Fulltext search in archive

A Hungarian city will be designated as the European Capital of Culture in 2023. The series of programmes are designed to show the multi-colour European culture, accordingly, the cultural values and cultural dimensions of the cities are in the focus. Several cities take part in the competition in the customary way by submitting their tender documentation within the framework of a pre-selection procedure. Győr, Veszprém and Debrecen proved to be the most probable candidate cities to win in Hungary, they were chosen to enter the second round of the selection procedure. Although the focus of intense attention usually falls on the cultural programmes planned for the project year, the period of the competition itself is also regarded an exciting phase of the project, since this is the period when candidate cities are expected to give an account of their plans, moreover, they are also expected to outline their projected development conception in the field of culture and their cultural potentials. The present study aims to analyse and confront the plans of three Hungarian cities that were selected to enter the second round of the competition and, consequently, it also intends to explore the visions, the strengths and weaknesses of the Hungarian cities of outstanding cultural ambitions mainly via factors denoted in figures. Today we know, that the winning city became Veszprém. Although based on the quantitative data we saw the other two cities as more likely to win, due to a number of qualitative as well as subjective factors, the city of Veszprém proved to be better during the selection procedure. We do not want to override the decision; we only outline an analytical framework for the cultural comparison of our culturally ambitious Hungarian cities.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are developing rapidly, but the deeper understanding of tourists' attitudes towards AVs is still little explored in social sciences. Bearing this in mind, this study aims to identify the expected changes in tourism arising from the technology, and the openness towards AV-based tourism services. For this, an online data collection (n = 671) has been completed among Hungarian tourists. Prior to the data collection, a literature review was conducted to identify and categorise the changes expected from the spread of AVs. Based on the empirical results, tourists would be willing to give up control to the AVs in a foreign environment, and so to pay more attention to the surroundings. The majority of respondents would be also open to participating in AI-based city tours, especially those with the "Extraversion" and "Openness to Experiences" personality types, based on the Big Five Theory. The findings can serve as a basis for practitioners in preparing for the technology and for the further analysis of attitudes towards tourism-based AV services (e.g., modeling of technology acceptance).

Rural tourism seems to be an appropriate means of revitalizing abandoned rural areas and ensuring their sustainability in the future through job preservation or job creation. The Vojvodina Province (Northern Serbia) has very good resource potentials in rural tourism, but in order for rural tourist products to become competitive, it is necessary to work on the segmentation of the tourism market or consumer profiling. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the profiles of tourists, motivational factors that most influence the choice of rural tourism. The research was conducted in the traditional rural surroundings, on a sample of 491 respondents. A modified questionnaire was used, in which the basic motives were grouped into six market segments, and based on CFA analysis, in the software, SPSS Amos, version 21.00, the authors confirmed the hypothetical structure of factors, and the causal relationship of manifest variables and latent dimension rural tourism. More precisely, it has been established what the key motives that identify rural tourism in Vojvodina are. The research results showed that rest, or relaxation in nature with learning, are the main motives for visiting rural areas of Vojvodina. By segmenting the tourist users of rural tourism, it was determined that most of those tourists come for relaxation.

Ethics do not appear from the vacuum. Researchers estimate ethics intuitively. At the same time, there is no quantitative approach for measuring the overall background of ethics in the community. This research aims to present a quantitative process for measuring the general level of ethics in societies.
This research aims at presenting a quantitative index of ethics. Researchers can quickly reproduce the results of this index, and it grants the understandability of its main components and the potential for applications. The suggested global index of ethics (ETPI - Ethics Perception Index) creates the basis for further quantitative analysis of the levels of ethics in each region of different countries by RETPI (Regional ETPI). This paper suggests it is crucial to apply a quantitative measure of ethics that is valid for countries and regions.
It is the first global and regional index of ethics, upon the best we know. The basis for the estimation of the ethics index is the evaluation of the components related to corruption, economic freedoms, human development, education, human rights, and environmental issues (the depletion of natural resources and other parameters). In addition, this research represents the method for an ordinal estimation of the level of ethics within different subregions. Such evaluation allows comparing different countries and regions in terms of the development of ethics. It is the first global and regional index of ethics, upon the best we know.

