Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in Almaty and they serve about 50% of all tourists in Kazakhstan (Tourism
in Kazakhstan, 2012). According to the National Program on the Tourism
Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the period of 2007-2011
a pilot tourism cluster was also planned to be developed in the city of Al-
maty and Almaty oblast (National Program, 2006).
Questionnaires for this trend study were distributed among tourist
firms in 2009 and 2011. There are 23 questions in the questionnaire. The
collected data contain information on the respondents' status, age and gen-
der, firm employment size and age, firm competitors, cooperation with
support and related industries, firm development prospects, educational
level of employees by gender, professional needs of the firm, perception
of firm prospects, annual revenue, annual output, propensity to innovate,
number of inbound and domestic tourists by tourism purpose, information
on tour operators, barriers to business growth and development, relation-
ship with public inspection bodies and participation of the firm in activi-
ties within the framework of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The
surveyed companies were selected randomly from the Almaty City Busi-
ness Directory Online.
5
The sample size was 50 in 2009 and 48 in 2011.
However, sample sizes differ for different research questions depending
on the missing data.
The competitiveness of the travel and tourism industry and its relation-
ship with basic indicators such as business environment, infrastructure,
laws and regulations, and resources is analyzed using statistical data pro-
vided in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Reports of the World Eco-
nomic Forum (e.g., Bălan, Balaure and Veghes, 2009). Papp and Raffay
(2011) suggested distinguishing between competitive position and com-
petitive potential of the country. According to the authors, the competitive
position refers to the competitive performance, which can be measured by
statistical data; the competitive potential relates to what the destination
could achieve, with the appropriate development of the facilities and man-
agement activities. The dynamics of changes in international competitive-
ness of Kazakhstan, its competitive position and competitive potential are
examined based on the statistical data in the Travel & Tourism Competi-
tiveness Reports of the World Economic Forum (2007-2009 and 2011).
Data analysis is conducted with SPSS (version 19) for descriptive sta-
tistics, factor analysis and correlations.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search