Author(s):
Friedrich M. Zimmermann* - University of Graz
Erwin Hammer - University of Graz
Abstract:
When asked about the three most important things concerning hotels, CONRAD HILTON, founder of the famous hotel chain, replied „location, location, location". This assessment still has its significance, even more since due to saturated markets many hotels show a decreasing utilization of their capacities. Consequently, a comprehensive location analysis is essential. Nevertheless, in many cases too intuitive decisions are made in favor of locations in well-known tourism regions and places instead of analyzing the market potential area-wide.
The paper tries to contribute to a better information level of potential hotel developers by implementing a comparative rating of all Austrian destinations in terms of investment potentials. Accordingly, this location or market analysis takes the view of an investor who is seeking for new and promising hotel locations - with the constraint that this study examines 94 Austrian destinations at a macro-level. In order to implement this systematic approach a specific scoring model was elaborated: Ten criteria - hierarchically arranged into four groups - have been particularly established for the market analysis of destinations. The results, based on official tourism data, show the most promising market potentials in a few Austrian destinations, which seem to be the most appropriate areas for expansion. As a result of this selection on the macro-level, investors get a choice of some regions in which she/he needs to perform a detailed destination assessment using scale appropriate parameters.
