SEASONALITY IN TOURISM –

causes, implications and

strategies
Goran Ćorluka, mag.oec.
Assistant Lecturer
University Department of Professional Studies
University Split, Croatia
 Tourism is one of the biggest and fasted growing industries in the world,
but it is characterised by seasonality.

 Tourism as an integral part of global business is highly dependent on

seasonal changes in climatic conditions, economic activities as well as
human behaviour and the society in general.

 Seasonality has become one of the most distinctive and determinative

features of global tourism industry.
 The most significant aspect of seasonality is that it involves the
concentration of tourist flows in relatively short periods of the year.

 Annual peaking of tourism activity during a few hectic weeks or months is

likely to result in inefficiency within the industry and is a great burden on
the physical and social resources of the destination area and therefore an
important contributor to the carrying capacity problem.
 The concept of seasonality may be perceived to be familiar to
many, however, there is no unique and precise definition of it.

 The concept of ‘season’ stems from the French word ‘saison’

which represents an ideal or favorite business period. ‘Saison’ is
derived from the Latin word “satio” = (time of the sowings).

 Season is “the most important period within the year, in which

some certain things are abounding”.

 It also refers to the existence of unevenness or fluctuation

during the course of the year, which occurs in relation to a
specific season.
 Seasonality is the systematic, although not necessarily regular, intra-year
movement caused by changes in the weather, the calendar, and timing
of decisions, directly or indirectly through the production and
consumption decisions made by the agents of the economy (Hylleberg,
1992).

 Butler (1994) explains seasonality as ‘a temporal imbalance in the

phenomenon of tourism, which may be expressed in terms of
dimensions of such elements as numbers of visitors, expenditure of
visitors, traffic on highways and other forms of transportation,
employment, and admissions to attractions’.
 Seasonality in tourism activity is not a particular characteristic of a single
destination or country, as it is experienced in almost all countries and
destinations in the world.

 Seasonality causes the fluctuation in tourists and visitor numbers to a

destination. Therefore, some destinations at certain times have more
tourists and visitors than they are able to accommodate, while at other
times, there are too few tourists and visitors to the region.
 Seasonality affects all aspects of supply-side behaviour, finance, labour
and stakeholder operations.

 Seasonality was, is and, regarding the current situation, will be a

temporal and spatial issue of tourism.

 This phenomenon is mostly recognized as a problem to be tackled.

 The majority of the tourist operators dealing with the issue of seasonality
identifies these systematic demand fluctuations as a problem, which has
to be overcome or, at least, modified and reduced in effect.

 A good understanding of seasonality in tourism is essential for the

efficient operation of tourism facilities and infrastructure.
 It should be noted that seasonality does not refer to occasional
irregularities within tourism, but instead is concerned with the seasonal
patterns that are stable and well-established.

 Hartmann (1986) emphasises the reliable recurrence of the tourist

phenomenon in the course of a year.

 A similar view is taken by BarOn (1975), who defines seasonality as the

effects occurring each year with more or less the same timing and
magnitude.

 Definitions face a systematic intra-year movement, therefor seasonality

can be described as some sort of pattern in the visits that reoccur every
year.
 The pattern usually remaining stable over many years, whereby reliable and
predictable recurrence of tourists has formed the economic base for the
development of the tourist industry and that tourism, therefore, is naturally
seasonal.

 This predictability of seasonality makes it possible for businesses, lenders

and investors to anticipate many of its impacts.

 The phenomenon of seasonality in the case of Mediterranean tourism can

be determined conceptually as the time divergences that a tourist
destination presents from the conventional time limits of tourist period
which begins in April and finishes in October, while the tourist markets
behaves uniformly.
 Annual business operation regarding the seasonal pattern can be
classified into annual intervals, seasons.
 Classification1:
 One peak season
 Two peak season
 Non peak season

 Classification2:
 Off season (January, February, November and December)
 Shoulder season (March, April, May, June, October)
 Peak season (July, August, September)

 Classification3:
 Low season (January, February, November and December)
 Mid season (March, April, May, October)
 High season (June, July, August, September)
Causes of seasonality
 NATURAL CAUSES OF SEASONALITY

 Natural seasonality, as the name implies, relates to regular and recurring

temporal variations in natural phenomena, particularly those associated
with climate and the seasons of the year including:
 air temperature,
 water temperature,
 sunlight,
 snowfall,
 rainfall,
 extreme temperature,
 daylight,
 humidity,
 wind and
 geographical location (costal, alpine, urban, peripherial regions).
 Natural seasonality associates with annual seasons and especially
affects remote and peripheral destinations with big temperature
differences between the seasons.

