Generalized pattern in competition among tourism destinations

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine competition between tourism destination brands in terms of how they share travelers with each other.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes survey data from four international markets (USA, UK, Japan and Singapore). The study examines the cross‐purchasing of travel destinations. It applies an established empirical generalization, the duplication of purchase law (DPL) to frame hypotheses and contextualize results.FindingsThe overall results are consistent with the DPL. Destination brands share tourists with other destinations generally in‐line with the popularity of the competing destination. However, there are very noticeable market partitions, most of which take two forms: destinations that are either geographically close to each other, or close to the point of origin. Destination brands in these partitions share travelers far more than they would be expected to, given their respective size.Practical implicationsTourism marketers need to appreciate the broad nature of competition. A specific destination brand competes with many other travel destinations, sharing customers more with other broadly popular destinations and less with less popular destinations.Originality/valueThe analytical approach presented in this study provides a straightforward benchmark for assessing the expected level of competition between particular tourist destinations, given their respective overall popularity.