Tourism Competitiveness Research Articles

Explanatory power of the tourist destination competitiveness index on the control of the first wave of COVID-19

PurposeThis article intends to analyse the explanatory power of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) and some of its constituent factors on national success metrics in managing the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors study the outbreak control effectiveness of 132 countries during the first semester of 2020. The authors apply generalized linear regression models and weighted least squares models using 6 COVID-19-related dependent variables, 9 TTCI-related independent variables and 12 control variables.FindingsThe results suggest that countries with superior TTCI values and selected constituent factors have the highest daily averages of coronavirus infections and fatalities per million and the highest speed rates of COVID-19 spread. The authors also find that these countries have the shortest government response time, the lowest daily average of the social restrictions index and the shortest time from the first case reported in China to the first case reported nationally.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' awareness, no previous study exists analysing the statistical relationship between the TTCIB and some of its constituent factors with the selected metrics of national success at managing the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fact represents the primary evidence of this article's unique contribution.

Certification of enterprises and standardization of services as tools for management of the competitiveness of tourism activities in Ukraine

The subject of the study is the theoretical and practical aspects of the certification of enterprises and standardization of services in the tourism sector in order to increase their competitiveness. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the institutional foundations and components of the certification and standardization of tourist activities at the level of tourist enterprises and services as important tools for managing their competitiveness. The methodological basis of the article was both general scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge. Scientific research methods were used in the article: historical, system-structural analysis and synthesis, monographic, statistical-economic, problem-targeted. Results of the article. The article defines the essence of certification and standardization of tourist activity at the level of enterprises, products and services. Their leading role as a means of increasing the competitiveness of domestic tourism and its management is substantiated, including in the village The specifics and peculiarities of providing certificates and standards for agro-villages and other enterprises of rural green tourism have been determined. Their management with the help of these effective tools will contribute to the revival and preservation of rural areas. Results of the article. The results can be used by tourism enterprises, united territorial communities, regional and state authorities, non-governmental organizations, and higher education institutions. Conclusions. The above-mentioned ways of improving the procedure for certification of services in the field of rural green tourism in Ukraine are not exhaustive. Given that rural green tourism enterprises are currently in the formative stage in Ukraine, are part of the tourism industry and comprehensively solve the socio-economic problems of rural areas, it is necessary to urgently take effective steps to regulate the legal status of this type of tourist activity and the procedure for its certification in order to ensure competitiveness.

Исследование рынка туроперейтинга в регионах Сибирского и Дальневосточного федеральных округов

Tourism is one of the most important links in the development of the regional economy in the country. Coronavirus infection COVID - 19 has seriously affected the tourism industry, so not all tourist companies were able to adapt to the changes. Thus, restrictive measures in connection with the epidemiological situation in the country, in different ways, affected the Arctic regions, thereby increasing the negative impact on the development of tourism. The article presents an analysis of the current state of tourist activity in the regions of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts. These territories are a promising direction for the development of domestic tourism of the Russian Federation. In addition, the indicators of tourism development in the SFD and DFD regions were considered. It is worth noting that the Arctic region is perceived as a territory with a huge amount of natural, cultural and historical resources, which in turn is one of the main factors in the development of domestic tourism, to meet the interests of the small indigenous peoples, and protect their interests. The relevance of this study is due to the importance of tourism transfer as one of the main factors in the development of tourism activities in the territory of both the Russian Federation and the regions of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts. Thus, the study was based on the activities of 675 tour operators of these regions. The obtained data can be used to create strategic activities of regions, to form popular in new conditions tourism products and to compete with traditional tourist centers. The presence of a highly competitive tourist market in the region is a prerequisite.

Application of Human-Computer Interaction System in Regional Tourism Competitiveness Analysis under IoT Background.

