concept of economy and security. Police as a revealed or people-oriented organization in the field of security directly has linked with the economy of a community and is very effective In the face of the tourism industry. The relationship between security and national crime index, and economic indicators especially ones related to tourism is confirming above discussion that is notable. According to understanding processes about security and economic as two key and vital concepts are necessary and significant for sovereignty of governments.

Keywords: economic, police, tourism, social security

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Moustafa Elhamouly, Masayuki Shimada

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The production of competent oocytes is essential for reproductivity in mammals. Maintenance of mitochondrial efficiency is required to supply the ATP necessary for granulosa cell proliferation during the follicular development process. Treatment with Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) has been reported to increase the number of ovulated oocytes and pups per delivery in mice by maintaining healthy mitochondrial function. This study aimed to elucidate how PQQ maintains mitochondrial function during ovarian follicle growth. To do this, both in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed with granulosa cells from superovulated immature (3-week-old) mice that were pretreated with or without PQQ. The effects of PQQ on beta-oxidation, mitochondrial function, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis were examined. PQQ increased beta-oxidation-related genes and CPT1 protein content in granulosa cells and this was associated with a decreased phosphorylation of P38 signaling protein. Using the fatty acid oxidation assay on the flux analyzer, PQQ increased the reliance of beta-oxidation on the endogenous fatty acids and was associated with a mild UCP-dependant mitochondrial uncoupling, ATP production, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis. PQQ also increased the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes. Thus, PQQ induced beta-oxidation in growing granulosa cells relying on endogenous fatty acids. And reduced the Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by inducing a mild mitochondrial uncoupling with keeping high mitochondrial function. Damaged mitochondria were recycled by the induced mitophagy and replaced by the increased mitochondrial biogenesis. Collectively, PQQ may enhance reproductivity by maintaining the efficiency of mitochondria to produce enough ATP required for normal folliculogenesis.

Keywords: granulosa cells, mitochondrial uncoupling, mitophagy, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Procedia PDF Downloads 64