THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE MARKETS OF COMPETING TOURIST DESTINATIONS.

Purpose - The aim is to understand the framework concerning the market area of competing tourist destinations and the relationship between the shape of the boundary line between markets and the factors that influence tourism to understand what is required to maintain a competitive tourist destination. Design, Methodology and Approach - The classical market area model is used, applying factors that influence the competitiveness of tourist destinations: cost to experience the tourist destination; the disutility/utility at the tourist destination; the strength of the destination's branding; transportation fee; the cost related to travel time; and the disutility/utility from transportation means. Findings - Using the above method, this research confirms how the shape of the boundary line between two competing tourist destinations is affected by these factors. This will enable tourist destinations to further develop its competitiveness by helping identify potential markets not yet captured by the tourist destination. This could assist, local governments, tourist related industries and organizations understand potential areas of investment. Originality of the research - The originality of this paper is applying the classical model of market used in economic theories to the tourism sector to understand the factors that influence competitiveness of a tourist destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]