Assessing and prioritizing the factors affecting the tourism industry competitiveness in Iran

The competitive environment of international tourism industry has exposed urgent need for focus on this area. Increasing competitive capability, which can lead to maintaining and increasing market share, has become a major goal world over. Hence, the present study tries to present a quantitative approach, based on major tourism competitiveness theories and reliable survey methods, to (1) assess the factors affecting competitiveness in tourism industry, and (2) provide prioritized actions to increase destination competitiveness. The questionnaire used is based on Crouch and Ritchie’s Conceptual Model of Destination Competitiveness. Questionnaires were sent to 60 lecturers and students (graduate and doctoral) possessing sufficient knowledge of tourism science and tourism industry in Iran. 45 questionnaires were returned, among which 5 were incomplete; therefore, 40 questionnaires were analyzed. It should be noted that the survey questionnaire was divided into two sections, “condition” and “importance” of factors affecting the competitiveness of the tourism industry. According to the findings, most of the factors affecting Iran’s tourism industry competitiveness are in extremely poor condition. Such factors as
marketing destination auditing, monitoring and evaluation, advanced tourism development plan and political will all show consecutively the worst condition. Factors that relatively have the best condition are consecutively culture & history; climate; physiography; hospitality; ethnic, religious, economic cohesion; and finally, cost/value of goods and services. Then, using importance/Performance matrix as well as a quantitative approach, tourism industry priorities were determined.