Public service information systems are often fragmented, inconsistently formatted, and outdated. These characteristics create low-resource retrieval environments that hinder timely access to critical services. We investigate retrieval challenges in such settings through the domain of food pantry access, a socially urgent problem given persistent food insecurity. We develop an AI-powered conversational retrieval system that scrapes and indexes publicly available pantry data and employs a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline to support natural language queries via a web interface. We conduct a pilot evaluation study using community-sourced queries to examine system behavior in realistic scenarios. Our analysis reveals key limitations in retrieval robustness, handling underspecified queries, and grounding over inconsistent knowledge bases. This ongoing work exposes fundamental IR challenges in low-resource environments and motivates future research on robust conversational retrieval to improve access to critical public resources.
Ольга С. Дулька, Віталій Л. Прибильський, І. А. Бабич
et al.
The article explores the global and domestic experience of using trademarks as key objects of intellectual property in the food industry and hospitality sector. The authors highlight that trademarks, brand names, and brands play a crucial role in shaping consumer perception, enhancing competitiveness, and ensuring sustainable business development. The research emphasizes that trademarks not only perform the function of product identification but also form the basis of consumer trust and loyalty, which are particularly significant in the hospitality industry. The study provides a legal framework for the protection of trademarks in Ukraine, referencing the Law “On Protection of Rights to Marks for Goods and Services,” which defines their types, registration procedures, and the scope of intellectual property rights. The analysis shows that trademarks can be verbal, graphic, three-dimensional, sound, or color combinations, all of which allow enterprises to distinguish their goods and services from competitors. Special attention is given to the importance of international registration through WIPO to secure trademarks on global markets and protect businesses from unauthorized use. A SWOT analysis of trademarks in the food and hospitality industries demonstrates their strengths, such as consumer identification, trust, and competitive advantage; weaknesses, including high costs and lengthy registration processes; opportunities, such as globalization, digital marketing, and franchising; and threats, including intellectual property infringements, legal disputes, and shifting consumer preferences. Case studies of international brands like Hilton, Marriott, and McDonald’s, as well as Ukrainian enterprises such as Premier Hotels and Resorts, Reikartz/Optima Hotels & Resorts, and Dmitry Borysov’s restaurant group, illustrate the practical significance of branding and legal protection in achieving market success. The conclusions underline that trademarks and brand names serve as powerful tools for positioning and differentiating businesses in highly competitive industries. The article stresses the need for enhanced awareness of intellectual property rights among domestic producers and calls for the adoption of specialized legislation regulating brand names and branding practices in Ukraine. Ultimately, trademarks are recognized as intangible assets that contribute not only to consumer orientation but also to the long-term profitability and competitiveness of enterprises in the global market.
This training activity aims to strengthen the work competency of vocational students in the hospitality industry, particularly in the restaurant service aspect. The training was held on May 23, 2025, at the Bina Darma Hotel, Palembang, involving students from the Hospitality and Culinary Arts Study Program at the Prasetiya Mandiri Polytechnic, Palembang. The methods used were experiential learning and industry-based training, which emphasize learning through direct experience in a real work environment and reflection on the practices carried out. During the training, students were actively involved in restaurant service activities, from welcoming guests and serving food and drinks, to implementing work ethics and professional communication. Evaluation results showed a significant improvement in the students' service skills, communication skills, and work attitudes. In addition to providing benefits to the students, this activity also provides benefits to the hotel in the form of additional staff support in service and potential long-term collaborations. Overall, this training is in line with the Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) policy that encourages project-based learning and industry partnerships, and has proven effective in increasing employability skills and strengthening the synergy between the world of vocational education and the world of work.
In the general framework of the country's economic development, tourism has a significant importance. This is also because Albania offers potential maritime, mountainous tourists, etc. In these conditions, the need to advance the development of this economic sector becomes present. Determining the way of functioning, the evisceration of development problems posed by the tourism sector, the connection of mutual influences with other phenomena, etc., as environmental conservation and innovative developments should be preceded by study work. In recent decades, there has been an increase in the field of digital development, which has enabled the fundamental transformation of the way business is done in many areas of the economy. Digital developments are applications that have given a different meaning and perspective to the tourism and hospitality industry as one of the most impactful areas of this development. This study investigates the digital abilities that are most in-demand in Albanian tourism. The present spread of these abilities among workers in tourism-related businesses, including hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, and travel agencies, is examined. Significant gaps exist between the digital capabilities of the workforce now and the digital skills that will be required in the future, according to quantitative study that includes surveys. ICT enables innovative and advanced digital solutions that have improved and revolutionized tourism products and services by increasing the productivity of tourist businesses on the one hand and empowering and consolidating the sustainability of the tourism sector on the other. Both of these directions require that the workforce of this sector possesses competencies and digital skills.
The current global market landscape has necessitated that businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries adapt to evolving trends and expectations of their end customers in order to achieve and enhance their competitive edge. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, end customers have changed their approach to travel and stay at tourist destinations and accommodation facilities, establishing new priorities. Today’s travellers are no longer content with more efficient methods of booking accommodation or purchasing transportation tickets to desired destinations. They now seek safe and secure accommodations, high-quality service, personalized tourist offerings, fulfillment of expectations, and more direct communication with hotels. This has led to changes in communication between hotels and guests, the digitalization of business processes, and related aspects. Consequently, tourism and hospitality organizations must increasingly focus on meeting the needs of the modern traveller. One of the tools that can assist in this endeavour is the implementation of international management system standards. Compliance with specific management system standards enables organizations to better adapt to new trends and customer requirements, such as food safety in restaurants and hotels, environmental protection, energy efficiency, passenger data security, health safety, etc.
Purpose – This study examines the impact of tourism revenues on economic growth in
Mediterranean coastal countries from 2000 to 2022 using panel data methodology. By
encompassing various economic cycles and significant global events, this research provides a
comprehensive analysis of both short-term and long-term effects of tourism receipts on GDP.
Methodology – In the study, 10 countries in the Mediterranean (France, Italy, Spain, Türkiye,
Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Malta and Algeria) were selected by simple random sampling
method. Annual data covering the period 2000-2022 were used in the analyses and the panel ARDL
method was used to reveal the purpose of the study.
Findings – The panel ARDL method reveals that tourism revenues significantly boost economic
growth, emphasizing the tourism sector's critical role in fostering development. These findings
offer crucial insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and investors in the Mediterranean region's
economic dynamics.
Originality – The study contributes to the literature by utilizing recent data and multiple variables
to capture the nuanced relationship between tourism and growth
Hospitality industry. Hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc. Food service
Service composition remains a central challenge in building adaptive and intelligent software systems, often constrained by limited reasoning capabilities or brittle execution mechanisms. This paper explores the integration of two emerging paradigms enabled by large language models: Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) and Large Action Models (LAMs). We argue that LRMs address the challenges of semantic reasoning and ecosystem complexity while LAMs excel in dynamic action execution and system interoperability. However, each paradigm has complementary limitations - LRMs lack grounded action capabilities, and LAMs often struggle with deep reasoning. We propose an integrated LRM-LAM architectural framework as a promising direction for advancing automated service composition. Such a system can reason about service requirements and constraints while dynamically executing workflows, thus bridging the gap between intention and execution. This integration has the potential to transform service composition into a fully automated, user-friendly process driven by high-level natural language intent.
Tiago Mendes-Neves, Luís Meireles, João Mendes-Moreira
et al.
Portugal's prominent role as a global exporter of football talent is primarily driven by youth academies. Notably, Portugal leads the global ranking in terms of net transfer balance. This study aims to uncover and understand the recruitment strategies of Portuguese clubs for sourcing young talent and evaluate the relative success of different strategies. A comprehensive dataset spanning recent decades of Portuguese youth and professional football provides granular insights, including information such as players' birthplaces and the initial grassroots clubs where they developed. The initial findings suggest a correlation between a club's prominence and the geographic reach of its youth scouting operations, with larger clubs able to cast their net wider. Analysis of the correlation between players' birthplace and high-tier football club location suggests that the performance of senior teams acts as a catalyst for investment in youth teams. Regions without professional clubs are often left underserved. That said, certain clubs have made significant gains by focusing on player recruitment outside their district, such as the Algarve region, demonstrating how geographically targeted strategies can deliver substantial returns on investment. This study underscores data's role in sharpening youth player recruitment operations at football clubs. Clubs have access to in-depth and comprehensive datasets that can be used for resource allocation, territorial coverage planning, and identifying strategic partnerships with other clubs, potentially influencing their future success both on the field and financially. This offers opportunities for growth for individual clubs and holds implications for the continued strength of Portuguese football.
