Destination competitiveness of winter sport resorts in the Alps: how sport tourists perceive destinations?

A unique selling proposition is vital for a destination in order to differentiate it from its competitors and to satisfy visitors' needs. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to test whether an adapted destination competitiveness model is empirically applicable for the demand side of a destination, and to discern what elements of destination competitiveness have an impact on the sport tourists' perceived satisfaction with their destination experience. A questionnaire survey of 1050 winter sport tourists was conducted in three municipalities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in February 2011. The study confirms the applicability of the adapted model to research on demand side destination competitiveness. The results suggested that, from the tourist's perspective, infrastructure, accessibility, hospitality, mix of activities available within the destination, and the image of the destination are important factors for perceived satisfaction. Moreover, tourists were looking to spend their holidays at a place they consider to be safe. The adapted destination competitiveness model revealed that the tourists' perceived satisfaction was particularly influenced by supporting factors and qualifying and amplifying determinants.