Search results for: tourism destination
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1278

Search results for: tourism destination

588 Ecotourism Development as an Alternative Livelihood for Guassa Community, Ethiopia

Authors: Abraham Kidane

Abstract:

The study aims at assessing the prospects and challenges of community-based ecotourism development in and around the Guassa Community Conservation Area (GCCA) for the establishment of alternative sources of livelihood for local people and the conservation of natural resources. The Guassa area and its surrounding area are endowed with natural, cultural, and religious tourism resources. The study is descriptive in its design and uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Interviews and questionnaires were used as an instrument for data gathering. The interview was undertaken with government officials, NGO officials, and experts, with three local community representatives. The three Kebeles of Guassa were chosen using purposive sampling because of the fact that they are immediate neighbors to GCCA, and hence, 150 questionnaires were administered proportionally to the household numbers in each kebeles. The perspectives of the MoCT, EWCA, and some Tour Operation agencies were uncovered through questionnaires; for each of them, five questionnaires were administered, and all the returns were used in the analysis. Frequency, percentage, average mean, One Way-ANOVA, and independent t-test are used to analyze quantitative data. The findings revealed that food insecurity is commonplace in the study area. The local people's reliance on the conservation area’s resources has been increasing, and the area size is also dwindling from time to time. On the other hand, the local people's levels of awareness about Community-Based Ecotourism (CBET) are low. In addition, the local capacity in relation to conservation and CBET development is also low, even though there is inadequate training offered by the government and NGOs. In general, tourism is not yet considered an alternative source of income and a means of conserving natural resources. In addition, the challenges for CBET development apart from low awareness level about CBET and low capacity, poor infrastructure, and poor tourism facilities were also identified as challenges in the study area.

Keywords: ecotourism, CBET, alternative livelihood, conservation

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587 Local Identities to Global in the Centre of Isan, Thailand: Promoting Local Development and Community Participation

Authors: Thammanoon Raveepong, Craig Wheway

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Originating from a multifaceted research project beginning with the opening of the Green Market at Ban Laow sub-district, Kosum Phisai, Mahasarakham with the support of Kosum Phisai Governor. The project involves key stakeholders related to villagers who have become involved with linking local identity to a more global identity to help ameliorate falling agricultural incomes and casualised work. There have been fifteen formal meetings involving local government stakeholders that took place at the local university, local schools, a public meeting at Ban-Don-Toom and Village meeting shelters. These events hosted 176 local stakeholders consisting of the District Governor, 7 Chairpersons/Heads of the District Development Council, a Health Promotion group, District retired government staff, 4 sub-district local government members, the City Development Council, 2 representatives from Mahasarakham Provincial Culture Council, 4 principles of all local schools, 11 village heads, 15 scholars form local and national universities, 132 villagers and 4 staff from public relation units. The goal of the project was to initiate a variety of local projects including promotion of Local healthy food, farm/homestay accommodation, local uniqueness, Travel guides (in book form and guide youths) and the proposed development of community tourism with the aim to utilise local people and activities to tap into the growing alternative tourism market. This paper aims to document the progress thus far, and the challenges presented working with local communities that have lacked expertise in linking to the global economy to derive economic benefits for their communities.

Keywords: Community-based tourism, community participation, local identity, mahasarakham province

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586 Livelihood and Willingness to Accept Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation by Local People in the Southwestern Nigeria

Authors: Adebayo John Julius, Emmanuel Imoagene

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Mitigating global warming through reducing emission from deforestation and degradation (REDD) has been given increasing attentions in government-to-government negotiations while discussions among decision-makers have been going on, it is important to learn about the perception of local people in relation to REDD because the implementation will affect their lives. A survey was conducted using questionnaires to examine the livelihood and forest dependency of the local people in the vicinity of Onigambari and Ido area. Respondents’ income from forest activities and forest resources are collected. Participation in tourism related activities among the household members was also investigated to measure the potential of this “eco-friendly” income generation activity in the local communities. There was a general indication of reducing slash-and-burn activities with distance from the park and involvement in tourism-related job. Most of the local people were willing to accept compensation as alternative for slash-and-burn activities. The compensation preferred is in various form of development and different level of forest and environmental activities

Keywords: livelihood, emission, deforestation, degradation, local people, southwest Nigeria

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585 A Review of the Environmental Impact of Physical Expansion of Shandiz City

Authors: Foruzan Taheri, Seyedeh Negar Hosseinian, Katayoon Alizadeh

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The small countryside city of Shandiz, with a population of about 13.297 is located 35 km to the west of the Mashhad metropolitan. Due to Shandiz’s natural beauty, suitable climate, and its close proximity to Mashhad which is the largest city in the eastern half of the country, many people own second houses in this area. In addition to this, Shandiz hosts millions of visitors annually. Its economic role, which is parallel and complementary to Mashhad, has caused population growth, the increase of activities, and physical expansion, all of which exceed the city’s capacity. The aim of this descriptive and analytical study was to evaluate the impact of city expansion on the environment and aid in preventing further harm to the natural environment of this perimeter. Data were collected from population and housing statistics during a different period of time-based on GIS. Results show that the existence of an integrated environmental management system in order to coordinate development projects and the expansion of tourism programs that meet environmental conditions are necessary and achieving sustainable development with quality of life in this area without considering environmental limitations and capabilities cannot be sustained.

