This paper suggests a feasible model to evaluate the competitiveness of the tourist regions of the Italian Mezzogiorno and, therefore, from a policy making perspective, the impact of regional policies – primarily those of economic development – that affect tourism. A review of the literature – on the issue of the lack of adequate information to draw and analyse public policies –, has led us to conclude that the reasons for this difficulty are different and have a nature both institutional and technical (OECD, 2005). Dwelling on the technical level, we assume that an information system to evaluate the competitiveness of the tourism sector should be: practical, understandable, based on benchmarking, suggest solutions, timely, systematic and reliable. The paper, aside from explaining the significance and arguments on which we have based the choice of the indicators, proposes a concrete model – meeting the mentioned criteria – to measure the competitiveness of a tourist region, Sicily, benchmarking it to other regions of the Mezzogiorno and, in some cases, to other regions of the Mediterranean. Finally, we have summarized the most significant elements of the model. More specifically, we have explained the reasons of both, the definition of «tourism competitiveness» we have applied, and the selected indicators.
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