Are Partnerships Enhancing Tourism Destination Competitiveness?

Abstract

The competitiveness and networking in tourism destinations is a well discussed topic among tourism scholars. However, the influence of partnerships of destination stakeholders on tourism competitiveness is under‑researched. This paper contributes to the recent debate on partnerships and tourism destination competitiveness, including the gargantuan compilations of competitiveness factors by Ritchie and Crouch (2003), or Dwyer and Kim (2003), by examining the link among these two variables. The central question underlying this paper is whether partnerships of private and public sector stakeholders contribute to the destination competitiveness. The analysis is based on the quantification of destinations’ competitiveness in Slovakia and the level of partnership by the creation of the partnership index. The paper concludes that the level of partnership positively affects the destination competitiveness.

Keywords

• competitiveness
• destination management organization
• governance
• partnership
• stakeholders
• tourism destination