Title: A comparative study of tourism performance in the Mediterranean region: a multicriteria approach

Authors: Constantin Zopounidis, George Baourakis, Dimitrios Niklis

Addresses: Financial Engineering Laboratory, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania 73100, Greece. ' Department of Business Economics and Management, Mediterranean Azronomic Institute of Chania, Alsyllio Agrokepiou, P.O. Box 85, Chania 73100, Greece. ' Department of Business Economics and Management, Mediterranean Azronomic Institute of Chania, Alsyllio Agrokepiou, P.O. Box 85, Chania 73100, Greece.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to develop and implement a methodology for the evaluation of tourism performance of some Mediterranean countries. In this paper, the multicriteria method PROMETHEE II, based on outranking relations, will be used to evaluate ten Mediterranean countries, namely Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. For the above mentioned evaluation, 13 different criteria will be examined. These criteria contain both qualitative and quantitative information. The analysis effects of an overall ranking of the examined countries will be provided by classifying the strong and weak points of each country. Assessment of the analysis results is important in order to assist professionals in the tourism sector to make recommendations concerning marketing strategies and government policies. The study will come up with remarks about the direction of future research.

Keywords: comparative study; Mediterranean countries; ranking; multicriteria decision analysis; MCDA; tourism performance; Portugal; Spain; Italy; Malta; Greece; Turkey; Cyprus; Egypt, Tunisia; Morocco.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIDS.2010.033452

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 2010 Vol.2 No.3, pp.285 - 303

Published online: 02 Jun 2010 *

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