Tourism Diversification and Its Implications for Smart Specialisation

The complex nature of tourism, its strong inter-sectoral relationships and regional dimension challenge innovation. The advent of smart specialisation, which focuses on regional diversification across sectors, offers considerable and hitherto largely unrealized potential for developing innovative tourism policies within this new agenda. This paper addresses the understudied concept of tourism diversification and its unrealized relevance to smart specialisation, which has emerged as a mainstream logic underpinning EU Cohesion Policy reforms and has diffused into other OECD countries. It provides a theoretical framework for studying product, market, sectoral and regional diversification as well as related variety in tourism. Some policy implications for realizing tourism diversification and for the potential role of tourism in smart specialisation strategies in particular are suggested

Tourism, smart specialisation, growth, and resilience

This work analyses the implications of tourism dynamics and smart specialisation strategies on growth and socioeconomic resilience of European regions where tourism is a regional priority. By using a panel data model for 2006-2017, phases of growth, recession, and recovery are scrutinised. A convergence process is identified, with higher growth rates for less-developed regions; however, the most developed regions are more resilient. Tourism demand is positively correlated with growth and resilience but a high share of tourism within regional employment has negative impacts on both. Specialisation patterns combining tourism with agriculture have positive effects in both cases. Diversification strategies including unrelated sectors contribute to increased resilience in these regions, and a prioritisation of construction reduces regional resilience.FCT e FEDER/COMPETE: UIDB/04007/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of cluster types and firm size in designing the level of network relations: The experience of the Antalya tourism region

The importance of developing global as well as local networks between tourism firms and clusters seeking to attain global competitiveness has been increasingly emphasized in previous studies. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of local and global networking in firms of different sizes and of differentiated cluster types (based on specialization and agglomeration) in tourism. This paper differs from previous researches in that it addresses the tourism dimension of the networking literature and employs a quantitative method of analysis based on a firm-level survey. The findings of this paper reveal that there is a positive relation between large firms and the global level of networking. The specialization and agglomeration of firms in a cluster does not determine the level of connectedness, but rather it is the size of the firm in a cluster that determines the level of networking of that cluster. Based on the research findings, the paper explores the necessity of developing networks not only at a local level but also at a global level by emphasizing the defining factors

The role of tourism public-private partnerships in regional development: a conceptual model proposal

Tourism is characterized as being a sector that stands out as one of the business activities with the greatest potential for worldwide expansion, and as an engine for economic growth. If at the national level, the appeal of tourism is significant, on the local level this sector presents itself as an essential tool in regional development, as a means to avoid regional desertification and stagnation, stimulating the potential of more undeveloped regions. In such a competitive sector as tourism, companies should develop synergies and achieve competitive advantage. In this context, public-private partnerships play an important role in regional development. The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical context that combines different concepts and elements to explain and understand the public-private partnership phenomenon in tourism. A conceptual model of the role of public-private partnerships will be proposed in order to contribute to successful regional development