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Abstract - Social Networks and Tourist Destination Choice - New Competences Required in the New Digital World
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Abstract: Online social networks are now an essential part of our interconnected lives. Herein, we analyse whether Facebook influences our travel destination choice. Having performed a literature review, we then followed a mixed methodology, analysing 363 responses to a quantitative and qualitative survey. The respondents were from 22 different countries. Our study focused initially on Facebook, however our research revealed that Facebook users are also very active on other social media. We conclude that we are in a new age, where we need to be more suspicious, as never before has information, including fake news, been so readily available. Other patterns in the data include the triumph of images over words in social media, the importance of decisions related to travel, and the superficiality of social media; finally, Big Tech is here to permanently change society. We will have to be able to get outside our digital bubbles – which means we will have to be able to exit our comfort zones. The codes and patterns identified depended on the researchers’ experience and on what they saw in the data, in a creative, non-mechanistic and inductive process. Thus, some subjectivity is seen to exist. Keywords: Technology, digital bubbles, fake news, Big Tech, new competences, the suspicious mind. |
Abstract - Travel Decisions: The Effect of Facebook Posts According to Gender
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Abstract: Supporting Ferreira (2012), Mariani et al. (2016) and Rodríguez‐Vázquez et al. (2017), it is essential to study the impact of social networks in the tourism sector, as they constitute innovative practices, with a substantial number of users involved. We aimed to understand the impact that Facebook posts have on the choice of a tourist destination. We thus prepared an online questionnaire, which obtained 361 answers, from a convenience sample involving international contacts of the authors, from 22 countries. This study revealed that men are much more influenced by Facebook posts, related to travel destinations, than women. We did inferential statistics, namely the chi square test, and we conclude that there does seem to be an association between gender and the influence of Facebook posts, at the 0.1% level. This may mean that tourism marketing firms may need to adjust their approach. We suggest that future research investigate further this phenomenon. Keywords: Innovation, Tourism, Social Networks, Facebook, Travel information. |
Abstract - A Developmental Regionalism Approach to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA)
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Abstract: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was launched on 21 March 2018 at a Summit of the African Union, held in Kigali, Rwanda. This paper discusses the question: How can the AfCFTA benefit all African countries? The paper critiques the conventional approaches to regional integration as propounded in the academic literature. The paper proposes that African policy makers should develop an approach to regional integration that is best suited to Africa’s own development needs. The paper argues that by adopting a “developmental regionalism” approach to the AfCFTA African member states can stimulate a virtuous circle of fair trade, transformative industrial development, increased cross-border investment and strengthening of democracy in Africa. Keywords: African economic development, Regional economic integration, African Continental Free Trade Area, African Union. |
Abstract - Education as a Factor of Increasing the Competitiveness of an Integration Association
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Abstract: The article considers the relationship of socio-economic development of an integration association with the population education level and indicators of higher education development. Based on the correlation and regression analysis, the dependence between the level of higher education of the population and the welfare of the country’s and region’s economy is estimated. Education is considered as one of the factors to ensure the competitiveness of the country and the region as a whole. The article notes that the human development index in these countries depends on the level of education in these integration associations. The prerequisites for the joint development of the education system in the CIS and SCO at the present stage are considered. The role of network universities is emphasized. Recommendations aimed at strengthening international cooperation in the field of education are presented. Keywords: Education, integration associations, Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, network university, competitiveness. |