Keywords: population growth, tourism, physical development, environmental impact, Shandiz City

Procedia PDF Downloads 346
584 Evaluating the Economic Impact of Community Sports Facilities on Residents in Ghana

Authors: Samuel Richard Marcourt

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The economic impact of community sports facilities can be examined through various dimensions, such as job creation, tourism, local business development, and property values. The aim of the study is to evaluate the economic impacts of community sports facilities on residents who lived within 500m radii of 4 Astro Turf soccer facilities in Ghana. The results of the study were based on the responses from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 purposively selected participants aged between 25 and 55 years. Participants’ responses revealed that community sports facilities create direct and indirect benefits for residents. Further, the direct benefits include job creation and employment among residents in the locality. Again, the promotion of local entrepreneurship and small business development, as well promotion of tourism, were indirect benefits. Consequently, the study provides useful data for stakeholders, including The Ministry of Sports, Ghana Football Association (GFA), and Government and non-governmental organizations, to construct more community sports facilities to assist in reducing the level of unemployment in Ghanaian communities.

Keywords: economic impact, community sports facilities, Astro turf, residents

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583 Region Coastal Land Management and Tracking Changes in Ownership Status

Authors: Tayfun Cay, Fazil Nacar

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Energy investments have increased in North Mediterranean Ceyhan and Yumurtalık districts of Turkey in the last years because of the treaties which are signed between Turkey and other countries for petroleum and natural gas transmission. Authority of land use has passed to district and metropolitan municipalities from town municipalities because of changes in coast legislation and local management legislation. Also Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning and Ministry of Industry and Commerce have had a right to comment on planning unofficially. Public investments increase in area and related planning and expropriation services continue. On the other hand, a lot of private sectors invest in organised industrial sites and industrial areas and it causes a rapid change in ownership status. Also Ceyhan-yumurtalık region is the tourism centre of North Mediterranean. Tourism investments continue in this district. Especially construction sector gain speed and a lot of country sites and apartments are built. In these studies, changes in planning activities in management of different administrative organisations and changes in ownership status and changes in private properties will be presented.

Keywords: coast management, land management, land use, property, public interest

Procedia PDF Downloads 505
582 Festival Gamification: Conceptualization and Scale Development

Authors: Liu Chyong-Ru, Wang Yao-Chin, Huang Wen-Shiung, Tang Wan-Ching

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Although gamification has been concerned and applied in the tourism industry, limited literature could be found in tourism academy. Therefore, to contribute knowledge in festival gamification, it becomes essential to start by establishing a Festival Gamification Scale (FGS). This study defines festival gamification as the extent of a festival to involve game elements and game mechanisms. Based on self-determination theory, this study developed an FGS. Through the multi-study method, in study one, five FGS dimensions were sorted through literature review, followed by twelve in-depth interviews. A total of 296 statements were extracted from interviews and were later narrowed down to 33 items under six dimensions. In study two, 226 survey responses were collected from a cycling festival for exploratory factor analysis, resulting in twenty items under five dimensions. In study three, 253 survey responses were obtained from a marathon festival for confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in the final sixteen items under five dimensions. Then, results of criterion-related validity confirmed the positive effects of these five dimensions on flow experience. In study four, for examining the model extension of the developed five-dimensional 16-item FGS, which includes dimensions of relatedness, mastery, competence, fun, and narratives, cross-validation analysis was performed using 219 survey responses from a religious festival. For the tourism academy, the FGS could further be applied in other sub-fields such as destinations, theme parks, cruise trips, or resorts. The FGS serves as a starting point for examining the mechanism of festival gamification in changing tourists’ attitudes and behaviors. Future studies could work on follow-up studies of FGS by testing outcomes of festival gamification or examining moderating effects of enhancing outcomes of festival gamification. On the other hand, although the FGS has been tested in cycling, marathon, and religious festivals, the research settings are all in Taiwan. Cultural differences of FGS is another further direction for contributing knowledge in festival gamification. This study also contributes to several valuable practical implications. First, this FGS could be utilized in tourist surveys for evaluating the extent of gamification of a festival. Based on the results of the performance assessment by FGS, festival management organizations and festival planners could learn the relative scores among dimensions of FGS, and plan for future improvement of gamifying the festival. Second, the FGS could be applied in positioning a gamified festival. Festival management organizations and festival planners could firstly consider the features and types of their festival, and then gamify their festival based on investing resources in key FGS dimensions.

Keywords: festival gamification, festival tourism, scale development, self-determination theory

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581 Assessment Proposal to Establish the First Geo-Park in Egypt at Abu-Roash Area, Cairo

Authors: Kholoud Abdelmaksoud, Mahmoud Emam, Wael Al-Metwaly

Abstract:

Egypt is known as cradle of civilization due to its ancient history and archeological sites, but Egypt possess also a cradle of Geo-sites, which qualify it to be listed as one of the most important Geo-heritage sites all over the country. Geology and landscape in Abu-Roash area is considered as one of the most important geological places (geo-sites) inside Cairo which help us to know and understand geology and geologic processes, so the area is used mainly for geological education purposes, also the area contain an archeological sites; pyramid complex, tombs, and Coptic monastery which give the area unique importance. Abu-Roash area is located inside Cairo 9 km north of the Giza Pyramids, which make the accessibility to the area easy and safe, the geology of Abu-Roash constitutes a complex Cretaceous sedimentary succession mass with showing outstanding tectonic features (Syrian Arc system event), these features are considered as a Geo-heritage, which will be the main designation of ‘Geo-parks’ establishing. The research is dealing with the numerous geo-sites found in the area, and its geologic and archeological importance, the relation between geo-sites and archeology, also the research proposed a detailed maps for these sites depicting Geo-routes and the hazardous places surrounding Abu-Roash area. The research is proposing a new proposal not applied in Egypt before, establishing a Geo-park, to promote this unique geo-heritage from hazardous factors and anthropogenic effects, also it will offer geo-educational opportunities to the general public and to the scientific community, enhancement of Geo-tourism which will be linked easily with the Ancient Egyptian tourism, it will also provide a significant economic benefit to Abu-Roash residential area. Finally, the research recommends that The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations promote conservation of geological and geo-morphological heritage to list this area for its importance under the umbrella of geo-parks.

