Tourism Competitiveness Survey Analysis of Serbian Ski Resorts

Authors: Marijana Pantić, Saša Milijić

Abstract:

In Serbia as a continental country, the tourism industry relies on city-break, spa and mountain tourism, where ski resorts have primacy during the winter season. Even though the number of tourists has recently increased, the share of domestic tourists remained predominant. It is also noticed that tourists from Serbia eagerly travel abroad, which was so far researched in the context of summer holidays but not in the framework of ski resorts. Therefore, this paper examines the competitiveness of ski resorts in Serbia from the perspective of domestic tourists. A survey was used as a data collection method, covering various competitiveness dimensions. The aim is to recognize the main motives of consumers when choosing a ski resort in Serbia or abroad. The results showed that the choices of Serbian tourists are predominantly shaped by the cost of an offer – of accommodation above all others. They are attentive by estimating the value for money, which is the most common reason to choose a ski resort abroad over a domestic one. The crowd at ski resorts and ski runs appears to be a result of unbalanced accommodation capacities on the one hand and ski infrastructure on the other, which is currently the most notable competitiveness drawback of ski resorts in Serbia.

Keywords: Mountain tourism, Serbia, ski resorts, tourism competitiveness.

References:

[1] D. Miragaia, D. Conde, and J. Soares, “Measuring Service quality of ski resorts: An approach to identify the consumer profile”, The Open Sports Sciences Journal, no. 9, pp. 53-61, 2016.
[2] L. Botti, O. Goncalves, and N. Peypoch, “Benchmarking Pyrenean ski resorts”, Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 100-4, pp. 1-12, 2012.
[3] F. Perna, M. João Custódio, and V. Oliveira, “Tourism destination competitiveness: an application model for the south of Portugal versus the Mediterranean region of Spain: COMPETITIVTOUR”, Tourism & Management Studies, vol. 14(1), pp. 19-29, 2018.
[4] M. Abreu-Novais, L. Ruhanen, and C. Arcodia, “Destination competitiveness: what we know, what we know but shouldn’t and what we don’t know but should”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 19, issue 6, pp. 492-512, 2016.
[5] Zehrer, E. Smeral, and K. Hallmann, “Destination competitiveness—a comparison of subjective and objective indicators for winter sports areas”, Journal of Travel Research, vol. 56(1), pp. 55–66, 2017.
[6] L. Blanco-Cerradelo, A. Gueimonde-Canto, J. A. Fraiz-Brea, M. I. Dieguez-Castrillon, “Dimensions of destination competitiveness: Analyses of protected areas in Spain”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 177, pp. 782-794, 2018.
[7] M. H. Hanafiah, M. A. Hemdi, and I. Ahmad, “Tourism destination competitiveness: Towards a performance-based approach”, Tourism Economics, vol. 22(3), pp. 629-636, 2016.
[8] M. Porter, “The competitive advantage of nations”, Harvard Business Review, no. 68(2), pp. 73-93, 1990.
[9] G. Goffi, and M. Cucculelli, “Explaining tourism competitiveness in small and medium destinations: the Italian case”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 22, issue 17, pp. 2109-2139, 2019.
[10] R. Steiger, and B. Abegg, “Ski areas’ competitiveness in the light of climate change: comparative analysis in the eastern Alps”, in Tourism in Transitions. Recovering, Decline, Managing Change, D. K. Müller, and M. Więckowski (eds.), Ch. 11, pp. 187-199, 2018.
[11] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia, 2016 (Општине и региони у Републици Србији, 2016.), Belgrade: SORS, 2016.
[12] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia, 2017 (Општине и региони у Републици Србији, 2017.), Belgrade: SORS, 2017.
[13] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia, 2018 (Општине и региони у Републици Србији, 2018.), Belgrade: SORS, 2018.
[14] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia, 2019 (Општине и региони у Републици Србији, 2019.), Belgrade: SORS, 2019.
[15] Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS), Municipalities and Regions in the Republic of Serbia, 2020 (Општине и региони у Републици Србији, 2020.), Belgrade: SORS, 2020.
[16] M. Najdić, and N. Sekulović, “Behavior of Serbian tourists during economic crisis: two empirical researches”, TURIZAM, vol. 16, issue 3, pp. 180-192, 2012.
[17] M. Petrović-Ranđelović, and D. Miletić, “(No) Competitiveness and sustainable development of Serbian tourism”, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 44, pp. 78-87, 2012.
[18] S. Hudson, B. Ritchie, and S. Timur, “Measuring destination competitiveness: An empirical study of Canadian ski resorts”, Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development, vol. 1(1), pp. 79–94, 2004.
