Tourism Expenditures of Taiwanese and Slovenes: A Comparative Analysis
natasa slak valek I-Shou University, Taiwan
tai-chi wu
I-Shou University, Taiwan
Slovenia and Taiwan have many similarities. Both countries have a mountainous landscape, seaside, countryside and two major big cities. In 2011 the average annual income was 28,500 usd in Taiwan, but slightly higher in Slovenia at 29,500 usd. The average monthly net earnings amounted to 1,328 usd in Slovenia and 1,541 usd in Taiwan over the same period. Both countries are emerging tourism destinations; 6,087,484 arrivals were recorded on entry into Taiwan in 2011 compared to 3,218,000 tourist arrivals registered in tourist accommodation in Slovenia for the same period. Based on the similarities between these countries the present study was designed to compare expenditures of outbound tourists departing from Slovenia and Taiwan.
Key words: tourism population, economic comparison, tourism expenditure, gdp, Taiwan roc, Slovenia
Introduction
The recent paper by Hung, Shang and Wang (2012, 495) starts with the claim 'It is essential to understand the determinants of tourism expenditure since the revenue has become a major source of income in many countries' and finishes with the recommendation that 'Further detailed investigation and a comparison of tourism expenditure determinants among different countries are still needed.' Following from this recommendation the present study provides a comparison between Slovenia and Taiwan that focuses on secondary data for tourist behavior that is available for the two countries.
The choice of Slovenia and Taiwan was taken due to similarities between the two countries, not only in geographical characteristics but also on key economic statistics and demographic profiles. Slovenia is one of the smallest European countries and Taiwan (Republic of China) is one of the smallest Asian countries. The size of territory of Taiwan is approximately 36,000 square kilometers, but Slovenian measures even less, which is 20,273 square kilometers. The ge-
ographic relief of both countries is similar; each has mountains, seaside, countryside and two major cities. The average income of the populations are comparable; for income in Taiwan is 843,030 twd (28,500 usd or 20,492 eur), according to 2011/2012 salary survey, on the other hand average annual income in Slovenia is 21,830 eur (29,500 usd), according to the same survey. According to the data of the Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia (sors) the average monthly net earnings in Slovenia amounted to eur 987.39 (1,328.12 usd) in 2011. For Taiwan the average monthly earnings in 2011 was twd 45,642 (1,541.84 usd = 1,108.61 eur), according to data from National Statistics Taiwan roc. Interestingly, both countries are well established as emerging tourism destinations. There were 6,087,484 arrivals recorded in Taiwan in 2011 (9.3% more than in 2010), compared to 3,218,000 tourist arrivals registered in tourist accommodation establishments in Slovenia (7% more than in 2010). The number of foreign arrivals in Taiwan is 3,588,727, which represent an increase of 10.9% comparing it with 2010, but 2,036,652 foreigners visited Slovenia, which is an increase of 9.0% (sors 2010; Tourism Bureau 2010). Based on these similarities between the two countries our interest focuses on the tourism differences. In other words this investigation examines whether tourists from two economically similar countries but dramatically difference cultural backgrounds behave differently in terms of their expenditure and behavior.
