Acta geographica Slovenica, 56-2, 2016, 64-220
THE MOTIVES FOR SERVICE USERS VISITING THE WELLNESS CENTRES IN SLOVENIA
MOTIVI OBISKOVALCEV WELLNESS CENTROV V SLOVENIJI
Milica Rančic, Ivana Blešic, Jasmina Dordevic, David Bole
Olimia thermal spa. Terme Olimia.
(Source/vir: http://www.archdaily.com/62814/orhidelia-wellness-enota/orhidelia-11)
Milica Rančic, Ivana Blešic, Jasmina Dordevic, David Bole, The motives for service users visiting the wellness centres in Slovenia
The motives for service users visiting the wellness centres in Slovenia
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3986/AGS.723 UDC: 911.3:338.48-6:615.8(497.4) COBISS: 1.01
ABSTRACT: The word »wellness« is usually used to indicate a healthy balance of the mind, the body and the spirit that results in an overall feeling of the well-being. The wellness centers have become an inseparable part of the hotel facilities, at the instance of the users who come to these centers because of different motives. The purpose of this research is to examine the characteristics of a healthy-living market segment and its motivational behavior to wellness facilities in Slovenia. Hence, the objectives of this research are as follows: to identify the motivational characteristics of the tourists visiting the wellness centers and to study the relationship between the tourists' healthy-living behavioral patterns and the motivational behavior in relation to the wellness facilities in Slovenia.
KEY WORDS: geography, tourism, motives for visiting, healthy lifestyle, service users, wellness centers, Slovenia
The article was submitted for publication on February 6th, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Milica Rancic, M.Sc.
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management Faculty of Sciences University of Novi Sad
Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia E-mail: milicarancic@hotmail.com
Ivana Blesic, Ph.D.
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management Faculty of Sciences University of Novi Sad
Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia E-mail: ivana.blesic@gmail.com
Jasmina Dordevic, Ph.D.
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia E-mail: jasminadjordjevic@live.com
David Bole, Ph.D.
Anton Melik Geographical Institute
Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Gosposka ulica 13, SI - 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: david.bole@zrc-sazu.si
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1	Introduction
Over the last decades the »wellness spa« industry has experienced a boom around the world. The word »wellness« has been formed by merging two words: »wellbeing« and »fitness« and it appeared in the thirties of the last century in the United States. The primary objective of this movement is an ancient philosophy, according to which there is no fulfilled life without the assent of the physical and the mental. The Wellness tourism, a term that is defined as people traveling from their place of residence for the health reasons, has gained the increasing popularity and has become one of the fastest growing types of international and domestic tourism (Wellness Tourism Worlwide 2011). Hotel guests, today more than ever, want higher quality offer for their money (Blesic et al. 2008). This means that wellness is today a very important criterion by which customers select hotels. Exploring the motives of wellness visitors is imperative for improving the tourist offer and is therefore an important part of tourism geography research (Horvat 2000). Assuming that there is a huge connection between the lifestyle of the wellness users and their motives for coming, this paper attempts to explain that the motives of the visit depends on the health and wellness habits of the users. The survey was conducted in Slovenia, which was chosen as a well-developed wellness tourism destination due to its traditional thermal baths and the modern wellness centers.
2	The wellness tourism in Slovenia
Slovenia is a country of exceptionally diverse landscapes at the intersection of four major European macrore-gions: the Alpine, Pannonian, Dinaric and Mediterranean regions. The great diversity of landscapes and the easy availability of the country influences the fact that this country has the opportunity to develop a different type of tourism (Azman Momirski and Kladik 2009). One of the most developed is the spa tourism,
Figure 1: Spatial distribution of Slovenian spas (source: http://www.odeontravel.rs/katalozi/Odeon_katalog_wellness_spa.pdf; photography was edited by the authors).
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a modem form of the wellness tourism. Wellness tourism is data the most important form of tourism according to statistical, totalling to 25% of all tourist arrivals and 33% of total overnight stay in 2009 (SURS 2014). The Spa tourism is especially developed in the Pannonian Slovenia, which is rich in thermal springs (Mihic 2009).
There are thermal waters with different properties and temperatures (from 32 to 73 degrees Celsius) and some mineral water (world famous »Donat Mg« and »Radenska Three Hearts«) and also the salt water, some organic and inorganic peloids. In fifteen spa centres with the motto »With the nature to the health« the latest offer is developed in the field of wellness treatments and some new programs for the health care and the disease prevention as well. The Slovenian spas have good infrastructure, good transport links and the proximity to the major tourist flows between the Alps and the Mediterranean. Support from the state in the form of systemic initiatives in the area of selecting contributions for health insurance and in the form of tax breaks and similar systemic measures, would be important for future tourism development (Gojcic 2011).
3 Literature review - previous research about the motives of the wellness tourists
Page and Connell (2006) stated that motivation as a subject was an integral part of the study of consumer behaviour in tourism. Among the most well-known tourist motivation theory is the »push-pull« concept in which activity is seen as a product of a pull-push relationship. Dann (1981) pointed out that the destination pulls in response to motivational push, which distinguishes between the motivation of the individual tourist in terms of the level of the desire (push) and the pull of the destination or attraction.
The idea ofthe push-pull model is the decomposition of a tourist's choice of destination into two forces, which are push and pull factors (Bansal and Eiselt 2004). The push factors are considered to be socio-psy-chological motivations that predispose an individual to travel, while the pull factors are those that attract an individual to a destination once the decision to travel has been made (Kim and Lee 2002).
This concept was also applied in the study of tourist motivation in the field of wellness tourism. It was concluded that there must be the factors that motivate tourists to use the spa services, but also the real attributes that attract them to come to a spa facility. Based on this concept, the research was carried out in Malaysia. Data were collected through the in-depth interviews and it is concluded that the motivation of wellness tourists largely depends on the personal needs and the lifestyle, and then on the price and quality of services (Azman and Chan 2010).
