Nomen est omen – Tourist image of the Balkans

Abstract

The regime change, the South Slavic civil war, global recession and their political, economic and social consequences had a significant impact on the tourism market of Southeast Europe and the Balkan region. Many potential visitors to the region were affected by their negative associations with past events, even those that happened many years ago. The image of the Balkan region has become at times almost synonymous with conflict, turmoil and unrest. However, these perceptions may be changing and are therefore worthy of exploration. The article provides a tourism oriented analysis of the area's image as a tourism destination. In accordance with the literature, the perceptions are measured by using a customer-based approach. Internet-based social media encourages the sharing of recent tourism experiences which can confirm or change associations with destinations. This study provides a content analysis of comments from one of the most popular travel portals (TripAdvisor) including key elements of the Balkan region's image. The results of the research show theoretical implications like the importance of emotional image elements, the role of locals, or the complexity of tourism experience. From a practical point of view, the conclusions can induce long term thinking about the selected destination's branding, and motivation for further research, as well.

Nationalism in Official Tourism Websites of Balkan Countries

“…Not only is nationalism potentially damaging for individual countries, but for the entire region as a whole. As Smith et al (2018) found in their research on tourism image in the Balkans on user-generated content websites like TripAdvisor, that opinions about tourist related services that use the word 'Balkans' in their reviews can shape the region's tourism-related image regardless of which country they are in. With this in mind and the rapid rate that global tourism is growing, it seems that the industry will not wait for the social and political tensions in the Balkans to resolve themselves.…”

Model of Local Economic Development in Hungarian Countryside

“…We explored less immaterial local products just as legends and myths (Smith et al 2018). For instance, a myth came from the Eszterházy castle in Fertőd where a ghost room can be found in the desolate part of the building.…”

A novel approach of mapping landscape aesthetic value and its validation with rural tourism data

“…In the names of tourist destinations, attractive-sounding geographical elements are used in many cases, which also refer to the characteristics and specific features of their tourism offer (Kavaratzis, M. and Ashworth, G. 2005;Smith, M. et al 2018). As its name, which turned into one with leisure and tourism, also suggests, the Danube Bend is characterized by the beautiful valley of the Danube, which forms a sharp curve as breaks through the Visegrad Strait (Photo 1).…”