With the continuous development of Internet of Things technology, this technology is not limited to the laboratory but is more and more applied in the process of commercialization. Large-scale machine communication is one of the three most important scenarios for 5G applications. Its features include larger uplink access, smaller data packets, higher device energy consumption requirements, lower device transmission speed, higher latency, and bursty communication. With the development of the Internet of Things in the 5G era, interpersonal interaction experience has been further optimized and welcomed by the market and adopt Qt/embedded multilayer menu design mode to improve our computer system interaction to facilitate the operation and Maintenance system. The software function of the human-computer interaction system has reached the expected result. By constructing the application of a human-computer interaction system in the analysis of regional tourism competitiveness, we analyze the temporal and spatial changes of tourism competitiveness in four major economic regions in China and combine multiple linear regression and geographic detector models to analyze China's tourism competitiveness. On this basis, we propose to further enhance the tourism competitiveness of areas with weak tourism development infrastructure and encourage potential tourism development areas to complement each other with high-quality resources between regions.

Is Investment Contributing to Competitiveness in Nautical Tourism in the Atlantic Area?

The blue economy contributes significantly to the creation of the Atlantic Area’s identity. In addition, the search for outdoor experiences after the COVID-19 lockdown suspensions has renewed the popularity of nautical tourism in this area and in the world. Despite the negative effects of the economic crisis on tourism, evidence suggests that some tourist destinations in the Atlantic area are resilient. Thus, whereas some branches of the blue economy face considerable challenges to increasing competitiveness, others offer opportunities for economic growth and employment. In this context, investment is necessary to lay the foundations for the sustainable development of nautical tourism. However, regarding the role of investment in productivity and competitiveness in the context of crisis, there is no consensus among academics. Thus, we investigate whether the investment contributed to competitiveness in nautical tourism in the Atlantic Area in 2016–2020. We collected data from ORBIS for 29 nautical-tourism companies and performed a quantitative and qualitative narrative analysis of competitiveness indicators, enabling comparisons pre and during crisis. The results highlight the multiplicity of ways in which crisis impacts nautical-tourism firms. The research fills a gap in the literature by investigating the dynamic capabilities of nautical-tourism SMEs in periods of recession, with a special focus on restructuring and competitiveness strategies. Some recommendations are outlined to promote the efficiency of resources and stimulate the competitiveness of companies to allow the regional development of nautical tourism in the territory of the Atlantic area.

Tourism Competitiveness Strategy in Indonesia through Strengthening Human Resources Education in Tourism Post Pandemic

Tourism Competitiveness Strategy in Indonesia through Strengthening Human Resources Education in Tourism Post Pandemic

Dynamic Simulation and Comprehensive Quantitative Evaluation of Rural Tourism Core Competitiveness Based on Neural Network

Rural tourism is the purpose of vacation tourism, which is an important support for rural economic development. Neural network algorithms are the second way to simulate human thinking. The purpose of this paper is to obtain benefits and diversify risks through dynamic simulation analysis and comprehensive quantitative analysis based on the neural network algorithm, so as to improve the core competitiveness of rural tourism. This paper first designs the neural network algorithm model, then analyzes the dynamic simulation model and comprehensive quantitative analysis, and then uses the artificial neural network algorithm to analyze and predict the core competitiveness of rural tourism. The results confirm the effectiveness of the algorithm. Under the demand forecast of the core competitiveness of rural tourism, using the artificial neural network algorithm, taking city A as an example, the number of tourists in rural tourism in city A from 2017 to 2021 was analyzed. The year with the largest number of people is 2021, with 2,586,000 people, and the year with the largest growth rate is 2019, with 2,576,900 people, a growth rate of 24.16%. Comparing the experimental data of each group, the results show that the algorithm has high efficiency in solving problems and also confirms the scientific validity of the algorithm.

