Academica Turistica
Tourism & Innovation Journal – Revija za turizem in inovativnost
Year 13, No. 2, December 2020, issn 2335-4194
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13_2
127 Virtual Reality in Tourism: Is it ‘Real’ Enough?
Marion Rauscher, Andreas Humpe, and Lars Brehm
139 The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction: The Case of Don-Wai
Floating Market in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Napaporn Janchai, Glenn Baxter, and Panarat Srisaeng
153 Is International Tourism Growth Supported by Increased Tourism Receipts?
Helena Nemec Rudež
157 Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity and Their Integration into Sightseeing Routes
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen
167 Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Fadil Mušinović
179 Professional and Organisational Commitment in the Hospitality Sector
Marjetka Rangus, Srđan Milošević, Iva Škrbić, Bojana Radenković-Šošić,
Jože Hočevar, and Mladen Knežević
193 Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj
201 Travel Motivations as Criteria in the Wellness TourismMarket Segmentation Process
Ana Težak Damijanić
215 Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism: Application of RURALQUALModel
Suzana Marković and Jelena Kljaić Šebrek
229 Abstracts in Slovene – Povzetki v slovenščini
235 Instructions for Authors
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126 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Original Scientific Article
Virtual Reality in Tourism: Is it ‘Real’ Enough?
Marion Rauscher
Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany
marion.rauscher@hm.edu
Andreas Humpe
Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany
andreas.humpe@hm.edu
Lars Brehm
Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany
lars.brehm@hm.edu
Virtual Reality Technology is increasingly becoming popular in the tourism sector.
So far, the most researched application is the marketing of destinations. In contrast,
the technology has also beenmentioned as a means to limit or reduce the number of
tourists at a specific sight or destination. In this respect vr is considered as a sub-
stitute for the actual trip. This paper addresses this issue by looking at the possibility
to apply vr-technology to transfer the real-life experience into the digital world. In
a qualitative research framework, visitor behaviour and experience are investigated
when encountering vr sights in order to better understand items driving technol-
ogy adoption. Structured content analysis is applied for data analysis where coding
follows an adjusted Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model.
For interpretation purposes a pure qualitative framework was chosen. We find that
enjoyment is an important driver for vr technology acceptance, whereas facilitat-
ing conditions and outcome expectations seem to be obstacles for it. Perceived use-
fulness is evaluated controversially. While the technology is not acknowledged as
a substitute for a regular holiday trip, especially for travellers who take pleasure in
active holidays or appreciate social interaction, it was recognised as an alternative
for special occasions such as brief getaways from everyday life or short city trips.
Overall, when appropriately implemented the technology might not only be useful
to decrease visitor concentration in touristic hotspots or to decrease negative aspects
associated with frequent travel but could further be applied to sites where visitors do
not engage physically because sites are too distant, expensive, inhospitable, unsafe
or fragile.
Keywords: virtual reality, tourism, travel substitute, technology adoption, utaut
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.127-138
Introduction
Although virtual reality (vr) technology and research
thereof has been around for more than 20 years, it has
recently seen a renewed upsurge in academic inter-
est due to advancements in technology (Williams &
Hobson, 1995). The most commonly used definition
of Guttentag (2010, p. 638) describes the term ‘virtual
reality’ as ‘the use of computer-generated 3d environ-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 127
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
ment [. . .] that one can navigate and possibly interact
with, resulting in a real-time simulation of one ormore
of the user’s five senses.’ Whereas the ability to move
around and explore the virtual environment is labelled
as a compulsory requirement, interaction is only facul-
tative. According to this definition it is not straightfor-
ward to determine whether 360° videos or even aug-
mented reality (ar) is part of vr or not. While both
applications represent, for the most part, a mere pas-
sive consumption, some navigation or limited interac-
tion might nevertheless be possible. Apparently, lines
are blurred and opinions differ in this regard. In fact,
academia has been arguing about whether navigation
is an optional component of vr or not (Yung&Khoo-
Lattimore, 2019).
For the purpose of this paper, we follow the more
flexible point of view (Gibson & O’Rawe, 2018; Wilt-
shier & Clarke, 2017) and consider vr as a computer-
generated 3d environment where navigation and in-
teraction are optional.
Irrespective of the technology or device used to
create a vr experience, two main factors are nec-
essary. The first one is physical immersion and the
second one psychological presence (Disztinger et al.,
2017; Tussyadiah et al., 2018). The more the vr user
is detached from the real world the more physically
immersed he is. In light of this and the elaborated def-
inition, on the one end of the vr spectrum there are
semi-immersive virtual environments where the user
is still in contact with the reality around him such as
360° videos followed by ar experiences. The other
end of the spectrum is determined by fully immersive
environments created, for example, by HeadMounted
Display (hmd) devices, maybe accompanied by head-
phones and gloves or other supporting tools to cre-
ate virtual tactile sensations. When smell or further
haptic stimuli are added the sensation of immersion
increases even more (Gutiérrez et al., 2008). Psycho-
logical presence is the subjective feeling of the user
of physically being in the virtual environment rather
than in the place where the body is located. This fol-
lowsWirth et al.’s (2007) definition of spatial presence.
An individual might reach a high psychological pres-
ence even in a physical semi-immersive environment
while anothermay not. It has been found, though, that
both concepts are somewhat related. Highly physical
immersive technologiesmay lead to a high level of psy-
chological presence. A lack of high immersion, on the
other hand, does not necessarily lead to a low feeling of
psychological presence. Subjective internal processes
of an individual may indeed compensate for lacking
external stimuli (Ijsselsteijn & Riva, 2003).
Empirical analyses of vr applications in tourism
are a fairly new research area. Since technological
progress has only recently led to an acceptable level,
such studies have not been on the rise until the last few
years. Nevertheless, empirical research on the adop-
tion of vr technology in a tourism context is still lim-
ited (tomDieck et al., 2018). This acknowledges Hine’s
(2000) demand for more empirical research of user
experience rather than mere prophecies of ground-
breaking vr applications in tourism. Yung andKhoo-
Lattimore (2019) even observe that among those anal-
yses that exist, many are still not based on theoretical
concepts or frameworks which verifies Huang et al.’s
(2016) assessment, that more substantive and theory-
based research on vr and its application is neces-
sary.
This paper contributes to reducing this void by
analysing vr user acceptance based on a qualitative
empirical research approach. More precisely, partici-
pants in two semi-immersive vr tourism experiences
in a cave Automated Virtual Environment were ob-
served and questioned based on the Unified Theory
of Acceptance and Use of Technology (utaut). The
aim is to better understand determinants for accep-
tance and adoption willingness of vr technology as a
substitute for a real trip.
VR Applications in Tourism
Applications of vr in tourism have been discussed in
various contexts. Suggested areas of use range from a
planning andmanagement instrument to better assess
tourists’ desires and needs through an entertainment
tool, deployed for example within a theme park, to a
means for educational purposes, for instance in a mu-
seumor at a historical site (Guttentag, 2010). Themost
frequently researched area is, however, the use of vr
as a promotional tool. Several papers have already de-
scriptively highlighted the marketing potential of the
128 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
technology (Williams & Hobson, 1995; Cheong, 1995;
Williams, 2006; Guttentag, 2010; Griffin et al., 2017).
The hypothesis has been tested empirically within di-
verse research settings. For example, one of the ear-
lier studies questioned test persons after showing them
360° videos steerable by a regular pc mouse (Lee &
Oh, 2007). Pantano and Servidio (2011) usedwhat they
called a pervasive environmentwhich was represented
by stereoscopic technology creating a 3d image on a
screen. Both studies confirm the assumption that vr
provides an efficient marketing tool for destinations.
The reason is mainly attributable to the fact that vr
can help reduce uncertainty associated with buying
a touristic product. The ‘try-before-you-buy’ option
helps the traveller to get a more realistic experience
of what to expect. This way it can reduce travel anx-
iety (Lee & Oh, 2007) or increase motivation to visit
places that were somewhat unfamiliar to the individ-
ual (Pantano & Servidio, 2011).
Empirical vr research in tourism gained ground
with the introduction of so-called virtual worlds. The
most prominent example is Second Life from Linden
Lab. In this Internet-based 3d infrastructure users are
able to develop and design the virtual environment
and interact with each other via avatars. Related re-
search focused on the question whether the virtual
visit and associated interaction possibilities would
positively contribute to destination marketing efforts
(Guillet & Penfold, 2013; Huang et al., 2012; Huang et
al. 2013; Huang et al., 2016; Mascho & Singh, 2013).
The studies generally confirm the hypothesis, find-
ing that users develop positive feelings and increased
awareness towards the respective destination. This is
in linewith later analyses in alternate research settings.
For example, Tussyadiah et al. (2018) conclude that the
feeling of being in a virtual environment creates a pos-
itive sensation for the potential tourist, which leads
to a stronger preference for the destination and ulti-
mately a higher likelihood of visiting it. McFee et al.
(2019) compare 360° video information with a more
immersive vr experience and find that involvement
is a key aspect in image formation. Therefore, infor-
mation transmission via immersive vr should be pre-
ferred over 360° videos since it leads to a positive des-
tination image which increases visit intention. Gibson
and O’Rawe (2018) also observe a higher likelihood of
visiting the ‘real’ destination after experiencing it in a
virtual environment. Tussyadiah et al. (2017) measure
spatial presence which was found to have a positive
effect on post-vr attitude change toward the tourism
destination.
All of the aforementioned studies centre on the
question whether vr can help to create awareness of
a destination and ultimately increase visitor numbers.
Yet, the opposite objective can also be of interest. It
might, for example, be sensible to restrict the num-
ber of visitors at vulnerable natural or cultural spots
such as heavily visited heritage sites. Dewailly (1999)
adopts the specific perspective of sustainability in this
context. To put it in a broader perspective, vr might
be a beneficial instrument to tackle problems associ-
ated with the current overtourism debate. The general
idea behind it is, that bymeans of a virtual visit the site
is still accessible to everybody while at the same time,
the environment is not harmed. This rationale holds
for all destinations that might be too distant, inhos-
pitable or unsafe. It also holds for travellers themselves
who might be unable to visit a destination (Guttentag,
2010). Hence, vr can serve as a substitute for the ac-
tual trip (Cheong, 1995; Sussmann&Vanhegan, 2000)
rather than a motivational factor for it. Wiltshier and
Clarke (2017) point out the opportunities of virtual
cultural tourism but also address some challenges for
the future. The present study takes on this viewpoint
as well and explores the necessary prerequisites for the
tourist to accept a technology solution over a physical
travel experience.
When investigating vr acceptance the sense of
presence plays an important role (Slater et al., 1994;
Hyun & O’Keefe, 2012; Tussyadiah et al., 2018). Al-
though not placed within a vr environment, empir-
ical researches (Klein, 2003; Jacob et al., 2010) high-
light the importance of media richness, i.e. number
and quality of sensory stimuli, as well as interaction
possibility on the attitude towards and acceptance
of an envisioned product. vr-related studies support
this outcome by confirming that a high level of pres-
ence can be achieved by addressing multiple senses
(Dinh et al., 1999; Feng et al., 2016; Rodrigues Mar-
tins et al., 2017). Apart from the user’s sensations, the
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 129
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
aforementioned interaction possibility requires fur-
ther thought. Guttentag (2010) argues that acceptance
of the vr tourism substitute is influenced by the indi-
vidual’s perception of authenticity as well as travelling
motivations. While the technology is able to closely
reconstruct objects and sites, social interaction is re-
strained. However, an individual’s motivation to travel
to a specific destination can be a friends or family visit
regardless of the touristic surroundings. Furthermore,
many tourists like to meet and exchange with locals
and delve into their lifestyle to experience authen-
ticity. Even the trip itself is oftentimes perceived as
a social occasion. People usually do not travel alone
and individuals who do, enjoy the company of others.
Those social interactions can influence the tourism
experience as much as the destination itself. Thus,
each tourist becomes a co-creator of value. This does
not only apply to the producer-consumer relation-
ship such that the consumer enhances or degrades the
value provided by the tourism producer (Binkhorst &
Den Dekker, 2009; Grissemann & Stokburger-Sauer,
2012). It also holds for the consumer-consumer re-
lation, since travellers influence each other in their
tourism experience (Rihova et al., 2015). Integrating a
social element is therefore vital when investigating a
vr tourism experience, even though the technology
can only provide for this aspect to a limited extent at
the current stage.
Methodology
Research Design
The present study deals with visitors to two vr tour-
ism sites who were observed and later questioned with
regard to their experiences and assessments. Partici-
pants in the researched group were 16 University stu-
dents of a Tourism Management programme. All of
them had already encountered full or semi-immersive
virtual environments using vr hmd devices. For the
purpose of this study they were sent into a cave Au-
tomatic Virtual Environment (Cruz-Neira et al., 1992)
3 metres in diameter. Shutter glasses had to be put
on in order to create the 3d image but no vr hmd
was necessary. Although this implies a lower physical
immersion this semi-immersive research framework,
similar to the one used by Pantano and Servidio (2011),
was chosen in order to provide for a more interactive
and social environment. More precisely, participants
were sent into the cave in groups of 5–6 people, sim-
ulating a travelling group. As pointed out earlier, indi-
viduals may nevertheless develop feelings of psycho-
logical presence. The spatial area left room for motion
in every direction enabling the group to change po-
sitions in order to show things to and talk with each
other.
In the cave they were shown two different set-
tings. The first one was a 3d reconstruction of Christ
the Redeemer on Corcovado with a view down to Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. The participantswere able to change
perspective as well as zoom in and out of the picture
with a handheld controller. This way involvement and
interaction was intensified, which may also increase
psychological presence for some individuals (Wirth
et al., 2007). The second setting was a guided tour
through the Syrian ruined city of Palmyra, a digital
360° movie initiated by the tv station zdf/Terra X
and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation show-
ing the reconstructed site.
As Guttentag (2010) elaborates, the acceptance of
vr as a substitute for the real destination is subjective.
Not only is the tourist’s individual perception of the
substitute’s authenticity of importance but also his or
her travel motivations and constraints. It is therefore
central to profoundly understand and question the vr
user’s behaviour, perception and sensation on an indi-
vidual basis. In light of this, and due to the exploratory
character of the research, a non-participative observa-
tion research framework of the groups in the cave
was chosen as a first step. Two researchers were de-
ployed to get a better view and align observations in
order to limit observation errors. Results were sub-
sequently backed and further elaborated. One week
after the visit, semi-structured interviews took place
with each participant, questioning them regarding
their general travel motivations, their virtual travel
experience and their technology adoption appraisal.
Contrary to Sussmann and Vanhegan (2000), by actu-
ally sending sample groups into the cave, individuals
were able to more precisely verbalise their experience
rather than answering what they think it would feel
like.
130 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
Performance
expectancy
Effort
expectancy
Social
influence
Behavioural
intention
Facilitating
conditions
Use
behaviour
Figure 1 utaut Model (adapted from Venkatesh et al.,
2003)
Theoretical Background
The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Tech-
nology (utaut) model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) pro-
vided the underlying theoretical basis for observations
and semi-structured interviews. utaut is an empir-
ically validated evolution of the Technology Accep-
tance Model (tam). tam was introduced by Davis
(1989) and applied in several tourism-related vr stud-
ies, partly with minor adaptions (Disztinger et al.,
2017; Huang et al., 2016, 2013; Mascho & Singh, 2013).
utaut applications are not as widespread as some to
be found in the vr-related segment of Augmented
Reality. For example, Hein et al. (2018) investigate
consumer assessment of opportunities and threats of
smart glasses for society. Targeted towards the tourism
industry is Paulo et al.’s (2018) research of influencing
factors of mobile ar adoption in tourism. A specific
case is studied by Kourouthanassis et al. (2015) who
test a mobile ar travel guide in Corfu, Greece.
Variables impacting technology adoption accord-
ing to utaut are performance expectancy, effort ex-
pectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions.
The first three drive the intention to use the respective
technology. Behavioural intention in turn, together
with facilitating conditions, motivate technology use.
Additionally, utaut postulates that constructs are
moderated by individual differences, i.e. gender, age
and experience, as well as by the voluntariness to use
the technology.
In the present research we adopted utaut cate-
gories to formulate and evaluate interview questions
and observations. A few adjustments in accordance
with the literature reviewed were made to fit the needs
of the specific setting. First, Venkatesh et al.’s (2003)
study was tailored to the business environment as
opposed to the present analysis. The item ‘job-fit’
was therefore omitted to describe performance ex-
pectancy. However, a more hedonic-related item was
included to define performance expectancy in order to
represent the interactive and social nature of the tech-
nology (tom Dieck et al., 2018). More specifically, the
item ‘perceived enjoyment’ was supplemented similar
to Disztinger et al. (2017), who follow Holsapple and
Wu’s (2007) proposition that vr is a hedonic rather
than a utilitarian technology. Within the construct ef-
fort expectancy the item ‘perceived ease of use’ and
‘ease of use’ are very similar (Davis, 1989; Moore &
Benbasat, 1991; Venkatesh et al., 2003) and it is crit-
icised that statements are therefore not clearly allo-
cable to either one. Additionally, participants were
not questioned a second time after applying the tech-
nology several times. Therefore, it was unlikely that
they were able to clearly assess ease of use. In order
to avoid distortions and ambiguities, both items were
grouped together to ‘perceived ease of use.’ The item
‘social factors’ in the original utaut model refers to
co-workers and supervisors who use the system, as
well as to organisational support given to the individ-
ual. Again, this is not applicable for the present analy-
sis. Consequently, the item was excluded. To sum up,
constructs and tantamount items used are shown in
Table 1 with respective anchoring statements from the
interviews.
Due to the small sample size we did not control
for gender. Neither was age and experience accounted
for since all of the participants were in the same age
group and had the same prior vr experience. Lastly,
the purpose of the technology employment is solely
for leisure activities and participation in the study was
free of choice for the sample group. Therefore, volun-
tariness of use was also not applicable in the present
setting.
Structured content analysis (Mayring, 2014) was
used to analyse and interpret data obtained by the ob-
servations and interviews. Coding followed the previ-
ously described adjusted utaut constructs and items.
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 131
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
Table 1 Adjusted Constructs and Anchoring Statements
Construct Item Anchoring Statement
Performance expectancy Perceived usefulness I had read before, that it’s an application to rebuild historical sites
Extrinsic motivation When I start my travel plans, there is some outside influence
Relative advantage A lot of things are missing – activities. This is why I travel
Outcome Expectations I am looking for recuperation. To be away from everyday life
Enjoyment I thought it was cool
Effort expectancy Perceived ease of use I would say, using the controller seemed to be relatively easy
Complexity It wasn’t complex, it was easy to operate
Social influence Social norm I don’t travel alone, but together with a friend or in a small group
Image Social Media is relevant for me when choosing a destination
Facilitating conditions Facilitating conditions I didn’t find it too impressive from a technical point of view
Compatibility I don’t think it can be a substitute for real travel experiences
Table 2 Frequencies of Codings
Outcome expectations 142
Perceived usefulness 80
Relative advantage 46
Enjoyment 52
Extrinsic motivation 31
Perceived ease of use 42
Complexity 12
Social norm 57
Image 2
Facilitating conditions 108
Compatibility 29
The intentionwith this approach is not tomeasure im-
pact on behavioural intention and use behaviour on a
quantitative scale as this requires a large sample survey
methodology. Rather, the aim is to get a deeper un-
derstanding of the relevant input parameters affecting
technology acceptance and adoption in the outlined
travel context.
Results
Frequencies of coded observation results and inter-
views are displayed in Table 2.
Within the construct performance expectancy, out-
come expectations and perceived usefulness seem to
be important elements for the participants. It was
found that the assessment of outcome expectations
strongly depends on the travel motive of the individ-
ual interviewee. While travellers with motives such as
hiking, kite-surfing or two-week relax holidays were
less likely to imagine vr travel as a substitute at the
current stage, those with motives like short-term city
breaks or sightseeing tours considered it more posi-
tively. Further investigations revealed that the first set
of motives are linked to certain feelings, emotions and
the search for authenticity in terms of getting into con-
tact with the local community, which cannot properly
be transported via vr. For example, one person pri-
marily looking for recovery from a demanding work-
ing life mentioned: ‘I actually want to feel emotions.
[. . .] Simply, that it was a good time.’ Another one
pointed out that the feeling of actually being onCorco-
vado is different because ‘you have gone or driven up.
You’ve already taken the path. You know “ok I’m here”
and have a certain feeling. I didn’t get this feeling in the
cave.’ Regarding the search for authentic encounters
with locals, one interviewee expressed: ‘So if it is really
about travelling and not about city trips, then the peo-
ple and their hospitality are always themost important
thing.’More generally, it was added that only authentic
experiences are able to create a positive attitude in the
tourist, which he or she can live off in the weeks and
months to come. Even though the reasoning of many
132 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
participants went in this direction, there were some
exceptions, which imply a higher psychological pres-
ence: ‘Nevertheless, I felt like I am walking through it
[Palmyra]. You have to get involved, you have to tell
yourself “ok, I’m really looking at this now.” And not
think of something else at the same time. You have to
get involved and then you can empathize.’
Usefulness of the technology in the travel indus-
try was saliently perceived to be very low. During the
observations, only one group started to develop ideas
for whom such a virtual travel would be suitable. In-
terestingly, during the interviews, after reference to
potential alternative uses (e.g. travel option for phys-
ically disabled people) was made by the interviewer,
almost all respondents revised their opinion and con-
firmed the suggested applications as being a relative
advantage over the actual trip. Some even developed
further ideas subsequently. For example, as a conse-
quence of watching the Palmyra video, some stated
the advantage of experiencing a destination that no
longer exists. Few mentioned additionally, that there
might be an advantage in the cultural tourism area,
where vr technology could be used as an efficient ed-
ucational tool. In some instances, a potential economic
threat of vr travel for destinations and their service
providers was voiced mainly due to loss of revenues
caused by shrinking visitor numbers. Besides these
special-purpose applications, many interviewees were
able to imagine vr to be a substitute for a short get-
away from everyday life, for example as a two-hour
vr travel experience to relax after work. The time and
monetary savings potential supports a possible rel-
ative advantage over a real trip in that respect: ‘You
have only little time and need a break, but you can’t
fly or drive anywhere at the moment because it takes
too long. Then you might want to go to a vr studio
for a city trip and come back more relaxed.’ Or, as an-
other one put it: ‘I would consider it an experience.
Maybe it can replace a short holiday. Like a visit to an
amusement park.’
Enjoyment was a clear positive contributor to per-
formance expectancy. In fact, all of the participants
mentioned the ‘fun-factor’ and the pleasure that group
members experienced during the activity. This was
also observable during the surveillances and empha-
sises the importance of hedonic elements when driv-
ing technology acceptance. It also hints towards the
supposition that intrinsic motives play a much greater
role among the participants than extrinsic ones. Espe-
cially when taking the circumstance into account that
extrinsic motivation had no declared influence on us-
ing vr technology for travel purposes, even though it
sometimes played a minor role in choosing a destina-
tion or holiday activity.
Both the observational as well as the interview
analyses of effort expectancy indicate that participants
perceived the ease of use as very positive and were
comfortable in testing the equipment. Furthermore,
they found it easy to operate the equipment and the
complexity was rated low. However, some mentioned
that the controller needed a little practice and thus the
ease of use could be improved.
Social influence was rather negatively evaluated
mainly because social norms play an important role
for traveling. Almost none of the partakers travel alone
and meeting locals is relevant for most of them. In
fact, in several cases it seemed like social norm was
almost perceived as a facilitating condition, because
the respective interviewees referred to the two items
within the same text passages. Within this context, it
was striking that no one regarded experiencing the
vr sites in a group as beneficial, which was originally
intended by the researchers. Obviously the social el-
ement does not seem to be superficially present. In
contrast to this, observations pointed towards the fact
that it nevertheless is a valuable component because
participants started conversations as well as shared
impressions and encounters with each other after they
familiarised themselves with the technology. Further-
more, although social media and recommendations
of friends or family members are important when de-
ciding which destination to visit, according to the in-
terview statements this external input does not seem
to be relevant for technology adoption. Thus, image
does not present a stimulus in the present study. Taken
together with extrinsic motivation, outside factors in
general do not appear to have any importance for the
respondents in their assessment of the technology.
Facilitating conditions were rated rather negatively
as most partakers mentioned technical shortcomings,
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 133
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
specifically directed towards visual elements. More-
over, some demanded additional stimuli of senses like
temperature, wind, sound or smell tomake the vr ex-
periencemore real. However, the latter was oftenmen-
tioned only after indicated by the interviewer. Finally,
evaluation of compatibility can be related to the some-
what negative appraisal already discussed in connec-
tion with relative advantage.
Discussion
In our qualitative study we were not able to define a
commutated tendency for items describing the con-
struct performance expectancy and consequently for
behavioural intention. While some declared that they
felt to be ‘in an artificial space [. . .] because there is
no impact from the environment around,’ others ac-
knowledged that ‘the destination does not exist any
longer, so vr is better than nothing.’ Apparently, the
absence of deeper emotions, which was criticised by
many interviewees, aswell as lacking social encounters
with locals, seem to be a major obstacle for technol-
ogy acceptance. Likewise,Mura et al. (2017) found that
virtual tourism in its current form is being regarded
as not authentic enough and thus not viable as a re-
placement for corporeal tourism. ‘The journey itself is
irreplaceable,’ as one respondent aptly expressed. Our
research revealed, however, that more granular reflec-
tions are indeed necessary in this respect.
To begin with, the assessment of outcome expecta-
tions seems to depend on how strongly the individual
is able to get involved in the vr experience. This sup-
ports the proposition that a person can feel psycho-
logical presence even though physical immersion is
rather low as Ijsselsteijn&Riva (2003) suggested. Also,
answers relating to outcome expectations were con-
nected to travel motives of the participants. In this re-
gard,most participants proactively perceived the tech-
nology as useful and advantageous for short getaways
or sightseeing tours. This points at least weakly to-
wards the findings of Disztinger et al. (2017), who re-
port perceived usefulness or relative advantage to have
a positive effect on the intention to use vr technol-
ogy. In addition, after advocated by the interviewer,
respondents stated that although the vr experience
cannot replace the real visit, it might be a useful appli-
cation for special purposes. This applies in particular
to individuals who are not able to physically travel or
to destinations that are simply not visitable anymore
such as Palmyra, which is in line with Sussmann and
Vanhegan’s (2000) results. Summing up, the type of
travel and specific motivation appear to be crucial for
technology acceptance. If technology adoption wants
to be achieved, the content of the vr offer therefore
should reflect these customer needs. This conclusion is
further backed by studies researching the application
of ar in a cultural context (Dueholm & Smed, 2014;
Leue et al., 2015), which state that the suitable quality
of content emerged as one of the biggest requirements.
Reinforcing Disztinger et al.’s (2017) findings, per-
ceived enjoyment gave a positive impulse for all par-
ticipants. Hedonic benefits are, thus, an input param-
eter that should not be neglected when promoting vr
travel technology acceptance.
Moreover, participants’ statements gave no indica-
tion of the existence of any extrinsic motivators for
technology adoption. This might be due to the fact
that the usage of vr technology in the given context is
leisure-related and purely voluntary. Additionally, in-
terviewees were students who might not yet be able to
assess the professional benefits of the technology at the
time of the inquiry. Or, as a third explanation, the ap-
plication itself might still be too newwhichmeans that
an external motive and image has yet to develop.
In terms of effort expectancywe find that perceived
ease of use was high among the respondents. The op-
eration of the technique in a cave setting is no note-
worthy hurdle.When arguing in line with quantitative
studies (tom Dieck et al., 2018) this would shape atti-
tude and behavioural intention of vr technology in a
positive way.
Generally speaking, social interaction is a strong
motivation for many tourists according to Guttentag
(2010). Our study supports this viewpoint and reveals
the limitations of vr technology to achieve this mo-
tivational aspect. Although participants experienced
the vr application in the cave in small groups, no
perceived social interaction was voiced even though
observations conveyed a somewhat different picture.
Apparently, the setting could not provide the profound
social interaction that the partakers expect.
134 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
Finally, facilitating conditions were negatively per-
ceived mainly due to technical issues. It seems that
technical aspects are still one of the most important
aspects driving vr technology adoption. Especially,
the perceived low quality of the visual element was
one of the most frequent items mentioned to hin-
der technology acceptance. However, these shortcom-
ings might change in the future with more advanced
vr technology and eventually more social interac-
tion possibilities in vr applications. Even now, per-
ceived usefulness might be assessed more positively
with more cutting edge vr equipment, which then
offers technically viable substitutes for short getways
or short-term sightseeing tours. Interestingly, moving
pictures (Palmyra) were evaluated better than the 3d
(Christ the Redeemer) experience. On the one hand,
this might be due to the fact that more information
is transferred via the Palmyra tour which underlines
the educational aspect of vr technology. On the other
hand, it could have to do with the controller handling
of the still image of Corcovado since some partakers
experienced motion sickness while zooming through
it.
Contrasting, the absence of the naturally chang-
ing environment, such as cloud or sunlightmovement,
was not perceived as a disturbing factor. This is an in-
teresting finding since Chen et al. (2015) describe the
creation of dynamic geographic environments as one
of the most difficult issues in moving away from a sci-
entific setting to real virtual world research. To put
it in other words, in order to generate a satisfactory
tourism experience, it might not be necessary to re-
flect the real world in its entirety. The samemight hold
for other sensory stimuli. Although some participants
wished for more, it did not seem to impair the experi-
ence to a significant extent because the absence was
not criticised for the most part. Possibly, some par-
ticipants were missing something but were not able
to identify or articulate what it is. In this case, lack
of additional inducements other than visual or audi-
tive would be subconscious deficiencies that limit the
vr experience. Psychological presencemight, thus, be
a more latent existing impression rather than that it
can be proactively expressed by the users. Customer
segmentation according to their sensory preferences
could consequently be feasible (Agapito et al., 2014)
when applying vr travel substitutes.
Conclusion
The findings of our study contribute to tourism-rela-
ted vr literature by offering a more profound and dif-
ferentiated understanding of items influencing tech-
nology acceptance and use intention. Generalisation,
however, is difficult due to some limitations. First of
all, our approach is purely qualitative. While partici-
pants’ statements and comments give first indications
towards the willingness to accept and use the technol-
ogy as a travel substitute, they are nevertheless subjec-
tive individual opinions. As such they can only provide
the basis for a more detailed comprehensive analysis.
Future research should therefore test our findings in a
quantitative model to derive robust results in terms of
behavioural intention and use behaviour as dependent
variables within the utaut model.
The second limitation builds on this aspect, as
our sample is relatively small with 16 participants and
not representative because only students of a Tourism
Management bachelor degree programme were ques-
tioned. They were mainly female students of the same
age group (between 20 and 25 years). Furthermore, all
participants had similar previous experience with vr
technology and the time frame for observations was
fairly short. Again, future research should verify our
findings with larger and more representative samples
within an extended time frame.
Finally, outcome expectations and facilitating con-
ditions have been evaluated rather negatively. One
might get different outcomes with more high-end vr
technology currently and in the future, since vr tech-
nology is evolving rapidly.
Despite the limitations our research offers room
for further research questions. The researchers of the
present study assumed a cave environment to pro-
vide for interaction possibilities. It was found, how-
ever, that not all participants acknowledged this aspect
and results are likely to change in other vr environ-
ments. It would therefore be feasible to, for example,
focus on more immersive vr settings or even com-
pare findings within different vr environments. In
this context, participants’ preferences for settings are
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 135
Marion Rauscher et al. Virtual Reality in Tourism
of interest as well. Moreover, in our research, the par-
takers participated voluntarily in the study. In terms
of commercialisation, the willingness to pay for a vr
experience as well as the marginal price are further
questions worth noting. Customer segmentation may
gain additional importance in this regard. Lastly, the
content of the vr experience was not part of the dis-
cussion in the present analysis. Participants were not
able to choose the type or subject of the experience.
As discussed and supported by our research results,
personal travel motivations and interests play an im-
portant role in the evaluation of the experience and
ultimately technology acceptance. Prospective studies
could therefore look more deeply into the question of
stakeholders’ content preferences.
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138 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Original Scientific Article
The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist
Satisfaction: The Case of Don-Wai Floating Market
in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Napaporn Janchai
Suranaree University, Thailand
napaporn_jan@sut.ac.th
Glenn Baxter
Suan Dusit University, Thailand
g_glennbax@dusit.ac.th
Panarat Srisaeng
Suan Dusit University, Thailand
panarat_sri@dusit.ac.th
The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of a Floating Market’s destination
image on tourist satisfaction. A closed-question questionnaire was prepared draw-
ing from the attributes that influence tourist destination satisfaction in the literature.
The sample in the study consisted of 200 tourists who visited Nakhon Pathom’s Don
Wai Floating Market in January 2018. Multiple regression analyses were applied to
empirically test the study’s four hypotheses. The results found that the uniqueness
of nature, uniqueness of history, and uniqueness of tourist products are the most
critical factors affecting the tourists’ satisfaction at the 95 percent significance level.
However, the uniqueness of architecture factor did not have a significant effect on
tourist satisfaction. The study for the first time established an empirical relationship
between the uniqueness of nature, uniqueness of history, and uniqueness of tourist
products of a floating market and tourist satisfaction with a Floating Market as a
tourist destination. These insights may help other FloatingMarkets to better under-
stand the factors that influence tourist satisfaction with such facilities.
Keywords: destination image, floating market, tourism management, tourist
satisfaction, Thailand
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.139-151
Introduction
Cultural tourism plays a significant role in economic,
social and cultural aspects in terms of a source of in-
come for local communities and a source of cultural
learning and recreation for tourists, as well as a source
of cultural conservation and community development
(Boniface, 2012; Prideaux et al., 2008; Richards, 2010).
Moreover, cultural tourism also encourages involve-
ment and pride within the community. Local people
can learn and increase awareness toward the value
of culture as a heritage and an essential resource for
tourism (Tourism Collaborative Commerce, 2015).
Floating markets are an essential resource of cul-
tural tourism in Thailand that reflect the traditional
ways of life and local culture of the Thai people who
are connected to the river and canal. Rivers and canals
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 139
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
were used for subsistence, consumption, agriculture,
and transportation (Tourism Authority of Thailand,
2009). A floating market is a meeting place around a
river site where both buyers and sellers gather to trade
in a variety of consumer goods, principally cooked and
raw food items, and household utensils (Din, 2008).
In Thailand, canals were also used for trading var-
ious goods by boat or floating houseboat. Floating
markets were widespread in the Ayutthaya period un-
til the Ratanakosin era, especially, canals with many
households living (Tourism Authority of Thailand,
2009). At present, there are over 30 floating markets
in Thailand, mainly located in various provinces in
the central region such as Bangkok, the capital city
of Thailand, and nearby provinces, Nakhon Pathom,
Samut Songkram, and Ratchaburi provinces. Some of
them are in the east, the northeast, and the south of
the country (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2009).
This study focused on the floating market at Wat Don
Wai, which is located quite close to Wat Rai Khing, in
Nakhon Pathomprovince. The floatingmarket has be-
come very popular for both Thai and foreign tourists.
The floating market is located on Nakhon Chai Si
River, Nakhon Pathom province, and is around 30 km
from Bangkok.
The image of a destination is an essential compo-
nent of tourist attractions (Bowen & Clarke, 2009).
The destination image is based on the perceptions of
tourists as an individual or a group concerning the
destination (Ksouri et al., 2015). There is a substantial
volume of research that has concluded that destina-
tion image has a positive effect not only on tourists’
satisfaction but also on destination loyalty (Chi & Qu,
2008; Chiu et al., 2016; Martins, 2015; Puh, 2014; Ra-
jesh, 2013; Shafiee et al., 2016). Ksouri et al. (2015) have
suggested that the image can be used to add value to
attract new visitors and retain loyal ones. Addition-
ally, the destination image can be a strategic tool to at-
tract different types of tourists. Iordanova and Stylidis
(2019) note that direct destination experience plays a
vital role in forming destination image.
The significance of the destination image empha-
sises the need to study destination image from various
perspectives. In addition, various research has been
conducted focusing on the importance of the image
of a tourist destination (Garay, 2019; Guzman-Parra et
al., 2016; Ksouri et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2019); the im-
pact of tourist harassment on destination image (Al-
rawadieh et al., 2019); the relationship between the
tourist imagery, the destination image and the brand
image (Martins, 2015); the relationship between tourist
destination image and consumer behaviour (Kim,
2018; Melo et al., 2017); and the impact of country im-
age and destination image on tourists’ travel intention
(Chaulangain et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2018). However,
studies identifying what characteristics of destination
image have a positive effect on tourists’ satisfaction
are quite limited. Understanding these characteristics
may lead to the development of a tourist destination,
especially a key destination like a floating market, to
enhance the satisfaction of tourists and their intention
to visit and revisit the destination, and recommenda-
tion to others.
Therefore, the aim of the study is to analyse the
level of perceived image and satisfaction of tourists in
the case of Nakhon Pathom’s Don-Wai Floating Mar-
ket and analyse the effects of the Floating Market’s
destination image, which characteristics of destina-
tion image influence tourist satisfaction, and to quan-
tify the degree of influence of each characteristic on
tourist satisfaction.
Literature Review
Destination Image
From a tourism perspective, the image potential cus-
tomers have of a tourist destination is a very sig-
nificant issue. Indeed, images play an essential role
in destination choice matters (Sonnleitner, 2011). As
tourism services are intangible (Dwyer et al., 2010),
images are said to become even more important than
reality. The concepts of destination image and des-
tination marketing and branding have a very close
inter-relationship. The ultimate aim of any destina-
tion is to influence possible tourists’ travel-related de-
cisionmaking and choice throughmarketing activities
(Sonnleitner, 2011).
Destination image is an essential factor contribut-
ing to perceived value, satisfaction and tourist loy-
alty (Chankingthong, 2014; Hsu et al., 2008; Kakai &
Panchakachornsak, 2011; Kunrattanaporn, 2013; Pike,
140 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
2008; Tsai, 2015; Sangla-or & Kornpetpranee, 2015;
Sukphol, 2014). The image of a tourist destination is
an incentive for tourists to visit a place (Chaulagain et
al., 2019; Murphy & Murphy, 2004).
According to Melo et al. (2017), although many
scholars have developed concepts of the tourist desti-
nation, its concept is still complicated and subjective,
and no consensus has been reached on its definition,
formation, and measurement. These conceptualisa-
tions are dependent on the factor of time and place.
Ksouri et al. (2015) state that the measure of the des-
tination image is a complex phenomenon; since the
multiplicity of attributes and inferences characterises
the destination image, its creation and evolution de-
pend on several factors.
The concept of image was initially applied in the
area of tourism in the early 1970s by Hunt (1971). He
conceptualises destination image as the set of impres-
sions that are perceived by a group or an individual
about a place where they do not live. Since then, desti-
nation image has beenwidely discussed in the tourism
literature (Beerli & Martin, 2004; Govers et al., 2007;
Melo et al., 2017; Perpiña et al., 2017; Zhang et al.,
2014). According to Al-Azri andMorrison (2006), the
destination image is a perception of tourists regarding
a tourist destination based on a combination of their
beliefs, feelings, impression, ideas, and knowledge that
people attach to a given place. Perception about a des-
tination may be derived from various sources of in-
formation (Cavlak & Cop, 2019; Pike, 2008) and their
own experience. This perception can be formed be-
fore, during, and after visiting a place (Ioradanova &
Stylisdis, 2019). This study focuses on the perception
of tourists on destination image during or after visiting
the destination (Nakhonpathom’s Don Wai Floating
Market). In addition, the destination image is a com-
bination of both cognitive and affective images (Birdir
et al., 2018; Lin et al., 2007). The cognitive image in-
volves knowledge about the destination, while the af-
fective image concerns the feelings and emotions of
people about the destination.
Hsu et al. (2008) observe that destination image
is what tourists imagine or receive information about
what they perceive that the tourist attractions look
like. Meanwhile, the tourist destination is trying to
create a different image from other destinations and
build awareness of the image of the tourist destination.
The image of a tourist destination can be communi-
cated in several ways: the name of the tourist destina-
tion or brand, logo, and visible media such as photos
and animations.
As Pike (2008) notes, in general, the image of
the tourist attraction is based on the characteristics
of tourist attractions or elements of tourism which
are unique, both the concrete and abstract nature of
the tourist attraction. According to Qu et al. (2011),
uniqueness is an important reason for tourists to cho-
ose their destinations. Creating a unique destination
image is in the focus for marketing the destination.
Unique and distinctive characteristics have been used
to differentiate tourist destinations among similar des-
tinations, to build the destination image in target
tourists’ minds, and to increase their attention to the
destinations. Formation of positive image is based
on strong, favourable and unique associations that
tourists hold. These associations help tourists dis-
tinguish the destination from others. Various stud-
ies confirm that destination uniqueness has a signifi-
cant effect on tourists’ behavioural intentions to visit
the destination (Chen et al., 2007; Chunashvili, 2019;
Ramkissoon et al., 2011).
However, the unique nature of the destinationmay
not be a competitive image. If the uniqueness cannot
meet the needs of the tourists, the image of the des-
tination can be divided into two types: organic im-
age and induced image. The organic image of a tourist
destination is the tourist’s impressions of a destination
without them physically visiting the place (Ispas et al.,
2016). The tourist’s organic image of a destination is
developed through their everyday assimilation of in-
formation, which come from a diversity of sources,
which include school history lessons, word of mouth,
social media posts, mass media, and actual visitation
(Pike, 2016). The image of a tourist attraction is closely
correlated with perceived value, satisfaction, and the
loyalty of tourists. The image of a tourist attraction is
also influenced by the relationship between attitudes
about travel experience and future travel behaviour
which consists of cognition, affect, and connotation
(Hsu et al., 2008; Khunrattanaporn, 2013; Pike, 2008).
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 141
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
Tourist Satisfaction
Satisfaction has been theoretically delineated as the
tourist’s emotional state which has developed at the
post-visitation stage, that is, where the tourist has ex-
perienced the visit to their desired destination (Horáv-
th, 2013; Um et al., 2006; Walters & Li, 2017). Satisfac-
tion is the expression of overall pleasure perceived by
the tourist following their trip or visit (Chen & Tsai,
2007; Thiumsak & Ruangkanjanases, 2016). Satisfac-
tion is categorised as an affective attitude to a product
or service or a brand and is an important predictor of
frequent purchase behaviour, or loyalty by a customer
to products and services that are functionally substi-
tutable (Olson, 2006). There is a wide body of liter-
ature that concludes that customer satisfaction influ-
ences consumer loyalty to a product and service. Fur-
thermore, satisfaction has been shown to have a posi-
tive correlation to post-purchase behaviour, especially
in the process of repurchase in the future by a con-
sumer (Thiumsak & Ruangkanjanases, 2016).
Satisfaction is an essential goal of business and
tourism (Cooper &Hall, 2008). Customer satisfaction
is a measure of how a firm’s total product performs in
relation to a set of customer requirements (Hill et al.,
2003). If things meet or exceed a consumer’s expecta-
tions, it will result in satisfaction. On the other hand,
if something diminishes or does not meet the indi-
vidual’s expectation, then this will result in customer
dissatisfaction (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
In addition, satisfaction is an essential factor di-
rectly affecting tourist loyalty (Alegre&Cladera, 2007;
Dasgupta, 2011; Kakai&Panchakachornsak, 2011; Lert-
wannawit&Gulid, 2004;Meechinda et al., 2008;Quin-
tal, 2010; Sukphol, 2011; Tsai, 2015; Wongkangwan,
2013; Wang et al., 2009). According to Maignan et al.
(1999), customer loyalty is the non-random tendency
displayed by many of a firm’s customers to keep pur-
chasing products from the same firm over time and
to associate positive images with the firm’s products
and services. Satisfaction also creates a bond with the
product or company (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Cooper
and Hall (2008) have observed that customer satisfac-
tion can result in a profound relationship.
However, each tourist’s satisfaction rating is differ-
ent. Some people are easily satisfied, while some peo-
ple often feel uncomfortable or often unhappy (Kotler
& Keller, 2012). Cooper and Hall (2008) have stated
that the factors that affect satisfaction are the need of
the tourist, price and value that are recognised, expec-
tations and past experiences, the credibility of tourism
resources and related businesses, quality of both phys-
ical and service environment, and staff and the people
involved are friendly and taking care of tourists. The
study undertaken by Quintal (2010) found that sat-
isfaction with tourist attractions, and the quality and
value of the tourist attraction has a positive influence
on the return of tourists.
Parasakul (2012) observes that satisfaction consists
of a variety of dimensions. Each dimension is indi-
vidual in nature. Therefore, tourist satisfaction with
tourism activities is diversified satisfaction. Satisfac-
tion includes satisfying the various dimensions of the
tourism experience, for example, satisfaction with the
natural environment (scenery, beauty, cleanliness, un-
spoiled), or satisfaction with the services. Satisfaction
in each dimension must be analysed separately. This
analysis will reveal what the tourists are satisfied with
and what aspects they are not satisfied with because,
in one trip, tourists may not be satisfied or dissatis-
fied with everything. In summary, the satisfaction of
tourists from their tourism experience will affect their
loyalty to a tourist destination in the future. If tourists
are satisfied with the tourism experience, they will re-
turn to visit the place and recommend it to others.
Research Methodologies
Research Instrument
A survey using close-ended questions (Mayo, 2014;
Smith, 2017) to gather data on the predictors and crite-
rion variable, as well as on specific demographic char-
acteristics underpinned the research undertaken in
this study. Closed-end questions are typically used in
confirmatory research, that is, when the researcher(s)
want to empirically examine specific hypotheses (John-
son & Christensen, 2008).
The questionnaire was developed based on pre-
vious research focusing on tourist satisfaction and
tourism destination image (Bui & Le, 2016; Chiu et
al., 2016; Moon & Han, 2019). The self-administered
questionnaire was used to assess the Thai people’s
142 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
perceived image and respondent’s satisfaction with
NakhonPathom’sDon-Wai FloatingMarket. The ques-
tionnaire was written in Thai. The questionnaire com-
prised five main sections: demographic information,
the tourist’s views towards the image of the Float-
ing Market, the tourist’s perceived value of visiting
the Floating Market, the tourist’s opinion on destina-
tion image attributes, the tourist’s satisfaction with the
Floating Market, and the level of tourist loyalty to the
Floating Market.
In this study, the tourist satisfaction attributes were
in the categories of the images of the uniqueness of na-
ture, the uniqueness of the Floating Market’s history,
the uniqueness of the Floating Market’s architecture,
and the uniqueness of the Floating Market’s products
offering. All four categories had single questions, ex-
cept for the FloatingMarket’s products offering, which
had two questions.
The respondents were asked to indicate their level
of satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale, a more re-
liable tourist satisfaction assessment, which ranged
from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree (Ánge-
les Oviedo-Garcíaa et al., 2019; Bui & Le, 2016; Chiu et
al., 2016; Huanga&Crottsb, 2020;Moon&Han, 2019).
The demographic characteristics of the respondents
were measured using nominal and ordinal scales.
Pilot Study
Following the recommendations of Cargan (2007), Jo-
hanson and Brooks (2010), and Ruel et al. (2016), a
pilot study to test the efficacy of the survey instru-
ment was conducted. Pilot studies are often recom-
mended so that the researcher(s) can address a vari-
ety of issues. These include preliminary scale or instru-
ment development. Specific concerns such as item dif-
ficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, re-
sponse rates, and parameter estimation in general are
all viewed as being highly relevant for undertaking a
pilot study (Johanson& Brooks, 2010). The pilot study
consisted of 30 Thai citizens. A convenience sampling
approach (Battaglia, 2008; Gravetter & Forzano, 2012)
was used to conduct the pilot study. Following the con-
clusion of the pilot, several minor changes were made
to the survey instrument to address the feedback from
the pilot study participants.
Nature
History
Architecture
Products
Products
Destination image
Figure 1 Proposed Research Framework
Research Framework
The tourism destination image of Nakhon Pathom’s
DonWai FloatingMarket was identified based on past
studies (Ahmad et al., 2014; Chittangwattana, 2005;
Jankingthong, 2013; Inkson &Minnaert, 2012; Kanwel
et al., 2019). Four independent variables, that is, the
image of tourism destination in the aspect of nature,
the image of tourism destination in the aspect of his-
tory, the image of tourism destination in the aspect of
architecture and the image of tourism destination in
the aspect of products were considered to affect tourist
satisfaction. The research framework is shown in Fig-
ure 1.
Data Collection and Study Sampling
The target population of this study were the Thai peo-
ple who visited Nakhon Pathom’s Don Wai Floating
Market during January 2018. The questionnaire survey
was conducted in both the morning and the evening.
The convenience samplingmethodwas used to collect
data (Lertputtarak, 2012). Field editing was also con-
ducted at the market to check for the completeness of
the questionnaire (Gunturo & Hui, 2013).
The sample in this study comprised 200 Thai visi-
tors travelling to Nakhon Pathom’s Don Wai Floating
Market during January 2018. Blair and Blair (2015) and
Read (2011) have suggested that 200 is an ideal sample
size for a survey.
Data Analysis
To analyse the gathered data, this study utilised both
descriptive and inferential statistics. The demographic
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 143
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
variables were analysed using frequency and percent-
age. The mean score and standard deviation analysed
each independent variable. Multiple regression analy-
sis was used to analyse the relationship between the
tourism destination image (independent variables)
and the tourist satisfaction dependent variable.
Hypothesis Development
The destination image consists of threemain elements:
the image of organisation, the image of products and
services, and the image of attractions (Jankingthomg,
2013). According to Chittangwattana (2005), the des-
tination image can be divided into 5 elements. They
are physical, cultural and historical, economic, con-
struction or built environment, and flora and fauna.
Historical sites now feature strongly as sites for tourist
visitation (Austin, 2002). Belton (n.d.) states that key
elements of a destination consist of 5 As: Access, Ac-
commodation, Attractions, Activities, and Amenities.
In the tourism industry, a tourist’s decision to travel
is influenced by both push and pull factors (Dann,
1977). Push and pull factors distinguish between the
reasons why individuals participate in tourism, and
the reasons why they travel to a particular destination.
Push factors are the personal drivers that encourage a
tourist to travel, for example a need to escape the daily
routine, a need to spend quality time with family, or
the demand for adventure. And Pull factors are the el-
ements that attract a tourist to a specific destination in
order to satisfy the push factors. Pull factors could be
natural environment, festival, tradition, tourism activ-
ities, and attractions (Inkson &Minnaert, 2012).
In the case of Nakhon Pathom’s Don-Wai Floating
Market, the present study examined four elements of
the destination image that represent the uniqueness
and identity of the floating markets and have a strong
link to tourist demand. The uniqueness of nature, the
uniqueness of history, the uniqueness of architecture
of a tourism destination, and the product’s uniqueness
offered by a tourism destination were selected to de-
termine how these attributes will affect a tourist’s sat-
isfaction with the tourist attraction. The following hy-
potheses were empirically tested in this study.
h1 The image of the uniqueness of nature as a tour-
ism destination will affect tourists’ satisfaction.
h2 The image of the uniqueness of history at a
tourism destination will affect tourists’ satisfac-
tion.
h3 The image of the uniqueness of architecture of a
tourism destination will affect tourists’ satisfac-
tion.
h4 The image of the product’s uniqueness offered by
a tourism destination will affect tourists’ satis-
faction.
Findings
Don-Wai Floating Market: A Brief Overview
The Don-Wai Floating Market is located near Wat
DonWai, Sam Pran District, Nakhon Pathom Provin-
ce. The market is around 32 kilometres west of Bang-
kok. Themarket is mainly patronised by the Thai peo-
ple, but tourists also visit the market as well. Food,
cooking utensils, cosmetics and furniture is sold at
the market. There are food stalls and restaurants, with
the restaurants primarily being located on the river
(Liedtke, 2012).
Demographic Profile of the Respondents
Table 1 (p. 145) presents the demographic profile of the
respondents. Out of the 200 participants, the major-
ity were female (57), and 43 were male. Most of
the age group were respondents with an age of 31–40
years (31.5). This was followedwith respondents with
an age between 21–30 years old (23.5). The majority
of respondents (58) held a Bachelor’s degree. Thirty-
one percent of the respondents were government offi-
cers, followed by students (21 ). Most of the respon-
dents (28) had income in the range of 15,000–25,000
Thai Baht.
Most of the visitors (44) lived in Bangkok and
most respondents (47.5) had visited the Don Wai
Floating Market more than three times. Nineteen per
cent of the respondents had visited the Floating Mar-
ket on three occasions. A further eighteen and a half
per cent had visited the market on two occasions,
whilst 15 of the respondents were making their first
visit to the Floating Market.
Most of the respondents resided inBangkok (44.5)
and Nakhonpathom (24). The smallest number of
respondents lived in the Southern Region (2).
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Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of the Study’s
Respondents
Item Category f f
Gender Male  .
Female  .
Age group Less than   .
–  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
>  .
Education High school or lower  .
Bachelor degree  .
Postgraduate or higher  .
Occupation Student  .
Housewife  .
Employee  .
Government officer  .
Private business owner  .
Others  .
Income/
Month
(thb)
Less than ,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
>,  .
Continued in the next column
Descriptive Statistics
As mentioned earlier, destination image attributes
of Nakhon Pathom’s Don Wai Floating Market were
composed of nature, history, architecture and prod-
ucts. The respondents were asked to express their
opinion toward the destination image attributes of the
DonWai FloatingMarket. Themean and standard de-
viation (sd) scores for the destination image are pre-
sented in Table 2. The uniqueness of nature has the
highest mean score (3.81), followed by the uniqueness
of products (3.78), the unique nature of history (3.47)
and the uniqueness of the architecture (3.44).
Tourists were also required to rate their satisfaction
Table 1 Continued from the previous column
Item Category f f
Respondents’
hometown
Nakhonpathom  .
Bangkok  .
Central Region  .
Northern Region  .
Eastern Region  .
Western Region  .
Northeastern Region  .
Southern Region  .
Past
Experience
First Time visit  .
Second Time visit  .
Third time visit  .
Over three times visit  .
Table 2 Tourists’ Opinion toward the Destination Image
Attributes
Destination image attributes Mean sd Rank
The uniqueness of nature . . 
The uniqueness of history . . 
The uniqueness of architecture . . 
The uniqueness of products . . 
Table 3 Tourists’ Satisfaction on Visiting Don Wai
Floating Market
Tourists’ satisfaction Mean sd Rank
I really enjoyed the visit . . 
I have gained great experience . . 
Visiting was better than expected . . 
on visiting Nakhon Pathom’s Don Wai Floating Mar-
ket. The results are presented in Table 3. It was found
that the tourists who enjoyed their visit to Don Wai
Floating Market has the highest mean score of 4.02,
followed by the tourists who gained a great experience
(4.00) and the visit was better than expected (3.90).
Hypothesis Testing
The data that was obtained from the 200 respondents
through the questionnaire was used to analyse and ex-
plore how the impacts of the uniqueness of nature, his-
tory, building architecture and tourism products at a
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 145
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
Table 4 Multiple Regression Results between Destination
Image and Satisfaction
Tourism Destination Image β t p
Nature . . .*
History . . .*
Architecture . . .
Products . . .*
Notes R2 = 0.467, adjusted R2 = 0.456, F = 42.638, sig. =
0.000. *p < 0.05.
tourist destination affect tourists’ satisfaction. In pre-
dicting the relationship between the factors and tourist
satisfaction with the tourist destination, multiple re-
gression analysis was used to test the four hypotheses.
Regression Analysis
As previously noted, multiple regression was perfor-
med to test the research’s hypotheses and to quantify
the effects of the tourism destination image, includ-
ing the four factors nature, history, architecture, and
products on the tourists’ satisfaction. The four factors
or the independent variables were regressed with the
dependent variable, the tourist satisfaction. The mul-
tiple regression results are shown in Table 4. Accord-
ing to the regression analysis, the F value is 42.638 (sig.
= 0.000), and the significance test of the regression
equation shows that there is a linear correlation be-
tween three independent variables nature, history, and
products, and the dependent variable. All independent
variables, except the image of the uniqueness of the
tourism destination’s architecture, were significant in
themodel at a significance level of 0.05 (95). The Ad-
justed R2 value is 0.456, indicating that the closeness
of the relationship between tourism destination image
attribution and the satisfaction degree is 45.60.
The results found that all independent variables
have a positive relationship with tourist satisfaction.
The image of the uniqueness of nature of a tourism
destination was β = 0.345, p = 0.000. The image of the
uniqueness of history of a tourism destination was β
= 0.231, p = 0.001. The image of the product’s unique-
ness offered by a tourism destination was β = 0.200, p
= 0.003. However, the image of the uniqueness of ar-
chitecture of a tourism destination was β = 0.075, p =
Nature
History
Architecture
Products
Products
β = 0.345
β = 0.231
β = 0.075
β =
0.20
0
Destination image
Figure 2 The Effects of Destination Image of Don Wai
Floating Market on Tourist Satisfaction
0.168; these statistical results suggest that uniqueness
of a tourist destination’s architecture was insignificant
to the tourists’ satisfaction with the Don Wai Floating
Market. Thus, hypotheses h1, h2 and h4 were sup-
ported whilst h3 was not accepted. The image of the
uniqueness of nature of a tourism destination was the
most important predictor of tourist satisfaction t =
4.658, while the second and the third most essential
predictors are the image of uniqueness of the history
of a tourism destination t = 3.344, and the image of the
product’s uniqueness offered by a tourism destination
t = 2.983. The effects of the destination image of Don
Wai FloatingMarket on tourist satisfaction is depicted
in Figure 2.
Discussion
As previously noted, the elements of a tourist desti-
nation in general consist of 5 As: Access, Accommo-
dation, Attractions, Activities, and Amenities (Belton,
n.d.). Chittangwattana (2005) argues that the destina-
tion image can be divided into five elements; they are
physical, cultural and historical, economic, construc-
tion or built environment, and flora and fauna. Ac-
cording to a study by Jankingthong (2013), the image
of Thailand can be measured in three elements: the
image of organisation, the image of products and ser-
vices, and the image of attractions. In terms of floating
markets, influential elements of a destination image on
tourist satisfaction include the uniqueness of nature,
the uniqueness of history and the uniqueness of prod-
ucts provided by the floating market.
146 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
The finding of the uniqueness of nature is a key
component of a tourist destination imagewhich stron-
gly influences tourist decision making, similar to var-
ious previous studies which show that natural envi-
ronment is a major attraction for tourists (Belton,
n.d.; Chittangwattana, 2005; Jankingthong, 2013). The
uniqueness of history which adds more value to a des-
tination is now a feature as sites for tourist visitation
(Austin, 2002). Finally, the uniqueness of products is
also significant for tourists to choose the destination
(Jankingthong, 2013). The three elements of a desti-
nation image of a floating market may be pull factors
to attract tourists to the destination and an influence
on satisfaction of tourists and intention to revisit the
destination.
In the tourism literature, the role of behavioural
intention is viewed as being the most powerful force
for the sustainability of tourism products including
tourist destinations (Ahmad et al., 2014). Behavioural
intention shows how frequent visitors decide to revisit
the destination at some point in the future (George
& George, 2004). Tourists’ satisfaction plays a vital
role, being the primary precursor of post-purchase
behavioural intentions (Kanwel et al., 2019). This is
because it positively develops the insight of tourists
towards the service, brand, or product. Furthermore,
it may also heighten the conscious attempt of tourists
to return to the destination again in the future (Oliver,
1980).
Conclusions and Implication
This research aimed to analyse the effects of the des-
tination image of Nakhon Pathom’s Don Wai Float-
ing Market on tourist satisfaction. The sample in this
study consisted of 200 tourists who visited Don Wai
Floating Market in January 2018. Data was collected
and analysed using multiple regression analysis. Four
aspects of tourism destination image were identified,
which included the image of uniqueness of nature of
a tourism destination, the image of the uniqueness
of history of a tourism destination, the image of the
uniqueness of architecture of a tourism destination,
and the image of the product’s uniqueness offered by
a tourism destination.
It was found that the destination image had a sig-
nificant effect on tourist satisfaction. The most impor-
tant factor affecting tourists’ satisfactionwas the image
of the unique nature of Don Wai Floating Market as
a tourism destination, while the second and the third
most essential predictors are the image of the unique-
ness of history of the Don Wai Floating Market as a
tourism destination, and finally the image of the prod-
uct’s uniqueness offered at the DonWai FloatingMar-
ket. However, the image of the uniqueness of the Don
Wai Floating Market architecture was not significant
to the study’s regressionmodel, and thus, this hypoth-
esis was not proven.
Destination image becomes a critical factor for
the success or failure of tourism management (Lopes,
2011). The image of tourist destination involves cog-
nitive and affective conditions of tourists (Birdir et
al., 2018; Lin et al., 2007) which may then contribute
to a negative or positive image of the tourist destina-
tion (Jankingthong, 2013). If the organic image cannot
meet the tourist demand, induced image should be
built or developed to satisfy tourists. This study pro-
vides insights into the influence of destination image
on tourist satisfaction in the case of a Floating Mar-
ket. Tourismmanagers and marketing executives may
adapt and apply this insight from the present study to
build or develop the image of a tourist destination in
the right dimensions since the image of a tourist at-
traction is closely correlated with perceived value, sat-
isfaction, and the loyalty of tourists (Hsu et al., 2008;
Khunrattanaporn, 2013; Pike, 2008).
Suggestions for Further Study
A limitation of the present study was that the sam-
ple was based on Thai citizens. Future research could
explore the effects of destination image of a Floating
Market on international tourists and further test the
effect of destination image on tourist loyalty. The sur-
vey undertaken in the present study was conducted
during Thailand’s high tourism season. Thus, a sug-
gestion for a future study would be to replicate the
survey during the non-peak season of tourism. In ad-
dition, investigation of model variability should be
added by studying a group of tourists who visited the
floatingmarket for the first time and a group of tourists
who visited the floating market many times.
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 147
Napaporn Janchai et al. The Effects of Destination Image on Tourist Satisfaction
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Research Note
Is International Tourism Growth Supported
by Increased Tourism Receipts?
Helena Nemec Rudež
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia
helena.nemec@fts.upr.si
Tourism demand growth during the period between 2000 and 2016 in 25 European
countries is calculated using different tourism indicators. It is shown that the number
of tourist arrivals and aggregate tourism receipts increase during the period. Tourism
receipts per arrival at current prices show a slight increase in themajority of selected
countries, while tourism receipts per arrival at constant prices more or less stagnate,
ranging from –2 to +2, and even exhibit sharper decrease in some countries of
Southern and Eastern Europe. It can be concluded that tourism growth is predom-
inantly fueled by the increasing number of tourist arrivals and not by receipts per
tourist arrival.
Keywords: international tourism, demand growth, European countries
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.153-156
Introduction
There are plenty of data reports highlighting the re-
markable growth of tourism demand worldwide and
discussing the challenges and issues related to tourism
expansion. Since there is plenty of literature in the field
of tourism demand (for instance, Dogru et al., 2017;
Peng et al., 2014; Song et al., 2012) and the tourism in-
dustry is one of the most important industries nowa-
days, generating an important share of gdp and ex-
port in many countries, the concept of tourism de-
mand growth should be understood properly. There
are various indicators used to measure it in the liter-
ature (for instance, Crouch, 1994; Lim, 1997; Li et al.,
2005; Song et al., 2010), finding that the number of
tourist arrivals is the most-used indicator of tourism
demand in academic papers, followed by tourism re-
ceipts; on the other hand, the average length of stay
and the number of overnight stays are rarely used.
Indeed, from the suppliers’ viewpoint, the number
of tourist arrivals is relevant for transport suppliers
and tourist attractions, while the number of overnight
stays is obviously more relevant for accommodation
facilities. As tourism receipts are important for the
country’s economy, tourist receipts per arrival give
additional information on tourists’ spending during
their stay and price level.
Sheldon (1993 in Song et al., 2010) and Garcia-
Ferrer and Queralt (1997 in Song et al., 2010) high-
lighted the difference between the growth in interna-
tional tourist arrivals and the growth in international
tourism receipts. Looking at quantitative tourism in-
dicators (World Tourism Organization, 2018), fluc-
tuations in their values are expressed in short-term
periods, while steady long-term growth is observed.
The increase in physical indicators (number of arrivals
and overnight stays) that is higher than the increase in
tourism receipts in the long-run period underlies ori-
entation of tourismdemand towards low cost products
(such as budget accommodations and low-cost travel)
along with the boost of sharing economy providers,
promotion sales and sharp competition causing the
prices to drop.
There arises a question why tourism demand is in-
creasing – is the reason only in the higher number of
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 153
Helena Nemec Rudež International Tourism Growth
tourist arrivals or do tourists really spend more? In
times when academics, managers and tourism plan-
ners are discussing tourismgrowth at length, the paper
attempts to assess the quantitative changes in tourism
growth in 25 selected countries across Europe which
still has the highest share of international tourists in
the world.
Methodology and Data Sources
The research deals with 25 selected European coun-
tries during the 17-year period between 2000 and 2016
in order to research average annual growth rates of
tourism indicators. For this reason the following an-
nual data for the 25 European countries were gathered
separately: (a) the number of international arrivals, (b)
international tourism receipts for travel items (in usd,
current prices) (see http://dataworldbank.org) and, (c)
gdp deflator (2010 = 100) for usd (see http://www
.imf.org), in order to get changes in tourism export at
constant prices. Based on these data, the following in-
dicators were used for further analysis for each coun-
try:
• The number of international arrivals;
• Tourism export (at current prices)1 represented
by international tourism receipts for travel items
(in usd, current prices);
• Tourism export per international arrival (at cur-
rent prices) which is calculated by dividing tour-
ism export (in usd, current prices) by the num-
ber of international arrivals;
• Tourism export per international arrival (at con-
stant prices) which is calculated by dividing tour-
ismexport (in usd, constant prices)2 by the num-
ber of international arrivals.
Sixteen annual growth rate coefficients (ri; where i
stands for 2, 3, . . . , 17) were calculated for each of the
four indicators for each country as follows:
1 Data for international arrivals for Denmark between 2000
and 2004 are adapted using average annual growth rate be-
tween 2005 and 2016.
2 Tourism export at constant prices in usd (tereal) is cal-
culated using tourism export at current prices in usd
(tenominal) and usd gdp deflator (2010 = 100) as follows:
tereal = tenominal/(usd gdp deflator/100).
ri =
value in year n
value in year n − 1 , (1)
where n represents 2, 3, . . . , 17.
Based on sixteen annual growth rate coefficients
(ri), the average annual growth rate coefficient (r) was
compounded for each of the four indicators for 25
countries separately. The following equation was used:
r = 16
√
r2 × r3 × · · · × r17. (2)
Findings
Looking at Table 1, the number of international tourist
arrivals has increased the most in Iceland (11.8) dur-
ing the period between 2000 and 2016 whereas in
Poland it has remained more or less at the same level.
Thus, average annual growth rate was positive in all
25 countries. Besides Poland, very low average annual
growth rate in the number of tourist arrivals is found
in mature destinations, like France (0.4) and Bel-
gium (0.9). Higher growth rate, around 1 on aver-
age, is detected in Western countries, like Denmark
(1.1) and Italy (1.5). In contrast, average annual
growth rate of international tourist arrivals is higher
in Turkey (7.5) and in some Eastern European coun-
tries that represent emerging markets, like Estonia
(6.1), Latvia (8.2) and Slovenia (6.6). Since these
are countries with lower purchasing power along with
lower price levels compared to the Western European
countries, we can assume that price competitiveness
of Turkey and Eastern European countries might have
played a vital role in attracting tourists.
Receipts of foreign tourists are measured by tour-
ism export. The average annual growth rates of tour-
ism export by selected country are shown in Table 1.
The lowest growth rate of tourism receipts is found
in a mature destination – France (1.6). The high-
est ones were found in Iceland (15.9) and two East-
ern European countries. In addition, compared to the
growth rate of international tourist arrivals, interna-
tional tourism receipts have grown faster in the ma-
jority of countries researched (with the exception of
Slovenia, Hungary, Greece and Turkey).
Besides aggregate measures, the tourism demand
per arrival gives better information about an aver-
age tourist’s consumption behaviour. International
154 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Helena Nemec Rudež International Tourism Growth
Table 1 Average Annual Growth Rate Coefficients of
International Tourist Arrivals, Tourism Export at
Current Prices, Tourism Export per Arrival at
Current and Constant Prices in Selected European
Countries during the Period between 2000–2016
Country () () () ()
Austria . . . .
Belgium . . . .
Czech Republic . . . .
Denmark . . . .
Estonia . . . .
Finland . . . .
France . . . .
Germany . . . .
Greece . . . .
Hungary . . . .
Iceland . . . .
Ireland . . . .