From the inbound tourism point of view both Taiwan and Slovenia are emerging destinations, which attract more and more foreign tourists. In this context, both countries are using all their effort to build their image abroad and to be recognized as interesting destinations by foreign tourists. In fact, exporting tourism has a lot in common with the country image. Over three decades ago Hunt (1975,17), among others, was one of the first to demonstrate the importance of the country image in increasing the number of tourists visiting destinations, subsequently destination image has been the subject of much attention in the related academic literature. Kim and Chung (1997, 386) argued that effects of country image arise from a customer's beliefs that there is something 'special' about the labor, technology, or manufacturing processes within a particular country. Indeed, attitudes are argued to be the most appropriate means to represent understandings of place and its impact on decision-making. However, those economic factors that are known to influence country image do not include all that a country has to offer to foreign tourists, such as natural and cultural resources. Beerli and Martin (2004, 681) stated that many professional and academic papers have
proposed a variety of scales that include the different attributes relevant to measuring perceived image, however these reveal a lack of homogeneity with respect to the attributes that define an individual's perceptions. In addition, many studies forget to count economic factors when analyzing a destination image. As Beerli and Marti (2004, 681) have shown, two of the nine dimensions that influence a country's image are political and economic factors, which amongst others, include social factor such as the characterizes of the local residents and their quality of life as well economic development of the country. In other words, when marketing the tourism destination in a foreign country those responsible should be aware of the uniqueness of its own population and economic development since in part both of those factors contribute to a country's image. Following from this, our research purpose is based on the measurement of expenditures for travel purpose - traveling within the country and abroad. Tourists, by virtue of their nationality show aspects of their country's image as well, mainly through their unique travel habits and their expenditure on traveling.
The purpose of this study is to present comprehensive economic data for tourists from Slovenia and Taiwan and to provide data necessary to understand both populations' expenditure for tourism in the international and domestic markets. Furthermore, the image of a country established through the touristic experience is can be shown to have a positive effect on the export of products and services (Gnoth 2002, 270-271), which means that both countries, with their high reputation of their respective populations and good tourism image, can influence the export of products and services, including tourism.
From a broad economic perspective, the importance of tourism for any country, on the other hand, influences the number of tourists and in consequence the impact of tourism. Different 'formulas' were used in past to evaluate tourism impact and recently some authors have proposed the tourism-led growth hypothesis (tlgh) which contends that international tourism is a strategic factor for long-run economic growth (Brida and Risso 2009, 179-80). The importance of tourism for the economies is well recognized, but academics have mainly researched, evaluated and estimated tourism impact as an economic input for a country or tourism destination. In this view, the Tourism Satellite Account (tsa) suggested by unwto in March 2000 was recommended using a common methodology for measuring the contribution of tourism in their economy. In this way, the comparison of the tourism economy between different countries can be made
and more significantly, tsa allows valid comparisons with other industries, and even from country to country or between groups of countries (unwto 2011). It comprises a unique set of inter-related tables that show the size and distribution of the different forms of tourism consumption in a country and contributions to gross domestic product (gdp), national income, employment and other macroe-conomic measures of a national economy (Frechtling 2010,151). tsa, with the standard international methodology and complete tables that allow a comparison were published in Slovenia from 2003 and in 2007 in Taiwan. Next tsa for Slovenia are planned to be published at the end of the year 2012 with the data for 2009 (all tables from 1-7). Using the data of tsa our research is not aimed at measuring the importance of tourism in Taiwan and Slovenia, but will focus on those residents of Taiwan and Slovenia and their tourist behavior at the same time, what is not possible to find in the tsa. Our special interest is being in comparing the tourist populations (traveling abroad and domestically) of two small but similar countries, one from Europe and one from Asia.
The data presented shows the situation in 2010. However, not everyone travelled for pleasure or business during a given year that means that not every resident is necessarily a tourist. Even though travel today is seen as an affordable commodity to be enjoyed by all who choose to do so (Singh 1997, 95), part of population does not travel due a variety of reasons. Pleasure travel propensity in the developed world seems to be capped at about 75% of the adult population, which means that one in four adults does not take an overnight pleasure trip in any given year, (McKercher 2009, 510). While the preponderance of the studies have focused on understanding the motives (Lo and Lee 2011; Ryan 2003; Slak-Valek et al. 2008) and decision-making of tourists (Wong and Yeh 2009), there remains much to explore to help us to better understand the motives of non-tourists. Caldow (1997) noted that the two primary reasons provided for not having traveled were work commitments and a lack of money. Supporting that discussion, Paptheodorou, Rossello, and Xiao (2010, 40) warned that the global tourism has been severely affected by the current financial and economic downturn, which means that people will work even more for less money. This is a serious issue for tourism sector, since 'more work, but less money' is becoming the primary reason for non-traveling. Although leisure constraints theory can be valuable in a travel and tourism context, it needs further examination within the broader body of travel and tourism behavior research (Gilbert and Hudson 2000, 921-2), which shows that the de-
sire to travel is still strong, but financial limitations and higher prices will make people postpone their travel behavior. Thus, for a better understanding of why people do not travel, a deeper understanding tourists' behavior is needed first. Furthermore, for Slovenes that did not travel in 2010, nearly half (44%) stated financial reasons as the main obstacle (sors 2010), hence our proposal that tourism expenditure research is a first priority.
