Comparative performance analysis: Tourists’ perceptions of Turkey relative to other tourist destinations

As a result of ever-intensifying competition, destination managers are increasingly in need of comparative information in order to identify their relative product strengths and weaknesses, a critical step in formulating appropriate competitive actions. It is highly likely that tourism destinations failing to pay attention to the performance delivered by their competitors, not knowing their own potential shortcomings in service delivery, and overlooking the improvement of tourist experience and satisfaction stand to lose their market share. Focusing on Turkish tourism, this study aimed to provide destination managers with exploratory insights into what tourists regarded as the components of a satisfying holiday experience and how tourists perceived the destination performance relative to other destinations. A modified experience-based framework was adopted in order to understand tourists’ perceptions of the destination relative to other destinations, and whether experiences with other destinations affected their present holiday evaluation. The study found that tourists might judge the destination’s performance on a set of attributes, some being more tangible, and some being relatively more important. The relation found between tourists’ perceptions of other destinations and their evaluation of the current holiday suggests that what other destinations have to offer might affect tourists’ current satisfaction judgments and their future behavioural intentions. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.