The role and potential of marketing communications in the Turkish domestic tourism market

This is a qualitative study of marketing communications in the Turkish domestic tourism market: a sector still in its "infancy" in comparison with many other countries, but with substantial growth potential. The rationale for the research lies in its contribution to knowledge and understanding from an academic perspective and its applied relevance to marketing communications initiatives in the world of practical management. An extensive international literature review in the areas of tourism management, marketing communications and consumer buying behaviour was undertaken and its relevance and transferability to Turkey examined critically in the light of the Qrimacy research findings. This secondary research was supplemented by a comprehensive primary data collection process, during which the data collection methods were triangulated. The field research comprised initial exploratory interviews with tourists, key informant interviews, observations at travel agencies, focus group studies and final interviews. This data illustrated how consumers collect and process information, when making holiday decisions and evaluated the role and potential of marketing communications in the Turkish domestic tourism market. Based on the ownership structure of travel agencies, and the stage of development of the sector, the thesis establishes the lack of a marketing orientation amongst travel agencies, and the effect this has on the way that these businesses carry out their marketing communications activities. Although the role and potential of sales staff, brochures and the Internet is examined, the main focus is on the role of holiday newspaper advertisements in the consumer decision making process. The thesis establishes that gender has a significant influence on the reasoning process determining holiday choices. The research examines the implications of this, and suggests that marketing communications stimuli should take these influences into account. A set of guidelines and recommendations are offered to improve the effectiveness of the marketing communications activities of travel agencies

DEVELOPMENT OF SCALES TO MEASURE CUSTOMERS’ WILLINGNESS TO HAVE CONTROL AND THE CONTROL OFFERED BY SERVICE BUSINESSES

This study offers two new scales to be used by services marketing and management practitioners and academics.  The scales measure how much control a service customer prefers to have and how much control a service business offers in order to reduce or eliminate various types of risks.  Scales measure overall control required by a customer and the control offered by a service business based on the measurement of three types/dimensions of control (cognitive, behavioural and decisional). For the customer control scale data were collected from 384 service customers and for the service business control scale data were collected from 210 service customers. The internal consistency, discriminant validity, and convergent validity of each scale were assessed by means of item-total correlations, Cronbach's alpha, and comparison with other questionnaire items. Both of the control scales developed appear to have strong reliability and validit

THE POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS OF INDULGENCE AND RESTRAINT ON SERVICE ENCOUNTERS IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

This conceptual paper aims to explain and discuss the role and the potential of a relatively recently coined cultural dimension of indulgence vs. restraint on service encounters in tourism and hospitality.  Although the indulgence and restraint dimension may be significantly relevant for the tourism and hospitality sector, an investigation of tourism and hospitality journals shows that there is a clear lack of research on the topic. The study puts forward that indulgence-restraint dimension has important supply and demand side implications both from the point of customers and service staff

Neki biološki parametri trlje kamenjarke (Mullus surmuletus L.) iz Erdemitskog zaljeva, (Sjeverno Egejsko more, Turska)

Growth, sex ratio, and reproduction of striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus L.) were determined from 520 specimens collected in the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey from September 2009 to July 2010. Total length ranged from 7.7 to 17.0 cm while weight varied between 3.50 and 58.9 g. According to the length-weight relationship, positive allometry was confirmed for both sexes. The sex ratio was skewed in favour of males (1:1.73). The monthly values of gonadosomatic index (GSI) of females indicated that spawning occurred mainly between April and September with a peak in July. Values of Condition factor (CF) and Hepatosomatic index (HSI) varied between 0.71-1.57 and 0.10-1.43, respectively.Starost, rast i smrtnost trlje kamenjarke, (Mullus surmuletus L.) procijenjene su kod 520 jedinki prikupljenih na sjeverozapadnoj obali Egejskog mora, Erdemitski zaljev u Turskoj od rujna 2009. do srpnja 2010. Ukupna duljina jedinki je u rasponu od 7,7 do 17,0 cm, a masa je kolebala između 3,50 i 58,9 g. Prema dužinsko-težinskom odnosu, ustanovljena je pozitivna alometrija za oba spola. Omjer zastupljenosti spolova bio je u korist mužjaka (1: 1,73). Mjesečne vrijednosti gonadosomatskog indeksa (GSI) za ženke pokazuju da se mrijest obavlja posebice u razdoblju travanj - rujan, sa vrhuncem u srpnju. Vrijednosti kondicijskog faktora (CF) i hepatosomatskog indeksa (HSI) kolebali su između 0.71-1.57 i 0.10-1.43, respektivno

Age, growth and reproductive properties of an invasive species Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) (Cyprinidae) in the Ikizcetepeler Dam Lake (Balikesir), Turkey

