Developing a Typology of Hostel Visitors Using the Bagged Clustering Approach

This article is the first study to present a nuanced analysis of hostel visitors. Using the bagged clustering approach, a typology of hostel visitors was developed, involving four distinctive types of hostel visitors: (i) Hostel lovers, (ii) Landing point visitors, (iii) Flashpackers look-alikes, and (iv) Classical backpackers

Index of destination attractiveness as a tool for destination attractiveness assessment

Tourism attractions are widely recognized as the major determinants of the destination competitiveness. Global tourism market is becoming fiercely competitive environment and tourism destinations are under extreme pressure to rejuvenate and to enhance their attractiveness in order to remain competitive. This paper has two main goals. First goal of the paper is to advance existing body of knowledge from the field of destination attractiveness. Second goal is to construct and empirically test methodology for the destination attractiveness assessment. This is achieved through the calculation of index of destination attractiveness (IDA), which is a managerial tool that could be used for quantitative description of destination attractiveness level. This paper presents an example of IDA values calculation for six Croatian seaside counties and for Dubrovnik-Neretva County, located in the southern part of Croatia

Internacionalizacija poslovanja malih i srednjih poduzeća

Highly developed countries, which are similar to Croatia by size and population, highlight the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as holders of export activities and key factors in raising the competitiveness of the entire economy. In this paper authors research the concept of internationalization of SMEs. Analyzing the influence of decision makers on the process of internationalization and showing its advantages and disadvantages for the respective company and country, this research introduces the most common models on the basis of which this process is implemented in practice. A case study of a small export company from Croatia illustrates the process of internationalization to the U.S. market and provides useful information to the companies which are planning to enter new markets.Razvijene zemlje, koje su površinom i brojem stanovnika slične Hrvatskoj, upućuju na važnost prepoznavanja sektora malih i srednjih poduzeća kao nositelja izvoznih aktivnosti i ključnog čimbenika podizanja konkurentnosti cjelokupnog gospodarstva. U ovom istraživačkom radu autori razrađuju koncept internacionalizacije poslovanja malih i srednjih poduzeća. Prikazuju se prednosti i nedostaci internacionalizacije poslovanja za poduzeća i državu, analiziraju najčešći modeli na osnovi kojih se proces provodi u praksi te pojašnjava utjecaj donositelja odluka na proces internacionalizacije malih i srednjih poduzeća. Studija slučaja malog izvoznog poduzeća iz Hrvatske pokazuje kako se odvijao proces internacionalizacije poslovanja na tržištu SAD-a i pruža korisne informacije poduzećima koja razmišljaju o izlasku na nova tržišta

Imidž destinacije i ključni čimbenici percipirane atraktivnosti destinacije

In this exploratory study authors combine several approaches to explore the images of two highly attractive tourist destinations: Hawai’i and Croatia. Two convenience samples were used: the image of Hawai’i was measured among Croatian undergraduate business students, and the image of Croatia was measured among Hawaiian tourism students. Functional and psychological image components were assessed at both a holistic and the attribute level. In addition, an importance-perception analysis was performed to assess the degree to which the destination image at the attribute level coincides with the students’ perception of an optimal destination. Finally, the authors conduct an importance grid analysis to explore the key drivers of the overall perceived destination attractiveness. The results provide a detailed insight into the images of Croatia and Hawaii, and reveal several interesting differences between the two student samples.U ovoj eksplorativnoj studiji autori primjenjuju kombinaciju različitih pristupa u mjerenju imidža dviju iznimno atraktivnih turističkih destinacija: Havaja i Hrvatske. U istraživanju su korištena dva prigodna uzorka: imidž Havaja mjeren je među hrvatskim studentima poslovne ekonomije, a imidž Hrvatske među havajskim studentima turizma. Istraživanjem su obuhvaćeni funkcionalni i psihološki elementi imidža, i to na holističkoj razini te na razini atributa. Dodatno je primijenjena analiza važnosti i percepcije kako bi se ustanovilo u kojoj mjeri imidž analiziranih destinacija na razini atributa odgovara studentskoj percepciji optimalne destinacije. Konačno, autori koriste analizu pomoću matrice važnosti da bi istražili ključne čimbenike percipirane sveukupne atraktivnosti destinacije. Rezultati pružaju detaljan uvid u imidž Hrvatske i Havaja, te upućuju na nekoliko zanimljivih razlika među analiziranim uzorcima