Italy . . . .
Latvia . . . .
Luxembourg . . . .
Netherlands . . . .
Norway . . . .
Poland . . . .
Portugal . . . .
Slovakia . . . .
Slovenia . . . .
Spain . . . .
Sweden . . . .
Turkey . . . .
uk . . . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) average annual
growth rate coefficient of international tourist arrivals, (2)
average annual growth rate coefficient of tourism export
(current prices), (3) average annual growth rate coefficient
of tourism export per international arrival (current prices),
(4) average annual growth rate coefficient of tourism export
per international arrival (constant prices 2010 = 100).
tourism receipts per arrival (at current prices) perform
a positive but modest average annual growth rate in 21
out of 25 countries during the period between 2000
and 2016. The highest one is perceived in Slovakia
with an average annual increase of 7.8, followed by
Luxemburg, Poland and Latvia with an increase be-
tween 4.0 and 4.3. In Slovenia, Turkey, Greece and
Hungary average annual growth rate of international
tourism receipts per arrival is less than 1, confirming
that receipts per arrival have been decreasing in four
out of 25 countries during this period.
By removing the impact of price changes, interna-
tional tourism receipts per arrival at constant prices
reveal real changes in tourism receipts per arrival
over time. It has ranged between 2 to + 2 in the
majority of 25 countries. Further, Greece, Hungary
and Slovenia were confronted with a negative average
annual growth rate of international tourism receipts
per arrival at constant prices between –2 and –3,
whereas Luxemburg, Latvia and Poland have reached
the one between +2 and +2.3. The strongest nega-
tive growth rate in receipts per tourist arrival in real
terms was found in Turkey (below 3) and the highest
positive one in Slovakia (above 5).
Concluding Remarks
International tourism growth is fueled by the increas-
ing number of foreign tourist arrivals as well as by in-
ternational tourism receipts, but tourism receipts per
arrival more or less stagnate. However, there are dif-
ferences between countries. The highest difference be-
tween the average annual growth rate of the number of
tourist arrivals and the average annual growth rate of
tourism receipts at constant prices is found in Turkey,
followed by Iceland and Slovenia. On the other hand,
Poland, Slovakia and Luxemburg have had an even
slightly higher average annual rate of tourism receipts
at constant prices than that of tourist arrivals; both av-
erage annual growth rates are also practically equal in
Denmark.
It can be derived from this that some countries
have not succeeded in attracting tourists who spend
more money during their stay, probably due to the
increased level of competition. In other words, the in-
creased number of international tourist arrivals re-
lated to mass tourism is not reflected in substantive
additional receipts per tourist. It can be explained in
two ways. Firstly, low-cost business models (such as
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 155
Helena Nemec Rudež International Tourism Growth
low-cost airlines, budget accommodation) and fierce
competition among traditional suppliers as well as
the sharing economy suppliers (in the field of accom-
modation, dining, travel guiding, transport) lead to a
price decrease and, in turn, a decline in international
tourism receipts per arrival. Secondly, the decreasing
average length of overnight stays in line with the trend
of travelling more times a year for a shorter period of
time has probably had an impact on the growth rate of
international tourism receipts per tourist arrival.
Further research could identify the reasons why
the growth rate of international tourist arrivals out-
paces the growth rate of international tourism receipts
per tourist in real terms, how is it related to pric-
ing strategies and what, consequently, are the percep-
tions and attitudes of residents towards tourists. Ad-
ditional research could be extended to the overnight
stays’ growth rate in order to give additional knowl-
edge about how international tourism receipts per
overnight stay change.
The limitation of the study is that the growth of in-
ternational tourism receipts is calculated per arrival as
a unit and not per overnight stay, giving somewhat dif-
ferent results, especially for countries with a longer av-
erage period of stay. An additional limitation is that
only international tourism is analysed. Moreover, it is
worth noting that tourism export data use usd, en-
abling some exchange rate distortions in time series
due to exchange rate fluctuations. The analysis is ori-
ented towards demand in the European region where
tourism demand is growing slower than in other re-
gions, so the findings cannot be generalised world-
wide.
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156 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Original Scientific Article
Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity and Their Integration
into Sightseeing Routes
Melita Rozman Cafuta
University of Maribor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and
Architecture, Slovenia
melita.rozman-cafuta@um.si
Boštjan Brumen
University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism, Slovenia
bostjan.brumen@um.si
Worldwide, many cities have appropriate and necessary conditions for the devel-
opment of urban tourism. Some locations, although considered important for local
tourist destinations as part of a standard repertoire, do not comply with modern
standards. For tourism organisations, it is very important to plan the best possible
sightseeing routes with the best sightseeing locations. Using the intuitive approach
only, is not enough in the modern tourism industry. The focus of the presented re-
search is an innovative approach to identify the most prosperous urban places that
should be included in urban tourist offers. Empirical research was conducted, based
on the analytical method of mental mapping. For the research location, Maribor city
(Slovenia, eu) has been chosen. A sample of 200 respondents was taken. They were
asked to draw a city map twice, once for the daytime city and once for the nighttime
city. Graphical results obtained reflect a subjective mental spatial idea of individual
thinkingmode. Some locations in the city seem to be particularly important and vis-
ible. They were named ‘Pillars of Spatial Sensitivity’ or, pss locations. pss locations
are extremely suitable to be integrated in a tourist offer as building blocks of sightsee-
ing routes.When processing the research results, 34 pss locations were more or less
frequently detected in Maribor city. 32 of them had different appearance frequency
between day and night. Based on these results, it is possible to conclude that mod-
ified spatial circumstances affect the perception and utilisation of urban space. The
research results make it obvious that spatial sensitivity of tourists depends on time.
It is possible to design sightseeing routes adapted to the time component.
Keywords: urban tourism, pillars of spatial sensitivity, mental map, sightseeing
location
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.157-166
Introduction
Urban tourism is ‘a complex phenomenon, which is
heavily involved in the local, regional and national en-
vironment’ (Rangus et al., 2017, p. 167). Nowadays, it
is rapidly expanding because people visit foreign cities
for many different reasons as long-stay or short-stay
tourists (Ashworth & Page, 2011). Planning appropri-
ate sightseeing routes has become a challenging task
for tourist guides as well as for individuals visiting un-
familiar urban destinations. The whole city represents
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 157
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
the physical place in which the tourist’s desire is ac-
complished. Today, most cities aim to promote them-
selves as tourist destinations to increase their compet-
itiveness, while tourism is seldom studied as an intru-
sive activity because of its indisputable positive eco-
nomic effects (Fistola et al., 2019).
Visits to museums, galleries, and religious and ar-
chaeological sites are a usual part of the tourist’s rou-
tine in urban destinations. Points of Interests should
be narrowed down, and aligned with personal inter-
ests and trip constraints (Gavalas et al., 2016). How-
ever, field studies have revealed that tourists seek to
maximize the time spent wandering around an ur-
ban space, engaging all their body senses while ‘on the
move’ (Larsen, 2001; Shoval & Isaacson, 2007). They
appreciate observing everyday life activities and dis-
covering different scenic values as much as they care
about the cultural and architectural elements of a his-
torical district.
Tourists today have become increasingly depen-
dent on mobile city guides or tourist guide companies
to locate tourist services and retrieve informative con-
tent (opening hours, entrance fees, etc.) about nearby
points of interest. The main aim is planning the best
possible sightseeing routes with the best sightseeing
points. Ad hoc spatial decisions are no longer accept-
able. The humandimension in the formof scenic route
planning environmental perception sensitivity is not
included.
Previous research on tour planning problems is
broadly divided into several directions. Some stud-
ies are devoted to solving the mathematical program-
ming problems. Other studies are devoted to dynam-
ically planning an optimal itinerary which is related
to designing intelligent tour planning systems (Ha-
suike et al., 2014). There is also research on various
tour planning problems such as the tourist trip design
problem (Souffriau et al., 2008), and the tour planning
problem in a multimodal and time-scheduled urban
public transport network (Zografos &Androutsopou-
los, 2008). However, existingmathematicalmodels for
sightseeing do not include subjective perception val-
ues of sightseeing places. Mental mapping is a useful
method for revealing how visitors spatially perceive
tourism destinations. However, studies of this kind
are under-researched in the tourism field (Younghee
Lee et al., 2018).
The focus of the presented research is to reveal ur-
ban places with a great perception value and to iden-
tify themost favourable areas that should be integrated
into sightseeing routes. To ensure tourists’ well-being
and high environmental perception sensitivity are pri-
orities. We assumed that, if some places trigger posi-
tive emotions for dwellers, they have the same positive
impact on tourists. Althoughpublic preferences on en-
vironment are shaped by many different factors, such
as age, gender, social and economic status, etc., there
are also some common preferences on urban types,
especially for people with similar educational back-
ground and environmental viewpoints.
Today’s standard repertoire of sightseeing locations
may not comply with modern standards. Therefore,
it is essential to seek new locations to keep sightsee-
ing routes attractive. Locationswith high environmen-
tal perception sensitivity should be included. What is
seen and what is remembered? After a while, tourists
do not perceive every architectural and environmental
detail. But they perceive well-being as a combination
of environmental settings, people and service at the lo-
cation. Tourists’ spatial sensitivity changes over time.
Do the appropriate sightseeing locations change too?
In this context, the following is crucial: (a) to iden-
tify locations that have high spatial sensitivity and (b)
to know when these locations can be integrated into
sightseeing routes.
The research concentrates on a scientific approach
based on an analytical method of mental mapping as
an assessment tool. There is a tendency to answer all
raised questions using the following hypothesis:
h1 Spatial sensitivity of tourists depends on time.
h2 Based on the value of spatial sensitivity, it is pos-
sible to design sightseeing routes adapted to the
time component.
Tourists’ Cognitive Experience of the City
and Spatial Sensitivity
The structure of the city is not permanent. It changes
over time. Urban development is guided by social
progress and technological capabilities (Rozman Ca-
158 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
futa & Brumen, 2016). The city of tomorrow strikes
a balance among social, environmental and economic
needs (RozmanCafuta, 2015). Urban tourism can con-
tribute substantial economic benefits to certain city ar-
eas with a large and varied economic base. These gain
the most from tourism but are the least dependent
upon it (Ashworth & Page, 2011). The challenge comes
with lesser-known parts of the city with a low level of
tourist infrastructure. How to seek for opportunities
in such areas, especially if the economic base is weak?
How to define potential places that are appropriate to
be developed and integrated into sightseeing routes?
Generally, the environment should create a good
personal feeling. To ensure satisfied tourists, envi-
ronmental circumstances should be adjusted. To es-
tablish interaction between the urban environment
and its users (tourists), it is necessary to understand
how they perceive their surroundings. Spatial circum-
stances are not only material reality, but are also men-
tal structures that result in subjective perception. Spa-
tial sensitivity is always subjective because it relies on
individual response. It is dependent upon the individ-
ual’s gender, age, time, experience, and culture (Roz-
man Cafuta, 2015). Visual perception dominates over
hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Eyesight provides the
largest amount of information to explain what hap-
pens around us. We are supplied with a large amount
of information such as: distance, colours, shapes, tex-
tures, and contrasts (Gregory, 1998).
Environment defines a cognitive image of a spe-
cific location, like any human performance that in-
cludes physical and mental links between an observed
location and its surroundings (Canter, 1977). Using in-
formation obtained by different authors, a triangular
scheme was created using a method of inductive con-
clusion in order to determine what influences tourists’
spatial sensitivity (Figure 1). Tourists’ spatial sensation
depends on factors such as psychological, sociological,
and aesthetic-functional. All of them are equal and
connected. Tourists respond and act in accordance
with them.
The scheme represents the most important factors
and their indicators that must be taken into account
when planning and arranging sightseeing routes, such
as: sense of safety, orientation ability, path and loca-
Psychological
Factor
Aesthetic-
Functional
Factor
Sociological
Factor
In
te
gr
at
io
n
Sightseeing
Routes
Tourists’
Spatial Sensitivity
Figure 1 The Triangular Scheme of Tourists’ Spatial
Sensitivity Factors and Indicators
tion selection, way of movement, visual preferences
and general place arrangement. The quality of service
depends on it. Therefore, it is justified to explore how
the time component and physical surroundings affect
tourists’ environmental sensation.
Spatial Analysis by the Mental Mapping Method
As already mentioned, environmental sensation is a
complex process. Spatial sensitivity means recognis-
ing, collecting and organising received information.
Through this procedure it is possible to be aware of
our relative spatial position in relation to existing lim-
itations. According to Canter (1977), the concept of
space is based on individual cognitive experience and
designated by the composite conceptual system. We
are informed about a place through ‘what behaviour
is associated with, or is anticipated to be housed in
it, what physical parameters of the settings are, and
the description, or conceptions, which people hold of
their behaviour in that physical environment’ (p. 159).
A place is set with a specific physical location and ac-
tivities taking place in it. It is humans’ cognitive ex-
perience of the material world and offers a concrete
visual metaphor. The message of space ultimately de-
pends on individual interpretation decomposing and
recomposing its cryptic meanings (Šerman, 1997).
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 159
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
Figure 2 Mental Map of Maribor City (Slovenia, Europe); First During the Daytime and Second During the Nighttime
(Graphical Output of Test Person)
In the sixties and seventies, urban theorists began
studying the relationship between the reality and the
idea of the space (Evans 1980; Liben et al., 1981; Lynch,
1960). Lynch’s (1960) and Golledge’s (1978) early stud-
ies have shown that our space perception can be artic-
ulated, evaluated and categorised. Tolman (1984) was
the first who introduced the idea of cognitive map-
ping. Later, Downs and Stea (1973) upgraded his be-
havioural approach as a process composed of psycho-
logical transformations strings by which an individual
acquires, codes, stores, recalls, and decodes informa-
tion about the relative location and its attributes.
Today, cognitivemapping is themental structuring
process leading to the formation of a cognitive map.
A cognitive map is a set of mental images. Environ-
mental sensing enables identification of objects or ar-
eas, and determination of the distance between vari-
ous points or patterns. Spatial visualization enables ev-
eryday movement, route planning, understanding the
route descriptions and map reading. In more general
terms, a cognitive map may be defined ‘as an overall
mental image or representation of the space and lay-
out of a setting’ (Arthur & Passini, 1992).
Cognitive maps are a spatial representation of the
outside world that is kept within the mind, until an
actual manifestation (a drawing) of this perceived
knowledge is generated, and amentalmap is put down
on paper. Cognitive mapping is the implicit, men-
tal mapping the explicit, part of the process. Mental
mapping has developed over the years. Today it has
theoretical and practical potential to understand hu-
man environmental exchange. It comprises a subjec-
tive awareness of the surroundings and provides an
insight into an individual’s spatial sensitivity.
Case Study: Maribor City
In the presented research we upgraded the already-
knownmental mappingmethod. In the previous prac-
tices, residents draw amap, frommemory, of their city
or some other research area. This allows the researcher
to get a sense of which parts of the city are more sub-
stantial or imaginable. Tourists quickly developed cog-
nitive images that are influenced by experience and
the time spent in the area (Walmsley & Jenkins, 1992).
Similar use of mental maps is also applied in the pre-
sented research in order to identify specific points of
interest that are sufficiently perceived andhave enough
potential to be included in sightseeing routes. Loca-
tions with high values of spatial sensitivity are gener-
ally the gathering sites of tourist spots. The research
focus relied on a spatial impression of the city. It was
attempted to give sensible form to themoods, feelings,
and rhythms of functional life.
The conducted experiment was based on a sample
of 200 respondents, 100 men and 100 women. All par-
ticipants were students at the University of Maribor
in Slovenia. The respondents can be equated as long-
term tourists (they do not live at the research loca-
160 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
Table 1 Occurrence Frequency of pss Locations
on Mental Maps
pss location Day Night χ2 p
f f f f
River Drava  .  . . .
Gosposka Street  .  . . .
Poštna Street  .  . . .
Koroška Street  .  . . .
L. Štukelj Square  .  . . .
Castle Square  .  . . .
Main Square  .  . . .
A. M. Slomšek
Square
 .  . . .
Lent, Old City  .  . . .
City Park  .  . . .
Ski slope Mari-
borsko Pohorje
 .  . . .
Hills  .  . . .
Footbridge  .  . . .
Old Bridge  .  . . .
Main Bridge  .  . . .
Koroška Bridge  .  . . .
University  .  . . .
Town Hall  .  . . .
Main Post Office  .  . . .
Town Market  .  . . .
Football Stadium  .  . . .
Shopping Centre
Europark
 .  . . .
Continued in the next column
tion, they come and go like visitors) or dwellers (while
studying, they live at the research location). For the re-
search locationMaribor city has been chosen.Maribor
is a vibrant, and the second largest, Slovenian city. It is
a centre of the Styrian region and a semi-important
tourist destination with medieval historical value.
The experiment was based on a memorised draw-
ing of a city map and elements within it during differ-
ent time sequences. Respondents were asked to imag-
ine the city and put down a map of it. They were en-
couraged to create two drawings, once for the day-
Table 1 Continued from the previous column
pss location Day Night χ2 p
f f f f
Medical Faculty  .  . . .
Shopping Centre
City
 .  . . .
Hall Štuk  .  . . .
Main Rail Station  .  . . .
Medical Centre  .  . . .
Movie Theatre
Kolosej
 .  . . .
Student Hostel  .  . . .
Monument nob  .  . . .
Plague Monument  .  . . .
Engineering Facul-
ties
 .  . . .
Franciscan Church  .  . . .
Theatre  .  . . .
time city and once for the nighttime city. They had 10
minutes to complete each drawing (20 minutes alto-
gether).
Results and Discussions
The obtained drawings were analysed according to
the included or excluded elements. Spatial sensitivity
is the respondents’ mental image reflection. Already,
every element that appears on a respondent’s map is
a spatial sensitivity carrier. When graphical outputs
were analysed, 36 elements,more or less frequently de-
tected, were exposed, such as: streets, squares, parks,
morphological features, architectural attractions, and
urban furniture. All exposed elements appear at least
10 times or more during daytime; the detected fre-
quency is at least 5 or more (Table 1). The results
show that the responders noticedmost of the locations
lying in the city centre, but only a few points in the
wider surroundings. Such location distribution con-
firms the assumption that locations in the city centre
are very noticeable andhave a high value of spatial sen-
sitivity. It is not surprising that most of the sightseeing
routes already take place in the city centre. However,
expanding the sightseeing routes on selected locations
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 161
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
in the wider surroundings should also be considered.
In the second phase, obtained graphical data were
statistically processed and analysed using the spss
Windows computer program. Methods of descriptive
statistics (frequency and numerical analysis, the arith-
metic mean of the difference between the mean, and
standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-test for
dependent samples, and Pearson’s correlation coeffi-
cient r) were used. The results in Table 1 show that al-
most all listed locations have different occurrence fre-
quency. All exposed locations have specific character-
istics that differentiate them from their surroundings.
Their common qualities are good visibility, good ac-
cessibility, transportation network involvement, high
usage frequency, high quality of spatial arrangement,
higher property and rental values, etc. These are spa-
tial qualities that are strictly necessary for tourist lo-
cations. In the presented research such locations are
named Pillars of Spatial Sensitivity (pss locations).
pss locations have high spatial sensitivity value. They
are spatial identity carriers and they stay in tourists’
minds for a long time. Occurrence frequency is a cri-
terion of importance.
During the day themost often noticed locations are
the River Drava (160 times), Old Bridge (133 times),
Main Bridge (92 times), A. M. Slomšek Square (92
times), Shopping Centre Europark (87 times), Main
Square (84 times) and so on.During the night themost
often noticed locations are the RiverDrava (147 times),
Old Bridge (115 times), Shopping Centre Europark
(87 times), Main Square (84 times), Main Bridge (84
times), and A. M. Slomšek Square (73 times). It can be
concluded that some locations are in the group of the
most often noticed ones in nearly everyone’s mind, re-
gardless of the time period. Such locations are suitable
to be a part of sightseeing routes.
Locations are less noticeable at night except for the
following locations: 7 (Leon Štukelj Square), 22 (The-
atre), 30 (Hall Štuk), 31 (Main Bus station), 34 (Movie
Theatre Kolosej), and 38 (Plague Monument). The re-
sults of the χ2-test confirm that spatial sensitivity de-
pends on time. In the majority of cases we reach a
statistically characteristic difference in the incidence
of elements between day and night at the statisti-
cally significant level p < 0.05. Hypothesis one is con-
firmed. Spatial sensitivity of tourists depends on time.
If we want to plan the best possible sightseeing
routes, it is necessary to identify the specific locations
thatmake the observed city distinctive. Locations with
a high noticed frequency should be part of a sightsee-
ing route. Obviously, they trigger positive emotions.
Locations with a low noticed frequency should be ex-
cluded. The emotions could be negative or simply not
strong enough. Sometimes a location is suitable just
for a specific time sequence. Generally, there are the
following possible scenarios:
1. The location has high spatial sensitivity value.
Noticed frequency is high regardless of time se-
quence. The location should be included in sight-
seeing routes.
2. The location has low spatial sensitivity value.
Noticed frequency is low regardless of time se-
quence. The location should be excluded from
sightseeing routes or it should undergo a com-
plete architectural renovation of the location to
be more functional.
3. The location has variable spatial sensitivity value.
Noticed frequency is low or high depending on
the time sequence. The location should be in-
cluded in sightseeing routes only at a certain
time.
By presenting possible scenarios hypothesis two is
also confirmed. Based on the value of spatial sensitiv-
ity, it is possible to design sightseeing routes adapted to
the time component. Application in practice is shown
in three cases in Maribor City.
Example 1: Location Gosposka Street
(Variable Spatial Sensitivity Value)
Gosposka Street is one of the oldest streets, shaped in
the 17th century. Today it is a part of a wider pedestrian
zone andwell-knownmarket street. Buildings’ ground
floors are occupied by shops or services, while upper
floors are residential flats. The street is well accessible
from various directions. At night, buildings’ verticals
are not visible. Illuminated shop windows are accen-
tuated. General street brightness is uneven.
The location belongs to the standard repertoire of
most existing sightseeing routes. It has high noticed
162 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
Figure 3 Gosposka Street During Daytime (left) and Gosposka Street During Nighttime (right)
Figure 4 Old City Lent During Daytime (left) and Old City Lent During Nighttime (right)
frequency at daytime, so it seems to be very appro-
priate for daytime routes. But the location is not ap-
propriate for organising nighttime sightseeing routes.
Noticed frequency is low. Shops are closed and the en-
vironment seems not to be inviting enough.
Example 2: Location Old City Lent
(Low Spatial Sensitivity Value)
It is situated on the edge of the medieval city next to
the river bank. The place is occupied by local streets
and a sidewalk. Buildings are various typologies and
ages. There are bars on ground floors and flats on up-
per floors. Illumination of the location is not sufficient;
some parts are completely dark. The lights are placed
on the sidewalk. The traffic area is minimally lighted.
Lack of illumination at night makes walking freely
more difficult. There are also several lights mounted
on the buildings’ walls. It is not sufficient because the
open space remains in darkness.
The location belongs to the standard repertoire of
most existing sightseeing routes. But the research re-
sults categorise the location as less attractive for inclu-
sion in sightseeing routes because noticed frequency
for day and night is low. The logical consequences
would be to replace the location with another one.
In this case such a recommendation is not the best
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 163
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
Figure 5 Leon Štukelj Square During Daytime (left) and Leon Štukelj Square During Nighttime (right)
option. The location has historical value and architec-
tural renovation would be a better option.
Example 3: Location Leon Štukelj Square
(High Spatial Sensitivity Value)
The square is situated in the city pedestrian zone. Re-
designed, it was opened in 2011. The square is sur-
rounded by public buildings. The central part of the
square is devoted to public events and is therefore
only occasionally occupied. Trees, benches, and bins
are lined on both sides of the square. Hanging lamps
are stretched across the area. Floor lamps are installed
throughout the place. The square has a pleasant, un-
obtrusive illuminated atmosphere. At night, artificial
light colour is changing and creates different ambi-
ences. Hanging lamps illuminate the paved area. Fa-
cades are not illuminated.
The research results show high noticed frequency
for both daytime and nighttime. Obviously, tourists
noticed it and perceive a pleasant atmosphere during
both time sequences. Based on the results, the location
is very appropriate to be included in daytime as well as
nighttime sightseeing routes. The tourist can sit, rest
and enjoy the atmosphere.
Conclusions
Emerging tourism destinations can play a significant
role in championing the adoption of sustainable tour-
ism development (Sasidharan & Križaj, 2018). Goeld-
ner and Ritchie (2006) describe urban tourism as a
complex phenomenon and extremely difficult to be
described adequately. Any given location is primarily
characterised by its natural environment, architecture
and people. New opportunities must be sought in or-
der to keep or to make all city areas attractive. Nowa-
days, tourists seek to maximize their environment
with all the senses and appreciate observing everyday
life. Social innovation needs to be constantly in place.
This is even more important for occasionally visited
places than for well-known tourists spots. Nowadays
modern management companies and organisations
must incorporate a psychological approach into their
operations. It is a big challenge to satisfy tourists, be-
cause societal expectations are high. What do tourists
remember and take home? What makes them come
back and visit the same place again? Tourists certainly
do not remember every architectural detail and his-
torical fact. After a while, just a positive attitude and
well-being remain. Sightseeing locations should be
attractive, pleasant, safe, and should relax tourists at
the same time. It is very important to plan the best
possible sightseeing routes with the best sightseeing
locations.
After analytical research work it is confirmed that
modified spatial circumstances affect the perception
and utilisation of urban space. Spatial sensitivity is
subjective mental image reflection influenced by psy-
chological, sociological and aesthetic-functional fac-
164 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Melita Rozman Cafuta and Boštjan Brumen Pillars of City Spatial Sensitivity
tors. It provides an indication of a person’s ability to
perceive and remember visual information about a
certain environment. It depends on time and changes
as soon as spatial circumstances change, for example,
day and night. Spatial sensitivity value is not always
equal. The higher the value, the more important the
location, the more it is suitable for integration into
sightseeing routes. Summarising the graphical results
obtained by the mental mapping method, it can be
concluded that from the number of 34 exposed loca-
tions, 32 have different appearance frequency between
day and night. Based on the value of spatial sensitivity,
it is possible to design sightseeing routes adapted? to
the time component. Some locations, although con-
sidered as important local tourist destinations, are not
appropriate to be included in sightseeing routes. Only
locations with high spatial sensitivity value in certain
time sequences should become a part of sightseeing
routes.
Obtained research results: (1) new definition of Pil-
lars of Spatial Sensitivity (pss locations) set for the lo-
cations with high spatial sensitivity value, (2) the use
of the already-knownmethod ofmentalmapping for a
new purpose (to identify pss locations and their spa-
tial sensitivity value), and (3) hypothesis confirmation
are original scientific contributions presented in this
paper.
It is very important to plan the best possible sight-
seeing routes, but the proposed scientific approach
cannot help the tourist organisation to make a loca-
tionmore attractive. Obtained research results provide
insight into the spatial situation ofMaribor city (Slove-
nia, Europe) and could support tourism development
in a specific city area. The presented approach could
be integrated as good practice in any other city world-
wide. It supports identification of suitable sightseeing
locations that are memorable and can be inherited by
mobile city guides or used by tourist guides. Of course,
other fields, such as tourist infrastructure and service
quality, should also be considered.
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166 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Research Note
Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Fadil Mušinović
Faculty of Commercial and Business Sciences, Slovenia
fadil.musinovic@siol.net
The article combines two development-oriented concepts, spiritual intelligence and
business systems, composed of four elements. Spiritual intelligence, according to
King (2008), consists of critical existential thinking, production of personal mean-
ing, transcendental awareness, and conscious state expansion. Business systems, ac-
cording to Bulc (2006), evolve evolutionarily in four stages, from the working envi-
ronment, through the learning and thinking environments, to the conscious envi-
ronment. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the factors of spiritual
intelligence are related to the developmental stages of business systems and whether
they differ in the various developmental stages of business systems. The empirical
data was collected electronically, using a composite questionnaire in different busi-
ness environments. 601 employees participated in the study. The results showed pos-
itive correlations between the factors of spiritual intelligence and learning, thinking,
and the conscious environment, but no correlation to the working environment. In
various development stages of business systems, certain differences have been re-
vealed between the factors of spiritual intelligence. Regarding spiritual intelligence
and business environments, the research has also showndifferences based on gender,
work experience, and the level of education.
Keywords: spiritual intelligence, evolution, business environments, individual,
development
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.167-177
Introduction
Intelligence has been evolving as a discipline through
different milestones. The beginnings of research date
back to the age of Plato and Aristotle (see http://www
.intelltheory.com), while the one of the first scien-
tific definitions dates back to the end of the 18th cen-
tury. That is when Galton tried to measure the ba-
sic abilities of the mind through sensory discrimi-
nation and reaction times (Jensen, 2002). Later on,
James Cattell broadened Galton’s work with psycho-
logical testing and by using surveys and question-
naires, targeted at studying intelligence (Cianciolo &
Sternberg, 2004). The next milestone was the work of
two French psychologists, Alfred Binet and Theodore
Simon, who have developed an objective test for mea-
suring a child’s intelligence, while the development in
this direction led to Terman’s adaptation of the test
and the use of the iq. In comparison to the individual
tests, the Army alpha and Army beta group tests can
also be considered as milestones (Detterman, 2009).
The consequence of such a long period of study
is an abundance of definitions, in which each offers
their own aspect (e.g. the classical aspect, the biolog-
ical aspect) in defining the intelligence of a person in
a slightly different way. For Gottfredson (1998), intel-
ligence is an individual’s ability to deal with cogni-
tive complexity, for Sternberg and Salter (1982), intel-
ligence is goal-oriented and environmentally-adjust-
able behaviour, while theMerriamWebsterDictionary
(https://www.merriam-webster.com) states that intel-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 167
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
ligence is the ability to learn and understand or work
or try to work in new situations; skillful use of reason-
ing; the ability to use knowledge to manage one’s en-
vironment; or abstract thinking, as is measured with
objective criteria (e.g. tests). Different reasoning and
arguments of what intelligence is and is not has gone
so far, that a group of 52 scientists signed a statement
in December 1994, declaring what intelligence is and
what it is not (Gottfredson, 1997).
The spirituality of an individual has also been re-
searched relativelywell, as it has been studied since the
time of William James (1902), who believed that our
spiritual experiences have the potential to broaden and
deepen our lives. However, there are more definitions
of what spirituality is. Some authors define spirituality
as an inner instinct (Emmons, 2000), while others de-
fine it as a sequence of topmost experiences and tran-
scendent moments (MacDonald, 2000). But some au-
thors believe that spirituality is represented as an inte-
gration of both the inner instinct aswell as topmost ex-
periences (Coyle, 2002; George et al., 2000; Vaughan,
2002).
Historically, spirituality was not separate from re-
ligious experiences, but nevertheless some theorists
believe that key differences between religion and spir-
ituality do exist (Del Rio &White, 2012). The thought
that spirituality could be a form of intelligence was
developed with the theory of multiple intelligences
(Gardner, 1995). In this theory, intelligence is a series
of connected and, at the same time, separate cogni-
tive processes and abilities that allow us to under-
stand the world, our development, and our improve-
ments. It is also the ability to solve problems in differ-
ent fields of human activity. In his own theory, Gard-
ner (1995) speaks of multiple intelligences: the lingual,
logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, motor, inter-
personal, and inner personal intelligence. The author
first thought that spirituality cannot be a form of intel-
ligence, but later changed his mind. He added a new
type of intelligence, the existential or moral intelli-
gence (Gardner, 2000), which has the characteristics
of spiritual intelligence (Emmons, 2000; King, 2008;
King & DeCicco, 2009; Vaughan, 2002). It includes
different development processes and adapts to a hu-
man’s life (Gardner, 1995).
Spiritual intelligence, as defined in this paper, is
not spiritually inspirational or religious identity and
practice. If we possess spiritual intelligence, we do not
require a belief system linked to religion, and we are
not required to identify ourselves as a spiritual person
(King, 2008).
Spiritual intelligence is, just like general intelli-
gence (where we measure the person’s iq), differently
defined.According to Emmons (2003, p. 176), spiritual
intelligence is ‘an adaptive use of spiritual information
with the purpose of easing daily problem solving and
reaching set goals.’ It is composed of the ability to tran-
scend the physical and material, the experience of a
heightened state of consciousness, dedication to daily
experiences, and the use of spiritual resources to solve
problems.
Vaughan (2002) states that spiritual intelligence,
along with self-awareness, also means that we are
aware of our own relationship to the excess in regards
to the Earth and to all living beings.
On the other hand, Zohar and Marshall (2000, p.
3) believe that spiritual intelligence ‘enables people to
be creative, to change the rules, and to change their sit-
uations. It enables us to play with boundaries, it gives
us moral meaning, it enables us to confront the ques-
tions of good and evil, and enables us to imagine the
unrealized possibilities.’
Wolman (2001, p. 84) established that spiritual in-
telligence is ‘a human capacity for asking final ques-
tions about the purpose of life and, at the same time,
a capacity to embrace these questions in experiencing
seamless connections between all of us and the world,
in which we live in.’
King and DeCicco (2009, p. 69) have defined spir-
itual intelligence as ‘a collection of mental capacities,
which contribute to awareness, integration, and ad-
justment of immaterial and transcendent aspects of
an individual’s existence, which lead to consequences,
such as: critical existential thinking, producing per-
sonalmeaning, transcendent awareness, and conscious
state expansion.’ Reaching and experiencing these spir-
itual abilities is supposed to – while taking into ac-
count Gardner’s criteria for measuring and determin-
ing the field of intelligence – strengthen the quality of
an individual’s life (Gardner, 1995; 2000).
168 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
The quality of an individual’s life can be strength-
ened within different contexts. We can, for example,
strengthen it at home, in a business environment or in
other social systems in which we are included in our
life, as these social systems influence our lives and our
spiritual intelligence (Yang & Wu, 2009). The influ-
ence can differ. For example, Schneider (1987) states
that the influence between the social system and the
individual is mutual. According to the theory (model)
of asa – Attraction – Selection – Attrition, social sys-
tems attract certain types of people, in which, if they
get along with the system or organisation, they stay
based on selection, or leave it later on.
Business systems are also social systems. In these
systems we conduct our work and go about our busi-
ness. Structurally they are diverse; they can be, for ex-
ample, hierarchical (e.g. the police, the military, the
fire brigade), or they can be flatter (e.g. Google), but
compared to personal, family, and leisure social sys-
tems, they are different. People, with whom we so-
cialise there, are different. The way of thinking and be-
having is different. Even goals that we follow with the
context of business systems are different.
