Tourism Cluster Positioning and Performance Evaluation: The Case of Portugal

Abstract

The tourism sector has truly strategic importance for any future national or regional economy. Previous research on clusters has largely been restricted to industrial sectors and the application of conceptual methodologies. An empirical study might prove more suitable for evaluating the performance of tourism clusters, and yet the literature in this respect is scarce and there is a need for more research. This paper evaluates tourism clusters in Portugal and maps them through multivariate analysis. The empirical results validate the need to apply statistical tests and reveal that substantial differences in cluster performance do exist. In particular, the study identifies three different clusters in Portugal with varying performance levels – low, medium and high. The paper also provides a contribution to the assessment of tourism industry clusters.