The Impact of Socio-Economic Changes in Tourism on the Business Specialization of Travel Agencies

Abstract

In response to new trends in the behavior of tourists when choosing tourism products (packages) that are in fact determined by social and economic factors in the environment, travel agencies need to adapt their operations and business functions to new terms. Specialization seems possible response to new trends in consumer behavior. In order to study the significance of the hypothesis according to which socio-economic changes in tourism result in the need for the frequent and extremely narrow specialization of operations of travel agencies, for the purpose of this paper primary research was conducted in Croatia. Empirical research was conducted using a sample survey of 200 travel agencies in Croatia and the method of inferential statistics with multiple logistic regression models. Results of the survey on a sample of travel agencies show that managers recognize the importance of specialization for their operations, and socio-economic changes represent "an incentive to the business specialization. Managers of travel agencies undergoing the specialization process take into account specific tourist motives (adventures, new experiences, culture), as well as economic changes reflected in purchasing power. The study shows that socio-economic changes in tourism result in a need for frequent and very narrow business specialization of travel agencies.