Periódico: Tourism and Hospitality International Journal
Fonte: Tourism and Hospitality International Journal ; Vol. 2 No. 1 (2014): March 2014 [2nd Edition]; 194-212
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Resumo: This paper analyzes the international competitiveness and the pattern of European trade flows in travel services in relation to that of the rest of the world using a revealed comparative advantage approach, and import and export data, for the period 2004-2012. Moreover, it compares the structural change in trade flows across countries to determine how the state of the external competitiveness of the tourism and travel service activities has been affected by the global financial crisis since 2008. The findings suggest that competitiveness in most EU countries remained stable over the sample period. There is little evidence of a weakening of intensity of comparative advantage. However, southern European countries, namely Greece, Italy and Portugal have noticeably improved their external competitiveness. The southern and eastern European countries present strong comparative advantages in travel services, whereas northern and western European countries have a less competitive profile. The former specialize in homogenous products and the later in differentiated travel services no matter what their apparent state of comparative disadvantage. These results imply that policy makers should further upgrade their travel services and tourism products, particularly in those countries which have a weak or no revealed comparative advantage, to improve competitiveness and sustain economic growth.
