(TIỂU LUẬN) final assessment written group report declaration and statement of authorship

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ECON1318- Economics for Tourism and Hospitality

Final Assessment - Written Group Report
Subject Code

ECON1318
Economics for Tourism and

Subject Name

Hospitality

Country

Slovakia

Group members-StudentID

Han Tu Nghi - s3752942

Chen Shu-Ying - s3765203
Nguyen Phu Hoang Minh - s3752871
Tran Nhat Minh - s3747830
Tran An Binh - s3756186

Word count

2681 words

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Declaration and Statement of Authorship:
1. I/We hold a photocopy of this assignment which can be produced if the original is
lost/damaged.
2. This assignment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other
student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgment is made.
3. No part of this assignment has been written for me/us by any other person except where such
collaboration has been authorized by the academic/teacher concerned and as detailed in the
assignment.
4. I/we have not previously submitted this work for any other course/unit.

5. I give permission for my assignment to be scanned for electronic checking of plagiarism.
6. I give permission for a copy of my/our marked work to be retained by the Department for
review by external examiners.
I/We understand that Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another
person as though it is one’s own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offense
which may lead to expulsion from the University. Plagiarized material can be drawn from, and
presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data, and oral presentations.
Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.
Enabling Plagiarism is the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarize or to copy
one’s work; this is not acceptable and is also subject to penalty.

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TABLE OF CONTENT
I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..4
II. Key growth drivers for tourism
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

People……………………………………………………………………………………..4
Place……………………………………………………………………………………....6
Price……………………………………………………………………………………….8
Process…………………………………………………………………………………...10
Policy making……………………………………………………………………………11
Promotion………………………………………………………………………………..12

III. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...15
IV. References……………………………………………………………...…………………....15

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I.

Introduction

Slovakia, officially known as the Slovak Republic, is located in the center of Eastern Europe,
bordered by the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, and Austria. Slovakia was once part
of communist Czechoslovakia until it gained its independence in 1993. After joining the
European Union in 2004, Slovakia enjoyed rapid economic development in every sector and its
tourism industry is no exception. This report aims to discuss more 7 different aspects of Slovakia
tourism, consisting of people, place, price, process, policy, and promotion. This report will also
examine the development of Slovakia tourism industry since the start of the 21st Century.

II.

Key growth drivers for tourism

1. People

Figure 1: Number of tourists in Slovakia.
For the internal arrival sector, according to Statista (2019), during the ten years, Slovakia
witnessed a modest increase of nearly 1,5 million in the number of internal tourists, from 4.03
million in 2008 to 5.49 in 2018. In 2009, Slovakia tourism arrival suddenly dropped by 0,69

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million compared to 2008. However, they gradually rose back until 2013, reaching 4 million
tourists. However, it seemed that they plummeted again in the next year to almost the same level
as it was in 2012, followed annually steady increase, resulting in 4,27 million in 2015 and 4,94
million in 2016.
The outstanding feature over the past ten years is the highest growth of 0.35 million resulting in a
record-breaking number of 3,2 million tourists in 2017. Among the countries, the Czech
Republic was recognized as the most potential market as it made up a major number of 645,000
tourists, followed by the North Pole, Germany, Hungary, and Australia. Furthermore, China also
was featured as the number of Chinese visitors was two times higher than the previous year
(Xinhua, 2018). In 2018, the number of visitors to Slovakia increased by 4,1%, reaching 5,5
million, of which 3.3 were domestic travelers (Observator, 2019). In comparison with 2017, the
domestic category and international one both 100,000 visitors higher.
Regarding outbound tourism, the number of outbound trips measured in thousand is significantly
lower than inbound overall. The trend of outbound tourism was as similar as of internal tourism,

there was a drop in 2013, followed by an annual increase, reaching 4600 thousand of tourists in
2018 (Jennifer, 2019). However, oversea trips of the Slovaks are still predominant in the profit of
travel agencies and tour operators as trips in Slovakia organized by tour operators and travel
companies have been reported with a declining trend. (Marek, 2012).

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Figure 2: Number of departures in Slovakia
In conclusion, based on the trend in the last decade, it can be forecasted that Slovakia’s inbound
tourism will continue largely depend on domestic visitors, and welcome an increasing number of
global visitors, especially Czechs and Chinese. At the same time, more and more Slovaks will
travel abroad, especially to European countries.

