Tourist destination competitiveness: the role of cooperation

Territories are key in tourism. In years of growing debate on the role of local factors for economic development and of territorial marketing, tourism represents an election field of application of territorial theories. It is affirmed that, unlike any other economic sector, the peculiar tourism product is not a single commodity or service but a whole destination. Among the factors that determine the attractiveness and competitiveness of tourism destinations, the active role of territories – or the territory as an active agent of local development - is probably the most relevant and, in any case, a necessary prerequisite for the implementation of effective strategies of tourism development. Destinations as active agents of development are destinations able to create local networks and generate typical tourism district economies and able to adopt appropriate models of destination governance and management. However it is appropriate to consider also the main difficulties and shortcomings of cooperation