TRANSNATIONAL TRANSPORT CORRIDOR OF THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE BASED ON SABETTA SEAPORT: CHALLENGES OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR RUSSIA

The article investigates the opportunity of the development of a new transnational transport corridor on the base of the NSR, which is much shorter and faster than the usual one. The basis of this project is Sabetta seaport, which is considered as a potential transnational transport hub. The authors investigated the opportunities for the development of intermodal terminals and new services/goods for the East-West and North-South international transport corridors. They design this idea on the base of multi-modal transportation approach for the development of a global innovation project of NSR Transnational Transport Corridor. Using classical methods of analysis, they conclude that the port of Sabetta, as well as other ports in the Yamal Peninsula currently does not have direct rail access to the Central Russia regions and it can be good potential for regional development in Ural and Siberia. The research was limited by the official statistics about NSR dynamic of cargo volume. The results of research can provide the development of new multimodal transnational transport corridor and can be the basis of regional development in northern Russian regions. The implementation of the idea can provide a significant amount of new jobs and an enormous amount of international investments. Mainly in international scientific literacy authors examine the question of North Transport corridor by logistic and geographical aspects. The article investigates this question in more complex aspect by a multimodal approach with involvement in the NSR another means of communication like a river, railway and motorway transportation

DOES AGGLOMERATION PROCESS EXIST IN SMALL PROVINCIAL URBAN CENTERS? EVIDENCES FROM SVERDLOVSK REGION

In this paper we analyze the agglomeration of three small urban centers in Sverdlovsk Region (Russia). We describe agglomeration economies as the process where firm can be divided into those based on internal economies and those based on external economies, and also that each kind of economy can be viewed from the perspectives of scale, scope, and complexity. In our example, agglomeration economies are based on the internal economies. All analyzed towns are different in the level of industrial production, economies of scale and increasing returns. Industrial agglomeration effects are conceptually classified into localization and urbanization economies. We believe that agglomeration is strong only in small towns with the effective industrial production. As methods we used the Cobb-Douglas production function. Results of the research showed that only a town with industrial specialization (Verkhnyaya Salda) is characterized by constant returns to scale and the growth of total production which is mainly determined by increasing of capital. The other two cases of the towns (which are not industrial specialized) do not generate these results. Moreover, the town which not develops industrial production has no any effect of agglomeration. Agglomeration effects can be observed at different levels of aggregation. Large cities provide greater opportunity for economies of scale, availability of quality human capital, cluster effects, innovation processes and knowledge spillover, but under certain conditions smaller towns can also achieve some of the effects of agglomeration

CUBE ONLINE ANALYTICAL MODEL (COLAM) IN THE RIVER SHIPPING LOGISTIC FORECASTING

In this paper authors developed Cube Online Analytical Model (COLAM) which should anticipate various restrictions and hazards in river transport system. The aim is to construct a theoretical model which will predict certain delays in transport time caused by topographic and hydrographic constraints, natural hazards (such as ice, floods and droughts), economic and political constraints (tariff barriers between the countries, operating costs, terminal costs and sanctions, the threat of war, etc.) and different technical accidents. COLAM integrates hydroinformatic and hydrologic base of knowledge with real time and gives possibility to provide information for economic queries with different hierarchy of time. COLAM is methodological and practical instrument for this challenge. It integrates hydroinformatic and hydrologic base of knowledge with real time. The model in each concrete case is created to receive information about possible changing of navigation periods on the base of multi-dimension all of three groups of risks (natural hazards, social and technical hazards) as also their combinations

The effect of the thermal component change on regional climate indices in Serbia

The study of climate changes is most often based on the analysis of time series of temperature and precipitation in urban areas and the increase in the emission of gases having a greenhouse effect. On the other hand, the selection of representative and relevant stations and comprehensive analysis of climate indicators lead to better and more exact assessments on climate changes at the regional level. In order to connect climate changes with agricultural, biological, socio-economic, and tourism databases, the paper deals with the dynamic analysis of changes in thermal component expressed through the values of regional climate indices in four climatological stations with different geographical positions in Serbia. There are significant differences between the two time series data (1961-1990 and 1991-2013) on temperature and humidity, precipitation, insolation, and wind speed. However, after using the climatic indices as a tool for assessing climate changes, the results of the study suggest the relative influence of the thermal component on the change of climate indices, with a slight increase in the index of significance for human activities. Relying on the results of this alternative approach to the study of climate changes, the fact remains that the climate is not fixed but highly variable factor that should be taken into consideration in terms of monitoring, evaluation, and management of the area

Tourism as an Approach to Sustainable Rural Development in Post-Socialist Countries: A Comparative Study of Serbia and Slovenia

