Sun, Sand, & Sea: Expectation or Competitive Advantage?

The purpose of this study is to explore destination attributes that may provide Caribbean islands with a competitive advantage that extends beyond the traditional sun, sand, and sea (SSS) product. Literature has indicated... [ view full abstract ]

The purpose of this study is to explore destination attributes that may provide Caribbean islands with a competitive advantage that extends beyond the traditional sun, sand, and sea (SSS) product. Literature has indicated that SSS destinations (although attractive to the masses) may lack product differentiation and possess high product standardization that, overtime, may be unappealing to tourists. Although tourists will continue to frequent SSS destinations, destination managers must be capable of guaranteeing that tourists would return to their destination over substitute SSS destinations.

The Caribbean region consists of the world’s largest density of pristine beaches. The region has lured millions of tourists to the islands due to the dependable access to SSS attractions and activities. Thus, most Caribbean islands have not had the need to nurture a tourism industry based on much more than the SSS product. However, a trend has emerged within Caribbean island data indicating that Caribbean tourist arrivals (especially first time arrivals) are increasing; yet, repeat tourist arrivals (to some islands) are decreasing.

This trend seems to indicate that tourists are “collecting” island experiences. That is, tourists return to the Caribbean selecting different SSS destinations each time. Curacao is among those island destinations that has observed this data trend. Consequently, a research study was undertaken to explore alternative destination attributes that may be used to establish SSS product differentiation for the island of Curacao.

Using 1,700 survey participants that had been to the Caribbean within the last year but not to Curacao, the study queried which destination attributes were most in demand by potential Curacao tourists. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that most of the demand variance (45.36%) could be accounted for through hospitality-related services and the SSS product accounted for only 3.88% of the variance. This means that tourists are arriving to islands with the expectation of SSS, but island destination managers have a significant opportunity to increase service-based product delivery in order to entice Caribbean tourists to arrive to Curacao. This finding may help to establish product differentiation via a soft tourism product as opposed to hard products that require large capital investment.