World Tourism Day, marked on 27 September each year, is an occasion to reassess the true value of the sector. Economist Geoffrey Crouch’s thesis is particularly instructive for countries such as Mozambique, demonstrating how natural wealth creates opportunity — but does not, on its own, deliver results.
Having pristine beaches, nature reserves or a singular culture may be the foundation of a thriving tourism sector, but developing products and a competitive offer is another matter entirely. Geoffrey Crouch devoted much of his academic career to showing how that is done. A professor, researcher and one of the world’s foremost authorities on tourism destination competitiveness, Crouch became an international reference by studying what distinguishes destinations that prosper from those that remain unfulfilled promises. His conclusion is straightforward: natural resources explain only part of competitiveness. The rest depends on the quality of governance, strategy, institutional capacity and the decisions that follow from them.
This is a particularly relevant line of thinking for Mozambique. Few African countries combine such a rich set of tourism assets. More than 2,500 kilometres of Indian Ocean coastline, national parks of extraordinary biodiversity, internationally recognised archipelagos, a diverse culture, cuisine, history and a young population constitute an enviable base for any tourism strategy. Yet tourism continues to fall well short of the economic role it could play. Geoffrey Crouch’s framework helps explain why.
Competitiveness Is Not a Snapshot
One of Geoffrey Crouch’s most influential bodies of work was developed in partnership with Brent Ritchie, culminating in the Destination Competitiveness model presented in 1999 and expanded across several publications, including The Competitive Destination: A Sustainable Tourism Perspective, published in 2003.
Crouch shifts the debate away from marketing and towards public policy. Rather than asking ‘how do we attract more tourists?’, he poses a different question: ‘how do we build a better destination?’
In this model, Crouch and Ritchie argue that tourism competitiveness results from the interaction of multiple factors — never from a single element. So-called inherited resources — beaches, mountains, climate, wildlife, historical heritage, landscapes — represent only one dimension of the equation. Equally important are infrastructure, cultural facilities, international events, hotels, convention centres and tourism services. But there is a third element, frequently overlooked: the supporting factors that ultimately determine whether a destination can convert its potential into economic value. These include:
Functional road networks; efficient airports; telecommunications; public safety; a skilled human capital base; institutional stability; access to financing; and quality public services.
According to Crouch, it is precisely here that many countries fall behind. An abundance of natural resources frequently creates a false sense of permanent competitive advantage. In reality, that advantage can erode rapidly when other destinations offer a superior experience, greater safety or more efficient services.
The Decisive Weight of Strategy
Over the past two decades, Geoffrey Crouch has deepened this analysis through the study of tourism governance models. In his work on Destination Management, he argues that managing a destination must function as an integrated strategy — not a simple exercise in international promotion. Marketing matters, he acknowledges, but it is not sufficient. Promoting a country that cannot offer reliable air connections, straightforward visitor entry processes, environmental quality or consistent services means raising expectations that are unlikely to be met.
For Crouch, true competitive advantage is built before any advertising campaign, through coordination among the state, municipalities, the private sector, investors, local communities and training institutions. It is a perspective that fundamentally reorders priorities — shifting the focus from marketing to public policy. The difference may appear subtle, but in practice it changes everything about where effort and investment should be directed.
The Lesson for Mozambique
Applying Geoffrey Crouch’s model to the Mozambican context, the diagnosis becomes clear. The core assets exist. The Indian Ocean coastline remains among the most beautiful on the continent. The Bazaruto and Quirimbas Archipelagos, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Island, wildlife corridors, diving, sport fishing, marine wildlife observation and cultural diversity represent assets of considerable international standing. The problem rarely lies in the destination’s appeal — it lies in the competitiveness of the system.
Specific structural constraints include: limited air access; high costs on international routes; infrastructure that remains inadequate across several tourism corridors; a need for greater regulatory predictability; insecurity in a number of regions; weak consistency in international promotion; and a shortage of investment in professional skills development.
All of these factors are essential to converting resources into competitiveness. In straightforward terms, Mozambique holds world-class assets but has not yet built a tourism system of equivalent competitive standing.
Perhaps Geoffrey Crouch’s most important intellectual contribution has been the clear distinction he draws between two concepts that are frequently confused: comparative advantage and competitive advantage. The first reflects what a country naturally possesses; the second reflects what it is capable of doing with those resources. This distinction helps explain why some countries that are relatively poor in natural endowments manage to develop highly sophisticated tourism industries, while others far richer in heritage fail to realise its value.
Text: Celso Chambisso
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=543351
