This paper explores ethno-villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an important element of rural and cultural tourism. The attractiveness of natural and cultural heritage is very important for sustainable rural tourism development. In order to improve the process of decision making to enable the sustainable development of ethno-villages, a multi-criteria assessment model has been developed. The methodology is based on qualitative modeling using a multi-criteria analysis via the DEXi software. The model is based on hierarchical relations consisting of three main criteria that are the basis of sustainable tourism development: economic, social, and environmental criteria. The ultimate goal of the model in this study was to evaluate ethno-villages, namely six ethno-villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of the study show how ethno-villages contribute to sustainable development.
Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the main variables and causal relationships in the system structure of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings using system dynamics (SD) modelling. The SD model aims to simulate depictions of the behaviour of the real system while testing the effects of alternative decisions over time.Design/methodology/approach: An SD methodology was chosen to model diversification in farm tourism.Findings: A system approach increases the authors’ understanding of the transition of agricultural holdings to farm tourism. The results indicate that the transition to farm tourism depends on the level of tourism development in a certain area. The system is influenced by subsidies allocated by authorities to expand primary agricultural activities. The model describes a situation in which the tourism and agricultural industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by the small set of available data due to the limited number of farms in Slovenia. One major problem is the difference in statistical data on the same activity collected from different institutions in Slovenia.Practical implications: The paper includes implications for understanding the transition process to farm tourism, allowing policymakers to experiment with subsidies and promotion to explore the efficacy and efficiency of proposed policies.Originality/value: This study provides a structured, systemic view of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings, where the simulation results are a reliable reflection of the behaviour of the actual system being modelled.
This paper examines the efficiency of tourist farms in Slovenia by adopting an approach using a framework of non-parametric programming—Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), combining the two because the DEA analysis by itself does not take into account all attributes, especially qualitative ones. The beforementioned two methods rank the farm tourism units with respect to their efficiency. By using the DEA method, an input- and output-oriented BCC and CCR model were introduced to upgrade the criteria by including the additional non-numerical criteria of the AHP. The results of the models showed that there are possible improvements on all levels of efficiency, as well as on the criteria of the additional offer of tourist farms, which were analyzed in the AHP model with additional criteria. According to the estimated efficiency, the ranking of tourist farms differed according to the two methods. Within the group of farms assessed as efficient by DEA, the AHP model allowed a more accurate ranking.
In this paper, the quality of the municipal waste sorting process in seven waste management centers in Slovenia was assessed using the qualitative multicriteria analysis (MCA) method DEX (Decision EXpert) implemented in DEXi software, which is based on multicriteria decomposition of the problem and utility functions in the form of “if–then” decision rules. The study was based on eight types of secondary raw materials. The quality of the secondary raw materials, the regularity of the delivery of secondary raw materials to recycling units based on the sorting efficiency, and the loading weight of the individual baled fractions in the transport of secondary raw materials for recycling were the main parameters used in the model. The final assessment shows “good” waste management service in centers A and D. Centers B, C, and F were rated “average”. The “bad” rating was assigned to centers E and G.
The aim of the paper is to analyze the modern security environment and its impact on tourism destination development. Contemporary security environment is a result of historical events affected by the elements of the contemporary safety and political environment. Ground security concepts, which dominate contemporary security environment, are pointed out and further linked to the development of the modern security threats shaping tourism destination development. We are pointing out how the major security threats influence the tourism destination development. Methodology is based on secondary analysis of literature. Several current case studies are made to support conclusions on relationship between security and tourism destination developments.
Designing and presenting a destination as a tourist product is a process, which is influenced by different issues. Among them are perceptions of destination and attitudes towards a destination. In this study we have examined how media representation of destination safety and security affects attitudes about tourism destinations. Safety and security are important questions in the field of tourism and therefore we initially present differing aspects of this topic. This research question was addressed as an experiment among students of tourism, who are future tourism product designers. The independent variable was the projection of terrorist attack films on observed destinations. The experiment used different questionnaires – among them was a nonverbal semantic differential. The results of these questionnaires showed that the perception of different destinations is lower than before the experiment and therefore that the safety and security issues are important factors when designing a tourist product