Relational structures and economic competitiveness in tourism destinations: the role of centrality and brokerage

Tourism destinations are increasingly recognised as relational systems in which interactions among firms influence competitiveness and destination development. However, evidence remains limited on how different network positions are associated with firms’ economic performance within fragmented tourism destinations. This study examines the relationship between network positioning and firm performance by combining Social Network Analysis and logistic regression in the tourism destination of San Vito Lo Capo (Sicily, Italy). The findings indicate that different network positions are associated with heterogeneous economic performance. Firms occupying more central network positions are more likely to achieve higher revenues, while the role of brokerage depends on firms’ structural embeddedness within the network. The model estimates indicate that brokerage is on average negatively associated with upper-segment revenue status, and the association becomes positive only among sufficiently peripheral firms. The study contributes to the tourism literature by providing empirical evidence on how different dimensions of network positioning relate to firm-level economic performance. Methodologically, it demonstrates the value of integrating Social Network Analysis with firm-level economic data to examine the relationship between relational structures and competitiveness in fragmented tourism destinations.