Keywords: geo-park, geo-sites, Abu-roash, archaeological sites, geo-tourism

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580 The Changes of Functions of Leishan Miao New-Year in Southeast Guizhou

Authors: Lanyan Peng, Ling Chen

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Leishan Miao New-Year is one of the grandest festivals in the southeastern of Guizhou Province in China. It was officially listed in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2008, as a traditional folk cultural activity organized by the local Miao people. With the rise of cultural tourism, after 19 years of exploration, the local government has successfully built Miao New-Year into a cultural card that is well-known at home and abroad. During the Miao New-Year period, it has attracted 3.8 million tourists and achieves a win-win situation in the economy and culture. However, tourism development has changed the living environment and living state of the local people. And it is accompanied by changes in the form of the festival, the content of the festival, and the local people’s needs and attitudes to the festival. This paper uses the field investigation method to achieve 410 questionnaires and 35 interviews, exploring the process and the reasons for changes of Leishan Miao New-Year’s cultural function. Among all the functions, the economic function, identity function, and entertainment function have been enhanced, and the marriage and love function has been extended. In the meanwhile, sacrificial function has been weakened. There are some trends in functions. The function of commemorating ancestor and self-entertainment has been changed to entertaining people and economic pursuit.

Keywords: Miao New-Year, Miao nationality, festival function, changes

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579 Understanding the Influence of Cross-National Distances on Tourist Expenditure

Authors: Wei-Ting Hung

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Inbound tourist expenditure might not only have influenced by individual tourist characteristics but may also be affected by nationality characteristics. The cross national distance effects on tourist consumption behavior should be incorporated in the analytical framework. Additionally, the often used factor analysis, cluster analysis and regression analysis overlook the hierarchical tourist consumption data structure and may lead to misleading results. The objectives of the present study were twofold. First, we propose a multilevel model that takes individual and cross-national differences into account under a hierarchical framework. Second, we further sought to determine the types of cross-national differences affecting tourist expenditure. Thus, this study incorporates the individual tourist effects and cross national distance effects simultaneously, uses the data of 2010 Annual Survey Report on Visitors’ Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan to investigate the determinants of inbound tourist expenditure. Multilevel analysis was used to investigate the influence of individual tourist effects and cross national distance effects on inbound tourist expenditure. The empirical results show that cross national distance plays a crucial role in tourist consumption behavior. Our findings also indicate age and income have positive influence on tourism expenditure., whereas education and gender do not have significant impact. Regarding macro-level factors, geographic and cultural differences exhibited significant positive relationships on tourism expenditure, while economic differences did not. Based on the above empirical results, it is suggested that tour operators should take tourists’ individual attributes, particularly their income and age, into consideration when arranging tours. In addition, nationality holds sway over tourists’ consumption behavior, of which geographic and cultural differences are the two major factors at play. The empirical results of this study serve as practical suggestions for tourism marketing strategies and policy implications for government policies.

Keywords: cross national distance, inbound tourist, multilevel analysis, tourist expenditure

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578 Managing the Baltic Sea Region Resilience: Prevention, Treatment Actions and Circular Economy

Authors: J. Burlakovs, Y. Jani, L. Grinberga, M. Kriipsalu, O. Anne, I. Grinfelde, W. Hogland

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The worldwide future sustainable economies are oriented towards the sea: the maritime economy is becoming one of the strongest driving forces in many regions as population growth is the highest in coastal areas. For hundreds of years sea resources were depleted unsustainably by fishing, mining, transportation, tourism, and waste. European Sustainable Development Strategy is identifying and developing actions to enable the EU to achieve a continuous, long-term improvement of the quality of life through the creation of sustainable communities. The aim of this paper is to provide insight in Baltic Sea Region case studies on implemented actions on tourism industry waste and beach wrack management in coastal areas, hazardous contaminants and plastic flow treatment from waste, wastewaters and stormwaters. These projects mentioned in study promote successful prevention of contaminant flows to the sea environments and provide perspectives for creation of valuable new products from residuals for future circular economy are the step forward to green innovation winning streak.

Keywords: resilience, hazardous waste, phytoremediation, water management, circular economy

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577 Blood Flow Estimator of the Left Ventricular Assist Device Based in Look-Up-Table: In vitro Tests

Authors: Tarcisio F. Leao, Bruno Utiyama, Jeison Fonseca, Eduardo Bock, Aron Andrade

