Tourism Objectives in the Czech Republic and Slovakia Facing European Competition in the Digital Era

Abstract

Tourism in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic needs correctly set growth objectives for its long-term development in the digital era. The key to understand the current competitive situation in the tourism market of the two countries is the fact that in contrast to the people making decisions within the European market, many service producers continue thinking locally. This development is largely influenced by digitalization of distribution channels, accessible offer and travel experience. This is the reason why international competition influenced by digitalization must be taken into account when the objectives of tourism development are being set on the national level. On the one hand, these objectives must be based on the tourism offer in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and on the other hand, on the current and anticipated demand. Also, the objectives must respect the competitive position of the two countries in international tourism. The quantitative aspect of tourism objectives is reflecting the growth rate predicted by the UNWTO for tourism in the world and in Europe and the performance of tourism on the national level. The aim of this paper is to highlight the interconnection of goals in tourism and examine the reasons of the slow tourism growth and the structural problems of growth connected with specific position of the capital cities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In our analysis of the domestic and foreign source markets, we use time series of Czech and Slovak tourism statistics.