Destination competitiveness from a tourist perspective: A case of the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to determine the major factors that influence destination competitiveness from the tourist perspective. The focus is on tourism competitiveness of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A convenience sample of 218 international tourists was surveyed. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the effects of destination resources, infrastructure and support services, human resources, and business environment on the UAE tourism competitiveness. The results show that destination infrastructure and support services, followed by destination resources, had the highest significant effect on the UAE's tourism competitiveness as perceived by tourists.

Demographic Analysis of Residents’ Support for Tourism Development in the UAE: A Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling Multigroup Approach

“…The research focus on residents’ perceptions began in developed countries of the West, and fewer studies have examined the Middle East and North Africa region in relation to tourism development (Hammad, Ahmad, and Papastathopoulos 2017). So, as no single set of factors exists that can determine destination competitiveness and can be applied to all the destinations (Abreu Novais, Ruhanen, and Arcodia 2018), and given that the major factors contributing to competitiveness differ for various types of economies and their levels of development (Porter, Sachs, and McArthur 2001), the need to explore these factors is imperative, more so in new and emerging tourist destinations (Reisinger, Michael, and Hayes 2019). Liao, Lin, and Hsieh (2019) suggest that future research could reveal more relevant factors that exert an influence on indigenous tourism satisfaction, so as to enrich the studies on indigenous tourism development from the perspective of residents.…”

“…In addition, the UAE boasts an ideal mix of locals/expatriates, allowing for cross-group comparison. This study is responding to calls for research regarding the need to focus on the geographical area of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the UAE specifically, which is the most competitive destination among them (Reisinger, Michael, and Hayes 2019; Schwab et al 2017).…”

Tourism destination competitiveness with a particular focus on sport: the current state and a glance into the future – a systematic literature analysis

“…(Goffi & Cucculelli, 2019), while underscoring the point that TDC cannot be understood or measured by a few determinants; in addition, several research approaches have proposed potential factors that can influence competitiveness. Reisinger, Michael, and Hayes (2019) grouped various determinants of destination competitiveness into three different categories: (a) inherited and capitalizable determinants (e.g. natural environment, culture and history, location and market ties, landscape, climate, fauna and flora, food, traditions, music and events, hospitality of locals, and human and capital resources); (b) created and manageable determinants (e.g.…”

Sustainability as a Key Factor in Tourism Competitiveness: A Global Analysis

“…Some studies analyzed general factors that affect tourism competitiveness [26][27][28][29], while others assessed the effect of specific factors such as the evolution of tourist inflows [30]; globalization [31]; tourism's contribution to economic growth [32]; corruption [33]; air transportation [34]; the competitiveness of international hotel firms [35]; regional systems of innovation [36] or sustainability, which is the focus of our work [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44].…”