Destination competitiveness since 2010: research themes, approaches, and agenda

Purpose: This study aims to provide a systematic review of the literature on destination competitiveness. It explores research themes and approaches, and outlines an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach: One hundred and eighty-three journal articles on destination competitiveness published in English since 2010 were collected. Content analysis was performed. Findings: The authors found that sustainable development and smart tourism were popular themes related to destination competitiveness. Recent studies still relied heavily on Ritchie and Crouch’s (2000) model or Dwyer and Kim’s (2003) model. The authors also offer constructive insights for future research, proposing that research seek more input from residents, take an advanced integrated approach between supply and demand, adopt more core theories, focus on less researched types of destinations, explore the further contribution of smart tourism and adopt a negative lens to study the antecedents and consequences of destination competitiveness. The adoption of a longitudinal study approach is also suggested. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature because of the scope of its review and perspective of discussion. Previous review papers have only focused on the factors and indicators of tourism destination competitiveness in different settings. We extend our literature review to research themes and approaches, and make suggestions for future research directions.