Territorial Differentiation, Competitiveness and Sustainability of Tourism

  • João Romão
  • João Guerreiro
  • Paulo M. M. Rodrigues
Chapter
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Abstract

In the long run, competitiveness of tourism destinations is linked to their sustainability. In order to preserve the characteristics that guarantee attractiveness, local natural and cultural aspects must be included in the tourism supply, creating a differentiated product. This work systematizes the main theoretical contributions on competitiveness and sustainability of tourism and analyses how the regions of South-western Europe are incorporating their natural and cultural resources in order to reinforce their attractiveness. This analysis uses a panel-data model to estimate a regional demand function that incorporates new and traditional factors of tourism competitiveness. The most important result arising from this study is that the factors of competitiveness related to the sustainability of tourism destinations taken into consideration (local natural and cultural resources) have a positive impact on regions’ competitiveness.

Keywords

Tourism Development Cultural Resource Tourism Destination Panel Data Model World Economic Forum 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • João Romão
    • 1
  • João Guerreiro
    • 1
  • Paulo M. M. Rodrigues
    • 2
  1. 1.Universidade do AlgarveFaroPortugal
  2. 2.Banco de PortugalLisbonPortugal

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