 Destinations with warm and cold climate are exposed to seasonal

changes, due to different activities offered for tourists depending on
climate and season.
 Travellers have specific preferences which makes it necessary to
distinguish between different types of tourism (bathing-, hiking- or ski
vacations).

 For instance, a beach resort is preferred by a tourist who wants to enjoy

sunlight and water sports.

 Whereas a ski resort is favoured by skiers or travellers who are eager to

see beautiful snow scenery.

 Variations in natural factors mean that tourist regions have different

seasonal potential and resources and thus are perceived to have
particular seasonal qualities.
 Problems caused by seasonality are therefore most difficult to
overcome at high-latitude destinations.

 As the majority of outdoor tourism activities rely on natural ‘climate-

dependent’ attractions, the extent of tourist activity in a natural area is
dependent on weather and climate.

 Destinations relying on predominantly outdoor facilities are thus most

likely to experience a pronounced influence of natural seasonality on
their tourism businesses.

 Examples are coastal resorts and countryside attractions, where the

actual pattern of tourist activities is strongly weather dependent.
 Climate is particularly important in attracting visitors, it is often
considered as a constraint to tourist development.

 Seasonal variations caused by these natural factors are predictable as

they are relatively stable in a particular destination, and recur with only
small changes.

 Although natural factors can make a destination unattractive to

particular markets, they are not the sole reason for variations in tourism
demand.

 Global warming and the trend towards warmer weather might cause a
shift in the attractiveness of tourist destinations around the globe.

 Climatic change will make some revision of tourist seasons necessary.

 INSTITUTIONAL CAUSES OF SEASONALITY

 Institutionalised seasonality is more complex as it is based on

human behaviour and consumer decision making (e.g. deciding
on the timing of holidays) and results from religious, social,
cultural, ethnic and organizational factors and policies.

 Institutionalised seasonality include:

 holidays (school, university, work, public, religious) and
 sociological and economical factors.
 Institutional factors reflect the social norms and practices of
society.

 Unlike the natural seasonality, dates of institutionalized

seasonality can be established more precise, as it often
corresponds with school or public holidays, religious events or
pilligrimage, celebration or conduction of various events and
festivals, etc.
 ADDITIONAL CAUSES OF SEASONALITY

 In addition to natural and institutional seasonality, some other

causes could be considered:
 Hosting time of sporting event - e.g. the Olympic Games,
World Cup, and Commonwealth Games.
 Sporting season - hunting season, skiing, surfing or golf.
These activities require a combination of climatic and physical
factors, along with the necessary infrastructure.
 Inertia, tradition and travel habits of travellers – travellers
continue to travel at a specific time of the year even though
they are no longer restricted to this particular period. Many
people take holidays at peak seasons because they have
always done so, and old habits tend to die hard.
 Social pressure and fasion - to participate in specific activities
at certain destinations at particular times of the year. This
includes socialising in some capitals at certain times, breaks at
spas or spending the winter season at certain fashionable
destinations.

 Calender effects - variability of the number of days in a

month, weekends in the month, quarter, season or year.
Leisure tourism is mostly concentrated on weekends,
especially in the shoulder and off-peak seasons. These
calendar effects would suggest that seasonality should be
evaluated on the basis of weekly rather than monthly data.
 As the mentioned factors can combine in one destination, they
form so-called push and pull-factors, building the picture of
destination.

Push-Factors at Sociological
generating area Calendar and
effects economical
Social factors
pressure and
fashion
Inertia and
tradition

Institutional
Climate in receiving
area

Sporting season

Pull – Factors at
receiving area

Events
What are the determinants that appear to influence tourist seasonality?

 The organised mass tourism that is transported in the destinations of

Mediterranean has mainly as a motive the sun, the sea and the sand in order to
choose the place of their holidays. So, it is expected to prefer, that months with
the most favourable weather conditions that allow them to enjoy the elements of
their preference.

 The tourist supply in the islander and coastal destinations has been created
territorially and functionally in such a way and with these specifications that
corresponds almost exclusively in the needs and pleasures of tourism of summer
holidays.

 Social framework in terms of paid holidays is organized in such a way that the big
masses of population that constitute the organised tourism are mainly directed
during the peak season, which is considered the time period where work permits
are given. The lack of concern that the organizers of travels have in the problem
of seasonality, as far as the lengthening of tourist period is concerned.
 The problem of tourist seasonality is real and becomes more
intricate with the repercussions that causes in the entire
spectrum of tourism.

