Tourism destinations need to continuously improve in quality to succeed, if not to survive. To improve quality, current levels need to be measured to identify areas requiring improvement. However, no adequate technique for measuring the quality of a tourism destination has yet been developed. More importantly, tourists' understanding of the meaning of the term 'quality of a tourism destination' has not been investigated; a pre-requisite step for developing a technique for measuring the quality of a tourism destination. This thesis aims to ascertain the attributes and dimensions of quality of a tourism destination and to specify implications for the development of a technique for measuring its quality. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research approach is employed in the first stage of the thesis. The findings from this stage are used to inform the ensuing, mainly quantitative phase. The main results are summarised here. Firstly, seventy-five attributes and twelve dimensions of quality of a tourism destination were revealed in the qualitative phase of the study. Secondly, in the quantitative stage, an analysis of mean score values revealed that tourists strongly associated all seventy-five attributes and twelve dimensions with the quality of a tourism destination. Thirdly, it was established that the twelve dimensions of quality of a tourism destination differ in either breadth or scope from both service quality dimensions widely used in tourism and product quality dimensions from the quality management field. This thesis suggests that the quality of a tourism destination can best be defined as 'conformance to tourist requirements'. The main hypothesis; that there are significant differences in interpretations of the meaning of 'quality of a tourism destination' within groups oftourists, is rejected. Finally, the thesis ascertains that a tool for measuring the quality of a tourism destination can be developed based on the findings of the thesis. Such a tool, though predominantly quantitative, should include open-ended questions. This would allow changing tourist needs to be captured periodically and the results used to update the tool for measuring the quality of a tourism destination.

This thesis follows the original visitors satisfaction survey carried out in Lipno nad Vltavou in summer 2007, which aimed to discover how tourists evaluated tourism services in this village and what they found unsatisfactory. This paper describes Lipno nad Vltavou as a significantly growing tourist destination and analyzes both quantitative and qualitative aspects of tourism supra and infrastructure development within the last three years, i.e. since the original survey in 2007. The main aim is to find out how the recent development si reflected in subjective visitors' evaluation, whether and to what extent the deficiencies revealed in 2007 have been eliminated, and if appropriate, what new weaknesses have been discovered from the perspective of visitors. The thesis does not evaluate the development of tourism destination in a complex way but in terms of visitor's needs. The work is also to analyze the impacts of tourism development on the economy of the village and its residents.

M. Tech. (Tourism and Hospitality Management, Faculty of Human Sciences)|, Vaal University of Technology. / Tourism is regarded as a modern-day engine of growth and one of the largest industries globally. In 2012, the G20 heads of state recognised tourism as a driver of growth and development as well as an industry that has the potential to spur global economic recovery. South Africa is currently receiving a higher number of first time visitors with the number of return visitors for leisure purposes very low. It is thus the aim of the study to identify the predictors of tourist’s intention to return to South Africa. Specifically, this study will focus on demographic characteristics, travel behaviour, travel motivations and satisfaction intention to return. This information can contribute to adjusting marketing and product strategies to enhance visitors’ intention to return. A quantitative survey was done at Aerial Cable Way (Table Mountain National Park) where 800 respondents were requested to participate in the study. The Cable Way attracts a high number of international visitors who was the population for this study. The questionnaire was distributed by fieldworkers who returned 720 completed questionnaires. The data was captured, analysed and interpreted to identify the predictors of visitor’s intention to return to South Africa as a tourism destination. The respondents were on average 40 years of age, mostly male, from the USA and UK respectively and married. They hold either a degree or a diploma and serve in professional or management occupations. When visiting South Africa these respondents stay on average 16 days, travel in groups of 3.71 and they prefer hotels and lodges. It was evident in this research that respondents were mainly first-time visitors, emphasizing the problem that this research assess. These respondents travel to enjoy Relaxation and Novelty, Social motivations, Cultural motivations, Personal Motivations and Product motivations of which Relaxation and Novelty and Cultural motivations were rated as the most important. These travel motivations were influenced by gender, occupation and accommodation preferences. Core to this study and addressing the main aim of the study was the finding that Communication, Experience, Safety and the Tourism offering contributes to willingness to return of which the Experience and Safety were the most important aspects. These willingness were also influenced by gender and occupation. Ultimately it is about the experience in South Africa. The relationship between willingness to return and travel motivations were also evident highlighting the inter- dependence of these variables. It was evident that marketing campaigns should be adjusted and more value-added products should be provided to increase intention to return. Continuous communication is needed with people that visited this country and showing new products, discount offers and unique products. Clearly the importance of intention to revisit is evident an aspect that needs attention in South Africa.