Willingness to Pay by Tourist Companies for Improving Sustainability and Competitiveness in a Mature Destination

Sustainability is becoming, in itself, an element of differentiation and competitiveness in tourism markets. However, the transition to sustainable tourism is a difficult task that requires time, money, and the willingness of stakeholders. The aim of this research is to estimate which factors explain tourism companies’ willingness to pay (WTP) the most widely accepted tax instruments, which can be used to finance subsequent policy development related to the sustainability of the destination. The factors that influence WTP of the most accepted instruments are also identified through a logistic regression model. The study was carried out in Andalusia, a popular tourist region in Spain. To this end, a survey was carried out of 916 tourism companies. The results obtained show that the factors that influence tourism companies’ willingness to pay are: commercial activity, business size, and annual turnover. In addition, taxes related to environmental protection generate greater WTP among tourism companies.

Penta Helix Collaboration in Increasing Regional Tourism Competitiveness of Bandung City

Bandung City tourism is a potential sector that can be relied upon because it contributes greatly to regional income, but there are problems, namely accessibility due to city congestion which results in slow mobility, and dependence on the local government of Bandung City is another obstacle. This study aims to analyze the penta helix collaboration in increasing the competitiveness of Bandung City tourism, using a qualitative method through a descriptive approach. The method used is qualitative through a descriptive approach. Based on the results of research, Bandung City Tourism has its own uniqueness, especially tourism through the development of various innovations, through active collaboration between elements of the government, businessmen, communities, academics and the media as an effort to increase the competitiveness of regional tourism. Through the development of tourist destinations in increasing the tourism attractiveness of the Bandung City area, it has implications for improving the welfare of the community through local economic growth.

The International City Image of Beijing: A Quantitative Analysis Based on Twitter Texts from 2017–2021

With the advent of the Internet era, users from numerous countries can express their opinions on social media platforms represented by Twitter. Unearthing people’s image perceptions of cities from tweets helps relevant organizations understand the image that cities present on mainstream social media and take targeted measures to shape a good international image, which can enhance international tourists’ willingness to travel and strengthen city’s tourism competitiveness. This paper collects nearly 130,000 tweets related to “Beijing” (“Peking”) from 2017–2021 through web-crawler technology, and uses Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) keywords statistics, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic mining, and Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) sentiment analysis to further summarize the characteristics of Beijing’s international image and propose strategies to communicate its international image. This research aims to tap into the international image of Beijing presented on Twitter, and provide data support for the relevant Chinese and Beijing authorities to develop communication strategies, as well as providing a reference for other cities aiming to manage their international image.

Knowledge Management for Smart Tourism: an exploratory survey in Abruzzo region

Research on Knowledge Management has seen a growing interest in Smart Tourism in recent years due to the need of effectively managing knowledge for sustainable and digital tourism competitiveness. In this sense, literature simultaneously suggests open data as the black gold of the new millennium, and the missed link for the smartness of tourism destinations. Nonetheless, in contrast to the global trend of leading countries to Tourism 4.0, Italy has been experiencing a weak tourist dynamism, witnessed by the eighth place in the report on the "Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index" (WEF, 2020) achieved in the face of a predominant share of the worldwide cultural heritage located in its territory. Therefore, based on these premises we intend to provide an academic contribution to fill the literature gap on Knowledge Management in the context of Smart Tourism, highlighting how much the sharing information systems among stakeholders can promote the emergence of a virtuous collaborative intertwining between public and private tourist actors. The present case study concerns the planning and implementation of a tourist digital platform by the Abruzzo Region (Italy), according to the principles of Smart Governance, as one of the first practical reactions to the Italian lack of a widespread digital transition. Thus, this work aims to exploit the information previously collected through surveys administered by the managers of the Abruzzo Offices for “Information and Tourist Reception”. This is regarding Knowledge Management structural limits and added value, in order to analyze Smart Tourism benefits and to provide future research agenda about regional tourism competitiveness.

