Empirical Part Research Articles

Family Ties: Vatican Humanitarianism and Family Reunification at the End of Empire

This essay analyses the Holy See's engagement in the postwar discourse surrounding displaced minors by focusing on the case of displaced Italian children from Libya. Separated from their families and evacuated to Italy at the onset of the Second World War, they were placed in Italian Youth of the Lictor (Gioventù Italiana del Littorio; GIL) camps. In the aftermath of the war, these displaced children petitioned to return to their families who had remained in territories no longer part of the Italian empire. This article shows how the Papal Aid Committee for Assisting Refugees took part in the relocation efforts and contributed to the conversation on family reunification. By navigating postwar aid and forming unexpected alliances, the Holy See not only contributed to reshaping Italy's geopolitical presence in the Mediterranean but also solidified conservative family norms within the international discussion on humanitarianism.

The cost of political instability in Greece

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between political instability, economic growth, and Greece's overall stock market index (ASE) returns from 1970 to 2018. The aim is to measure and quantify the impact of political instability on economic growth and the overall stock market returns. The analysis includes six different variables as proxies that quantify political instability. A new Socio-Political Instability index is constructed from these variables by employing the principal component analysis. The empirical part employs GARCH, GARCH-M, Granger causality tests and OLS regressions. The paper provides new insightful results and a new measure of political instability for Greece.

The imposition of penalties within the framework of the system of employee discipline during the period of socialism in Poland

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to identify different forms of punishment administered on employees in Polish organisations during the socialist period. The authors discuss methods of punishment, former employees’ sentiments about their organisations’ climate and reasons for disciplinary dismissals. The material for the empirical part was collected by means of interviews. Its selection was targeted and based on snowball sampling. The majority of the interviewees claimed that the organisational climate at the time had been positive. However, acts such as favouritism of employees belonging to the ruling party, widespread shortages of tools and materials, onerous working conditions and disregard of health and safety regulations were assessed negatively. During the period under study, formal penalties were rarely applied. Managers had employment quotas to fill, and employees were not afraid of losing their jobs as they could be employed elsewhere relatively easily. Financial penalties were imposed quite often. Disciplinary dismissals were rare and occurred only when managers saw no other means of discipline left at their disposal.

The attitude of Ukrainian society toward equal rights and opportunities in the military sphere

Ensuring gender equality in general and in the military sphere during wartime is an important component of democratic development, particularly in Ukrainian society. At the beginning of the article, the international and Ukrainian experience of ensuring equal rights and opportunities in the military sphere was studied; the experience of integrating women into the armed forces of such countries as Norway, Israel, the United States of America, and Canada is systematized. The peculiarities of the involvement of women in the military sphere of Ukrainian society from a historical perspective are clarified.What do Ukrainians think about the involvement of women in the military, especially during the Russian-Ukrainian war and after the full-scale invasion? The empirical part of the work is based on the analysis of quantitative data obtained as a result of three representative surveys from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in 2018 and the research agency “Info Sapiens” in 2023 and 2024. Accordingly, the dynamics of Ukrainian society’s attitude to gender equality in the military sphere in 2018, 2023, and 2024, including, depending on socio-demographic indicators, were revealed. Finally, the public opinion of the Ukrainian society about the option of the army, which should be introduced in Ukraine, was studied.The results of a survey of Ukrainian society over the last six years of the Russo-Ukrainian war demonstrate wave-like support for egalitarian ideas regarding the policy of equal rights and opportunities in the military sphere. One year after the full-scale invasion (in 2023), support increased, and two years later (in 2024), it was back to 2018 levels.In general, more than half of surveyed Ukrainians, both men and women, support the statement that women should be given equal opportunities with men to work in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and other military formations. The level of support is higher among those with higher education as well as among people in the older age group.It is important to add that, among other things, this is influenced by the historical persistence of the tradition of women’s participation in combat operations, which has been traced since the First World War.Ukrainian society supports the idea of a rather American model of the army – the conscription of both men and women only voluntarily (under contract). On the other hand, support for the Israeli model – the conscription of all men and all women – is very low. The current version of the army – the conscription of all men and only some women – is also not very popular in Ukrainian society.

