As it has been explained in previous sections, competitiveness is the relationship between value offered and efforts demanded, and therefore increasing competitiveness is to be achieved either by increasing the value offered and/or diminishing the efforts demanded. This section explains all kinds of value factors that may enhance competitiveness, and all types of efforts that diminish it, so as to have a more practical approach and inspire strategists in their Competitiveness Plan recommendations for every cluster, considered as an independent geographical unit for the Competitiveness planning.
In accordance with the formula explained in the Cluster Competitiveness assessment section, the factors to develop are Experiences, Feelings, Service Quality, Discomforts, Risks, Price and impacts of the tourism business on the destination. When assessing all these factors, it is important to understand the kind of value that every factor contributes to generate:
- Spiritual value: the relationship between the positive impacts and the negative ones is what makes the destination more or less appealing to the tourists’ human spirit.
- Emotional value: the relationship between experiences, feelings, discomforts and insecurities is what makes the destination generate positive and negative emotions.
- Value for money: the relationship between service quality and price appeals to the rational mind of the tourist, and is the least influential in the decision making process.
How would you weigh the spiritual value, emotional value and value for money in the competitiveness assessment?
