Assessing the Level of Popularity of European Stag Tourism Destinations
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GrzeGorz iwAnicki, AnnA DłużewskA, MelAnie sMith kAy QUAESTIONES GEOGRAPHICAE 35(3) • 2016 ASSESSING THE LEVEL OF POPULARITY OF EUROPEAN STAG TOURISM DESTINATIONS GRZEGORZ IWANICKI1, AnnA DłużewskA1, MelAnie sMith kAy2 1Department of Regional Geography and Tourism, Maria Curie Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland 2School of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality, Budapest Metropolitan University, Budapest, Hungary Manuscript received: April 23, 2016 Revised version: June 24, 2016 iwAnicki G., DłużewskA A., sMith kAy M., 2016. Assessing the level of popularity of European stag tourism destinations. Quaestiones Geographicae 35(3), Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań, pp. 15–29, 9 figs, 3 tables. AbstrAct: The primary objective of this article is to determine the degree of popularity of stag tourism destinations in Europe. Research was based on the search engine method, involving an analysis of the highest positioned offers of travel agencies in the most commonly used search engines in Europe (Google, Bing, Yahoo). The analysis divided the studied cities into four categories in terms of popularity. Conducting the said analysis is strongly justified, because academic publications have so far not provided studies which have determined the degree of popularity of stag desti- nations on a continental scale. keyworDs: stag tourism, stag destinations, stag regions, search engine, city break Corresponding author: Anna Dłużewska (e-mail: [email protected]) Introduction The objective of a stag weekend is a pre-wed- ding male party. In Europe it is known as a stag The development of urban tourism (includ- party, in Australia as buck’s night, and in North ing stag party tourism) in Europe accompanied America as bachelor party. They are usually or- the deregulation of the aviation market in the ganised within several days to several weeks mid-1990s, resulting in the development of low before the wedding. They increasingly involve cost airlines (Dunne et al. 2010, Graham, Shaw travel abroad (Thurnell-Read 2012). Such a form 2008, Thurnell-Read 2011). Due to low ticket of travel in the European continent is particular- prices and a developed network of connections ly popular among the British who are the domi- offered by particular airlines, travelling to many nant group among European stag party tourists cities of the continent has become available to (Boazman 2010). the majority of potential tourists. As a conse- Considerable changes occurred in the quence, a new type of tourism developed called European stag tourism market and city break city breaks (Grigolon et al. 2012, Hughes, Allen tourism overall after 2004. They were caused by 2009). It can be described as short, usually week- the expansion of the European Union by new end-long travel to one particular city with no Central and East European countries. Low pric- overnight stay in another city (Trew, Cockerell es of flights and affordability of services (among 2002). City breaks can be undertaken for shop- others accommodation, prices of alcohol and ping dates, clubbing, or stag weekends (Dunne food), combined with the “exotic” character of et al. 2010). former Soviet countries for an average tourist © 2016 Author(s) This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license doi: 10.1515/ quageo–2016–0023Unauthenticated DownloadISSN 0137–477X Date | 11/3/17 2:35 PM 16 GrzeGorz IWaNICkI, aNNa DłużeWska, MelaNIe sMIth kay from West Europe, contributed to the great pop- among stag tourists are classified under clubbing ularity of certain centres in the region among stag tourism (visits to night clubs and discos), alco- tourists (Thurnell-Read 2012). hol tourism (pub crawl, vodka party), and sex The primary objective of the article is a de- tourism (visits to strip clubs, using services of tailed determination of the degree of populari- prostitutes). ty of particular stag tourism centres in Europe The development of this type of tourism based on the search engine method, involving contributed to an increased interest among sci- the analysis of the highest positioned offers of entists, particularly in terms of research on the travel agencies. The analysis concerns populari- related negative aspects. Some authors describe ty among European tourists, with the British as stag party tourism in the context of alcohol abuse the dominant nation in stag tourism in Europe in (Andrews 2005, Bell 2008), whereas Rohrer (2006) terms of numbers. this is reflected in the content calls participants of such travel “drunken invad- of the analysed offers. ers” (p. 1). Other authors analyse this type of tour- Conducting the said analysis is strongly justi- ism in relation to its associations