Towards a risk-adjusted tourism and travel competitiveness index

Abstract

The concept of Tourism Destinations Competitiveness has evolved from a price-focused perspective to the consideration of multiple factors including sustainability, residents’ well-being, or destination image. Regardless of the version used, it is expected that a competitive destination should be able to convert its advantageous position into economic returns. However, the pandemic has come to upset the foundations of the sector, since many of the destinations traditionally classified as highly competitive have also been the most affected by the pandemic. In this paper, we propose to review the notion of competitiveness by considering properly the dimension of inherent risk, using specific composite indexes, and adjusting conventional competitiveness indicators including these dimensions. We revise the results of these new adjusted by risk competitiveness indexes for the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) and OECD partner countries. Among other relevant points, the findings indicate relevant changes in rankings when we explicitly include risk in the competitiveness calculations.