Business systems can be understood as living be-
ings, or at least they have some characteristics of living
beings: they have their own evolutional dynamic, his-
tory, present, and future; they are independent organ-
isms with feelings, fears, and dreams; they have their
own mission, goals, and life span. They differ among
each other and at the same time they are connected,
because ‘for each newphase [stage] it is absolutely nec-
essary to possess the vital forces of its predecessors’
(Bulc, 2006, p. 20).
According to Bulc (2006), the development of busi-
ness systems encompasses four development stages:
the working environment, the learning environment,
the thinking environment, and the conscious environ-
ment. These stages run in sequence, by business rules,
resources, and leverages. Between the stages there are
transitional transformational periods of conduct, in
which it comes to disorders or dialectical fights be-
tween the old and the new (e.g. dialectical fight be-
tween the working and the learning environment).
The working environment is the first developmen-
tal stage of business systems. Added value in this sys-
tem is created with diligent work, which results in cre-
ating a product as the key part of the working process.
Work is conducted through manufacture; it is partly
automated and computerised. Methods for systematic
cost management are developed to some extent, in-
cluding the optimisation of support services. The key
competitive advantage is the productivity and its con-
stant increase.
The second developmental stage – the learning
stage – is characterised by added value that is cre-
atedwith knowledge. Diligence, which posed as added
value in the previous stage, does not suffice anymore
in this stage. It needs to be upgraded with knowledge,
which is accumulated in ever more accessible liter-
ature that, through in-depth studies, enables bigger
productivity management. As a consequence, the dif-
ference in productivity between individual companies
gets smaller, which by itself demands a different type of
added value or a different competitive advantage. The
latter is seen in this stage in knowledge, which also
manifests itself in the quality of the product. In this
developmental period the key observed item is not
the product or the emotional attachments of workers
and managers to the product, but the customers, who
think the product is interesting and, later on, buy it.
Or they decide not to buy it. In relation to this – com-
paratively with the working environment – the work
processes also change. These are based on knowledge
and change through time or circle through constant
improvements. In consequence, the management pro-
cess, interpersonal relations, work organisation, val-
ues, etc. also comparatively change or develop.
Creativity brings added value into the thinking en-
vironment, while the key element is innovation. Qual-
ity is improving comparatively with the learning en-
vironment, while the improvements are based on cre-
ative innovations, which are unknown and different.
A growing emphasis is given to the individual and
the inter-functional teams, which can only function
in relaxed and dynamic environments, where there is
enough time to think and get creative ideas. It is also
important to collaborate with the environment, where,
in a mix of hard work, knowledge, and thinking, new
ideas and innovative processes arise, which themarket
or the environment need.
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 169
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
The conscious environment is the last develop-
mental stage. It represents a growing humanisation
of work; added value is represented by intuitiveness
in deep connection with spirituality. The key factor is
the life energy of the individual, group, or company,
values and informal forms of collaboration with the
environment.
The researched topic is in our opinion scientifically
relevant, because spiritual intelligence is an interest-
ing and poorly researched concept, especially in the
context of developmental stages of business systems,
whichwas themain purpose and goal of this paper.We
wanted to determinewhether there is a connection be-
tween spiritual intelligence and developmental stages
of business environments, what kind of connection it
is and also, whether spiritual intelligence is different in
various stages of business systems and, if it is, what are
the differences.
Given that such research has not been conducted
yet, we based the logic of establishing hypotheses from
links in the content of cited papers. We checked two
hypotheses:
h1 In higher developmental stages of business sys-
tems employees have a more developed spiritual
intelligence.
h2 Spiritual intelligence is significantly different in
individual developmental stages of business sys-
tems.
Method
The research was done through the usual steps; the
first part was theoretical and intended for reviewing
literature and previous research, and forming theoret-
ical fundamentals based on known concepts. Descrip-
tive, compilation, comparative, and analysis and syn-
thesis methods were used in this part.
In the second – the empirical part, validity, relia-
bility, objectivity, and othermeasurable characteristics
of the tools used were introduced. Later, results were
introduced and explained, after which discussion fol-
lows.
Respondents
The sample was opportunistic and self-selective. 615
people chose to participate. 14 questionnaireswere dis-
carded from the survey, as they were either blank or
participants answered every question with the same
values, therefore, they were useless for the purposes of
the survey.
601 questionnaires were used in the survey. 227
(37.8  of the sample) men and 372 (61.9) women
participated. Two participants did not mark their gen-
ders. This represented 0.3 of all included question-
naires.
Participants were 18 to 70 years old. The average
agewas 40 years. Five individuals did not disclose their
age. Age data was divided into categories of 10 years.
The categories were: under 20 years, 20–30 years, 30–
40 years, 40–50 years, 50–60 years, and 60–70 years.
Due to the fact that there were only 4 participants un-
der the age of 20, we put them into the category 20–30
years. There were 132 (22) individuals in this cate-
gory. The category 20–30 years included 207 (34.4)
individuals. The category 40–50 years included 163
(27.1) individuals. The category 50–60 years included
76 (12.6) individuals. The last category included 18
(3) participants.
Years of work experience of participants varied
from 0 to 47 years. 13 participants did not disclose
this information. The data was divided into categories
of 10 years; from 0 to 10, from 11 to 20, from 21 to 30,
from 31 to 40, and from 41 to 50 years. The first cat-
egory included 192 (31.9) participants. The category
11–20 included 184 (30.6) individuals. The category
21–30 included 134 (22.3) participants. The following
category was 31–40. This category included 70 (11.6)
individuals. The last category included 8 (1.3) partic-
ipants.
Based on education, the participants were divided
into these groups: 3 (0.5) participants had primary
education, 102 (17) had secondary education, 178
(29.6) participants had the first Bologna level of
education, 252 (41.9) participants had the second
Bologna level of education, while 60 (10) individ-
uals had the third Bologna level of education. 6 (1)
participants did not disclose their education level.
523 (87 of the sample) participants were em-
ployed, 40 (6.7) were students, 20 (3.3) were re-
tired, while 16 (2.7) were unemployed. 2 (0.3) par-
ticipants did not disclose their employment status.
170 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Tools
Weused a questionnaire in our survey andhave named
it Spiritual intelligence (sq) in business environments
(po). It was composed of two different sources. We
used the Spiritual intelligence self-report inventory –
sisri-24 (King, 2008; King & DeCicco, 2009) for the
part regarding spiritual intelligence, while for the part
regarding business environments we used our own
four items that were produced based on Bulc’s (2006)
statements. The questionnaire included 28 items and
demographic data. The Cronbach alpha for the 50
stated items was 0.908.
The Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory –
sisri-24 (King, 2008; King & DeCicco, 2009) mea-
sures two kinds of abilities and skills: critical existen-
tial thinking, personal meaning production, transcen-
dent awareness, and conscious state expansion. For
this we used the 5-point Likert scale with 1 meaning ‘is
not true at all’ and 5 meaning ‘absolutely true.’ The
Cronbach alpha for all 24 items was 0.944; for the
7-item factor ‘critical existential thinking’ the Cron-
bach alpha was 0.874, for the 5-item factor ‘personal
meaning production’ it was 0.817, for the 7-item ‘tran-
scendent awareness’ it was 0.736, and for the 5-item
‘conscious state expansion’ it was 0.888.
The following were four items of our own designed
questionnaire for measuring the evolutionary devel-
opmental stage of business environments, which was
designed based on the theory (Bulc, 2006). The ques-
tionnaire is composed of four items: the working envi-
ronment, the learning environment, the thinking en-
vironment, and the conscious environment. We used
a 3-point scale, where 1 means ‘does not apply to us,’ 2
means ‘partly applies to us,’ and 3 means ‘it applies to
us almost entirely.’ The Cronbach alpha for the above-
mentioned items was 0.630.
Procedures
Data was collected with an electronic questionnaire
with the help of Google docs tools. For data gathering
we used snowball non-random sampling (Biernacki
& Waldorf, 1981; Faugier & Sergeant, 1997) that took
place via various organisation managements.
The link to the questionnaire was sent to various e-
mail addresses with included requests that the e-mail
recipients participate in the survey and share the in-
vitation to the survey through their social networks –
their friends, acquaintances, coworkers, etc.
The gathered forms were then exported to the rel-
evant format for later processing in the spss software
(Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The database
was also refined in order to obtain more stable re-
sults for processing. First, we discarded the 9 blank
questionnaires. After that structural analysis followed.
Based on this analysis, we also removed 5 question-
naires that had the same value filled out in all the ques-
tions (e.g. all the items had the value 3). The remaining
601 were then included in the statistical analysis.
The statistical analysis was then conducted accord-
ing to the instructions for each concept. So, for the
analysis regarding spiritual intelligence it was taken
into account that the overall result, after the reverse
coding of the 6th item is done, is the sum of all an-
swers on the items. We named it Spiritual intelligence
and marked it with sq. We have also taken into ac-
count that the higher the result, the higher is the level
of spiritual intelligence or individual capacities (King,
2008). The items in Spiritual intelligence were divided
into 4 factors based on factor analysis (King, 2008),
namely:
1. The factor critical existential thinking – abbre-
viated as cet – was calculated by summing the
seven items which, according to King (2008), fall
into this category. These items are 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, 17,
and 21.
2. The factor personalmeaning production – abbre-
viated as pmp – was calculated by summing the
five items which, according to King (2008), fall
into this category. These items are 7, 11, 15, 19, and
23.
3. The factor transcendent awareness – abbreviated
as ta – was calculated by summing the seven
items which, according to King (2008), fall into
this category. These items are 2, 6 (reverse cod-
ing), 10, 14, 18, 20, and 22.
4. The factor conscious state expansion – abbrevi-
ated as cse –was calculated by summing the five
items which, according to King (2008), fall into
this category. These items are 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24.
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 171
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
The evolutionary development of business envi-
ronments – abbreviated as pok – is covered in one
item that was designed based on the questionnaire
results. It was done so that from a collection of four
evolutionary development stages we added up the raw
results and divided them into individual categories or
stages of the evolutionary development. Consequently,
the values 4 and 5 were classified into the work busi-
ness environment, 6 and 7 into the learning business
environment, 8 and 9 into the thinking business envi-
ronment, and 10, 11, and 12 were classified into the
conscious business environment. The evolutionary
development of business environments is also defined
through individual developmental stages of business
systems, namely 4 variables, named after the develop-
mental stages: the working environment, the learning
environment, the thinking environment, and the con-
scious environment.
Results
Table 1 shows the correlation between spiritual intelli-
gence (sq) and its factors critical existential thinking
(cet), personalmeaning production (pmp), transcen-
dent awareness (ta), conscious state expansion (cse),
and the evolutionary developmental stages of business
systems – work, learning, thinking, and conscious en-
vironment.
The table also shows a statistically significant posi-
tive correlation between the learning environment and
spiritual intelligence (sq) and its factors critical exis-
tential thinking (cet), personal meaning production
(pmp), transcendent awareness (ta) and conscious
state expansion (cse). A statistically significant pos-
itive correlation is also shown between the learning
environment and spiritual intelligence (sq) and its
factors critical existential thinking (cet), personal
meaning production (pmp), transcendent awareness
(ta) and conscious state expansion (cse). There is
also a statistically significant positive correlation be-
tween the conscious environment and spiritual intel-
ligence (sq) and its factors critical existential thinking
(cet), personalmeaning production (pmp), transcen-
dent awareness (ta) and conscious state expansion
(cse).
In the first column the table shows that the corre-
Table 1 Correlation between Spiritual Intelligence
and Developmental Stages of Business Systems
Item () () () ()
sq –. .** .* .*
cet –. .** . .
pmp –. .** .** .**
ta –. .** .* .
cse . .** .* .**
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) working envi-
ronment, (2) learning environment, (3) thinking environ-
ment, (4) conscious environment.N = 601. Displayed are the
derived variables sq – spiritual intelligence, cet – critical
existential thinking, pmp – personal meaning production,
ta – transcendent awareness, cse – conscious state expan-
sion and individual developmental stages of the business en-
vironment; the working, learning, thinking, and conscious
environment. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
lation between the working environment and spiritual
intelligence and its three factors are mostly negative
and are not statistically significant.
Table 2 shows the results of the one-way variance
analysis, carried out by dependent variables spiritual
intelligence (sq), critical existential thinking (cet),
personal meaning production (pmp), transcendent
awareness (ta), conscious state expansion (cse), and
by the independent variable business environment
(pok).
Results show statistically significant differences be-
tween the evolutionary developmental stages of busi-
ness systems, namely by spiritual intelligence (sq),
personal meaning production (pmp), and conscious
state expansion (cse). The Tukey hsd post hoc test
showed that the differences are statistically signifi-
cant between the working environment and the learn-
ing environment, and between the learning environ-
ment and the conscious environment at spiritual in-
telligence (sq), personal meaning production (pmp),
and conscious state expansion (cse). There were no
differences between the averages of critical existential
thinking (cet) and transcendent awareness (ta).
Table 3 shows correlations between spiritual intel-
ligence (sq) and its factors critical existential think-
ing (cet), personal meaning production (pmp), tran-
172 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Table 2 One-Way anova – Differences in Spiritual
Intelligence by Work Environments
Item () () () () ()
sq (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
Sum  . . .* –, –
cet (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
Sum  . . ns
pmp (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
Sum  . . .***–, –
ta (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
Sum  . . ns
cse (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
Sum  . . .** –, –
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) sample size,
(2) average, (3) standard deviance, (4) variance ratio,
(5) – differences between categories after post hoc anal-
ysis. Row headings are as follows: (a) working envi-
ronment, (b) learning environment, (c) thinking envi-
ronment, (d) conscious environment. Displayed are the
dependent derived variables sq – spiritual intelligence,
cet – critical existential thinking, pmp – personal mean-
ing production, ta – transcendent awareness, cse – con-
scious state expansion and the independent variable pok
– business environments, which has four values: work-
ing environment, learning environment, thinking environ-
ment, and conscious environment. The Tukey hsd test
was used for the post hoc analysis. *p < 0.05, **p <
0.01, *** p < 0.001, ns – no statistically significant differ-
ences.
Table 3 Correlations between the Variable Business
Environments and Spiritual Intelligence
Item pok sq cet pmp ta cse
pok –
sq .** –
cet . .** –
pmp .** .** .** –
ta .* .** .** .** –
cse .** .** .** .** .** –
Notes N = 601. Displayed are the derived variables sq
– spiritual intelligence, cet – critical existential thinking,
pmp – personal meaning production, ta – transcendent
awareness, cse – conscious state expansion, and pok –
business environments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
scendent awareness (ta) and conscious state expan-
sion (cse), and the derived variable business environ-
ments (pok).
Results show a statistically significant positive cor-
relation between the derived variable business envi-
ronment (pok) and spiritual intelligence (sq) and
its factors personal meaning production (pmp), tran-
scendent awareness (ta), and conscious state expan-
sion (cse).
Visible are also positive intercorrelations between
spiritual intelligence (sq) and its factors critical exis-
tential thinking (cet), personal meaning production
(pmp), transcendent awareness (ta), and conscious
state expansion (cse).
Table 4 shows the results of the one-way variance
analysis, namely the statistically significant differences
between genders. The table shows that by spiritual in-
telligence (sq), critical existential thinking (cet), per-
sonal meaning production (pmp), and by transcen-
dent awareness (ta) women had statistically signifi-
cantly higher average scores, except by the last vari-
able, namely the business environment (pok), where
men had higher scores on average.
Table 5 shows the results of the one-way variance
analysis, namely between the levels of education. The
table shows that there are statistically significant dif-
ferences between levels of education by spiritual in-
telligence (sq), personal meaning production (pmp),
conscious state expansion (cse), and by business en-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 173
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Table 4 One-Way anova – Differences by Variables
between Genders
Item () () () ()
sq Male  . .
Female  . .
Sum  . . .***
cet Male  . .
Female  . .
Sum  . . .***
pmp Male  . .
Female  . .
Sum  . . .**
ta Male  . .
Female  . .
Sum  . . .***
pok Male  . .
Female  . .
Sum  . . .***
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) sample size, (2)
average, (3) standard deviance, (4) variance ratio. Displayed
are only the items where statistically significant differences
were found. Displayed are the variables sq – spiritual in-
telligence, cet – critical existential thinking, pmp – per-
sonal meaning production, ta – transcendent awareness,
cse – conscious state expansion, and pok – business envi-
ronments. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
vironment (pok). In the table we can see that the par-
ticipants who scored the highest average spiritual in-
telligence had also achieved the third Bologna level of
education. The same applies to the variable personal
meaning production (pmp) and to conscious state ex-
pansion (cse). These are the variables that refer to
spiritual intelligence. The results also show that the
highest average score by depersonalization (dep) were
achieved by those with a secondary level of education,
while those with the first level of education scored the
highest on average by business environment.
Table 6 shows the correlation between spiritual in-
telligence (sq) and its factors critical existential think-
ing (cet), personal meaning production (pmp), tran-
scendent awareness (ta), conscious state expansion
(cse), and two dimensions of business environments.
Table 5 One-Way anova – Differences Based on
Achieved Level of Education
Item () () () () ()
sq (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
(e)  . .
Sum  . . .* –, –,
–
pmp (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
(e)  . .
Sum  . . .* –, –,
–, –
cse (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
(e)  . .
Sum  . . .* –, –,
–
pok (a)  . .
(b)  . .
(c)  . .
(d)  . .
(e)  . .
Sum  . . .***–, –,
–, –,
–, –
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) sample size,
(2) average, (3) standard deviance, (4) variance ratio, (5)
– differences between categories after post hoc analysis.
Row headings are as follows: (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c)
first Bologna, (d) second Bologna, (e) third Bologna. Dis-
played are only the variables where statistically significant
differences were found, namely sq – spiritual intelligence,
cet – critical existential thinking, pmp – personal mean-
ing production, ta – transcendent awareness, cse – con-
scious state expansion, and pok – business environments.
The lsd test was used for post hoc analysis. *p < 0.05, ***p
< 0.001
174 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
Table 6 Correlation between Two Dimensions of Business
Environments and Spiritual Intelligence
Item d d
sq .** .**
cet . .
pmp .* .**
ta .* .*
cse .* .**
Notes N = 601. Displayed are the derived variables sq
– spiritual intelligence, cet – critical existential thinking,
pmp – personal meaning production, ta – transcendent
awareness, cse – conscious state expansion, d1 – first di-
mension of business environments, and d2 – second di-
mension of business environments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
In the first dimension we have the work and learning
environments and in the second we have the thinking
and conscious environments.
The table also shows statistically significant pos-
itive correlations between spiritual intelligence (sq)
and both dimensions of business environments.
Also statistically significant and positive are corre-
lations between personal meaning production (pmp),
transcendent awareness (ta) and conscious state ex-
pansion (cse) and both dimensions of business envi-
ronments.
Discussion
The paper shows two separate concepts, which at first
sight have nothing in common. But if we look closely,
we can see that they have at least one common denom-
inator – the human. The human is the one who asks
himself whether there is only one type of intelligence
built into him, or are there more, and whether or not
he is more or less spiritually intelligent. And the hu-
man is the one who enabled us to be asking ourselves
about different developmental stages of business sys-
tems and be able to research them.
With the survey we wanted to research the poten-
tial relationship between a human’s spiritual intelli-
gence and the developmental stages of business sys-
tems. We wanted to know whether spiritual intelli-
gence is different regarding the developmental stages
of business systems. That is why we established two
hypotheses that relate to the connections between the
factors of spiritual intelligence that, according to King
and DeCicco (2009), are critical existential thinking
(cet), personalmeaning production (pmp), transcen-
dent awareness (ta), conscious state expansion (cse),
and the developmental stages of business systems,
which are: working environment, learning environ-
ment, thinking environment, and conscious environ-
ment (Bulc, 2006).
Obtained data shows that spiritual intelligence is
connected with various developmental stages of busi-
ness environments. The data also shows that through
developmental stages of business systems the intensity
of spiritual intelligence differs.
The first hypothesis predicted that the connection
between spiritual intelligence and business systems is
positive. A higher average level of spiritual intelligence
would therefore be in higher developmental stages of
business systems. This can mean two things. One, ac-
cording to the asa theory (Schneider, 1987), themore
spiritually intelligent people attract each other and stay
in developmentally higher business systems, or two,
the developmental stage of a business system has an
effect on an employee’s average level of spiritual intel-
ligence. Results showed that the lowest developmen-
tal stage of business systems – the working environ-
ment – does not correlate with spiritual intelligence
and its factors. The correlation between spiritual intel-
ligence and its factors are first evident with the learn-
ing environment and then continue in the next two de-
velopmental stages – the thinking and the conscious
environment. But the results are not consistent in a
sense that the higher developmental stages of the busi-
ness system would point to higher average develop-
mental stages of spiritual intelligence. This is shown by
the correlation between spiritual intelligence and the
learning business environment, which is also statisti-
cally more reliable than correlation of spiritual intel-
ligence with the thinking and the conscious business
environments. Extra evidence for this can be found in
the factor critical existential thinking, where the statis-
tically significant correlation was evident only by the
learning business environment (Table 1).
The answer to this question is given to us in Table
2, where it can be clearly seen that, on one hand, the
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 175
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
second hypothesis must be partly confirmed, because
spiritual intelligence significantly differs by individ-
ual developmental stages of business systems. On the
other hand, the differences can be attributed to only
two dimensions. In one we have the work and learning
environments and in the second we have the thinking
and conscious environments (Table 6).
The results also showed statistically significant dif-
ferences in the level of spiritual intelligence (sq) by
individual developmental stages of business systems –
F(3.540) = 3.415, p = 0.017. Differences can also be seen
by individual factors of spiritual intelligence (see Table
2), by certain variables, between genders (see Table 4),
and between the achieved levels of education (see Ta-
ble 5).
Such research has not been done yet, which is why
there is no comparable data. But we can say that,
roughly, our findings are in compliance with King’s
(2008) and King’s and DeCicco’s (2009) findings, as
well as with the findings of Yang and Wu (2009). The
latter two also state that social systems have an influ-
ence on spiritual intelligence.
Both the above-mentioned concepts – spiritual in-
telligence and development of business systems – are
individually important for the human being, which we
proved in a broad sense in this paper.
As with every research, even this one has room for
improvement. It is based on the assumption that we
will get enough informationwith the snowballmethod
that will, on the one hand, be useful for understand-
ing and concluding and, on the other hand, that this
datawill reflect the actual state of the spirit, beliefs, and
the aspects of the surveyed phenomenon. Of course,
the number of participants can be understood in two
ways, especially in a time of saturation, with more or
less felicitous andmore or less professionally evaluated
questionnaires, which are everything but a contribu-
tion to the already known.On one hand, there are peo-
ple who wanted to participate and, on the other, there
are people who are interested in the topic.
It is different with our questionnaire. We have
meticulously designed in accordance with the the-
ory. We also done a pilot survey on a sample of stu-
dents, which showed that we are on the right path
and that the instrument for measuring spiritual in-
telligence is actually valid, reliable, objective, and in
accordance with King’s (2008) published data. Never-
theless, a word on executing random sampling with
big-enough samples is in order.
Future surveys on the topic should also address
limitation of the sample being opportunistic and self-
selective. In this context also, a distribution of demo-
graphic data of the sample does not allow generalisa-
tions – we recommend at least a poststratification of
gathered data.
We see the limitation of our research in the ele-
ments which are based on electronic data collection.
But the electronic data collection is also an advantage,
as it is more economic in regards to saving money and
time.
This contribution is therefore a theoretical and em-
pirical upgrade to the concept of spiritual intelligence
within the evolutionary development of business sys-
tems. It took place in the Slovenian cultural space,
which, in the sense of international comparison, rep-
resents a contribution to science.
The research has limitations. Therefore, we can
summarise that the results aremostly indicative – they
point to connections of spiritual intelligencewith busi-
ness systems and indicate that the spiritual intelligence
of participants in different business environments is,
indeed, different.
Our set research problem could therefore be ex-
panded in ways by connecting with stress, burnout,
and other negative consequences of life and working
in business systems. In this context it would be sensi-
ble to researchwhether stress has an influence on spir-
itual intelligence, is spiritual intelligence a catalyst for
stress, and how are these relations in context with in-
dividual developmental stages of business systems.
Despite the limitations mentioned, our research is
important. Not only for the individuals but also for
business systems and leaders of these systems.
As Zohar andMarshall (2000) state, spiritual intel-
ligence is the highest level of human intelligence and
as such also combines classical intelligence and emo-
tional intelligence. Positive influences of classical and
emotional intelligence are well established in literature
(e.g. Goleman, 1995; Ciarrochi et al., 2001; Shen et al.,
2008; Mayer et al., 2008); in addition we could learn
176 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Fadil Mušinovi Spiritual Intelligence and Business Environments
some aspects of spiritual intelligence (Zareei & Sedr-
pooshan, 2015). If that is true, then leaders in all busi-
ness systems should train to heighten their spiritual
intelligence and consequently be better leaders, which
will in addition change interpersonal relationships be-
tween employees and between employees and leaders
and that should lead in two directions. First in more
advanced business systems, and second in a higher de-
gree of spiritual intelligence of working individuals.
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Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 177

Original Scientific Article
Professional and Organisational Commitment
in the Hospitality Sector
Marjetka Rangus
University of Maribor,
Faculty of Tourism, Slovenia
marjetka.rangus@um.si
SrđanMilošević
Educons University,
Faculty of Sport and Tourism, Serbia
srdjan.milosevic@tims.edu.rs
Iva Škrbić
Educons University,
Faculty of Sport and Tourism, Serbia
iva.skrbic@tims.edu.rs
Bojana Radenković-Šošić
Educons University,
Faculty of Sport and Tourism, Serbia
radenkovicbojana@gmail.com
Jože Hočevar
Terme Čatež d.d, Slovenia
joze.hocevar@terme-catez.si
Mladen Knežević
Libertas International University,
Faculty for International Relations
and Diplomacy, Croatia
mknezevic@libertas.hr
The purpose of the study is to examinewhether two differentwork commitment pro-
files influence service quality in the hospitality sector in Slovenia and Serbia and how
the implications of the differences can be used in the tourism and hospitality indus-
try. Combining a qualitative and quantitative approach, two new instruments were
developed for this study. The first instrumentwas created on the basis of short, struc-
tured interviews with employees. Two factors explaining the two different commit-
ment profiles were determined with statistical analysis and with the method of clus-
tering, four dimensions of commitment profiles formingwere extracted. The second
instrument was developed on the basis of existing evaluation forms for employees
in the tourism industry and interviews with leading and middle managers of hotels.
The findings of the study show that there is a small proportion of professionally-
oriented employees in the tourism sector, and the difference among employees is
evident in the ranking of working values. These results could be useful for managers
in planning and organising their human resources and also in planning further de-
velopment of their companies’ human resource policies. The original contribution
of the article is the ranking of working values and the perception of quality work by
employees in the hospitality sector. The study also reveals new evidence on different
types of commitment profiles.
Keywords: tourism, hospitality, organisational commitment, professional
commitment, human resources management
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.179-191
Introduction
There is a widely-accepted opinion in academic and
professional circles that the tourism and hospitality
sector does not provide an optimum environment for
successful career building and professional growth.
Research in the field of hospitality offers different ex-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 179
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
planations for this phenomenon. The tourism and
hospitality industry records high employee turnover
rates (Iverson & Deery, 1997; Hjalager & Andersen,
2001; Baum & Thompson, 2007; Hussey et al., 2010;
Karatepe & Shahriari, 2014; Kim, 2014), such that
turnover is often acceptable and is understood to be
the norm (Iverson & Deery, 1997). One reason for the
lack of good, stable careers in the sector is that tourism
and hospitality jobs involve long working hours, espe-
cially during weekends and holidays, sometimes ex-
treme working and weather conditions, stress and de-
mands, as well as special attitudinal norms, which are
in the domain of personal character traits rather than
skills and knowledge (seeHussey et al., 2010;Hussey et
al., 2011; Mackenzie & Kerr, 2013; Lee, 2014). Employ-
ment in the hospitality industry is expected to grow
more slowly in the coming years (Baum, 2015; Dogru
et al., 2019).
Research (Ap & Wong, 2001; Brown et al., 2011;
Kim, 2014) shows that good working conditions and
career opportunities are crucial for building stable em-
ployment and the development of professionalism.
Employees respond to high levels of organisational
support with high levels of organisational commit-
ment and psychological attachment, obligation, and
loyalty (Brougham & Haar, 2018). These also play a
part in the execution of excellent tourism service,
resulting in keeping customer loyalty. Also, organi-
sational culture and values are an important part of
career development perceptions and employee struc-
ture, since they attract people with similar values, be-
liefs, knowledge, skills and abilities (Gorenak & Fer-
jan, 2015). Human potential is increasingly recognized
as an essential asset for organisations (Silva & Mar-
tins, 2016). However, Hjalager and Andersen (2001)
suggest that, because of the high fluctuation of work-
ers in the industry, low-skilled jobs and low rates of
relevant tourism education among tourism employ-
ees, the tourism sector is a border market for human
resources that shares a pool of possible employeeswith
many other sectors that offer better salaries and career
opportunities. According to Hjalager and Andersen
(2001), tourism jobs tend to be temporary solutions
for new employees in the workforce or in times of
economic crisis, which together with the often sea-
sonal nature of the jobs explains the high turnover
rate in the sector. It is important to point out that high
turnover rates and lack of professionalism are not only
confined to developing countries or countries in tran-
sition (Baum, 2007).
Previous research in the field also shows that em-
ployees who have had professional tourism education
tend to change jobs less frequently than those who
have not or have different qualifications (Hjalager &
Anderson, 2001). Moreover, people with previous job
experience in the sector tend to develop a more pro-
fessional attitude towards their jobs (Kim, 2014).
Employees with elevated levels of turnover inten-
tions have low morale, deliver poor service and erode
service recovery efforts, which in the end have an im-
pact on guests and can result in bad reviews, com-
plaints and finally loss of guests (Ap & Wong, 2001;
Karatepe & Shahriari, 2014). Satisfied, stimulated and
professional employees in the service sector are thus
crucial to all service industries and should be a main
concern of hospitalitymanagement (Brown et al., 2011;
Ineson et al., 2013; Karatepe & Shahriari, 2014).
To assure high quality of service, tourism compa-
nies should be aware of the importance of human re-
sources management and should strive for optimal
employee profiles in the business. In order to deter-
mine what type of work commitment profiles predict
quality of service, we set up two hypotheses:
h1 Employees who have high professional commit-
ment will perform their tasks better.
h2 Employees who have high professional commit-
ment are more likely to have had a proper edu-
cation relevant to the job they are doing.
Theory
Research in the field suggests that employees have dif-
ferent types or profiles of work commitment. The lat-
est research on employee commitment profiles shows
that commitment profiles have substantial temporal
stability and do not change easily over time (Kam et
al., 2016). Research indicates that different forms of
work commitment are connected to job involvement
and quality of service (Gouldner, 1957; 1958; Carson et
al., 1999; Cohen, 1999; Sinclair et al., 2005; Kam et al.,
180 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
2016). In his pioneer study on different types of loy-
alty, Gouldner established that over the years employ-
ees in an organisation develop different types of loyalty
or commitment to their work (Gouldner, 1957; 1958).
Gouldner’s research suggests that employees have two
types of loyalty orientation. The first group of employ-
ees (locals) tend to be more committed to organisa-
tions they work in and their local subgroup in the or-
ganisation. They are high on loyalty to the employing
organisation and low on commitment to specialized
skills (Gouldner, 1957). The second group (cosmopoli-
tans) of employees tend to be high on commitment to
specialized role skills, low on loyalty to employing or-
ganisations and likely to use an outer reference group
orientation (Gouldner, 1957), thus they aremore likely
to be mobile and pursue their careers in other organi-
sations.
Later research on work commitment has resulted
in different models of commitment forms (see Randal
& Cote, 1991; Meyer &Allen, 1997; Carson et al., 1999).
In accordance with Gouldner, four committed (Car-
son et al., 1999) profiles of workers have been identi-
fied, thus answering Gouldner’s dilemma of whether
both types of loyalty can be recognised in one person
(Carson et al., 1999). Morrow (1993), in her research,
determines five universal forms of work commitment,
which are relevant to many employees. These foci of
work commitment are affective commitment to or-
ganisation, continuance commitment to organisation,
career commitment, work ethic and job involvement
(see Cohen, 1999). Morrow’s study suggests the pos-
sible interrelationships among the five commitment
forms. Cohen’s (1999) research on Morrows’ theory
has determined that it is only a presumption that each
of the five forms is an independent construct. Cohen’s
research further shows that job involvement seems to
be the key mediating variable in the interrelationships
among work commitment constructs (Cohen, 1999).
In other scholarly literature on work commitment,
professionalism is defined as the predominance of ca-
reer commitment in an employee’s commitment pro-
file compared to other work commitment profiles (e.g.
Blau, 1985; Ellemers et al., 1998; Cohen, 1999). In ty-
pologies where professional commitment is not de-
fined (e.g. Gouldner, 1957; 1958; Randall & Cote, 1991;
Carson et al., 1999), terms like ‘career commitment,’
‘professional commitment’ and ‘occupational com-
mitment’ are used to explain commitment to voca-
tion, career or profession. Morrow (see Cohen, 1999)
connected career commitment to the Protestant work
ethic, suggesting that this is the most stable commit-
ment form, because it is learned through the social-
isation process and is less related to characteristics
of the work setting (Morrow, 1993, in Cohen, 1999)
where one is more narrowly focused on one’s own ca-
reer or vocation. In other research, career commit-
ment is connected to high job withdrawal cognitions,
feelings of self-efficacy, ongoing training and continu-
ing education (Carson et al., 1999). Although the def-
initions have some commonalities and are sometimes
used in all contexts, they should not be interchanged.
According to Blau (1985), career commitment can be
defined as one’s attitude towards one’s profession or
vocation, whereas professional commitment can be
operationalised in terms of the individual’s reluctance
to leave his/her professional role (Thornton in Blau,
1985), i.e. commitment to his/her vocation or profes-
sion. In theory, professionalism and professional com-
mitment is related to outer reference groups, i.e. pro-
fessional associations (Gouldner, 1957; 1958), reading
journals, attending meetings and joining associations
(Price & Mueller, 1981). In the tourism sector, pro-
fessionalism is based on many dimensions, not all of
which can be learned or trained. Hussey et al. (2011)
argue that professionalism in tourism can be concep-
tualised by the following ten dimensions: profession
as a referent group, altruism, belief in self-regulation,
sense of calling, autonomy, body of knowledge, con-
cern for service quality, code of ethics, special skills
and expertise, and professional identity.
