Fashioning a destination tourism future: The case of Slovenia

Achieving competitive advantage for any destination in times of rapid global change requires tourism stakeholders to have a clear understanding of the direction of change and its implications for business or destination management. The challenges are particularly acute for emerging destinations such as Slovenia. The paper discusses tools for measuring destination performance with particular focus on Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). Using IPA the paper develops a priority ordering for Slovenian tourism stakeholders to debate, modify and to adopt actions that can help them prepare for the challenges arising from global trends. The survey instrument used for this study asks respondents to highlight both the important areas that should be addressed by tourism stakeholders in Slovenia and also the performance of Slovenia in respect of the success or otherwise of the strategies that are currently being pursued to enhance destination competitiveness. The findings reveal that there are a number of areas in which the Slovene tourism industry considers itself to be underperforming in the implementation of strategies to eliminate drift. The paper explores some of the implications of the findings for strategic action and implementation, making some concluding comments on destination development strategy while highlighting areas for further research.     

Competitiveness attributes of a medical tourism destination: The case of South Korea with importance-performance analysis

This study aims to explore the importance and performance of medical tourism destination competitiveness (TDC). The aims were achieved by collecting empirical data on the perceptions of stakeholders in the medical tourism industry in South Korea. Results from the importance–performance analysis (IPA) revealed that medical TDC is primarily influenced by medical treatments and services, destination attributes, and tourism-specific factors. This study not only enhances tourism literature, but also contributes significantly to the existing literature on competitiveness. The study provides useful marketing insights for medical tourism suppliers in South Korea and countries in similar situations with the relevant industry.     

Evaluating the Competitiveness of the Tourism Industry in Cambodia: Self-assessment from Professionals

The annual tourism growth rate in Cambodia is among the highest in the world; however, tourist industry impact on Cambodian's economy is quite low. The purpose of our study is to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Cambodian tourism market so that a framework can be established to help the country's policy-makers formulate strategies to use its resources effectively to create sustainable tourism competitiveness. This study used the perspective of tourism experts in the industry and Ministry of Tourism in Cambodia, and academia in the tourism field to evaluate Cambodian tourism competitiveness relative to its major competitors in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) based on nine categories: endowed resources, created resources, supporting factors, destination management, situational conditions, demand condition, technology, openness and market performance indicators benchmarked from previous research. The results showed that Cambodia has a lot of endowed resources, but lacks supporting resources and factors to achieve tourism competitiveness.     

Consumer Insights and the Importance of Competitiveness Factors for Mature and Developing Destinations

This article aims to understand the importance of various destination attributes to the competitiveness of tourism destinations from a consumer perspective, while at the same time contrasting these in a mature versus developing destination. A sample of Australian-based domestic tourists were surveyed to assess the relative importance of tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) attributes in the context of developing and mature destinations. This research firstly appears to verify that the importance of many TDC elements, highlighted by consumers, is not dissimilar from other stakeholder-based TDC studies. Furthermore, this research effort established that in terms of attribute performance, relative destination immaturity may well constrain a developing destination’s ability to satisfy the needs of consumers.     

The role of individual entrepreneurs in the development of competitiveness for a rural tourism destination – A case study

The aim of this case study is to increase our understanding of the role of entrepreneurs in enhancing the competitiveness of a rural tourism destination. A literature review of the research on destination competitiveness with a focus on the roles of different stakeholders is first presented, followed by a narrative about rural tourism development, the competitiveness of rural destinations and the role of entrepreneurs in establishing successful destinations. The data consists of six case studies and nine semi-structured interviews among tourism entrepreneurs and managers at a rural tourism destination in Finland. The findings challenge the prevailing DMO dominated approach to destination competitiveness development, and call for the acknowledgment of collaboration between small tourism enterprises in the enhancement of rural destinations. Municipalities have a crucial role as facilitators of the entrepreneurial environment, but without innovative, committed, and risk-taking entrepreneurs no destination will flourish.     

The effect of hard infrastructure on perceived destination competitiveness: The moderating impact of mobile technology

Hard infrastructure is an important topic to research because of its importance to perceived destination competitiveness. Besides, tourism suppliers who adopt mobile technology can improve visitors' trip experiences. Moreover, Malaysia, is experiencing declined destination competitiveness ranking and poor hard infrastructure development in Sarawak. The primary goal of this research is to examine the hard infrastructures as determinants of perceived destination competitiveness and the moderating effect of mobile technology from the visitor's perspective. A total of 190 valid data were collected for further analysis. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM approach. The result revealed that transportation and accommodation have a significant relationship with perceived destination competitiveness. Additionally, the relationship between telecommunication infrastructure and perceived destination competitiveness is moderated by mobile technology. The current study's findings aided scholars and practitioners by providing useful data backed up by empirical evidence on the moderating effect of mobile technology and the direct relationship between infrastructure and perceived destination competitiveness.     

