MEASURING COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF VACATION DESTINATIONS: USING TOURISTS' SELF-REPORTED JUDGMENTS AS AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

This study has been designed to test the use of a practical approach developed (1) to measure external performance of international tourist destinations and (2) to investigate their competitive position, not only against each other but also against other major self-selected destinations on the basis of the actual tourists' perceptions of various self-reported destination attributes. The sample population chosen comprised British tourists visiting Turkey and Mallorca in the summer of 1998 and who had been to other destinations in the previous 4 years. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to achieve the research objectives. From the research findings, it is apparent that the analysis of tourists' self-reported judgments is relevant to report differences in regard to the areas of strengths and weaknesses of one destination vis-à-vis those of another in the same competitor set. Implications of the findings for the theory of consumer research in tourism, for understanding qualitative research, for destination management and marketing, and for future research are discussed.