In this era of society, various sectors, including the food and beverage industry, are keen on integrating technological systems into their operational workflows to help the growth of the business itself. The adoption of technology systems in business processes, such as self-ordering system kiosks, tablets, or QR code menus, has become an emerging trend, including many stores, hotels, airports, and restaurants that eliminating inefficiency of manual ordering and reducing paper waste due to book menu. Many restaurants have been enabling customers to use a QR code method to order menus from their tables, which makes this study aim to examine the impact of self-ordering with QR codes within the scientific community. The literature review method is used in this research by analyzing 324 data encompassing a diverse range of sources, including articles, reviews, conference papers, books, and book chapters conducted since June 2023, spanning the publication years from 2018 to 2023. The analysis shows keywords related to self-service technology, technology acceptance, restaurant, etc. has been emerging trends within scientific community apart from there are gaps for further study. Nevertheless, self-ordering systems with QR codes are sought after for their potential to enhance efficiency and speed, reduce human error, save costs, improve the customer experience, and provide real-time order tracking. Using self-ordering is also related to the SDGs in improving industry, innovation, and infrastructure because it can support inclusive and sustainable industry.
Purpose - Empirically, the act of tipping in the global services industry is as ancient as the Roman times. It can be traced back to centuries ago, although the area has attracted less attention in research. Nonetheless, gratuities contributes immensely on the economic wellbeing of servers. This paper therefore presents an investigation into applicable constructs triggering gratuities within the hotel food service departments including; rewarding service perceptions, incentives for improved future service and social norms. Thus, the purpose of this study was to establish the contribution of each construct under investigation on restaurant tipping in the selected two and three star hotels within Kisumu County. Design - The study applied a descriptive research survey design. This design was chosen based on its suitability for describing gratuities based on responses from the selected respondents within two and three star hotels. Methodology - The study was carried out within Kisumu County, in Kenya. A census of two- and threestar hotels was taken, while questionnaires were self-administered to 384 respondents who were selected by simple random sampling method. Data was organized by skillfully coding and cleaning in order to correct any potential errors and thereafter fed into spreadsheets. The data was further transformed for purposes of conducting specific analysis. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences-Analysis of Moment Structures (SPSS-AMOS) was applied. The study respondents were assured confidentiality, privacy and anonymity in addition to the data collection tools being destroyed after report writing. Approach - The study was carried out in nine hotels within Kisumu County, among which one hotel was selected for pre-testing. On the other hand, respondents constituted food service clients and managers. Questionnaires and content analysis were used in the collection of data. Reliability was determined by Cronbach’s coefficient Alpha test (> 0.70) while content validity was used to assess the internal validity of the research instruments. Findings - The study results gave factor loadings ˃ 0.70 which indicates that the factors under investigation extracts sufficient variance from the dependent variables. Further, the study results show that alcohol consumption gave the highest prediction (91.2%) and thus unique contribution to the independent variable. Finally, the study established a positive significant relationship (at 95% confidence level) between superior service, frequency of patronage, alcohol consumption as well as weather and gratuity. Originality of the research - The act of giving gratuities is prevalent across the global hospitality environment, with a myriad of economic importance to the industry. However, very minimal studies have been carried out, though not related to this study. Most of previous studies are on the service quality-tipping relationship, while this study focused on tipping-service quality relationship. Therefore in the best of our knowledge, no similar study has ever been carried out, and thus this is a unique and original study that has addressed the topic.
