nep-tur New Economics Papers
on Tourism Economics
Issue of 2017‒02‒26
seven papers chosen by
Laura Vici
Università di Bologna

  1. Ways of increasing the visibility of the Romanian rural tourism By Avram, Daniel
  2. The Role of Social Media in Tourism By Tugay ARAT
  3. Major events as catalysts for tourism By OECD
  4. Assessing the level of cross-border fuel tourism By Kennedy, Sean; Lyons, Sean; Morgenroth, Edgar; Walsh, Keith
  5. Financing approaches for tourism SMEs and entrepreneurs By OECD
  6. A review of the policy framework for tourism marketing and promotion By OECD
  7. Characteristics of transit tourism in Hungary with a focus on expenditure By Kincses, Áron; Tóth, Géza; Tömöri, Mihály; Michalkó, Gábor

  1. By: Avram, Daniel
    Abstract: Romania has a remarkable natural heritage, with landscapes that are unique in the world and with villages still preserving the habits and traditions unaltered. Country’s potential for the practising the rural tourism is high, with fair chances of transforming villages that are less visible at the international level into actual emblematic destinations. As the urban pollution and organisational stress rise, the vacations in the rural area may be a plausible way of reinvigorating the spirit. However, the lack of visibility of the Romanian destinations requires that new promoting methods be identified. By the quality analysis carried out by the author in this article, new ways to increase the Romanian tourism visibility and to attract new tourists are argued. Aspects such as promotion by art, by thematic museums, with the help of opinion makers or by means of popular literature pieces have been considered. Thus, the potential methods of promoting the authentic Romanian village have been identified, assuming that each reference in the foreign press, cinema or other communication channel must be identified and exploited for the benefit of the Romanian tourism.
    Keywords: rural tourism; Romanian rural tourism; promotion by art; promotion of rural tourism; promotion in tourism
    JEL: L83
    Date: 2016–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76894&r=tur
  2. By: Tugay ARAT (Selcuk University, Faculty Of Tourism)
    Abstract: As a result of the developments in information and communication Technologies, and their widely and densely use new marketing mediums have recently emerged. A number of platforms have also appeared in product preference in terms of consumers. The masses communicate with each other on social media. Firms are looking for the ways of affecting the preferences of customers, and they use social media as a marketing environment. Today, the competition between firms has raised, therefore most firms find traditional marketing methods inadequate in reaching to their customers. Therefore, they aim to take action in every environment in which customers exist. This situation causes producing firms to; conduct marketing activities in a more number of ways in digital or virtual media. In recent years, in tourism industry hotel services also use social media for purposes such as effective advertisement, reaching more customers and building brand loyalty. Through social media, tourism services can reach to more customer faster. Besides, customers can also quickly reach to tourism services through their social media accounts in the stages of information searching, assessment of alternatives, selecting choices and purchasing. The aim of this study is to explain how hotel services manage their Facebook accounts and which features they use, and to bring forward proposals. For this reason, Facebook accounts of these hotel services has been studied through content analysis method.
    Keywords: Tourism, Communication Technologies, Social Media
    JEL: M30
    Date: 2016–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:4707478&r=tur
  3. By: OECD
    Abstract: Events are a dynamic and fast-growing sector that has obvious synergies with tourism. If managed and hosted effectively, they can expand the visitor economy, provide media exposure, promote regional development, and stimulate the upgrading of infrastructure. The report focusses on those major one-off or recurring events with the ability to attract significant numbers of domestic or international participants/spectators, thus promoting changes in terms of territory dynamics and tourism development. The report considers a large number of country approaches (benefitting from inputs from Australia, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, South Africa and Turkey) to better understand events-related policy and practices used to promote tourism growth. A selection of key learnings are drawn for consideration by cities, regions and countries wishing to leverage the unique characteristics of major events to support the development of the visitor economy.
    Date: 2017–02–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaab:2017/2-en&r=tur
  4. By: Kennedy, Sean; Lyons, Sean; Morgenroth, Edgar; Walsh, Keith
