doiSerbia

Variations in seasonality in spa centres of Serbia

Pavlović Sanja (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Serbia), sanja.pavlovic@gef.bg.ac.rs
Todorović Nikola (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Serbia)
Bolović Jelena (Tourist Organization of Požega)
Vesić Marina (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Serbia)

Seasonality of tourist demand imposes a number of issues related to the destination’s carrying capacity and business activities of the individual service providers in tourism. As one indicator of seasonal fluctuation of tourist demand, the Gini index is identified in order to establish monthly concentration of tourists. In this study, the Gini index was calculated for four spa tourism destinations in Serbia (Vrnjačka Banja, Sokobanja, Niška Banja, and Prolom Banja), in order to establish variability in the seasonality. The research took into consideration the period 2010-2019. Research results indicate that Niška Banja Spa has the lowest values of the Gini index, while Vrnjačka Banja Spa and Sokobanja Spa have the highest values, whereby no values are higher that .45 (mostly between .30 and .39). Given that the theoretically lowest value of the Gini index is 0 (smallest seasonal concentration) and the highest is 1 (biggest concentration), the selected spas still do not have particularly high degree of seasonal concentration of tourists. Possibilities for reduction of tourist demand seasonality are pointed out, given its impact on tourism planning and its economic effects.

Keywords: tourist demand, seasonality, Gini index, spa, Serbia

Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 176008