Do hotel chains improve destination's competitiveness? Stanislav Ivanov ⁎, Maya Ivanova Varna University of Management, 13A Oborishte Str., 9000 Varna, Bulgaria abstract article info Article history: Received 27 October 2015 Received in revised form 7 April 2016 Accepted 16 April 2016 Available online xxxx The paper investigates the impact of hotel chains' presence in a destination on their competitiveness through cross-section regression analysis of 116 countries. Results reveal that a destination's competitiveness is positively and significantly influenced by the number of affiliated hotels and rooms in affiliated hotels in the destination. The market share of hotel chains in a destination's hotel industry does not influence its competitiveness. Results further indicate that the general business environment (country's level of corruption and globalisation) has a positive and stronger impact on a destination's competitiveness than the presence of hotel chains. Destination management implications, limitations and directions of future research are also elaborated. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Hotel chain Destination competitiveness Macroenvironment Travel and tourism competitiveness index Corruption perception index 1. Introduction Destination competitiveness is one of the major research topics in the field of tourism (Botti, Peypoch, Robinot, & Solonadrasana, 2009; Crouch, 2011; Dorta-Afonso & Hernández-Martín, 2015; Dwyer, Mellor, Livaic, Edwards, & Kim, 2004; Dwyer & Kim, 2003; Enright & Newton, 2005; Ivanov & Webster, 2013b; Kayar & Kozak, 2010; Kozak, Baloglu, & Bahar, 2010; Mazanec & Ring, 2011; Mazanec, Wöber, & Zins, 2007). A destination's competitiveness is defined as “its ability to increase tour- ism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so in a profitable way, while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and pre- serving the natural capital of the destination for future generations” (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003: 2). Therefore, competitive destinations perform well in the global tourism marketplace, attract more tourists, create favourable business conditions for the tourism companies, gener- ate economic benefits for the local population and do all this in a sustainable way. Research has identified various determinants of desti- nation competitiveness such as natural and cultural tourist resources, tourism infrastructure, tourism governance, country's openness and general business environment, and political stability, among others, which the World Economic Forum groups into the 14 pillars of the Trav- el and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) (WEF, 2013). A destination involves various stakeholders like private sector tourism and hospitality enterprises (transportation companies, accom- modation establishments, F&B outlets, attraction operators, etc.), tourism-dependent companies (retailers, taxis), government agencies, non-profit organisations, tourists, local residents, and other entities that have an interest in tourism (Morrison, 2013). Each of these stake- holders has an impact on a destination's competitiveness. Airlines, cruise lines and other transportation companies, for example, assure the accessibility of a destination. Opening/closing of an airport/port in a destination, starting/cancelling flights to it, changes the transportation attractiveness of the destination and its competitiveness, influences the number of tourists that may visit the destination and the convenience of their travel (e.g. direct vs. connecting flights) (Chung & Whang, 2011; Farmaki & Papatheodorou, 2015). Tourists' experiences, interactions and satisfaction with accommodation establishments, F&B outlets, taxi drivers, retailers, local residents and public authorities in a destination influence their perceptions about and satisfaction with the visit to the destination as a whole and their repeat visit intentions (Jarvis, Stoeckl, & Liu, 2016; Meleddu, Paci, & Pulina, 2015). Therefore, the competitive- ness of a destination would be the outcome of the combined actions of all its stakeholders. This paper focuses on the impact of hotel chains' presence in a des- tination on its competitiveness. Dioko & So (2012: 555) state that “the precise effects on a destination arising from the entry or presence of internationally branded hotel chains are largely unknown but can be considerable” and this gap in the literature on hotel chains will be partially filled by this paper. Table 1 provides a non-comprehensive overview of the ways hotel chains influence the competitiveness of a destination on the basis of TTCI's pillars. First, a chains' presence in- creases the market visibility of hotels in a destination through their in- clusion in chains' brand websites, global distribution systems (GDSs) and online travel agencies (OTAs) chains have contracts with (Ivanova & Ivanov, 2015). Hence, the more properties in a destination are affiliat- ed, the more hotels are present in these websites, the greater the overall visibility of the destination, and its competitiveness. Second, chain Tourism Management Perspectives 19 (2016) 74–79 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu (S. Ivanov), maya.ivanova@vumk.eu (M. Ivanova). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2016.04.007 2211-9736/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management Perspectives journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tmp