2. Place
Slovakia is a landlocked country located in the Eastern European area and has a rather significant
location, near the center of Europe, Slovakia has a total landmass of 48,105 km2 with a total of
930km2 bodies of water. It borders with Hungary, with which it has the longest border at 679
km, with the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Ukraine, with which the shortest borderline at
98 km (Monika 2018)
Slovakia has a rather unique position in the region of Eastern/Central Europe, Slovak territory is
crossed by three of the nine European core network corridors, with the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor
being one of the most important ones for the development of transport infrastructure of the
Slovak Republic (Marek et al 2018). Although the transport infrastructure in Slovakia is

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unevenly distributed and many of the railways, motorway network suffer from deficiencies, the
government has invested around 20 million EUR to upgrade motorway infrastructure, electrify
the railway system and sold off outdated facility and equipment like railway tracks (OECD 2019)
Slovakia is endowed with tourist attraction, they also have a diverse tourism attraction that can
offer various activities for tourists coming into the country, Slovakia has over 12,000km2 of
protected area, divided into 14 protected landscape area that can serve for sustainable tourism
purposes, including 9 national parks, moreover, the country is also known for its caves system,
there is over 1,200 caves are discovered and registered caves in Slovakia, of which 12 are open
to the public. Between the most important caves are: cave Driny, Harmanecká cave, Bystrianska
cave, Demänovská cave of liberty (Monika, 2018) and more than 1,300 mineral and hot spring
waters, thanks for their effectiveness, around 23 spas have built around mineral and hot spring
waters, overall increase the effectiveness of the tourism product in these areas (OECD, 2016)
Slovakia also offers rich cultural heritage aligned with the diverse natural attractions, there are
numerous historical sites such as castles (The Bratislava Castle, Devin Castle, Nitra Castle,
Bojnice Castle,...) Churches and Cathedrals (The Blue Church of St.Elizabeth, St.Martin
Cathedral,...) and over 300 smaller wooden churches with their unique structure have survived to
represent their religious architecture, even the old town of Bratislava is a cultural heritage itself.
The diversity of tourist attractions in Slovakia also represents through over 70 museums, 19
galleries of all types, including other exposures commemorative rooms, open-air museums and
more than 100 expositions for tourists to discover. Up to now, there have been 8 sites in Slovakia
recognized by UNESCO, including Vlkolínec, Levoča, Banská Štiavnica Towns and Slovak
Karst Cave system (Anton K & Daniel G 2012).

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3. Price
3.1. Pricing of tourism products
● Accommodations
Compared with the common ground in European countries, the price of accommodation in
Slovakia is much lower (Foster, 2019). According to Leffel, camping at the national park only
takes $8 one person with a tent. If a tourist wants to stay at a hostel in Bratislava, they will need
to spend $17 – $25 per person per night. For 2 to 4-star hotels, the price must be around $26 –
$70 for a double room. Regardings luxury hotels, as mentioned by The Slovak Spectator, the
price payable for the most expensive hotels and in Slovakia are at half the price in some other
European countries such as Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark (The Slovak Spectator,
2018).

● Restaurants
Similar to accommodations, prices of restaurants might also present as a salient feature in the
Slovakia tourism industry as several bottles of beer or even a three-course lunch might merely
cost €5 (Foster, 2019). To be specific, “soups are commonly $1 to $2.50, main dishes are $1.50
to $6” (Leffel, 2012). For travelers staying at a type of accommodation where there is a kitchen,
self-cooking will help to cut back on spending.

● Transportation
Notably, Slovakia does offer travelers a wide range of transportation. Figures 1 below have
clearly demonstrated the prices of public transport tickets based on different validity.
Additionally, tourists can also travel around the city by taxi, which might cost roughly
$1.30/kilometer (Leffel, 2012). Moreover, for those who travel in a group, renting a car will be
more economical since the rental fee in Slovakia is only $17/day for a 5-seater car (Kayak, n.d).

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Figure 3: Slovakia’s public transport price list (MHD, 2018).