 This is the reason that the confrontation of this problem

presupposes awareness from all the involved institutions and
mobilisation of the factors that are related with tourism in order
to plan the lengthening of the tourist period, having as a future
objective the growth of tourism in all seasons.
 In order to tackle the seasonality problem in a destination, it is
important to realize where seasonality is generated.

 Even though considerable efforts were made to change seasonal

patterns, there was less effort to understand the fundamental
causes of seasonality.

 Some Mediterranean (or even tropical) “sun-and-sea”

destinations have their peak season in summer where seaside
tourism can be practiced, but suffer in the rest of the year, even
if their climate is favourable.
How come...?
Implications of seasonality
 Seasonality is an uncontrolled situation resulting in a number of
negative effects.

 Most of the literature describes seasonal variations in tourism activity as

a number of negative effects on the destination and in the economy of
that particular region or country.

 The impacts and implications have been explored from both the supply-
side (i.e. tourism operators, employees and residents of the destination
locale) and the demand-side (i.e. tourists) perspectives of seasonality.

 The impacts have become greater with the growth of mass tourism. This
is due to the fact that the number of enterprises depending on tourism
has increased and tourism businesses have expanded in size, while the
ability to adapt to changes in demand has been reduced.
 Main concern about seasonality focuses on the effective
planning and use of resources during the off-peak period, the
peak period which is taken as granted also needs particular
attention, because the facilities during the peak period may
become too crowded and this may cause difficulties in term s of
maintaining service quality and satisfying tourists.

 The impacts of seasonality vary considerably with the location of

the destination and the location of the tourism enterprises
within a destination, reflecting in part the variety of physical
conditions and the nature of the attractions.

 The most specialised destinations are usually the most seasonal

and that tourist destinations supported by large urban centres,
due to a more diversified demand, experience a less pronounced
degree of seasonality.
 Implications of
seasonality

Economic Employment Ecological Socio-cultural

impacts impacts impacts impacts
 Economic impacts
 The economic impacts of seasonality relate mostly to problems in the
off-peak periods, particularly the loss of profits due underutilization and
to the inefficient use of resources and facilities.

Negative impacts Positive impacts

Attaining seasonal revenues Maintenance work on buildings

Low returns on capital investment

Budget management/cash flow

Problems with cowering annual

fixed costs
Difficult to attract investors

Shortage of capacity in peak season

Underutilization of facilities in off-

peak season
 Employment impacts
 Seasonal employment affects the economy, the employees and the local
community, and is therefore considered separately from the other
impacts.
Negative impacts Positive impacts

Lack of job demand in off season Employment of students and

house-wives
Unstable labor market Part-time word as additional
income for locals and others
Recurring and retaining full-time
staff
Staff relations and skills remain
minimal
Seasonal work is less “meaningful”

Increase of training costs for labour

force recruited on seasonal basis
Increase in payment

Lack of career opportunities

 Ecological impacts
• Ecological impacts are largely synonymous with the negative
effects occurring due to the concentration of visitors during
the peak season at a destination.

Negative impacts Positive impacts

Congestion of natural areas Resources recovery

Disturbance of wildlife

Ecological carrying capacity

Air pollution

Sewage disposal problem

Exhaustion of natural resources

 Socio-cultural impacts
 Socio-cultural impacts include not only the effects of seasonal variations
on the host community but also on the visitor.
Community socio-cultural impacts
Negative impacts Positive impacts
Congestion Local people get back their normal life styles

Crowded streets Full use of local amenities and facilities for local
people
Noise Community relief from stress

Slower traffic

Lack of parking

Queues for services

Significant increases in the costs of community

services
Increased risks of accidents

Quality of life

Disruption of local tradition

Social carrying capacity

 Visitor socio-cultural impacts
Negative impacts Positive impacts

Reduced enjoyment due to

overcrowding at attraction sites

Lack of capacity during peak season

Closure of facilities and attractions

in off season

Lack of quality service

High prices – cost spreading

Pressures on transport systems and

infrastructure
 Strategies to reduce seasonality

 Tourist destinations must learn ‘how to live with strong

seasonality’?!

 There is a difference in groups of tourism benefits sought across

seasons.

 Therefore it is important to understand specific benefits needs

of each season and fully satisfy them during the period when
destination marketers want to draw more tourists.

 By reducing seasonality, it is expected to maximize customer

satisfaction over a year, and to raise the utilization level of
facilities more efficiently during both off-peak and peak seasons.
 As there is an element of predictability associated with
seasonality it is possible for managers to anticipate many of its
impacts and to implement strategies to adjust to any negative
effects.

 Strategies that are specific to the issue of seasonality are mainly

driven by geographic location and climate concerns (i.e. seasonal
weather changes).