The research deals with the sustainable development of the Serbian and Slovenian countryside, under the influence of tourism progress. The article identifies the main rural tourism competitiveness in Serbia and Slovenia, as one of the essential factors of rural development in both countries, analyzing the main contributions and making a series of proposals to guide the future research agenda. The aim of the paper is to clarify around one obviously defined objective—to point out the competitiveness of sustainable rural tourism in typical post-socialist settings. The data for this study were collected using the Integrated Model of Destination Competitiveness to observe Serbian and Slovenian competitiveness in tourism. Determinants were assessed using a survey evaluating four demanding factors and 20 supporting factors, based upon a five-point Likert Scale. The results indicated that the friendliness of residents towards visitors, easy communication between them, together with quality of infrastructure and health facilities show the highest level of statistical correlation. These are the main propositions to start an initiative for the authorities in local communities to actively participate in sustainable rural development. The findings provide tourism stakeholders with relevant respondents’ perceptions pertaining to the tourism development in non-urban areas

Potential of geotourism for regional development: the case of “Iron Gates” park in Serbia

This paper focuses on the case of “Iron Gates” National Park located along the Danube between Serbia and Romania and discusses the opportunities and prospects for developing geotourism. Apart from being an area of natural beauty, this park comprises a wide range of spectacular geological sites, historical and cultural monuments. The authors also examine the concept of geotourism and show its connection to other types of tourism such as nature tourism and adventure tourism. Using statistical methods and methods of comparative analysis, they analyse the data on tourism development in Đerdap (Serbia) and Mehedinţi County (Romania) in 2015. Such indicators as the number of tourists and overnight stays, the number of accommodation facilities the coefficient of functionality, and so on are considered. The conclusion is made that the national park “Iron Gates” holds significant potential for the development of sustainable tourism in the region if the park’s geoheritage sites are consolidated into a single tourism route “Iron Gates Geoheritage”, which would be highly likely to become a successful product in the tourism market. This product could be presented either directly, as a tourist destination, or indirectly, through event tourism, excursions, transit tourism and so on, and offered to both domestic and international tourists

Environmental and Community Stability of a Mountain Destination: An Analysis of Residents’ Perception

This study aims to explore the use of the social-ecological system (SES) in tourism of a mountain area. Authors examined residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts on four SES aspects: ecosystems, local knowledge, people and technology and property rights institutions. The aim is to find area that will be a “common ground” for community and area that can be a source of conflict and will require additional work to solve the differences. Second objective was to examine residents’ perception towards future local development tourism policies (winter tourism, seasonality and environment and culture) and how those policies can affect natural, socio-economic and cultural aspects of mountain area. Residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism development potential, perceivedtourismimpacts,analysisofcommunityattachmentandemploymentsectorofstakeholder were involved in this study. The authors applied the Q-methodology, as one SES-allied approach, in a small mountain community of Kopaonik, the Republic of Serbia. The results revealed that residents’ agreement/disagreement is connected with two aspects: ecosystem and property rights andthatecosystemcanbesignificantlyinfluencedbyallthreedevelopmentpolicies. Findingssuggest that development of future natural conservation plans and new cultural attractions can have positive effects on all parts of social-ecological system. Some practical implications of those findings for tourism planning and development are also discussed

Acting the part: Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as predictors of emotional labor in travel agencies

Employees of retail travel agencies in sales roles have direct contact with tourists, which, in the case of poor customer service, can be extremely negative for businesses. Because of this, it is important to understand how employees manage their emotions in a way that can help them to remain satisfied with their work and avoid burnout. However, job satisfaction, emotional intelligence and emotional labor have not previously been studied in one model in the field of tourism and hospitality. Herein the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor in travel agencies is analysed, as well as job satisfaction as an antecedent of emotional labor in this sector. Data were collected from 160 employees of 45 travel agencies in the Serbian cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad. The results show that employee’s emotional intelligence mediates the positive relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor. Increasing employees’ emotional intelligence through training and development and actively recruiting employees with high emotional intelligence will reduce emotional exhaustion and improve customer satisfaction for retail travel agencies

Application of adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system models for prediction of forest fires in the usa on the basis of solar activity

In this research we search for a functional dependence between the occurrence of forest fires in the USA and the factors which characterize the solar activity. For this purpose we used several methods (R/S analysis, Hurst index) to establish potential links between the influx of some parameters from the sun and the occurrence of forest fires with lag of several days. We found evidence for a connection and developed a prognostic scenario based on the Adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system (ANFIS) technique. This scenario allows the prediction between 79-93% of forest fires. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III47007

Influence of summer temperatures on basic economic and tourism indicators of the Middle Mediterranean

The Middle Mediterranean is characterized by long, hot and dry summers, significant historical and cultural values and the warm Mediterranean Sea, making it attractive for coastal tourism. Given these characteristics, the goal of our paper is to analyze the influence of summer temperatures in the region of the Middle Mediterranean on the values of underlying economic and tourism indicators. The method of simple linear correlation and regression was used. Based on the results of testing, we came to the conclusion that the temperatures in the summer months have no significant influence on selected economic and tourism indicators. Also, we conclude that social factors have the greatest influence on these indicators. The coefficients of variation are calculated in the observed period to analyze the variability of the tested values. It could not be identified a statistically significant relationship of indicators with average temperatures. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47007