Regional multimodal accessibility: Policies and strategies for sustainable tourism destinations in coastal areas

Multimodal mobility is an important factor in improving the sustainable accessibility of destinations. This is especially true of tourist destinations. However, many of these lack an efficient and sustainable transportation system. This is a very real problem in places where demand is highly seasonal and concentrated at certain times of the year, such as coastal destinations during the peak season. In this paper, we look at all 67 coastal cities in the Apulia region (Italy) to understand destination accessibility and possible improvements in sustainable multimodal alternatives. For each destination, we map the supply of public transportation services and calculate average travel times by train, bus, private car and bicycle from specific regional gateways (airports, ports and rail stations). Using the methodology developed by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport (MIT, 2018), we compare the degree of accessibility of public transportation systems to the private car option, also analysing existing multimodal alternatives in terms of environmental impact and the time required to reach each destination. We provide several transportation policy suggestions and operational strategies that reconcile the development of competitive tourism activities with sustainable urban accessibility.

Identification, classification and valorization of tourist motives of theth (Theth) valley

The subject of this scientific work is the identification, classification and valorization of tourist motives of Theth Valley and their spatial distribution. Executed valorisation of tourist motives of Theth Valley and finding their real value with the purpose is based on the scientific assumption that in the Theth Valley there are insufficiently explored tourist motifs that have a high tourism value and that the scientific process of identification and valorization would raise the competitiveness of tourism in this region. In the implementation of the set of scientific research objectives were realized the following tasks: analysis of available literature and cartographic data and theoretical identification and classification of tourist motives, field observations and collection of additional data and accompanying photo documentation. Several methods were used, such as analysis and synthesis, comparative, descriptive statistical, UNWTO method, the method of „Interpersonal consent“ and others. On the Theth Valley were identified 29 tourism motives. With the procedure of tourist and geographical evaluation the Theth Valley has an overall tourism value of 4.30 and is ranked in the motives of national tourist interest. This region offers very good conditions for the development of these forms of tourism: mass winter tourism, eco-tourism, sightseeing and recreational tourism, hiking, hunting, health tourism and others. Tourist valorisation in the Valley of Theth, shows that all the analyzed values of tourist motives are unique, and its uniqueness and attractiveness have a national character with high value for uniqueness and attractiveness, the ambience and the possibility of using motives for tourism purposes and others. The results of this work will lead to raising awareness on the preservation of these motifs in order to improve conditions for the development of cultural tourism in this region, and create the already rich tourist offer and also promote the heritage and indigenous culture in this region.

Evolution and Driving Factors of the Spatiotemporal Pattern of Tourism Efficiency at the Provincial Level in China Based on SBM-DEA Model.

In order to give guidance to improve tourism competitiveness and sustainable development, it is particularly important to identify and analyze the factors and mechanisms that affect efficiency. The SBM–DEA model including undesirable outputs was used to measure the tourism efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2019. Combined with the compound DEA model, the sensitivity of each province to the fluctuation of the input–output index was mined. The exploratory spatial analysis method and fixed effect model were used to analyze the spatial change and driving factors of tourism efficiency. The results show that: (1) the tourism efficiency of each province in China fluctuated from 2006 to 2019, and the average value was raised from 0.12 to 0.71, generally reaching the grade of medium and high efficiency; (2) the spatial difference of tourism efficiency is significant, but there is no obvious spatial correlation; (3) the most important input factors to tourism efficiency are environmental resources, tourism resource inputs and tourism infrastructure construction, and tourism fixed asset investment is redundant. (4) Optimizing the industrial structure, strengthening the introduction of core technology, and continuously promoting the process of urbanization and marketization are important ways to improve the efficiency of tourism.

