Regarding the competitiveness of a tourist destination

It is necessary to mention that competitiveness is no guarantee of performance. If the destination uses its comparative (climate, scenery, flora, fauna) and competitive (infrastructure, management, skills of workers, policies) advantages, the implementation of strategies surrounding these advantages, and their concurrence with destination goals, will be judged by stakeholders and visitors alike.

In the author’s opinion the competitiveness will represent the main pillar of business in tourism, as well as of tourist destinations, if competitiveness is understood as the performance to be the best, and competitiveness and competitive advantage will be fundamental values of future strategies.

Regarding Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility

In large part because of the new wave of globalization, there is a far more powerful connection between business and social impact, a commitment for socially based solutions being a requirement for success in serving an array of markets, and this trend will continue and expand also in other areas.

The main findings of the author’s research regarding the economic pillar of sustainability are listed below:

-   Economic growth has created immense wealth in some areas of the globe, but left others behind;

-   If growth was once the driving force transforming the quality of human life, now it turns out to be subject to severely diminishing returns;

-   In order to survive, the global economy is compelled to keep growing like a cancer, at an unsustainable rate that will kill its host if we are not taking the necessary measures;

-   The necessity of moving from efficiency to sufficiency and well-being;

-   The necessity to replace the dominant values of greed, competition and accumulation, for those of solidarity, cooperation and compassion;

-   Growth is not the same as development; development does not necessarily require growth;

-   The economy is a subsystem of a larger and finite system, the biosphere; hence permanent growth is impossible;

-   The necessity of creating communities that do not require major and continuous movement of individuals on a daily basis – by bringing together home, work and leisure locations as far as possible;

-   More emphasis on measuring the well-being of the population than on economic production;

-   The future development of modern human society has to be built on sustainable principle and on the concept of quality of life or happiness.

The main findings of the author’s research regarding the social pillar of sustainability are listed below:

-   Social sustainability means responding better to local communities and promoting social inclusion, cohesion and accountability;

-   Socially sustainable communities are equitable, diverse, connected and democratic and provide a good quality of life;

-   The social policy areas and principals involved are equity and health, participation, needs, social capital, the economy, the environment, happiness, wellbeing and quality of life;

-   Suppose good quality social infrastructure and local services, support for community development, opportunities for residents to get involved in local decision making, and shared social spaces and activities in new communities.

The main findings of the author’s research regarding the cultural pillar of sustainability, a pillar recently accepted by the experts, are listed below:

-   A society’s culture is made by the society's values and the ways they are expressed;

-   Culture fosters sustainable development: as a driver and as an enabler;

-   Cultural heritage, cultural and creative industries, sustainable cultural tourism, and cultural infrastructure can serve as strategic tools for revenue generation;

-   Culture and heritage create individual and community identity, promote social cohesion, and contribute to the creation of “social capital”;

-   Culture as a force for urban regeneration and social inclusion, by encouraging heritage preservation, fostering creative industries, and recognizing the value-added of cultural diversity;

-   Linking tourism with heritage and culture can do more for local economies than promoting them separately. It can bring increased revenue to the heritage sites and, more broadly, to the community and country that hosts them and it can be an engine of economic growth.

The biggest part of the destinations' strategies for the future, as resulting from the research, relates to:

-   adopting a smart tourism management

-   developing a new brand identity brief

-   strategies for product development that supports existing attractions and create original, new tourism concepts and experiences, building distinctive and sustainable tourism products, services, attractions and infrastructure

-   all-year-round cultural offer, arts and festivals

-   heritage & places of interests, shopping, entertainment, nature & adventure, luxury travel, sports, business & mice, medical & wellness, education are also major development directions

-   creative tourism as a tool for re-thinking places. In this manner, a destination that was previously reliant of the heritage of the past will be creatively linked to new sectors, in order to engage, as experts consider, new visitor markets and extend its product portfolio

-   extending tourism’s footprint toward destination's neighborhood

-   cooperation and partnerships; the creation of clusters

-   community engagement

-   green development

-   some of the destinations, particularly those mature, are targeting the growth markets of central and eastern Asia, especially China, adapting its products and services to meet the requirements of visitors from these countries.

Regarding countries' strategies for tourism development, as the author showed in the thesis, the main focus areas are:

-   adapting to the growing demand from Asia: Australia, Estonia, France

-   building competitive digital capacity: Australia

-   innovation: Austria

-   improve cooperation between stakeholders and their involvement in the development of the destination: Czech Republic, Hungary

-   ensure the safety of consumer goods and services: Finland

-   “access-to-holidays” policy for disabled people: France; or for seniors and families facing difficult circumstances: Hungary, Poland, Romania

-   training and education: Germany, UK

-   sustainable tourism: Germany, Hungary, Turkey

-   quality: Germany, Hungary, Finland, Australia, Slovak Republic

-   cycling: Finland, SlovakRepublic

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