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on Tourism Economics |
| By: | Roberto Patuelli (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), Italy); Maurizio Mussoni (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), Italy); Guido Candela (University of Bologna, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Culture is gaining increasing importance in the modern tourism industry, and represents a significant force of attraction for tourists (both domestic and international). Cultural tourism allows destinations and regions to expand their customer base, diversify their offer, extend the stay of the tourist, and reduce seasonality. Great efforts are made, by national governments and regions, in order to obtain official designation regarding the relevance of their historical/cultural attractions, for example through UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (WHS) list. Such an aspect seems particularly relevant for a country like Italy, which has a high number of entries in the WHS list, and where regions take an active role in promoting tourism. Using an 11-year panel of domestic tourism flows, we investigate the importance of the regional endowment in terms of WHS from two perspectives: (a) by separately estimating the effects, on tourism flows, of WHS located in the residence region of tourists and in the destination region; and (b) by taking into account potential spatial substitution/complementarity effects between regions due to their WHS endowment. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is offered to evaluate the spatial extent of the latter. |
| Keywords: | cultural tourism; domestic tourism; World Heritage Sites; spatial interaction model; Italy; spatial competition |
| JEL: | C23 L83 R12 Z10 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:14_12&r=tur |
| By: | R. Patuelli; M. Mussoni; G. Candela |
| Abstract: | Culture is gaining increasing importance in the modern tourism industry, and represents a significant force of attraction for tourists (both domestic and international). Cultural tourism allows destinations and regions to expand their customer base, diversify their offer, extend the stay of the tourist, and reduce seasonality. Great efforts are made, by national governments and regions, in order to obtain official designation regarding the relevance of their historical/cultural attractions, for example through UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (WHS) list. Such an aspect seems particularly relevant for a country like Italy, which has a high number of entries in the WHS list, and where regions take an active role in promoting tourism. Using an 11-year panel of domestic tourism flows, we investigate the importance of the regional endowment in terms of WHS from two perspectives: (a) by separately estimating the effects, on tourism flows, of WHS located in the residence region of tourists and in the destination region; and (b) by taking into account potential spatial substitution/complementarity effects between regions due to their WHS endowment. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is offered to evaluate the spatial extent of the latter. |
| JEL: | C23 L83 R12 Z10 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp834&r=tur |
| By: | Johan Fourie; Maria Santana-Gallego |
| Abstract: | Ethnic reunion is the propensity of tourists to travel to regions where their ancestors originate from, while cultural affinity is the propensity of tourists to travel to regions with a shared cultural identity. This paper uses a "world migration matrix", which records the year-1500 origins of the current populations of 159 countries, in a standard tourism gravity equation to provide the first empirical evidence of the existence of both these tourism traits at the global level. Our results remain robust even when controlling for other historical links, such as colonial legacy and regional trade agreements. By controlling for trade flows, we also show that this impact is unique to tourism. Ethnic reunion and cultural affinity are thus important — and neglected — constituents of tourism patterns (and of research), with important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | migration, trade, tourism, history, cultural affinity, ethnic reunion, ethnicity |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:293&r=tur |
| By: | Angelo Bencivenga (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Margaretha Breil (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Mariaester Cassinelli (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Livio Chiarullo (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Annalisa Percoco (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | Protected areas can represent a strategic laboratory for the realisation of initiatives capable of promoting sustainable economic development models at a local level. One of the duties of national parks is to provide value and promote, even for tourism purposes, natural, historical and cultural resources subject to restrictions in the territory. This contribution describes the research process activated for the definition of a tourism development strategy in the youngest Italian national parks, the Appennino Lucano Val d'Agri Lagonegrese located in Basilicata. This is a protected area which has not yet been developed from a tourism point of view and it has an "eclectic" naturalist value characterised by flora on one hand and significant fauna on the other, as well as a subsoil rich in hydrocarbons (the largest deposit on continental Europe). In light of this typicality for the area, research favoured a participative type qualitative-quantitative approach, involving both local stakeholders, for exploration of the area's potential and definition of possible tourism development scenarios, and actual or potential users interested in the area, for assessment of the proposed alternatives. The information and data collected allowed, on one hand, the identification of major critical areas which currently make tourism in the area an activity that is still economically marginal with respect to the local structured economic system, and on the other hand, identification of some themes around which to build a competitive tourism product in line with market demands in observance of sustainability. Through a contingent assessment exercise it was possible to understand what the preferences are with respect to different hypotheses of the tourism offer in the area for current and potential tourists involved in the survey and, at the same time, to identify some elements to examine in order to improve attractiveness. |
| Keywords: | Tourism, Basilicata Region |
| JEL: | Q2 Q26 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2012.30&r=tur |
