Determinants of Tourist Competitiveness in the Case of Montenegro: Experts’ Assessment

Purpose – The competitiveness of tourist destinations is consistently attracting the attention of the scientific community. How can they strengthen their position on the tourist market? This is a very tough question for all tourist destinations. The goal of this research is to determine the critical competitiveness points of Montenegro as a tourist destination based on experts' assessments. Design – The determinants of the competitiveness of tourist destinations have been examined, based on the example of Montenegro. Actual available data about Montenegrin tourist competitiveness, the most significant models of tourist-destination competitiveness, and the applied methodology have been presented. Additionally, the research results are presented, instructions and recommendations are given and the limitations of the research are defined. Methodology – An interview-based method was used for this study, and the gathered data was processed by statistical methods: descriptive statistics; correlation; standard multiple regression; factorial analysis, and ANOVA and T-tests. Approach – A well-known model of tourist-destination competitiveness constructed by the authors Ritchie and Crouch has been used as a basis for this survey. Findings – The results obtained state that the experts' assessments do not deviate from the TCI results for Montenegro, and that the critical point of competitiveness for Montenegro is destination management, while destination planning, development and policy are closely connected to this factor. Originality of research – This is the first time that the competitiveness factors of Montenegro have been assessed in this manner, and there are almost no papers that consider this topic, which makes this study a significant contribution. The paper also represents an excellent basis for future in-depth research, as explained in the recommendations.