nep-tur New Economics Papers
on Tourism Economics
Issue of 2012‒12‒22
six papers chosen by
Antonello Scorcu
University of Bologna

  1. Climate Change and Tourism in the Arctic Circle By Richard S. J. Tol; Sharon Walsh
  2. Does Tourism Eco-Certification Pay? Costa Rica’s Blue Flag Program By Blackman, Allen; Naranjo, María Angélica; Robalino, Juan; Alpízar, Francisco; Rivera, Jorge
  3. Demandas de turismo Argentina y Brasileña en Uruguay By Silvia Altmark; Gabriela Mordecki; Florencia Santiñaque; W. Adrián Risso
  4. Cultural investment, local development and instantaneous social capital: A case study of a gathering festival in the South of Italy By Attanasi, Giuseppe; Casoria, Fortuna; Centorrino, Samuele; Urso, Giulia
  5. A Future for the Past: The Economic Value of Historic Preservation By Matthijs Rolsma
  6. Tourismus im Spannungsfeld der internationalen Konjunktur- und Wachstumsdynamik By Egon Smeral

  1. By: Richard S. J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands); Sharon Walsh (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland)
    Abstract: We estimate grid level tourist numbers to Arctic Circle countries under a number of climate change scenarios. At present, the highest tourism volumes are found in Canada and most of the Scandinavian countries. In general, it appears that tourists are attracted to regions with better infrastructure and nicer cities. Under each climate change scenario, Russia sees a significant increase in tourist numbers because Russia is big, its climate is expected to show some improvement and it is relatively close to the growing markets of South and East Asia. A growth in tourist numbers is also projected for Canada and Alaska. While our simulations do not show a re-distribution of tourists within the Arctic under climate change, the volume is likely to increase.
    Keywords: Climate climate change; tourism; destination choice; arctic
    JEL: Q54 L83
    Date: 2012–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:5212&r=tur
  2. By: Blackman, Allen (Resources for the Future); Naranjo, María Angélica; Robalino, Juan; Alpízar, Francisco; Rivera, Jorge
    Abstract: Tourism associated with beaches, protected areas, and other natural resources often has serious environmental impacts. The problem is especially acute in developing countries, where nature-based tourism is increasingly important and environmental regulation is typically weak. Eco-certification programs—voluntary initiatives certifying that tourism operators meet defined environmental standards—promise to help address this problem by creating a private-sector system of inducements, monitoring, and enforcement. But to do that, they must provide incentives for tourism operators to participate, such as price premiums and more customers. Rigorous evidence on such benefits is virtually nonexistent. To help fill this gap, we use detailed panel data to analyze the effects of the Blue Flag Program, a leading international eco-certification program, in Costa Rica, where nature-based tourism has caused significant environmental damage. We use new hotel investment to proxy for private benefits, and fixed effects and propensity score matching to control for self-selection bias. We find that past Blue Flag certification has a statistically and economically significant effect on new hotel investment, particularly in luxury hotels. Our results suggest that certification has spurred the construction of 12 to 19 additional hotels per year in our regression samples. These findings provide some of the first evidence that eco-certification can generate private benefits for tourism operators in developing countries and therefore has the potential to improve their environmental performance.
    Keywords: Costa Rica, eco-certification, propensity score matching, tourism
    JEL: Q13 Q20 Q26 Q54
    Date: 2012–11–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-12-50&r=tur
  3. By: Silvia Altmark (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Estadística); Gabriela Mordecki (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Florencia Santiñaque (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Estadística); W. Adrián Risso (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía / Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Estadística)
    Abstract: Argentinian and Brazilian demands for tourism in Uruguay are analyzed separately. These countries represent 66.25% of the receptive tourism in Uruguay, however they presente different characteristics. Two long-run relationships among tourism expenditures, income and real touristic exchange rate are found by applying the cointegrating methodology. The income-demand elasticity is positive and larger than one in both cases, confirming the hypothesis that tourism is a luxury good. Moreover, this elasticity is smaller in Argentina (1.899) than in the Brazilian case (2.679). The relatively larger inelasticity in the Argentinian case could be due to the important percentage of Argentinian with second homes in Uruguay. In addition, the real touristic exchange rate elasticity is positive and more inelastic in the Argentinian case (0.623) than in Brazil (1.168).
    Keywords: Tourism demand, Touristic real exchange rate, Cointegration
    JEL: L83 C01
    Date: 2012–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-12-12&r=tur
  4. By: Attanasi, Giuseppe; Casoria, Fortuna; Centorrino, Samuele; Urso, Giulia
    Abstract: In this paper we show how the investment in cultural events may encourage the building of social capital and foster the development of local communities. We rely on a casestudy that we conducted about the socio-economic impact of the Festival “La Notte della Tarantaâ€, the most important European music festival dedicated to traditional music (about 170.000 participants per year), on the sub-region of southern Italy where it is held. Our evidence is based on a large survey, consisting of nearly 10.000 interviews to Festival participants over a span of five editions (2007-2011). A primary result is that the initial economic investment in the Festival has brought a short-term return in terms of touristic attraction worth more than two times as much. More importantly, our results indicate that a cultural festival, despite being a mass gathering, is able to create strong bonds among its participants and between them and the area where the event takes place. Although these bonds are “instantaneousâ€, i.e. temporally restricted to the duration of the event, they are positively correlated with the economic impact of the event on the territory.
    Keywords: Cultural event, economic impact, social capital, greatly motivated tourist
    Date: 2012–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ler:wpaper:25737&r=tur
  5. By: Matthijs Rolsma
    Date: 2012–09–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwneu:neurusp151&r=tur
  6. By: Egon Smeral
    Abstract: Da der Tourismus im Allgemeinen zeitverzögert reagiert, zeigt sich die Verschlechterung der wirtschaftlichen Situation in Europa noch nicht deutlich in den internationalen Tourismusdaten des Jahres 2012. Die derzeitige Lage im österreichischen Tourismus lässt sich so beschreiben, dass sich die Tourismusnachfrage (gemessen in realen Umsätzen) im Vergleich zu allen anderen wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten wie Konsum, Ausrüstungsinvestitionen und Warenexporten im Zuge des Konjunkturaufschwunges und der Belebung der internationalen Tourismusnachfrage nach der Überwindung der Rezession 2009 nicht deutlich beleben konnte. Damit geriet die Tourismuswirtschaft gegenüber der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung immer mehr in Rückstand. Erst im Laufe des Jahres 2012 dürfte sich die touristische Situation etwas verbessern. Die Konsequenzen des längeren Nachhinken eines Sektors im Vergleich zur Gesamtwirtschaft sind erheblich, da der Wachstumsrückstand einen Preis-, Kosten- und Gewinndruck sowie in der Folge strukturelle Wettbewerbsnachteile für den betroffenen Wirtschaftszweig erzeugt. Auch im internationalen Vergleich zeigte sich, dass Österreich 2011 – gemessen an den nominellen Tourismusexporten der EU 15 – seinen Marktanteil nicht halten konnte. Gegenwärtig liegt der österreichische Markanteil mit 5,9% nur mehr knapp über dem historischen Tiefpunkt des Jahres 2000 (5,4%). 2012 dürften die Marktanteile im besten Fall gehalten werden können.
    Date: 2012–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsr:pbrief:y:2012:i:017&r=tur

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