Two-dimensional mapping of Asia Pacific destinations combining tourism and economic indicators

What is it about?

The present study analyses how the dynamic interactions between the main tourism and economic indicators ultimately affected the positioning of destinations since the turn of the century. Five Asia Pacific destinations (Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore) are clusterd with respect to other countries according to the evolution of the main tourism and economic indicators over the period between 2000 and 2014. The generated perceptual maps show that the five Asia Pacific destinations can be clustered into three different groups: Hong Kong and Singapore, which are the most mature markets; Indonesia and the Philippines, with moderate growth rates in most variables; and Cambodia, with top positions in all variables, showing a huge potential in terms of growth and tourism development and the challenges derived therefrom.

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Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The research uses a methodology based on ranking all destinations according to their average growth during the sample period, assigning a numerical value to each country corresponding to its position. By means of different multivariate techniques for dimensionality reduction, all the information is summarized into two components (“tourism expenditure and profitability of tourism activity” and “tourism development and economic growth”). The generated perceptual maps show that the five Asia Pacific destinations can be clustered into three different groups: Hong Kong and Singapore, which are the most mature markets; Indonesia and the Philippines, with moderate growth rates in most variables; and Cambodia, with top positions in all variables, showing a huge potential in terms of growth and tourism development and the challenges derived therefrom.

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