The Research on this topic was also carried out by many other methods, not only by push and pull method. Chen, Prebensen and Juan (2008) conducted a survey in a large wellness center in Taiwan, where 506 visitors were involved. The study found that the relaxation, pursing multiple activities, the recreation, and the enjoying nature are the top four motivations.
On the contrary, studies integrating healthy lifestyle into consumer behaviours by González and Bello (2002) show a strong dependency relationship between tourists' behaviours on the trip and the lifestyle. Based on that, Byung hun Kim and Adarsh Batra (2009) suggest a hypothetical model that examines and finds a relationship between the healthy lifestyle of wellness tourists and their motivations in the wellness center. This model consists of the two main parts. The first section relates to a healthy lifestyle and it consists of six variables (exercise, diet, alcohol and drugs, smoking, stress, safety) contained in 18 questions. The second section evaluated the motivational behavior and contains 13 questions. Based on this model, a study was explored by 164 questionnaires at the eight wellness centers of hotels in Bangkok from February to April in 2009. It maintains that recreation, relaxation, enhancement of the quality of life and some social activities are the top four motivational factors when visiting wellness facilities. The correlation results revealed that there were relationships between the healthy-living behavior statuses with the regard to a diet, a smoking status, and the safety and motivational behavior to visit wellness facilities.
A large study of tourist motives of wellness tourists in a large spa centre Rogaska Slatina was conducted in 2000 (Horvat 2000). For over 1300 tourists the most important motivation was health rehabilitation (48%), followed by health prevention (23%) and relaxation & recreation (25%). The study was focused on guest's motives and less on issues of living habits of visitors.
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4	Methodology
4.1	The model for measuring motives of the wellness users
The model described in the previous chapter that was used in Thailand (Kim and Batra 2009) is also used for this research. The first part of the questionnaire refers to the issues of healthy living habits and it consists of the 6 variables or 18 questions. The second part refers to the importance of the guest's motives in the wellness center. This part consists of 13 motivational factors. A five-point Likert scale was used in both parts of the questionnaire.
4.2	The hypotheses
We have tested four hypotheses in order to establish the motives of visiting wellness centers in Slovenia in correlation to visitors' behaviour and lifestyle.
H1: The users of the wellness services in Slovenia are mostly females, aged between 41 and 60, if we look
at the »profile of European guest in the wellness tourism«. H2: The users of the wellness services usually come from more urban areas, as a result of a higher standard
of living, but there is also a greater need for the relief from stress. H3: The main motives for the visits of the service users in the wellness centers in Slovenia are: relaxation,
recreation and effortless activity. H4: The healthy living habits are the independent factors, but the motives of the wellness users are the dependent variables which depend on habits.
5	Findings and discussion
5.1	The data analysis
The research was carried out from April to July, 2013. The study involved service users in the wellness centers of some selected hotels in Slovenia. The research was conducted on the entire territory of Slovenia and the wellness centers were chosen on a random basis. At the beginning, the 120 questionnaires were distributed, but in the end there were 100 valid questionnaires (83%).
There are 8% men more than women in the sample, it actually goes beyond the classic »profile of a European guest in the wellness tourism« (Kosic 2011). Previously, most of the wellness tourists were women. This means that the hypothesis 1 is not confirmed but still this information is in accordance with the latest trends that show that in recent years an increasing number of male persons have become interested in this type of service. The data on the age of the respondents in this sample also do not confirm the first hypothesis, but this fact again confirms the latest trend of increasing number of young people who use the wellness services. One half of the whole number of respondents is in the age group of 21 to 40 years, while in the second place (18% less) is the following age category (41 to 60). This category, according to the most research, is the typical age group of people who visit the wellness centers. The vast majority of visitors in the wellness centers come from the largest Slovenian cities. 61% of the sample consists of people from Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje and Kranj. This means that the hypothesis 2 is confirmed.
5.2	The results of the descriptive statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics of health and wellness habits of the respondents visiting wellness centers show that the highest value of the mean score has the factor safety, while the lowest value is assigned to the smoking factor. The standard deviation exceeds the value 1 at three factors - exercise, alcohol and drugs and smoking. The medium-high grade for the exercise factor shows that the users of the wellness centers in Slovenia quite often practice different types of physical activities. The diet factor has a similar score as a factor exercise, which is logical because usually people who care about their healthy lifestyle have a similar attitude toward the nutrition and the exercise. The third factor shows that people consume alcoholic beverages in
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their daily lives much more frequently than the psychotropic medications. The score for the factor 4 shows that among the respondents there is an important number of smokers and those who are forced to the passive smoking. The stress factor was evaluated with good marks and it shows that the respondents cope relatively well with stress. The security is a factor given the highest marks. It shows that almost all the respondents care about the safety during their driving. The vast majority of them wears properly a seat belt and does not drink alcohol.
Table 1: The descriptive statistics of the respondents' healthy-living behavioural patterns.
