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Understanding the factors that contribute to tourism competitiveness in developing economies is essential for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers, as these countries still struggle to fully capitalize on their tourism potential. The residents' perspective, often overlooked in Tourism Destination Competitiveness (TDC) models, is crucial because they are the primary stakeholders who directly experience the consequences of tourism activities in their daily lives. Their positive attitudes can contribute to a welcoming and friendly environment, enhancing the competitiveness of the destination in the global tourism market. Up to now, there have been a few studies that relate residents' attitudes to tourism destination competitiveness. However, none have focused on developing a tailor-made model for measuring residents' perspectives on TDC. To develop such a specific model and contribute to the existing theory in this area, our research applied a multi-step approach, including a literature review of existing models, pilot testing for indicator selection, and model validation through CFA. The data were collected through a survey of residents in Serbia, chosen as an example of a developing country. The final model of the study consists of five factors: Natural and Cultural Resources, Quality of Tourist Offer and Infrastructure, Situational Framework of Tourism Development and Management, Destination Perception and Experience, and Pollution, containing 32 indicators. Practical applicability of the model and theoretical contributions are discussed in the paper, as well as the TDC evaluation for Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic, the foodservice industry has had to modify the way it offers its services. The aim of this paper is to examine the drivers of intention to use and recommendation of online food delivery (OFD) using the SOR model, to analyze the perceived risk of COVID-19 and its relationship with the perceived risk for online purchase of OFD as well as to analyze the cultural effect between Spain and India. For this purpose, an online questionnaire was developed by obtaining a sample of 422 users and structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to determine which variables had a significant influence on the adoption of the OFD. The results confirm that attitude is the main antecedent of intention to use and recommendation, in contrast to the subjective norm relationships, where it was only confirmed by recommendation. This finding demonstrates how individuals' attitude toward intention and recommendation is more favorable than influence of third parties on decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic appears to be winding down. But has its psychological effect of the pandemic also faded? This next stage remains uncertain, which needs to be explored further. This article aims to understand changing consumer attitudes in post‐pandemic times. In this regard, the present study conducts a cross‐country analysis to examine and compare the COVID‐19 fear appeals of consumers in India and Spain (if they still exist) that may have an influence on the future use (FU) and recommendation of online food services (OFS). The study integrates the concept of fear appeal, the theory of planned behaviour and cultural values to observe differences between Indian and Spanish consumers, in influencing their intention to use OFS. The findings confirm the importance of hygiene risk, with very low or no significance of perceived COVID‐19 risk on OFS usage in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the motivations behind Generation Z's attendance at conferences and aims to contribute to a better understanding of their conference-participation behavior. The study identified six latent factors that influence conference-attendance motivation: green and digital conference experience, educational and professional opportunities, conference costs, destination and conference stimuli, stimulating factors, and conference accessibility. These factors align with Generation Z's unique characteristics and preferences, such as their environmental consciousness, their reliance on digital technologies, and their desire for continuous learning, career advancement, and experiences. The study also found that destination characteristics and educational and professional opportunities are significant motivators for conference attendance by members of Generation Z across different cultural contexts. Additionally, their strong interest in sustainability and financial challenges highlights the need for eco-friendly practices and affordable registration fees to make conferences more appealing and accessible. The study further explores the impact of socio-demographic characteristics, revealing gender and past-conference-attendance differences in motivation. Finally, the study discusses the implications of its findings for the conference industry and suggests areas for future research to enhance the understanding of conference-attendance motivation among members of Generation Z. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) is an initiative that promotes European cultural diversity with the aim of economic, cultural, and social revitalization. Measuring complex impacts is a constant challenge for both practitioners and academia. Thus, the paper presents a comprehensive impact assessment framework (iECoC) quantified through an integral aggregation operator based on a novel use of fuzzy measure (Choquet integral). The iECoC results in a single number, but has an inherent value of reviling its segmented structure, which separately depicts the impact on three segments: culture, economy, and community, thus providing insights into trends for sectoral decision-making. The impact is measured in three years span on the example of Novi Sad—European Capital of Culture 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many technologically driven societies currently experience a "pandemic of loneliness". The purpose of this viewpoint paper is to conceptualize loneliness as a persistent and widespread issue among consumers that