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The purpose of this paper is to examine quality of service experience as reported by tourists in seven northern and southern Mediterranean cities.

A self-report study was used to gather data from 1,362 tourists. Once validity of Otto and Ritchie’s (1996) scale had been confirmed, ANOVA and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyse the data.

Tourists in all destinations highlighted the importance of the dimension peace of mind. Significant differences between tourists in the northern Mediterranean and those in the southern Mediterranean were observed in two quality of service experience dimensions: hedonics and involvement.

Although the sample was large, this study’s scope was limited to seven Mediterranean tourist cities. Further research is therefore required to generalize findings to other Mediterranean tourist destinations.

Knowledge about quality of service experience dimensions may help tourism managers innovate and improve services. Tourists perceive northern Mediterranean destinations differently from destinations in the southern Mediterranean. Tourists report high tourist involvement in northern destinations, whereas in the south, tourists emphasize destinations’ hedonic features. These implications are also valuable for European policymakers.

The study compared quality of service experience in northern and southern Mediterranean tourist destinations. To do so, it analysed a sample of 1,362 tourists from seven Mediterranean cities. This research is the first to analyse quality of service experience in the Mediterranean.

This paper investigates the nature of port-city relationships in two major port regions of the world, Europe and Asia. Although this issue is well analyzed through either isolated case studies or general models, it proposes a complementary approach based on urban and port indicators available for 121 port cities. In terms of demographic size and container traffic, it shows the decline of port-urban dependence, stemming from changes in global transportation and urban development. However, European and Asian port cities are not identically confronted to the same challenges, notably in terms of their hinterlands. A factor analysis highlights a regional differentiation of port-city relationships according to their insertion in both urban and port systems, with a core-periphery dualism in Europe and a port-city hierarchy in Asia. Thus, the distance to inland markets for European ports and the size of coastal markets for Asian ports are the main factors to explain the nature of port-city relationships in the two areas. It helps to evaluate which European and Asian port cities are comparable beyond their cargo volumes, by putting together micro (local environments) and macro (regional patterns) factors.

The uncertainty that surrounds oil and gas exploration environments call for an examination at different angles. In terms of robustness, the purpose of this paper is to focus on three performance measurements: the amount of exploration investments, the growth rate of exploration investments, and the value at risk (VaR) of exploration investments.

The study utilizes the properties of discriminant analysis for deriving Z-score models that can be used for monitoring firms’ performance. A cointegration analysis is utilized as well in order to examine the level of cointegration between predictors of each performance measure. The sample includes annual data for 41 firms (local and multinational) working in the oil and gas industry in Egypt for the period 2009-2014.

The results show that amount and growth of exploration investment are quite robust performance measures in the oil and gas industry; VaR of exploration investment is sporadic as it firm-specific; and GDP, capital expenditure and operating expenditure are quite relevant for managing and monitoring growth of exploration investments.

The study offers robust evidence that amount and growth of exploration investment are quiet relevant for measuring firm performance in the oil and gas industry.

The aim of this paper is to investigate and define employees' professionalism in the hotel industry. A professional employee has specific core competencies and personal attributes that improve the quality of service by resolving guest complaints, ensuring guest satisfaction and gaining a competitive advantage. In the hospitality industry, interaction with customers necessitates providing services of high standards that are characterised by professionalism.

This research deployed a quantitative methodology with self-administering questionnaires to hotel managers of 4-star and 5-star hotels.

The results of the study suggest that employees' professionalism in hotels includes skills combined with personality characteristics along with a passion for the profession. Thus, to attest to professionalism, managers must ensure that skills are adjusted to subject-specific knowledge and expertise while incorporating “social consciousness” as a constituent dimension of professionalism.

This study investigates the concept of professionalism as the main prerequisite for the delivery of exceptional hotel services and introduces the notion of “social consciousness” as an additional dimension of professionalism.

This study aims to explore the risk level of pufferfish and lionfish by comparing them among Turkish marines. In addition, this study focuses on comparing pufferfish with lionfish to determine which one is more dangerous for marine economics in Türkiye.

This study employs descriptive content analysis to give some qualitative evidence for the related literature. As a sample case, Türkiye was selected in the context of being a country in the Mediterranean Basin. By reviewing recent news, reports and publications, this study firstly will conclude how invasive alien marine species affect Turkish marines. Then, pufferfish and lionfish will be compared together to determine the risk level of these species for Turkish marine economics.