Factors and items	Mean	Standard deviation
Exercise	3.44	1.03
I do aerobic/strength type exercise 3-4 times a week	3.33	0.99
I exercise to get energy to do the things I want to do	3.48	1.11
Diet	3.43	0.82
I take a limited amount of meat	3.28	1.07
I prefer low-fat dairy products	3.35	1.08
I like low-fat desserts	3.22	1.14
I emphasize low-fat cooking methods	3.56	1.02
I use whole grain products	3.45	1.14
A substantial amount of fruit and vegetables is part of my regular diet	3.89	0.96
I do not go for fast food	3.38	1.15
I consume less amount of salty foods	3.37	0.98
Alcohol and drugs	3.61	1.10
I take standard one to two drinks per 24 hours	3.22	1.17
I abstain from drugs or medications that affect one's mood or help one to relax or sleep	4.00	1.23
Smoking	3.25	1.35
I do not smoke	3.26	1.69
I avoid passive smoking (away from smokers)	3.24	1.24
Stress	3.39	0.82
I seldom feel stress	3.33	0.85
I cope with stress very well	3.45	0.96
Safety	4.76	0.42
I always wear seat belts	4.79	0.49
I don't drink and drive	4.74	0.48
We conclude that the users of the wellness centres in Slovenia orderly abide the patterns of a healthy lifestyle (Table 1). It is interesting to emphasize the similarity of these results with the results of the same survey conducted in Thailand (Kim and Batra 2009), especially when it comes to the exercise and the diet.
The table 2 shows the descriptive statistic of the motivational behavior of the respondents. The motivational factor of the Effortless activity had the highest mean score of 4.31 while the Affordable activity had the lowest mean score of 2.76. This is not surprising because most people visit the wellness centre to separate from everyday life and enjoy the effortless, but the similar health care products that can be found in other places, not only in the wellness centres. The relaxation had the third highest mean score of 4.13. It involves the massage, which is one of the most popular services in the wellness centres. The relaxation is one of the top three motives in the most research in this area. The recreation is in sixth place, and similarly the social activities motive was similarly rated. One of the lowest mean score had the meditation (3.33). But some wellness centers had no offer of the meditation programmes. The mental and physical therapy are the medium high rated motives, which is understandable because the research was conducted in the wellness center of hotels, but not all of them are specialized in these types of services.
When we summarize data on the importance of motives of the wellness users in Slovenia, we conclude that the three most important motives are: the Effortless activity, the Enhancement of quality of life and the Relaxation. That means that the hypothesis 3 is not completely confirmed, but only partially. If we compare these results to the results of the same survey conducted in Bangkok, we come to the conclusion that people are led by very similar needs and motives for going to the wellness center, whether it is Thailand
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or Slovenia. The results differ from previous research (Horvat 2000) where health-care services were the most important motive, probably due to the fact that this research included 10 different spa centers, while Horvat's research included only one (Rogaška Slatina).
Table 2: The descriptive statistics of the respondents' motivational behavior.
Motivational factors	Mean	Standard deviation	Ranking
Effortless activity (do nothing at all) Enhancement of quality of life	4,31 4,24	0,87 0,85	1 2
Relaxation (tranquility enjoyment and body pampering) Health consciousness (seek health-care services)	4,13 4,11	0,93 0,93	3 4
Social activity (be socialized with other people) Recreation (be refreshed in body or mind)	3,95 3,88	1,05 1,01	5 6
Experiencing nature Mental therapy	3,65 3,61	1,11 1,14	7 8
Pursuing multi-activities (learning new things) Physical therapy (physical treatments)	3,49 3,34	1,04 1,20	9 10
Curiosity (finding thrills and excitement) Meditation Affordable activity (shopping health products)	3,10 3,33 2,76	1,24 1,18 1,30	11 12 13
5.3 The Correlation
The correlations between the individual factors are expressed by Pearson's coefficient of the correlation. The positive correlation coefficient of the medium strength is calculated (Cohen, 1988) at the level of significance 0.01 between the factor diet and the three motivational factors (relaxation health consciousness and effortless activity) and between the factor stress and the two motivational factors (recreation and experiencing nature). In other crosses between the factors and motives, a lot of positive but weak correlation coefficients are showed at the level of significance 0.01 and the significance level of 0.05 (Table 3).
Almost all motives are moderately and positively correlated with the exercise. It confirms that people who are daily engaged in the physical activity are also motivated to come to the wellness center. The medium strength positive correlation between the factor diet and a large number of motives shows that people who care about healthy eating, also take care of their body that needs some occasional refreshment.
Table 3: The Correlation between healthy-living status and the motivation.
	Exercise	Diet	Alcohol and drug	Smoking	Stress	Safety
Recreation	0,246*	0,208*	0,228*	0,070	0,356**	0,235*
Relaxation	0,287**	0,303**	0,118	0,101	-0,033	0,290**
Quality of life	0,217*	0,247*	0,127	-0,026	-0,027	0,155
Social activity	0,234*	-0,065	0,200*	-0,168	0,178	0,029
Curiosity	0,157	0,098	0,069	0,096	-0,112	0,026
Experiencing nature	0,269**	0,242*	0,044	0,143	0,089	0,333**
Physical therapy	0,225*	0,234*	0,017	0,127	-0,134	0,058
Health consciousness	0,202*	0,349**	0,092	0,042	-0,082	0,179
Mental therapy	0,015	0,238*	-0,062	0,158	-0,307**	-0,045
Affordable activity	0,114	0,175	-0,196	0,063	-0,301**	0,070
Pursuing multiactivities	0,003	0,010	0,001	-0,109	-0,065	0,124
Effortless activity	0,217*	0,328**	0,180	-0,118	-0,155	0,223*
Meditation	0,244*	0,092	-0,063	0,005	-0,050	0,125
** The Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level * The Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
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The healthy-living behavior patterns in »alcohol and drugs« and »smoking« didn't affect wellness tourists' motivational behaviour. This situation can simply be explained by the fact that people who smoke or consume alcohol everyday, do not take too much care of their health, and have no clear motive for coming to the wellness centre. The factor »alcohol and drugs« shows the positive but low correlation only with the recreation motives and the social activities.
The stress factor is in the negative correlation with the most motives. This means that the people who are under stress, come to the wellness center for the relaxation and the stress relief. This is corroborated by the fact that this factor is in the maximum negative correlation with the mental therapy motive, which means that the respondents, who said that they are under a lot of stress, cite the mental therapy as an important motive for coming to the wellness center.
