Analyzing the effect of socio-political context on tourism: perceptions of young tourists in Greece, Portugal and Israel

International crises that affect tourism, such as terror attacks, political unrest, and economic crises have become more frequent, and their influence has become broader. The influence of such extreme events depends on their salience in the tourists' awareness. Hence, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying tourists' selection of travel destinations, especially their perceptions of crisis-related events and the impact of the sociopolitical and economic context in their countries of origin. The current study examined how the socio-political and economic context in the home countries of potential young tourists affected their selection of travel destinations. The objective was to elucidate how the salience of various crises (economic and political) in the tourists' perceptions, due to their experiences at home, color their construal of destinations affected by similar hazards and influence their travel intentions. The study focused on student tourists from Israel, Greece, and Portugal. Today about a fifth of international tourism is based on young people, especially students. These countries were chosen since Greece and Portugal are in the midst of economic crises. In addition, Greece and Portugal have experienced political instability, while Israel has security-related problems (including terrorist incidents). In 2013, a total of 648 students, responded to a questionnaire that included questions concerning attitudes and risk perceptions regarding travel to destinations with various risk hazards as well as socio-demographic details. The results indicate that over half of the Israelis intend to visit Greece or Portugal. The majority of the Portuguese intend to visit Greece, while less than a third of them intend to visit Israel. About half of the Greeks intend to visit Portugal, and most of them do not intend to visit Israel. The results indicate that greater perceived importance of economic crises mitigates the intention to travel to destinations with economic crises for tourists from origin countries that are also marked by economic crises, such as Greece and Portugal. However, for tourists from Israel, a country with a relatively stable economy, issues related to the economy barely affect their intention to travel to the other two countries. The findings also suggest that Greeks and Portuguese who are highly concerned about political unrest are unlikely to select Israel as a tourist destination. In addition, strong apprehension regarding terrorism impedes the intention to travel to destinations marked by terrorist incidents, such as Israel. The current research contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the impact of travelers' personal previous experience with crisis on their risk perceptions and in turn on their intentions to travel to countries with similar risks. Therefore, in a world where such incidents are on the rise, understanding tourists' risk perceptions and behavior and the factors influencing their destination-related decisions are crucial for countries that wish to increase the numbers of incoming tourists.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effects of socio-political context on tourism

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of tourists’ perceptions of political and economic instability and risks of terrorism on their intentions to travel to countries associated with various risks. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 648 Greek, Israeli and Portuguese students completed a questionnaire focusing on their perceptions concerning factors that shape their travel decisions. Findings: The findings showed that among tourists from Greece and Portugal, the experience of economic crisis and the salience of economic and political hardships mitigated their intentions to travel to destinations with similar problems. These factors had no effect on Israelis, who have not experienced such problems in their country. Frequent terrorist incidents diminished the intentions of Greek tourists to travel to destinations marked by terrorism, such as Israel. Thus, different factors affect tourists’ travel-related decisions in each of the three countries. Originality/value: The study sheds light on how potential tourists construe the risks of traveling to specific destination countries based on hazards in their home countries, a topic that to date has received little research attention.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Effects of perceived cost, service quality, and customer satisfaction on health insurance service continuance

This paper aims to contribute to the universal discourse on financial services continuance behavior by examining the impact of service cost on customers\u27 service-quality perception and service continuance intention. It presents the results of an empirical study that has explored the impacts of service cost, service quality, and customer satisfaction on health insurance customers\u27 behavioral intention toward continuing or discontinuing with their service providers. Very few studies had examined the impact of service cost on service-quality perception. Our study attempts to fill that gap. A sample of 820 customers was surveyed, and 624 usable responses were analyzed with ANOVA, standard multiple regression, and logistic regression. Our findings indicate that, although highly satisfied health insurance customers will most likely retain their current service providers, customer dissatisfaction does not necessarily lead to discontinuance. Our results also provide some operational implications for health insurance managers, with strategies for reducing attrition and improving customer retention

E-LOYALTY / LOJALUMAS ELEKTRONINĖJE ERDVĖJE

Business incomes depend on goods demand. Important element of demand is loyalty of consumer. Scientists actively research consumer’s loyalty from 1990. Business has new form, because technologies has improvements in a fast paced environment and that is the reason why emerges e-loyalty in virtual space. The main objective of this article is to do theoretical analysis of Scientist‘s researches of e-loyalty models. This research shows consumer‘s loyalty levels and elements in virtual space and com¬pares e-commerce and e-service models of loyalty. Methodology involves theoretical analysis of Scientist‘s researches which shows that the most important e-loyalty factors are consumer‘s satisfaction and confidence on the seller. Relevance of this article is practical research in the future using selected factors in e-loyalty. Santrauka  Kiekvieno verslo pajamos priklauso nuo paklausos, kurią lemia vienas iš veiksnių – vartotojų lojalumas. Mokslininkai intensyviai tiria vartotojų lojalumą jau nuo 1990 m. Atsirandant naujoms technologijoms, verslas įgyja naują formą, todėl atsiranda lojalumas virtualioje erdvėje, kurio nagrinėjimo pradžia siejama su interneto ir kompiuterinės technikos prieinamumu bei e. verslo modelių pradžia. Straipsnio tikslas yra atlikti vartotojų lojalumo virtualioje erdvėje teorinę analizę. Šis straipsnis tiria vartotojų lojalumo lygius ir veiksnius virtualioje erdvėje ir lygina e. komercijos ir e. paslaugų lojalumo modelius. Metodologija apima teorinę atliktų mokslininkų tyrimų analizę, kuri parodė, jog svarbiausi vartotojų lojalumo veiksniai elektroninėje erdvėje yra vartotojo pasitenkinimas ir pasitikėjimas pardavėju. Šio straipsnio aktualumas pasižymi tuo, jog galimas praktinis pagrindinių lojalumo veiksnių tyrimas ateityje. Reikšminiai žodžiai: lojalumas elektroninėje erdvėje, elektroninė erdvė, e. verslas, e. komercija, lojalumo modeliai, pasitikėjimas