Researchers in multiple areas have shown that characterizing and accounting for the uncertainty inherent in decision support models is critical for developing more efficient planning and operational strategies. This is particularly applicable for the transportation engineering domain as most strategic decisions involve a significant investment of money and resources across multiple stakeholders and has a considerable impact on the society. Moreover, most inputs to transportation models such as travel demand depend on a number of social, economic and political factors and cannot be predicted with certainty. Therefore, in recent times there has been an increasing emphasis being placed on identifying and quantifying this uncertainty and developing models which account for the same. This dissertation contributes to the growing body of literature in tackling uncertainty in transportation models by developing methodologies which address the uncertainty in input parameters in traffic assignment models. One of the primary sources of uncertainty in traffic assignment models is uncertainty in origin destination demand. This uncertainty can be classified into long term and short term demand uncertainty. Accounting for long term demand uncertainty is vital when traffic assignment models are used to make planning decisions like where to add capacity. This dissertation quantifies the impact of long term demand uncertainty by assigning multi-variate probability distributions to the demand. In order to arrive at accurate estimates of the expected future system performance, several statistical sampling techniques are then compared through extensive numerical testing to determine the most "efficient" sampling techniques for network assignment models. Two applications of assignment models, network design and network pricing are studied to illustrate the importance of considering long term demand uncertainty in transportation networks. Short term demand uncertainty such as the day-to-day variation in demand affect traffic assignment models when used to make operational decisions like tolling. This dissertation presents a novel new definition of equilibrium when the short term demand is assumed to follow a probability distribution. Various properties of the equilibrium such as existence, uniqueness and presence of a mathematical programming formulation are investigated. Apart from demand uncertainty, operating capacity in real world networks can also vary from day to day depending on various factors like weather conditions and incidents. With increasing deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems, users get information about the impact of capacity or the state of the roads through various dissemination devices like dynamic message signs. This dissertation presents a new equilibrium formulation termed user equilibrium with recourse to model information provision and capacity uncertainty, where users learn the state or capacity of the link when they arrive at the upstream node of that link. Depending on the information received about the state of the upstream links, users make different route choice decisions. In this work, the capacity of the links in the network is assumed to follow a discrete probability distribution. A mathematical programming formulation of the user equilibrium with recourse model is presented along with solution algorithm. This model can be extended to analytically model network flows under information provision where the arcs have different cost functional form depending on the state of the arc. The corresponding system optimal with recourse model is also presented where the objective is minimize the total system cost. The network design problem where users are routed according to the user equilibrium with recourse principle is studied. The focus of this study is to show that planning decisions for networks users have access to information is significantly different from the no-information scenario. / text

Populations and land development have the potential to shift as economies change at a rate that is faster than currently employed for updating a transportation plan for a region. This thesis uses the Foursquare location-based social networking check-in data to analyze the origin-destination travel demand for Austin, Texas. A doubly-constrained gravity model has been employed to create an origin-destination model. This model was analyzed in comparison to a singly-constrained gravity model as well as the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's 2010 Urban Transportation Study's origin-destination matrices through trip length distributions, the zonal origin-destination flow patterns, and the zonal trip generation and attraction heat maps in an effort to validate the methodology. / text

Etik kring bilder i annonser har diskuterats mycket, speciellt modell-, ochproduktbilder har kritiserats. Det tycks dock saknas forskning om acceptanskring efterbehandling av landskapsfotografier som ofta används vidmarknadsföring av turistmål. En webbenkätundersökning genomfördes medbildexempel för att undersöka vilken nivå av efterbehandling som ansågsverklighetstrogen, tilltalande och accepterbar i sådana annonser. Slutsatsenblev att fotografier där exponeringen korrigerats för att skapa en tydligare bildvar det mest accepterade. Skillnader i åsikter mellan åldrar, kön, de som haroch inte har tidigare erfarenhet av fotografi och retuschering diskuterades ochdet visade sig att kvinnor och de utan tidigare erfarenhet var lite mer kritiskatill efterbehandling. Det framkom att en del betraktare kan accepteraytterligare efterbehandling om den genomförs för att sälja en specifik känslaoch så länge inte betraktaren kan känna sig vilseledd. / The ethics on pictures in advertising have been widely discussed, especiallymodel, and product photographs have been criticized. There seems to be ashortage of research on acceptance of image processing of landscapephotographs that are often used in advertisements for tourist destinations. Aweb survey with example pictures was conducted to examine what level ofimage processing was deemed life like, appealing and acceptable in those kindsof advertisements. The conclusion was that photographs where the exposurehad been corrected to create a clearer picture was the most acceptable.Differences in opinions between ages, genders and those with or withoutprevious experience about image processing were discussed and it showedthat women were slightly more critical to image processing. Those withprevious experience were generally more okay with image processing. Someviewers accept further processing if it is done to sell a specific feeling and doesnot make the viewer feel mislead.

Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka destinationsutveckling på en rural destination med fokus på det lokala samhällsperspektivet och den sociala hållbarheten. Dalarö i Stockholms skärgård är fallstudieområdet för denna undersökning. Metod: Denna studie omfattar en triangulering av olika slags kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder. Det har genomförts personliga intervjuer, enkäter samt en fokusgrupp. Teoretiska perspektiv: Tre teorier har använts för att skapa grunden i denna uppsats. Teorierna berör destinationsutveckling, nätverk, attityder samt hållbar utveckling. Empiri: Materialet är insamlat från tre personliga intervjuer, en enkät samt en fokusgrupp med fem frivilliga Dalaröbor. Den första intervjun var med en utredare inom näringsliv och landsbygd på Haninge kommun. Intervju två var med Dalarö Turistchef som även är ordförande i Dalarös Företagarförening. Det hölls även en intervju med en konsult som jobbade för kommunen angående Dalarös destinationsutveckling. En enkät med två olika inriktningar skickades till 346 möjliga respondenter. Slutligen genomförde skribenterna en fokusgrupp som bestod av fem deltagare. Slutsats: Lokalbefolkningen har möjlighet att påverka destinationsutvecklingen genom att delta på möten men det är sällan diskussionerna ger ett resultat. De tre aktörerna undersökningen fokuserat på samverkar genom möten dem emellan där de diskuterar framtidsplaner.  I nuläget är relationen mellan lokalbefolkningen och besökare socialt hållbar, men detta kan med tiden förändras.

Sverige är idag det EU-land som urbaniseras allra snabbast och mer än var femte svensk lever nu i en storstad. Utvecklingen kan delvis härledas till en strukturomvandling i ekonomin, från en industriell till en post-industriell ekonomi, med stark tillväxt i branscher som driver den urbana utvecklingen. Befolkningsutvecklingen och urbaniseringen sker dock på bekostnad av en folkminskning i många lands- och glesbygdskommuner. Människor och företag lämnar orter i brist på arbete och kvar lämnas en försvagad skattebas som ska finansiera skolor, vård och andra offentliga tjänster.Genom platsmarknadsföring; ett långsiktigt och strategiskt arbete som syftar till att förändra, förbättra eller förstärka bilden av en plats, lyckas dock många genomgå framgångsrika transformationer i kombination med rätt investeringar vilket skapar nya villkor och förstärkt attraktivitet. I Sverige finns idag 290 kommuner som i många fall samarbetar men som också konkurrerar om invånare, investeringar och turism. Frågan om platsers varumärken har under det senaste decenniet utvecklats från att primärt handla om insatser för att locka turister till att i många fall bli en del av en sammanhängande strategi för att utveckla en plats i en viss riktning. Det beror bland annat på att städers och regioners ekonomiska utveckling inte sällan påstås vara beroende av att platsen uppfattas som attraktiv, dynamisk och därmed värd att besöka, flytta till eller investera i.Speciellt landsbygdskommuner har stora möjligheter att fokusera på dess fysiska miljö, rekreationsmöjligheter och kvaliteten på de tjänster som kommunen erbjuder i sina marknadsföringskampanjer i syfte att locka nya invånare. Urbanisering, teknisk utveckling och globalisering skapar inte bara utmaningar, de genererar också stora potentiella motkrafter och möjligheter som landsbygdskommuner kan dra nytta av. Med gemensamma satsningar kan en kommun lyckas lyfta fram områdets kvaliteter och förstärka dess erbjudande gentemot potentiella målgrupper. De kan locka till sig företag och utveckla ett näringsliv som skapar nya arbetstillfällen som kan få folk att stanna kvar och skapa en flyttström till dessa orter.I denna studie kartläggs därför hur svenska landsbygdskommuner med negativ befolkningsutveckling arbetar med platsmarknadsföring och varumärkesbyggande insatser i syfte att locka nya invånare. Kartläggningen görs genom sju semi-strukturerade intervjuer i fem utvalda kommuner och syftar till att identifiera orsakerna till de eventuella problem och brister som finns i landsbygdskommunernas arbete med frågorna. Genom att undersöka hur integrerade de varumärkesbyggande insatserna är i arbetet med platsmarknadsföring syftar studien även till att skapa förståelse för vilken