THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RISK-RELATED CHALLENGES IN TOURIST DESTINATION CHOICE

Abstract

There are numerous pull forces that determine destination choice. In the contemporary turbulent conditions, safety and security risks have a growing role. This is particularly evident in the Mediterranean region, bearing in mind that the political crisis in the Arab world has reflected in this region as the largest receptive market. Therefore, the study has been conducted to determine which factors are the most important in the process of choosing a destination and whether the recent crises have affected travel habits. In addition to the descriptive statistics, the data obtained by the Likert scale were analyzed by independent samples t-test in SPSS. The results have revealed that price, service quality, and risk-related issues are the main parameters of destination choice. In this regard, the respondents expressed their understanding of contemporary security risks in the Mediterranean (terrorist acts, militant groups, migration crisis, etc.). The research also showed the influence of different sources of information on travel habits, primarily word-of-mouth process, and mass media. The crisis has affected the demand allocation, but not trip cancellation. Based on the abovementioned we can conclude that safety and security risks are not the only and decisive factor but represent an important parameter in the destination choice.

Keywords

• pull factors
• destination choice
• risks
• Serbia
• Mediterranean