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Customer reviews represent an important aspect when choosing accommodation from the customer's point of view. The customer assumes that if the facility has a higher number of positive reviews from other customers, his experience with the services of the selected accommodation will be similar. This paper focuses on the importance of customer reviews of accommodation facilities in the context of V4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). The aim of the paper was to analytically evaluate customer reviews of accommodation facilities in V4 countries as an important factor in the selection and reservation of accommodation services, such as gastronomic services, accommodation and additional services. We focused primarily on examining the differences in customer evaluations of accommodation facilities in these V4 countries. The findings highlight the importance of positive and negative reviews in influencing guest satisfaction and loyalty. At the end of the paper, we offer recommendations for accommodation facilities that are focused on positive as well as negative reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations Commission on the Environment seek to move as close as possible to achieving balanced sustainable development that considers the needs of present generations without compromising the needs of future generations. The aim of the paper is to present the results of the analysis of the process of implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the V4 countries for 2022 based on selected indicators. Since data on the achievement of individual goals was not available for all goals, we thus used the comparison of sustainable development indices of the countries in the analysis of the secondary data that were available. Given that sustainability is also linked to country competitiveness, we also analyze the country competitiveness index. In the analysis, we focused on finding statistically significant differences in the achievement of each goal in the V4 countries and statistically significant correlations between the SDGI and the WCI. The results of the analysis showed that the Slovak Republic is the most successful among the V4 countries in terms of competitiveness in sustainable development, and Hungary is the least successful. In addition to the above, the results of our research expand knowledge in the field of sustainable development in the V4 countries and can also serve as a basis for further study and research on sustainability with links to country competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper dealing with the topic of the application of environmental management principles in the hotel industry around the world presents a brief overview of significant findings in the field of eco-friendly accommodation abroad. The aim of the paper was to investigate and analyse the application of environmental management principles in the hotel industry worldwide. In the research aspect of the paper, we use secondary data obtained from a publicly available report of the World Travel and Tourism Council. We consider the finding that accommodation establishments in the world currently have common management practices that address a specific part of sustainable hotel management to be an essential conclusion of the paper. It is also a positive fact that most hotels in the world are addressing environmental management approaches and have successfully implemented or are looking to further implement them in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study offers significant findings that illuminate the main motivational factors for tourists to visit sustainable ecological destinations, specifically national parks. The research deals with the issue of sustainable tourism and its connection with environmental factors and the preferences of tourists. The aim of the study is to identify motivational elements encouraging entry into sustainable ecological destinations and participation in sustainable tourism with an accent on environmental protection. The research methodology includes data collection through the author's questionnaire. Based on the data from the author's questionnaire, the four most important motivation factors of the respondents can be identified: the beauty of the landscape, avoiding stress, escaping from crowds and interest in local culture and gastronomy. These results clearly show that tourists interested in sustainable tourism with an emphasis on the ecological pillar are motivated by the opportunity to experience the beauty of nature, local culture, and cuisine, as well as escape from the stress and crowds of traditional tourist destinations. The finding that tourists are willing to pay the entrance fee to national parks under certain conditions (for example, the use of funds for environmental protection, etc.) has important implications for the management policy of national parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Coronavirus has hit universities on several levels, from interrupting teaching and returning students home and changing the form of teaching. Universities have switched to online teaching. The Universities in Prague and Prešov have agreed to use this situation to ascertain students’ views on the course of teaching during a pandemic and their opinions on the further development of tourism at home and in the world. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of the research was to examine the views of tourism students on current events in tourism from a global and local perspective and to compare the views of Czech and Slovak students. Methods: Both universities conducted an online questionnaire survey among tourism students. The questionnaire had two parts: students’ opinions on online teaching during the corona crisis and opinions on the further development of tourism in their countries and in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings & Value added: The results of the survey brought interesting findings. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on students’ lives, for example, lost their work while studying, cancel trips at home and abroad, including studies at foreign universities. Despite that, most students see their future in tourism. Students expect an increase in domestic tourism this year, a decrease in outgoing and incoming. They expect this trend in the next few years as well. Opinions on the development of tourism in the world are in line with the opinion on the development of national tourism.

