Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• What are the public policies and instruments in the field of tourism
development?
THEORETICAL OVERVIEW
BASIC CONCEPTS
Tourism takes on an important role as a strategy for local development by
generating jobs, increasing the income of workers and stimulating capital
investments through new business opportunities, which result in the estab-
lishment of new organizations, including SMEs, among other advantages
(Cuncha and Cuncha, 2005). The development of tourism can also bring
negative impacts to the economic, social and environmental sustainability
of the local community, such as noise, water and visual pollution, inva-
sion of protected areas, etc. The central hypothesis in Cuncha and Cun-
cha (2005) is that tourism activity should be one of the main sources of
sustainable regional development, with positive effects on the creation of
jobs, the generation of income, and improvements in the quality of local
life. Tourism stimulates other economic activities: entertainment, trade,
transport, lodging, crafts, supporting services and amenities and the devel-
opment of infrastructure: roads, airports, sanitation, energy, etc.
Nations or regions compete in offering the most productive environ-
ment for business (Porter, 2005). Competitive strategies for industry play-
ers and tourism destinations include four key principles of competitive
success: (1) put consumers first; (2) be a leader in quality; (3) develop
radical innovations; and (4) strengthen the player's strategic position with-
in the industry's value chain (Leiper, 2004). There are three sources of
competitive advantage:
1. differentiation advantage allows the firm to offer customers prod-
ucts and services with greater benefits;
2. cost advantage allows the firm to lower the costs of using its own
assets and to reduce its payments to suppliers by reducing the costs
of delivering a particular benefit to customers or by reducing sup-
plier costs;
3. transaction advantage allows the firm to discover new combina-
tions of customers and suppliers that create greater value (Porter,
1985; Spulber, 2009).
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