engleski

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION SUMMARY: Climate changes as determinants in shaping tourism supply– attitudes of management

SUMMARY Between tourism and climate change there is a two-way relationship as tourism is largely dependent on climate and is influenced by climate change which happens in real time. On the other hand it is estimated that tourism is responsible for at least 8% of global CO2 emissions which is why great efforts are being made at the global and national level to mitigate the consequences of climate change and to plan and take measures to prevent further negative consequences that could be irreversible in the future. Starting from the assumption of a two-way relationship between climate change and tourism, especially tourist accommodation, and the importance of knowing the beliefs and attitudes of managers in entire tourist accommodation offer as key persons in tourism management as decision-makers and key actors in the implementation of development and business policies in the area of sustainable development which is inseparable from the impact on climate change, the main objective of the research would be to examine and analyze the beliefs and attitudes about the climate change and the interinfluence of climate change and tourist accommodation, and climate changes as determinants in creating tourist offer, as well as the differences between managers in different tourist accommodation facilities. The research was focused on 1084 facilities, representing the total number of all categorized facilities by type as hotels and aparthotels, then tourist resorts and tourist apartments as well as camps, and marinas in the Republic of Croatia covered by the latest available List of categorized facilities on 7 March 2019. For the purpose of determining the beliefs and attitudes on climate change and the interinfluence of climate change and tourist accommodation, a questionnaire designed for this research was used. Out of the total number of questionnaires submitted, 283 questionnaires had been duly completed, representing 26.1% of respondents, including 4.60% of the members of the Management Board or the Supervisory Body, 46.65% of the Directors or Heads of the Facility or members of the Operational Management, 19% quality managers and 33.56% of middle management staff. Data processing was performed using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software. KolmogorovSmirnov's test analyzed the distribution of continuous numerical values and according to to the obtained data corresponding non-parametric tests were applied. Categorical and nominal values are shown using corresponding frequencies and shares. Continuous values are shown using medians and interquartile ranges, and the differences between them are analyzed by Kruskal- X Wallis's, that is post-hoc Mann-Whitney U test, and presented in Box and Whisker's plot in which shows median values, interquartile ranges, minimum and maximum values, and extreme values which differ from the medians by more than 1.5 interquartile ranges. Confirmatory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was performed in which matrix and factor saturation were calculated for three factors (cognitive, emotional and behavioral domain) and for each factor the coefficient of the internal consistency of Cronbach alpha was satisfactory (> 0.700). The results showed that all hypotheses of research were proven in the paper. The hypotheses that the beliefs and attitudes of managers in the tourist industry are the functions of the various characteristics of the accommodation facility (category, business orientation according to the type of guests, location, continuity of business during the year, development of SPA and wellness offer, possession of written quality policy). It has been shown that stronger proecological attitudes and higher levels of ecological awareness of climate change and the interinfluence of climate change and tourist accommodation are shown by managers employed in: higher category facilities (higher number of stars) located in coastal counties, which are open all year round, have a strong orientation towards SPA/wellness offer and amenities, have a clearly defined written policy of quality and environmental protection, and are oriented towards organized groups and family guests. The same has been confirmed about climate changes as determinants of creating the tourist offer. Also, the highest level of ecological awareness of climate change and the interinfluence of climate change and tourist accommodation, as well as climate changes as the determinants of tourist offer is shown by managers who work in top management positions, have at least completed a tertiary level of education, are members of ecological NGOs, and consider themselves activists, are of female gender and have more than 15 years of service.

attitudes ; beliefs ; climate change ; management ; tourism ; destinations

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