Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; v. 3, n. 17/18 (2012); 1767-1779
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Resumo: | In accordance with its huge importance to the world economy, the tourism sector represents a driver of economic growth. Clusters and their application have been subjected to various theoretical and practical approaches within the framework of regional economic development, worldwide, throughout the last decade. The geographic concentration of this type of seasonal activity very commonly results in the excessive utilisation of the term “cluster” to designate these same regional concentrations. Many studies have gone about identifying clusters in diverse contexts, nevertheless fundamentally based upon qualitative e/or quantitative analytical approaches tending to overlook fundamental methodological aspects inherent to the identification and operational functioning of clusters. Furthermore, very few have focused on the tourism sector with recourse to regional specialisation measurements. This research aims to contribute towards narrowing the empirical research methodological shortcomings through the proposal and application of a quantitative methodology capable of robustly identifying and locating tourism industry clusters in Portugal. Based upon the methodology adopted, a total of 555 clusters were identified, distributed across ten activity sectors related to accommodation, restaurants, entertainment and events.