The motives of students of Kyiv higher education institutions to serve in the defence forces after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine

The article defines students as a special category of volunteers who joined the military service despite the legislative protection from mobilization for the study period.The theoretical foundations of motivation in interdisciplinary discourse and practical experience of encouraging people to serve on the example of different countries are analyzed.The empirical part of the study consists of 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews with students of Kyiv higher education institutions. The data analysis was conducted with inductive coding using the MAXQDA24 software.Based on the analysis, the following elements of the factors shaping motivation for military service were identified and grouped, including parenting practices, degree of trust in the family, conversations on history, language, culture, and politics in the child’s field – childhood stage; active involvement in various organizations, educational programs and activities that instill leadership and civic engagement skills – adolescence stage; practices of civic and political actions and volunteering, quality of education in higher education institutions and support from the university community, social surroundings – adulthood stage.The range of motives for joining the military, which informants recorded, was classified into social (to gain or regain a social environment, to self-realize); moral and psychological (to show solidarity with those who are already at war, to overcome apathy and guilt due to lack of involvement in the fight), civic and political (to join the active struggle and take responsibility for the future of Ukraine; to participate in the development of the modern Armed Forces), and economic (to have better economic opportunities).In addition to the conclusions of the study, the article also contains recommendations aimed at increasing the volume of mobilization among students in both the long and short term.

Professionally significant qualities of teaching producing in the context of digital development: Evaluating the effectiveness by education stakeholders

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of increasing the level of communicative culture in future economists in the digital era. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the effectiveness of professionally important qualities of teaching producing in universities of Economics, taking into account the digital format of interaction. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the Pareto optimality principle (2080), which allows the authors to determine the necessary minimum of teaching resources in terms of modern communication knowledge for training economists in the digital age. During the study, an online survey was conducted in order to substantiate the effectiveness of professionally important qualities of teaching producing in the context of the digital specifics of the socio-economic space. The research sample consisted of students and academic staff of economics departments of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Omsk State Pedagogical University, and Omsk State Technical University. Results. The theoretical analysis of the research problem revealed professionally important qualities of teaching producing (communication skills, digitals kills, knowledge of the principles of teaching ethics to create an atmosphere of trust and psychological safety), which facilitate the development of future economists’ communicative culture (motivational, cognitive, and functional components). According to the results of the empirical part of the study, the education stakeholders highly appreciated the effectiveness of professionally significant qualities of teaching producing and their positive correlation. Conclusions. The use of the Pareto rule allows the authors to conclude that the formation of professionally significant t qualities of teaching producing, which make up about 20% of the professional qualities composition for academic staff at universities of economics, determines 80% of the productivity of educational outcomes in terms of developing future economists’ communicative culture. This, in turn, determines the ability of graduates to build communication taking into account the career prospects at various levels of digitalization and interaction with artificial intelligence systems.

The Impact of Ownership Authority on Cash Conversion Cycle in Public Hospitals: A Comparative Analysis of Provincial and County Hospitals

(1) Background: The aim of the paper is to identify and assess if there are differences concerning the cash conversion cycle (CCC) according to different types of ownership authority of hospitals. The main research hypothesis developed for the purpose of this study assumes that the ownership authority is of great importance for the short-term financial management analyzed through the prism of the cash conversion cycle in hospitals. (2) Methods: A statistical hypothesis testing method is employed in the empirical part of the study, analyzing differences both in the values of the cash conversion cycle itself as well as in the values of its components, i.e., inventory conversion period, receivables conversion period, and payables conversion period. The research sample consists of public hospitals subordinated to different types of ownership authorities, i.e., provinces and counties. (3) Results: It turns out that there are indeed statistically significant differences between the provincial and county hospitals as far as the cash conversion cycle and its components are analyzed, which supports the research hypothesis. (4) Conclusions: The county hospitals are characterized by a better financial situation as compared to their provincial counterparts concerning CCC management.

