ANALYSIS OF TRAVEL AND TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS INDEX IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES
Oleg PETELCA1, Ciprian-Constantin PĂTRĂUCEANU2, Veronica GARBUZ3, Iurie BEȘLIU3
1Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, România
2University of Oradea, România
3Alecu Russo State University of Bălți, Republic of Moldova
oleg.petelca@gmail.com
patrauceanuc@yahoo.com
garbuz_veronica@yahoo.com
iurie.besliu@gmail.com
Abstract: Over the last decade until the Covid-19 pandemic, the international tourism market has seen significant growth every year, involving more and more states and regions in the tourism and travel industry. In a number of countries, tourism has become the main sphere of employment for citizens and the most important sector of the economy. Tourism thus became the source of economic, social and economic innovations and transformations. However, the pace of tourism development in each country is different and depends on a number of factors and conditions. There is no homogeneity in tourism development worldwide. The differences are generated by distinctive features and the ability to capitalise on the opportunities these distinct features offer. At the same time, the level of success of a country or region on the international market for tourism services depends directly on its competitiveness. The article focuses on the analysis of the competitiveness of tourism in the Eastern Partnership countries using the index of competitiveness in tourism and travel published in the World Economic Forum report. The analysis is performed by comparing data from 2017 and 2019 using the Promethee model. Through the research, we performed comparative analysis of the tourism situation in Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. The international report lacks data on Belarus. The results showed that most Eastern Partnership countries do not have a high level of competitiveness in tourism and travel. A positive effect is the upward trend of Georgia and Ukraine’s performance in the research area. At the same time, although Ukraine, Armenia and the Republic of Moldova increased in the global competitiveness ranking, this growth was not high enough to reach Georgia’s level.
Keywords: Eastern Partnership countries; tourism competitiveness index; environment empowerment; tourism policies; infrastructure; cultural and natural resources.
