Scientific paper ID 771 : 2013/1

Fair Trade (FT) plays an important role in the regional promotion and development. Exhibitors mostly observe FTs as an opportunity to promote their products and activities. Number of exhibitors, the quality of their products and their origin affect the number of FT visitors. Logistics support is needed in order to adequately organize such a manifestation. Also, a detailed preparation plan and schedule are essential for high organizational level and smooth supply execution. The objective of this paper is to describe, analyze and simulate servicing of Novi Sad tourism FT exhibition. The queuing theory was basis for data analysis and determination of characteristics of operating channels. The primary focus of the queuing theory was to define main principles of how the system works and to enable appropriate basis for computer analysis. The FT exhibition supply process was modeled taking into account the distribution of vehicle unloading procedures at two locations, assuming Poisson distribution for arrival rates (λ) and Exponential distribution for service rates (µ). Software Matlab with its toolbox Simulink were used for the generation of the computer simulation model. The final step was to incorporate determined inputs (λ and µ) into simulation model and to analyze results. The outputs were multiple parameters of the FT system. Additional possibility was to predict and define ments for more demanding servicing capacity. Obtained parameters from the simulation imply that the Novi Sad FT supply quality is satisfactory, but can be enhanced. Therefore, several measures that would lead to an improved performance and increased supply efficiency are proposed. Furthermore, the paper establishes links between logistics, exhibition organization processes and software support. The most important contributions of this paper are: (i) computer simulation of the real system with multiple opportunities for detailed analyses, predictions and improvement of decision-making processes (ii) correlation between closed-loop supply chain and FT exhibition organization and (iii) comprehensive analysis of Novi Sad FT exhibition and consequently, insight into regional economic development and progress.