R ESPONDENTS ' PREFERENCES WHEN TRAVELLING TO S LOVAKIA

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Majority of the respondents consider “wine tourism”, “agro tourism” and “sport” as rather not important factors for choosing a vacation place. While only 39 survey participants state the importance of wine tourism and agro tourism is important to 42 participants, these two special types of tourism in Zemplin probably need higher promotion in order to become a tourism target.

Sport is somewhat important to 72 respondents. Currently, Zemplin can become interesting for sports fans as well, since the hockey club Dukla Michalovce has won the last season of the Slovak Extraliga (1st league) and can therefore become a prominent team to watch. Handball team Iuventa Michalovce has won the Slovak national championships several times in the recent history.

(Iuventa Michalovce, 2018)

Figure 17: The importance of individual factors when choosing a vacation place

Source: own compilation

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Here we can see a high potential of travelling to an unknown region, as Zemplin might be, since 52% of the participants in total travel around Slovakia more than 3 times. They could therefore each time experience a new place. A proper branding of Zemplin is needed to reach these potential visitors.

Figure 18: Respondents’ yearly vacations in Slovakia

Source: own compilation

Budget for a vacation in Slovakia

Since, as we identified in the beginning, 35% of the respondents were students, it is likely that this social group will have limited budget for a vacation. About one quarter of the respondents therefore states that their maximum budget for the whole family (if travelling with one) is 300 EUR (Euro is an official currency in Slovakia). About a half of the participants (47,7%) consider 300-500 EUR to be an appropriate amount spent for each holiday anywhere in Slovakia. 20,5% would spend between 500-1000 EUR, while 7,3% would allocate 1000 EUR to be spent for a holiday.

Since Zemplin is not an expensive location, all groups would be able to visit the region, when choosing an accommodation and activities fitting an allocated budget.

48%

34%

18%

Yearly vacations in Slovakia

1-2 vacations 3-5 vacations 5 vacations

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Figure 19: Respondents’ budget for a vacation in Slovakia

Source: own compilation

Preferred type of accommodation in Slovakia

In this multiple choice question, the respondents were asked to state the preferred type of accommodation when spending a vacation in Slovakia, while having an option to add their own answer under an option “other”.

Based on the results, majority (87 respondents) preferred self-serviced apartments. Hotels in general were also a popular option, while 54 respondents prefer 3* hotels, 58 respondents would choose 4* hotels and 29 respondents would prefer luxury of a 5* hotel. Airbnb and camping seemed to be similarly popular options, with 34 and 26 respondents choosing Airbnb and camping respectively.

In addition to these options, participants who chose to answer “other”, stated private cottages and family stays as an option.

Here, Zemplin offers all of the mentioned types of accommodation, except of a 5* hotel, in various price ranges intended to satisfy any type of a traveller.

24%

48%

21%

7%

Budget for a vacation in Slovakia

Less than 300 € 300-500€ 500-1000€ More than 1000€

55

Figure 20: Respondents’ preferred accommodation type in Slovakia

Source: own compilation

Preferred type of transportation for a vacation in Slovakia

In this question respondents were to state the preferred transportation type when travelling to a destination in Slovakia. This question again offered an option to add own response under “other”.

Own car is a preferred way of transport for 64,5% of the survey participants. Convenience and freedom of an own car could help visitors travelling to Zemplin to explore more parts, since it lies on a quite vast area. However, the road network is not fully developed and still requires improvements, which could pose a drawback for potential visitors.

Trains constitute the second most popular option for travelling, as 28,3% chooses trains as a preferred transportation type. Here, the rail network between the three biggest cities - Michalovce, Humenne and Trebisov is well developed and equipped with modern trains. On the other hand, locations off this path are not accessible by train, therefore other means of transport would be needed.

Third most popular option, but yet with a quite big percentual difference after trains, was an airplane, chosen by 3,3%. Here, flying might not be an appropriate way of visiting Zemplin, since the closest airport in Kosice is still an hour away and an additional mean of transport would be required. It can, however, help to reach the east of Slovakia faster.

100 2030 4050 6070 8090 100

Preferred accommodation type in Slovakia

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Lastly, a bus, carsharing and a car rental were the least popular options, chosen by 2%, 1,3% and 0,7% respectively.

Figure 21: Respondents’ preferred type of transport

Source: own compilation

Tendency to visit an unknown, but interesting region

In the last question of this section, survey participants were asked whether they would consider visiting a region that might not be specifically popular, but it has a lot to offer. The purpose of this question was to find out whether the respondents would give a region like Zemplin a chance, even if they are not familiar with it.

A 5 point Likert scale was applied. More than a half (54%) of our respondents chose “definitely yes” when asked this question. Together with 38,2% who chose “likely yes”, we can conclude that almost an absolute majority would like to explore an unknown region. This gives Zemplin hope, but also a high level of responsibility when branding itself in the future.

Only 4,6% have chosen “likely not”, followed by 0,7% “definitely not” and 2,6% “I don't know”.

1%

3%1% 65%

28%

2%

Preferred type of transport

Car rental Own car Airplane Carsharing Train Bus

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Figure 22: Respondents’ tendency to visit an unknown region

Source: own compilation