Tourism administration in the USA

The attitudes of US federal level administration to tourism in the USA over the past 20 years are discussed in relation to the background and signing into law of the 1981 National Tourism Policy Act, the first major piece of US tourism federal legislation since the 1961 International Travel Act. Focus is on the interplay between the Administration, Legislature and the private sector which led to the development of the Act. After a period of uncertainty the Act appeared to reaffirm federal support for tourism by raising it to Under Secretary level responsibility in the Department of Commerce and by establishing a new agency, the US Travel and Tourism Administration. However, since then the Administration has appeared to back-pedal by authorizing only a small budget and low staffing levels at the USTTA.     

‘Quest for quality’ was the theme of the 7th annual Caribbean tourism conference held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 14–17 June, 1983. David Edgell of the US travel and tourism administration reports.

The growth of inbound international tourism to the USA has been great in recent years yet recognition of its economic and other importance has not always grown at the same rate. David Edgell, Director of the Office of Policy and Planning of the US Travel and Tourism Administration, here argues the need for more coordinated policies towards tourism at the local and national level, for concomitant improved funding and for increasing efforts at all levels to attract the international traveller to the USA. This viewpoint is the substance of a speech made to the National Association of Regional Council's in Kansas City, Missouri, in May 1983. Since that date some moves have been made at the national level to increase federal funding for tourism.     

USA and the international traveller

The growth of inbound international tourism to the USA has been great in recent years yet recognition of its economic and other importance has not always grown at the same rate. David Edgell, Director of the Office of Policy and Planning of the US Travel and Tourism Administration, here argues the need for more coordinated policies towards tourism at the local and national level, for concomitant improved funding and for increasing efforts at all levels to attract the international traveller to the USA. This viewpoint is the substance of a speech made to the National Association of Regional Council's in Kansas City, Missouri, in May 1983. Since that date some moves have been made at the national level to increase federal funding for tourism.     

US government policy on international tourism

US tourism has undergone a number of major changes in the past few years. David Edgell, Director of the Office of Policy and Planning at the US Travel and Tourism Administration, reports on the current state of affairs.     

Barriers to international travel

David Edgell, Director of the Office of Policy and Planning, US Travel and Tourism Administration, sets out the restrictions to international travel pertaining to the Americas. Both financial and legal barriers contribute to reduced tourist flows. The Americas - where restrictions are most severe - have suffered a reduction in tourism market share, whereas East Asia and the Pacific - where travel within the region is facilitated rather than restricted - have experienced the fastest growth in tourism receipts.     

China ready for new prospect for tourism development

Great strides have been made in tourism development in PR China since 1978 with the shift in emphasis from political ideology to the economy. The failure of the Chinese government to recognize the significance of tourism to the economy has led to inadequate provision of tourist services and accommoda- tion. The State Administration for Travel and Tourism (SATT) has recently produced a report aimed at developing a new prospect for Chinese tourism. Zhang Guangrui, Assistant Fellow of the Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, brings us up-to-date with the state of tourism in China.     

亲和力与亲切感:旅游城市有待培育的第一引力——“杭州现象”带来的启示

在WEF《旅游竞争力报告》的分析中,中国的“旅游亲和力”表现出惊人的滞后,这不能不让我们警醒.文章意在探寻旅游服务构成元素中“旅游亲争力”的所在及其产生和培育的机理,并从而在中国各地不平衡的发展中寻找出更多的积极因素.为此,文章选取杭州作为有益的实例进行了分析,从城市、旅游供给、市场促销、公共服务等层面给以了一定的追踪,以期能够供旅游城市在建设和经营管理中参照思考.     

国外中国旅游研究进展——《Annals of Tourism Research》、《Tourism Management》和《Journal of Travel Research》研究述评

本文对、和三大权威旅游期刊上发表的有关中国旅游研究的51篇文献进行了综述,确认了现状分析、旅游政策、旅游开发与规划、基础研究、出境旅游以及旅游与政治等六大研究主题,并对每一主题进行了回顾与总结,探讨了未来研究的重点和方向.     

