Studies on the Competitiveness of Local Tourism Destinations

Industry structure and environmental commitment are the factors that determine the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Sharing the same view with Poon.A, Hassan in his study also highlighted the importance of environmental protection in exploiting environmentally responsible tourism businesses to create environmental and social balance and stability. In addition, the study also shows that comparative advantages, similar to those in M.Porter's study, are widely used and are the premise for orienting the development of strategies suitable to the role and advantages of the tourism industry. However, the study only focuses on macro-level management and has not delved into specific factors in the management and assessment of the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Accordingly, the study has not highlighted the main factors that clearly measure the competitiveness of tourism destinations and when applied to a specific tourism destination in practice, it will encounter many difficulties. [88]

Next are the views on the competitiveness of tourism destinations mentioned as competitive advantage and affirm that competitive advantage is a factor that creates success for tourism destinations. Researchers believe that competitive advantage is often expressed through two main groups: The first group includes factors such as climate, ecology, culture and traditional architecture; The second group includes the development of systems dedicated to tourism such as hotels, restaurants, transportation and entertainment. The above two groups of factors contribute to the overall attractiveness, bringing competitive advantage to a tourism destination.

In terms of methods, in studies, the competitiveness of tourist destinations is assessed by both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative performance indicators are measured from data on the number of tourists and tourism revenue, which are considered appropriate and recognized by many researchers (Hassan, 2000; Jones. E and Haven, Tang.C, 2005). Qualitative factors are assessed through tourists' perceptions (positive or negative perceptions of tourists are determined on the basis of comparing this tourist destination with other tourist destinations as well as the tourism experiences that tourists have accumulated at the tourist destinations (Metin Kozak, Mike Rimmington, 1999).

Regarding data sources, 42% used statistics provided by national and international organizations (especially research works focusing on economic topics and indicators of the World Economic Forum; 38% used surveys; 10% of research works did not provide statistics or empirical data and the rest used data sources from the perceptions of stakeholders such as travel agents, tourism business managers, etc. (Molinar et al., 2018).

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Thus, there have been quite a few evaluation models and measurement factors of the competitiveness of the labor market proposed. Among them, two models and three sets of indicators are considered to be relatively complete in terms of both supply and demand factors, namely:

Crouch and Ritchie (1999 ), Tourism, competitiveness and societal prosperity, Journal of business research , No. 4, with the main research direction being to identify the

global factors affecting tourism destinations and assessing their specific impact on tourism destinations' competitiveness in an overall model. The study also focuses on the relationship between factors affecting competitiveness and sustainable development of tourism destinations.

The theoretical basis of the study is based on the development of a model of the competitiveness of the tourism industry based on the concept of Ricardo's comparative advantage theory (1776) and the theory of competitive advantage "diamond model of national competitiveness" of M. Porter (1990,1998). The authors use a quantitative approach based on case studies. The research results show that the competitiveness of the tourism industry is built on the basis of a collection of many factors, however, there are 5 main groups of factors and 36 component factors identified and proposed by the authors.

[72] (see section 2.2.1).

Dwyer and Kim (2003), Destination Competitiveness: A model and Determinants , University of Western Sydney, Australia & Kemimyung University, Korea, Current Issues in Tourism, No. 5, with the main research direction on determining the model and determinants of Destination Competitiveness. The article develops a Destination Competitiveness model in which the Destination Competitiveness can be compared between countries and between tourism sectors. At the same time, this study also aims to establish indicators to evaluate the Destination Competitiveness of any Destination considered. The theoretical basis of the article is based on some basic theories of previous scientists who have mentioned Destination Competitiveness and Destination Competitiveness such as: Spence and Hazard (1988) assert that Destination Competitiveness includes both the category of relationship (compared to what?) and is multidimensional; or the view of Waheeduzzan and Ryans (1996) mentioned that NCL is made up of four basic groups of factors: competitive advantage and/or price competition perspective; management and strategy perspective; historical and socio-cultural perspective; the development of national NCL assessment indicators. In addition, the study was also based on the synthesis of a number of other basic theories such as the theory of Lee, Var, Blain (1996), the theory of See Dwyer, Forsyth, Rao (2000), Murphy, Pritchard, Smith (2000), ... The study used two main research methods: theoretical research and in-depth interviews. Theoretical research focuses on studying theories, theories and models of general NCL and NCL of the DDL. The study also conducted in-depth interviews with tourism managers and businesses operating in the tourism sector at the destinations to find out their views on the competitiveness of the destination based on comparison with other destinations.

