Identifying and Ranking the Determinants of Tourism Performance: A Global Investigation

After a prolonged period of growth, driven, in part, by an increasing number of affluent consumers, the international tourism industry is now suffering the effects of a weaker world economy. These tougher market conditions have, in turn, led to increasing competition. As a result, countries, their tourism industries, and tourism businesses seek to improve the performance of the tourism industry and its constituents by vigorously promoting themselves to international tourists, cutting costs, and identifying synergies in their tourism endeavors. In seeking to improve the tourism industry, the determinants that affect tourism performance are of key interest to the stakeholders. A key obstacle toward improving performance is the multitude of determinants that can affect tourism performance. The literature has yet to provide concrete insights into the determinants of tourism performance and their relative importance. The present study addresses this important gap. We identify and rank the determinants of tourism performance. We also provide performance measures of international tourism destinations. The results are derived using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and bootstrap truncated regression models. The study also discusses the implications of the findings and highlights their importance to both the academic literature and the international tourism industry.