Sociophonetic Study of Dysfluent Behaviour in Native English Speakers

The present project focuses on the study of the influence of two social factors, age and gender, on the frequency and variation of seven different types of dysfluencies (filled pauses, silent pauses, repairs, repetitions, false starts, vowel and consonant lengthening) in the spontaneous speech of native English speakers from England. The first part of the present article provides a general characterization of the relevant types of dysfluencies, together with the main issues concerning the production of speech dysfluencies. The empirical part presents the analyses of the recordings of 32 native English speakers from England. The overall results considering general influence of age and gender show that the only significant difference is between age groups, with older speakers producing more dysfluencies than younger speakers. Gender, on the other hand, does not make the difference significant, except for vowel lengthenings, that were produced significantly more by female speakers than male speakers, and repetitions, which is the only type of dysfluency where the difference is significant and influenced by both age and gender, with older male speakers producing significantly more dysfluencies than any other group.

State Forests’ “Spend the Night in the Forest” Program in the Context of Education for Responsible Tourism in Poland

The aim of the article is to present the key elements of the State Forests’ “Spend the Night in the Forest” program as well as the selected results of its evaluation in the view of education for responsible tourism. The article is divided into two parts. The first, theoretical part, presents the assumptions of the idea of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics, which tally with the paradigm of education for responsible tourism. Its task is to develop the skills, knowledge and competences in the field of rational and responsible use of natural resources. At the same time, it lays the grounds for the “Spend the Night in the Forest” program. In the second, empirical part, the author presents selected results of the evaluation of the “Spend the Night in the Forest” program including demographic characteristics of its participants, their motivations, preferences regarding the choice of area, the way of organizing the camping, types of activities undertaken as well as assessment of the principles corresponding to the Leave No Trace idea. In addition, the article presents suggestions regarding the division of respondents into user groups. The cited results indicate that the respondents declared their willingness to take care of the forest as a common good and tried to educate and influence other tourists camping in a way inconsistent with the Leave No Trace principles. It can be concluded that the “Spend the Night in the Forest” program supports education for responsible tourism. By enabling the participants to experience nature in its natural state, it helps rebuild human relationship with nature. Moreover, the program serves the purpose of shaping public awareness that we all influence the environment and that we all are responsible for its current and future state.

The Impact of the Difficult Economic Situation on the Operation of Slovak Companies in the Shadow of War

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the organizational and human resource (HR) responses to the challenging economic conditions caused by the war and the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the limited evidence available on how organizations adapt to such crises, this research aims to develop a conceptual model and empirically investigate the influence of two specific factors: organizational size and direct economic ties with the Russian and Ukrainian markets. Methodology: This study employs a mixed-method approach, combining both theoretical and empirical research. A conceptual model was first developed to outline potential organizational reactions to crisis conditions. The empirical part of the study involved data collection from 128 organizations, including companies and institutions, in Slovakia. The analysis was conducted to test two hypotheses regarding how organizational size and economic connections with the Russian and Ukrainian markets affect organizational and HR responses in times of war. Findings: The findings of the study indicate that neither organizational size nor direct economic linkages with the Russian and Ukrainian markets significantly influenced the responses of the organizations studied to the economic difficulties caused by the war. This suggests that other factors may play a more critical role in shaping organizational and HR strategies in response to crises. Implications for theory and practice: For theory, this study contributes to the existing literature by challenging the assumption that organizational size and direct economic ties to conflict-affected markets are primary determinants of organizational responses to crisis. For practice, the findings suggest that managers and HR professionals need to consider a broader range of factors beyond size and market exposure when developing strategies to cope with economic disruptions caused by global crises. Originality and value: This research is original in its focus on the specific impacts of war and pandemic-induced economic conditions on organizations in Slovakia. The study provides valuable insights into how organizations navigate crises, expanding the understanding of crisis management and organizational adaptability. It adds value by highlighting the need for more comprehensive models that consider a wider array of factors influencing organizational behavior in times of global economic disruption.

Possession and syntactic categories: An argument from Äiwoo

AbstractThis paper argues that possession is syntactically category-flexible. While it is clear that in many languages possession is mostly grounded in and operates in the nominal extended projection (Szabolcsi 1983; Kayne 1993), I show that this cannot be universal. The empirical part of this article is a case study of Äiwoo, which I argue has an inherently verbal counterpart of English ’s, an abstract transitive verb I label poss. This verb can be used by itself to form clausal possession: ‘I poss this boat’ ≈ ‘this boat is mine.’ Possessed DPs also contain the verb poss: the object of this verb is extracted, forming a relative clause. Informally, ‘my boat’ really is ‘the boati"Equation missing"’ ≈ ‘the boat that is mine.’ Given this, Äiwoo simply lacks true nominal possessives. The theoretical consequence is that possession can be mapped onto different syntactic categories in different languages. This is a welcome result, as it makes the syntax-semantics mapping as flexible as it needs to be: if possession is just a tool to assert that a certain relation holds between two entities, nothing in our theory of grammar predicts that such a notion should only be limited to a specific syntactic category.

