Tourism destination competitiveness: a quantitative approach

Recently, researchers have suggested an approach to tourism destination competitiveness that goes beyond conventional destination attributes to include, in addition, generic business factors of competitiveness. Despite its apparent promise, there appears to have been little applied research building on this combined approach. This paper is designed to address this gap. Factors pertaining to the competitiveness of both the destination's attractions and its tourism industry were used to construct an instrument that was used to survey tourism practitioners in Hong Kong. Respondents were asked to rate the factors for both importance and relative competitiveness, in a method consistent with importance performance analysis (IPA). The results were analysed and discussed by reference to the IPA Grid. The paper concludes that the study has developed a promising research methodology that offers a quantitative, theoretically informed empirical analysis that will be able to provide a basis for managerial and policy decisions in the tourism industry.     

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.     

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.     

Achieving destination advocacy and destination loyalty through destination brand identification

Brand identification enhances customer loyalty and develops long-term relationships between the customer and the brand. However, only a few studies have explored the role of identification in building long-term and favorable relationships between tourists and a tourism destination. In this study, we propose and empirically verify destination personality congruence and destination trust as the drivers of destination brand identification, and destination advocacy and destination loyalty as its outcomes. For assessing these proposed relationships, a sample of 342 respondents was collected from foreign tourists visiting Dharamsala, which is a famous tourist destination among visitors in northern India. The results of structural equation modeling reveal that destination personality congruence significantly influences the destination loyalty through destination brand identification. In addition, destination trust emerges as a significant predictor for both destination advocacy and destination loyalty. The study offers important implications for both acadmecians and practitioners.     

Exploring the relationship between government and destination competitiveness: The TALC model perspective

Competitiveness is evident in the marketplace as tourism has become a major tool for economic grow and job creation. Destinations must learn how to think more like businesses and develop new products, markets, and customers. Governments also play vital roles in tourism development, ranging from minimal to high level of involvement. Due to tourism's dynamic nature, Butler's (1980) tourism area lifecycle (TALC) framework helps explain the level of government involvement in tourism development. This article develops a conceptual model adding government involvement and destination competitiveness to TALC. Secondary data demonstrate the model and the results extend TALC's conceptualization by adding national competitiveness and government involvement to explain destination development.     

The significance of environmental values for destination competitiveness and sustainable tourism strategy making: insights from Australia's Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

Sustainable destinations must deliver products that perform better than their competitors and at the same time protect key environmental drawcards. This research explores the environmental–economic interface of a major destination, both as a case study in how to approach this complex relationship and as a contribution to the methodology of tackling the need for understanding competitive pressures as part of sustainable tourism strategy creation. Using the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) as an example, the paper assesses 21 key environmental values, including Indigenous culture, against market-based factors, in terms of their importance for visitors as regional drawcards, satisfaction with them and the way in which changes in them might affect trip numbers and duration across different regions. While the natural values of the GBRWHA are found to be the most important drawcards, satisfaction scores were significantly lower than importance scores for a number of these values. Visitors responded more negatively to the prospect of environmental degradation than to the prospect of a 20% increase in local prices: the detailed impact depends, however, on location and visitor mix. Clear ocean, healthy coral reefs, healthy reef fish, and lack of rubbish were the top four most important values.     

Corporate image and destination image: the moderating effect of the motivations on the destination image of Spain in South Korea

The research objective is to analyse the destination image and corporate image of Spain among the Korean university population. We study the moderating effect of the motivation between two potential groups of tourists, escapers (tourists who travel for relaxation) and seekers (tourists who travel for seeking culture). Information was collected in South Korea via a questionnaire and the data were analysed using structural equation and multi-group analysis. For both groups, the results show that the corporate image has influence on the cognitive component of the destination image, motivation impacts on the cognitive and affective dimensions, and the cognitive component effects the affective component.     

Building composite indicators in tourism studies: Measurements and applications in tourism destination competitiveness

Composite indicators are useful tools to synthesize and monitor multidimensional phenomena. The aim of this paper is twofold: to offer the methodological foundations to build composite indicators in tourism and to evaluate a set of currently available composite indicators. Tourism destination competitiveness indicators constitute the object of this contribution. Their definitions, concepts and measures are analyzed and their evaluation is performed through the application of an original protocol. The results highlight that several methodological issues still surround the measurement of destinations competitiveness indicators. This paper provides tourism scholars and practitioners with a set of statistical guidelines to build composite indicators and with an operative scheme to assess indicators' effectiveness in empirical evaluations.     

