01 / 2015 / Volume 4

The focus of the submitted article is to introduce the findings of author’s research in the area of destination management process conducted in the developed (Alpine) tourist destinations in the year of 2014. The theoretical part based on a literature review summarizes current knowledge dealing with the destination management process in terms of approaches and research findings. Problems influencing either positively or negatively this process, e.g. financing, legislation or cooperation among stakeholders are also defined. The practical application part includes
an analysis of model destinations in Lower Austria and Upper Austria and presents the results of qualitative research conducted in these destinations. The collected information can be used to design methods leading to the improvement of the destination management process in tourist less developed destinations.

Globalisation on the tourism market causes that the competition is not formed only between stakeholders in a destination, but more and more it is created among destinations. Therefore tourism stakeholders in a destination have to act together and cooperate. The cooperative behaviour of destination stakeholders is seen as a main prerequisite of applying the cooperative destination management, which influences the competitiveness of destination on tourism market.
The aim of the paper is to analyse and measure cooperation of stakeholders in the selected destinations in Slovakia and Switzerland and to show the contribution of the network analysis to the quantitative research in tourism destinations. The article presents the network analysis of cooperation in product development and integrated marketing communication in the High Tatras, Liptov, Davos – Klosters and Engadin St. Moritz. The measurement of the cooperative behaviour helps to better understand the problems of cooperative destination management
and creates a tool for comparing the destinations.

Innovation is an important tool for increasing the competitiveness of businesses or tourism destinations. In the mountain destinations the innovation has to be implemented in accordance to the principles of sustainable development. It is therefore necessary to measure the innovation rate and to explain the influence of various innovations groups on the development of mountain destinations.
The aim of the paper is to explore the structure of innovations in the Slovak and Swiss mountain destinations and to find out their innovation rate. In the context of measuring the innovations, two fundamental approaches are explained. The innovations implemented in 34 Slovak and 29 Swiss mountain destinations in 2013 are analysed on the basis of the information published in annual reports, which were complemented by the interviews with the
managers of mountain destinations. The identified innovations are classified into innovations groups and ranked. The innovation rate in the defined innovations groups and the comprehensive innovation rate for all mountain destinations are detected. The article also explains the connection between the innovation rate and the destination life cycle phase.

The aim of this paper is to quantify tourists (both domestic and international) of Slovakia and their chronology throughout the years. Firstly, a brief development of them is introduced (absolute number and proportion of the total traffic from 1985 to 2013). Subsequently, the structure of their nationality, spatial differentiation (at municipal level) and seasonality is discussed (respective distribution during the year). The aim of this study is to discover a spatial context in space and time. To quantify the number of tourists, the data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and also from the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, are used. These
data are interpreted in analyses and confirmed by tables, graphs and pictures.