Tourist spending and productivity of economy in OECD countries – Research on perspectives of sustainable tourism

Tourism represents the sector of services which is developing the most considerably and dynamically. However, its development is influenced by: trends in globalization, process of demographic aging, economic parameters, geographical conditions of a country, consumers, and other aspects. The following aspects contribute to its development: new destinations, markets, innovative activities in service sector, and also technological development. Tourism plays a significant economic role in a process of sustainable regional development, where it helps to develop low-growth regions. Monitoring and quantification of tourism outputs is a very complicated process. There also absents a quality database, which complicates a quantification of sector’s efficiency and a creation of national and international benchmarking indicators that inform of sustainable tourism level. These aspects demand a realization of multi-dimensional analyses, which would examine causal relations between tourism factors and economic parameters of a country. The study’s moti vation was driven by all of the above-mentioned facts. It aims at researching an influence of tourism spending on OECD countries’ productivity. Consequently, it evaluates their potential of the sector’s sustainability. Multiple analytical procedures, which were determined by database availability, were performed in order to achieve the, research aim. The following analyses were performed besides the descriptive statistics: variance analysis of researched variables between individual years and OECD countries, context analysis, regression and cluster analyses. There were analysed 5 variables that characterize individual types of tourist spending: Business Tourism Spending, Domestic Tourism Spending, Leisure Tourism Spending, Outbound Travel & Tourism Expenditure, Visitor Exports (Foreign Spending) and one variable that characterizes productivity during 2010 – 2018 for all OECD countries. Spending variables were standardized per 1,000 inhabitants of a given country and productivity was measured by GDP per capita, while both groups of variables were provided in USD (fair value). The analyses’ results provided interesting findings. The regression models’ outputs confirmed an influence of tourist spending on a country’s productivity. All variables that indicate spending are significant. The cluster analysis’s results allowed a selection of countries into four groups. There is two huge clusters and other two clusters represent only one countries in specific cluster. Luxemburg and Iceland give us different values than countries in other clusters. The countries with higher rank are as follows: Australia (AUS), Austria (AUT), Belgium (BEL), Canada (CAN), Germany (DEU), Denmark (DNK), Finland (FIN), France (FRA), Unites Kingdom (GBR), Switzerland (CHE), Ireland (IRL), Italy (ITA), Netherland (NLD), Norway (NOR), New Zealand (NZL), Sweden (SWE), United States (USA), Island (ISL) and Luxembourg (LUX). On the other hand, the countries with lower rank are as follows: Czech Republic CZE, Spain (ESP), Estonia (EST), Greece (GRC), Hungary (HUN), Chile (CHL), Israel (ISR), Japan (JPN), Korea (KOR), Lithuania (LTU), Latvia (LVA), Mexico (MEX), Poland (POL), Portugal (PRT), Slovak Republic (SVK), Slovenia (SVN) and Turkey (TUR). These findings provide a space for a deeper research of effect between determinants of tourism development and economic indicators, while they enable to reveal a space for a growth of countries’ productivity that would provide a sustainability in tourism sector. © Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center. All rights reserved

Gender inequalities in health and their effect on the economic prosperity represented by the GDP of selected developed countries—empirical study

The objective is to evaluate the relations between gender health inequalities and economic prosperity in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The groups included health indicators in the specification of men, women and gender inequalities: Life expectancy, causes of mortality and avoidable mortality. The variable determining the economic prosperity was represented by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The analytical processing included descriptive analysis, analysis of differences and analysis of relationships. The regression analysis was presented as the main output of the research. Most of the significant gender differences in health showed a more positive outcome for women. It is possible to identify a certain relation between gender health inequalities and economic prosperity. If there is some reduction in gender inequalities in health, the economic prosperity will increase. The reduction seems to be more effective on the part of men than women. The output of the cluster analysis showed the relations of indicators evaluating the inequalities and the prosperity. The countries such as Luxembourg, Norway or Switzerland showed very positive outputs, on the other hand, the countries with a potential for the improvement are Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. Overall, the policies should focus on reducing the inequalities in avoidable mortality as well as reducing the frequent diseases in younger people. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Slovak Research and Development AgencySlovak Research and Development Agency [APVV-17-0166

Comparison of influence of selected viral advertising attributes on shopping behavior of Millennials - Empirical study

