Analyzing Destination Accessibility From the Perspective of Efficiency Among Tourism Origin Countries

Abstract

The degree of accessibility significantly influences regional tourism flow and the performance of the global tourism industry. However, the tourism industry itself comprises many sectors, and accessibility measurements may not comprehensively incorporate the simultaneous accessibility of corresponding destinations. Moreover, perspectives are still lacking in the analysis of tourism origin countries. Therefore, this study provides a new approach based on network data envelopment analysis and social network analysis to identify potential opportunities among origin countries for accessibility to a given tourism destination. This study focuses on Taiwan as a tourism destination and measures the efficiency of 32 of its acknowledged tourism origin countries. The main finding is that the involvement of tourism intermediaries (such as tour operators and travel agents) is a key factor influencing most tourism origin countries’ performance. However, tourists make the largest contribution to shared output (i.e., tourism expenditures) for most tourism origin countries. Given the expanding knowledge of tourism management, understanding the accessibility of a destination can help destination managers and governments identify tourism opportunities and execute appropriate strategies.