Class Strategic Management and Competitiveness

The curricular unit develops core skills in planning and strategic management of tourist destinations, working the fundamental concepts and methods of strategic management and applying them to the development and management of tourist destinations. The following three central subject matter lines are worked:

• Strategic management of tourist destinations.
• Destination strategy and competitiveness.
• Strategic planning in the context of tourist destination development and management.

1. Strategic Management and Tourist Destinations
   1. Fundamental concepts of strategic management
   2. Strategy in the corporate context and in the context of tourist destination development and management
   3. Entervening elements in the process of strategic management
   4. Strategic management of destinations and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs)
   5. New digital dimensions of strategy
2. Tourist Destination Strategic Management and Competitiveness
   1. Srrategic choice of the tourist development profile
   2. Destination positioning and definition of the mission, vision and values for the destination
   3. Competitive intelligence and destination competitiveness
   4. Competitive differentiation strategies and destination life-cycle
   5. Methods for evaluating destination competitiveness
3. Strategic planning
   1. Strategic planning in the context of tourist destination development and management
   2. Strategic planning and destination life-cycle
   3. Strategic threats to tourist destinations and contingency plans

The classes are theoretical-practical, being worked in class multiple examples of real cases in such a way that students are able to apply the concepts and methods of strategy to the development and management of tourist destinations and are able to elaborate a strategic plan for the development of a tourist destination.  In addition to articles and books, digital media are also used with information on tourist destinations, taking advantage of the process of digitalization of the sector, in addition, new digital strategic analysis tools in the context of strategic analysis are introduced and exemplified including: ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Evaluation: 1 test - 25% of the grade; Final work. 75% with 3 partial deliveries worth 30, 25 and 20% respectively.

• Evans, N. (2020), Strategic Management for Tourism, Hospitality and Events. Routledge.

• Okumus, F.,  Altinay, L.,  Chathoth, P.,  Koseoglu, M.A. (2020). Strategic Management for Hospitality and Tourism. Routledge.

• Evans, N., Campbell, D., & Stonehouse, G. (2003). Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism. Routledge.

• Del Vecchio, P., Mele, G., Ndou, V., & Secundo, G. (2018). Creating value from social big data: Implications for smart tourism destinations. Information Processing & Management, 54(5), 847-860.

• Sorensen, S. (2023). The AI Whisperer: Handbook for Leveraging Conversational Artificial Intelligence & ChatGPT for Business. epraxis ISBN-13: 979-8391382416.