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of costs or being a cost leader implies the capability
to produce and market goods and/or services at
average market quality but below market costs and
prices. Competitive advantages in terms of costs
can result from economies of scale, from
business integration across related industries, or
from superior location or from lower resource
costs. Advantages in terms of quality are associated
with the existence of distinctive capabilities and
their maintenance or improvement over time
relative to competing firms, industries or regions.
The sources of qualitative competitive advantages
for tourism destinations are foremost, natural and
environmental features, followed by built attractions.
Included are general infrastructure
ranging from retail services to personal and
business services, and the tourism superstructure
consisting of hotels, restaurants, travel and tourism
organisations, special events organisations, and
recreation and sports facilities. Attitudes of locals
towards tourists are usually also cited as a
competitive advantage, the extent of which depends
on the uniqueness or authenticity of the
aforementioned sources of quality advantages.
Competitive advantages in terms of cost �cost
leadership) in tourism signify value for money for
tourists in major tourism businesses such as
lodging, transportation, recreation, animation
and sports facilities, as well as all other related
activities which make up the chain of tourism
services. Cost competitiveness in turn is determined
by general price levels, inflation and
exchange rates for all related services, and the
efficiency with which inputs �human resources,
technology, capital, infrastructure and superstructure)
are converted into tourism products.
Further reading
Gijsbrechts, E. �1993) `Prices and pricing research
in consumer marketing: some recent developments',
International Journal of Research in Marketing
10�1): 15±151.
Porter, M. �1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations,
New York: The Free Press.
Scherer, F.M. �1993) Industrial Market Structure and
Economic Performance, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
KLAUS WEIERMAIR, AUSTRIA
competitiveness
In most of the economics and business strategy
literature, competitiveness has been used as a
measure of economic success or economic strength.
Competitiveness is a relative concept: a firm,
industry, region or tourism destination is more
or less competitive in comparison to any other
representative or comparative unit. A firm may be
more competitive relative to any other firm�s) in
terms of having a higher market share, a higher
penetration of foreign markets or of displaying
lower �hence more competitive) prices. If one were
precise, however, the latter represents only a
measure of competitiveness rather than a definition.
Strict definitions must instead use the concept
of competitive advantage, the execution of
which represents competitiveness �see comparative
advantage). Put differently, competitiveness
is the materialisation or enactment of competitive
advantages with respect to quality or prices in the
market place. The positioning of firms in the
market place with respect to their competitive
advantages and behaviour is subject to competition
analysis. The analytical and empirical difficulties
associated with the attribution of
competitiveness �as an expression of economic
success) to its various determinants of the competitive
advantages suggest the need to carefully
define competitiveness for analytical purposes.
Hotels or destinations are not just competitive;
rather they are competitive in terms of specific
quality attributes, location advantages or prices,
thus suggesting a prior necessary analysis of
competition and competitive advantage.
Further reading
competitiveness 99
Francis, A. and Tharakan, P.K.M. �eds.) �1989) The
Competitiveness of European Industry, London: Routledge.
Hamel, G. and Prahalad C.K. �1994) Competing for
the Future, Boston: Harvard Business School
Press.
Kay, J. �1995) Foundations of Corporate Success. How
Business Strategies Add Value, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Ritchie, B.J.R. and Crouch, G.I. �1993) `Competitiveness
in international tourism: a framework