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Tourism and hospitality management education is relatively new in Nepal, with only four major public universities offering a bachelor's degree programme. The curriculum is generally focused on managerial training and has a business orientation. In addition, the curriculum development process in Nepal follows a standard content-based method whereby individual faculty members are assigned to develop courses based on their expertise. This process does not permit input and/or engagement from industry stakeholders, which, given the applied nature of the tourism and hospitality discipline, is a major limitation. Recently, there have been growing interactions, especially by private institutions, to develop linkages with industry with respect to internships and job placement; however, an active role in curriculum input and development is non-existent in the country. This article presents a case study of industry involvement in tourism and hospitality management curriculum development in Nepal. The author outlines the background of the partnership, the process and the final curriculum product. This project is the first case of industry involvement in curriculum development in Nepal and has significance for other such partnerships in the country.

Given the growth in scuba diving activities and the importance of environmental education programs to alleviate the potential impacts on coral reef ecosystems, there is a need to better understand the diving community, its environmental knowledge, and subsequent behavioral actions. The purpose of this study was to explore the role or influence of specialization in scuba diving (as a moderator and mediator) on the relationship between marine-based environmental knowledge and behavior. Four hypotheses were formulated and empirically tested. Data from 370 scuba divers were collected (May--September 2002) in the St. Petersburg/Sarasota region of southwestern Florida. Marine-based environmental knowledge (11 items) and behaviors (16 items) were employed, along with recreation specialization (17 items) adapted from the literature. Specialization in scuba diving acted as a strong partial mediator but failed to be significant when tested as a moderator. Among scuba divers, marine-based knowledge did predict overall and specific proenvironmental behaviors; however, the level of specialization played a strong role in mediating the relationship. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Abstract: The impacts of wildfires on tourism have largely been examined with emphasis on economic losses and recovery strategies. Given the limited research from a demand perspective, this study examined tourist risk perceptions and reactionary behaviors toward wildfires in Florida. Data (N = 771) was collected among a U.S. sample of non-resident overnight leisure travelers that had visited Florida previously. Three clusters were identified with a larger segment in the middle (Conscious Travelers) of the curve, and higher risk (Cautious Travelers) and lower risk (Courageous Travelers) segments at each end. In addition, the segments formulated a pattern with respect to their perceived levels of risk, threat level of wildfires based on risk types, and travel behavior modifications over specific wildfire situations that could influence future travel behaviors in fire prone destinations. This segmentation strategy is useful for Destination Management Organizations as differential marketing messages could be targeted to each segment during crisis situations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Information about the Green Lodging and Hospitality Conference which was held from November 7 to 9, 2011 in Orlando, Florida is presented. It states that the theme of the conference emphasized the continued need for the lodging and hospitality industries to refine the sustainable processes and practices without compromising the condition of the environment. It also featured Andy Bray, Kelly Bricker and Dina Belon.

Destination management organizations (DMOs) at the local level are at the forefront of crisis management planning for the tourism industry. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of the role of DMOs in the event of a crisis. While crisis preparedness of an organization is based on the respective crisis plans, minimal attention has been given to the analysis of DMO's crisis management plans in the US. The nature of organizational crisis plans can be analyzed through the use of multiple variables. This study examines DMO crisis plans in Florida that are designed specifically for the tourism industry, and are analyzed based on geographical location, bed tax revenues, and the number of employees. The results indicate that revenues play a significant role in determining the level of tourism crisis management preparedness within DMOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of land use and land cover data provides invaluable support to a variety of land management and conservation activities. However, historically its application has been limited by high costs associated with data acquisition, analysis, and classification. In recent years, freely available satellite imagery and geospatial data sets and rapid advancement in data analysis capabilities provide immense opportunities to understand and solve the real-world environmental problems. Open-source platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE) provide a planetary-scale environmental science data and analyses capability at much greater efficiency and accuracy than the traditional workflows. We evaluated the GEE Python API utility for classifying the freely available NAIP aerial imagery of 2017 to derive the land use land cover (LULC) information of a Panhandle area of Florida, USA. We identified eight major LULC classes with an overall accuracy of 86% and Kappa value of 79%. We completed all remote sensing data analyses procedures including data retrieval, classification, and report preparation in the Jupyter notebook, an open-source web application. Computation time for the procedure was less than 15 min. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of this approach for conducting land use and land cover analysis using much less time, money, and human resources. The open-source nature of GEE Python API and its library of remote sensing data could benefit remote sensing projects throughout the world, especially where access to commercial image processing software packages and remote sensing data are limited. • Google Earth Engine Python API is a very useful tool for many remote sensing projects. • Google Earth Engine Python API is an efficient tool to perform land use land cover classification. • Our proposed method of supervised classification greatly reduces manual labeling load, cost and time. • This method can be the best option during a time of urgency when quick visualization is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Burnout is a pervasive, unrelenting problem among health care workers (HCWs), with detrimental impact to patients. Data on the impact of burnout on workforce staffing are limited and could help build a financial case for action to address system-level contributors to burnout., Objective: To explore the association of burnout and professional satisfaction with changes in work effort over 24 months in a large cohort of nonphysician HCWs., Design, Setting, and Participants: This longitudinal cohort study was conducted in Rochester, Minnesota; Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and community-based hospitals and health care facilities in the Midwest among nonphysician HCWs who responded to 2 surveys from 2015 to 2017. Analysis was completed November 25, 2020., Exposures: Burnout, as measured by 2 items from the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and professional satisfaction., Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was work effort, as measured in full-time equivalent (FTE) units, recorded in payroll records., Results: Data from 26 280 responders (7293 individuals aged 45-54 years [27.8%]; 20 263 [77.1%] women) were analyzed. A total of 8115 individuals (30.9%) had worked for the organization more than 15 years, and 6595 individuals (25.1%) were nurses. After controlling for sex, age, duration of employment, job category, baseline FTE, and baseline burnout, overall burnout (odds ratio [OR], 1.53; 95% CI, 1.38-1.70; P < .001), high emotional exhaustion at baseline (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.39-1.71; P < .001), and high depersonalization at baseline (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.21-1.62; P < .001) were associated with an HCW reducing their FTE over the following 24 months. Conversely, satisfaction with the organization at baseline was associated with lower likelihood of reduced FTE (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.65-0.83; P < .001). Findings were similar when emotional exhaustion (OR per 1-point increase, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.10-1.16; P < .001), depersonalization (OR per 1-point increase, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.06-1.14; P < .001) and satisfaction with the organization (OR per 1-point increase, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.79-0.88; P < .001) were modeled as continuous measures. Nurses represented the largest group (1026 of 1997 nurses [51.4%]) reducing their FTE over the 24 months., Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study found that burnout and professional satisfaction of HCWs were associated with subsequent changes in work effort over the following 24 months. These findings highlight the importance of addressing factors contributing to high stress among all HCWs as a workforce retention and cost reduction strategy.