Destination Branding in Relation to Airports: The Case of the City of Valencia

This study investigates various factors that contribute to the success of destination branding efforts where success is defined as the increase in airplane passenger numbers to a destination and its linked air transportation. Drawing on in-depth interviews and snowball sampling, the study examines the roles of many of the key actors involved in the efforts to increase passenger numbers. Using the City of Valencia in Spain as a case study, the role of its airport is examined as a factor of particular interest. The study concludes that Valencia has positioned itself among neighbouring destinations on the Spanish Mediterranean coast by its focus on high profile events and cultural tourism. However, other actors have taken a more active role in the effort to increase the number of tourists than the Valencia Airport that has taken a more passive role. Another finding is that the persistence in seeking resources for the costly branding efforts was another influential factor that explains the increase in Valencia tourism

Sun, Sea and Shrines: Application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to assess the attractiveness of six cultural heritage sites in Phuket (Thailand)

In order to make recommendations for the diversification of tourism products on the Thai island of Phuket, this paper applies the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to rank the attractiveness of six cultural heritage sites in the island of Phuket to make recommendations for sites that could be incorporated in to cultural tourism development in the region. In addition, it applies a quantitative-qualitative evaluation structure with weighted criteria, based on local expert opinion. The research identified which of the many potential cultural tourism sites would be the most attractive to tourists and shows the utility of the AHP method, combined with quantitative-qualitative evaluation, for decision making in tourism destination development contexts

Food events in lifestyle and travel

A large-scale survey of food lovers revealed the critical importance of planned events in their lifestyles and travel. Details provided in this article include participation frequencies for various food-related events, segmentation based on food-event attendance, and the differences between segments in terms of preferences for enjoyment events versus learning events. The small segment most likely to travel for food experiences, called dynamic foodies, prefers specialist learning events. The much larger segment, called active foodies, prefers enjoyment events, suggesting that higher levels of involvement translate into demand for more specialized benefits. Conclusions are drawn for food events and their marketing, and for destination development and marketing to food tourists. Research needs are identified

Urban tourist motivations: why visit Ljubljana?

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to develop a new perspective on urban tourist motivations by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to help to understand how tourists make decisions about which destinations to visit. Method: This study was based on 30 1-hour long structured interviews with visitors to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. Respondents were asked to express their preferences between different pull-factor motives for their visit, using Saaty’s scale, and further qualitative data was collected to examine these preferences in more depth. Findings: The results of this study indicate that the most relevant criteria and thus predominant factors in motivation for visits to Ljubljana are the Cultural and Nightlife pull-factors, while Religious and Business motives are the lowest ranked factors. The paper argues that the results show the value of applying the AHP model to understand the role of pull-factors in urban tourism destination choice. Research limitations/implications: As a single-destination case study, it is important that the findings of this research are evaluated against similar studies in other cities. A limitation of this research is the fact that sub motives within major groups of pull-factor motives have not been explored in this study and this should be the subject of future, more detailed research. Originality/value: This research shows the value of applying, AHP, an under-used method to understand urban tourist motivations. The new knowledge gained through applying this method is of value to destination marketing organisations as well as to researchers conducting future studies, who will be able to replicate it and test its value

Natural autoantibodies in healthy neonatals recognizing a peptide derived from the second conserved region of HIV-1 gp120