The hospitality industry plays a significant role in regional development as its services are a prerequisite for tourism growth, which on the premises of sustainability has become a major contributor to socio-economic growth. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry has been continuously struggling with high employee turnover and a significant "within" and "out of" labour mobility, regardless of the phase of the business cycle, time, or geographical region. This could be reasoned by employees historically viewing offered jobs in the hospitality industry as low-paid, with little or no promotion possibilities, giving the employees little or no room for self-development and realization of their full potential as human beings, and thus "labelled" as low social status jobs; yet seasonal, stressful, time demanding, and monotonous. Therefore, drawing upon Carroll's (2015, 2016) four-dimensional concept of corporate social responsibility, this study, using a set of multiple regression analyses, empirically examines the effect of each dimension (economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic) on hospitality industry employees' attitudes and behaviour such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which eventually lead to lowering employees' turnover intentions. The sample under analysis (n = 411) was collected from employees of 24 small- or medium-size lodging enterprises located in Prague, as the small- to medium-size businesses are the "backbone" of local economies. Results indicate a significant influence of corporate social responsibility on the above-mentioned employees' attitudes or behaviour. However, not all four dimensions play the same role in stimulating the desired employees' behaviour outcome. This study also contributes to the literature on corporate social responsibility as scholarly literature gives it little room in relation to employees, especially in the Central European context.

The current research investigates the Hungarian-Slovakian cross-border area of Szigetköz-Csallóköz in the context of new economic opportunities facilitated by water level regulation. The objective of the research is to unearth the potential economic opportunities triggered by the planned interventions and reveal the latent resources in the regional socio-economic fabric. The research employs two analytical methods: a situation analysis phase comprising an in-depth analysis of strategic documents that discuss various economic features of the Szigetköz – Csallóköz area, and a needs assessment phase based on in-depth interviews with decision-makers and institutional leaders of the selected municipalities (N=22). The research results are presented in the form of proposals related to infrastructural developments, such as the construction of a cycle path along the Old Danube embankment (from Danakiliti to Gönyű) or economic development such as the creation of a unique tourism brand.

Despite its normative goals of deepening interstate integration, ‘de-bordering’ European societies and promoting a greater degree of territorial cohesion, the European Union remains a highly and intricately bordered space. Economic bordering within the EU involves the investigation of the geoeconomic relationships that have emerged as a result of global market re-integration and EU membership of post-socialist states during the economic transition of Central and South-Eastern Europe. The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the transformation processes of the Central and South-Eastern European region.

The aim of the paper is to review the development of the five largest cities of Serbia in the post-Yugoslav period. In the introduction, the general development of the urban network and spatial structure of the Balkans will be presented in a historical context, as well as the geographical location and geopolitical situation of Serbia. Over the last three decades, the state structure of Serbia has undergone several fundamental transformations, which have had a significant impact on the development of these cities. This is analysed in terms of the transformation of administrative and spatial characteristics. Finally, the development, economic and demographic processes of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac and Subotica are examined in detail.

With the political agreement by the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's proposal for 2021-2027 on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes ("Interreg"), and all the other instruments related to cohesion policy, we have entered the final stage of the provisions for the new EU programming period: the final approval of the legal texts (EC, 2020a).
Thus, the main objective of our study is to present the most important challenges at the Member State level (Hungary) with a bottom-up and practice-oriented perspective. Methodologically, three specific factors were identified and studied in the paper that constitute significant challenge for national level policymaking, as follows: (1) as regards the soci(et)al aspect, the questions of the new "regions" (Central Hungary vs Budapest and Pest region); (2) regarding the economic aspect, the newly created territorial "units" (Economic Development Zones); and lastly (3) as a nature-focused aspect, the management of surface water.
These factors are directly connected to the five investment priorities of the EU for 2021 -2027 i.e. Smarter, Greener and carbon free, Connected, and Social Europe that is Closer to its citizens (EC, 2018) and represent criteria that reflect the reality on the ground. These factors were examined in specific case studies exploring their relations to national and interregional policymaking and EU level policies also, together with their presence in the planned programming documents, e.g. the Operational Programmes and Partnership Agreement. As a result, we aim to identify some direct causal relations between policy and practice, highlight some synergies (or their absence) between national and interregional level sectoral (horizontal) and EU-Member State level (vertical) processes, and additionally, shed some light on the possible future scenarios in these specific and important areas. Through these outcomes, our research could contribute to a more tailored approach to regional development, that is a major objective of the New Cohesion Policy.