Many papers have been published analyzing tourism's contribution to a country's gdp. In this context, the expenditure of all tourists in a country is counted (both domestic and foreign). However, tourists who travel abroad spend their travel budget in another country, which makes only minor contributions to domestic gdp. Domestic travel, however, is very important (Nyaupane and Andereck 2008, 433) especially in times of economic crisis. One would expect the tourism population of a country would have attracted greater interest among academics. In this context, the present study is prepared. Our research focuses on the travel propensity and expenditures of Slovenes and Taiwanese tourism population. Gross travel propensity equates to the total number of trips made by a population in a given period and is reported as the number of trips per 100 head of population. It provides a useful indicator of travel intensity. The length of stay, as one of the effects of the tourism expenditure and the expenditure per gdp and trips made per capita were further researched and compared. The objective of our study is to provide an integrated view on the consequences and future perspectives of Taiwanese and Slovene tourists.
Methodology and Data
The research methodology was based on quantitative survey data using a comparison of two national tourism databases. Surveys from Slovenia and Taiwan were used and the comparisons between them were made in the context of residential tourism and travel. They investigated travel habits of the all residents in these two countries.
The surveys were:
1.	Survey of Tourism Travels of Domestic Population in 2010, the sample represents Slovenian residents.
2.	Survey of travel by roc Citizens in 2010, the sample represents Citizens of Taiwan roc.
The Survey of Tourism Travels of Domestic Population is an annually survey prepared by Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (sors), with the aim of collecting data on travel behavior and
attitudes of the Slovenian population: why, when, where, how long and how much they spend. In addition, the survey also determines why some people never leave their homes for the purpose of tourism travel. The survey is carried out quarterly, but merged in one single report on the annual basis and is collected by a computer assisted telephone survey (cati). The sampling frame is the directory of private telephone subscribers in Slovenia. The sample is selected by systematic stratified approach. Strata are defined for the twelve statistical regions and the type of urban/rural settlement within the region (6 types). Amongst household members, the respondent is selected randomly using to the 'first birthday method' for those over 15+ years old. For 2010, the initial sample size was 15,000, with an overall response rate of 58.6%. The data are weighted according to the sors recommendations. Besides this basic weighting, additional weighting (calibration) is used, which adjusts the distribution of control variables to the known population structure. For adjustment, the following variables are used: sex, age, level of education, household size, statistical region and size of settlement. As the survey includes both leisure and business travel activities the questionnaire is divided into two parts: with questions about business trips and questions about private trips. For the present study, only information from second part (private trips) was used. Data presented in this study represent the results for the most recent survey year available from sors (2010).
Survey of tourists by roc citizens is a research conducted by Tourism Bureau of Taiwan with the objective of understanding citizens' business and private travel activities, degree of satisfaction and amounts spent on different types of vacation expenses on each trip and to learn the mutual effects of domestic tourism and outbound travels. It also provides estimates on domestic tourism expenditures and foreign exchange spent on overseas travel. The survey interviews were also conducted by telephone (cati). A stratified random sampling was used to select the sample. The population of this survey includes all roc citizens who were 12 years or older in 2010. The total initial sample was divided into four panels; and a rotation scheme was instituted so that each respondent was interviewed once every quarter for four consecutive quarters. However, sample for each quarter is selected from four panels so that first panel was interviewed the first time; second panel was interviewed the second time; third panel was interviewed the third time; and the fourth panel was interviewed the fourth time. The present study also uses data for travel behavior in 2010, the numbers of completed
Abroad Domestic country
7.1%
92.9%
figure 1 Private trips made by Taiwanese in 2010 (adapted from Tourism Bureau 2010)
Abroad Domestic country
44.2%
55.8 %
figure 2 Private trips made by Slovenes in 2010 (adapted from sors 2012)
domestic tourism interviews were as follows: first quarter 5,567 persons, second quarter 5,572 persons, third quarter 5,559 persons and fourth quarter 5,572 persons. The completed outbound interviews were fewer: first quarter 380 persons, second quarter 414 persons, third quarter 471 persons and fourth quarter 401 persons (Tourism Bureau 2010).
