ASSESSING TOURISM DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS OF THE STATE OF WEST VRGINIA: AN APPLICATION OF THE DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS AND SUSTAINABILITY MODEL.

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0225313
• Project Start Date: Feb 1, 2011
• Project End Date: Jan 31, 2016
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
886 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD RM 202
MORGANTOWN,WV 26505-2742

Performing Department
Forestry

Non Technical Summary
Destination competitiveness and sustainability have become increasingly critical as global competition for visitors intensifies and consumer environmental consciousness increases. The main objective of this study is to assess the state of West Virginias competitiveness as a tourism destination in relation to other competing and neighboring destinations by applying the destination competitiveness and sustainability model. The study takes a holistic approach considering perspectives of the three important groups of stakeholders including: host community residents, host community providers and tourists. Both secondary and primary data sources will be utilized in this study to address specific areas of the competitiveness model. Secondary data sources will provide quantitative vital tourism indicator statistics that provide critical insights into levels of tourist activity within a destination. Primary data will be collected from three groups of respondents including:the hosts,providers/experts/businesses and,tourists for each of the eight West Virginia tourism regions. Data from host community residents will be collected through household surveys while data from host community providers, businesses and experts in the destination will utilize the snowballing technique. Data from tourists will be collected from samples drawn from within destinations with the help of local visitor centers and service providers and at state welcome and service centers. To effectively address the broad scope of the study several analysis techniques will be utilized including, but not limited to: Descriptive analysis to establish general patterns and characteristics of travel within the state; Importance-Performance analysis of visitor/tourist data to assess West Virginias destinations competitiveness on critical destination attributes in relation to other competing destinations, trend analysis to establish the overall trends of travel and tourism in the state; perceptual mapping to determine West Virginias destinations brand positions in relation to other competing destination brands; T-tests, ANOVA to test significance of differences in competitiveness attributes among West Virginia destinations and competing regional and out-of-state destinations; factor analysis to investigate whether there are some underlying determinants of West Virginias destinations competitiveness in comparison to other competing destinations and SEM where necessary to determine any causal relationships in the competitiveness model impacting individual destinations competitiveness. Results of the study will be presented through a number of channels including reports, presentations and publications. Some of the outputs of the study will include: Results reports for the regions; publications in academic journals; presentations at regional, national and international conferences; destination competitiveness indexes for the regions and state; vital tourism performance indicators databases for the regions to continuously monitor destination performance and competitiveness.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0530	3100	10%
123	0599	3100	20%
134	0530	3100	10%
134	0599	3100	20%
608	0530	3100	10%
608	0599	3100	30%

Knowledge Area
134 - Outdoor Recreation; 608 - Community Resource Planning and Development; 123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0599 - Recreational resources, general/other; 0530 - Parks and urban green space;

Field Of Science
3100 - Management;

Keywords

destination competitiveness and sustainability

west virginia tourism

Goals / Objectives
The broad goal of the study is to assess destination competitiveness of the state of West Virginia and its destinations in relation to other competing destinations on several attributes presented in the destination competitiveness and sustainability model, including: Supporting factors and resources Core resources and attraction Destination management Destination policy, planning and development Qualifying and amplifying determinants At the end of this study West Virginia destinations should: Be aware of the destinations overall competitiveness in relation to other similar and/or competing destinations. Understand the destinations competitiveness in relation to the domestic and international markets. Identify the destinations areas of weaknesses and how to improve on them. Identify the destinations strengths and how to capitalize on them. Have established systems and a customized destination competitiveness index in existence through which the destinations can continuously assess their competitiveness. Established vital tourism performance and competitiveness indicator data bases to enable continual evaluation and assessment of destination performance and competitiveness. Understand host preferences and tourism development needs. Know the destination image and tourists perceptions towards the destination in relation to other competing destinations. Be or be ready to be accredited by Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) to improve overall destination competitiveness. Some of the outputs of the study will include: Destination competitiveness results reports for the regions Publications in academic journals Presentations at regional, national & international conferences Destination competitiveness indexes for the regions and state Vital tourism performance indicators databases for the regions to continuously monitor destination performance and competitiveness.