A cross-cultural anatomy of destination image: An application of mixed-methods of UGC and survey

The destination competitiveness literature builds on many studies that measure destination competitiveness using determinant factors or attributes, focusing specifically on attributes that influence tourism destination competitiveness. However, these studies overlook the critical destination tourism issue of extreme dependence on a particular country. Extreme dependence on a certain source market is a double-edged sword and a serious threat to destination competitiveness. To address this issue of overreliance, this study delves into a cross-cultural destination image using a novel mixed-methods approach comprised of cross-cultural mixed-methods of user-generated content analytics (Study 1) and survey (Study 2). Findings and contributions are subsequently discussed to generate theoretical and managerial implications.     

Role of destination competitiveness and national corruption in hotel performance: A study of developing economies of Central America

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between destination competitiveness (DC), national corruption and hotel performance (HP). A panel data analysis was applied to the Central American region. The results reveal that corruption has an impact on DC and HP. Such findings are important for the region as many of the countries are battling high levels of corruption while developing tourism industry. In addition, DC was found to have a unidirectional impact on HP. These findings provide a number of theoretical and managerial implications, reinforcing the role of a “shadow” economy and the importance of tourism.     

国外旅游产业竞争力研究述评

近年来旅游产业竞争力正逐渐成为国内外研究的热点领域,本文通过对国外相关研究文献的梳理与回顾,对旅游产业竞争力的相关影响因素、评价方法和模型、存在问题以及未来研究趋势进行了深入探讨。     

Tourist Motives and Destination Competitiveness: A Gap Analysis Perspective

This study explores the use of gap analysis in examining the demand-side and supply-side perceptions of international tourists’ motives for visiting Botswana, along with Botswana’s competitiveness as a tourist destination. Statistically significant negative gaps between tourists and tourism providers’ perceptions mean that further understanding of tourists by providers is necessary to enhance the destination’s competitiveness. The analysis of findings was based on 14 “pull” motivations adapted from Kozak (2002) and 104 destination competitiveness measures, some of which were adapted from Omerzel (2006). Factor analysis, reliability analysis, and a series of independent t-tests were used to analyze the data. Study results indicate that tourists visit Botswana mainly for pleasure seeking rather than culture. The study further reveals that Botswana’s competitiveness as a destination is average. Furthermore, the study found statistically significant differences between tourists and tourism providers on all of the “push” factors and nine of the 15 destination competitiveness factors. In order for Botswana to be globally competitive, there is need for further improvement with a view to match international tourists’ expectations. Particular attention should be directed at improving the way the destination is managed. Further developments should be made on created resources, safety, demand conditions, historical and cultural heritage resources, organized excursions, and cleanliness.     

A Cautionary Tale of a Resort Destination's Self-Inflicted Crisis

SUMMARY

Rotorua was New Zealand's first tourism destination, rising to prominence a hundred years ago on the back of the central government's vision for a South Pacific spa to rival those of Europe. Government resources were used to develop and support Rotorua's infrastructure and tourism industry, like no other in the British Commonwealth, for the best part of the 20th century. By the 1980s however, Rotorua's tourism industry was in a crisis, and it is posited that the crisis was largely self-inflicted. The paper provides an historical summary of key events leading to the crisis, and subsequent efforts to regain destination competitiveness through a public-private partnership. Written from the perspective of the CEO of the destination's inaugural regional tourism organisation charged with co-ordinating the marketing response to the crisis, the case provides a cautionary tale of how one destination's success as a destination has risen, fallen and risen in line with government intervention.     

An Extended Gravity Model: Applying Destination Competitiveness

Due to the substantial growth of tourism, various studies have employed different forms of gravity models. However, previous models had limitations in terms of generalizing their results. This is primarily due to their focus on specific regions or variables for special events or components of tourism. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to present an extended gravity model that can more generally explain tourism flows. This study adopted components of destination competitiveness as complementary variables and a panel data framework to include the cross-sectional and time effects in the model. The result showed that the proposed model had greater explanatory power than traditional gravity models. Additionally, along with gravity variables, destination competitiveness components, such as natural and cultural resources, general and tourism infrastructure, price competitiveness, and openness, had significant effects on tourism flows. Further discussion and implications are provided in the main body of this paper.     

Destination competitiveness and tourism development in Russia: Issues and challenges

With new border policies and the development of travel infrastructure, international tourism to Russia experienced double-digit growth in the past few years. Yet, few authors have reported on the challenges the country faces towards sustainable tourism development and competitiveness. This study discusses issues that have affected and that will continue to affect tourism in Russia. The tenets of destination competitiveness and sustainable development are used to guide a critical discussion of tourism in Russia. The study results from a three-year project that brought together European and Russian partners. Despite great potential, tourism development in Russia remains hindered by numerous issues such as destination image, infrastructure development, workforce training and education, quality management, and sustainable management. Beyond contributing to the tourism academic literature, this paper also aims at contributing to private and public policy stakeholders who prepare the future of Russia's tourism with Russian universities.     

TOURISM AND HOTEL COMPETITIVENESS RESEARCH

Competitiveness has been a subject of study in the manufacturing and related sectors since the early 1990s. However, only recently have some researchers started to examine the tourism and hospitality competitiveness, both conceptually and empirically, with a particular focus on tourism destinations and the hotel industry. The goal of this article is to review the published studies on destination and hotel competitiveness, provide critiques, and point out future directions in tourism and hotel competitiveness research. Such a review shall provide researchers with a good understanding of the current status of competitiveness research and with a vision for advancing the existing knowledge of destination and hotel competitiveness.     

