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The study measures the level of seasonality among top six inbound countries in tourism market in North Macedonia. The Gini and Theil indexes, as well as the correlation values for each of the selected countries, are computed and compared to show the differences between them. Overnights of tourists from Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Serbia, the Netherlands, and Turkey from 2011 to 2019 is the primary variable. The research found that the Netherlands has the greatest seasonality, followed by Poland. The seasonality in neighboring countries (Albania, Bulgaria, and Serbia) is significantly lower. Turkey has been added to this group. The study suggests boosting tourism marketing to Turkey, which has low seasonality and accounts significant portion of total foreign overnights, as well as maintaining smooth campaign to neighboring countries with lower seasonality. Furthermore, a discussion is open on creating new strategies for attracting tourists from the Netherlands and Poland out of the main season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid tourism growth may negatively affect the sustainability of the destination and disrupt the life of local residents. This paper explores the direct and indirect connections among tourism impact factors in the area of sustainability. Exploratory factor analysis is conducted in order to assess the underlying dimension of residents' satisfaction with given impacts of tourism development. The authors use the three-pillar sustainability concept (socio-cultural, environmental and economic) and suggest a model that measures residents' attitudes on tourism impacts. The model is empirically tested by elaborating the case of Ohrid (North Macedonia). The study informs tourism policy makers how to manage tourism impacts and to improve sustainability perspective. The proposed model can be adopted and applied to any tourism destination facing unsustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides information on the extent how the hotel industry in Ohrid meets the energy efficiency practices in terms of the current level of involvement. By undertaking an online survey in three, four and five-star hotels, the study assesses the attitudes and willingness of hotel managers concerning applying energy efficiency and environmental protection concepts and practices. Moreover, it investigates various determinants of energy consumption, like: solid waste management, resource usage and protection, as well as the benefits and constraints in applying the energy efficient practices. The results point that Ohrid hotels lack policies on general environmental issues. The hotel management is lacking interest in the energy efficiency blaming the high operational costs and restricted financial funds for application of renewable sources. The paper suggests valuable findings for developing and exerting wide range of energy efficient practices. Hence, hotel establishments may become increasingly environmentally responsible by taking care of the energy efficiency, and may additionally benefit from the environmental pro-activeness which is important for the performance and development of Ohrid hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an absence of general platform to define the entrepreneurship. Yet, it is a common sense that it presents a concept which is closely related to financial risks. In this line, the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are still experiencing considerable difficulties in sustaining their importance for economic development. The paper describes the sources of financial support to the SMEs in Macedonia, and simultaneously identifies the most applied sources of financing. Moreover, it elaborates the importance of the Macedonian Bank for Development Promotion (MBDP) in providing financial support in terms of financing start-ups, providing medium and long-term loans to SMEs, financing exports, extending export credit insurance, and the management and implementation of international credit lines. The analyzed data set covers the period 1999-2013. The main findings reveal that the MBDP has a substantial role in development of entrepreneurship in general in Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine presence and influence of seasonality on tourism development in Macedonia. The research is mainly covered by quantitative approach by employing several commonly applied indicators for measuring tourism seasonality, like: the Gini coefficient, the Seasonality Indicator and the Coefficient of Variation. Data was generated from the sample covering 1992-2012 in terms of tourist arrivals. The research results clarify existence of low-level seasonality patterns and indicate importance of its follow-up. The findings confirm that tourism flow distribution or concentration is not significant to tourism development. Both, academics and practitioners can find the results of the research useful since it disentangles the belief of having strong and notable high season during summer months. Additionally, this study may serve as a starting point for urging measures and activities for enhancing the up-to-date modest tourism development in Macedonia. Finally, the contribution of this paper is in the fact that it enriches poorly developed empirical academic work within this scientific area in Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]