Using the data from both these surveys the analyses of Slovenes and Taiwanese vacation expenditure in 2010 has been carried out. Economic data from the same period has been used when comparing the expenditure per capita and the percentage that travel expenditure represents of the country's gdp.
In total, 1,026,000 Slovenes or 58% of the Slovenian population went on tourism trips in 2010, of which 44% were private trips made in Slovenia and 56% were abroad. On the other hand, we find 93% of Taiwanese travelled within their country in 2010 and 7% of Taiwanese undertook outbound travel in 2010. Taiwanese clearly travel more in their own country than Slovenes do (see figure 1 and figure
In addition, length of travel made by Slovenian and Taiwanese in own country and abroad in 2010 shows some large differences between average number of nights per trip made when traveling abroad; Taiwanese, on average made 9.3 nights per trip in a foreign country, but Slovenes stayed only 5.6 nights. In contrast, trips made by Slovenes domestically are considerably longer than those made by Taiwanese. The results are shown in the table 1.
Analysis of daily average expenditure data showed that Slovenes spend 38 Euro per person and Taiwanese tourist spends the equivalent to 33 Euro while traveling domestically. Greater differences are noted comparing the expenditure when traveling abroad; Taiwanese
Results
table 1 Average number of nights per trip made by Taiwanese and Slovenes in 2010
Average number of nights per trip	Slovenes Taiwanese
Domestic	2.9	1.5
Outbound	5.6	9.3
notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
table 2 Average daily expenditure per person in Euro in 2010
Average daily expenditure per person (€) Slovenes	Taiwanese
Domestic 37.8	33.2
Outbound 50.7	128.5 notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
spend more than twice than Slovenes do. In fact, the results shows Taiwanese spend 128 Euros per person compared to only 51 Euros by Slovenes.
Expanding our interest on to expenditures per trip one sees that multiplication of an average length of stay (number of nights per trip) and the average daily expenditure per person can be made. The results for both Taiwanese and Slovenes in Euro are shown below (see table 3). Taiwanese tourists spend almost 1,200 Euro per trip abroad, but only around 50 Euro per trip in Taiwan, or 24 times less than the expenditure for the average outbound trip. The results becomes even more interesting when looking at the expenditure of a Slovenian tourist who spends 110 Euro per trip made in Slovenia, but more than twice as much when travelling abroad (284 Euro). These large differences between Slovenes and Taiwanese suggest some major factors are affecting travel behavior between the respective populations.
Based on the data on per trip expenditure the total Slovenes and Taiwanese trips expenditures can also be calculated. For getting this data, the multiplication of average expenditure per person per trip and the total number of trips provides a gross measure of expenditure. It was found out that Slovenes gross trip expenditure in total is 878.5 million Euros, compared to Taiwanese who spend more
table 3 Average expenditure per person per trip in euro in 2010
Average expenditure per person per trip (€)	Slovenes	Taiwanese
Domestic	109.7	49.4
Outbound	284.0	1,194
notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
table 4 Total expenditure on travel made by Slovenes and Taiwanese in 2010 Total expenditure on travels (€)	Slovenes Taiwanese
Domestic travel	205,755,000 6,122,487,800
Outbound travel	672,739,144 11,241,598,356
Total	878,494,144 17,364,086,156
notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
table 5 Number of Taiwanese and Slovenes trips per capita in 2010 Number of trips per capita	Slovenes Taiwanese
Domestic travel	0.9	5.3
Outbound travel	1.1	0.4
notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
than twice as much, at 17,364 million Euros. Both, Slovenian and Taiwanese populations, spend more for outbound trips than for domestic trips as shown in the results in table 4.
