Source Of Foreign Exchange Earnings Research Articles

How GIS could be used as a tool to enhance the tourism sectors? A case study of Eritrea

The tourism phenomena have attracted not only Eritrea, but almost the entire world. Tourism is being recognized as a source of economic benefits to a country by a way of gaining foreign exchange and employment generation on a truly international scale. It also makes a tremendous contribution to the improvement of social and political understanding. Though, Eritrea’s tourism industry is currently rated as one of the lowest foreign exchange earners in the country, the potential of tourism industry to become a leading source of foreign exchange earnings in Eritrea has not been far realized. It is evident that the country’s tourism potential has not been fully explored and marketed. Though several attempts have been made to enhance its rapid development, but these efforts have suffered some major drawbacks due to lack of a comprehensive spatial database of tourism facilities and destinations. By using GIS, a common platform can be defined to provide a spatial databank with integrated multimedia features. This paper discusses the use of GIS as a tool for archiving, analyzing, and displaying of tourism information to enhance the tourism sectors in Eritrea.

Human Resource Management and SMEs Business Growth in Pakistan

This research investigates. Data were collected from 100 respondents from 30 organizations by using simple random technique. A structural questionnaire was developed to get reliability of the Data. Data were analyzed by using SPSS-18 version. It was revealed that SMEs are the major source of foreign exchange earnings, SMEs have a major contribution in Pakistan’s GDP, A known feature of SME sector is its ability to create jobs, SMEs maintain the poverty alleviation activities through creating employment, SMEs assist in fostering a self-help and entrepreneurial culture, SMEs boost up an entrepreneurial strength which puts forward flexibility in the economy, SMEs are more capable in resource allocation as compared to large scale industries, SMEs in general consider employees as their most important resources, SMEs are pioneer in developing new products and services and finally SMEs are in general very quality minded in the products and services they provide.

Impact of SMEs on Employment in Textile Industry of Pakistan

This research investigates the impact of Small & Medium Enterprises on Employment in textile industry. Data were collected from 100 respondents from 30 organizations by using simple random technique. A structural questionnaire was developed to get reliability of the Data. Data were analyzed by using SPSS-18 version. It was revealed that SMEs are the major source of foreign exchange earnings, SMEs have a major contribution in Pakistan’s GDP, A known feature of SME sector is its ability to create jobs, SMEs maintain the poverty alleviation activities through creating employment, SMEs assist in fostering a self-help and entrepreneurial culture, SMEs boost up an entrepreneurial strength which puts forward flexibility in the economy, SMEs are more capable in resource allocation as compared to large scale industries, SMEs in general consider employees as their most important resources, SMEs are pioneer in developing new products and services and finally SMEs are in general very quality minded in the products and services they provide.

Ecotourism versus Mass Tourism. A Comparison of Environmental Impacts Based on Ecological Footprint Analysis

Academic and policy interest in ecological footprint analysis has grown rapidly in recent years. To date, however, the application of ecological footprint analysis to tourism has been limited. This article aims to discuss the potential of ecological footprint analysis to assess sustainability in tourism. It is about a comparison of the global environmental impacts of different forms of tourism in southern countries where tourism is a major source of foreign exchange earnings. It illustrates how an ecotourism destination has a larger ecological footprint than a “mass” tourism destination.

The Impact of the Egyptian Political Events during 2011 on Hotel Occupancy in Cairo

