Destination development in Western Siberia:Tourism governance and evolutionary economic geography

Tourism development has often been identified as a tool for balancing negative effects of economic restructuring, especially in peripheral regions. Tourism-based activities often utilize the availability of abundant nature, but although most English language studies of destination development are presented from western contexts, examples from post-Soviet Russia are rare. Western Siberia is a periphery with access to natural resources and heavy industrialization but remotely located from domestic (Russian) and international markets, where tourism is often considered a saviour, especially for the regional economies. Stakeholders in this Russian resource periphery face challenges in managing governance and cooperation in destinations development due to frequent institutional, economic and social changes. Using evolutionary economic geography and based on primary sources and interview data, tourism development and stakeholder relations are assessed in three Western Siberia regions: Tomsk, Kemerovo and Altai Krai. Findings show that for tourism to make a significant contribution, it must be more central to the economic development agenda in all three regions. However, it is currently only achieving a permanent high-profile in one of them, being crowded out by other (mostly primary) industries in the other two. Although the specific tourism governance set-up varies between the three regions, it is clear that public tourism governance still sits somewhat uneasily between state control and the market economy. Tourism receives substantial public subsidies, especially in large-scale investment projects, which depend on federal support within a governance system where decentralization seems to be somewhat limited and unstable. As a result, the tourism path development in the Siberian periphery is highly dependent on state intervention and success in other sectors.</p

Problems and prospects of the territorial development of the tourism system in the Almaty region

Introduction: The tourism sector is recognized as an important sector of the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As a member state of the UN, Kazakhstan integrates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the State program for the development of the tourism industry. The incomplete implementation of the SDGs in Kazakhstan has causes of global and regional level. Materials and Methods: Statistical indicators for tourism in the Republic of Kazakhstan indicate a stable positive dynamics of the tourist flow in the country. The Almaty region has the highest rates of tourism activity, which has favorable historical, cultural and unique natural prerequisites. Results and Discussion: In the general tourist flow of the region, local tourism prevails. The indicator of inbound tourism in the Almaty region as a whole with the largest city of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almaty is the highest in the country. The target state setting for the prospective development of tourism assumes an increase in the share of tourism in the total GDP of the Republic of Kazakhstan by 2025 by 33%. Conclusions: In the study, in accordance with the concept of territorial and functional development of tourism and recreation in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the terminology of the urban planning direction, three key hierarchical levels of organization of tourist and recreational entities were formulated: regional, district, local – “tourist and recreational region”, “recreational agglomeration”, “tourist and recreational area”. The regional level corresponds to the Almaty tourist and recreational region, the recreational agglomeration - Taldykorgan and Almaty tourist and recreational agglomerations. Within the boundaries of the region, five tourist and recreational areas have been identified

Turisztikai desztinációk versenyképességének értelmezése és elemzése [védés előtt] = Interpreting and analyzing the competitiveness of touristic destination

A turisztikai piacon végbemenő folyamatok, - a posztmaterialista értékeket valló, egyéni utazók megjelenése és az internet által transzparenssé tett értékesítés - új erőviszonyokat teremtettek a szereplők között. Ezen változások a fejlődés lehetőségét hordozzák a vidéki és autentikus célterületek számára, de egyúttal kihívást jelentenek, mivel élesítik a versenyt és megújulásra ösztönzik a globálisan ismert desztinációkat is, valamint számos nehézség megoldására késztetik a több szempontból hátrányos helyzetben lévő vidéki célterületeket. A célterületek közötti erősödő verseny miatt egyre nagyobb kutatói figyelem fordult a turisztikai desztinációkra, a desztinációk versenyképességére

The Clusters of Health-Risk Behaviours and Mental Wellbeing and Their Sociodemographic Correlates: A Study of 15,366 ASEAN University Students

Background This study investigated, through cluster analysis, the associations between behavioural characteristics, mental wellbeing, demographic characteristics, and health among university students in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) University Network – Health Promotion Network (AUN-HPN) member universities. Methods Data were retrieved from a cross-sectional self-administered online survey among undergraduate students in seven ASEAN countries. A two-step cluster analysis was employed, with cluster labels based on the predominant characteristics identified within the clusters. The ‘healthy’ cluster was assigned as the reference group for comparisons using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results The analytic sample size comprised 15,366 university students. Five clusters of student-types were identified: (i) ‘Healthy’ (n = 1957; 12.7%); (ii) ‘High sugary beverage consumption’ (n = 8482; 55.2%); (iii) ‘Poor mental wellbeing’ (n = 2009; 13.1%); (iv) ‘Smoker’ (n = 1364; 8.9%); and (v) ‘Alcohol drinker’ (n = 1554; 10.1%). Being female (OR 1.28, 95%CI 1.14, 1.45) and being physically inactive (OR 1.20, 95%CI 1.04, 1.39) increased the odds of belonging to the ‘High sugary beverage consumption’ cluster. Being female (OR 1.21, 95%CI 1.04, 1.41), non-membership in a sports club (OR 1.83, 95%CI 1.43, 2.34) were associated with ‘Poor mental wellbeing’. Obesity (OR 2.03, 95%CI 1.47, 2.80), inactively commuting to campus (OR 1.34, 95%CI 1.09, 1.66), and living in high-rise accommodation (OR 2.94, 95%CI 1.07, 8.07) were associated with membership in the ‘Smoker’ cluster. Students living in The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam had a higher likelihood of being alcohol drinkers, compared with those who lived in Brunei. Conclusions ASEAN university students exhibited health-risk behaviours that typically clustered around a specific health behaviour and mental wellbeing. The results provided support for focusing interventions on one dominant health-risk behaviour, with associated health-risk behaviours within clusters being potential mediators for consideration