The results of the study have built a model combining the destination's NLCT; the leading elements of the model include resources: natural resources and inherited resources (including 11 indicators), creative resources (including 17 indicators); supporting factors and resources (10 indicators). These are the factors that create the difference.

distinctive for destinations, creating tourist attraction of the destination, it is the basis for creating the competitiveness of the tourist destination. [78] (see section 2.2.1).

In particular, recently, three sets of indexes have appeared: the Destination Competitiveness Index of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2004; the Tourism Competitiveness Index of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2013 and the TTCI Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in 2014 (see section 2.2.1). The research results through these sets of indexes are currently being interested in, applied and highly appreciated by researchers, policy makers and tourism enterprises worldwide [121][103].

Fundamental studies on the theory of competitiveness of tourism have been realized through many empirical studies. Researchers apply models and index sets to evaluate the competitiveness of specific tourism products, tourism industries or specific tourism organizations.

Metin Kozak, Mike Rimmington (1999), Measuring tourist destination competitiveness: conceptual considerations and empirical findings, Hospitality Management , No. 18, with the main research direction referring to competitive advantage and affirming that competitive advantage is known as a factor creating success for organizations, regions, each country, and tourist destinations. The research was conducted to find out the factors that create the competitiveness of tourist destinations and solutions to impact these factors to improve the competitiveness of tourist destinations.

The theoretical basis of the study is based on theories of tourism. Tourism destinations are the central element of the tourism system in general, therefore, the competitiveness of tourism destinations is also an important part of tourism research. Through the analysis of previous studies, the author concluded that the perception (positive or negative) of tourists is determined on the basis of comparing this tourism destination with other tourism destinations as well as the tourism experiences that tourists have felt. On that basis, the authors chose the empirical research method to evaluate the competitiveness of Turkey, from which conclusions can be drawn to improve the competitiveness of this tourism destination. To implement this method, the author used a questionnaire (consisting of 5 parts). The first part was designed to obtain detailed information about the visitors who visited, including personal information such as name, age, nationality. The second part seeks information about other tourist destinations that tourists have visited . The third part mainly studies the motivations that motivate tourists to choose this tourist destination. The fourth part seeks to understand the level of satisfaction of tourists with each factor that makes up the competitiveness of the tourist destination. And the last part, the fifth part , will be an overall assessment of the level of satisfaction of tourists. The conclusion of the study shows that the group of factors that have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the tourist destination includes: beautiful natural scenery, good climate, cuisine, culture, friendliness of local people, economic development, ... and the group of factors that reduce the competitiveness of the tourist destination includes unsafe traffic, infrastructure serving tourism.

poor and low environmental awareness. However, the study is limited to Türkiye, so expanding the consideration and research to other DDDLs is a new research direction opened from this study [100].

Doris Gomezelj Omerzel (2006), Competitiveness of Slovenia as a Tourist Destination , Managing Global Transitions, No. 4 with the main research direction on the model of competitive competence of Slovenian tourist destination and pointing out the weaknesses of Slovenian tourism based on the results of the survey and the indicators of the model. Based on the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003), a set of indicators to evaluate the competitive competence of the tourist destination was determined including: attractiveness, climate, image, market share, employment, income from tourism,... Using the expert method and a 5-point Likert scale, the study conducted the survey from March to April 2004. The research results showed that there were 85 indicators rated below 4 points and only a few indicators above the Slovenian average. In particular, through the survey, the criteria of infrastructure and tourism infrastructure have been invested in and developed by Slovenia in recent years, however, other criteria such as SPDL, human resource development and tourism destination management have not been given due importance. Accordingly, Slovenia's competitiveness is quite low. Thus, the study becomes a practical reference source for tourism destinations that want to improve their competitiveness, need to pay attention to many criteria and open up for further studies on surveying preferences and factors determining the choice of tourism destinations of tourists. [85]

