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

Measuring destination competitiveness: an exploratory study of the canaries, mainland spain, france, the balearics and italy
valid. Although the size of the sample group is small, it is not far different from other surveys
used in other reference studies, like those cited in Kozak and Rimmington (1999) (n = 294)
and Yoon and Uysal (2005) (n = 148). It should be highlighted that this was only a pilot study
carried out during the low season. Furthermore, since it was a pilot study, the questionnaires
were available in English and Spanish.
The questionnaire was divided into two different sections, and headed by a series of preliminary
questions. In this introductory part, the interviewees was asked whether they were a citizen
of the European Union, whether they had spent this current stay on holiday in the Balearics,
and whether they had been to mainland Spain, the Canaries, France or Italy on holiday during
the last two summers (2004 and 2005). Only if the interviewees answered yes to all three
questions did the interviewer proceed to conduct the main body of the survey.
The first part of the interview contained profile-type questions, enquiring about the interviewees’
country of residence, sex and age, the type of holiday they had booked, length of stay at the
destination etc.
In the second part, the tourists were asked to rate possible motivations that might have prompted
them to choose their holiday destinations during the last two summers. Using a scale that
ranged from 1 (“not at all important”) to 5 (“very important”), the tourists were asked to
indicate how important certain motivations were in persuading them to visit the said destinations.
A list of motivations or destination “attractors” was carefully drawn up, using various conceptual
studies of destination attractors (Crouch and Ritchie, 1999; Dwyer and Kim, 2003) and
different empirical studies in other destinations (Kozak and Rimmington, 1999; Enright and
Newton, 2004; Yoon and Uysal, 2005; Kim et al., 2000). Likewise, the annual Tourist
Expenditure Surveys that are conducted by the regional governments of the Balearic Islands
(Govern de les Illes Balears, 2001) and Canary Islands (Gobierno de Canarias, 2005) were
also used. These contain a list of key travel motivations for visits to both archipelagos. Finally,
a workshop was held with three lecturers who specialize in tourism studies at the University
of the Balearic Islands. As a result of all the above, 24 travel motivations or attractors were
selected.
Lastly, the interviewees were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with each of the above
factors at each of the destinations they had visited over the last few years. Using a scale from
one to five, ranging from 5 (“very satisfied”) to 1 (“not at all satisfied”), the tourists were
asked to choose a value for each attractor at each destination. They were also given the
opportunity to leave a blank space if they did not have enough information at their disposal
to assess a particular factor (particularly in the case of motivations associated with certain
market segments, such as the “existence of facilities for the elderly and/or children” or
“nightlife” ).
Tourism Today - Fall 2007 - Full Paper
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