Food tourism is an activity that can be promoted by destination marketers. The aims of this research are to provide a holistic examination of domestic tourists’ food experience in China, and to evaluate the potential of food tourism in promoting Chinese regions from the demand side. It has four specific research objectives, including (1) examining the food experience of domestic tourists at three different travel stages in China, (2) assessing the relationships between the food experience of tourists and their demographic profiles, (3) developing a structural model addressing the potential relationships between tourists’ food experience and loyalty intentions toward Chinese destinations, and (4) providing recommendations for marketers to achieve successful destination promotion through food tourism. In order to achieve the research aims and objectives, with the development of a structural theoretical model, a quantitative research design was employed in the study. Data was specifically collected from a sample of 1702 domestic tourists at ten representative destinations in Mainland China. The findings of this study revealed that: firstly, food is, overall, of great significance to Chinese domestic tourists; however, it plays a varying role in domestic tourists’ experiences at different travel stages in China. Secondly, demographic factors such as gender and age have influences on the food experience of Chinese domestic tourists, while educational level has been revealed to be of little influence. Thirdly, tourists’ food satisfaction and food-related behavioural intentions were in direct and positive correlation to tourists’ destination loyalty intentions. The findings highlighted the contribution of local food at a destination level in the context of China, and signified the great potential for destinations to utilise food tourism to attract and retain tourists. Moreover, given the interrelationships shown between the underlying factors of tourists’ food experience and tourists’ destination loyalty intentions, it is noted that tourists’ food experience is a complex multi-phase model among which different phases interrelate with each other exerting an influence on tourists’ loyalty intentions to specific destinations in China. Lastly, based on these findings, both theoretical and practical implications were derived. In particular, practical recommendations have been provided to marketers on how to effectively utilise food tourism to achieve successful destination promotion in China.

The thesis deals with the application of destination management in the area of Beroun which is located in the Central Bohemia Region. Nowadays there is no organization of destination management which operates and promotes this area. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the area and mainly to create an organization of destination management which would deal with the tourism development in the area of Beroun. Next aim of this thesis is to set up the advertising strategy.

Many small islands depend on sustainable tourism to attain long term economic prosperity and well-being for their citizens. As they become more dependent on tourism for their growth, they are more concerned with improving their competitiveness to adapt to a highly charged competitive environment and to the dynamic market conditions. The quintessential problem is how to achieve, maintain, and enhance competitiveness. There is limited research on tourism destination competitiveness (TDC), and much less on small island destinations. This study concentrates on TDC with a special focus on Malta as a small Mediterranean island in an attempt to develop a comprehensive TDC framework that is useful to small island destinations, and advances models and measures to assess competitiveness based on importance-performance analysis techniques (IPA). To achieve its research objectives, this study adopts a methodological position reflecting pragmatist assumptions and uses a sequential, exploratory, Mixed Methods design strategy. In the qualitative first phase of the design, thirty-five in-depth interviews are conducted with key ‘experts’ in tourism. It emerges from the participants’ description that sixty tourism-specific and business-related determinants provide a broad framework for assessing TDC. In the second phase, survey research is applied in order to develop quantitative measures to reveal the relative importance of the competitiveness factors, to assess the performance of the destination on these factors, and to identify priority areas that require immediate attention for improvement. Statistical measures and procedures are modified, introduced, and tested to establish a valid model for measuring TDC. Results show that the diagonal approach and the adjusted weighted partial ranking method for measuring importance and performance are the best combination that satisfies validity criteria. When applying these techniques to assess Malta’s competitiveness relative to a competing set of Mediterranean destinations, twelve tourism attributes and fourteen business-related factors are identified as priority areas for improvement, with the competitiveness deficiency gaps in business factors being notably higher than those in tourism-specific areas. This study has several implications for the development of TDC theory, methods, and application to small islands. It provides tourism researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with a theoretically robust framework that can assist them in the formulation of policies, the management of the destination, and the implementation of strategies to optimise resource allocation in order to enhance a destination’s competitive position. Given that there are few studies that focus on the development and measurement of TDC models for small islands, this study makes a valid contribution to knowledge. The methodological approaches adopted in this inquiry have substantive application in IPA studies both within and beyond tourism studies. The study’s outcomes are also transferable to small island destinations operating in similar environments.

The Brdy-Vltava destination lies in Central Bohemia region between the Brdy highlands and the river Vltava and has potential for tourism. But nowadays there is no organization of destination management and promotion. Promotion is not unified and coordinated. The purpose of this thesis is to propose which organisation should deal with management and promotion of the destination. The other aim is to propose activites of promotion and management and a way how to increase awareness of the destination. The author use the information not only from related literature but also from work experience for the town of Dobříš and Local action group Brdy-Vltava o.p.s.

The aim of this thesis is to prepare a marketing strategy for the tourism destination Bad Oeynhausen. The theoretical part is focused on the specifics of the destination marketing and management. The other part brings a marketing strategy for Bad Oeynhausen which is based on the analysis of the tourism potential and marketing activities of the tourism agency Staatsbad Bad Oeynhausen GmbH.

Topics of this thesis are principals of Regional policy within European Union and possibilities of gaining donations from EU funds for the projects. It is demonstrated on the concrete project of Regional centre for tourism in Horažďovice. The thesis is focused on destination management and possibilities of implementing it on this project. The output of the thesis is the solution for future activities and better managing of the regional centre according to the executed analysis and questioning.

This thesis primarily focuses on usability of video in tourism destination online marketing. Main aims are analysis of video usability modes and testing of online video ad effectiveness. Thesis also evaluates overall advisability of using videomarketing tools in destination marketing. The first chapter describes international tourism and some important tourism terms related to the overall topic such as destination, image and destination marketing. The second chapter contains facts about key internet trends and their use in tourism industry. There is also part dealing with mutual influence of internet trends and tourism consumers' behavioural shift. The third chapter presents the analysis of roles and usability modes regarding online video. In the fourth chapter there is a test of banner advertisements effectiveness consisting of video and non-video banners data comparison. Results show possible usage modes of videomarketing for destination. User generated content with video, social networking and review systems were identified as key tools for combining with online video and thus enhancing online destination marketing. These topics are also considered as the most suitable for further research. Data testing results point out higher effectiveness of ads with video content when compared to non-video content ads.