Crouch (2007), Modelling destination competitiveness: A survey and analysis of the impact of competitiveness attribites, Technical Report, National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication Data, with the main research direction on the competitiveness of tourist destinations and built a model of the competitiveness of tourist destinations including 5 factors: Core resources and attractiveness; Supporting factors and resources; Tourism destination policies and Limiting and expanding factors with 36 attributes. The study used data collected according to the assessment of experts (European, North American, Australian, New Zealand); was conducted using an online portal and using the hierarchical analysis process (Analytical Hierarchy Method AHP). The post-test research results showed that some of the most important attributes including 10 out of 36 competitive attributes, strongly impacting the competitiveness of tourist destinations are: Geography and climate; Tourism activities; Tourism superstructure; culture and history; Perception and image of the tourist destination; Special tourism events; Entertainment; Tourism infrastructure; Accessibility and Brand positioning. The application of the AHP method is also a suggestion to evaluate the competitiveness of the tourist destination for further studies [71].

Boris Bartikowski et al. (2008), L'attitude vis-a-vis des destinations touristiques: le rôle de la personnalite des villes , Management & Avenir, No. 4, with the main research direction on tourists' attitudes and preferences towards tourist destinations, thereby discovering new tourism directions: "The characteristics of tourist destinations are an important factor for segmenting the tourist market, not simply a factor

factor explaining the attitude of each tourist”. The author believes that nowadays, there are many new tourist destinations, competition between tourism companies is increasingly fierce, so the author has aimed to study the professionalism in brand management or the characteristics of each tourist destination city. The theoretical basis of the study is based on the concept of “self-satisfaction” (la congruence de soi) of scholar Sirgy (1982). According to this approach, the direct relationship between self-satisfaction and the perceived image of the tourist destination will lead to the tourist's preference for the tourist destination. The author used a quantitative method to statistically analyze the opinions of 225 students about their two common tourist destinations. The students participated in answering a questionnaire about their satisfaction level and their overall opinion about their favorite destination. The survey results were then analyzed by regression using structural equation modeling and tested on a model with a mediating effect. The research results are articles that show the measure of attractiveness of tourist cities, including 5 important factors of a destination: authenticity, curiosity, safety, sophistication and wildness [109]. In particular, the research has an important meaning, opening up another way to classify tourist destinations, which is based on the characteristics of tourists. [127]

Craiwell and More (2008), Foreign direct investment and tourism in SIDS: Evidence from panel causality tests, Tourism analysis, No. 13 with the main research direction on the competitiveness of small developing tourism islands in the US. The authors identified the factors affecting the competitiveness of small developing tourism islands in the US. The study surveyed 45 small islands and proposed a research model based on the competitiveness assessment indexes of the World Tourism Organization. The results showed that the competitiveness of small developing tourism islands in the US is affected by: (1) Price; (2) Tourism human resources; (3) Infrastructure; (4) Environment; (5) Technology; (6) Openness; (7) Social aspects. Finally, the study showed that the Price factor plays the most important role among other influencing factors, especially for small-scale tourism destinations. [68]

