ABSTRACT
Tourism destinations compete against each other in order to attract visitors in a globalised market place. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the role of stakeholder coordination and collaboration in order to enhance the competitiveness of a wellness destination. According to the literature, controversy exists in, for example, how destination management and destination development are dened and who are or should be the actors involved at destination level. The main focus of the chapter will be to provide an overview of the WelDest model created by Saari and Tuominen during the WelDest project1 (Dvorak, Saari and Tuominen, 2014: 27). The model incorporates the endowed resources and tourism superstructure that create the comparative advantage of a destination specialised in contributing to the health and wellbeing of tourists and residents alike, but also the role of successful management and development of these resources and structures, which may result in competitive advantage. However, the main emphasis in this chapter will be in the activities and actors needed in coordinated collaboration aiming at enhancing the destination competitiveness. Also the similarities and dierences between this model and some other destination competitiveness models are discussed in more detail from this point of view.
