Measuring Destination Competitiveness: The Case of Mountains in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to do a comparative analysis of the competitiveness of mountains in Serbia (Kopaonik, Zlatibor and Stara planina) as tourism destinations and explore impact of key attributes on their competitiveness. Design/method/approach – The following methods are used in the paper: comparative and correlation analysis. Findings – Although the mountain that record the highest tourism traffic has better competitiveness then other observed mountains, the results of the analysis indicate that it does not exist a significant correlation between tourism traffic and the tourism competitiveness of mountains in Republic of Serbia. In the future, it is essential that the Serbia apply appropriate measures in order to increase competitiveness of observed mountains as tourist destinations. Practical implication – In the paper special attention was paid to use the appropriate methodology to identify the competitiveness of the surveyed mountains as tourist destinations. Based on the background of destination competitiveness theories, the survey was made with the aim to analyze the competition of mountains as tourism destinations. Originality/Value – The findings suggests that the factors of destination competitiveness are different in importance.