Kvaliteta usluga zračnog prometa u funkciji poboljšanja ukupne kvalitete turističke ponude

Growing rivalry among competitive airlines in the air travel market, appearance of new competitors which of course have been located in the profitable parts of the market, changes in the behaviour of potential passengers, insufficient and therefore high-priced airport and air traffic control infrastructure, as well as the increased competition of the alternatives to the air transport such as telecommunications media and super-last trains, characterise the present competition in the air transport market. Significant changes in behaviour of potential users of airline services have appeared on the side of air transport service demand, and the airlines themselves have less and less influence on distributions channels. The result of it are the increasing price-pressure and considerable decrease of passengers loyalty. Due to the increase of travel intensity passengers have become more experienced and critical in quality estimation of offered service as well as in checking whether the price of service corresponds to its quality. This has forced airlines to adapt permanently to new and more demanding passenger requirements. Those airlines which are not able to follow cost decreasing trend are obliged to improve their own competitive position looking for the reserve in other business fields. This is the only way of surviving in their fight for passengers. Therefore, the quality of air transport service plays an increasing role in the development of their competition capability. Since tourism offer consists of different kind of products and services, air transport service being one of them, it is of utmost importance that all of them meet to a maximum degree with passengers quality requirements, hi such manner passengers will get an impression that it is a question of an unbroken chain making a total quality concept of services they have expected, companies will capitalise money and time they have spent in developing service quality and improving their own productivity, and tourist industry will be able to respond to the most recent market challenges in a more adequate way.Rastuće suparništvo među konkurentskim zrakoplovnim kompanijama na tržištu zračnog prometa, pojavljivanje novih konkurenata koji se naravno pozicioniraju na profitabilnim dijelovima tržišta, promjene u ponašanju potencijalnih putnika, nedovoljna i uslijed toga skupa infrastruktura zračnih luka i kontrole letenja te porast konkurencije u vidu alternativa zračnom prometu, kao što su npr.: novi telekomunikacijski mediji i super-brzi vlakovi, karakteriziraju tržišno nadmetanje u zračnom prometu danas. Na strani potražnje za uslugama zračnog prometa je došlo do značajnih promjena u ponašanju potencijalnih korisnika usluga zrakoplovnih kompanija, a i one same imaju sve manje utjecaja na kanale distribucije. Posljedica su toga povećani pritisak na cijene, i osjetan pad lojalnosti putnika. Uslijed povećanja intenziteta putovanja putnici su postali iskusniji i kritičniji kako u ocjenjivanju kvalitete ponuđene usluge tako i u uspoređivanju odnosa kvalitete usluga u odnosu na cijenu te usluge, što je primoralo zrakoplovne kompanije da se permanentno prilagođavaju novim i sve viših zahtjevima putnika. One kompanije koje nisu u stanju pratiti trend smanjivanja troškova moraju pokušati poboljšati svoju konkurentsku poziciju traženjem rezervi na drugim područjima poslovanja, jer samo na taj način mogu opstati u borbi za putnike. Zbog toga kvaliteta usluge zračnog prometa dobiva u sve većoj mjeri ključnu ulogu u razvoju njihove konkurentske sposobnosti. Budući da se turistička ponuda sastoji od raznovrsnih proizvoda i usluga, među kojima se nalazi i usluga prijevoza, veoma je značajno da sve one svojom kvalitetom maksimalno moguće odgovaraju zahtjevima potrošača. Na taj će način putnici steći dojam da se radi o jednom neprekinutom lancu koji čini zatvoreni koncept usluge koju su i očekivali, poduzeća će moći kapitalizirati novac i vrijeme utrošeno u razvoj kvalitete usluge i znatno poboljšati profitabilnost svoga poslovanja, a turističko gospodarstvo će biti u stanju adekvatnije odgovoriti na najnovije tržišne izazove

