Ernesto C. Mandigma Jr., Merle U. Ruiz, & Florenda J. De Vero
Abstract:
This study aimed to determine the destination competitiveness of beach tourism in Batangas Province as input to the proposed tourism sustainable development plan. It assessed the level of sustainability of the beach destinations in Batangas Province relative to economy, socio cultural and environment. It also tackled on how competitive are the destinations in Batangas Province in relation to inherited resources, created resources, destination management, supporting factors, demand conditions and situational conditions. The study is quantitative in nature where it utilized descriptive method design that involved the collection of primary data using structured questionnaire. Cronbach Alpha was used to test the reliability of the tool after pilot testing. Quantitative method was used to assess the level of sustainability of the beach destination so with the competitiveness of the beach destinations in the municipalities of Calatagan, Nasugbu and San Juan in Batangas Province for a filed survey. There were 420 respondents used in gathering data which composed of different stakeholders such as tourists, residents, resort owners and local government unit treated with utmost confidentiality using purposive sampling. The statistical treatment of data was applied such as frequency, percentage, weighted mean, analysis of variance or F-test and z-test and Pearson-R. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents are 15 to 20 years old, female, single, college graduate and from San Juan, Batangas. The respondents assessed the evidence of sustainability of beach destinations in Batangas Province as evident and sustainable on overall indicators for economy, socio cultural and environment. The respondents agree on the competitiveness of beach destinations in relation to inherited resources, created resources, destination management, supporting factors, demand factors and situational condition which found competitive. A tourism sustainable development plan was proposed so that policy makers can use this approach for the development of tourism industry.
Keywords: Destination, competitiveness, beach tourism, sustainability