SEMESTER PROJECT
BY
Afungsa Candy Noumvi
7TH SEMESTER (2012/2013)
AALBORG UNIVERSITY COPENHAGEN

RESEARCH QUESTION

Do Danish families Prefer traveling more abroad or within Denmark for holidays ? As a National Destination Management Organisation- VisitDenmark, what is the organization doing to stimulate Danish families to participate more in domestic tourism? * The theme of our research is Motivation. What motivates Danish families in choosing their holiday destinations? Do they mostly go abroad or not? And why? * Problem area is improving the tourism sector of Denmark to attract local Danish families. Here we will be analyzing the campaign VisitDenmark to see what the organization has been doing so far to encourage domestic tourism.

TABLE OF CONTENT

* chapter one……………………………………………………… …..Page 4
-Introduction (some background on tourism in Denmark)………………………4
-Problem formulation/ hypothesis -Research objective (what do we want to achieve in this research……………………………………………………………5
- Delimitation………………………………………………………………..........6 * chapter two……………………………………………………………………….7
- History of leisure tourism …………………………………………………......7-8
- Definition of theory…………………………………………………………..9-12
- Analysis of the Campaign, how does VisitDenmark promote domestic tourism……………………………………………………………………… 13-19
- Danish outbound tourism…………………………………………………...20-22 * chapter three………………………………………………………………….....23
- Research methodology……………………………………………………...23-25
- Research design……………………………………………………………..25-26
- Area under study………………………………………………………..............26
-Target population……………………………………………………………27-28
- Sampling techniques………………………………………………………..28-29
- Instrument for data collection……………………………………………..........29 * chapter four……………………………………………………………………..30
-Findings and Analysis……………………………………………………….30-35 * chapter five……………………………………………………………………...36
- Conclusion………………………………………………………………......36-37

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Over the last quarter of the century, tourism has gradually become an important industry in many countries in the world. Tourism revenue has become one of the important sources of export earnings and the key factors in the balance of payment for many developing countries and regions. Tourism plays a more and more significant role in both national and regional economies, as tourism has a potential to be a new economic and job generator. (Zhang: 2001).

Denmark is one of the countries that make up Scandinavia in Northern Europe, along with Sweden and Norway. It is also well known for its fertile landscape, the long history of Vikings and recently as the country with the world's best restaurant, the world's best chef. Denmark has been ranked as the second most-visited destination in Scandinavia, after Sweden. Some 4.7 million people visited Denmark in 2007, according to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Denmark has the world’s highest level of income equality. Furthermore, it has been ranked as the happiest place in the world as well as the second most peaceful country in the world. Surveys from 2006-2008 took into account standards of health, welfare and education when considering happiness, and the 2008 Global Peace Index survey deemed the country the most peaceful, after Iceland (Costanza : 2009)

VisitDenmark, as a national tourism organization has presented Denmark through its official website as a family holiday heaven – just to quote one example: “Safe, clean, easy to get around and packed with attractions - you just can't beat Denmark as a family holiday destination.” However, Danes themselves are experienced travelers for whom travel is a big part of their life and despite VisitDenmark’s attempts to market Denmark as a family destination the Danish families themselves choose to travel abroad on vacation (www.euromonitor.com). In 2008, according to the World Bank, almost six and a half million departures took place – defined as departures that people make from their country of usual residence to any other country for any purpose other than a remunerated activity in the country visited.
Actually, according to Statistics in Euromonitor, Norway, Danes together with Belgians, Irish, Austrians, Dutch and Germans are the keenest travelers to foreign countries in Europe. These nationalities choose destinations abroad for between 60 and 80 per cent of their holiday trips. By comparison, only 10 per cent of Greeks and Spaniards go on holiday abroad” (www.ssb.no).

This tendency is furthermore stressed by a recent survey on outbound tourism of about 1200 Danes who were interviewed. It showed that around 60% of Danes continue going away for their holidays somewhere else. A recent survey interviewed 1193 Danes and showed that all Danes surveyed were taking a holiday and about 40 percent of Danes hold summer vacation in Denmark, while 57 percent hold it abroad. (www.blogs.dk).

PROBLEM FOMULATION

The problem concerned here is that i am assuming Danes prefer traveling abroad for holidays and not within the country. The hypothesis will then be tested to see if it is true. This paper seeks answers to two specific questions in relation to domestic tourism in Denmark. Do Danish families really prefer to go on vacation abroad several times a year or do they prefer staying in Denmark; and what is being done by the Danish tourism organization to stimulate Danish families to spend more of their vacation in Denmark to ensure constant growth in domestic tourism.

DELIMITATION

As with any study of this nature, there are some limitations that could be addressed in future studies. Firstly, in the data collection method, we do not have sufficient respondents to be representatives of the population. It is not enough to have 13 families answer the online survey. After having collected the data from those few families, we can only come up with the indication from their common answers. If it should be scientific approved, then there is need to get more significant numbers of family. The problem is that there is insufficient resources to have those many families.
Secondly, I faced some problems with the secondary source. Internet sources have been used in many parts of the project. It is always a risk of reliability and the quality of the materials. We have decided to use the internet sources because we would like various positions and updated information.
In addition, there was also time constraints. Time being one of the most important resources needed in doing a research was one of the major delimitation. Time available was too short to do a thorough and in depth research on Danish families and their traveling habits.

CHAPTER TWO

THEORY

History of Leisure tourism
This research paper is to see how VisitDenmark promotes tourism within the country to improve domestic tourism in Denmark by examining how Danish families choose their holiday destination. What is their motivation? In order to better understand this, we have decided to look into the history of travel and tourism in the world at large and in Denmark in particular. Getting a global overview of the tourism sector at large could help to best understand the problem area.
The World Tourism Organization defines leisure tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure. (Collin, 1999) defines leisure as free time to do what you want. Leisure is a highly developed concept with a long history. Leisure travel was associated with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom – the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.
Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, the factory owners and the traders. These comprised the new middle class. Cox & Kings was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758 (Wilkerson 2003). The Industrial Revolution played an important role in promoting travel in the West because the rapid urbanization due to industrialization led to mass immigration in cities. These people were lured into travel to escape their environment to places of natural beauty, often to the countryside they had come from, for a change of routine from physically and psychologically stressful jobs to a leisurely place in countryside. In the 19th century, the advent of the railway brought about business tourism and later leisure travel. Later, special trains were only chartered to take leisure travels to its destination.