The Impact of the Egyptian Political Events during 2011 on Hotel Occupancy in Cairo The tourism industry is the cornerstone of the Egyptian economy generating approximately 11.4% of Egyptian GDP and providing about 12.6% of direct and indirect job opportunities for the Egyptian workforce. It is the most important source of foreign exchange earnings for the national income at 20%. Despite its importance, the tourism industry is extremely vulnerable to negative events, such as terrorism, financial crises, natural disasters and political instability. This paper investigates the impact of the Egyptian political events throughout 2011 on occupancy rates in Cairo hotels and evaluates the responses of both the hotels and the government to these events. The data on hotel occupancy was collected from Egyptian Ministry of Tourism reports and shows that the political events of 2011 had a strong negative impact on the hotel industry in Egypt as hotels in Cairo and other major cities were severely hit by these events. The occupancy rates of Cairo hotels sharply declined in comparison to the occupancy rates of 2010. Juxtaposition of the occupancy data against media reports of the political events shows that each public disturbance incident had a significant negative impact on hotel occupancy in Cairo and, as a result, hotel revenues decreased. Short-term responses of the hotels included reducing room rates and reducing expenditure by laying off staff. Alongside this the government response was to financially compensate the damaged hotels. The inadequacy and inappropriateness of these responses was evidenced by hotel occupancy remaining low throughout the year. This paper discusses the alternative strategies that the hotels and the government could adopt with a particular emphasis on ensuring the safety and security of tourist and using the media to communicate this to tourists and encourage their return to a destination which provides lessons for other crisis-hit destinations.

Remittances flow and financial development in Bangladesh

Workers' remittance is a major source of foreign exchange earnings and plays an important role in the economy of Bangladesh. It accounts for 12% of GDP in 2010. This paper examines with annual data for 1971–2008, whether the flow of remittances is contributing positively to the development of the financial system of the country. Our results suggest that remittances have a significant positive effect on financial development. However, financial sector's development is neutral in its effect on the inflow of remittances.

Foreign Trade Dvelopment between Libya and the European Union

This article deals with the analysis of foreign trade development betweenLibyaand the European Union in the recent years. Libya is one of the developing countries with large area, low density of population and large endowment of natural resources, oil and gas. Libyan economy like a number of other Arab economies, depends heavily on oil revenue, it relies heavily on a single exportable commodity, as the main source of foreign exchange earnings. Trade relations betweenLibyaand the European Union have resulted in preliminary free trade accords that have been proving beneficial for both parties.Libya’s vast holdings in oil have been a primary driver in the resumption of talks and cooperation in terms of an economic sense that tempered with the changed stance of Libyan government has underpinned the new direction. progress of present state of affairs is herein. paper was processed within the framework of the Research Project of MSM 6046070906 The economics of Czech agricultural resources and their effective use within the framework of multifunctional agri-food systems.

Forecasting tourist arrivals in South Africa

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to model and forecast tourism to South Africa from the country's main intercontinental tourism markets. These include Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States of America and France. Problem investigated: Tourism to South Africa has grown substantially since the first democratic elections in 1994. It is currently the third largest industry in the country and a vital source of foreign exchange earnings. Tourist arrivals continue to grow annually, and have shown some resilience to a number of emerging market crises, including the terrorist attacks in the USA. Business success, marketing decisions, government's investment policy as well as macroeconomic policy are influenced by the accuracy of tourism forecasts, since the tourism product comprises a number of services that cannot be accumulated. Accurate forecasts of tourism demand are paramount to ensure the availability of such services when demanded. In addition, the seasonal nature of tourism leads to a pattern of excess capacity followed by shortage in capacity. Method: Since univariate time series modelling has proved to be a very successful method for forecasting tourist arrivals, it is also the method employed in this paper. The naïve model is tested against a standard ARIMA model, as well as the Holt-Winters exponential smoothing and seasonal-non-seasonal ARIMA models. Forecasting accuracy is assessed using the mean absolute percentage error, root mean square error and Theill's U of the various models. Monthly tourist arrivals from 1994 to 2006 are used in the analysis, and arrivals are forecasted for 2007. Findings: The results show that seasonal ARIMA models deliver the most accurate predictions of arrivals over three time horizons, namely three months, six months and 12 months. Value: This paper is the first tourist arrivals forecast using South African data for the country as a whole, and therefore it forms an interesting case study as a long haul and growing tourist destination. Conclusion: The univariate forecasts provide fairly accurate forecasts of tourist arrivals in South Africa, especially over the short run. As such, it is understandable why it remains a popular approach to forecast tourist arrivals. However, this method does not make provision for assessing the influence of external events and therefore its policy application is limited.