Evaluation of Provincial Tourism Competitiveness in the Yellow River Basin Based on Clustering Algorithm

Tourism is an important part of China’s national economy. Promoting the development of regional tourism and improving the level of tourism competitiveness can promote the development of regional economy, society, and people's livelihood. Therefore, in the context of the HQDEV of the YRB, it is of great significance to study the evaluation and promotion strategies of tourism competitiveness along the Yellow River for promoting their HQDEV in terms of ecology, economy, and tourism. Taking the provinces as the research area, this article has constructed an evaluation index system of tourism competitiveness in the provinces and used the entropy weigh, the Topsis, and the natural breakpoint classification method. The economic and tourism industry subsystems and the overall tourism competitiveness level are comprehensively evaluated and analyzed, and on this basis, the promotion strategy of tourism competitiveness of the nine provinces along the Yellow River is proposed. According to the weight of the evaluation index system, the index weight of the ecological environment competitiveness subsystem is 0.3891, of which the index weight of the ecological protection level is 0.3057, and the environmental quality level is 0.0834. The index weight of the subsystem is 0.2691, of which the index weight of the economic innovation level is 0.1695, and the social and people's livelihood level is 0.0996. For the tourism competitiveness, the index weight of the ecological environment competitiveness subsystem is 0.3891, the index weight of the socioeconomic competitiveness subsystem is 0.2691, and the index weight of the tourism industry competitiveness subsystem is 0.3418. The results show that the level of tourism competitiveness along the nine provinces maintains a relatively stable form, but the overall level is not high and the intraregional differences are small.

Perspective from Chinese Tourists: Study on Urban Tourism Experience of Seoul City Based on Online Travel Notes

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the tourism of Seoul, which is deeply dependent on international tourists. It is now more crucial than ever to make preparation for tourism recovery. Hence, this study took the travel notes posted by Chinese tourists in Seoul as a data source and applied manual content analysis to encode urban tourism experience (UTE) elements from travel notes, scoring them one by one and, consequently, obtaining the Seoul UTE element structure table. On this basis, the paper used social network analysis (SNA) and modified “importance–performance” analysis (MIPA), which complement each other, to thoroughly analyze the structural characteristics of elements and experience quality. The content analysis concludes that the Seoul UTE includes twenty-eight elements; SNA analysis shows that the network structure has high internal coordination and that UTE elements present aggregation with an indication of obvious differentiation of tourist sources; MIPA analysis reveals that overall experience quality is high, and an evaluation of traditional elements such as shopping and catering found them to be good; however, the evaluation of some core elements is low. With the help of our findings, it is hoped that this study can provide a better understanding and mastery of Chinese tourists’ demands and experiences to further improve tourism competitiveness for the industry’s recovery after post-COVID-19.

Tourism Planning in Developing the Tourism Potential of The Pusuk Buhit Area in Samosir Regency

The grouping of existing tourism potential in the Pusuk Buhit area must be carried out in several stages of assessment or measurement as described in the Regional Long-Term Medium-Term Plan (RPJMD) of Samosir Regency for 2016-2021. the need for tourist facilities and tourist attractions of interest. The development of tourism potential carried out in the Pusuk Buhit area has not been realized optimally due to the incompatibility of grouping and planning in the development of tourism areas. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the tourism potential that can be developed in the Pusuk Buhit area through tourism planning. The analysis used in this research is qualitative analysis. The result of this research is the existence of tourism potential in the Pusuk Buhit area that can be mapped so that it can be developed according to the planning perspective and can realize superior and competitive tourism. The development of tourism potential is also a follow-up to policies that regulate the overall tourism potential in Samosir Regency, namely Samosir Regent Decree Number 474 of 2017 concerning Determination of Criteria and Classification of Tourism Objects in Samosir Regency. This policy aims to make it easier to classify tourism potential in Samosir Regency, including those in the Pusuk Buhit Area

The effect of COVID-19 perceptions on tourists’ attitudes, safety perceptions and destination images: moderating role of information sharing