 The ability to extend the season or to introduce a second season

is largely dependent on the location and competitiveness of the
destination, e.g. remote and peripheral areas may encounter
difficulties when trying to develop an all-year season tourism
product.
 In order to implement counter-seasonal strategies successfully it
is important that consumers are aware of the advantages, and
availability, of off-peak season holidays.

 Even though seasonality will never be totally eliminated, there

are numerous ways to even out the peaks and troughs.

 Efforts in reducing seasonal peaks, the seasonal range has in fact

increased in many countries with the rapid growth of tourism,
which seems to ‘swamp’ any efforts to redirect visitation into
quieter periods of the year.
 There are many strategies that are used to address the effects of
seasonality.

 The three main demand matching strategies are:

 increase demand outside the peak season,
 reduce demand in the peak season and
 redistribute demand.
 Increase demand outside peak season

 At both the destination and enterprise levels, there are several

general strategies that are used to increase demand outside
peak season, including:
 Differential Pricing
 Diversified Attraction (changing the product mix)
 Market Diversification
 Selective forms of tourism
 Facilitation by the state
 Differential Pricing

 Group booking offers (e.g. retirees).

 Seasonal (or promotional) pricing (e.g. discount or free offers) in off

season period, while high pricing in peak season.

 Both pricing strategies have their own target markets. For example,
retired people are likely to be interested in special price in an off-
peak season because they relatively have much free time in
comparison to business persons or students. On the other hand,
some people who have to spend their holiday during traditional
peak-seasons are willing to buy tickets even if the price is relatively
higher than in other seasons.

 Financial planning and budgeting to manage fluctuating operational

costs (employees and other resources) based on cyclical trends.
 Pricing differentiation helps increase demand during an off-peak
season, and additionally, shifts a minimum demand from a peak-
season into an off-peak season.

 The main purpose of pricing differentiation is to offset the

traditional seasonal fluctuations, not to maximize profits.

 Might cause unprofitability and unrentability of business.

 Diversified attraction (changing the product mix)

 The goal is to promote tourism products based on seasonal

characteristics.

 Diversified multiple-use attractions and resorts.

 Wet-weather facilities.

 Introduction of new products: special events, festivals,

development of incentives for a particular target market, holiday
packages, backpacking activities, hot springs and spas, food and
wine, niche accommodation, cultural and heritage tourism, park
and trail touring, special interest weekends, getaway breaks,
health, sport and activity based holidays, or educational tours.
 Diversifying into niche product or service areas (e.g. identifying
and matching seasonal motivation with product/serviceor local
attraction).

 Expanding products via packaging (e.g. special occasion

packages for accommodation and restaurants) to encourage
greater visitation, repeat visitation or to lengthen stay in order
to sustain and expand expenditure to compensate for low
seasons.

 Product development strategies must be placed within the

context of the overall development strategy so that the new
products complement and support one another.
 Market Diversification

 Marketing campaigns to attract different markets in different

seasons (a multi segment approach).

 New or alternative sources of demand for existing products and

facilities include, for example, senior citizens, business travellers,
incentive and conference market travellers, short break
holidaymakers and affinity groups, as these are most able and
willing to travel in the shoulder or off-peak seasons.

 Determination of the optimal segment mix is necessary.

 Selective forms of tourism

 Selective tourism occurs in response to the negative

implications of mass tourism.

 The awareness of the unsustainability of such tourism and the

need for tourism demand to separate from a unified tourism
package had led to a shift in tourist flows.

 The most important characteristic of selective tourism is placing

tourists in the focus in shaping the tourist product.

 Through dispersion and diversification of tourist supply the

tourist product is adapted to smaller groups of tourists,
stimulating regional development concepts.
 Selective tourism can be classified:
 due to the contents of stay ie. activities (sport and
recreation tourism, health tourism and cultural tourism)
and
 due to the spatial characteristics (rural tourism and
ecotourism).
 Facilitation by the state

 There are a number of strategies which can only be developed

and implemented with state and local government or regional
and local tourism organisation involvement.

 The destination or regionally focused strategies address the

broader and more costly issues of infrastructure (roads, signage,
amenities, air services), marketing (e.g. branding) and
promotion, and developing new attractions and venues.

