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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Recreation and Tourism degree in the Department of Recreation and Tourism at the University of Zululand, 2009. / The differentially-abled tourism market is a niche market that could make a significant contribution to the region’s economy. This market is, however, a largely untapped activity in the study area. An Integrated National Disability Strategy White Paper was published in November 1997 by the South African government as a guideline to cater for those who have physical and related challenges. However, the contents of the strategy are not obvious or known to recreation service providers within the study area. The rights of people with disabilities are protected by the South African Constitution. People with disabilities should be able to access the same fundamental rights and responsibilities as any other South African. People with disabilities are equal citizens and should therefore enjoy equal rights and responsibilities. In line with this, tourism opportunities and equal participation in tourism activities should be the norm but this is not evident in the study area. This study therefore is based on the following objectives. The objectives have been formulated as component parts within the larger research goal. (a) To establish the respondents’ understanding of the meaning and importance of tourism for the differentially-able [physically challenged] in the study area. (b) To investigate the adequacy and provision of recreation facilities and services for the differentially-able [physically challenged] tourists in the study area. (c) To determine the extent to which the differentially-able [physically challenged] tourists visit and participate in recreation activities in the study area. establish the approximate number of differentially able tourist visiting the eThekwini Municipal Area. (d) To ascertain the strategies or management practices, which are used by the Ethekwini Municipal authorities to offer services to the differentially-able [physically challenged] tourists in the study area. (e) To investigate the extent to which recreation service providers are implementing the policy of Integrated National Disability Strategy, relating to recreation service provision for the differentially-able [physically challenged] persons in the study area. Through the postulation of some related hypotheses, the data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of the research study established that many of the recreation service providers do not cater for this niche market. The activities offered by recreation service providers are geared towards able bodied tourists. Furthermore, many of the service providers are not aware of the contents of the Integrated Disability Strategy White Paper. Some are not even aware of the existence of such a White Paper. Tourism KwaZulu-Natal has conducted some research on the differentially-able market but has been slow to bring on board the relevant service providers. It is the contention of this study that the tourism authorities need to spearhead and be the driving force behind the campaign for empowering the differentially-able tourism related market. It would be in the region’s best interest to target this market, as it would secure sizeable revenue that would create positive spin-offs for the region as a whole. The study closes by proposing some recommendations towards ameliorating the plight of the physically challenged recreators and tourists. Some of these findings are: (a) National and regional tourism organization need to establish guidelines for tourism service providers with regard to tourism for the differentially-abled. (b) Develop tourist areas that cater for the needs of the differentially-abled in terms of transportation, accommodation, access to tourism sites and services. (c) Enlist the assistance of various organisations that cater for varying forms of disability to research the needs and challenges of its members in terms of travel. (d) Develop accessible websites with relevant information for the tourist as well as the service providers. (e) Provide incentives for tourism operators and service providers to cater for tourists with disability. Award prizes to those service providers who cater for the differentially-abled market. (f) Use the Integrated National Disability Strategy White Paper: November 1997 to develop educational and training programmes for tourism service providers. Differentially-abled persons could assist with the development of relevant programmes and could act as advisors.

Magistro darbe atskleista kaimo turizmo paslaugų samprata, jų reglamentavimas, išnagrinėtos pagrindines paslaugų rinkos elementų sąvokas ir svarbiausi aplinkos veiksnius, įtakojantys kaimo turizmo paslaugų rinką ir jos plėtrą. Pateikiama kaimo turizmo paslaugų rinkos vertinimo metodologija. Nustatyta, kad Lietuvoje pagrindinis kaimo turizmo paslaugų rinkos plėtros veiksnys, yra: Europos Sąjungos fondų parama. Atlikta Lietuvos ir Šiaulių apskrities kaimo turizmo paslaugų sektoriaus 2004 – 2008 metų struktūros ir dinaminių pokyčių analizė. Vartotojų segmentavimas pagal kilmę atskleidė, kad pagrindiniai kaimo turizmo paslaugų vartotojai yra Lietuvos gyventojai, jie sudaro apie 89 proc., o užsienio poilsiautojai apie 11 proc. nuo visų kaimo turizmo poilsiautojų, analizuojamu laikotarpiu. Šiame tyrime nustatyta, kad poilsiautojų skaičius Šiaulių apskrities kaimo turizmo sodybose per analizuojamą penkmetį išaugo beveik 6 kartus, o vietų pasiūla tik 2 kartus. Pastebima tendencija, kad kaimo turizmo paslaugų paklausa auga didesniu tempu, nei pasiūla. Atlikus Lietuvos ekonominių rodiklių įtakos analizę, nustatyta, kad reikšmingiausias ryšys yra tarp nakvynių skaičiaus ir BVP dalies tenkančios vienam šalies gyventojui dydžio bei vartojimo kainų santykinio lygio. Atlikus kaimo turizmo paslaugų plėtros Šiaulių apskrityje vertinimą, patvirtinta hipotezė, kad galima kaimo turizmo verslo plėtra ten, kur jis nėra išplėtotas, nors potencialas tam yra. / The master thesis reveals the concept of the country tourism services, their regulation, and analyses the main notions of the market elements and the basic environmental factors influencing upon the market of the country tourism and its development. The methodology of evaluation of the country tourism services market is provided here. It was established that the main factor of development of the country tourism services market in Lithuania is: the support from European Union funds. We performed the analysis of the structure and dynamic changes of the country tourism services sector in Siauliai District within the period of 2004 – 2008. The segmentation of inhabitants according to their origin revealed that the main users of the country tourism services are the residents of Lithuania, they make up about 89 percent, and foreign holidaymakers - about 11 percent of the overall amount of the country tourism holidaymakers during the analysed period. It was established in the course of the research that the amount of the holidaymakers in the homesteads of country tourism in Siauliai District increased almost 6 times during the analysable period, and the supply of places just twice. We can observe a tendency that the demand of the country tourism services is growing in a faster rate than the supply. Upon the analysis of the influence of Lithuanian economic indices, it was established that the most important connection is between the amount of stays and the amount of the portion of... [to full text]

