Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in the world economy. Increasingly, research on tourism destinations has been at the centre of debates concerning destination competitiveness, governance, policies and destination management and marketing.This book investigates tourist destinations from two different perspectives. First, it approaches destinations using the concept of tourist clusters and investigates their role in competitiveness and firm performances. The second perspective studies the development of models of competitiveness and governance. It also develops an international benchmarking system of 15-EU countries, with an additional focus on Italy, UK and United States. The book will appeal to academics, scholars and practitioners in tourism studies, management, urban and regional studies and economic geography, etc.