Background and Purpose: The Prussian carp Carassius gibelio is well known as a hazardous fish species for native fish communities. Ikizcetepeler Dam Lake inhabits some fish species as Cyprinus carpio, Leuciscus cephalus, and Barbus species. The dam lake has major economic importance to the area for both fisheries and drinking water. The reason to select C. gibelio was due to the dominant species in stagnant and slow running waters and possible harmful interactions with native species. Materials and methods: A total of 480 specimens of C. gibelio were monthly collected by gill nets during a 1-year period from Ikizcetepeler Dam Lake. Age was determined from scales. Length-weight relationships, von Bertalanffy equation were used to estimated for growth. Sex were determined by macroscopic observation of gonads. Spawning period of this species was determined according to gonado-somatic index (%). Results: Females and males reached a maximum age groups of VI. Total length was 23.6–31.3 cm in females and 23.0–31.4 cm in males. The male and female ratio was 1:3.52 (M:F) in the favor of females. The Von Bertalanffy growth equations (in length) were found as Lt= 34.89.(1-e–0.11(t+7.66)), Lt= 32.09 (1-e–0.23(t+5.83)) for females and males, respectively. The estimated b values were given as 2.886 and 2.981 for females and males, respectively (b<3). The condition of the fish increased during early summer. Spawning period of this species occured between April and July. Conclusions: With a comparison of the relevant literature, the studied Prussian carp population was characterized by a shorter life span and more rapid growth during the first years of life. These can be considered as typical features of invasive species

A Multicriteria Analysis for the Green VRP: A Case Discussion for the Distribution Problem of a Spanish Retailer

[EN] This research presents the group of green vehicle routing problems with environmental costs translated into money versus production of noise, pollution and fuel consumption. This research is focused on multi-objective green logistics optimization. Optimality criteria are environmental costs: minimization of amount of money paid as externality cost for noise, pollution and costs of fuel versus minimization of noise, pollution and fuel consumption themselves. Some mixed integer programming formulations of multi-criteria vehicle routing problems have been considered. Mathematical models were formulated under assumption of existence of asymmetric distance-based costs and use of homogeneous fleet. The exact solution methods are applied for finding optimal solutions. The software used to solve these models is the CPLEX solver with AMPL programming language. The researchers were able to use real data from a Spanish company of groceries. Problems deal with green logistics for routes crossing the Spanish regions of Navarre, Basque Country and La Rioja. Analyses of obtained results could help logistics managers to lead the initiative in area of green logistics by saving money paid for environmental costs as well as direct cost of fuel and minimization of pollution and noise.This work has been partially supported by the National Research Center (NCN), Poland (DEC-2013/11/B/ST8/04458), by AGH, and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (TRA2013-48180-C3-P and TRA2015-71883-REDT), and the Ibero-American Program for Science and Technology for Development (CYTED2014-515RT0489). Likewise, we want to acknowledge the support received by the CAN Foundation in Navarre, Spain (Grants CAN2014-3758 and CAN2015-70473)Sawik, B.; Faulin, J.; Pérez Bernabeu, E. (2017). A Multicriteria Analysis for the Green VRP: A Case Discussion for the Distribution Problem of a Spanish Retailer. Transportation Research Procedia. 22:305-313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2017.03.037S3053132

Türkiye’de bulunan yoğun bakımlarda sabun, kağıt havlu ve alkol bazlı el dezenfektanı yeterli mi?: Phokai çalışması sonuçları

Introduction: Hand hygiene is one of the most effective infection control measures to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HCAI). Water, soap, paper towel and hand disinfectant must be available and adequate in terms of effective hand hygiene. The adequacy of hand hygiene products or keeping water-soap and paper towel is still a problem for many developing countries like Turkey. In this multicenter study, we analyzed the adequacy in number and availability of hand hygiene products.Materials and Methods: This study was performed in all intensive care units (ICUs) of 41 hospitals (27 tertiary-care educational, 10 state and four private hospitals) from 22 cities located in seven geographical regions of Turkey. We analyzed water, soap, paper towel and alcohol-based hand disinfectant adequacy on four different days, two of which were in summer during the vacation time (August, 27th and 31st 2016) and two in autumn (October, 12th and 15th 2016).Results: The total number of ICUs and intensive care beds in 41 participating centers were 214 and 2357, respectively. Overall, there was no soap in 3-11% of sinks and no paper towel in 10-18% of sinks while there was no alcohol-based hand disinfectant in 1-4.7% of hand disinfectant units on the observation days. When we compared the number of sinks with soap and/or paper towel on weekdays vs. weekends, there was no significant difference in summer. However, on autumn weekdays, the number of sinks with soap and paper towel was significantly lower on weekend days (p<0.0001, p<0.0001) while the number of hand disinfectant units with alcohol-based disinfectant was significantly higher (p<0.0001).Conclusion: There should be adequate and accessible hand hygiene materials for effective hand hygiene. In this study, we found that soap and paper towels were inadequate on the observation days in 3-11% and 10-18% of units, respectively. Attention should be paid on soap and paper towel supply at weekends as well