The spatial coverage of shipping lines and container terminal operators

The aim of this paper is to provide a quantitative basis for the discussions about globalization of carriers and container terminal operators. A measuring framework is developed that allows for the comparison of the distribution of ship carrying capacity across various regions, and the comparison of the distribution of terminal throughput worldwide. This approach also allows the investigation of the degree to which liner shipping networks match related terminal portfolios.The main outcomes highlight significant differences between the geographical scope of liner networks, and between the coverage of corresponding terminal portfolios. Interesting results emerge from the matching of networks of integrated operators: early-movers such as Maersk and latecomers such as MSC have very different levels of vertical integration.     

Business aviation in Germany: An empirical and model-based analysis

The primary role of large airports is to serve the general public with scheduled and charter air transport services, with a secondary role of providing direct air transport access to regional industry and to firms who operate their own fleets of aircraft. Because of the complexity of slot allocation procedures and increasing runway capacity problems at airports, there is a growing problem in realising this secondary function. Neighbouring regional airports could play a complementary role and cope with some of this growth in traffic. Here we quantify the distribution of growing business aviation demand between airports to explore potential ways of accommodating it at both major and nearby secondary facilities.     

Influence of perceived service fairness on relationship quality and switching intention: an empirical study of restaurant experiences

Restaurants and dining out are an important part of the tourism industry and are a major business in their own right. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived service fairness, relationship quality, and switching intention in fine dining restaurants. Data were collected through a convenience sampling method from 164 customers from only fine dining restaurants in the northern region of West Malaysia (Kedah, Perak, Penang, and Perlis States). Unlike all previous studies which have focused exclusively on the role of justice in service failure and recovery, this study considers all-inclusive service delivery contexts. The results of this study showed that all the dimensions of perceived service fairness have a significant relationship with switching intention. In addition, perceived service fairness has a positive relationship with trust in all dimensions except for outcome fairness. Moreover, the results found that among the perceived service fairness dimensions, only procedural fairness and interactional fairness had a positive relationship with commitment and price fairness; outcome fairness was not related to commitment. Finally, the results confirmed the negative and significant relationship between relationship quality (trust and commitment) on switching intention. Managerial implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Dynamics of liner shipping network and port connectivity in supply chain systems: analysis on East Asia

The study of ports in supply chain systems is an emerging area of importance which has drawn more attention from researchers in recent years. This paper presents a new perspective in this research area by examining the calling patterns of container shipping services in order to understand the dynamics of port connectivity and inter-port relationships in the supply chains. Empirical evidence is drawn from four major ports in East Asia, namely Shanghai, Busan, Kaohsiung and Ningbo. The study identifies the shipping capacity, trade routes and geographical regions connected to the ports, shipping lines involved, and the extensity and intensity of inter-port relationships among the four container ports from liner shipping network’s perspective. The findings show that most of the shipping capacity employed on the major east–west trade routes became non-exclusive and involved calls at two or more of the four ports. Port planners, terminal operators and carriers could capitalise on opportunities through exploitation of complementary relationships that exist among the selected ports, such as offering a package for shipping lines to call at a portfolio of terminals owned by the same terminal operator. Policy and research implications as well as recommendations are discussed for various stakeholders concerned with port planning and regional development.     

Shortest path or anchor-based route choice: a large-scale empirical analysis of minicab routing in London

Understanding and modelling route choice behaviour is central to predicting the formation and propagation of urban road congestion. Yet within conventional literature disagreements persist around the nature of route choice behaviour, and how it should be modelled. In this paper, both the shortest path and anchor-based perspectives on route choice behaviour are explored through an empirical analysis of nearly 700,000 minicab routes across London, United Kingdom. In the first set of analyses, the degree of similarity between observed routes and possible shortest paths is established. Shortest paths demonstrate poor performance in predicting both observed route choice and characteristics. The second stage of analysis explores the influence of specific urban features, named anchors, in route choice. These analyses show that certain features attract more route choices than would be expected were individuals choosing route based on cost minimisation alone. Instead, the results indicate that major urban features form the basis of route choice planning – being selected disproportionately more often, and causing asymmetry in route choice volumes by direction of travel. At a finer scale, decisions made at minor road features are furthermore demonstrated to influence routing patterns. The results indicate a need to revisit the basis of how routes are modelled, shifting from the shortest path perspective to a mechanism structured around urban features. In concluding, the main trends are synthesised within an initial framework for route choice modelling, and presents potential extensions of this research.     

