The 7th UNWTO/PATA Forum on TOURISM TRENDS AND OUTLOOK
Development of Regional Tourism Competitiveness
Framework in the Asia and the Pacific
October 21, 2013
The Asia and the Pacific Region
•Asia-Pacific Region is the part of the world in or near Western Pacific Ocean. The
region varies in size depending on context, but it typically includes at least much of
East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania (Wikipedia).
Londo
n
Amsterdam
Paris
Frankfurt
Tianjin
Beijing
Dalian
Bahrai
n
Tokyo
Shanghai Osaka
Hongkong
LA
Panama
Hanoi
Singapore
Toront
oNY
Manila
Jakarta
Sidney
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SaoPaul
o
Definition of Regional Tourism
Definition of Regional tourism
- a phenomenon in which the `region' (as opposed to the `nation') is the focus of tourism
attention, and where `regionalization' (as opposed to `national development') is the
objective of growth (Chang, 2001).
Region vs. Regionalization
Regionalization
Region
an integration process
the linking together of different locales, cities, or
countries
Source: Chang (2001)
Chang, T.C. (2001). Configuring new tourism space: exploring Singapore’s regional tourism forays.
Environment and Planning A, 33(9), 1597–1619.
Three Types of Region
Formal
Region
Formal region
one which ties together locales that have commonly
distinguishable characteristics, whether climate, culture, or
community (Johnston et al, 1991, p. 392).
Ex) Tourism triangles(Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth
Triangle)
Functional
region
Regions
one that is created because it serves a
larger purpose or function be it trade, tourism, or industry
Ex) ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA)
Functional
Region
Imaginary
Region
Imaginary
region
a social construct - an imaginary configuration constructed by
politicians for strategic goals.
Ex) Asia-Pacific region
Source: Chang (2001)
 In tourism, functional region can be divided by urban, rural, island, echo, shopping,
quality, adventure, culture, medical, MICE, and so on.
Classified Tourism Group by Functional Region (sample)
Sanghai
Shopping
tourism
Medical
tourism
Cheju
Sanghai
MICE
tourism
Island
tourism
Regional Tourism Matrix:
Forms of Tourism/Activity Relatedness
Functional Tourism Matrix
MICE tourism
High
Sports
Shopping
Adventure tourism
MICE
Eco-tourism
Exhibition
Convention
Activity
Relatedness
Leisure
Cruise
tourism
Cultural
tourism
Rural
tourism
Entertain
tourism
Festival
tourism
Food
tourism
Macro MICE
Health
tourism
Nature
tourism
Urban
tourism
Wellness
tourism
Culinary
tourism
Low
Low
Forms of Tourism
High
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Food-health tourism
Definition of Competitiveness
Definitions
Competitiveness
Competitiveness is measured by the ability of the organization to
stay in business and to protect the organization’s investments, to
earn a return on those investments, and to ensure jobs for the
future.
Destination
Competitiveness
A general concept that encompasses price differentials coupled
with exchange rate movements, productivity levels of various
components of the tourist industry and qualitative factors
affecting the attractiveness or otherwise of a destination.
The Travel and Tourism
Competitiveness Index
The TTCI provides a basis for implementing policies to improve
destination competitiveness on a country by country basis.
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Characteristics of
Destination Competitiveness
• Tourist destinations are the central elements of the tourism system. Features of destinations
can be classified under two main headings.
• Primary features include climate, ecology, culture and traditional architecture. Secondary
destination features are those developments introduced specifically for tourism such as hotels,
catering, transport and entertainment.
• Together these two main groups of features contribute to the overall attractiveness of a
tourist destination.
• Destination competitiveness can be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively.
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Types of Competitiveness Levels
Types of Competitiveness Level Categorization
Levels
National/City
Competitiveness
Prior studies
1. WEF -World
Economic Forum
2. IMD-International
Institute for
Management
Development
3. Simmie and
Carpenter
4. Rovdrt Huggins
Associates
5. WTTC-World
Travel and
Tourism Council
Outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
National
Competitiveness
Assessment
National
Competitiveness
Assessment
City Competitiveness
and Sustainability
City Competitiveness
Assessment
International Monitoring
Tourism
Competitiveness
WEF Index
WCE Index
KHU Index
China’s BTC Index
Regional
Competitiveness
Not fit
with
UNWTO
Goals
Tourism
Destination
1. Tourism Destination
Competitiveness Assessment
(Dwyer & Kim)
2. Tourism Destination
Competitiveness &
Sustainability Assessment
(Ritchie & Crouch)
Lack of
Regional
Index
Cooperative Index Needs !
System of Measures for
Excellence in Destinations
(SMED).
Review on Tourism Competiveness Study
WEF Index
KHU Index
World Economic Forum’s
competitiveness index does not take
into account the different
characteristics of nations and their
relative criteria.