As a result of descriptive findings, it is seen that captured fishery has been declined in Turkey recently due to many factors including climate change, global warming, overfishing, environmental pollution and attack of invasive alien species. Pufferfish and lionfish are seen as the most spread marine species in Turkish marines. When comparing pufferfish with lionfish, it is seen that pufferfish is more dangerous than lionfish for Turkish marine economics.

This study provides descriptive and original findings as a result of comparison of pufferfish and lionfish due to their impact on Turkish marine economy. It is thought to give useful importation for the fight against invasive alien marine species in the Mediterranean Basin. Future studies can investigate different invasive alien marine species and their impacts on marine economics in the Mediterranean Basin.

Based on the Turkish cases, it is determined that there should be different policies for fight against invasive alien marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. Each marine species has different impacts on seafood market. Some of marine species can be consumed as a seafood product but some of them can't be consumed that policy makers should develop other strategies such as catching them to reduce their population in the local marines.

The spread of invasive alien marine species is still continuing in the Mediterranean Basin. Each country has been affected by the attack of invasive alien marine species. To keep sustainable seafood market and marine economics, countries should both implement common policies and develop policies specific to threats in their own countries.

This study reveals key points in the rise of invasive alien marine species in Turkish marines at first. The main contribution of this study is to be a recent sample for a country which is under attack by invasive alien marine species by giving a comparison of pufferfish and lionfish.

This paper analyses Roman fish tanks, which have functional elements that could be used to research on palaeo-sea-levels. Thus, the conditions of 37 installations in the Western Mediterranean basin are reviewed to identify those that have the best environmental and constructive conditions to be analyzed.

The methodology was largely based on the review of existing scientific bibliography dealing with sea-level variations from studies on historical constructions, existing historical documentation on Roman fish tanks on the Mediterranean coast, as well as the fieldwork carried out in fish tanks on the Mediterranean coasts.

The Roman coastal fish tanks located in the shoreline of the Western Mediterranean Sea have turned out to be an excellent indicator of sea-level changes. Nevertheless, current coastal retreat, erosion and storm surges are posing significant threats to their preservation, and they could be considered as a heritage at risk of disappearance. Moreover, variations in the tectonic behaviour of the different coastal sectors make it challenging to select these facilities as an indicator of the sea level.

The analysis of Late Holocene sea-level changes and palaeoenvironments from archaeological and biological evidences, although not without difficulties, is very convenient because it provides very precise data that cannot be obtained with other absolute dating methods. This approach is increasingly gaining popularity with researchers and is very innovative in its method of combining the results of several scientific disciplines.

The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework which explores the links between the two service features (physical and interactive), job satisfaction and their impact on customer satisfaction.

A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 168 first line employees of a major European port. Structural equation modelling and regression analysis were used to examine and test the relationships.

The empirical data verifies structural relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and job satisfaction, treating job satisfaction as a consequence of physical features and as an antecedent of interactive features. The direct impact of employee job satisfaction on customer satisfaction, together with its indirect influence via service features, were tested and supported by the empirical data.

This study extends the literature by examining the distinct role that the interactive and physical features of services play in the formation of job satisfaction, which in turn influences customer satisfaction. This perspective could improve managerial understanding of the service quality‐job satisfaction relationship and lead to more focused decisions.

The concept of ‘multi-port gateway region’ has been introduced by Notteboom (2010) and has been applied to important seaport markets such as Europe and Asia. However, the dynamics and port development patterns in secondary multi-port gateway regions, such as the Black Sea region, have received far less attention in academic literature. An empirical application of established spatial and functional development models to such secondary port regions might substantiate the external validity of these models as these ports operate in a different spatial, economic and institutional environment.

The aim of the paper is to characterize the spatial dynamics of container ports of the Black Sea multi-port gateway regions by testing the validity of established spatial models on port system development. Furthermore, the expected future evolution path for port hierarchy in the Black Sea basin is discussed. By doing so, the paper assesses to what extent the Black Sea port region is following an ‘expected’ development path as portrayed in a number of port system development models, or alternatively, can be characterized as an atypical port system following its own development logic.

This paper aims to explore the international response to the discovery and development of gas fields in the East Mediterranean basin.

The study applies key concepts into a framework and explores the strategies used by nations for developing their influence in the region.

The key nation states (the USA and Russia) and the supranational EU are notable in their divergent approaches to obtaining access to and influence regarding the gas fields.

The development of the strategies used by the international rivals for access to the resources available from the offshore oil fields is set to be an area for further study.

This paper offers insight into a developing rivalry over energy security, which will a platform for further investigation throughout the exploitation of the “New Gulf” gas fields.