The paper provides a short-run estimation of international tourism demand focusing on the case of F.Y.R. Macedonia. For this purpose, the Box-Jenkins methodology is applied and several alternative specifications are tested in the modelling of original time series and international tourist arrivals recorded in the period 1956-2013. Upon the outcomes of standard indicators for accuracy testing, the research identifies the model of A.R.I.M.A.(1,1,1) as most suitable for forecasting. According to the research findings, a 13.9% increase in international tourist arrivals is expected by 2018. The forecasted values of the chosen model can assist in mitigating any potential negative impacts, as well as in the preparation of a tourism development plan for the country.

The boom of the tourism industry has led to a huge interest in investing largely in hotel lodgings. Tourists have become aware and started considering new and far from ordinary tourist issues, like environmental protection, waste treatment measures, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green-house gas emissions, etc. The aims of the study are three-fold: (i) to assess the application of energy efficiency practices in the hotel industry; (ii) to explore the determinants of energy consumption; and (iii) to pose valuable recommendations for boosting development of eco-friendly hotels. The research was conducted in Macedonia for the purpose of identifying the impacts of several factors of managing environmental protection practices, in the first line by measuring their current level of influence. The data were obtained by an online survey conducted among managers of three-, four-and five-star hotels and processed by descriptive statistics. The results showed that managers have high positive perceptions on environmental protection issues and pose high awareness of the benefits produced by this concept, thus supporting the European environmental impact assessment regulation. The study recommends new approaches in challenging the hotel industry to decrease the operating costs and suggests that managers are in need for better understanding of the importance of energy efficiency.

This article investigates the symptoms of tourism development in Macedonia by applying the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model. The study explores the political context and the government's role in policy-making and implementation at each TALC stage. It also attempts to assess key arenas of governmental influence on tourism, such as privatization, legislation, tourism promotion, and fiscal policy. To this end, we conducted an analysis of secondary data sources with the aim of assessing the current stage of tourism development. Our analysis indicates that tourism in Macedonia is presently in the development stage but that future decline is still possible. Our general findings indicate an insufficiently developed tourist supply, underlining the importance of taking action as a prerequisite for a well-established tourism planning process. Finally, the study reviews and offers a better understanding of the manner in which Macedonia's tourism policies are changing in a complex region, with the aim of blending top-down decision-making with elements of grass roots involvement in a bid to create a solution to the country's search for a new future.

The purpose of this study was to examine if human values sets indicating basic motivational aspects, shared by active sport participants, could be used for the creation of a specific market segmentation model. While the exploration of motivation scales and sport tourist typologies was vast, although limited to small samples, this research constructed a model that tested its applicability and validity on the large general samples. By using data collections from the European Social Survey, the model allowed comparability between surveyed countries by cross-checking multiple psychosocial and demographic factors. The findings identified four main factors that determine active sport tourist values, while at the same time, multiple-discriminant analysis indicated the existence of three active sport clusters, indicating preferences of different sport tourist segments. Furthermore, the study analyzed potential demand markets according to the geographical distribution of active sport segments. The study confirmed that basic human values play an important role in explaining motivation aspects in sport- and tourism-related choices. Overall, the findings may assist marketers in monitoring changes in preferences of sport participants and focus on specific marketing strategies for different segments.

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