A Strategic Vision for the Management of Tourist Destinations through maximizing the competitiveness (Application to the City of Alexandria)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Tourism Studies - Faculty of Tourism and Hotels - Alexandria University

Abstract

The evolution of destination management could be considered as a result of the increased competition, which is reflected in the existence of an increasing interest in measuring the tourist destination competitiveness on the global level, therefore, many of the research studies appeared which have been translated in the form of international models for measuring destination competitiveness to be used by governments and administrative entities so as to maximize the value and impact of tourist destinations. Theories related to the competitiveness of the tourist destination have included three directions, the first theory is concerned with how to identify the competitiveness status of a certain tourist destination, the second focuses on certain aspects of the tourist destination competitiveness, and finally, the theory of providing a range of general models and theories for the study of tourist destination competitiveness. So it becomes necessary that the destination determines the nature of the products offered and their compatibility with the requirements of tourists, which requires the development of a strategic framework for its management in an integrated manner in order to effectuate the competitiveness advantages, targeting an optimal utilization of its resources.
The presence of other reservations related to the nature of the list of competitiveness determinants has been observed especially (Qualitative) and the possibility of including it within the criteria for measuring the competitiveness in general, because of the importance of integrating the determinants of quantity and Qualitative in one frame (which was clearly evident in Dwyer & Kim model. It was found that the practical application of the models needs many complementary and composite actions, while there are a number of models of which the integrative (Dwyer & Kim), which is an integrated project to measure the competitiveness of the tourist destinations through the submission of a full list of competitiveness determinants applicable on the tourist destinations, prompting its usage as a tool to measure the Alexandrian tourist destination competitiveness. 

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