The main goal of the final thesis is to evaluate the position of makroregion Europe on the international tourism market. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with methodological framework, important notions of tourism and main factors, which contribute to tourism development. The practical part is focused on makroregion Europe itself, where tourism has experienced continued expansion and is a long-term leader on the international tourism market. The theoretical knowledge is applied and european subregions are analysed considering main development trends. Under the impact of the worldwide financial crisis, unfavourable demographic trend and competiton of Asia-Pacific destinations, European union exerts an effort by means of New political framework for tourism to retain position as a world's top destination on the international tourism market.

This thesis deals with the Brazilian tourism market in relation to the Czech Republic with a focus on gay clientele. In the first part, the prerequisites for the development of tourism in the destination are analysed; the author assesses the selective, location and realization factors. The next chapter focuses on the characteristics of Brazilian outgoing tourism - both generally and in relation to the Czech Republic. A part of this chapter deals with the incoming tourism and the organization of tourism in Brazil. The author then compares package tours of Czech travel agencis to Brazil. The last chapter is devoted to the characteristics of gay tourism. The author assess the situation of the gay community in the Czech Republic and Brazil, and characterizes the prerequisites for the development of this form of tourism in both countries. The thesis ends with a structured interview with the author of PinkGo, the new project of ESO travel agency.

Analysis of the customer's behaviour of the different segments, which are different from each other, as far as planning, organizing and realization of the summer holiday are concerned. The datas will help the author and her profession development in Tourism and Marketing branches, so as the main tourism institutions, such as Czech Tourism or Department of local development.

Darbo objektas – Religinis turizmas Lietuvoje. Probleminis (tiriamasis) klausimas: Kokios religinio turizmo plėtros galimybės Lietuvos turizmo rinkoje? Tyrimo tikslas: Ištirti religinio turizmo plėtros galimybes Lietuvos turizmo rinkoje. Rašant darbą buvo išsikelti keturi uždaviniai, kad išanalizuoti religinio turizmo sampratų kaitą ir religinio turizmo vietą Lietuvos turizmo rinkoje buvo atlikta mokslinė ir statistinių duomenų analizė. Išanalizuotos religinio turizmo galimybės Lietuvoje, uždaviniui įgyvendinti buvo tiriamas kelionių organizatorių požiūris i religinio turizmo galimybes Lietuvoje. Atlikto teorinio ir empirinio tyrimo pagrindu sudarytas holistinis religinio turizmo plėtros Lietuvoje modelis, kuris atskleidžia veiksnius, įtakojančius religinio turizmo plėtrą. Tyrimo organizavimas: Statistikos departamento duomenimis Lietuvoje 2008 metais buvo 282 turizmo organizacijos, iš jų 50 turizmo organizacijų užsiima atvykstamuoju, 39 vietiniu ir atvykstamuoju turizmu ir 193 išvykstamuoju turizmu. Šiam tyrimui tinkamos tik tos turizmo įmonės, kurios organizuoja vietinį ir atvykstamąjį turizmą, t.y. 89. Kiekybinį tyrimą sudarė septyni etapai. Viso tyrime dalyvavo 33- trys kelionių organizatoriai. Praktinis pritaikomumas- apibendrinti tyrimo rezultatai, bei sukurtas religinio turizmo plėtros modelis, bus išsiųsti visoms įmonėms , kurios dalyvavo tyrime ir pageidavo gauti apibendrintą informaciją. Rezultatai bus pristatyti Lietuvos turizmo asociacijos, vienijančios Lietuvos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Thesis object – Religious tourism in Lithuania . Problem question: What are the potentials of religious tourism development in Lithuanian tourism market? Study objective: To explore the potentials of religious tourism development in Lithuanian tourism market. In order to analyze the vicissitude of the concept of religious tourism and the place of religious tourism in Lithuanian tourism market four tasks were set and the analysis of the scientific and statistical data was carried out. In order to analyze the potentials of religious tourism development in Lithuania and propose the practical recommendations to business representatives, travel agent attitude was studied. Study organization: According to the Department of Statistics, there were 282 tourism organizations in Lithuania in 2008, of which 50 were practicing the inbound, 39 local and inbound tourism and 193 outbound tourism. Only 89 companies which organize local and inbound tourism qualified for this study. The quantitative study consisted of seven stages. 33 tour organizers took part in the study. Practical application – the summary of results will be sent directly to the companies which took part in the study and requested general study information. The results will be presented to D. Mažeikaitė, the president of the Lithuanian tourism association, unifying the Lithuanian tour organizers. Conclusions: According to the scientific literature, religious tourism is a separate branch of tourism which attends... [to full text]