*
In Denmark, tourism consists mainly of people from neighbouring countries, especially Germany, followed by Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. The UNWTO's World Tourism rankings show that Denmark had 8.7 million visitor arrivals in 2010. The total annual number of overnight stays in Denmark has been somewhat declining in 2011 (ref). Denmark has many sandy beaches, which attract mainly German tourists. Swedish and Norwegian tourists often come to visit the relatively lively city of Copenhagen while many young Scandinavians come for Denmark's cheap and readily accessible beer, wines and spirits. As Europe's oldest kingdom and the home of Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark is often marketed as a "fairytale country". Its rich culture and a history of Vikings are basic things that attract tourists to Denmark (Ref).
The question at hand is whether the Danes go on holidays to destinations within Denmark or do they always prefer going abroad. After a detailed analysis of our findings in the subsequent chapters, we would be able to determine what percentage of Danes actually stay in Denmark during their holidays. By so doing, we would be able to identify the loopholes in domestic tourism.*

DEFINITION OF THEORY

Based on the problems and thesis i have been searching for relevant theories that can explain and complement each other as much as possible, I have decided to use three theories which are customers’ motivation, destination competitiveness and comparative analysis. Customers motivation is used in order to see what pushes the Danish families to choose a particular place to visit; Destination competitiveness to know the pull factors of the particular destination that is its attractiveness and comparative analysis to be able to compare what one Campaign is doing as against the other.
An examination is made of tourism literature theories of motivations, strategic management on destination competitiveness and comparative analysis. Firstly, a review of a literature on tourist motivations is to be made in order to understand what drives them to make a trip abroad. Secondly, a review of literature on the competitive destination on how to make Denmark competitive and attractive to Danish tourists is made as well as a comparative analysis on two campaigns which are VisitDenmark and VisitNorthzealand.

General Consumer Motivation: Some Background
This paper focuses on the tourist motivation and activities related to the destinations in Denmark. The purpose of analyzing tourist motivation and activities is to explore visitors’ desire, wants and needs.

"Crompton (1979) notes it is possible to describe the who, when, where, and how of tourism, together with the social and economic characteristics of tourist, but not to answer the question "why," the most interesting question of all tourist behaviour."
(Fodness 1994, p. 556)
Middleton and Clarke (2001), describe motivation as the dynamic process in buyer behavior, bridging the gap between the felt need and the decision to act or purchase. Together with Wright (2006), who sees motivation as the process that starts with some kind of need, the drive or action to satisfy the need, and finally, the fulfillment of the need. Belk et al (2003) state that social desires are the driving force behind contemporary consumption (consumption related to who we are and the way we relate to ourselves and others in society). Some argue that much tourist consumption is symbolic – for example, we choose destinations according to our own self-image (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 89).

Tourist motivations and market segmentation
In this research paper, customers' motivational ''push'' and destination ''pull'' factors will be examined in the decision making process which VisitDenmark and visit Northzealand has used to attract tourists. Each destination offers a variety of products and services to attract tourists.
From the destinations’ point of view, it is very important to know why tourists choose (or not choose) this destination and how the tourists feel about the place they visited. Analysis of tourist motivation attempts to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence on the causal relationship among the push and pull motivations, satisfaction, and destination loyalty (Yoon and Uysal, 2005).
Motivation has been referred to as psychological/biological/social needs and wants, including internal (or emotional) and external forces (Dann, 1981; Chon, 1989; Pearce, 1982; Uysal & Hagan, 1993). According to Uysal & Hagan (1993), these forces describe how individuals are pushed into making travel decisions and how they are pulled or attracted by destination attributes. While motivation is only one of many variables in explaining tourist behaviour, it is nonetheless a very critical one, as it constitutes the driving force behind all behaviour (Fodness 1994). Motivation sets the stage for forming people's goals (Mansfeld 2000) and is reflected in both travel choice and behaviour; as such it influences people's expectations, which in turn determine the perception of experiences. Motivation is therefore a factor in satisfaction formation (Gnoth 1997).
Various studies have dealt with tourist motivations and market segmentation. An analysis on tourist motivation and activities is important for destinations to understand leisure tourist destination choice (Jie Zhang and Carl Marcussen, 2007: 4) Factors that motivate tourists for leisure travel are classified into two types, “push” and “pull” factors (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1977; Pearce, 1993; Uysal and Hagan, 1993; Uysal and Jurowski, 1994).
To make tourists travel to places, There must be customers' internal desire ''push factors” which are something intangible as it is desire of the individual traveler. “Push” factors are defined as origin-related and refer to the intangible, intrinsic desires of the individual traveler, such as desire to escape, rest and relaxation, adventure, health and prestige. (Bowen, D. And Clarke, J., 2009, p.92). Quite a number of literatures have studied tourist motivation from biological, psychological, sociological and anthropological aspects. (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977; Iso-Ahola, 1982; Plog, 1987).
Tourism motivation is a multi-motive dimensional. Tourists often have more than one motive for choosing a certain destination, for example, people can choose one destination with a motive of relaxation in a pleasant safe place combined with visiting a local historical heritage. Motivation is also a dynamic and flexible variable. The design of a motivation list ‘must be flexible enough to incorporate individual changes across the life-span and consider the effects of broad cultural force on tourist motivation’ (Pearce, 1993). For example, a person may change his travel preferences as he moves through the family life cycle from a single-career person to a more family-oriented person, his motives for choosing destinations may be changed accordingly.
Bansal and Eiselt (2004) use the work of Crompton (1979), Lundberg (1971) and Shoemaker (1994) to assign tourists motivation to five classes: climate (or atmosphere or environment); relaxation; adventure; personal; and educational. Brown (1998) considers that tourism is the most accessible, convenient (and legal) escape from the ordinary. She summarizes some of Krippendorf (1987), Poon (1993), Ryan (1997), and Young (1973) regarding to the question “What reasons do tourists have for taking a holiday?” and she comes up with ten of her own very practical reasons: have fun with family and friends, be with others and have fun, rest and relax, discover new places and things/experience a different culture, experience nature, broaden education, get away from bad weather, get good food, get excitement and adventure, visit places heard about/ see famous attractions (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 90).
The reasons and motivation mentioned above are relevant to our study, Danish families taking holidays. For them, leisure time has become an increasingly scarce commodity.Children are busy from school and their other activities while with multitasking parents may feel stressed, fatigue or downright exhausted from the combination of work and the demand of daily family maintenance tasks- perhaps the very stimuli that turn their thoughts into a holiday break. The family holiday will allow parents to recharge, give the family quality time together or escape from the everyday setting to somewhere special (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 187).
On the other hand, destination ''pull factors'' are mainly related to the attractiveness of a given destination and its tangible features (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 92).
For Denmark to look at it as a whole, it has been presented and reported as the happiest nation in the world according to the huffingtonpost.com ‘Denmark has taken the top spot on the United Nation's first ever World Happiness Report, followed by Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. The rankings in the report were based on a number called the "life evaluation score," a measurement which takes into account a variety of factors including people's health, family and job security as well as social factors like political freedom and government corruption.
Now Denmark is known and viewed with its strong image to be the happiest nation. According to Dichter, (+-1985), “an image is not individual traits or qualities but the total impression an entity makes on the minds of others." In the destination development theory, it helps tourism once the destination has the position itself in the marketplace and has developed a unique brand identity to differentiate itself from competitors (Morgan et al., 2002). The idea of competitiveness is introduced here. As viewed by Newall (1992, p 94), competitiveness is about producing more and better quality goods and service that are marketed successfully to consumers at home and abroad (Ritchie and Crouch, 2009: 12).

