A competitividade dos destinos turísticos: o caso da Área Regional de Turismo do Centro de Portugal

Abstract

Tourism sector has been featured for its pronounced increase potential in worldwide having a significant role as competitiveness tool and regional development engine. This theme has been subject of great interest from many researchers and this standing is due to the opportunities that can be identified to mitigate regional disparities in any country. However, despite of the diversity of studies, there is few ones focused on the empirical validation of tourist destination models. This research aims to
contribute to filling this gap, having as objective to evaluate the competitiveness of the tourism in Centro region of Portugal. It was used as methodology primary data and applied a questionnaire to companies with specific activities of the satellite account of World Tourism Organization. As statistic method was adopted the structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest several significant relationships between resources, supply and tourism destination management as key-factors of the regional competitiveness under study.