Differentiating Competitiveness through Tourism Image Assessment: An Application to Andalusia (Spain)

On the basis of the idea that an understanding of tourists' perceptions and preferences will enable destination managers to design actions that are coherent with potential visitors' expectations, this study aims to analyze the destination image perceived by visitors of Andalusia and its provinces over the past decade. A slightly modified Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index is calculated in order to synthesize in a single value the evolution of these destinations' image during that period. The values obtained enable the identification of those provinces whose image has the strongest influence on the overall destination image of Andalusia. An examination is then made of which of the four major competitiveness components proposed by the Calgary Model explain the better or poorer quality of those destination images. Electre II methods are also applied to obtain a ranking of the provinces according to their level of attractiveness, as perceived by tourists.