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This work presents a blood flow estimator based in Look-Up-Table (LUT) for control of Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). This device has been used as bridge to transplantation or as destination therapy to treat patients with heart failure (HF). Destination Therapy application requires a high performance LVAD; thus, a stable control is important to keep adequate interaction between heart and device. LVAD control provides an adequate cardiac output while sustaining an appropriate flow and pressure blood perfusion, also described as physiologic control. Because thrombus formation and system reliability reduction, sensors are not desirable to measure these variables (flow and pressure blood). To achieve this, control systems have been researched to estimate blood flow. LVAD used in the study is composed by blood centrifugal pump, control, and power supply. This technique used pump and actuator (motor) parameters of LVAD, such as speed and electric current. Estimator relates electromechanical torque (motor or actuator) and hydraulic power (blood pump) via LUT. An in vitro Mock Loop was used to evaluate deviations between blood flow estimated and actual. A solution with glycerin (50%) and water was used to simulate the blood viscosity with hematocrit 45%. Tests were carried out with variation hematocrit: 25%, 45% and 58% of hematocrit, or 40%, 50% and 60% of glycerin in water solution, respectively. Test with bovine blood was carried out (42% hematocrit). Mock Loop is composed: reservoir, tubes, pressure and flow sensors, and fluid (or blood), beyond LVAD. Estimator based in LUT is patented, number BR1020160068363, in Brazil. Mean deviation is 0.23 ± 0.07 L/min for mean flow estimated. Larger mean deviation was 0.5 L/min considering hematocrit variation. This estimator achieved deviation adequate for physiologic control implementation. Future works will evaluate flow estimation performance in control system of LVAD.

Keywords: blood pump, flow estimator, left ventricular assist device, look-up-table

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576 Walkability with the Use of Mobile Apps

Authors: Dimitra Riza

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This paper examines different ways of exploring a city by using smart phones' applications while walking, and the way this new attitude will change our perception of the urban environment. By referring to various examples of such applications we will consider options and possibilities that open up with new technologies, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as ways of experiencing and interpreting the urban environment. The widespread use of smart phones gave access to information, maps, knowledge, etc. at all times and places. The city tourism marketing takes advantage of this event and promotes the city's attractions through technology. Mobile mediated walking tours, provide new possibilities and modify the way we used to explore cities, for instance by giving directions proper to find easily destinations, by displaying our exact location on the map, by creating our own tours through picking points of interest and interconnecting them to create a route. These apps act as interactive ones, as they filter the user's interests, movements, etc. Discovering a city on foot and visiting interesting sites and landmarks, became very easy, and has been revolutionized through the help of navigational and other applications. In contrast to the re-invention of the city as suggested by the Baudelaire's Flâneur in the 19th century, or to the construction of situations by the Situationists in 60s, the new technological means do not allow people to "get lost", as these follow and record our moves. In the case of strolling or drifting around the city, the option of "getting lost" is desired, as the goal is not the "wayfinding" or the destination, but it is the experience of walking itself. Getting lost is not always about dislocation, but it is about getting a feeling, free of the urban environment while experiencing it. So, on the one hand, walking is considered to be a physical and embodied experience, as the observer becomes an actor and participates with all his senses in the city activities. On the other hand, the use of a screen turns out to become a disembodied experience of the urban environment, as we perceive it in a fragmented and distanced way. Relations with the city are similar to Alberti’s isolated viewer, detached from any urban stage. The smartphone, even if we are present, acts as a mediator: we interact directly with it and indirectly with the environment. Contrary to the Flaneur and to the Situationists, who discovered the city with their own bodies, today the body itself is being detached from that experience. While contemporary cities turn out to become more walkable, the new technological applications tend to open out all possibilities in order to explore them by suggesting multiple routes. Exploration becomes easier, but Perception changes.

Keywords: body, experience, mobile apps, walking

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575 CSR Practices in Bali: An Exploratory Study on the Environmental Aspect

Authors: Trianasari, Gede Adi Yuniarta

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The tourism industry has been widely recognized as one of the world’s largest industries and is expected to have continuous growth. While it has positive impacts especially on the job markets and economic aspect, this industry also brings serious environmental impacts that may not be neglected. As such, the tourism industry is faced with increasing demands and challenges to deal with the environmental issues. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a way to show the firms’ concern on the societal and environmental aspects. In line with the increasing pressure on such responsibilities, a growing number of firms have involved in CSR activities. In Bali, the majority of both chained and locally owned hotels have shown their efforts on CSR practices. However, little is known about what and how they perform or implement such program especially within the environmental aspect. The importance of understanding what they focus on lays in the identification of areas that have received sufficient treatment and those that require more attention. Furthermore, also, it is especially essential considering that Bali is one of the worldly known destinations that have been facing numerous crucial issues on environment that may threaten the sustainability of the island and its people. This paper reports on the results of a study exploring the practices of CSR in hotels in Bali. Data were collected from 49 hotel managers and human resource managers in Bali across four major tourist areas, using semi structured interview method. The analysis was conducted qualitatively. The results showed that all hotels under study have implemented CSR activities in which environment was found to be the second key aspect, following the activities directly related to community aspect. Moreover, there were five major types of environmental action identified: beach cleaning, replantation, marine conservation, turtle conservation, mangrove, and garbage management. These findings suggest that hotels in Bali under study have shown their concern on the environment, however, less attention was given on attempt to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations. Mapping the types of environmental related CSR activities enhances the knowledge of and gives lights into the CSR literature especially from the perspective of Eastern practice.

