Competitiveness Of Tourism Industry Research Articles

Effects of Community Involvement and Human Resource Training on the Performance of Tourism Industry: A Case Study of Iringa, Tanzania

This study examines how various training techniques, community involvement initiatives, and training needs assessments impact the tourism business in Iringa, Tanzania. The study revealed a wide range of training delivery techniques, with on-the-job training, e-learning courses, workshops and seminars, and traditional classroom training being the most common. While the majority of respondents saw favorable effects on industry performance from various training approaches, mixed feedback highlights the need for additional research and optimization. Initiatives promoting community involvement are widely seen as having a significant impact on economic and social outcomes. The study also found a strong positive relationship between thorough training needs assessments and job-related performance, underscoring their significance. The combination of community involvement, effective training needs assessments, and a variety of training modalities is seen to have a good impact on the tourism industry's competitiveness and sustainability. These findings highlight the importance of adaptability and community engagement in fostering industry growth and success.

Harnessing the Potentials of Tourism in Nigeria through Public Relations

It is not in doubt that Nigeria is endowed with vast, diverse and captivating tourism resources that have the ability of transforming positively the nation’s socioeconomic sector if properly managed and harnessed for the common good. Unfortunately, despite the availability of these enormous tourism potentials, we are not benefiting in any measure as governments of the three tiers, that is federal, state and local, do not even consider tourism or its development as a viable source of foreign exchange earnings and a catalyst for national development in this period of severe economic challenges confronting the nation. The first sign of lethargy is the conspicuous absence of strong institutions or policies that ought to be the fulcrum of the development of the tourism industry in the country. It is common knowledge that Nigeria is assailed by security challenges in virtually every part of the country. Apart from insecurity, the country is equally challenged by endemic corruption, kidnapping, terrorism and poor governance which is preventing it from developing a globally competitive tourism industry. This paper examines ways in which tourism policy, if well planned and effectively executed, will benefit the socioeconomic sector. It also highlights major challenges hindering the tourism industry and how effective and efficient public relations practices will create sufficient awareness on the problems and solutions in the industry. Findings revealed that the major setback faced by the tourism industry is lack of government interest in all ramifications.

THE CURRENT STATE OF THE KAZAKHSTAN TOURIST MARKET

For many developed and developing countries, the tourism sector is the main source of employment, government revenue and foreign exchange earnings. The most important parameters of tourism development in the country are indicators of inbound and outbound tourism. Before the pandemic, both at the republican and regional levels, a lot of work was carried out to attract foreign tourists to Kazakhstan, measures were taken in the field of image policy and popularization of tourist destinations of the country. But many Kazakhstanis prefer to rest abroad, rather than in the resort areas of their homeland. The interrelation of the tourist attractiveness of the country with the category of tourist potential, factors of tourist attractiveness are considered. Tourist attractiveness is based on the tourism potential of the country, contributes to the growth of its competitiveness, the transformation of tourist supply into demand, is associated with various types of its assessment and is the result of its previous development. republic. Tourism activity is influenced by many factors of an economic, political, social, natural and technical nature, including: terrorism, the process of ensuring the safety of tourists, man-made disasters; uneven distribution of tourist flows; political instability in some regions of the world; prolonged global recession; volatility of exchange rates; priority of national rather than international norms in tourism, etc. The negative factors hindering the development of inbound tourism in the country have been identified, recommendations for eliminating existing problems have been proposed. The considered resources and tourist opportunities of Kazakhstan lead to the expediency of forming a modern tourist product. The development of a new tourist product in Kazakhstan would be competitive in the world market of tourist services and would help attract foreign tourists to Kazakhstan. The ways of development of domestic tourism in Kazakhstan, the creation of a competitive tourism industry, including the development of infrastructure and improving the quality of services provided, are proposed.

