Geography and location selection of multinational tourism firms : strategies for globalization

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the major geographical dimensions of the location strategies of multinational tourism firms. Design/methodology/approach: Conceptually, this paper is situated at the intersection of two distinct and evolving bodies of research literature on the global geographies of the tourism industry and the production of economic globalization from a set of strategic locations. Empirically, principal component analysis is applied to explore the main geographical configurations within a location matrix of 102 tourism firms across 547 cities. Findings: The results identify strong geographical organizing patterns in the location strategies of multinational tourism firms, above all articulated in countries/regions that themselves have large domestic and/or international tourism markets. However, there is also a global component in terms of firm/location composition, while the national/regional components are hybrid and porous in practice. Originality/value: This study contributes to a new way of looking at a globalizing tourism sector. The findings can be used to reflect on possible wider implications for the tourism geographies literature and reveal some avenues for further research.