区域旅游产业竞争力构成:基于竞争力性质的研究

随着区域旅游产业竞争的不断加强,关于区域旅游产业竞争力的构成研究也越来越多.研究取得不少成果,也存在很多问题.本文基于竞争力性质--显性或隐性、成长或非成长性、先天或后天获得性等,把区域旅游产业竞争力分解为潜在竞争力、外生和内生资源禀赋竞争力、市场竞争力.通过研究这几种构成的性质及变化规律,可以明确竞争力培育的重点与方向,制定有效的竞争策略,从而能够培育和提升区域旅游产业的竞争力.     

Destinations strategic groups via Multivariate Competition-based IPA

This paper aims at developing a sound methodology for both extending Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to the consideration of many tourism destinations simultaneously, and defining the prioritization of core attributes in each. Multivariate Competition-based IPA (MCIPA) allows to provide detailed information of particular utility for destination management, through a synthetic representation, accounting also for the geographical and administrative context.The conceptual framework of strategic groups, applied for the first time to tourist destinations, is the interpretative key of MCIPA. It makes the comparison of importance and performance, of various attributes in many areas, feasible and synthetic. It leads to interpret combinations of importance values in terms of target segment's preferences, defining destinations with similar performances on the same target segment as direct rivals. Based on a set of very broadly applicable statistical techniques, MCIPA helps addressing some methodological and interpretative drawbacks of IPA. An application to Italian provinces is shown.     

The influence of knowledge-based factors on taxi competitiveness at island destinations: An analysis on tips

Mobility at the destination is an important element of the tourism system on islands. Tourists have mobility needs that are often met by trains, buses, taxis and other means of transport there. The competitiveness of the taxi industry can be strategic for destinations because it is an industry with a traditional high proportion of entrepreneurs and SMEs. The knowledge-based view has contributed to understand firm performance better, and knowledge-based factors can be crucial for taxi competitiveness. The impact of taxi drivers' knowledgebased- aspects on tips are analysed, since this last factor is an interesting proxy for competitiveness due to its link to tourist satisfaction and potential loyalty. The empirical approach of this work is based on a survey in Gran Canaria, Spain. Knowledge of foreign languages (with mixed results), driving knowledge and knowledge creation seem to exert a significance influence on tips and play a relevant role in taxi competitiveness.     

A network perspective of knowledge transfer in tourism

Efficient transfer of knowledge is the prerequisite for innovation and competitiveness of tourism destinations. This paper uses network analysis to examine inter-organizational knowledge transfer in Western Australian tourism. The findings indicate that Western Australian network has low connectivity and is highly centralized around public bodies with a hierarchical pattern. The network also exhibits few reciprocal relationships with limited boundary spanners. The findings improve the understanding of the Western Australian tourism knowledge network, its weaknesses and strengths, which can be used to make policies to have a more efficient and innovative destination. In addition, this research provides a model for future research of how to explore and analyze the inter-organizational transfer of knowledge within a tourism destination.     

Gay tourism in a sun and beach destination

Gay tourism is seen as an attractive business opportunity for many destinations. However, there is a lack of research at identifying the resources necessary for success in this type of tourism. This work is aimed at filling this gap by using the premises of the resource based view and transfers them to the analysis of territories to identify the valuable resources that are required for a sun and beach destination to attract gay tourists. To this end, this study has focused on a gay tourism sub niche, tourists lodged in gay-exclusive resorts in Gran Canaria. In order to confirm the validity of this approach, the relationship between the satisfaction of gay tourists and the condition of the valuable resources was studied by means of a robust statistical new method, namely Bayesian model averaging. That method permits the inclusion of uncertainty in the theoretical models that determine destination competitiveness, thus reducing many of the problems that arise in the application of the more conventional statistical methods in this type of analysis.     

The destination competitiveness of Kinmen's tourism industry: exploring the interrelationships between tourist perceptions,service performance,customer satisfaction and sustainable tourism

Based upon an empirical investigation, the study draws upon the responses of 1623 tourists in Kinmen to explore the notion of destination competitiveness and how it is related to customer satisfaction with tourists’ perceptions, service performance and destination competitiveness. It also considers the question of destination competitiveness and sustainable tourism development. Variables such as tourists’ pre-visit perceptions, post-visit satisfaction toward destination attractions and resources, willingness to recommend and revisit, and competitiveness with foreign destinations are tested. The results of the study suggest that there is no correlation between tourists’ overall satisfaction and destination competitiveness. Implications of the study outcome illustrate that a destination's unique tourism characteristics can be the most important variables for destination competitiveness. In Kinmen's case, battlefields, historic relics, beautiful scenery and travel security gave it a competitive edge, despite high prices. In addition, developing the destination's brand image was found to be critical for tourism marketers and authorities in the context of increasingly global tourism competition.