3.2. Taxation

Recently, the Slovakia parliament has introduced a new VAT policy on hotels and similar
accommodations sector. This policy which was first implemented on January 1st of 2019 means
to reduce the tax rate from 20% to 10% in some industries, including the hotel industry (United
Cash Back, n.d). According to The Slovak Spectator, the main cause of the VAT reduction is
owing to signs of stagnation in Slovakia tourism industry; thus, the government must take action
to trigger the demand of tourists. Furthermore, the general manager of AHRS confirmed
"continuous growing costs and pressure of visitors on quality of services" (The Slovak Spectator,
2018) is an additional reason. On another aspect, VAT lowering can make service providers
increase savings (United Cash Back, n.d).

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3.3. Market structure

Generally, most travel-related sectors in Slovakia encompass accommodations, restaurants, and
travel agents establish based on monopolistic competition market structure since these businesses
are subject to severe competition. Specifically, the F&B sector has recently witnessed significant

growth (Euromonitor International, 2019) and roughly 13000 hotel rooms will be opened in the
next 3 years (Gurova, 2018). Simultaneously, this expansion also prove that there are no barriers
to enter the market. Moreover, product differentiation does exist when hotels usually cater to
customers different service quality and facilities (Goni, n.d); otherwise, restaurants distinguish
themselves by the taste of food or the variety of menu. Furthermore, based on the quality of
services that the business offers, they will set the price slightly lower or higher than the floor
price. Hence, it could be concluded that these businesses have little control over price.

4. Process
The Slovak Parliament authorized an adjustment in October of 2011 regarding the Act on
Support of Tourism in purpose to accelerate the creation and performance also the development
of local and regional Slovakia’s tourism sector (Štefko et al. 2018). Slovakia’s ministries and
authorities have established the initial competition in 2014 to encourage tourism innovation and
promote positive change in tourism development with the participation of 12 Slovak
entrepreneurs. (Gržinić 2018). Specifically, in 2014, the Ministry allocating EUR 3.7 million to
33 tourism organizations, whereas 29 locals and 4 regionals, for hospitality product
development, commercial campaigns, building, and tourist infrastructure preservation fee.
Furthermore, it is obvious that networking applications would enhance further innovations in
accordance to tourist destinations. They were linked predominantly with executing information
technologies in the two most significant mountainous destinations in Slovakia: The High Tatras
and The Liptov. Attributable to the major stakeholders’ networking, a diversity of hospitality
product and marketing innovations have been inaugurated in the High Tatras and in Liptov in
2016 by tourism stakeholders (Gajdošík et al.2017 ). Notably, these innovations initiators are

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DMO the company TMR, Inc., or the Liptov Cluster in both destinations, moreover, these
innovations were focused on the product, price, promotion, and distribution.
Toward High Tatras’s case, the stakeholders cooperate, especially in accommodation facilities
and publishment of the destination visitor’s card Tatras Card Winter and Tatras Card Summer,
which justification is to offer travelers discounts in sports and recreational activities and catering,
also free transportation(an aqua ski-bus). This is also available in the Go Pass card, which is a
loyalty program of a private stakeholder (TMR, Inc.), it also acts as a destination visitor’s card.
Regarding Liptov, Stakeholders published the product liptov Card Winter and liptov
CardSummer, therefore, customers can take advantage in the available discount on major
attractions in the region. Also, a fascinating hospitality product of the summer season called
Seven Treasures of liptov, which uses the component of geocaching and inspired visitors to get
to acknowledge the whole region of liptov. Both DMOs now play a vital role in networking
based on marketing communication and product development. Their yearly financial plan
surpasses €1.5m and Slovakia governors target their economic development in destination
attractions. (Gajdošík et al. 2017.) The liptov region has welcomed approximately half a million
tourists in 2016 and experienced an increase of 13% in 2017.

5. Policy
Because the European Union does not have a common policy focusing on tourism, so its
Member States have various policies on the sector, those policies reflected the contribution,
weight, and position of tourism to the country’s economy. Therefore, there is no single guide on
the tourism development policy established by the EU that can be applied to a specific country.
The majority of regulations and standards enacted by the Council of European Union involving
tourism are concerned with the protection of the consumers and natural habitat. (Monika 2018)
In 2002 the Slovakia government implemented Act No.49/2002 (which later amended by Act
no.479/2005 Coll.), which aims to protect the cultural monuments of the country from

