This thesis focuses on the process of initiating relationships in destination marketing and includes an in-depth case study of the Wallander film series. Destination marketing is unique due to its dependency on relationship creation – typically, dynamic contacts have to be established between the film company, its financial sponsors and the stakeholders in the designated destination. In order to understand how these relationships are created and their dynamics, this thesis explores the factors that impact the process of initiating relationships, called converters and inhibitors. The results reveal that views differ between the film production company and the regional authorities tied to the destination as to which factors that act as converters and inhibitors. While both parties agree that striving for mutual understanding & social chemistry are important converters, the production company further adds a receptive attitude & motivated approach and creatively driven visionaries as vital converters. The regional authorities on the other hand highlight mutual respect, passion/courage-driven visionaries and structure, transparency & communication as key converters. As for the inhibitors, the production company points to lack of motivation, lack of resources and lack of open-mindedness, while the regional authorities highlight lack of mutual understanding & respect, bureaucratic layers and industry-related cultural differences.

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Begreppet microdestination har börjat figurera och få större betydelse inom svensk samt global turism och Furunäset i Piteå vill utvecklas till en microdestination. Dock finns ingen vedertagen definition av begreppet. Syftet med detta arbete är att utforma en definition av begreppet microdestination samt undersöka hur upplevelseproduktionsperspektivet kan tillämpas på en microdestination i Furunäset. Arbetet har därigenom undersökt möjligheten att länka samman upplevelseekonomin med microdestinationer. Syftet uppnåddes genom två litteraturstudier samt en fallstudie på Furunäset. Ena litteraturstudierna hade fokus på microdestinationer och den andra på upplevelseproduktion inom turism. Definitionen som utformades för begreppet microdestination i detta arbete är: En microdestination är en destination inom destinationen. Upplevelseproduktionsperspektivet syftar till att kunna skapa meningsfulla och minnesvärda upplevelser för individer och gäster. Denna studie resulterade även i direktiv om hur upplevelseproduktionsperspektivet kan tillämpas på en microdestination i Furunäset. / The term microdestination has started to form and gain importance in the tourism sector. But there is no general definition to be found on the term microdestination. The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to define microdestinations and to examine how the experience production perspective may be applied to the microdestination Furunäset. Using two literature studies and one case study on Furunäset this thesis examines the possibility of combining the experience economy with microdestinations. The definition brought forth through this thesis is: A microdestination is a destination within a destination. The aim of experience production perspectives is to create meaningful and memorable experiences for customers and individuals. The thesis finalizes in giving some ideas and suggestions, on how to apply experience production perspectives at a microdestination in Furunäset.

This thesis follows the original visitors satisfaction survey carried out in Lipno nad Vltavou in summer 2007, which aimed to discover how tourists evaluated tourism services in this village and what they found unsatisfactory. This paper describes Lipno nad Vltavou as a significantly growing tourist destination and analyzes both quantitative and qualitative aspects of tourism supra and infrastructure development within the last three years, i.e. since the original survey in 2007. The main aim is to find out how the recent development si reflected in subjective visitors' evaluation, whether and to what extent the deficiencies revealed in 2007 have been eliminated, and if appropriate, what new weaknesses have been discovered from the perspective of visitors. The thesis does not evaluate the development of tourism destination in a complex way but in terms of visitor's needs. The work is also to analyze the impacts of tourism development on the economy of the village and its residents.

