The Cyclical Representation of the UK Conference Sector's Life Cycle: The Use of Refurbishments as Rejuvenation Triggers

The Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model (Butler, 1980) is one of the most influential and frequently quoted tourism related lifecycle frameworks. Extensively applied and critiqued, it remains a cornerstone in tourism research. The model classifies the hypothetical temporal development of a destination into a series of stages, these being exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation and decline and/or rejuvenation, which when aggregated are represented diagrammatically as a S-shaped curve. This paper presents a theoretical extension of the TALC model, based on the decade in which UK conference venues initiated their conference product lifecycle, and the use of refurbishments as state changing triggers to rejuvenate the conference product lifecycle. This theoretical extension is applied to the four conference venue classifications that together constitute the UK conference sector, namely purpose-built venues, hotels, educational establishments and visitor attractions. Each of these venue types initiated its lifecycle at different times, with individual venues progressing through their lifecycle and either stagnating or rejuvenating through the use of refurbishment’s at differing times throughout the last 5 decades. Based on these findings, a linear model can be applied to the development of the UK conference sector. However, undertaking refurbishments, and thus the rejuvenation of the conference venues’ lifecycle, are occurring at differing times, and therefore this paper forwards the view that today a cyclical model is more appropriate to the UK conference sector

The North Cyprus Conference Sector: Establishing a Competitive Advantage

North Cyprus had recently positioned itself as a conference destination. Given external and internal factors such as political isolation and the over dependency on casino tourism, policymakers have recognised the importance of the conference sector in creating sustainable growth for North Cyprus’s tourism driven economy. Increasingly, Turkish conference organisers are choosing North Cyprus as a destination to host conferences. As such, Turkish conference organisers were questioned via an internet based questionnaire to determine attributes considered important within the conference destination selection process. An Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was performed, the findings identified that North Cyprus was perceived as a high performer with reference to; ease of accessibility, distance of destination, conference venue and accommodation price, safety and security, climate, hospitality, quality, quantity and availability of hotel rooms. However, in relation to North Cyprus, a unique application of IPA identified macro- and micro-destination attributes that North Cyprus should improve on; transportation within destination, availability of technological resources, the range of conference venues, conference staff training, destinations marketing activities and quality of local restaurants. The findings provided implications for destination managers in terms of branding, as well as conference venue and accommodation providers in terms of targeting conference organisers more effectively and promoting North Cyprus to conference sector stakeholders

An analysis and critique of evolving conference venue styles and structures from post war to the present day within the UK

This thesis provides an analysis and critique of the U.K. conference sector during the post-war period, in response to five hypotheses and research objectives. A pre-tested and piloted postal questionnaire was distributed to 3,000 U.K. conference venues that were drawn from secondary data sources, such as the Venue Directory. A total of 438 (14.6%) usable responses were returned. The research findings used quantitative analysis, with descriptive, explanatory, comparative and predictive research approaches also adopted. Holts linear and exponential smoothing was used to predict future trends. The literature review concerning the classification of the U.K. conference sector identifies that many of the typologies used over the last decade are often confusing and unnecessarily protracted due to sub divisions. This research forwards a typology comprising of four mutually exclusive classifications, namely purpose-built conference venues, hotels, educational establishments and visitor attractions all with conference facilities. This research identified many similarities and differences between the four venue classifications. Purpose-built venues initiated the U.K. conference sector during the 1950s. Hotels followed then educational establishments and finally the most recent are visitor attractions with conference facilities. Although purpose-built venues were the originators of the modern U.K. conference sector, growth rates from the other three venue classifications have, at one time or another exceeded that of purpose-built venues during the post-war period. Purpose-built venues were established in response to demand and were not initially economically focused, whereas the other three venue classifications added conference facilities to generate additional revenue sources and thus were economically motivated. The 1990s were the first decade in which over 37% of each venue classification opened their conference facilities, thus competition grew by over one third within the 1990s. The 1990s were also the most popular decade in which venues across the U.K. conference sector refurbished, with cosmetic changes such as upgrading furnishings and décor commonplace. Such refurbishments were undertaken to keep pace with customer’s demands, offering higher standards along with the need to modernise. Overall such refurbishments are viewed as a response to increased competition, cited by all venue classifications as a key issue encountered. Butler’s Lifecycle Model was utilised to explain the development of the U.K. conference sector, identifying that each venue classification has passed through its lifecycle at differing rates, with purpose-built venues having the longest lifecycle, but progressing through its lifecycle the slowest. Visitor attractions have the shortest lifecycle of the four venue classifications. Respondents perceive the future of the U.K. conference sector as positive, with increasing numbers of venues forecasted to open in the current and subsequent decade. Hotels conference venues still dominate the sector, although visitor attractions are predicted to experience the greatest levels of growth over the current and future decade. The majority of educational establishments and visitor attractions plan to refurbish in the future, whilst the majority of purpose-built venues and hotels do nWhere refurbishment is planned, cosmetic ch to furnishings and décor are commonplace, along wi iationdern conferquipnd hend safety i The majority ofe refurbiplannoccur wihe first half of the t . ll resps perceie fututerence sector totinued growth and increaseet----------------733b0988 Conisposifor;"c7_thesis phd ------------d3b0988ent-Dispositorm-data; name="c17_cre1" Wld -----------------------------7dab0988 ositiom-data; name="c17_creators_1_name_f -----------------7da1582a3b0988 CoDisposition: form-date="c17_creators__given" Junabeth -----------------------7da2031f3 Content-Disposition:data; name="c17_creators_1_name_fa -----------------------7da27c63 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="c17_creators_1_name_family