Wellness media: Consumption motives and relation to wellness orientation

Wellness is one of today's prominent megatrends influencing people's consumption motives. It shows as consumers' increased orientation towards wellness, as well as increased supply of wellness related products and services. This paper investigates the wellness phenomenon in the specific context of media consumption. While motives of media consumption in general have been widely studied in communication research, wellness themed media content has not yet received much academic attention. The purpose of this study is to examine the motives that drive the consumption of wellness themed media content, and to identify distinct consumer groups based on these motives. Further, this study seeks to examine the relation between the different motives of wellness media consumption and consumers' wellness orientation. The theoretical background of the research subject is drawn from the extant literature on the uses & gratifications of media consumption, the relation between media consumption and health in general, and wellness orientation. Data was collected using a web-based survey, during fall 2014. Invitation to the questionnaire was sent to the target group, which was active Finnish speaking consumers of wellness media, and altogether 224 completed responses were received. The data was then analyzed using two primary multivariate data analysis techniques: factor analysis and cluster analysis. Factor analysis was first applied to identify underlying structures within the motives of wellness media consumption, and to prepare the data for cluster analysis. Next, cluster analysis was used to identify consumer groups based on their wellness media consumption motives. To further examine the differences in wellness orientation between the clusters, analysis of variance was applied. Three main motives of wellness media consumption are proposed by the results: Information & Learning, Social Integration & Interaction, and Entertainment. Further, four consumer groups of wellness media are identified: Socially motivated consumers, Entertainment-seekers, Indifferent consumers and Information oriented consumers. As for the relation between the motives and wellness orientation, the findings indicate that social and information motives would be more strongly associated with higher wellness orientation than entertainment motives. The main contribution of this paper is in adding to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of wellness media consumption. While offering valuable insight to the research subject, the findings also indicate that further research is needed in order to fully understand the motives of wellness media consumption and their relation to wellness orientation

Capuchin Search Particle Swarm Optimization (CS-PSO) based Optimized Approach to Improve the QoS Provisioning in Cloud Computing Environment

This review introduces the methods for further enhancing resource assignment in distributed computing situations taking into account QoS restrictions. While resource distribution typically affects the quality of service (QoS) of cloud organizations, QoS constraints such as response time, throughput, hold-up time, and makespan are key factors to take into account. The approach makes use of a methodology from the Capuchin Search Particle Large Number Improvement (CS-PSO) apparatus to smooth out resource designation while taking QoS constraints into account. Throughput, reaction time, makespan, holding time, and resource use are just a few of the objectives the approach works on. The method divides the resources in an optimum way using the K-medoids batching scheme. During batching, projects are divided into two-pack assembles, and the resource segment method is enhanced to obtain the optimal configuration. The exploratory association makes use of the JAVA device and the GWA-T-12 Bitbrains dataset for replication. The outrageous worth advancement problem of the multivariable capacity is addressed using the superior calculation. The simulation findings demonstrate that the core (Cloud Molecule Multitude Improvement, CPSO) computation during 500 ages has not reached assembly repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, and repeatedly, respectively.The connection analysis reveals that the developed model outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches. Generally speaking, this approach provides significant areas of strength for a successful procedure for improving resource designation in distributed processing conditions and can be applied to address a variety of resource segment challenges, such as virtual machine setup, work arranging, and resource allocation. Because of this, the capuchin search molecule enhancement algorithm (CSPSO) ensures the success of the improvement measures, such as minimal streamlined polynomial math, rapid consolidation speed, high productivity, and a wide variety of people

Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems (SIMPHS): Report on Typology/Segmentation of the PHS Market

This market segmentation reports for Personal Health Systems (PHS) describes the methodological background and illustrates the principles of classification and typology regarding different fragments forming this market. It discusses different aspects of the market for PHS and highlights challenges towards a stringent and clear-cut typology or defining market segmentation. Based on these findings a preliminary hybrid typology and indications and insights are created in order to be used in the continuation of the SIMPHS project. It concludes with an annex containing examples and cases studies.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