Submitted:
12 September 2024
Posted:
13 September 2024
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Abstract
Keywords:
1. Introduction
1.1. Geoinformation Technologies and Platforms
1.2. Internet Ecosystem and Digitalization
1.3. Charity and Volunteer Tourism and Its Impact on Local Communities
1.4. The Impact of the Military Crisis on Tourism
1.5. Sustainable Development and Digital Tourism
1.6. Hypothesis and Objectives of the Study
- ➢
- Develop a concept and prototype of the platform for testing and receiving feedback from potential users.
- ➢
- Test the platform in selected regions to assess its effectiveness in attracting tourists, stimulating the local economy, and raising awareness of regional problems.
- ➢
- Evaluate the platform’s impact on the socio-economic development of the region, including job creation, increased local incomes, and the development of small businesses.
- ➢
- A functional platform allowing tourists to plan trips to affected regions, obtain information about local attractions, recovery projects, and volunteer opportunities.
- ➢
- Increased awareness of the problems faced by affected regions and attracting attention to the need for humanitarian aid.
- ➢
- Attracting tourists to affected regions, contributing to the restoration of the local economy.
- ➢
- Creating new jobs and stimulating the development of small tourism-related businesses.
- ➢
- Creating conditions for deeper interaction between tourists and local residents, contributing to mutual understanding and cooperation.
- ➢
- Developing recommendations for the development and implementation of similar platforms in other regions affected by armed conflicts.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Methodology for Assessing the Impact of Digitalization and Donation Tourism on the Sustainability of Rural Areas in War Conditions
3. Results
3.1. Assessment of the Current State of Use of Geoinformation Platforms for Interactive Charity Tourism in the Context of Global Crises
3.2. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Geoinformation Platforms in the Regions of Ukraine
3.3. Clustering of Regions of Ukraine Based on Performance Indicators
3.4. Empirical Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Geoinformation Platform
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix А
| Symbol | Region | ARi | DEi | EIi | UERi | SINi | SIMi |
| С_1 | Kyiv City | 0.75 | 300 | 15000 | 0.85 | 8.50 | 0.90 |
| С_2 | Ternopil region | 0.55 | 200 | 9000 | 0.70 | 6.00 | 0.75 |
| С_3 | Lviv region | 0.80 | 350 | 16000 | 0.88 | 9.00 | 0.92 |
| С_4 | Chernivtsi region | 0.60 | 220 | 10000 | 0.75 | 6.50 | 0.80 |
| С_5 | Ivano-Frankivsk region | 0.65 | 240 | 11000 | 0.78 | 7.00 | 0.82 |
| С_6 | Khmelnytsky region | 0.58 | 210 | 9500 | 0.72 | 6.20 | 0.78 |
| С_7 | Rivne region | 0.62 | 230 | 10500 | 0.74 | 6.70 | 0.79 |
| С_8 | Poltava region | 0.53 | 190 | 8800 | 0.68 | 5.80 | 0.73 |
| С_9 | Kyiv region | 0.77 | 310 | 15200 | 0.86 | 8.70 | 0.91 |
| С_10 | Volyn region | 0.57 | 200 | 9300 | 0.71 | 6.10 | 0.76 |
| С_11 | Kharkiv region | 0.68 | 260 | 12500 | 0.80 | 7.50 | 0.84 |
| С_12 | Dnipropetrovsk region | 0.70 | 270 | 13000 | 0.82 | 7.80 | 0.86 |
| С_13 | Ukraine | 0.65 | 245 | 11500 | 0.79 | 7.10 | 0.83 |
| С_14 | Zaporizhzhia region | 0.63 | 230 | 10800 | 0.76 | 6.80 | 0.81 |
| С_15 | Kirovohrad region | 0.54 | 185 | 8600 | 0.67 | 5.70 | 0.72 |
| С_16 | Mykolaiv region | 0.61 | 225 | 10200 | 0.73 | 6.50 | 0.78 |
| С_17 | Cherkasy region | 0.59 | 215 | 9700 | 0.72 | 6.30 | 0.77 |
| С_18 | Odesa region | 0.73 | 290 | 14200 | 0.84 | 8.30 | 0.89 |
| С_19 | Zhytomyr region | 0.56 | 195 | 9000 | 0.69 | 5.90 | 0.74 |
| С_20 | Chernihiv region | 0.52 | 180 | 8400 | 0.66 | 5.60 | 0.71 |
| С_21 | Zakarpattia region | 0.64 | 235 | 10700 | 0.75 | 6.90 | 0.80 |
| С_22 | Kherson region | 0.55 | 205 | 9200 | 0.70 | 6.00 | 0.75 |
| С_23 | Sumy region | 0.60 | 220 | 10000 | 0.74 | 6.50 | 0.79 |
| С_24 | Donetsk region | 0.48 | 160 | 7800 | 0.60 | 5.00 | 0.68 |
| С_25 | Luhansk region | 0.50 | 170 | 8200 | 0.62 | 5.20 | 0.70 |
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| Calculation steps | Calculation algorithms |
|---|---|
