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on Tourism Economics |
| By: | Paolo Figini (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA)); Laura Vici (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA)) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the potential implications on off-season tourism of enhancing the cultural offer of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside holiday destination. Rimini, a city of about 130,000 people hosts a total of around 12 million overnight stays, 10 million of which are concentrated in the summer months. In the last twenty years or so, Rimini has been undergoing a policy of deseasoning, which mainly pivots around business tourism (a new fair quarter and important conference venues have been built) and cultural tourism (the city has been investing on both its cultural heritage and art exhibitions). This assessment is carried out through discrete choice experiments submitted to a sample of about 800 off-season tourists, that is, tourists who visited Rimini outside the summer months. Since tourism can be viewed as a composite good, which overall utility depends on the arrangement of the component characteristics, the choice experiments allow to disentangle the importance and the willingness to pay of tourists for different levels of the holiday's characteristics. The choice model incorporates as attributes a number of possible changes to actual tourism features (which are also the subject of public debate), including them in hypothetical alternative "holiday packages". The conditional logit analysis of the choice experiments can highlight the potential synergies and trade-offs between cultural and business tourism. Moreover, the methodology and the structure of the questionnaire allow a partial comparison of our findings with results stemming from two previous studies carried out in Rimini, respectively on summer tourists and on residents. Such comparison highlights synergies and trade-offs between off-season tourists, summer tourists, and residents. |
| Keywords: | tourism demand; cultural tourism; business tourism, conditional logit; urban planning; choice experiments |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:24_10&r=tur |
| By: | Andrew Kato (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa); James Mak (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization) |
| Abstract: | Richard ButlerÕs tourism area life cycle envisions tourism destinations to evolve in stages from exploration to rapid growth followed by slackening, stagnation, and even decline. The eventual slow-down in tourism growth is attributed to the destinations reaching their physical and social carrying capacities. This article examines the evolution of Hawaii as a tourism destination from 1922 to 2009. We demonstrate that tourism growth in Hawaii has declined but not because the destination has reached its carrying capacity but primarily because of the slowdown in technical progress in passenger air transportation and competition from newer destinations. We conclude that for destinations that depend on transportation improvements to attract tourists, technical progress in transport may provide a better explanation of the evolution of their destinations than their carrying capacities. |
| Keywords: | Tourism Area Life Cycle, Transportation, Technical Progress |
| JEL: | O33 L83 L93 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-13&r=tur |
| By: | JG. Brida; Manuela Pulina |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review on the temporal relationship between tourism and economic growth. Specifically, the role of a such economic activity, as a promoter of short and long run economic growth, is investigated by assessing the so-called Tourism Led Growth Hypothesis (TLGH). To this aim, various methodological approaches have been used, such as VAR, VECM, ARDL, ARCH, GARCH, cross section and panel data. The cointegrating relationship of the economic variables allows one to test the short and long run Granger no-causality. Overall, the empirical findings, emerging from the existing literature, provide evidence that indeed tourism activity drives economic development in all the countries analysed. This outcome further supports the well-established contribution that international tourism has to the economic development. |
| Keywords: | tourism; economic growth; Granger causality; comprehensive review |
| JEL: | D30 E43 L83 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201017&r=tur |
| By: | Denise Eby Konan (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii Research Organization, Center for Sustainable Coastal Tourism) |
| Abstract: | The paper provides a methodology for considering the carrying capacity and limits to growth of a labor-constrained mature tourism destination. A computable general equilibrium model is used to examine the impacts of visitor expenditure growth and labor migration on HawaiÔiÕs economy. Impacts on regional income, welfare, prices, sector-level output, and gross state product are considered under alternative migration scenarios. Labor market constraints impose limits to growth in real visitor expenditures. Labor market growth with constrained visitor demand generates falling per capita household welfare. |
| Keywords: | Computable general equilibrium model, tourism, migration, Hawaii |
| JEL: | R13 D58 O15 L83 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-14&r=tur |
| By: | Massidda, Carla; Etzo, Ivan |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the main determinants of the Italian domestic tourism demand measured in terms of regional bilateral tourism flows. We consider a large panel of explanatory variables meant to capture not only the role of traditional economic demand-driven forces, but also qualitative supply-side factors that can be crucial in determining the comparative advantage of the exporting regions. The empirical analysis, performed in the context of an extended gravity model, builds on the Fixed Effect Vector Decomposition estimator (FEVD) developed by Plümper and Troeger (2007). The investigation is conducted for the country as a whole and separately for the two macro-areas, namely the Centre-North and the South. According to our results, at aggregate level, the main determinants of Italian tourism flows appear to be the lagged dependent variable, which control for reputation and habit formation, and relative prices. Also the per capita GDP plays a significant role, but its coefficient suggests that in Italy domestic tourism does not behave as a luxury good, as frequently found in the international tourism context. Another interesting result is that for Italian tourists, domestic destinations and international destinations act as substitutable goods. At sub-sample level two main findings are worth noting. On the one hand, the main outcomes of the full sample analysis are confirmed, on the other hand some interesting differences arise with respect to the impact of the relevant variables. In particular, tourists coming from the southern regions appear to be more concerned than northern ones about variations in their per capita GDP and in price differences. |
| Keywords: | Domestic tourism flows; Gravity model; Fixed Effect Vector Decomposition |
| JEL: | O18 C23 L83 R12 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26073&r=tur |
| By: | JG. Brida; Manuela Pulina; E. Riaño; SZ. Aguirre |
| Abstract: | This study analyses cruise visitors’ travel experience, their intention to return to a destination as land tourists and the probability to recommend. Consumer’s satisfaction is evaluated by taking into account the economic production factors, that is human and physical capital. “Satisfaction with prices” is also included to evaluate the monetary value of the overall purchasing experience. Safety in the harbour is considered as a further attribute. The empirical data were collected via a survey of cruise ship passengers that stopped in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) during 2009. A structural equation model (SEM) is developed. The findings reveal that satisfaction is positively affected by human and physical capital, while overall satisfaction positively influences customers’ loyalty. Loyalty is also positively influenced by prices, whereas negatively by an unsafe perception. Finally, loyalty positively effects both the probability of return as land tourists and to recommend, though with a different magnitude. |
| Keywords: | cruise; customer’s satisfaction; loyalty; probability of return; probability of recommend; SEM |
| JEL: | E43 C30 L83 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201016&r=tur |