The customization of services in Fifth-generation (5G) and Beyond 5G (B5G) networks relies heavily on network slicing, which creates multiple virtual networks on a shared physical infrastructure, tailored to meet specific requirements of distinct applications, using Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). It is imperative to ensure that network services meet the performance and reliability requirements of various applications and users; thus, service assurance is one of the critical components in network slicing. One of the key functionalities of network slicing is the ability to scale Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) in response to changing resource demand and to meet Customer Service Level agreements (SLAs). In this paper, we introduce a proactive closed-loop algorithm for end-to-end network orchestration, designed to provide service assurance in 5G and B5G networks. We focus on dynamically scaling resources to meet key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to each network slice and operate in parallel across multiple slices, making it scalable and capable of managing completely automatically real-time service assurance. Through our experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed algorithm effectively fulfills service assurance requirements for different network slice types, thereby minimizing network resource utilization and reducing the over-provisioning of spare resources.
Recent research advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have yielded promising results for automated software vulnerability management. AI-based models are reported to greatly outperform traditional static analysis tools, indicating a substantial workload relief for security engineers. However, the industry remains very cautious and selective about integrating AI-based techniques into their security vulnerability management workflow. To understand the reasons, we conducted a discussion-based study, anchored in the authors' extensive industrial experience and keen observations, to uncover the gap between research and practice in this field. We empirically identified three main barriers preventing the industry from adopting academic models, namely, complicated requirements of scalability and prioritization, limited customization flexibility, and unclear financial implications. Meanwhile, research works are significantly impacted by the lack of extensive real-world security data and expertise. We proposed a set of future directions to help better understand industry expectations, improve the practical usability of AI-based security vulnerability research, and drive a synergistic relationship between industry and academia.
In the trend towards the globalization of football and the increasing commercialization of professional football clubs, a methodology for calculating the firm value of clubs in non-western countries has yet to be established. This study reviews the valuation methods for the club firm values in Europe and North America and how values are calculated at the time of changing ownership of Japanese clubs and develops regression models with higher explanatory power than before to estimate the more accurate firm value of Japanese football clubs. A review of the existing literature on methods for calculating the firm value of professional sports clubs in Europe and North America, as well as financial statements and registers relating to changes of ownership of Japanese clubs, was conducted. After that, multiple regression analyses were conducted using the firm value of European clubs as the explained variable. From the literature review and the Japanese case studies, it has become clear that European clubs' standard valuation methods are based on revenue and other factors, while in Japan, valuation is based solely on the par value of stocks or net assets. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the firm value of European clubs over the past three years is best explained by revenue or player market value and the number of SNS followers. Two models with high explanatory power were developed. The estimated firm value using the revenue-based formula was higher than the one based on player market value. However, in the J.League, the former was more than three times higher than the latter, while the former was only 1.2 times higher for European clubs. The discrepancy relates to differences in European and J.League clubs' revenues and asset structures. In either formula, the firm value of J.League clubs exceeded the actual transaction price when the change of ownership occurred in the past.
In the post-pandemic era, the hotel industry plays a crucial role in economic recovery, with consumer sentiment increasingly influencing market trends. This study utilizes advanced natural language processing (NLP) and the BERT model to analyze user reviews, extracting insights into customer satisfaction and guiding service improvements. By transforming reviews into feature vectors, the BERT model accurately classifies emotions, uncovering patterns of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This approach provides valuable data for hotel management, helping them refine service offerings and improve customer experiences. From a financial perspective, understanding sentiment is vital for predicting market performance, as shifts in consumer sentiment often correlate with stock prices and overall industry performance. Additionally, the study addresses data imbalance in sentiment analysis, employing techniques like oversampling and undersampling to enhance model robustness. The results offer actionable insights not only for the hotel industry but also for financial analysts, aiding in market forecasts and investment decisions. This research highlights the potential of sentiment analysis to drive business growth, improve financial outcomes, and enhance competitive advantage in the dynamic tourism and hospitality sectors, thereby contributing to the broader economic landscape.
Carles Mulet-Forteza, Berta Ferrer-Rosell, Onofre Martorell Cunill
et al.
This study aims to explore the impact of expansion strategies and specific attributes of hotel establishments on the performance of international hotel chains, focusing on four key performance indicators: RevPAR, efficiency, occupancy, and asset turnover. Data were collected from 255 hotels across various international hotel chains, providing a comprehensive assessment of how different expansion strategies and hotel attributes influence performance. The research employs compositional data analysis (CoDA) to address the methodological limitations of traditional financial ratios in statistical analysis. The findings indicate that ownership-based expansion strategies result in higher operational performance, as measured by revenue per available room, but yield lower economic performance due to the high capital investment required. Non-ownership strategies, such as management contracts and franchising, show superior economic efficiency, offering more flexibility and reduced financial risk. This study contributes to the hospitality management literature by applying CoDA, a novel methodological approach in this field, to examine the performance of different hotel expansion strategies with a sound and more appropriate method. The insights provided can guide hotel managers and investors in making informed decisions to optimize both operational and economic performance.