| Stage 1. Multi-criteria evaluation of the effectiveness of a geoinformation platform for interactive charity tourism | 1.1. Audience Reach: , where — the percentage of the reached audience of the i-th region, —number of volunteers or tourists attracted through the platform in the i-th region, —total number of potential audience (tourists interested in charity tourism in Ukraine) |
| 1.2. Calculation of the efficiency of attracting donations (Donation Efficiency): , where — average donation amount per volunteer or tourist in the i-th region, —total amount of donations collected through the platform in the i-th region | |
| 1.3. Economic Impact: , where — total economic effect in the i-th region, —number of tourists who visited the i-th region via the platform, —average daily expenditure of a tourist, —additional economic benefits (e.g., job creation, infrastructure improvement). | |
| 1.4. User Engagement Rate: , where — percentage of active users in the i-th region, —number of interactions with the platform (e.g., page views, donations, tour bookings) in the i-th region | |
| 1.5. Platform sustainability assessment (Sustainability Index): , where — sustainability index in the i-th region, —economic impact on the i-th region, —efficiency of attracting donations to the i-th region, —costs of maintaining and developing the platform in the i-th region. | |
| 1.6. Social Impact: , where — the social effect in the i-th region, —number of initiatives implemented by local communities in the i-th region, —the number of charity initiatives and volunteer projects in the i-th region, —population of the i-th region. | |
| Stage 2. Clustering of regions | 2.1. As input data for clustering, we take normalized values of indicators for each region: where — vector of indicator values for the i-th region, including audience reach, donation efficiency, economic impact, engagement rate, platform sustainability, and social impact 2.2. For each region, clusters are determined by minimizing the distances between regions and cluster centroids (cluster centers). Cluster centers for the j-th cluster are calculated as the average value of all regions included in this cluster: , where — the center of cluster j, — the number of regions in cluster j, — the set of regions in cluster j, — the vector of indicators of region i. 2.3. For each i-th region, the Euclidean distance to each cluster center : where — the distance from the i-th region to the center of cluster j, — the value of the -th indicator for the i-th region, — the value of the k-th indicator for the center of cluster j, m— the number of indicators. 2.4. Redistribution of regions into clusters. Each i-th region belongs to the cluster j for which the distance is minimal: 2.5. Repeat steps 2.1–2.4. Clusters are recalculated until the change in cluster centers becomes minimal (convergence criterion). |
| Stage 3. Testing the reliability of the hypothesis | 3.1. To determine the relationship between platform use and regional recovery, we use the Pearson correlation coefficient: where r— correlation coefficient between variables; — platform performance indicators (e.g., audience reach or economic impact); — regional recovery indicators (e.g., infrastructure improvement or job creation); , — average values of variables 3.2. To assess the impact of the platform indicators on the recovery of the region, it is necessary to conduct a regression analysis: , where y— the regional recovery indicator, — independent variables (e.g., audience reach, donation effectiveness, economic impact), a— constant, — regression coefficients reflecting the degree of influence of each variable, — the regression error. 3.3. To test the statistical significance of the results, it is necessary to use the t-test: where — the regression coefficient for the variable , — the standard error for the coefficient . If the obtained value of t exceeds the critical value for the selected significance level (for example, 0.05), the hypothesis is confirmed as statistically significant. 3.4. Define the coefficient of determination, which demonstrates what part of the variation of the dependent variable (regional recovery) is explained by independent variables (platform indicators): where — actual values of the dependent variable, — predicted values of the dependent variable, —average value of the dependent variable. A high value indicates a high degree of explainability of the model. If the correlation and regression coefficients are significant, and is large enough, the hypothesis that the geoinformation platform is an effective tool for restoring regions is confirmed. |