Keywords: CSR, exploratory study, sustainable tourism, tourist object

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574 Service Quality in Thai Tourism: An Experience of Inbound Tourists Visited Bangkok, Thailand

Authors: Sudawan Somjai

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The purposes of this research were to investigate the five important perceptions of service quality from inbound tourists who visited Bangkok, Thailand in the first quarter of 2014. Data were collected from over 10 important tourist destinations in Bangkok. The independent variables of this study included gender, age, levels of education, occupation, income, and country of origin while the dependent variables included their experience, opinion, and comment on the service received during visited tourist destinations. A simple random sampling method was performed to obtain 400 respondents. The respondents were both male and female in the same proportion. However, the majority were between 31-40 years old. Most were married with an undergraduate degree. Most were considered themselves as middle income with an average income of the respondents was between $30,001-40,000 per year. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents came to Bangkok because of low cost and high quality of tourism. The majority came to Bangkok for the first time and spent about 10 days in Thailand. The five important service perceptions that were observed by the inbound tourists in descending order according to mean were reliable of service provider, proper time of service provider, competency of service provider, neat and clean of service provider, and politeness of service provider.

Keywords: experience, inbound tourists, perception, service quality

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573 Entrepreneurial Practice and Corruption in Tourism Sector: A Study of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Corruption in Nepali Star Hotels

Authors: Prabin Raj Gautam

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Entrepreneurship in tourism sectors, particularly hotel entrepreneurship has contributed to Nepalese Gross Domestic Production (GDP). The tourist standard and star hotels in developing countries have not only been generating revenues but also providing international hospitality to the guest in the local areas. For doing so, these hotel enterprises must need to implement different business strategies to enhance and maintain their international business benchmark. The Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is core for making business strategies. Meanwhile, the corruption is labeled as negative factor for economic development. This paper presents the relationship between EO of Nepalese star hotels and organizational corruption. The study employed questionnaire survey as data collection tool under the quantitative methodology. Five hypotheses are developed and tested. After gathering the data form 216 questionnaire distributed to CEOs/Managers of the sample hotels, the findings show that out of five dimensions of EO, only autonomy, pro-activeness, and innovativeness are not significant to organizational corruption; however, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness are found significant contributor. The descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling are employed to describe the data and fit the model.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational corruption, dimensions

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572 Urban Accessibility of Historical Cities: The Venetian Case Study

Authors: Valeria Tatano, Francesca Guidolin, Francesca Peltrera

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The preservation of historical Italian heritage, at the urban and architectural scale, has to consider restrictions and requirements connected with conservation issues and usability needs, which are often at odds with historical heritage preservation. Recent decades have been marked by the search for increased accessibility not only of public and private buildings, but to the whole historical city, also for people with disability. Moreover, in the last years the concepts of Smart City and Healthy City seek to improve accessibility both in terms of mobility (independent or assisted) and fruition of goods and services, also for historical cities. The principles of Inclusive Design have introduced new criteria for the improvement of public urban space, between current regulations and best practices. Moreover, they have contributed to transforming “special needs” into an opportunity of social innovation. These considerations find a field of research and analysis in the historical city of Venice, which is at the same time a site of UNESCO world heritage, a mass tourism destination bringing in visitors from all over the world and a city inhabited by an aging population. Due to its conformation, Venetian urban fabric is only partially accessible: about four thousand bridges divide thousands of islands, making it almost impossible to move independently. These urban characteristics and difficulties were the base, in the last 20 years, for several researches, experimentations and solutions with the aim of eliminating architectural barriers, in particular for the usability of bridges. The Venetian Municipality with the EBA Office and some external consultants realized several devices (e.g. the “stepped ramp” and the new accessible ramps for the Venice Marathon) that should determine an innovation for the city, passing from the use of mechanical replicable devices to specific architectural projects in order to guarantee autonomy in use. This paper intends to present the state-of-the-art in bridges accessibility, through an analysis based on Inclusive Design principles and on the current national and regional regulation. The purpose is to evaluate some possible strategies that could improve performances, between limits and possibilities of interventions. The aim of the research is to lay the foundations for the development of a strategic program for the City of Venice that could successfully bring together both conservation and improvement requirements.

Keywords: accessibility of historical cities, historical heritage preservation, inclusive design, technological and social innovation

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571 Passport Bros: Exploring Neocolonial Masculinity and Sex Tourism as a Response to Shifting Gender Dynamics

Authors: Kellen Sharp

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This study explores the phenomenon of ‘Passport Bros’, a subset within the manosphere responding to perceived crises in masculinity amidst changing gender dynamics. Focusing on a computational analysis of the passport bro community, the research addresses normative beliefs, deviations from MGTOW ideology, and discussions on nationality, race, and gender. Originating from the MGTOW movement, passport bros engage in a neocolonial approach by seeking traditional, non-Western women, attributing this pursuit to dissatisfaction with modern Western women. The paper examines how hetero pessimism within MGTOW shapes the emergence of passport bros, leading to the adoption of red pill ideologies and ultimately manifesting in the form of sex tourism. Analyzing data collected from passport bro forums through computer-assisted content analysis, the study identifies key discourses such as questions and answers, money, attitudes towards Western and traditional women, and discussions about the movement itself. The findings highlight the nuanced intersection of gender, race, and global power dynamics within the passport bro community, shedding light on their motivations and impact on neocolonial legacies.

Keywords: toxic online community, manosphere, gender and media, neocolonialism

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570 A Quantitative Study about Assessing the Effectiveness of Electronic Customer Relationship Management: A Case of Two Hotels in Mauritius

Authors: Shaheena Erkiah, Adjnu Damar Ladkoo

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Worldwide, improving tourism competitiveness has been on the agendas of many stakeholders of the hotel sector, and they seem to have agreed that one of the best ways to compete is via the implementation of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM). In so doing, the organizations enjoy strategic positioning on the competitive market by managing better not only the customers but, other business components including knowledge and employee management. Over the recent years, the tourism industry in Mauritius has witnessed a drastic economic boom at international and national levels; providing a new outlook to boost business performance through existing and potential customers. E-CRM has been one of the management tools used to achieving this position. Thus, this insightful context- Mauritius- was opted for the study. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of e-CRM as a strategic tool in the hotel sector in Mauritius through the implementation of business strategy to create competitive advantage and impact on the business performance. To achieve the objectives of the study, a quantitative research methodology was adopted and the research revealed that e-CRM is indeed an effective strategic tool in the hotel industry in Mauritius that can provide a competitive advantage and impact positively on the organization’s performance.

