Relationship between tourism development and the socioeconomic progress of tourist destinations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether tourism destination competitiveness is associated with human development using contingency tables. Also, by means of a cluster analysis, it seeks to identify homogeneous groups of tourists. Design/methodology/approach The analysis relies on the Travel and Tourism Development Index and Human Development Index for 2021 and is applied to 81 countries with a high/very high level of human progress and 36 countries with a medium/low level. Findings The results show that infrastructure is the tourism dimension that has the greatest influence on human development for all countries, while conditions for doing business and sustainability are relevant to residents’ quality of life only in destinations with a high/very high level of progress. Cluster analysis points to India as a tourist destination that is markedly different from the other countries in its human progress, presenting much higher values for price competitiveness, infrastructure and natural and cultural resources. Originality/value It analyses the association between each one of the dimensions of tourism development and the Human Development Index.