Polyphony as a Transformative Factor in Solopreneurship Education of Language Specialists

This article aims to demonstrate that the notion of multiple voices (polyphony) is a powerful educational idea that can bring value to translator education programmes. Based on a class dedicated to entrepreneurial functioning of MA students in translation, the article strives to show how polyphony can be entrenched in class content and classroom dynamics. It is argued that polyphony can empower students’ polyphonic approach to career choices. The empirical part discusses the responses from the class participants in 2023 concerning their perception of the modes of work they find most attractive. Conclusions outline areas for enhancements in class content and classroom dynamics.

THE VIRTUE OF DIVERSITY: PERCEPTIONS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA OF YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN CIVIL SOCIETY REGARDING SELF-IDENTIFICATION AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ACTORS IN THE CONTEXT OF EU ACCESSION

The military aggression of Russia against Ukraine has provoked collective anxiety within the population of the Republic of Moldova around a potential targeting of the country, while increasing collective efficacy and nationhood. The article explores the construction of identity among young Moldovans in civil society, particularly in the context of EU accession. Moldova, as a multiethnic state, has been grappling with identity disputes since its first multiparty elections in 1994. The authors investigate ethnic identification and positioning towards international actors, aiming to understand how internal and external loyalties overlap and can emerge in building a new civic identity beyond the post-Soviet legacy. The study shows a revaluation of ethnic components and the connection with geopolitics. Before the Ukrainian war, the prolonged economic and political crises in the country, as well as the great power politics, had prompted the younger generations to be disconnected from the political, economic, and social aspects of public life. As such, they maintain a sense of social integration within their familial and friendship networks, which contributes to their sense of belonging within Moldovan society. The article examines the connection between self-identification and the geopolitical structures within the Republic of Moldova. The empirical part of the research involves 18 semi-structured interviews with Moldovan youth involved in civil society organizations, focusing on patterns of self-identification, including Pan-Romanianism, Moldovianism, Transnistrian ideology, and Gagauzian regional identity. The study also highlights the importance of pluralistic identification in which economic development is crucial in building up a consistent identification narrative.

Медиатизированный дискурс православного студенчества об РПЦ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the modern Orthodox conservative mediatized discourse among student bloggers on the Telegram messenger platform. The relevance of the study lies in the lack of development of both the topic of mediatization of Orthodoxy and the topic of studying Orthodox conservatism in modern sociology. The study of this phenomenon in the work took place through the prism of a conceptual approach, which received the name "mediatization of religion" in scientific sociological literature. The scientific problem is that studies of the mediatization of Orthodoxy are no longer a new field, but their number is still small. A large number of religious groups that are currently forming and functioning are outside the field of view of researchers. The figurative approach, which took shape in the German school of studying mediatization, was chosen as the research method. The figurative approach re-actualizes the concept of “figuration” by Norbert Elias and considers modern communicative figuration in media through four components: communicative practices, media ensemble, frame of relevance and constellation of actors. The communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism in the Telegram messenger was taken as the basis of our study, since this platform provides opportunities for discussion on social and theological issues. The purpose of the article is to describe this communicative figuration through its four components. In this regard, the objectives of the study were: a description of the context of formation and features of the modern stage of studying the mediatization of Orthodoxy; a characteristic of the 4 components of the communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism among young people. The empirical part of the study was based on a series of expert, semi-structured interviews with the authors of Telegram channels included in the youth category and who are students of higher educational institutions. In total, 30 interviews were collected from March to August 2024, of which 5 were selected for the article. The results of the study demonstrated that at the moment there is a constellation of actors of modern Orthodox conservatism, in the youth pole of which a group of students can be distinguished. Orthodox conservative students build their own identity, based on the Orthodox tradition, but only in the form of moral prescriptions. They are practically not integrated into the existing structures of the Russian Orthodox Church. The frame of relevance of the communicative figuration of Orthodox conservatism considers Orthodoxy as an integral part of modern Russian culture and humanitarian science. But in the frame, there is also an opposition to liberalism, including church liberalism, which occurs on issues of the foundations of society.