From the calculation of the trip expenditures in this study, it is possible to estimate data about the number of trips made per capita in 2010, for both tourist populations (Taiwanese tourists and Slovene tourists). The number of all trips made by Slovenes and Taiwanese were divided by the number of residents for each country separately. Doing that, the results show Taiwanese made 5.3 trips per capita domestically while Slovenes made only 0.9 trips while traveling in their own country. On the other hand the outbound trips shows opposite results, but with some minor differences; Slovenes traveling abroad make 1.15 trip per person, but Taiwanese make only 0.41 outbound trips per person on average. These results are shown in the table 5.
Finally, proportion that expenditure on tourist travel (both domestic and outbound) represents of total country Gross Domestic Product (in continuing: gdp) in Slovenia and Taiwan was analyzed. Using the data in table 4 the total expenditure of Slovene and Taiwanese tourists has been divided by the gdp in 2010 for each country to calculate the percentages shown in table 6.
It is noted that total travel expenditure (counting all private trips made by those who travelled in 2010) represents 2.5% of Slovenia's
table 6 Total expenditure on travel as a percentage of gdp
Travel Expenditure/GDP	Slovenia	Taiwan
Total trips	2.5%	4.9%
Outbound trips	1.9%	3.2%
notes Adapted from Tourism Bureau (2010) and sors (2010).
and 4.9% of Taiwan's gdp. This means Taiwanese spend two times more than Slovenes when allowing for differences in gdp. When traveling abroad Slovenes expenditure represent 1.9% of the country's gdp, compared to Taiwanese outbound travel expenditure that represents 3.2% of Taiwanese gdp. But domestic travel is a greater proportion for Taiwan compared to Slovenia. As this much of this expenditure is made in overseas countries the effect on the economy through balance of trade figures is significantly more for Taiwan than Slovenia.
Interpretation and Implication
Based on the results presented here the differences in travel behavior between Taiwanese and Slovenes are significant. Without doubt, Taiwanese travel more than Slovenes; only 6% of Taiwanese did not take any domestic travel compared almost half of Slovenes who did not take any trips in 2010 although the remainder, who travelled, typically made a trip abroad.
The explanation for this is partly in the geographical and cultural makeup of the two countries. Taiwan is a small island, with limited resources and isolated geographical location (Chang 2009 165), and due to its contentious political history is not recognized by the un as a sovereign and independent country, which is possibly one of the main reasons that Taiwanese do not travel abroad. However, many other reasons could be suggested which stem from the unique Taiwanese history and culture. The history of Taiwan is a story of both frustration and miracles. Until the early years of seventeenth century, aboriginals and some limited number of Chinese migrants from mainland China populated the island (Rubinstein 2007). Portuguese (who named it Ilhas Formosas - Beautiful Island), Spanish, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese, who colonized Taiwan, each had an influence on Taiwan's development. In 1979, Taiwan's government relaxed its ban on overseas travel, and by 1987 even permitted residents to travel to mainland China for the purpose of visiting relatives (Huang et al. 1996, 223). Consequential, Taiwanese started to travel abroad in numbers only just recently, which explain a relatively low share of Taiwanese who travel abroad today. Further growth in outbound travel remains constrained by the uneasy political relationships with mainland China, as well as the relatively small size of the population in terms of generating increased demand (Bailey 1996). However, travel is an increasingly important aspiration for young Taiwanese. Work and travel overseas combines three fundamental elements: traveling, learning, and experiencing (Lin, Lee, and Wang
2012). It not only offers the Taiwanese some leisure and vacation, but traveling abroad can 'improve their language skills, expand their international viewpoints and experience different cultures' (Lin, Lee, and Wang 2012). With more and more residents traveling abroad people expand their horizons and develop new ideas that may contribute to a country's development. With increased exposure to international information, the opportunities to form organized mental representations of countries are frequent (d'Astous and Boujbel 2007). Consequential, Taiwan's outbound market still has plenty of growth potential and its economic prospects look good (Bailey 1996).
