Economic benefits of tourism: Cultural identity and tourism destinations in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Our paper focuses on the economic benefit of tourism by evaluating the compliance between the destination identity and the identity of residents on the example of a selected tourist area. One can see that the identity of the destination is reflected in the product offer and can be found in media messages. The identity of residents was ascertained by a survey. Our research is divided into three main parts. The first part of the research included an analysis of the destination offer within the website and Facebook page. The second part of the research is focused on the analysis of the tourism destination in the media. These two methods are used to analyse the identity of the destination. A group interview was chosen to analyse the identity of residents. The third research was carried out using the focus group method. Our methodical procedure is tested on a case study of a selected destination Toulava (a Czech tourist area located on the border of South and Central Bohemia), however it is designed to be universally usable within tourism destinations. Our results confirmed that the model-defined path for memory destination selection by destination management and its use in the business offer to create product cores works. The high degree of product authenticity has been confirmed. The applied research methodology enabled to obtain relevant outputs. It is not common in general practice that the identity of the destination is examined together with the identity of its residents. The three methods used in this article are less demanding in terms of capacity and cost than the quota sample research. Research can thus be carried out in destinations repeatedly and follow time series.