质量保证金的制度困境与旅游公共赔偿基金的建立——兼谈香港、台湾地区的经验

建立旅游公共赔偿基金的目的在于为旅游者出游活动提供财务保证, 香港地区的旅游业赔偿基金和台湾地区的旅游品质保障金就是很好的例证。大陆现行的旅行社质量保证金制度只是个体旅行社对自身债务的担保, 赔付作用有限。尤其值得注意的是, 《旅行社条例》和《旅游法（草案）》根据写作时间, 本文依据的是《旅游法（草案）》的内容。《旅游法》关于质量保证金条文虽然和《旅游法（草案）》有所不同, 但是不影响本文的研究结论。没有明确旅游行政管理部门的行政裁决权和行政强制执行权, 这可能导致质量保证金成为纸面上的制度。所以, 在现有的立法框架下改进质量保证金制度之外, 更应当考虑在未来的发展中, 充分发挥市场主体的自律作用, 再辅以必要的社会监督, 为旅游公共赔偿基金的建立创设条件。     

论旅游权利

旅游权利是旅游伦理研究的主要问题之一,旅游权利主张有其深层的哲学背景和典章依据,迄今为止的旅游权利主张主要包括自由旅行权、带薪休假权和友善接待权,这些主张对于确立旅游正当、促进旅游公平和强化旅游责任具有重要价值,但同时,过度依赖和强调旅游权利也将使旅游权利自身陷入道德困境。     

Determinants of tourism destination competitiveness in the countries most visited by international tourists: Proposal of a synthetic index

Tourism destination competitiveness is a multidimensional concept that is widely studied in the academic literature, but multiple factors make its measurement a difficult task. In this article, we design a synthetic index to rank the 80 countries that attract the majority of international tourists by level of tourism competitiveness. In order to do this, we use all of the simple variables included in the 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, proposing a new methodology for the construction of this synthetic index, which it solves the problems of aggregation of variables expressed in different measures, arbitrary weighting and duplicity of information; issues that remain unresolved by the TTCI. Likewise, we analyse the most influential dimensions in tourism competitiveness. Air transport infrastructures, cultural resources and ICT readiness are the key dimensions that explain the main disparities.     

Forecasting US Air Travelers to Europe,Caribbean and Asia

Travel and tourism are among the most important economic contributors to most, if not all, countries. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the number of international arrivals showed remarkable growth, from 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to 699 million in 2000. This indicates an average annual growth rate of 7%. In the same period, tourism receipts recorded an average annual growth rate of 11%. In 2002, international tourism generated worldwide receipts of US$474 billion, corresponding to US$1.3 billion a day or US$675 per tourist arrival. In view of the important role that international tourism plays in the global economy, this research applied four time-series forecasting techniques to project the trend of US air travelers, a major source market, to Europe, Caribbean and Asia, the three leading outbound markets (second to Canada and Mexico) from the US in the period 2003–2005. Experimental outcomes reveal declining trends. This paper discusses the underlying factors for such trends. Lastly, this paper ends with a detailed discussion on policy implications.     

基于中国优秀旅游城市的航空客运网络分析

在近日出台的国务院《关于加快发展旅游业的意见》中,政府将旅游业提升到国家战略层面。旅游业的发展将带动相关产业的快速发展,航空旅游将呈现出良好的发展态势。文章选取国家旅游局网站上公布的优秀旅游城市,运用平均路径长度、簇系数和度分布特征等网络指标,分析1998～2010年中国优秀城市中,通航城市所构成的通航旅游航空网络,及该网络的空间结构特征。研究发现,中国优秀旅游城市中,通航城市网络是具有小世界特性和无标度特性的复杂网络。同时,北京、上海、广州、深圳等枢纽城市节点度最大而簇系数相对偏小,在连通性和客流量方面均具有明显优势,对整体网络的连通与发展具有重要影响。在完善旅游航空网络过程中,强化与这些枢纽城市相关联的其他旅游城市之间的联系显得尤为重要。     

18th annual TTRA conference

Cindy Guernsey, C.R. Goeldner and Deborah Eckstein briefly summarize the 18th Annual Conference of the Travel and Tourism Research Association held in Seattle, Washington on 7–11 June 1987 The conference dealt with tourism market research and ways to improve the performance of the tourism industry.     

