Abstract
Delimitation of the boundaries of local tourism destinations has been proposed as a useful tool to obtain spatially-detailed statistical information to improve their decision-making and management. In the case of the Canary Islands, a leading tourism region, expert consensus supported by criteria based on supply characteristics has been used to set the boundaries of local destinations. This paper aims to analyse the characteristics of these established local destinations and test if statistical methods may provide better or different results than expert consensus from the perspective of destinations’ internal homogeneity and the differences between them. After applying descriptive and analytical statistical methods, the results confirm the evidence found in other delimitation exercises in social sciences. The consensus of experts, or subjectivity, provides consistent results that are, by and large, confirmed by statistical analysis. While statistical methods can provide new insights for delimitation, pure statistical methods can sometimes be misleading if stakeholders’ knowledge is not considered.
Highlights
This article is the result of a research problem that is becoming increasingly relevant in the field of tourism
To the extent that this study aims to contribute to methodological developments in the delimitation of local tourism destinations, it is necessary to provide a synthesis of previous research on a similar problem, with other purposes
The pioneering identification of local destinations in the Canary Islands through expert consensus supported by indicators has used criteria of tourism supply, accommodation establishments, paying special attention to their age, construction model, type, and category
Summary
This article is the result of a research problem that is becoming increasingly relevant in the field of tourism. The contribution of the local focus in tourism has been addressed by researchers such as Dredge [1], Lew and Mckercher [2], and Pearce [3], who highlight the importance of the local destination as a unit of analysis. Tourism is an activity with a high spatial concentration of supply. This does not give it a distinctive character with respect to other economic activities. A significant part of tourism consumption is carried out in areas with a high concentration of tourism activities, i.e., tourism destinations, where supply and demand converge in a specific territory. The recent debate on overtourism [6] sets the focus on the identification of these local areas from which information for sustainable management and planning is lacking
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