Research question: The objective of this paper is to examine the level of the development of spa tourism with a special review of the wellness tourist offer of the Republic of Serbia, and also which factors of this tourist offer we should pay special attention to and improve, to achieve the highest level of tourist loyalty. Motivation: The tourism potential of the Republic of Serbia has not been sufficiently researched and that served as a basic motivational factor. Idea: Considering the tourist potential that Serbia has and partly the work of Han et al., (2017), the fact that spa tourism is the fastest-growing sector in the entire tourism industry, and that the wellness tourism offer is a very important segment of spa tourism, there is a need to identify factors that influence the visitors' loyalty formation for such tourist destinations. As the Republic of Serbia has a lot of wellness centres, it represents a very convenient location for conducting such research. Data: This research included 298 guests of wellness centres in Vrnjačka Banja: "Solaris", "Aleksandar", "Merkur", "Zepter", "Kralj", "Slatina" and "Iwa Wellness Centre". Data collection was performed during July and August 2019. Methods: The PLS-SEM method was used in this paper to test the defined research hypotheses. Factors that contribute to loyalty and revisit for the wellness and spa tourist destination were investigated, and they were measured by the appropriate number of questions: quality of wellness and spa tourism, the value of wellness and spa services, attraction of wellness and spa tourist destination and satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination. All attitudes were measured using a five-point Likert scale. Results: The quality and value of wellness and spa services positively impact the affection for wellness and spa tourist destination and satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination, while the attraction of wellness and spa tourist destination positively affects satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination and tendency to revisit by tourists. The existence of a positive influence of satisfaction with wellness and spa tourist destination and the desire to revisit the tourist loyalty formation was also shown. Contribution: Improving the quality, value, and effect with the Republic of Serbia as a wellness and spa tourist destination will increase the satisfaction of visitors and their desire to revisit this tourist destination, which will lead to greater loyalty in the future. This will increase the revenue generated from this type of tourism and accelerate local and regional development.
Closely related to traditional agriculture consumption of wild plants it significantly contributes to the existence of the human species. The aim of this paper is to determine the value of ethnobotanical parameters (RFC, CI, CV) for the most important species that participate in creating the gastronomic offer of ecotourism destinations. The research was conducted in the area of the Biosphere Reserve (BR) "Golija-Studenica" as one of the attractive ecotourism destinations and sites with a high degree of biodiversity. As part of the site visit and research, during the period 2018-2020, the authors used the ethnobotanical questionnaire to quantify and determine the value of each individual species that plays a role in local traditional gastronomy, and today is part of the tourist offer. The results indicate the existence of a culture of using natural resources and a high degree of use of wild species in traditional recipes. Among the most exploited species, wild berries like blueberries stand out, but some species of mushrooms.
The publication The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report encompasses the latest data on the travel and tourism competitiveness. Given that this report is a leading product of the World Economic Forum platform, it serves as a strategic benchmark for future policy implementation. Natural and cultural resources are significant in explaining tourism competitiveness. The empirical study in this paper is based on the two-step process of measuring convergence of tourism competitiveness. The first step illustrates the values of competitiveness of natural and cultural resources for two groups of European countries: the Balkans and Eastern Europe and five high-ranking European countries in the field of cultural tourism. The second part applies the entropy method for measuring convergence of competitiveness of this group of countries. For analyzing tourism competitiveness in these two groups of countries, ten indicators were used: five for natural resources and five for cultural resources. The results show that natural and cultural resources are the critical drivers of competitiveness and represent the determinants of tourism performance in the future.
Modern tourists are looking for new experiences, i.e. they no longer focus on familiar types of vacation. Rural areas with their material and spiritual heritage can create a product according to the expectations and needs of modern tourists. The 2008 financial crisis and the current health crisis caused by the COVID - 19 pandemic have changed preferences and tourism demand in general. This paper focuses on changes in tourist demand caused by the consequences of the crisis and traditional customs that can be used to differentiate the tourist offer. The initial assumption is that tourists want to escape from urban areas and spend their holidays in rural areas. The results indicate that rural areas have numerous potentials, which, combined with customs, can influence tourists to visit these areas more extensively.
Cultural tourism and the prospects it has are increasingly being talked about in academic circles. During the travels around the world, the terms cultural tourism and cultural heritage management have been constantly functioning in recent years. However, although experts in the field of cultural tourism and the tourism industry have multidimensional benefits in the management, preservation, and presentation of cultural assets, the multiple importance in this scientific field in terms of quantity of works is still not emphasized enough. The purpose of this study is to form an adequate instrument for assessing current trends and future directions of cultural tourism research. Specifically, using bibliometric mapping, the study identifies changes in the conceptualization of cultural tourism perspectives. The results of the study will show leading journals in the field of dissemination of academic knowledge about cultural tourism, but also identified recognised authors in this field.
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