Chaos Theory as an Approach to Understanding MICE in Time of Crisis

MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions), has generated high foreign exchange revenue for the economy worldwide. In Thailand, MICE tourists are recognized as ‘quality’ visitors, mainly because of their high-spending potential. Having said that, Thailand’s MICE sector has been influenced by a number of crises following September 11, 2001. Consequently, professionals in the MICE sector must be prepared to deal with such complex phenomena of crisis that might happen in the future. While a number of researches have examined the complexity of crises in the tourism context, there has been little focus on such issues in the MICE sector. As chaos theory provides a particularly good model for crisis situations, it is the aim of this paper to propose a chaos theory-based approach to the understanding of complex and chaotic system of the MICE sector in time of crisis.

Determinantes de la motivación cultural en la elección de destinatarios: el caso español

El presente trabajo analiza los factores determinantes de la motivación cultural de los turistas a la hora de elegir un destino. Para ello se proponen diversas hipótesis de investigación relativas al impacto en dicha motivación cultural de varias características sociodemográficas, psicográficas y de comportamiento turístico. La aplicación empírica realizada en España sobre una muestra de ámbito nacional de 2.127 individuos permite concluir que mayores niveles de estudios, menores tamaños del hogar, mayor interés en conocer lugares nuevos y menor sensibilidad a los precios, conducen a una mayor motivación cultural. Especialmente curioso resulta el efecto curvilíneo obtenido para la variable edad: creciente en origen y decreciente a partir de un punto. Dada la relevancia de las dimensiones analizadas, las implicaciones para la gestión de destinos culturales son inmediatas.

A Sociocybernetics Data Analysis Using Causality in Tourism Networks

The aim of this paper is to propose a mathematical model to determine invariant sets, set covering, orbits and, in particular, attractors in the set of tourism variables. Analysis was carried out based on a pre-designed algorithm and applying our interpretation of chaos theory developed in the context of General Systems Theory. This article sets out the causal relationships associated with tourist flows in order to enable the formulation of appropriate strategies. Our results can be applied to numerous cases. For example, in the analysis of tourist flows, these findings can be used to determine whether the behaviour of certain groups affects that of other groups and to analyse tourist behaviour in terms of the most relevant variables. Unlike statistical analyses that merely provide information on current data, our method uses orbit analysis to forecast, if attractors are found, the behaviour of tourist variables in the immediate future.

Analysis and Visualisation of Crowd-sourced Tourism Data

C3S2E '16 Proceedings of the Ninth International C* Conference on Computer Science & Software Engineering

Portugal’s Minho-Lima region as a tourist destination: tourism operators’ attitudes towards its management and promotion

The success of tourism development depends on the capacity of a region’s tourism agents to establish and sustain networks, involving both private-sector companies and the public sector. Creating an attractive destination able to compete with others that are better positioned and consolidated requires cooperative behaviour among the various agents involved. This behaviour will facilitate both external and internal competition, which in turn will assure better product quality, continuous product renewal, a strong offer of unique experiences and the efficient use of endogenous resources. In this paper, the authors discuss the results of a survey of restaurant owners and of interviews conducted with the main institutional agents concerned with tourism promotion and the economic development of the Minho–Lima region. Such an approach, the authors argue, can be valuable in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the area in question with regard to future tourism development. The authors work from the premise that the commitment of tourism agents constitutes a precondition for the success of the strategy to be defined. This is especially applicable to Minho–Lima, which to date has suffered from an absence of commitment and coordination on the part of those agents.

An approach on place attachment, involvement and behavioural intentions in cross-border tourist regions

This study aims at gaining a deeper understanding of customer profiling and behaviour in cross-border tourism destinations. The study is developed under a niche marketing perspective. It is our view that niche marketing is not confined to the limits of national markets. Previous studies suggest that cross-border regions are an attractive notion, yet they require further theoretical and empirical research. There is still a gap in the understanding of destination management in cross-border regions and the customer profile and motivations. Overall this research attempts to produce a deeper understanding of the profile and behaviour of consumers in tourism settings, addressing the predisposition for the destination in specific contexts (cross-border tourism regions).

Tourist See Tourist Do: The Influence of Hollywood Movies and Television on Tourism Motivation and Activity Behavior

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Hollywood movies and television (movies/TV) on US viewer’s motivation to travel to and participate in activities featured in Hollywood movies/TV productions. A survey was administered in an online format to a convenience sample of 433 respondents via Qualtrics. Factor analysis, correlation, and regression was employed to explore relationships between the variables. Findings identified a profile of Hollywood movies/TV viewers, sources of information used to determine destination choice, and level of involvement among viewers of Hollywood movies/TV productions. Additionally, this study explored the relationships between Hollywood movies/TV productions, tourist motivations, and the propensity to participate in activities featured. Findings indicate that Hollywood movies/TV productions have a positive impact on viewer involvement and that movie/TV related tourism is likely to be affected by movie and TV viewing preference and destination image. The results identify that the predictor “TV viewing behavior” is the strongest predictor of entertainmentmotivated tourism, followed by “destination image” and “movie viewing behavior.” Findings also indicate that “destination image” is the strongest predictor of movie-related activities and that the image portrayed in a movie does influence the viewer’s inclination to visit and participate in activities featured in a movie.

Behaviour of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells in an experimental model of toxic demyelination of the central nervous system

Oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells are engaged in myelin production, maintenance and repairing respectively in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Whereas oligodendrocytes act only within the CNS, Schwann cells are able to invade the CNS in order to make new myelin sheaths around demyelinated axons. Both cells have some limitations in their activities, i.e. oligodendrocytes are post-mitotic cells and Schwann cells only get into the CNS in the absence of astrocytes. Ethidium bromide (EB) is a gliotoxic chemical that when injected locally within the CNS, induce demyelination. In the EB model of demyelination, glial cells are destroyed early after intoxication and Schwann cells are free to approach the naked central axons. In normal Wistar rats, regeneration of lost myelin sheaths can be achieved as early as thirteen days after intoxication; in Wistar rats immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide the process is delayed and in rats administered cyclosporine it may be accelerated. Aiming the enlightening of those complex processes, all events concerning the myelinating cells in an experimental model are herein presented and discussed.

Behaviour of albino and melanic variants of Biomphalaria glabrata Say, 1818 (Mollusca: Planorbidae) following infection by Schistosoma mansoni Sambon, 1907

The behaviour of the albino and melanic variants of Biomphalaria glabrata of Belo Horizonte (MG. Brazil) was studied comparatively, in terms of their respective susceptibilities to infection by Schistosoma mansoni of the same origin, through observation of the elimination of cercariae for a three-month period and the calculation of mortality and infection rates, in control and in infected snails. The number of amoebocytes, granulocytes and hyalinocytes in the circulating hemolymph during different periods of infection was analyzed. The evolution of the infection in the tissues was observed by means of histological cross-sections. The melanic variant showed greater susceptibility to infection and a higher mortality rate. The albino variant showed a higher number of circulating amoebocytes, both granulocytes and hyalinocytes. A higher number of degenerated sporocysts were seen in the histological cross-sections of the albino variant. The results suggest that the melanic variant of B. glabrata was more susceptible to infection by S. mansoni than was the albino variant.