We can conclude that the healthy-living patterns have an influence on the motivational behavior of the tourists who visit the wellness facilities in Slovenia. This fact confirms the hypothesis 4.
6	Conclusion
The starting point for the definition of this topic was the theory of the tourist motivation. When it comes to the motivation of the wellness tourists, it is important to note that there is a lack of the empirical research conducted on this topic, probably because it is actually one of the newer branches, if we look at the modern vision of the wellness tourism.
Based on the previous research on the motivation of the wellness tourists, and based on some logical presumption, there are four hypotheses: the second and fourth were confirmed, the third only partially confirmed and the first is not confirmed. This shows that the people around the world have very similar needs and motives to go to the wellness center.
The results showed that the users of the wellness services in Slovenia have a reasonably good attitude towards the guidelines of a healthy lifestyle, with some minor differences in the individual factors. They mostly have positive attitudes towards the personal safety, the moderate use of alcohol, and the regular physical activity. They also respect the guidelines for healthy nutrition. Their main motives for coming to the wellness center are: the effortless activity (physical rest), the enhancement of the quality of life and the relaxation.
Summing up all these results, we conclude that the healthy lifestyle of the wellness users affects their motives for visiting. This information about the interdependence of healthy lifestyle and the motives of the wellness users should be increasingly used in the future studies of this kind, because it would be of a great importance to discover the needs of the wellness tourists in order to have a better offer and this offer accommodate to those needs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This paper was financed by Projects 176020 and 47024 of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.
7	References
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the tourst season. Geographica Pannonica 12-1. Cohen, J. 1988: Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sicences. New York. Chen, J.S., Prebensen, N., Huan, T. C. 2008: Determining the motivation of wellness travelers. Anatolia 19-1. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2008.9687056
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Dunn, H. 1959: High level wellness for man and society. American journal of public health 49-6. DOI: http://dx.doi.Org/10.2105/ajph.49.6.786
Gojčič, S. 2011: Trendi v velneškem in ekološkem turizmu. Fakulteta za komercialne in poslovne vede. Celje.
González, A. M., Bello, L. 2002: The construct »lifestyle« in market segmentation: The behaviour of tourist consumers. European journal of marketing 36, 1-2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560210412700
Horvat, U. 2000: Razvoj in učinki turizma v Rogaški Slatini. Geografija Slovenije 4. Ljubljana.
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Kim, B., Batra, A. 2000: Healthy-living behavior status and motivational characteristics of foreign tourists to visit wellness facilities in Bangkok. Graduate school of business, Assumption University. Bangkok.
Kim, S., Lee, C. 2002: Push and pull relationships. Annals oftourism research 29-1. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/s0160-7383(01)00043-3
Košic, K. 2011: Banjski, zdravstveni i relaksacioni turizam (skripta). Prirodno matematicki fakultet. Novi Sad.
Mihic, S. 2009: Velnes centri Slovenije i njihov uticaj na kvalitet života. Turističko poslovanje 3. Visoka turistička škola strukovnih studija. Beograd.
Page, S. J., Connell, J. 2006: Tourism a modern synthesis. London.
SURS 2014. Statistični urad Republike Slovenije. Internet: http://www.stat.si/obcinevstevilkah/Vsebina.aspx?leto= 2011&ClanekNaslov=TurizemKraji (16.1.2014).
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3986/AGS.723 UDK: 911.3:338.48-6:615.8(497.4) COBISS: 1.01
IZVLEČEK: Beseda wellness se navezuje na splošno počutje posameznika, ki priča o ravnovesju med posameznikovim umom, telesom in dušo. Wellness centri so dandanes nepogrešljiv del hotelske ponudbe za vse goste, ki obiščejo tovrstne centre z različnimi motivi. Namen te študije je raziskati značilnosti zdravega življenjskega okolja ter motivacijske faktorje obiskovalcev wellness centrov v Sloveniji. Cilji te študije so opredeliti motivacijske dejavnike turistov, ki se odločijo obiskati wellness centre, raziskati razmerje med navadami turistov, ki se dotikajo zdravega načina življenja, in motivacijskimi dejavniki za obisk wellness centrov v Sloveniji.
KLJUČNE BESEDE: geografija, turizem, motivi obiska, zdrav način življenja, koristniki storitve, wellness centri, Slovenija.
Uredništvo je prejelo prispevek 6. februarja 2014.
NASLOVI: mag. Milica Rančic
Oddelek za geografijo, turizem in hotelski menedžment Fakulteta tehničnih znanosti Univerza v Novem Sadu
Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Srbija E-pošta: milicarancic@hotmail.com
dr. Ivana Blešic
Oddelek za geografijo, turizem in hotelski menedžment Fakulteta tehničnih znanosti Univerza v Novem Sadu
Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Srbija E-pošta: ivana.blesic@gmail.com
dr. Jasmina Dordevic
Oddelek za geografijo, turizem in hotelski menedžment Fakulteta tehničnih znanosti Univerza v Novem Sadu
Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Srbija E-pošta: jasminadjordjevic@live.com
dr. David Bole
Geografski inštitut Antona Melika
Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti Gosposka ulica 13, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija E-pošta: david.bole@zrc-sazu.si
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1	Uvod
V zadnjih desetletjih je wellness turizem doživel pravi razmah po vsem svetu. Beseda »wellness« je skovanka iz angleških besed well-being (dobro počutje) in fitness (fitnes). Novo besedo so skovali v 30. letih prejšnjega stoletja v ZDA. Wellness temelji na starodavni filozofiji, ki pravi, da ni srečnega in izpopolnjenega življenja brez usklajenosti fizičnega in umskega. Wellness turizem - besedna zveza, ki dejansko označuje prihod ljudi iz zdravstvenih razlogov v wellness center/zdravilišče - je hitro pridobil pomen in postal ena izmed najhitreje rastočih in najpriljubljenejših vej mednarodnega in lokalnega turizma (Wellness tourism worldwide 2011). Dandanes hotelski gostje bolj kot kdajkoli prej zahtevajo določeno raven kakovosti za določeno ceno (Blešic s sod. 2008). To tudi pomeni, da so wellness storitve danes pomemben dejavnik pri odločitvi gostov, kateri hotel izbrati. Raziskava motivacijskih dejavnikov obiskovalcev wellness centrov je odločilna za izboljšavo turistične ponudbe in je tudi izredno pomemben člen na področju geografije turizma (Horvat 2000). Ob predpostavki povezanosti življenjskega sloga obiskovalcev in motivacijskimi dejavniki, ki so jih napeljali na obisk wellness centra, se ta študija osredotoča na razlago motivov za obisk, ki so odvisni od zdravj a in navad obiskovalcev wellness centrov. Raziskavo smo opravili v Sloveniji, ki je dobro razvita turistična wellness destinacija, saj se ponaša s tradicionalnimi termalnimi zdravilišči in sodobnimi wellness centri.
