Development and Diversification of Tourism Services. A Strategic Approach in International Context

Abstract

Goal and objectives of the dissertationGoalThe goal of the thesis is to emphasize the necessity for strategic approach in tourism services in Romania, their constant and being the only option for good tourism potential valorisation, for destination competitiveness growth and maximisation of benefits.Objectives- To emphasize the tourism services importance within national economy;- To define and comparatively analyze the two concepts - development and diversification - applied to tourism services;- To identify and detail the key factors in strategically approaching tourism services and process, in the present international tourism context;- To determine the manner in which tourism services specific features impact strategy implementation;- To position the strategic process focused on tourism services within tourism environment and evolution of tourism activity in Romania;- To substantiate the and strategies for tourism services;- To identify the strategic options focused on services which can be applied by tourism organizations;- To identify trends and directions for and of tourism services in Romania;- To particularize the tourism activity and future trends at regional level, focusing on the Romanian seaside;- To identify and study tourists' opinion regarding and of tourism services on the Romanian seaside.MethodologyIn order to meet the objectives and test the theories emerged from the first four chapters of the thesis, a case study focusing on the Romanian seaside tourism services was developed. In the case study, a descriptive research of quantitative type was conducted on a population formed of tourists who visited the Romanian seaside in the 2009 summer season.A series of objectives and hypotheses were formulated; they referred to identifying tourists' motivations and opinions related to the seaside tourism services and testing the impact of and level of tourism services on tourist satisfaction, visit frequency and length of stay. The survey was conducted between 15 of July and 31 of August 2009, in 16 tourist towns and resorts on the Romanian seaside, using a questionnaire, compiled of 27 questions, as a main research tool.Having considered the complex character of the research proportional stratified sampling was used. The population was layered function of the holiday town/resort and their nationality, and from each layer sub-samples were extracted using simple random sampling.The questionnaires were distributed in 16 tourist towns and resorts on the Romanian seaside and, after eliminating the ones being incomplete or under the suspicion of untrustworthiness, 408 questionnaires were subject to analysis using SPSS (Statistical Data Analysis, version 17.0).ResultsAnalysing the results of the survey, several conclusions, regarding most frequent tourist motivations, tourism services comercialization methods, frequency of visits, length of stay, preferred means of transport to and at destination, hospitality services and entertainment, emerged.Significant differences between the two groups of Romanian and foreign tourists were validated regarding entertainment services assessment; the Romanians appreciated them as satisfactory, while the foreigners found them inadequate.A direct influence between tourist age, travel motivation and holiday resort on one hand and entertainment services on the other, was validated. Also the opinion on entertainment services impacts length of stay.Generally, the opinion on tourism services level is satisfactory, but there are differences in opinion between the two tourist groups, the foreigners being more demanding. The tourism services level has a direct influence on visit frequency and impacts the intention to repeat the visit during the next three years. …