University students’ awareness of the 27th winter universiade as a dynamic supply element at a tourism destination

Abstract

Organized events are considered to be a dynamic supply element in tourism. The bigger and more significant the event is the more the importance for tourism development in a given territory increases. Slovakia has been the hosting country for the international events in the last couple of years organizing the Ice Hockey World Championship (2011); the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships (2014); and it was a co-host country of the 27th World Winter Universiade in 2015 which is the second greatest sport event following the Winter Olympic Games. The research was focusing on the University students` perception of the World Winter Universiade. The main aim of the paper was to determine the Slovak university students` awareness of the 27th Winter Universiade 2015 as a dynamic supply element at a tourism destination. The necessary research data were obtained by utilization of the questioning technique conducted by an electronic questionnaire. The representative sample consisted of 409 respondents, the university students. The research resulted into the finding that approximately one half of the university students are aware of the Universiade and a higher level of awareness has been observed by individuals who practice free time sport activities. A smaller number of students were informed that this event was hosted by Slovakia and Spain and that the event was held in Slovakia for the third time. These results were caused also by insufficient activities of the universities. The role of Universiade as a promotion tool with consequential increase of the visit rate was seen pessimistically. This attitude could be connected with the unfavorable perception of the home country as a tourist destination in general. Therefore, it is necessary to focus more intensively on young people as a target group in the promotion of Slovakia and its tourism supply in the future including the events.