Organisational commitment refers to the predom-
inance of one’s attachment to the organisation in one’s
work commitment profile (Ellemers et al., 1998, pp.
717–718). Affective organisational commitment is re-
lated to employees’ emotional attachment to an organ-
isation, the match of personal values and the values
of the organisation and identification with the com-
pany (Ellemers et al., 1998; Cohen, 1999; Sinclair et al.,
2005; Kam et al., 2016). Continuance commitment, on
the other hand, is defined as the perception that the
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 181
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
cost of leaving exceeds the cost of remaining (Elle-
mers et al., 1998; Cohen, 1999; Sinclair et al., 2005;
Kam et al., 2016). Organisational commitment has a
significant direct influence on job performance (Youn
et al., 2018). According to Dhar (2015) organisational
commitment strongly influences the quality of guest
services. Perceived organisational support, such as the
value of contributions and caring about the well-being
of the employee, significantly affects organisational
commitment (Kim et al., 2016).
For the purpose of our research, we needed to de-
velop a new kind of instrument that would differ-
entiate the two types of work commitment profiles
of employees in tourism as extreme poles in work
commitment profile categorisations. This distinction
was first set up by Gouldner (1957). Later, Ellemers
et al. (1998) polarised career oriented-commitment
to team-oriented commitment, of which the latter
proved to be closely related to organisational com-
mitment. Their research has shown that organisa-
tional commitment is stronger among respondents
with longer job tenure and greater work satisfaction
(Ellemers et al., 1998). They have also shown that em-
ployees who are more career oriented are less likely to
help their team colleagues at the expense of their own
work and that those committed to the organisation are
more likely to work overtime (Ellemers et al., 1998).
Another very important finding from their research is
that a certain type of work commitment profile does
not predict task performance ratings (Ellemers et al.,
1998).
This study set out to analyse whether there is a dif-
ference in the quality of work (performance) between
two groups of employees (those who are more com-
mitted to the organisation and those who are more
committed to the profession).
Materials andMethods
In order to realise the objectives of our research, we
used two instruments. In spite of all the provided def-
initions, we decided to take an emic approach to this
research and to establish definitions which would be
understandable and unified to employees participat-
ing in the research. The first instrument was created
to assess whether an individual is more committed to
an organisation in which he or she is employed or to
his/her profession.We assumed that employees would
either be typically committed to their organisation
(both affective and continuance) or to professional-
ism. The second instrumentwas developed to evaluate
the quality of work of employees who participated in
the project.
To establish the two commitment profiles, a new
instrument was designed especially for this project.
To make the instrument as comprehensible as possi-
ble, we made certain that the use of words and defi-
nitions were from the employees’ points of view. Ac-
cordingly, definitions of the two commitment profiles
as explained by the participating employeeswere used.
In the first stage of creating the instrument, we
employed a qualitative methodology. Researchers in
the field were students from the Faculty of Tourism
of the University of Maribor, Slovenia, and young as-
sociates and teaching assistants from the Faculty of
Sport and Tourism in Novi Sad, Serbia. In this way,
we assured the results from culturally diverse back-
grounds in order to avoid local determination of the
results. All interviewers, before conducting fieldwork,
were educated in techniques of conducting interviews
and how to take notes from the interviews – they were
informed that they had to take completely verbatim
notes. Each group was supervised in the field by one
of the researchers. No one needed the intervention of
the researchers.
The interviewers visited various hospitality organi-
sations and asked employees to answer two structured
questions: (1) What are the characteristics of someone
who is committed to her/his profession? and (2) What
are the characteristics of someone who is committed
to the organisation in which she/he is employed? Re-
searchers worked in pairs, with one asking questions
and the other recording the answers verbatim. We did
not want to record conversations for reasons of con-
fidentiality between the interviewers and the employ-
ees. We were aware that some employees might con-
sider the questions and their responses to be threat-
ening to both their relationships with their superiors
and their careers. To minimise any kind of influence
or the interviewees’ discomfort with the process, we
asked students to do the interviews. Interviews were
182 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
Table 1 Dimensions of Indexes Explaining the Factors
Commitment to organisation Commitment to professionalism
Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards guests
Attitude towards co-workers Attitude towards knowledge
conducted with a total of 60 employees. Researchers
recorded a total of 314 responses to our questions.
Next, a panel of researchers was organised where
researchers from the universities, as well as practition-
ers, professionals employed in the hospitality and ho-
tel industry, were engaged. Out of the total collected
statements, we first isolated the ones that were repeti-
tions. In the next step, statements that did notmeet the
purposes of the research were isolated. The remaining
total of 103 claims was prepared for further process-
ing.Of this number, therewere 45 statements related to
commitment to the profession and 58 to commitment
to the organisation inwhich the interviewees were em-
ployed. The statements were formulated in sentences
and an instrument with a 5-point Likert scale was cre-
ated. The sentences were formulated in the first per-
son: ‘I am aware of the importance of team-work.’
To create the final form of the questionnaire, we
offered the instrument to students of various facul-
ties at the University of Maribor (Slovenia), Libertas
Business School of Zagreb (Croatia) and the Univer-
sity Educons in Novi Sad (Serbia). The research in-
cluded a total of 867male and female students. All stu-
dents participated voluntarily. The research was con-
ducted in groups of up to 50 students. Before each
group of students filled in the questionnaires, a re-
searcher from the team gave instructions on how to
use the instrument and each student filled out a ques-
tionnaire individually.
In the first step of the instrument design, we made
a correlation analysis of all statements in the question-
naire. We decided to exclude all claims that did not
reach the value of Pearson’s correlation coefficient of
0.50. In this way, we excluded another 64 statements
from further procedures. The remaining 39 statements
were analysed using principal components analysis.
Four principal components explained 57.35 per cent of
the variance. Following that, we excluded from fur-
ther analysis another seven statements that had not
achieved more than 0.50 communality. Thus, all the
components explained 59.67 per cent of the variance.
The remaining 32 were deployed into two predicting
factors (commitment to the profession and commit-
ment to the organisation).
To achieve the highest internal consistency, each
individual factor was adjusted until we achieved a sat-
isfactory value forCronbach’s alpha coefficient. For the
scale ‘commitment to the profession,’ Cronbach’s al-
pha coefficient was 0.878. The scale consisted of nine
statements. The scale of ‘commitment to the organi-
sation’ also contained nine statements and Cronbach’s
alphawas 0.904. These internal consistencies are satis-
factory for an instrument of this kind (Table 1). Thus,
through our research, the two types of commitment
were determined by two clusters of indexes. The com-
mitment to the organisation profile was explained by
dimensions of ‘attitude towards house rules’ and ‘at-
titude towards co-workers,’ while the commitment to
professionalism profile was explained by the dimen-
sions of ‘attitude towards guest’ and ‘attitude towards
knowledge.’
To assess the quality of employees’ performance,we
used an improved instrument, routinely used for this
purpose, in one of the largest Slovenian hotel compa-
nies. Standard instruments for assessing the quality of
service were not included, since they only assess the
service from the guests’ points of view and do not give
any information on employees’ attitudes in an organ-
isation or they are too complex to be used in such a
study. The basic instrument was supplemented with
the criteria suggested by the groups of managers in
various tourist organisations. The instrument evalu-
ated the following categories on a Likert scale from 1
to 5 (Table 2).
The final instrument for employees consisted of
18 statements and some demographic questions. The
statements were put in random order to minimise the
influence of previous statements on the rating of the
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 183
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
Table 2 Categories Evaluated by the Managers
1 Communication
2 The ability to participate in a team
3 Respect for colleagues
4 Ingenuity, continuous search for solutions
5 Ability to innovate
6 Compliance with superiors
7 Organisational skills
8 Self-initiative
9 The ability to transfer problems to their superiors –
are able to propose solutions
10 Flexibility
11 Loyalty to the company, identify with the vision of the
company
12 Tidiness and accuracy
13 Knowledge of complete range of businesses offered
14 Professionalism on the job
15 Care for the guests (kindness, knowledge of service,
potential appeals to service
participants’ next statements. The instrument was of-
fered to 249 employees in hotels in Serbia and Slove-
nia. Of all, 66 of them refused to participate. It was
explained to employees that the survey could not be
anonymous, because their performance in the work-
place would be assessed by their direct superiors. In
order to be able to connect both types of data, the em-
ployees had to agree to put their names on the ques-
tionnaires. Employees were assured that the results of
their answerswould not be available to theirmanagers.
Once employees agreed on themethod of the research
and responded to the questionnaires, the names of the
participating employees were submitted to their man-
agers. Managers were asked to rate each employee ac-
cording to the scale presented above. Managers were
presented with special evaluation forms for each em-
ployee.
Results and Discussion
The vast majority of our respondents were female,
which approximates the situation in the tourism sec-
tor in Slovenia and Serbia. This industry is dominated
by the female population. In our sample, there were
Table 3 Employees’ Education
Type of education f 
Unknown  .
High school  .
College education  .
University or equal professional education  .
Master of Science or higher  .
Total  .
slightly more women than men, but this fact did not
affect the general statistical impression.
Most employees had secondary education (Table
3). The number of employees with college or university
education was relatively high. This result differs from
the educational structure that is typical for this sector,
which has been shown to have a relatively lower edu-
cational level. As stated, in our sample, the proportion
of employees with higher levels of education was un-
expectedly high. There are probably two explanations
for this situation. First, in the participating countries,
in the past 10 years, there has been a great stimulation
of education by the government, especially of higher
education. This expansion has occurred in both the
private and public education sectors. The second rea-
son could be attributed to the period of economic cri-
sis, which is why many highly educated people work
in jobs that are far below their educational qualifica-
tions. This is particularly evident in the fact that 66
per cent of employees with secondary education and
44 per cent of employees with higher levels of educa-
tion do not work in the professions they are educated
for. Exceptions are employees with college education
who work mostly as managers. Only 27.3 per cent of
them work in jobs that they are not educated for.
In our study, 54.6 per cent of the respondents were
currently working in jobs for which they were not
properly educated. In the Slovenian and Serbian ed-
ucation system, the field of hospitality is inflexible and
students are educated in only a few very traditional oc-
cupations. There is little variability and therefore stu-
dents are not trained to adapt to business conditions
that are dynamically changing. On the other hand,
the hospitality industry has never set standards and
184 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
demands for specific forms of education in the sec-
tor, which leaves the question of professionalism in
tourism open. Closely related to this argument is the
case of the private sector and small tourism businesses
that avoid hiring educated employees because, accord-
ing to state work legislation, employers should provide
them with better salaries.
The average age of the participants, 37.65 years, in-
dicated a relatively low level of employment dynamics.
The average number of companies where they were
employed was 2.48, which is another proof of the rel-
ative immobility of the workforce in the sector. The
youngest participant in our research was 19 years old
and the oldest 62 years. Almost 76 per cent of the em-
ployees had worked for 3 or even fewer organisations,
which indicates low turnover rates. This fact, not com-
monly referred to in the tourism sector, can be at-
tributed to a specific working culture and ethic stim-
ulated by the previous socialist regime. Kalleberg and
Stark’s (1993) research shows that employees in social-
ist economies are not primarily concerned with their
careers, compared to their us colleagues. Vodopivec
(2014), in her interviews with workers and directors of
a textile company in the socialist regime in Slovenia,
reports on the importance and intentional building of
company loyalty and solidarity among co-workers.
Low labourmobility has proved to be related to tra-
ditionalism in family relationships. Thus, in our study,
among employees who had 5 years’ working experi-
ence, 71 per cent of those were not married and stated
their marital status as ‘single.’ In the group where em-
ployees had 5–10 years of experience, the number of
unmarried employees was 31 per cent and the num-
ber of employees who were married was 59 per cent.
Changes of employment in small communities with
these conditions can be highly complicated and risky,
because there aremany factors that are sometimes im-
possible to reconcile with each other. Small commu-
nities offer very limited employment opportunities,
as there are only a small number of companies and
therefore low dynamics of the workforce. For example,
unfavourable working hours and childcare is a partic-
ularly important factor. However, what is probably an
equally important contributor to relatively low labour
mobility is the conviction of almost 60 per cent of our
respondents that they had the possibility of advancing
in their companies. This idea was rejected by the re-
maining nearly 40 per cent of respondents (38. 8 per
cent). In contrast to this view, almost half of the re-
spondents (46 per cent) claimed that they were think-
ing about leaving their companies. The share of those
respondents with families was fully equal to those who
were single or divorced. When it came to thinking
about leaving their current companies, there were an
equal proportion of those who were employed for an
indefinite period and those who were employed for a
limited time.
Results of the assessment of the level of commit-
ment to the profession and commitment to the organ-
isation were more than surprising. In many studies of
the labour force in this profession, it has been pointed
out that people working in the tourism sector are those
who prefer social contact andwho therefore tend to be
more professionally oriented. In our study, only 17 re-
spondents or 9.3 per cent were somewhat to a greater
extent committed to their profession than to the or-
ganisation in which they were employed. Thus, asym-
metric data makes further statistical analysis more or
less meaningless.
Nearly 60 per cent had completed high school,
which was completely in line with the educational
structure of the respondents in the sample. Most of
them were in the between 29 and 36 years age group.
In this age group, we found that 41 per cent of those
were more committed to their professions than the
organisations. So this was a group with solid life expe-
rience, and also solid work experience, who obviously
had a strong desire to advance in their professional de-
velopment. Among them, there were an equal number
who had families and thosewho did not yet have them,
which is surprising to some extent.
Although the theory states that commitment to
profession has different roots, it also suggests that em-
ployees with higher levels of professional orientation
will place a primacy on work in their lives (Blau, 1985).
This is also related to the belief that individuals can
influence or control their careers. More than half of
them said that their companies did not provide for
systematic additional professional education. Again,
awareness of the importance of life-long learning ex-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 185
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
periences and additional professional qualifications is
expected from those employees who rank higher on
professional commitment, since they are looking for
something more than just a job. Almost 60 per cent of
them had already considered leaving their companies
and wanted to find a good grounding for their profes-
sional ambitions elsewhere, which is also in line with
previous research in the field, suggesting that with-
drawal cognition predicts career or professional com-
mitment (Price &Mueller, 1981; Blau, 1985; Ellemers et
al., 1998; Carson et al., 1999).
Results of the research confirmed some previous
hypotheses on work commitment profiles. When po-
larising work commitment types, according to Gould-
ner’s division, only 9.3 percent of employees could be
defined as clearly high on professional commitment
andmore than 90 percent were high on organisational
commitment. Since we did not analyse all other types,
namely dually committed and uncommitted, we can
only assume that there was also a large proportion of
those among those interviewed. Results also suggest
that there were only a handful of those whowere really
dedicated to their professions in the hospitality sector,
which perhaps has alarming implications for quality of
service in Slovenia and Serbia.
Along with the studies of Price and Mueller (1981),
Blau (1985), Ellemers et al. (1998) and Carson et al.
(1999), we found that in the tourism sector organisa-
tional commitment is related to job tenure and age.
But, surprisingly, the tourism sector in Slovenia and
Serbia does not report high turnover rates, as seems to
be the case all over the world, since the participants in
the research worked in fewer than 3 companies on av-
erage andmany of them had worked in the same com-
pany all their work life. Nearly 20 per cent of respon-
dents (18.8 per cent) had remained with their original
companies.
When the participantswere divided into groups ac-
cording to the quintiles, themajority of those who had
never changed companies were from the oldest group
of respondents. 84 per cent of the members of the old-
est group had changed a maximum of 2 companies or
had not changed companies at all. This again indicates
very low labourmobility in this sector.Here, it is worth
mentioning that in the group of those who appeared
to be somewhat more committed to their professions
than to the companies, there was almost no one who
had not changed companies (only 1 person). Members
of all age groups were equally prone to move from one
company to another. This tendency changes a little
bit more intensively in the second quartile with those
members of the group who had an average of between
8 and 15 years of work experience. Although on the
basis of our results we cannot make generalisations,
it seems that mobility is statistically slightly higher
with those who were more committed to their profes-
sions than to the organisations in which they work.
This is again in accordance with previous findings,
because commitment to a profession also means seek-
ing the best possible conditions for professional devel-
opment.
As previously mentioned, this can be explained by
the specific historical influence of the socialism regime
ideology, as ethics lie in organisational loyalty and
community solidarity and not in the endeavour for
individual and successful careers.
Research also shows the need for a more structural
and strategic approach to the system of formal educa-
tion for tourism professions, as already pointed out by
Hussey et al. (2011). In spite of high overall levels of
education, there is still an evident lack of proper ed-
ucation for tourism vocations at all levels. According
to our findings, more than half of employees also re-
ported that tourism companies themselves do not pro-
vide for additional training, i.e. they do not express
very much interest in additional training for their em-
ployees and are not yet aware of the importance of pro-
fessional knowledge and skills for their front-line em-
ployees.
Data on individual performance ranking bring
some other interesting evidence to consider. Due to
the extreme asymmetry of distribution, there is no
justification for the statistical comparison of the two
groups. But if the item from the structured question-
naire is treated as the value associated with the work,
it makes sense to analyse the hierarchy of these val-
ues. Average values and their standard deviations are
shown in Table 4.
Both groups of employees, those who were com-
mitted to their companies and those who were com-
186 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
Table 4 Comparison among the ranks of Some Items
Item Organisation Profession
() () () () () ()
I do my work fairly. . . . . . .
I try to be friendly and kind to the guests. . . . . . .
I am aware of the importance of good team work. . . . . . .
I try to be good at my work. . . . . . .
The company can rely on me. . . . . . .
I try to do my work with utmost quality. . . . . . .
At work, I try to be in a good mood. . . . . . .
I am always neat at work. . . . . . .
My attitude is the same in the pres. of sup. and when they are not around. . . . . . .
I believe I know how to serve a guest. . . . . . .
I respect the instructions of superiors. . . . . . .
I have good relations with my colleagues. . . . . . .
I strive for improvements of work organisation and work processes. . . . . . .
I work in my profession with enthusiasm. . . . . . .
I enjoy my work. . . . . . .
I constantly train for my profession. . . . . . .
I invest in my knowledge in my free time. . . . . . .
I work together with students on their res. papers and practical education. . . . . . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) rank, (2) mean, (3) standard deviation.
mitted to their professions, put the same two values on
the first two places. These are the values of fairness at
work and kind and friendly attitudes towards guests,
which in a way are universal values in the hospital-
ity industry. In general, we can say that those groups
who were more committed to their companies ranked
higher in values associated with respect for the rules
of the company, while the groups of dedicated profes-
sionals highlighted individual values showing enjoy-
ment of the work being performed and education for
the job. Thus, for example, the item ‘I enjoy my work’
was ranked in 15th place by those who were dedicated
to their organisations, but 5th by those who were ded-
icated to their professions. It is important to note that
constant training for the job was essentially assessed
differently by the two groups. Those who were more
committed to their profession put far more value on
education than those who were committed to the or-
ganisation. The organisation clearly represents a col-
lective identity in which it is necessary to respect the
rules of the collective.
Occupation, on the other hand, represents a per-
sonal relationship to work, and the constant improve-
ment of knowledge and skills reflects the relationship
towards oneself and one’s profession. As a result, the
latter group may neglect teamwork, ignoring the im-
portance of collective rules. For them, the general rules
of the profession are more important than the partic-
ular rules of their company. Those who aremore com-
mitted to the profession assign less importance to the
instructions of superiors, but at the same time behave
the same whether superiors are present or not. It is a
good reflection of their relationship to the profession
in which they work.
If we list the items according to the four dimensions
presented in Table 1, we see another interesting distri-
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Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
Table 5 List of Dimensions of the Items Rated by Employees
Commitment to the organisation Commitment to the profession
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards respecting the house rules
 Attitude towards guests Attitude towards guests
 Attitude towards co-workers Attitude towards guests
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards guests Attitude towards guests
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards co-workers
 Attitude towards co-workers Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards guests Attitude towards respecting the house rules
 Attitude towards respecting the house rules Attitude towards respecting the house rules
 Attitude towards co-workers Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards respecting the house rules
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards knowledge
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards co-workers
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards respecting the house rules
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards co-workers
 Attitude towards knowledge Attitude towards respecting the house rules
bution of values connected to the work. In the group
of employees who tend to be more committed to the
organisation, all the items connected to attitudes to-
wards knowledge are put in the last 6 places (see Ta-
ble 5). In the first half of the values, only two, those
connected to attitudes towards guests, can be found.
Similarly, concerning the first half of the items of em-
ployees who tend to be more committed to the profes-
sion, only two items connected with attitudes towards
respecting the house rules and co-workers are found.
Also, it is evident that employees who tend to be more
committed to the profession rate the values connected
to knowledge and guests higher than the other group.
They also put all three items, which express attitudes
towards guests, in the first half of the values. Again, it
is important to stress that both groups rate the same
items as the majority and consider them to be of the
same importance. Of the two, one is connected to at-
titudes towards respecting house rules and the other
with attitudes towards guests.
Testing the Hypotheses
Our first hypothesis, that employees who are higher on
professional commitment will get better performance
ratings, must also be rejected. As indicated by Elle-
mers et al. (1998), our research shows no relationship
to any type ofwork commitment. Thus, we can say that
the type of work commitment does not predict per-
formance ratings. There were few differences between
the two types of commitment, according to specific di-
mensions of the measure.
The only difference between the two types of work
commitment was seen in the category of innovative-
ness, where employees with higher levels of profes-
sional commitment were rated statistically better than
the others. This result seems logical but is again sur-
prisingly different fromEllemers et al.’s researchwhere
they report that contextual performance, which they
understand to be initiative or enthusiasm, is related to
the dimension of commitment to teams of co-workers
(Ellemers et al., 1998). The latter has been exposed as
188 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Marjetka Rangus et al. Professional and Organisational Commitment
a dimension of commitment to organisation in our
study.
Related to our second hypothesis on relationship
between the type of commitment and proper educa-
tion for tourism we can hardly draw any conclusion
because the distribution of data is asymmetrical. It is
interesting that of those who were more committed to
the profession, 13 of them are women. As many as 16
of them had more than 5 years of experience, so these
were peoplewhohad good insights into the profession.
About half of them were educated in a profession in
which they work, which made them virtually indistin-
guishable from the majority of respondents. Accord-
ing to this result, we can reject our hypothesis that em-
ployees who are higher on professional commitment
are more likely to have the proper education for the
job in which they work.
Conclusion
Research on different forms of work commitment pro-
files shows that characteristics of profiles are not uni-
form all over the world. The study demonstrates that
cultural and societal dimensions on the micro level of
the globalised hospitality sector influence work com-
mitment profiles, which, as in the case of Slovenia and
Serbia, may differ from work commitment profiles in
other parts of the world. The study also points out the
relatively modest number of those employees in the
hospitality sector who are more committed to their
professions than to the organisations. However, the
only statistically proven difference between the two
profiles in this research is the category of innovative-
ness, so we can say that employees who rank highly
on professional commitment are slightly more inno-
vative than those who are more committed to the or-
ganisation. Research also shows that instruments and
criteria usually used for assessing the quality of work
of employees do not necessarily apply to all profes-
sionally oriented employees. Further development of
assessment criteria is needed.
Another point that is evident from the results of
the research is the fact that professionals in the hos-
pitality sector differ to some extent from profession-
als in other fields in that they have the same educa-
tional background as those employees who are more
committed to their organisations. Furthermore, there
is also the same proportion of those who have families
in both groups of employees.
The most interesting information on the two types
of commitment profiles is the ranks of values con-
nected to the work. Those employees who are more
professionally oriented ranked the items on the list
more carefully and there is a smaller difference be-
tween the highest and the lowest rank of items than in
the group of more organisationally-oriented employ-
ees. The least important work values for this group
proved to be respecting instructions and having good
relationships with colleagues, while items connected
with high quality of work (being in a good mood
and constant training in the profession) were ranked
3rd and 4th place. These results could be useful for
managers in planning and organising their human re-
sources and also in planning further development of
their companies’ human resource policies. On the ba-
sis of the results of the research, we can assume that
the type of work commitment profile that is more ded-
icated to an organisation is better suited for big organ-
isations or hotel resorts where respect for rules and
strict organisation is necessary for providing high lev-
els of service. On the other hand, we can assume that
employees who are more professionally oriented can
better perform in working environments where they
can express their creativity and where deviation from
specific arrangements is even desirable. The instru-
ment for assessing the individual level of work com-
mitment profile could be used in the process of a cadre
selection, helping managers find optimal work posi-
tions for their employees and vice versa.
The research, however, leaves room for further
study on differences between the profiles and the char-
acteristics of both profiles. Also, there is another field
open for research, namely assessing the quality of
work performance. The instrument used in this study
proved to be inadequate for measuring all the cate-
gories of work quality and thus more research needs
to be done in order to develop new measures.
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Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 191

Original Scientific Article
Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
Mitja Petelin
Vocational College of Hospitality and Tourism Maribor, Slovenia
mitja.petelin@vsgt-mb.si
Dejan Križaj
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies Turistica, Slovenia
dejan.krizaj@fts.upr.si
The purpose of the article is to get an insight into the content of thewebsites of Slove-
nian four- and five-star hotels and, based on the set criteria, to determinewhichweb-
sites are more utilized than others. We defined the utilization criteria and analysed
all four and five-star hotels in Slovenia using data clustering analysis. The content
of the websites, analysed in 2017, at the first glance seems diverse, but when com-
paring their content, we concluded that there are nomajor statistical differences. An
important discovery of the research falls on the security ofmost of the analysedweb-
sites – it is very flawed and sometimesmisleading. The potential for interactivity and
gamification remains untapped despite the various recommendations of experts and
academics.
Keywords: website, hotel, Slovenian hotel websites, security
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.193-200
Introduction
The consumer decision-making process in hotel se-
lection is compromised by many different factors; one
of them is how the consumer receives information
(Zabukovec & Čivre, 2012). The latter remains a great
challenge for the hospitality industry and we can per-
ceive it as a hotel website among other things.
Website research is widespread and there are sev-
eral different approaches focusing on hotel character-
istics and utilization, benchmarks of website design
andmarketing, conceptualising website quality, devel-
oping a performance indicator of hotel websites, us-
ability and evaluation, etc.
Website characteristics as an important factor of
measurement and development of appropriate in-
struments (leveraging structural equation modelling)
were discussed in detail by Schmidt et al. (2008). More
revealing was an article of Jeong et al. (2003) which
came to the conclusion (data was collected using elec-
tronic surveys) that the website quality is an impor-
tant antecedent of information satisfaction. The re-
search results suggested that hoteliers should adopt
a more strategic approach to the Internet, preparing
the ground for direct contact with customers. Under-
standing hotel websites via strategies pursued by hotel
websites in correlation of the hotel size and the website
proved that significant relationships were not identi-
fied (Escobar-Rodríguez & Carvajal-Trujillo, 2013).
Focusing on performance among the luxurious,
mid-priced, and budget hotel websites revealed signif-
icant differences among them (Chung & Law, 2003),
which was further supported with research in web-
site attribute utilization and effectiveness for hotels of
various class levels (using the Star Rating system ap-
proach) (Musante et al., 2009).
Research with a focus on marketing showed that
hotels are not utilizing the internet to its full potential
and effectively e-marketing their hotels regardless of
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 193
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
the hotel type (Baloglu & Peckan, 2006). Approach-
ing the problem via benchmarking and analyzation
(over 200 different websites criteria) revealed signif-
icant differences in website tools across hotel category
and size, but no differences across geographic or lin-
guistic region (Schegg et al., 2002). The geographical
aspect could be further discussed since Ping-Ho et al.
(2013) used content analysis and the eMica model, re-
alising that hotels in Asia hadmore features than those
on other continents.
Usability as a very important factor of a hotel web-
site was researched using a heuristic technique and
showed no significant difference among luxury, mid-
priced, and economy hotels (Yeung & Law, 2006), but
this does not mean that mid-priced and economy ho-
tels are more informative than luxury ones, since class
cluster analysis, bivariate analysis and the Chi-Square
methodological approach proved otherwise (Díaz and
Koutra, 2013).
Establishing a link between quality and profitabil-
ity of websites was established by Yang et al. (2014)
via two stage dea (ccr and bcc) methodology, but
it was concluded that it is difficult to obtain detailed fi-
nancial information from individual companies, there-
fore such a research approach should be reserved to
organisations that have direct access to financial data.
The presented theoretical and practical insights
have enabled us to consider an appropriate model and
taxonomy for evaluating websites of Slovenian four
and five-star hotels. Our goal was to get insights into
thewebsites and to determinewhichwebsites aremore
utilized than others on the basis of the set criteria. We
were also looking for research outcomes that would
give useful insights for practitioners. For achieving
those goals, we had to:
• create the utilization taxonomy,
• collect information about all Slovenian four- and
five-stars hotels and their websites,
• try to determine which Slovenian hotels have the
most utilized websites.
Methodology
We decided to use and adapt a methodological ap-
proach developed by Križaj et al. (2014) as a part of the
scientific article ‘A Tool for Measurement of Innova-
tionNewness andAdoption and Tourism Firms,’ com-
bining a quantitative and qualitative methodological
approach. The model combines three research prob-
lems, (1)measuring newness levels and the adoption of
tourism innovations, (2) developing taxonomy allow-
ing the calculation of correct innovation newness lev-
els and (3) statistical analysis of innovation adoption
in tourism destinations. The advantage of the model
is its flexibility and architecture, which enables the ad-
dition of various elements of a tourist company, in our
example, of a website.
Their basic mechanism originates from the in-
troduction of all the necessary descriptive attributes
of innovation in tourism companies. They created a
database of the adopted innovations and classified and
calculated similarities between companies through a
data clustering approach. Clusters were represented by
a dendrogram in which individual companies stood
out based on their more innovative products and pro-
cesses. The authors collected the data of 351 tourist
companies in Slovenia in the two most widely spread
daily Slovenian newspapers, the most widely read
weekly business newspaper, five professional tourism
journals, three portalsmanaged by the SlovenianTour-
ist Board, and the national tv web portal. Data col-
lection covered publications from 1 January 2007 to 1
June 2010. The first step in the processing of data was
(1) an appropriate description of the tourist compa-
nies’ adopted innovations, by means of which (2) the
differences between the companies were defined, fol-
lowed by (3) calculating, displaying and analysing the
differences.
Taxonomy was an important part of the research
model since it is the key to the correct calculation of
the differences between the adopted innovations in
tourism companies. The flexible development of the
research information input interface allowed ongoing
reorganisation or reclassification of the innovation at-
tributes they have used and eventually changed during
the taxonomy scheme optimisation process and data
entry. The data, organised with the help of the devel-
oped taxonomy, enabled the statistical analysis of the
introduction of innovations in tourist companies.
The presented approach was reused in our paper in
194 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
Table 1 Website Utilization Taxonomy
Category Subcategory Further subcategories
Experience Fulfilment On-line booking, sliding photos, high quality photos, hotel video, 3d panoramic
view, brochure, website search, etc.
Personalisation Changing the colour of the website, costumisation of the website.
Gamification Games, sweepstakes, quiz, etc.
Information Feedback and
support for users
Confirmation messages, calendar of hotel activities, faq, live chat, check-in and
check-out information, web forums, history of the hotel, newsletter, etc.
Contact information E-mail, telephone, location, fax, contact form, Google Maps or similar, Skype
Security Safe payment systems (https).
Multimedia and
interactivity
Attractive graphics, sounds, videos, gifs, animations, smart devices applications, etc.
Multilingualism en, de, ru, it, hr, etc.
Marketing Advertising ‘Best Price’ guarantee, Green Globe Certificate, Congress Star, Zlati sejalec 2010,
Trip Advisor Travelers Choice 2015, special hotel offers and packages, etc.
Social media Share page option, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, blog, etc.
Loyalty programmes Kempinski discovery, ihg rewards club, le club accord hotels, best western awards,
etc.
ota’s Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Expedia, Agoda, Hotels.com, etc.
Destination Weather Weather forecast, temperature, extraordinary weather conditions
Events Festivals, conferences, symposium, visits of important persons, calendar of local
events, etc.
Transport Road conditions, public transport, nearby airports, taxi, other forms of transport
Sights History and or description of destinations, attractions, natural and cultural
specialties
Local products Gastronomic local specialties, special crafts, special products and services
order to determine which websites of Slovenian four-
and five-stars hotels aremore utilized than others. The
main difference in our case is the different content we
were analysing: adoption of different types of websites’
content. As in the case of Križaj et al. (2014), we also
used a cluster analysis technique (Ferligoj, 1988). Clus-
ter analysis is a task of grouping a set of objects in such
a way that objects in the same group are more similar
to those in other groups (Gan et al., 2007).
Our taxonomy consists of nominal variables or uti-
lization categories, which we defined in Table 1. We
merged some of them into groups based on similarity.
Each category can have several levels of subcategories.
We have chosen the ones that we can objectively mea-
sure. In solving the problem of grouping we also had
to use intuition to narrow down the possible choices
and options as recommended by Ferligoj (1988).
We used a hierarchical joining method in order
to present the groups in the dendrogram (Ferligoj,
1988), created based on the Jaccard index matrix of
differences between the websites. The Jaccard’s index
(sometimes called the Jaccard similarity coefficient)
compares the similarity and variety of data sets (in
our case, tree leaves, since every website is presented
as a tree of its utilization categories and subcategories).
Jaccard’s index is the ratio of the number of common
tree leaves divided by the number of all common leaves
and all the different leaves on two trees (Jaccard, 1912).
By calculating the distances between all pairs of hotel
websites, we got a matrix of distances (a comparison
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 195
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
of sequences) that shows the levels of similarities be-
tween the trees.
To determine the taxonomy for website utilization
categories and subcategories, we have largely used
the article ‘A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making
model to evaluate the hotel website’ of the authors Ak-
incilar and Dagdeviren from 2014. They created an
advisory board composed of academics, businessmen
and experts to determine categories. The purpose of
the board was to identify and evaluate categories col-
lected from various publications that affect the quality
of the website. Academics were selected from a variety
of disciplines such as tourism, engineering, manage-
ment, and the economy, and experts from successful
hotels were added to the mix.
