The Hungarian tourism and hospitality industry has faced serious challenges in recent years. The tourism and hospitality sector has been confronted with severe challenges in recent years. Even after the end of the pandemic, the industry has not seen the expected recovery, as rising inflation, declining discretionary income and a lack of foreign tourists have further hampered the industry. The hotel market in Budapest in particular has been significantly affected by these developments. Despite the difficulties, investors continue to see opportunities in the market. One example is the purchase by a group of real estate investors of an under-utilised leisure centre in District VII, which they intend to convert into a hotel. Our study is part of this project and its primary objective is to define the parameters of the future hotel and analyse the market opportunities and challenges. Our research focuses on the hotel market in Budapest and uses methods such as benchmarking, STEEP and SWOT analyses, as well as four in-depth interviews with key players in the market. The benchmarking examined the operations of hotels in the capital, while the in-depth interviews provided practical experience and insider perspectives. On the basis of the interviews and analyses, the study identifies possible directions for improvement and factors for competitive advantage.

The modification of the Turia River’s course in the 1960s marked a pivotal transformation in Valencia’s urban landscape, evolving from a flood protection measure into a hallmark of sustainable urban development. However, recent rainfalls and flooding events produced directly by the phenomenon known as DANA ((Isolated Depression at High Levels) in October 2024 have exposed vulnerabilities in the infrastructure, particularly in the rapidly urbanized southern areas, raising questions about the effectiveness of past solutions in the context of climate change and urban expansion. As a result of this fragility, more than 200 deaths have occurred, along with material losses in 87 municipalities, whose industrial infrastructure accounts for nearly one-third of the economic activity in the Province of Valencia, valued at 479.6 million euros. This paper presents, for the first time, a historical-document-based approach to evaluate the successes and shortcomings of Valencia’s flood management strategies through policy and spatial planning analysis. Also, this paper remarks the ongoing challenges and potential strategies for enhancing Valencia’s urban resilience, emphasizing the need for innovative water management systems, improved drainage infrastructure, and the renaturalization of flood-prone areas. The lessons learned from Valencia’s experience in 1957 and 2024 can inform future urban planning efforts in similar contexts facing the dual pressures of environmental change and urbanization.

The hydroclimatological monitoring network in Haiti was inadequate before 2010 due to a lack of meteorological stations and inconsistent data recording. In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, the monitoring network was reconstructed. In light of the prevailing circumstances and the mounting necessity for hydroclimatological data for water resource management at the national level, it is of paramount importance to leverage and optimize the limited available data to the greatest extent possible. The objective of this research is to develop regional equations that facilitate the transfer of climatic data from climatological stations to locations with limited or absent data. Physiographic and climatological characteristics are used to construct the hydrologic information transfer equations for sites with limited or no data. The validity of the regionalization techniques was assessed using cross-validation. The results enable estimation of hydrological events through the specific patterns of behavior of each region of the country, identified in cartography of homogeneous zones.

With its inherent characteristics of decentralization, immutability, and transparency, blockchain technology presents a promising opportunity to revolutionize the South African food supply chains. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized, immutable, and secure nature, offers solutions to these challenges by improving traceability and accountability across the supply chain. This study investigates the role of blockchain technology in enhancing transparency in the food supply chain among small and medium enterprises in South Africa. SMEs form a critical part of the country’s agri-food sector but face challenges such as food fraud, inefficient inventory management, and lack of transparency, which impact food safety and trust. The research adopts a mixed-method approach, utilizing the Technology-Organization-Environment framework and Institutional Theory to explain blockchain adoption among SMEs. The results demonstrate that blockchain-enabled practices, such as smart contracts, records traceability, production tracking, and distribution monitoring, significantly enhance supply chain transparency. The findings highlight blockchain’s potential to increase operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder trust. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners, emphasizing the need for regulatory support and strategic investment in blockchain solutions to promote sustainability and competitiveness in the agri-food sector.

This study meticulously explores the crucial elements precipitating corporate failures in Taiwan during the decade from 1999 to 2009. It proposes a new methodology, combining ANOVA and tuning the parameters of the classification so that its functional form describes the data best. Our analysis reveals the ten paramount factors, including Return on Capital ROA(C) before interest and depreciation, debt ratio percentage, consistent EPS across the last four seasons, Retained Earnings to Total Assets, Working Capital to Total Assets, dependency on borrowing, ratio of Current Liability to Assets, Net Value Per Share (B), the ratio of Working Capital to Equity, and the Liability-Assets Flag. This dual approach enables a more precise identification of the most instrumental variables in leading Taiwanese firms to bankruptcy based only on financial rather than including corporate governance variable. By employing a classification methodology adept at addressing class imbalance, we substantiate the significant influence these factors had on the incidence of bankruptcy among Taiwanese companies that rely solely on financial parameters. Thus, our methodology streamlines variable selection from 95 to 10 critical factors, improving bankruptcy prediction accuracy and outperforming Liang’s 2016 results.