Improving Tourist Offer Through Inter-Destination Cooperation in a Tourist Region

Abstract

University in MariborCesta prvih borcev 36 (SI)-8250 Brežice AbstractModern development of tourism is under a strong influence of globalisation processes. In order to achieve global competitiveness, it is necessary to build regional competitiveness due to the significant role of the region as the basic unit of development and as the carrier of ISSN 2373-9851 2016 tourist offer that should satisfy globalised demands in terms of both quantity and quality. Up until now, the destinations built competitive advantage through shaping local resources and possibilities into products and services for the visitors, and through coordinating activities of various participants on the level of the destination. Today, it is known that the destinations that aim towards leadership positions in the market must seek new sources of competitive advantage, considering that efficient cooperation of interested parties within a destination does not always suffice. One of such advantages is the development of cooperation amongst destinations and their linkage into wider tourist regions. In other works from the subject area, several forms of inter-destination cooperation and its factors of influence have been identified. However, even until now, this subject has not been sufficiently clarified. The subject of the research is the cooperation amongst destinations within a wider tourist region and the possibilities for improvement of the tourist offer through such cooperation. The aim of the research is to determine the validity of activities of inter-destination cooperation within a wider tourist region. General analytic-synthetic method of research was used in the paper, in the span of bibliographic-speculative to empirical approach by applying the method of document content analysis. International Journal of Regional Development

Cooperation between Convention Bureaus in Light of Empirical Research

“…The paper focuses on explaining the importance of the cooperation between convention bureaus, with regard to recent trends of growing significance of collaboration among destinations for securing the new source of competitive advantage . Some authors (Fyall, Garrod, and Wang 2012;Jegdić et al . 2016;Żemła 2014) claim that the stakeholders collaboration within the destination does not produce the competitive advantage anymore, but is required to avoid producing a distance towards the main competitors .…”

Inter-destination cooperation as a factor of strengthening the competitiveness of a tourism destination

“…Porast potreba za informacijama, razvoj IC tehnologija, avio i drugih oblika transporta, pojava velikog broja novih destinacija, porast obrazovnog i kulturnog nivoa stanovništva, promene u navikama i željama turista, doveli su do potrebe prilagođavanja poslovanja na turističkim destinacijama. Radi postizanja globalne konkurentnosti, neophodno je izgrađivati regionalnu konkurentost zbog značajne uloge regije kao osnovne jedinice razvoja i nosioca turističke ponude (Jegdić et al, 2016). U cilju poboljšanja svoje ponude, određene turističke destinacije su pokrenule niz projekata kako bi sebe učinile konkurentnijim.…”

“…Još uvek ne postoje primeri kompleksne međudestinacijske saradnje (Jegdić et al, 2016). Prisutni su samo pojedinačni projekti regionalne saradnje u oblasti turizma, često motivisani drugim razlozima, kao što je razvoj preduzetništva, novo zapošljavanje ili ublažavanje depopulacije u nekom regionu, a ne unapređenjem ukupne turističke ponude i jačanjem njene konkurentnosti.…”