Diana Balan et al. (2009), Travel and Tourism Competitiveness of the World's Top Tourism Destinations : An Explanatory Assessment, Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, No. 11 with the main research direction on assessing the competitiveness of the tourism industry and of the world's top 25 tourism destinations. The study uses the data set in the DL and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008 by the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. These 25 tourism destinations are countries that strongly attract international tourists, accounting for 70.02% of the total number of international tourists, equivalent to 576.8 billion USD in 2008. Pearson correlation coefficient is used to test the identified criteria. The results of the study have an overall assessment of the competitiveness of tourism of the world's top 25 tourism destinations; in which Austria with the Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) of 5.43 points leads the world, followed by Germany with 5.41 points and Saudi Arabia with 3.68 points, at the bottom of the list. Research

also determined the average TTCI value of 25 DDDLs to be 4.66 (on a scale of 1-

7) At the same time, the study also confirmed that there was no homogeneous group but there were significant differences in evaluation indicators among the DDDLs. [74]

Fridrik Eysteinsson (2011), The Competitiveness of a Tourist Destination: One Answer or two?, The European Institute of Retailing and Services Studies, with the main research direction aiming to answer the research question: Do experts and tourists evaluate the competitiveness of tourist destinations in the same way? The study uses quantitative methods and uses both experts and tourists to participate in evaluating the competitiveness of Icelandic tourist destinations. The surveys were conducted in the summer of 2010. The results show that there is a difference between the perceptions of experts and tourists in evaluating the competitiveness of Icelandic tourist destinations. The contribution of the research helps policy makers and tourist destination managers choose the best solution to improve the competitiveness of tourist destinations based on the evaluation of experts or tourists; or both. [83]

Armenski et al. (2012), Tourism destination competitiveness - between two flags , Ekonomska Istra ivanja, No. 25, with the main research direction to evaluate the competitiveness of the Serbian and Slovenian tourist destinations. The study used the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003) to evaluate the competitiveness of the two tourist destinations. This study reviewed the results of previous studies and affirmed that both Serbia and Slovenia have advantages in natural resources, culture and additional resources. However, tourism destination management is the biggest weakness in evaluating the competitiveness of both tourist destinations. Thus, the study contributes to affirming the very important role and great impact on the competitiveness of the tourist destinations of tourism destination management. [62]

Veronika Ancincova (2014), Tourism destination competitiveness: The case study of Zlín region (The Czech Republic), Dissertation submitted to the University of Huddersfield, with the main research direction being to identify the basic factors assessing the competitiveness of the Zlín region from different perspectives. The competitiveness of the Zlín region is assessed based on an appropriate theoretical framework based on a literature review. This paper uses the “Integrated Model” of Dwyer and Kim (2003); focusing on the factors of inherited and created resources. Data were collected from local residents and experts in tourism-related positions in the Zlín region using semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show that the Zlín region has a competitive advantage in terms of inherited resources but is not competitive in terms of created resources. Specifically, factors such as architecture, cultural traditions, and environment are considered strong competitive factors, but factors such as infrastructure, shopping, and entertainment are low competitive factors of the region. Accordingly, the study also offers some solutions and recommendations to develop the Zlín region into an international tourist destination. The author also points out the limitations of this study in the research methodology section; because it is beyond the researcher's capabilities and limited in terms of time and resources, sample size

is limited; therefore, some analysis of the NLCT of the Zlín region could be included in future research. [119]

The NLCT of the DDDL is also an attractive research topic, attracting many domestic researchers interested in both theory and practice. However, it can be seen that theoretical studies related to the NLCT of the DDDL in the country are still modest, most recently there are some theoretical studies as follows:

Nguyen Nam Thang (2015), Research on provincial competitiveness model in the tourism sector , PhD thesis, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, has scientifically synthesized concepts and models of competitiveness at all levels in the tourism sector in the world and in Vietnam; at the same time, expanded new theoretical and empirical evidence on the structural relationships between factors with competitive attributes as a basis for establishing a set of criteria for assessing provincial competitiveness in the tourism sector, initially including 4 main groups of factors and 32 component factors. The author also analyzed, compared, and selected on the basis of the initial set of criteria, accurately identifying the core resources that play a central role and have the only meaning in establishing a set of criteria for building a provincial competitiveness model in the tourism sector of Vietnam, including 4 main groups of factors and 20 component factors. Objectively verifying the provincial competitiveness model in the field of tourism in Vietnam in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province results in 4 main groups of factors and 16 component factors with appropriate competitiveness rankings in both theory and practice. The study is meaningful and serves as a basis for studies on the competitiveness of tourism destinations. [37]

