Graphical models for estimating network determinants of multi-destination trips in Sicily

Abstract This paper proposes a two-step approach for analysing the main determinants of multi-destination trip behaviour. It is based on a combination of graphical models and of a multinomial logistic regression model; the aim is to analyse direct and indirect effects of a wide set of tourist- and trip-related characteristics on multi-destination trip behaviour. Empirical data have been derived from a frontier survey of approximately 4000 incoming tourists in Sicily (Italy) at the end of their trip. Results suggest that multi-destination trips depend directly on the length of stay, the number of previous visits and motivation for the trip, and only indirectly on the interview month, travel …

The probabilities of selection of first and second stage units in the Time Location Sampling (TLS) design on incoming tourism in Sicily and Sardinia

The present work aims to illustrate the criteria used for the determination of probabilities of selection of first and second stage units, given the available information, within the TLS design implemented for the survey of the Relevant National Interest Project (PRIN) on mobility of regional incoming tourism in Sicily and Sardinia. First and second stage units selection probabilities are necessary for the implementation of Hansen-Hurwitz class estimators for the estimation of the average number of stops made by tourists in Sicily, for the estimation of the share of un-observed tourism, and for the sampling errors associated.

Determinants of spatial intensity of stop locations on cruise passengers tracking data

This paper aims at analyzing the spatial intensity in the distribution of stop locations of cruise passengers during their visit at the destination through a stochastic point process modelling approach on a linear network. Data collected through the integration of GPS tracking technology and questionnaire-based survey on cruise passengers visiting the city of Palermo are used, to identify the main determinants which characterize their stop locations pattern. The spatial intensity of stop locations is estimated through a Gibbs point process model, taking into account for both individual-related variables, contextual-level information, and for spatial interaction among stop points. The Berman…

Analysing tourist mobility: current issues and future challenges

Tourism statistics are generally based on data collected only at one point of the travel, which, depending on the perspective of interest, can be the originating region or the destination one. Indeed, many tourism trips imply the visit to more than a single destination, since tourists move to visit several attraction to several destination or within the same destination. The analysis of tourist mobility presents several issues which are related both to the collection of information on multidestination trip behaviour and to the analysis of complex information such as the ones related with tourist itineraries. The present work aims at reviewing the main issues related with the analysis of tou…

Multidestination trip, tourism

Multidestination trips are characterized by the movement from tourist-generating regions to more than one single destination during the same trip. This article provides a comprehensive definition of multidestination trip for the Encyclopedia of Tourism.

Seasonal pattern and amplitude: a logical framework to analyse seasonality in tourism. An application to bed occupancy in Sicilian hotels

Many studies have investigated seasonality in tourism in terms of its causes and impacts, from both theoretical and applied perspectives. However, the definition of seasonality and, most of all, its application and measurement have not received the same degree of attention. In recognizing that seasonality has two main facets – pattern and amplitude – this paper critically examines the main seasonality measures proposed in the tourism literature, classifying them according to their properties and their most appropriate use. The framework then proposed is used to analyse a standard and comparable efficiency measure, such as the bed occupancy rate of Sicilian accommodation establishments, pla…

Socio-economic inequality, interregional mobility and mortality among cancer patients: A mediation analysis approach

This paper investigates the effect of socio-economic status on interregional mobility and mortality among cancer patients. The cohort under analysis comprises patients residing in Sicily (Italy), who were diagnosed with lung and colon cancer between 2010 and 2011. The data was collated from the hospital discharge records of the Sicilian Region and the Regional register of the causes of death, by considering all those patients for whom information relating to socio-economic status was available. First, graphical models were applied to highlight the multivariate structure of association among socio-economic status, interregional mobility and 3-year mortality. Secondly, mediation analysis quan…

Tourism statistics and unobserved tourism: empirical evidences in Sicily

Despite its strategic importance, accurately measuring visitor attendance has been a challenging and problematic exercise for tourism managers for decades. Consequently, the primary aim of tourism statistics of accurately quantify tourism flows has been only partially achieved; indeed at a lower territorial scale tourism statistics appear less precise and accurate. The aim of this paper is: to introduce the concept of unobserved tourism, by highlighting the main limits of official statistical systems (with a special focus on the European statistical system on tourism statistics; to formalize a theoretical model in which tourism nights and trips in a given destination are decomposed into obs…

Viaggi multi-destinazione in Sicilia: principali determinanti ed effetti distorcenti nelle statistiche sul turismo

Identification and modeling of stop activities at the destination from GPS tracking data

Il presente articolo ha lo scopo di analizzare il comportamento turistico a destinazione, con un focus specifico sulle soste effettuate dai turisti nella destinazione. Vengono analizzati dati desunti da dispositivi GPS raccolti su un campione di crocieristi, a partire dai quali e possibile individuare le soste a destinazione `attraverso l’impiego di un opportuno algoritmo. L’effetto delle caratteristiche sociodemografiche e legate all’itinerario intrapreso sul numero di soste effettuate viene studiato attraverso l’impiego di modelli di reggressione di Poisson. I risultati sono di interesse sia da un punto di vista metodologico, legato all’analisi e sintesi di dati GPS, che dal punto di vist…

