Abstract
Over the past years, attention has been given to the relevance of network studies as an analytical tool to assess essential features of a tourism destination. This work analyzes the network of Halland County, a tourism destination in South Sweden. The study aims at enhancing the body of knowledge and the comprehension of the structural characterization of the tourism network, deriving indications for policy makers and local stakeholders in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the regional tourism system. Tourism stakeholders’ websites were explored using hyperlink network analysis (Baggio in Phys A 379(2):727–734, 2007; Raisi et al. in J Travel Res https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517708256, 2017). Findings highlight the need for strengthened industry ties and contribute to the industry-wide discussion on exploring network topology as a key source of knowledge for destination management and development, respectively.
Highlights
The identification of a destination’s network is important for uncovering patterns of cooperation and collaboration in a destination
While an increasing number of works has been devoted to the understating of the structural characterization of single destination areas, the networks of multiple areas have not yet been extensively explored (Baggio 2017; van der Zee and Vanneste 2015)
This work reports on preliminary findings from a network analysis conducted in a wider framework that aims at developing a strategy for the Halland County, a developing Swedish tourism region consisting of six destination areas
Summary
The identification of a destination’s network is important for uncovering patterns of cooperation and collaboration in a destination. To this extent, a methodological approach that has gained attention in the last years is the analysis of the networks of connections between the stakeholders of a destination. This work reports on preliminary findings from a network analysis conducted in a wider framework that aims at developing a strategy for the Halland County, a developing Swedish tourism region consisting of six destination areas. The study contributes to the existing tourism network literature showing a case of multiple destination areas
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