nep-tur New Economics Papers
on Tourism Economics
Issue of 2009‒05‒16
nine papers chosen by
Antonello Scorcu
University of Bologna

  1. A Dynamic Correlation Approach of the Swiss Tourism Income By Leon, Costas; Eeckels, Bruno
  2. Using Revealed and Stated Preference Data to Estimate the Demand and Consumption Benefits of Sporting Events: An Application to National Hockey League Game Trips By John C. Whitehead; Bruce K. Johnson; Daniel S. Mason; Gordon J. Walker
  3. The crisis-resilience of services trade By Borchert, Ingo; Mattoo, Aaditya
  4. Temporal Stability of Recreation Choices By Parsons, George R.; Stefanova, Stela
  5. Does economic endogeneity of site facilities in recreation demand models lead to statistical endogeneity? By Chen, Min; Lupi, Frank
  6. Estimating Mixed Logit Recreation Demand Models With Large Choice Sets By Domanski, Adam
  7. Kuhn-Tucker Estimation of Recreation Demand â A Study of Temporal Stability By Bhattacharjee, Subhra; Kling, Catherine L.; Herriges, Joseph A.
  8. The Value of Disappearing Beaches: A hedonic pricing model with engogenous beach width By Gopalakrishnan, Sathya; Smith, Martin D.; Slott, Jordan M.; Murray, A. Brad
  9. La aviación civil en la Argentina By Alejandro Grimson

