【正文】 stry and destination clusters: Evidence from Italy Author: Cristina Bernini Nationality: Italy Adapt from: Tourism management,2021,30(6) Abstract: The study investigates aspects of the convention industry not well explored in the literature. Using a framework of cluster theory, a quantitative method is used to assess the Italian convention industry and its relationships with local infrastructure and tourism product supply. The development of the different phases of the life cycle of convention destinations in Italy is outlined and locational factors which influence them are investigated. Managerial and political strategies which would enhance the petitiveness of the Italian convention industry in the global market are proposed. Furthermore, the study evaluates the use of the cluster theory in investigating the hospitality industry, contributing to the debate on local tourism development. Keywords: Convention Industry, Cluster Theory, Local Development, Clustern Analysis, Quantile Regression. Interest in geographical works and their role in economic development has grown over the last few years because economies tend to develop through the emergence of territorial agglomeration and pany works (Enright, 2021). An emerging industry centres on some natural resource, market need or local skill. As the industry develops, new firms, inputs and service enterprises are created. New economic sectors emerge through spillovers and transferred knowledge and global petitiveness increases. Territorial development and petitiveness are also very important for the tourism industry. Tourism is mainly constituted by SMEs, so functioning within a work may contribute to overing production, managerial and mercial difficulties. In order to increase petition and strategic positioning in the worldwide market, tourism destinations should encourage the emergence of tourism works and the analysis of their structure. Over the past decade, several attempts have been made using the industrial district and cluster theories to investigate tourism works and their role in local development. Industrial districts (Marshall,1966) are agglomerations of SMEs specialising in different parts of a given production activity. Although industrial district theory analyses conditions for the development of a local verticallyintegrated work of firms operating in manufacturing markets, some authors have tried to adapt industrial district theory to the tourism industry (Gets, 1993。 Lazzeretti, 2021). Despite the use of industrial district theory to investigate tourism works, some doubts are cast on its applicability. Tourism is a sector with a fragmented structure typically based on SMEs but it is particularly characterised by the presence of a large number of participants in the work who are not necessarily involved in the same economic sectors. For this reason Cluster theory is possibly a better analytic model for the investigation of the tourism industry. Cluster theory has its origins in the studies of Porter (1998), who defines cluster as geographic concentrations of interconnected panies, specialised suppliers, service providers and firms in related industries and associated institutions in particular fields that pete but also cooperate. Although Porter?s work is manly focused on the manufacturing industry, it has also been extended and applied to service industries, such as tourism. Some differences emerge between the two theories. Industrial districts are usually local clusters of singleproduct industries. In contrast, cluster theory refers to concentrations of interrelated but different industries displaying a shared understanding of the petitive business ethic emanating from petitive theory (Jackson amp。 Van Den Berg, Braum, amp。 Jackson amp。 Canina, Enz, amp。 Novelli, Smithz, amp。 (4) government policy supporting munities with information and infrastructure, facilitating inputs such as an educated workforce, maintaining an appropriate framework for regulation of standards and ensuring macroeconomic and political stability. Such a conceptual model could be usefully applied to tourism and convention destinations. The principles of the diamond model can be bined with cluster theory to provide a more prehensive and balanced approach to regional economic development and the role of tourism within it. However, the conceptualisation of the sectors involved in tourism works and the nature of their interrelationships in a cluster is not easily standardized. The plexity of the cluster concept suggests that no single definition or methodology is universally correct but varies depending on the economic sector analyzed and on its strategic practices and policies. Considering the main aims of the paper, we have decided to focus on some of the key aspects of tourism and convention destinations: hospitality, acmodation, convention services, educational institutions, transport, population and local resources (Fig. 1). Our original conceptual model is the basis for designing an empirical methodology. Fig 1. The proposed conceptual m