Competitiveness of Three Beach Destinations in Bali: A MANOVA-Based Comparison
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24922/eot.v13i1.4916Keywords:
beach destination competitiveness, beach tourism destination, tourism destination management, Bali, MANOVAAbstract
Despite Bali’s millennia-long history of tourism development, understanding the competitiveness of its beach tourism destinations remains limited. Moreover, the island’s relatively small size has led many beach destinations to be located in close proximity to one another, offering similar attractions, activities, and management practices, which may blur their differentiation. This study aims to compare the competitiveness of three closely located beach tourism destinations—Pandawa Beach, Melasti Beach, and Uluwatu Beach—to examine whether significant differences exist among them. It also investigates whether the influence of the indicators used to measure tourism competitiveness differs across these destinations. Adopting a quantitative approach, data were collected from 258 international tourists using a validated self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to profile respondents and to reveal their perceived competitiveness for each destination, while multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to compare the effects of competitiveness indicators across the three destinations. The findings reveal significant differences in overall competitiveness among the three destinations, with Melasti Beach outperforming Pandawa and Uluwatu across most indicators. The results also indicate that certain competitiveness indicators exert varying effects on overall competitiveness across the destinations, while others show no significant influence. These findings suggest that even geographically proximate beach destinations can exhibit distinct competitiveness profiles. The study concludes with implications for destination management and offers recommendations for enhancing the competitiveness of beach tourism destinations in Bali. This study contributes to the limited empirical understanding of micro-level destination competitiveness in spatially concentrated tourism settings.
References
Aguiar-Barbosa A de P, Chim-Miki AF and Kozak M (2020) Two decades of evolution in tourism competitiveness: a co-word analysis. International Journal of Tourism Cities 7(2). Emerald Group Holdings Ltd.: 435–462.
Aripin, Ahmad Yani, Jayadi, et al. (2021) Acceleration of Competitiveness Bali Tourism. International Journal of Scientific Engineering and Science 5: 54–60.
Boniface B, Cooper R and Cooper C (2021) Worldwide Destinations: The Geography of Travel and Tourism. 8th ed. Routledge.
Buhalis D (2000) Marketing the competitive destination of the future. Tourism Management 21(1): 97–116.
Cimbaljević M, Stankov U and Pavluković V (2018) Going beyond the traditional destination competitiveness – reflections on a smart destination in the current research. Current Issues in Tourism. Routledge.
Cimbaljević M, Panić A, Pavlović D, et al. (2023) Systematic Literature Review on Tourism Destination Competitiveness Research. Turizam 27(1). Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science (CEON/CEES): 51–65.
Cooper C (2016) Essentials of Tourism. Second Edi. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Ltd.
Cronjé DF and du Plessis E (2020) A review on tourism destination competitiveness. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 45(September 2019). Elsevier Ltd: 256–265.
de la Peña MR, Núñez-Serrano JA, Turrión J, et al. (2017) A New Tool for the Analysis of the International Competitiveness of Tourist Destinations Based on Performance. Journal of Travel Research 58(2). SAGE Publications Ltd: 207–223.
Della Corte V, Del Gaudio G, Sepe F, et al. (2019) Sustainable tourism in the open innovation realm: A bibliometric analysis. Sustainability (Switzerland) 11(21): 1–18.
Echtner CM and Ritchie JRB (2003) The meaning and measurement of destination image. The Journal of Tourism Studies 14(1): 37–48.
Field A (2018) Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics 5th Edition. 5Th Editio. SAGE Edge.
Fletcher J, Fyall A, Gilbert D, et al. (2018) Tourism : Principles and Practice Sixth Edition. Harlow: Pearson.
Goffi G and Cucculelli M (2018) Explaining tourism competitiveness in small and medium destinations: the Italian case. Current Issues in Tourism 22(17). Routledge: 2109–2139.
Hair Jr. JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, et al. (2014) Multivariate Data Analysis Seventh Edition. Pearson.
Hanafiah MH and Zulkifly MI (2019) Tourism destination competitiveness and tourism performance: A secondary data approach. Competitiveness Review 29(5): 592–621.
Hossain MK and Islam S (2019) An Analysis of Destination Attributes to Enhance Tourism Competitiveness in Bangladesh. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure 8(2).
Wirawan IGP, Julyasih KSM, Adiartayasa W, et al. (2014) Increasing Local Fruit Competitiveness in Entering The Tourism Market in Bali. International Journal of Biosciences and Biotechnology 2(1).