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vandalism, over-tourism in order to preserve the cultural heritage of the Slovak people. The
consequence of this law changed the heritage authorities’ competences, which had traditionally
performed the role of state agencies’ advisory bodies. Conservation authorities have broad
powers, but they have not been allowed to determine the fate of cultural monuments. The law
also results in the establishment of a new government organization - Monuments Board of
Slovak Republic, that has legal jurisdiction to determine the Slovak fate of cultural heritages and
became a part of specialized state administration.
The new Tourism Regionalization Policy in Slovakia was announced in 2003 with the aim of
defining the boundaries of tourism regions in accordance with Slovakia's new administrative
division and formulating priority forms of tourism development in particular regions and
sub-regions (Jana K & Tomáš M 2009). Therefore, each region has specific policies, strategies,
regulations according to each region’s socio-economic level of development. One main
challenge of this policy is the regional problems of tourism development on a regional level have
been up to now solved mainly by means of physical and territorial planning (Jana K & Tomáš M
2009).

6. . Promotion
Slovakia is not known for being a tourism-focused country in Eastern Europe, however,
domestic tourism is one of the country’s main economic drivers. But since 1989, Slovakia
opened its door to welcome tourists from around the world (Palko 2012). Led by the Department
of Marketing and Promotion, tourism marketing in Slovakia is divided into 35 local
organizations for the promotion of a specific region in Slovakia (OECD 2018).

Since the beginning of the 2010s, Slovakia has worked continuously to promote its domestic
tourism. Slovakia media typically promote tourism from the start of summer to middle winter,
the festival period in Slovakia, to gain the most of worldwide attention. This period coincides
with the holiday breaks of most European countries, making it an ideal time for Slovakia to

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promote its destinations. The most notable marketing campaign is the “Travel in Slovakia Good
Idea” in 2017, which rebranded Slovakia tourism industry as a whole. Funded by the European
Union, the campaign originated from the official logo “Good Idea Slovakia” in 2016, and was
developed to represent Slovakia in the international tourism market (Krizanova et al 2019). It
gave Slovakia a more attractive image, focusing on Slovakia’s most famous attractions as well as
other less famous sites. Moreover, the campaign adapted Slovakia tourism industry to an
international approach, making Slovakia more appealing to foreign tourists, particularly Western
European tourists (n. a n. d). Currently, the campaign is the main marketing organization for
Slovakia tourism.

Another marketing campaign worth mentioning is the “ Discover Central Europe” initiative, a
collaborative effort between 4 countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. All 4
countries have similar cultural and historical heritage, but each country is unique at the same
time. Utilizing this advantage, the project was created as an example of the effort to develop the
area of Central Europe within the broader context of Europe-wide integration (n. a n. d). With
the aim of reaching the mutual benefits of ensuring long-term success in areas of common
interest by ongoing internal collaboration, the project has successfully increased the revenue of
the Slovakia tourism industry since 2012 (DCE 2017).

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Figure 4: Slovakia tourism statistic after joining DCE

Despite having major developments in tourism promotion, Slovakia is still insufficient in
utilizing technology into its marketing campaigns. According to Malachovský & Kiráľová
(2015), the use of e-communication tools is lacking in many Slovakia attractions, mainly rely on

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social media as the main form of marketing. Furthermore, Slovakia tourism industry is largely
dependent on booming economy trends, so marketing strategies at a regional level are needed if
Slovakia wishes to develop the tourism industry more (Ferencová et al 2014).

Conclusion
Since Slovakia owns many fascinating natural landscapes, castles, chateaux and its tasty local
cuisine, it is no doubt that Slovakia attracts a considerable number of tourists. Unfortunately,
Slovakia is currently fallen behind other countries, principally in system solving problems.
Therefore, cooperate with institution, professionalism employee and well-behaved manner, also
service’s quality as customer care system, in purpose to approach further innovation and in-depth
education. Moreover, Slovakia tourism and hospitality authorities have to take into account
product marketing and communication development strategy in the purpose of attracting more
visitors and reach the financial target as well. Besides, the Slovak Republic acknowledges the
benefits of social tourism, also the governors and local authorities have done a great job in
allocating funds from social tourism to help the community.

IV. References

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DCE 2017, Discover Central Europe 2016 Facts & Figures, CzechTourism,
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Foster, J, 2019, “The 17 Cheapest Places to Travel in Europe in 2019”, Travelocity, 26 April,
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< />
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24

July,

viewed

27

December

2019.< />ml>
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