Slovenes travel abroad more frequently than they do in their own country. Although Slovenia has a complicate history, too, the development of outbound travel of Slovenes was faster than Taiwanese. Slovenia was part of a former Yugoslavia and gained its independence in 1991. From that moment on, although there are still difficulties (Bokros 2002), Slovenia has developed dramatically and is modernizing at a fast pace. Here, traveling abroad could be either a reason or a result. However, it cannot be ignored that Slovenes mainly travel to Croatia, a neighbor country to Slovenia and a former Yugoslavian country as well, which is now independent. It is a country with strong inbound tourism potential with a fairly well recognized and beautiful coastline. Although Slovenian has a unique coastline of 46 km and many Slovenes still travel to Croatia for their summer vacation, which is now counted as travel abroad. Of course, it has to be pointed out, that traveling abroad is easier and faster for Slovenes than for Taiwanese for many reasons, but most important is that Taiwan is an island. Travelling abroad from Slovenia is possible by land transport (car, train, bus).
Perhaps as a logical consequence of these geographical issues it was found that Taiwanese travel abroad for a relatively long trip (9.3 nights in average), whereas Slovenes travel abroad for 5.6 nights on average. In contrast, Slovenes trips in domestically are longer (2.9 nights) than Taiwanese (1.5 nights). The reason for the length of stay differences may be found in the reason and purpose given for traveling. People who traveled abroad easily define the purpose for traveling and travel with the active content (activity, shopping, etc.) is usually longer, since people are doing exactly what they like (push motivation). Ryan (2003) also affirms that there is a link between income and motivation for traveling; when material needs are satisfied, experiential needs become important. Residents from Taiwan and Slovenia at the beginning of the 'independent' period needed to establish their normal life, but nowadays they can afford to fi-
nance themselves for relatively long trip abroad. Continuing with that theme our findings shows that both Taiwanese and Slovenes have a relatively low budget when traveling in their own country (33.2 and 37.8 eur per person per day), but an extreme different position is noted in the budget Taiwanese (1,194 eur per trip per person) and Slovenes (284 eur per trip per person) allow when traveling abroad. Because of long period of isolation is understandable that Taiwanese afford longer trips to themselves when travel abroad. On the other hand being isolated has allowed the potential tourists to get older and hence accumulate more money for the future generations. In the 1979 there were only 312,446 outbound departures of Taiwanese, in 1994 this number increase to 4.7 million (Huang, Yung, and Huang 1996, 225), but in 2010 we find 9.4 million of trips made by Taiwanese abroad and has the potential to grow much more (Bailey 1996). As a result of Taiwan's rapid economic growth and the increasing amounts of disposable personal income (Huang, Yung, and Huang 1996, 223) the number of Taiwanese traveling abroad is increasing dramatically. Even if the average expenditure per trip of a Taiwanese were to remain at the same level as it was in 2010 (it probably that is actually growing) then the number of Taiwanese trips abroad will continue to increase, which makes obvious how important the Taiwanese are as a tourism market.
It is the opposite situation when we consider Slovenia. Slovenia is a small market with an average expenditure for trips made abroad that is four times less, when looking at expenditure per person, than Taiwan. The results of Novakovic (2009) study reveals that real Slovenian outbound tourism expenditures have not exceeded growth in real gdp in the period 1995-2005. Although much higher percentage of Slovenian residents travelled abroad (55.8%) economic comparison between Taiwanese residents and Slovenes shows higher average annual income for the Taiwanese population as well as higher potential. This is an important finding for tourism destinations that are trying to attract tourists (especially those from small countries); and deciding which marketing campaign will be successful, Taiwan or Slovenia, the answer is clear.
