Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries

Gabriela Koľveková, Erika Liptáková, Ľubomír Štrba, Branislav Kršák, Csaba Sidor, Michal Cehlár, Samer Khouri and Marcel Behún
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Gabriela Koľveková: Department of Economic Theories, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Erika Liptáková: Department of Applied Mathematics and Business Informatics, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Ľubomír Štrba: Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Branislav Kršák: Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Csaba Sidor: Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Michal Cehlár: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Samer Khouri: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia
Marcel Behún: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: The impact of tourism on quality of life standards in regions is significant in terms of people, planet, and profit. This paper examines the subnational NUTS 2 level regions, (in line with Eurostat) by applying several interlinked and connected indicators. Adopting the three Ps (people, planet, profit) of the Sustainability Services Marketing Mix, this article discusses the fusion of 54 regions of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria) into clusters according to the selected accommodation tourism indicators used by the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat) to evaluate tourism. Since many variables of the Prague region significantly exceed the values of the remaining regions, this region has been considered as an individual cluster, excluded from the cluster analysis. The cluster analysis resulted in the definition of six clusters consisting of regions with similar indicators’ statistics characteristics. The presented approach changes the traditional approach to clusters in tourism and provokes thinking about new criteria of clustering and solutions in the field of tourism, especially when considering future cooperation, competitiveness, and sustainable development.

Keywords: sustainability services marketing matrix; cluster analysis; tourism indicators; regional disparity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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