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on Tourism Economics |
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Issue of 2005‒04‒24
five papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Universita degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Andrea Bigano (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Alessandra Goria (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Jacqueline Hamilton (Hamburg University and Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Science); Richard S.J. Tol (Hamburg University, Vrije Universiteit and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University) |
| Abstract: | Tourism is an industry of primary importance for the world economy. For some countries, tourism is the first source of income and foreign currency, and many local economies heavily depend on tourism. Tourists are sensitive to climate and to climate change, which will affect the relative attractiveness of destinations and hence the motive for international tourists to leave their country of origin. Yet, until recently, the attention devoted by the tourism literature to climate change and by the climate change literature to tourism has been quite limited. This paper is divided in two parts. The first part reviews the literature on the relationship between climate change and tourism. We find that the existing studies have but started unveiling the complexities of this relationship, by means of very heterogeneous approaches and scarcely comparable studies. A comprehensive, coherent quantitative message cannot yet be drawn from the literature. The broad qualitative message is clear, however: climate change will affect tourism, and the consequences for the economy might be wide and pervasive. The second part analyses empirically the relationship between climate characteristics, weather extremes and domestic and international tourism demand across Europe, with a focus on Italy. This study draws on the results on the Italian tourist sector of the WISE project, a multi-sector research project that investigates the impacts of extreme weather events on the socio-economic systems of some European countries by means of both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In general, temperature is the strongest indicator of domestic tourism. The relationship between tourism and temperature is generally positive in the same-month all across Europe, except in winter sports regions. The climate impact depends as well on destination type: for example coastal resorts respond more favourably to summer temperature increases than inland resorts. Moreover, it is not just temperature that counts, but also the expectations about future temperature levels; not just the presence of weather extremes, but also the expectations about their future occurrence. Qualitative results, based on individual surveys, show that during an unusually hot summer day trips are more climate-responsive than short breaks, that short breaks are more climate-responsive than main holidays, and that most people tend not to change plans for their main vacation: those that do change either stay at home or in their own country. On the basis of our literature survey and of our empirical study’s results, the paper concludes by indicating the most urgent gaps to be filled in the knowledge about the relationship between climate change and tourism and by pointing at the most promising directions for further research. |
| Keywords: | Tourism, Climate change, Extreme weather events |
| JEL: | L83 Q25 C23 C42 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2005.30&r=tur |
| By: | Richard S.J. Tol (Hamburg University); Andrea Bigano (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Catholic University of Leuven); Jacqueline M. Hamilton (Hamburg University and Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Science) |
| Abstract: | The holiday destination choice is analysed for tourists from 45 countries, representing all continents and all climates. Tourists are deterred by distance, political instability and poverty, and attracted to coasts. Tourists prefer countries with a sunny yet mild climate, shun climes that are too hot or too cold. A country’s tourists’ aversion for poverty and distance can be predicted by that country’s average per capita income. The preferred holiday climate is the same for all tourists, independent of the home climate. However, tourists from hotter climates have more pronounced preferences. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Impacts, Adaptation, Acclimatisation, Domestic tourism, International tourism |
| JEL: | L83 Q25 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2005.4&r=tur |
| By: | Paulo A.L.D. Nunes (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); C. Martijn van der Heide (Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI), Public Issues Division); Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Institute for Environmental Studies, Free University); Ekko C. van Ierland (Wageningen University) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers an economic value assessment of a nature protection programme in the Veluwe. This programme involves two defragmentation scenarios: the first scenario connects the central part of the Veluwe with the IJssel river forelands in a north-eastern direction, while the second scenario is focused on defragmentation in a south-western direction, where the Rhine river forelands are located. The valuation is based on a questionnaire that was administered during face-to-face interviews in the Veluwe area and through the Internet. We employ a contingent valuation approach to assess the respondents’ willingness to pay for the realisation of the defragmentation scenarios. It appears that the mean willingness to pay for the two defragmentation scenarios are € 59.7 and € 162.2 per respondent. These two willingness-to-pay estimates, which refer to a lump sum payment (or ‘once-and-for-all payment’), are based on a lognormal and Weibull distribution respectively. In addition to the willingness to pay, we also estimate recreation benefits of the Veluwe. To that end, we use the travel cost technique, the purpose of which is to arrive at an estimate of the site’s consumer surplus. According to this technique, the yearly recreational benefits are estimated between € 0.06 and € 0.45 per visitor. Whereas the former estimate is based on the fuel costs only, the latter covers also insurance and maintenance costs, and capital depreciation. Finally, we performed an aggregation of individual WTP estimates over Dutch households. With the resulting aggregate estimates we are able to compare the total costs and benefits of the two scenarios for habitat fragmentation in the Veluwe. The result of such a simple comparison turns out to critically depend on whether the mean or median estimate is used for aggregation. If aggregation of individual WTP estimates is based on mean values, then the benefits far exceed the estimated costs of defragmentation. In other words, based on an integrated economic-ecological analysis it makes sense to execute the defragmentation measures described in the scenarios. However, aggregate estimates obtained by using median values result in higher costs than aggregate estimates that are based on mean values. Even stronger, median-based estimates show that the costs of implementing scenario 2 are higher than the total benefits of this scenario. |
| Keywords: | Economic value, Nature protection, Defragmentation policy, Veluwe |
| JEL: | Q50 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2005.42&r=tur |
| By: | Anna Alberini (University of Maryland); Valentina Zanatta (DICAS, Politecnico di Torino and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Paolo Rosato (DIC, Università di Trieste and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | This paper reports the results of a Travel Cost Method (TCM) study about the recreational use of the Lagoon of Venice for sports fishing. In April-July 2002, we conducted a mail survey of anglers with valid licenses fishing on the Lagoon of Venice to gather data on their fishing trips, behaviors and expenditures over the previous year. We also asked questions about trips that would be undertaken under hypothetical changes in the price of a trip and/or in the catch rate. Actual and hypothetical trips are combined to estimate single-site TCM demand function for trips. We propose several models to test whether it is acceptable to pool hypothetical and actual trip data, focusing on the respondent heterogeneity in the contingent behavior questions. Our models suggest actual and contingent behavior are driven by the same demand function, and can be pooled for estimation purposes. We use this estimated demand function, and its shift when the catch rate is improved, to compute angler surplus at the current catch rate and the change in surplus accruing from a 50% improvement in the catch rate. For the average angler in our sample, the former is about €1,700 a year, while the latter is about €2,800. |
| Keywords: | Sports fishing value, Travel cost method, Environmental improvement |
| JEL: | Q26 Q51 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2005.44&r=tur |
| By: | Angelo Antoci (DEIR, University of Sassari) |
| Abstract: | We analyse growth dynamics in an economy where the well-being of economic agents depends on three goods: leisure, a free access environmental good and a private good which can be produced by each agent through his own labour input. The private good can be consumed as a substitute for the environmental resource. The production process of the private good by each agent generates negative externalities on the other agents, by depleting the free access natural resource; but it also produces positive externalities by increasing the productivity of labour via a learning-by-doing mechanism of accumulation of knowledge [which is a pure public good]. In this context, we show that attracting steady states may exist which are Pareto-dominated by others where aggregate private consumption and labour productivity are lower. However, negative externalities can also be an engine of desirable growth: the deterioration of the environmental good can play the role of a coordination device leading economic agents to a wider exploitation of positive externalities. |
| Keywords: | Self-protection choices, Consumption patterns, Negative externalities, Undesirable economic growth, Adaptive dynamics |
| JEL: | D62 O11 O13 O40 Q20 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2005.9&r=tur |