ANALYSIS OF CAMPAIGN
The question is how VisitDenmark is attracting Danish families to spend more vacation in Denmark.
VisitDenmark has used this fact to attract and “pull’” tourists by presenting in its official website “The world's cosiest capital city? Come and be charmed by Copenhagen - a cosy knot of winding streets, beautiful buildings and an unparalleled sense of style.
Come and be charmed by Copenhagen, Northern Europe’s cosiest capital, packed with cafés, shops and the best restaurants in Scandinavia. From the winding streets of the beautiful old town and grand royal palaces to the city’s cutting-edge buildings and attractions, Copenhagen is the perfect blend of old world and new. Hop on a bike or stroll the city on foot and take in its laid-back atmosphere and effortless sense of style (www.visitdenmark.dk).
To see how Denmar+k is competitive, destination competitiveness is focused. In tourism, it is helpful to understand the concept of competitiveness to organize the principal theoretical and managerial dimensions to benefit the most from it.
To make the destination competitive, one needs to focus on the nation's resources, which include three categories of resources;

Endowed resource
- Natural physical resources (mountains, lakes, beaches, rivers, climate etc.)
Physical resources play a fundamental role in attracting tourism to a destination. The diversity, uniqueness, abundance, accessibility and attractiveness of scenic ecological, recreational and other natural physical feature-----------------+++++++9+es, such as mountains, lakes, deserts and canyons, often represent a primary motivation for travel. A destination’s climate, location relative to important markets and geographical size are also important natural endowments. These resources do not necessarily affect a destination’s comparative advantages linearly. For example, climate can be too hot as well as too cold, or just unsuitable for certain activities (e.g. skiing). Destinations that enjoy a close proximity to major tourist origins are normally at an advantage, but distant exotic lands may be able to benefit from their remote, unspoilt image (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 20).
To look at Denmark, Denmark experiences a temperate climate. This means that the winters are mild and windy and the summers are cool. The local terrain is generally flat with a few gently rolling plains with only Ejer Baunehøj is the highest natural point in Denmark, 170.89 metres above sea level. The Danish landscape is characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts (www.en.wikipedia.org). For natural attractions, VisitDenmark focuses on are beaches in both North Jutland and North Zealand and other nature adventures “You don’t have far to go to find yourself in rich and varied countryside in Denmark. With an exceptionally long coastline and hundreds of Danish islands waiting to be explored, Denmark is a haven for beach-lovers. The south coast dramatically meets the Baltic Sea with high cliffs and the whole country is criss-crossed by walking and cycling trails. Denmark is rich in unspoilt countryside, easily accessible for day trips or longer tours. From coast and islands to heathland and hills, Whether you are looking for peace and tranquillity or the rush of an exhilarating outdoor adventure, Denmark is the place to find it.” (www.visitdenmark.dk).*
- Cultural/Heritage resources (cuisine, handicrafts, language, customs etc.)
These resources may be both tangible (e.g. archaeological artefacts, ruins, monuments, architecture and townscape, battlefields, art galleries, artwork and museum), and intangible (e.g. music, language, customs and traditions and lifestyles, values, friendliness and literature). The stock and condition of historical and cultural resources depend upon a nation’s appreciation of their value and its ability to care of their condition (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 20).
For these resources, VisitDenmark also offers historical Denmark. “Denmark is steeped in a rich and diverse history, just waiting to be discovered. Come and find your own Viking treasures, try a trip in a Viking longboat or walk amongst ancient rune stones and burial mounds. The impressive legacy of Denmark's long, regal past also awaits you, in the many Danish castles and manor houses open to the public. For children, there are hundreds of history museums with interactive exhibits and living museums outdoors. So step back in time and venture into the history of Denmark. Come and wonder at a really regal nation. Denmark is full of castles, manor houses and formal gardens to be visited. There are often royal events to take part in, full of traditional pomp and ceremony. Danes are extremely proud of their heritage, so witnessing a special royal occasion is a memory you'll cherish.” (www.visitdenmark.dk).
Moreover, VisitDenmark has tried to promote so much on Nordic cuisine, which Denmark is well-known of by its world’s best restaurant- Noma and the world’ best chef- Rasmus Kofoed, a tasty culinary movement has been well promoted.
Over the last few years, the best chefs in Denmark have developed a whole new Nordic food movement. Yes, Noma is the world’s best restaurant, but you’ll find the world’s best chef slaving away in another, world-class Copenhagen eatery. It's based on seasonal produce, traditional preparation and local knowledge. It's New Nordic Cuisine, it's mega popular and it's not to be missed. VisitDenmark has promoted Denmark as Foodie heaven.
“If you like food, you’ll love Denmark. It's Scandinavia's gourmet capital, with twelve Michelin-starred restaurants, and home to the world's best restaurant, Noma. It’s not all about fine dining though. If you’re in need of a good hearty meal, Danish pubs, inns and cheap-eat restaurants are great options. Traditional Danish food has recently enjoyed a revival. Eat like a Dane at the country’s eponymous hot dog stands, or by ordering the famous Smørrebrød (open sandwiches) for lunch. With a vast array of world cuisines available too, you won’t be going hungry in Denmark!” (www.visitdenmark.dk).

Created Resources
- Tourism infrastructure
In tourism literature transport is an important element of the tourism product, because it helps tourists reach the destination, move at the destination and/ or is an attraction in itself (Cooper et al, 2008). Transport in Denmark is developed and modern. The motorway network now covers 1,111 km while the railway network totals 2,667 km of operational track. The Great Belt Bridge (opened in 1997) connecting the islands of Zealand and Funen and the New Little Belt Bridge (opened in 1970) connecting Funen and Jutland have improved the traffic flow across the country on both motorways and rail. Denmark is a pleasant country for touring by car. Roads are good and almost invariably well signposted except during rush hour, traffic is quite light, even in major cities. Moreover train and also be an option. Denmark has a reliable train system with reasonable fares and frequent services. Most long-distance trains on major routes operate at least hourly throughout the day (www.en.wikipedia.org).

