The economic impact of tourism in developing countries

The paper examines the costs and benefits brought by tourism to the economies of developing countries. The criteria for decision making are discussed and the main policy implications are mentioned. The paper concludes with a suggested model for evaluating the effects of specific projects within the framework of a sectoral analysis of an economy.     

Social planning for tourism in the developing countries

The usual perspectives on tourism planning have been economic. This paper argues for the need to take much more explicit account of non-economic costs (and benefits) in this field, and links the discussion to questions that have preoccupied those concerned with general issues of development in recent years. It emphasises that planners act in specific socio-politocal contexts, and that it is especially the dynamics of class structures and theis expression in the power relations at local and national levels which influence outcomes in this field. Practical issues of social planning for tourism are discussed, and the dangers of development which is too massive and too fast are stressed. Some attention is also paid to the role of transnational enterprises in the tourism field, and to the question of bargaining at the international level.     

The effects of scale in tourism projects in developing countries

The paper by Rodenburg (Annals VII:2:177–196) on the effect of scale in tourism development in Bali raises important questions relating to tourism development in Third World countries. One fundamental question is whether large-scale development is inevitable in such countries, or whether there is persuasive evidence to support smaller and craft scale enterprises. This article undertakes a critical review of Rodenburg's analysis and concludes that large scale developments are likely to be inevitable because of external economies of scale and market structures in international tourism, but that the consequences of such developments can be foreseen and therefore mitigated by appropriate pre-project planning.     

Alternative approaches to tertiary tourism education with special reference to developing countries

The diversity of tourism education programmes makes well considered choice of appropriate training and education in tourism particularly difficult for developing countries. This article distills guidelines for programme choice from examining two main approaches to tourism—the demand- and supply-oriented approaches—and outlines the main components of an ‘ideal’ system, paying particular attention to the needs of developing countries and the problems that are likely to be encountered in this regard. Keywords: education, tourism development curricula choice, developing countries.     

Economics of tourism investment in data scarce countries

Ex-ante economic impact analyses are required to demonstrate the development impact and viability of multilateral loans. These assessments are often performed under tight timelines, in data scarce environments and with limited opportunity for primary data collection. This paper develops a framework for assessing tourism interventions under these challenging conditions and evaluates a US$15 million tourism investment in Belize. This paper contributes to the literature by: (i) developing a generalizable approach to building economy-wide models in data scarce environments; (ii) generating realistic expectations of agent responses with quasi-contingent valuation and auto-regressive integrated moving average methods. Applying the first economy-wide model for Belize, results show that the investment would stimulate GDP by 3% and reduce unemployment from 12% to 10% by 2040.     

Tourism training in developing countries The social and cultural dimension

Tourism training in developing countries has narrowly focused on vocational and technical skills. Little thought has been given as to how this education fits into an existing socio-cultural environment, the problems of communication between guest and host, or to the demands and stresses placed upon those in the front lines of the industry. Part One of this paper looks at the need for the development of programs which broaden the scope of training. Such programs need to take into account the potential social and cultural risks of tourism for the industry worker, and the barriers to communication rising from different backgrounds, values, and expectations between hosts and foreign visitors. Part Two looks at some important considerations in educational development strategy, giving an example of such a program developed by the author in East Africa.     

Current trends on Halal tourism: Cases on selected Asian countries

Halal tourism is one of the new phenomenon emerged from the growth of Halal industry. As Halal matters advancing tourism industry, many Muslim and non-Muslim countries are set to capture the Muslim tourists market by providing the tourism products, facilities and infrastructures to cater their needs. While affirming this new phenomenon, there remain a shortage of theoretical publications and research in this area. On top of that, when it comes to the real concept of Halal tourism and its trends, it has nevertheless been found that lack of research has been conducted in providing and determining the so called concept. Thus, due to the scarcity of literature and specific studies in this area this paper aims to explore and illustrate the concept of Halal tourism within the Islamic context with special reference to Quranic verse and Hadith (primary sources in Islam). Meanwhile, to appreciate the existing implementation on this concept, this paper will further provide cases on current trend of Halal tourism in selected countries in Asia. This study adopted qualitative research method and employ library research for data collection technique. The outcomes of this study include the current development of Halal tourism concept and comparison on Halal tourism cases in Asia. On top of that, it would also discover its opportunities and potentials for Muslim and non-Muslim countries to embark on the same journey.     

The price competitive position of Mediterranean countries in tourism: Evidence from the Thomson brochure

Tourism in the Mediterranean region is highly dependent on the few, large, mass market tour operators situated in the North European tourist originating countries. Price competition is intense both between the tour operators and between the Mediterranean countries themselves. This paper uses the hotel package prices listed in the Thomson summer and winter brochures to develop relative price indexes of each Mediterranean country with respect to the Mediterranean average. Indexes are developed in the 3 star, 4 star, 5 star, 7 nights and 14 nights, half-board holiday packages. The prices in the Thomson brochure can be regarded as a unified, internally consistent, set of price data, compiled by the largest UK tour operator and offered to UK tourists desiring a Thomson summer holiday. The change through time of the competitive relative price ranking of hotels, regions and countries listed in the Thomson brochure, may be regarded as an important competitive indicator by industry operators and national policy makers concerned about tourism development.     