Developing and validating a novel multisource comorbidity score from administrative data: a large population-based cohort study from Italy

ObjectiveTo develop and validate a novel comorbidity score (multisource comorbidity score (MCS)) predictive of mortality, hospital admissions and healthcare costs using multiple source information from the administrative Italian National Health System (NHS) databases.MethodsAn index of 34 variables (measured from inpatient diagnoses and outpatient drug prescriptions within 2 years before baseline) independently predicting 1-year mortality in a sample of 500 000 individuals aged 50 years or older randomly selected from the NHS beneficiaries of the Italian region of Lombardy (training set) was developed. The corresponding weights were assigned from the regression coefficients of a Weibull sur…

Cruise passengers' trajectories at destination. A Dynamic Time Warping approach.

The present work aims at proposing an analysis of cruise passengers trajectories at the destination through Dynamic Time Warping algorithm. Data collected through GPS devices on cruise passengers’ behavior in the port of Palermo are analyzed in order to show similarities and differences among their spatial trajectories at the destination. A cluster analysis is performed in order to identify cruise passengers’ segments based on trajectories’ similarity. Results are of interest from both a methodological perspective related with the analysis of GPS data, and for the management and planning of cruise tourism destinations.

Comportamento di spesa del turista: un approccio micro-econometrico.

Data Quality and Errors Correction in Italian Official Statistics on guests of accomodation establishments

Measuring spatial concentration: A transportation problem approach

This paper will propose an index for measuring spatial concentration, which is based on the solution of a particular transportation problem. This approach extends a new index proposed for the measurement of seasonality to the spatial case, and it takes into account the level of the concentration of the phenomenon of interest according to its spatial distribution. Various properties of the proposed index, which make it a desirable measure for spatial concentration, will also be described. An empirical application, using data from selected European countries, will be provided, and the results derived from the proposed index will be compared with those derived from currently used indices. Este…

Socio-economic deprivation and COVID-19 infection: a Bayesian spatial modelling approach

Il presente articolo ha l’obiettivo di analizzare l’effetto della deprivazione socio-economica sull’incidenza da COVID-19 a livello sub-comunale. Grazie alla disponibilit`a di informazioni sui tassi di incidenza mensili da COVID-19 a livello di sezione di censimento per i due comuni di Palermo e Catania (Italia), viene pro- posto l’utilizzo di un modello spaziale Bayesiano con distribuzione binomiale zero- inflated. I risultati mostrano un’associazione tra livelli di deprivazione e incidenza da COVID-19 nei due comuni, controllando per la struttura spaziale delle unit`a areali considerate. Alla luce dei risultati, si rendono necessarie azioni di politica sanitaria focalizzando gli intervent…

Socio-economic deprivation, territorial inequalities and mortality for cardiovascular diseases in Sicily

The present work aims at analyzing the relationship among deprivation, distance from the nearest hospital and mortality for cardiovascular diseases in Sicily. Data derived from 2011 Census are used for the determination of the deprivation index at the municipality level, whereas distance from the municipality of residence and the nearest municipality with at least one hospital is considered in terms of travel time. Results highlight association between socio-economic conditions and mortality for cardiovascular diseases, whereas it seems that the distance from the hospital is only poorly associated with mortality.

Una nota sul campionamento in Sicilia e Sardegna per l'analisi della mobilità: le probabilità di selezione e il processo di calibrazione

Media and fake news: An analysis of citizens’ attitudes toward misinformation in European countries

The rapid changes determined by the rise of Internet and the recent development of social media in daily life have led to profound consequences on the quantity and quality of data made available and on the mechanisms of their dissemination. The rapid spread of on-line disinformation is one of the most discussed topic, and has been identified as one of the top-trends in modern societies by the World Economic Forum, also because of the link between these processes and political communication. Thanks to the availability of micro-data from the Flash Eurobarometer survey on “Fake news and disinformation online”, the present work aims at analyzing the attitude of European citizens toward fake new…

Un-observed tourism: approaches and case studies in Sicily

Multi-destination pleasure trip behaviors in Sicily

Many pleasure trips are often characterized by the visit of more than a single destination. The topic is well documented in literature (Cooper 1981; Mings & McHugh, 1992), but the main determinants and consequences of multi-destination trips have not been adequately analyzed (McKercher & Lew, 2004). Moreover, the empirical studies on this topic are limited to a few pioneering studies (Lau & McKercher, 2007; Mings & McHugh, 1992; Wu & Carson, 2008). This lack may be attributable to the failure of tourism organizations to collect data on multi-destination trip behaviors, as it results, for example, from European statistics on tourism (according to the Council Directive 59/95 EC), where no inf…

Indirect Measurement of Unobserved Tourism. The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as an Indicator of Human Pressure

Unobserved tourism

Having more reliable statistics is essential for policy-makers to be able to make effective decisions. Nevertheless, measuring the number of tourists in a given destination is not an easy task. After reviewing the main problems affecting official statistics on tourism, this paper proposes a general framework by formalizing a theoretical model in which tourism nights and trips in a given destination are broken down into observed and unobserved components, according to the European system of tourism statistics. The main approaches related to the measurement of unobserved tourism are discussed, and some empirical findings in Sicily (Italy) are presented in order to highlight the actual magnitu…

The impact of polypharmacy and drug interactions among the elderly population in Western Sicily, Italy.

