City or urban tourism is a related new type of tourism. It is the result of globalization and new trends in the tourism market.
Tourists choose to visit capitals and other large or less populated cities for short stays and sightseeing purposes.
During their stay, tourists combine city tourism with other types of tourism such as conference and cultural tourism.
Urban tourism products are multifunctional and multi-purpose. Their development can be helpfully guided by surveys among different user groups about the benefits they seek from them, their specific expectations and their ultimate satisfaction with the products.
Its different products are classified within the overall urban leisure product according to their possible importance in their decision to visit a city.
This can help explain the relative importance of different urban tourism products for overall visitor satisfaction. Distinguish between primary, secondary and supplementary products.
In the US, the practice of city marketing is primarily linked to local economic development, promotion of place, and the promotion of public-private partnerships to drive regeneration. In Europe, the term city marketing became popular in the literature in the 80s.
It refers to approaches to city marketing, brand strategies, image and identity design. It takes data from different scientific fields. They are often associated with regeneration policies based on urban culture.
According to Euromonitor International, Hong Kong was the most visited city in the world in 2015. They use information from the National Statistics Service, airports, hotels and other sources of the tourism industry for their Euromonitor ranking.
An urban tourism destination basically consists of four dimensions: physical characteristics of the city, elements of urban community, management (supply-oriented) and marketing.
Urban tourism is very common in Greece. All the islands in Greece are popular and receive tourists at all times of the year.
There are areas that tourists especially prefer. For example; beach, cafe, museum, hotel etc. The most preferred hotel is Mileo Luxury Hotel in Mykonos.
The hotel is the favorite of tourists due to its location. It has an extremely luxurious design. It is a hotel with sea view rooms intertwined with nature. If you want to stay in the most popular place when you go to Greece, your choice should definitely be Mileo Luxury Hotel.
Thessaloniki Tourism Data Analysis
1,763,543 overnight stays were made in Thessaloniki in 2013, and 2,058,456 overnight stays were made in 2014. These figures are much higher than the 2005 number of overnight stays of 1,200,000.
There are 83 hotels in total in the city. According to the data of GBR, which conducted research for Thessaloniki Hoteliers Association, 52% of the visitors were Greek and 48% foreign.
12% of foreigners came from Cyprus, followed by 8% from Turkey and 7% from the USA. Germany, Serbia and Montenegro had a 6% share, while Bulgaria, Romania and Russia had a 5% share.
46 percent of the transportation vehicles used came to the city by plane and 33 percent by car. September was the busiest month.
Tourists spent an average of 68 euros. About one-fifth visited or wanted to attend a performance at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, while about 17% were interested in seeing a performance at the National Theater of Northern Greece.
Reasons to visit the city include: shopping, culinary interest, cycling and cultural events.
International arrivals at Thessaloniki airport in 2015 were at the same level as in 2014. As Thessaloniki airport is the main entry point for Halkidiki and other tourist destinations in Central Macedonia, most of the arrivals took place in June-August.
Germany is by far the main market, accounting for 34% of international passengers in 2015.
The top six airlines carried 72% of international passengers. In 2015, Ryanair carried passengers from Italy, Cyprus, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Sweden, Poland, Spain and Norway.
Aegean Airlines carried passengers mainly from Germany, Cyprus, Russia and France. According to the data of Thessaloniki Port Authority, cruise ships carrying 25,963 passengers stopped in Thessaloniki in 2015.
Thessaloniki has the lowest occupancy rates along with Istanbul, Bratislava and Moscow. As for the price of a night's accommodation, Thessaloniki is in the penultimate position after Bratislava with 42.11 euros.
Research Methodology
As part of Thessaloniki's tourism development plan, a primary survey was conducted in Thessaloniki using questionnaires distributed to tourism operators and tourists.
The visitors' questionnaires were distributed to all six hotels in Thessaloniki belonging to different categories, which are members of the Thessaloniki Hoteliers Association.
The questionnaires were also distributed at the intercity bus station, at the train station at the airport and at the Thessaloniki Port Authority passenger station.
Those who filled out the guest questionnaire were Greek and foreign tourists who chose to visit Thessaloniki. A total of 331 people answered the survey. The distribution of the questionnaire was made in Thessaloniki in two stages.
The first distribution phase was held on February 1-15, 2016, and the second on July 15-31, 2016. The questionnaire contains 28 questions about the personal perceptions and demographic characteristics of the participants. Questions were clear, limited to multiple choice or assessment questions.
The questionnaire consists of several parts.
- Part, one contains questions about travel details.
- The second part contains questions about the mode of access to the goal.
- In the third part, there are questions about the evaluation of the touristic product.
- The fourth chapter includes questions about the development of tourism in Thessaloniki.
- The fifth section contains questions about promotion issues and circulation.
- The sixth section includes questions about demographic information.
Data analysis was done with SPSS statistical program. The survey aimed at professionals was aimed at institutions and organizations directly or indirectly involved in Thessaloniki's tourism sector and its aim was to learn more about their views on tourism and the growth of Thessaloniki in general.
The questionnaire was filled out by 25 representatives recognized by the researcher through their professional activities.
Dr.Yaşam Ayavefe
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