Akincilar and Dagdeviren (2014) identified cate-
gories focusing on (A) user, (B) technology, (C) mar-
keting, (D) security, and (E) other, where they in-
cluded everything they could not include in the cat-
egories A–D. After reviewing Akincilar and Dagde-
viren’s categories for the purpose of our research, we
have made some modifications to reflect the actual
website content in our study dataset.
The categories in Table 1, representing our web-
site utilization taxonomy approach, are based on the
mbsc (‘modified balanced scorecard’) scheme and
Akincilar and Dagdeviren’s (2014) categories, enhan-
ced with insights and findings from Yeung and Law
(2004), Ping-Ho et al. (2013), Yang et al. (2014), Díaz
and Koutra (2013) and Bastida and Huan (2014).
The category experience is based on how the user
experiences the hotelwebsite and consists of three sub-
categories (fulfilment, personalisation and gamifica-
tion). Fulfilment is seen as the option of online book-
ing, sliding photos and their quality, panoramic and
3d views, brochure, website search features and other
similar aspects.
The information category is directed towards how
hotel information is presented and how detailed it ac-
tually is (does it include feedback and support, contact
information, security in terms of online payment and
https protocol, language support and interactivity).
The marketing category compromises features that
could be described as advertising (different certifi-
cates, recognitions, special offers and packages), so-
cial media presence, different loyalty programmes and
presence on different Online Travel Agencies (book-
ing.com, hotels.com, etc.).
The destination category is more focused on the
destination itself including weather, events, transport,
sightseeing opportunities and local products.
Results
We obtained a list of 346 Slovenian hotels, as available
on June 4, 2017, from the eCategorization web registry
(www.slovenia.info). Out of 130 four- and five-star ho-
tels we found in the list we excluded four hotels that
were closed or their website was not working on the
selected day. The survey sample therefore covers 126
hotels (n = 126), of which 116 are four-star hotels and
10 are five-star hotels.
A more in-depth presentation of the sample is as
follows:
• Number of hotels in each of the Slovenian statis-
tical regions: 23 Gorenjska, 5 Goriška, 10 South-
East Slovenia, 1 Koroška, 23 Obalno-Kraška, 16
Osrednjeslovenska, 10 Podravska, 8 Pomurska, 4
Posavska, 2 Primorsko-Notranjska, 24 Savinjska.
• Superior: 32 yes, 93 no.
• Hotel type: 20mountain, 7 castle/mansion/estate,
6 gaming, 1 cave, 10 lake, 29 city, 20 seaside, 34
spa/thermal.
• Hotel chains: 3 Best Western Premier, 2 Euro-
tas hoteli, 1 Marriott Four Points by Sheraton, 7
hit/hit Alpinea, 1 Hotel Lek, 2 Hotel Sava Ro-
gaška, 3Hoteli Bernardin, 1 ihg/Intercontinental
Hotels & Resorts, 6 Istrabenz turizem, 3 jgz
Brdo, 2 Relais & Châteaux, 2 Remisens Hotels &
Villas, 3 Rimske terme, 9 Sava turizem, 2 Terme
Dobrna, 9 TermeKrka, 5 TermeMaribor, 2 Terme
Olimia, 2 Thermana, 4 Union hoteli, 4 Unior.
After categorisation of all 126 hotels and running
data clustering analysis we got one statistically signif-
icant cluster and two trees that do not belong to it.
These two websites had the least characteristics or fea-
tures that we have categorised (Hotel 002 had 20 and
hotel 054 had 9 characteristics. The average of charac-
teristics of all hotels is 30.7). Despite the high level of
196 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
similarity of all other hotels in the statistically signifi-
cant cluster, we looked more closely into the five most
diverse sub-clusters 1–5.
Cluster 1
The cluster 1 websites are Grand Hotel Toplice Bled,
Hotel Park, Hotel Golf, Grand Hotel Primus, Ho-
tel Izvir, Hotel Radin, Hotel Livada Prestige, Hotel
Ajda and Hotel Termal. All hotels are owned by the
company Sava Turizem, d. d., which has a general
website template for all of their hotels. There are no
significant differences between these websites, only
minor alterations (for example a special offer or a
prize/recognition that a hotel in the chain has, and
not others), which is no surprise.
Cluster 2
The websites of cluster 2 are Hotel Krka, Hotel Šmar-
jeta, Hotel Svoboda, Hotel Kristal, Hotel Vital, Hotel
Sport, Hotel Balnea and Hotel Vitarium. All of the ho-
tels are owned by the company Terme Krka, which,
similar to Sava Turizem, d. d., has a general website for
all of their hotels except Grand Hotel Otočec, which
has its own website structure and content. Neverthe-
less, the calculated difference was small.
Cluster 3
Cluster 3 sites belong to three different hotel chains:
• Hotel Sava Rogaška (Hotel Zagreb, Grand Hotel
Sava),
• Rimske terme (Hotel Zdraviliški dvor,Hotel Rim-
ski dvor, Hotel Natura, Hotel Sofijin dvor),
• Unior (Hotel Vital, Hotel Atrij, Hotel Planja).
The reason is the considerable generic characteris-
tic of their chosen websites’ structure.
Cluster 4
Cluster 4 sites belong to two hotel chains:
• hit/hit Alpinea (Hotel Kompas, Ramada Hotel
& Suites, Ramada Resort),
• TermeMaribor (Hotel Piramida, Hotel Habakuk,
Hotel Bolfenk, Hotel Arena, Hotel Bellevue).
There is also no major difference between the abo-
ve-mentioned hotel websites. It again seems that hotel
websites are very similar in spite of their diverse own-
ership.
Cluster 5
Cluster 5 sites belong to two hotel chains:
• Istrabenz Turizem (Hotel Apollo, Mind Hotel
Slovenia, Hotel Mirna, Hotel Neptun, GrandHo-
tel Portorož, Hotel Riviera),
• Terme Olimia (Hotel Breza, Hotel Sotelia).
Again, there are nomajor differences between them. It
is more than obvious that hotel chains have standard-
ised websites when it comes to content.
Discussion
We have selected a set of criteria that define the uti-
lization of hotel websites through various sources and
literature and prepared an extensive list of four- and
five-star Slovenian hotels and their websites, and pro-
cessed data using developed taxonomy and existing
data clustering methodology, which, at the end, pro-
vided us with relatively generic data. Hotel websites
seem much different at first, but after comprehensive
research and in-depth analysis, we can draw a con-
clusion that they are very similar. There are no ma-
jor and statistically significant differences between the
analysed websites. The presented research was exten-
sive since taxonomy development and categorisation
of 126 hotels was time-consuming.
Although the initial quest gave no other statistically
significant answer than that the hotels’ website utiliza-
tion in Slovenia is very uniform, several other findings
were gathered through the analysis and categorisation
of the used (and missing) websites’ functions divided
into three areas: security, gamification, and interactiv-
ity and multimedia.
Security
The biggest and most interesting conclusion is the
challenging security of Slovenian four- and five-star
hotel websites. Security is a big part of tourism and
must be upheld on all levels, not to mention the sen-
sitivity of the relationship between security, human
rights, pleasure, discretion, and integrity (Mekinc &
Bončina, 2006, p. 14).
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 197
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
When booking a room, tourists submit a lot of per-
sonal information (name, surname, contact, address,
phone number, gender, bank details, etc.). The https
url address gives us muchmore security than http.
Our research showed that, in the time window of our
research from 26 June 2017 to 2 October 2017, 62 ho-
tels (49 of all analysed hotels) did not use the https
protocol. The situation is serious and one would ex-
pect that this kind of security malfunction would be
spotted in smaller private hotels. But it is the opposite.
Smaller hotels often use booking systems for online
travel agencies (for example, booking.com) that are in-
stalled as plug-ins on the site and have state-of-the-art
security protocols. Bigger Slovenian hotel chains, that
were mostly included in our research, develop their
own booking engines that, as shown, lacked appropri-
ate security in almost half of the cases in 2018.
On the positive side and due to the European Data
Protection Regulation (gdpr), effective from 25 May
2018, and the Slovenian Personal Data Protection Act
(Jadek & Pensa, 2019), the security situation has chan-
ged a fewmonths after our research. On 14 April 2018,
we re-checkedmost of the analysed hotel websites and
foundthat they have changed their booking sites to
https, confirming the need for systematic and regu-
larly updated safety and security legislation in highly
digitalised tourism.
Reviewing the security of hotel website booking
systems showed that on 29May 2020 the vast majority
of the analysed websites were using https protocol
when making a reservation but approximately 18 of
the hotel websites landing pages (some of the websites
are not accessible any more) are still using the vulner-
able and outdated http protocol.
Gamification
Gamification can be understood as an activity that
combines the mechanisms of games and prizes in or-
der to motivate users and thus increase the customers’
interest in the hotel and consequent loyalty (Lucassen
& Jansen, 2014). A good example is Starwood Hotels
and Resorts, which linked its loyalty programme with
Foursquare. In this way, the guests collected points
that could be redeemed for special services. Addition-
ally, the ‘ambassador’ (‘the spg Mayor’) was selected
on a monthly basis, encouraging them to share their
experience and advice, thereby increasing their virality
(Mashable, 2011). In 2011, the InterContinental Hotels
Group (ihg) introduced the gamification approach
with the ‘Win It in a Minute’ incentive, allowing users
to compete for free points for ihg’s Priority Club. In
the first two weeks, users played the game 100,000
times and earnedmore than 100 million points. In the
game, there were five questions related to travel, which
had to be answered in a limited time (InterContinen-
tal Hotels Group, 2011). Both presented examples are
considered to be very successful, as they have achieved
very good results and have increased brand loyalty and
visibility.
Gamification features on Slovenian four- and five-
star hotel websites were totally ignored during the
time of the presented research. Even the simple fea-
tures such as sweepstakes were rare, not to mention
more elaborate approaches. There were only 36 four-
and five-star hotel websites (28.5) that had some sort
of sweepstakes. We must emphasise that these were
very simple approaches that can be understood as a
very simple gamification process (for example: send
an email address and participate in a prize game). Per-
haps we can connect the lack of the gamification func-
tions in the analysed hotel websites with the smaller
size of the Slovenian hospitality market.
Interactivity and Multimedia
The definition of interactivity can be understood as
the extent to which users can participate in changing
the shape and content in real time (Steuer, 1992). Im-
portant elements of interactivity are two-way commu-
nication, simultaneity and control (Mollen & Wilson,
2010). The consistency refers primarily to the ability of
the site to quickly provide response or feedback (Yoo
et al., 2010). The possibility of control is understood as
the possibility that the user can choose the time, con-
tent and sequence of communication (Dholakia et al.,
2000). In addition to the above-mentioned basic fea-
tures of interactivity, there is also a possibility of socia-
bility, which allows users to connect with other peo-
ple (chat channels, blogs, online social networks, etc.)
(Macias, 2003).
Our taxonomy categories covered the usage ofmul-
198 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Mitja Petelin and Dejan Križaj Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites
timedia and interactivity of Slovenian four- and five-
star hotel websites. We found that most hotel websites
have plug-ins for various online social networks (some
more, others less), and some also used blogs, which
largely acted as marketing announcements of various
campaigns. We analysed which websites have attrac-
tive graphics, sounds, videos, gifs, animations, web
applications for mobile devices and videos. We found
that only a few websites included sounds or music,
and attractive animation. 21 hotels had a virtual tour
of the premises and only one had a bird’s eye perspec-
tive of the whole property facilities allowing visitors
interactivity (Pule Estate). gifs and animations were
not found on any hotel website, and only 7 hotels had
videos portraying more than just the hotel’s property.
The development of applications for hotel mobile
devices demands a high level of experience person-
alisation, conducting effective dialogue and providing
sufficient resources to customers in order to facilitate
their value creation process (Lei et al., 2019). Such a
process could be a very expensive endeavour, so it is
understandable that only hotels of major international
chains can usually afford it, which was confirmed in
the study (only one hotel in Ljubljana had it). Another
special feature found in our dataset was a hotel with
their own application informing guests about the ski
slopes situation in the vicinity. With all the presented
Interactivity andMultimedia findingswe can conclude
that the area of interactivity of the hotel website in
Slovenia has a lot of development potential.
Conclusion
Our research provides an overview of Slovenian four
and five-star hotels’ characteristics and contents of
their websites for the year 2017. The methodology and
sample of 126 hotel websites provided us with little sta-
tistically significant differences, but revealed a lack of
interactivity and multimedia, gamification leverages
and, foremost, weak protection of user personal data.
The latter seems to be the biggest revelation. Results
of this study are therefore a valuable resource of infor-
mation for Slovenian hoteliers in order to review the
most common weakness and opportunities. Further
research could reassess the condition of the sample
in order to see if hoteliers acted accordingly with the
gdpr (General Data Protection Regulation) require-
ments. Another research opportunity could be more
detailed analysis of website interactivity.
Further recommendations to the Slovenian hotel
industry would be to focus more on digital transfor-
mation (blending physical and digital), mobile appli-
cations and data driven customer experience. The lat-
ter could be described as a transformation trend and
unavoidable future of the hotel industry and customer
experience.
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200 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Original Scientific Article
Travel Motivations as Criteria in the Wellness
TourismMarket Segmentation Process
Ana Težak Damijanić
Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Croatia
tezak@iptpo.hr
The purpose of this paper is to explore travel motivations as criteria in the segmen-
tation process of wellness tourists. Data was collected through a self-complete ques-
tionnaire on a sample of tourists staying in one out of 15 wellness hotels situated in
four wellness tourism regions of the Republic of Croatia. Research was conducted
fromMay through June in 2013. The data were processed using univariate, bivariate
and multivariate statistics. Univariate statistics was used for a general description
of the sample; bivariate analysis was applied to examine the differences among the
clusters, while multivariate statistics was employed in order to determine the factors
underlying the travel motivation construct and to discover the clusters. A total of
nine travel motivation factors were identified by applying the theory of the push and
pull travel motivations (three push motivation factors, and six pull motivation fac-
tors). Push travel motivation factors were labelled as Health trend, Relaxation and
reward, and Novelty; pull motivation factors related to a wellness tourist product
were labelled as Basic wellness, Intangible wellness, and Extra wellness, while pull
motivation factors related to tourist destination were labelled as Cultural and natu-
ral heritage, Entertainment and recreation, and Landscape. Three clusters emerged
by using travel motivation factors as segmentation criteria (high wellness, imma-
terial wellness, and low wellness clusters). Relaxation, wellness infrastructure and
natural resources are important factors in wellness tourism research. However, both
push and pull motivation factors are important variables in distinguishing among
the segments.
Keywords: travel motives, market segmentation, wellness tourists, segmentation
criteria
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.201-213
Introduction
Due to the competitive nature of tourism, tourist des-
tinations and tourism providers must focus their ef-
forts on developing an adequate strategic plan for the
wellness tourism market (Sheldon & Park, 2008). In
order to achieve this, it is necessary to get deeper in-
sights into this market. Market segmentation may aid
in the process of developing an adequate strategic plan.
In general, market segmentation is used in different
fields, e.g. retailing (Segal & Giacobbe, 1994), and the
online game industry (Lee et al., 2004); and different
segmentation methodologies are applied, like ratings
of proposed product design (Sewall, 1978), cost bene-
fit approach (Winter, 1979), purchased-based market
segmentation methodology (Tsai & Chiu, 2004), etc.
It is also widely applied in tourism settings, mostly
with the purpose of determining the profile of tourists
(Tkaczynski, 2009) and often focusing on different
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 201
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
tourists’ special interests like food (Su et al., 2020),
recreation experience (Lee et al., 2018), and wine (Gu
et al., 2018). However, to achieve appropriate results
adequate segmentation criteria need to be selected
(Dolnicar, 2008; Tkaczynski, 2009).
Selection of the segmentation criteria or base is the
first step in the market segmentation process (Dol-
nicar, 2008; Yankelovich, 1964). Different criteria are
used for segmentation purposes (Tkaczynski, 2009)
and this problem is evident even in wellness tourism
(Dryglas & Salamaga, 2018; Mueller & Lanz Kauf-
mann, 2001; Voigt et al., 2011; Mak et al., 2009; Hallab
et al., 2003; Konu, 2010; Kim & Batra, 2009). Namely,
criteria like travel motives (Dryglas & Salamaga, 2018;
Huh et al., 2019), emotions (Sharma & Nayak, 2019),
lifestyle (Konu, 2010; Kucukusta & Denizci Guillet,
2016) and benefits (Koh et al., 2010; Pesonen et al.,
2011) are often used for segmentation purposes.
Wellness tourism is a form of special interest tour-
ism and is considered as a certain niche market. How-
ever, different wellness tourist segments are detected
(Dimitrovski & Todorović, 2015; Dryglas & Salam-
aga, 2017; Koh et al., 2010; Mueller & Lanz Kaufmann,
2001) due to the usage of different variables as segmen-
tation criteria. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to
explore travel motivations as criteria in the segmenta-
tion process of wellness tourists.With this inmind, the
goals of this paper aremainly twofold: (1) to determine
travel motives dimensions of wellness tourists; and (2)
to classify wellness tourists based on their travel mo-
tives. Therefore, this research contributes to theory
and practice by analysing travel motives as criteria in
the segmentation process of one special interest tourist
segment. Furthermore, it highlights the most com-
monly identified travel motivations related to wellness
tourists.
Theoretical Background
Market segmentation was first introduced in litera-
ture in order to make a clear distinction betweenmar-
ket segmentation and product differentiation (Smith,
1956). It includes selection of the segmentation crite-
rion/base, grouping of respondents, and profiling and
managerial assessment of the usefulness of the mar-
ket segments (Dibb, 1998; Dolnicar, 2008). The aim of
market segmentation is to achieve the segments where
members of one segment are as similar as possible to
each other and where members of different segments
are as different as possible (Dolnicar, 2008), thus selec-
tion of the appropriate variables used as segmentation
criteria is crucial.
The market segmentation procedure in tourism
does not differ compared to other industries, how-
ever, due to certain peculiarities of the tourism mar-
ket, the main difference is evident in the segmenta-
tion criteria variables. Variables used as segmenta-
tion criteria are often divided into different categories
(Swarbrooke & Horner, 2007) like geographical (e.g.
region), socioeconomic (e.g. occupation, income),
demographic (e.g. age, gender, nationality), psycho-
graphic (e.g. lifestyle, attitudes, opinions and person-
ality) and behaviouristic (e.g. loyalty, purchase occa-
sion, benefits, user status, attitude). Although these
variables are used in tourism settings as well, an addi-
tional category emerged, i.e. tourism specific segmen-
tation criteria (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2007).
Tourism-specific segmentation criteria includes
variables like purpose of travel, travel motivations,
and benefits received from the travel (Dimitrovski
& Todorović, 2015; Koh et al., 2010). Although travel
motivation is often used for segmentation purposes
(Bieger & Laesser, 2002; Boksberger & Laesser, 2008;
Heung et al., 2001; Jönsson & Devonish, 2008; Kozak,
2002; Sangpikul, 2008), variables in ‘classical’ segmen-
tation criteria categories, like age, gender, education
level, and income, are very often used for segmenting
the tourist market (Tkaczynski, 2009). Therefore, to
gain better understanding of tourist market segments,
more frequent usage of tourism-specific segmentation
criteria is desired, like travel motivations.
Travel motivations are inner drives that cause peo-
ple to take action to satisfy their needs (Hudson, 2008).
In tourism settings they are either analysed by group-
ing them considering different types of travel that
share some common characteristics or by using a be-
havioural marketing approach (Middleton & Clarke,
2001). The former is a more simplistic approach to
travel motivations because travel motivations are pre-
sented in a very straightforward way. In contrast, the
latter approach is a more complex one and it encom-
202 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
passes different theories like behavioural theory of
travel motivation, theory of classified purpose, the-
ory of personal and/or interpersonal experiences in
destination settings, theory of personal and/or in-
terpersonal experiences in destination settings, etc.
(Awaritefe, 2004; Chang, 2007). However, the theory
of push andpullmotivations is themostwidely applied
motivation theory within the behavioural approach
and it will be examined in this paper.
The theory of push and pull motivations distin-
guishes between two main groups of factors that mo-
tivate tourists to travel: push factors and pull factors.
Push factors refer to internal forces that motivate or
create a desire to satisfy a need to travel, while pull fac-
tors are recognised as destination attributes (Kozak,
2002; Lubbe, 2003). Both groups of motivation fac-
tors are delineated by various dimensions, e.g. escape
(Crompton, 1979; McGehee et al., 1996; Uysal & Ju-
rowski, 1993; Yoon&Uysal, 2005), relaxation (Cromp-
ton, 1979; Kozak, 2002; McGehee et al., 1996; Suni
& Pesonen, 2019), education (Crompton, 1979; Yoon
& Uysal, 2005), heritage and culture (Kozak, 2002;
McGehee et al., 1996; Uysal & Jurowski, 1993), and
comfort (McGehee et al., 1996). Health preservation
and promotion may also be a travel motivation di-
mension. Additionally, preservation and promotion of
one’s health is one of the oldest motivators in tourism
(Swarbrooke & Horner, 2007).
Health as a travel motivation resulted in the cre-
ation of health tourism. Wellness tourism is regarded
as a subcategory of health tourism and tourists whose
prime aim is preserving or promoting their health
are labelled as wellness tourists (Kim & Batra, 2009;
Mueller & Lanz Kaufmann, 2001). Wellness tourists
are usually interested in various programmes and
treatments centred on health preservation and pro-
motion, e.g. natural agents, exercise, anti-stress pro-
grammes, therapy, and beauty programmes (Andri-
jašević & Bartoluci, 2004), although they may also
include aspects like spirituality, and social interac-
tion (Smith & Puczkó, 2009). Therefore, the wellness
tourist segment can be very heterogeneous.
The twomain reasonswhy the wellness tourist seg-
ment is so heterogeneous are the numerous elements
that can constitute a wellness tourist product (Chi, Chi
& Ouyang, 2020; Smith & Puczkó, 2009) and different
segmentations basis (Chen et al., 2013, Dimitrovski
& Todorović, 2015; Dryglas & Salamaga, 2017; Hal-
lab, 2006; Kucukusta &Denizci-Guillet, 2016; Mueller
& Lanz Kaufmann, 2001). Different wellness tourist
product elements like natural agents, exercise, anti-
stress programmes, therapy, beauty programmes (An-
drijašević & Bartoluci, 2004) may result in different
sub-segments, e.g. demanding health guests, and in-
dependent infrastructure users (Mueller & Lanz Kauf-
mann, 2001). Chi et al. (2020) have proposed a con-
ceptual framework for wellness hotels that focuses
on three main domains: physical wellness (fitness fa-
cilities and workout opportunities), mind wellness
(mind wellness activities and education programmes),
and environmental wellness (clean environment and
healthy environment). Additionally, usage of different
variables, e.g. lifestyle, travelmotivations, and benefits,
also yields different sub-segments (Azman & Chan,
2010; Hallab, 2006; Konu & Laukkanen, 2009; Mak et
al., 2009).
The push and pull motivation theory is also used
for analysing the travel motivation of wellness tourists
in general (Bennett et al., 2004; Hallab, 2006; Konu
& Laukkanen, 2009; Mak et al., 2009; Mueller & Lanz
Kaufmann, 2001), examining the link between travel
motives, and satisfaction and behaviour intentions
(Kim et al., 2017; Lim et al., 2016) and for determin-
ing different sub-segments (Dimitrovski & Todorović,
2015; Dryglas & Salamaga, 2017; 2018; Huh et al., 2019).
In analysis of travel motivation in wellness tourism,
certain scholars have examined both the push and
the pull travel motivation factors (Azman & Chan,
2010; Hallab, 2006), only push travel motivation fac-
tors (Dimitrovski & Todorović, 2015; Dryglas & Sala-
maga, 2018; Huh et al., 2019; Koh et al., 2010; Konu &
Laukkanen, 2009; Lim et al., 2016; Mak et al., 2009;
Voigt et al., 2011) or only pull travel motivation factors
(Chen et al., 2013; Dryglas & Salamaga, 2017; Mueller
& Lanz Kaufmann, 2001).
By examining both push and pull travel motiva-
tions, Hallab (2006) found five push motivation fac-
tors (healthy living, excitement, education, indulgence
and escape) and five pull motives (health and fitness,
hygiene and the environment, history and nature, vig-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 203
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
ilance and health, and arts and urban luxury), while
Azman andChan (2010) identified three pushmotiva-
tion factors (escape – relay and pamper, destress/time
out, and regeneration) and two pull motivation factors
(tangible resources and marketing image). Focusing
exclusively on pull travelmotivation, Chen et al. (2013)
identified eight pull motivation factors (Personnel ser-
vices, Health promotion treatments, Environments,
Healthy diet, Relaxation, Social activities, Experience
of unique tourism resources, Mental learning), and
Dryglas and Salamaga (2017) found four pull motiva-
tion factors: Natural resources, Cultural and natural
environment, Spa/Wellness infrastructure and Social
and political environment.
However,most of the research regarding travelmo-
tivation of wellness tourists focused on push motiva-
tion.With push motivation in mind, Mak et al. (2009)
discovered five push motivation factors (friendship
and kinship, health and beauty, self-reward and indul-
gence, relaxation and relief, and escape); Konu and
Laukkanen (2009) determined seven push motiva-
tion factors (self-development, healthy and physical
activity, relaxation and escape, isolation and nostalgia,
nature, autonomy and stimulation, and social status);
Koh et al. (2010) found four push motivation factors
(Social, Relaxing, Healthy, and Rejuvenating); Voigt
et al. (2011) uncovered six push travel motivations
(Transcendence, Physical health and appearance, Es-
cape and relaxation, Important others and novelty, Re-
establish self-esteem, Indulgence); Dimitrovski and
Todorović (2015) detected six push motivation fac-
tors (Rejuvenating, Socialization and excitement, He-
donism, Obsession with health and beauty, Relax-
ation, Escape); and Lim et al. (2016) determined four
push motivation factors (Relaxation and rest, Self-
exploration, Accessibility, and Novelty). In their fur-
ther work regarding wellness travel motivation, Dry-
glas and Salamaga (2018) focused on push travel mo-
tives and have determined four factors (spiritual and
medical care, entertainment and networking, relax-
ation, and aesthetics). Huh et al. (2019) suggest three
new wellness push motivations, namely tourism fac-
tor, prevention factor and treatment factor.
In summary, there is no consensus related to the
travel motivation dimensions, and the main result is
evident in the detection of different wellness tourists
segments, e.g. demanding health guests, independent
infrastructure users, care-intensive cure guests and
undemanding recreation guests (Mueller&LanzKauf-
mann, 2001); escapists, neutralists and hedonists (Koh
et al., 2010); socially active tourists, and self-focused
tourists (Dimitrovski & Todorović, 2015); nature and
culture seekers, spa/wellness seekers, and social con-
tact seekers (Dryglas & Salamaga, 2017): pleasure pur-
suers, healing pursuers and relaxation pursuers (Dry-
glas and Salamaga, 2018); and wellness and treatment
seekers, treatment seekers, and tourism, treatment and
wellness seekers (Huh et al., 2019).
Methodology
The target population included those tourists who vis-
ited hotels offering wellness as an additional tourist
product. This study focused on guests staying in well-
ness hotels because it was a part of a larger research
linking health, travel motives and customer value. The
survey was conducted from May to June in 2013 in 15
hotels situated in a coastal part of Croatia. For the pur-
pose of sampling, a list of hotels that were members of
the Croatian Wellness Tourism Association was ob-
tained. In 2012, a total of 65 hotels in Croatia were
members of this Association, and Croatia was divided
into 10 regions (Table 1). Most of the hotels were situ-
ated in the Istria andKvarner regions (16 hotels in each
region), while the Dubrovnik and Split regions were
second (9 hotels in each region). Hotels were mostly
categorised as four-star hotels (40 hotels), while only
17 hotels had five stars. Therefore, regional dispersion
and hotel category were used in designing the sam-
ple. Hotels situated in four wellness regions, namely
the Istria, Kvarner, Split, and Dubrovnik regions were
taken into account because they had hotels with well-
ness centres categorised as three-star, four-star and
five-star hotels.
In the process of onsite data collection, the re-
searcherwas stationarywhile the respondersweremo-
bile (Veal, 2006). Hotel guests were approached by the
researcher and asked to participate in the survey. The
researcher explained the purpose of the survey, stated
that the survey was anonymous, and handed out a
questionnaire in the appropriate language. Data was
204 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
Table 1 Accommodation Facilities with Wellness Centres
in Croatia in 2012
Region () () () () ()
Istria     
Kvarner     
Dalmatia – Zadar     
Dalmatia – Šibenik     
Dalmatia – Split     
Dalmatia – Dubrovnik     
Lika (Karlovac)     
Central Croatia     
Zagreb     
Slavonia     
Total     
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) number of well-
ness community members, (2) total number of hotels with
wellness centres, (3) three-star hotels, (4) four-star hotels, (5)
five-star hotels.
collected through a self-complete questionnaire. The
questionnaire consisted of 15 questions that were di-
vided into four sections: (1) wellness-related lifestyle,
(2) perceived value, (3)motivational factors and (4) re-
spondents’ characteristics. It was originally designed
in Croatian and then back-translated into English,
German, Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, and Slove-
nian. No changes were made to the original transla-
tions because the only detected differences were in the
usage of different synonyms. As a self-complete ques-
tionnaire was administered, the minimal number of
300 responders was set to satisfy the requirement for
performing a data analysis (Hair et al., 2010).
The data were processed using statistical methods
consisting of descriptive statistics, bivariate and mul-
tivariate. Descriptive statistics was used to provide a
general description of the sample; bivariate statistics
was applied to examine the differences among the clus-
ters, while multivariate statistics was employed in or-
der to determine the factors underlying the travel mo-
tivation construct and to discover the clusters. The in-
dividual items were examined through checks for ac-
curacy of data entry, missing data and distribution.
The cases with the missing values were replaced using
an mcmc method for item imputation. Exploratory
factor analysis was done using maximum likelihood
factor analysis and promax rotationwith an eigenvalue
of 1.00 or more being used to identify potential fac-
tors. Internal reliability was determined by computing
Cronbach’s alpha. Travel motivation factors were cal-
culated as a mean value for each respondent (DiSte-
fano et al., 2009).
The responders were a posteriori grouped based
on the importance they placed on various travel mo-
tivations factors. The number of clusters was deter-
mined by splitting the sample and using the hierarchi-
cal clustering technique. A hundred observationswere
randomly selected. The Ward method, with squared
Euclidean distance, was used to establish the prelimi-
nary number of clusters. A three-cluster solution was
selected on the basis of the largest and most plausi-
ble proportionate change. A non-hierarchical cluster
analysis procedure (k-means) was utilised to finalise
the cluster solutions using the a priori determined
number of clusters. Cluster validation was done us-
ing a one-way anova analysis and five measures that
were not included as travel motivation items (Hair et
al., 2010).
A five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 – to-
tally not important to 5 – totally important) was used
to measure the travel motivation factors’ perceived
importance. Items measuring travel motivation fac-
tors were divided into two main groups based on
the theory of push and pull motivation factors and
were adopted from general travel motivation liter-
ature (tourist destination pull factors) and wellness
tourism motivation literature (push factors and well-
ness tourist product pull factors). A total of 18 items
were used for measuring push factors (Bennett et
al., 2004; Kim & Batra, 2009; Koh et al., 2010; Konu
& Laukkanen, 2009; Mak et al., 2009; Monteson &
Singer, 2004; Pesonen et al., 2011; Voigt et al., 2011).
Pull factors were divided into two sub-groups: well-
ness tourist product and tourist destination. A total
of 24 items were used for measuring the first group of
pull factors (Andrijašević & Bartoluci, 2004; Bennett
et al., 2004; Mak et al., 2009; Mueller & Lanz Kauf-
mann, 2001; Pesonen et al., 2011), while 20 items were
used formeasuring the second group (Awaritefe, 2004;
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 205
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
Table 2 Descriptive Statistics and Results of Explanatory Factor Analysis of Push Travel Motivations
Variables Mean sd Factor  Factor  Factor 
Get in better shape . . .
Health improvement . . .
Feel younger . . .
Weight control interest . . .
Practice healthy lifestyle . . .
Feel healthier . . .
Visit trendy place . . .
Stress release . . .
Escape from everyday life . . .
Reward for hard work . . .
Stay in quiet and peaceful place . . .
Interest in landscape . . –.
Get to know other cultures . . –.
Try new things . . –.
Eigenvalues . . .
Percentage of variance . . .
Percentage of cumulative variance . . .
Cronbach’s α . . .
Crompton, 1979; Heung et al., 2001; Jönsson&Devon-
ish, 2008; Kozak, 2002; McGehee et al., 1996; Yoon &
Uysal, 2005). This list was examined by four tourism
experts to achieve content adequacy (Hinkin et al.,
1997).
Results and Discussion
In all, 548 responderswere used in the analysis.Most of
the responders stayed in four-star hotels in the Istria or
Kvarner region. The proportion of female responders
(56) was slightly higher than that of males (44).
A majority of the responders were between 35 and 54
years of age (48). Most of them had obtained higher
education (68). In general, the responders were em-
ployees (45), 16 were self-employed and approxi-
mately 14 were managers. Most of them were from
Austria (23) and Germany (23), almost 11 were
from the uk, and about 10 originated from Italy.
The most frequent monthly net income was between
€1,000 and €2,000 (38). Almost 65 of the respon-
ders came to the hotel with their partner. About 2/3 of
the responders visited the hotel for the first time, but
most of them (57) had already visited the region.Half
of the responders obtained information about the ho-
tel using the Internet, travel agencies were the second
source of information (35), while recommendation
from friends and relatives was the third information
source (20).
To identify dimensions of push and pull travel mo-
tivation, three exploratory factor analyses were done.
Itemswith loading below0.04 and cross-loadingswere
deleted, resulting in retention of 14 push travel moti-
vations items (Table 2), 17 pull travel motivations for
wellness tourist product items (Table 3), and 15 pull
travel motivations for tourist destination items (Ta-
ble 4).
The push travel motivations means (Table 2) var-
ied from 2.26 (‘Weight control interest’) to 4.26 (‘Stress
release’). Initially five factors were detected, however,
after purifying the scale, three factors representing
206 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
Table 3 Descriptive Statistics and Results of Explanatory Factor Analysis of Pull Travel Motivations: Wellness Tourist
Product
Variables Mean sd Factor  Factor  Factor 
Sauna . . .
Steam bath . . .
Solarium . . .
Massage (traditional) . . .
Range of health amenities . . .
Massage (alternative) . . .
Beauty treatments . . .
Atmosphere . . .
Relaxation . . .