roll en kommuns varumärkesarbete har i arbetet med att vända en negativ befolkningsutveckling. / Sweden has the fastest growing urbanization of all the EU countries, with more than a fifth of the population now living in urban areas. A development driven by a restructuring of the economy from an industrial to a post-industrial economy, with a rapid growth in sectors that drive urban development. Population growth and urbanization takes place at the expense of a population decline in many rural municipalities where people and business leave due to lack of work, leaving a weakened tax base meant to fund schools, health care and other public services.By place marketing; a long-term and strategic work that strives to change, improve or enhance the image of a place, places can achieve successful transformations, combined with the right investments, creating new conditions and enhanced attractiveness. There are currently 290 municipalities in Sweden. Municipalities that in many cases cooperate but also compete for residents, investment and tourism. The question of place brands has in the past decade evolved from being primarily about efforts to attract tourists to - in many cases - become part of a coherent strategy for developing a place in a certain direction. It is partly due to urban and regional economic development often claimed to be addicted to the place perceived as an attractive, dynamic and therefore worth visiting, moving to or investing in.Especially rural municipalities have plentiful opportunities to emphasize its physical environment, recreational opportunities and the quality of services offered by the municipality in their marketing campaigns to attract new residents. Urbanization, technological development and globalization does not only creates challenges, they also generate great potential counter-forces and opportunities that rural communities can benefit from. With joint ventures municipalities can manage to highlight the area's qualities and reinforce the offer in terms of service and welfare services offered. It can attract companies and develop an economy that creates new jobs and get people to stay in the municipality and create a migratory stream to these locations.This study, written in Swedish, identifies how rural municipalities with a population decline in Sweden are working with place marketing and brand-building efforts in order to attract new residents. The survey is done through seven semi-structured interviews in five selected municipalities and aims to identify possible problems and shortcomings in rural municipalities' work on these issues and what its causes are. By examining how integrated the brand-building efforts is in the place marketing, this study also aims to create an understanding of the role that a municipality's branding has in the strive for reversing negative population growth.

Syfte – Vårt syfte är att skapa en förståelse för hur professionella konsultföretags varumärkesprocesser går till, när de jobbar för att skapa en attraktiv image för potentiella besökare på platser och destinationer. Vi har vidare undersökt vad konsulterna anser vara viktigt i platsvarumärkesprocessen. Metod – Studien har haft en kvalitativ metod, med en induktiv förklarings- och förståelseansats. Vi har genomfört öppet riktade intervjuer med sex platsvarumärkeskonsulter där respondenterna fick svara fritt utifrån en bred fråga. Teori – Teorikapitlet grundar sig på en modell framtagen av Moilainen och Rainisto som beskriver platsvarumärkesprocessen i fem steg. Modellen beskriver hur en arbetsgång kan se ut när en plats eller destination vill förändra sitt varumärke. Vi använder oss också av en mängd andra referenser i teorikapitlet. Resultat – Resultaten av studien pekar på att arbetsgången konsulterna sinsemellan och gentemot teorin liknar varandra. Respondenterna identifierar intressenterna, gör en omfattande analys och utifrån detta så skapas en varumärkesidentitet, precis som teorin pekar på. De betonar att ingen äger platsvarumärket och att det gör platsen speciell ur en varumärkesaspekt. Utifrån studien ser vi att det finns åtminstone tre gemensamma nämnare som respondenterna tar hänsyn till: Platsvarumärkets komplexitet, identifiera destinationens intressenter och slutligen att skapa engagemang.

