Andrea Holešinská

DMO – A dummy-made organ or a really working destination management organization

Abstract Destination management is considered as an advanced form of cooperation among tourism stakeholders who are associated in a destination management organization (DMO). In developed tourist destinations such as the Alpine regions, these institutions were formed spontaneously after a few years dealing with the socio-economic changes in demand to prove their competitiveness. This process strengthened their cooperation. In the Czech and Slovak Republic destination management does not have a long tradition. Although numerous tourism organizations have been established, their identification as DMOs is questionable especially considering the length of cooperation development in the Alpine regions. Therefore the article examines on an example of the Slovak Republic.

Economic transition and tourisim development - mass tourism in Prague

Prague, a metropolitan city, with the privilage in its historical and cultural heritage (since 1992 on the UNESCO heritage list) has the predominant position in inbound tourism in the Czech Republic. Thus tourism is an important part of Prague’s economy and therefore tourism impacts are reflected in life of residents, and in urban planning as well. The aim of the paper is to present how considerably the tourism development in Prague has transformed since 1990s. Primarily, the political and economic transition in 1990s is introduced to hightlight the major implications of the political-economic regime change in field of urban tourism. The research focuses on the development of the nature and structure of tourism demand (tourist flows) and at the same time on the policy of urban planning. The effects of “the urban tourism strategy” (changes in the functional-spatial structure of the tourism supply) describe a survive covering the historical core of the city. Undoubtedly, Prague turned out as a product of mass tourism and to cope with this situation policy-makers and responsible authorities in tourism have to come up with a new strategy that makes Prague competitive of the future.

Tourism and rural area in Czech republic

The area of the Czech Republic can be divided into a rural and urban area. This division is not clear, there is not any consensus about it and it all depends on the purpose for which the definitions of areas are formed. Tourism consists of several types and rural tourism is one of them. This article focuses on different definitions of the rural area for the purposes of urban geography and tourism. It searches for possible connections between the concepts of rural area and tourism within the context of the Czech Republic. The findings result in different understanding of tourism in the rural area and rural tourism with respect to their statistical characteristics.

Networking in a destination from the perspective of virtual relationships and their spatial dimension

From the economic-geographical approach point of view, a tourism destination is traditionally regarded as a defined geographical area. However, the destination can be considered as a socio-economic system composed of a variety of entities, with many certain types of links among them. Increasing pressure on the destination competitiveness requires more complex methods for investigating internal links and the description of their structures. Using a network analysis in combination with a spatial perspective could provide relevant results for understanding collaborative relationships. This paper focuses on the network of relations that are established due to the participation in the tourism product – the Olomouc visitor card project. The core of the network analysis lies in the website links among stakeholders who joined the Olomouc visitor card project. The main idea is that these virtual relationships may also reflect a social process. Hence, the paper measures the quantitative network characteristics of tourism destination web space and visualizes the existing network on a map. Finally, the results are discussed in the context of tourism destination governance.

Destination Networks as a Tool for Minimizing the Risk and Improving the Performance of a Destination

Abstract The management of a tourist destination in the form of networks is considered to be one of the possible approaches to destination governance structures. The concept of destination governance is based on the cooperation between actors from the public and private sectors. It is known that public–private relationships built on trust, joint risk taking and based on informal structures have a positive impact on the level of growth at a tourist destination. The aim of this paper is to quantify to what extent each of the determinants of the DMO success participate in the total destination performance, and thus point out the factors of a potential risk. The main objective of this paper is the cooperation between the destination management organization (DMO), public sector and entrepreneurs providing tourism services. The data collection was achieved by conducting in-depth interviews and structured questionnaires. The analysed data identify the factors of successful mutual cooperation that are used as inputs for further modelling. The contribution of the paper lies in the application of the total quality management concept methodology to identify the share of each factor/determinant in the DMO performance.

Tourism destination governance v kontextu teoretických poznatků

Problematika tourism destination governance (vladnuti turisticke destinaci) je v zahranici aktualnim tematem a stava se předmětem řady výzkumů. Koncept tourism destination governance v zasadě rozsiřuje teorii destinacniho managementu (Bieger, 1996; Bratl a Schmidt, 1998; Ritchie a Crouch, 2003, Holesinska, 2012), jehož podstatou je spoluprace a vztahy (vazby) mezi aktery cestovniho ruchu, ktere jsou zkoumany pomoci teorii interorganizacnich siti (Alter a Hage, 1993). Teorie siti vsak nejsou schopny detailně zachytit povahu a zdroje vzajemných interakci, a proto se středem zajmu stava koncept destination governance využivajici teorie corporate governance (Beritelli, Bieger a Laesser, 2007; Nordin a Svensson, 2007; Baggio, Scott a Cooper, 2010; Pechlaner, Volgger a Herntrei, 2012). Přispěvek předklada předevsim zahranicni teoreticke poznatky a přistupy k problematice tourism destination governance a shrnuje metody použivane touto teorii. Koncept tourism destination governance je soucasne dan do kontextu s institucionalnimi směry teorie regionalniho rozvoje.

Administrativní hranice jako překážka pro destinační management

Destinacni management je vyspěla forma spoluprace mezi aktery cestovniho ruchu (Bieger, 1996), kteři byli situaci na trhu donuceni se z role konkurentů transformovat do role partnerů, a ziskat tak konkurencni výhodu na trhu. Clanek se zabýva spolupraci v ramci destinace, kterou protinaji administrativni hranice. Aplikovana je siťova analýza, ktera ma poukazat na nevýhody a slaba mista zkoumane problematiky na připadu destinaci Krkonose a Ceský raj. Na zakladě rozhovorů a dotaznikoveho setřeni byly hodnoceny tři principy destinacniho managementu (Holesinska, 2007), tj. komunikace, spoluprace a koordinace. Respondenty byly dvě destinacni spolecnosti a dotcene krajske uřady.