- Special event
Special events represent a distinctive extension to that of the activities mix. It is of particular managerial interest since it is a factor over which destination managers have a great degree of control. The term special event refers to a wide range of happenings that can create high level of interest and involvement on the parts of both visitors and residents (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011:69).
For VisitDenmark, there are up-coming events created to attract tourists, such as Marie Krøyer exhibition at Skagens Museum - until 1 September 2013, Crazy Christmas Cabaret 9 Nov-12 Jan, Edward Munch, 6 Oct-17 Feb, Finn Juhl Exhibition, Trapholt Museum (www.visitdenmark.dk).
- Range of available activities
The range of mix activities within a destination represents one of the most critical aspects of destination’s appeal, and it is one over which destination managers do have extensive influence and control. While the activities within a destination may be defined to a large extent by physiographic and culture, there is nevertheless considerable scope for creativity and initiative. The activities dimension of destination attractiveness appears to be growing in importance as the traveler increasingly seeks experience that go beyond the more passive visitation practices of the past (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003: 69).
VisitDenmark has offered various kinds of activities to do in Denmark depending upon each person’s holiday inspiration. For example, Christmas in Denmark, Food in Denmark, Copenhagen city break, Shop in Denmark, the history of Denmark, Cycling in Denmark, Natural adventures, Danish design, New Nordic Noir, and family holidays (www.visitdenmark.dk).
- Entertainment
Entertainment is another category of destination core resource or attractor. The Entertainment industry is another major supplier to travel and tourism (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011 :69). * There is a wide range of entertainment in Denmark, such as Tivoli, Bakken, Legoland, * Copenhagen Zoo, Djurs Summer land, Faarup Summer land, BonBon land, etc.

* - Shopping
From the official website of VisitDenmark, it has tried to stimulate tourists to, “come and shop in Denmark, one of the hottest design nations on the planet. From a rich design history, led by legends such as Arne Jacobsen and Hans J. Wegner, Denmark’s design sector has grown into a world-leader. From home ware to fashion, Denmark is an incredible place to pick up unique, cutting-edge products or to find that perfect Scandinavian gift. Beautiful shopping streets wait in cities across the country, offering international and Danish brands. So pack your shopping bags and don’t forget your wallet. Copenhagen is a compact city packed with shops of all shapes and sizes. From one-off boutiques and Danish department stores, to all the biggest retails names, Copenhagen will satisfy your wildest shopping desires” (www.visitdenmark.dk).

Supporting Factors and Resources
- General Infrastructure : one of the most important factors is the condition and the extent of a destination’s general infrastructure. Some elements of infrastructure have a very direct influence on destination competitiveness. For example, transportation services and facilities are vital to travellers. Highways, railways, bus services, airports, ferries, etc. convey travellers to and from desired points of interest. The quality of the infrastructure of transportation is as important as its mere existence. A destination is more competitive when transportations are reliable, effective, clean, safe, frequent and able to take travellers to the locations and attractions of greatest interests (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 70).
- Quality of Service : the quality service will shape a destination’s competitiveness. The tourism industry employs a diverse range of personnel from bartenders and petrol station attendants to hotel managers, airline pilots, consultants and enterpreneurs. The availabilty, skills, costs, and standard working condition of a destination’s tourism managers and employees are critical in an industry that emphasizes customer service (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011 :20).
- Accessibility of Destination : the accessibility of destination is a supporting factor since it is governed by a wide variety of influences, many of which depend on broad economic, social or political concerns. The accessibilty of a destination is affected in a more complex ways than its mere physical location might suggest, by the régulations of airline industry ; entry visas and permits ; route connections ; airport hubs and landing slots ; airport capacities and curfews ; and competition among carriers, etc. Within a destination, the accessibilty of tourism resources is also competitive issue (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011 : 70).
- Hospitality : the operating sectors of tourism are responsible for delivering high-quality, memorable experiences. Care must be taken care of. It is not enough to deliver all the attributes of an experience in a cold and detached manner. Visitors have a natural human desire for warm acceptance as they seek to enjoy the range of experiences the destination has to offer. the destination has to deliver experiences in a way that enable visitors to believe they are welcome that they are truly guests (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011, 71).
- Market Ties : the market ties includes several dimensions along with a destination establishes and builds linkages with the residents of tourism-originating regions. The market ties component of destination attractiveness is also outside the direct control of tourism destination managers. Nevertheless, it is one that evolves over time and one that can be influenced to varying degrees by those responsible for managing a tourism destination (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011 : 68).
Together, these factors provide the various characteristics of a destination that make it attractive to visit and that is the basis for destination competitiveness “pull factors.”
VisitDenmark as one of the campaigns that has been promoting domestic tourism in Denmark has been focusing on certain places as their point of motivation to encourage Danes to go for holidays within Denmark. Most well-known attractions to Danes with children are being presented on Visitdenmark’s official website, for example;

North Jutland: The top of Denmark

In the Top of Denmark is very varied; forest, beach, valleys, fields with cows grassing and a real desert. Here you always find yourself close to nature and with the fresh air from the seas surrounding. There is a lot of fun for kids in the top of Denmark. It is a paradise for kids! In the Top of Denmark you will find lots of fun experiences for a family on holiday. Besides, there is beach life all year round.
North Zealand, North Zealand is a holiday favourite with Danes and not just because of its close proximity to Copenhagen. North Zealand offers you lakes, deep woodland and green open landscape, perfect for walking, cycling and camping.
Beautiful Beaches, North Zealand is more than beautiful castles though. ‘The Danish north coast Riviera’ has more than 100 kilometer beaches - some of the best in Europe - and the area houses thousands of holiday homes. The areas have lots of activities, shops, eateries and some of the best surfing sports in Northern Europe (www.visitcopenhagen.com).
Copenhagen, Copenhagen is a very kid friendly city. You have free places reserved on buses and trains for prams and pushchairs, children's menus in restaurants, and of course reductions at all museums, galleries and entertainments. Kids are fully incorporated into the everyday life of the city. Copenhagen is a great city to explore with children. It’s not too big, it’s relaxed and many attractions and services offer that little bit extra for kids. Or a day visit to Child-friendly city museums, many of the city’s museums offer special exhibitions, activities and areas for children. Another option is Copenhagen Zoo. A day at the zoo is a great day out. The zoo is full of wild creatures, big and small, with a famous elephant house, a polar bear, tigers and much more. At the zoo’s children’s area, your kids can interact with tamer animals and learn about how to look after them.
Amusement parks; Tivoli and Bakken Tivoli is more than just a fairground. It’s a cultural wonderland and historical gem right at the heart of Copenhagen. It is the world’s most-visited seasonal theme park. Its delightful mix of rides, attractions, performances and culture make it a treat for adults and children alike. Bakken, it's a wonderful place for a stroll, picnic or to see the park’s deer strutting their stuff or quietly grazing together. The Deer Park is also home to the world’s oldest amusement park. Bakken makes for a perfect day trip for the whole family (www.visitdenmark.dk).
Due to time constraints, I was only able to analyse one campaign which is VisitDenmark. Other campaigns do exist which are fighting to promote tourism in Denmark like VisitNorthZealand, VisitCopenhagen and Visit NorthJutland. These are other organizations that promote Denmark as a tourist destination.