2	Wellness turizem v Sloveniji
Slovenija je dežela z zelo raznoliko pokrajino na stičišču štirih velikih evropskih makroregij - alpske, panonske, dinarske in sredozemske. Velika pokrajinska raznolikost in dostopnost Sloveniji ponujata priložnost za razvoj novih oblik turizma (Ažman Momirski in Kladnik 2009). Med najbolj razvitimi je zdraviliški turizem kot sodobnejša oblika wellness turizma. Wellness turizem je statistično najpomembnejša oblika turizma, saj je leta 2009 obsegal četrtino turističnih prihodov in tretjino nočitev (SURS 2014). Zdraviliški turizem je še posebej dobro razvit v panonskem delu Slovenije, ki je bogato s termalnimi vrelci (Mihic 2009).
V Sloveniji je moč najti različne vrste termalnih vod z raznovrstnimi lastnostmi in temperaturami (med 32 in 73 stopinjami Celzija), mineralne vode (svetovno znani znamki »Donat Mg« in »Radenska tri srca«), slane vode ter organske in anorganske blatne kopeli. S sloganom »Z naravo do zdravja« v 15 zdraviliščih po Sloveniji znova in znova razvijajo novosti v ponudbi ter nove programe za izboljšanje, ohranjanje zdravja in preprečevanje bolezni. Slovenska zdravilišča se ponašajo z dobro infrastrukturo in prometnimi povezavami ter bližino večjih turističnih destinacij in mest med Alpami in Sredozemljem. Država bi k razvoju te veje turizma lahko bolj pripomogla s sistemskimi rešitvami na področju prispevkov za zdravstveno zavarovanje, z davčnimi olajšavami in podobnimi koraki (Gojčič 2011).
Slika 1: Prostorska razporeditev slovenskih zdravilišč (vir: http://www.odeontravel.rs/katalozi/Odeon_katalog_wellness_spa.pdf; fotografijo jeoblikoval avtor). Glej angleški del prispevka.
3	Pregled literature - obstoječe raziskave o motivih wellness turistov
Page in Connell (2006) sta motivacijo uporabila kot integralni del študije o vedenju potrošnikov v turizmu. Med najbolj znanimi teorijami o turistovi motivaciji je koncept privlačnih in odbojnih dejavnikov (ang. push-pull) koncept, kjer je dejavnost opredeljena kot rezultat »push-pull« odnosa. Dann (1981) navaja, da je destinacija tista, ki odgovarja na motivacijski faktor, tako da razlikuje med motivacijo posameznega turista glede na njegovo raven potrebe/želje (odbojnost) in privlačnostjo destinacije (privlačnost).
Ideja v ozadju tega modela je, da turistove odločitve o izbrani destinaciji razdelimo na dve sili, ki ju lahko opredelimo z odbojnimi dejavniki (željami turista) in dejavniki privlačnosti destinacije (Bansal in Eiselt 2004). Faktorji želje so sociološko-psihološki dejavniki, ki posameznika nagovarjajo k potovanju, medtem ko so dejavniki privlačnosti tisti, ki posameznika pritegnejo k obisku določene destinacije, potem ko se je že odločil za potovanje (Kim in Lee 2002).
Ta koncept je bil uporabljen tudi v študiji o motivaciji turistov na področju wellness turizma. Ugotovljeno je bilo, da določeni dejavniki turiste motivirajo h koriščenju zdraviliških storitev, drugi pa jih
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prepričajo, da sploh obiščejo zdravilišča. Študija na osnovi omenjenega koncepta je bila izvedena v Maleziji, pri čemer so bili podatki zbrani z intervjuji. Motivacija turistov za obisk zdravilišč je odvisna zlasti od njihovih osebnih potreb in življenjskega sloga, kot tudi od cene in kakovosti ponujenih storitev (Az-man in Chan 2010).
Druge raziskave na to temo so temeljile na drugih metodah in ne zgolj na konceptu odbojnih in privlačnih dejavnikov. Chen, Prebensen in Juan (2008) so v velikem wellness centru na Tajvanu opravili raziskavo, ki je vključevala 506 obiskovalcev. Ugotovili so, da so štirje najpomembnejši motivacijski dejavniki za obiskovalce zdravilišč oziroma wellness centrov sprostitev, številne aktivnosti, rekreacija in uživanje v naravi.