Pacific Island Countries in a Globalized World: A Study of Macroeconomic Interdependence and Regional Integration

In the context of globalization and development, and in particular the complex interactions between them, the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), once considered remote and untouched by sophisticated financial sector instruments, are now deeply affected by the second and third waves of the world-wide recession following the financial and banking crises in the industrialized countries. Consequent decline in economic activities in the advanced countries caused a general slow-down in all PICs. With the exception of Papua New Guinea, the PICs have narrow resource bases and limited export earning capabilities. Further, they are heavily dependent on imports ranging from food and fuel to machinery and manufactured goods. Global economic downturn has resulted in decrease in tourism earnings and inward remittances, which are the main sources of foreign exchange earnings. Thus, the economic crisis has brought into sharp focus the topic of macroeconomic interdependence of PICs for further examination, as part of regional economic integration. This paper deals with six major countries in the South Pacific region, viz., Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Adopting a vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology, the study shows that there is strong evidence of country-specific shock affecting the variability of outputs in all PICs in the short-run. In the long run, it is found that the global output shock represented by the USA output shock is the most important shock followed by regional shocks. However, the quick and early recovery of Australia has re-established the case of regional economic integration with Australia and New Zealand. This has been the goal of Pacific Plan endorsed by the inter governmental organization consisting of PICs, and Australia and New Zealand.

Economic volatility and remittances

PurposeRemittances are the fastest growing source of foreign exchange earnings for developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of remittances on economic volatility of the receiving country.Design/methodology/approachA panel of 95 countries over the period 1970‐2005 is employed in the analysis. To assess the impact of remittances on volatility a multivariate model is estimated using a panel fixed effects approach with cross‐section weights.FindingsThe study reports that remittances can play a key role in mitigating the effect of adverse output shocks but exert no significant influence on consumption and investment volatility. Moreover, important differential impacts exist across the various country groupings.Practical implicationsCountries that are dependent on remittances may have to monitor and forecast future remittance flows and take these projections into account when making changes to either their monetary or fiscal policy stance.Originality/valueThe findings provided in this paper should be of use to policymakers in developing countries.

Empowering Nigerian youths for national economic development: the role of entrepreneurship education

The world over, from USA to Asia, United Kingdom to Africa and Australia to Latin America, entrepreneurship has been promoted as an effective means of stimulating economic growth through the generation of greater employment opportunities, the development of local technological base and source of foreign exchange earnings. The focus of this study is on the mandatory entrepreneurship course for undergraduate youths in the Nigeria's tertiary institutions. The researchers used structured entrepreneur readiness questionnaire to elicit responses from respondent's who were undergraduates. It was hypothesized and found with the aid of test of proportion that entrepreneurship education imparts entrepreneurial skills and attitudes to students as well as favourably disposes them towards establishing own businesses. This will empower them to contribute positively toward the nation‟s economic development. The researchers recommended that the government should provide a more conducive environment in the form of quality infrastructural facilities and startup financial support to consummate this initiative of entrepreneurship education. Keywords: Entrepreneurship; economic development; technological base; financial support

Prospects for Latin America and Caribbean Region in the Global Market for International Tourism: A Projection to the Year 2020

International tourism has become very important to several developing countries as a major source of foreign exchange earnings for their economic development. This article explores the potentials of countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region in the global market for international tourism up to the end of the next decade. This was achieved by analyzing past trends of international tourism in the region, and projecting these trends to the year 2020 using a combination of four different time‐series projection models evaluated by the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Results show that international tourism arrivals into the Latin America and Caribbean region would increase from 51.21 million in 2004 (end of observed period) to between 87.58 million and 100.03 million by the year 2020. The corresponding figures for international tourism receipts would go from US$34.11 billion in 2004 to between US$64.92 billion and US$75.79 billion by the year 2020. Socioeconomic impacts of these findings are given, and recommendations for marketing strategies, government public policies, and directions for future research are discussed. The author thanks the Development Data Group (DECDG) of the World Bank for providing the data for this research. Insightful comments and recommendations on the initial manuscript by the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing are greatly appreciated.

Role of Remittances in Economic Growth in Pacific Island Countries: A Study of Samoa

Abstract Remittances have been a great support to Pacific island countries (PICs). Aside from providing additions to domestic savings and, hence, real resources, they have been one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings. In the context of falling exports and limited options to diversify their exports, inward remittances have assumed greater importance. This paper examines the nexus between growth and remittances in Samoa.

