Mercedes Castro-Nuño

River cruising is a form of tourism in which travelers navigate inland waterways such as rivers and canals aboard vessels that combine transportation, accommodation, and leisure services, typically...

The promotion of cycling as one of the most popular measures to drive sustainable urban mobility, and the rise in bicycle usage have triggered a debate on the consequences of the coexistence of different transportation modes. This interaction process has been developed rapidly in countries like Spain, where cycling has been fast-tracked. This paper analyzes the safety effect of coexistence in terms of urban traffic accidents. Our case study comprises 50 Spanish NUTS-3 regions, with an econometric model applied to a data panel based on Big Data for the period 2008-2019. The results point to a lack of equilibrium between the rapidly rising number of urban cycling trips and the adaptation of specific regulations and road user behavior. The development of specific awareness strategies, investment in clear and specific signage, traffic surveillance, and a more standardized regulation framework during the first month of bicycle promotion policies is recommended, with the appropriate data collection and monitoring of bicycle trips.

1. This paper focuses on the most recent global health shock (the COVID-19 pandemic), which had an unprecedented worldwide impact on economies and mobility and affected the cruise sector (Carrillo-...

Tourism competitiveness represents an essential topic in an overexploited market, considering the vulnerability to socioeconomic situation and to environmental and technological advances challenges. Using multi-criteria techniques, this article evaluates the competitiveness of Spanish urban destinations in two scenarios related to the recent pandemic, by means of a synthetic index formed by more than ten pillars and more than thirty criteria. The resulting rankings highlight factors that have influenced their capacity to adapt. La competitividad turística representa un tema esencial en un mercado sobreexplotado, teniendo en cuenta su vulnerabilidad a la coyuntura socioeconómica, así como a los desafíos medioambientales y retos de los avances tecnológicos. Mediante técnicas multicriterio, este artículo evalúa la competitividad de destinos urbanos españoles en dos escenarios relativos a la reciente pandemia, a través de un índice sintético que agrupa más de una decena de pilares y más de una treintena de criterios. Las ordenaciones resultantes destacan los factores que han influido en su capacidad de adaptación.

Evaluation is a crucial part of the teaching and learning process in any higher education institution and one that has gone through a deep change. This has been particularly true since the Bologna Declaration (http://www.ehea.info/page-ministerial-conference-bologna-1999, 1999) ushered in the European higher education area, with the subsequent major rise in the employment of continuous assessment methods focused on student participation. This article analyses the impact on academic performance of e-continuous assessment based on e-tests on a virtual platform as a previous step towards the substitution of the traditional evaluation system, based on a final exam, with a continuous evaluation system, prescribed as an alternative preferred by the regulations of multiple Spanish universities. Microeconometric models have been applied to a database of 250 first-year students on the Business Administration and Management course at the University of Seville (Spain). Our findings show that e-tests could prevent the risk of students dropping out and could also provide a credible predictor of students’ academic marks in the theoretical contents of the subject, but not in those of a practical or applied nature. Based on the results of this evaluation, an e-continuous assessment has been developed in the subject, which has become the majority option for students, with 90% participation, while also increasing pass rates. Moreover, the positive effect of a computing environment does not appear to be limited to the classroom, but also extends to students’ home environments. This teaching experience shows that the swift feedback that e-tools provides, especially in especially in environments of large class size such as in the class evaluated, could support instructors’ personal tutoring of students’ progress and promote a greater implementation of e-continuous assessment in Spanish higher education.