Tourism competitiveness in regions of France

Diploma thesis deals with tourism and its competitiveness in selected regions of France. The main aim of the thesis is to identify the main aspects of regional tourism competitiveness. The selected regions are Basse-Normandie, Bretagne, Chamagne-Ardenne, Pays de la Loire, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Rhône-Alpes. The theoretical part is devoted to the importance of the position of tourism in terms of economics, society and regional development. Thesis also explains the concept of tourism competitiveness and its associated attributes such as comparative and competitive advantage. In detail various indicators of competitiveness of the WEF methodology are described. In the practical part there is defined set of indicators which can be used to measure the competitiveness of the tourism sector in regions. Indicators are based on publicly available data of selected regions. With using these indicators it is calculated tourism competitiveness index for each region. Final comparison shows that the most competitive tourism has region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. On the contrary, the least competitive tourism is in region Champagne-Ardenne. Five fundamental aspects of tourism development are defined, based on the results obtained. In conclusion, diploma thesis confirms direct relationship between the level of the index and incoming tourism in selected French regions. With respect to the defined set of indicators of tourism competitiveness the possibility of its use also within regions in other European countries it is offered