Tourism value chain: synthesizing value webs to support tourism development and planning

Abstract

Purpose Tourism encompasses multiple activities along with actors, locations and roles involved. Thus, tourism development and planning should consider value-added activities that form a tourism value chain (TVC). In the literature, the conceptual and practical understanding of TVC is significantly diverse, making it challenging to comprehend the entire framework. This study aims to synthesize a general TVC framework. Design/methodology/approach This review uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol to search for and select relevant literature in two databases (Scopus® and Web of Science™). Covering six aspects (logic, scope, value, perspective, type and scale), this study systematically analyzes the selected empirical studies to synthesize a functional framework of TVC as the basis to explore insights for effective TVC practices. Findings The results show that existing empirical studies have adopted four types of logic (supply logic, destination logic, global value chain and tourism global value chain), which complement each other in explaining the entire concept of TVC. Besides, the TVC concept is applicable on various scales and in different types of tourism with slight practical differences. Furthermore, values appear in various forms and offer benefits for suppliers and consumers as primary actors in TVC. Findings for the six aspects form tourism value webs as the functional framework of TVC. Originality/value This study offers a wide-ranging review of various empirically implemented TVC concepts for comprehensive TVC-based tourism development and planning. This review sets a theoretical foundation for future studies to improve the body of knowledge of TVC and tourism development and planning in general.

Self-Reliance in Community-Based Rural Tourism: Observing Tourism Villages (Desa Wisata) in Sleman Regency, Indonesia

“…The findings related to three aspects: goals or objectives, rights and abilities, and dependency on external resources. In agreement with prior studies [15,27], tourism products and services delivered at each stage of the TVC represent an essential aspect of self-reliance to be examined. This means observing the types of tourism offerings to see if they represent authentic tourism experiences.…”

“…For example, transport carriers convey visitors to destinations, while food producers supply eateries and hotels. As a system, their collective efforts and interactions form what is known as the Tourism Value Chain (TVC [27]; Figure 1). Each link in this chain, from the initial contact with a potential tourist to their return home, is an opportunity for value creation and co-creation [28].…”

“…As noted above, in addition to typical values added from a supply chain perspective, the TVC also encompasses value co-creation stemming from the interactions between supplier propositions and consumer benefits [30]. In the TVC, values are added in five consecutive value-chain phases: pre-delivery, travel-in, delivery, travelout, and post-delivery (Figure 1), forming a general journey of tourists [27]. These phases consist of multiple stages that constitute a series of value-added activities [31], which are area-specific depending on the characteristics of services or products provided in particular CBRT location(s).…”

“…The TVC of a CBRT destination does not operate in isolation. Instead, it connects to an extensive, multilayered network of actors, which, in conjunction with the TVC, forms tourism value webs (TVWs) [27]. This interconnected web of value chains works simultaneously to ensure the delivery of products and services in the entire CBRT system.…”

“…Considering the logical relationships between the three main parts of TVWs and the three focuses of community self-reliance, each is further derivable to understand a specific aspect of community self-reliance in a CBRT (Figure 2; Table 1). The first aspect reflects the goals or objectives of CBRT, which are evident through the presence of tourism products or services in each TVC phase [27], particularly those with local communities as suppliers [15]. Investigating this requires observing the products or services delivered in each TVC phase, the types and varieties of said products or services, and the expectations toward future development or expansion of such offerings.…”