ANALYSIS OF MARKET TRENDS IN SERBIAN THEMATIC TOURISM MARKET Ivan Paunovic, Doctoral studies student at singidunum university Ivan.Paunovic.12@singimail.rs

Modern travel is characterized by multitude of short stays experienced by travelers during one year. Thematic tourism is fueled by the demand for authentic experience With the development of thematic tourism, separate themes become basis for planning, organization and development of tourism. Each theme is carefully analyzed according to demographic, geographic and economic parameters. Thematic tourism is consistent with market segmentation and niche market approach. However, there is low managerial understanding of this approach, which affects the implementation on the level of national tourism policy. There are many mass tourism approaches to destination marketing and product development, so why utilize thematic tourism?

Thematic Tourism Business Health Sport & Adventure Culture Nature Fun & Entertainment Pleasure

Research questions The research was designed to answer 4 research questions: RQ1: Is there statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction of tourists by themes for travel? RQ2: Is there statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction of tourists with the various aspects/factors of tourist offer? RQ3: How many important aspects/components make up the tourist satisfaction and which ones are principal? RQ4: Do 7 groups of thematic tourists use different words to describe the image of Serbia?

Data collection The data was collected through Serbia Guest Survey 2011. The survey has been conducted as a component of the EU financed project: “Support to implementation of the National Strategy for Tourism” 07SER01/23/11. Total sample was 1500 respondents on the following locations in Serbia: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zlatibor, Guca, Kopaonik, Fruska Gora, Zasavica, Vrdnik, Erdevik, Sremska Mitrovica, Divcibare, Valjevo, Banja Vrujci, Sokobanja, Vrnjacka banja, Banja Koviljaca, Niska banja, Nis, Subotica, Vrsac, Palicko jezero, Belocrkvanska jezera, Srebrno jezero, Ecka, Skorenovac. The fieldwork was done only for the summer season: from July 11 2011 to September 5 2011. There were many questions and uncertaincies on the part of the benficiary (Sector for tourism in the Ministry of Economy) regarding the usage of 7 tourism themes (or as they were termed: Strategic Business Units-SBU’s) The research was designed to answer Research Questions 1 (RQ 1) and 2 (RQ 2) through the use of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Research question 3 (RQ 3) through the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and ) Research Question (RQ4) through descriptive statistics.

Results Results: There is statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction of tourists by themes for travel. There is statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction of tourists with the various aspects/factors of tourist offer. The 14 satisfaction aspects/components can be grouped into fewer number of aspects/components with ranked order by influence on the overall tourist satisfaction. 7 thematic tourism groups would use different words to describe the image of Serbia.

Thematic tourists satisfaction levels

Image of Serbia For Pleasure tourist Serbia is lively, and not unfriendly For Fun&Entertainment tourist Serbia is outgoing, and not conservative. For Nature tourist Serbia is safe and not overrun, cosmopolitan

Image of Serbia For Culture tourist Serbia is authentic/original/real and not exclusive, innovative For Sport & Adventure tourist Serbia is relaxing and not conservative, overrun, old fashioned/dusty. For Health tourist Serbia is family friendly, and not cosmopolitan, innovative. For Business tourist Serbia is inexpensive, safe, and not innovative, cosmopolitan.

Tourist satisfaction with various aspects of tourism offer

Factors of tourism satisfaction (PCA)

Conclusions and recommendations There is statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction of tourists by themes for travel, which proves that concept of market segmentation by themes for travel is valid approach to destination development There is a need to develop accessible nightlife tourism with broader reach to different targeted groups Nature tourist should be more narrowly targeted with offers like eco- tourism, rural tourism, etc. Transportation (accessibility), safety and nature are among the most important factors influencing the tourism satisfaction, while history is one of the least important factors

Thank You for Your Attention Pictures used from websites: biz.travis.ro www.balkaninside.com adventuretravel.about.com www.antor.com naps.rs belgradeatnight.com