Keywords: customer, electronic, management, relationship, strategic

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569 Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project, India

Authors: Indrani Gupta, Leena Vachasiddha, Rakesh Kumar

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Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai intends to undertake Mumbai Sewage Disposal (MSDP) for improvement of environment in and around Mumbai city. Sewage generated from the city currently gets partly into the inadequate collection system for treatment and the rest into nearby marine water body through drains. This paper addresses the cost benefit analysis of MSDP works for better compliance of sewage treatment and disposal. Cost benefit analysis indicates that the investment in sewage treatment is economically beneficial and will provide immense social, environmental, health and economic benefits. Monetary values of positive benefits such as avoided health costs, enhanced fish catches and improved tourism have been quantified. The total capital cost of the project is estimated to be about INR 51,510 million and operation and maintenance cost is about INR 2240.6 million per year. The cost benefit analysis indicates that a benefit of about 25,882 million per year can be achieved due to the implementation of this project. Other than these benefits, better marine ecosystem quality; higher property cost; improved recreational opportunities were not included because of lack of information.

Keywords: waste water treatment, cost-benefit analysis, health, tourism, fisheries

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568 Alexandria’s Eastern Entrance: Analysis of Qaitbay Waterfront Development

Authors: Riham A. Ragheb

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Water is a fundamental attraction in all cultures and among all classes of people, tourists and citizens. It is a favorite location for major tourism initiatives, celebrations and ceremonies. The vitality of any city depends on citizen action to take part in creating the neighborhoods they desire. Waterfront can provide extensive new areas of high quality public open space in parts of the city that are popular venues for social activities and also have the highest land values. Each city must have a character that can be used as a key attraction for the development. The morphology of a waterfront can be identified by both its physical characteristics and the socio-cultural activities that take place in the area. Alexandria has been selected as an area of study because it has a unique character due to its possession of a variety of waterfronts. This paper aims to set some criteria of successful waterfront development and then through these criteria analyzing the development of the Qaitbay waterfront in the eastern harbor in Alexandria, Egypt. Hence, a comprehensive improvement of the waterfront areas is certainly needed to ensure a successful waterfront development radiated the sense of uniformity and coherence. Alexandria can benefit from these criteria to develop its urban waterfront in order to preserve and revitalize its unique waterfront character and achieve mixed uses and tourism development.

Keywords: place making, Qaitbay, responsive environment, sustainable urban design, waterfront development

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567 Solving the Transportation Problem for Warehouses and Dealers in Bangalore City

Authors: S. Aditya, K. T. Nideesh, N. Guruprasad

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Being a subclass of linear programing problem, the Transportation Problem is a classic Operations Research problem where the objective is to determine the schedule for transporting goods from source to destination in a way that minimizes the shipping cost while satisfying supply and demand constraints. In this paper, we are representing the transportation problem for various warehouses along with various dealers situated in Bangalore city to reduce the transportation cost incurred by them as of now. The problem is solved by obtaining the Initial Basic feasible Solution through various methods and further proceeding to obtain optimal cost.

Keywords: NW method, optimum utilization, transportation problem, Vogel’s approximation method

Procedia PDF Downloads 433
566 Effect of Social Network Ties on Virtual Organization Success: Mediate Role of Knowledge Sharing Behaviors: An Empirical Study in Tourism Sector Firms in Jordan

Authors: Raed Hanandeh

Abstract:

This empirical study examines how knowledge sharing behaviors mediate the effect Technology-driven strategy on virtual organization success in Jordanian tourism sector firms. The results reveal that Social network ties are positively related to web knowledge seeking, web knowledge contributing and interactive system, but negatively related to accidental knowledge leakage. Furthermore, all types of knowledge sharing behavior are positively related to virtual organization success. Data collected from 23 firms. The total number of questionnaires mailed, 250 questionnaires were delivered. 214 were considered valid out of 241 Responses were received. The findings provide evidence that knowledge sharing behavior play a mediating role between Social network ties and virtual organization success and show that, web knowledge seeking, web knowledge contributing and interactive system playing an important impact on virtual organization success through knowledge sharing behaviors.

Keywords: social network ties, virtual organization success, knowledge sharing behaviors, web knowledge

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565 Router 1X3 - RTL Design and Verification

Authors: Nidhi Gopal

Abstract:

Routing is the process of moving a packet of data from source to destination and enables messages to pass from one computer to another and eventually reach the target machine. A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. It is connected to two or more data lines from different networks (as opposed to a network switch, which connects data lines from one single network). This paper mainly emphasizes upon the study of router device, its top level architecture, and how various sub-modules of router i.e. Register, FIFO, FSM and Synchronizer are synthesized, and simulated and finally connected to its top module.