Na drugi strani pa raziskave A. M. González in L. Bella (2002), ki povezujejo zdrav življenjski slog z vedenjskimi vzorci potrošnikov, razkrivajo močno povezanost med vedenjem turistov na potovanjih in njihovim načinom življenja. Na podlagi teh izsledkov Byung Hun Kim in Adarsh Batra (2009) predlagata hipotetični model, ki odkriva povezave med zdravim življenjskim slogom turistov, ki obiščejo wellness center, in njihovo motivacijo za obisk. Model sestavljata dva dela. Prvi del se dotika zdravega načina življenja in vsebuje šest spremenljivk (rekreacija, prehrana, alkohol in droge, kajenje, stres, varnost), zajetih v 18 vprašanjih, drugi pa s 13 vprašanji ocenjuje motivacijsko vedenje. Na podlagi tega modela je bila opravljena raziskava s 164 anketami v osmih wellness centrih hotelov v Bangkoku. Med prve štiri faktorje, ki vplivajo na obisk wellness centra, so uvrstili rekreacijo, sprostitev, izboljšanje kakovosti življenja in nekatere družabne dejavnosti. Soodvisnost rezultatov je razkrila vez med vedenjskimi vzorci, ki zajemajo zdrav način življenja v smislu prehrane, kajenja in varnosti, ter motivacije za obisk wellness centra.
Obširna študija motivacije obiskovalcev wellness centra velikih term Rogaška Slatina je bila opravljena leta 2000 (Horvat 2000). Za več kot 1300 turistov je bil najpomembnejši motivacijski dejavnik zdravstvena rehabilitacija (48 %), sledile so zdravstvena preventiva (23 %) ter sprostitev in rekreacija (25 %). Študija se je osredotočila na motive gostov in manj na življenjski slog obiskovalcev.
4	Metodologija
4.1	Model za ocenjevanje motivacije obiskovalcev wellness centrov
Zgoraj opisani model, ki je bil uporabljen v raziskavi na Tajskem (Kim in Batra 2009), smo uporabili tudi v naši raziskavi. Prvi del ankete zadeva zdrave življenjske navade in vsebuje šest spremenljivk oziroma 18 vprašanj. Drugi del zadeva pomembnost motivacije obiskovalcev wellness centrov in vsebuje 13 motivacijskih faktorjev. V obeh delih ankete smo uporabili petstopenjsko Likertovo lestvico.
4.2	Hipoteze
Testirali smo štiri hipoteze s katerimi smo skušali ugotoviti motive za obisk, v odvisnosti od zdravja in navad obiskovalcev wellness centrov v Sloveniji.
H1: Po »profilu evropskega gosta v wellness turizmu« sklepamo, da wellness centre v Sloveniji v glavnem
obiskujejo ženske, stare od 41 do 60 let. H2: Obiskovalci wellness centrov povečini prihajajo iz urbanih območij, kar je posledica višjega življenjskega
standarda, pa tudi večje potrebe po sprostitvi zaradi večjega stresa. H3: Poglavitni motivi gostov za obisk wellness centrov v Sloveniji so: sprostitev, rekreacija in neobremenju-
joča/nezahtevna aktivnost. H4: Zdrave življenj ske navade so neodvisni faktor, motivi obiskovalcev wellness centrov pa so spremenljivke, odvisne od življenjskih navad posameznika.
5	Rezultati in diskusija
5.1 Analiza podatkov
Raziskava, ki je potekala od aprila do julija 2013, vključuje uporabnike storitev wellness centrov v izbranih slovenskih hotelih. Raziskava je bila izvedena na območju celotne Slovenije, wellness centri pa so bili izbrani poljubno. Od 120 prvotno razdeljenih anket je bilo veljavnih 100 (83 %).
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Vzorec vsebuje 8 % več moških kot žensk, v čemer presega klasičen »profil evropskega gosta v wellness turizmu« (Košic 2011). Predhodno so glavnino gostov wellness turizma namreč predstavljale ženske. To pomeni, da hipoteza 1 ni potrjena, je pa ta podatek skladen z novejšimi težnjami, ki nakazujejo, da se v zadnjih letih vse več moških zanima za te vrste storitev. Podatki o starosti anketirancev v tem vzorcu ne potrjujejo prve hipoteze, so pa skladni z najnovejšim trendom vse večjega števila mladih uporabnikov wellness storitev. Polovica anketirancev spada v starostno skupino od 21 do 40 let. Z 18 % manj obiskovalcev ji sledi starostna skupina od 41 do 60 let, medtem ko večina raziskav trdi, da je prav ta starostna skupina tipična za obiskovalce wellness centrov. Glavnina obiskovalcev wellness centrov prihaja iz največjih slovenskih mest. 61 % vzorca predstavljajo obiskovalci iz Ljubljane, Maribora, Celja in Kranja, kar potrjuje hipotezo 2.
5.2 Rezultati opisne statistične analize
Opisna statistika vedenjskih vzorcev anketirancev v odnosu do zdravega načina življenja kaže, da najvišjo povprečno vrednost izkazuje dejavnik varnosti, najnižjo pa kajenje. Standardni odklon presega vrednost 1 v treh postavkah, in sicer rekreaciji, alkoholu in drogah ter kajenju. Srednje visoka ocena dejavnika rekreacije priča o tem, da so obiskovalci wellness centrov v Sloveniji pogosto fizično dejavni. Prehrano so ocenili podobno kot dejavnik rekreacije, saj imajo navadno ljudje, ki skrbijo za zdrav življenjski slog, podoben odnos do prehrane in rekreacije. Dejavnik alkohola in drog kaže na to, da anketiranci konzumirajo alkholne pijače v vsakdanjem življenju mnogo pogosteje kot psihotropne substance (droge ali zdravila). Ocenjenost četrtega dejavnika kaže, da je med anketiranci omembe vredno število kadilcev in tistih, ki so primorani v pasivno kajenje. Dejavnik stresa je prejel visoke ocene, kar pomeni, da se anketiranci razmeroma dobro soočajo s stresom. Varnost je dejavnik, ki je prejel najvišje ocene, kar pomeni, da skoraj vsi anketiranci skrbijo za varnost med vožnjo. Velika večina se v avtu pripne z varnostnim pasom in ko vozi, ne pije alkohola.
