Sustainable thermal tourism destination competitiveness: A multistakeholder perspective

Abstract

The present study explores thermal tourism destination competitiveness from the stakeholder viewpoint, with the purpose of offering guidelines to decision makers to make their decisions in line with a sustainable perspective. Using qualitative research, data were collected through semistructured interviews and from secondary sources. The empirical framework is set on the city of Ourense, an outstanding reference of thermal tourism in Spain. The results show that thermal destination competitiveness is a complex three-dimensional concept due to the existence of interactions between its determining factors. They emphasize that the design of strategies to improve the competitiveness of thermal destinations must consider not only the greater or lesser importance of the determinants of competitiveness but also the interactions between them, as well as their heterogeneous influence on each dimension of thermal destination competitiveness. Moreover, the destinations' characteristics and position within the tourism area life cycle condition the relevance of the factors.