Keywords: data packets, networking, router, routing

Procedia PDF Downloads 799
564 Spatial Transformation of Heritage Area as The Impact of Tourism Activity (Case Study: Kauman Village, Surakarta City, Central Java, Indonesia

Authors: Nafiah Solikhah Thoha

Abstract:

One area that has spatial character as Heritage area is Kauman Villages. Kauman village in The City of Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia was formed in 1757 by Paku Buwono III as the King of Kasunanan kingdom (Mataram Kingdom) for Kasunanan kingdom courtiers and scholars of Madrasa. Spatial character of Kauman village influenced by Islamic planning and socio-cultural rules of Kasunanan Kingdom. As traditional settlements influenced by Islamic planning, the Grand Mosque is a binding part of the whole area. Circulation pattern forming network (labyrinth) with narrow streets that ended at the Grand Mosque. The outdoor space can be used for circulation. Social activity is dominated by step movement from one place to a different place. Stalemate (the fina/cul de sac) generally only passable on foot, bicycles, and motorcycles. While the pass (main and branch) can be traversed by motor, vehicles. Kauman village has an area that can not be used as a public road that penetrates and serves as a liaison between the outside world to the other. Hierarchy of hall in Kauman village shows that the existence of a space is getting into more important. Firstly, woman in Kauman make the handmade batik for themself. In 2005 many people improving batik tradisional into commercial, and developed program named "Batik Tourism village of Kauman". That program affects the spatial transformations. This study aimed to explore the influence of tourism program towards spatial transformations. The factors that studied are the organization of space, circulation patterns, hierarchical space, and orientation through the descriptive-evaluation approach methods. Based on the study, tourism activity engenders transformations on the spatial scale (macro), residential block (mezo), homes (micro). First, the Grand Mosque and madrasa (religious school) as a binding zoning; tangle of roads as forming the structure of the area developed as a liaison with outside Kauman; organization of space in the residential of batik entrepreneurs firstly just a residential, then develop into residential, factory of batik including showroom. Second, the circulation pattern forming network (labyrinth) and ends at the Grand Mosque. Third, the hierarchy in the form of public space (the shari), semi-public, and private (the fina/culdesac) is no longer to provide protection to women, only as hierarchy of circulation path. Fourth, cluster building orientation does not follow the kiblat direction or axis oriented to cosmos, but influence by the new function as the showroom. It was need the direction of the main road. Kauman grow as an appropriate area for the community. During its development, the settlement function changes according to community activities, especially economic activities. The new function areas as tourism area affect spatial pattern of Kauman village. Spatial existence and activity as a local wisdom that has been done for generations have meaning of holistic, encompassing socio-cultural sustainability, economics, and the heritage area. By reviewing the local wisdom and the way of life of that society, we can learn how to apply the culture as education for sustainable of heritage area.

Keywords: impact of tourism, Kauman village, spatial transformation, sustainable of heritage area

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563 The Heritagisation of the Titanic Culture for Urban Regeneration Use: A Case Study of the Titanic Belfast

Authors: Yu Liang

Abstract:

The study of heritage in different contexts has been discussed during the past decades, which the relationship with other fields such as tourism, museum, and urban regeneration has also been interested in scholars. Governmental and policy attention were also fascinated by the use of heritage, which it is a ‘heritagisation’ process, to achieve certain goals because the advantage will appear in both economic development and social inclusion with suitable planning. In the case of Belfast, this city has been through tough ages due to its complicated ideology issues in the past; however, it is obvious to see the transformation through representing their Belfast heritages in tourism. Planners are willing to use this method to attract cultural tourists, investors and also residents to reborn and retrieve their confidence. One of the target topics is the establishment of Titanic Belfast that explores the culture of Titanic and the history of the shipbuilding industry in Belfast. Even though the cultural flagship brought economic and social benefit, not all of the people agreed on the vision of relaunching a sunken ship and felt proud of it. The aim of this research is to clarify the concept of a ‘heritagisation’ that it could achieve certain goals in consolidating areas, increasing local self-identity pride, and promoting tourism activities if well-planned. Moreover, to discuss the preference and the pros and cons of its practice with the Titanic culture in Belfast’s regeneration process, especially the Titanic Belfast flagship project. From the methodological point of view, a mixed incorporating qualitative point of interviews, observation, and secondary sources with different perspectives and approaches are adopted in this case study. The expected result would show that a great majority of outsiders and the planners were pleasured about the concept of Titanic Belfast’s establishment and agreed its attraction traveling to Belfast. Nevertheless, there were still an amount of locals disagree that the Titanic culture and the flagship would be representative of this city and would bring other advantages to them. In other words, some residents doubt or less likely to support the issue since they have been ignored out of the planning process. Hence, opinions are divided among 38 residents, various outsiders, and stakeholders, and their perspectives have drawn an interesting task for sustainable research in the future.

Keywords: Belfast, heritagisation, Titanic, Titanic Belfast, urban regeneration

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562 Reconceptualizing Human Trafficking: Revealings of the Experience of Ethiopian Migrant Returnees