Accurate estimation of Origin and Destination (O-D) of passengers has been an essential objective for public transit agencies because knowledge of passengers’ flow enables them to forecast ridership, and plan for bus schedules, and bus routes. However, obtaining O-D information using traditional ways, such as conducting surveys, cannot fulfill today’s requirements of intelligent transportation and route planning in smart cities. Estimating bus passengers’ O-D using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals detected from their mobile devices is the primary objective of this project. For this purpose, we collected anonymized passengers’ data using SMATS TrafficBoxTM sensor provided by “SMATS Traffic Solutions” company. We then performed pre-processing steps including data cleaning, feature extraction, and data normalization, then, built various models using data mining techniques. The main challenge in this project was to distinguish between passengers’ and non-passengers’ signals since the sensor captures all signals in its surrounding environment including substantial noise from devices outside of the bus. To address this challenge, we applied Hierarchical and K-Means clustering algorithms to separate passengers from non-passengers’ signals automatically. By assigning GPS data to passengers’ signals, we could find commuters’ O-D. Moreover, we developed a second method based on an online analysis of sequential data, where specific thresholds were set to recognize passengers’ signals in real time. This method could create the O-D matrix online. Finally, in the validation phase, we compared the ground truth data with both estimated O-D matrices in both approaches and calculated their accuracy. Based on the final results, our proposed approaches can detect more than 20% of passengers (compared to 5% detection rate of traditional survey-based methods), and estimate the origin and destination of passengers with an accuracy of about 93%. With such promising results, these approaches are suitable alternatives for traditional and time-consuming ways of obtaining O-D data. This enables public transit companies to enhance their service offering by efficiently planning and scheduling the bus routes, improving ride comfort, and lowering operating costs of urban transportation.

Crises are becoming increasingly common in the world and the tourism industry is undoubtedly one of the most vulnerable industries of this. When a destination is hit by a crisis, the destination's image and attractiveness are damaged. A weak, unattractive or negative image of a destination is very detrimental to the development of tourism. One condition in order for a destination to recover after a crisis is based on how different actors convey their marketing of the destination. Travel agents or tour operators' projected image and knowledge of destinations have great influence on potential travelers in the decision-making process for choosing a holiday. The aim of the study is to provide insights on how strategies in marketing a crisis-affected destination should be managed. The study examines how different travel sellers work to market a tourist destination that is affected by a crisis and how much influence travel sellers have through their marketing. The study also examines to some extent how the normal marketing of travel sellers is performed in order to be able to compare how it changes after a crisis. The topic is studied through designed questions based on the purpose of the study. The study's scientific approach is based on social constructivism with a hermeneutic focus that forms the basis for the qualitative choice of method in form of interviews. The theoretical framework highlights five themes; Destination marketing, Strategies and models to apply after a crisis, previous marketing strategies after a Crisis, The role of tour operators and travel agents for a destination, and Trust and ethical assessments through marketing. The survey consists of five semi-structured interviews with different travel sellers. The result is presented on the basis of different themes where different companies' answers are compared in their own categories. The result is analyzed with the theoretical framework and identifies different connections. The study's purpose and questions are answered in the conclusion. One conclusion is that marketing is significantly different depending on the type of travel seller it is. The perception of how much responsibility or influence a travel seller has in marketing a crisis-hit destination also differs. Large charter companies have a significant impact on a crisis-affected destination compared to small niche travel sellers. Another conclusion is that no travel vendors have worked with any special strategies or models in order to market a crisis-affected destination.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur svenska researrangörer marknadsför en krisdrabbad destination för att kunna locka tillbaka turister. Vi ville även se hur konsumenterna ser på marknadsföringen och från deras perspektiv, se vad de anser skulle få dem att resa till en destination efter en kris. Studien har avgränsats till Egypten och Turkiet där politisk oro har pågått sedan några år tillbaka och påverkat turismen negativt. I studien har en kvalitativ metod använts genom att tre semistrukturerade intervjuer med researrangörer genomförts, samt två fokusgruppsintervjuer med konsumenter.  Resultatet av studien visade att den marknadsföringsstrategi som både researrangörer använder sig av och som konsumenterna uppfattar som mest effektiv är en prissänkningsstrategi. Resultatet visade även att för att locka tillbaka turister till just dessa två destinationer har de marknadsföringsmässigt satsat på att lyfta fram säkrare alternativ, såsom stora hotell och all inclusive istället för utflykter och äventyr som tidigare, till låga priser. Dock ansåg flera respondenter i fokusgrupperna att för mycket fokus har riktats på ett fåtal målgrupper och att marknadsföringen behöver vidgas för att locka fler målgrupper att resa till Egypten och Turkiet. Detta för att i slutändan bygga upp volymen av turister till den som tidigare varit. / The purpose of this study was to examine how Swedish travel agencies market destinations during and after a crisis in an effort to encourage tourism's return. We also wanted to assess how consumers perceive marketing from their perspectives, as well as identify what methods influence their willingness to travel to a destination after a crisis. In an effort to provide a more concise analysis of the broad spectrum that encapsulates crisis destinations, we have focused on Egypt and Turkey, where political upheaval has been ongoing issue that has plagued their respective tourism industries. We have applied the qualitative method during this study by conducting three separate semi-structured interviews with travel agents, as well as conducting two focus group interviews with prospective consumers The result of the study revealed that the marketing strategy that both travel agencies use and which consumers perceive as the most effective, is a price reduction strategy. The results also indicated that in order to attract tourists back to these two destinations, their efforts had to be focused on highlighting safer alternatives, such as larger resorts and all-inclusive packages at lower rates. The agencies had to move away from marketing excursions and adventures packages; as they posed more of a risk. However, several respondents in the focus groups considered that too much focus has been on a select few target groups, alluding to that the marketing needs to be broadened to attract more target groups to travel to Egypt and Turkey. By implementing this strategy it will ultimately build up the volume of tourists to the aforementioned destinations.