Travel and tourism as study object

The World Tourism Organization defines travel and tourism as the “activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. Tourism can be divided into several categories according to the tourist origins, tourism purposes and the duration of the trips.
This definition is a bit too general for our understanding. In this paper we see travel with family as a longer period of time than a weekend spent on leisure away from your home.
The Danish outbound tourism
Who are Danish tourists? What do they look for from holidays?
They are frequent travellers. The stereotypes of Danish tourists are those who look for a warm climate where they can relax and spend time with their family, relatives and friends. Danes travel both to visit their neighboring European countries and to experience something totally different on other sides of the world; among the most important destinations are Spain, Italy France. Danes prefer travelling to warmer destinations, being Spain, Italy and France (Danmarks Statistik, 2011).
According to the Danish statistics, in 2011 16% of all holiday trips with minimum 4 nights were spent in Spain; 9% were spent in Italy; 8% in France; 7% in Sweden and in Germany (Danmarks Statistik, 2011). According to the research made by Kompas Kommunikation for the travel agency, Apollo, Greece became one of the most popular holiday destinations for Danes. Islands, like Skiathos and Santorini are desirable as well. Spain, including Mallorca and the Canary islands are popular too.
Danes prefer buying package trips to warm destinations (31%), city breaks are also popular (21%) (Apollo Rejser, 2011). Looking at today’s situation in the travel market, it is seen that the focus is still on warm destinations, like Spain, Italy, France, Malta and others. One of the respondents in the focus group stated that the destination with warm climate is more preferable when choosing a place for holidays, because the participant comes from up north, where is quiet cold. Therefore the destination would be a place where is warm.

Thailand is also a very popular holiday destination outside Europe. Danish tourists are among the most frequent visitors to Thailand. This is due to the low prices of flights and hotels- and the possibilities for different experiences, which is also important for Danish tourists. Thailand continues to attract more Danish tourists. Among the Nordic countries, Denmark and Norway were sending more tourists to Thailand in 2010. Sweden and Finland declined in numbers.
According to the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Suraphon Svetasreni , the Tourism Authority.
“The number of Danish tourists increased from 2009 at 145,000 to 150,500 in 2010, which is 3.8% increase compare to tourists from other Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland which the number is 2.5% more, 10.0% less and 15.7% less respectively” (www.scandasia.com).

The positive development in the Danish economy, the long tradition of travelling to the South Europe, the creation of the Internet and the seasonal variations are the main factors that mostly influence the Danish outbound demand. Additionally the recovery in international tourism is not an isolated phenomenon, but a general demand trend at the international level. Furthermore the price of tourism products/ services at the destination is a strong “pull” factor for influencing the Danish outbound demand. Looking at the Danish population it is seen that disposable income increases in Denmark. According to the Danish statistics, disposable income has increased by 1.8 % from 2008 to 2009 (Danmarks Statistik, 2010).
Danish tourists are great spenders, while being on holidays. 42% of Danes are planning to spend more money during holiday this year in comparison to 2010 (Standby, 2011).

For the motivation why Spain hits the top list for Danes to go on holidays there, Marc Pritchard, Sales and Marketing Director of leading Spanish developer Taylor Wimpey España, comments, “Spain's appeal as a top second home destination will never falter with the majority attracted to the warm climate, blue flag beaches and scintillating Spanish lifestyle” Interestingly, according to a report by AENA, Spanish Civil Aviation, Mallorca was the most visited destination in Spain amongst Danish visitors in July 2011 with around 40,599 passengers indicating that Danish visitors have become hooked by Mallorca's charm by year round lively atmosphere, celebrity residents and world recognised events such as the Global Ocean Race 2011-2012 (www.ibtimes.com).
The popular destinations for Danish tourists share the same character, which are warm places with beautiful beaches and different culture. These are important factors for Danish tourists to choose their holiday destinations. There is a link between travel motivations and choice of vacation. It shows that travel motives affect the travellers’ choice of destination ,which results in Spain, Italy, France, etc.

Why do Danes travel so much abroad?

As may be expected in a country with not so much geographical variety and the cold weather, many Danes choose to holiday abroad. The evidence here shows that airplane is the most popular way of travelling. According to the Danish statistics, 62% of Danes travelled by airplane in 2009 (Danmarks Statistik, 2010).
From anonymous respondents on our online survey when asked what attracts you to holiday abroad, common answers are particular the climate “to get some sun and warmth but also to experience new things” Danes love to travel to warm countries as it is considered very cold in Denmark. Furthermore, they are looking for experiences that can give new perspectives to their lives by seeing and experiencing new things for it is believed that if you for some reason decide not to take summer holiday, most Danes would consider you to be a weirdo, without family and friends and working your way towards a nervous breakdown (www.blogs.denmark.dk).
Danish consumers wanted sun and warmth and this absolutely influenced growth of outbound travel in 2011. Consumers spend money on holidays, despite the general saving habit due to financial uncertainty. Even consumers with a limited budget spend on holidays, even though if they have to borrow money to do so. (www.euromonitor.com).
In addition to that, Danish people have long holidays compared to other countries. They have a 5-6 weeks of paid holidays each year. That also allows them to travel so much.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Types of information / data collection methods
What we did in this research project was a confirmatory research. We had a hypothesis which was an assumption that most Danish families prefer travelling abroad for holidays rather than within the country. So we decided to test the hypothesis and see if it is true that they prefer going abroad and what is their motivation. This section highlights the approach and techniques of collecting data as well as their benefits and loopholes. In this research, both secondary and primary methods of collecting data were used. The secondary data used were internet research, articles of magazines, newspapers, Internet reports and other printed sources. Meanwhile the primary data was received from questionnaires administered through emails, Phone calls for direct interviews and personal visits to some venues. Data which is usually collected through emails, have the following advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
* Low cost, and coverage can be of a wide geographical area. * The respondent can complete the questionnaire anonymously and at their own convenience * The respondent are unlikely to be subject to interviewer bias that can occur with telephone or personal interviews
Disadvantages:
* The production of good mailing list can be difficult * Difficulties in producing a questionnaire that elicits the information required without being too lengthy and in wording questions so that they are not ambiguous and confusing * Low response rate * If an insufficient number of questionnaires are returned, the researcher must consider whether those who did not return them are different in much statistically significant way from those who did. This can introduce bias into the survey. * Respondents may not be truly representative of the population as a whole. * There is no interviewer to provide help and no control over response.