Preglednica 1: Opisna statistika vedenjskih vzorcev anketirancev v odnosu do zdravega načina življenja.
dejavniki in postavke	povprečje	standardni odklon
rekreacija	3,44	1,03
3- do 4-krat tedensko delam aerobne vaje ali vaje za moč.	3,33	0,99
Telovadim, da dobim energijo za ostale stvari, ki jih želim opraviti.	3,48	1,11
prehrana	3,43	0,82
Meso uživam v omejenih količinah.	3,28	1,07
Raje imam mlečne izdelke z manj maščobe.	3,35	1,08
Rad imam sladice z malo maščobe.	3,22	1,14
Poslužujem se metod kuhanja z malo maščobe.	3,56	1,02
Uporabljam polnozrnate proizvode.	3,45	1,14
Izdaten delež moje redne prehrane predstavljata sadje in zelenjava.	3,89	0,96
Ne poslužujem se hitre prehrane.	3,38	1,15
Zaužijem manj slane hrane.	3,37	0,98
alkohol in droge	3,61	1,10
V povprečju spijem eno do dve pijači na 24 ur.	3,22	1,17
Ne jemljem drog ali zdravil, ki vplivajo na človekovo počutje in pomagajo pri sproščanju ali spanju.	4,00	1,23
kajenje	3,25	1,35
Ne kadim.	3,26	1,69
Izogibam se pasivnemu kajenju (kadilcem).	3,24	1,24
stres	3,39	0,82
Redko čutim, da sem pod stresom.	3,33	0,85
Dobro se soočam s stresom.	3,45	0,96
varnost	4,76	0,42
V avtomobilu vedno pripnem varnostni pas.	4,79	0,49
Ne pijem, ko vozim.	4,74	0,48
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Sklepamo, da obiskovalci wellness centrov v Sloveniji sovpadajo z vzorci zdravega načina življenja (preglednica 1). Kot zanimivost naj izpostavimo dejstvo, da so rezultati precej podobni rezultatom tovrstne študije, izvedene na Tajskem (Kim in Batra 2009), zlasti glede rekreacije in prehrane.
V preglednici 2 so podane opisne statistične vrednosti motivacijskih vedenjskih vzorcev anketirancev. Nezahtevna aktivnost je kot motivacijski faktor dosegla najvišjo povprečno vrednost 4,31, cenovno dostopna aktivnost pa najnižjo povprečno vrednost 2,76. Ta rezultat ni presenetljiv, saj večina ljudi obišče wellness center, da se umakne od vsakdanjega vrveža in uživa v fizično manj zahtevnih aktivnostih za vzdrževanje zdravja, ki so v podobni obliki sicer dostopne tudi drugje in ne le v wellness centrih. S tretjo najvišjo povprečno vrednostjo 4,13 se sprostitev uvršča zelo visoko, še posebej zaradi masaž, ki so med najbolj priljubljenimi storitvami wellness centrov. V večini raziskav na tem področju je sprostitev eden od treh poglavitnih motivov za obisk wellnessa, medtem ko se rekreacija uvršča na šesto mesto, podobno pa je tudi z obiskom wellnessa z motivom družbene dejavnosti. Meditacija se uvršča med najnižje na lestvici s povprečno vrednostjo 3,33, poleg tega pa nekateri wellness centri sploh ne nudijo meditativnih vsebin. Srednje do visoko ocenjena motiva za obisk wellnessa sta duševna razbremenitev in fizioterapija, kar pa je razumljivo, saj je bila raziskava izvedena v wellness centrih hotelov, čeprav vsi hoteli ne ponujajo teh storitev.
Povzetek rezultatov o pomembnosti motivov obiskovalcev wellness centrov v Sloveniji kaže na to, da so poglavitni trije razlogi za obisk nezahtevna aktivnost, izboljšanje kakovosti življenja in sprostitev, kar pomeni, da je hipoteza 3 le delno potrjena. Če primerjamo rezultate naše raziskave z rezultati podobne raziskave v Bangkoku, ugotovimo, da imajo obiskovalci wellness centrov enake potrebe in motive ne glede na državo. Naši rezultati se razlikujejo v primerjavi z rezultati prejšnje raziskave (Horvat 2000), saj je bilo kot poglavitni motiv obiska wellnessa v njej moč zaslediti storitve za ohranjanje zdravja, kar pa je verjetno posledica dejstva, da je bilo v najnovejšo raziskavo vključenih deset različnih zdravilišč, medtem ko je Horvatova raziskava zajemala le eno (Rogaška Slatina).
Preglednica 2: Opisna statistika motivacijskih vedenjskih vzorcev anketirancev.
motivacijski faktorji	povprečje	standardni odklon	rang
nezahtevna aktivnost (brez aktivnosti) izboljšanje kakovosti življenja	4,31 4,24	0,87 0,85	1 2
zavedanje pomembnosti zdravja (koriščenje storitev za izboljšanje/ohranjanje zdravja)	4,11	0,93	3 4
družbena dejavnost (druženje z ostalimi obiskovalci) rekreacija (poživitev telesa ali uma)	3,95 3,88	1,05 1,01	5 6
duševna razbremenitev	3,61	1,11 1,14	7 8
fizioterapija (fizično zdravljenje)	3,34	1,20	9 10
radovednost (iskanje vznemirljivih in zabavnih stvari) meditacija cenovno dostopna aktivnost (nakupovanje izdelkov za zdravje)	3,33 2,76	1,18 1,30	11 12 13
5.3 Korelacija
Korelacijo med posameznimi dejavniki smo izračunali s Pearsonovim koeficientom korelacije. Pozitivni koeficient korelacije srednje vrednosti smo izračunali (Cohen 1988) ob stopnji statistične značilnosti 0,01 med dejavnikom diete in tremi motivacijskimi dejavniki (sproščanje, zavedanje o zdravju in nezahtevna aktivnost) ter med dejavnikom stresa in dvema motivacijskima dejavnikoma (rekreacija in doživetje narave). Korelacijska matrika dejavnikov in motivov prikaže veliko pozitivnih, a šibkih koeficientov korelacij ob 0,01 in 0,05 stopnji statistične značilnosti (preglednica 3).
