Consumer Protection as a Factor of Destination Competitiveness in the European Union
Author:Jelena Petrović and Snežana Milićević
JEL:F12, L83, D12
DOI:
Keywords:destination competitiveness, consumer protection, tourists, European Union
Abstract:
Many tourism destinations have enacted and implemented laws to protect residents as
consumers that are relevance to tourists as consumers. In literature, consumer protection is not
explicitly considered and analyzed in the area of destination competitiveness by research ers.
This research article investigates the impact of cons umer protection on destination
competitiveness in the European Union. Research results have pointed out that consumer
protection represents a factor of destination competition because illicit commercial
practices and consumer trust consumers as consumer indicators affect the value of the
Enabling Environment subindex, while illicit commercial practices affect the value of
Infrastructure subindex, and the consumer indicators mentioned in this way affect the
destination competitiveness . At the same time, the results of the analysis indicate that the
European Union member states that record the highest consumer confidence and the lowest
level of illicit commercial practices also record the highest competitiveness as a tourism
destination.