Spatial competition and agglomeration in the visitor attraction sector

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to understanding spatial competition by examining visitor attractions in two contrasting clusters of lower and higher levels of agglomeration of businesses in Cornwall, the UK. The study found that competition is mainly for customers and labour and is related differently to the levels of agglomeration, spatial proximity and thematic product similarity between visitor attractions at the local compared to the regional scale. Location can be used differently for employing ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ competitive strategies. The study contributes to the knowledge on the spatiality of competition and the locational strategies of service businesses.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Service Industries Journal on 17/04/2013, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02642069.2013.778251