Environmental determinants of destination competitiveness and its Tourism Attractions-Basics-Context, A-B-C, indicators: A review, conceptual model and propositions.
| Autor | Manrai, Lalita A. |
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Introduction
Destination competitiveness (DC) has been studied from a variety of perspectives in tourism literature. Crouch (2011) identifies three broad research streams related to the topic of DC. The first stream deals with the assessment of the competitive position of a specific destination for a specific type of tourism activity, for example, cultural tourism in Toronto (Carmichael, 2002). The second research stream relates to the assessment of the competitive position of a destination on a particular performance attribute; for example, the marketing of a tourism destination (Buhalis, 2000). The third research stream covers the general models and theories of DC (Crouch and Ritchie, 1994,1995, 2006; Ritchie and Crouch, 1993, 2000, 2003,2010).
Ritchie and Crouch (2000) developed a model of DC using sustainability perspective. Set in the global (macro) environment and competition (micro) environment, the components of their model included qualifying and amplifying determinants, destination policy, planning and development, destination management, core resources and attractions and supporting _ factors and resources. Cucculelli and Goffi (2016) extended the model developed by Ritchie and Crouch (2000) by introducing and testing the effects of a set of indicators related to the sustainability of the DC. The data were generated from several small "destinations of excellence," namely, destinations which had received national and international awards. Findings of the study support the positive effect of sustainability on DC.
Aral-Tur and Kozak (2015), in their book, develop insights on destination management from a variety of perspectives. The book consisting of 15 chapters covers three main areas. These are factors affecting DC; environment, including issues such as climate change; and sustainability of destination. The book has interdisciplinary perspective covering fields of economics, geography and marketing, etc. In our analysis of determinants, indicators and effects of DC presented in this paper, we use an interdisciplinary approach as well, particularly related to the determinants of DC, where 12 environmental factors are identified as determinants of DC.
Boes et al. (2016) push the idea of smart cities enhancing DC to improve quality of life for residents as well as tourists. The authors propose that information and communication technologies (ICT), together with social capital supported by human capital, innovation and leadership are core components of smartness. Boes et al. (2016) use service-dominance logic as the underlying theoretical approach for understanding the value co-creation process at the core of smart cities initiative and provide a comprehensive framework to demonstrate the way smartness can enhance DC.
The subject of determinants and indicators of DC has also received a lot of attention from researchers. Notably, Dwyer and Kim (2003) developed a model of main elements of DC. They also identified several indicators of DC. Other researchers have examined determinants and indicators in the context of country-/region-specific studies (Enright and Newton, 2004,2005; Gomezelj and Mihalic, 2008; Kozak and Rimmington, 1999).
The topic of DC has evolved. Its predecessors were the topics, such as the destination image, destination development, destination planning, etc. While these predecessor topics are still in use for research, DC has evolved as a comprehensive topic. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to look at the elements, which were previously included in the predecessor topics. For example, the topic of destination development included natural resources, government policy, etc. Considering this, we think that all aspects of a destination's environment play a critical role as the determinants of its competitiveness. To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive study of all environmental elements and their impact on DC has not been studied in the extant literature on DC until now.
As regards the indicators of DC, early on, Manrai and Manrai (1993) investigated the image of 20 European countries using field surveys. Their findings revealed three broad indicators, namely, Attractions, necessities (later called "Basics") and Environment (later called "Context," including safety, literacy, etc.). Subsequent research studies on destination image and destination development and competitiveness also supported these three factors (Armenski et al, 2017; Assaf and Josiassen, 2011; Crouch, 2011; Dwyer and Kim, 2003; Kozak and Rimmington, 1999.) Thus, based on the findings of Manrai and Manrai (1993) and subsequent research in the tourism field, we propose the Tourism A-B-C (TABC) model with its elements being indicators of DC. In this TABC model, in which A stands for tourism attractions (TA), B stands for tourism basics (TB) and C stands for tourism context (TC). The TABC model has evolved over nearly a quarter of a century and includes critical considerations that tourists take into account in their destination choice. We compare TABC model with other indicators of DC in the extant literature and conclude how TABC is relatively simple yet a better predictor of tourism performance (TP). Some possible measures of TP are number of domestic tourists, number of international tourists and expenditures by tourists, etc.
We review research, both on the determinants and indicators of DC, and develop 12 propositions and a conceptual model of DC in this paper. The determinants are the variables and factors which make a destination competitive and indicators are the variables and factors which are used to measure the competitiveness of a destination. Our model incorporates two critical factors discussed above which have so far not been parts of DC research. These are: a comprehensive analysis of environmental factors as determinants of DC and use of A-B-C model as the indicator of DC.
The paper is organized into seven sections. In Section 2, we review the literature on DC covering both its determinants and its indicators. In Section 3, we introduce various environmental variables and how they affect DC as its determinants. Next, in Section 4, we introduce the TABC model identifying items included under the A-B-C categories and how these, in turn, are affected by the environmental variables. This section also discusses how TABC variables jointly affect TP. Section 5 presents our conceptual model with environmental variables as the determinants of DC and TABC as indicators of DC. Section 6 discusses the findings and the managerial implications of this research. Finally, Section 7 discusses directions for future research.
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Literature review
Many articles that have been previously published classify destination management as a key indicator of TP, which determines the level of DC. Ritchie and Crouch (2010) find that destination management is a key indicator of DC in their model of DC and sustainability. When drawing conclusions based on a survey of CEOs of destination management organizations (DMOs), we feel that the results will be biased toward the importance of destination management. While destination management is vital to repeat tourists and sustainability, it does not fully capture the comprehensiveness of DC. As international business and relations become increasingly more complex, there is a need to find ways to market destinations more effectively and yet simply. The TABC model, introduced by Manrai and Manrai (1993), focuses on essential benefits tourists look for in a destination. These indicators of DC are comprehensive yet simple. The design of the TABC model goes back to Maslow's (1943, 1987) theory of human motivations. The very first item in the pyramid is physiological needs, food, water and shelter. That would signify that hotels, restaurants and other sources of food and water, as well as various options for accommodation, would be of utmost importance, there being a basic need of someone traveling abroad. Second, Maslow's (1943,1987) theory on the hierarchy of needs points to safety and security. Safety and security would, therefore, be the next important thing. Making sure tourists feel safe is many times related to natural disasters, crime and sicknesses. These contextual things that cannot be fully controlled but are still major factors in determining DC. Finally, the last three tiers of Maslow's need hierarchy pyramid are social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. These categories indirectly showcase the tourism attractions. This includes anything that may draw the tourist to engage in further research of a certain destination. Interest is sparked in a destination when there are unique attractions, such as natural wonders, world heritage sites, cuisine and festivities. Once a competitive advantage has been established, then destination management and sustainability become important factors in maintaining competitiveness. The model that Manrai and Manrai (1993) introduced allows those countries which are not very well developed to have a competitive position.
2.1 Determinants of destination competitiveness
The determinants of DC as found in the literature are, overwhelmingly, safety, core resources, cost, destination management, supporting factors and qualifying determinants. Many DC articles use the Ritchie and Crouch (2010) model. However, many other determinants are found in other research studies. Hong (2009) introduced opponents, resources, culture, history and infrastructure as determinants. Patterson et al. (2004) include society and economy as determinants. Demographics are also a key determinant (Sarigollu and Huang, 2005). Both Ritchie and Crouch (2010) model and the tourism cluster development model (Kim and Wicks, 2010) for global competitiveness do not adequately express all these determinants. Instead, they focus on DMOs, destination image and destination policy. While this is all vital in the long run to enhance a destination's competitive position...
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