This research delves into the correlation between institutional quality and tourism development in a panel of nine Mediterranean countries within the European Union spanning from 1996 to 2021. The study gauges tourism development by examining tourist arrivals, while considering GDP growth rate, inflation, higher education, environmental quality, and trade as control variables representing factors influencing tourism. Institutional quality is measured through indicators such as regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. Utilizing Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) models, the study aims to quantify the impact of these factors on tourism development. The findings indicate a positive relationship between institutional quality and tourism, shedding light on the pivotal role of institutions in tourism management and their influence on the sector. These results have implications for shaping national development strategies.

Low levels of financial literacy cause people to have lower savings rates, higher transaction costs, larger debts and the loans acquisition with higher interest rates, therefore it becomes relevant to analyze the determinants of financial literacy. The aim of this research is to identify whether there is an association between the financial literacy level and sociodemographic characteristics. The Mexican Petroleum Company (Pemex) employees is the population analyzed. Pemex is the state-owned oil and natural gas producer, transporter, refiner and marketer in Mexico. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling was performed and 404 responses were obtained. The analysis of data was carried out with the Bayesian method. The results show that there is an association between Pemex employees’ level of financial literacy and their level of education, income, age and type of retirement saving. No association was found between their level of financial literacy and gender, marital status and whether or not they have children.

This study scrutinizes the allocation of financial aid for climate change adaptation from OECD/DAC donors, focusing on its effectiveness in supporting developing countries. With growing concerns over climate risks, the emphasis on green development as a means of adaptation is increasing. The research explores whether climate adaptation finance is efficiently allocated and what factors influence OECD/DAC donor decisions. It examines bilateral official development assistance in the climate sector from 2010 to 2021, incorporating climate vulnerability and adaptation indices from the ND-GAIN Country Index and the IMF Climate Risk Index. A panel double hurdle model is used to analyze the factors influencing the financial allocations of 41,400 samples across 115 recipient countries from 30 donors, distinguishing between the decision to select a country and the determination of the aid amount. The study unveils four critical findings. Firstly, donors weigh a more comprehensive range of factors when deciding on aid amounts than when selecting recipient countries. Secondly, climate vulnerability is significantly relevant in the allocation stage, but climate aid distribution does not consistently match countries with high vulnerability. Thirdly, discerning the impact of socio-economic vulnerabilities on resource allocation, apart from climate vulnerability, is challenging. Lastly, donor countries’ economic and diplomatic interests play a significant role in climate development cooperation. As a policy implication, OECD/DAC donor countries should consider establishing differentiated allocation mechanisms in climate-oriented development cooperation to achieve the objectives of climate-resilient development.

This paper provides a disaster resilience-based approach. For the definition of the approach, a three-step method (definition of components, analysis of the resilience pillars and definitions of resilience-based actions) has been followed. To validate the approach, an application scenario for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic is provided in the paper. The proposed approach contributes to stimulating the co-responsibility quadruple helix of actors in the implementation of actions for disaster management. Moreover, the approach is adaptable and flexible, as it can be used to manage different kinds of disasters, adjusting or changing itself to meet specific needs.

The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for sustainable, smart tourism and local travel, with rural destinations gaining in their popularity and leading to increased potential of smart rural tourism. However, these processes need adjustments to the current trends, incorporating new transformative business concepts and marketing approaches. In this paper we provide real life examples of new marketing approaches, together with new business models within the context of the use of new digital technologies. Via hermeneutic research approach, consisting of the secondary analysis of the addressed subject of smart rural tourism in adversity of the COVID-19 and 6 semi-structured interviews, the importance of technology is underscored in transforming rural tourism to smart rural tourist destinations. The respondents in the interview section were chosen based on their direct involvement in the presented examples and geographical location, i.e. France, Slovenia and Spain, where presented research examples were developed, concretely within European programmes, i.e. Interreg, Horizon and Rural Development Programme (RDP). Interviews were taking place between 2022 and 2023 in person, email or via Zoom. This two-phased study demonstrates that technology is important in transforming rural tourism to smart tourist destinations and that it ushers new approaches that seem particularly useful in applying to rural areas, creating a rural digital innovation ecosystem, which acts as s heuristic rural tourist model that fosters new types of tourism, i.e. smart rural tourism.

Consumer satisfaction can be defined as the user’s response to a service or experience compared to the user’s expectations and perceived practical benefits. After reviewing consumer satisfaction models, it can be argued that there is no single model of consumer satisfaction assessment that is suitable for every service and every region of the world, as the causes and outcomes of satisfaction often vary. The research is original in its methodology: at the beginning, a theoretical research model is presented, then hypotheses are formulated, and correlation, factorial, regression analyses were made, which results confirmed hypotheses. The crop insurance system consists of relations between the state institution regulates insurance activities, farmers, insurers and insurance intermediaries. The aim of this article is to identify the factors that determine consumer satisfaction with crop insurance and to assess their impact. The empirical study found that consumer satisfaction is determined by the factors of recognizable value, functional (process) and technical (result) quality, consumer expectations, and image. The most important factors that determine consumer satisfaction of crop insurance are recognizable value, functional quality, and consumer expectations. Consumer satisfaction can be assessed by the cost paid and the quality received, the quality expected, and the consumers’ evaluation of the services. It was found that the socio-demographic elements of consumers do not have a decisive influence on the factors that determine service satisfaction and consumer satisfaction. It is also established that socio-demographic elements of consumers (farmer experience and insurance experience) have direct statistically significant but weak links with consumer satisfaction.