Skoraj vsi motivi so v zmerni in pozitivni korelaciji z vadbo. To potrjuje dejstvo, da so ljudje, ki so redno fizično aktivni, motivirani za obisk wellness centrov. Pozitivna korelacija srednje vrednosti med faktorjem
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Preglednica 3: Pearsonov koeficient korelacije med zdravim življenjskim slogom in motivacijo.						
	vadba	dieta	alkohol in droge	kajenje	stres	varnost
rekreacija	0,246*	0,208*	0,228*	0,070	0,356**	0,235*
sprostitev	0,287" *	0,303** *	0,118	0,101	-0,033	0,290**
družbena dejavnost	0,234*	0,247 -0,065	0,127 0,200*	-0,026 -0,168	-0,027 0,178	0,029
radovednost	0,157	0,098	0,069	0,096	-0,112	0,026
doživetje narave	0,269** *	0,242* *	0,044	0,143	0,089	0,333**
zavedanje pomembnosti zdravja	0,225 0,202*	0,234 0,349**	0,017 0,092	0,042	-0,134 -0,082	0,058 0,179
duševna razbremenitev	0,015	0,238*	-0,062	0,158	-0,307**	-0,045
cenovno dostopna aktivnost	0,114	0,175	-0,196	0,063	-0,301**	0,070
nezahtevna aktivnost	0,003 0,217*	0,010 0,328**	0,001 0,180	-0,118	-0,065 -0,155	0,223*
meditacija	0,244*	0,092	-0,063	0,005	-0,050	0,125
** Korelacija je pomembna pri 0,01 stopnji. * Korelacija je pomembna pri 0,05 stopnji.
diete in velikim številom motivov kaže, da ljudje, ki se zavedajo pomena zdrave prehrane, tudi skrbijo za svoje telo, ki potrebuje občasno poživitev.
Vedenjski vzorci življenjskega sloga z »alkoholom in drogami« ter »kajenjem« niso vplivali na motivacijske vedenjske vzorce obiskovalcev wellness centrov. Ta pojav lahko enostavno pojasnimo z dejstvom, da se ljudje, ki vsakodnevno uživajo alkohol ali kadijo, ne posvečajo dovolj pozornosti svojemu zdravju, s tem pa nimajo pravega motiva za obisk wellness centrov. Faktor »alkohol in droge« ima pozitivno, a nizko korelacijo samo z motivoma rekreacije in družbenih dejavnosti.
Dejavnik stresa je v negativni korelaciji z večino motivov. To pomeni, da ljudje, ki so izpostavljeni stresu, obiščejo wellness center, da bi se sprostili in razbremenili. To potrjuje tudi dejstvo, da je ta dejavnik v največji negativni korelaciji z motivom duševne razbremenitve, kar pomeni, da so anketiranci, ki so izpostavljeni večjemu stresu, navedli duševno razbremenitev kot pomemben motiv za obisk wellness centrov.
Sklenemo lahko, da vzorci zdravega življenjskega sloga vplivajo na motivacijske vedenjske vzorce turistov, ki obiskujejo wellness centre v Sloveniji, kar potrjuje hipotezo 4.
6 Sklep
Podlaga za opredelitev te teme je bila teorija o motivaciji obiskovalcev. Ko gre za motivacijo wellness obiskovalcev, moramo upoštevati dejstvo, da je na to temo izvedenih premalo empiričnih raziskav, saj gre za drugačno in razmeroma novo obliko wellness turizma.
Glede na prejšnje raziskave motivacije obiskovalcev wellnessa in glede na nekatere logične predpostavke, smo postavili štiri hipoteze, izmed katerih sta druga in četrta potrjeni, tretja delno potrjena in prva zavrnjena. To kaže, da imajo ljudje z različnih koncev sveta zelo podobne potrebe in motive za obisk wellness centrov.
Rezultati so pokazali, da obiskovalci wellness centrov v Sloveniji menijo, da imajo zdrav življenjski slog z manjšimi odstopanji pri posameznih dejavnikih. Povečini ravnajo tako, da skrbijo za osebno varnost, zmerno uživajo alkohol, redno fizično vadijo in se zdravo prehranjujejo. Njihovi poglavitni motivi za obisk wellness centrov so nezahtevna telesna dejavnost (počitek), izboljšanje življenjskega sloga in sprostitev.
Če združimo vse pridobljene rezultate, lahko ugotovimo, da zdrav življenjski slog vpliva na motive za obisk wellness centrov. Podatki o vzajemni odvisnosti med zdravim življenjskim slogom in motivi obiskovalcev wellness centrov bi morali biti v veliki meri uporabljeni v prihodnjih tovrstnih raziskavah, saj bi bilo zanimivo ugotoviti, kakšne so potrebe obiskovalcev wellness centrov in na ta način pripraviti še boljšo ponudbo ter jo prilagoditi njihovim potrebam.
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ZAHVALA: Ta raziskava je bila financirana v okviru projektov 176020 in 47024 Ministrstva za izobraževanje, znanost in tehnološki razvoj Republike Srbije.
7 Literatura
Glej angleški del prispevka.
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