Tourism competitiveness and tourism sector performance: Empirical insights from new data

The relevance of the tourism to the prosperity of nations has long been acknowledged. However, there is dearth of studies linking the tourism competitiveness TC to tourism performance. This study considered the global perspective of the nexus between TC and tourism performance. It captures heterogeneity of the countries and measures of both tourism competiveness and performance. Using three-stage least square panel data estimation techniques, the maor findings reveal that TC is a maor driver of the tourism flows and tourism contribution to GDP for all regions and income groups of countries across the world. However, the effects heterogeneous based on the regions and income groups of the countries as well as the measures of the tourism performance. Infrastructure is a universal driver of tourism performance while policy conditions, enabling environment, and Natural and Cultural Resources are also critical determinants of tourism performance. Thus, this study suggest that, for countries around the world to promote the performance of the tourism sector, policymakers and stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry should give adequate attention to the improvement of the TC and factor in the multidimensional nature of the relationship between TC and tourism performance in their policy frameworks. The provide policy recommendation suitable for each region and income groups of countries.