The tourism productivity challenge: Are we measuring the right factors, and is productivity growth unlimited?

Abstract

The OECD, UNWTO, and numerous countries national data-gathering organizations report that tourism, as an industry, underperforms in productivity compared to other industries. While not disagreeing with the comparison from having used standard productivity measurement tools, this paper challenges the rhetoric and implication that productivity growth is unlimited, and that the tourism industry has significant productivity gains available to it. In doing so, this conceptual paper seeks to create a debate and develop a deeper understanding of productivity challenges in a service-intensive industry such as tourism. It further presents an argument for refining and potentially re-defining the term ‘productivity’ within the tourism industry, which requires a deeper understanding of what tourism operators presently consider productivity is and appropriate productivity measures.