Exploring Factors Influencing the Competitiveness of Thailand's Tourism Industry

Under the trend of global tourism industry development and the deepening of Thailand's tourism industry development. The competitiveness of its tourism industry is under threat, while many problems are gradually being exposed. Therefore, analyzing the advantages and problems of Thailand's tourism development can help improve its competitiveness. This article adopts the method of literature analysis, starting from the development advantages of Thailand's tourism industry, focusing on its own advantages and government measures, to analyze the reasons for the rapid development of Thailand's tourism industry. At the same time, the shortcomings and hidden dangers that exist during this rapid development were analyzed, and policy recommendations for sustainable development were proposed, elaborating on three aspects: protecting ecology, improving public security, and developing characteristic tourism. Assist Thailand in achieving sustained and healthy development models while maintaining rapid development. Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of Thailand's tourism industry has far-reaching implications for the sustained good benefits of Thailand's tourism industry and the development of the world's tourism industry.

Research on Factors Influencing Consumption Intention of Experiential Rural Homestay Tourism based on Planned Behavior Theory: A Case Study of Dali City, Yunnan Province

With the implementation of the beautiful countryside and rural revitalization strategy in China, and the transformation of the way people travel during the epidemic, rural tourism is booming. Under the background of experience economy, people are more and more inclined to pursue "experiential tourism" which is different from traditional sightseeing tourism. This kind of tourism enables tourists to actively participate in the real local production activities, deeply feel the differences between urban and rural cultures, and appreciate the charm of local cultural connotation. As an important medium to carry rural regional culture, experiential rural homestays shoulder higher responsibilities and expectations in the era of experience economy, aiming to show and convey local resource advantages and regional cultural connotations to tourists, so as to meet their needs for rich and meaningful travel experience. According to the data of the first quarter of 2021, the total number of rural tourism visits in China reached 984 million, an increase of 5.2%. With the intensification of competition in tourism industry, the non-standardized form of homestay has gradually emerged, and has attracted extensive attention in the field of homestay tourism research. In order to promote the orderly development and sustainability of homestay tourism, an in-depth study of experiential rural homestay in Dali, Yunnan Province was carried out. It is of great significance to explore the consumer's willingness to consume and its influencing factors. An in-depth study of these factors can help us solve the current problems in the field of homestay tourism and promote future development. Understanding consumers' willingness to spend helps to provide better services and experiences, thereby enhancing the competitiveness and attractiveness of the homestay industry. In addition, by studying the factors that influence the willingness to spend, it is able to provide guidance and advice to B&B operators to help them improve their products and services, increase customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive advantage in the market. The purpose of this study is to synthesize the connotation of homestay tourism and the characteristics of experiential homestay tourism, to analyze the factors affecting the consumption intention of experiential homestay tourism by using the classic planned behavior theory (TPB), and to put forward suggestions to promote the development of homestay tourism according to the research results. Firstly, the connotation of experiential homestay tourism is defined through literature review, and the theory of planned behavior is introduced as the theoretical framework. Then, using the theory of planned behavior to analyze the factors that affect the consumption intention of experiential homestay tourism, and put forward the corresponding research hypothesis based on the actual situation. In the stage of empirical test, the paper designed a questionnaire to collect data on the consumption intention of experiential homestay tourism, and adopted the method of network survey to collect data. Then the reliability and validity of the data were analyzed by SPSS software, and the basic situation of the data was described. The results show that the evaluation index system and theoretical model constructed by us are effective and can provide reference for related research. This paper puts forward some strategies and suggestions to enhance consumer willingness to consume based on the above research results, so as to promote the development of homestay tourism.

Corruption, deforestation, and tourism – Europe case study

Wood represents one of the most used natural resources: from construction to musical instruments, tools, toys, fuel, shipbuilding, and, not to mention, stationery, as it is indispensable for modern society. Europe has important wood resources, but for some countries, their sustainable exploitation is at least questionable. However, other countries prefer to monetize their natural resources by developing a competitive tourism industry. In this study, an analysis of European countries in terms of corruption, deforestation, and tourism is undertaken, in order to approach and discuss the specific characteristics and to identify the factors that determine a country to manage its natural resources in a sustainable way. The methodology used is quantitative, employing secondary data, resulting in different ways of data visualization. The main finding is that low levels of corruption and high levels of tourism competitiveness are associated with countries that manage their forests in a sustainable way. This confirms the research question: Competitive European destinations that enjoy the presence of well-established sustainable tourism products have managed to reduce the level of corruption and implement developed environmental policies, including forestland protection. The practical outcome of this paper is to point towards a long-term solution to decrease deforestation. In summary, sustainable development of the tourism sector must be part of the long-term initiatives to reduce the levels of illegal deforestation.