The impacts of international tourism demand on economic growth of small economies dependent on tourism

This paper studies the impacts on economic growth of a small tourism-driven economy caused by an increase in the growth rate of international tourism demand. We present a formal model and empirical evidence. The ingredients of the dynamic model are a large population of intertemporally optimizing agents and an AK technology representing tourism production. The model shows that an increase in the growth of tourism demand leads to transitional dynamics with gradually increasing economic growth and increasing terms of trade. In our empirical application, an econometric methodology is applied to annual data of Antigua and Barbuda from 1970 to 2008. We perform a cointegration analysis to look for the existence of a long-run relationship among variables of economic growth, international tourism earnings and the real exchange rate. The exercise confirms the theoretical findings.     

Educational tourism and its implications on economic growth in Malaysia

The effect of educational tourism on Malaysia’s economic growth is examined in this study by extending the Solow growth model. This study uses the sample from 2002:Q1 to 2014:Q4. The newly developed Bayer–Hanck combined tests for cointegration and the Granger causality test were employed to examine the long-run and causal relationships among the variables. The empirical findings suggest that economic growth, educational tourism, and other determinants are cointegrated. Educational tourism has a bi-directional causal relationship with economic growth in the short-run but there is a uni-directional Granger causality runs from educational tourism to economic growth. This study provides an essential insight for Malaysia to create policies that promote educational tourism, thereby encouraging economic growth in the long-run.     

Strategic orientation and performance of tourism firms: Evidence from a developing country

This study investigates whether tourism firms in a developing country, namely Turkey, which adopt one of the four strategic orientations of Miles and Snow (1978), differ based on their financial and non-financial performance. The study results show that there is a difference in both financial and non-financial performance based on the strategic orientations followed by tourism enterprises. Generally, prospectors were found to outperform defenders, whereas analyzers showed a comparable performance to prospectors. The findings of this study imply that in developing countries, tourism businesses may be indifferent when choosing between these two strategies based on their internal characteristics since they yield similar financial results. Specific factors and developments in the macro environment and company-specific factors seem to affect tourism firms' strategic orientation as well as their performance. Better understanding and closer analysis of such factors can help improve the performance of tourism businesses in developing countries. Further research using both perceptual and objective measures is needed to confirm the present results to better assess possible differences in performance among strategic orientations in some other developing countries.     

Mega-events as drivers of community participation in developing countries: The case of Shanghai World Expo

Within a wide body of literature it has been argued and demonstrated that community participation in tourism development is advantageous in terms of the sustainability and effectiveness of the development policies adopted. However, over time, doubts have been raised about whether community participation should take place in developing countries. There are major concerns regarding the immaturity and the incompliance of the political and social conditions of developing countries in relation to the requirements necessary for an effective participatory planning. In this paper, we argue that mega-events, due to their wide scope and the key role that large groups of stakeholders play in their success, may represent a driver for community participation in developing countries. In order to explore our idea, we will analyse tourism development and the planning of a mega-event within the Yangtze River Delta area, driven by the organisation and preparation of the Shanghai World Expo. According to our evidence, some initial elements of participative decision-making have indeed developed around the organisation of this mega-event, even though China has historically been considered refractory towards community participation. Finally, we discuss the findings in the light of existing knowledge to elicit significant questions about community participation in tourism development within developing countries and to address further research on this topic.     

A review of the nature and growth of multi-titled tourism accommodation complexes

The growth of multi-titled tourist accommodation (MTTA) complexes represents a significant addition to our conventional conception of forms of short-term accommodation. MTTA complexes are assuming a variety of forms and appear to be proliferating in many parts of the world. This study investigates the international growth of MTTA, with particular emphasis attached to the Australian experience. It also outlines the nature of the new MTTA paradigm, advances a typology of MTTA organisations and identifies the factors accounting for the increased incidence of MTTA.     

The economy,tourism growth and corporate performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry

This study investigates the impact of economy and tourism growth on the corporate performance of tourist hotels in Taiwan. The indicators of corporate performance under consideration are occupancy rate (OPR), return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), stock return, and the overall financial performance measured by a comprehensive score (a combined measure of asset management, profitability, short-term solvency or liquidity and long-term solvency based on factor analysis). The effects of changes in the state of economy (real GDP   growth rate, ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$) and tourism growth (growth rate of total foreign tourist arrivals, ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$) on the corporate performance of tourist hotels are then examined via panel regression tests. Test results show that both ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$ and ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ are significant explanatory factors of OPR  , but only ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ can strongly explain ROA and ROE  . However, neither ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$ nor ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ have a significant influence on hotel stock performance. Further, the economic factor (ΔGDP)$\left(\Delta \mathit{GDP}\right)$ is slightly more crucial than the industry factor (ΔTA)$\left(\Delta \mathit{TA}\right)$ in describing the overall financial performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry. Empirical findings offer valuable information for government tourism policymakers and tourist hotel owners and managers.     

Poland's international tourism : Long-term growth: breakdown: rapid recovery

This article provides a synthesis of the factors governing Polish international tourism, set against a background of 40 years of post-war development followed by the political and economic crisis of the early 1980s. Tourism fell sharply in the early 1980s but had already begun a rapid recovery by 1983–1984. Official agencies, and cooperative and private-sector enterprises cooperate closely in the provision of tourism services and management. Poland has an “open-door” tourism policy and participates in a variety of international tourist organizations and agreements. This account demonstrates the close relationship between international tourism and the economic, political and social situation of the destination country.