Monks, Blogs and Three Media Cases: Russian-Speaking Buddhist Communities in the Era of Social Media

This paper focuses on the problem of how Buddhism was reinstitutionalized in Russia in the frame of the meta process of mediatization. The empirical part of this study included two stages and was conducted during 2020–2024. In this paper, the authors focused mainly on the peculiarities of constructing strategies in the Internet and new media via traditional Gelug ethnic offline organizations, the Russian branches of the International Karma Kagyu Community, International Dzogchen Community and Russian-speaking community of Theravada converts. The methodological framework of the research included the institutional perspective developed by the Danish media scholar Stig Hjarvard for studying the mediatization of religion and the concept of “mediatized public religion” by Mia Lövheim and Marta Axner, as well as the concept of “digital religious innovators” by Heidi Campbell. The authors revealed that the processes of digitalization and mediatization have resulted in the emergence of Russian mediatized Buddhism. Various trends in modern Russian Buddhism are disproportionally represented in the public sphere of media; representation directly correlates with the strategies that Digital Buddhist creatives of different streams—Gelugpa traditional, Dzogchen, Theravada or Karma Kagyu—have chosen in relation to the Internet and new media.

The benefits of implementing Robotic Process Automation in Accounting

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify and evaluate the main benefits associated with implementing process automation in accountingMethodology/approach: The empirical part of the article includes the results of quantitative research, which was conducted using the survey method, employing purposive sampling of respondents. The study was conducted in the first quarter of 2024 on a sample of 109 enterprises based on a research questionnaire. Descriptive statistics measures were utilized in data analysis, taking into account the nature of the questions and scales included in the research tool.Findings: The research demonstrates the following key benefits of implementing ac-counting process automation in the surveyed enterprises: process transparency, risk minimization, increased enterprise productivity, and improved employee satisfaction.Research limitations/implications: The empirical research was exploratory and referred to a limited group of enterprises. However, they can constitute the basis for further research in assessing the use of process automation in accounting.Originality/value: The paper discusses the relatively unexplored area of modern accounting and presents empirical research findings on the benefits of implementing process automation in accounting. This study partially fills the research gap and contributes to the discussion on the use of modern technologies in accounting. The paper is one of the first studies to present the results of research conducted among business entities operating in Poland.

Influence of education on improving the employment prospects of individuals with disabilities

The occurrence of disparities in income among various social groups is defined by the economic term social inequalities. In the subject literature, this term is often used in association with the individuals with disabilities and their uncertain position in the job market or the barriers that they face in the education process. Thus, this paper attempts to fill an existing research gap by answering the research question of how the employment level will change among individuals with disabilities with a specific level of education if the number of individuals with disabilities with higher education changes. The main goal of the conducted study is to analyse the impact of the population size of individuals with disabilities of working age on their employment level in Poland, taking into account differences in the level of education. Particularly, the focus is on the relationships between the level of education and earning potential. To obtain answers to the research question, a national and international literature analysis was conducted, and in the empirical part, a panel regression model was employed. The results of the panel regression analysis indicate a significant impact of the interaction between the population of individuals with disabilities and the level of education on employment in Poland. Education plays a significant role in the employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities, and this dependency is also influenced by the demographic factor of population size. The interpretation of indicators may indicate a significantly higher demand for vocational and technical skills in the labour market, compared to contributing to higher employment rates of individuals with disabilities possessing these specific qualifications.

THEORETICAL STUDY OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNET ADDICTED PERSONS