Analysis of congress destinations' competitiveness using importance performance competitor analysis

To be competitive and successful in congress tourism, destinations must learn which congress tourism-related attributes are important and how they perform against their main competitors. This study identifies the importance and performance of destination attributes in Antalya, Turkey, and compares the position of these attributes to those of its main rival in congress tourism, ?stanbul. Importance performance competitor analysis results show that, according to domestic participants, Antalya has to focus on “sight-seeing and cultural attractions” and “outside entertainment.” For international participants, “climate,” “choice of meeting and housing properties,” and “suitability of conference facilities” exhibit higher performance in Antalya than ?stanbul.     

Nostalgia film tourism and its potential for destination development

Cinematic nostalgia can influence visitors in choosing destinations where particular films have been made or shot. Focusing on the case of Hong Kong this study investigated the incidence of nostalgia amongst Taiwanese filmgoers, and whether this generates feelings of familiarity that induce subsequent travel intentions. As an input to potentially wide-ranging destination experiences, it is found that nostalgia film tourism provides tourists with psychological benefits and constitutes a destination experience that is responsive to the ambient surroundings. The researchers identified five film nostalgia domains, namely: memories of backdrops, stories and movie stars, mimicking, envy, and culture and history. Memories of backdrops and mimicking were found to be the best predictors of perceived familiarity with the films’ origin territory and of future travel intentions. Given the continuing preference for “blockbusters” amongst contemporary filmgoers and the faddishness of audience preferences, there is some risk that fading memories may cause film destinations to lose their appeal. Film nostalgia nevertheless provides a potential medium to maintain the profile of destinations which have served as film locations.     

Tacit knowledge spillover and sustainability in destination development

This study examines tacit knowledge spillover among lodging firms within a destination and how it contributes to sustainable destination development. Longitudinal data for this study were collected primarily through in-depth interviews with lodging firms' managers and operators in a destination located in southern China. The findings suggest that tacit knowledge spillover in a region may lead to hospitality firm agglomeration. Furthermore, the eco-friendly hotel pioneers' tacit knowledge spillover may, over an extended time period, enhance the eco-friendly initiatives and operations of local hospitality firms, which may contribute to the successful development of sustainable destinations. The findings also indicate that local government's effective interventions tend to encourage and facilitate tacit knowledge spillover through establishing knowledge transfer mechanisms in the community, which is significant in the context of sustainable destination development.     

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.     

Local festivals,social capital and sustainable destination development: experiences in East London

This paper explores the nature of social capital arising from engagement in local festivals and the implications of this for the social sustainability of an emerging destination. Two case studies are developed from a longitudinal research project which investigates local festivals staged in the Hackney Wick and Fish Island area adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London, UK between 2008 and 2014. This area has been directly affected by extensive development and regeneration efforts associated with the staging of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The two festivals considered here respond to the challenges and opportunities arising for local people as the area changes. One festival aims to foster a sense of community by creating shared experiences and improving communication across diverse groups. The other draws together the cultural community, links them to the opportunities arising as the area emerges as a destination, and attracts visitors. These festivals increase social capital in the area, but its distribution is very uneven. The accrual of social capital exacerbates existing inequalities within the host community, favouring the “haves” at the expense of the “have nots”. There are tensions between the development of social capital and social sustainability in this emerging destination.     

Ties that bind tourists: embedding destination motivators to destination attachment: a study in the context of Kumbh Fair,India

ABSTRACT

Despite the deep cultural value and strong appeal to global tourists, the Kumbh Fair has not been explored much by researchers. This is even though the Kumbh Fair is crafting the tourism of India, thereby leading to its overall socio-economic development. This study aims to examine the determinants of tourist motivation, such as ads awareness, destination image and online-communities, which provoke tourists to have attachment with the destination more closely. The study found the tourists’ attitude as a complementary mediation and spiritual stimuli as a mediating moderator are positively impacting on the significant relationship of destination motivators and destination attachment.     

