Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Island, Malaysia
Z. Zainuddin
Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia
S.M. Radzi & M.S.M. Zahari
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: Destination competitiveness has become a critical issue and creates increasingly challeng-
ing in tourism market. A successful tourism destination should embrace an integrated approach towards
the many components of the tourism system and competitive advantage of a destination is closely relates
to the quality of the product offered, which means the quality of tourist experience provided by the
destination. This research note discussed the tourism destination competitiveness and highlight the Lang-
kawi Island as one of competitive tourism destination in Malaysia as a case study which is still under
investigation.
Keywords
:
Tourist, perceived destination, competitiveness, behavioral intention
1 INTRODUCTION
of the destination for future generation (Crouch &
Ritchie, 2003).
Most destination competitiveness research sug-
gests that the competitive advantage of a destina-
tion closely relates to the quality of the product
offered, which means the quality of tourist experi-
ence provided by the destination (Chon & Mayer,
1995; Crouch & Ritchie, 1999; d'Hauteserre, 2000;
Faulkner, Oppermann & Fredline, 1999; Hassan,
2000).
Tourism destination around the world competing
each other's owing to increasing global mobility
of the tourists. Every tourism destination is trying
hard to be more competitive. Meng (2006) noted
that in the current competitive tourism market,
competitiveness has increasingly been seen as a
critical influence on the performance of tourism
destinations. He further argued destination com-
petitiveness has become a critical issue and creates
increasingly challenging in tourism market. Crouch
and Ritchie (2003), Jones and Haven (2005) pos-
tulated that a successful tourism destination must
embrace an integrated approach towards the many
components of the tourism system. However, the
tourism industry players like the government,
tourism enterprises, tourists, and local communi-
ties may have very different approaches to destina-
tion competitiveness.
Many studies have indicated that tourists and
their needs stand as the ultimate driving force
which influences competition and competitiveness
in the tourism destination. Today, destinations
eventually compete on the quality of tourism expe-
rience offered to visitors. In this note, competitive-
ness in tourism denote a destination is compatible,
attract visitors, increase tourism expenditure and
providing them with satisfying memorable experi-
ences. It also enhancing the well-being of destina-
tion resident's and preserving the natural capital
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Destination competitiveness
D'Hauteserre (2000) defined destination competi-
tiveness as the ability of a destination to sustain
its market position and share and/or to improve
them through time. Destination competitiveness
is similarly defined by Hassan (2000) as the abil-
ity of one destination to create and integrate val-
ue-added goods that maintain its resources while
also carry on its own market position concerning
those of competitors. The most detailed work on
overall tourism competitiveness was undertaken
by Crouch and Ritchie (1999, 2003). They con-
tended that to be competitive, a destinations devel-
opment of tourism must be sustainable, not just
economically, ecologically, but socially, culturally
and politically. They focus on long-term economic
prosperity as the yardstick by which destinations
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