    Abstract: Consistently cheaper fuel prices in one jurisdiction compared to a neighbouring jurisdiction should, holding other factors constant, lead to greater demand for fuel in the country with the lower price, due in part to legal fuel tourism. Fuel tourism, cross-border demand for fuel, represents an important source of tax revenues to the Exchequer but also contributes significantly to a country’s national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The econometric analysis in this paper aims to estimate the level and determinants of fuel demand from Northern Irish consumers in the Republic of Ireland taking account of market size, proximity to major roads, level of local competition and station characteristics. The analysis is based on an unbalanced panel dataset of retail sales among 543 border stations from April 2013 to March 2015. The results show that the set of stations close to the border have higher than expected average diesel and petrol sales by 54.4% and 14.6% respectively. Greater levels of fuel tourism for diesel may partly be attributable to heavy goods and other vehicles which avail of cheaper prices near the border before making long distance journeys on to the Continent. The combined Excise Duty, Carbon Tax and VAT contribution to the Irish Exchequer associated with fuel tourism is estimated at €202 million for diesel and €28 million for petrol based on 2015 levels. CO2 emissions from these cross-border sales are about 1.17 million tonnes per annum, or 2% of Ireland’s national GHG emissions.
    Keywords: Fuel tourism, cross border shopping, fuel demand, Ireland
    JEL: F14 H20 Q41 Q48
    Date: 2017–02–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76961&r=tur
  5. By: OECD
    Abstract: Access to financing is vital to promote entrepreneurship and SME development and build an innovative, competitive and sustainable tourism sector. This report examines mechanisms to improve access to finance for tourism SMEs and entrepreneurs at each stage of the business lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on small and micro-enterprises. It discusses key issues and policy considerations to help improve tourism SME financing conditions, broaden the range of financing instruments available and support uptake of available financing instruments. Case studies of financing approaches in a number of countries support the policy discussion and provide technical information. The paper captures the perspectives of policy makers, financing agencies and institutions, and the tourism industry, and has benefitted from significant contributions and inputs from 21 countries: Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.
    Date: 2017–02–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaab:2017/3-en&r=tur
  6. By: OECD
    Abstract: The development of the visitor economy faces challenges not only from global economic conditions, reduced budgets, fluctuating exchange rates, but also deeper underlying economic and technological shifts which create further market turbulence. In response, new models for linking tourism policy, tourism marketing and product development, including digital strategies are being explored in a number of countries. The report examines some of the current challenges and opportunities for public authorities responsible for the marketing and promotion of tourism, including evolving funding sources, partnership opportunities, promotion strategies, and governance arrangements. The report benefitted from significant contributions from 16 countries: Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Country case studies provide examples of policy and business initiatives to address current and emerging challenges.
    Date: 2017–02–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaab:2017/1-en&r=tur
  7. By: Kincses, Áron; Tóth, Géza; Tömöri, Mihály; Michalkó, Gábor
    Abstract: This study introduces the behaviour of participants in transit tourism in Hungary with a focus on their expenditure. With the help of multivariable mathematical-statistical methods, the motivational background and the spending characteristics of foreigners visiting Hungary between 2009 and 2013 are explored; in addition, the factors influencing expenditure, according to nationality, are investigated. According to our investigations, people in transit, whose spending is continuously increasing, make up a significant share of the expenditure of foreigners arriving in Hungary. Typical types of spending during transit are fuel purchases and dining at restaurants. Among transit visitors to Hungary, Romanian, Serbian (including Monte-negro and Kosovo), and Bulgarian nationals have the highest share. While the number and expenditure of transit visitors slightly increased during the examined period, the per capita spending decreased. The results of the study show that this is due to the changes in the composition of the countries involved. Changes in transit tourism expenditures are largely determined by nationality. The most important conclusion of our research is that the most significant characteristics of transit depend on general European trends (labour market conditions, tourism supply, etc.) and conditions (visa requirements, transport infrastructure, accommo-dation along transit routes, among others) provided for transit visitors by Hungary.
    Keywords: transit tourism tourism expenditure Hungary
    JEL: L62 L83 O18
    Date: 2017–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76854&r=tur

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