  1. By: Leon, Costas; Eeckels, Bruno
    Abstract: We apply cross-spectral methods, dynamic correlation index of comovements and a VAR model to study the cyclical components of GDP and tourism income of Switzerland with annual data for the period 1980 – 2007. We find evidence of 4 dominant cycles for GDP and an average duration between 9 and 11 years. Tourism income is characterized by more cycles, giving an average cycle of about 8 years. There are also common cycles both in the typical business cycle and in the longer-run frequency bands. Lead / lag analysis shows that the two cyclical components are roughly synchronized. Simulations via a VAR model show that the maximum effect of 1% GDP shock on tourism income is higher than the maximum effect of 1% tourism income shock on GDP. The effects of these shocks last for about 12-14 years, although the major part of the shocks is absorbed within 5-6 years.
    Keywords: Switzerland; Tourism Economics; Economic Fluctuations; Business Cycle; Spectral Analysis; Dynamic Correlation; VAR Models.
    JEL: C51 E32 L83
    Date: 2009–05–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15215&r=tur
  2. By: John C. Whitehead; Bruce K. Johnson; Daniel S. Mason; Gordon J. Walker
    Abstract: This paper examines the demand for hockey game trips among metropolitan and non-metropolitan residents of Alberta, Canada. Using data on both revealed and stated preference game trip behaviour from a telephone survey conducted throughout Alberta, we estimate the effect of ticket prices, team quality, arena amenities, and capacity on the latent demand for NHL hockey. We find that lower ticket prices, higher team quality and additional capacity encourage attendance. The base case consumer surplus per game is $50 for those who had attended hockey games and about 50% less for those who had not attended games. Exploiting the stated preference data, we develop a number of other consumer surplus estimates. We also include travel costs in the estimation of the demand function and estimate the full value of the game trip considering both ticket prices and travel costs. Sold out arenas in Calgary and Edmonton generate annual consumption benefits of $40 and $35 million. Considering the full price consumer surplus for the Calgary Flames of $103 per game trip, the annual consumption benefits may be as high as $82 million. Key Words: Hockey demand, revealed preference, stated preference, consumer surplus
    JEL: R22 L83 D61
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:09-13&r=tur
  3. By: Borchert, Ingo; Mattoo, Aaditya
    Abstract: Much attention has focused on the impact of the current crisis on goods trade; hardly any on its impact on services trade. Using new trade data from the United States, and more aggregate data from other OECD countries, the authors show that services trade is weathering the current crisis much better than goods trade. As of February 2009, the value of US goods imports had declined year-on-year by 33 percent and the value of goods exports by 21 percent; services imports and exports each had declined by less than 7 percent. Within services, interesting patterns are emerging. Trade in goods-related transport services and crisis-related financial services has shrunk, as has expenditure on tourism abroad. But trade in a range of business, professional, and technical services is still increasing, with US exports growing even faster (at 10 percent) than US imports (at 7 percent). Developing countries like India, which are relatively specialized in business process outsourcing and information technology services, have suffered much smaller declines in total exports to the United States than countries like Brazil and China and regions like Africa, which are specialized in exports of goods, transport services, or tourism services. On the basis of new evidence from Indian services exporters, the authors suggest that services trade is buoyant relative to goods trade for two reasons: demand for a range of traded services is less cyclical, and services trade and production are less dependent on external finance. Even though few explicitly protectionist measures have so far been taken in services, the changing political climate and the widening boundaries of the state in crisis countries may introduce a national bias in firms'procurement and location choices.
    Keywords: Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,ICT Policy and Strategies,Commodities
    Date: 2009–04–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4917&r=tur
  4. By: Parsons, George R.; Stefanova, Stela
    Abstract: We evaluate the stability of coefficient and willingness to pay (WTP) estimates for recreation services over two time periods. To address this question, we estimate a Random Utility Maximization (RUM) model of recreation demand, using two datasets from different time periods, but concerning the same study area. We then compare the estimation results and evaluate the temporal stability of preferences that drive recreation choices. The two datasets are on trips made by Delaware residents to beaches in the Mid-Atlantic region: Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and Northern Virginia. The first dataset was collected using a mail survey in 1997 and the second dataset was gathered through an Internet survey in 2005. Besides the time periods, and the survey methods, there are also significant sample size differences between the two datasets. In the 1997 sample, 400 Delaware residents made at least one day trip, while in the 2005 dataset, only 50 Delawareans visited the beaches of interest.
    Keywords: recreation demand, nonmarket valuation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q51, Q26,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49296&r=tur
  5. By: Chen, Min; Lupi, Frank
    Abstract: Different kinds of endogeneity problems in Random Utility Models of recreation demand have been studied in previous literature. Some site characteristics, like facilities, could be endogenous in an economic sense due to the interplay of supply and demand. That is, it may be that more popular recreation sites tend to have better site characteristics since managers with limited budgets would be more willing to invest in them. If recreation site improvements are more likely to occur at the more popular sites, then might this economic endogeneity cause problems for econometric models linking site demand to facilities. In this paper, we use Monte Carlo simulations to test whether this economic endogeneity will lead to statistical endogeneity.
    Keywords: Random Utility Models, Facilities, Endogeneity, Monte Carlo simulations, Environmental Economics and Policy,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49449&r=tur
  6. By: Domanski, Adam
    Abstract: Discrete choice models are widely used in studies of recreation demand. They have proven valuable when modeling situations where decision makers face large choice sets and site substitution is important. However, when the choice set faced by the individual becomes very large (on the order of hundreds or thousands of alternatives), computational limitations make estimation with the full choice set intractable. Sampling of alternatives in a conditional logit framework is an effective method to limit computational burdens while still producing consistent estimates. This method is allowed by the existence of the independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA) assumption. More advanced mixed logit models account for unobserved preference heterogeneity and overcome the behavioral limitations of the IIA assumption, however in doing so, prohibit sampling of alternatives. A method is developed where a latent class (finite mixture) model is estimated via the expectations-maximization algorithm and in doing so, allows consistent sampling of alternatives in a mixed logit model. The method is tested and applied to a recreational demand Wisconsin fishing survey.
    Keywords: Sampling of alternatives, discrete choice, mixed logit, conditional logit, recreational demand, Wisconsin, fishing, microeconometrics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49413&r=tur
  7. By: Bhattacharjee, Subhra; Kling, Catherine L.; Herriges, Joseph A.
    Abstract: The paper examines the Kuhn Tucker model in the context of estimating recreation demand when the choice set it very large. It examines the temporal stability of parameter estimates using multiple years of data on trips to 127 lakes in Iowa made by households in Iowa. The study finds that for the given dataset, the estimates derived from a Kuhn-Tucker model are largely stable over time.
    Keywords: Recreation demand, Kuhn-Tucker, Temporal Stability, Environmental Economics and Policy, C2, Q2,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49408&r=tur
  8. By: Gopalakrishnan, Sathya; Smith, Martin D.; Slott, Jordan M.; Murray, A. Brad
    Keywords: beach nourishment, beach width, erosion, hedonic, non-market valuation, morpho-economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q24, Q51, Q54,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49261&r=tur
  9. By: Alejandro Grimson (Universidad Nacional de San Martin)
    Abstract: Este trabajo analiza una institución del estado que desapareció en el transcurso del estudio. El gobierno argentino decretó en noviembre de 2007 el traspaso del control de la aviación civil de manos militares a manos civiles, del Comando de Regiones Áreas de la Fuerza Aérea Argentina, dependiente al Ministerio de Defensa, a la Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil, dependiente de la Secretaría de Transporte del Ministerio de Infraestructura. Hasta qué punto la institución con sus diferentes rasgos, procedimientos, cultura institucional, recursos humanos, desparecerá o no completamente en unos años resulta imposible de analizar en este momento. En cambio, las causas que llevaron a esta crisis y a la decisión del traspaso son las que nos ocupan, ya que al analizar esas causas estaremos considerando el papel de la Fuerza Aérea y, en particular, del Comando de Regiones Aéreas en el control y desarrollo de la Aviación Civil en el país, objetivo específico de este estudio.
    Date: 2008–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:1146&r=tur

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