Towards a Sustainable Tourism Competitiveness Measurement Model for Municipalities: Brazilian Empirical Evidence

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to sustainable tourism destination competitiveness research by proposing a systemic model for identifying the factors that impact Brazilian municipalities’ ability to create and integrate value -added tourism products to meet the needs of local communities and visitors and maintain the tourism competitiveness. It proposes that the available destination competitiveness models can be divided into three groups: i) aggregate indices; ii) conceptual and descriptive; and iii) explanatory and predictive. Six sustainable tourism competitiveness determinant factors were formulated: Tourism Infrastructure, Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure, Education, Heritage and Culture, Socioeconomic Development and Environmental Preservation. Four dependent factors related to tourism activity success were also postulated: Tourism Flow, Jobs, Wages and Revenue. All constructs were based on secondary indicators for Brazil’s 5,565 municipalities. The theoretical model was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The Charter for Sustainable Tourism of Lanzarote, signed in 1995, is a key document in setting the sustainability commitment of tourism. Later it became a part of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (GCET), which defines Tourism Ethics. However a question prevails: how does tourism assumes this duty? And more specifically, how does tourism assume sustainable development? Based on an assessment of 360 degrees on tourism in Cancun (tourists, residents and tourism professionals), the present study explores the perception of sustainability in this destination under the guidelines of GCET. The results show that the perception of tourism as a factor for sustainable development is not uniform among the central players, showing a better assessment by tourists, and a more critical view by the resident population and professionals