Data collected are analysed using both the qualitative and quantitative analysis method. Quantitative analysis can be used to describe: * How many people visit a destination * How long they stay * How much they spend * Where they come from all these using numbers and percentages
Meanwhile quantitative data can be got through structured interviews.If the research was mostly qualitative, I could have used the content analysis method whereby the information is reduced to numerical terms. Start by sampling, selecting from what may be an enormous amount of material code words for example M for motivation but this type of analysis method is hard to interpret the findings.

This was to make sure the right information was derived at. The information is recorded in both a checklist format and in statistical order and the responses are carefully explained as obtained. A more detailed analysis of the findings will be given in the next chapter.

The purpose of the research is to find out the motivational factors for Danish families to go on holidays. The approach used in this research is deductive, as it makes use of existing theory connected to push and pull motivational factors, to confirm or add motivational factors which will bridge the need for taking a holiday as motivations are critical for understanding the vacation decision-making process and the foundation for assessing satisfaction from an experience, designing and planning tourism attractions and marketing tourism experiences. Motivation indeed seems like a driving force (Bowen and Clarke, 2009, p.88).
The data collection methods used to answer the research question were a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The data collection process is done through an online survey to Danish families with or without kids. The survey made online included socio-demographic question (ages of the family members) and questions regarding their holiday behaviors and travel pattern both while abroad and in Denmark. The method of distributing the survey is through the acquaintances of the persons involved in the research. They were asked to forward the link of the survey to their friends and family, resulting in 13 answers. The survey is both quantitative where it includes questions asking them to fill out numbers (family members, holiday per year) and qualitative where the respondents are allowed to express their opinion and idea into their own words. We allow the exploration of motivational factors for their taking holidays abroad or in Denmark. The survey is filled with questions based on the pull and push factors theory (Kozak, 2000, p.225, 228). First category included questions that had the purpose of exploring general push and pull motivational factors of traveling. The purpose was to see what Danish families in general consider when they have to take vacation with their family.

The survey included questions connected to the name of the tourism destination when they have to describe Denmark in three words. This is to test “top-of-mind” awareness (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011, p.190).
Some parts of the online survey have close-ended questions with both multiple choices answers and a 3-point Likert scale to test the importance of push and pull factors in the decision-making for a tourism destination. The 3-point Likert scale is a type of ….

THE RESEARCH DESIGN
Under this study, we adopted the quantitative and qualitative method. With the quantitative research method, we quantify data and generalize results from a sample to the population of interest to measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample.
As for the sample, a large number of cases representing the population of interest were randomly selected. Structured techniques such as online questionnaires, on-street or telephone interviews.
Qualitative research method is based mostly on literature and is generally not concern with numbers. It makes use of small samples but entails the gathering of large amounts of information and the use of open-ended questions. Using this method to gather information here is very important as it allows for personal opinion which is got by asking open ended questions as seen in the attached questionnaire document at the end of this paper work.

The adoption of this method in this study is bound to yield the following advantages to our investigations;
• provide rich information about people’s knowledge of Denmark.
• will enable us to know exactly what kind of family-oriented leisure activities are likely to attract Danes and their families.
• is more personal and so is bound to give an in-depth of personal views which is very useful for this study.

It will help us know if Denmark has what it takes to make Danish families have a fun-filled and fulfilling holiday and how the country can be made more appealing to this target group depending on their motivation.
However, this method does consider only a small group of people and allows conclusions to be made by the researcher alone. So the difficulty we encountered here is having to base our judgments on the response of a few Danes assuming that, what works for one family, may work for all.
Meanwhile the quantitative method codes information in numerical data and allows for the use of closed questions. It tests large number of people and makes use of the computer for data analysis. This incorporates the following methods; questionnaire surveys-are less intrusive than telephone or face-to-face surveys. Also, other methods include secondary sources as organizational records, brochures, leaflets and other publications.
Adopting this method is very important as data collected this way is easily summarized and analysed using computers. This best fit today as the manual system of work has been replaced with the computerized systems. On the contrary, numbers just have something to say but numbers can’t say everything. More so, large samples are required which may not always be representative.

AREA UNDER STUDY

The research is carried out in the Copenhagen area because this is the capital city. Copenhagen with a population and urban population of 1,213,822 (www.en.wikipedia.org). We also did some online research on some attractions like, Tivoli, North Jutland and North Zealand because these are some tourist attraction places and we wanted to see if Danish families go for holidays and what attracts them there the most.

TARGET POPULATION:
As earlier mentioned, this study is meant to know more about Danish families and what motivates them to travel to places within Denmark for holidays or not. A questionnaire was sent to some families in Denmark to know exactly what they consider as family leisure activities to know what people’s preferences are. Families are an important target group. In this research we would like to focus on Danish families with children as we see a potential of this target group to stay holidaying in Denmark.
Danish families with children are an important segment in the outbound tourism market. These families typically use the school holidays, the most expensive and high season, to be together and to experience things together. July – the main holiday month in which 24% of the Danes take a holiday – is mostly affected by very unpredictable summer weather. For example, in 2011, Danish consumers wanted sun and warmth and this absolutely influenced growth of outbound travel (www.euromonitor.com).
The potential in the families to be staying in Denmark during holidays is practical. It can be challenging going abroad on vacation with children. There will most often be traveling time included and being on the run, which makes the vacation hard for the whole family. In addition to that, there is also recognition of the burden of work for women in organizing leisure activities for partners and children (Shaw, 1997). The responsibility often falls to the wife and the engery, emotion, and effort expended in ensuring the family spends quality time together can be interpreted as another form of unpaid work. The result? What is leisure for some becomes work for another. Family leisure participation and long hours of holiday traveling can be a duty and a responsibility rather than an individual’s freely chosen activity. To operate it more effectively as a family, vacation can be spent domestically, regularly undertaken, easily accessible, and predictable (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 191).
Moreover, not all families experience successful family holidays abroad. It is seen that a short family city break taken in another country might require effort in foreign or second language, map-reading across different city areas, frequent searching for, and processing of, new information (car hire, transportation options, prices, restaurant options, navigation of attraction layouts) and trouble-shooting when things go wrong (malfunction bathroom suites, errors on bills, cultural misunderstandings) (Bowen and Clarke, 2009: 192).
Apart from that, it is naturally also expensive going abroad on vacation for the whole family. Even though holidaying abroad means so much for some families with a limited budget that they even borrow money to go on holidays (www.euromonitor.com).