Aim: Primary endpoint was to report polypharmacy distribution in the general population vs ≥65 years old people and to examine the frequency of drug–drug interactions (DDIs) in the Health Local Unit of Palermo, Italy, in relationship with patients’ age. Methods: Drug prescription data for the year 2014 were extracted from the database of the Local Health Unit of Palermo Province, Italy. Patients were divided into five age groups (0–13, 14–64, 65–69, 70–74, and ≥75 year old). The detection of potential DDIs in polypharmacy profiles was performed with NavFarma software (Infologic srl, Padova, Italia), with DDI classification provided by tool Micromedex Drug Reax (Truven Health Analitics, Mich…

Measuring tourism seasonality across European countries

Abstract This paper will propose a general approach for the analysis and measurement of seasonality in tourism, based on an analysis of the pattern of seasonal swing, as a preliminary step for the assessment of seasonal amplitude. The seasonality of tourism demand across European countries will be analyzed and clusters of countries identified, which are based on a similarity of their seasonal pattern. After discussing the limitations of the most frequently used indices employed in the tourism literature, a new index for measuring seasonality in tourism will be suggested in order to measure seasonal amplitude. The latter takes into account the ordinal and cyclical structures of seasonal vari…

La calibrazione delle stime nell'indagine sul turismo incoming in Sicilia

A general framework for collecting and analysing the tracking data of cruise passengers at the destination

Cruise passengers’ behaviour at the destination is a rather poorly investigated phenomenon. The single exit/entry point and the relatively brief visiting time, which characterize cruise passengers’ experience at their destinations, make the use of GPS technology particularly suitable for the analysis of such a relevant phenomenon. The aim of this research is to propose a general framework for collecting and analysing GPS tracking data relating to cruise passengers’ behaviour at their destination. The main prerequisites and research stages for the implementation of surveys on cruise passengers will be described and a set of tools and measures for the analysis of GPS tracking data will be pro…

The Sampling Design of the Survey on Incoming Tourism in Sicily: a TLS Approach

Density-based Algorithm and Network Analysis for GPS Data

La diffusione dei sistemi di localizzazione GPS offre numerose opportunita per la raccolta di dati di movimento. I dati GPS presentano diversi elementi di complessita derivanti anche dall’elevato dettaglio temporale e territoriale. Numerosi sono gli aspetti che possono essere presi in esame per tale tipologia di dati. Il presente studio propone un approccio statistico basato sull’identificazione dei punti di attrazione e sullo studio dei network. In particolare, viene proposto un algoritmo di identificazione di cluster, sulla base della densita di punti, che vengono sintetizzati in un network che riassume il comportamento individuale. In un secondo step, i movimenti complessivi sono aggrega…

Resident’s Perceptions of Tourism Influence on Quality of Life: a Multilevel approach.

This study aims to evaluate whether individual perceptions of tourism’s effects on quality of life (TQOL) are related to the degree of tourism activity in the host community, as well as to residents’ personal characteristics, by a multilevel model. Data from a survey performed in Sicily have been analyzed. The model revealed that the level of tourism activity have an influence on the way residents perceive the effect tourism in their community, as measured by TOQL index.

Unobserved Tourism: Conceptual Aspects and Estimates

Hospitalization and mortality among the elderly exposed to polytherapy and at risk of adverse drug reactions

The increase in comorbidities due to an aging population determines a marked increase in the use of drugs (polypharmacy), which in turn carries a high risk of drug-drug interactions. This Paper will analyze the relationship between exposure to adverse drug interactions, and hospitalization and mortality in a cohort of elderly patients, living in a local Health Unit in Palermo, Italy. These patients were exposed to drugs whose concurrent use is contraindicated during the period 1.1.2014 - 30.12.2014. After a description of the most common drugs involved in adverse reactions, an evaluation of the extent of hospitalization and mortality will be performed. The results will demonstrate that ther…

A survival approach for the analysis of cruise passengers’ behavior at the destination

The present work aims at proposing an analysis of cruise passengers’ behavior at the destination through a survival analysis approach. Data collected through GPS devices on cruise passengers’ behavior in the port of Palermo and Dubrovnik are analyzed in order to show similarities and differences among behaviors at the destination, according to socio-demographic characteristics. Results are of interest from both a methodological perspective, related with the processing and the analysis of GPS data, and from the destination management perspective.

