An analysis of the triadic relationship between airline, destination, and travel agency: applying nucleolus theory to assess power loss and the profit allocation approach

The sustainable development of the tourism industry does not only involve putting forward new requirements that relate to resource integration and stakeholder profitability, as the attainment of the tourism industry's sustainable development goals also requires cooperation between different parties. Studies of traditional sustainable tourism supply chain management generally focus on the relationship between two parties, and few consider cases where there is collaboration between three or more stakeholders. In drawing on the nucleolus concept taken from cooperative game theory, this paper applies the network loss allocation method to study cooperation issues in a triadic relationship that involves airlines, tourist attractions and travel agencies. We specifically analyze the costs and benefits of these three different stakeholders in the tourism industry, and we provide numerical calculations and examples to support our analysis.