The viability of the travel and tourism competitiveness index as a reliable measure of destination competitiveness: the case of the Mediterranean region

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (T&TCI) seems to be the most used measure of a destination’s competitiveness, even though the methodology underlying its calculation is characterized by numerous shortcomings. The viability of T&TCI as a reliable measure of a country’s competitive capability should stem from its ability to explain and/or predict the performance-related consequences of tourism activity within a destination. To check whether the T&TCI can do that, a model has been constructed and tested on a sample of Mediterranean countries for the 2007 – 2017 period. The analysis revealed that the change in the T&TCI score often does not relate to a change in the performance-related indicators of tourism activity selected. Hence, the T&TCI should not be regarded as a reliable measure of a destination’s competitiveness.