| By: | Roberto Roson (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Martina Sartori (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents and discusses some quantitative results obtained in assessing the economic impact of variations in tourism flows, induced by climate change, for some Mediterranean countries. Estimates by a regional climate model are used to build a Tourism Climate Index, which indicates the suitability of climate, in certain locations, for general outdoor activities. As climate change is expected to affect a number of variables like temperature, wind and precipitations, it will have consequences on the degree of attractiveness of touristic destinations. We estimate the macroeconomic consequences of changing tourism flows by means of a computable general equilibrium model. We found that more incoming tourists will increase income and welfare, but this phenomenon will also induce a change in the productive structure, with a decline in agriculture and manufacturing, partially compensated by an expansion of service industries. We found that, in most countries, the decline in agriculture entails a lower demand for water, counteracting the additional demand for water coming from tourists and bringing about a lower water consumption overall. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Computable General Equilibrium, Tourism, Water, Tourism Climate Index. |
| JEL: | C68 Q26 Q54 R13 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2012_05&r=tur |
| By: | Jen D. Snowball |
| Abstract: | Despite the debate about whether arts consumers are also sports consumers, many countries have used cultural events to leverage further tourism spending from sports events, the most famous example being the cultural Olympics. This paper reports the findings of research conducted at the 2010 South African National Arts Festival, which was specifically timed to coincide with Soccer World Cup matches being played in a nearby city. Of the 600 interviews conducted with Festival-goers, only 23% reported also attending World Cup soccer matches. Regression analysis revealed that, while there is some overlap between arts and sports attendees, their demographics and consumption habits are significantly different. However, consumption outside of major events showed somewhat more overlap. This suggests that staging cultural events at the same time as major sporting events is not an ideal strategy, since they tend to compete with, rather than complement, each other. |
| Keywords: | migration, trade, tourism, history, cultural affinity, ethnic reunion, ethnicity |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:294&r=tur |
| By: | Shawn Arita (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Sumner La Croix (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa); James Mak (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | China’s Approved Destination Status (ADS) policy governs foreign leisure travel by citizens to ADS-designated countries. To model the effects of ADS on Chinese visitor arrivals, we specify a model of demand for a representative Chinese consumer who values trips to n differentiated foreign destinations. Using panel data for Chinese visitor arrivals for 61 countries from 1985 to 2005, we estimate fixed effects models accounting for selection effects and a semiparametric matched difference-in-differences (DID) model. The semiparametric matched DID estimates indicate that ADS increased Chinese visitor arrivals annually by 10.5 to 15.7 percent in the three-year period following ADS designation. |
| Keywords: | Approved Destination Status, ADS, China, Tourism |
| JEL: | F13 F14 L83 |
| Date: | 2012–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201212&r=tur |
| By: | Rizio, Dina; Gios, Geremia |
| Abstract: | The forest is an ecosystem that can produce environmental services from which individuals benefit. In recent decades, the interest in these services has significantly increased and changed to meet new needs. The demand for wood has gradually become integrated into the demand for new products and services related to landscape use and recreational activities. These new products and services are defined as Non-Wood Forest Products and Services (NWFP&SSs). With this interest in services and products associated with the recreational use of forests and forest tourism, a possibility and in certain cases a need exists to introduce a system of payment for these services. The purpose of such a payment system is to resp pond to this demand and to promote the sustainable development and management of forests as well as diversify and increase the income of the community whose economy is based directly on forest resources. However, the transformation of forest environmental goods and services into commercial products and services is not straightforward. The transformation depends on endogenous and exogenous factors related to the forest system. Problematically, NWFP&Ss are frequently viewed as public goods. From this standpoint, they are considered free of cost to users. Therefore, to introduce a payment mechanism is difficult. However, this paper proposes to collect information on what factors can help to transform these e externalities into sources of income for people living near the forests. |
| Keywords: | payment for environmentall services, forest resources, non-wood forest product ts and services, landscape, tourism., Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q26, Q23, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aieacp:124114&r=tur |
| By: | Rolfe, John; Gregg, Daniel |
| Abstract: | The focus of the research reported in this paper has been to estimate recreation values for beaches over approximately 1400 kilometres of coastline along the Queensland coast. The study is notable at an international level because it assesses recreation values to a general type of recreation asset rather than to a specific site, and because it focuses on the values of the local resident population. Negative binomial models have been used to estimate both the visit rate and recreation values associated with beach visits in different regional areas. The value of a single beach visit was estimated per person at $35.09, which extrapolates to $450 million in beach recreation values per annum. These values are likely to be conservative because opportunity costs incurred to live closer to the beach (e.g. housing premiums) have not been assessed. Contingent behaviour models were used to estimate the values of potential declines in water quality, with marginal effects assessed at $1.30 per recreation trip to avoid each 1% decline in water quality. |
| Keywords: | Recreation, Travel Cost Method, Beach, Contingent behaviour, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare12:124433&r=tur |
| By: | Halkos, George |