Seasonality in tourism: measures and applications to overnight stays in Sicily

Perspectives of REAL network scholars: Challenges and opportunities for regional development

The aim of many policy actions is to foster the interaction between scientific research, firms and regional development. However, the manner by which this interaction may be stimulated and the measuring of its effects are still a challenging research topic (Bernela & Levy, 2017). This special issue of Regional Science Policy & Practice journal is one example of research collaboration among scholars in regional science research worldwide.

Olympic Games and Their Impacts

The modern Olympic Games is considered by many to be the world’s greatest sport festival. Economic, Sociocultural and Environmental impacts are described along with policy implications, from both an historical and current perspective.

Traffic proximity and lung function. A case-control study in asthmatic children

Introduction: Respiratory conditions are strongly dependent on air pollution. Urban areas are typically characterized by risky environmental conditions. Objectives: To analyze the effect of traffic proximity on asthma and to explore the relationship between level of traffic proximity and lung function in asthmatic and non- asthmatic children. Methods: A case-control study on children visited for suspected respiratory diseases at IBIM from 2011 to 2014 was performed. All the children have been geocoded according to their residence address. Exposure to traffic air pollution was assessed through determination of number and types of streets in proximity of the place of residence. The relationsh…

Multi-Destination Trips and Tourism Statistics: Empirical Evidences in Sicily

Abstract The knowledge of the actual magnitude and main features of tourism flows in a given destination is an essential prerequisite for the evaluation of tourism impacts and externalities. Indeed, many pleasure trips are often characterized by the visit to more than a single destination. Although the topic is well-documented in literature, the empirical results are limited to a few pioneering studies. The lack may be attributable to the failure of tourism organizations to collect data on multi-destination trip behaviour. This can be seen, for example, in the system of European statistics on tourism (according to the Council Directive 95/57 EC), where information on the average number of v…

Socio-economic determinants of inter-regional mobility in patients with cancer

This paper presents an investigation of inter-regional mobility in patients with cancer. Thanks to the availability of geocoded information on patients’ place of residence, the effect of socio-economic status and of other individual characteristics on inter-regional mobility is analysed through multi-level logit models. The extent of patient’s mobility, and its dependence on socio-economic status raises equity issues, as well as regional policy considerations.

Tourism statistics for local planning: challenges and proposals

The increasing importance of tourism in many urban and rural areas has called into question the adequacy of official statistical sources for specific local needs. However, several problems affect actual official statistics in tourism which make them inappropriate for destination management purposes. The present work starts from a simple question about the actual number of tourists in a given destination by formalizing the answer through a conceptual model which links official statistics available at local level with the tourism trips undertaken in the destination considered. The relevance of several parameters and quantities is highlighted and some proposals for their estimate are made. The…

Identification of points of attraction and network analysis for GPS tracking data

Global positional system data provide accurate information on units’ movements from both the temporal and the spatial perspective. Several aspects of these movements can be analyzed according to the aim of interest. In this study, we focus on statistical methods for the identification of points of interest and for the analysis of the network of movements for GPS data. A density-based cluster algorithm is applied to summarize the vast amount of information and to find the most relevant points of attraction. A directed network synthesizes the individual unit’s path by using the latter information. Finally, we aggregate the units’ paths in a weighted directed network which is studied through n…

Tourism Statistics for Destination Management: The Trips/Arrivals Model

Simply counting the number of tourists in a destination is not as simple as one might initially think. The present work intends to formalize a conceptual model by decomposing tourism nights, trips, and average duration of visit in a given destination, in terms of quantities and parameters that only for a small part could be derived from official tourism statistics. On the other hand, most of the quantities and parameters required for determining the number of tourists in a given destination are in general unknown, and need to be (directly or indirectly) estimated. Empirical evidences resulting from a survey on incoming tourism in Sicily are provided, showing the biases affecting supply-side…

Key-indicators for maternity hospitals and newborn readmission in Sicily

This paper proposes a composite indicator for the classification of maternity units, which takes into account for the different dimensions of service delivery, as potential predictors of health outcomes. As a measure of outcome, infant readmissions is considered, being a proxy of morbidity. The results highlight that after controlling for risk factors of the newborn, and for the presence of neonatal intensive unit, infants born in lower level hospitals show readmission rates higher than infants born in higher level hospitals.

DIETA GLUTEN-FREE (DGF) IN SOGGETTI CELIACI E QUALITA' DELLA VITA

IntroduzioneLa celiachia è una malattia sistemica autoimmune innescata dall’ingestione di glutine in individui geneticamente predisposti. Nell’adulto le presentazioni atipiche con sintomi extraintestinali e gastrointestinali aspecifici sono sempre più comuni. In particolare, la celiachia può indurre cambiamenti psicologici nell’individuo affetto, influenzando principalmente la percezione del benessere. Una dieta rigorosamente priva di glutine (DGF) da seguire per tutta la vita rappresenta l’unica terapia disponibile. Tuttavia, il rispetto rigoroso di una DGF può potenzialmente influenzare la qualità di vita del celiaco e, d’altra parte, l’ atteggiamento e le aspettative del paziente hanno u…

[A composite indicator for maternity hospital classification].