Hoang Thi Thu Huong (2016), Discussing the Competitiveness of Tourism Destinations - the role of sustainability and its connection with Vietnamese destinations , Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference: "Sustainable Tourism Development: The Role of the State, Enterprises and Training Institutions", National Economics University, adopted the method of analyzing related theories and models; focusing on clarifying the concept of Competitiveness of Tourism Destinations, assessment models as well as the role of sustainability in creating the Competitiveness of a Tourism Destinations. In addition, the article also presents the current status of Competitiveness of Vietnam's Tourism Destinations, thereby discussing some suggestions to improve the Competitiveness of Vietnam's Tourism Destinations in the coming time. [16]

Le Thi Ngoc Anh (2017), Using the Delphi method in building a research framework to evaluate the competitiveness of tourism, Journal of Science - Hue University, volume 126, number 5A, using the Delphi method; the author proposed a research framework to evaluate the competitiveness of tourism including 3 main groups of factors: "Resources and core resources"; "Tourism management activities"; "Basic tourism"; 15 groups of attribute factors and 72 specific measurement variables with high consensus from experts. The advantage of this model compared to previous research models is that the model is proposed by using the Delphi method and ensures the right selection of participants, ensuring "anonymity" among them. This can be the basis for similar studies to apply in order to contribute to enriching the scientific and practical foundations in the research on the competitiveness of tourism. [1]

Besides theoretical studies, there are many domestic studies that have used the index set of the World Economic Forum (WEF) or the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003) as the basis for evaluating the competitiveness of the FDI sector.

Nguyen Dinh Hoa (2008), Improving the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism destinations in the context of international integration , Development Economics Journal, No. 214, mentions some concepts of destination competitiveness and analyzes the current status of Vietnam's tourism competitiveness according to the criteria of the World Economic Forum WEF compared to some countries in the region such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, thereby proposing solutions to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism [13].

Nguyen Anh Tuan (2010), “ Vietnam tourism destination competitiveness” , PhD thesis in political economy, University of Economics - Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The author pointed out that Vietnam tourism with diverse natural resources, culture and favorable geographical location has grown quite rapidly, becoming an important economic sector, contributing positively to economic development and international integration. However, the number of international visitors to Vietnam as well as income from tourism is still low, leading to low growth quality of tourism. In the ranking of tourism competitiveness of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2007 to present, Vietnam has always ranked lower than some countries in the region such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore. The thesis uses the model of Dwyer and Kim (2003) as a basis for analyzing the current status of Vietnam's tourism competitiveness, thereby providing viewpoints, policy recommendations and proposing solutions to improve Vietnam's tourism competitiveness, making Vietnam an attractive international tourism destination with a higher competitive position in the region as well as in the world [44].

Bui Xuan Nhan (2011), Competitiveness of Vietnam's Destination , Proceedings of the Scientific Conference "Integration: Cooperation and Competition", pointed out a number of models for determining the Competitiveness of Destination such as: the typical theoretical model of Destination Competitiveness of Crouch & Ritchie, the combined model of Destination Competitiveness of Dwyer & Kim, the model and index of Destination Competitiveness of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). With the WEF indexes, the author believes that this is a fairly comprehensive strategic tool to evaluate the main factors and policies that create attractiveness for developing the tourism industry of countries and can be applied to evaluate the Competitiveness of each locality in the country. This index also helps governments and the tourism industry to properly assess the potential and prospects of countries and localities, and is a useful tool for tourism enterprises as well as policy makers for tourism development in tourist destinations. [26]

1.1.3. Studies on the competitiveness of local tourist destinations

To evaluate the competitiveness of a local tourism destination, most studies apply or propose a model or set of indicators suitable to the conditions of geographical location, resources, etc. of a specific local tourism destination.

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