A STUDY ON REGIONAL TOURISM COOPERATION IN UNDERDEVELOPED REGIONS OF CHINA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TOURISM PRODUCTS DIFFERENTIATION
CUI Xiao-ming1,2, Chris RYAN2, TENG Jing-kang1,2
1. The School of Economics and Management, Ankang University, Shaanxi 725000, China;
2. The University of Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract It is crucial for tourism industry development of underdeveloped areas to have regional tourism cooperation from the perspective of tourism product differentiation because these areas have inherent deficiency in tourism capital investment, tourism infrastructure construction, information accessibility, human resource management, tourism marketing, and transport. By establishing partnership and tourism cooperation, the underdeveloped regions can effectively benefit from scale economy, establish an integrated regional tourism image and successful regional tourism brand, as well as attract external investment to enhance regional tourism competitive power in stead of cut-throat competition of the homogeneity of the products and duplication of similar tourism facilities. This paper aims to explore how to establish partnerships between adjacent tourism destinations. A case study approach, with a tourism partnership study in Ankang, Hanzhong and Shangluo, the adjacent areas of southern Shaanxi Province, has been utilized for the establishment of tourism partnerships based on differentiation strategy which calls for the development of tourism products or services which offer unique attributes perceived to be better than or different from the products of the competition. It is the process of distinguishing the differences of products or making a tourism product more attractive to a particular target market. The key issues include the innovation and design of differentiated tourism products, integration of marketing factors and the conduct of IMC (Integrated Marking Communications), coopetition based on the value net which is an alternative to Porter's five forces model to recognize the importance of complementary and competitors' products, to find ways to change and expand the business, and to compete by designed win-win administrative model. It is also recommended to establish concise set of criteria, against which the performance of partnerships can be assessed, to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of tourism partnerships.
2010, Vol. 25 
