Benchmarking National Tourism Organisations and Agencies

John Lennon, Hugh Smith, Nancy Cockerell, Jill Trew

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9781136426490
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

This book examines comparative performance and best practice in National Tourism Organisations/ Administrations from extensive research carried out in 2003 and 2004. It compares qualitative and quantitative data in order to ascertain best performance. Analysis is contained in detail for eight National Tourism Organisations based in four Continents, comprising: Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. Each country is examined and analysed in the following key areas: Travel and Tourism Performance, Organisation of Tourism, The National Tourism Organisation, structure, Role, Staffing and Offices, Resources and Funding as well as providing case studies of good practice. The book includes methodology of the research and provides discussion and comment of the main roles and success formula in comparable National Tourism Organisations. • Useful, practical guide to government's involvement in tourism over the past decade or more • Brings insight from both the academic and practitioner markets • International Case Studies

Chapter 1

Benchmarking: A Range of Approaches

Benchmarking has been used extensively by the public and private sectors as a tool to develop competitive advantage (Dorsch & Yasin, 1998). The process is defined as:

... a continuous, systematic process for evaluating the products, services, and work processes of organisations that are recognised as representing best practices for the purposes of organisational improvement. (Spendolini, 1992a, p. 9)

For many organisations, whether from the public or private sector, this process is fused with the analysis of competition and competitor benchmarking. Xerox, IT & T and Texas Instrument were early proponents of this approach (see Bemowski, 1991, 1994; Shetty, 1993; King, 1993, respectively), which has now become extremely common in a range of private sector companies. This process involves identification of products, services and operations of an organisation's or business's direct competitors (Spendolini, 1992b, p. 18).

Two main approaches to benchmarking have been identified (see Cook, 1995; Wöber, 2002) namely, internal benchmarking (analysis of exemplary practice within an organisation/destination) and external benchmarking, where practices adopted by other organisations/destinations are considered. The external benchmarking approach can be further categorised as:

• best practice benchmarking (considering an exemplar in a different sector);

• competitive benchmarking (considering a competitor in the same sector as an exemplar);

• sector benchmarking (considering an exemplar within a specific or similar sector, but not necessarily a competitor) (Wöber, 2002).

Benchmarking involving National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) and National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) was first covered by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Tourism Committee in the early 1990s, but was addressed in greater depth by World Tourism Organization (WTO) from the mid-1990s (WTO, 1994, 1996a,b, 2000, 2003). The process involves a range of data gathering that enables the NTO/NTA and the destination to compare their practices and achievements with those of others (Pizam, 1999). In the case of exemplar destinations, they can be identified as short-and long-haul competitors to aid analysis (Ooi, 2002). Benchmarking can be applied from a basic to an advanced level. In more sophisticated cases, comparative analogous destination analysis can involve much more than basic information gathering. Rather, the analysis may probe and compare practices and outcomes with those of other NTOs and destinations and can assist in measuring competitiveness (Dwyer & Kim, 2003). Key performance indicators measured over a period of time could include:

• tourism revenue;

• arrivals;

• principal existing markets;

• emerging markets;

• seasonality.

In addition to major benchmarking analysis, monthly or sporadic benchmarking may be undertaken to provide ‘real’ time indicators on performance levels, etc. An alternative is the tracking of business confidence levels carried out either in partnership with the NTO or via the public sector (see for example Wales Tourist Board, 2002–2003).

In tourism terms, benchmarking is increasingly being used by NTOs and NTAs as a means of situational analysis. However, longer appraisal of country NTO/NTA analysis is also favoured and, more recently, some national tourist boards have chosen to employ a full time team of staff to carry out regular benchmarking of major long-haul and short-haul competitors.

Crucial in practical application of the process in the tourism sector is the measurement of the key areas:

• situational analysis;

• competitive destinations review;

• improvement planning;

• adoption of best practice;

• identification of critical success factors.

At the start of any analysis, goals and objectives must be clearly identified and then the scope of the analysis should be highlighted. For example, the analysis may be based on analysis of key competitors’ marketing strategies, but the scope could be confined to analysis of short-haul competitors. Other areas of consideration may be outlined in the scope/dimensions of the study, including the use of electronic marketing, the efforts undertaken to reduce seasonality, etc. Of key importance is the identification of appropriate competitor organisations or destinations. There is a clear logic in comparing performance with analogous destinations in terms of location, economy, significance of tourism to the economy and socio-economic profile. However, value to studies can also be added by comparison with non-analogous destinations i...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• ADVANCES IN TOURISM RESEARCH
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Measures Used in Tourist Statistics
• Symbols and Abbreviations Used in Tables
• Exchange Rates Used Throughout the Report
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• 1 Benchmarking: A Range of Approaches
• 2 Current Trends and Issues: The Rationale for States’ Involvement in Tourism
• 3 Trends in Tourism Performance
• 4 Structure, Legal Status and the Role of NTOs
• 5 Australia
• 6 Canada
• 7 France
• 8 Ireland
• 9 The Netherlands
• 10 New Zealand
• 11 South Africa
• 12 Spain
• 13 Benchmark Lessons
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index