OBJECTIVES: to propose a composite indicator for maternity hospital classification. DESIGN: descriptive analysis of maternity hospitals through a composite indicator and analysis of its association with infant readmissions within 30 days from the childbirth. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 56 maternity units in Sicily, accounting for 44.436 newborns in 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: infant readmission rates within 30 days from the childbirth. RESULTS: low-level hospitals show higher infant readmission rates (odds ratio: 1.3) which may be seen as a signal of inappropriateness of maternity care. CONCLUSIONS: the proposed indicator allows for a classification of maternity hospitals taking into account…

Population geocoding for healthcare management. Technical challenges and quality issues

The present work aims at describing the main issues related with population geocoding for healthcare management. Some of the available procedures for geocoding multiple addresses are described and an indicator of quality of the geocoded addresses is proposed. As a case study, the geocoding of population addresses of a set of 9 Sicilian Municipalities is described and results deriving from the use of two different methods are compared in terms of quality. Some potential applications of population geocoding in healthcare management are finally discussed.

Concentrazione della ricettività in Sicilia: un'analisi territoriale

Border surveys and Time Location Sampling (TLS): an application on incoming tourism in Sicily

The increasing need of reliable and detailed information at a regional and subregional level poses some challenges related with the measurement of tourists flows, for tourism destination management, planning and promotion purposes,. The aim of this work is twofold; first, it intends to analyse and discuss the main features and limits of the official border surveys conducted in the majority of world’s countries, within the framework of Time Location Sampling (TLS) design; second, it suggests the implementation of TLS design at a subnational level, by presenting the sampling design of the survey on incoming tourists in Sicily, carried out between 2009-2010, aimed at estimating the unobserved …

Analisi dei determinanti di sovrappeso ed obesità in Italia

Introduzione: Sovrappeso ed obesità rappresentano un problema di crescente interesse nell’ambito dei programmi sanitari nazionali dei Paesi industrializzati, sia perché la prevalenza è in costante aumento, sia perché l’eccesso ponderale è associato al rischio di sviluppare altre patologie quali diabete, malattie cardiovascolari, e alcune forme di tumore. Obiettivi: Descrivere un profilo di prevalenza del sovrappeso e dell’obesità in Italia utilizzando i dati derivanti dall’indagine Multiscopo Istat sulle “Condizioni di Salute e ricorso ai servizi sanitari” per gli anni 2005 e 2013, ed analizzare il contributo che i principali fattori di rischio hanno nel determinare una diversa distribuzion…

Individual and contextual determinants of inter-regional mobility in cancer patients

This paper will present an investigation of inter-regional mobility in patients with a diagnosis of cancer. By virtue of the availability of geocoded information relating to a patient's place of residence, the effect of socio-economic status and other individual characteristics regarding inter-regional mobility will be analysed by means of multilevel logit models. The results demonstrate the influence of age and comorbidity on mobility propensity, in addition to the treatment type, which plays a role in patient mobility. As contextual determinants, patients residing in less deprived areas show greater mobility than those who reside in materially deprived areas. The extent of patient mobilit…

Re-Inhabiting Inner Areas Triggering New Regeneration Trajectories: The Case Study of Sicani in Sicily

The Italian debate on the so-called ‘inner areas’ has received a much-needed boost, following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further highlighted the differences between metropolitan and inner areas. While the progressive depopulation of inner areas is a worrying phenomenon, the limits of incessant urbanisation and the concentration of settlement and infrastructure policies in large conurbations have become evident. Departing from the framework of the B4R-Branding4Resilience research project of national interest and, by continuing in the furrow initiated by the SNAI, but also surpassing it, the aim of the University of Palermo’s research is to define the requirement for a…

Individual and Contextual Determinants of Cruise Passengers’ Behavior at Their Destination: A Survival Approach

The proposed study will present an analysis of cruise passengers’ behavior at their destination. Mobility behavior will be analyzed in relation to socio-demographic characteristics through a survival modeling approach. Data collected through GPS devices on cruise passengers’ behavior in the ports of Palermo and Dubrovnik will be analyzed in order to determine similarities and differences among cruise passengers’ behaviors at their destination, according to socio-demographic characteristics. The authors of this chapter contend that the results of this research, involving the processing and the analysis of GPS data, will be of interest from methodological and destination management perspectiv…

Monitoring event attendance using a combination of traditional and advanced surveying tools

This paper will describe the research stages and tools used for monitoring participants’ attendance at the European Researchers’ Night, held in Palermo in September 2017. A combination of traditional survey instruments and new technologies was effected in order to analyse participants’ behaviour during the event. The results derived from these different data sources were also integrated and analysed in order to evaluate the success of the event from social and economic points of view. Data relating to participants’ mobility during the event will be described and clusters of participants proposed, based on their mobility behaviour.

Prevalenza di sovrappeso e obesità in Italia: questione meridionale o disagio sociale?

