Strategic Analysis of Sustainable Tourism in Baja California against COVID-19

Abstract

As a result of the health contingency caused by COVID-19, a large number of companies worldwide have been forced to drastically change their work processes in order to adapt to the current situation; however, the strategies proposed by governments around the world to deal with this crisis have been classified as seasonal by health specialists, implying that at some point it will return to normal. To this end, this study is developed through the implementation of four strategic models (strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (SWOT) method, competitive advantage matrix, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix, and the ERIC matrix: Eliminate—Reduce—Increase—Create)) that allow entrepreneurs in the tourism sector of the State of Baja California to face the consequences that the pandemic has generated in detriment of its competitiveness, which, in turn, will allow them to design competitive strategies that directly support the tourism sector of the entity, facilitating decision making to achieve the sustainable development of regional tourism. Observing that the main competitive advantage of the entrepreneurs in the studied sector is the fact that they are mostly part of the gastro-tourism cluster of Baja California since they receive support and joint promotion that allows them to generate a unique and inimitable competitive advantage.

Tourism Sustainability and COVID-19 Pandemic: Is There a Positive Side?

“…One of the key efforts to foster safe corridors and sustainable tourism amid COVID-19 was the creation of a "travel bubble", an agreement between two or more neighboring countries to allow citizens to travel amongst themselves without quarantining [48]. Other efforts include the promotion of live streaming experiences [49], medical tourism [50], regional tourism [31], virtual tourism [50,51], staycation programs [52,53], "untact" tourism [54,55], and the expansion of creative tourism in rural areas within the purview of sustainable development [17] to mitigate the tremendous impacts of the pandemic on the global tourism industry.…”

“…In times of crisis, it became imperative for tourism businesses to develop strategic approaches that can spawn a competitive advantage and cover regional tourism [31]. Indeed, the pandemic made it essential for tourism to learn, reflect, and work under new circumstances within the framework of sustainable development [17].…”

“…The positive side of the pandemic is often overlooked by international scholarship [29], but the clarification of both positive and negative impacts is necessary for developing a sustainable strategy to deal with major event crises such as pandemics [30]. Unlike any other industry, the ruinous impact of the pandemic on tourism calls for a sustainable strategy to ensure more resilient and viable growth [9,[31][32][33]. Thus, the present study has been conducted with the aim to review the extant literature in the area of COVID-19 and the tourism industry's sustainability and resilience in future crises.…”

Betong: A Potential Wellness Tourism Destination in the Deep South of Thailand

“…To assess supply potential, analyze market potential and provide implementation strategies for developing wellness tourism in various countries, previous studies mostly employed 6As tourism components framework, SWOT and TOWS analysis and Boston Group Consulting or BCG matrix. As indicated in recent studies, the 6As tourism components, which consisted of attraction, accessibility, amenities, ancillary services, available programs and activities, were generally employed for qualitatively assessing supply potential (Canson and Caelian, 2022;Bernal Escoto et al, 2021;Pattiyagedara and Fernado, 2020). The 6As components indicated the potential of a particular tourism destination in various aspects.…”

“…Likewise, the Boston Consulting Group or BCG matrix is another framework used in various studies by many researchers to formulate the developmental strategy and classify market position or segment of any investigated tourism products. (Bernal Escoto et al, 2021;Jeong Won et al, 2021;Prawira and Budisetyorini, 2021). The BCG matrix provides strategic assessment of the highest potential tourism products and indicates the most effective strategy for fair allocation of resources.…”