Development of Regional Tourism Competitiveness

Framework in the Asia and the Pacific

The 7th UNWTO/PATA Forum on TOURISM TRENDS AND OUTLOOK

October 21, 2013

The Asia and the Pacific Region

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•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).

Hongkong

Beijing Tianjin

Dalian

Tokyo

Osaka Shanghai LA

Hanoi

Jakarta

Manila Singapore

Paris

Londo

n Amsterdam

Frankfurt

Bahrai

n

NY

Panama

SaoPaul

o

Toront

o

Sidney

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).

Definition of Regional Tourism

Regionalization Region

an integration process the linking together of different locales, cities, or

countries

Region vs. Regionalization

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.

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

one that is created because it serves a

larger purpose or function be it trade, tourism, or industry

Ex) ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA)

Imaginary

region

a social construct - an imaginary configuration constructed by

politicians for strategic goals.

Ex) Asia-Pacific region

Three Types of Region

Source: Chang (2001)

Formal Region

Regions

Functional Region

Imaginary Region

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)

Shopping

tourism

Sanghai

Medical

tourism

MICE

tourism

Sanghai

Island

tourism

Cheju

Regional Tourism Matrix: Forms of Tourism/Activity Relatedness

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Functional Tourism Matrix

Act

ivit

y

Rel

ated

nes

s

Forms of Tourism High

High

Low

Nature

tourism

Urban

tourism

Rural

tourism

Cultural

tourism

Sports

MICE tourism

Adventure tourism

Eco-tourism

Convention

Exhibition

MICE

Cruise

tourism

Food-health tourism

Leisure

Food

tourism

Health

tourism

Wellness

tourism

Festival

tourism

Entertain

tourism

Culinary

tourism

Shopping

Macro MICE

Low

Definition of Competitiveness

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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.

Definitions

The TTCI provides a basis for implementing policies to improve

destination competitiveness on a country by country basis.

Competitiveness

The Travel and Tourism

Competitiveness Index

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

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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.

Types of Competitiveness Levels

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Types of Competitiveness Level Categorization

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

Prior studies

Levels National/City

Competitiveness

Tourism

Destination

Regional

Competitiveness

• National

Competitiveness

Assessment

• National

Competitiveness

Assessment

• City Competitiveness

and Sustainability

• City Competitiveness

Assessment

• International Monitoring

Tourism

Competitiveness

1. Tourism Destination

Competitiveness Assessment

(Dwyer & Kim)

2. Tourism Destination

Competitiveness &

Sustainability Assessment

(Ritchie & Crouch)

WEF Index

WCE Index

KHU Index

China’s BTC Index

Lack of

Regional

Index

Not fit

with

UNWTO

Goals

Cooperative Index Needs !

System of Measures for

Excellence in Destinations

(SMED).

10

Review on Tourism Competiveness Study

World Economic Forum’s

competitiveness index does not take

into account the different

characteristics of nations and their

relative criteria.

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.

KHU Research focuses only on cities

and ranking cities, which UNWTO

tries to avoid due to unnecessary

disputes and excessive competition.

China’s Best Tourism Cities scheme

only focuses on Chinese cities and

cannot easily be applied on a State

level.

China’s Best Tourism Cities scheme

only focuses on Chinese cities and

cannot easily be applied on a State

level.

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.

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.

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.

WEF Index KHU Index

China’s BTC Index WCE Index

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

1 UNWTO has two important areas of focus in advancing tourism

throughout the world: tourism sustainability and tourism

“competitiveness”. 1

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.

2

11

Background of 『Development of Regional Tourism Competitiveness Framework in Asia and the Pacific』

Needs for Developing RTC Framework

RTCI (Regional Tourism Competitiveness Index)

Development

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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

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

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• 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.

Master RTCI indicators

E1

B1 A1

C2 D1

B2

C1 E1 C4

E3 D1

E4

C3

B3 B4

Shopping

Heritage E3

B1 A1

C2 D1

B3

C1 E1 C4

E2 D1

B5

Selected

adequate

region

RTCI sub-indicators

Shopping

Tourism

RTCI

Rural

Tourism

RTCI

Heritage

Tourism

RTCI …

…

E4

C3

B4

B2

Common

indicators

Function

specific

indicators

S1

S2

S3

S5

S4

S1 S5

S3

S4

S3

Identifying Common Indicators for

RTCI (Example)

Rural

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Developing Unique Indicators for RTCI

(for example, shopping tourism destination)

Product

Reliability

Product

Variety

CRM Website Information

Catalogue

Fixed Price

System

Price

Sign

Product

Knowledge

Hospitality

Foreign

Language

Ability Store

Location

Store

Sign

Store

Environment

Store Service Price Service Employee Service

Additional

Service

Characteristics

of Product

Reasonable

Price

Domestic

/Urban

Price

Tourism

Price

Tourism

Price

Value

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Measurement Framework for RTCI

Data Collection

Standardization

Weighting Factors

Evaluate

Competitiveness

- Collecting data based on determined indicators for measuring

tourism competitiveness of Asia Pacific regions

- The standard formula for converting measured data is as follows:

- Computation of standardized score with weighted factor

derived from AHP method

(sum of scores on each dimension X weights for each dimension)

- Evaluating the competitiveness with weighted factors by comparing

sum of scores of each tourism destination

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• 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.

Quantitative

indicators

Qualitative

indicators

Tourism

Urbanization

(Y1)

Manufacturing

GRDP

High-tech

Air connectivity

Place

Delphi

x1

x2

x3

x4

x5

w1

w2

w3

w4

w5

AHP

Y1 = x1w1 + x2w2 + x3w3 + x4w4 + x5w5

RTC sub-dimension:

……

……

RTCI Measurement Model

Thank you!