Paper Title
Role of Tourism Clusters in Estonian Regional Development
Abstract
Tourism clusters are good tools for efficient and innovative regional development. Clustering has been a high priority in Estonian tourism development and has caused many issues. Clusters’ role and impact was investigated in this study. The study reveals that most cluster managers and members have positive attitudes about the role and functions of clusters. The most important benefits from cluster co-operation occur in marketing and increase in the customer base, cost reduction, better access to resources and product development. The study shows that further away the cluster is from the Capital city, the more active are the cluster members. Still there are several problems in cluster development and in its role in regional development which will be discussed in the current paper.
Keywords - Tourism Clusters, Regional Development, Rural Tourism, Social Innovation