Is my city a competitive tourism destination? An assessment from residents’ perspective

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effects of natural, cultural and urban resources on the city's tourism competitiveness from the residents' perspective and identifies the factors that city managers should prioritize.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used multiple methods. The partial least squares structural equation modeling tested our theoretical assumption and the importance–performance map analysis provided an extra interpretation of the results to make them tangible to city managers. Data collection was done with residents of Viseu, Portugal.

Findings

The findings indicated that tourism competitiveness from the residents' perspective depends on the leisure activities they can enjoy as much as tourists, as the limits between tourism activities and everyday life are tenuous. The quality of leisure is part of residents' well-being; however, the results suggested that tourism development fails to engage residents in the destination's leisure offer. The cultural heritage is not attractive to them because it is part of their day-by-day living area or they need to enjoy the cultural offer. To accommodate residents' demands, destination managers need to improve the offer of outdoor activities and urban leisure opportunities.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations were the sample size and the data collection after a pandemic context, that is, in a period of economic crisis that reduced leisure consumption. The implications point out variables to managers prioritize to improve place management and rethink tourism competitiveness based on a citizen-centered view. It is also a way to understand residents as staycationers.

Practical implications

Our research contributed to urban and city research literature with meaningful findings that can help city managers improve the positive impacts of tourism on residents and enhance the integration of tourism and urban daily life.

Social implications

The authors suggested strategies for integrating residents into cultural activities.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study is set up in the frontier of rethinking and promoting society-centric tourism development. The research contributed to urban and city research literature with meaningful findings that can help city managers improve the positive impacts of tourism on residents and enhance the integration of tourism and urban daily life. In this direction, the authors suggest strategies for integrating residents into cultural activities.

Citation

Costa, R.A., Chim-Miki, A.F. and Fong, L.H.N. (2024), "Is my city a competitive tourism destination? An assessment from residents’ perspective", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 1435-1453. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-03-2024-0078