Optimizing the tourism destination potential with the integration of sustainability and innovation principles

¹ North-Caucasus Federal University 355017 Stavropol, Russia
² Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne School of Business, 6002 Luzern, Switzerland

^* Corresponding author: o.belozerova@ncfu.ru

Abstract

In the article the science approaches to the essence and set of elements for a successful tourism destination development are considered. These helped to develop a new destination potential model by integrating two management principles: a) sustainability and b) innovations. These additional principles should reach higher destination potentials and guarantee a better destination performance. The interrelation of the elements of a tourism destination potential with the mechanism of its management is reflected. A central aspect and a prerequisite are the creation and integration of a special management body for the destination – the Destination Management Organisation (DMO). During the study qualitative inputs from experts about the model were obtained. These contributed to confirm the model and to adapt it for the usage by a DMO. The overall goal is to reach a higher destination potential, to enhance its competitiveness and to counteract the negative factors of the external and internal environment, especially in the Post-Covid19 phase. During this the tourism industry has suffered on an unprecedented scale and hardly any destination in the world has been able to match the success figures of the recent past (until 2019).