Competitiveness of Guayaquil towards bleisure tourism

Abstract

Guayaquil is proposed as a tourist and business destination, aiming to stand out as a digital city, with a suitable airport, a convention centre and high-level accommodation capacity. The city receives many domestic and international tourists, although not always as the main destination of their visit. One of the tourist markets offered by the city is that of business, due to the important economic activity that takes place here, being the venue of congresses and international events. This has allowed the city to gain significant value in the business tourism sector, providing constant and profitable growth. However, the lack of study of the international market, specifically the millennial business sector, is affecting Guayaquil's competitiveness compared to other destinations that have already recognized the differentiated profile of visitors from this age group, and that consequently offer a fusion of business and leisure tourism. This research was carried out during the second semester of 2018, evaluating the market of the new bleisure trend in Guayaquil. The results evidence the limited supply directed to this market segment, the lack of exploitation of business tourism and the continued lack of capacity of the tourism sector to satisfy the bleisure market. The conclusions focus on how tourism competitiveness can be achieved in business cities that also encompass places or activities where visitors can have a relaxing time.

Business Travel and Bleisure Tourism A Study on The Travel Motivations of Academics

“…The term "bleisure" is derived from the combination of "business" and "leisure" (Alp & Yazıcı Ayyıldız, 2020). Bleisure tourism, arising from the integration of tourism activities with business travel, mainly refers to the mobility generated by individuals attending meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) who, during these visits, exhibit a tendency to explore the attractions of the destination (Caicedo-Barreth et al, 2020). It fundamentally involves a deep integration of business and leisure (Tsaur & Tsai, 2023).…”

“…Therefore, the motivation factors of bleisure tourists, despite their diversity and complexity, play a crucial role in enabling destinations to gain a competitive advantage. On the other hand, considering the opportunities for bleisure tourism to eliminate seasonality issues for destinations and tourism businesses, extend service delivery throughout the year (Jang & Wu, 2006), and sustain a competitive advantage (Caicedo-Barreth et al, 2020;Chung et al, 2020), the importance of examining the travel factors of those participating in bleisure tourism becomes evident.…”

“…In the relevant literature, it is observed that bleisure tourism is generally examined conceptually due to being a new concept (Lichy & Mcleay, 2018;Kasalak et al, 2019;Alp & Yazıcı Ayyıldız, 2020;Pinho & Marques, 2021;Raykova, 2021;Walia et al, 2021;Вагапова, 2023), Mercan & Sandıkcı, 2024). On the other hand, research has been made on bleisure tourism and bleisure tourists, generally associated with variables such as perceived quality and intention to revisit (Ünal & Özgürel, 2021), competitive development in health tourism (Keadplang, 2018), competitiveness (Caicedo-Barreth et al, 2020), experience chain and destination marketing (Chung et al, 2020), sustainable development (Petrenko et al, 2023). Regarding motivational factors, besides a systematic literature review (Sohaili et al, 2022), two studies targeting business people and human research managers have been encountered (Sardest & Ivanauskas, 2019;Çetinöz & Hazarhun, 2020).…”

Exploring Items for Measuring Behavioural Intention among Bleisure in Malaysia: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

“…It is an alternative and complementary type of tourism that attracts international tourists by combining commercial, governmental, and educational purposes with leisure activities (Pinho & Marques, 2019). However, as the industry has become increasingly globalised, little attention has been paid to its secondary motivation (Caicedo-Barreth et al, 2020;Lichy & McLeay, 2018;Swarbrooke & Horner, 2007) and the impact of implementing destination trust on visit intention.…”

“…Numerous studies have looked at push and pull motivation, but few looked at the secondary purpose of bleisure tourists' behavioural intentions towards leisure attractions while on business trips (Pearce, 2016). Only few researchers (Caicedo-Barreth et al, 2020;Fredriksson & Hakansson, 2018;Lichy & McLeay, 2018) have investigated bleisure tourists' push-pull motivation towards leisure attractions during their business trips, but with different methodological approaches and push-pull motivations have been identified separately. Bleisure tourists' push-pull motivation for leisure attractions is essential because, according to NB (2015), some business travellers have the professional resources and flexibility to incorporate leisure days into a business trip.…”