The study aims to evaluate the impact of selected factors of viral campaigns on Millennials customers' consumer behavior. This goal was achieved in two steps: in the first step, the authors determined the impact of selected attributes on purchasing behavior in general, and in the second step, they compared the impact of the selected research campaigns - the guerrilla campaign of the company 4KA and the viral campaign of the company ABSOLUT. The inputs to the analyses were obtained through answers from 360 respondents, which completed the questionnaire on a sample of Millennials customers generation (1975-2000) - social generation, which collaborate and cooperate, expect technology to simply work for adventure and passionate about values (Smith, Nichols, 2015). The survey part of the questionnaire consisted of 8 attributes (Novelty, Relevance, Aesthetics, Clarity, Humor, Emotion arousal, Surprise, Design, Purchase intention). Data were collected based on participants' availability and their will to participate in the questionnaire and quota selection. The PLS PM method was used to assess the impact, and the bootstrap-based parametric method was used to assess the difference in the impact. One of the most important findings is that attributes such as Novelty, Relevance, Humor, and Surprise significantly affect purchasing behavior. Concerning the company 4KA, significant impacts were seen in Relevance and Surprise, and with the company ABSOLUT, significant impacts were seen in Relevance, Humor, and Surprise. When analyzing the difference in the impact, there were no significant differences between the campaigns. © Martin Mudrik, Martin Rigelsky, Beata Gavurova, Radovan Bacik, Richard Fedorko, 2020

An economic view of the innovation potential, the tendencies of smoking in the developed countries and the importance of marketing in this field

Smoking, as one of the main causes, is a negative factor associated with many diseases. The primary objective of the research is to determine the effect of innovation on selected smoking indicators in a sample of countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Four variables enter the analytical processing, such as Global Innovation Index, Population ratio of daily smokers (age 15+), Daily smokers (age 15-24), and Tobacco consumption in grams per capita (age 15+). These variables were included in the research from 2011 to 2018. The simple linear regression - the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model - and correlation analysis - Spearman's rank correlation - was used for statistical processing. The results show that the effect of innovation on the ratio of daily smokers over the age of 15 to the total population may be considered a highly significant relationship. The effect on the annual tobacco consumption per capita is the second most significant relationship, and the effect on the ratio of daily smokers over 15 and under 24 years to the total population is the least significant compared to the previous two cases. Correlation analysis shows similar outputs. All these relationships may be considered negative. It is possible to talk about the lost innovation potential associated with smoking, primarily in the productive part of the population. A higher level of smoking can be associated with a lower level of innovation. Also, innovation negatively affects the tendency to smoke. Therefore, public policies should promote a healthy lifestyle. © 2020 LLC CPC Business Perspectives. All rights reserved

Relationships between road transport indicators and expenditure of visitors in the context of European countries’ tourism competitiveness

Research background: Transport represents a dynamic element in the tourism system. In recent decades, transport has been a subject of research mainly from the point of view of the sustainability of the economic systems and the environmental aspects. Purpose of the article: This study aimed to quantify the relationships between the selected indicators of road transport development and the expenditure of tourism visitors in the select-ed European countries in the context of the development of their competitiveness. Methods: The road transport indicators were applied in the research trajectories: density of road (DNST), hare of road infrastructure investment (SH INF), share of motorways (SH MANY), and indicators of visitor expenditure for business (BTS), leisure (LTS), domestic (DTS) and foreign (VEFS) tourism. In the first phase of the analyses, the countries of the European part of the OECD (N = 27; period of 2010-2018) were divided into two clusters based on the development index (HDI) and the innovation index (GII) through the cluster analysis. The two groups were created - more and less developed countries. The results of the analysis of differ-ences declare that there are differences between these groups in the DNST, SH INF, BTS, LTS, and DTS indicators. The correlation and regression analysis methods were applied to quantify the relationships between the variables. Findings & value added: The difference between the groups of the countries was also shown in the relationships between the road transport development indicators and visitor spending. In more developed countries, the relationship between the traffic indicators on BTS and DTS was significant. In less developed countries, significant relationships were identified with LST and VEFS. This finding underscores regional disparities and cautions against assuming that what policy guidelines from developed countries will be effective in less developed ones. Therefore, when designing improvement policies, it is vital to consider countries in terms of their level of development

Impact of gender inequalities in the causes of mortality on the competitiveness of OECD countries

The aim of the present study is to quantify the relations between gender inequalities in mortality by selected causes of mortality and between competitiveness of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Data for the analyses were obtained from OECD databases and the World Economic Forum (Global Competitiveness Index), for the years 2011–2016, for all 36 countries. The methods of descriptive analysis, analysis of differences in causes of mortality by gender characteristics, regression analysis, relationship analysis of gender inequalities in causes of mortality and competitiveness, and cluster analysis were used for the statistical data processing. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that gender inequality occurs in most of the examined mortality groups of diagnoses, while it was most significant in the case of mortality due to neoplasms. The impacts of mortality on competitiveness are significant. In assessing gender inequalities in causes of mortality, significant impacts were seen in most mortality causes, but the most significant impact was identified within mortality due to neoplasms. Emphasis should be placed on men when reducing inequalities. Health and health equity should be supported by national governments, and health equity should be one of the key performance indicators of the country. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.RVO 2020 internal grant scheme of the Tomas Bata University in Zli

Differences in financial performance between various categories of hotels in the visegrad group countries

Under market economy, financial health of businesses is one of the main determinants in achieving business objectives and building a competitive advantage. The objective of the study is to evaluate differences in the selected financial indicators across the categories of hotels in the Visegrad Group countries. This objective was achieved by testing these differences in the selected financial indicators (CF, EVA, ROE, ROCE, ROA, ROS and many others) for various hotel categories (two-to five-star hotels). Hotel category data (stars) were collected from Booking.com, financial outcomes were obtained directly from the financial statements of the analysed hotels. Testing of differences was carried out by non-parametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis test, Wilcoxon test). Statistically significant differences were found in CF, EVA, ROS, Profit margin, EBITDA margin, EBIT margin, Solvency ratio Asset, Turnover time, Current Liabilities Turnover. The outputs of the analyses reveal that hotels of a higher category show better financial outputs. Therefore, in order to increase their financial performance, lower category hotels should be inspired and focused on the activities of higher category hotels. The study points to the fact that the variable of hotel category should be taken into account in any analytical processes focused on the financial health of hotels. © Foundation of International Studies, 2020

Relationships between perceived stress, depression and alcohol use disorders in university students during the covid-19 pandemic: A socio-economic dimension

The objective of the study was to examine the effects of perceived stress on depression and subsequently to examine the effects of depression on alcohol use disorders. The data were obtained by an electronic questionnaire survey during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n = 1523 Slovak university students). Descriptive, regression, and correlation analysis were used in the analytical processing, while the analyses included students’ scores in three diagnostic tools (Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Patient Health Questionnaire for depression (PHQ 9), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)), as well as gender and income characteristics. The PSS identified an increased level of perceived stress in female students, while in contrast, the AUDIT showed an increased level of alcohol use disorders in male students. Differences in mental and behavioural disorders between the gender and income categories were significant in most of the analysed cases. In terms of gender-income characteristics, it was possible to confirm a significant positive effect of the PSS score on the PHQ 9 score, as well as a significant positive effect of the PHQ 9 score on the AUDIT score. As a result, efforts to reduce stress will be reflected in a reduction of depressive disorders as well as a reduction of excessive alcohol consumption among students. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Internal Grant Agency of FaME Tomas Bata University in Zli

Fatal injuries and economic development in the population sample of Central and Eastern European Countries: the perspective of adolescents

Objectives: Researches consider the young generation (adolescents) to be the population group whose mortality from injury has the lowest effect on economic growth. The objective was to evaluate the relations between economic indicators and preventable injury mortality in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), with a primary focus on adolescents. Methods: The analyses included health indicators of preventable injury mortality and economic indicators that represent human development and economic growth in the CEECs from 1990 to 2016. The analytical process involved a population group divided by age (0–14 years: children, 15–24 years: adolescents, 25–74 years: adults) and gender. Descriptive analysis, cluster analysis and primarily panel regression analysis were used. Results: Significant effects of economic indicators on drowning were found in all analysed relations. In the group of adolescents, significant effects of fatal falls were found. Overall, it can be concluded that the effects of fatal injuries are not homogenous between age and gender groups. Conclusions: The effects of years and individual countries should be taken into account in the cross-sectional analyses. In terms of economic growth, public policies should focus on drowning in children, on falls in adolescents and on transport accidents, fire injuries and poisoning in adults. © 2020, The Author(s).Internal Grant Agency of FaME Tomas Bata University in Zlin: RVO/2020; Development of Psychological Sciences at Charles University in Prague in the Theory and Practice of Intervention, Prevention, and Treatment [Q06/LF1

Knowledge and technological innovations in the context of tourists' spending in OECD countries

Tourism is one of those segments where the effect of implemented innovations tends to show relatively quickly. The presented study aims to assess the links between knowledge and technological innovation and tourists' spending in a sample of developed countries. To this end, the research relied on annual data (2010-2019) from selected OECD countries (n = 36). Data presenting the innovation potential (Knowledge & technology Global Innovation Index) of selected countries (knowledge creation, impact of knowledge, and knowledge diffusion) was included in the analyzes. Four indicators represented tourism: Business Tourism Spending, Leisure Tourism Spending, Domestic Tourism Spending, Visitor Exports -Foreign spending. The panel regression analysis showed that demonstrable links were proved only for some assumptions, while the identified effects acquired negative trajectories, i.e., in countries where higher tourist spending was identified, lower outputs of innovation activities in the examined areas can be expected. In addition, significant negative links were discovered between the indicators of the creation of knowledge and visitor exports, as well as the dissemination of knowledge and domestic tourism spending. For more accurate results, further analyzes and examinations of interconnections in a different country structure are needed