Introduction of modalities in tourist destinations. Case study: Shopping tourism

Abstract

A competitive and differentiating element for the development of tourist destinations is the diversification of their tourist offer. Taking into account the behavior and preferences of demand makes it possible to design and manage offers that are more in line with their demands. In this sense, the diversification of the offer, from the introduction of tourist modalities, is of great relevance from a theoretical and practical point of view. Hence, the objective of this research was to propose the bases for the introduction of tourism modalities in order to diversify the supply of destinations. The study was divided into three phases, in which different methods were used, such as historical-logical, comparative and statistical-mathematical methods, theoretical methods such as documentary analysis and empirical methods such as interviews, surveys, observation and tools such as benchmarking. The first phase included the analysis of the theoretical foundations on the existing interrelationships between tourism modalities and tourism destinations. Based on these elements, the bases for the introduction of modalities in tourist destinations were determined, proposing new tools such as the Tourism Attractiveness-Competitiveness-Modalities Matrix. The proposed bases were applied to the shopping tourism modality for the German market in the Havana tourist destination. In this case, the main demand segments were identified, the matrix was applied, strategies were drawn up for the introduction of the modality and tourism products were proposed for its development.