ОЦІНКА КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ ТУРИСТИЧНО-РЕКРЕАЦІЙНОЇ СФЕРИ РЕГІОНІВ УКРАЇНИ

Оцінено конкурентоспроможність туристично-рекреаційної сфери регіонів України. На основі застосовуваної при підготовці Світовим економічним форумом звітів «Конкурентоспроможність у сфері подорожей і туризму» методології визначення індексів конкурентоспроможності країн у сфері подорожей і туризму (The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index) запропоновано методичні підходи до оцінювання конкурентоспроможності цієї сфери на рівні регіонів України. Визначено алгоритм, показники та індикатори оцінювання, наведено розрахункові формули для обчислення часткових та інтегральних індексів конкурентоспроможності туристично-рекреаційної сфери регіонів. Висвітлено результати оцінювання за чотирма групами обраних показників – сприятливість середовища (три підгрупи показників: економічне середовище, безпека, демографія і ринок праці з відповідними індикаторами); інфраструктурний розвиток (дві підгрупи: транспортна інфраструктура, інформаційна і банківська інфраструктури); природні та історико-культурні ресурси (дві підгрупи: природно-ресурсний потенціал, історико-культурні ресурси); рівень розвитку оцінюваної сфери (одна підгрупа: розвиток туристично-рекреаційної сфери). Наведено часткові та інтегральний індекси регіонів за конкурентоспроможністю туристично-рекреаційної сфери. Здійснено аналіз отриманих результатів оцінювання і виокремлено регіони з найвищим потенціалом конкурентоспроможності туризму й рекреації. До них віднесено ті, що мають високі природно-ресурсний і історико-культурний потенціали туристично-рекреаційної діяльності – Львівська, Одеська, Закарпатська, Івано-Франківська області, а також регіони з високими економічним і демографічним потенціалами, розвинутою інфраструктурою – Київ, Дніпропетровська, Запорізька, Харківська, Київська області. Вказано на доцільність використання переважно оціночних показників та індикаторів, які мають об’єктивний вимір. Водночас окреслено проблеми, пов’язані з відсутністю туризму і рекреації у національному класифікаторі видів економічної діяльності й системі вітчизняної статистики. Наголошено на вразливості туристично-рекреаційної діяльності стосовно чинників безпеки під час війни.

The Formulation of tourism industry and creative economy competitiveness index of provinces in Indonesia

This study proposes and calculates a new index called the Tourism and Creative Economy Industry Competitiveness (TCEIC) Index or Parekraf Index which aims to determine the description of the tourism industry and creative economy of each province In Indonesia. The index is then applied to investigate the Covid-19 pandemic effects and can be used for future planning and evaluating the involved parties in tourism sectors. The data used in this research is secondary data sourced from the publication of Tourism Industry Statistics and Creative Economy 2020 which is produced by a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and the BPS-Statistics in 2021. Factor analysis was used to compile the index, following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The implementation of the new Parekraf index to the 2020 pandemic data found that several provinces had very low scores, i.e. Sumatera and Sulawesi. This means that the central government should synergize with local governments in those areas and should be more sensitive and responsive to the tourism industry and the creative economy, especially on indicators that have a significant impact.

Ecuadorian Tourism Industry Competitiveness Analysis

The tourism industry in developing countries can present differentiated results in their levels of competitiveness. Analyzing the specific cases in this type of economy could open up the possibility of developing more efficient growth processes in the industry. The study proposes to analyze the challenges that restrict the full development of tourism in Ecuador. A literature review related to the competitiveness of destinations is carried out, identifying the potentialities and conditions for the correct development of the sector. It is identified that improvements must be made in current industry regulations, planning and decentralization processes and coordinating related actors.

