Factors which strategically explain the competitiveness of a tourism destination: Evidence from Singapore and Sri Lanka

M Prasad F Jayasuriya,Cheng Guoping

doi:10.24212/2179-3565.2017v8i1p55-68

Abstract

Globally tourism industry has experienced rapid growth in the last 25 years, a trend predicted to continue in future and as such, the field of tourism has emerged as an area of theoretical and practical interest. Although the competition among countries engaged in tourism has increased, the world travel and tourism competitive index (TTCI) reveals striking disparities among developed and developing countries as tourism destinations. This paper is an attempt to examine the elementary reasons for such disparity through identification of competitive factors which strategically explain the position and competitiveness of a tourism destination. For clarity and better understanding the study was conducted with evidence from Singapore and Sri Lanka. Data collection was carried out adopting a survey instrument with purposive sampling and structured questionnaire to examine fifteen factors illustrating tourism destination competitiveness based on responses received from the two countries - 70 from Singapore and 66 from Sri Lanka. The analyzed data were used in a model of strategic evaluation of tourism destination to diagnose the strengths, weaknesses as well as the competitive opportunities of the two countries through the review of 15 competitive factors. The results strategically explained the competitive positions of both tourism destinations, while findings on factors provided guidelines to achieve greater destination competitiveness. Further, the model of strategic evaluation first tested in Spain for tourism destination competitiveness, was extended for pertinence in other tourism destinations and situations.

Highlights

While tourism generates a significant amount of foreign exchange earnings that contribute to the economic growth of developed countries, such ingredient of growth has not been effectively harnessed by most of the developing nations
The internal strategic value (ISV) for each factor was determined by calculating the relevant mean value of question numbers 1 to 4, which addressed the factors in terms of importance(Q1), non-substitutability(Q2), benefits(Q3) and contribution for improved competitiveness(Q4)
SPSS 22 was used for data analysis and Table 3 and Table 4 display the results of mean values and standard deviations (SD) related to each of the 15 factors with reference to Singapore and Sri Lanka respectively

Summary

Introduction

While tourism generates a significant amount of foreign exchange earnings that contribute to the economic growth of developed countries, such ingredient of growth has not been effectively harnessed by most of the developing nations. The world travel and tourism destination rankings of 2015 highlight this fact with developed countries occupying most of the top positions including the top 10 while developing nations are behind in the ranking list of 141 countries (TTCR, 2015) This leads to the question ‘why many developing countries with bio diversity, strong culture, historical artifacts and abundance of natural resources are lagging behind in destination competitiveness?’, especially in comparison to developed nations which sometimes have limited natural or inherited resources. The objective of the study is to explain the different competitive positions of Singapore and Sri Lanka in tourism by identifying the country strengths and weaknesses in terms of factors defining tourism destination competitiveness

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion