The Competitive Destination: A Sustainable Tourism Perspective

As the title of this book identifies clearly, the authors combine the concepts of competitiveness and sustainability, which some may feel are difficult to reconcile, to provide guidance to enhance the management of tourism destinations. The contents of this book are not novel for it does not contain new insights on the topics that are covered or fresh case studies. However, it is innovative in that it introduces, within the same document, competitiveness and sustainability, embellishes these concepts and uses them to develop a conceptual framework. The explication of this framework is both the objective and content of the book. The focus is upon tourism destinations. The emphasis is on places with multiple attractions and accommodation establishments but the framework has applicability to countries and larger regions; states counties and smaller places; and there is also much of utility to the individual operator. The authors are devotees of Porter whose seminal works underpin their thinking, albeit with modifications to fit tourism.