Maneerat Kanrak

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the economic diffusion effects of high-speed rail (HSR) development in China's Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model and night-time lighting data from 2006 to 2019 for analysis. Findings: The analysis reveals that HSR contributes to the spatial reorganisation of economic activity, fostering decentralised growth and regional integration. Contrary to expectations, large cities experienced significant reductions in light intensity, indicating an outward diffusion of economic activity, while small and medium-sized cities saw limited benefits. The findings highlight substantial spatial heterogeneity in HSR's economic impact and underscore potential trade-offs in sustainable urban mobility. While HSR can alleviate urban congestion and support balanced development, it may weaken economic agglomeration in core cities. Originality/value: The study demonstrates the effectiveness of using nighttime lighting as a proxy for urban economic activity and underscores the need for integrated transportation, land use and regional development policies. This research provides actionable insights for policymakers seeking to leverage HSR for inclusive, sustainable urban and regional development.

Ferry transportation enhances urban mobility and connectivity across the Hong Kong region. This study analyses the ferry network in Hong Kong using social network analysis. It has been found that the network consists of 31 piers linked by 28 maritime routes. Specific routes, particularly those departing from Hong Kong’s Central Ferry Pier, serve as the network’s backbone with its high service frequency. The existence of subnetworks within the broader ferry network indicates specialised clusters of maritime connectivity that cater to distinct geographic and operational domains. This study extends beyond network description to illuminate the implications of ferry network configurations for urban planning, sustainable transportation, and regional tourism development. That offers insights into strategies for optimising ferry services and infrastructure investment.

Social transformation is an emerging trend and a new phenomenon in the cruise industry in the 21st century. Cruise lines encounter stiff competition with many competitors and face sophisticated and unpredictable challenges from the wave of social transformation. Furthermore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the social transformation phenomena in the industry. This study investigates how social transformation reshapes the cruise industry to discuss the remarkable social and economic changes in the industry. The study builds upon the 4C descriptive framework to suggest how cruise lines take measures to create resilience against the influence affected by social transformation. The study is conducted through 18 semi-structured and in-depth interviews with cruise terminals, travel agencies, logistics, and tourism associations, researchers, cruise lines and passengers, and airlines. The cruise shipping industry structure has fundamentally shifted from supply-driven to demand-driven. The concept of social transformation becomes vital and is a driving force that is more society specific. Findings are drawn as valuable guidelines for cruise lines to scale up in operations and strategies that create social transformation. Cruise lines can also maintain sustainable development and resilient recovery post-COVID-19

Cruise tourism in the Arctic has expanded due to an increase in ice melting. This can provide cruise services covering the growing demand for cruise shipping. This study analyzes the network structure and popular routes of Arctic cruise shipping in order to identify popular cruise ports and routes. An analysis conducted, using degree centrality and the weight of a link, identified that a small number of ports have high connections to others, while many ports have low connectivity. Akureyri-Isafjordur was found to be the most popular route for cruise shipping in this region. The study’s findings are drawn useful implications for the cruise industry and other business sectors in the future.

The cruise shipping market has been growing dynamically in the past two decades. This study presented an empirical analysis of the Asian cruise shipping network (ACSN) in which the nodes are cruise ports and links are cruise routes connecting the ports, using complex network analysis. An analysis of 245 voyages operated by 16 cruise lines between 215 ports in 26 countries found that ports in the ACSN are connected by 704 links. The ACSN is a small-world network with a small average path length and a high clustering coefficient, and its degree distribution follows an exponential function. A small number of ports have high connectivity, and most ports have low connections. Most high-degree ports connect to low-degree ports. The important roles and properties of ports vary depending on centrality measures.