The relationship between destination image and destination safety during technological and social changes COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to assess the relationship between safety perceptions and destination image in the Central European region during the technological and social environment change brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sample consisted of respondents from three Central European countries, namely, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. The quantile regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the image of the destination and its perceived safety. The results showed that concerns about the safety of the tourism environment could be negatively associated with the image of the infrastructure in Hungary and Slovakia, with value for money in the three countries, and with images of enjoyment in Slovakia. Higher levels of destination safety may be associated with a more positive destination image, with health, facilities and services being the most important dimensions of perceived safety, because of the pandemic. This study contributes to the knowledge of the concept of destination images and the development of tourism.

The impact of Digitalized Communication on the effectiveness of Local Administrative Authorities – Findings from Central European Countries in the COVID-19 Crisis

This paper analyses the impact of the use of digital communication tools in administrative procedures on the effectiveness of local administrative authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers COVID-19-driven changes in the legal competence of the institutional unit and administrative authorities' orientation to good governance as mediators of this relationship. By applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to survey data (N = 610) from five central European countries, we show that the accelerated use of digitalized communication tools driven by the COVID-19 situation has a positive effect on the effectiveness of local administrative authorities. Our data also indicate that the new laws, instructions and good governance driven by the COVID-19 situation – based on mostly convergent administrative traditions and European trends – partially mediate the relationship between the use of digital communication tools and administrative effectiveness. These findings do not significantly differ between participating countries and bureaucratic traditions. Consequently, the COVID-19 crisis proved to be a joint facilitator of responsive public governance that remained compliant with the rule of law, regardless of whether the national administrative systems were traditionally more legalistically or managerially oriented.

THE IMPORTANCE OF NEO-WEBERIANISM IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT

Neo-Weberianism is a modern direction of public administration reform, the expression of which, to varying degrees, is increasingly being observed in various states. This direction is particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the administration of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that coherence between vertically integrated management, a professional civil service, and the influence of civil society and communities on public decision-making is at the heart of neo-Weberianism, and becomes particularly important in the event of an emergency of this nature. Many countries choose similar or identical anti-crisis measures to combat the threat of a pandemic. However, differences in applying the principles of neo-Weberian governance can also be observed between countries. The authors of this article selected three Central European countries (EU member states) – Poland (large), Hungary (medium), and Lithuania (small) – for a more detailed analysis of pandemic management. In Poland, in order to manage the pandemic and its financial consequences in perspective, redundancies or pay cuts to some civil servants and other public sector employees in public sector organizations were modeled. Hungary had the strictest anti-pandemic quarantine of the three countries selected for analysis, and at first glance it seems that the country opted for a strict traditional hierarchical governance model for the COVID-19 crisis, but on closer inspection we see that the Hungarian government used population surveys and tried to take into account citizens’ views on the deadlines for overcoming the pandemic. In Lithuania, by coordinating strict pandemic quarantine, the aim was to ensure the provision of high-quality information to the population. © 2022 Mykolas Riomeris University. All rights reserved.

Responses of Christian Churches in Ukraine and other Eastern European Countries to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article examines the reaction of Christian Churches to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic. Attention is paid to the Churches in Ukraine and countries of similar political and cultural heritage (Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, etc.). The guidelines and practical activities of the Churches are analyzed, reflecting their response to various problems related to the pandemic. The corresponding differences occur not so much between different countries and peoples, but rather between different denominations. In general, more conservative, and sometimes fundamentalist, reactions are shown by the Orthodox Church, especially in parts of the Russian Orthodox Church in the countries under study (for example, Moldova), or those Orthodox Churches that are traditionally under its great influence (for example, in Serbia). But in Ukraine, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which recently received a Tomos from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, is more flexible and sensitive to the Covid-19 problem and the protective actions of the government, cooperating with it in anti-pandemic measures. It is determined that the position of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and many Protestant Churches. What the reactions of most Christian Churches have found to be more or less common is the transfer of worship practices online and the strengthening of social work to help a variety of people suffering from coronavirus or fighting a pandemic: from spiritual practices, in communities and individual circumstances, to hospital care-the work of hospital chaplains, lay volunteers, the purchase of medicines and medical equipment, etc. Not all Churches and not all their members appeared ready to optimally combine their religious activities and life in civil society in new conditions, and that Churches-both their leadership and ordinary members-need to innovatively develop their religious activities in accordance with the challenges of the time.