Tourism Cluster Competitiveness and Territorial Development: Evidence from Ruta Selva Valdiviana Costera Destination in the Region of Los Rios in Chile

Tourism industry has gained importance due to improvements in transport and communication systems that have reduced travelling time and costs. This is supported by increasing number of business trips, vacations, and social gains such as paid holidays that are making tourism a strategic economic activity in many countries. Tourism clusters are created as a strategy for easy promotion, coordination and networking of local actors to improve competitiveness of the sector for sustainable contribution to territorial development. Ruta Selva Valdiviana Costera (RSVC) is one of the three tourism destinations under the Cluster Selva Valdiviana in Los Rios Region in Chile. Based on the Tourism Cluster Development Model for Global Competitiveness, the book shows that the competitiveness of RSVC as a tourism destination is defined by its geographic location; mix of historical and cultural legacies of Spanish forts and German colonization; a diversity of natural parks with flora and fauna; participation of public and private sectors and the political will to organize the regional tourism sector to compete with other destinations in Chile.

MSc in Regional Development Planning and Management (Technical University of Dortmund, Germany & Universidad Austral De Chile) and MA in Development Studies (University of Malawi). He is working for Ministry of Lands and Housing, Department of Physical Planning in Malawi, head of the Policy, Planning Standards and Guidelines Unit.