Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process to Tourism Choice and Decision Making: A Review and Illustration Applied to Destination Competitiveness

This article examines the use of analytical techniques for investigating and researching the structure of choice and decision making in a tourism context. One such method, the analytic hierarchy process, which has received widespread use in many other industries and contexts but very little use in tourism, is highlighted. This tool offers a number of advantages in situations where the researcher is interested in assessing a large number of decision factors, measuring the importance of each factor influencing the decision, dealing with factors that vary in terms of their subjectivity and objectivity, and engaging large groups of decision participants to optimize a decision or to evaluate how subgroups of participants vary in their choice behavior. A commercial version of the technique also permits the study of the group behavior aspects in an online environment. The method is illustrated in terms of research designed to assess the relative role of factors in a conceptual model of destination competitiveness.