Taking into the consideration the number of residents in each country a greater number of trips per capita was for the Taiwanese whose travel in their home country (5.3), is greater than Slovenes (1.9%). Our conclusion is that Taiwanese probably travel mainly by the weekends, taking short trips between the major cities on the island. This could be also related to what some call 'a Taiwanese lifestyle', since they do not treat this local travel as serious travel.
As Chen, Huan, and Cheng (2009) suggested the vacation lifestyle construct could be employed by tourism marketers to identify the heterogeneous and homogenous characteristics of distinct groups of domestic tourists, thus making it viable for tourism marketers to predict tourist preference and vacation behavior. In addition, the combination of the vacation lifestyle variable and social-demographic information could provide a better general understanding of travel behavior.
This paper suggests a number of future research opportunities. Since the Taiwanese present an important market for themself further research for a deeper understanding of domestic Taiwanese tourists is necessary. On the other hand other tourism destinations would need an understanding of the differences between Taiwanese who are travelling domestically and those who are travelling abroad. As Huang and Tsai (2003, 563) reported, a changing trend is evident suggesting that Taiwanese senior tourists are becoming more attracted to historical and beautiful sights, and that cultural and eco-tourism could be attractive products for them. This information helps, but the differences in travel motivation between domestic tourists and those who travel abroad are still necessary for both Taiwan and Slovenia. Knowing the characteristics of the Taiwanese tourists may help tourism marketers to better serve these Asian tourists who have become an important target market for many countries (Chang 2009, 166). In Slovenia's case, understanding the motivations and characteristics of tourists may help as foreign tourism destinations as Slovenia as a tourism destination itself. Slovenia as a tourism destination has to find a way to keep their tourists in their domestic country. Finally, it was found out that Taiwanese spend much more (4.9%) of their gdp for the purpose of travel than Slovenes (2.5%), which is another indicator how the future potential for Taiwanese as tourists are in comparison with the Slovenes.
Conclusion
To summarize, the present paper address to analyze and compare Taiwanese and Slovenes as tourists. Despite the similarities between these two countries on economic, geographical and social measures, there is no doubt that Taiwanese and Slovenian travel differs in many respects. Firstly, the Taiwanese predominantly travel in their own country, whereas most Slovenes travel abroad. It should be pointed out that Taiwanese spend more time and money when traveling abroad than Slovenes. This is an important finding for national
tourism promoters, which are trying to attract tourists (from small countries); or perhaps deciding between a marketing campaign in Taiwan or in Slovenia. However, in the conclusion of the present study has also demonstrated that much more literature about Taiwan and Taiwanese outbound tourism can be found and research literature about Slovenian outbound tourism remains scarce. This, to some degree, confirms our conclusion that Slovenes are not an interesting target group or market, when researching potential for outbound tourism. Taking into consideration the results of this research future research on Slovenes traveling abroad is strongly encouraged where comparisons should be made with countries that are of similar size and economic activity.
References
Bailey, M. 1996. 'Taiwan Outbound.' Travel and Tourism Analyst 3:20-43.
Bokros, L. 2002. 'Experience and Perspectives of Financial Sector Development in Central and Eastern Europe.' In Completing Transition: The Main Challenges, edited by G. Tumpel-Gugerell et al., 108-12. Berlin: Springer.
Beerli, A., and J. D. Martin. 2004. 'Factors Influencing Destination Image.' Annals of Tourism Research 31 (3): 657-81,
Brida, J. G., and W. A. Risso. 2009. 'Tourism as a Factor of Long-Run Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis for Chile.' European Journal of Tourism Research 2 (2): 178-85.
Caldow, D. 1997. 'Non-Participation: The Other Side of Motivation: An Exploration.' Paper presented at the Australian Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference, Sydney, 6-9 July.
Chang, J. C. 2009. 'Taiwanese Tourists' Perceptions of Service Quality on Outbound Guided Package Tours: A Qualitative Examination of the servqual Dimensions.' Journal of Vacation Marketing 15 (2): 165-78.