Authors: Waganesh Zeleke, Abebaw Minaye

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This study examined the act, means, and purpose of human trafficking in the case of Ethiopian migrant returnees from the Middle East and South Africa. Using a questionnaire survey data was gathered from 1078 returnees. Twelve focus group discussions were used to solicit detailed experience of returnee about the process of their 'unsafe' immigration. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis results revealed that against the mainstream thinking of human trafficking means such as forcing, coercing, abducting or threatening, traffickers used 'victims’ free will' means by providing false promises to and capitalizing on the vulnerability of migrants. The migrants’ living condition including unemployment, ambitious view to change their life, and low level of risk perception were found to be risk factors which made them vulnerable and target of the brokers and smugglers who served as a catalyst in the process of their 'unsafe' migration. Equal to the traffickers/brokers/agency, the migrants’ family, friends and Ethiopian embassies contributed to the deplorable situation of migrant workers. 64.4% of the returnees reported that their migration is self-initiated, and 20% reported peer pressure and 13.8 percent reported family pressure, and it is only 1.8% who reported having been pushed by brokers. The findings revealed that 69.5% of the returnees do not know about the lifestyle and culture of the host community before their leave. In a similar vein, 50.9% of the returnees reported that they do not know about the nature of the work they are to do and their responsibilities. Further, 81% of the returnees indicated that the pre-migration training they received was not enough in equipping them with the required skill. Despite the returnees experiences of various forms of abuse and exploitation in the journey and at the destination they still have a positive attitude for migration (t=9.7 mean of 18.85 with a test value of 15). The returnees evaluated the support provided by sending agencies and Ethiopian embassies in the destination to be poor. 51.8% of the migrants do not know the details of the contract they signed during migration. Close to 70% of the returnees expressed that they had not got any legal support from stakeholders when they faced problems. What is more is that despite all these 27.9% of the returnees indicated re-immigrating as their plan. Based on these findings on the context and experience of Ethiopian migrant returnees, implications for training, policy, research, and intervention are discussed.

Keywords: trafficking, migrant, returnee, Ethiopia, experience, reconceptualizing

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561 An Analysis of Pick Travel Distances for Non-Traditional Unit Load Warehouses with Multiple P/D Points

Authors: Subir S. Rao

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Existing warehouse configurations use non-traditional aisle designs with a central P/D point in their models, which is mathematically simple but less practical. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points to avoid congestion for pickers, and different warehouses have different flow policies and infrastructure for using the P/D points. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points with non-traditional aisle designs in their analytical models. Standard warehouse models introduce one-sided multiple P/D points in a flying-V warehouse and minimize pick distance for a one-way travel between an active P/D point and a pick location with P/D points, assuming uniform flow rates. A simulation of the mathematical model generally uses four fixed configurations of P/D points which are on two different sides of the warehouse. It can be easily proved that if the source and destination P/D points are both chosen randomly, in a uniform way, then minimizing the one-way travel is the same as minimizing the two-way travel. Another warehouse configuration analytically models the warehouse for multiple one-sided P/D points while keeping the angle of the cross-aisles and picking aisles as a decision variable. The minimization of the one-way pick travel distance from the P/D point to the pick location by finding the optimal position/angle of the cross-aisle and picking aisle for warehouses having different numbers of multiple P/D points with variable flow rates is also one of the objectives. Most models of warehouses with multiple P/D points are one-way travel models and we extend these analytical models to minimize the two-way pick travel distance wherein the destination P/D is chosen optimally for the return route, which is not similar to minimizing the one-way travel. In most warehouse models, the return P/D is chosen randomly, but in our research, the return route P/D point is chosen optimally. Such warehouses are common in practice, where the flow rates at the P/D points are flexible and depend totally on the position of the picks. A good warehouse management system is efficient in consolidating orders over multiple P/D points in warehouses where the P/D is flexible in function. In the latter arrangement, pickers and shrink-wrap processes are not assigned to particular P/D points, which ultimately makes the P/D points more flexible and easy to use interchangeably for picking and deposits. The number of P/D points considered in this research uniformly increases from a single-central one to a maximum of each aisle symmetrically having a P/D point below it.

Keywords: non-traditional warehouse, V cross-aisle, multiple P/D point, pick travel distance

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560 Evolution of Economic Urban Spaces: Barcelona's Trafalgar Garment District, 1940-2017

Authors: Rafael Vicente Salar

Abstract:

Cities are steadily transforming their productive systems based on value-adding strategies, with the aim of becoming more competitive in a globalized economy. This fact is reflected in inner urban spaces which are increasingly accommodating new economic activities related to knowledge, culture, creativity, and tourism, to the detriment of traditional activities. This is the case of the Trafalgar Garment District (TGD), located in Barcelona´s Eixample Dret neighborhood, an economic urban space historically devoted to the garment wholesale trade. This district is currently experiencing the transformation of its traditional economic specialization. In the last 50 years, external and internal factors have caused, firstly, the disintegration of the Catalonian garment regional cluster. This has resulted in the closure of the majority of metropolitan garment workshops. Secondly, this has also caused either the disappearance of wholesale firms or their relocation to more suitable spaces in the metropolitan area. Specifically, the TGD's economic restructuration is related to the attraction of firms related to the lodging industry and the new economy. In addition, some of the wholesale businesses are adopting new management strategies in order to remain in the TGD. These initiatives are thought to allow them, on one hand, to upgrade their products and, on the other, to reconfigure their internal organization in order to be more competitive.

Keywords: Barcelona, garment district, new economy, tourism, garmen wholesale trade

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559 An Improved Transmission Scheme in Cooperative Communication System

Authors: Seung-Jun Yu, Young-Min Ko, Hyoung-Kyu Song

Abstract:

Recently developed cooperative diversity scheme enables a terminal to get transmit diversity through the support of other terminals. However, most of the introduced cooperative schemes have a common fault of decreased transmission rate because the destination should receive the decodable compositions of symbols from the source and the relay. In order to achieve high data rate, we propose a cooperative scheme that employs hierarchical modulation. This scheme is free from the rate loss and allows seamless cooperative communication.

Keywords: cooperative communication, hierarchical modulation, high data rate, transmission scheme

Procedia PDF Downloads 421