Overweight and obesity represent a topic of growing interest for most of the national healthcare plans of developed countries, mainly due to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity, and to their presence as a risk factor for many other noncommunicable diseases. The present work aims at providing a profile of overweight and obesity in Italy, and to analyze the impact of different territorial and socioeconomic risk factors. Data derived from Istat survey on “Health conditions and healthcare utilization” 2005 and 2013 are used, and Prevalence Risk Ratio estimates are derived through modified Poisson regression models. The results show higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in …

Measuring tourism from demand side

This Paper proposes an analysis of tourism from the demand side, taking into account for both the total level of tourism demand produced by some European countries (domestic and outgoing) and its general tendency, and for the seasonal fluctuations which characterize many tourism-related aggregates. Tourist flows from the demand side at the European level are analyzed in the last decade, and a special focus on Italian tourism demand is provided, jointly with an analysis of its seasonal fluctuations. The analysis of general tendency of tourism demand and of the impacts of seasonality is a fundamental pre-requisite for the implementation of tourism policies.

A general framework to measure seasonal variations in tourism

Survey, tourism

A survey is any organized and methodical activity that directly collects information on motivations, opinions, and behaviors about the characteristics of a given population, including tourists and residents of a destination. This article provides a description of the stages required when implementing a survey, for the Encyclopedia of Tourism, placing peculiar attention to the context of tourism.

Similarity of GPS Trajectories Using Dynamic Time Warping: An Application to Cruise Tourism

The aim of this research is to propose an analysis of the trajectories of cruise passengers at their destination using Dynamic Time Warping algorithm. Data collected by means of GPS devices relating to the behavior of cruise passengers in the port of Palermo have been analyzed in order to show similarities and differences among their spatial trajectories at destination. A cluster analysis has been performed in order to identify segments of cruise passengers, based on the similarity of their trajectories. The results have been compared in terms of several metrics derived from GPS tracking data in order to validate the proposed approach. Our findings are of interest from a methodological pers…

Impact of incentives on tourist activity in space-time

Abstract No tourism study to date, has examined the ability of incentives to shape the spatio-temporal behaviour of tourists. Data collected from the port of Palermo in Sicily (Italy), using traditional survey instruments as well as GPS technology, was employed to investigate the effect of incentives on cruise passengers' space-time activities. The results show the incentives' clear and significant impact in influencing the space-time activities of cruise passengers' while visiting the city. Understanding the movement patterns of visitors at destinations can give destination managers information that can assist in dealing with the negative effects of overtourism that are caused due to high …

A pre-processing and network analysis of GPS tracking data

Global Positioning System (GPS) devices afford the opportunity to collect accurate data on unit movements from temporal and spatial perspectives. With a special focus on GPS technology in travel surveys, this paper proposes: (1) two algorithms for the pre-processing of GPS data in order to deal with outlier identification and missing data imputation; (2) a clustering approach to recover the main points of interest from GPS trajectories; and (3) a weighted-directed network, which incorporates the most relevant characteristics of the GPS trajectories at an aggregate level. A simulation study shows the goodness-of-fit of the imputation data algorithm and the robustness of the clustering algori…

Turismo incoming in Sicilia: criticità e primi risultati di un’indagine ad hoc

SOLUZIONI OPERATIVE ED ASPETTI QUALITATIVI PER LA GEOCODIFICA DI POPOLAZIONI IN AMBITO SANITARIO.

IntroduzioneL'utilizzo dei Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in ambito sanitario, continua a ricevere grande attenzione. La disponibilità di informazioni sulla localizzazione degli individui, consente di effettuare associazioni territoriali sulle cause delle patologie, nonché di indagare aspetti legati alla distribuzione dei servizi sanitari ed all'equità di accesso alle cure. ObiettiviAnalizzare le principali problematiche e le soluzioni operative per la geocodifica di popolazioni e proporre un indice di qualità della geocodifica di cui poter tenere conto in sede di analisi. MetodiCome caso studio vengono illustrate le fasi che hanno portato alla georeferenziazione di indirizzi residenz…

Spatio-Temporal Linear Network Point Processes for GPS Data Analysis

This work aims at analyzing the spatio-temporal intensity in the distribution of stop locations of cruise passengers during their visit at the destination. Data are collected through the integration of GPS tracking technology and questionnaire-based survey on a sample of cruise passengers visiting the city of Palermo (Italy), and they are used to identify the main determinants which characterize cruise passengers’ stop locations pattern. The spatio-temporal distribution of visitors' stops is analysed by mean of the theory of stochastic point processes occurring on linear networks, in order to consider the street configuration of the city and the location of the main attractions. First, an i…

Viaggi multi-destinazione e percorsi turistici in Sicilia

The topic of tourist mobility within a single destination and between destinations during a single trip has received much attention among several researches since long time. However, from the empirical point of view, the analysis of tourists paths, and of the main determinants of multi-destination trips, have not still been adequately investigated. Information collected thanks to the Project of Relevant National Interest (PRIN) on mobility and tourists behaviors in Sicily and Sardinia, allow to analyse the main tourists paths in the two Islands. The present work aims to analyse multi-destination trip in Sicily and to illustrate the main tourists routes undertaken by incoming tourists in Sic…

