The Slovak Spa Industry and Spa Companies: Financial and Economic Situation

Abstract

Slovak spa companies significantly contribute to tourism support and to health tourism development. The paper aims to evaluate the financial situation and financial position of 21 Slovak spa companies, and the Slovak spa industry within NACE 86 - Human Health Activities and NACE 869 - Other Human Health Activities. In terms of legal form, the research sample consists of 16 joint-stock companies (Inc. (a.s.)), 3 limited liability companies (Ltd. (s.r.o.)), and 2 state-owned companies (s.o.). Data of given spa companies are obtained from their Financial Statements in Register of Financial Statements of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. Data on mean values of the financial indicators for NACE 86 and NACE 869 were obtained from the company CRIF - Slovak Credit Bureau. We cover the period 2007-2018. Our results include an evaluation of the criterion of economic efficiency of the industry NACE 86, the sub-industry NACE 869, and individual spa companies using methods of quantifying the impact of determining factors. At the same time, we present the factors that influence development most. We determine the position of spa companies by using multidimensional scaling (MDS). Results show that the total assets turnover ratio and return on sales are contributing factors to the change of ROE to the greatest extent. MDS quantifies that Spa Bojice, a.s., has the best financial position in space, on the other hand, Specialized Medical Institute Marína, s.o., has the worst position.