The literature is highlighting that research on the internationalization of destinations is scarce. This chapter presents a validation of the governance factors which contribute to the internationalization of tourism destinations. A survey was carried out on Portuguese DMOs with responsibilities in the areas of tourism and local/regional development (N=147). The ‘Questionnaire on Internationalization of Tourist Destinations' was submitted to content, reliability, and construct validations through exploratory and confirmatory second-order factor analysis. Governance factors influencing the internationalization of destinations were F1-Collaboration and F2-Networks. F1 associates items related to stakeholder involvement in destination decisions. F2 highlights the interaction between stakeholders, whose collective action is oriented towards active participation in decisions and leadership. The perception of Portuguese entities with different levels of influence on tourism development allows the systematization of results that meet some priority lines defined in the Tourism Strategy 2027.
This paper aims to fill a gap in the existing research about the internationalization of tourism destinations through a systematic review of the literature focusing on publications presented between 2007 and 2017. The research followed the assumptions of the non-probabilistic snowball sampling technique. In addition, the computer programs VosViewer, for bibliometric analysis, and NVivo 10, for content analysis were used. Tourism destinations’ internationalization is a combination of: (i) integration of organizational interest with stakeholders’ interests; (ii) understanding that what moves these elements are endogenous and exogenous business opportunities; (iii) integrating external opportunities in the destination by aligning them with its territorial identity; (iv) achieving coherence between the previous three components through the implementation of a governance model; (v) a governance model that facilitates the destination’s organization by conciliating interests, resources and opportunities; (vi) and the DMOs that coordinate the dynamics generated between the elements of this system, making it possible to organize the supply following its territorial identity. The internationalization process of tourism destinations highlights factors different from the internationalization of companies. In the first scenario, politics, planning, and territory internationalization strategies should target different kinds of reflections according to the level of intervention (local, regional, national or international). In the second, it is essential that supply is aware of investment opportunities abroad, financial packages to support businesses, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The current period exposed the fragility of the tourism sector and how external threats can influence it. Thinking about the internationalization of tourism destinations shows how important it is to organize the tourism offer in accordance with the challenges the sector faces, at the same time as explaining the role of DMOs. Until now, this theme has been mainly studied from the perspective of demand, creating a gap in the existing knowledge about the organizational systems.
Tourism product competitiveness depends on innovation and quality levels and on its capacity to reflect the destinations’ identity. For these reasons and inspired by the EC and UNWTO recommendations we developed a tourism quality scale, adapted to the Portuguese reality, which is supported by 5 subscales. This paper focuses on the validation of the tourism product subscale, which was tested among local public stakeholders, specifically Portuguese municipalities. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed and three factors supported quality measurement regarding the tourism product: (1) services; (2) resources and attractions; and (3) accessibilities and infrastructures. Results demonstrate there are theoretical and practical implications and the conclusions provide useful insights for future research.
Tourism is a strategic sector in Portugal since it generates employment and it is a factor of economic and social development. The tourism sector not only has an intensive need of labour force but also provides employment opportunity to a range of qualifications. Being an industry of people, it directly depends on the performance of activities, skills, professionalism, quality and competitiveness. The main objective of this article is to present the HC Tourism project, which aims to seek and understand the needs of skills in tourism industry by studying the active companies that belong to the tourism economic subsectors, by region and subsector of economic activity. The methodology used in this project is based on a qualitative and quantitative approach, throughout the collection of primary and secondary data. The qualitative approach was based on a literature review which allowed to compile a list of 150 skills, divided under four domains: i) soft skills; ii) hard skills; iii) management skills; iv) transversal skills. The quantitative approach returned primary data, which were collected through an online survey implemented and sent to national tourist entrepreneurs, expecting to develop the ideal profile of the tourism human resources, based on a sample of 555 answers.
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