A new index for measuring seasonality: A transportation cost approach

Abstract Seasonal fluctuations characterize many natural and social phenomena. Although the causes and impacts of seasonality are generally well documented in different study contexts, and many methods for isolating the seasonal component have been developed, considerably less attention has been paid to the measurement of the degree of seasonality. After reviewing the main indices used for measuring seasonality in different study contexts, we will propose a new approach in which seasonality is evaluated on the basis of the solution of a transportation problem. By considering the interdisciplinary nature of seasonal phenomena, the topic of measuring seasonality merits attention from a wide v…

The Implementation and Main Results of the TLS Design in a Survey on Incoming Tourism in Sicily

Measuring Seasonality: Performance of Accommodation Establishments in Sicily through the analysis of Occupancy Rates

Tourism, more than other fields, needs to be managed. As such, the provision of reliable information and adequate tools is one of the major challenges to monitor and to manage tourism destinations. Sicily (Italy) seems to have a great potential coming from its tourism resources, and most of the recent development programs have been focused on tourism. In line with the world’s trend, tourism in Sicily faced a growth in terms of overnight stays, from about 9 millions in 1994, to more than 14 millions in 2007. The regional expenditure in tourism from 1996 to 2006 was of euro 785 millions (Federalberghi, 2007), which ranks Sicily as the second region in Italy for tourism expenditure, in the yea…

Viaggi multi destinazione e turismo sommerso: l'indagine sul turismo incoming in Sicilia

The measurement of seasonality for tourism evaluation

Seasonal variations in tourism demand represent one of the most challenging topics in tourism research. After highlighting the main pitfalls which characterize the majority of currently used indices for seasonal amplitude, the present work propose the implementation of a recently discusses a recently proposed index for the measurement of seasonality in tourism, based on the transportation problem approach. An adequate measurement of seasonality is a pre-requisite for the evaluation of the effectiveness of tourism policies aimed at reducing tourism demand imbalance.

A comparison between seasonality indices deployed in evaluating unimodal and bimodal patterns

This paper will discuss a recently proposed index for measuring seasonality, which is based on the solution of the well-known transportation problem . A specific characterization of the cost matrix will permit the taking into account of the cyclical structure of time periods, which characterizes the phenomenon under observation. Various features of the proposed index will be evaluated by comparing it with other indices which are commonly used in the measurement of seasonality, such as the Gini concentration index. Given the wide range of disciplines with an interest in the analysis of seasonal phenom ena, the approach proposed m ay be of wide interest.

Seasonality in tourism: a critical review of its main measures

The purpose of this study is to estimate the risk of second primary cancer (SPC) in 129 consecutive patients with splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) diagnosed in three Italian haematological centres. The person-years method deriving as a sum ofproducts ofage- and sex- specific rates and ofthe corresponding time at risk was used. The SPC Standardized Incidence Ratio ISIR) was 2.03 with a 95% confidence interval: [1.05,3.56] (p < 0.05) and the corresponding Absolute Excess Risk (AER) was 145.8 (per 10000 SMZL patients per year). Our findings evidence a high frequency of additional cancers in patients with SMZL and suggest that the incidence rate of SPCs is significantly different from that…

Cruise passengers' behavior at the destination: Investigation using GPS technology

This paper aims at segmenting cruise passengers in order to identify passengers' profiles according to their behavior at destination. Through an integrated use of traditional survey instruments and of GPS technologies, a set of indicators for the analysis of passengers' mobility at destination is proposed. Data collected in the port of Palermo are used in order to investigate space-time activities of cruise passengers at the destination. Monothetic Analysis is used in order to segment passengers according to their behavior at destination, and groups are then compared in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and other variables collected through questionnaire-based survey. Results ident…

REPORT SICILIA ANALISI PREVISIONALE SULL’’ECONOMIA SICILIANA XXXVI Rapporto (II 2011)

Turismo e mobilità: aspetti di ricerca e principali implicazioni per le statistiche del turismo

INDICATORI PER LA VALUTAZIONE DELL'APPROPRIATEZZA DEL PERCORSO NASCITA

Introduzione:La gravidanza, il parto ed il puerperio sono eventi fisiologici che possono talvolta complicarsi in modo non prevedibile e con conseguenze gravi per la donna, per il nascituro e per il neonato. Gli standard nazionali prevedono la razionalizzazione/riduzione progressiva dei punti nascita con numero di parti inferiore a 1000/anno, e l'abbinamento per pari complessità di attività delle UU.OO. ostetrico-ginecologiche con quelle neonatologiche/pediatriche, riconducendo a due i precedenti tre livelli assistenziali. I punti nascita privi di una copertura di guardia medico-ostetrica, anestesiologica e medico pediatrica attiva h 24, o di risorse umane e di attrezzature adeguate non dovr…

Distance from the nearest hospital and mortality for acute miocardial infarction (AMI) in Sicily Region (Southern Italy)