has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly spills over into the travel and tourism domain. This issue creates many challenges for smart tourism design as it implies changed consumer perspectives on smart tourism and needs for smart tourist experiences. This viewpoint paper is based on a review of relevant academic literature and online resources regarding the issue of loneliness, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential solutions in smart tourism settings. Loneliness has been completely overlooked by the smart tourism research agenda despite its tremendous implications for engagement, value co-creation, and the need for experience enhancement. This viewpoint paper proposes a framework for designing a loneliness-sensitive smart tourism ecosystem (LoSSTE). The purpose of this paper is to start a debate on how to mobilize smart tourism research for combating loneliness in the post-pandemic era and to outline areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tour guide performance has been a hotly debated academic topic, owing to the critical role they play in facilitating a variety of tourist experiences. Similarly, museum tour guides are the initial point of contact for tourists and have a substantial impact on the total visitor experience, but their performance is far less investigated. Visitors' satisfaction and behavior intentions are inextricably linked to museum guide performances in this case. The purpose of this research was to implement and test a well-established scale for assessing tour guide performance in the museum context. Moreover, the aim was also to single out and discuss museum guide types based on their performances. The research was conducted during May and June 2021 on a sample of 255 visitors from five museums in Serbia. The data were processed by SPSS, R and RStudio. The results indicate the existence of five museum guide types: Classic Professional, Agile Empath, Operational Erudite, Trustworthy Caretaker, and Passionate Socializer. The study explores sociodemographic differences in visitors' evaluations of tour guide performances and gives theoretical and managerial implication for each museum guide type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to explore a tourist preference towards information-communication technologies (ICTs) use at large-scale events, as well as disadvantages of insufficient ICTs implementation. In addition, we highlighted the importance of ICT usage on large-scale events for achieving smart tourism agenda. The importance and performance analysis of 38 attributes related to usage of ICTs at EXIT, a well-known European music festival held annually in Novi Sad (Serbia), was conducted. By employing an exploratory factor analysis, seven factors were extracted. The results show that the "level of smartness" of EXIT festival is relatively low. Furthermore, some advanced smart applications do not necessarily match tourists' needs and interests, while festival organizers should focus on more basic online information access. Festival should make an optimal use of smart tourism facilities by offering the right smart tourism devices and services, enabling tourists to meet smart technologies on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cycling tourism is a rapidly developing type of tourism in Europe and it is recognised in the tourism strategic documents of the Republic of Serbia as one of the key tourist products that should be developed specifically in the Danube region. This paper aimed to examine residents' perceptions towards cycling tourism on the Danube cycle route in Serbia using the modified Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS). In addition, a multiple regression model was used to test the effects of the independent variables on residents' perceptions towards cycling tourism development. The research findings indicate that residents have a favourable attitude towards cycling tourism, which is in the initial phase of development in the study area, and that the independent variables are predictors of residents' perceptions. Implications for tourism development and planning are discussed and future research opportunities provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The main objective of the research is to examine, for the first time, the influence of dimensions of culture according to the GLOBE model on the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation. The research sample belongs to the service sector within the transitional society of Serbia, i.e. tourism and medical sector, which are linked through the ever-growing health tourism industry. Different influences of dimensions of culture (uncertainty avoidance, performance orientation, group collectivism, assertiveness and gender equality) on dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (work ethic. innovativeness, empathy, autonomy and risk readiness) are confirmed. The obtained results are important for defining the cultural framework which influences the development of entrepreneurial activities within tourism and health service sectors in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business travel, as the sector with the fastest growth in the tourism industry globally, has received increased attention from both countries and cities, particularly from emerging destinations. In developing economies, business travel, including attending meetings, conferences, incentives and other business events, often plays a leading role in the growth of the wider travel and tourism sector. Therefore, tourism authorities and convention bureaus at the national and city levels have been struggling to attract international conferences and a larger number of participants to conferences. Understanding factors, which appear to be important in the conference participation decision-making process, can help conference organizers and destinations to attract more participants and thus gain more benefit from this growing sector of the tourism industry. Therefore, this study aims to examine factors affecting the conference participation decision-making from the academics' perspective. Furthermore, it investigates how different socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents influence the extracted factors of the conference participation decision-making process. The data was collected from the academics employed at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. The findings reveal six dimensions of conference participation decision-making: destination stimuli, costs and destination accessibility, educational and professional opportunities, intervening opportunities, location factors, and conference factors. The results also show that there are statistically significant differences in some extracted factors between respondents of different gender, age, education level, and academic position, while the frequency of participation in international conferences does not influence the factors. The results could be of interest to all stakeholders in the business travel and tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the literature on tourism destination competitiveness from different aspects, focusing on comparative and competitive advantages. Also, the paper highlights the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in tourism destinations and their increasing impact on the achievement of destination competitiveness. Thanks to the wider application of ICTs in tourism, tourists nowadays are well informed and have access to global market which creates a new dynamic environment by creating a smart demand. Since smartness emphasizes on ICT-based tools, including smartness integration for value co-creation, it can increase and enhance destination competitiveness. In this regard, special emphasis is placed on exploring the core components of smartness and smart tourism destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to provide an empirical study of employees' ethical behavior in travel and tourism industry. A survey research was done in 2012 in the Republic of Serbia among employees in travel agencies as one of the most important subjects in heterogeneous structure of travel and tourism industry, using a questionnaire designed according to the basic theoretical principles of professional ethics. Dealing with the issue of ethical responsibility of employees in travel agencies, this work examines whether employees have business ethics awareness and what kind of individual and corporate social responsibility as part of business environment is undertaken in this regard. The findings of the study showed that employees of travel agencies are ready to act in an ethical manner, although it is the opposite of management attitudes in specific situations. Finally, the paper provides a critical evaluation of entrepreneurial activities and obstacles that travel agencies encounter while operating in the Serbian economy in transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constantly changing nature of social network sites creates the need for continuous process of online benchmarking for identifying practices used by other parties. Facebook as the most used SNS still plays an increasingly important role as a marketing channel for destination marketing organizations (DMO). This paper explores basic characteristics of the official DMO Facebook Pages in order to quantify and present those characteristics in a regional context on the case of two travel markets (EU countries and U.S. states). The results show inconsistent practices in the EU and the USA. When comparing those two markets most similarities in practices are present in general usage of Facebook Pages, while indicative differences are recorded in terms of Page popularity, some posts' characteristics and most evidently in users' engagement. Understanding the Facebook usage practice under the regional spotlight can help DMOs and other service providers to evaluate their activities and if necessary to harmonize it to regional usage practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the underlying dimensions of destination competitiveness, analyzing the contributions of government and industry stakeholders in enhancing the competitive position of Serbia on the international tourism market. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to explore latent dimensionality of “destination competitiveness” among 48 competitiveness attributes evaluated by experts from the public and private sectors of Serbia’s tourism industry. Results show that Serbian competitiveness structure comprises five dimensions: risk management and adaptive environmental strategies, innovation and product development, planning for sustainable development, networking and community concern, and education for sustainability. The research identifies challenges and suggests areas where private and public linkages should be strengthened in order to enhance the competitiveness of Serbia’s tourism industry. Generically, the study advances our understanding of destination competitiveness, its multidimensional nature, and the implications for policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial autocorrelation methodologies can be used to reveal patterns and temporal changes of different spatial variables, including tourism arrivals. The research adopts a GIS-based approach to spatially analyse tourist arrivals in Serbia, using Global Moran's I and Anselin's Local Moran's I statistics applied on the level of municipalities. To assess feasibility of this approach the article discusses spatial changes of tourist arrivals in order to identify potentially significant trends of interest for tourism development policy in Serbia. There is a significant spatial inequality in the distribution of tourism arrivals in Serbia that is not adequately addressed in tourism development plans. The results of global autocorrelation suggest the existence of low and decreasing spatial clustering for domestic tourist arrivals and high, relatively stable spatial clustering for international tourists. Local autocorrelation statistics revealed different of domestic and international tourism arrivals. In order to assess feasibility of this approach these results are discussed in their significance to tourism development policy in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]