Chen, J. S., Y. C. Huang, and J. S. Cheng. 2009. 'Vacation Lifestyle and Travel Behaviors.' Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 26 (5-6):
494-506.
d'Astous, A., and L. Boujbel. 2007. 'Positioning Countries on Personality Dimensions: Scale Development and Implications for Country Marketing.' Journal of Business Research 60 (3): 231-39
Frechtling, D. C. 2010. 'The Tourism Satellite Account: A primer.' Annals of Tourism Research 37 (1): 136-53.
Gilbert, D., and S. Hudson. 2000. 'Tourism Demand Constraints: A Skiing Participation.' Annals of Tourism Research 27 (4): 906-25.
Gnoth, J. 2002. 'Leveraging Export Brands Through a Tourism Destination Brand.' Journal of Brand Management 9 (4): 262-80.
Huang, C. T., C. Y. Yung, and J. H. Huang. 1996. 'Trends in Outbound Tourism from Taiwan.' Tourism Management 17 (3): 223-28.
Huang, L., and H. Tsai. 2003. 'The Study of Senior Traveler Behavior in Taiwan.' Tourism Management 24 (5): 561-74.
Hung, W. T., J. K. Shang, and F. C. Wang. 2012. 'Another Look at the Determinants of Tourism Expenditure.' Annals of Tourism Research 39 (1): 495-598.
Hunt, J. 1975. 'Image as a Factor in Tourism Development.' Journal of Travel Research 13 (3): 1-17.
Kim, C. K., and J. Y. Chung. 1997. 'Brand Popularity, Country Image and Market Share: An Empirical Study.' Journal of International Business Studies 28 (2): 361-86.
Lin, Y. H., Y. C. Lee, and S. C. Wang. 2012. 'Analysis of Motivation, Travel Risk, and Travel Satisfaction of Taiwan Undergraduates on Work and Travel Overseas Programs: Developing Measurement Scales.' Tourism Management Perspectives 2 (3): 35-46
Lo, A. S., and Y. S. C. Lee. 2011. 'Motivations and Perceived Value of Volunteer Tourists from Hong Kong.' Tourism Management 32 (2):
326-34.
McKercher, B. 2009. 'Non-travel by Hong Kong Residents.' International Journal of Tourism Research 11 (6): 507-19.
Novakovic, S. 2009. 'Analysis of Slovenian Outbound Tourism Expenditures in the Period 1995-2005.' Academica Turistica 2 (1-2): 63-9.
Nyaupane, G. P., and K. L. Anderec. 2008. 'Understanding Travel Constraints: Application and Extension of a Leisure Constraints Model.' Journal of Travel Research 46 (4): 433-9.
Paptheodorou, A., J. Rossello, and H. Xiao. 2010. 'Global Economic Crisis and Tourism: Consequences and Perspectives.' Journal of Travel Research 49 (1): 39-45.
Rubinstein, M. A. 2007. 'Taiwan: A New History.' Armonk, ny: Sharpe.
Ryan, C. 2003. Recreational Tourism: Demand and Impact. Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Singh, A. 1997. 'Asia Pacific Tourism Industry: Current Trends and Future Outlook.' Asia Pacific Journal of Travel Research 2 (1): 89-99.
Slak-Valek, N., E. Kolar, G. Jurak, and J. Bednarik. 2008. 'Differences Between Physical Active Tourists and Tourists with Other Travel Motives.' Sport 56 (3-4): 13-9.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (sors). 2010. 'Tourism Travels of Domestic Population, Slovenia 2010 - final data.' Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana.
Tourism Bureau. 2010. 'Survey of Travel by roc Citizens.' Tourism Bureau, Taipei.
unwto. 2011. Compendium of Tourism Statistics 2005-2009. Madrid: World Tourism Organization.
Wong, J.-Y., and C. Yeh. 2009. 'Tourist hesitation in destination decision making.' Annals of Tourism Research 36 (1): 6-23.