The paper is based on the assumption that quality service is a factor in achieving competitive advantage and positioning on the tourist market of agency business, and that quality is achieved through ...a series of relationships in the tourist-employee relationship. If the employee treats the tourist with respect, provides accurate and reliable information and exceeds the tourist's expectations with the service provided, he will get a loyal guest who will, based on the "word of mouth " system, spread positive experiences to the others, so they will also become clients of the agency. If we look at tourism as a "factory" of experiences, it is clear that for an extremely positive experience, it is necessary that every link in the series of providing a complex tourist service is of high quality. The first in a series of links is certainly the tourist agency. The modified SERVQUAL model led to the conclusion that tourists who traveled with the Asturs agency received adequate "value for money", that is, that the service provided by the agency was of better quality than expected.
PurposeThe starting premise of this study is that women's empowerment is the goal for self-realization and that the support that comes from local tourism stakeholders represents an adequate base. In ...many rural areas, women have established self-help groups (SHGs), which facilitate the interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of SHGs on female entrepreneurship and self-employment in tourism.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the research question, this study adopted a quantitative research that included a sample of 513 women in a less-advanced rural area in Serbia. For the data analysis, the generalized linear regression model (GLM) was used.FindingsAccording to the results, self-employment is the leading goal of women's empowerment.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation in the research and the authors’ suggestion for future research is to increase the sample size of female respondents, so examination of their attitudes and role in the travel business in their local settings might reach higher significance. The second issue that the authors would like to point out is a highly local character of our study, so the future research should involve other rural areas in the country and from abroad (e.g. similar undeveloped countryside with noticeable, active women's role in local entrepreneurship).Practical implicationsThe most important practical implications of this paper are twofold: (1) the results of the research have shown that the tourist potential of rural areas can be enhanced through local tourism stakeholders' support; (2) women without professional interest or jobs in rural areas, especially in the areas where the population is traditionally dominated by men (husband/brother/father), have a chance to earn and to be economically more independent. This research can affect future studies to investigate other aspects of empowerment depending on the difference of regions, from one side, and also alternative opportunities for tourism and local development in less-advanced rural areas, from another side.Originality/valueThe study analyzes the tourism potential of the rural areas (which are less advanced and mostly very poor in developing countries, such as Serbia). In this case, there are opportunities to increase employment, social inclusion of women, development of new tourism strategies, implementation of destination marketing, etc. Moreover, it contributes to future research in the field of stakeholders in tourism strategies.
Forest fires that occurred in Portugal on June 18, 2017, caused several tens of human casualties. The cause of their emergence, as well as many others that occurred in western Europe at the same time ...remained unknown. Taking into account consequences, including loss of human lives and endangerment of ecosystem sustainability, discovering of the forest fires causes is the very significant question. The heliocentric hypothesis has indirectly been tested, according to which charged particles are a possible cause of forest fires. We must point out that it was not possible to verify whether in this specific case the particles by reaching the ground and burning the plant mass create the initial phase of the formation of the flame. Therefore, we have tried to determine whether during the critical period, i. e. from June 15-19 there is a certain statistical connection between certain parameters of the solar wind and meteorological elements. Based on the hourly values of the charged particles flow, a correlation analysis was performed with hourly values of individual meteorological elements including time lag at Monte Real station. The application of the Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System models has shown that there is a high degree of connection between the flow of protons and the analyzed meteorological elements in Portugal. However, further verification of this hypothesis requires further laboratory testing.
nema
The Fruška Gora National Park has one of the biggest sport and recreational potentials in Vojvodina, Serbia. Because of its favorable natural and geographical features Fruška Gora National Park. ...Since sports and recreational tourism is of growing importance in the tourism industry, the evaluation method to create a high quality tourism product becomes inevitable. Empirical research conducted on a sample of 304 respondents was aimed at showing the existing potentials of Fruška Gora National Park related to sport and recreational tourism. The interviews with experts from the Provincial Secretariat for Environmental Protection, the National Park and the Cycling Association of Vojvodina helped the SWOT analysis of sport and recreational tourism on Fruška Gora National Park.
This study assessed local residents' attitudes in Serbia toward the impact of agritourism in their surroundings, using a Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS). Till now, analysis of the impact of ...tourism on the attitudes of residents in rural areas of Serbia and other Balkan transitional countries is insufficiently researched. The analyzed items of the TIAS were grouped into four factors: personal and community benefits (grouped eight items); negative impacts (seven items); concern for the local tourism development (five items); and general opinion about tourism development (three items). The factors explain 47.47% of the variance. Furthermore, the results showed that residents consider the possibility to have more money to spend as the most important impact of tourism development. It is followed by the support of local authorities to promote tourism development. The third relevant issue for the residents is related with encouragement of tourism in the local community. These are the key propositions to start an initiative for the local communities to actively participate in agritourism development. The results provide residents, tourism organizers and local authorities with important community perceptions pertaining to the agritourism's impact. Keywords: agritourism, Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS), residents' attitudes, rural area, Serbia.
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