The main objective of this article is the calculation of the Huff Model and the comparison of obtained data with the questionnaire survey results. Afterwards, we will try to assess the validity of this theoretical model of shopping probability for practical use as well as its overall objectivity. Calculation of the Huff Model of Probability will be calculated for nine large-scale retail stores in fifteen local regions within the area of the third largest town in the Slovak Republic - Prešov. These results will be compared to results of the questionnaire research which was conducted during the period of November 2013 until March 2014 on a sample of 1,096 respondents. The questionnaire was addressing customers' preference for various large-scale stores as well as their place of residence. Based on the calculation results and the results obtained from the questionnaire survey, cartographic outputs were created, pointing out overall consistency as well as differences in the already mentioned results.

Fast development in tourism results in changes in the creation of tourism products. Tourism as a sector has been the one belonging o he most affected sectors in the recent period (Covid-19 pandemic) and many business entities in tourism had to close their operations. Strong players and allies, on the other hand, proceeded to reassess their strategies and create tourism products. Destination management organizations represented entities that created strong alliances in the region, stimulated the creation of new and re-evaluation (modification) of existing tourism products offered within Slovak destinations. The aim of the study, which was carried out on destination management organizations in Slovak destinations, was to find out how destination management organizations perceive quality and sustainability in the creation of products within tourist destinations in Slovakia. The main method of data collection was a questionnaire, in which the questions were designed using a Likert scale. The obtained data were evaluated for descriptive statistics and established hypotheses used the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. The main findings include that destination management organizations perceive the quality of tourism products as essential and the demand an automatic part of tourism products. This finding also confirms the acceptance of the hypothesis, which proved the connection between the process of creating the quality of tourism products, which should be long-term, and the requirement for their sustainability. However, it is interesting to note that sustainability in tourism is not understood in the same way by business entities in tourism. This not only points to the importance of the presented study, but also gives it direction for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable tourism is a challenge for current and future generations in an effort to develop it in the spirit of maintaining a balance between its basic pillars: economic, social and environmental. The presented contribution aims to identify the differences of significant social, economic, and environmental indicators with the tourism indicator. The analysis was carried out at the level of NUTS 1 - the Slovak Republic and at the level of NUTS 3 - Prešov self-governing region. In the first phase of the research, 6 significant indicators were identified at the level of the Slovak Republic and at the level of the Prešov self-governing region 5 significant indicators with tourism indicators. Comparison of significant indicators was carried out using torque characteristics of shape, position, variability and through a set of tests - Mann Whitney test, Levene test, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The differences between the indicators at the national and regional level were shown to be significant every time, regardless of whether the indicator was identified as significant, primarily in relation to the number of overnight stays at the national or regional level. The documented results point to the heterogeneity of the quality, and also the quantity of social, economic, and environmental indicators with the tourism indicator at the national and regional levels. It can be concluded that the sustainable development of tourism at different levels is conditioned by different indicators. This fact should be considered by the state economic policymakers and other tourism industry entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism industry is a major driver of the world economy and influences many economies that are currently undergoing radical change. Sustainable tourism has the potential to contribute to regional development while protecting the natural environment and preserving cultural and historical heritage. The implementation of its principles requires human resources that can manage the necessary processes. The aim of the present paper is to investigate to what extent the issue of sustainable tourism development is implemented in tourism study programmes at Slovak universities. Higher education in tourism is currently possible in study programmes offered by seven universities in Slovakia. Most of the evaluated study programmes offer subjects that are prerequisites for the performance of managerial functions, promoting logical thinking and the ability for strategic management and decision-making. Theoretical subjects are in most cases complemented by compulsory work experience in the field. The issue of sustainable tourism development is in most cases embedded in the content of several courses, and three of the universities evaluated also offer separate courses focusing on this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical knowledge of the country can be one of the leading assumptions that allow the tourism development. It enables a more detailed specification of the dominant potential for its further development. Conside ring the current significant need to create a sustainable product, the natural conditions together with destination management can be key elements for the future course of the tourism sphere. The