Although cross-border cooperation has traditionally been treated as a research issue of geopolitics and governance, use of data from European Union (EU) funded Interreg programmes opened up opportunities for comparative and in-depth analysis. The importance of Interreg programmes, as instruments of the European Territorial Cooperation goal, has been constantly on the rise since its inception as INTERREG Community Initiative, then becoming part of the cohesion policy mainstream in 2007. In the 2021 -2027 programming period, for first time since its setup, Interreg has received lower funding, which requires a higher stress on cooperation and thematic concentration. When defining funding priorities of programmes, besides "general" factors (development needs, stakeholders' preferences, regulation constraints), the cross - border factor - i.e. how projects contribute to cooperation as such - should be also taken into consideration. Therefore, allocation should prefer thematic areas (priorities) where cooperation is likely to be more intensive. Intensity of cooperation, as a composite indicator, may be generated from various parameters that may be measured in case of implemented projects, on the basis of Interreg programme data.
The paper aims to provide a simple yet transparent methodology on how the intensity of cross-border cooperation may be measured and how different thematic areas may be ranked in terms of their contribution to cooperation. The first part of the study presents an overview of 'border studies' from different aspects and the selected target area concerned. It is followed by a summary of the evolution of European Territorial Cooperation, highlighting the main milestones and particularities of the regulation for the 2021-2027 programming period. The following part lays down the applied methodology: composition of cross-border cooperation intensity indicator and the five sub-indicators. The results are presented through the example of projects financed by the Interreg V-A Hungary-Croatia Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. The final part of the paper summarises the lessons learned and their replicability.

Recent profound and fundamental changes in information technology and electronics have led to a change in consumer habits, which also characterizes the tourism sector. In the e-world, consumers' information search and communication habits are changing; we are living in an era of a communicational paradigm shift. Online Travel Agencies (OTA) are not only the dominant channels of booking and sales nowadays, but also the channels of information gathering and guidance in the accommodation-related information of the services. Some of the information on OTA is objective; others are subjective - the latter being consumer information and opinions. Subjective information about the accommodation is provided by guest reviews on the OTA websites.
The present research aims at comparing the guest review systems of Hungarian and international OTA websites, in terms of authenticity, scale, the applied system of criteria, and the possibilities of guest evaluations broken down by target groups. In addition, this paper presents the OTA guest ratings of two accommodation establishments of the same category - located in the same destination - on a case-by-case basis, seeking an answer to the question of how consistent the results - as a whole and in terms of criteria - are for the consumer facing the decision.
In the further primary research part of the study, the review rating and customer feedback for satisfaction analysis is also presented based on professional interviews with hotel professionals.
The results reveal that the guest ratings, which provide the OTA users concise information about the accommodation establishment, are influenced by the scale and the categories (besides the calculation of the overall experience score) applied by the OTA, and the number of reviews, because a higher number of reviews gives a less scattered, more correlated with the other OTAs ratings.

The primary aim of this study is to explore how the Member States of the European Union have responded to the crisis, what labour market interventions were preferred, how the structure of labour market expenditures changed between 2008 and 2018. On the other hand, examines the connections between the indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy, as well as the possibilities of condensing the indicators into principal components. Along the dimensions of the created main components, the Member States were grouped by K-mean cluster analysis. The paper also analyses the relationship between the established clusters and the labour market expenditures of each Member State.

Australian public universities' Vice-Chancellors (VC) are among the highest paid in the world, with an individual average yearly income in excess of one million Australian Dollars, or about twice the annual income of the Prime Minister. Although universities are significantly government funded, they individually set their VC remuneration. Recent estimates put VC salaries at least 10 time that of an average lecturer' income. The rationale given for such high salaries is that VC perform roles that are synonymous with those of free enterprise CEOS and, therefore, they should be remunerated accordingly. However, universities are neither free enterprises, nor do they operate in a 'free-market', as student fees are controlled by the government and universities cannot simply act as an entrepreneur and manipulate prices. As government funding continues to shrink, universities have reduced the permanent academic workforce, replacing this with casual academics, employed on precarious contracts that provide no job security, and raise questions over the long-term quality of education. This paper highlights some of the ethical dilemmas of this environment and offers suggestions for changing the status quo.