with sex tour- fied, because academic publications have not so ism (Boazman 2010, Hubbart, Mhowell 2008), or far determined the degree of popularity of stag describe the behaviour of stag party tourists soci- destinations on a continental scale. Filling this ologically (Elbridge, Roberts 2008, Kinnaird, Hall gap can contribute to research on stag tourism, 1994, thurnell-read 2011). particularly from a geographical perspective. Inappropriate behaviour of some stag party Moreover, it will be a pioneer attempt to apply groups during trips abroad was so disturbing that the search engine method for the purpose of cal- the British Foreign and Commonwealth office (as culating the degree of popularity of stag tourism cited in Thurnell-Read 2012) published a report centres. on the contribution of such travel to the bad rep- In parallel to the primary objective, the corre- utation of British tourists among the inhabitants lation between the popularity of particular desti- of foreign destination places. An English news- nations and their transport accessibility was also paper called The Daily Mail also provided news analysed (flight connections determining the de- and articles on the negative aspects of this type of velopment of city break tourism), as well as the travel. An example can be the idea of the mayor degree of development of nightlife infrastructure. of Riga to establish a special Police department The authors hypothesised that easy transport ac- to deal with drunken groups of British stag party cessibility and a multitude of nightlife facilities, tourists (low 2009). the primary reason for pro- i.e. seemingly two primary factors determining posing such an idea was inappropriate behaviour the attractiveness of a given stag centre, do not of some British tourists in the city centre, includ- necessarily lead to a greater number of stag tour- ing urinating on the Freedom Monument, or ists in a given city. climbing it naked to take photographs. The situa- An additional objective of the article was to tion was so tense that in one of his interviews, the demonstrate the division of Europe into particu- contemporary Latvian Minister of Home Affairs lar stag tourism regions. The division was based described participants of stag party weekends as on the detailed analysis of components of offers “dirty pigs” (low 2009: 1). of the analysed travel agencies. This constitutes Such controversial statements by prominent the first scientific attempt to identify the region- politicians suggest that mass stag tourism is a se- alisation of the stag tourism market. rious problem for local communities. It seems that the initial enthusiasm related to an increase in tourist traffic and therefore an increase in in- Literature review come from tourism is replaced with a more se- lective approach to tourism product develop- Stag tourism ment. Many popular stag tourism centres do not want to be associated with drinking, peace dis- In terms of travel objectives, stag party tour- turbance, or indecent behaviour of tourists any ism belongs to a more extensive area of party more (Graham, Shaw 2008, Smith, Puczko 2010, tourism, whereas particular types of activity Thurnell-Read 2012). Unauthenticated Download Date | 11/3/17 2:35 PM ASSESSING THE LEVEL OF POPULARITY OF European STAG TOURISM DESTINATIONS 17 Popularity of stag tourism destinations website, the most popular bachelor destinations in North America include Montreal, Las Vegas, It is estimated that more than 2 million Miami, New Orleans, Whistler, Cancun, and New European tourists annually travel abroad for the York (The Plunge 2013). As for rankings concern- purpose of participating in stag parties (Boazman ing European stag tourism centres The Wedding 2010). In spite of such high tourist traffic, aca- Community mentions five cities enjoying the demic analyses of particular destinations are highest popularity: Riga, Benidorm, Amsterdam, currently scarce. Certain publications provide Prague, and Berlin (Walker 2013). Newspaper information concerning the most popular stag The Independent presents a ranking in which the tourism centres, but they only mention destina- first 12 places are taken by: amsterdam, Dublin, tions such as: Budapest (Smith, Puczko 2010), Cork, Barcelona, Brussels, Riga, Tallin, Bratislava, Tallin (McLaughlin 2006), Bratislava, Cracow Prague, Wrocław, Cracow, and Budapest (taylor (Thurnell-Read 2012), Amsterdam, Berlin, and 2008). Another ranking, prepared by website Prague (Bowes 2004), or refer to entire countries SimplytheBestMan, includes the following cit- or regions associated with this type of tourism, ies: Dublin, Tallin, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Riga, among others Central and Eastern Europe (Dunne Algarve, Ibiza, Bratislava, Prague, and Malaga et al. 2010), or particular countries of the regions, (StBM 2014).