Abstract
This paper describes the context and framework for assessing destination attractiveness of Kerala, an emerging tourism destination in a developing country. The study reveals its strengths and weaknesses from the demand side perspective and suggests a number of valuable implications for destination marketing efforts. Comparing an array of attractions and experience elements for the destination of Kerala, the analysis highlights the importance of specific destination attraction elements as core appeals of the destination. The analysis provides a solid theoretical rationale for the spectacular performance of Kerala tourism in recent years across a number of fronts. However, negative gaps have been observed for a few vital attraction elements, broadly suggesting the need for modifying area specific development efforts to enhance the tourists experience with these attraction elements. Based on the findings of the study, the need for a moderately different emphasis in guiding both the product and promotional development activities were identified. In addition, this paper gives a glance into the development and prospects of tourism in the state of Kerala.
Highlights
Destination Attractiveness: An Introduction Destination attractiveness may be defined as the degree to which destinations meet the touristic expectations of its visitors in terms of dimensions like recreational opportunities, food and accommodation, cultural richness, natural beauty, and various other amenities (Pearce, 1979)
Tourism has emerged as a lead sector of the Kerala economy, with its impact increasing in terms of economic growth and employment generated (GOK, 2002)
Comparing an array of attractions and experience elements for the destination of Kerala, the analysis highlighted the importance of specific destination attraction elements as core appeals of the destination
Summary
Destination Attractiveness: An Introduction Destination attractiveness may be defined as the degree to which destinations meet the touristic expectations of its visitors in terms of dimensions like recreational opportunities, food and accommodation, cultural richness, natural beauty, and various other amenities (Pearce, 1979). A technique commonly used to operationalize this is to list the resources possessed by a destination, seek from tourists the importance of these resources in defining the attractiveness of that destination, and subsequently get their ratings on how much the destination performs across each of these important dimensions This is an adaptation of the generic Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) used by marketing researchers. This technique blends in subtle ways the demand and supply analyses independently used by tourism researchers to assess destination attractiveness This method meets the recommendation of Formica and Uysal (2006) that the analytical techniques to measure the development of attractiveness should aim to combine the evaluation of existing resources and their perceived attractiveness. The tourism industry in Kerala witnessed considerable growth during nineties and beyond and is expected to grow further in the future
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