Project Methods
Both secondary and primary data sources will be utilized in this study to address specific areas of the competitiveness model. Secondary data sources will provide quantitative vital tourism indicator statistics that provide critical insights into levels of tourist activity within a destination, signaling overall destination competitiveness. Primary data will be collected from three groups of respondents:the hosts,service providers/experts/businesses and tourists for each tourism region. Host community is divided into two: residents and providers/businesses/experts. Snowball technique will be utilized to sample tourism service providers, businesses and experts in the destination. Input from the tourism providers and experts will provide data and information critical to competitiveness assessment of several elements of the competitiveness model, especially those for destination management and destination policy, planning and development categories. Household surveys will be the primary data collection method from host community residents. Household samples will be drawn from data purchased from Geoselector.com. To increase response rates a variety of channels will be utilized including online, mail, telephone and face-to-face. Since the tourists are the ultimate judges of any destinations competitiveness, data will be collected from them to assess destination competitiveness on almost all the categories and individual elements of the model. Tourists will be divided into two main groups: domestic and international to effectively assess the destinations appeal and competitiveness to these two major market segments. Samples will be drawn from within destinations, with the help of local visitor centers and service providers; at state welcome and service centers; from visitor data bases compiled by individual destinations local and regional offices. Tourist questionnaires will be administered mainly through online survey tools and face to face to ensure good response rates. Data will be captured and analyzed in SPSS. Several analysis techniques will be utilized to fully address the broad scope of the study objectives including, but not limited to:Descriptive analysis to establish general patterns and characteristics of travel within the state; Importance-Performance analysis of visitor/tourist data to assess West Virginias destinations competitiveness on critical destination attributes in relation to other competing destinations; Trend analysis to establish the overall trends of travel and tourism in the state; Perceptual mapping to determine West Virginias destinations brand positions in relation to other competing destination brands; T-tests, ANOVA to test significance of differences in competitiveness attributes among West Virginia destinations and competing regional and out-of-state destinations; Factor analysis to investigate whether there are some underlying determinants of West Virginias destinations competitiveness in comparison to other competing destinations.

Progress 02/01/11 to 01/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Destination management for the state of West Virginia and beyond. Recreation and tourism scholars, practitioners and professionals. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided learning opportunities for the graduate students working on the project, including, but not limited to: • Questionnaire design and administration • Data collection, capture and cleaning • Data analysis techniques and presentation skills • Report and manuscript writing Conference presentations How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through workshops, conference presentations and proceedings, technical reports and journal manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The following objectives have been achieved for the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge tourism regions of West Virginia: • Establish destination's overall competitiveness in relation to other similar and/or competing destinations. • Identify the destinations' areas of weaknesses and how to improve on them. • Identify the destinations' strengths and how to capitalize on them. • Establish destination's customized competitiveness index through which the destinations can continuously assess competitiveness. • Evaluate host preferences and tourism development needs • Assess the destination image and tourists' perceptions about towards the destination in relation to other competing destinations. • Coalitions of tourism professionals in the regions have been formed in the two regions who meet and plan on tourism development and marketing in their respective regions.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Maumbe, K. & Arbogast, D. (2015). Relationship between visitor motivations, destination evaluation and future behavior intentions: The case of West Virginia. Journal Tourism, 63(4), 465-478.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: " Zhou, Y., Maumbe, K., Deng, J., & Selin, S. (2015). Resource-based destination competitiveness evaluation using a hybrid analytic hierarchy process (AHP): The case study of West Virginia. Tourism Management Perspectives, 15, 72-80.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Maumbe, K., Zhou, Y., & Arbogast, D. (2016) An Application of the Service Profit Chain (SPC) to Tourism. Journal of Tourism Insights.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Maumbe, K., Zhou, Y., & Arbogast, D. (2016) An Application of the Service Profit Chain (SPC) to Tourism. Paper for the 2016 Resort and Commercial Recreation Association (RCRA) conference. November 5-8, 2016. Hammock Beach, FL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhou, Y., & Maumbe, K. (2015). Generational difference in gambling visitors travel motives: The case study of North Panhandle, West Virginia. Proceedings of the South East Travel & Tourism Research Association (SETTRA) Spring Symposium. March 29-April 1, 2015. Charlotte, NC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Arbogast, D. & Maumbe, K. (2014). Investigating the relationship between visitor characteristics and destination service evaluation: The case of New River Gorge, West Virginia. Proceedings of the 2014 Southeast Travel & Tourism Research Association (SETTRA) Symposium. March 23-26. Lexington, KY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhou, Y. & Maumbe, K. (2014). Assessing the Competitiveness of the State of West Virginia (WV) as a Tourism Destination in Relation to Neighboring Destinations. Proceedings of the 2014 Southeast Travel & Tourism Research Association (SETTRA) Symposium. March 23-26. Lexington, KY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Maumbe, K., & Riley C. (2012). An assessment of resident attitudes towards tourism development in Marshall County, West Virginia. Proceedings of the 2012 Northeastern Recreation Research (NERR) Symposium. Cooperstown, NY.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Destination management of West Virginia tourism destinations. Recreation and tourism scholars, practitioners and professionals. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided learning opportunities for the graduate students working on the project, including, but not limited to: Questionnaire design and administration Data collection, capture and cleaning Data analysis techniques and presentation skills Report and manuscript writing How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through workshops, conference presentations, technical reports and journal manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The plan for next year includes: Moving on to two more tourism regions of West Virginia and collect data. Complete competitiveness tool kits for all the regions.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The following objectives have been achieved for the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge tourism regions of West Virginia. Establish destination's overall competitiveness in relation to other similar and/or competing destinations. Identify the destinations' areas of weaknesses and how to improve on them. Identify the destinations' strengths and how to capitalize on them. Establish destination's customized competitiveness index through which the destinations can continuously assess competitiveness. Evaluate host preferences and tourism development needs Assess the destination image and tourists' perceptions about towards the destination in relation to other competing destinations.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhou, Y., Maumbe, K., Deng, J., & Selin, S. (2015). Resource-based destination competitiveness evaluation using a hybrid analytic hierarchy process (AHP): The case study of West Virginia. Tourism Management Perspectives, 15, 72-80.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Maumbe, K. & Arbogast, D. (2015). Relationship between visitor motivations, destination evaluation and future behavior intentions: The case of West Virginia. Journal Tourism, 63(4), 465-478.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhou, Y., & Maumbe, K. (2015). Generational difference in gambling visitors travel motives: The case study of North Panhandle, West Virginia. Proceedings of the South East Travel & Tourism Research Association (SETTRA) Spring Symposium. March 29-April 1, 2015. Charlotte, NC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Arbogast, D., & Maumbe, K. (2015). How visitor motivations and destination performance evaluation vary by type of visitor: The case of the Northern Panhandle, West Virginia. Proceedings of the South East Travel & Tourism Research Association (SETTRA) Spring Symposium. March 29-April 1, 2015. Charlotte, NC.