| Platform | Main functions | Number of active users (estimate) | Number of donations raised (EUR million) | Regions of coverage | Degree of interaction with local communities (scale from 1 to 5) | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrisisMapper | Disaster maps, real-time monitoring, aid coordination | 100 000+ | 50+ | Global | 4 | https://crisismapping.ning.com/ |
| Ushahidi | Create maps based on user data, collect information about crisis situations | 500 000+ | 20+ | Global | 3 | https://www.ushahidi.com/ |
| OpenStreetMap | Create and edit maps, navigation | Millions | - | Global | 2 | https://www.openstreetmap.org/ |
| MapAction | Maps for humanitarian operations, data analysis | 10 000+ | - | Global | 4 | https://mapaction.org/ |
| Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) | Mapping for humanitarian purposes | 100 000+ | - | Global | 5 | https://www.hotosm.org/ |
| HelpMap | Crisis zone maps, routes for volunteers, donations | 150,000 | 3 | Eastern Europe, Middle East | 4 | https://helpmap.io/ |
| CrisisAid | Navigation through safe zones, collection points for humanitarian aid | 250,000 | 5,5 | Africa, South America | 5 | https://www.crisisaid.org.uk/ |
| ReliefTracker | Online maps of regions in need, communication with local NGOs, fundraising | 100,000 | 2,2 | Central Asia, Eastern Europe | 3 | https://reliefweb.int/ |
| DisasterResponse | Natural disaster maps, evacuation points, donations for recovery | 300,000 | 6 | Asia, Latin America | 4 | https://www.undrr.org/terminology/response |
| VolunteerConnect | Navigation for volunteers, coordination of humanitarian missions, fundraising | 180,000 | 3,8 | Africa, Eastern Europe | 4 | https://www.volunteerconnector.org/ |
| CharityMap | Crisis region maps, integration with crowdfunding platforms | 120,000 | 2,5 | Middle East, North Africa | 3 | https://www.charitiesmapped.com/charitymap |
| Region | Number of tourists attracted | Donations collected (million euros) | Economic effect (EUR million) | Social impact (scale from 1 to 5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiev | 25,000 | 3.5 | 15.0 | 4.5 |
| Lviv region | 20,000 | 2.8 | 12.0 | 4.3 |
| Ivano-Frankivsk region | 15,000 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 4.0 |
| Odessa region | 18,000 | 2.5 | 10.5 | 4.2 |
| Kharkiv region | 12,000 | 1.8 | 8.0 | 3.8 |
| Poltava region | 10,000 | 1.2 | 6.0 | 3.7 |
| Kiev region | 22,000 | 3.0 | 13.0 | 4.4 |
| Ternopil region | 8,000 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 3.6 |
| Zaporizhzhya region | 9,000 | 1.5 | 7.0 | 3.9 |
| Donetsk region | 5,000 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Lugansk region | 4,000 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
|
Members of Cluster Number 1 (Data_nor) and Distances from Respective Cluster Center Cluster contains 8 cases | |||
| Case No. | Distance | Case No. | Distance |
| C_4 | 0,2789176 | C_16 | 0,3140341 |
| C_5 | 0,1888165 | C_20 | 0,04227527 |
| C_7 | 0,1800618 | C_21 | 0,08768009 |
| C_11 | 0,5943127 | C_23 | 0,3099183 |
|
Members of Cluster Number 2 (Data_nor) and Distances from Respective Cluster Center Cluster contains 5 cases | |||
| Case No. | Distance | Case No. | Distance |
| C_1 | 0,07233553 | C_12 | 0,6118291 |
| C_3 | 0,6067839 | C_18 | 0,199436 |
| C_9 | 0,1978603 | ||
|
Members of Cluster Number 3 (Data_nor) and Distances from Respective Cluster Center Cluster contains 8 cases | |||
| Case No. | Distance | Case No. | Distance |
| C_2 | 0,04893883 | C_15 | 0,3277896 |
| C_6 | 0,2760061 | C_17 | 0,3033305 |
| C_8 | 0,2495103 | C_19 | 0,1009329 |
| C_10 | 0,1136745 | C_22 | 0,06232256 |
|
Members of Cluster Number 4 (Data_nor) and Distances from Respective Cluster Center Cluster contains 3 cases | |||
| Case No. | Distance | Case No. | Distance |
| C_14 | 0,277171 | C_25 | 0,05091601 |
| C_24 | 0,2520007 | ||
| Variable | Correlation coefficient | Regression coefficient | t-statistic | t-statistic |
| ARi | 0.75 | 0.5 | 3.21 | 0.01 |
| DEi | 0.8 | 0.6 | 3.89 | 0.001 |
| EIi | 0.9 | 0.7 | 4.56 | <0.001 |
| UERi | 0.85 | 0.65 | 4.21 | <0.001 |
| SINi | 0.78 | 0.55 | 3.57 | 0.002 |
| SIMi | 0.92 | 0.72 | 4.89 | <0.001 |
| R- square | 0.91 |
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