Ski – resort and regional development: profile of visitors ... - E-Journal

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Ski - resort and regional development: profile of visitors and appraisal of demand in parnassos ski - resort
with visitors mainly from Athens but also from around the country. Parnassos Resort is situated
191 km from Athens, the capital city of Greece. There are 16 pistes of various levels of
difficulty and 13 ski lifts. There is also a ski school, stores selling and renting skiing equipment,
cafe, restaurant, a small health center and a car-park. It operates 8.5 hours daily between 15
December and 30 April.
Data used in this research derive from questionnaire survey amongst the visitors of the resort.
In sociological researches, the use of questionnaires is essential in order to collect personal
and social data. This specific research was curried out by using a structured questionnaire and
employing the methodology of personal interviews, which is one of the best methods as
regards statistical data collection (Christou 1999, Daoutopoulos 2005).
Pre-sampling was performed on 50 visitors at the ski-resort in order to estimate the final
sample size. In that first sample size the percentage of skiers was about 50%. Final sample
size was calculated using random sampling principles with aid of the following formula
(Christopoulou and Papadopoulos, 2004):
Where:
n = sample size
p = skiers’ percentage (equals 50%)
a = error of mean (equals 0.05)
z = 1.96 (for probability level 95 %)
Tourism Today - Fall 2007 - Full Paper
n=z 2 p(1-p)/a 2 (3.1)
Thus, based on the above formula the necessary sample size was estimated to be 384
questionnaires. However, for the refinement of the sample size, 400 questionnaires were filled
in. They were distributed among visitors (skiers and non-skiers). The questionnaire consisted
of 26 questions (64 variables) with «closed» answers, although some questions could be
answered freely. The questions concerned:
(a) Visits to the ski resort (if they have visited it previously, number of times per year, reasons
for not visiting more frequently, naming the days of visit, duration of their stay there etc), (b)
skiing: if they practice the sport or not and for what reasons, (c) region: location of the visitors’
home, the area where they spent the night, time of stay, travel costs per person, (d) other skiresorts:
which ski-resorts they prefer and visit frequently and for what reasons, (e) individual
features: age, sex, profession, level of education, number of family members and annual
income.
Data collected were analysed using the statistical program SPSS. Descriptive statistics and
multiple linear regression analysis were employed for dealing with the data. In particular, by
using descriptive statistics, averages and percentages of certain variables were estimated. Two