An increasing global tourism offers great opportunities for Sweden as a tourist destination. However, an attractive destination requires competitive destination marketing strategies. Tourist destinations often include a complex network of stakeholders of small and large en-terprises that represent both the public and private sector. One condition for successful des-tination marketing is that all of these stakeholders collaborate in their marketing to create an integrated and powerful image. Another important aspect in terms of increasing the des-tinations competitiveness is that the local tourist companies are "export-oriented", in order to ensure that international tourists are looked after appropriately. This study has focused on the destination marketing of Stockholm. The aim of the study was to find out to what extent the local tourist companies collaborate in their marketing, how "export-oriented" their marketing is, and who ultimately controls the tourism development of the destination. The organisation in charge of coordinating the destination marketing of Stockholm is the local government organisation Stockholm Visitors Board (SVB). We interviewed them plus six local tourism companies to study if and how they collaborate in their marketing. The study showed that some of the smaller businesses felt excluded from the marketing activities due to lack of financial resources. SVB also has a product that competes with a product of a pri-vate tourist company. This result has a negative effect on SVB’s reputation as being the offi-cial representative of Stockholm, and leads to a more fragmented destination marketing. For SVB to change this negative image they need to build good relationships with the local tour-ist companies and adjust their pricing policy so that the smaller companies can participate in their marketing activities. The local tourist companies did however participate in other forms of marketing collaborations, which is a first step toward more integrated destination marketing. Some companies were more "export-oriented" than others, which mean that the foreign tourists are subject to varying standards of service. Despite this, the majority displayed an awareness of their role on the destination; that they together with other tourism companies form the "tourist product" that is Stockholm. Nonetheless, more thorough market research is needed to learn more about what foreign tourists want and expect from their visit to Stockholm. In that way Stockholm as a destination can become more competitive interna-tionally. We also interviewed the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), which is the public authority responsible for the tourism industry, in order to find out who is in charge of the tourism development of the destination. We found that the tourism devel-opment of Stockholm is purely market driven. This can have a negative effect on sustainabil-ity issues. Our proposal for future research is therefore to examine which are the mecha-nisms that drive the development and how one can secure a sustainable tourism develop-ment without centralized control.

The purpose with our study is to create an understanding of how tourism stakeholders within a tourism network can affect a Destination Marketing/Management Organization’s (DMO’s) work with the destination branding process. To fulfill this purpose we have clarified different relationships that can influence the DMO’s place marketing. In order to limit our study we have chosen to focus on two Swedish destinations, Öland and Norrköping, and their DMO’s. We have used a network perspective where the DMO functions as a node that represents the tourism stakeholders within the destination. The case study is based on a qualitative approach where a total of ten representatives from the two destinations have been interviewed in order to enrichen our analysis. We chose this approach due to our wish to get a deeper understanding of a complex phenomenon. Please see the last chapter for our conclusions, where we have developed a model that encapsulates the most important aspects emenating from our theoretical and empirical analysis. / Bakgrund: I takt med att människor reser i allt större utsträckning har konkurrensen mellan destinationer på den globala marknadsplatsen ökat. Detta har medfört att varumärken har kommit att bli ett verktyg för destinationer att skilja sig från övriga destinationer med syfte att attrahera turister, invånare och företag. På många platser har en Destination Marketing/Management Organization intagit rollen som övergripande organ som arbetar med platsmarknadsföring gentemot turister och med att skapa ett destinationvarumärke som innefattar en enad bild av den mängd aktörer som ingår i destinationens turismnätverk. En avgränsning har gjorts till att studera de två destinationerna Öland och Norrköping. Studien har vidare gjorts genom ett nätverksperspektiv för att ge oss möjlighet att belysa det utbyte som sker i relationer inom nätverket. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att skapa en förståelse för hur aktörer i en DMO’s turismnätverk påverkar destinationens varumärke. Detta ämnar vi uppnå genom att redogöra för olika relationer som bidrar till en DMO’s arbete med platsmarknadsföring. Genom besvarandet av syftet kommer vi avslutningsvis presentera en modell med koppling till vår forskningsfråga som lyder: Hur kan en DMO’s samarbeten inom det komplexa nätverk av aktörer som finns på destinationen bidra till den varumärkesskapande processen? Metod: Uppsatsen är en fallstudie som genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningmetod där totalt tio personer från de två destinationernas turismnätverk har medverkat i semistrukturerade intervjuer.    Resultat, slutsatser: Det framkommer i uppsatsen att de studerade destinationernas DMO’s ser sig själva som viktiga noder i turismnätverket och har i sina relationer med turismaktörer olika utbyten. Dessa relationer kan inta olika former där utbytet består av flöden såsom aktiviteter, resurser och människor som i olika grad medför att parterna integreras vilket medför olika utfall. Det går att utläsa att en DMO är beroende av aktörerna i turismnätverket, vilka i sin tur genom utbyten kan påverka en DMO’s fokuserade arbete med besöksnäringens målgrupp turister. Det framkommer även att det är viktigt att en DMO är den övergripande aktören för turismnätverket, vilket bör synas i deras arbete med platsmarknadsföring och i utvecklingen av destinationsvarumärket.

