The purpose of this thesis is three-fold. First, it explored the ski resort marketing based on place and destination marketing theories. New trends and best practices support the theory by practical examples from the field and online research. Moreover, general hypotheses about ski resorts' visitors were defined. The second objective was to analyze the behavior of ski resorts' visitors based on a quantitative research. As a result, the predefined hypotheses were either confirmed or disproved. Finally, practical implications and recommendations combining the recent trends and tourists' experiences were discussed to suggest future development of ski resort marketing practices. In the end, research results, conclusions as well as its limitations are presented. Overall, this thesis could serve as a comprehensive study of current trends in the area of ski resort marketing and visitors' behavior and experiences.

Notre travail de recherche porte sur la saisonnalité en station de ski en hiver. Il s’agit d’un groupe professionnel qui fait l’objet de peu de recherches. Les travailleurs saisonniers en stations sont pourtant nombreux (400 000) (Aboubadra-Pauly, d’Artois, & Le Ru, 2016) et sont exposés à des stresseurs spécifiques (précarité, isolement, climat, hébergements, invisibilité sociale, etc.) qui les conduisent souvent à abandonner leur poste de travail. Les abandons de poste constituent des échecs pouvant générer des situations de précarité, d’insécurité, de perte de lien social et de baisse d’estime de soi. Ces abandons ont également des conséquences économiques importantes pour les entreprises qui emploient ces saisonniers. Il s’agit donc d’étudier, dans une approche prospective, les facteurs personnels (personnalité, âge, situation familiale), contextuels (logement, métier, rémunération, etc.) et psychosociaux (demandes psychologiques, latitude décisionnelle, soutien social, stratégies de coping, adéquation entre les valeurs du salarié et celles de l’organisation, satisfaction au travail) permettant de prédire un bon ajustement aux métiers desaisonniers. Nos indicateurs d’ajustement sont le turnover volontaire et l’engagement au travail (mesuré avec l’Utrecht Work Engagement Scale). Cent soixante et un sujets ont été évalués à 3 reprises (avant, pendant et à la fin de la saison). Les résultats montrent que la personnalité des saisonniers (selon la taxonomie des big five) a peu d’influence sur le turnover et le niveaud’engagement. Nous mettons également en évidence l’effet médiateur de la satisfaction au travail entre l’adéquation personne-organisation (PO fit) et le turnover. En outre, nous montrons les liens directs entre stresseurs professionnels, l’adéquation de la formation, les responsabilités, larémunération, le mode de logement, l’expérience du métier, certaines stratégies de coping, le PO Fit et l’engagement. Les liens entre nos deux critères (engagement et turnover volontaire) sont également étudiés. Les implications théoriques et pratiques de nos travaux sont discutées. / Our research focuses on seasonal workers in ski resorts in winter. Little research has been done in this area.. Yet seasonal workers in stations are numerous (400 000) (Aboubadra-Pauly et al.,2016) and are exposed to specific stressors (job insecurity, isolation, climate, accommodation, social invisibility, etc.) which often lead them to abandon their workstation. Dropping out can be perceived as a failure that can lead to situations of insecurity, loss of social connection and low self-esteem. Workers abandoning their posts also have significant economic consequences for companies. It is thus necessary to study, in a forward-looking approach, the personal factors (personality, age, family situation), context (accomodation, job, pay, etc.) and psychosocialfactors (psychological demands, decisional latitude, social support, Person-Organization fit (PO fit), job satisfaction) predicting a good adjustment to seasonal occupations. Our adjustment indicators are : voluntary turnover (during the season) and engagement at work (measured with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale). One hundred and sixty-one subjects were evaluated 3 times (before, during, and at the end of the season). The results show that the personality ofseasonal workers (according to Big Five taxonomy) has little influence on turnover and the engagement scale. We also highlight the mediating effect of job satisfaction between the PO Fit and turnover. Furthermore, we find direct links between professional stressors, instruction adequacy, responsibilities, wage, accomodation, work experience, coping strategies, PO Fit and work engagement. The links between our two criteria (commitment and voluntary turnover) arealso studied. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Abstract The popularity of nature-based tourism has increased worldwide and peripheral areas with conservational value, like protected areas, are attractive destinations. The recreational use and construction of tourism facilities can cause environmental degradation and decrease the conservational and recreational value of areas if not well planned and managed. The aim of this thesis was to improve our knowledge of recreation and tourism induced changes in northern boreal environments. Direct and indirect impacts of recreation on vegetation and birds in protected areas were examined. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of ski resorts in terms of changes in vegetation and soil, threats from non-native species and water pollution were investigated. In protected areas, the size of the disturbed areas around campsites was found to be mainly determined by the distance between the main tourism facilities (wilderness hut and campfire-site), and the mountain biotopes were more sensitive to disturbance than forests. Recreational use had induced changes also in the bird community. The occurrence and the composition of birds were affected, and the open nesters nesting on the ground were found to be the most sensitive. The construction, revegetation and management practices of ski runs had increased the nutrient concentrations, pH and conductivity of the soil, and changed the original vegetation notably. Non-native seed mixture species, used in revegetating the ski runs, were found to be favoured by management practices (disturbance and peat addition) in an experimental study, but, eventually, were not able to be established themselves into study plots. Ski resorts’ construction and management have also affected the water quality. Concentrations of nutrients were higher in ski resort lakes in relation to reference lakes and were comparable to lakes polluted by agriculture and forestry. The results of this theses give new information on tourism and recreation induced changes and are applicable for planning and management. Nature-based tourism and recreation can cause long-term changes in terrestrial and aquatic environments, which should be considered at all levels of planning and management. For sustainable tourism development, it is essential that impacts are regularly monitored and preventative means are developed and used to minimize environmental degradation.