Multi-destination trips: A survey on incoming zourism in Sicily

Many pleasure trips are often characterized by the visit of more than a single destination. Despite the topic is well documented in literature, the empirical studies are limited to a few pioneering studies. This lack may be attributable to the failure of tourism organizations to collect data on multi-destination trip behaviors, as it results, for example, from the system of European statistics on tourism (according to the Council Directive 95/57 EC), where no information on the average number of destinations visited within a single trip are provided. This paper aims to analyze the main implications of multi-destination trips both on tourism statistics and in tourism planning, and to describ…

La stima del sommerso turistico a livello circoscrizionale attraverso misure indirette: i rifiuti solidi urbani (RSU)

I DETERMINANTI DEI LIVELLI PRESCRITTIVI E IL RICORSO ALL’OSPEDALIZZAZIONE

Introduzione. L'analisi dei livelli prescrittivi rappresenta un importante aspetto per la comprensione dei fabbisogni terapeutici e le conseguenti azioni programmatorie, d'altra parte sotto certe condizioni, il ricorso a terapie farmacologiche potrebbe ridurre l’ospedalizzazione ed i costi ad essa associati. Obiettivi Valutare le determinanti dei livelli prescrittivi dei medici di medicina generale (MMG) in relazione alle caratteristiche degli assistiti, all'ASP di appartenenza dei MMG, nonché l'eventuale relazione con i livelli di ospedalizzazione degli assistiti, in Sicilia attraverso l'utilizzo della Base Dati Assistibili (BDA). Metodi Lo studio prende in esame i livelli prescrittivi di …

IL REGISTRO REGIONALE DELLE CRONICITÀ: NUOVI ALGORITMI PER LA VALUTAZIONE DEI PROFILI DI CONSUMI PER CATEGORIE DIAGNOSTICHE IN SICILIA

Introduzione. Conoscere la prevalenza di una malattia cronica è essenziale per una corretta programmazione delle risorse economiche e umane necessarie per l’implementazione delle strategie preventive e terapeutiche. La Base Dati degli Assistibili (BDA), sviluppata nell’ambito del Piano Operativo di Assistenza Tecnica alle Regioni dell’Obiettivo Convergenza (POAT) cui la Regione Sicilia partecipa attivamente, consente dianalizzare in modo integrato le informazioni provenienti dai diversi flussi informativi che la costituiscono. Obiettivi. Costituire un registro regionale delle cronicità in Sicilia, al fine di valutare i profili di consumi per categorie diagnostiche e stimarne i relativi cari…

Un approccio GIS per la valutazione dell’equità di accesso alle cure per infarto acuto del miocardio in Sicilia

Una delle principali cause di morte per Infarto Acuto del Miocardio (IMA) è ancora dovuta al tempo intercorso tra l’esordio ed il trattamento. Tale ritardo è attribuibile sia alla mancanza di consapevolezza sui sintomi di infarto che al tempo necessario per raggiungere la struttura ospedaliera. Ciò può comportare un diseguale accesso ai trattamenti ospedalieri in termini di tempestività delle cure e di conseguenza esiti differenti in funzione della distanza delle strutture ospedaliere dalla residenza dei singoli utenti. Obiettivo del presente lavoro è quello di analizzare la distribuzione territoriale delle strutture ospedaliere in Sicilia al fine di individuare le aree comunali più distant…

Volume di attività operatoria per medico e tempestività di esecuzione di intervento chirurgico a seguito di frattura del collo del femore nell’anziano in Sicilia

Introduzione: La valutazione della qualità dell’assistenza rappresenta un ambito di investigazione di primaria importanza. Nell’ambito delle diverse dimensioni che caratterizzano la qualità complessiva dell’assistenza sanitaria, uno degli elementi cruciali è dato dall’efficacia tecnica dei trattamenti. È noto come le misure di efficacia dei trattamenti possano essere costruite relativamente a diversi aspetti tra i quali la dotazione di personale e i volumi di attività. Obiettivo: Il presente studio ha l’obiettivo di analizzare la relazione tra uno degli indicatori di processo ad oggi in uso nell’ambito della regione Sicilia per la valutazione della performance aziendale, qual è la tempestiv…

Effetti della introduzione di indicatori di esito per valutazione della performance delle direzioni aziendali in Sicilia

Negli ultimi anni, il Programma Nazionale Esiti ha acquisito sempre maggiore importanza, come dimostrato dal crescente accesso all’apposito sito web predisposto, nonché dallo sviluppo di programmi di collaborazione tra l’Agenas e le diverse agenzie regionali Scopo del presente contributo è quello di fare un quadro della valutazione degli interventi sanitari in Sicilia, evidenziando le specificità ed i vantaggi dell’implementazione di alcuni indicatori utilizzando le banche dati disponibili a livello regionale. Si vogliono evidenziare i risultati sinora raggiunti con riferimento alla valutazione degli interventi sanitari in Sicilia, nonché le sfide più prossime che si intendono affrontare al…