Multidimensional scaling in tourism literature

• The paper is a review of 64 tourism studies published 1975–2014 applying MDS.
• Results of the review are illustrated in MDS diagrams of studies & characteristics.
• Destinations, positioning and image are common themes of MDS studies in tourism.
• MDS example: position of destinations in the regions of the German tourism market.

This paper makes a structured review of 64 travel and tourism journal articles published from 1975 to 2014 applying the multivariate analytical technique called multidimensional scaling (MDS). MDS originates from psychometrics and by the middle of the 1970s the technique was also well established in marketing. Typical themes of tourism studies applying MDS are destinations, positioning and image. The result of the literature review is illustrated in MDS diagrams containing both the references themselves and the characteristics of these references as object points. The uptake of MDS in tourism studies is compared to other techniques, specifically correspondence analysis and structural equation modelling. The literature review is supplemented by a previously unpublished example of the usage of MDS, namely the position of country destinations in the regions of the German tourism market. MDS diagrams can indicate which destinations are competitors, but competitors are at the same time potential partners.