Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries

Koľveková, Gabriela; Liptáková, Erika; Štrba, Ľubomír; Kršák, Branislav; Sidor, Csaba; Cehlár, Michal; Khouri, Samer; Behún, Marcel

doi:10.3390/su11020400

Open AccessArticle

Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries

by

Gabriela Koľveková

¹,

Erika Liptáková

²,

Ľubomír Štrba

^3,*,

Branislav Kršák

³,

Csaba Sidor

³,

Michal Cehlár

⁴

,

Samer Khouri

⁴

and

Marcel Behún

⁴

¹

Department of Economic Theories, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia

²

Department of Applied Mathematics and Business Informatics, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia

³

Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia

⁴

Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 04200 Košice, Slovakia

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sustainability 2019, 11(2), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020400

Submission received: 2 November 2018 / Revised: 7 January 2019 / Accepted: 9 January 2019 / Published: 14 January 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Directions in Tourism)

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Abstract

The impact of tourism on quality of life standards in regions is significant in terms of people, planet, and profit. This paper examines the subnational NUTS 2 level regions, (in line with Eurostat) by applying several interlinked and connected indicators. Adopting the three Ps (people, planet, profit) of the Sustainability Services Marketing Mix, this article discusses the fusion of 54 regions of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria) into clusters according to the selected accommodation tourism indicators used by the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat) to evaluate tourism. Since many variables of the Prague region significantly exceed the values of the remaining regions, this region has been considered as an individual cluster, excluded from the cluster analysis. The cluster analysis resulted in the definition of six clusters consisting of regions with similar indicators’ statistics characteristics. The presented approach changes the traditional approach to clusters in tourism and provokes thinking about new criteria of clustering and solutions in the field of tourism, especially when considering future cooperation, competitiveness, and sustainable development.

Keywords: sustainability services marketing matrix; cluster analysis; tourism indicators; regional disparity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Koľveková, G.; Liptáková, E.; Štrba, Ľ.; Kršák, B.; Sidor, C.; Cehlár, M.; Khouri, S.; Behún, M. Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries. Sustainability 2019, 11, 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020400

AMA Style

Koľveková G, Liptáková E, Štrba Ľ, Kršák B, Sidor C, Cehlár M, Khouri S, Behún M. Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries. Sustainability. 2019; 11(2):400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020400

Chicago/Turabian Style

Koľveková, Gabriela, Erika Liptáková, Ľubomír Štrba, Branislav Kršák, Csaba Sidor, Michal Cehlár, Samer Khouri, and Marcel Behún. 2019. "Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries" Sustainability 11, no. 2: 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020400

APA Style

Koľveková, G., Liptáková, E., Štrba, Ľ., Kršák, B., Sidor, C., Cehlár, M., Khouri, S., & Behún, M. (2019). Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries. Sustainability, 11(2), 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020400

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Regional Tourism Clustering Based on the Three Ps of the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix: An Example of Central and Eastern European Countries

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