CODES OF CONDUCT IN TOURISM AND THEIR IMPACT ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Turizam je velik i složen sustav koji, ukoliko želi dugoročno biti uspješan, treba u svom planiranju i razvoju implementirati osnovne postulate održivosti. U kreiranju takvoga razvoja značajnu ulogu ima javni sektor, no i dobrovoljne inicijative, posebno kada se radi o kreiranju odre¬đenih mjera usmjerenih prema ponašanjima turista te povećanju svijesti o učincima njihova neadek¬vatnog i neodgovornog ponašanja. U radu se daje prikaz najvažnijih dobrovoljnih inicijativa i pravila ponašanja u turizmu te se analizira njihov utjecaj na ponašanje sudionika u turističkim kretanjima. U fokusu su globalne i lokalne dobrovoljne inicijative usmjerene na ponašanje u turizmu ili tkz. Codes of Conduct. Na globalnoj i lokalnoj razini postoji značajan broj ovakvih pravila, no ona nisu unifici¬rana i često su vrlo teško dostupna. Njihova implementacija nije jednostavna te bi upravo u tom seg¬mentu odgovorni marketing trebao imati važnu ulogu u kojem fokus ne bi bio na pukom privlačenju turista u destinaciju već i njihovoj senzibilizaciji s destinacijom te minimiziranjem negativnih efekata razvoja turizma.Tourism is a large and complex system which, in order to achieve a long term suc¬cess, needs to implement the sustainability principles in the process of its planning and development. A significant role in creating such a development belongs to the public sector. However, as for the creation of certain measures for improvement of the behaviour of tourists and of increasing their awareness of effects that could occur in case of their inadequate and irresponsible behaviour, volun¬tary initiatives tend to have an even greater importance. This paper gives an overview of the most im¬portant voluntary initiatives and codes of conduct in tourism and discusses their impact on the be¬haviour of all participants in tourism. The focus is on the global and local voluntary initiatives concerned with the behaviour of tourists, the so-called Codes of Conduct. A significant number of these codes exist at the global and local level, but they are not unified and are often very difficult to trace. The implementation of codes of conduct is often rather difficult, which is why the application of responsible marketing becomes almost necessary. The focus of responsible marketing should not be the pure attraction of tourists to the destination, but also their sensitization to the desti¬nation, as well as minimizing the negative effects of tourism development

Index of destination attractiveness as a tool for destination attractiveness assessment

Tourism attractions are widely recognized as the major determinants of the destination competitiveness. Global tourism market is becoming fiercely competitive environment and tourism destinations are under extreme pressure to rejuvenate and to enhance their attractiveness in order to remain competitive. This paper has two main goals. First goal of the paper is to advance existing body of knowledge from the field of destination attractiveness. Second goal is to construct and empirically test methodology for the destination attractiveness assessment. This is achieved through the calculation of index of destination attractiveness (IDA), which is a managerial tool that could be used for quantitative description of destination attractiveness level. This paper presents an example of IDA values calculation for six Croatian seaside counties and for Dubrovnik-Neretva County, located in the southern part of Croatia

Internacionalizacija poslovanja malih i srednjih poduzeća

Highly developed countries, which are similar to Croatia by size and population, highlight the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as holders of export activities and key factors in raising the competitiveness of the entire economy. In this paper authors research the concept of internationalization of SMEs. Analyzing the influence of decision makers on the process of internationalization and showing its advantages and disadvantages for the respective company and country, this research introduces the most common models on the basis of which this process is implemented in practice. A case study of a small export company from Croatia illustrates the process of internationalization to the U.S. market and provides useful information to the companies which are planning to enter new markets.Razvijene zemlje, koje su površinom i brojem stanovnika slične Hrvatskoj, upućuju na važnost prepoznavanja sektora malih i srednjih poduzeća kao nositelja izvoznih aktivnosti i ključnog čimbenika podizanja konkurentnosti cjelokupnog gospodarstva. U ovom istraživačkom radu autori razrađuju koncept internacionalizacije poslovanja malih i srednjih poduzeća. Prikazuju se prednosti i nedostaci internacionalizacije poslovanja za poduzeća i državu, analiziraju najčešći modeli na osnovi kojih se proces provodi u praksi te pojašnjava utjecaj donositelja odluka na proces internacionalizacije malih i srednjih poduzeća. Studija slučaja malog izvoznog poduzeća iz Hrvatske pokazuje kako se odvijao proces internacionalizacije poslovanja na tržištu SAD-a i pruža korisne informacije poduzećima koja razmišljaju o izlasku na nova tržišta