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2 authors:
Richard W. Butler
Adi Weidenfeld
University of Strathclyde
Middlesex University, UK
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Introduction
The tourism area lifecycle model (Butler 1980) is one of
the most frequently cited conceptual models related to
tourism destination development, and despite the length of
time since its initial publication, is still being utilised in
contemporary research (e.g., Garay and Cnoves 2011). The
original model was focused on describing the process of
development through which tourism destinations proceeded
and did not explore in detail any causal relationships
between stages of development and processes such as
competition or cooperation between individual enterprises
or destinations. It did deal briefly with some spatial
implications, particularly with respect to the location of
subsequent proximal destinations, but not with aspects such
as proximity of businesses within a destination. The model
was particularly concerned with the development of
destinations rather than with tourism enterprises within
such destinations, yet it is reasonable to argue that just as
destinations as entities are dynamic and change over their
development cycle, so too could individual enterprises and
the relationships between these be expected to change
throughout that cycle.
The impact of spatial proximity and agglomeration
between tourism businesses on cooperation in tourism has
been studied particularly in the context of tourism clusters
(Brown and Geddes 2007; Erkus-ztrk 2009; Hall 2004;
Jackson and Murphy 2002; Michael 2003; Michael and Hall
2007; Mitchell and Schreiber 2007; Nordin 2003; Weidenfeld
et al. 2011), while other studies (Baum and Mezias 1992;
RICHARD BUTLER is Professor Emeritus at the Strathclyde Business School, 199 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G4 0QU, Scotland, UK.
e-mail: richard.butler@strath.ac.uk
ADI WEIDENFELD is a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Marketing, Hanken Schhool of Economics, Vaasa, Finland.
e-mail: aweidenf@hanken.fi
Copyright 2012 Tourism Recreation Research
ranging from the local neighbourhood through the subregional and regional, to the national and international
levels (Malmberg and Maskell 2002). In this paper, the
difference between the local and the regional scale needs to
be clarified; spatial proximity is taken as the geographic
distance between individual businesses at the local scale
while agglomeration is the ratio between the number of firms
and the geographic 'size' of a particular area at the regional
scale. Local scale refers to working relations (i.e., cooperation,
competition or co-opetition) between individual
neighbouring intra-cluster Small and Medium Size Tourism
Enterprises (SMTES) and regional scale refers to working
relations amongst several SMTEs at a larger geographic
scale, characterised by forming groups or associations aimed
at achieving external economies of scale at the regional scale.
Therefore, a working relationship at the local scale refers to
between individual tourism businesses within the same
destination region.
Cooperation, Competition and Coopetition
Cooperation
Cooperation is recognised as an important determinant
of the success and competitiveness of a tourism destination
(Baggio 2011) and research has mainly focused on the
marketing of a tourism product as a bundle of services
including accommodation, attractions, and transportation,
which are often purchased and assessed by consumers as a
service value chain (Fyall et al. 2001; Grngsj 2003; Michael
and Hall 2007; Zehrer and Raich 2010). Motivation for
cooperation lies in the recognition by a firm of the potential
to generate external economies of scale, reduce risks and
overcome the growth of complexity, fragmentation and
turbulence as tourism develops in an area (Fyall and Garrod
2005; Weidenfeld et al. 2011; Zehrer and Raich 2010).
Cooperation is perceived as a way to increase businesses'
competitive position, including incorporating measures to
improve productivity, new product development, building
relationships with local suppliers, cooperation with similar
businesses, participating in local tourism destinations (Lade
2010). In some cases, when entry barriers are difficult and
present an obstruction to a large number of small companies,
these might form a cabal to fix prices and eliminate
competition (Shaw and Williams 2004).
Cooperation in tourism can involve the development
of both informal and formal inter-organisational
collaborative mechanisms, including partnerships
(Bramwell and Lane, 2000; Hall and Page 1999), networks
(Baggio and Cooper 2010; Morrison and Mill 1992; Saxena
2005; Zehrer and Raich 2010), consortia and alliances
(Garnham 1996), to deliver the tourism product (Baggio and
16
Figure 1. Relationships between Agglomeration,Ccooperation, and Competition for Tourists between Businesses
Throughout the TALC.
(1) Agglomeration; (2) Regional (cluster) Cooperation/Competition; (3) Local cooperation/competition between individual
neighbouring businesses
Tourism Recreation Research Vol. 37, No. 1, 2012
21
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