What macroeconomic index differentiates or similar the European tourism competitiviness? A multimethod analysis
Petru Maior University of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania
PROCEEDINGS of
North International Conference of Economics,
Issue 1 / 2016,
pp.208-214
ISSN 2537-317X
ABSTRACT
In the current economic context countries are exposed to long-term structural shifts that
challenge tourism development strategies and range from destination marketing to product
offerings and infrastructure planning. Tourism nations need to ensure their long-term
competitiveness with a consistent sustainability perspective. In the present paper, we aimed at
carrying out a research on the European countries tourism competitiveness using statistical
data analysistools,respectively non-parametric correlations and non-parametric statistic tests.
Our analysis is based on the 14 pillars described in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness
Report 2015 - World Economic Forum taking into consideration only the European countries.
Using the non-parametric statistical methods has emphasized aspects that are not noticeable
directly from ranking carried-out by the World Economic Forum based on The Travel &
Tourism Competitiveness Index. Completing the previous results, this research points out that,
of the 14 pillars of T&TCI the strongest direct correlation is between air transport and ICT
infrastructure, i.e. those pillars that led to the fact that, the Top 10 countries are clearly
differentiated by the other groups. We have also emphasized that human resources is another
important pillar that differentiates the ranks of the 42 countries, being medium correlated with
price competitiveness and cultural resources. The results of this research will be the base of
applying some other statistical methods, for instance, analysis of discriminating order to study
thoroughly and better the differences or similarities between the 42 European countries.
Keywords: tourism competitiveness index, European country, non-parametric statistics test, non-parametric correlations