| Abstract: | This study examines the current and potential economic value of an artificial lake aiming to explore the factors that affect people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for its protection. The WTP was derived from a face-to-face survey of 564 residents and recreational users of the Plastira’s lake, one of the most important constructed wetlands in Greece. We find a higher WTP of individuals towards the lake’s functions and their desire to prevent possible diminutions of its total economic value and we show that the most important variable is pro-environmental behavior. It is also found that respondents have different behavior for lake’s economic value according mainly to their origin (residents or recreational users). Using adequate econometric models to take into consideration the protest answers, we find changes in the influence of the explanatory variables compared to the usual simple binary model formulations. With the help of principal components analysis, four factors are extracted (water use, production, flora and fauna and quasi-option values) and their influence on respondents’ WTP is explored. Demographic variables (like income, age, gender) together with the extracted factors have a strong impact on the decision of individuals to pay as well as on the specific amounts stated. |
| Keywords: | Artificial lakes; contingent valuation; WTP; total economic value |
| JEL: | Q50 C24 Q51 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39557&r=tur |
| By: | Kovacs, Kent F.; Polasky, Stephen; Keeler, Bonnie; Pennington, Derric; Nelson, Erik; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Taff, Steven J. |
| Abstract: | We evaluate how land use change and the value ecosystem services affect the decision to invest in public land acquisitions. Our application is for the state of Minnesota, and we consider the acquisitions by Department of Natural Resources over the last two decades. We calculate a return on investment (ROI) in conservation showing the increase in the value of ecosystem goods and services from public lands per dollar spent on acquisition. A spatially-explicit modeling tool, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), quantifies how changes in land use and land cover (LULC) influence the provision and value of a suite of ecosystem services: carbon sequestration, timber production, water quality, habitat quality, and outdoor recreation. The present value of the difference in the value of ecosystem services from landscapes with and without acquisitions in 1992 and for the econometrically modeled future landscapes in 2022 and 2052 is the return from the investment in the acquisitions. We find a limited number of acquisitions have a ROI above one. Also, we observe the estimated return in the acquisitions is much more influenced by the economic value of ecosystem services than the projected development threat to the acquisitions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:124660&r=tur |
| By: | Li, Xiaoshu; Boyle, Kevin J.; Pullis, Genevieve |
| Abstract: | An important issue in the design of stated-preference surveys is in the hypothetical setting whether providing information to the respondents can elicit valid value estimates. On-site experience with a resource is one way to provide respondents with first-hand information about the valuation object. In the research here we construct a treatment by providing the survey respondents an opportunity to have a walk through the forest. We compare the preference parameter estimates for on-site treatment with those for a mail survey in the context of a choice study of forest management practices. As both the sample/frame/mode and the information provided have been changed, we conduct both the on-site, pretest and on-site, posttest survey to differentiate the information effect. The results show that the stated preference is procedure invariant. The mail survey respondents are remarkably similar with both the on-site, pretest survey and the on-site, posttest survey. It indicates a mail scenario can provide sufficient information through appropriate description, and an on-site experience is not always necessary for respondents to estimate policy relevant values. |
| Keywords: | contingent valuation, mixed logit model, on-site experience, forest management, Financial Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q23, Q51, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:124991&r=tur |
| By: | Garces-Voisenat, Juan-Pedro; Mukherjee, Zinnia |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess, through contingent valuation surveys, the willingness to pay (WTP) of the population for more environment-friendly sources of energy, in the context of the proposed construction of big hydroelectric dams in the Chilean Patagonia region. We use two different data samples constructed from the survey responses: (1) A sample of Chileans currently living in Chile. These are individuals who will be receiving the economic benefits that will stem from hydroelectric dams constructed in Patagonia. Their WTP reflects the “user value” of the resource to Chileans. (2) A sample of non-Chileans or Chileans living outside Chile. Their WTP reflects the “existence value” of the natural environment in Patagonia and the expected amount people are willing to pay to protect its pristine conditions. We identify the key determinants that affect the WTP estimates. We then compare this to the real costs of generating electricity with the different currently available technologies. The WTP estimate from sample 1 would provide the Chilean governments a numerical value of the contributions Chilean residents are willing to make to protect the natural environment in Patagonia. The estimate from sample 2 will indicate the contribution that the rest of the world is willing to make in order to preserve unique natural environments and wildlife in remote places of the globe. Overall, it should be a good guide for policymaking in energy matters for developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Energy; Environment; Sustainable Development; Chile; Patagonia |
| JEL: | O1 Q2 Q4 |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39320&r=tur |
| By: | Rogers, Abbie A. |
| Abstract: | The creation of a marine reserve network is an active area of policy in Australia. Successful policy hinges on community support, which requires an understanding of what drives improvements in social welfare. Here, a discrete choice experiment is used to estimate ecological values for the Ningaloo Marine Park. A novel aspect of this research is that it not only considers the values people hold for conservation outcomes, but also their preferences for how those outcomes are achieved. By considering management process within the choice model, we gain a richer understanding of the relationship between social welfare and marine conservation. The results indicate that management process does have an impact on individuals’ preferences for conservation. |
| Keywords: | Discrete choice experiment, management preferences, Ningaloo Marine Park, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare12:124431&r=tur |
| By: | Weicksel, Scott; Lupi, Frank; Kaplowitz, Michael; Chen, Min |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:124772&r=tur |
| By: | Gopalakrishnan, Sathya; McNamara, Dylan; Smith, Martin D.; Murray, Brad |
| Keywords: | Beach Nourishment, Climate Change, Storms, Optimal control, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q54, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea12:124375&r=tur |