People's interest in information technology and its activities directly affect the behavioral structures, emotional sphere and nervous system of a person in connection with his time standards. In the studies of scientists of the world, the influence of the internet and the problems of emotional intelligence on the emotional sphere of a person in a virtual environment from various scientific and theoretical points of view have been considered, and the empirical parts of the above studies have been covered. in our work. People now spend more of their free time watching videos, playing games, shopping on the internet and providing various services on the internet than interacting with people, which leads to the fact that interpersonal communication goes into the virtual environment. As a result, the ability to control time and behavior in the virtual world decreases. During stay in the online environment, the emotional sphere of a person is stimulated, and the attitude towards the environment changes. Human emotional intelligence decreases. In the real world, the ability to understand people's feelings, reduce the ability to control their expressions, cyber addiction, acceptance of the culture of the virtual environment acquire negative sides, as a result, their emotional intelligence decreases. This article examines the problem of internet addiction, its significance today and the psychological aspects of its impact on internet users, and also analyzes the socio-psychological factors that contribute to the formation of internet addiction in the context of research by scientists. A theoretical analysis of the individual psychological aspects of people with internet addiction was also conducted. Research object: 206 teenagers, 1st-4th year students studying at the Jizzakh branch of the National University of Uzbekistan. Average age: 20.7 years. Results: A group of teenagers prone to internet addiction are less aware of the place and place of using speech in interpersonal communication, which is an activity learned earlier in ontogenesis, and the opposite is observed in those prone to Internet addiction. Such people often make mistakes in interpreting the words of the interlocutor. The emotional intelligence of a teenager addicted to the Internet is significantly lower than the emotional intelligence of a teenager who uses the Internet less.

Researching the possibilities of using digital financial instruments by future economists for sustainable development purposes

Introduction. The authors explore the problem of developing digital financial literacy as the most important characteristic feature of positive financial behavior in the context of the transition to the digital economy. The purpose of this article is to identify priorities and trends in using digital financial instruments by future economists for sustainable development purposes. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the strategy of sustainable development, the ideological foundations of which determine the need for readiness to live and act in changing conditions, to plan socio-economic development taking into account the limitations of activities and the consequences of decisions made. The main method of the empirical part of the study is T. Saaty’s scale which was employed in order to identify global priorities in the use of digital financial instruments. A sociological survey was conducted among students of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky, Omsk State Technical University, schoolchildren of specialized economics classes (Gymnasia 19, Omsk) to identify priorities and trends in the use of digital financial instruments by future economists, taking into account gender and age preferences. Results. The ideas about the level of awareness about the problem of developing digital financial literacy are systematized, explaining the relationship between digital and financial literacy from the point of view of the prospects of the socio-economic space. Global priorities of the use of digital financial instruments by respondents were identified: the general sample prefers to work with optimal combinations of 2 banking payment systems. Analysis of correlations by gender shows that male respondents are better than the sample at the range limits, and female respondents are in the middle. The interpretation of the answers characterizes the women’s choice as stable, middle options of behavior (2-3 cards), which are less risky. Men, on the contrary, consider risk as a challenge that encourages activity, and go to the border of the sample (1-4 cards). A similar trend is typical for the age groups between 17 and 20 years. This, on the one hand, is explained by the psychological peculiarities of gender, and on the other hand, by active advertising campaigns of digital sets of financial services offered by leading Russian banks. An assessment of students’ awareness of new models of the digital economy has been obtained, demonstrating a good correlation as respondents grow older, which determines the positive dynamics of digital financial literacy of future economists (1-4 year undergraduate students) in the light of current labor market trends. Conclusions. The results of the research confirm that active use of digital financial instruments determines affirmative dynamics of positive financial behavior of future economists for the purpose of sustainable socio-economic development.

Tourism and uncertainty: a machine learning approach

ABSTRACT In this paper, we attempt to create a unique forecasting model to forecast out-of-sample the tourism demand in 24 European Union countries. The initial dataset included 34 relevant variables of annual frequency that span the period from 2010 to 2020 for 40 countries. A data prefiltering process resulted in a final set of 17 relevant variables for 24 countries. Additionally, in the effort to investigate the impact of uncertainty on international tourism, apart from the traditional factors that affect tourism, we also include variables that measure various forms of uncertainty: we use the World Pandemic Uncertainty (WPU) Index, the Global CBOE Volatility Index, the Political Globalisation Index, the Economic Globalisation Index, and the Political Stability Index. In the empirical part of our research, we employ and compare in terms of their forecasting accuracy a set of six state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, the Support Vector Regression with both a linear and an RBF kernel, the Random Forests, the Decision Trees, the KNN, and gradient-boosting trees. The results show that the Gradient-Boosting Trees algorithm outperforms the other five models providing the most accurate forecasts with a MAPE of 0.10% and 1.36% in the training and the out-of-sample tests, respectively.