‘Heart of Incredible India’: Promoting Madhya Pradesh as a Destination Brand

The case study explores Madhya Pradesh Tourism’s promotional strategy aimed at attracting domestic tourists. The major challenge was to come up with a unique selling proposition for a destination that lacked the allure of popular tourist hotspots like Goa and Kerala in India. Madhya Pradesh Tourism faced the obstacle of not having a distinctive feature. This case study demonstrates how Madhya Pradesh Tourism successfully positioned itself as a family entertainment as a proposition to boost tourism. It serves as an excellent example for analysing the development process of a state’s tourism campaign and highlights the hurdles of strategic communication in different stages of the campaign. Additionally, it offers a reference point and context for communication objectives in a competitive tourism industry.

A Study on The Relationship Between Consumption Value, Satisfaction, Destination Image and Tourists' Behavior Intention of Food Souvenirs: A Case Study of Zhangzhou Food Souvenirs

With the rise of gastronomic tourism, local cuisine plays an increasingly important role in the local tourism economy. Local cuisine is not only a symbol of the destination's food culture, it can also bring tourists a richer sensory and cultural experience, to meet the personalized experience needs of tourists. Creating a special food product with local taste and shaping a unique food destination image, not only help to maintain and enhance the competitiveness of the tourist destination, but also stimulate tourists to revisit and repurchase. Zhangzhou's tourism industry is relatively not very developed, and in recent years it has been affected by the epidemic, Zhangzhou's tourism industry is not as good as before, in order to make Zhangzhou's tourism development more stable and improved, Zhangzhou needs to open up a new tourism development path and create gastronomic tourism with Zhangzhou characteristics. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between tourists' consumption value, tourist satisfaction, destination image and tourists' consumption behavior of Zhangzhou food souvenirs. In this study, an online questionnaire survey was conducted on tourists who had visited Zhangzhou in the past one month by means of convenient sampling, and 448 valid questionnaires were returned, and SPSS and SmartPLS were used to analyze the relationship between quality value, price value, health value, emotional value, social value, tourist satisfaction and destination image and tourists' behavioral intention to revisitIt was concluded that quality value, emotional value and social value would affect tourist satisfaction, and tourist satisfaction would affect destination image and tourists' behavioral intention. There was a positive influence relationship between destination image and tourists' behavioral intention. This study puts forward some suggestions for Zhangzhou's tourism industry, which is conducive to improving the competitiveness of Zhangzhou's tourism industry.

The Determinants of International Tourism: Evidence from European Countries and China’s Provinces

Tourism has been reported as one of the largest economic sectors in the world. It is shown by more than hundreds of jobs involved in this sector which directly escalate the welfare and economic growth of a country. Thus, government will support any actions that could improve competitiveness and profitability of tourism industry. The main objective of this paper is to determine the significant factors of international tourism receipts by 18 European countries and 12 provinces of Western China between 1995 and 2019. Based on data, Europe known as the world’s largest international tourist receipt in 2019 followed by Asia and the Pacific including China. It is interesting to note that China, particularly in western part, has contributed more on achieving tourism receipt. China has potential to grow its tourism sector in significant trend due to its large land size and massive human resources that might further defeat Europe’s total tourist receipt. By using panel Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) model, there would be different responses related to determinant factors of tourism over long run and short run. The result revealed that population, carbon dioxide emission and trade openness have positive effect to the international tourism receipt in Europe in the long run while the rest explanatory variables such as transportation infrastructure and energy consumption have negative effect to the international tourism receipt in Europe. While in case of China, population and energy consumption are statistically significant and positive to international tourism receipt in the long-run correlation, but the rest variables are having negative effect. Unfortunately, in the short-run effect, it was found that all variables are not statistically significant at least at the ten percent significance level in both Europe and China. From the result, the Europe and Chinese policy makers can evaluate the policy based on each result. For instance, the fact that the high level of population density could reach larger tourism receipt is not always true, government need to provide some training for the party who will be involved in tourism industry to gain knowledge and encourage them to be more creative and innovative. Hence the good quality of listed tourism destination would attract more tourist to the destination country