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Destination management for the state of West Virginia specifically those of the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge region. Recreation and tourism scholars, practitioners and professionals. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project provided learning opportunities for the graduate students working on the project, including, but not limited to: Questionnaire design and administration Data collection, capture and cleaning Data analysis techniques and presentation skills Report and manuscript writing How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated through workshops, conference presentations and proceedings, technical reports and journal manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The plan for next year includes: Moving on to two more tourism regions of West Virginia and collect data. Continue data analysis and dissemination of results from the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge. Collect and analyze data from residents and tourism providers in the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge regions to conclude the process in these two regions.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The following objectives have been achieved for the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge tourism regions of West Virginia: Establish destination’s overall competitiveness in relation to other similar and/or competing destinations. Identify the destinations’ areas of weaknesses and how to improve on them. Identify the destinations’ strengths and how to capitalize on them. Establish destination’s customized competitiveness index through which the destinations can continuously assess competitiveness. Evaluate host preferences and tourism development needs Assess the destination image and tourists’ perceptions about towards the destination in relation to other competing destinations. Coalitions of tourism professionals in the regions have been formed in the two regions who meet and plan on tourism development and marketing in their respective regions.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Maumbe, K. & Arbogast, D. (2014). How motivation affects destination evaluation. Annals of Tourism Research. (Submitted)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhou, Y. & Maumbe K. (2014). Assessing the competitiveness of the state of West Virginia (WV) as a tourism destination in relation to neighboring destinations. Proceedings of the 2014 Southeast Chapter of the Travel & Tourism Research Association.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Arbogast, D. & Maumbe, K. (2014). Investigating the relationship between visitor characteristics and destination service evaluation: The case of the New River Gorge, West Virginia. Proceedings of the 2014 Southeast Chapter of the Travel & Tourism Research Association.

Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Destination management of the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge region of West Virginia. Recreation and tourism scholars, practitioners and professionals. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project provided learning opportunities for the graduate students working on the project, including, but not limited to: Questionnaire design and administration; Data collection, capture and cleaning; Data analysis techniques and presentation skills; Report and manuscript writing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated through workshops, conference presentations, technical reports and journal manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The plan for next year includes moving on to two more tourism regions of West Virginia and collect data and continuing data analysis and dissemination of results from the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The following objectives have been achieved for the Northern Panhandle and New River Gorge tourism regions of West Virginia: Establish destination’s overall competitiveness in relation to other similar and/or competing destinations; Identify the destinations’ areas of weaknesses and how to improve on them; Identify the destinations’ strengths and how to capitalize on them; Establish destination’s customized competitiveness index through which the destinations can continuously assess competitiveness; Evaluate host preferences and tourism development needs; Assess the destination image and tourists’ perceptions about towards the destination in relation to other competing destinations.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Maumbe, K. & Arbogast D. (October, 2013). Competitiveness of the State of WV as a tourism destination. Presentation at the WV 2013 Governors Tourism Conference. Canaan Valley, WV.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Maumbe, K. & Arbogast, D. (2013). An analysis of the relationship between visitor motivation, destination evaluation and future behavior intentions: The case of West Virginia. International Journal of Tourism Research. (Submitted)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Zhou, Y. & Maumbe K. (2013). Assessing the competitiveness of the state of West Virginia (WV) as a tourism destination in relation to neighboring destinations
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Arbogast, D. & Maumbe, K. (2013). Investigating the relationship between visitor characteristics and destination service evaluation: The case of the New River Gorge, West Virginia.

Progress 02/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Several items have been accomplished at this stage including: 1)Design and development of the study tool; 2)Primary data collection in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia and Southern West Virginia during summer of 2012, where about a thousand surveys were completed with tourists to the state of West Virginia; 3)Data analysis and write up from the data collected in summer 2012 is in progress; 4)Have held a meeting with community extension worker of Northern Panhandle to start the host and provider phases of the study in that region in January 2013. PARTICIPANTS: The participants in this project were three graduate students who helped with the data collection, capture and cleaning. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for this project include: destination managers responsible for tourism destination marketing and management; policy makers involved in decision making about local tourism development; host residents so that they understand their role in enhancing the destination competitiveness of their local communities in relation to other competing communities. All these groups of stakeholders need to understand their destination strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so they can work together to enhance the competitiveness of their communities as tourism destinations. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
While data collected this summer is still being analyzed, the findings form the analysis will be critical to tourism providers and planners and hosts as they inform destinations' performance from the tourists' perspectives highlighting the areas of strengths weaknesses and competitive advantages in relation to other competing destinations. Resources helped progress this project as we were able to hire students to conduct the surveys and capture the data. Resources also enabled travel around the state to the areas where tourists could be found for interviews.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 02/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project is in the beginning stages. Several items have been accomplished at this stage including: -Initial assessment of the different regions to understand their relative strengths and weaknesses in relation to tourism products and activity. -Identification of the key stakeholders in the regions whose input will be critical for development of competitiveness indices. -Design and development of the study tool. -Preliminary assessment of the destination competitiveness in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia to test the study tool and understand the region's main tourism attractors. -Presentation of the findings of the initial destination competitiveness assessment of Marshall County in the Northern Panhandle to the stakeholders. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: The main target audiences for this project are destination managers responsible for tourism destination marketing and management, and policy makers involved in decision making about local tourism development. Host residents are also target audiences to a lesser extent so that they understand their role in enhancing the destination competitiveness of their local communities in relation to other competing communities. All these groups of stakeholders need to understand their destination strengths, weaknesses , opportunities and threats so they can work together to enhance the competitiveness of their communities as tourism destinations. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The outputs of this initial stage had several impacts: -The findings from the initial destination competitiveness assessment of Marshall County West Virginia helped the stakeholders understand their destination's strengths that they should capitalize on and also their destination weaknesses that need some improvements. -The networks developed with the key stakeholders at this stage will help move the project to the next level as these stakeholders participate in identifying their destinations' goals and direction of the study. -Initial assessment and testing of the study tool, highlighted some weaknesses of the tool and areas that need improvement and adjusting to more effectively capture and collect the critical information. -Overall, the findings from this study will inform decision makers on the direction to follow in-order to effectively develop and enhance their destinations' competitiveness in relation to competing destinations.

Publications

• No publications reported this period