Analysis of factors determing the competitiveness in tourism: The case of Mediterranean countries

From ancient times countries compete with each other to be superior on various topics. One of this topic is Tourism. Various strategies has been carried out to ensure and develop tourism competiveness. In the contemporary era, tourism has been recognized as a significant economic contributor, particularly in the 21st century,wherein it has emerged as a crucial source of income for countries. Moreover, it has concurrently evolved into a prominent employement provider, specifically for developing nations. Due to these features, tourism has become a tool to decrease the regional differences and increase prosperity. Hence the importance of tourism competitiveness arises for both developed and deveolping countires. Accoring to literasture the factors of competitieness is diverse and it varies across time and regions. Therefore the debate on prioritization of the factors is an on going debate among the researchers and policy makers. This study, focuses on Mediterranean Countries, which have a significant share of world tourism revenues. The factors determining tourism competitiveness between 2007- 2021 were analyzed using PLS and multiple regression analysis techniques with data collected between the years 2020-2023. The population of the study consists of 66 countries with healthy data published during the study period. The study sample consists of 16 Mediterranean Countries, which are France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Albania, Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro, Morocco, Malta, Tunisia, Slovenia, Slovenia, Israel and Turkey. In terms of contribution to the literature, unlike the studies on the changes in tourism after the pandemic, this study examines the concept of competitiveness for both periods. Despite the dramatic changes in tourism before and after the pandemic, it has been observed that there are independent variables that remain important in both periods. These variables include general issues such as law, economy, education and tourism-specific issues such as airlines and visa regulations. This points to the multidimensional nature of competitiveness. It can be said that policy makers and decision makers' attention to these factors, including during the crisis period, will have a positive impact on destination competitiveness. KEY WORDS: Competitiveness, Strategy, Tourism.