Tourism competitiveness and specialization in south mediterranean countries : a panel data approach

Abstract EN

Given the impressive development of technology and transportation, the variety of destinations competing for domestic and international travelers is now much broader than in the past.

The pressure exerted by competition is compelling South Mediterranean Countries’ (SMCs) governments to reevaluate existing tourism resources and to capitalize on them to maintain a competitive edge.

The objectives of this paper are to investigate the competitiveness in tourism of the SMCs for which data are available and to conduct an econometric analysis of the evolution of the countries’ specialization in tourism in order to evaluate what causes these changes.