CLUSTERING SILK ROAD COUNTRIES BASED ON COMPETITIVENESS FACTORS IN TOURISM INDUSTRY - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 226

pillar and this position mainly depends on the country's advantageous
conditions in the number of world heritage cultural sites, international
fairs and exhibitions, and creative industries exports. The other Cluster 2
country, Croatia, is the 4th best country in the world in terms of the tour-
ism infrastructure pillar. The country's number of hotel rooms, presence
of major car rental companies, and ATMs accepting VISA cards are quite
sufficient and this provides the country a competitive advantage not only
among the Silk Road countries but also throughout the world.
Considering Cluster 2 countries' competitive positions, Greece and
Republic of Korea performed well for 3 pillars. Greece's tourism infra-
structure provides the country a competitive advantage by having a suffi-
cient number of hotel rooms and major car rental companies. A supporting
government prioritization and expenditure of the T&T industry make it
possible for the country to achieve a favorable position in prioritization
of the T&T pillar. Additionally, airport density and the number of operat-
ing airlines of the country provide a competitive advantage among the
Silk Road countries. Rankings of the Republic of Korea are quite low for
cultural resources, ICT infrastructure, and ground transport infrastructure
pillars. In terms of the cultural resources pillar, the country has the advan-
tages of having a high number of world heritage cultural sites and inter-
national fairs and exhibitions. The country's ICT infrastructure is quite
sufficient and has a leading position in business Internet use, number of
Internet users, extent of telephone lines, and broadband Internet subscrib-
ers' variables. These variables are expected to provide the country ease of
communication, speed of reaching information in reservations and bank-
ing, and quality of tourism marketing activities, and so forth.
INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS AND TOURISM RECEIPTS
FOR THE SILK ROAD COUNTRIES
The comparison of international tourist arrivals for Cluster 1 and Clus-
ter 2 demonstrates a big difference in the performance of both clusters in
attracting tourists worldwide (See Fig. 2). In 2011, the number of tour-
ists that visited Cluster 1 countries was around 80 million whereas it was