Motivations for Visiting Smokovo’s Thermal Springs (Conference presentation)

Kamenidou, I./ Mamalis, S./ Priporas, C.V./ Samara, I./ Καμενίδου, Ειρήνη/ Μάμαλης, Σπυρίδων/ Πριπόρας, Χ.Β./ Σαμαρά, Ι.


The natural-based health and wellness industry is growing rapidly all over the world, making it a vital tourism market in a country’s economy. Health tourism in Greece has been connected mainly with tourism in thermal springs and balneology for curative purposes. Thermal spring and thermal bath therapy are acknowledged as an alternative form of health tourism, and with 82 thermal spring units operating in the country, it can be regarded as a potential tourism sector. In this context, this paper reports the outcome of research that measures customer’s motivations for visiting Smokovos’ thermal spring baths on a sample of 240 participants. The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire at the premises of the thermal springs /spa. Factor, cluster and chi-square tests were performed for data analysis. Three consumer clusters were obtained based on the derived four clusters, specifically “getaway visitors”, “therapy seekers” and “curious and travelling-by visitors”. Marketing implications are given based on outcomes. The results of this study are considered a necessity for spa marketing staff in order to apply efficient marketing to retain and increase their market share.
Institution and School/Department of submitter: Σχολή Διοίκησης και Οικονομίας / Τμήμα Διοίκησης Επιχειρήσεων
Keywords: Health tourism;Wellness tourism;Thermal springs;Motivation;Marketing;Τουρισμός υγείας;Τουρισμός ευεξίας;Θερμές πηγές;Κίνητρο;Μάρκετινγκ
Citation: International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues (ICCMI) 13 – 15 June 2012 Thessaloniki, Greece
Description: Άρθρο Συνεδρίου--ΑΤΕΙΘ, 2012
URI: http://195.251.240.227/jspui/handle/123456789/1269
Publisher: Bucks New University
Alexander Technological Educational Institute (ATEI) of Thessaloniki, Department of Marketing
Appears in Collections:ICCMI (2012)

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Kamenidou_Mamalis_Priporas_Samara_Motivations_for_Visiting_Smokovo’s_Thermal.pdf487.37 kBAdobe PDFView/Open



 Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://195.251.240.227/jspui/handle/123456789/1269
  This item is a favorite for 0 people.

This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons