Article: Consumers' perceptions of the local hotel recreation facilities: the case of Greek and Serbian young people Journal: International Journal of Tourism Policy (IJTP) 2015 Vol.6 No.1 pp.46 - 63 Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore young people's perceptions of hotel recreation facilities (HRF) located in the area of their residence and then propose actions to be exploited by hoteliers towards attracting young customers to their premises. The data were collected from randomly selected young people living in Greece and Serbia through an online questionnaire. Two different country samples are utilised so as to gain a better insight of the reasons leading young people to use (or not) the HRF. The descriptive analysis was employed to summarise the sample's personal information and the patterns in the customer behaviour towards the use of HRF. In order to compare the consumers' attitudes and perceptions, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. The study's main results show that: the percentage of young people who use the local HRF is very low; the advertising method that could influence them the most is the internet; and, accessibility to the HRF has to be improved. Based on the research findings the authors developed a marketing guide for the hoteliers which, if efficiently utilised, could result in the increase of the industry's turnover. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Consumers' perceptions of the local hotel recreation facilities: the case of Greek and Serbian young people

Authors: Soultana Tania Kapiki; Damjan Jaksic

Addresses: Department of Business Administration/Tourism and Hospitality Management, ATEI of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 141, GR-57400 Sindos, Greece ' Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, Lovcenska 16, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore young people's perceptions of hotel recreation facilities (HRF) located in the area of their residence and then propose actions to be exploited by hoteliers towards attracting young customers to their premises. The data were collected from randomly selected young people living in Greece and Serbia through an online questionnaire. Two different country samples are utilised so as to gain a better insight of the reasons leading young people to use (or not) the HRF. The descriptive analysis was employed to summarise the sample's personal information and the patterns in the customer behaviour towards the use of HRF. In order to compare the consumers' attitudes and perceptions, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. The study's main results show that: the percentage of young people who use the local HRF is very low; the advertising method that could influence them the most is the internet; and, accessibility to the HRF has to be improved. Based on the research findings the authors developed a marketing guide for the hoteliers which, if efficiently utilised, could result in the increase of the industry's turnover.

Keywords: tourism industry; hospitality industry; local hotels; leisure services; recreation facilities; marketing guide; profitability; customer behaviour; Greece; Serbia; consumer perceptions; hotel facilities; young people; youth; local facilities; advertising; accessibility.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2015.075143

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2015 Vol.6 No.1, pp.46 - 63

Received: 16 Jun 2015
Accepted: 22 Dec 2015
Published online: 04 Mar 2016 *

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Title: Consumers' perceptions of the local hotel recreation facilities: the case of Greek and Serbian young people

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