Sustainability has become an important strategic objective for tourism destinations worldwide. All analytical tourism competitiveness models make direct or indirect positive references to sustainability. It is accepted that sustainable tourism can reduce resource costs and help create market differentiation. Nevertheless, it has traditionally been considered that, short term, sustainability measures can reduce profitability and compromise competitiveness. Debates on the progress, implications, and practicality of sustainable tourism remain open. The relationship between economic sustainability, and environmental and sociocultural sustainability, is a central but largely unresearched area for tourism scholars, especially at the macro level. This study explores that difficult but essential area, using the World Economic Forum's empirical evidence from 128 countries, backed by the economic data search tool of the World Travel & Tourism Council. It demonstrates that progress in tourism sustainability does not affect a country's main economic tourism indicators in the short term, and does not constrain profitability and competitiveness. It also finds that sustainable tourism is not a luxury that only rich countries can afford, nor should it prevent development and perpetuate poverty in developing countries. An effective marketing and communication program about sustainable tourism is, however, found to be essential for economic success.

On the basis of the idea that an understanding of tourists’ perceptions and preferences will enable destination managers to design actions that are coherent with potential visitors’ expectations, this study aims to analyze the destination image perceived by visitors of Andalusia and its provinces over the past decade. A slightly modified Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index is calculated in order to synthesize in a single value the evolution of these destinations’ image during that period. The values obtained enable the identification of those provinces whose image has the strongest influence on the overall destination image of Andalusia. An examination is then made of which of the four major competitiveness components proposed by the Calgary Model explain the better or poorer quality of those destination images. Electre II methods are also applied to obtain a ranking of the provinces according to their level of attractiveness, as perceived by tourists.

The purpose of this study is to address one of the main issues in Russia’s efforts to enhance tourism competitiveness: to educate a qualified workforce at the university level. A survey of tourism professionals was conducted to assess importance and performance toward a set of hospitality- and tourism management-related skills and competences. An importance-performance analysis was performed to identify relative strengths and weaknesses. Russian professionals need improved competences with respect to sustainable management, marketing and research skills. The study is limited to surveying professionals in the western part of Russia (St Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar and Sochi). Nevertheless, its implications for curriculum reform and development should be considered in the whole country. The study identifies specific areas for Russian universities to address and focus on in their curriculum reform and development efforts. Better education at universities enhances students’ employability at the time that supports tourism firms to perform better. Both together help to boost tourism destination competitiveness and sustainability, favoring progress and socio-economic development. Few studies have addressed human resource development in Russia. This study investigates the need for developing skills and competences in hospitality and tourism in Russia. This country has a significant potential for tourism development. Other countries with a developing tourism sector should benefit from the results of this study.

The purpose of this article is to analyze tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) from a demand point of view, evaluating the relevance of different TDC determinants and trying to provide an explanation about how these determinants affect tourists' choices. Specifically, this article proposes a structural equation model for TDC, based on theoretical TDC models. Secondly, the model is tested using a sample of tourists who visited the Spanish region of Andalucía in 2010. After fitting the model, an alternative model is proposed, offering a superior explanation about how destination attributes influence TDC in terms of tourists' duration of the stay, expenditure at the destination level, or the degree to which the destination matches their prior expectations. The main contribution of this article is that the determinants of TDC are evaluated from a demand point of view (tourists' perceptions of the attributes that define the tourism destination value proposition) instead of a supply point of view (destination managers' opinions or experts' judgments). Consequently, some light is shed about how the main factors determining TDC are modulated by tourist perceptions. The relevance of this approach rests on the fact that tourists have the last word when choosing their holiday destination; therefore, it exposes a destination's ability to attract tourists and to provide satisfactory experiences to assure its own competitiveness. Paradoxically, despite the relevance of tourism demand as a factor to explain TDC, very few studies have analyzed TDC from a tourist or demand perspective. Finally, existing theoretical models explaining TDC do not establish causal relationships between its determinants. This article, however, identifies connections between TDC determinants, as well as the influence of these relationships and determinants over TDC.

This introductory chapter presents and discusses some of the salient challenges and trends (i.e., climate change, overtourism, threats to diversity, security, technology, labour issues, and competitiveness) that the tourism sector is facing and that must be addressed by any government and manager who has the ambition to lead a responsible, sustainable, and competitive destination. The chapter proposes to consider tourism from a different and more holistic perspective: Tourism should not be viewed only as an economic engine that sells services, but as an activity that is part of a global natural and socio-cultural system which is impacted by tourism (both positively and negatively) and that should also contribute to improvement and sustainability. It discusses how smart destinations require innovative development, management, and marketing solutions to address those challenges and trends to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). Finally, the chapter introduces and proposes the model of the Spanish Secretariat of State for Tourism, developed by SEGITTUR, for the Smart Tourism Management.