Formative-reflective scheme for the assessment of tourism destination competitiveness: an analysis of Italian municipalities

Abstract

In this article, we propose a formative-reflective scheme for the assessment of Tourism Destination Competitiveness (TDC) based on a combined use of Partial Least Squares-Path Modelling (PLS-PM) and the method recently proposed by Fattore, Pelagatti, and Vittadini (FPV). TDC is conceived as a construct reflecting the tourism performance of a destination, and several determinants are considered, including endowed resources, created resources, and supporting factors. The proposed scheme is applied to a case study on 1575 Italian municipalities for which the Italian National Institute of Statistics released data on tourist flows. Our contribution is innovative for three aspects: (i) the consistency of the formative-reflective scheme for TDC assessment is discussed on a theoretical basis; (ii) an empirical comparison between PLS-PM and the FPV method is performed; (iii) data with higher granularity than most studies on TDC assessment are employed. Our findings highlight that endowed resources are the primary driver of TDC, followed by created resources and supporting factors, and emphasize that the best ranked destinations are big cities with a multifaceted tourism alongside sea and mountain destinations with cultural attractions.

Causal Modelling of the Key Competitiveness Assessment Factors of Wellness Tourism Destinations: A DEMATEL Approach

“…The aforementioned guidelines are all sub-indicators that drive the human resource readiness of personnel working in wellness tourism establishments or businesses with a responsibility of providing products and services to tourists, which are conditions for the most significant indicator of the competitiveness assessment factor regarding the environment of tourist destinations that promotes the development and improvement of tourist areas or attractions' competitiveness so they have the readiness and the capacity to become wellness tourism destinations that are distinctive and unique efficiently, effectively, and in accordance with the research of Dwyer [59], Fernández et al [31], Grassini et al [63], Mustafa et al [61], Wang et al [36]. It is found that the human resources in such tourist areas or attractions, especially personnel working in wellness tourism establishments or businesses who are experienced in their line of work and can deliver an impressive health promotion service experience for tourists, are a significant indicator of the competitiveness assessment factor regarding the environment that promotes wellness tourism in the destinations.…”

“…Likewise, Salinas Fernández et al [31], Flores-Romero et al [60], Grassini et al [63], Kurek et al [33], Mustafa et al [61], Pan et al [46], Tleuberdinova et al [62], Wang et al [36] pointed out that the readiness of infrastructure in tourist areas or attractions that are wellness tourism destinations which supports the development, improvement, or process of change to elevate their competitiveness capacity and be capable of growing into wellness tourism destinations that are distinctive and unique is considered a driver of competitive capacity that help promote tourist destinations' attractiveness and convince wellness tourists to decide to travel to such tourist attractions and areas easier, and Andrades and Dimanche [41], Armenski et al [38], Bilbao-Terol et al [30], Dwyer [59], Flores-Romero et al [60], Indrajaya et al…”

“…[64], Mustafa et al [61], Reisinger et al [35] showed that the readiness of a tourist area or attraction to support the development and improvement of its capacity to create and introduce new health promotion products or services and promote a tourist destination's capacity to attract wellness tourists to decide to travel to such tourist areas and attractions Is also another driver of competitive capacity of such tourist areas and attractions, which helps to promote the development and improvement of tourist destinations to be distinctive and unique in a unidirectional manner. Añaña et al [37], Dwyer [59], Fernández et al [31], Flores-Romero et al [60], Grassini et al [63], Hanafiah and Zulkifly [42], Masih et al [47], Mustafa et al [61], Pan et al [46], Portolan [34], Reisinger et al [35], Tleuberdinova et al [62], Wang et al [36] found that the readiness of semi-natural resources, man-made resources, and cultures and local wisdoms in tourist areas or attractions to support the development of tourist attractions and routes or create new activities to meet the needs of wellness tourists, as well as the attractiveness of the local areas, is also a driver of competitive capacity that helps promote a tourist destination's capacity to attract wellness tourists to decide to travel to such tourist areas and attractions. Finally, Bilbao-Terol et al [30], Clemes et al [44], Dwyer [59], Flores-Romero et al [60], Medical Tourism Association [49], Mustafa et al [61], Reisinger et al [35], Težak Damijanić [2], Tleuberdinova et al [62] found that planning strategies to develop and improve the wellness tourism services of tourist areas or attractions through introducing restorative activities for comprehensive health promotion, including body, mind, emotion, work, intellect, and spiritual, is also considered a driver of competitive capacity, which helps to promote tourist destinations' attractiveness and convince wellness tourists to decide to travel to such tourist attractions and areas.…”

Online posting intention: do the social communication and brand equity of esports matter?

“…And based on the previous statistical suggestions (e.g. Gefen et al, 2000;Grassini et al, 2023;Rita et al, 2019), when the factor loading of each individual item is no less than 0.5, the CR exceeds 0.70 and the average variance extracted (AVE) exceeds 0.50, the reliability test results are regarded as acceptable in the statistical analysis. As shown in Table 2, the factor loading in this study ranged from 0.685 to 0.881; CR spanned from 0.818 to 0.942; and the AVE ranged from 0.530 to 0.694.…”

Potential for Tourism and Recreation in the Todzhinsky Kozhuun (District), Republic of Tyva, RF

“…In addition, TRP assessments are always accompanied by methodological difficulties due to the complexity of the subject of evaluation and the diversity in the use of different types of resources. In this regard, there is a wide variety of approaches and assessment methods proper for the analysis of certain types of TRP and of the territory as a whole [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”