aim of the study was to find out the preferences of visitors to selected geolocations in the Spiš region, specifically within the offered geotourism products. To fulfil the goal, the questionnaire as a key method was used and subsequently tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman's Rho test, coefficient of determination R2, F-test with Fisher's criterion. It can be concluded that the potential of the Spiš region is perceived as attractive. Based on results, the uniqueness of the main geoproduct offer is in montanistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overtourism is a modern challenge in many popular tourist destinations. Social networks are also largely helping to spread this phenomenon, where destinations are presented to a large, dispersed, and younger audience of tourists. The aim of this paper is therefore to assess the age perception of overtourism in selected European destinations in the context of sustainable tourism. For the collection of primary data, we used an author's questionnaire, by which we surveyed from selected groups of Slovak respondents the perception of overtourism in our selected ten European destinations of overtourism. The analysis includes the most important findings from the questionnaire survey and the evaluation of research hypotheses. Selected mathematicalstatistical methods were used, namely correlation analysis through the Spearman correlation coefficient and regression analysis through a simple linear regression model in the Gretl statistical program. The main findings include that there is a statistically significant association between the number of destinations visited and the age of the respondents, as well as that the number of overtourism destinations visited depends on the age of the respondents. This finding should be considered by destination management organizations when creating products aimed at younger visitors. Through various marketing activities, they could mainly focus on their travel behavior with an emphasis on the development of sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research´s aim was to verify the readiness of companies in the field of tourism for the changes caused by the pandemic Covid-19. Controlling is one of the most important tools of modern management, which could effectively solve the given problem. We consider the readiness of companies in this regard to be very important. The paper deals with the issue of using controlling in the management of tourism companies that currently try to survive in the time of strong influence of Covid-19 pandemics. The analysis of the current situation in companies was created on the basis of a questionnaire survey. Based on the research and subsequently tested assumptions, we tried to identify the strength of management of these companies in the context of their development in the post-pandemic period. It was confirmed that the implementation of controlling is related to the type and legal form of the tourism company. It was confirmed that the controlling subsystems must be applied with regard to the activities performed by the tourism company. The given recommendations and procedures may help to improve and to use controlling in the field of tourism more effectively in the post-pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to examine the issue of market recovery and business entities in the pandemic and post - pandemic period. Overall it points out the possibilities of the solution on the basis of interviews and utilizing the models of simulation of the results of companies that have been affected by the crisis. The paper used statistical data obtained by research in the analysed period March - April 2020 and in the examined years 2019 to 2023, including prognostic data from the sources of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. Based on the results of selected companies with and without pandemic measures were simulated. Resulting from the research findings, proposed model presents the state of the company affected by the crisis and ways of solving how to get out of this crisis and design further development in the post-pandemic period. The paper pointed out the need to increase expertise in decision-making on the development of the economy of business entities and subsequently the development of the industry with targeted support from the state based on research base in combination with future modelling methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of services in tourism is one of the most important factors of the competitiveness of tourism companies. Customer satisfaction is closely related to quality, which is the main criterion for success in the market. The level of quality of tourism services in Slovakia is often a criticized weakness. Tourism companies have a lack of a comprehensive quality management system. The aim of paper is to present the results of research aimed at identifying, evaluating and processing the opinions of experts in the field of tourism practice, tourism theory and quality management on quality management in the field of tourism services in Slovakia. For the purpose of this research we chose the Delphi method as the main scientific method, in order to forecast the development of quality management in the environment of tourism in Slovakia. We worked with a group of 15 experts- respecting their anonymity. We surveyed their views in two stages by responding to statements related to seven areas of quality management of tourism services. The results were processed by mathematical-statistical methods. We have come to the conclusion that the specifics of tourism services also predetermine a specific approach in the field of quality management. Public-private partnerships should play a more important role in implementing quality systems in tourism. The basis for increasing quality should continue to be quality standards oriented more towards changes in the requirements of selected customer groups. Voluntary standardization systems are more encouraged, as mandatory standards in the form of legislative standards are often