Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Porter's (1990) definition of competitiveness is “the ability of entrepre-
neurs (of a country) to design, produce and market goods and services, the
price and nonprice characteristics of which form a more attractive package
than that of competitors.” Competitiveness is determined by the produc-
tivity with which a nation, region, or cluster uses its human, capital, and
natural resources. The productivity of “local” industries is of fundamental
importance to competitiveness, not just that of trade industries. To improve
a location's competitiveness, all elements affecting the context for produc-
tivity and innovation in individual firms and clusters have to be looked at:
regions need to activate their clusters, address crosscutting weaknesses
in their general business environments, create an institutional structure to
focus on competitiveness beyond the life cycle of specific administrations,
and define an overall understanding of the unique value they intend to pro-
vide relative to other locations (Ketels, 2003; Porter, 1998). Clusters are
defined as groups of organizations that work in a defined economic sector
and a geographically limited environment; this permits the generation of a
series of operative synergies that constitute sources from which to extract
competitive advantages (Porter, 1998).
Cuncha and Cuncha (2005) developed the concept that a tourism clus-
ter is a group of companies and institutions bound up to a tourism prod-
uct or group of products. Such companies and institutions are spatially
concentrated and have vertical (within the tourism productive chain) and
horizontal relationships (involving factor, jurisdiction and information ex-
change between similar agents dealing with a tourism product offer). They
show an intern configuration that generally includes:
• the concentration of tourism service companies: restaurants, accom-
modations, transport services, crafts, travel agencies etc.;
• sectors providing support to tourism services;
• suitable and low-cost infrastructure (roads, energy, sanitation, health
services, etc.);
• companies and institutions that provide specialized qualification, in-
formation and financial capital;
• intern agents organized into class associations; and
• government agencies and other regulating bodies that impact tour-
ism agglomerations.
• Interactions within tourism clusters can bring benefits such as (Cun-
cha and Cuncha, 2005):
Search WWH ::
Custom Search