Indicators for Tourism Competitiveness from the Society’s Perspective: A Delphi Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT There are several perspectives to studying Tourism Destination Competitiveness (TDC). Nevertheless, society’s point of view received less attention from scholars. From theories of tourism competitiveness and social management, we defined a list of variables to analyze competitiveness as a tool to achieve social progress. Posteriorly, we used a Delphi method to validate and optimize the proposition with a group of experts from different countries. Panel experts evaluated the model, determinants, and variables for TDC from the resident’s perspective of a tourism destination and they reduced the 65 initial variables to 42, grouped into six determinants. The findings deepen an aspect that is scarce in the literature on TDC and provide a new perspective on metrics for tourism that complement the traditional viewpoint. The result is a model that monitors Tourism Destination Competitiveness to avoid adverse effects of overtourism and contribute to the Beyond GPD approacht.