Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness

Research Question: This paper investigates into how the relationship between the perceived quality of tourists’ experiences and their expectations of the well-reputed urban tourist destinations affect its competitiveness. Motivation: Most of the published research in this field focuses on a general...

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Main Authors: Vladimir Pavković, Tamara Vlastelica, Milica Kostić-Stanković, Jasmina Dlačić
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organisational Sciences 2023-12-01
Series:Management
Subjects:
Online Access:https://management.fon.bg.ac.rs/index.php/mng/article/view/469
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author Vladimir Pavković
Tamara Vlastelica
Milica Kostić-Stanković
Jasmina Dlačić
author_facet Vladimir Pavković
Tamara Vlastelica
Milica Kostić-Stanković
Jasmina Dlačić
author_sort Vladimir Pavković
collection DOAJ
description Research Question: This paper investigates into how the relationship between the perceived quality of tourists’ experiences and their expectations of the well-reputed urban tourist destinations affect its competitiveness. Motivation: Most of the published research in this field focuses on a general approach to the competitiveness, while the effect of the individual dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness, especially in case of urban tourist destinations, is still insufficiently explored. This study provides insights and recommendations for destination management that would result in a more effective management of urban tourist destinations and, consequently, increase competitiveness of the destination. Idea: The main idea of this study is to empirically evaluate the relationship between the perceived quality of tourists’ experiences and their expectations from urban tourist destinations, and to identify the most important dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness, taking into consideration different motivational factors. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to give recommendations that can contribute to increasing tourists’ satisfaction and competitiveness of the urban tourist destination. Data: The study was conducted on a sample of 312 respondents from Belgrade, a large outbound tourist centre, who met the pre-established set of criteria. Computer-aided web interviewing (CAWI) was used for data collection. Tools: The study was conducted using the Pearson correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between the perceived quality of experiences and expectations, and the SERVQUAL model for measuring quality of dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness by evaluating the differences between perceived quality and expectations, and descriptive statistics. Findings: Traditional understanding of tourists’ satisfaction that leads to tourist destination competitiveness is that the tourists’ expectations must be either met or exceeded. This study showed that tourists’ expectations from certain dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness may be higher than the quality of the experience with them, but tourists would still be satisfied if the perceived quality of their experiences was positive. Moreover, the study has identified three social and one physical dimension of tourist destination attractiveness as the most significant, regardless of tourists’ travel motivation. Contribution: The study contributes to the existing body of literature by introduction of the new data-driven approach to the strategic processes of managing urban tourist destination and its dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness.
format Article
id doaj-art-431242313a714970badd8927ce9e59bd
institution Kabale University
issn 1820-0222
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language English
publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organisational Sciences
record_format Article
series Management
spelling doaj-art-431242313a714970badd8927ce9e59bd2025-02-05T11:51:29ZengUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty of Organisational SciencesManagement1820-02222406-06582023-12-01293233410.7595/management.fon.2023.0016439Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination CompetitivenessVladimir Pavković0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8739-4799Tamara Vlastelica1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1247-4142Milica Kostić-Stanković2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8334-7063Jasmina Dlačić3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3592-1876Academy of Applied Studies in Belgrade, The College of Tourism, SerbiaUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, SerbiaUniversity of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, SerbiaUniversity of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, CroatiaResearch Question: This paper investigates into how the relationship between the perceived quality of tourists’ experiences and their expectations of the well-reputed urban tourist destinations affect its competitiveness. Motivation: Most of the published research in this field focuses on a general approach to the competitiveness, while the effect of the individual dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness, especially in case of urban tourist destinations, is still insufficiently explored. This study provides insights and recommendations for destination management that would result in a more effective management of urban tourist destinations and, consequently, increase competitiveness of the destination. Idea: The main idea of this study is to empirically evaluate the relationship between the perceived quality of tourists’ experiences and their expectations from urban tourist destinations, and to identify the most important dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness, taking into consideration different motivational factors. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to give recommendations that can contribute to increasing tourists’ satisfaction and competitiveness of the urban tourist destination. Data: The study was conducted on a sample of 312 respondents from Belgrade, a large outbound tourist centre, who met the pre-established set of criteria. Computer-aided web interviewing (CAWI) was used for data collection. Tools: The study was conducted using the Pearson correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between the perceived quality of experiences and expectations, and the SERVQUAL model for measuring quality of dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness by evaluating the differences between perceived quality and expectations, and descriptive statistics. Findings: Traditional understanding of tourists’ satisfaction that leads to tourist destination competitiveness is that the tourists’ expectations must be either met or exceeded. This study showed that tourists’ expectations from certain dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness may be higher than the quality of the experience with them, but tourists would still be satisfied if the perceived quality of their experiences was positive. Moreover, the study has identified three social and one physical dimension of tourist destination attractiveness as the most significant, regardless of tourists’ travel motivation. Contribution: The study contributes to the existing body of literature by introduction of the new data-driven approach to the strategic processes of managing urban tourist destination and its dimensions of tourist destination attractiveness.https://management.fon.bg.ac.rs/index.php/mng/article/view/469urban tourist destinationtourist destination attractivenesscompetitivenesstourists’ expectationstourists’ experiences
spellingShingle Vladimir Pavković
Tamara Vlastelica
Milica Kostić-Stanković
Jasmina Dlačić
Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
Management
urban tourist destination
tourist destination attractiveness
competitiveness
tourists’ expectations
tourists’ experiences
title Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
title_full Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
title_fullStr Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
title_full_unstemmed Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
title_short Experiences and Expectations: Drivers of Urban Tourist Destination Competitiveness
title_sort experiences and expectations drivers of urban tourist destination competitiveness
topic urban tourist destination
tourist destination attractiveness
competitiveness
tourists’ expectations
tourists’ experiences
url https://management.fon.bg.ac.rs/index.php/mng/article/view/469
work_keys_str_mv AT vladimirpavkovic experiencesandexpectationsdriversofurbantouristdestinationcompetitiveness
AT tamaravlastelica experiencesandexpectationsdriversofurbantouristdestinationcompetitiveness
AT milicakosticstankovic experiencesandexpectationsdriversofurbantouristdestinationcompetitiveness
AT jasminadlacic experiencesandexpectationsdriversofurbantouristdestinationcompetitiveness