[19] K. Kuščer, and L. Dwyer, “Determinants of sustainability of ski resorts: do size and altitude matter?”, European Sport Management Quarterly, vol. 19, issue 4, pp. 539-559, 2019.
[20] R. Steiger, D. Scott, B. Abegg, M. Pons, and C. Aall, “A critical review of climate change risk for ski tourism”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 1343-1379, 2019.
[21] M. Bratić, M. Lesjak, M. Đorđević, M. Đorđević, and A. Radivojević, “Seasonal movements in mountain tourism of Serbia: a review of methods and literature”, Serbian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 5,u pp. 13-20, 2019.
[22] R. Stojsavljević, S. Božić, M. Kovačević, M. Bubalo Živković, and Đ. Miljković, “Influence of selected climate parameters on tourist traffic of Kopaonik and Zlatibor mountains (Republic of Serbia)”, Geographica Pannonica, vol. 20, issue 4, pp. 208–219, Dec. 2016.
[23] D. S. Djordjevic, V. Secerov, D. Filipovic, B. Lukic, and M. R. Jeftic, “The impact of climate change on the planning of mountain tourism development in Serbia: case studies of Kopaonik and Zlatibor”, Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 5027-5034, 2016.
[24] D. Vukoičić, S. Milosavljević, I. Panjisevic, and N. Bačević, “Spatial analysis of air temperature and its impact on the sustainable development of mountain tourism in Central and Western Serbia”, Idojaras (Budapest, 1905), 122(3), pp. 259-283, Sep. 2018.
[25] N. Bošković, M. Vujičić, and L. Ristić, “Sustainable tourism development indicators for mountain destinations in the Republic of Serbia”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 23:22, pp. 2766-2778, 2020.
[26] S. Kovačić, T. Jovanović, Ð. Miljković, T. Lukić, S. B. Marković, Ð. A. V., M. D. V., and M. Ivkov, “Are Serbian tourists worried? The effect of psychological factors on tourists’ behavior based on the perceived risk”, Ope Geosci., no. 11, pp. 273-287, Apr. 2019.
[27] M. Podovac, N. Đorđević, and S. Milićević, “Rural tourism in the function of life quality improvement of rural population on Goč Mountain”, Economics of Agriculture, year 66, no. 1, pp. 205-220, 2019.
[28] V. T. Opačić, and A. Banda, “Alternative forms of tourism in mountain tourism destination: a case study of Bjelašnica (Bosnia and Herzegovina)”, Geographica Pannonica, vol. 22, issue 1, pp. 40–53, March 2018.
[29] M. Cucculelli, and G. Goffi, “Does sustainability enhance tourism destination competitiveness? Evidence from the Italian Destinations of Excellence”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 111, part B, pp. 370-382, Jan. 2016.
[30] K. B. Godfrey, “Attributes of destination choice: British skiing in Canada”, Journal of Vacation Marketing, vol. 5, issue 1, pp. 18-30, 1999.
[31] T. J. Dickson, and P. Faulks, “Exploring overseas snowsport participation by Australian skiers and snowboarders”, Tour Rev, vol. 62, pp. 7-14, 2007.
[32] K. Matzler, J. Füller, B. Renzl, S. Herting, and S. Späth, “Customer satisfaction with Alpine ski areas: the moderating effects of personal, situational, and product factors”, Journal of Travel Research, vol. 43, issue 4, pp. 403-413, 2008.
[33] H. Xiaoshan, and L. Jian Ming, “Relationship among travel motivation, satisfaction and revisit intention of skiers: a case study on the tourists of Urumqi Silk Road Ski Resort”, Administrative Sciences, no. 10(56), pp. 1-13, Avg. 2020.
[34] SkiBus, “Skiing offers” (“Ponuda skijanja”), available at: www.skibus.rs/paketi-skijanje/, 2019.
[35] S. Milijic, I. Maric, and O. Bakic, “Approach to identification and development of mountain tourism regions and destinations in Serbia with special reference to the Stara Planina Mountain”, SPATIUM International Review, no. 22, pp. 19-28, 2010.
[36] S. Milijic, D. Banicevic, and N. Krunic, “Strategic evaluation of economic feasibility of tourist region development”, SPATIUM International Review, no. 19, pp. 56-68, 2008.
[37] M. Maksin, S. Milijic, N. Krunic, and V. Ristic, “Spatial and sectorial planning support to sustainable territorial and tourism development of protected mountain areas in Serbia”, SPATIUM International Review, no. 32, pp. 15-21, 2014.
[38] M. Pantić, Demographic change challenges in Serbian mountain areas (Izazovi demografskih promena u planinskim područjima Srbije), Belgrade: IAUS, 2019.
[39] J. Hall, B. O’Mahony, and J. Gayler, “Modelling the relationship between attribute satisfaction, overall satisfaction, and behavioural intentions in Australian ski resorts”, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, pp. 1-15, Oct. 2016.
[40] M. Pantić, and S. Milijić, Relations Between Mountain Tourism, Demographic Structure and Employment at Local Level in Serbia, in Tourism in Function of Development of the Republic of Serbia – Tourism as a Generator of Employment,D. Cvijanović et al. (eds.), Vrnjačka Banja: University of Kragujevac, pp. 148-164, 2019.