Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 8, No 4 (2012)

Abstract

This paper comes to present and analyse the features of tourism in the main countries in Central and Western Europe, as well as the different strategies these countries adopt in order to maintain the competitiveness of the field.

In the beginning, we have defined competitiveness, as the prerequisite of market success, we have analysed its components and the main factors that determine it, as well as the competitiveness – competitive advantage relation.

During the last years, competitiveness has turned into one of the common concepts used in order to approach and describe the sustainable development of the tourism and travel industry. Expert literature has defined concepts such as tourism and travel competitiveness or touristic destinations competitiveness, suggesting not only the significance of the concept but also the emphasis that touristic organizations should lay on this aspect.

The competitiveness of touristic destinations and, generally speaking, the global competitiveness of the tourism industry became vital for the survival and growth of the touristic organizations on the international market, provided by the growth of spare time and the growth of the level of income that is available for spending the time.