Therefore, domestic holiday for Danish families can be an option since in Denmark there are already several high-quality offers for children on vacation such as Tivoli, Legoland, Lalandia, Experimentarium, Bakken, beaches, parks, etc.
So there should be lot of potential of keeping the families in Denmark for their vacation. According to the Nordic travel market report (2011), Nordic families with children’s most important aspects for going abroad are: that the children should have fun, the family should have shared experiences, the parents want to relax, the parents need time with their children and the children should be active. All these activities can easily been done in Denmark because Denmark itself has a lot to offer to Danish families.

In tourism literature, attractions are related to the main reason why leisure tourism to a destination happens (Cooper et al., 2008). Furthermore attractions are an integral part of the tourism product, which is used for destination marketing (Page & Connell, 2006). The important thing for the destination is to have “flagship” attractions, because these can pull in visitors and in general provide the initial motivation for visiting a particular destination (Cooper et al., 2008 : 309).

THE SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Here the simple random technique is used. Simple random sample (SRS) is a special case of a random sample. A sample is called simple random sample if each unit of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample. Here all Danish families had an equal chance of being selected.Whenever a unit is selected for the sample, the units of the population are equally likely to be selected (Starnes, 2008)The Danish families were selected randomly. It must be noted that the probability of selecting the first element is not to be compared with the probability of selecting the second unit. When the first unit is selected, all the units of the population have the equal chance of selection. When the second unit is selected, all the remaining units of the population have chance of selection. The main reasons why we decided to use the sampling technique in this situation is because- firstly, the costs associated with it is quite lower and was affordable for us and secondly, data collection is faster and it did enable us to save much time which we dedicated to other parts of the study, and more so, the data collected is smaller and there is a possibility for homogeneity and chances to improve the accuracy and quality of the data.

INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION
There are several instruments that were used to do these investigations with each serving a major purpose. They were as detailed;
- Questionnaire this consisted of both open-ended and closed questions and was meant for those who had to complete to express their opinions as seen attached at the Appendix.
- Sample survey designed to focus on specific issues. This served as verification or clarification of some doubts especially when one could not draw conclusions on a certain aspect.
- Internet was used to collect secondary data which served as supportive force to this research work.

CHAPTER FOUR

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
After the final data collection and its analysis, the most significant outcomes will be discussed in this section. The analysis results will assist destination developers to understand target markets and improve the products, services and activities arranged to the tourists. Tourist motivation studies are useful in developing products, promotion, and marketing strategies. Destination marketing and development become important issues in both theoretical and practical tourism business. As global tourism markets become more and more competitive, many tourism destinations put efforts on improving quality of their products and services and enhancing the competitiveness.
Within the chosen research framework, we examined and identified customers´ motivational “push” and destinations´ “pull” factors in the decision making process. Destination “pull factors” are mainly related to the attractiveness of a given destination and its tangible futures. While customers´ “push factors” are intangible, intrinsic desires of the individual traveler (Bowen, D. and Clarke, J., 2009, p.92).
Based on the 13 families answered the online survey, The average age group of the parents is 40 years old while the children's is 7 years old The number of their holidays a year is 33.3% once a year, 25.0% twice a year and 41.7% three times or more a year. For the holiday destination, 25.0% going abroad while only 8.3% holidaying in Denmark. The majority travels both abroad and in Denmark, which results in 66.7%.
When asked to describe where and why in Denmark, the answers show that most of the families mentioned North Jutland, North Sealand, Fanø, Amusement parks. The reasons are to spend time together in their summer houses in the areas or to visit families or friends.
The ‘visiting friends and relatives’ segment of the travel market, while not necessarily a profitable segment, provides a firm foundation for building tourism within a destination. Even more importantly, it often leads to the establishment of business ties that can generate both steady flows of visitors and create other forms of economic development. Other ties include religion, sports, trade and culture (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003: 68).
The analysis of the survey from a multiple choice shows that general travel motivation (“push” factors) for Danish families to go on holiday together are; 100% to spend time with people they love, 75% to get away from home together with to relax and to enjoy good weather, 50% to have fun experience, to visit historical and cultural sites and to be physically and mentally refreshed, 41.7% to get close to natures and 33.3% to increase knowledge of new places.
It is obviously seen that travel motivations among Danish families ‘social relationship with family as the most important motivational factor. Such knowledge may be useful for tourism marketers to develop and promote travel products towards Danish travelers. Marketing efforts emphasizing social relationship and family togetherness may be more effective among Danish families’ travelers.
In response to customers’ personal motivation factors, there were identified top general destinations “pull factors”, showing some appealing factors why they decide to holiday abroad instead of Denmark are; warm weather, sunny beaches, experience in different culture, place and people.
Family-oriented activities and atmosphere, beautiful landscape, reasonable price and cleanliness were also mentioned in the destination ''pull'' factors.
Additionally active holiday is also a growing phenomenon among Danish tourists. Fitness, bicycling, golf and other types of activities are popular (Apollo Rejser, 2011) (Bencke, 2011).
A comfortable constant climate immediately provides a baseline of attractiveness for the great majority of visitors (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003: 111). Because so much of the tourism experiences is associated with the physical resources of a destination, the physiography and climate of a destination together constitute a factor that can be so important that it dominates other factors of competitiveness. As it includes overall nature of the landscape and the climate of the destination, it defines the nature of the environmental framework within which the visitor exists and enjoys the destination. It also defines much of the aesthetic and visual appeal of the destination – and because it is the factor over which destination managers have little or no control, much of the built tourism environment is constrained by its characteristics. Thus, to a great extent, a destination’s physiography and climate constitute the one parameter of core attractiveness around other factors must be creatively developed (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 68).
Additionally, local culture is also one of the most important Danish families take into consideration when choosing a holiday destination. As stated in Ritchie and Crouch’s literature (2011:69), the culture and history of a destination can also be an enormously important factor. Although this factor may be viewed as somewhat more malleable as physiography and climate from a management perspective, the culture and history of a destination are also determined well outside the scope of tourism. A destination’s culture and history furnish a basic and powerful attracting force for the prospective visitor. This force appears to be growing in significance for many segments of the travel market, particularly in today’s world of homogenized tourism, where one destination often seems to resemble another. Thus, if a destination can provide visitors with a unique setting within which to experience lifestyles outside their day-to-day routine, it has a clear competitive advantage. If this lifestyle is complemented by historical environments that contrast with those found in the home situation, the destination has a clear competitive advantage in efforts to create a memorable experience.
The degree of importance of the “pull'' factors the families consider in the decision-making process are; very important for them, weather and family-oriented activities (50% of the families responded on the survey agree on its importance). They ranked landscape and cleanliness important along with price, accommodation, facilities, good recommendation, accessibility and quietness from the number showing 66.7%, 63.6% and 50% respectively. The not very important factor for the families is entertainment, the number shows 66.7% of the families do not take it into consideration even though entertainment is another category of destination core resource or attractor (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 69).