Knowledge transfer processes in the authenticity of the intangible cultural heritage in tourism destination competitiveness

ABSTRACT

As tourism based on intangible cultural heritage usually encompasses a knowledge transfer process, the authenticity of the heritage (or its perception) can be affected by knowledge transfer. These knowledge transfers occur to present the heritage to the tourists (courses, tour guiding, etc.), but also in the destination itself when the heritage knowledge is codified in museums, tour guides are trained, or the heritage is transferred to newer generations. These situations present potential challenges where authenticity is distorted or even lost, and it affects the competitiveness of the destination. The work attempts to analyse those knowledge transfers and their challenges regarding authenticity to sustain the competitiveness of the destination.     

Shopping experience evaluation: a case of domestic and international visitors

Understanding domestic and international visitors and delivering service quality that meets the expectations and needs of these markets should be among the key objectives of retail and commercial sector in tourist resorts. Shopping is an important tourist activity and its contribution to the economy is significant. For many visitors no trip is complete without having spent time shopping and tourists often feel they cannot return home without buying ‘something’. Shopping on vacation goes beyond functional utility and task orientation and provides other experiential benefits. This research examined domestic and international visitors’ perceptions of service provided in shops and attempted to understand whether domestic and international visitors differed in their service evaluation and shopping item preferences. The analysis was based on Kusadasi Chamber of Commerce database. Mann–Whitney U-tests indicated significant differences between domestic and international visitors’ evaluation of service delivered in shops. Domestic visitors were more negative in their service evaluations than their international counterparts. Chi-square tests revealed that these two groups also differed significantly in their shopping preferences. Management implications of the study are discussed and recommendations are provided.     

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.     

Destination brand experience and visitor behavior: the mediating role of destination brand identification

ABSTRACT

Destination branding has emerged as a critical tool for achieving competitive advantage through various conceptualizations, focusing on various aspects of branding. This research examines the role of destination brand experience (DBE), a new conceptualization, in assessing the holistic and unified view of tourism destinations. The conceptual model proposed in this research has been validated using structural equation modeling, based on the primary responses collected from 312 and 262 foreign visitors for study 1 and study 2 respectively, conducted at two different tourism destinations in India. Findings of both the studies suggest that various dimensions of DBE have a varied influence on destination brand identification (DBI), which subsequently affects both tourists’ trust and loyalty toward tourism destinations. In addition, DBI emerges as an important mediator for the relationship between DBE and destination trust (DT) as well as DBE and destination loyalty (DL). The study provides several implications for destination marketers about building trust and loyalty among tourists using DBE and DBI.     

Development and validation of a destination personality scale for mainland Chinese travelers

This study aims to develop a destination personality scale utilizing a sample of mainland Chinese travelers and examine the impact of this new scale on tourists' travel attitudes and behaviors using a two-step mixed method approach. Results yield an 18-item five-dimensional destination personality scale (competence, sacredness, vibrancy, femininity, and excitement) with desirable reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity. Except for “vibrancy”, the other four dimensions are found to be significant determinants of travelers’ actual self-congruity, ideal self-congruity, and destination loyalty. Results suggest that “competence” and “femininity” are the primary determinants of three criterion variables when all other dimensions are controlled for. This study provides empirical evidence for the necessity of developing a culture-specific destination personality scale under the Chinese cultural context. Destination managers could use this scale to evaluate and identify their primary destination personality characteristics, and adjust their current promotion strategies to target travelers from mainland China more effectively.     

Destination brand identity: scale development and validation

Destination branding has become an important trend in modern tourism. However, few studies have explored the construct of destination brand identity. The purpose of this study is to develop a scale for measuring destination brand identity. We developed the initial constructs and survey questionnaire. Next, two surveys with the respective sample size of 251 and 272 were conducted. Through a rigorous instrument development process, the following five constructs were identified: destination image, destination quality, destination personality, destination awareness, and destination culture. The instrument was proven to have a good fit, reliability, and validity. The multidimensional scale provides an effective instrument for tourists to identify and differentiate a destination brand from other tourism destinations. Implications of these findings for practical applications and suggestions for future research are also provided.