It is considered that hotels with a generic offer suffer from reduced demand. One possible solution to improve the performance is a thematic specialization that provides added value for specific niches and target groups.
The focus of this paper is to analyse the bike tourism market of the greater Alpine region as well as other countries were bike tourism is consider to be developed, as USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Previous research in field of bike tourism is relatively small, highly fragmented and out-dated. From the other side, research in the field of specialized bike hotels barely exists. In order to acquire more information two online survey were developed directed to the supply and demand side respectively. The analysis is conducted by comparing the supply side and the demand side
The findings of this paper are critical for hotels interested in generating profit in bike tourism. Bike tourism presents itself a micro niche and can be assigned to further segmentation according to experiences, needs and values of bikers. The data obtained reveals that different biker groups have different values, needs and expectations towards bike hotels.
At a glance
- Two original online surveys of bike tourists and specialized accommodation providers
- Biker survey included 220 responses on reasons for cycling
- Examines Girona Greenways Consortium’s accommodation and restaurant membership criteria
- 84 sources in the bibliography
- 74 figures and 37 tables
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theory insights
2.1 Moving from mass tourism to sustainable and niche tourism
2.2 Sport tourism
2.3 Adventure tourism (or outdoor tourism)
2.4 The role of niche tourism in destination management
2.5 The role of cooperation in tourism in destination management and sports tourism
3. Literature Review of bikers’ behaviour
3.1 Alpine Destination
3.2 Canada
3.3 USA
3.4 Australia
3.5 New Zealand
4. Bike hotel chain and organizations
A. Bike hotel chain
4.1 Accent Inns, Canada
B Bike hotel organizations
4.2 Engadin St. Moritz Tourist Organisation
4.3 Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus, Switzerland
4.4 Girona Greenways Consortium, Spain
4.5 Riccione Bike Hotels – Italy
4.6 Tirol Werbung GmbH, Austria
4.7 Whistler Resort Association, Canada
4.8 Bike hotel Sudtirol, Italy
5. Spa and Swiss Deluxe Hotel association
5.1 The value of spa and therapies for bikers
5.2 Siwss Deluxe Hotels
6. Methodology
7. Bikers survey
7.1 Fixing the data
7.2 Descriptive statistics
7.3 Inferential statistics
7.3.1 Biking experience
7.3.2 Age
7.3.3 Number of persons under/over 18 living in household
7.3.4 Reasons for biking: health/exercise
7.3.5 Reasons for biking: environmental
7.3.6 Reasons for biking: enjoinment
7.3.7 Reasons for biking: thrill and excitement
7.3.8 Marital status
7.3.9 Gender
7.4 Association membership
8. Bike hotels’ survey
8.1 Descriptive statistics
8.2 Quantitative analysis
8.2.1 Main strengths of the business
8.2.2 Future changes in the bike product
9. Discussion and recommendations
9.1 Gender
9.2 Age
9.3 Occupation
9.4 Importance of different experiences
9.5 Level of biking experience
9.6 Reasons for biking
9.7 Bikers’ preferences considering bike services of hotels and the supply of those services by hotels
9.8 Bikers’ participation in biking activities per year and their contribution to the growth of the hotels’ business
9.9 Bikers’ participation in seasonal activities per year and the supply of those activities by hotels
9.10 Booking channel
9.11 Organizing bike tours and information for tour planning
9.12 Bike hotels and cooperation
9.13 Bike cooperation
9.14 Spa centre and cooperation with a spa association
10. Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This study asks how the needs and preferences of bike tourists correspond to the services offered by specialized bike hotels. It combines international literature, examples of hotel cooperation and surveys of cyclists and accommodation providers to explore the bike tourism market and its implications for hotel management.
- Niche, sport and adventure tourism
- Cyclists’ motivations, experiences and accommodation preferences
- Bike tourism in the Alpine region, North America, Australia and New Zealand
- Bike hotel chains, destination organizations and cooperation
- Survey methods and comparison of demand with hotel supply
- Spa services and recommendations for hotel managers
Excerpt from the Book
2.1 Moving from mass tourism to sustainable and niche tourism
The rise of mass tourism started in the 1950s. “Mass tourism can be defined as modern, industrial tourism where large numbers of tourists are transported, accommodated and entertained inexpensively by large mainstream tourism enterprises in pre-packaged and highly organized tour arrangements.” (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006, p. 198).