KHU Research focuses only on cities
and ranking cities, which UNWTO
tries to avoid due to unnecessary
disputes and excessive competition.
China’s BTC Index
WCE Index
World Center of Excellence for
Destination’s research is not confined
to Asia-Pacific countries, making it
difficult to reflect the region
specifically in indexing and evaluation.
China’s Best Tourism Cities scheme
only focuses on Chinese cities and
cannot easily be applied on a State
level.
Even though various Competitiveness Indexes of Tourism
by different organizations are well developed,
it does not fully conform to UNWTO’s regional goals due to their limited focus and drawbacks.
1. Theoretical Implication- the collaboration of various experts and organizations in the region, a reliable
regional competitiveness index for tourism of UNWTO can be developed.
2. Practical Implication-making it easy to reflect and applicable for a specific region in indexing and
evaluation and useful feedback to the required from urban cities
10
Needs for Developing RTC Framework
Background of 『Development of Regional Tourism Competitiveness Framework in Asia and the Pacific』
11
UNWTO has two important areas of focus in advancing tourism
throughout the world: tourism sustainability and tourism
“competitiveness”.
2
Although there have already been many attempts to design a set
of criteria for measuring tourism competitiveness, none of these
are 100% effective or conform adequately with the UNWTO’s
purpose.
11
RTCI (Regional Tourism Competitiveness Index)
Development
Procedure
1) Reviewing previous research of work done on the development of competitiveness
indicators
2) Conducting surveys and interviews towards stakeholders in the region
3) Identifying the hurdles and the support
4) Identifying cases and drawing implications
5) Developing Tourism Competitiveness Model, which can be applied to the region
6) Holding forums and conferences and providing policy implications for the region at
the Global Economy Tourism Forum
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Check Points to Developing RTCI
• Competitiveness is a very broad construct encompassing all social, cultural, and economic
variables affecting the performance of a nation in international markets. Reflecting this macro
perspective (OECD, 1997).
• The index include all relevant indicators and these indicators should be given adequate weighting
based on their contribution to the development of tourism.
• The indicators developed should take into account the advancement of developing countries.
• An assessment of competiveness consider the current circumstances of each country.
14
Identifying Common Indicators for
RTCI (Example)
• Each different sub-indicators are subset of master RTCI indicators.
• For example, the shopping RTCI requires a unique indicator that is likely to be a subset of master
RTCI indicators.
• Reuse the RTCI indicators overcome many of the problems of traditional approach.
S1
S3
Common
indicators
D1
B2
S5
C4
E3
S3
Selected
adequate
region
RTCI
Rural
Tourism
RTCI
C3
Heritage
C2
A1
E1
D1
D1
B3
Master RTCI indicators
C3
E4
……
B1
Rural
C4
E2
E3
B2
S4
C1
B4
Shopping
Tourism
D1
A1
S5
E1
C2
S1
B5
C1
E1
B1
S2
E4
Function
specific
indicators
Shopping
S4
B3
S3
B4
RTCI sub-indicators
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Heritage
Tourism
RTCI
Developing Unique Indicators for RTCI
(for example, shopping tourism destination)
Characteristics
of Product
Product
Reliability
Store Service
Domestic
/Urban
Price
Product
Variety
Foreign
Language
Ability
Fixed Price
System
Store
Location
Store
Environment
Additional
Service
Reasonable
Price
Price
Sign
Information
Catalogue
Tourism
Price
Value
Employee Service
Price Service
Store
Sign
Tourism
Price
CRM
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Website
Product
Knowledge
Hospitality
Measurement Framework for RTCI
Data Collection
- Collecting data based on determined indicators for measuring
tourism competitiveness of Asia Pacific regions
Standardization
- The standard formula for converting measured data is as follows:
Weighting Factors
- Computation of standardized score with weighted factor
derived from AHP method
(sum of scores on each dimension X weights for each dimension)
Evaluate
Competitiveness
- Evaluating the competitiveness with weighted factors by comparing
sum of scores of each tourism destination
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RTCI Measurement Model
• Quantitative/qualitative indicators for regional tourism competitiveness (RTC) are selected through
Delphi survey.
• Extracted factors are rearranged to develop sub dimension for RTC.
• Then develop each weight using AHP, and each indicators are multiply by the weights of each
dimension.
• Finally, each regions (cf: city or state) are ranked.
Manufacturing
Quantitative
indicators
GRDP
High-tech
x1
x2
x3
x4
Qualitative
indicators
x5
Place
……
Delphi
w1
w2
w3
w4
w5
RTC sub-dimension:
Tourism
Urbanization
(Y1)
……
Air connectivity
AHP
Y1 = x1w1 + x2w2 + x3w3 + x4w4 + x5w5
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Thank you!