Notions "attractiveness" and "friendliness" in the context of a tourism destination are currently not too researched and developed. Due to increasing competition in the tourism market, tourism destination try to determine the level of their general attractiveness and try to identify specific factors, that determine whether the target visitors consider just this destination as attractive and friendly. Although they are an important indicators, for destination management as well as for public management and regional development, the approaches to their measurement are not generally accepted and identified, because they are subjective focused and specific characterized. This diploma thesis provides fundamental and comprehensive overview of attractiveness and friendliness tourist destination measured approaches.

The thesis deals with marketing activities of the north-bohemian town Žatec in terms of Tourism. It discovers its predispositions to be successful and up-to-date tourist destination. It highlights the role of the Tourism Office in Žatec as the main participant of the tourism in the town. The main goal is to evaluate current position of the town as one of the tourist destinations in the Czech Republic, to analyse current marketing strategy and to project a new marketing strategy for 2013. The thesis was discussed with the culture management of the town. It will be also a clue for the management to set its 2013 marketing strategy.

In elderly women, discharge after gynecologic surgery is often associated with increased morbidity. Little information exists about elderly women's discharge destination after gynecologic surgery and the outcome of early hospital readmission. The purpose of this study, conceptualized using the quality health outcomes model, was to examine whether post hysterectomy discharge destination is an independent predictor of 30-day hospital readmission in women age 65 and older. Examination of covariates included patient age, race, medical comorbidity and complications of care, as well as surgical anatomic approach and operative technique. This study involved use of a retrospective cohort design and data from 10,598 cases contained in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2010 and 2011 California State Inpatient Databases. Results of the bivariate analysis showed a statistically significant association between discharge destination after hysterectomy and 30-day hospital readmission. Additionally, the results of multivariate logistic regression revealed the odds of readmission after discharge with home care were 2.99, p < .001, 95% CI [2.29, 3.67] times greater when compared with discharge home for self-care and 5.99, p < .001, 95% CI [4.68, 7.43] times greater with discharge to continuing inpatient care versus home for self-care. This study may lead to positive social change for elderly women by informing health care providers about the odds of early hospital readmission associated with discharge destination after hysterectomy. Further, this information may stimulate development of interventions to improve health care practices for elderly women preparing for hospital discharge after hysterectomy.