Raksti konferenču krājumā un tēzes (BVEF) / Conference Papers and Abstracts

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Browsing Raksti konferenču krājumā un tēzes (BVEF) / Conference Papers and Abstracts by Author "Berzina, Kristine"

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    The role of digital information sources in the travel planning process
    (University of Latvia, 2021) Berzina, Kristine; Medne, Ilze
    World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation Initiative emphasizes that digitalisation in tourism is transforming the industry at an exponential rate across the globe. Current tourist behaviour patterns are changing not so much in travel habits as in the ways of finding and using travel information. These digitalisation changes are evident at all travel stages starting from dreaming about the future trip, planning and booking necessary tourism services, as well as sharing information and evaluating experiences. Tourist destination organisations and companies need to make strategic decisions, when sharing information, to reach the target audience in a smart and efficient way. The purpose of the study is to analyse the current use of travel web sites and applications in different travel stages. The survey was chosen as the quantitative research method based on five travel stages in order to study digital tourism informatin usage patterns. A personal interview survey was conducted in 2019 with 437 tourists. Main findings indicate the major differences in the use of digital information sources at the planning stage of travel between age groups and depending on the intensity of travel. The results of this study can be applied by marketing organisations and company managers to make better decisions when submitting travel information on web sites and applications.
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    Tourism association development tendencies in Latvia
    (University of Latvia, 2019) Berzina, Kristine
    Tourism as one of the leading industries has gained attention from scholars that are researching different influencing factors of tourism destination development. One of the challenges that tourism destinations need to overcome is heterogeneous nature of tourism industry that could be solved with the help of professional and regional tourism associations. Current tourism technology from one side creates additional potential for tourism enterprises and destinations, from other side it could decrease need for traditional tourism associations. The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) indicates eighteen active tourism associations in Latvia. These tourism associations have been going through different development stages in Latvia, first ones started their activities already straight in time of struggle for independence and are actively functioning even now after 28 years of intensive involvement in industry development. On the other hand some of tourism associations have hardly surviving and are forced to bootstrap. Research aims to analyse different stages of tourism association development and draw conclusions on development strategies applied by tourism association in Latvia. Research method will comprise in-depth interviews with tourism association management during the years of 2018 and 2019. Research findings show a variety of development strategies applied both by professional tourism associations as well as regional associations. Conclusions indicate most successful tourism association management model, evaluation of current development stage of tourism associations in Latvia and evaluation of future development potential.
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    Tourism product/ service attribute influence on overall tourist satisfaction level in Riga
    (University of Latvia, 2019) Medne, Ilze; Berzina, Kristine; Van der Steina, Aija
    Tourist satisfaction is significant for successful destination marketing as it affects the choice of destination, consumption of tourism products and services as well as the decision to return to the destination and intentions to recommend the destination to other potential tourists. The mutual positive influence of customer satisfaction and loyalty is indisputably proven by empirical research studies carried out in different economic fields and industries, including tourism. The aim of the research was to study the satisfaction level of foreign tourists as consumers with various tourism product attributes in Riga and its influence on overall satisfaction and further consumer behaviour of tourists. The method used in this research is the Penalty/Reward factor analysis method, which was developed by Brandt and afterwards used by many researchers to investigate the influence of different service attributes on the overall satisfaction level. The research is based on data of a tourist survey carried out in Riga in the summer of 2018. The data acquired in the survey allowed for conducting the Penalty/Reward analysis which represents an important instrument for establishing the trip elements or factors the absence or poor performance of which (low quality) causes customer dissatisfaction (decrease in the overall level of satisfaction) and the factors which cause increased customer satisfaction (rise in the overall level). Main results and findings are intended for a destination marketing organisation of Riga. The recommendations made by the authors will facilitate the improvement of the opportunities offered by Riga’s tourism industry in accordance with the foreign tourist requirements, thus raising the satisfaction level of foreign tourists.
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    Use of information sources in outbound travel planning: case of the Netherlands and Belgium
    (University of Latvia, 2020) Medne, Ilze; Berzina, Kristine
    In the Information Age travellers have a wide range of information that can be accessed by a variety of channels. The kind of information search travellers undertake and acquire will have significant consequences for the purchases they will make. There is a need for repeated studies to track possible changes in tourist behaviour for information search patterns as use of information sources and their combination evolve over the time. Understanding tourists’ information search peculiarities can be of use for tourism scholars and practitioners in the marketing planning process. Majority of European citizens are travelling mainly within their home country (Eurobarometer, 2014) still small countries of Central Europe are among the most active international travellers (Eurostat, 2018). The aim of the research is to study the usage of sources of information and their combinations in outbound travel planning for Dutch and Belgian travellers. The research is based on the data of a survey of travelling population carried out in different cities of the Netherlands and Belgium in the summer 2018. 502 valid questionnaires were obtained. MS Excel, SPSS and R network visualization visNetwork software tools were used for analysing the data applying following methods - descriptive statistics, crosstabulation and network analysis method concept as network diagram. The conclusions and recommendations of the study are addressed to marketing organizations of tourism destinations and companies, whose target market is tourists from Belgium and the Netherlands.