El rol del intercambio de información en las actitudes, percepciones de seguridad e imágenes del destino por parte de los turistas durante la crisis de COVID-19ResumenPropósitoEl propósito de este estudio es examinar los procesos de mediación y moderación que vinculan la gestión de crisis, con los cambios de actitud de los turistas y las percepciones de higiene/seguridad a través de la imagen del destino.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueSe utilizaron datos de 524 turistas, así como la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM), para examinar las percepciones de los turistas sobre la influencia del coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) en el comportamiento del consumidor en forma de actitudes, percepciones de seguridad y destino sobre imágenes en Taiwán.titleResultadosLa eficacia de la gestión de crisis puede influir positivamente en la imagen del destino a través de cambios en la actitud y percepciones de higiene/seguridad. El estudio también confirma, que el intercambio de información no solo puede acelerar el proceso de desarrollo de una imagen positiva del destino, sino también fortalecer las relaciones entre los atributos críticos de la gestión de crisis.Originalidad/valorA medida que continúa el impacto de la crisis del COVID-19, es fundamental comprender el papel en la gestión de crisis, imagen del destino e identificar cómo las actitudes o las intenciones de comportamiento pueden verse afectadas por la rápida expansión e intercambio de información, en un cada vez más competitivo mercado turístico.

Religious Reputation Culture: A Community Based Tourism Development Approach

Abstract The key to a thriving tourism industry is addressing how tourism can benefit society by increasing economic opportunities, supporting socio-cultural systems, and maintaining healthy ecosystems on which communities depend. The tourism industry can no longer focus solely on “how many” tourists visit a destination, or even “how much” money spent at one destination, as a measure of success. Sustainability can be effective if it is carried out by taking time and sustainable efforts, as well as adapting to changes that occur. In this study, the concept of historical heritage tourism and Resource-Based View is used which shows that culture and corporate reputation are seen as very valuable intangible assets. Historical heritage tourism is the key to sustainability. The development of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is very important for the sustainable development of tourism because historical tourism products can reflect historical values and stories while meeting the emotional needs of tourists.This study aims to explore a new approach in improving sustainable tourism destination development centered on the concept of religious reputation culture. Religious reputation culture is a set of structures, routines, rules, and norms that guide and limit behavior that distinguishes members of one organization from another and is used as a collective perception and assessment of the good name of a tourism destination.The new concept of religious reputation culture plays an important role when an organization engaged in the tourism industry is faced with a change in new habits. The contribution of this research is mainly to the study of reputation and religiosity that when a destination is faced with a different condition, tourists will look for a reputable destination. The pandemic condition encourages tourists to be more aware with a reputation that is halal, thoyib and safe. With the phenomenon of tourism 4.0 accompanied by tremendeous changes in costumer megashifts, tourist destinations must be able to explore and exploit existing knowledge to form a culture of religious reputation as the main capital in carrying out innovation strategies carried out by destinations in order to achieve sustainable destination performance. With a religious reputation culture, the Indonesian’s reputation as a safe, comfortable and competitive tourism destination needs to be continuously developed through various means, so that a positive image will continue to be raised and widely informed, to encourage tourists to have interest and motivation to visit Indonesia. Key word :Religious Reputation Culture; Sustainable Tourism Development; Community Based Tourism

Health and Hygiene as a Factor of Destination Competitiveness: A Comparative Study Using Synchronic and Diachronic Data

ABSTRACT Health and hygiene is a provision of conditions to maintain public health, and make tourists feel safer and tourism destinations become more competitive. The existing research has been conceptual or critical, and scarce empirical studies focus mainly on single-case studies. Therefore, this study came to fill a knowledge gap and analyse the importance and relationship between health and hygiene and destination competitiveness through a case study of the world’s most visited tourism destinations. The study employed three techniques to analyse the synchronic and diachronic data of the destinations, i.e. comparative analysis, graphical analysis, and One-way ANOVA. The results show that health and hygiene are the most important of the 14 pillars measuring destination competitiveness. The graphical analysis indicates a positive correlation between the health and hygiene pillar and overall competitiveness. This study should be an impetus for applied scientific research for public health policy and tourism competitiveness.