Camping-destination efficiency: A DEA-cluster approach to resource endowment and deployment

This study examines the capacity of campsites to convert their resource endowment into performance by distinguishing the internal attractiveness potential of the establishment from the external attractiveness potential of the tourism destination. Based on a sample of 51 French campsites, the article proposes a campsite-destination reading of efficiency, grounded in a four-configuration segmentation, an output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis, and a cluster analysis of efficient units. The objective is to identify the best-performing establishments and their profiles, while also exploring whether campsites with limited resource endowments or located in less attractive territories can nonetheless deploy their resources efficiently. This perspective reconsiders the role of small campsites in policies designed to finance competitiveness, safeguarding activity, and support sectoral transformation. It invites scholars and policymakers to move beyond conventional sector-wide comparisons and toward contingent benchmarking that is attentive to constraints, available resources, and feasible pathways for development.