The Netherlands is South Africa's fifth most important market and therefore South Africa has to maintain this market potential. If South Africa can maintain a steady growth rate of between 3- 5% it would be a very sustainable growth rate for South Africa's economy. This leads to the main aim of the study, namely to develop a sustainable marketing strategy for Dutch tourists to South Africa. Only 0.64% of a Dutch population of 15 million visited South Africa in 2002 which is an indication that the market still has some growth potential. This study is important to gain a better understanding of the Dutch tourist market in order to develop an effective marketing strategy. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, 400 questionnaires were distributed randomly on different train routes in the Netherlands. The study indicated that: The main finding of the study is that South Africa should follow a Differentiated strategy to target the market segments. A differentiated marketing strategy is when a destination identifies more than one viable target market segment and prepares marketing mixes (product, price, place and promotion) for each segment. This study identified three different market segments for the purpose of maintaining the current market and to exploit a new market. The market was extended to market segment 1 and 2. Market segment 1: Young explorers- Age group 20-24 years (students) Market segment 2: Knowledge seekers- Age group 35-49 years (Non-profit workers) For maintaining the current market, segment 3 was identified Market segment 3: Ambitious travellers-Age group 25-34 years (Sales Personnel) 9 A sustainable marketing strategy is an ongoing strategy for the future and not one big campaign. It should consist of a series of actions or small marketing efforts that can maintain and extend the market for sustainability. 9 For sustainability always monitor the Dutch tourism demand (Dutch tourists' needs) and the supply (how many tourists South Africa can accommodate) on regular bases. A successful marketing strategy should indicate the direction in which all the marketing efforts are made, for instance to increase arrival figures and maintaining a sustainable growth rate of between 3-5% per year. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Due to confirming characteristics, events can be considered to be specification of projects. Large events are particularly described by their complexity and the many stakeholders involved. Because of these characteristics, the achievement as well as the evaluation of project success are extremely difficult. This is aggravated by the diverse perspectives on success by the many different stakeholders involved. A key stakeholders in large events are destination management/ marketing organization (DMO) of the host community. Rationale is the tremendous impact events have on the destination. Particularly, the enhanced tourism development, the increase of tourist arrivals as well as the improvement of the destination’s image and brand awareness can be highlighted. By marketing a destination to potential tourists, establishing a destination’s image and managing an increasing international attention, DMOs play a primary role in handling these major impacts. Nevertheless, managing the major impacts as well as leveraging them into sustainable benefits for the host destination is extremely difficult. Like any other stakeholder, DMOs have certain expectations for large evens and may determine success based on whether these expectations were met. Identifying certain success criteria allows the stakeholders involved to evaluate whether a project was successful and whether it met ones expectations. This thesis shall increase the understanding on the evaluation of project success from the DMOs’ perspective as a key stakeholder in large events. In order to identify the role of DMOs in large event as well as their perception of project success and the success criteria used for evaluation, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted. By doing so, managers of particular DMOs were interviewed, while each DMO represents another large event. It was found that DMOs of a host destination are usually neither involved in the organization of large events nor in managerial tasks. In fact, the large event is used for marketing purposes and is further included in marketing activities to promote a destination to the specified target markets. In order to draw the potential benefits from a large event, it needs to be implemented in a DMOs long-term strategy. At the same time, cooperation between a DMO and a large event is crucial. This underlines the important role DMOs have in large events. DMOs perceive large events as successful if the related marketing activities fulfill the previous set expectations for amount and content of media coverage. In addition, success is perceived by the DMOs if a sustainable destination development can be recognized. Within the distinct task areas of a DMO, different perspectives on success become apparent. Multiple different success criteria used by the DMO to evaluate success are identified, which can be allocated to three different success concepts. First, event success is marked by the impact on the tourist and impact on the DMO. Moreover, destination success can be recognized, while organizational success is specified by preparing for the future and for future large events. In addition, the success concepts can be allocated to medium- and long-term dimensions. It becomes apparent that a short-term dimension and a success concept related to project management success can be neglected, as DMOs are less involved in project management tasks related to the event. From the empirical material collected and the existing theoretical matters, a framework is developed accordingly.