Surroundings . . .
Competence . . .
Tips for back home . . –.
Understanding special needs . . –.
Supervised Sport . . –.
Detoxification . . –.
Tai Chi, Yoga and similar activities . . –.
Mud baths/wraps . . –.
Eigenvalues . . .
Percentage of variance . . .
Percentage of cumulative variance . . .
Cronbach’s α . . .
push travelmotivations formed clear factor structures.
Jointly, they accounted for 51.11 of accumulated vari-
ance, andmost of the factor loadingswere greater than
0.60. They were labelled as Health trend, Relaxation
and reward, andNovelty. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients
were between 0.733 and 0.888. Health trend was com-
prised of different items related to getting healthier
and in better shape. Relaxation and reward included
items like stress release, escape from everyday prob-
lems, and the feeling of being rewarded. Novelty en-
compassed various items regarding learning about
new things. In general, push travel motivations re-
lated to health aspects and luxury were mostly unim-
portant, while those push travel motivations that em-
phasise interest in learning new things, and relaxation
and reward were mostly important to the responders.
The detection of these three push travel motivation
factors are partially supported by the findings of Hal-
lab (2006), Mak et al. (2009), Konu and Laukkanen
(2009), Koh et al. (2010), Voigt et al. (2011), Dimitro-
vski and Todorović (2015), Lim et al. (2016), Dryglas
and Salamaga (2018), and Huh et al. (2019). Relax-
ation as a push motivation factor was the factor most
commonly identified in research regarding wellness
tourists (Dimitrovski & Todorović, 2015; Koh et al.,
2010; Konu & Laukkanen, 2009; Lim et al., 2016; Mak
et al., 2009; Voigt et al., 2011).
The pull travelmotivationsmeans related to a well-
ness tourist product (Table 3) varied from 2.02 (‘So-
larium’) to 4.44 (‘Atmosphere’). Originally four factors
were detected, however, after purifying the scale, three
factors representing pull travel motivations for a well-
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 207
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
Table 4 Descriptive Statistics and Results of Explanatory Factor Analysis of Pull Travel Motivations: Tourist Destination
Variables Mean sd Factor  Factor  Factor 
Variety of architectural styles . . .
Theatre and performances . . .
Cultural heritage . . .
Diversity of attractions . . .
Natural protected areas . . .
Variety of entertainment activities . . .
Entertainment possibilities . . .
Shopping possibilities . . .
Local events . . .
Sports and recreation . . .
Variety of cultural events . . .
Beautiful nature . . .
Ecological preservation of the destination . . .
Climate . . .
Picturesqueness and tidiness of the place . . .
Eigenvalues . . .
Percentage of variance . . .
Percentage of cumulative variance . . .
Cronbach’s α . . .
Table 5 Results of Cluster Analysis
Measures () () () ()
Health trend . . . .***
Relaxation and reward . . . .***
Novelty . . . .***
Basic wellness . . . .***
Extra wellness . . . .***
Intangible wellness . . . .***
Cult. and nat. heritage . . . .***
Enter. and recreat. . . . .***
Landscape . . . .***
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) cluster 1 – im-
material wellness, (2) cluster 2 – high wellness, (3) cluster 3
– low wellness, (4) F-value. *** Significant at 0.001.
ness tourist product formed clear factor structures.
Jointly, they accounted for 58.85 of accumulated vari-
ance, andmost of the factor loadingswere greater than
0.60. They were labelled as Basic wellness, Intangible
wellness, and Extra wellness. Cronbach’s alpha coef-
ficients were between 0.800 and 0.912. Basic wellness
included aspects like massage and sauna; intangible
wellness encompassed various items that correspond
to intangible aspects of a tourist product e.g. atmo-
sphere and interactions, while extra wellness included
attributes like detoxification, Tai Chi, etc. In general,
pull travel motivations related to tangible aspects of
a wellness tourist product, like Sauna, Solarium, Mas-
sages and Steambath, weremostly unimportant, while
the intangible aspects of a wellness tourist product
(competence, relaxation and atmosphere) weremostly
important to the responders. The detection of these
three pull travel motivation factors are partially sup-
ported by the findings of Azman andChan (2010), and
Chen et al. (2013).
The pull travelmotivationsmeans related to tourist
208 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
destination (Table 4) varied from 2.49 (‘Theatre and
performances’) to 4.24 (‘Beautiful nature’). At first,
four factorswere detected, however, after purifying the
scale, three factors representing pull travelmotivations
for tourist destination formed clear factor structures.
Jointly, they accounted for 53.95 of accumulated vari-
ance, andmost of the factor loadingswere greater than
0.60. They were labelled as Cultural and natural her-
itage, Entertainment and recreation, and Landscape.
Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were between 0.767 and
0.877. Cultural and natural heritage was comprised of
different items like theatre, architectural styles, and
natural protected area. Entertainment and recreation
encompassed various activities and objects regarding
entertainment, shopping, and sports. Landscape was
composed of items referring to geographical features
of the tourist destination. The pull travel motivations
were mainly important to responders. However, cer-
tain cultural activities (e.g. museums and exhibitions,
and theatre and performances) and activities related
to tourists’ special interests (like shopping and events)
were marked as rather unimportant. The detection of
these three pull travel motivation factors is partially
supported by the findings of Hallab (2006), Chen et
al. (2013), and Dryglas and Salamaga (2017). Natural
resources were identified as a pull travel motivation in
all three cases.
The travel motivations dimensions were cluster
analysed. The number of clusters was determined by
splitting the sample and using the hierarchical cluster-
ing technique.Ahundred observationswere randomly
selected. The Ward method, with squared Euclidean
distance, was used to establish the preliminary num-
ber of clusters. A three-cluster solutionwas selected on
the basis of the largest and most plausible proportion-
ate change. A non-hierarchical cluster analysis proce-
dure (k-means) was utilised to finalise the cluster solu-
tions using the a priori determinednumber of clusters.
The latter procedure confirmed the three-cluster solu-
tion (Table 5 and Table 6). The identified clusters were
named according to the cluster centroids. Cluster 2
(N = 210), being the largest, represented 38.3 of the
guests staying in wellness hotels, while Cluster 3 (N
= 133) was the smallest and represented 24.3 of the
guests staying in wellness hotels. Cluster 1 (N = 205)
represented 37.4 of the guests staying in wellness ho-
tels. Although the clusters differed statistically in all
nine measures, dimensions that may be considered as
more of an intangible kind stood out, i.e. push moti-
vation factors (Relaxation and reward, and Novelty),
pull motivation factors (Intangible wellness, as well
as Cultural and natural heritage, Entertainment and
recreation, and Landscape). Thus, the clusters were
subsequently named taking into account these vari-
ables.
The guests staying in wellness hotels in Cluster 3
expressed a very low level of importance, or rather
unimportance, related to travel motives in general,
therefore this cluster was labelled as ‘Low wellness.’ In
contrast, the guests staying in wellness hotels in Clus-
ter 2 expressed the highest importance on all travel
motivation dimensions; hence, this cluster was la-
belled ‘High wellness.’ Intangible travel motivation di-
mensions were the variables that differentiatedCluster
1 from the other two clusters, consequently labelling
this cluster as ‘Immaterial wellness.’ The application
of travel motivations in wellness tourism settings re-
sulted in three clusters (high wellness, immaterial
wellness, and low wellness clusters). The number of
identified clusters is in accordance with the findings
of Koh et al. (2010), Dryglas and Salamaga (2017),
Dryglas and Salamaga (2018) and Huh et al. (2019),
who also uncovered three clusters. However, the char-
acteristics of clusters is only partially supported by
the findings of Mueller and Lanz Kaufmann (2001),
Koh et al. (2010), Dimitrovski and Todorović (2015),
Dryglas and Salamaga (2017), Dryglas and Salamaga
(2018) and Huh et al. (2019).
In all, 5 measures related to travel motivations that
were not included in previous analyses were used to
validate the clusters. All of themwere significant, veri-
fying the statistical differences among the clusters and
providing support for the criterion validity of the items
(Table 6).
Conclusion
This paper explores travel motivations as criteria in
the segmentation process of one market niche, more
precisely wellness tourism. A total of nine travel moti-
vation factors were identified by applying the theory
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 209
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
Table 6 anova Results for Cluster Validation
Measures Cluster  Cluster  Cluster  F-value
Mean sd Mean sd Mean sd
Enjoy being pampered . . . . . . .***
Want to have fun . . . . . . .***
Organised short time trips . . . . . . .***
Personalised service . . . . . . .***
Healthy diet . . . . . . .***
Notes *** Significant at 0.001.
of the push and pull travel motivations. Three push
motivation factors of wellness tourists emerged. They
were labelled as Health trend, Relaxation and reward,
and Novelty. A group of motivations related to inter-
est in learning new things, and relaxation and reward
stood out as important motives to wellness tourists
in general, while items related to health aspects and
luxury were mostly unimportant. A total of six pull
travel motivation factors were established; three moti-
vation factors related to a wellness tourist product and
three motivation factors related to tourist destination.
Motivation factors related to a wellness tourist prod-
uct were labelled as Basic wellness, Intangible well-
ness, and Extra wellness, while those motivation fac-
tors related to tourist destination were labelled as Cul-
tural and natural heritage, Entertainment and recre-
ation, and Landscape. Pull travel motivations related
to tangible aspects of a wellness tourist product, pre-
sented through basic and extra wellness factors, were
mostly unimportant, while itemsmeasuring the intan-
gible wellness factor were mostly important to the re-
sponders. The pull travel motivation factors related to
tourist destination were mainly important to respon-
ders. However, certain cultural activities (e.g. muse-
ums and exhibitions, and theatre and performances)
and activities related to tourists’ special interest (like
shopping and events) weremarked as rather unimpor-
tant. By using travel motivation as segmentation crite-
ria in wellness tourism settings three clusters were de-
tected. Theywere labelled as highwellness, immaterial
wellness, and low wellness clusters. The high wellness
cluster placed high importance on all nine travelmoti-
vation factors. Pullmotivation factors related to awell-
ness tourist product were important in distinguish-
ing between the high wellness segment, and immate-
rial and low wellness segments, while pull factors re-
lated to the destination provided differences between
immaterial and high wellness segments, and the low
wellness segment. In contrast, push travel motivations
weremostly important to all three segments, with only
health trend being themotivation factor that stood out
in differentiating between the high wellness segment,
and the other two.
This paper suggests that both push and pull moti-
vation factors are crucial in the market segmentation
process of wellness tourism as a form of niche market.
Relaxation as pushmotivation, wellness infrastructure
and natural resources as pull motivation factors are
important factors in wellness tourism research. How-
ever, push travel motivations related to health issues
are vital in differentiation between segments that are
highly wellness-oriented and those who are less well-
ness oriented, i.e. who are more oriented on achieving
well-being. The findings have certain implications for
tourism managers. This research provides deeper in-
sights into sub-segments of wellness tourists. Thus, in
hotels where awellness tourist product is an additional
tourist product, and not the main focus, there may be
a certain number of guests who are more interested
in intangible wellness aspects like atmosphere, relax-
ation, and surroundings, compared to tangible well-
ness aspects. Thus, they do not place importance on
tangible wellness aspects and are not likely to use ser-
vices like massage, sauna, mud baths/wraps, etc. The
findings also suggest that tourist destination attributes
play an important role for hotel guests who are inter-
210 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Ana Težak Damijani Travel Motivations
ested in a wellness tourist product as well as for those
guests who are more interested in immaterial aspects
provided by the wellness concept.
There are certain limitations of this study. This
study included guests staying in wellness hotels that
offer wellness as an additional tourist product. There-
fore, future research could include hotels and resorts
that are exclusively focused on wellness. This study
was focused on wellness travel motivation and its suit-
ability as segmentation criteria. Therefore, future re-
search may focus on other variables used for segmen-
tation purposes like lifestyle. This research did not
include tourists with disabilities or other medical con-
ditions; therefore, future researchmight focus on these
segments as well. The research was conducted in 2013
and since then certain strategic changes may have in-
fluenced wellness tourism. Therefore, a similar type of
research would be useful to investigate the national
tourism strategies’ impact on wellness tourism, i.e.
wellness hotels.
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Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 213

Original Scientific Article
Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism:
Application of RURALQUAL Model
SuzanaMarković
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Croatia
suzanam@fthm.hr
Jelena Kljaić Šebrek
wyg Consulting Ltd, Croatia
jelenak101@gmail.com
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate service quality and its relation to customer
satisfaction, trust, and behavioural intentions of rural tourism by applying the mod-
ified ruralqual model derived from the original servqual model. The survey
was conducted on a sample of 307 rural tourists in Croatia. A Partial Least Squares
Structural Equation Modelling (pls-sem) was applied in order to analyse the rela-
tionship between the measured constructs. The modified ruralqual model has
been proven as a reliable and valid multidimensional scale that includes 27 items
divided into 5 dimensions. Results indicate that there is a significant positive rela-
tionship between Service quality and Satisfaction as antecedents to Loyalty. The role
of Trust as a mediator between Satisfaction and Loyalty has been proven, but its me-
diation power is rather small. Research results indicate that rural tourismmanagers
and owners paidmore attention to the tangible service quality elements, but in order
to improve overall tourist experience in the future, they should pay more attention
to the intangible service quality elements. The modified ruralqual instrument
should be periodically used as a tool by practitioners and managers for the future
development of rural tourism.
Keywords: service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, rural tourism, ruralqual, pls
sem
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.215-227
Introduction
The importance of rural tourism, which has come un-
der the focus of many researchers, has significantly in-
creased in the last decades (Hurst et al., 2009; Osman
& Sentosa, 2013b). Rural tourismmay be an answer to
the redundant sun and sea concept and an extension
of the main tourist season for many tourist economies
(Grgić et al., 2017). Furthermore, the urban acceler-
ated lifestyle has become very stressful, causing many
tourists to seek calm, rural places surrounded by na-
ture (Kastenholz et al., 2018). Rural tourism presents a
powerful development strategy for rural underdevel-
oped areas as it generates new jobs and increases local
incomes (Choi et al., 2018). The development potential
of rural tourism is huge, but in order to stay compet-
itive and sustainable in the long term, rural tourism
must provide a high level of service quality and sat-
isfaction (Chatzigeorgiou & Simeli, 2017). According
to Rozman et al. (2009), service quality is important
for survival in a competitive market. Satisfied tourists
are more likely to recommend and return to the ru-
ral tourist object. Service quality is a widely researched
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 215
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
concept in the tourism industry, but only a few studies
have measured service quality in rural tourism using
Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling
(pls-sem), including Loureiro and Kastenholz (2011),
Osman and Sentosa (2013a, 2013b, and Kastenholz et
al. (2018).
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine
service quality in rural tourism. Themain research ob-
jectives of this study are: (a) to assess Service quality,
Satisfaction and Loyalty in rural tourism, (b) to eval-
uate the relationship between Service quality, Satisfac-
tion and Loyalty, (c) to estimate the role of Trust as a
mediator between the concepts Satisfaction and Loy-
alty, and (d) to test the reliability of the modified ru-
ralqual model.
The paper is organised in four sections. The fol-
lowing section provides an overview of the recent lit-
erature dealing with the concepts and measurement
of service quality, tourist satisfaction and loyalty, pri-
marily in rural tourism. The next section lays out the
methodology and is followed by the results of the re-
search. The final section discusses main conclusions,
limitations, and future research proposals.
Literature Review
Although there is no unique definition of the term ‘ser-
vice quality,’ most researchers agree that the term de-
fines fulfilment of tourists’ expectations in the focus
of service quality (Gronroos, 1984; Parasuraman et al.,
1985; Lewis & Mitchell, 1990). According to many au-
thors, service quality is a multidimensional concept,
but service quality dimensions should be adapted to
the specific features of a measured service (Babakus &
Boller, 1992).
So far, a wide range of research has been con-
ducted on service quality and a variety of different
measurement models has been developed and tested,
but one of the most popular and frequently used is
the servqual model. servqual was developed by
Parasuraman et al. in 1985. It consists of 22 items
which measure five service quality dimensions: Tangi-
bles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Em-
pathy. The servqual instrument was widely used
for measuring service quality in the tourism industry:
travel agencies (Bigne et al., 2003; Shahin & Janatyan,
2011; Katircioglu et al., 2012; Setó-Pamies, 2012; Ra-
jesh, 2018), hotels (Marković, 2004; Ladhari, 2009;
Marković & Raspor, 2010; Marković & Raspor Janko-
vić, 2013; Kim-Soon et al., 2014;Ounsri&Thawesaeng-
skulthai, 2019), and restaurants (Marković et al., 2010;
Nam& Lee, 2011; Hansen, 2014; Saneva & Chortoseva,
2018). servqual was also used to measure the qual-
ity of rural tourism. For that purpose, a ruralqual
modelwas developed byLoureiro andGonzalez (2008).
The model assesses only perceptions as proposed by
Cronin and Taylor (1994) and consists of 22 variables
divided into 6 factors (Professionalism, Reservations,
Tangibility, Complementary benefits, Rural and cul-
tural environment and Basic benefits). Research on a
sample of 198 rural tourists was conducted in 2008 in
Portugal. The research proved that the lowest-rated
service quality dimension is Rural and cultural envi-
ronment, and the highest-rated dimensions are Pro-
fessionalism, Reservations, Tangibility and Basic ben-
efits.
Satisfaction is also a very frequently-researched
concept in tourism due to its importance for the suc-
cess of tourism business, as a satisfied tourist is more
likely to recommend or rebuy the service (Baker &
Crompton, 2000; Su & Fan, 2011). Satisfaction is, by
most authors, defined as an emotion that a tourist feels
after service consumption or an affective response to
a service (Oliver, 1999; Baker & Crompton, 2000; Zei-
thaml&Bitner, 2003;Umet al., 2006). Tourist satisfac-
tion depends on the level of fulfilment of expectations
and desires (Chen & Tsai, 2007; Osman & Sentosa,
2013a). If a perceived service did not meet expecta-
tions, a tourist may feel dissatisfied.
Loyalty presents the ultimate objective for many
companies as it reduces costs and increases profit
(Almeida-Santana &Moreno Gil, 2018). Most authors
emphasise that loyalty is a positive attitude towards a
destination, a company, or a service (Oliver, 1999; Kim
& Brown, 2012; Setó-Pamies, 2012; Osman & Sentosa,
2013b). The concept of loyalty can be approached from
two different directions: attitudinal or behavioural
(Zeithaml, 2000). Behavioural loyalty results in repet-
itive purchasing behaviour while attitudinal includes
recommending a service or company to others (Zei-
thaml, 2000; Cheng, 2011).
216 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
The concept of Trust has been defined as a tourist’s
‘willingness to rely on tourist attraction operator’s abil-
ity to deliver what has been promised and meet or ex-
ceed the expectation of the tourists which has been
built around of the knowledge about the tourist attrac-
tion’ (Osman & Sentosa, 2013a, p. 14.). Many studies
emphasize that Trust reduces risk and effects future in-
tentions, especially in long-term, strong relationships
with the company (Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002; Yieh et
al., 2007; Loureiro & Gonzalez, 2008).
Studies carried out by different authors have proven
that Service quality, Satisfaction and Loyalty are re-
lated concepts. High quality of service effects tourists’
positive emotions and generates high tourist satis-
faction. Satisfaction, enhanced by Trust, contributes
to Loyalty. Service quality and Tourist satisfaction
have been proven to be the key antecedents to cus-
tomer Loyalty by different studies (Loureiro & Kas-
tenholz, 2011; Oh & Kim, 2017). The mediating effect
of Trust on Loyalty in rural tourism has been proven
by Loureiro and Gonzalez (2008).
The review of selected recent researches on service
quality and related concepts in rural tourism is given
in Table 1. The data show that Service quality, Satisfac-
tion and Loyalty in rural tourism are measured glob-
ally in different tourist countries (usa, Spain, Greece,
Slovenia, Portugal, Malaysia). The authors used quite
large samples, ranging from 103 to 632 respondents.
Most of the researches followed the servqual model
modified to the needs of the services measured, where
the number of factors varied from the original 5 to 8
factors and 22 to 36 variables. The applied statistical
methods primarily include factor analysis and struc-
tural modelling. The observed studies reported a high
level of reliability (>0.70) of applied models. The find-
ings of the research conducted by Choi et al. (2018) in-
dicate that performance exceeds expectations, mean-
ing that rural tourists’ needs are met for all the ob-
served variables. On the other hand, Albacete-Saez et.
al. (2007) proved a negative gap between perception
and expectation in 4 of 5 service quality dimensions.
A positive gap is proved for the dimension Empathy,
and the largest negative gap is recorded for the dimen-
sion Complementary offer.
Furthermore, the previously analysed studies con-
Service
Quality Satisfaction
Loyalty
Trust
H1 H2
H3
H3
Figure 1 Theoretical Framework
firmed that the concepts Service quality, Satisfaction
and Loyalty are related and interdependent. More
specifically, Loureiro and Kastenholz (2011) and Su
and Fan (2011) found that high service quality sig-
nificantly increases tourist satisfaction and confirmed
that satisfaction is the key antecedent to loyalty. Also,
the study of Su and Fan (2011) has proven that there
is no direct relationship between service quality and
loyalty, but only mediated by tourist satisfaction and
trust. Also, this study confirmed that satisfaction is an
antecedent to trust, not the opposite. A study of Peãa et
al. (2012), conducted in Spain, emphasises the positive
effect of the perceived value on tourist satisfaction.Os-
man and Sentosa (2013b) conducted research on ser-
vice quality in rural tourism in Malaysia that proved a
strong direct relationship between service quality and
satisfaction and service quality and loyalty. The same
study confirmed that satisfaction and trust could have
a mediating role between service quality and loyalty.
The findings of the study carried out in Greece by
Chatzigeorgiou and Simeli (2017) confirmed the pred-
icative power of overall service quality and satisfaction
on loyalty. Rajaratnam et al. (2015), in their study on
334 rural tourists inMalaysia, have found that satisfac-
tion is positively and significantly correlated to loyalty.
Although there is no consensus on service qual-
ity attributes, most of the authors agree that initial
servqual dimensions should be adapted to specific
needs of a wide range of rural tourism activities.
Based on the literature review the following hy-
potheses were tested (Figure 1):
h1 There is a positive relationship between service
quality and customer satisfaction.
h2 There is a positive relationship between cus-
tomer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 217
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Table 1 Literature Review of Measuring Service Quality, Satisfaction and Loyalty in Rural Tourism
() () () () () () ()
Albacete-Saez et al.
()
Spain  Service quality  factors,
 items
efa* .
Hurst et al. () usa  Service quality, satisfaction,
loyalty
 factors,
 items
efa .–.
Rozman et al. () Slovenia  Service quality  service quality
dim.,  items
dex –
Fotiadis & Vassiliadis
()
Greece  Satisfaction  items ipa –
Loureiro & Kastenholz
()
Portugal  Service quality, corporate repu-
tation, satisfaction, loyalty
 factors,
 items
cfa,
pls-sem
.
Su & Fan () China  Service quality, satisfaction,
trust, loyalty
 factors sem .–.
Peña et al. () Spain  Perceived value, satisfaction,
loyalty
– sem >.
Osman & Sentosa
(a)
Malaysia  Service quality, satisfaction,
loyalty
 factors, 
items in total
pls-sem .–.
Rajaratnam et al.
()
Malaysia  Destination quality, satisfac-
tion, loyalty
 factors pls-sem .–.
Rozkee et al. () India  Service quality, satisfaction  factors,
 items
regression –
Chatzigeorgiou &
Simeli ()
Greece  Service quality, satisfaction,
future behavioural intentions
 factors,
 items
sem –
Kastenholz et al. () Portugal  Tourists’ arousal, memory,
satisfaction
– pls-sem –
Choi et al. () South
Korea
 Service quality  items ipa** .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) author, (2) country, (3) sample size, (4) measured concepts, (5) number of ser-
vice quality items and factors, (6) methods used, (7) reliability. * Exploratory Factor Analysis, ** Importance Performance
Analysis.
h3 There is a positive mediating effect of trust on
the satisfaction and loyalty relationship.
A literature review indicates that pls sem is an
often-used method in research in service quality in
tourism. According to the results of a study conducted
by Ali et al. (2017), during the period between 2001
and 2015 there were 29 empirical articles published
that applied pls-sem. Out of 29 articles, only 7 were
published up until 2012, and 22 articles were published
from 2013 to 2015, indicating an increasing popularity
of pls sem in recent years.
Methodology
The perceived quality of the rural tourism was mea-
sured using a modified ruralqual model based on
the servqual and the original ruralqual model
(Loureiro & González, 2008) and modified by the
items used in the study of Albacete-Saez et al. (2007).
Modifications include adaptation of the items to the
specific features of rural tourism in Istria. The dimen-
sion Safety was added from the model of Albacete-
Saez et al. (2007). Safety was identified as a very im-
portant service quality aspect during the consultation
process with key tourist stakeholders in Istria (tour-
218 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
ist board and rural tourism managers and owners).
The scale contains 27 items divided into 5 factors
measured on a 7-point Likert-type ordinal scale. The
research conducted in this work used measurement
of perception only as proposed by Cronin and Taylor
(1994).
The survey was conducted from June to September
2017 in central Istria as one of the most developed ru-
ral tourism destinations in Croatia. There were 1,400
paper questionnaires in 4 languages distributed to
tourists staying in 22 rural accommodations. 307 valid
questionnaires were returned (return rate 21.93) us-
ing a convenient sample, meaning that only tourists
who were available and willing to participate in re-
search filled in the questionnaires. Descriptive statis-
tics, factor analysis and Partial Least Squares Struc-
tural Equation Modelling (pls-sem) methods were
performed using spss 20.0 and Smart pls 2.0 soft-
ware to test the research hypotheses.
pls sem became the preferred technique due to its
advantages: accuracy for small sample size, absence of
distributional assumptions and a high degree of statis-
tical power (Hair et al., 2019). It is an appropriate tech-
nique in the case of complex structural models that
include many constructs, indicators, and model rela-
tionships (Hair et al., 2019).
pls sem is based on an iterative combination of
principal components analysis and regression, aim-
ing at explaining the variance of the constructs in the
model (Chin, 1998; Peng, 2012). The advantage of pls
sem lies in simultaneously estimating all relationships
in the model including path coefficients and individ-
ual item loadings of the model, eliminating concerns
about multicollinearity (Henseler et al., 2009).
The model consists of two parts (Hair et al., 2013):
the structural model analysing the relationships be-
tween the constructs (inner model) and the measure-
ment models displaying the relationships between the
constructs and the indicator variables (outer model).
The application of pls sem is a multi-stage approach
that involves three main stages: model specification,
outer model evaluation and inner model evaluation
(Hair et al., 2014). The inner model evaluation as
a last stage is implemented only after the previous
stage proves the reliability and validity of the model
(Henseler et al., 2009). pls-sem relies on a nonpara-
metric bootstrap procedure to test coefficients for their
significance. In bootstrapping, a large number of sub-
samples are drawn from the original sample and used
to evaluate the model (Hair et al., 2013).
This paper presents an evaluation of the structural
model including the relationship between constructs
of service quality, satisfaction, trust and loyalty.
Since pls sem is considered more appropriate for
prediction than covariance-based techniques (Lourei-
ro &Kastenholz, 2011), it has been chosen for the anal-
ysis of future behaviour intentions. Adequacy of mea-
surementwas assessed by evaluating the reliability and
the discriminant validity of the scale. The Partial Least
Squares (pls) approach was employed to estimate the
structural paths coefficients, R2 for evaluation of pre-
dictive power of the model and Q2 for assessment of
predictive relevance, and the Bootstrap technique to
test the hypotheses.
Research Results
The data analysis of socio-demographic data indicates
that there was an almost equal number of female and
male respondents. Out of 307 respondents, 68.32 are
foreign tourists. The majority of respondents are be-
tween 30 and 49 years old (58.17) with a middle or
high school level of education (84.97) and dominant
marital status ‘married’ (48.36). Most of the respon-
dents were visiting the rural destination facility for
the first time (72.04) and travelling with a partner or
friends (55.88). The main tourist motives for visiting
the rural facility are spending time with friends and
family (51.14) and relaxing (40.39). Other motives
include tasting local food, learning about tradition and
culture, and escaping from stress and city noise. The
results of the socio-demographic profile of respon-
dents is shown in Table 2.
The results of the principal components analysis
and Promax rotation method were used to reduce 27
variables to 5 factors (Safety, tourist relations and rural
surrounding, Tangibility and basic demand, Price and
reservation, Professionalism, and Empathy). The com-
munality values of the observed variables are above
0.5, indicating suitability of the items for performing
factor analysis.
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Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Table 2 Respondents Socio-Demographic Profile
Item Group f 
Gender Female  .
Male  .
Total  .
Age Less than   .
–  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
 and above  .
Total  .
Educational
level
Elementary school or less  .
Secondary school  .
University  .
Master or PhD  .
Total  .
Marital
status
Single  .
Married  .
In relationship  .
Other  .
Total  .
Travelling
group
Alone  .
Partner  .
Partner and children  .
Friends  .
Work colleagues  .
Other  .
Total  .
Continued in the next column
Total variance explained in factor analysis is 65.17;
the majority of total variance is explained by the first
factor 42.98 followed by the second factor 9.79,
third factor 5.09, fourth factor 3.85 and fifth factor
3.56.
The first factor, Safety, tourist relations and rural
surrounding, refers to the usage of safety measures, in-
tegration of tourists into the local lifestyle, and offer of
additional activities and events in the rural surround-
Table 2 Continued from the previous column
Item Group f 
Country Croatia  .
Germany  .
Austria  .
uk  .
Italy  .
Slovenia  .
Netherlands  .
Ireland  .
Switzerland  .
usa  .
Hungary  .
Canada  .
Slovakia  .
Denmark  .
San Marino  .
Australia  .
Russia  .
Spain  .
Luxemburg  .
Total  .
Number of
arrivals
First time  .
 to  times  .
More than  times  .
Total  .
Continued in the next column
ing. The second factor, Tangibility and basic demand,
includes attributes like rural facility location, state
of rural facilities, and external and internal decora-
tion. The third factor, Price and reservations, describes
reservation possibilities and accordance of price and
services. The fourth factor, Professionalism, refers to
employees’ appearance and treatment of tourists. The
last factor, named Empathy, includes items regarding
employees’ knowledge of foreign languages and indi-
vidual approach to the tourists. The number of items
varies from 3 to 10 per factor. Factormean scores range
from 5.46 to 6.05 with the highest mean score for the
factor Tangibility and basic demand and the lowest
220 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Table 2 Continued from the previous column
Item Group f 
Travel
motives
Spending time with friends
and family
 .
Relaxing  .
Tasting local food  .
Learning about local tradi-
tion/culture
 .
Escape from stress and city
noise
 .
Beautiful nature  .
Searching for tranquillity  .
Beauty of a place  .
Affordable prices  .
Pleasant atmosphere  .
Learning new skills  .
Other  .
mean score for the factor Safety, tourist relations and
rural surrounding. An overall average mean score for
Perceived service quality is 5.79. The highest mean
score was given to the item The lodging is located in a
calm place (6.28, St. dev 0.89), and the lowest to the
item The Rural establishment observes safety measures
during excursions and complementary activities offered
(5.20, St. dev. 1.53). The overall average service quality
score is relatively high (5.79). The highest score was
given to the dimension Tangibility and basic demand
(6.05) that refers to infrastructure, equipment and dec-
oration. The lowest score was given to the dimen-
sion Safety, tourist relations and rural surrounding
(5.46).
All factor loadings for service quality items are
significant with the value above 0.5 and the overall
Cronbach alpha 0.952 indicating good reliability of
the scale. The statistical calculations were performed
using spss 20.0. The factor structure ofmodified ru-
ralqual model is shown in Table 3.
An overall mean score for Satisfaction is 5.82, Trust
5.98 and Loyalty 5.15. All factor loadings are signifi-
cant since they are greater than 0.5. The Cronbach al-
pha coefficient ranges from 0.865 to 0.910, proving a
good internal consistency of the constructs. The re-
sults of quantitative analysis for the concepts Satisfac-
tion, Trust and Loyalty are shown in Table 4.
The Cronbach alpha value for all measured con-
structs is between 0.762 and 0.951 and indicates a good
reliability or internal consistency of the modified ru-
ralqual model (Table 5). Convergent validity has
also been confirmed as factor loadings prove a strong
connection of items to the factors, given that the aver-
age variance extracted by the constructs (ave) was at
least 0.5. The results of R2 prove moderate predictive
power of the model since the values exceed 0.50. The
literature suggests that R2 values of 0.67, 0.33, and 0.19
are substantial, moderate, andweak (Chin, 1998; Peng,
2012). The values for Q2 are all positive, meaning that
the model has predictive relevance.
pls sem was used to assess path coefficients be-
tween the observed constructs. The results prove a
strong direct positive relationship between Service
Quality and Satisfaction (0.763) and Between Satis-
faction and Loyalty (0.652). Also, Satisfaction has been
proven to be strongly related to Trust, but the relation-
ship between Trust and Loyalty is rather weak (0.146).
The path coefficient analysis of the service quality di-
mensions indicates that the most important dimen-
sion in forming service quality is Safety, tourist rela-
tions and rural surrounding (43), while the dimen-
sion Empathy has the lowest impact on forming the
Service Quality construct (13). The results of Path
coefficient analysis are shown in Figure 2.
The Bootstrap technique in pls sem was applied
for the assessment of the significance level of the path
coefficients in order to test the hypothesis. Accord-
ing to the results all the relations between the con-
structs have been proven to be significant at the 0.001
level, except for the relation betweenTrust and Loyalty
that is positive, but weak and significant at the 0.005
level (Table 6). The path coefficient between Satisfac-
tion and Loyalty decreased when the mediator Trust
was introduced, proving the existence of the media-
tion role of Trust.
The strength of the mediating role of Trust was
evaluated by calculating vaf (Variance accounted for),
as suggested by Hair et al. (2013). A vaf value below
20means that the role of the mediator is small. Since
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Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Table 3 Factor Structure of Modified ruralqual Model
Factor Item () ()
Safety, tourist
relations and
rural
surrounding
The rural establishment is fitted with all necessary safety measures. . (.) .
The re observes safety measures during excursions and complementary activities
offered.
. (.) .
Staff give us good advice regarding the gastronomy of the place. . (.) .
All areas are well indicated with signs. . (.) .
The communication (access) routes are well indicated with signs. . (.) .
The clients are integrated in the region’s rural lifestyle. . (.) .