A NEW APPROACH TO CLARIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TOURISM SECTOR AND EMPLOYMENT

The growth rate of the tourism sector in Azerbaijan maximally leads to an increase in the economy, at the same time affects the socio-economic situation in the country. To a greater extent, populations choose to travel in different countries and all this is associated with the possession of their information capabilities. The article notes that according to the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan on the new division of the “Karabakh” and “East Zangezur” economic regions, the economic region has not yet been expelled from the Armenian separatists, because of this, these zones were excluded from the number of regions for the development of tourist processes. It can be noted that the development of many tourist destinations in the country is just beginning, since the overall strategy for the development of this industry in Azerbaijan is at the stage of its new formation. In the future, the country’s leadership is focused on the formation of a competitive tourism industry and the development of tourist infrastructure. At the same time, the listed factors (direct or indirect) affecting the development of tourism play a decisive role in determining state strategic programs in the development of the country’s tourism business. It is noted that employment in different countries depends on the legislation adopted in the country and its compliance. World labor and employment markets, the structure of world labor markets have a certain impact on the development of tourism, or vice versa-the development of tourism has a certain impact on the formation of the structure of these markets. It is estimated that there are more than 300 million people in the world employed in permanent or temporary jobs in tourism and related industries. The level of employment in tourism and related industries has a relatively large impact on the employment market than in other sectors (finance, healthcare, banks, etc.). The tourism market allows people to work in more jobs than the market of the above-listed industries. It will be possible to fully use the tourist opportunities of Karabakh only if several main factors are taken into account, such as: ensuring the safety of the population independent of their nation on the territory; clearing mined fields; gradual return of the population; creation of all necessary infrastructures in these areas. Even in countries with a multiplicative efficiency of the tourism sector, the employment rate is about 12% higher than with direct employment. The highest level of employment directly affects the creation of new jobs in the tourism sector and related industries. And this indicator is determined by the contribution of the tourism sector to the country’s GDP, the number of tourist arrivals and the growth of tourism revenues. The goal is to clarify–the impact of the tourism sector on the level of employment of the population, as well as the impact of the level of employment in the creation of new jobs in this sector. Methodology–the article uses the economic and statistical method and the method of comparative analysis to clarify the impact of the tourism sector on the employment of the population. The conclusion of the study–is that the highest level of employment directly affects the creation of new jobs in the tourism sector and related industries, and this indicator is determined by the contribution of tourism to the GDP of the countries of the world

Tourism skill development initiatives in three Southern African Development Community countries: A policy guide analysis

Tourism is a keystone of the Southern African Development Community economy. However, the region has failed to maintain a fair market share in the global tourism industry as the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index 2007 to 2019 shows. Human resources are regarded as one of the pillars that stimulate a competitive tourism industry, hence, it is critical for countries to formulate appropriate human resource development policies and plans to secure economic benefits from their tourism activities. The main aim of this study is to develop an understanding of the strategies that Southern African Development Community countries can adopt to develop tourism skills. To attain this objective, this study investigates the strategies adopted by Tanzania, Mauritius and Botswana with the aim of informing policies and paving the way for other countries to improve tourism skills for the collective effectiveness of the entire region. Through a secondary research method, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore the tourism skill development strategies utilised by three regional countries so that less competitive peers can draw lessons for policy improvement and reform. This study shows that investment in tourism education, engaging international professionals, collaboration among stakeholders, and placing tourism human resource development as a national strategic area, are critical.

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.

An Assessment of Competitiveness of Medical Tourism Industry in India: A Case of Delhi NCR

India has emerged as a prominent medical tourism hub, yet the dynamic forces in the regional and global landscape are creating a complex balance of opportunities and risks for the Indian stakeholders. The outbreak of Corona virus pandemic in 2019 has further complicated the market dynamics for the medical tourism industry. This study aims to analyse the key driving factors for the medical tourism industry in India and the issues that Indian stakeholders should address in crafting a winning strategy. A qualitative research design was adopted, and data were collected through semi structured in-depth interviews with practitioners and senior representatives of the hospital management. The study adopted abduction logic and analysed data by means of constant comparison method. The study presents the assessment of the medical tourism industry in India and the scope of opportunity for Indian players.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42943-022-00060-0.