The thesis deals with a new trend in tourism -- senior tourism. The contribution of senior citizens to the tourism industry face the challenge of seasonality and stimulate economic growth, including employment. The senior segment is perspective because of its growing share in the population, improving health condition compared with previous generations, financial resources available and unlimited leisure time. The aim of the thesis is to analyze tour operators offer focused on outgoing packages for seniors in order to assess whether the offer reflects the specific needs and preferences of senior travellers. In addition, the thesis includes segmentation of senior travellers and recommendations for marketing communication towards this specific segment.

This exploratory study examined the different tourism market development strategies that tourism Multinational Corporations (MNCs) implement in their operations in African host countries. It empirically investigated the existence of any relationships between tourism MNCs’ market development strategies and the “Needs and Expectations of African host countries.” Also, it investigated the influences of external environmental factors on tourism MNCs’ tourism market strategic choice. Its sample population were top management executives of tourism MNCs‘ with operations in the African market. The unit of analysis was the corporation. The sample frame was an exhaustive list of tourism MNCs with operations in the African region. The initial sample size was 106 tourism MNCs’ executives. Thirty-seven of them responded to a mail in survey questionnaire. Two of the questionnaires were discarded due to numerous missing data. Thus, there were 35 usable questionnaires for data analysis, which is a response rate of 33%. The study results identified relationships between the integration of Multinational Corporations’ (MNCs) tourism market development strategies with the needs and expectations of developing African host countries, and their successful performance in those host countries in terms of growth in operations and profitability. It revealed that significant differences exist among the market development strategies on the factors of needs and expectations of African host countries. The significant factors were community participation, local entrepreneurship, and job and national security. Also, the economic development factor was observed to be partially significant. This study also identified free trade economy in the African host countries as a significant factor on the influence of external environment. The framework of this study is embedded in the underlying theories of international strategic management, international business, international development, and needs and expectations. The study’s final conceptual model depicts the significant factors of African host countries’ needs and expectations, the tourism market development strategies, an integration of the two concepts and the resultant tourism MNCs successful performance. This research study investigated MNCs in all sectors of the tourism industry. And the findings have shown that for the tourism MNCs to be successful in their African host countries, they should be sensitive to the identified sectors, namely economic development, community participation, local entrepreneurship, and job and national security measures. Also, they should exert more efforts in exploring African free trade economies for their business locations in the region. / Ph. D.

This study provides an integrated approach to understanding the relationship between destination branding and tourist behavior, and attempts to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence about the structural relationships among the following constructs: destination image, perceived quality, destination awareness (elements of destination branding), tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty (elements of tourist behavior) in the leisure tourism market. This study develops and empirically tests a destination branding model and its relevant components from the perspectives of tourists, so that it will help destination marketers to build more competitive tourism destinations. The destination brand model is based on relationship marketing theory, signaling theory, and brand equity theory. The model proposed four major hypotheses: 1) destination branding has a direct positive influence on tourist loyalty; 2) destination branding has an indirect positive influence on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 3) tourist satisfaction has a positive influence on tourist loyalty; and 4) the relationship between destination branding and tourist satisfaction is moderated by trip types. A sample population consisting of residents of Virginia was surveyed. A stratified sampling method and a random sampling method were used to select the sample. A total of 304 usable questionnaires out of 2,000 questionnaires were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses in this study. The results revealed that: 1) cognitive destination image and destination familiarity had a direct influence on tourist loyalty as well as an indirect influence on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 2) affective destination image had only an indirect impact on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction; 3) tourist satisfaction had a significant relationship with tourist loyalty; and 4) cognitive destination image, affective destination image, and destination recognition were moderated by trip types. This study can initiate the development of theoretical foundations for destination branding. Also, the implications of these findings can help destination managers and marketers build competitive strategies for destination branding in order to ensure long-term relationships between tourists and their destinations. / Ph. D.