Tourism and electricity consumption in 9 European countries: a decomposition analysis approach

ABSTRACT

Tourism is a major economic activity constituting one of the main sectors in economic terms. European countries traditionally play a significant role in the overall international tourism flow. However, while tourism has a noticeable positive impact on economic development, it also contributes to environmental degradation by increasing energy consumption and therefore emissions. This paper analyses the relationships between Hotel and Restaurant electricity consumption and tourism growth in 9 European countries during 2004–2012, for which there is a sufficient amount of data available. A decomposition analysis based on log-mean Divisia index method (LMDI I) is conducted to examine electricity consumption on this sector and their components. Five decomposition factors are considered: energy intensity (EI), physical capital intensity (KI), physical and human capital relationship (KL), human capital intensity (LI) and the tourism factor (T). Results show the evolution of energy consumption related to this sector, identifying the driving forces that have influenced it.     

The weather and macroeconomic determinants of whale-watching tourism: a Markov regime-switching analysis

Taking in sail is essential for a whale-watching excursion, which makes the demand for whale-watching tourism sensitive to the weather. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of two potential demand-side determinants, that is, weather and macroeconomic conditions, on the business cycle of Taiwan’s whale-watching tourism industry. By exploiting a Markov regime-switching model, this study finds that temperature and relative price changes are crucial determinants of the demand for whale-watching tourism, no matter whether in the peaks or in the troughs. Nevertheless, the influences of sunshine hours, rainfall and real GDP per capita on the demand for whale-watching tourism depend heavily on the phases of business cycle. The empirical results provide some inspiration for sustainable management of Taiwan’s whale-watching tourism.     

UK road freight energy use by product: trends and analysis from 1985 to 1995

Since the early 1980s, energy use in road freight has been rising much faster than overall energy use in the UK. To better understand the factors driving this rapid growth, we carried out an analysis of road freight energy use trends across 14 product sectors from 1985 to 1995. Growth in length and complexity of supply chains, rather than growth of output, is shown to be the main driver of increasing freight energy consumption, with high value products having the highest energy use per tonne lifted. Policy options and a proposal for improved estimation of energy consumption are also discussed.     

Cycling down under: a comparative analysis of bicycling trends and policies in Sydney and Melbourne

The purpose of this paper is to document and explain differences in cycling between Australia’s two largest cities. Our comparative case study analysis is based on a wide range of statistical datasets, secondary reports, and interviews with a panel of 22 bicycling policy and planning experts. The main finding is that cycling levels in Melbourne are roughly twice as high as in Sydney and have been growing three times as fast in recent years. The difference is due to Melbourne’s more favorable topography, climate, and road network as well as more supportive public policies. In particular, Melbourne has more and better integrated cycling infrastructure as well as more extensive cycling programs, advocacy, and promotional events. Melbourne also benefits from safer cycling than Sydney, which suffers from a lack of traffic-protected cycling facilities and aggressive motorist behavior toward cyclists on the road. While cycling has been increasing in Australia, it remains at very low levels relative to northern Europe, where both land use and transport policies are far more supportive of bicycling while discouraging car use through numerous restrictions and financial disincentives.     

Tourism development and economic growth: a panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain

In this paper, we test the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism development in the 1995–2012 period using recently developed panel Granger causality tests that allow for country-level heterogeneity, thus leading to more accurate results for the 12 Mediterranean countries. Although results of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin [(2012) testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460] panel Granger causality test show a unidirectional causality from tourism development to economic growth, results of the Croux and Reusens [(2013). Do stock prices contain predictive power for the future economic activity? A Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain. Journal of Macroeconomics, 35, 93–103] panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain show that there is a bidirectional temporary and permanent causality between tourism development and economic growth. The bidirectional causality relationship between tourism development and economic growth, which is the main finding of this study, suggests that in order to achieve high economic growth, policy-makers should focus on developing the tourism sector.     

