Paper Title
COMPETITIVENESS OF SPA TOURISM DESTINATIONS- CASE STUDY OF VOJVODINA (SERBIA)

Abstract
Abstract - Spa tourism represents an important segment of Serbia's tourist offer, both due to the quality and large number of thermal mineral springs, and both due to the quality of the medical staff. Spas have continuously adapted to the needs of tourists, so over time the dominant spa function has been complemented by the tourist function of spas, with more and more wellness content. The aim of this paper is to determine how competitive Vojvodina is as a spa tourism destination and to assess the current state of all factors that affect the competitiveness of spas in Vojvodina Province (Northern Serbia). Spa assessment model (SAM) was used to assess the current use and tourist potential of spas as a tourist product, as well as for the evaluation of spas by spa visitors. Tourism experts and tourists (medical tourists, as well as recreation motivated spa tourists) are included in the evaluation. The results show that stakeholders consider that Vojvodina is not a competitive spa tourism destination, but some destination's advantages were identified, and they can be used for improving Vojvodina's position on spa tourism market. Also, results indicate the main differences between two market segments and detect their preferences which further enables the spa management to create spa product best suited to a certain market segment. Keywords - Aluminium Alloys, Plasma Spray, Thermal Barrier Coatings, Thermal Fatigue, Yttria-Zirconia.