Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Kateřina RYGLOVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Marketing and Trade, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic Author-Name: Ida VAJČNEROVÁ Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic Title: Possible complex approaches towards evaluating the quality of a destination in the context of tourism management Abstract: Thepaper deals with the issues concerning evaluating the quality of a destination in the context of tourism. A destination has to be looked on as a complex product of tourism consisting of products, services, natural resources, artificially created attractions and information being connected. The satisfaction of visitors to a destination is dependent on the quality of their overall experience that is created on the basis of the cooperation of all participants working in tourism in the given area - these are local inhabitants, service providers, public administration workers and destination management workers. The paper shows possible approaches towards the complex evaluation of the destination quality. The first of the models is based on the European Consumer Satisfaction Index methodology and modifies it for evaluating the satisfaction of a visitor to a destination (in the researched destination, the values of the total ECSI indexes were calculated at 70% level in the case of home as well as foreign visitors). The second model - so-called Four-dimensional model of the destination quality - is based on the integrated approach to quality management when - with the support of the principal component analysis - a new methodology for evaluating the quality of a destination was suggested; it is based on four topically defined quality dimensions: attractions, services, marketing management, cooperation and sustainability. In the case of the suggested models, we also see their potential for increasing the quality of services in rural areas, which is the subject of the authors' further research. Keywords: customer satisfaction, destination management, quality management, service quality, tourism Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 199-207 Volume: 60 Issue: 5 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/117/2013-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/117/2013-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201405-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:60:y:2014:i:5:id:117-2013-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Josef ABRHÁM Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of International Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Clusters in tourism, agriculture and food processing within the Visegrad Group Abstract: The contemporary regional economics sees clusters as geographically close groups of companies and other connecting organizations that work together while they also mutually compete. Despite the fact that the naturally born clusters exist for centuries and their formation is driven primarily by market factors, there has been prevailing in the recent decades a positive view of the controlled and driven development of clusters in developed countries. Organized clusters are being called the cluster initiative. In recent years, there was a relatively rapid development of cluster initiatives also in the territory of the Visegrad countries due to the national programs and subsidies from the EU structural funds. This paper reacts to the situation. The aim of the paper is to identify clusters currently existing in the tourism, agriculture and food sector in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and to analyze their regional dispersion, structure and activities. Keywords: cluster initiatives, agriculture, food processing, tourism Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 208-218 Volume: 60 Issue: 5 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/20/2014-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/20/2014-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201405-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:60:y:2014:i:5:id:20-2014-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jianmei ZHAO Author-Workplace-Name: China Academy of Public Finance and Public Policy, Central University of Finance and Economics, Haidian District, Beijing, China Title: Rural income diversification patterns and their determinants in China Abstract: The article investigates the major rural income diversification patterns and their determinants in the context of China. Based on the data from a rural household survey, we first categorize the rural income diversification patterns according to the industry and the location in which the income is generated. Then we apply a Bayesian multinomial probit model to examine the determinants of various types of the rural income diversification. The major results demonstrate that a larger family size stimulates households to undertake various income diversification patterns, but its effects are discounted by an unproductive population structure within the household. Another interesting discovery is that a rural household chooses its income diversification pattern by referring to the surrounding neighbourhood; when most farm families depend on off-farm activities to boost their income, the individual household is more likely to follow the surrounding households by participating in the off-farm or mixed income activities or to migrate out to earn its income. Keywords: Bayesian multinomial probit, income generation, rural households Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 219-231 Volume: 60 Issue: 5 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/97/2013-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/97/2013-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201405-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:60:y:2014:i:5:id:97-2013-AGRICECON Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mary Oluwatoyin AGBOOLA Author-Workplace-Name: Economics Department, Faculty of Business and Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkey Author-Name: Mehmet BALCILAR Author-Workplace-Name: Economics Department, Faculty of Business and Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkey Title: Can food availability influence economic growth - the case of African countries Abstract: There is a growing consensus that food security is vital to the general wellbeing of any economy, but a far less consensus on whether food security can spur economic growth in a country. Many economic growth strategies focus on specific interventions (trade openness index, tropical climatic variables, working age population share etc.), but many factors, such as food availability, female education and health outcomes, can potentially have a profound influence on economic growth. To explore this hypothesis more systematically, this paper employs a rich cross-country dataset of 124 countries to examine the impact of food security, using food availability as a proxy on economic growth. This paper examines the impact of food shortages on African economic growth rates. It does so by extending the Barro growth model to include food availability as a right hand-side variable and by distinguishing African countries with food shortages from others. Based on the cross-country regressions results, the paper concludes that the improved food availability indeed contributes to the improved economic growth in general, as well as in Africa. Keywords: African dummy, food crisis, food security, Africa Journal: Agricultural Economics Pages: 232-245 Volume: 60 Issue: 5 Year: 2014 DOI: 10.17221/95/2013-AGRICECON File-URL: http://agricecon.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/95/2013-AGRICECON.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/age-201405-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:60:y:2014:i:5:id:95-2013-AGRICECON