Tourism,globalization and economic growth: a panel cointegration analysis for selected West African States

This study examined the tourism-led hypothesis for selected 11 countries of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Panel cointegration technique was employed to inspect long-run relationship between study variables. Results of fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares confirmed the positive effect of physical capital, tourism and economic globalization index on economic growth. Thus, tourism-led growth hypothesis exists in ECOWAS. Conversely, negative impact of foreign direct investment on growth was captured.     

Mixed logit analysis of trade-off effects between international airline fares and fences: a revenue management perspective

As transportation is essential for tourism development, effectively utilizing its perishable resources has become an important issue. This study aims to analyse the relationship between airline fares and using conditions from the perspective of millennial tourists and taking the Taipei–Tokyo market as an example. The study attempts to show a revenue management practice in the manipulation of homogeneous seat service and give millennial tourists a better understanding of their preferences for ticket choices. We categorize availability of flight, advance booking, ticket validity, and changing conditions as main attributes and develop a stated-preference questionnaire with multiple hypothetical scenarios for respondents to select in the experiment. We effectively collect 390 valid samples for a mixed logit analysis and the results show that all applied attributes are statistically significant. Ticket validity is revealed to be the most important fence with the largest willingness-to-pay value and followed by availability of flight, advanced booking, and changing conditions.     

Services and functions provided by European city tourist offices: a longitudinal study

Tourism has become a major source of employment, revenue, international awareness and opportunity in European cities. As competition among European cities grows, the efficiency of management in city tourism organisations (CTOs) becomes increasingly important. This article reports on a longitudinal study of 50 European CTOs over the 4‐year period from 1995 to 1999. The aim of the study is to examine the changes in functions provided by European CTOs during the given period of time. Findings reveal that five identifiable function categories can characterise the changes that happened during the given period of time: hotel booking service, commerce, conventional information dissemination, advanced information product and relationship management. It is argued that information technology and role change are the main driving forces of these changes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context: a study on tours to Isla de la Plata,Ecuador

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the analysis of data collected from 195 participating in a daily tour to Isla de la Plata (Ecuador) showed that all the services examined (transportation by boat, food and beverage, tourist guide and visits) had a significant direct impact on tour satisfaction, having the transportation the highest impact. Moreover, the indirect effect of the daily tours services on behavioural intentions mediated by the satisfaction with the tour was also significant.     

The impact of car ownership and public transport usage on cancer screening coverage: Empirical evidence using a spatial analysis in England

A spatial analysis has been conducted in England, with the aim to examine the impact of car ownership and public transport usage on breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. District-level cancer screening coverage data (in proportions) and UK census data have been collected and linked. Their effects on cancer screening coverage were modelled by using both non-spatial and spatial models to control for spatial correlation.Significant spatial correlation has been observed and thus spatial model is preferred. It is found that increased car ownership is significantly associated with improved breast and cervical cancer screening coverage. Public transport usage is inversely associated with breast cancer screening coverage; but positively associated with cervical cancer screening. An area with higher median age is associated with higher screening coverage. The effects of other socio-economic factors such as deprivation and economic activity have also been explored with expected results. Some regional differences have been observed, possibly due to unobserved factors.Relevant transport and public health policies are thus required for improved coverage. While restricting access to cars may lead to various benefits in public health, it may also result in worse cancer screening uptake. It is thus recommended that careful consideration should be taken before implementing policy interventions.     

A network-based analysis of the impact of structural damage on urban accessibility following a disaster: the case of the seismically damaged Port Au Prince and Carrefour urban road networks

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010 led to an unprecedented effort in collecting and providing geographical information in support of humanitarian aid. Although most of the compiled datasets and generated maps were able to provide specific and detailed information regarding the location of damaged buildings and road interruptions, none or little information was available to describe the accessibility—or otherwise—of the urban space. Here we try to offer an alternative method to define the urban accessibility landscape in the aftermath of earthquake damage, by combining simple graph theory concepts and GIS-based spatial analysis to assess how the urban space accessibility decreases when the road network is damaged.