This research examines temporal variations in tourism demand in Wales from two different perspectives. It looks at Wales in general as a destination as well as the Welsh serviced accommodation sector, the focus of the thesis being on the latter. A range of methods is used when analysing the annual demand patterns for Wales at a national level. A comparative evaluation highlights the merits and limitations of various seasonality measures. The study demonstrates that tourism demand in Wales is significantly different from that observed in Scotland and England. It shows that lessons learned from other UK regions can only to a limited extent be transferred to Wales. Regarding the accommodation sector, room occupancy rates from 1998 to 2002 are analysed from the viewpoint of seasonal variations. The extent to which the outbreak of foot and mouth disease and the September 11th terror attacks in 2001 affected demand patterns is also a prominent research question. The approach used is based on a combination of principal components and cluster analysis. Some modifications to existing methodologies in this area are made in order to focus on seasonality and changes in occupancy patterns. The work seeks to identify the structural components which underlie the empirical observations of occupancy performance. It also attempts to pinpoint statistically significant relationships between the characteristics of establishments and a range of typical performance profiles. As the study extends not only to the hotel sector, but also to other parts of the serviced accommodation industry, comparisons can be drawn between the different sectors. The study's main contributions lie in the area of industry segmentation. The research reveals that conventional classifications of accommodation establishments are o f only limited use when explaining the observed seasonal fluctuations and occupancy changes. Performance clusters, identified through the data-driven approach used in this study, provide a much more comprehensive picture of which establishments performed poorly and which did well. The research also demonstrates the use of the identified performance indicators for the purpose of benchmarking. In terms of the changes in 2001, the study illustrates that the effects of the crisis were by no means uniform across individual regions or particular types of establishments. The conclusions drawn from the analysis o f both seasonal demand variations at the national level and for the serviced accommodation sector are put forward as a basis for refining tourism marketing and development policies aimed at tackling seasonality in Wales.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:637817 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Koenig, Nicole |
| Publisher | Swansea University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43054 |
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