Destination competitiveness and resident well-being

The paper presents arguments for integrating resident wellbeing outcomes into destination competitiveness analysis. Despite increasing acknowledgment that resident well-being is the primary objective of achieving destination competitiveness, the established frameworks fail to accord it a central role in performance assess-ment. A well-being index is proposed for this purpose. Constructing this index will necessitate the development of well-being measures to assess destination competitiveness in addition to the standard destination performance indicators. Several important challenges for tourism stakeholders are identified. Expected outcomes of the dis-cussion include greater insight into the sources and goals of destination competitiveness, appreciation of the importance of resident well-being in destination competitiveness analysis, and the implications of this for analysis and policy making.