IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i2p516-d131953.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating Tourist Destination Performance: Expanding the Sustainability Concept

Author

Listed:
  • Wenbin Luo

    (College of Tourism, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China)

Abstract

Performance evaluations are a critical tool in promoting the sustainability of tourist destinations. The literature shows a lack of consensus on basic terminology and definitions of destination performance. While research focuses on business efficiency, areas such as development effectiveness, social equality, and environmental integrity are still not well understood, even though these are salient elements of sustainable development. This paper provides a framework for evaluating destination performance under the 4E rubric of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and environmental quality, which reflects a more holistic and effective destination performance. The information entropy weight method and a multi-factor comprehensive evaluation model are developed and applied to an international destination, Zhangjiajie, China, which was selected as a case study to test the framework developed. Results show that the economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and environmental quality aspects should be considered when evaluating tourism development performance. The empirical analysis shows that based on these criteria, Zhangjiajie’s destination performance improved measurably during the test period from 2005 to 2009. The results indicate that significant events, natural disasters, and financial crises influence performance most.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenbin Luo, 2018. "Evaluating Tourist Destination Performance: Expanding the Sustainability Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:516-:d:131953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/2/516/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/2/516/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molina-Azorin, José F. & Pereira-Moliner, Jorge & Claver-Cortés, Enrique, 2010. "The importance of the firm and destination effects to explain firm performance," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 22-28.
    2. Christine Lim & Michael McAleer, 2003. "Ecologically Sustainable Tourism Management," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-206, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. Huang, Yuti & Coelho, Vânia R., 2017. "Sustainability performance assessment focusing on coral reef protection by the tourism industry in the Coral Triangle region," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 510-527.
    4. Keh, Hean Tat & Chu, Singfat & Xu, Jiye, 2006. "Efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of marketing in services," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(1), pages 265-276, April.
    5. Zhang, Linjia & Botti, Laurent & Petit, Sylvain, 2016. "Destination performance: Introducing the utility function in the mean-variance space," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 123-132.
    6. Castellani, V. & Sala, S., 2010. "Sustainable performance index for tourism policy development," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 871-880.
    7. Bastida, Unai & Huan, T.C., 2014. "Performance evaluation of tourism websites' information quality of four global destination brands: Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 167-170.
    8. Zhang, Hong & Gu, Chao-lin & Gu, Lu-wen & Zhang, Yan, 2011. "The evaluation of tourism destination competitiveness by TOPSIS & information entropy – A case in the Yangtze River Delta of China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 443-451.
    9. Chen, Ming-Hsiang, 2010. "The economy, tourism growth and corporate performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 665-675.
    10. Guido Candela & Paolo Figini, 2012. "The Economics of Tourism Destinations," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-642-20874-4, August.
    11. Avci, Umut & Madanoglu, Melih & Okumus, Fevzi, 2011. "Strategic orientation and performance of tourism firms: Evidence from a developing country," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 147-157.
    12. Jose A. Puppim De Oliveira & Yijia Jing & Paul Collins & Jie Gao, 2015. "Performance Measurement and Management in the Public Sector: Some Lessons from Research Evidence," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 86-96, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nora Zulvianti & Hasdi Aimon & Abror Abror, 2022. "The Influence of Environmental and Non-Environmental Factors on Tourist Satisfaction in Halal Tourism Destinations in West Sumatra, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Eman Ahmed Aly Ismail, 2020. "Forecasting the number of Arab and foreign tourists in Egypt using ARIMA models," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 11(2), pages 450-454, April.
    3. Yi Lu, 2022. "The Measurement of High-Quality Development Level of Tourism: Based on the Perspective of Industrial Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Henky Lesmana & Sugiarto Sugiarto & Christiana Yosevina & Handyanto Widjojo, 2022. "A Competitive Advantage Model for Indonesia’s Sustainable Tourism Destinations from Supply and Demand Side Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Kyriaki Glyptou & Nikos Kalogeras & Dimitrios Skuras & Ioannis Spilanis, 2022. "Clustering Sustainable Destinations: Empirical Evidence from Selected Mediterranean Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, May.
    6. Lidia Blanco-Cerradelo & M. Isabel Diéguez-Castrillón & José Antonio Fraiz-Brea & Ana Gueimonde-Canto, 2022. "Protected Areas and Tourism Resources: Toward Sustainable Management," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Octavi Bono i Gispert & Salvador Anton Clavé & Martí Casadesús Fa, 2023. "The Internalization of Participation and Coherence Dimensions of Governance in Tourism Destination Management Organizations—An Exploratory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-29, January.