Current Knowledge of Coffee Wilt Disease, a Major Constraint to Coffee Production in Africa

ABSTRACT Coffee is vital to the economy of East and Central Africa, providing a major source of foreign exchange earnings and, as a cash crop, supporting the livelihoods of millions involved in cultivation, processing, marketing, and export. Coffee wilt disease (CWD), attributed to Gibberella xylarioides (Fusarium xylarioides), has caused losses to coffee production in Africa since 1927 but has been largely contained through the use of host resistance and in some instances wide-scale sanitation practices. A reemergence of CWD on Coffea canephora (Robusta coffee) in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania has already led to heavy losses and threatens future production in these countries and elsewhere in the region. The relevance of CWD is all the more pertinent given the impact of a considerable fall in world coffee prices over the last decade. Recent research has clarified the extent of the problem in the region and revealed a low level of diversity within the pathogen, suggesting that two genetically and biologically distinct forms are responsible for current problems. These findings and related research and development initiatives undertaken under the auspices of the Regional Coffee Wilt Programme are of fundamental importance in providing an urgently needed solution to this devastating disease.

Can Seasonal Unit Root Testing Improve the Forecasting Accuracy of Tourist Arrivals?

Tourism has emerged as one of the main industries in many Caribbean countries. Jamaica is no exception: tourist receipts are its largest source of foreign exchange earnings. Because of the importance of the tourism sector to the Jamaican economy, accurate forecasts of tourist arrivals are critical. This paper argues that forecasting accuracy can be improved by the use of seasonal unit root testing. Using six tourist arrival series, from 1968:1 to 2001:3, it was found that unit root testing, applying the HEGY procedure, did help to improve the forecasts at all horizons. The exceptions were those series that exhibited considerable volatility; in these cases the seasonal unit root test did not prove superior at the short horizon. These results, however, may not be robust with respect to data at other frequencies.

Tourism, Trade and Domestic Welfare

Tourism has been regarded as a major source of economic growth and a good source of foreign exchange earnings. Tourism has also been considered as an activity that imposes costs on the host country. Such costs include increased pollution, congestion and despoliation of fragile environments and intra-generational inequity aggravation. One aspect that has been ignored is the general equilibrium effects of tourism on the other sectors in the economy. These effects can be quite substantial and should be taken into account when assessing the net benefits of a tourism boom on an economy. This paper presents a model which captures the interdependence between tourism and the rest of the economy, in particular agriculture and manufacturing. We examine the effect of a tourist boom on structural adjustment, commodity and factor prices and more importantly resident welfare. An important result obtained is that the tourist boom may immiserize the residents. This occurs because of two effects. The first, a favourable effect due to an increase in the relative price of the non-traded good which is termed the secondary terms of trade effect. The second, a negative effect due to an efficiency loss that occurs in the presence of increasing returns to scale in manufacturing. If this second effect outweighs the first effect, resident immiserization occurs.

North Korea's economic reforms

Recent events have underlined the significance of mounting economic pressures at home in influencing North Korea's behaviour abroad: faced with a decrepit economy, missile sales are an attractive source of foreign exchange earnings; while Pyongyang's nuclear programme is seen as a key asset through which to extract economic concessions from a nervous outside world. In the second half of 2002, there were signs that economic difficulties had reached such a point that the leadership was prompted to make what appeared to mark a major shift in policy. However, the hap-hazard measures will do little to turn around the country's failing economy, and are therefore equally unlikely to exert any beneficial effects on North Korea's international behaviour in the foreseeable future.

