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Jaume Garau-Taberner
competitiveness applied to the tourist sector, followed by a review of different attempts to
measure competitiveness. An index will then be presented that is intended to improve on
proposals made to date. Finally, a preview will be given of the results of a pilot study aimed
at measuring demand competitiveness. From a case study of five Mediterranean destinations
(the Canaries, mainland Spain, France, the Balearics and Italy), those factors that are most
influential in determining competitiveness are identified.
2. ATTEMPS AT MEASURING DESTINATION COMPETITIVINESS
The new scenario, indicated above, has prompted academic literature to devote increasing
attention to studies of destination competitiveness. A summary will now be made of some
of the main contributions to date aimed at identifying and measuring factors that determine
competitiveness in different destinations.
2.1 Different attempts at measuring tourism competitiveness: a critical review
2.1.1 The Calgary Model (Crouch and Ritchie, 1999)
The Calgary model of competitiveness, developed by Professors Crouch and Ritchie (1999),
is one of the first conceptual and applied contributions to the field of destination competitiveness.
The authors state that for a destination to be competitive in the long term, two types of
competitiveness are fundamental: i) a comparative advantage, represented by the resources
available at the destination (human resources, physical resources, know how, the availability
of capital, tourism infrastructure, and historical and cultural assets) and ii) a competitive edge,
represented by the use the destination makes of these resources (audits and inventories,
maintenance, growth and development, efficiency, effectiveness).
To summarize, the main contribution of the Calgary Model is the fact that it outlines a series
of factors that play a determining role in the competitiveness of a tourist destination and,
additionally, it establishes certain categories, based on these factors’ importance as primary
or secondary ones, etc.
However, the same authors also point out some of the model’s shortcomings: i) many
destinations do not have databases or indicators to assess many of the said factors; ii) in this
purely conceptual model, what is missing is for each of the elements to be ranked in order
of importance and given a relative weight, and iii) variables and indicators must be added to
assess and measure aspects relating to the environment and the destination’s natural attributes.
2.1.2 The World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism Competitiveness Monitor
(Gooroochurn and Sugiyarto, 2005)
The Tourism Competitiveness Monitor (henceforth the TCM), created by Gooroochurn and
Sugiyarto (2005), is one of the most courageous attempts to measure the competitiveness of
Tourism Today - Fall 2007 - Full Paper