    8. Kai Wang & Chang Gan & Yan Ou & Haolong Liu, 2019. "Low-Carbon Behaviour Performance of Scenic Spots in a World Heritage Site," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-23, July.
    9. Christian Rainero & Giuseppe Modarelli, 2020. "The Attractive Power of Rural Destinations and a Synergistic Community Cooperative Approach: A “Tourismability” Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-41, September.
    10. Yuetao Yang & Gowhar Ahmad Wani & V. Nagaraj & Mohammad Haseeb & Sameer Sultan & Md. Emran Hossain & Mustafa Kamal & Syed Mehmood Raza Shah, 2023. "Progress in Sustainable Tourism Research: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature and Future Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Nora Zulvianti & Hasdi Aimon & Abror Abror, 2023. "Perceived Environmental Value, Destination Image, and Tourist Loyalty: The Role of Tourist Satisfaction and Religiosity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-13, May.
    12. Leonidas Hatzithomas & Christina Boutsouki & Fotini Theodorakioglou & Evanthia Papadopoulou, 2021. "The Link between Sustainable Destination Image, Brand Globalness and Consumers’ Purchase Intention: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sainaghi, Ruggero & Phillips, Paul & Zavarrone, Emma, 2017. "Performance measurement in tourism firms: A content analytical meta-approach," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 36-56.
    2. Elbanna, Said, 2016. "Managers' autonomy, strategic control, organizational politics and strategic planning effectiveness: An empirical investigation into missing links in the hotel sector," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 210-220.
    3. Marzieh Fallah & Lanndon Ocampo, 2021. "The use of the Delphi method with non-parametric analysis for identifying sustainability criteria and indicators in evaluating ecotourism management: the case of Penang National Park (Malaysia)," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 45-62, March.
    4. Zha, Jianping & He, Lamei & Liu, Yang & Shao, Yuhong, 2019. "Evaluation on development efficiency of low-carbon tourism economy: A case study of Hubei Province, China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 47-57.
    5. Rainer Andergassen & Guido Candela & Paolo Figini, 2017. "The management of tourism destinations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 49-65, February.
    6. Buongiorno, Alessandro & Intini, Mario, 2021. "Sustainable tourism and mobility development in natural protected areas: Evidence from Apulia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Salvatore Bimonte & Antonella D’Agostino, 2021. "Tourism development and residents’ well-being: Comparing two seaside destinations in Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1508-1525, November.
    8. Panasiuk Aleksander, 2020. "Policy of Sustainable Development of Urban Tourism," Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 27(2), pages 33-37, June.
    9. Kim, Joon Ho & Kang, Kyung Ho, 2018. "The effect of promotion on gaming revenue: A study of the US casino industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 317-326.
    10. Alberca-Oliver, Pilar & Rodríguez-Oromendía, Ainhoa & Parte-Esteban, Laura, 2015. "Measuring the efficiency of trade shows: A Spanish case study," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 127-137.
    11. Carolyn‐Dung Thi Thanh Tran & Brian Dollery, 2021. "All in the Mind: Citizen Satisfaction and Financial Performance in the Victorian Local Government System," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(1), pages 51-64, March.
    12. László Könnyid & Zsuzsanna Váradi & Zsombor Nagy & Noémi Ilyés & Orsolya H. Horváth, 2022. "The Changes in the Demographic Characteristics and Spatial Structure of Tourism Demand in the West Balaton Region’s Spa Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-14, August.
    13. Víctor Pérez & Alain Hernández & Flor Guerrero & María Amparo León & Christian Luiz Silva & Rafael Caballero, 2016. "Sustainability Ranking for Cuban Tourist Destinations Based on Composite Indexes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 425-444, October.
    14. Taotao Deng & Chen Gan & Yukun Hu, 2021. "Do hotel business benefit from increased tourist accessibility? Evidence from China’s high-speed railway program," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1357-1374, November.
    15. Assaf, A. George & Josiassen, Alexander & Agbola, Frank W., 2015. "Attracting international hotels: Locational factors that matter most," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 329-340.
    16. Yamilé Pérez Guilarte & Daniel Barreiro Quintáns, 2019. "Using Big Data to Measure Tourist Sustainability: Myth or Reality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    17. Mónica de Castro-Pardo & Pascual Fernández Martínez & Amelia Pérez Zabaleta & João C. Azevedo, 2021. "Dealing with Water Conflicts: A Comprehensive Review of MCDM Approaches to Manage Freshwater Ecosystem Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-32, April.
    18. Xiao, Huijuan & Wang, Daoping & Qi, Yu & Shao, Shuai & Zhou, Ya & Shan, Yuli, 2021. "The governance-production nexus of eco-efficiency in Chinese resource-based cities: A two-stage network DEA approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Wanke, Peter Fernandes & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel José & Moreira Antunes, Jorge Junio & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Roubaud, David & Sobreiro, Vinicius Amorim & Santibanez Gonzalez‬, Erne, 2021. "An original information entropy-based quantitative evaluation model for low-carbon operations in an emerging market," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    20. Carayannis, Elias G. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F. & Bento, Paulo & Ferreira, João J.M. & Jalali, Marjan S. & Fernandes, Bernardo M.Q., 2018. "Developing a socio-technical evaluation index for tourist destination competitiveness using cognitive mapping and MCDA," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 147-158.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:516-:d:131953. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.