EVALUATION OF THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF TOURISM IN ALGERIA: MULTICRITERIA METHOD APPLIED TO AREAS OF TOURIST EXPANSION

Abstract

Tourist attractiveness is the ability of a destination to generate towards itself tourist flows. Its evaluation is crucial for the success of tourism development. The objective of this research is to develop a model for evaluating the attractiveness of tourist destinations to assess the attractiveness of the Larbi Ben M'Hidi tourist expansion area in Skikda, Algeria. The applied method uses both a qualitative diagnosis of the destination’s tourist resources and a quantitative visitor questionnaire survey to inventory, consolidate and evaluate the existing attraction portfolio from a supply and demand perspective. The results show that the landscape and climate are the elements of attraction. They identified the factors perceived as most important for the destination, its strengths and the weak indicators on which to act. Differences in evaluation have emerged between demand and supply, which shows that there are differences between the subjective and objective measure of tourist attractiveness. The proposed framework complements the body of theoretical knowledge on assessing the attractiveness of tourist destinations. In addition, by assessing and matching the differences between the reality of a destination and the perception of a visitor, they can help tourist destinations and their managers guide the development of their tourist areas.