A framework for island destination competitiveness – perspectives from the island of Malta

This paper identifies a set of factors that determines tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) on the island of Malta. It presents an overview of a proposed destination competitiveness framework grounded in the research participants' perspective. It proposes a model portraying the various categories and components and how they connect to competitiveness. Thirty-five qualitative in-depth interviews are conducted with key “experts” in tourism. It emerges from the participants' description that sixty tourism-specific and business-related determinants provide a broad framework for assessing TDC on the island of Malta. The framework serves to reveal the dynamic complexity of destination competitiveness which is perceived as a means to ensuring prosperity for individual stakeholders and society at large.