inflexible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable tourism is the concept of travelling and discovering destinations in which the visitor takes full account and respect to the culture, environment and community of a visiting country. The awareness of the increasing global problems related to the environment leads to the change of the consumer behaviour. The aim of the article is to present results of the analysis which was focusing on evaluating the perception of the concept of sustainable tourism. Furthermore, this article identifies the attitudes towards this concept and difference s in opinions between genders, among the students of the University of Prešov. The primary source of information was obtained through a questionnaire survey, which sample consisted of 460 students out of which 58.04% were women and 41.96% were men. The questionnaire was processed and evaluated in the MS Excel, Statistica 13.4 and Statgraphics XVIII using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann-Whitney test, Kendall rank correlation coefficient. The final results showed that students of the University of Prešov perceive a negative demand of sustainable tourism in Slovakia. In every statement related to sustainable tourism, men showed a more negative approach than women. Slighter different opinion among men and wome n were noticed in the willingness to financially support the development of sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of applying management tool by using the Balanced Scorecard in hotel facilities in Slovakia. The main goal of the paper is to emphasize the importance of using the tools of strategic management in our case the method of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in hotel segment but also in the other segments of business. The basis of the article forms the stated hypotheses focused on using the method of BSC in hotel facilities and verifying statistic influences in using the conception in hotels based on sizes of companies. These hypotheses were subsequently validated by the method of proportion the given data in population and the chi-squared method of independence testing. The hypotheses were formed on basis of literal search which is described in the competent chapter focused on expert texts and the research which has been carried out up to now. According to statistical verification we can state that there exists statistically important relationship between size of hotel facilities and using Balanced Scorecard and we can also state that more than 10% of hotel facilities use the Balanced Scorecard method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern way of strategic management, which puts emphasis also on financial and nonfinancial indicators to measure business performance is the Balanced Scorecard. The instability of the economic environment requires the implementation of the strategy where the critical factors do affect business performance. The aim of this paper is to present the possibilities of application this modern method in the condition of the spa company in the northeast of the Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism development currently represents a very important part of national economics and its development and growth. To ensure growth, managers are looking for new effective tools to optimize decision making. This paper addresses the issue of dashboards based on neural networks and their utilization in managerial decision-making processes. Dashboard based reporting is oriented towards the tourism sector in Slovakia. The result of the research is the proposed balanced ranking and prediction model using financial and nonfinancial indicators with the application of artificial intelligence which allows to reach high level of efficiency and accuracy in evaluation of financial and nonfinancial health of companies operating in the hospitality sector. The proposed model also brings a new managerial and scientific point of view on the in-depth analysis of performance of these facilities. The main function of the proposed model is to classify health of a hotel. For this purpose, the MLP (Multi -Layer Perceptron) feedforward artificial neural network using backward propagation of errors was chosen as a training method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution focuses on the area of marketing brands in the field of tourism with the emphasis on the use of common European brands in the marketing of Slovakia as a destination. The aim of the research was to find out the extent of awareness and real cooperation of major stakeholders of Slovak tourism and their interest in engaging in current and upcoming marketing projects. The results showed that Slovakia doesn't use joint European projects and marketing tools sufficiently to make the tourism market more visible. Effective use of European brands (within the brand Slovakia) can help to develop the marketing activities of Slovak tourism, increase the competitiveness of Slovakia and thus increase the visitor rate of foreign tourists in Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Natural healing resources in the form of mineral and thermal waters and climatic conditions, together with a rich history and modern medical procedures, rank Slovakia among the important European countries in the field of spas. At the same time, spa tourism has a significant economic benefit for the country. This study examined the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on spa tourism in Slovakia. The Box-Jenkins methodology was used to model and forecast the time series for selected indicators. The analysis used monthly data on the capacity and performance of spa facilities for 2006–2019 and compared the forecast development for 2020–2021 with the reality as affected by the pandemic. Despite the high quality of the models, the methodology used did not take into account an unexpected event such as a pandemic. Therefore, the models were quite inaccurate and had little predictive value. At the same time, it is clear that the pandemic significantly affected spa tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]