The research seeks to establish, at Serra da Estrela destination, a framework of the competitiveness and collaboration logics in the tourism activity, considering the changes in progress, in terms of positioning, demand behavior and socioeconomic dynamics of local communities. Seeking to know the forms of collaboration and their characteristics in the destination, it was developed the application of survey to the tourist actors of the region to inquire about their understandings and forms of collaboration, the weaknesses considered and the interests for future collaborative processes leading to greater competitiveness and sustainability of tourism at Serra da Estrela. The conditions and context costs of mountain destinations generate more collaborative approaches because these efforts are being carried out in territories where there are higher economic costs and the demand changes throughout the year. This suggests the development of differentiated strategies to diversify the tourist products offered, fostering rapprochments and forms of sustainable cooperation for businesses.
TopIntroduction
Tourism activities have relevant meaning and expression as factors in the transformation of territories and their (re)organization, in terms of occupation, generated economies, and promoted sociocultural relations (Fernandes & Almeida, 2020). A tourist destination is considered a complex and open system that, as a whole, establishes an offer capable of attracting tourists in the long term. In this context, a tourism destination is composed of several networks with a large number of resources and co-producing actors delivering a variety of products and services. The destination generally comprises different types of complementary and competing organizations, multiple sectors, infrastructures, and an array of public/private linkages that create a diverse and highly fragmented supply structure (Baggio & Cooper, 2010; Pavlovich, 2003). These territorial and socio-economic implications have their meanings for rural and mountain territories because of the resources to be allocated to the activity (natural and cultural), existing ways of living, the supply of hotels and services, and the relationships to be established with the local communities. In this context, it is essential that the tourism sector successfully addresses several challenges, including population aging, growing external competition, sustainability concerns, and evolving demand patterns for specific forms of tourism. Business survival lies in taking advantage of the opportunities surrounding it and in suppressing threats. The market dialectic, framed in a capitalist system, places the various agents on the same playing field. Companies are confronted with customer demand and competition from competitors. Business collaboration is a strategic option when seeking access to new technologies and new markets, even if this relationship is between competitors (Bengtsson & Kock, 2000; Teixeira, 2011). Increasing outsourcing has boosted business-to-business partnerships by streamlining production, sharing risk, and increasing the flexibility needed to compete in a growing competitive environment (Ramayah, 2011, Verschoore & Balestrin 2008). A great number of private and public stakeholders at international, national, regional, and local levels are involved in the development of tourism. New economies of scale based on collaboration between companies and business units allow us to share knowledge, innovation and develop new products and services (Hansen & Nohria, 2004; Ménard, 2012). Thus, collaboration emerges as a new paradigm for obtaining competitive advantages. The biggest benefit of cooperation is access to resources that, combined with the company's existing capabilities and means, impact its positioning. According to Sfandala & Bjork (2013), touristic competitiveness is achieved on the local destination scope, through a renewed capacity for innovation and constant improvement, rising, growing, and maintaining within the touristic set, considered as the basic units of competitiveness, which are directly involved in the scenario of national or international competition, competing with other touristic sets.
The collaborative advantage thus forms the basis of a new range of strategies that respond to the characteristics of the environment. Companies have specialized and built new business models where operational efficiency, outsourcing, and business networks mark the strategic framework (Zee, & Vanneste, 2015, Verschoore, & Balestrin, 2008). Networks are an informal affinity model of association that leaves each company responsible for its development. Collaboration through a partnership network does not imply the need for financial relationships, even though the main objective is to strengthen the activity of each of its participants (Borodako & Kozic, 2016, Saito & Ruhanen, 2017). Tourism collaboration networks are a set of cooperative relationships between companies and entities operating in the sector, stimulating inter-organizational learning, knowledge exchange, community sense, and setting collective goals that result in qualitative and quantitative benefits for business activity. or community-related to building sustainable and profitable tourist destinations (Ammirato et al., 2015).