Measuring Tourism Seasonality Across Selected Mediterranean Countries

Abstract

Seasonality, as one of the key features of tourist activity, represents an unavoidable topic in scientific and professional analyses, whose aim it is to determine its causal effects. The economic consequences of seasonality are the kind of consequences that are most often emphasized and considered in discussions. They include inefficiencies in resource use, income variability, changes in the employment level, etc. However, only a few analyses have provided a more in-depth discussion of the common problems of seasonality among the Mediterranean countries. The most commonly used method of calculating the Gini coefficient will be used in order to estimate seasonality. This coefficient is characterized by certain advantages, such as taking into account the distribution asymmetry and the relative insensitivity to extreme values, as well as the stability indication of overnight stays distribution in a single year. Based on individual calculations of the seasonality index, this paper will provide a unique view of the similarities and differences between countries with regards to seasonal tourism oscillations. The analysis will cover the total number of tourists’ overnight stays in hotels and similar accommodation facilities, RevPAR revenue, and the average room price – ADR per month between 2007 and 2017. This paper will focus on determining the seasonal characteristics of the selected Mediterranean countries. The quantitative seasonality calculation will be a key indicator for seasonality measurements across different research areas. The contribution of this paper is reflected in the application of financial and non-financial indicators in hotel business that has not yet been implemented.
 Keywords: Tourism seasonality, RevPAR, ADR, gini index

Seasonality and sustainability of tourism – case study

“…An example of this is Croatia, which has the value of the Gini index of 0.64 when it comes to overnight stays by tourists (higher values compared to arrivals) (Ćorluka, Vukušić, 2017). The seasonality of tourism in Croatia is constantly present due to the structure of accommodation facilities as well as the greater increase in the number of overnight stays in the summer season compared to the rest of the year (Suštar, Laškarin Ažić, 2018). This example also proves that the values of the Gini index depend on the types of destinations, i.e.…”

Two-tier seasonal concentration of tourism in the European Union

“…The proposed measures of variation (Turrión-Prats, Duro 2018) do not show significant, substantial changes in the long run unless additional circumstances (crises) arise. Similar research on smaller samples shows the impact of the crisis in 2008 on the level of seasonality in 2007, in the author's opinion, wrongly indicated (Suštar, Laškarin Ažić, 2019). The economy can react faster to phenomena imperceptible to economists, but probably not so much in advance.…”

“…A concentration coefficient can function as a measure of seasonality. The relevant sources usually refer to the Gini coefficient (Þórhallsdóttir, Ólafsson, 2017;Suštar, Laškarin Ažić, 2019). This research estimates the values of Gini coefficients for all countries in the period where data are available.…”

Seasonality in European and North American Air Transport Markets: Network Structures and Implications for Airline Performance and Recovery

“…Air transport enables and facilitates the flows of tourists (Reynolds‐Feighan 2021), and air passenger flows tend to follow a seasonal pattern similar to flows of leisure and vacation travelers. The Gini index is perhaps the most commonly used indicator to measure seasonality, such as in Fernández‐Morales and Mayorga‐Toledano (2008), Þórhallsdóttir and Ólafsson (2017), Reynolds‐Feighan (2018), Marton et al (2019), and Suštar and Ažić (2019).…”