Travel and Tourism Education in Thailand

SUMMARY

The main principles of the tourism policy as established by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports during 2003–2006 is to develop Thailand to be Tourism Capital of Asia within 3 years starting from 2004 to 2006. To achieve the ambitious government target, the success of any tourism development strategy will be determined to a large extent by human resources, which can deliver efficient, high quality services. The travel and tourism education in Thailand at an undergraduate level was offered in the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University in 1955 under the Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a major field of study in “Travel Management.” Prince of Songkla University (PSU) brought the concept of community college from the U.S.A. to put into action by setting up Phuket Community College by offering 2-year diploma program in Hotel and Tourism Management to meet the staff requirement of tourism industry in Phuket in 1977. The findings of 'Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees in Tourism and Hospitality Studies in Thailand: The Current Situations, Problems and Future Development' studied by Chaisawat (1997) and Chaisawat (2000) found that the situation of the universities/institutes that offered programs in hospitality and tourism had changed with a lot of quantity improvement in terms of institutions, number of staff, and number of input/output students as well as research projects. But the very important issues that relate directly to the quality of graduates, problems and constraints running in the hospitality/tourism programs still existed. The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) (2004) did an in-depth study of the labour force situation among middle- and high-level personnel within the tourism industry in order to increase productivity and capability of the national competitiveness. Chaisawat and Boonchu (2005) did another study on Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees in tourism and hospitality studies in Thailand in 2003. Both studies also found that the quantity of graduates from the educational institutions was sufficiently to serve the demand of the industry. However, there were problems in terms of quality since graduates' qualifications were not up to the standards required by the employers. Finally the paper recommended that Thailand should be positioned as a centre for hospitality and tourism studies and training, locating at major tourism destinations. In terms of strategic implementation of tourism development, tourism educations and training institutions should play the catalyst and coordinating roles with the stakeholders in each region or destination.     

Brand USA: A natural quasi-experiment evaluating the success of a national marketing campaign

As national, state, and local governments implement strategic place branding and marketing plans, questions remain about how to best measure the success of such endeavors. Using a natural quasi-experimental design, we evaluate how well marketing efforts from Brand USA achieve intended tourism goals. Brand USA was created in 2009 to market the country abroad. Based on air travel data collected from the National Travel and Tourism Office, Brand USA reports, and economic indicators from the World Bank, we find Brand USA's marketing efforts have little effect on inbound international travel to the US, thus showing a potential weakness in place marketing efforts abroad. Findings suggest the organization may decrease the effectiveness of the complex branding campaign.     

Studies in Tourism and Hospitality Management

Abstract

Universities around the world are involved in dynamic change as they seek creative solutions in response to a number of educational and structural issues. To be effective, educational methodologies and technologies need to be anchored to the diverse material circumstances characterising different groups of learners. The challenge for universities offering programs of study in tourism and hospitality management is to provide avenues for learning which are reflective of the needs of industry and incorporate the technology now available. One of the more significant responses has centred on the development of educational programs for flexible learning.

This paper is an analytical reflection on the experience of redesigning and developing programs in tourism and hospitality to increase student access to a wide variety of stimulating learning resources and delivery media. In particular, it documents the process of developing, teaching and evaluating a subject entitled, “Asian Cultures in Tourism and Travel” within a three-year Bachelor of Business program that offers concentrations in Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Management.     

Scientific value of econometric tourism demand studies

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the scientific value of econometric tourism demand studies. Based on a questionnaire answered by ourselves we analyzed articles published in Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, and Tourism Economics during the period 2007 to 2017. The evaluation showed that current scientific practice generally failed to differentiate between substantive (economic) significance and statistical significance, and used these terms interchangeably in many cases. In line with these flaws, most authors avoided discussing the estimation results in terms of their size and their reliability, as well as failing to adequately address the limitations of their studies and to justify the chosen methods.