Ovidius University Annals: Economic Sciences Series (Jan 2018)
Using the Factor Analysis Method to Shape the Tourist Profile of Several European Countries by the Age Group of Tourists
Abstract
Tourism can bring a significant contribution to the development of every national economy, butalso of the European economy as a whole. Against this background, we consider it appropriate todiscuss the new challenges currently facing tourism in Europe, such as demographic change andconsumer behavior. This paper analyzes the age group structure of the resident tourists from 29 Europeancountries, in terms of the domestic trips taken in 2016. On the one hand, the quantitative results(obtained by processing the values of the indicator “number of tourists”, by the CFA method)highlight the size of the domestic tourist traffic and, on the other hand, they shape the touristprofile of each country, in terms of the size and share of each age category of tourists. Moreover,these results enrich the knowledge of the tourists’ behavior in terms of their age, representing auseful tool when structuring the domestic tourist supply.