Destination marketing organizations’ social media usage: a research on Balkan countries

Social media has fundamentally reshaped the way tourism related information is distributed and the way people plan for and consume travel. Since social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor began allowing businesses to create profiles and become active members, businesses have started incorporating these strategies into their marketing efforts. For Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) have used these sites to promote special offers, for customer service and strengthen their existing brands; however, little is known about how DMOs are taking advantage of the social media marketing popularity. The aim of this study is to explore the usage of social media among the DMOs of Balkan countries through a content analysis of Balkan countries’ official web site profiles,. Also this study examines how social media is being used by the DMOs to enhance their brands and to reach potential visitf1ors. This study confirms the growing importance of social media in the online tourism domain and mostly DMOs use only Facebook and Twitter as a social media tools. Solely having a profile will not in itself increase awareness. DMOs should use more social networking sites to communicate with their consumers and give them the ability to broadcast opinions about service

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Calculating Tragedy: Assessing the Costs of Terrorism

The trends and consequences of terrorist activities are often captured by counting the number of incidents and casualties. More recently, the effects of terrorist acts on various aspects of the economy have been analyzed. These costs are surveyed and put in perspective. As economic consequences are only a part of the overall costs of terrorism, possible approaches for estimating the utility losses of the people affected are discussed. Results using the life satisfaction approach, in which individual utility is approximated by self-reported subjective well-being, suggest that people’s utility losses may far exceed the purely economic consequences.terrorism, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, utility loss

Assessment of Impact of Global Business Environment on International Tourism Brands

In the article the concept of modern International tourism is considered. The certain estimation of influence of global factors of business-environment on the process of forming of International tourist brand of countries is presented. A role and place of sign measures is described in the sphere of tourism of International level in forming of International tourist brand of country. The distribution of the most influential factors in the groups of levels of perception of International tourist brand is conducted. The aim of research is theoretical principles and methodical approaches of forming of International tourist brand in the system of International tourism. Methodological basis of research is approach of the systems to the analysis of economic processes and phenomena in an International environment. The purpose of the work consists in a scientific grounding of teoretical and methodological principles of forming and keeping of International tourist brand of countries in the system of International tourism. Globalization, social and cultural identity at the level of separate tourist brand of a country and at the world level must dialectically co-operate and provide to tourists both the market of countries and objects interesting for a visit and market of tourist services of the world level, usually at the level of quality for any civilized tourist. However the factor of maintainance of originality as the main condition of authentication of International tourist brand of concrete country, maintainance of tourist attractiveness of this country must prevail, that conditions the essence of tourism as the method of cognition of different and usual culture, method of receipt of the new impressions. Only thus forming of International tourist brand of country becomes the mean of stimulation of demand on tourist services in a country

Character and Impact of Social Innovation in Higher Education.

This article offers a strategic multi-layered model for assessing the character and impact of social innovation in higher education connecting social and economic benefit. Whilst research to date has recognised the varying importance of the social and economic benefit of social and technological innovation, the literature is mostly silent on the contribution of purpose and strategy in achieving effective social innovation or how a regionally embedded university can maximise its impact in its community and the wider society. Whilst technological innovation is a critical component of future economic growth, social innovation is equally important in building social capital and in improving life chances. Governments have widely recognised that a university provides economic, environmental and cultural benefits to its community and, critically, should play a central role in re-balancing the economy of a community under stress and promoting growth in one that is prosperous. In the absence of well-documented, convincing examples of such re-balancing, this article offers a case study of The Hive, the first combined University and Public Library in Europe, an example of a strategic approach to social innovation in higher education that is bringing current and potential social and economic benefit to the community in which it is located. A measure of impact is proposed that is multi-layered and reflects the range of qualitative and quantitative impacts of social innovation. This paper has value to all those concerned to identify, plan and maximise the beneficial impact of social innovation in higher education institutions both on their economies and their communities

Child Exploitation and the FIFA World Cup: A review of risks and protective interventions

This review was commissioned by the Child Abuse Programme (CAP) of Oak Foundation, a large international philanthropic organisation. It forms part of CAP’s effort to win societal rejection of practices such as the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents around major sporting events (MSEs), and to embed prevention and protection from exploitation as a permanent concern for global sports-related bodies. This review is intended to inform action in countries that host MSEs and to provide some suggestions on how hosting countries can avoid past pitfalls and mistakes in relation to child exploitation, especially economic and sexual exploitation. Importantly, it also acts as a call to action by those responsible for commissioning and staging MSEs, such as FIFA and the IOC, to anticipate, prepare for and adopt risk mitigation strategies and interventions. Positive leadership from these culturally powerful bodies could prove decisive in shifting hearts, minds and actions in the direction of improved safety for children

Consuming post-disaster destinations: The case of Sichuan, China

Addressing the call for a better understanding of tourist behavior in relation to post-disaster destinations, this study explores the motivations and intentions of potential domestic tourists (from non-hit areas) to visit Sichuan, China in the aftermath of an earthquake. Drawing on dark tourism theories, this study offers a more comprehensive insight into the consumption of post-disaster destinations, aiming to capture the impact of the changes to the destination’s attributes on tourist behavior. The findings move beyond the common approach to tourism recovery, which solely focuses on reviving the traditional ‘‘non-dark’’ products. This study reveals the importance of newly formed dark attributes that emerge from the disaster as another means to destination recovery, reflected in the emergence of new tourist segments