Tourism Destination Competitiveness: Internal and External Comparisons of Malta and Cyprus

Abstract

This article provides an objective statistical study of tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) on the two Mediterranean Islands of Malta and Cyprus. Both islands have been in the business of tourism for over 50 years and share many similarities and also provide very reliable, comparable tourism data. The study is based on an analysis of the publications of National Statistics Office (NSO) bulletins, annuals, official references, and special reports from both countries. Malta's competitiveness is evaluated through statistical interpretation of performance measures. This analysis provides a means of evaluating competitiveness based on internal assessment, but an external evaluation is also provided by comparing the performance of Malta to that of Cyprus. Finally, the competitiveness of both Malta and Cyprus is evaluated within a global and Mediterranean context.