The North Cyprus conference sector: establishing a competitive advantage
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Julide Oral [1] ; Julie Whitfield [1]
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[1] Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University
Reino Unido
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- Localización: Tourism analysis, ISSN 1083-5423, Vol. 15, Nº. 4, 2010, págs. 411-424
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
North Cyprus had recently positioned itself as a conference destination. Given external and internal factors such as political isolation and the over dependency on casino tourism, policy makers have recognized the importance of the conference sector in creating sustainable growth for North Cyprus's tourism-driven economy. Increasingly, Turkish conference organizers are choosing North Cyprus as a destination to host conferences. As such, Turkish conference organizers were questioned via an Internet-based questionnaire to determine attributes considered important within the conference destination selection process. An Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was performed; the findings identified that North Cyprus was perceived as a high performer with reference to: ease of accessibility, distance of destination, conference venue and accommodation price, safety and security, climate, hospitality, quality, quantity, and availability of hotel rooms. However, in relation to North Cyprus, a unique application of IPA identified macro- and microdestination attributes that North Cyprus should improve on: transportation within destination, availability of technological resources, the range of conference venues, conference staff training, destination's marketing activities, and quality of local restaurants. The findings provided implications for destination managers in terms of branding, as well as conference venue and accommodation providers in terms of targeting conference organizers more effectively and promoting North Cyprus to conference sector stakeholders.