Staff give us good advice regarding complementary activities that are available. . (.) .
Typical gastronomy of the region is included on the menu. . (.) .
In the surrounding region there are fairs, local festivities, and other aspects of
cultural interest.
. (.) .
Staff at our disposal know the traditions, celebrations and history of the place. . (.) .
Tangibility
and basic
demand
The lodging is placed in a calm place. . (.) .
Internal decoration (furniture, ceilings, lighting, floors, etc.) is pleasant, simple,
homey and in harmony with the rural surroundings.
. (.) .
External decoration (facade, gardens, etc.) is attractive and in harmony with the
rural surroundings.
. (.) .
The rural lodging facilities are in a good state. . (.) .
The lodging architecture has the regional style. . (.) .
The lodging is placed in the area of great natural beauty. . (.) .
Price and
reservations
Room reservation is easy to do. . (.) .
The reservations are confirmed in the most convenient way for client, other
information of interest is sent back too (e.g. access map).
. (.) .
Arrival schedules are established but they are quite flexible. . (.) .
Price is in accordance with the service provided. . (.) .
Professionalism The clients are treated cordially and affably. . (.) .
The rural lodging foods are well presented and flavoursome. . (.) .
Personalized attention is provided to each client. . (.) .
The rural lodging employees have a clean, neat appearance. . (.) .
Empathy The rural establishment has staff that speak other languages. . (.) .
Staff go out of their way to make sure customers understand them. . (.) .
The rural establishment attends to customers individually (not as a group). . (.) .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) mean (standard deviation), (2) factor loading.
the calculated vaf value was 14.21 it can be con-
cluded that the mediator part of the relation between
satisfaction and loyalty is very small.
Based on the given results, the Hypothesis h1 The-
re is a positive relationship between service quality and
customer satisfaction, h2 There is a positive relation-
ship between customer satisfaction and customer loy-
alty, and h3 There is a positive mediating effect of trust
on the satisfaction and loyalty relationship are sup-
ported.
222 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Table 4 The Results of Quantitative Analysis of the Constructs Satisfaction, Trust and Loyalty
Construct Item () ()
Satisfaction The stay here has been very satisfactory. . (.) .
The rural lodging satisfies my necessities. . (.) .
The rural lodging facilities are worthy of highlighting. . (.) .
I find the lodging personnel pleasant. . (.) .
I am happy with cultural, sport and recreational activities provided by the lodging
and surrounding region.
. (.) .
The rural lodging delivers the service that I expected to receive. . (.) .
The rural lodging delivers an excellent service. . (.) .
In general, my experience here is positive. . (.) .
Trust Here the promise is fulfilled. . (.) .
I trust the service delivered by the rural lodging. . (.) .
Here exists a real concern for my well-being. . (.) .
Loyalty I will speak well about this lodging service to other people. . (.) .
I will recommend the lodging if someone asks for my advice. . (.) .
I will encourage my friends and relatives to visit this rural lodging. . (.) .
In my next vacation I intend to return to this lodging. . (.) .
I would come continually even if the lodging price increases. . (.) .
I prefer to pay a bigger price here than in other rural lodgings for the advantages
that I receive in this rural lodging.
. (.) .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) mean (standard deviation), (2) factor loading.
Table 5 Reliability, Validity and Prediction Attributes of the Modified ruralqual Model
Construct () () () () () ()
Service quality . . – . . .
. Professionalism . . . – .
. Price and reservations . . . – .
. Tangibility and basic demand . . . – .
. Empathy . . . – .
. Safety, tourist relations and rural surrounding . . . – .
Satisfaction . . . . . .
Trust . . . . . .
Loyalty . . . . . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) reliability Cronbach Alpha, (2) composite reliability, (3) average variance ex-
tracted, (4) R2 (predictive power of the model), (5) Q2 (predictive relevance of the model), (6) latent variable index.
Conclusions, Limitations, and Further Research
Rural tourism has been proven to be a very success-
ful development strategy for rural areas. Competitive
rural tourism requires continuous improvement of
service quality and integration of different local re-
sources and activities. However, in some cases, this is
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 223
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
Professionalism
Price and reservations
Tangibility and basic demand
Empathy
Safety, tourist relations and rural surrounding
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
Service Qual.
0.997
Satisfaction
0.583
Loyalty
0.588
Trust
0.548
0.4
34
0.130
0.260
0.208
0.172
0.763 0.652
0.
74
0 0.146
Figure 2 Structural Equation Results
Table 6 Hypothesis Test
Relation () () () ()
Direct Empathy→ Service quality . . *** .
Professionalism→ Service quality . . *** .
Price and reservationa→ Service quality . . *** .
Safety, tourist relations and rural surrounding→ Service quality . . *** .
Tangibility and basic demand→ Service quality . . *** .
Service quality→ Satisfaction . . *** .
Satisfaction→ Loyalty (direct relation) .  . *** .
Indirect Satisfaction→ Trust . . *** .
Trust→ Loyalty . . ** .
Satisfaction→ Loyalty . . *** .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) path coeff., (2) t-value, (3) significance level (** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01), (4) p-value.
not sufficiently addressed as most of the rural tourism
businesses are small, family-managed rural units of-
ten lacking a professional management approach and
strategic marketing activities. Better understanding of
the key service quality attributes could increase tourist
satisfaction and lead to tourist loyalty that manifests
as an intention to recommend, to return, and even to
pay more.
The results of this study have confirmed that the
perceived service quality is formed by 5 dimensions:
Professionalism, Price and reservations, Tangibility
and basic demand, Empathy, and Safety, tourist re-
lations and rural surrounding. The overall average
service quality score is relatively high. Research re-
sults indicate that rural tourism managers should pay
more attention to the service quality attributes that re-
fer to safety measures, including tourists in the local
lifestyle, and integration of local activities and events
in the tourist offer. Generally, results lead to the con-
clusions that rural tourismmanagers and owners paid
more attention to the technical service quality ele-
ments, but in the future, they need to pay more at-
tention to the soft service quality elements in order to
improve overall tourist experience.
Although the mean scores for the Service quality,
Satisfaction and Trust are quite high, the mean score
for Loyalty as a consequent is lower. This can partly
be explained by the motive of novelty where tourists
like to visit different tourist destinations rather than to
return to the same one. On the other hand, this can
serve as useful information to rural tourismmanagers
in rethinking marketing strategies.
224 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Suzana Markovi and Jelena Kljai Šebrek Service Quality Measurement in Rural Tourism
The focus of this studywas to examine the relation-
ship between Service quality, Satisfaction and Loyalty
and to assess the role of Trust as amediator. The results
of the pls sem analysis show that there is a strong sig-
nificant positive relationship between Service quality
and Satisfaction. A similar conclusion has been proven
by the study of Loureiro and Kastenholz (2011) and
Loureiro and Gonzalez (2008) who applied the ru-
ralqual model in Portugal.
Furthermore, it is proven that Satisfaction is an an-
tecedent of Loyalty, although the strength of that re-
lationship is a bit lower than between Service qual-
ity and Satisfaction. Due to novelty, not all satisfied
tourists tend to return to the same rural tourism unit.
The conclusion follows the conceptual background of
the relationship Service Quality–Satisfaction–Loyalty.
The positive and significant relationship between Ser-
vice quality, Satisfaction and Loyalty in rural tourism
was also confirmed by Loureiro and Gonzalez (2008)
and Loureiro and Kastenholz (2011).
The evaluation of the role of Trust as a media-
tor shows that the mediating role of Trust on the
Satisfaction–Loyalty relationship is positive and sig-
nificant but rather small. Therefore, the hypothesis h3
is supported. The same results have been proven by the
study of Loureiro and Gonzalez (2008), Setó-Pamies
(2012), and Lin et al. (2018). The study of Loureiro
(2013), conducted on banking services, did not con-
firm the existence of a relationship between Trust and
Loyalty.
In order to understand and meet tourists’ expecta-
tions and provide a high level of service quality and
tourist satisfaction, and finally to increase the rate of
loyal tourists, rural tourism managers should period-
ically use the modified ruralqual instrument as a
guide for future development actions.
There are some limitations of this study that should
be considered in future studies. The main limitation
of the research is a relatively small sample size that af-
fects the generalisation of research results. This study
included only the actual tourists, but in the follow-
ing studies it would be useful to evaluate statements
of potential tourists. Also, this study was conducted
in a geographically limited tourist destination. Future
studies could be conducted in different rural tourist
regions and in other selective forms of rural tourism.
It would be useful to measure service quality solely, in
particular rural tourist destinations, in order to obtain
more specific results. Since rural tourism is broadly
defined and encompasses a wide range of activities, fu-
ture research should be conducted for specific activ-
ities or accommodation types such as diffuse hotels.
Also, some other constructs should be considered for
inclusion in the model, like, for example, Destination
Image or Tourist Experience.
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Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Navidezna resničnost v turizmu: je dovolj »resnična«?
Marion Rauscher, Andreas Humpe in Lars Brehm
Tehnologija navidezne resničnosti v turističnem sektorju postaja vse bolj prilju-
bljena. Do sedaj se je tehnologija raziskovala predvsem pri uporabi za trženja de-
stinacij. Obratno se navidezna resničnost omenja tudi kot sredstvo za omejevanje
ali zmanjševanje števila turistov na določeni znamenitosti ali destinaciji. V tem po-
gledu se navidezna resničnost obravnava kot nadomestilo dejanskega potovanja in
ravno to vprašanje obravnava članek, in sicer vidik možnosti uporabe tehnologije
za prenos resničnih življenjskih izkušenj v digitalni svet. S kvalitativno metodo smo
raziskovali vedenje in izkustvo uporabnikov ob srečanju s potovanji oz. z obiskom
znamenitosti v navidezni resničnosti, da bi bolje razumeli značilnosti, ki vplivajo na
sprejemanje tehnologije. Uporabljena je bila strukturna analiza podatkov, kodiranje
pa je bilo izvedeno na podlagi t. i. »združene teorije sprejetosti in uporabe tehnolo-
gij« (angl. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology – utaut). Interpre-
tacija rezultatov poteka v kvalitativnem okviru. Ugotavljamo, da je dojemanje užitka
pomemben dejavnik pri sprejemanju tehnologije navidezne resničnosti, medtem ko
se zdi, da so olajševalne okoliščine in pričakovani izidi zanjo ovira. Dojeta uporab-
nost je kot taka ocenjena precej sporno. Čeprav tehnologija ni sprejeta kot nado-
mestilo za običajno počitniško potovanje, zlasti za popotnike, ki uživajo v aktivnih
počitnicah ali cenijo družabne interakcije, pa je bila prepoznana kot alternativa za
posebne priložnosti, kot so kratki oddihi od vsakdanjega življenja ali krajši mestni
izleti. Na splošno ugotavljamo, da ob ustrezni implementaciji tehnologija ni koristna
le za zmanjšanje koncentracije obiskovalcev na turističnih točkah ali za zmanjšanje
negativnih vidikov zaradi pogostih potovanj, ampak bi se lahko nadalje uporabila
tudi za znamenitosti in kraje, ki jih obiskovalci ne dosežejo oz. obiščejo, ker so pre-
daleč, predragi, nedostopni, nevarni ali preobčutljivi za obisk.
Ključne besede: virtualna resničnost, turizem, nadomestitev potovanj, sprejetje
tehnologije, model utaut
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 127–138
Učinki imidža destinacije na turistično zadovoljstvo: Primer plavajoče tržnice
Don-Wai vmestu Nakhon Pathom na Tajskem
Napaporn Janchai, Glenn Baxter, and Panarat Srisaeng
Cilj te študije je bil analizirati vpliv imidža plavajoče tržnice kot destinacije na zado-
voljstvo turistov. Jedro vprašalnika zaprtega tipa so tvorili atributi, ki so bili identifi-
cirani v literaturi o dejavnikih zadovoljstva obiskovalcev turistične destinacije. Vzo-
rec je obsegal 200 turistov, ki so januarja 2018 obiskali plavajočo tržnico Don Wai
Nakhon Pathoma. Za empirično preverbo štirih hipotez je bila uporabljena regre-
sijska analiza. Rezultati so pokazali, da so najpomembnejši dejavniki, ki vplivajo na
zadovoljstvo turistov: edinstvenost narave, edinstvenost zgodovine in edinstvenost
turističnih proizvodov. Arhitekturni dejavnik ni izkazal statistično značilnega vpliva
na zadovoljstvo turistov. To je prva študija, ki je empirično obravnavala vplive ome-
njenih dejavnikov na zadovoljstvo turistov ob obisku plavajoče tržnice kot turistične
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 229
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
destinacije. Prikazana spoznanja lahko sorodnim destinacijampridejo prav za boljše
razumevanje pomena posameznih dejavnikov zadovoljstva turistov.
Ključne besede: imidž destinacije, plavajoča tržnica, menedžment v turizmu,
zadovoljstvo turistov, Tajska
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 139–151
Ali je mednarodna rast turizma podprta z rastjo turistične potrošnje?
Helena Nemec Rudež
Rast turističnega povpraševanja v obdobju med letoma 2000 in 2016 je izračunana
za 25 evropskih držav ob uporabi različnih kazalcev turizma. Število prihodov turi-
stov in skupna turistična potrošnja se v tem obdobju povečujeta. Turistični prilivi
na prihod turista v tekočih cenah kažejo na blago rast v večini preučevanih držav,
medtem ko turistični prilivi na prihod turista v stalnih cenah bolj ali manj stagni-
rajo v razponumed –2 in +2 in izkazujejo še močnejši upad v nekaterih državah
južne in vzhodne Evrope. Zaključimo, da rast turizma pretežno poganja naraščajoče
število prihodov turistov in ne potrošnja na prihod turista.
Ključne besede:mednarodni turizem, rast povpraševanja, evropske države
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 153–156
Stebri mestne prostorske občutljivosti in njihova integracija turističnih poti
Melita Rozman Cafuta in Boštjan Brumen
Veliko mest širom sveta ima ustrezne osnovne pogoje za razvoj urbanega turizma.
Nekatere lokacije, ki so del standardne ponudbe, so sicer navidezno pomembne za
lokalno turistično ponudbo, a niso v skladu s sodobnimi zahtevami sektorja. Zato
si turistične organizacije prizadevajo za načrtovanje najboljših možnih turističnih
poti z ogledi znamenitosti, ki so tretirane kot najboljše turistične točke. V današnji
sodobni turistični industriji uporaba zgolj intuitivnega pristopa ne zadostuje več. V
prispevku je predstavljen inovativen pristop, ki omogoča prepoznavanje pomemb-
nih urbanih območij in lokacij, ki jih je smotrno vključiti v turistično ponudbo me-
sta. Izvedena empirična raziskava je temeljila na analitičnimetodi mentalnega karti-
ranja. Vzorec anketiranja je obsegal 200 oseb, za lokacijo raziskave pa je bilo izbrano
mesto Maribor (Slovenija, eu). Anketiranci so po spominu risali zemljevid mesta.
Zemljevid so risali dvakrat, kot zemljevid mesta podnevi in kot zemljevid mesta po-
noči. Pridobljeni grafični rezultati odražajo posameznikovo subjektivno prostorsko
predstavo in način mišljenja. Ugotovili smo, da so nekatere točke oz. lokacije v me-
stu še posebej pomembne in opažene. Te točke smo poimenovali »stebri prostorske
občutljivosti« (angl. Pillars of Spatial Sensitivity) – pss-lokacije. Te lokacije so pre-
poznane kot ustrezne za integracijo v turistične poti z ogledi urbanih znamenitosti.
Pri obdelavi rezultatov je bilo izpostavljenih 34 bolj ali manj pogosto opaženih pss-
lokacij. 32 lokacij je imelo različno stopnjo pojavnosti med dnevom in nočjo. Tako
se je potrdila domneva, da spreminjanje prostorskih okoliščin vpliva na zaznavanje
230 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
in uporabo mestnega prostora. Rezultati pričujoče raziskave kažejo, da je prostor-
ska občutljivost turistov odvisna od časovne komponente. Turistične oglede urbanih
znamenitosti lahko planiramo v skladu s časom.
Ključne besede: urbani turizem, stebri prostorske občutljivosti, mentalni zemljevidi,
lokacije turističnih znamenitosti
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 157–166
Duhovna inteligenca in poslovno okolje
Fadil Mušinović
Prispevek poveže dva razvojno naravnana koncepta, duhovno inteligentnost in po-
slovne sisteme, ki sta sestavljena iz štirih elementov. Duhovno inteligentnost po
Kingu (2008) sestavljajo faktorji kritično eksistenčno razmišljanje, ustvarjanje oseb-
nega pomena, transcendentno zavedanje in širitev stanj zavesti. Poslovni sistemi se
po V. Bulc (2006) razvijajo preko štirih stopenj, in sicer od delovnega okolja prek
učečega in mislečega okolja do ozaveščenega okolja. Namen raziskave je bil ugo-
toviti, ali so faktorji duhovne inteligentnosti povezani z razvojnimi stopnjami po-
slovnih sistemov in ali se v različnih razvojnih stopnjah poslovnih sistemov faktorji
duhovne inteligentnosti razlikujejo. Zbiranje empiričnih podatkov je bilo izvedeno
elektronsko, s pomočjo sestavljenega vprašalnika, ki je bil razdeljen v različna po-
slovna okolja. Sodeloval je 601 zaposlen posameznik. Rezultati so pokazali pozitivne
korelacijemed faktorji duhovne inteligentnosti ter učečim,mislečim in ozaveščenim
okoljem, ne pa tudi korelacij z delovnim okoljem. V različnih razvojnih stopnjah
poslovnih sistemov so se pokazale določene razlike med faktorji duhovne inteligen-
tnosti. Raziskava je še pokazala, da glede duhovne inteligentnosti in poslovnih okolij
obstajajo razlikemed spoloma, razlike po delovnih izkušnjah in razlike po stopnji iz-
obrazbe.
Ključne besede: duhovna inteligentnost, evolucija, poslovna okolja, posameznik,
razvoj
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 167–177
Poklicna in organizacijska pripadnost v sektorju gostoljubnosti
Marjetka Rangus, Srđan Milošević, Iva Škrbić, Bojana Radenković-Šošić,
Jože Hočevar in Mladen Knežević
Namen raziskave je preveriti, ali dva različna profila pripadnosti zaposlenih vplivata
na kakovost storitev v turistični industriji v Sloveniji in v Srbiji ter kako se lahko
ugotovljene razlike prenašajo v delovanje v sektorju gostoljubja in turizma. Za po-
trebe študije smo z uporabo kombinacijo kvalitativnega in kvantitativnega pristopa
razvili dva nova instrumenta za merjenje pripadnosti zaposlenih. Prvi instrument
smo razvili na podlagi kratkih strukturiranih intervjujev z zaposlenimi v turistični
industriji. Na podlagi statistične metode smo določili dva faktorja, ki določata dva
različna profila pripadnosti, z metodo grozdenja pa smo ugotovili štiri dimenzije, ki
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 231
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
vplivajo na oblikovanje profilov pripadnosti. Drugi instrument smo razvili na pod-
lagi obstoječih ocenjevalnih obrazcev za zaposlene v sektorju gostoljubnosti in tu-
rizma ter s pomočjo vodilnega in srednjegamenedžmenta v hotelih. Ugotovitve raz-
iskave kažejo, da v sektorju gostoljubnosti in turizma obstaja majhen delež poklične
pripadnosti med zaposlenimi, razlikemed zaposlenimi pa so opazne pri razvrščanju
vrednot, povezanih z delom. Ugotovitve lahko pomagajo menedžerjem pri načrto-
vanju in organiziranju človeških virov ter tudi pri načrtovanju nadaljnjega razvoja
politik na področju menedžmenta človeških virov v podjetjih. Izvirni prispevek štu-
dije predstavlja novo znanje o razvrščanju vrednot, povezanih z delom, in znanje
o percepciji kakovosti dela med zaposlenimi v sektorju gostoljubnosti. Ugotovitve
študije so uporabne pri načrtovanju in organiziranju človeških virov in tudi pri na-
črtovanju nadaljnjega razvoja politik na področju menedžmenta človeških virov v
podjetjih. Študija prinaša tudi nova spoznanja o različnih tipih pripadnosti med za-
poslenimi.
Ključne besede: turizem, sektor gostoljubnosti, organizacijska pripadnost, poklicna
pripadnost, menedžment človeških virov
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 179–191
Analiza uporabe slovenskih hotelskih spletnih strani
Mitja Petelin in Dejan Križaj
Namen raziskave je dobiti vpogled v opremljenost spletnih mest slovenskih hotelov
in na podlagi zastavljenih kriterijev ugotoviti, katera spletna mesta so bolj izpopol-
njena kot druga. Določili smo kriterije, pripravili seznam vseh štiri- in petzvezdič-
nih hotelov v Sloveniji in jih segmentirali s pomočjo multivariantne analize. Spletna
mesta hotelov, ki smo jih analizirali leta 2017, se na prvi pogled sicer razlikujejo, s pri-
merjavo njihovih vsebin pa smo prišli do zaključka, da večjih statistično pomembnih
razlik ni. Pomembno odkritje raziskave spada na področje varnosti večine analizi-
ranih spletnih mest – le-ta je namreč zelo pomanjkljiva, navedbe o njej pa so včasih
tudi zavajajoče. Potencial interaktivnosti in igrifikacije spletnihmest pri veliki večini
kljub različnim priporočilom strokovnjakov in znanstvenikov ostaja neizkoriščen.
Ključne besede: spletno mesto, hotel, spletna mesta slovenskih hotelov, varnost
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 193–200
Motivacije za potovanje kot merilo v procesu segmentacije trga
wellness turizma
Ana Težak Damijanić
Namen prispevka je raziskati potovalne motivacije kot merila v procesu segmenta-
cije wellness turistov. Podatki so bili zbrani prek vprašalnika na vzorcu turistov, ki
so se nastanili v enem od 15 wellness hotelov, ki se nahajajo v štirih regijah wellness
turizma Republike Hrvaške. Raziskava je potekala odmaja do junija 2013. Podatki so
bili obdelani z uporabo enovariatne, bivariatne in multivariatne statistike. Za splo-
šen opis vzorca je bila uporabljena univariatna statistika. Za preučevanje razlik med
232 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
vzorci smo uporabili bivariativno analizo, za določitev dejavnikov, ki temeljijo na
konstrukciji motivacije potovanja, in odkrivanje vzorcev pa smo uporabili multiva-
riatno statistiko. Skupno je bilo ugotovljenih devet dejavnikov motivacije potovanja
z uporabo teorije potovalnih motivov push in pull (trije dejavniki motivacije push
in šest dejavnikov motivacije pull). Dejavniki motivacije push za potovanja so bili
označeni kot zdravstveni trendi, sprostitev in nagrada ter novost; dejavniki moti-
vacije pull, ki so povezani z wellness turističnim produktom, so bili označeni kot
osnovni wellness, nematerialni wellness in ekstra wellness, medtem ko so dejavniki
motivacije pull, povezani s turistično destinacijo, označeni kot kulturna in naravna
dediščina, zabava in rekreacija ter pokrajina. Trije vzorci so se pojavili z uporabo
dejavnikov motivacije za potovanja kot meril segmentacije (visoki wellness, nema-
terialni wellness in manjši wellness vzorci). Sprostitev, infrastruktura wellnessa in
naravni viri so pomembni dejavniki pri raziskavah wellness turizma. Kljub temu so
dejavniki motivacije push in pull pomembne spremenljivke pri razlikovanjumed se-
gmenti.
Ključne besede:motivacija za potovanja, segmentacija trga, wellness turisti, kriteriji
za segmentacijo
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 201–213
Merjenje kakovosti storitev v podeželskem turizmu: uporaba modela
RURALQUAL
Suzana Marković and Jelena Kljaić Šebrek
Namen prispevka je oceniti kakovost storitev in njen vpliv na zadovoljstvo strank,
njihovo zaupanje in nakupne namene v kontekstu podeželskega turizma z uporabo
prilagojenegamodela ruralqual, ki je bil razvit iz modela servqual. Raziskava
je bila izvedena na vzorcu 307 podeželskih turistov na Hrvaškem. Za analizo razme-
rij med konstrukti je bil uporabljen model strukturnih enačb z delnimi najmanjšimi
kvadrati (pls-sem). Prilagojenimodel ruralqual se je izkazal kot zanesljiv in ve-
ljaven večdimenzionalen merski instrument, ki vključuje 27 postavk, porazdeljenih
v 5 dimenzij. Rezultati kažejo na statistično značilno pozitivno povezanost med ka-
kovostjo storitve in zadovoljstvom kot dejavnikom lojalnosti. Dokazan je tudi šibek
pomen zaupanja kot posrednika med zadovoljstvom in lojalnostjo. Rezultati razi-
skave kažejo, da ponudniki v podeželskem turizmu več pozornosti posvečajo oti-
pljivim elementom kakovosti storitev, v prihodnje bi pamorali za izboljšanje celotne
turistične izkušnje več pozornosti posvetiti tudi nematerialnim elementom kakovo-
sti storitev. Smiselno je, da se prilagojen instrument ruralqual občasno uporabi
kot orodje za uspešnejši razvoj podeželskega turizma.
Ključne besede: kakovost storitev, zadovoljstvo, zvestoba, podeželski turizem,
ruralqual, pls-sem
Academica Turistica, 13(2), 215–227
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 233

Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Instructions for Authors
Aim and Scope of the Journal
Academica Turistica – Tourism and Innovation Journal
(at-tij) is a peer-reviewed journal that provides a fo-
rum for the dissemination of knowledge on tourism
and innovation from a social sciences perspective. It
especially welcomes contributions focusing on inno-
vation in tourism and adaptation of innovations from
other fields in tourism settings.
The journal welcomes both theoretical and appli-
cative contributions and encourages authors to use va-
rious quantitative and qualitative research methodo-
logies. Besides research articles, the journal also pu-
blishes review articles, commentaries, reviews of bo-
oks and conference reports. Purely descriptive manu-
scripts which do not contribute to the development of
knowledge are not considered suitable.
General Guidelines and Policy of the Journal
Manuscripts are accepted in both American and Bri-
tish English; however, consistency throughout the pa-
per is expected. All manuscripts are subject to an ini-
tial editorial screening for adherence to the journal
style, for anonymity, and for correct use of English.
As a result of this your paper will be either accepted
for further consideration or returned for revision. To
avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to
have your manuscript proofread.
Manuscripts should be organized in the following
order: title, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowled-
gements, references, and appendixes (as appropriate).
Reviewing. Each manuscript, meeting the technical
standards and falling within the aims and scope of the
journal, will be subject to double-blind review by two
reviewers. Authors can propose up to two reviewers
for revision of their work and also up to two reviewers
they would like to avoid.
The referees are chosen by the Editorial Board. As-
sessments by the referees will be presented anonymo-
usly to the author and, in the case of substantial reser-
vations, the article, with the list of corrections needed,
will be returned to the author for correction. The cor-
rected copy of the article with the list of corrections
on a separate page should be returned to the Editorial
Board.
Permissions. Authors wishing to include figures, ta-
bles, or text passages that have already been published
elsewhere, are required to obtain permission from the
copyright owner(s) and to include evidence that such
permission has been granted when submitting their
papers. Any material received without such evidence
will be assumed to originate from the authors.
Submission declaration. Submission of a manuscript
implies that it has not been published previously
(except in the form of abstract or as part of a publi-
shed lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publi-
cation is approved by all its authors and tacitly or expli-
citly by the responsible authorities where the workwas
carried out. The corresponding author should ensure
that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate
co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-
authors have seen and approved the final version of
the paper and have agreed to its submission for publi-
cation.
Conflict of interest. All authors are requested to dis-
close any actual or potential conflict of interest inclu-
ding any financial, personal or other relationshipswith
other people or organizations within three years of be-
ginning the submittedwork that could inappropriately
influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.
Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the style
prescribed by the Publication Manual of the Ameri-
can Psychological Association (American Psychologi-
calAssociation, 2020; see also http://www.apastyle.org).
Language and style. The first author is fully respon-
sible for the language and style in the context of the
instructions. A good scientific standard command of
grammar and style is expected.
Text formatting. Please, use the automatic page num-
bering function to number the pages. Use tab stops or
other commands for indents, not the space bar.Use the
table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables. Use
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 235
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
the equation editor or MathType for equations. Whe-
never possible, use the si units (Système international
d’unités).
Thetitlepage should include the title of the article (no
more than 85 characters, including spaces), full name
of the author(s), affiliation (institution name and ad-
dress) of each author clearly identified; linked to each
author by use of superscript numbers, corresponding
author’s full name, telephone, and e-mail address.
Abstract. The authors are obliged to prepare two ab-
stracts – one in English and one (translated) in Slo-
vene language. For foreign authors translation of the
abstract into Slovene will be provided.
The content of the abstract should be structured
into the following sections: purpose, methods, results,
and conclusion. It should only contain the information
that appears in the text as well. It should contain no re-
ference to figures, tables and citations published in the
main text, and should not exceed 250 words.
Beneath the abstract, the authors should supply
appropriate keywords (3–6) in English and in Slovene.
For foreign authors the translation of the abstract into
Slovene will be provided.
The main text should contain a coherent and logi-
cal structure preferably following the imrad format
(Introduction, Methods, Research [and] Discussion).
However, other structures are also welcome (e.g. In-
troduction, Development and Conclusions) as long as
the text maintains its logical structure and focus. Ac-
knowledgments are optional.
The length of the articles should not exceed 9,000
words (including tables, figures, and references), dou-
ble spaced, using Times New Roman font sized 12.
Tables. Each table should be submitted on a sepa-
rate page in a Word document after References. Each
table shall have a brief caption; explanatory matter
should be in the footnotes below the table. The table
shall contain means and the units of variation (sd,
se, etc.) and must be free of nonsignificant decimal
places. Abbreviations used in the tablesmust be consi-
stentwith those used in the text and figures.Definition
symbols should be listed in the order of appearance,
determined by reading horizontally across the table
and should be identified by standard symbols. All ta-
bles should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table
2, etc.).
Figures. Captions are required for all Figures and shall
appear on a separate manuscript page, beneath table
captions. Each figure should be saved as a separate
file without captions and named as Figure 1, etc. Files
should be submitted in *.tiff or *.jpeg format. Pho-
tographs should be saved at at least 300 dpi. Line art
images should be saved at 1200 dpi. Lettering (sym-
bols, letters, and numbers) should be between 8 and
9 points, with consistent spacing and alignment. Font
face may be Serif (Minion) or Sans Serif (Myriad).
Line width should be 0.5 point or greater. Any extra
white or black space surrounding the image should be
cropped. Ensure that subject-identifying information
(i.e., faces, names, or any other identifying features)
is cropped out or opaqued. Prior to publication, the
author(s) should obtain all necessary authorizations
for the publication of the illustrative matter and sub-
mit them to the Editorial Board. All figures should be
numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The
journal will be printed in black and white. If the pa-
per contains graphs, we would appreciate that you also
e-mail them in a separate Excel file.
References
References should be formatted according to the Pu-
blication Manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (American Psychological Association, 2019).
The list of references should only include works
that are cited in the text. Personal communications
and unpublished works should only be mentioned in
the text. References should be complete and contain all
the authors that have been listed in the title of the ori-
ginal publication. If the author is unknown, start with
the title of the work. If you are citing a work that is in
print but has not yet been published, state all the data
and instead of the publication year write ‘in print.’
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the
last name of the first author of each work. Do not use
footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference
list. Full titles of journals are required (not their abbre-
viations).
236 | Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Citing References in Text
One author. Tourism innovation specific is mentioned
(Brooks, 2010). Thomas (1992) had concluded . . .
Two authors. This result was later contradicted (Swar-
brooke &Horner, 2007). Price andMurphy (2000)
pointed out . . .
Three or more authors.Wolchik et al. (1999) or (Wol-
chik et al., 1999).
If two references with three or more authors shor-
ten to the same form, cite the surnames of the first
author and of as many of the subsequent authors as
necessary to distinguish the two references, followed
by a coma and et al.
List several authors for the same thought or idea
with separation by using a semicolon: (Kalthof et al.,
1999; Biegern & Roberts, 2005).
Examples of Reference List
Books
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publica-
tion manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (7th ed.).
Swarbrooke, J., &Horner, S. (2007).Consumer behavi-
our in tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Journals
Laroche,M., Bergeron, J., & Barbaro-Forleo, G. (2001).
Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more
for environmentally friendly products. Journal of
Consumer Marketing, 18(6), 503–520.
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.–
Y., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., . . . Griffin, W. A.
(2000). An experimental evaluation of theory-
basedmother andmother-child programs for chil-
dren of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 68, 843–856.
Newspapers
Brooks, A. (2010, 7 July). Building craze threatens
to end Lanzarote’s biosphere status. Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/
nature/building-craze-threatens-to-end
-lanzarotes-biosphere-status-2020064.html
Chapters in Books
Poirier, R. A. (2001). A dynamic tourism develop-
ment model in Tunisia: Policies and prospects. In
Y. Aposotolopoulos, P. Loukissas, & L. Leontidou
(Eds.),Mediterranean tourism (pp. 197–210). Rou-
tledge.
Conference Proceedings
Price, G., & Murphy, P. (2000). The relationship be-
tween ecotourism and sustainable development: A
critical examination. In M. Ewen (Ed.), cauthe
2000: Peak performance in tourism and hospitality
research; Proceedings of the Tenth Australian Tou-
rism and Hospitality Research Conference (pp. 189–
202). La Trobe University.
Paper Presentation
Thomas, J. (1992, July). Tourism and the environment:
An exploration of the willingness to pay of the ave-
rage visitor. Paper presented at the conference To-
urism in Europe, Durham, England.
Theses andDissertations
Sedmak, G. (2006). Pomen avtentičnosti turističnega
proizvoda: primer destinacije Piran (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). University of Ljubljana.
Working Papers
Salamon, L. M., Sokolowski, S. W., Haddock, M. A., &
Tice, H. S. (2013). The state of global civil society vo-
lunteering: Latest findings from the implementation
of the un nonprofitt handbook (ComparativeNon-
profit Sector Working Paper No. 49). Johns Hop-
kins University.
Web Pages
Croatian Bureau of Statistics. (2001). Census of popu-
lation, households and dwellings. http://www.dzs
.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/census.htm
Manuscript Submission
The main manuscript document should be in Micro-
soft Word document format and the article should be
submitted to http://academica.turistica.si/index.php/
AT-TIJ/about/submissions
Academica Turistica, Year 13, No. 2, December 2020 | 237