Table 2

Product integration in health and wellness tourism sector in Central Eastern Europe

Modus of product integration / Applicability
Corporate -vertically integrated companies providing complex tourism products (caring for all needs and wants of the tourists),e.g. all-inclusive and/or club hotels, thematic parks, cruise liners, spas. / There are locations where the spa is the only or most important attraction. Rarely Hotel HWT packages are offered at all destinations.
Demand-side - Organisations located in generating areas which market power is based on direct access to consumers; e.g. tour operators and event managers; / Tour operators role in HWT is limited. Operators do not perform as product integrators in the HWT field: they serve as intermediaries to the tourists. They merely offer hotel packages of some of the selected destinations, the destination characteristics or the spa features are not presented in any of the sampled spas.
Supply-side – Organisations located in and representing of destination areas, which market power is based on knowledge of and linkages to local attractions and service providers, e.g. destination management organisations; / Local destination management organisations (DMO’s) have been run by the municipalities, thus they are often more bureaucratic, then market oriented. In many cases this results in low levels of cooperation among destination actors. Destination homepages consist of a short description about the spa, with discussions of the medical treatments and other tourism services (eg. list of accommodation and restaurants), as well, as of the attractions. A direct link is also available to the spas and to various tourism services. The main function of DMO’s web pages is to provide general information to the potential visitors about the tourism sector of the cities but they do not provide special/last minute offers of the spas and there are not destination packages on the homepages.
Independent integration –organisations not participating in the production chain which market power is based on through knowledge and independent assessment of the tourism offer in a range of destinations, e.g. guidebooks and travel magazines, as well, as (mobile) systems providing location based information and guidance. / Spas with long tradition and strong positive image are presented in most of guidebooks as primary attractions. Other spas are presented in a more technical way: a correct description of services: high quality accommodation possibilities (4-5 starts)famous restaurants and bars, some shopping possibility, other facilities in the area (like sport and active, or closer towns) is included.
New aqua parks and modern wellness baths often are not mentioned at all in any of the available travel guides. Travel guides introduce several information-sources with all of services and possibilities, like phone numbers, post addresses, home pages, e-mail addresses and opening hours. All suppliers are introduced briefly, and ranked.
Network integration – social media travel organisations which market power is based on providing powerful and up-to-the-minute knowledge trough collecting, structuring and mashing up information from various sources, including, among others, geographical information, service data and consumer evaluations; e.g. the emerging and powerful travel community websites as tripadvisor.com. / Spas in Central Eastern Europe make very little use of the integration option community sites offer.

Source: author’s performance based on : E. Madarasz, P.Mayer, K. Priszinger, Product Integration in Health and Wellness Tourism,[in]The Role of Tourism in Regional Economy, vol. II Tourist Services as the Basis of Tourism Industry, eds. J.Marak, J.Wyrzykowski, Trade Academy, Wroclaw 2009, p.105,106.

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