Investigating Potential Strategies for Increasing Tourism Competiveness at the Black Sea Shore
Author:Adina-Roxana Munteanu, Raluca-Daniela Rizea, Anca Gabriela Ilie and Roxana Sârbu
JEL:L82, L83, L84, L86
DOI:
Keywords:sun-tourism, hotel, tourism services, best practice benchmarking, competitive
strategy
Abstract:
During 2009-2011 the tourism industry at the Black Sea shore experienced a significant
downturn as a direct result of the global economic crisis and a shy growth in 2012-2013
period. In this context of difficult macroeconomic conditions and a hardly predictable
number of tourists, the suppliers of tourism services need a constant revision of strategy in
order to increase their competitiveness and adapt to external market conditions. The main
objective of this study is to investigate the competitive strategies that hotels managers in
Mamaia resort, Romania, could adopt considering customers` expectations and hospitality
industry best practices. In order to achieve this, a best practice benchmarking analysis was
performed considering several locations on the seaside in France, Italy, Spain and Turkey.
Following this analysis, several strategies are drafted, such as: use of social media, creation
of packaged deals, targeting the business segment and advertising by using the cultural and
historical context of the location. Moreover, a short survey among social media users
revealed some of the tourists` expectations regarding their holidays at the Romanian Black
Sea shore, such as quality of accommodation facilities, personalized services and
entertainment possibilities.