Factors which strategically explain the competitiveness of a tourism destination: Evidence from Singapore and Sri Lanka

Globally tourism industry has experienced rapid growth in the last 25 years, a trend predicted to continue in future and as such, the field of tourism has emerged as an area of theoretical and practical interest. Although the competition among countries engaged in tourism has increased, the world travel and tourism competitive index (TTCI) reveals striking disparities among developed and developing countries as tourism destinations. This paper is an attempt to examine the elementary reasons for such disparity through identification of competitive factors which strategically explain the position and competitiveness of a tourism destination. For clarity and better understanding the study was conducted with evidence from Singapore and Sri Lanka. Data collection was carried out adopting a survey instrument with purposive sampling and structured questionnaire to examine fifteen factors illustrating tourism destination competitiveness based on responses received from the two countries - 70 from Singapore and 66 from Sri Lanka. The analyzed data were used in a model of strategic evaluation of tourism destination to diagnose the strengths, weaknesses as well as the competitive opportunities of the two countries through the review of 15 competitive factors. The results strategically explained the competitive positions of both tourism destinations, while findings on factors provided guidelines to achieve greater destination competitiveness. Further, the model of strategic evaluation first tested in Spain for tourism destination competitiveness, was extended for pertinence in other tourism destinations and situations.