38. Role of air transportation in tourism destination development

Author: Verzhiniya Lazarova

DOI: n/a

Resume

The article examines the relation between the tourism destination and its air connectivity based on the example of destination Bulgaria. The author analyses the statistic data for outgoing tourist markets and nationality of airlines flying to Bulgaria over the last 3 full calendar years using the methods of induction, deduction, observation and comparative analysis. The outgoing tourist markets for Bulgaria are divided in four groups according to their elasticity from air services – inelastic, low elastic, elastic and highly elastic. The second phase of analysis includes only the elastic outgoing tourist markets and the rest are excluded due to their clear dependence/independence on the air transportation industry. The author conducts a comparative analysis between the nationality of online airlines operating to Bulgaria and the elastic outgoing tourist markets. Based on the results the article confirms the hypothesis that the tourist destination is dependent on its transportation connectivity by air. Moreover, the airline could support the development of the tourism industry by offering new destinations, additional flights or additional seats to already exciting ones.