Event sponsorship by alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks businesses in India

Purpose – This paper aims to examine event sponsorship decision making by the Indian drinks industry, comparing the non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks sectors. Design/methodology/approach – Data regarding event sponsorship activity, perceptions of event sponsorship, motives to sponsor, form of investment and structure of sponsorship was obtained from a sample of 61 drinks producers in India through a questionnaire. Mann-Whitney and logistic regression were employed to compare the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic sectors. Findings – The results suggest that the alcohol and non-alcohol drinks sectors sponsored a similar level of events, but in investment volume terms, sponsorship from the non-alcoholic sector is far greater than that of the alcoholic sector. While the two sectors are similar in many ways, the emphasis placed on certain motives for sponsoring events was different, with alcoholic drinks businesses placing greater importance on reaching niche audiences and increasing media coverage than non-alcoholic ones. Research limitations/implications – A limited number of areas of the sponsorship decision-making were covered, yet the study provides insights into the decision making of one of the key sponsoring industries: the drinks industry. Practical implications – Securing sponsorship is becoming more difficult and complex. By understanding how sponsors make decisions, including potential variations between companies within an industry, event organisers will be in a better position to tailor sponsorship proposals, enhancing the likelihood of obtaining the desired sponsorship contracts. Originality/value – Most sponsor decision-making research focuses on how sponsorship decisions can be improved so that they work better for the sponsor. This paper, in contrast, emphasises that by understanding how clients make decisions (i.e. sponsors), sellers (i.e. the sponsored) will be in a better position to win over competition and secure the desired sponsorship deals

Sector differences in conference facility refurbishment

What influences the probability that a conference facility will refurbish? This is an important question as such information can inform conference organisers when selecting a venue. This paper presents an econometric analysis of the probability of conference venue refurbishment with a particular focus on the sector differences (purpose-built, educational establishments, visitor attractions and hotels) and time since previous refurbishment. We test the hypotheses that there are scale and growth effects and whether the presence of disabled facilities influences the probability that a conference venue will refurbish

Why Build Purpose Built Conference Venues? Forecasting New Build

Many UK destinations have constructed purpose built conference venues as a tool for regenerating economic, social and environmental decline during the post-war period. This research is based upon a postal survey of 300 UK purpose built venues undertaken in 2001, of which 53 responding venues were deemed valid, giving a response rate of 17.6%. This research examines the temporal growth of purpose built venues from the 1950s up to and including the survey year. Additionally, employing exponential smoothing techniques, the number of UK purpose built venues is predicted from 2001 to 2020. Combining both the predict growth rates with the knowledge of both the advantages and disadvantages of establishing purpose built conference venues, conclusions are drawn with regards to further regeneration within UK destinations

Risk factor burden, heart failure, and survival in women of different ethnic groups insights from the women's health initiative

BACKGROUND: The higher risk of heart failure (HF) in African-American and Hispanic women compared with white women is related to the higher burden of risk factors (RFs) in minorities. However, it is unclear if there are differences in the association between the number of RFs for HF and the risk of development of HF and death within racial/ethnic groups. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the WHI (Women's Health Initiative; 1993-2010), African-American (n=11996), white (n=18479), and Hispanic (n=5096) women with 1, 2, or 3+ baseline RFs were compared with women with 0 RF within their respective racial/ethnic groups to assess risk of developing HF or all-cause mortality before and after HF, using survival analyses. After adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, and hormone therapy, the subdistribution hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of developing HF increased as number of RFs increased (P<0.0001, interaction of race/ethnicity and RF number P=0.18)-African-Americans 1 RF: 1.80 (1.01-3.20), 2 RFs: 3.19 (1.84-5.54), 3+ RFs: 7.31 (4.26-12.56); Whites 1 RF: 1.27 (1.04-1.54), 2 RFs: 1.95 (1.60-2.36), 3+ RFs: 4.07 (3.36-4.93); Hispanics 1 RF: 1.72 (0.68-4.34), 2 RFs: 3.87 (1.60-9.37), 3+ RFs: 8.80 (3.62-21.42). Risk of death before developing HF increased with subsequent RFs (P<0.0001) but differed by racial/ethnic group (interaction P=0.001). The number of RFs was not associated with the risk of death after developing HF in any group (P=0.25; interaction P=0.48). CONCLUSIONS: Among diverse racial/ethnic groups, an increase in the number of baseline RFs was associated with higher risk of HF and death before HF but was not associated with death after HF. Early RF prevention may reduce the burden of HF across multiple racial/ethnic groups

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

Novel loci affecting iron homeostasis and their effects in individuals at risk for hemochromatosis

Variation in body iron is associated with or causes diseases, including anaemia and iron overload. Here, we analyse genetic association data on biochemical markers of iron status from 11 European-population studies, with replication in eight additional cohorts (total up to 48,972 subjects). We find 11 genome-wide-significant (P&lt;5 × 10(-8)) loci, some including known iron-related genes (HFE, SLC40A1, TF, TFR2, TFRC, TMPRSS6) and others novel (ABO, ARNTL, FADS2, NAT2, TEX14). SNPs at ARNTL, TF, and TFR2 affect iron markers in HFE C282Y homozygotes at risk for hemochromatosis. There is substantial overlap between our iron loci and loci affecting erythrocyte and lipid phenotypes. These results will facilitate investigation of the roles of iron in disease