This thesis provides a description of the periglacial environment and features in the vicinity of Tiffindell Ski resort, on the slopes of Ben MacDhui (3001.2m.), the highest point of the East Cape Drakensberg, South Africa. Active and inactive periglacial features were located, mapped and described. Of particular interest were periglaciar slope deposits including gelifluction turf-banked lobes and stone lobes, and cryoturbation features including polygons and thufur. Local environmental factors, such as aspect, moisture, topography, soil texture and depth of freezing, appear to act as important controls on the spatial distribution of the periglacial features. Identification and quantification of periglacial processes in the regolith was investigated using temperature and soil moisture sensors coupled to dataloggers. Research was undertaken over a 16 month period from June 1995 to September 1996 so that comparisons between the winter conditions of 1995 and 1996 could be drawn. The Tiffindell area was observed to be characterised in the winter months by 'diurnal freezethaw days', as well as by 'ice days', 1996 experiencing colder temperatures than 1995. With more than 78% of the days from May to September 1996 being 'ice days', and simultaneously experiencing high soil moisture contents, freezing penetration to a depth of greater than 0.2m was observed to occur in the Tiffindell area, causing frost heave and gelifluction. The summer thaw of ice lenses that developed in the cold winter months caused surface movement downslope of gelifluction lobes of up to 39mm over an 18 month period, although movement declined rapidly with depth and was essentially restricted to the uppermost 130mm of the regolith. Other features such as sorted and non-sorted polygons and thufur were identified and found to be active under the present climatic conditions and depth of frost penetration at Tiffindell. Stone lobes were identified on the south and southeast-facing slopes at Tiffindell, but are apparently inactive under present climatic conditions. Their existence suggests the presence of severe seasonal frost in the past. The implications of the air and ground surface temperatures, and of seasonal frost penetration for the development of Tiffindell Ski resort were considered, and suggestions regarding their economic significance are presented.

The Master's Thesis analyses and evaluates the conditions for the Ski & Snowboard School Lúčky development in the Jasná Nízke Tatry ski resort as well as it illustrates specific steps and actions in the realistic business plan. Firstly, it introduces theoretical background of feasibility analysis, business model, and the business plan focusing on the importance and structure of each topic. Secondly, the thesis portrays the results of an empirical research conducted on the target audience that are together with the market analyses integrated into the business plan. At last, the business plan proposes marketing and financial projections that lead into final conclusion and recommendations for the business development in the ski & snowboard school business area.

The master thesis is focused on mapping of all the processes that customer goes through before achieving the skiing activity in ski resort Špindlerův Mlýn, currently operated by MELIDA, a.s. In the theoretical part services specifications, Six Sigma methodology and Key Performance Indicators basics are briefly described. The practical part consists of introduction of the ski area, measuring and mapping processes in combination with weak points identification. In order to eliminate weak points previously identified, the process of getting feedbacks from customers was introduced. As a result of this process, actions to eliminate the weak spots, were proposed and will be implemented. In order to maintain the appropriate structure of the thesis, Six Sigma methodology procedures and instruments, were used.

The main target of this diploma thesis is to confirm the hypothesis that the project "Ski resort Lipno regional winter sport centre" has an unquestionable and a region wide impact on social and economical development of the municipality Lipno nad Vltavou as well as on the whole micro region Lipensko. Within the assessment of social and economical costs and benefits and based on a set of methods used to evaluate projects of ROP NUTS II Southwest which was also a financial source of this project, it was possible to prove the existence of significant and positive impacts on social and economical development of both municipality Lipno nad Vltavou and the whole micro region Lipensko (new jobs, increase revenue of other tourism subjects in this area etc.). Total social and economic effect of the investment is financially positive. It was confirmed by means of the cost- benefit analysis. Present value (PV) is 330 million CZK, net present value (NPV) of the project is about 133 million CZK. Economic rate of return (ERR) reached 11.47 %, profitability index (NPV/I) reached 0.67 CZK net discounted profit per 1 CZK invested in 8 year payback. All these values are positive and it is possible to state that this project has a great value added and it brings good societal benefits.