Competitiveness of trade in services: some problems of measurement

This paper sheds light on the main approaches in measuring the competitive performance in trade in services and discusses some problems associated therewith. The existing literature points to two conclusions. On the one hand, data interpretation should be normally qualified due to some specificities of production in this sector. On the other hand, data collection is impeded by statistical and conceptual difficulties which make the refinement of analytical techniques a much harder task relative to production of and trade in goods. An illustrative empirical analysis is presented in a table of competitive hierarchies in „travel and tourism“ for selected Eastern European countries.