Abstract
In recent years, countries have been competing with each other to attract tourists due to of the unprecedented growth in new tourism destinations. Consequently, these countries have been taking several initiatives to improve the competitiveness of their destinations in comparison to those of other countries. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for destinations to become the most popular and preferred choice among tourists. Previous literature has highlighted the need for examining the association between the culture of a particular destination and their competitiveness with respect to tourism. Little is known, however, about these associations at the present time. This study offers a cultural explanation of the travel and tourism competitiveness (TTC) of a country by investigating the relationship between destination competitiveness, as measured by TTC, and national culture. The study investigates these relationships by analysing data from 73 countries. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationships, and cluster analysis to segment the countries. The findings indicate that individualism, long-term orientation, and indulgence dimensions of national culture were significant in influencing the TTC of a country, whereas power distance and masculinity were insignificant. This study emphasises the importance of developing culturally congruent policies to improve destination competitiveness.
Highlights
With recent improvements in the tourism industry and the growth in disposable income, individuals are continuing to spend more on travel and tourism itineraries (Croes, Ridderstaat, & Shapoval, 2020; Kayar & Kozak, 2010; Pike & Page, 2014)
The correlations shared among the cultural variables, including, for example, power distance and individualism (r=0.71, p < 0.001), power distance and uncertainty avoidance (r=0.23, p < 0.05), power distance and indulgence (r=-0.25, p < 0.05), individualism and longterm orientation (r=0.23, p < 0.05), and long-term orientation and in dulgence (r=-0.48, p < 0.001), were significant (Fig. 3)
The findings suggest that national culture influences the TTC, and that individualism and long-term orientation contribute to growth in travel and tourism competitiveness
Summary
With recent improvements in the tourism industry and the growth in disposable income, individuals are continuing to spend more on travel and tourism itineraries (Croes, Ridderstaat, & Shapoval, 2020; Kayar & Kozak, 2010; Pike & Page, 2014) This trend has resulted in growing competition among different countries. More spe cifically, travel destinations aim to establish a competitive advantage to attract more tourists (Clara, Simon, Noelia, & Barbara, 2019; Kayar & Kozak, 2010; Rodríguez-Díaz & Pulido-Fernandez, 2020) This has resulted in strong competition in the travel and tourism industry, with only the most competitive destinations being likely to grow (Kubickova & Martin, 2020; Pike & Page, 2014). These cultural dimensions include power distance (PD), individualism versus collectivism (IND), uncertainty avoidance (UA), masculinity versus femininity (MAS), long-term orientation versus short-term orientation (LTO), and indulgence versus restraint (INL)
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