 A number of destination type strategies require partnerships

with the private sector (including tourism enterprises).
 These strategies are classified under the facilitation by state
grouping and include:
 staggering of holidays over a longer period;
 initiatives to increase the labor market and to encourage labor
force flexibility;
 provision of business support services;
 provision of loans or subsidies by government to develop
product or local services;
 provision of tax concession;
 environmental regeneration initiatives;
 support off-season community initiatives;
 improved and expanded regional infrastructure;
 development of local business networks and partnerships;
 promotion of tourism in off season;
 incentives for development of off-peak season products;
 marketing subsidies for all-season products or for all-season
client markets;
 providing information to operators on products, potential off-
season clientele groups or on promotional strategies;
 co-ordinating co-operation across tourism sub-sectors to
facilitate the development and marketing of attractive off-
season packages; and
 encouraging attractions and other tourism products to
remain open during the shoulder and off-season.
 Reduce demand in the peak season

 Reductions in demand can be necessary if the number of

tourists exceeds the capacities, resulting in reduced visitor
satisfaction and low-quality services.

 Such measures are required especially when the negative

impacts considerably outweigh the positive effects.

 Strategies can include an increase in prices or the

introduction of entrance fees to protected areas.
 Redistribute demand

 Redistribution of demand includes, on the one hand, the transfer of

demand from time of excess use to times of low demand and, on the
other hand, the spatial spreading of demand at peak times.

Temporal spreading of demand

 Seasonalised pricing is practised widely to improve the temporal
spreading of tourism demand and off-peak season performance.

 Staggering of school holidays over a longer period.

 Spreading of domestic holidays into off-peak season and shoulder

periods.
 Spatial spreading of demand
 Spatial redistribution of demand at peak times can also reduce
the negative impacts of overcrowding.

 Strategies include better visitor management techniques and

more efficient transport arrangements, including developing and
publishing of alternative routes to holiday destinations or the
promotion of alternative transport possibilities.

 Development of ‘circuits’ of attractions, twin attractions or two-

centre holidays, e.g. one week spent at the seaside and one
week in the countryside to spread tourists away from congested
or ecologically sensitive areas.
 Although many strategies are transferable from one industry to
another, more detailed research is necessary to investigate the
individual strategies in relation to the industry and the impact of
these strategies on the different stakeholders and environments
at the destinations.

 The best-fit strategy should be selected based on a number of

dimensions of the supply-side.

 The private and social cost of tourism seasonality can be reduced

only by common strategies from the public and private actors
involved, as working together at all levels, is essential to
overcome some of the effects of seasonality.
 It should be noted that the effects of strategies to increase the
number of tourists in the off-peak periods, even where they
have succeeded in doing so, have not always been positive.

 At some destinations this has actually led to an increased

acuteness of seasonal concentration, as the efforts made to
attract tourists in the off-peak season also increased the number
of peak season visitors

 Dangers in promoting off-peak season tourism on the basis of

the image of a destination, as some travellers might be
disappointed as a result of poor weather, insufficient
entertainment, closed attractions and facilities, inadequate food
or unsatisfactory service in hotels as a result of cost cutting.
The key question then is under what circumstances and
to what extent can strategies that are effective in one
place be transferred to another?
 Trends in tourism

 Move away from General Interest Tourism (GIT) towards Special

Interest Tourism (SIT)
 desire for more novel, adventurous, and ‘authentic’ forms of
tourism experience, social content and the humanization of
tourism activities.

 Changes in behaviour of demand

 due to the change of consumers system of value, standard of
life, style of life, affirmation of new needs, mobility and
free time change the behaviour of tourist demand and
leave possibility for tourist industry to implement these
changes in the modern tourist industry, away from “sun-
sand-sea” tourism.
 Technology changes
 Information on all tourist services is available virtually from
all over the world.
 Potential client can be any resident of the world.
 Changes in customer service technology and service
personalization occur.
 Marketing opportunities are expanding.
 Demographic changes "Golden Oldies"
 According to the United Nations, population ageing is increasingly
becoming one of the most salient social, economic and demographic
phenomena of our times. Demographic change impacts directly on
tourist demand (volume and structure).
 The generation of well situated elderly people goes increasingly on.
Vacations this generation is characterized by high disposable income,
high amount of free time, independence form seasonal variations in
demand for vacations.

 Service quality
 As global competition and market consumption change the expanding
service sector, quality plays an increasingly essential role in both
attracting and retaining service customers. Service quality and the
degree of satisfaction derived from service quality are becoming the
most important differentiating factors in almost every hospitality
environment.
 Conscious payment of added value
 Price and value are significant factors to the more perceptive
guests of today. Customers and their perceptions about price
have changed. The key word today is "value." Value is what
you get compared to what you pay.
 Overall increasing payment for vacations., tourists spend
specially more during their stay.

 Trend to more frequent vacations

 Breaking free time into a series of blocks.
 Journeys tend to get shorter. The shorter duration of the trips
leads to an increase in the number of holidays per year.
 !

Thank you
for your
attention!