As mentioned in the introduction, the second sub question in the project is “what can be done to stimulate Danish Families to spend more vacation in Denmark”. All families shared similar views on package if provided while traveling in Denmark. It would be interesting for them if these following characteristics (pull factors) are included; Pull Factors | Percentages | Visiting Sights | 91.7% | History | 75.0 % | Good Accommodation | 75.0 % | City tours | 66.7 % | Gourmet Dinner | 50% | Nature | 50% | Traditional food | 50 % | | |

The challenge facing the tourism destination manager is to develop those activities that take advantage of the natural physiography of the destination while remaining consistent with the local culture and its value. For example, a nature-based destination should take the opportunity to strengthen its appeal by developing activities that build on this strength; a historical/cultural destination should creatively identify and develop activities that reinforce this foundation of its appeal.
To find out why Danish families like to spend vacation abroad based on motivation and its theory, the result of the analysis and the answers to sub questions, What is being done to stimulate Danish families to spend more vacation in Denmark is to create these above mentioned activities. VisitDenmark has been focusing on developing these areas.
In this way, the Danish families can also have shared experience with their loved ones, visiting interesting Danish sights, learning about history and culture, gaining knowledge while staying away from everyday life and spending quality time with their family.
It should not be taken for granted that the real reason for visiting a destination is to do things – to actively participate in activities that stimulate for the moment, and then to leave as a participant who has vibrant memories of what he or she has done.
In seeking to make a destination attractive and competitive to Danish people, we realized from our research that it is essential to ensure that it offers a broad range of activities, of memorable things to do. The destination managers should attempt to provide a board mix of activities (Ritchie and Crouch, 2011: 118). This is advisable by Danish families. 66.7% of the respondents want to have these activities on a holiday package in Denmark for 3-6 days while 33.3% would like to have a longer domestic holiday with activities with their family for 7-14 days.
Furthermore, when asked to describe how they think of Denmark as a destination to get some key images of Denmark, common words come up for example: safe, clean, beautiful, family-friendly, kind and friendly people, history, culture and landscape. These words are the image of Denmark in the locals’ perspectives. It is important to know, for image plays a crucial role in a service industry Image is the most important aspect of tourist attraction, it is what attracts people. DMOs, like other servicer marketers, inevitably experience challenges in promoting their tourism product. it is clear that image plays a crucial role in how people perceive and view tourist destinations (Bolan, P & Williams, L, 2008: 388).
These words can be linked to the destination competitiveness and the core resources and attractor concept and image and brand, which can make Denmark attractive and competitive to other destinations. It is these factors that are the key motivators for visitation a destination according to Danish families. It is the core resources and attractors that are the fundamental reasons why prospective visitors choose one destination over another (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003: 68).
Image is one of the important aspects in attracting Danish families to the destination. From our research,we noticed that Danes are very keen on brand. As Cooper et al (2008) suggests, the image is critically vital for an individual’s preferences, motivation and behaviour towards tourist destinations. This image provides a “pull” effect, followed by different demand agenda (Cooper et al. 2008). Furthermore, the brand is extremely important when thinking of recognition and awareness. In tourism literature the brand can be a name, slogan, symbol or a combination for promoting a product or a destination (Cooper et al 2008). There are several advantages of developing a strong brand, such as it adds value, signals a strong position in the marketplace or provides a solid base to build an international presence (Cooper et al 2008). According to Aaker, people buy familiar brand, because they are comfortable with familiar (Aaker, 1991, s. 19). This means that there is a bigger possibility that a known destination will be selected more often than an unknown (Cooper et al 2008).

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION Looking at the statistics of leisure tourism in Denmark, we were trying to see if Danish families go for holidays abroad more than they do within the country. In 2011 in Denmark the three major segments of the tourism industry saw positive development. Inbound and outbound tourism saw higher growth rates than they did in the year before, whereas more domestic trips were made than in 2010 but the growth rate was higher in 2010 (Euromonitor) . It means that recovery of domestic tourism in terms of trips after the darkest phase of the financial crisis was faster than that of inbound and outbound tourism. Time, legislative ,measures also affect tourism.
Major pros and minor cons in legislative environment
In certain countries, the legistive laws have an impact on whether people take leisure trips or not. We tried to see here if the legislation in Denmark favours more inbound or outbound tourism. It could Since 1 January 2011, Danish legislation has allowed business consumers to reclaim 50% of hotel accommodation VAT instead of the previous 25%. Market players hope that this tax relief will stimulate travel accommodation sales; (www.euromonitor.com). However, they will continue to try to achieve a further reduction of the VAT. Stimulators have been implemented on the holiday home market as well, with an increased tax refund given to those who are renting their holiday homes. On the other hand, before the national election in September 2011, the winning party proposed placing an environmental surcharge on flight tickets. Market players are strongly against this plan, which could hamper growth if the legislation is passed (www.euromonitor.com).
Danish businesses try to use quality as a means to sell domestic tourism. One has to pay for Danish quality, and Danish quality will give a good return for someone who is willing to pay. However most market players oppose the projection of this image of Denmark as they fear that it will scare away the average leisure tourist. Nevertheless, the main efforts to promote tourism in Denmark continue to focus on quality, and thus often the more expensive experiences on offer in the country. All these are ways they are using to improve the infrastructure to encourage more domestic travelling.

After testing our hypothesis, which was to know whether Danish families prefer going abroad than staying within Denmark for holidays, we discovered that they indeed prefer going abroad. However, VisitDenmark is doing a lot to promote domestic tourism by using the country’s strengths in their campaigns and the number of families going abroad is beginning to drop as years go by.

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APPENDIX