Exploring the Tourism Competitiveness of a Destination: A Case Study of Georgia

The global expansion of the tourism industry has intensified competition between destinations, necessitating a deeper understanding of their competitive positioning. The aim of this study is to develop a research model that analyzes the competitive environment of a specific tourism destination and its relative position within the market, using Georgia as a case study. The competitive environment is analyzed based on the preferred travel destinations of the leading tourism-generating countries (or segments) of the destination under study. This approach is grounded in the expectation that a destination’s competitiveness in the global tourism market may differ from its position within a market composed of destinations favored by its primary visitor segments. To achieve this, the study applies the segment-centric geo-competitive environment of a tourism destination (SGE-TD) framework, which consists of three sequential analytical steps: (1) identifying competing destinations that define the study destination’s competitive environment, (2) outlining the key characteristics of this environment, and (3) identifying leading destinations and close competitors. This research has both methodological and practical implications. Methodologically, the paper introduces a structured and target-oriented framework incorporating an innovative SGE-TD approach, which defines a competitive environment based on top popular travel destinations among the top tourism generators of the study destination, along with corresponding analytical tools, which can be applied to similar studies.