<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Nowadays, the sustainability plays an important role in developing marketing in tourism, both from the theoretical and from the practical aspect. Sustainable marketing considers the general principles of marketing, with respect to sustainability as a new focus for a long-lasting customer relationship. Therefore, the business marketing in tourism should consider the importance of perceptions and expectations of tourists as final consumers. Regarding different marketing elements with sustainable aspect, this paper aims at investigating consumers’ perceptions of foreign tourists in Republic of Macedonia. In order to provide tourist perceptions and expectations, a survey based research was conducted among 254 foreign tourists in four cities in Republic of Macedonia, concerning aspects as: tourist perceptions of marketing elements of the current tourist offering and their expectations towards sustainable tourism development. For this purpose, statistical methods have been used as: Hi2-test, Student’s t-tests as well as correlation and Anova, using a specific program STAT FOR WINDOWS and STATA 11 for descriptive statistics of demographic characteristics of the sample.</p><p>The paper presents the main findings from the literature, drawing conclusions from the empirical research and providing recommendations for future academic and business research. Considering the specifics of different target segments, results from this research are presenting the need for lower pricing, increased promotional activities using social media, providing online booking and development of ecotourism.</p></abstract>

Nowadays, the sustainability plays an important role in developing marketing in tourism, both from the theoretical and from the practical aspect. Sustainable marketing considers the general principles of marketing, with respect to sustainability as a new focus for a long-lasting customer relationship. Therefore, the business marketing in tourism should consider the importance of perceptions and expectations of tourists as final consumers. Regarding different marketing elements with sustainable aspect, this paper aims at investigating consumers’ perceptions of foreign tourists in Republic of Macedonia. In order to provide tourist perceptions and expectations, a survey based research was conducted among 254 foreign tourists in four cities in Republic of Macedonia, concerning aspects as: tourist perceptions of marketing elements of the current tourist offering and their expectations towards sustainable tourism development. For this purpose, statistical methods have been used as: Hi2-test, Student’s t-tests as well as correlation and Anova, using a specific program STAT FOR WINDOWS and STATA 11 for descriptive statistics of demographic characteristics of the sample.The paper presents the main findings from the literature, drawing conclusions from the empirical research and providing recommendations for future academic and business research. Considering the specifics of different target segments, results from this research are presenting the need for lower pricing, increased promotional activities using social media, providing online booking and development of ecotourism.

Sustainable marketing and consumers’ preferences in tourism

Faculty for Tourism and Business Logistics, University Goce Delchev, Shtip,

School of Business Economics and Management, University American College Skopje,

Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality, University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bitola,

European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Sustainable marketing and consumers\u2019 preferences in tourism"}

Nowadays, the sustainability plays an important role in developing marketing in tourism, both from the theoretical and from the practical aspect. Sustainable...

Sustainable marketing and consumers’ preferences in tourism

Published Online: Dec 28, 2016

Page range: 84 - 90

Received: Nov 24, 2016

Accepted: Apr 30, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ejthr-2016-0010

Keywords
Sustainability, Sustainable tourism, Sustainable marketing, Consumer behaviour, Customer Perceptions and expectations

© 2016 Nikola Cuculeski et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Sustainable marketing and consumers’ preferences in tourism

Published Online: Dec 28, 2016

Page range: 84 - 90

Received: Nov 24, 2016

Accepted: Apr 30, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ejthr-2016-0010

KeywordsSustainability, Sustainable tourism, Sustainable marketing, Consumer behaviour, Customer Perceptions and expectations

© 2016 Nikola Cuculeski et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Sustainability, Sustainable tourism, Sustainable marketing, Consumer behaviour, Customer Perceptions and expectations