The Role of Tourism Innovation in Supporting Tourism Competitive Advantage : The Case of a Sample of Tourism Agencies in the State of Tlemcen, Algeria

Abstract

For more than two decades, Algeria has been seeking to diversify its economy by reducing hydrocarbons dominance on its exports. Tourism sector therefore, has gained considerable attention in Algerian economic policies. The main purpose of this work is to highlight the impact of tourism innovation on tourism competitive advantage. To achieve such goal, a field study including a sample of tourism agencies active in the field of tourism services and travel in the state of Tlemcen was carried out. SPSS package’s outputs points out the existence of a strong statistical impact of various forms of tourism innovation such as promotional, distribution and architectural on tourism competitive advantage. We notice however, a complete absence of any effect of other forms of innovation such as pricing, administrative and operational. Our results contribute to the existing litterature on the issue of promoting tourism competitive advantage. As far as policy makers are concerned, the above mentionned results could be of extreme importance in building a tourism competitivity.