This article examines attitudes toward the development of a cultural route based on Ottoman heritage in Europe among university students from Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, and Hungary. The online survey results outline the basic preconditions and potential obstacles to the development of such a cultural route, with the lack of public support in most countries identified as one of the major problems. The general conclusion is that both the attractiveness of the route’s content and public support can increase if the thematic focus is set on cultural interactions between different nations rather than on ‘pure’ Ottoman heritage and Islamic religion. This can lead to greater public acceptance and increased interest among stakeholders at the local, national, and international levels, and create the conditions for effective functionality and long-term sustainability of the route.

The purpose of this study was to examine if human values sets indicating basic motivational aspects, shared by active sport participants, could be used for the creation of a specific market segmentation model. While the exploration of motivation scales and sport tourist typologies was vast, although limited to small samples, this research constructed a model that tested its applicability and validity on the large general samples. By using data collections from the European Social Survey, the model allowed comparability between surveyed countries by cross-checking multiple psychosocial and demographic factors. The findings identified four main factors that determine active sport tourist values, while at the same time, multiple-discriminant analysis indicated the existence of three active sport clusters, indicating preferences of different sport tourist segments. Furthermore, the study analyzed potential demand markets according to the geographical distribution of active sport segments. The study confirmed that basic human values play an important role in explaining motivation aspects in sport- and tourism-related choices. Overall, the findings may assist marketers in monitoring changes in preferences of sport participants and focus on specific marketing strategies for different segments.

Cultural Route and Ecomuseum Concepts as a Synergy of Nature, Heritage and Community Oriented Sustainable Development Ecomuseum „Ibar Valley“ in Serbia

Orientation to learning and innovation are the basis of organisational success. Innovation in the organisation implies a continuous transformation of knowledge and ideas into new products, services, processes and systems in order to provide benefits for the stakeholders. A theoretical foundation and surveys are used in the paper to examine the impact of dimensions of organisational learning on innovation. In addition, the paper investigates educational and organizational hierarchical level differences among employees in hotels, as well as hotel category differences in relation to innovation and organizational learning. The sample consisted of 512 employees in 57 hotels in Serbia. The results showed a statistically significant contribution of the dimensions of organisational learning to different types of innovation. It was determined that the dimension Shared Vision is the predictor of all types of innovation. The results provide important scientific and practical information in terms of further research in the hotel industry, particularly with regard to improving the business activities and further development of the hotel product. Orientation to learning and innovation are the basis of organisational success. Innovation in the organisation implies a continuous transformation of knowledge and ideas into new products, services, processes and systems in order to provide benefits for the stakeholders. A theoretical foundation and surveys are used in the paper to examine the impact of dimensions of organisational learning on innovation. In addition, the paper investigates educational and organizational hierarchical level differences among employees in hotels, as well as hotel category differences in relation to innovation and organizational learning. The sample consisted of 512 employees in 57 hotels in Serbia. The results showed a statistically significant contribution of the dimensions of organisational learning to different types of innovation. It was determined that the dimension Shared Vision is the predictor of all types of innovation. The results provide important scientific and practical information in terms of further research in the hotel industry, particularly with regard to improving the business activities and further development of the hotel product. The Journal of East European Management Studies aims to promote dialogue and cooperation among scholars seeking to examine,explore and explain the behaviour and practices of management within the transforming societies of Central and Eastern Europe. The theoretical interests of the journal are organisational and management change, Central and East European societies (including those on the fringes of Europe) undergoing processes of transition or transformation, and scientific issues of business, management and organisation that arise in such contexts. The JEEMS aims to attract social scientific contributions from scholars of any nation and region, but particularly wishes to encourageauthors from those countries directly experiencing transformational change. Its potential readership is international, comprising academicsand practitioners with an involvement or interest in the management of change in transforming societies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Rural tourism offers opportunity to local communities to oppose the process of rural abandonment. This study assesses the tourism potential of two almost depopulated villages in Serbia, Gostuša (Pirot) and Poganovo (Dimitrovgrad), and identifies their second-home tourism perspectives. They have similar geo-demographic characteristics, but different development patterns. A practical understanding of residents’ perception was gained along with identifying the socio-economic indicators. A comprehensive comparison is made to identify the diversification level of the rural economy in these villages. The study also assesses the rural capital and concludes that it is not realistic to expect fast and sustainable tourism development in these peripheral rural areas. Finally, the study extracts the factors of influence and predicts trends of the diversification process and second-home tourism expansion in rural areas of Balkan Mt.

The noticeable urgent need for the preservation of collective and cultural memory in Europe, coupled with a fear of loss of important aspects of heritage, indicates the importance of educating the youth who will become future policymakers in the field. Analyses of the survey conducted through this research show the current perspective of youth on the typology of World War II memorials on the territories of the former republics, now independent states, of SFR Yugoslavia in Southeast Europe. Targeting architecture and civil engineering students as a specific youth group who are directly involved in learning about the built memorial structures, as well as the phenomenological background of space, creation of place and memories, resulted in a qualitative observation of the group’s understanding and judgement of the topic. This article investigates the level of knowledge and emotional response to memorial heritage within the target group. It addresses relevant issues of age, gender, level of study, and respondents’ backgrounds, demonstrating the existence of an initial interest in memorial heritage among the architecture-oriented youth. With an additional focus on a possible active role in heritage preservation and future placement, the research indicates a segment in the youth’s comprehension of valuable memorial heritage that needs to be improved.