Comparative study on the competitiveness of Tourism industry between China and Ukraine

Based on the above overview of the development of tourism industry in China and Ukraine, we have a certain understanding of the status quo of import and export trade of tourism industry in China and Ukraine. In this part emphatically from the two countries China and Ukraine tourism industry international competitiveness the size of the specific index to analyze the difference between the two countries tourism industry international competitiveness, so that we can better analyze the gap between China and Ukraine tourism industry international competitiveness, in order to promote their respective tourism industry international competitiveness.

The Competitiveness of Tourism Industry of Pakistan and India in the World Market: A Comparative Analysis

The current study aims at measuring the competitiveness and comparative advantage of the tourism industry which is one of the most profitable non-technology-based economic sectors of Pakistan and India. This study applied several indices of revealed comparative advantage to examine competitiveness in travel and tourism industry experts and the data have been taken from International Trade Center (ITC) during 2005-2020. The results of RCA, RSCA, LnRCA and RCA# highlight that both Pakistan and India had a comparative disadvantage from 2005-2020. Travel and tourism imports from India and Pakistan had a comparative advantage, according to RMA index data, during the analysis. From 2005 to 2020, India and Pakistan had a net competitive disadvantage in this sector, according to the Relative Trade Advantage index. Moreover, the results of TBI portray that both countries were net-importer in the travel and tourism industry. The results of this study suggest that these countries should improve tourism businesses by investing more in tourism and increasing promotional activities.

COVID-19 pandemic combating measures and competitiveness in tourism industry: moderating role of strategic dexterity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of measures to combat Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on competitiveness in tourism in Nigeria taking strategic dexterity as the moderating variable. Design/methodology/approach Survey research design approach was used for the study. A total of 235 valid questionnaires gathered from the personnel of ten urban tourist centres in Nigeria were used to examine the goodness of model fit, measurement model and structural correlations between constructs. Partial least squares structural equation modelling approach (PLS-SEM) using Advanced Analysis for Composite (ADANCO 2.2.1) was used to evaluate the hypotheses. Findings This study finds that travel restriction, boarder closure and strategic dexterity were significant to competitiveness, among which border closures has generated the highest path coefficient. Moreover, the study finds a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness. Future studies can reproduce the study by incorporating mediating variables covering the all-tourist centers in Nigeria. Research limitations/implications This study might be valuable for tourism-related stakeholders, researchers and policy makers as the result finds indicate strong effect of travel restrictions, border closure on competitiveness of urban tourism. Equally, the study provides new insight as the findings shows a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness. Practical implications This study might be valuable for tourism-related stakeholders, researchers and policy makers as the result finds indicate strong effect of travel restrictions, border closure on competitiveness of urban tourism. The study provides new insight as the findings shows a significant moderating role of strategic dexterity between travel restrictions, border closure and competitiveness. Originality/value This study is among the few that analyses the effect of measures to combat COVID-19 pandemic on competitiveness in the urban tourism: strategic dexterity as the moderating variables. This study also contributes methodologically through the introduction of PLS-SEM approach.

Assessing the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies in China's Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area.

As the competition of tourism industry becomes increasingly white-hot, the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies inside a zone gradually gets people’s attentions. Based on data of 16 cities from 2010 to 2019, this paper aims to investigate the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area, by constructing a niche evaluation index and four niche models (niche ecostate-ecorole model, niche expansion model, niche breadth model, and niche overlap degree model). The results show that (1) during the sample period, the niche values of tourism competitiveness in most cities of the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area have shown a sustained increasing trend, indicating that the status of these cities in resources, market, environment, social economy, and other dimensions is rising steadily, and their competitive advantages are gradually increasing; (2) the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the core cities of Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area (Chengdu and Chongqing) remain stable, while the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the remaining cities vary greatly; the comprehensive niche values of tourism industry competitiveness of the cities in the central area are significantly lower than those of the cities in the peripheral area; (3) the niche overlap of tourism competitiveness in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area is relatedly high, indicating that the homogenization of tourism in these cities is more serious.