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Measuring destination competitiveness: an exploratory study of the canaries, mainland spain, france, the balearics and italy
The factors in quadrant I represent the strengths of each destination, since they play a key
role in competitiveness and also achieved a high rating for that destination. The factors in
quadrant II are ones in which the destination is well positioned, compared with its rivals,
although they do not play an important role in competitiveness. In fact, they are considered
“wasted efforts”. The factors in quadrant III do not play a decisive role in competitiveness
and did not achieve a high rating for the destination in question. Finally, quadrant IV shows
the main weaknesses of each destination. These are factors that play a major role in
competitiveness, but the destination is not well positioned in such matters.
A global look at all the target destinations shows that they share the scenery, climate,
accommodation and cleanliness and hygiene as strong points. Wasted efforts include easy
access to information about the destination and the presence of friends and/or relatives. The
existence of facilities for children and/or the elderly and specific tourism attractions are factors
that achieve a low rating at all destinations but, at the same time, they do not play a decisive
role in competitiveness. Lastly, four factors must be improved on if these destinations are to
become more competitive: the local life style, holidays that suit one’s budget, easy access
from the tourists’ country of origin to the destination, and historical sites or attractions. Table
2 shows an overview of the individual analyses.
Table 2. The importance and relative weight of tourist attractors for the destinations as a
whole
Aspects to improve on Strengths
Local life style Scenery
Holidays that suit one’s budget
Easy access from the country
Climate
of origin to the destination Accommodation
Historical sites or attractions
Non-crucial factors that
Cleanliness & hygiene
achieved low ratings Wasted efforts
Easy access to information
Existence of facilities for about the destination and
children and/or the elderly from travel agents, tour operators etc.
Specific tourist attractions Presence of friends and/or relatives
Source: Own, based on data from the survey
Lastly, a Demand Competitiveness Index (DCI) was created, calculating the weight of each
factor within the index (Table 3). Subsequently, the DCI was estimated for each of the five
destinations, by calculating the difference between the rating achieved by each destination
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