Ambitious Plans and Unresponsive Sectors: New Horizons for Pastoral Development in Sudan

Introduction Sudan is primarily an agricultural country, with a total area of 600 million feddans, of which one-third is potentially arable. Eighty percent of its 25 million population is involved in farming. The annual contribution of this sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period 1990/91-1994/95 was thirty-seven percent on average (The Economic Review, 1994/95) and its yearly contribution to the state's export earnings is over ninety percent. Livestock, which plays a major role in agriculture, consists of 30 million, 37 million, 33 million and 3 million heads of cattle, sheep, goats and camels respectively (Livestock Economics Dept. 1994). Animal husbandry provides partial and/or full subsistence to approximately forty percent of the country's inhabitants (Ali 1988, Robinson 1987, Abdalla 1985) and its contribution to the agricultural sector in terms of GDP ranges between thirty-five and fifty-two percent, averaging roughly twenty percent (The Economic Review 1994/95); it counts for about one-quarter of Sudanese foreign exchange returns since 1993 (Bank of Sudan data). Over ninety percent of herds in the country are in the hands of pastoral communities, comprising what is generally known as the traditional sector, and herding is based entirely on natural pastures, characterised by migratory movements between dry and wet retreat lands. The crop sub-sector requires a large package of inputs, such as certified seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, fuel, tractors, combined harvesters, sacks, etc. Most of these inputs are imported from abroad and are hence a great drain on the country's meagre foreign exchange reserves. The output per feddan is relatively low, resulting in very expensive commodities that can hardly compete in the world market. In comparison, the livestock sub-sector requires a limited amount of imported inputs, mainly veterinary drugs and equipment. Forage, the major input, is free (natural grazing), and hence beef and mutton products are cheap and consequently more competitive in the world market. National development plans since independence (1956), however, focused solely on the crop sub-sector, with special emphasis on cash crops, mainly cotton in irrigated areas. Mechanised fanning of dura (sorghum) and sesame on rainfed lands has expanded since then, at the expense of grazing land. Livestock was greatly neglected in development plans. The few projects intended for this sector roll over from one development plan to the next (Ibrahim 1994, Khatab 1989, Yousif 1991, Nur 1994). This trend was reversed somewhat by the Comprehensive National Strategy (CNS), a 10-year development plan (1992-2001) launched in the country. This strategy places greater emphasis on export, with special focus on livestock as a potential source of foreign exchange earnings. This paper seeks to investigate whether animal husbandry, under the existing management system, is ready to respond to the aspirations of this current strategy. The factors which influence the supply of livestock to the markets in Sudan will be analysed, and the prospects for the development of the sector will also be touched upon. The Comprehensive National Strategy (CNS) The ten years National Strategy for development stated some objectives for the agricultural sector. It called for: 1. The realisation of food security 2. efficient utilisation of resources 3. augmentation of agricultural contribution to Gross Domestic Product 4. promotion of exports 5. balanced growth at sub-sectoral and regional levels 6. improvement of the standards of living For the livestock sub-sector, the strategy specifically calls for: 1. tripling of livestock population 2. promotion of livestock husbandry and management systems 3. raising livestock exports twenty-fold 4. eradication of endemic and epidemic diseases 5. …

AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL DEFORESTATION / 'N EKONOMETRIESE ANALISE OOR FAKTORE WAT TROPIESE EN SUBTROPIESE ONTBOSSING BEÏNVLOED

In most developing countries deforestation has reached alarming rates. In view of their relevance for the local economy (e.g., as a source of foreign exchange earnings and supply of fuelwood), an adequate management of forest resources should be pursued. In these economies forest exploitation and land conversion have often been seen as a temporary solution to structural problems. In this way, however, the same problems are even aggravated in the long run. The study first reviews recent explanations of tropical deforestation: a distinction is drawn between areas of substantial agreement on the one hand, and discordant results and interpretations on the other. In the main part of the analysis, based on cross-country data for the 1980s, regression models incorporating different sets of determinants of deforestation are applied. Compared to previous studies, the analysis tries to better account for the sequential timing of some of these determinants. Different patterns are identified among country groups, according to specific features of economic activities, macroeconomic and political environments, and climatic conditions.

Migration from Nicaragua: some recent evidence

I utilize two unique data sources to examine migration from and remittance flows to the capital city of Managua, Nicaragua. Approximately 10–12% of the population has emigrated. These emigrants tend to be disproportionately of working age, better educated, and more often white-collar workers than nonmigrants. In addition, emigrants are more likely to come from larger premigration households and higher income households. Remittance flows to Managua are quite large — the second largest source of foreign exchange earnings after coffee. In addition, remittances have a negative income effect on labor force participation and a positive effect on self-employment of nonmigrants.