Tourism destination competency as an antecedent to tourism suppliers’ business performance at the destination: A conceptual exploration

Pages: 1225-1230
Sabira Nalakath and Moli P. Koshy (School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala)

Stakeholders in tourism are broadly classified as players of supply-side and demand side. Supply side players are referred as destination management organizations, service providers and host population; and the demand side constitutes tourists. The great performance of supply-side players basically enhances the satisfaction level at the demand side which is the ultimate goal of any destination management organization for growth and sustain ability of the destination. The comparative and competitive advantage that a destination possess over similar other destinations heighten the engagement and commitment of supply-side stakeholders for further investment in tourism sector and thereby business enlargement at the destination. Thus, framing proper stakeholder management policies and strategies are important for any tourist destination to enhance and sustain its competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. This article presents a theoretical framework to explore whether tourism destination competitiveness with a mediating effect of tourism suppliers’ strategic congruence with destination would lead to their business performance at the destination. This could facilitate a clearer understanding of the nature of tourism suppliers’ reactions to tourism, so that the results could help tourism planners and policy-makers to develop more appropriate destination products as well as to enhance competitiveness in tourism markets in turn.