Mass tourism had some negative economic, ecological and social impacts. Furthermore there was developing a switch of demand to a more individual approach and more specialized offers.
As a reaction to those negative effects sustainable (or alternative) tourism started to develop. The main characteristics of sustainable tourism are limited-scale, low-impact, community-based and raised awareness.
Sustainable tourism is complex and diverse; it includes many different types and/or niches as ecological tourism, ecotourism (or green tourism), rural tourism, community tourism and others (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006).
A parallel idea to sustainable tourism is niche tourism. There is no formal definition of the term although it is largely borrowed from the term niche marketing. In marketing the term refers to a specific product made to meet the needs of a particular market segment. Novelli (2005, pp. 5) supports that “The market should not been seen as some simplistic homogenous whole with general need, but rather sets of individuals with specific needs relating to the qualities and features of particular products”. Niche market (or small market segment) is a well-defined group; the individuals in the group have the same specialized needs and have a strong desire to obtain the offered product
Niche tourism marketing tries to identify travel preferences according to the behaviour and motivation to experience a specialized product or service. Tourism marketers frequently try to identify activities that are practiced by specific travel groups in order to contact them. This is called macro niches. Additionally they often assume that a specialized product may appeal to another niche at the same time. Macro niches (e.g. cultural tourism, rural tourism, sport tourism etc.) can be further divided into smaller groups that are called micro-niches (e.g. gastronomy tourism, wine tourism, cycling tourism etc.). Novelli (2005, p. 6) states that in niche tourism an important factor is “the geographical dimension by which locations with highly specific offers are able to establish themselves as niche destinations”. Furthermore, niche tourism is seen as a way to attract high spending tourists, as it is considered to be an elite form of tourism and directly opposite to mass tourism and to mass packaged tourism.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: Introduces bike hotels and the question of how tourist needs correspond to hotel offers.
2. Theory insights: Places bike tourism within niche, sport and adventure tourism and considers destination management and cooperation.
3. Literature Review of bikers’ behaviour: Reviews research on cyclist characteristics and preferences across the Alpine region, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
4. Bike hotel chain and organizations: Examines Accent Inns and a range of destination organizations and bike hotel alliances, including their services and membership requirements.
5. Spa and Swiss Deluxe Hotel association: Considers therapies for cyclists and the membership model of Swiss Deluxe Hotels.
6. Methodology: Explains the two online surveys, convenience sampling and the limits of the sampling approach.
7. Bikers survey: Describes data preparation and analyses cyclist characteristics, preferences and relationships between selected variables.
8. Bike hotels’ survey: Examines participating accommodation providers, their services, business characteristics and open-ended responses.
9. Discussion and recommendations: Compares tourist demand with hotel supply and discusses implications for services, booking and cooperation.
10. Conclusion: Summarizes the relationship between demand and supply and identifies limitations and directions for further research.
Keywords
bike tourism, bike hotels, cycling tourists, niche tourism, sport tourism, adventure tourism, tourist behaviour, destination management, hotel cooperation, survey research, accommodation services, Alpine region, spa services
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the work about?
It examines specialized bike hotels and the tourists who use them, with particular attention to the relationship between customer needs and hotel services.
What are the main themes?
The study covers niche tourism, cyclist behaviour, bike hotel services, cooperation between tourism organizations and the potential role of spa facilities.
What is the central research objective?
The authors aim to assess whether the services offered by bike hotels correspond to the preferences and needs of bike tourists.
What research methods are used?
The authors review existing literature and conduct two online surveys using convenience sampling. The cyclist responses are analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics, alongside an analysis of hotel responses.
What does the main body cover?
It combines tourism theory, international research on cyclists, examples of bike hotel organizations and the analysis of both surveys.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include bike tourism, bike hotels, niche tourism, cyclist behaviour, destination management and hotel cooperation.
Which destinations are examined in the literature review?
The review covers the Alpine region, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Which organizations provide examples of bike hotel cooperation?
Examples include Girona Greenways Consortium, Riccione Bike Hotels, Bike hotel Sudtirol and several destination management organizations.
Are the survey instruments included?
Yes. The work reproduces both the biker survey and the bike hotel survey.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Nikolaos Tsitsoulis (Autor:in), Veselin Dimitrov (Autor:in), Tatiana Medvedeva (Autor:in), Orkhan Orujov (Autor:in), 2013, Analysis of Thematic Hotels and Cooperation: Focus Field Bike Hotels, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/233049
