Examination of destination competitiveness in sustainable health tourism: Case study of Selters Spa

Abstract

Geothermal waters are very important as a natural resource and represent hot water rich in minerals, which is the basis for the development of health tourism. In this paper, the research was conducted with the aim of pointing out the real state of the Selters Spa in Mladenovac, the City of Belgrade, Serbia, as a tourist destination, with a focus on the attitudes of visitors. A quantitative comparative analysis of tourist traffic in this spa in relation to other spas in Serbia was performed using official statistical data. Empirical research was conducted through interviews and surveys, and then, based on the obtained results, a qualitative analysis of the current situation in Selters Spa was performed. The obtained results indicate that the development of tourism in the Selters Spa is stagnating. The data analysis suggested that the most significant reasons for this are the concept that mainly relies on visitors who come for rehabilitation treatments, the elderly and almost mostly domestic tourists.

Keywords

• health tourism
• spa tourism
• visitors’ attitudes
• tourist traffic
• attributes of competitiveness