Composite Indexes for Measuring Destination Competitiveness of Italian Regions

As tourism brings about economic benefits through spending, infrastructure development and investments, destination competitiveness has raised in the last decades interest in the scientific and academic literature. Then, researchers and policymakers are becoming more and more involved in finding the drivers of this phenomenon. However, the complexity and multidimensionality of destination competitiveness make its measurement a challenging task. One of the most powerful tools for measuring multidimensional phenomena is the composite index, and in this paper, a synthetic measure based on a non-compensatory approach for calculating destination attractiveness is proposed. This index, calculated for the Italian regions, is then compared with regional tourism performances, with the aim of assessing destination competitiveness. The results highlight the strength of this approach for the construction of a composite index, and show an original application on Italian regional data.