Background/Aim. High sera reactivity with a peptide derived from human immunodeficiency virus HIV-I envelope protein gp120, NMI., correlate with non-progressive HIV-1 infection and also may have protective role in breast and prostate cancer. We also detected a low NTM1 reactive antibodies titer in healthy HIV negative sera and showed that antibody levels can be significantly increased with vigorous physical activity. However, the immune system seems to be unresponsive or tolerant to this peptide, implicating that the NTM1 sequence encompasses or overlaps a certain innate immune epitope. The aim of this study was to present evidences that NTM1 binding antibodies are components of innate immune humoral response, by confirming their presence in sera of newborn babies. For this purpose we collected a set of 225 innate antigen sequences reported in the literature and screened it for candidate antigens with the highest sequence and spectral similarity to NTM1 derived from HIV-1 gp120. Methods. Sera from 18 newborns were tested using ELISA, with peptide NTM1. Sequences from innate antigen database were aligned by an EMBOSS Water bioinformatics tool. Results. We identified NTM1 reactive antibodies in sera of HIV negative newborn babies. Further, in order to identify which of already known innate antigens are the most similar to NTM1 peptide we screened innate immune antigen sequence database collected from the literature. This screening revealed that the most similar sequence are ribonucleoproteins RO60, in addition to previously identified N-terminus of vasoactive intestinal peptide. Conclusion. The results of this study confirm the hypothesis that NTM1 recognizing antibodies are a part of humoral innate immune response. Further, computational similarity screening revealed a vasoactive intestinal peptide and RO60 as the most similar sequences and the strongest candidate antigens. In the light of the presented results, it is appealing that testing blood reactivity at birth, with specific innate antigens, particularly a vasoactive intestinal peptide, can reveal the potential to develop- or boost protective immune response in breast and prostate cancer and HIV infection later in life

Goda exempel hållbara textilier inom kommuner och regioner i Sverige

Naturvårdsverket har gett WSP i uppdrag att ta fram goda exempel på projekt som kommuner, regioner och länsstyrelser genomfört i syfte att öka konsumenters medvetenhet kring hållbarhet och textilier. Naturvårdsverket ska sedan sprida dessa exempel till andra kommuner. Målet var att presentera 30 goda exempel. WSP presenterar i rapporten 33 exempel. Genom den sökning som WSP gjort på Sveriges kommuners hemsidor kan det konstateras att många kommuner har information på sin hemsida om återvinnings- och insamlingsplatser för textilier. Textilinsamling görs ofta i samarbete med ideella organisationer så som Human Bridge och Röda korset. Vidare kan det konstateras att det är vanligare att kommuner driver textilprojekt än att regioner gör det. Bör dock nämnas att Västra Götalandregionen ligger långt fram när det gäller hållbara textilier. Bland annat har de tagit fram ett utvecklingsprogram där målsättningen är att bli en innovativ cirkulär arena för textil- och möbelbranschen. WSP har hittat en länsstyrelse, länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län, som arbetar aktivt med textilier. Utöver projekt genomförda av regioner, kommuner och länsstyrelser presenteras i rapporten tre exempel på projekt som genomförts av kommunala bolag: två projekt av Eskilstuna Energi och Miljö (återbruksgallerian ReTuna och textilsorteringssystemet Rosa påsen) samt kampanjen ”Köp inte skräp” genomfört av SYSAV (som ansvarar för den regionala avfallshanteringen och återvinningen i Skåne). Sannolikt finns det fler bra exempel på projekt genomförda av kommunala bolag, men som inte tagits med i denna rapport. Projekt med tema hållbarhet och textilier inkluderar ofta ett antal olika typer av aktiviteter, till exempel klädbyte, föreläsning och workshop. Ett exempel är Falun kommuns återkommande kampanj ”Helt sjukt”. År 2013 var kampanjens fokus på textilier. Det anordnades en klädbytardag och ett antal föreläsningar. Under kampanjperioden visades även en reklam/informationsfilm på biografen i Falun om mängden vatten som krävs för att tillverka en t-shirt. Ett annat exempel är ”Den Cirkulära Garderoben” som drivs av länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län. Projektets syfte är att inspirera till en hållbar konsumtion av textilier genom föreläsningar, events och workshops. ”Den Cirkulära Garderoben” samarbetar med kommuner i länet. Av de projekt och initiativ WSP hittat har majoriteten funnits i södra Sverige. Ungefär hälften av projekten har avslutats och hälften är pågående. På sidan 13 presenteras en karta med de projekt som inkluderats i genomgången av goda exempel