We visited Tukums in October 2023 and I got to learn about co-opetition in the Tukums area. During the trip, we had the opportunity to visit different rural and nature tourism destinations in the Tukums area. I wrote an on-site blog post about this, go and read it here. During the trip, I noticed that cooperation between different operators in the tourism industry came up several times. I have also learned a lot about the topic during my Tourism Bachelor studies at the Lapland University of Applied Sciences, and maybe that’s why we students asked the Latvian tourism operators about the topic while we were there.
Co-opetition
I have learned that cooperation is good for travel companies, especially small companies can benefit a lot from it. Competition is also important, but combining both, competition and cooperation (co-opetition) can be very profitable for the region. The point of co-opetition is that cooperation is done for the development of the whole area or region, starting with small businesses and their activities, BUT the competition starts when visitors arrive at the destination. Then everyone markets their own activities as best they can, to get visitors in the area to consume them. The public sector enables cooperation between smaller companies for the development of the entire region. Coopetition is useful for small companies, through it, they can better participate in the area’s business activities and marketing. Competition gives motivation to always develop better and better compared to the market. (Kylänen & Rusko 2010)
Possibilities in Tukums
In the Tukums area, I heard that stakeholders, for example the nature park and local tourism companies, do not cooperate much on their own initiative. Cooperation is mainly started when problems have already appeared and when a solution has to be found to them, in which case an organization takes on a role and points out needed operational changes to companies in the area, for example in matters related to sustainability and environment safety.
In my opinion, doing more co-opetition: compination of competition and cooperation in the Tukums area could be good for the development of the Tukums as a destination. Companies would be better informed about what regulations need to be followed, and a common spirit and understanding of the area’s development and benefits between stakeholders would hopefully increase.
Source: Kylänen, M. & Rusko, R. 2010. Unintentional coopetition in the service industries: The case of Pyhä-Luosto tourism destination in the Finnish Lapland. European Management Journal.