Search

This research investigates customers' reviews of the restaurant sector in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Although Kazakhstan offers unique foods, beverages, and establishments, few studies have investigated customers' reviews of the restaurant business. Hence, this is a pioneering study examining problems and concerns of the restaurant sector in the eyes of customers in Almaty, Kazakhstan by implementing big data analysis. The scraped dataset from the TripAdvisor website contains more than 13,000 restaurant reviews in different languages between 2010 through 2023. Generally, English and Russian are the two dominant languages used in reviews in Almaty. Text mining techniques of topic modelling and sentiment analysis are applied in order to derive and understand the main focuses, problems, and concerns of restaurant customers. To do this the collected data between 2010--2023 is split into two roughly equal datasets that cover the periods between 2010--2017 and 2018--2023, respectively. It is revealed that while restaurant customers were less satisfied with the service process, the most positive reviews, written in both English and Russian, were obtained for the topic 'Atmosphere and Events'. Considering the service process as a holistic process, analysing the conditions affecting good service delivery and making improvements will urge restaurant customers to form positive opinions. This study provides an opportunity for managerial, operational, and marketing departments in Almaty to improve the restaurant business in the eyes of customers. Since no precise information about the themes of the restaurants is available on the restaurant pages, no thematic distinction could be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David H. Mould, Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2016), xiv+301 pp, ISBN: 9780821421772, $25 (paperback). With its rich culture, religions, and ethnic groups and [...]

Slovakia is positioned in a highly competitive market of Central European countries with geographical and cultural similarities. Despite having a good potential, the tourism development in the country has not reached the level of the neighboring countries. In information sensitive sector such as tourism, the development is highly dependent on following and implementing new trends including latest technology. The usage of social media and Travel 2.0 platforms has become crucial in decision-making about the place to go or stay and online reviews have turned into a valuable source of information about the supplier's performance and service quality. This study analyses hotel performance through hotel performance attributes using consumer generated reviews posted on the number one hotel rating social platform TripAdvisor. Hotel reviews based on real travel experience is a valuable source of information about the hotel's performance evaluated by tourists directly. Several interesting findings resulted from the research and further implications were advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researches on tourism investigating quality of life have become an important study area for tourism scholars over the last few decades. Thus, focus points have started to evolve from the macro impact of tourism to the micro impact on individuals and their well-being. The aim of this study is to determine factors that have an impact on the perception of quality of life of the residential tourists. To this end, correspondence analysis and log-linear model are employed that visualize the results and reveal significant factors and interactions terms. According to findings, some demographic factors such as gender, duration of living in Alanya and nationality have an impact on quality of life perception of residential tourists. Besides, supportive evidence for adaptation level theory, used for explaining the effects of big life events on quality of life perception, was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has earned outstanding success in exporting TV series. It is believed that one of the most important results of exporting TV series is to have impact on the increment of the travel demand to Turkey, which is known as film-induced tourism effect. This field emerging recently deals with investigating the impact of TV series and movies on tourism demand. In this article, using Chow analysis whether to influence or not the citizens of Saudis and Bulgarians as visitors to Turkey is examined. It is concluded that while for Saudis, tourism demand to Turkey increases considerably after the broadcast of TV series, the same situation cannot be drawn for Bulgarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to directing their investments, strategy makers at national and firm level need to know competitive advantages and disadvantages in a country or region. By bearing this need in mind, this study aims to examine competitive factors in Balkan countries to develop a road map for investors. To do this, we used World Economic Forum's "Global Competitiveness Index" to analyze the case of Balkan countries as a region to cluster and compare them based on Global competitiveness factors. Analysis results pointed out those Balkan countries were clustered in two groups and scored lower or medium level on almost all competitive factors as the region. Based on these findings, authors suggested various strategic recommendations at micro and macro level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Central Asian (CA) countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been unable to consistently achieve their tourism goals and potentials since their independence (from the Soviet Union) in the 1990s. CA countries have a very small share of the international tourism market. One of the possible reasons for this may be attributed to the nature of "no-image'" or "existing poor image" of CA countries in the perceptions of world travelers. The main purpose of this study is to assess the nature of the existing image of CA countries as tourist destinations and also examine respondents' possible travel motives to visit such destinations. A self-administered survey was used to collect data. The findings indicate that the overall perceptions of CA countries center on hospitable environment, authenticity of experience, richness in local attractions. and hospitality and the like. Tourist attributes, effective personal communication channels, the facilitation of tourist movements and experiences are considered significant predictors of the likelihood for respondents to travel to CA countries. This study concludes with appropriate management and policy strategies for potential tourists, tour operators, travel agents, and the four CA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines tour operators' perceptions of travel conditions of Central Asia (CA) Countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). Survey data were gathered from tour operators and travel agents in Turkey. Travel conditions such as barriers, decision influencers for potential tourists to visit CA countries, reasons. for travel, and suggestions for encouraging and improving tourism, evaluation of general travel conditions, promotion, and advertisement efforts were assessed. In addition, the study also examined satisfaction with travel to CA countries as a function of general travel conditions. Study concludes with appropriate management and policy implications for both travel operators and the four Central Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]