Endogenous amenities, tourists’ happiness and competitiveness

A key strategy for supporting destination competitiveness is to enhance endogenous amenities, and tourists are the best candidate to evaluate them at the destination. The analysis in this paper uses a comprehensive data set on foreign travellers to investigate their happiness at Italian destinations between 2005 and 2014. Using a theory-dependent approach to model happiness at the destination with respect to endogenous and exogenous amenities, personal characteristics and trip features, a great diversity in the mix of amenities affecting tourist happiness is shown. However, some clear spatial patterns emerge. The findings call for place-based policies targeted at the specific needs of each area.