Joshi A and Pal DK (2015) Likert Scale : Explored and Explained Likert Scale : Explored and Explained. (January). Epub ahead of print 2015. DOI: 10.9734/BJAST/2015/14975.
Krisnawati N, Tobing R and Sjarief R (2016) Competitiveness Development of Tourism Human Resources Facing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 (A Case Study on Hotel Human Resources in Jakarta & Bali). In: Proceedings of Bangkok Annual Business and Social Science Research Conference 2016, Bangkok, Thailand, December 2016, pp. 3–4.
Kumar S and Dhir A (2020) Associations between travel and tourism competitiveness and culture. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management 18(October). Elsevier Ltd: 100501.
Kvasnová D, Gajdošík T and Maráková V (2019) Are Partnerships Enhancing Tourism Destination Competitiveness? Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis 67(3). Mendel University Press: 811–821.
Likert R (1932) A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes. Archives of Psychology 22(140): 5–55.
Putri NMNA, Juliani DK, Kumalasari NPE, et al. (2025) Innovative Accounting for Bali Tourism Management and Competitiveness. Journal of Tourism Economics and Policy 5(2).
Manrai LA, Manrai AK and Friedeborn S (2018) Environmental determinants of destination competitiveness and its Tourism Attractions-Basics- Context, A-B-C, indicators A review, conceptual model and propositions. Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science 25. Universidad Esan: 425–449.
Martínez‐González JA, Díaz‐Padilla VT and Parra‐López E (2021) Study of the Tourism Competitiveness Model of the World Economic Forum Using Rasch’s Mathematical Model: The Case of Portugal. Sustainability 13(13). MDPI AG.
Mertha IW, Yunita PI and Tirtawati NM (2025) Creating Quality Tourism Destinations: The Crucial Role of Community Participation and Government Support in Batur UNESCO Global Geopark- Bali. E-Journal of Tourism. Doctoral Program in Tourism: 178–197.
Milicevic S, Petrovis J, Kostic M, et al. (2020) Tourism Product in the Function of Improving Destination Competitiveness: Case of Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia. Quality Access to Success 21(178).
Mior Shariffuddin NS, Azinuddin M, Hanafiah MH, et al. (2023) A comprehensive review on tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) literature. Competitiveness Review. Emerald Publishing.
Moradi E, Ehsani M, Saffari M, et al. (2022) How can destination competitiveness play an essential role in small island sports tourism development? Integrated ISM-MICMAC modelling of key factors. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights 6(3). Emerald Publishing: 1222–1252.
Nemoto T and Beglar D (2014) Developing Likert-Scale Questionnaires. In: JALT2013 Conference Proceedings, Tokyo, 2014, pp. 1–8.
Ritchie JRB and Crouch GI (2003) The Competitive Destination A Sustainable Tourism Perspective. CABI Publishing.
Rodríguez-Díaz B and Pulido-Fernández JI (2019) Sustainability as a Key Factor in Tourism Competitiveness: A Global Analysis. Sustainability 12(51). MDPI.
Salinas Fernández JA, Serdeira Azevedo P, Martín Martín JM, et al. (2020) Determinants of tourism destination competitiveness in the countries mostvisited by international tourists: Proposal of a synthetic index. Tourism Management Perspectives 33. Elsevier B.V.
Semara IMT, Arianty AAAAS, Sutiarso MA, et al. (2025) Travel Flow: Digital Solutions to Outgrow the Overtourism in Bali. E-Journal of Tourism. Doctoral Program in Tourism: 224–237.
Sucandrawati NLKAS, Wardana IM, Sukaatmadja IPG, et al. (2022) The Role Of Comparative And Competitive Advantages In Mediating The Effect Of Destinations On The Competitiveness Of Alternative Tourism In Bali-Indonesia. Webology 19(2).
UNWTO (2007) A Practical Guide to Tourism Destination Management.
Vagias WM (2006) Likert-Type Scale Response Anchors. Epub ahead of print 2006.
W. Holmes Finch (2020) Multivariate analysis of variance for multilevel data: a simulation study comparing methods. The Journal of Experimental Education 90(1). Routledge: 173–190.
WEF (2024) Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024. May.
Wiranatha AS, Ayu IG, Suryawardani O, et al. (2024) Global Competitiveness. Epub ahead of print 2024.