Ngcebo Masilela, Gijsbert Hoogendoorn, Gustav Visser
Cultural tourism has become an important research topic. In particular, authenticity issues and the commodification of local cultures have seen significant research attention. Despite this type of research’s growth, many locations in the Global South require investigation. This paper attempts to address this dearth by investigating the experiences of people employed at the Matsamo Cultural Village in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire and qualitative interviews. Participants were selected using purposive sampling, and collected data were analysed using content analysis. Major themes that emerged from the content analysis are the growth of tourist visitation at Matsamo Cultural Village and the
motivation of employees to promote cultural tourism. While the Matsamo Cultural Village arguably authentically represents the local people and their Swati culture, it is contended that as the sector grows, employees will perceive cultural tourism as an economic means to an end rather than a cultural exposé celebrating Swati culture. These issues are untangled in the paper.
Hospitality industry. Hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc. Food service, Business
This study examines and analyzes the participation of NGOs in tourism development in Bukit Lawang Tourism Village Plantation. This study used a descriptive-qualitative method with data collection tools in the form of observation and interview. The results of this study describe that the role of NGOs in developing ecotourism in Bukit Lawang has been carried out by Project Wings by carrying out activities that have succeeded in collecting 325 kg of waste. The Kelas Hijau Institute has also conducted weekly class activities which are held every week for around 60 to 100 local children or classes about the environment and English education for children aged 5 to 12 years. At the Environmental Center stage, they have a contribution in providing information and building cooperation with community protection in efforts to conserve and manage the environment wisely as well as advocating for environmental preservation. The success of the role of NGOs in tourism development is also influenced by the appropriate expertise in terms of quality, honesty and consistency of each party involved.
Hospitality industry. Hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc. Food service
Daniel Philip Venmani, Fares Zerradi, Fatiha Hamma
et al.
Traditionally, the production efficiency of a factory floor is evaluated using non-real time objective functions. These are based on scheduling punctuality criteria such as 'earliness (a measure of finishing operations ahead of schedule)' and 'tardiness (a measure of delay in executing certain operations)'. With process automation becoming more and more inevitable due to the emergence of Industry 4.0 / Industry 5.0, real-time objective functions are also gaining popularity. One such criterion is 'synchronization' or 'timing'. In this article, an IoT enabled real-time synchronization approach is presented in the context of Integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) from a service provider's perspective. A new business and operational model, termed as "Timing-As-A-Service (TAAS)", is introduced. In this model, the role of a service provider is to "supply" synchronization from the mobile networks to the IIoT domain.
While the tourism and hospitality sectors in Vietnam have been rapidly developing, the increasing consumption of natural resources and production of associated waste, especially in coastal and island sites, threaten these marine areas with pollution. This study provides data on solid waste from 10 hotels in three coastal provinces of Vietnam, namely, Hai Phong, Quang Nam and Phu Yen. The results indicated significant percentages and volumes of organic waste especially from large-scale hotels with in-house food services like restaurants and bars. The proportions of organic and recyclable solid waste from all three surveyed cities ranged between 35-84% and 10-27%, respectively. Plastic waste accounted for a relatively high proportion of solid waste ranging from 27 to 60% total solid waste by volume and from 7 to 30% by weight. In particular, PET plastic made up the highest proportion of solid waste in Cat Ba town (52.41%) and Tuy Hoa city (39.81%) while single-layer plastic accounted for the highest proportion (29.55%) in Hoi An city. Plastic waste from food packaging, related to the cultural habits of guests that bring instant food items during their stay, was identified as an important issue, which reflects a valuable but presently wasted potential resource. These quantities of hotel solid waste can be recovered and provide additional environmental and health benefits to the community by not being dumped, landfilled, or openly burned.