Does tourism lead to peace?

Tourism is often heralded as a force for peace, however, empirical research to confirm this suggestion is scant. To address this gap, this research integrates several datasets on conflict and tourism to examine whether a larger inflow of tourists makes civil conflict less likely. Several theoretical arguments of the role of tourism alongside other peace determining factors are presented. These inform the development of a probit model, and several specifications, that tests the hypothesis based on data from 126 countries and for the years from 1995 to 2010. The findings provide strong evidence that increasing tourism arrivals have a stabilising effect and increase the chance of peace. Implications for tourism and its role in the process of development are discussed.     

Are tourism impacts low on personal environmental agendas?

This paper examines if tourism is an environmental priority for tourism and hospitality students. It is framed within the context of information and choice overload that may result in the need to prioritize issues and make less effective decisions. A series of open-ended questions identified the most important community and global environmental issues, the single greatest cause of climate change and whether students had changed their behaviour in general, or their travel behaviour in particular, to reduce their environmental impact. A total of 2968 useable surveys were returned from students at 63 institutions in 22 economies. Tourism emerged as a low priority issue, which explains why only a small proportion of students had changed their travel behaviour. Moreover, the study noted high knowledge variability, which in turn was closely associated with the type of actions undertaken. Students with specific knowledge were far more likely to adopt specific change actions than those who had less precise knowledge. They, in turn, were more likely to identify generic and less effective actions. The study concludes that the main challenge involved in changing tourism behaviour rests primarily with raising its status to a higher priority, a difficult task given the environmental issue overload that most people face.     

China's outbound tourism – Stages,policies and choices

China's outbound tourism has developed rapidly in recent years. This development has been accompanied by a continuous and expanding deficit in the tourism balance of trade, triggering debate among government officials and academia about whether China's outbound tourism development has outgrown general economic development. Understanding China's growth in outbound tourism and its impact has therefore become more than an academic issue; it also affects the future orientation of China's tourism policy. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the tourists, spatial flow, market size, and expenditure. Despite the above concerns, it is suggested that China's outbound tourism is still in a preliminary stage of development and furthermore complies fully with national policies. Therefore, orderly guidance and discretionary market policies are proposed to further facilitate the growth of the outbound tourism market in China.     

Do expectations of future wealth increase outbound tourism? Evidence from Korea

As international tourism is generally considered a luxury good, models to date have shared an understanding that demand is dependent on discretionary income. However, consumption theories predict that a shift in demand can be induced without changes in actual earnings when expectations for future income are adjusted. This presumes demand for international tourism can be influenced by “wealth effects” from real estate and financial assets. This study tested for the wealth effect on Korean outbound travelers during the 20 years between 1989 and 2009. Korea is a unique place to examine in that Korean households possess housing assets and financial assets that are traded actively in markets. The results of this study favored the possibility of a significant wealth effect from housing on outbound travel demand, but not from financial assets. This may be explained by data sensitivity and the relative importance of financial assets in the Korean people's wealth portfolios. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided along with the findings of the study.     

Does tourism affect the informal sector?

The effect of tourism on economic growth has largely been investigated in the literature. However, it is still poorly understood about how the impact of tourism on the size of the informal economy. The present study attempts to fill the research gaps in this field, and thus applies panel regression techniques to examine the relationship between tourism development and the size of the underground economy across 96 countries over the period 2000–2007. The estimation results show that tourism exhibits a U-shaped relation with informality. Specifically, the share of informal sector first decreases in the early stages of tourism development and then increases as tourism continues. Some policy implications, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.     

Does living in the vicinity of heritage tourism sites influence residents’ perceptions and attitudes?

Abstract

This study investigates whether the perceptions and attitudes of residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites differ from those living further afield. It examines residents’ attitudes toward tourism development; community attachment; environment and culture attitudes; economic gain; and involvement, alongside the moderating role of distance from heritage tourism sites. In doing so, it investigates how the aforementioned factors influence residents’ perceptions of tourism development in their city. Data was collected from inhabitants of Kashan and Tabriz, two historic cities couched within Iran’s growing heritage tourism sector, and analyzed using partial least squares - structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrate significant differences between the perceptions of tourism impacts, economic gain, environmental and cultural attitudes, and involvement between residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites and those living further afield. However, these findings contradicted the hypotheses; identifying higher positive perceptions, environmental and cultural attitudes, economic gain, and involvement for residents living far from heritage tourism sites. Further, the findings did not support the moderating role of distance for the effects of influencing factors on residents’ perceptions. Therefore, this study proffers significant theoretical contributions and practical implications with regards to developing sustainable tourism in Iran.     

Does tourism matter in measuring community resilience?

As damage from natural hazards is increasing, quantifying community resilience is a top priority in enhancing communities' ability to prepare for and recover from disasters. This study examines the significance of tourism in measuring community resilience by proposing a tourism community resilience measurement model. To identify key tourism industries that significantly improve community resilience, this study also explores the spatially heterogeneous associations between the validated community resilience metric and tourism industry specialization across 67 counties in Florida. The results indicate that the tourism dimension is important in measuring community resilience and that specific tourism sectors, including amusements and spectator sports, are positively associated with community resilience. These findings can help community policymakers develop localized resilience enhancement strategies by considering tourism.     

Africa’s outbound tourism: An Almost Ideal Demand System perspective

While African outbound tourism represents 3% of international tourism, the continent is experiencing high economic growth rates, contributing to a fast-growing middle-class and a large potential market for international travel. This article analyses African outbound travel to all other continents from an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) perspective. Both static and dynamic AIDS are estimated and the resulting elasticities indicate that: (i) African tourism to all continents is a normal good, although Africa and Oceania can be considered luxury destinations; (ii) Asia and North America are the most price elastic destinations, and price increases in these continents will lead to substitution to Europe and Africa; (iii) there is persistence in African arrivals to North and South America.     

Does a VAT rise harm the tourism industry?Portuguese evidence

This paper estimates consequences of the VAT increase on tourism industry, by analysing the impact of the significant VAT rise in Portugal on profitability and survival of firms related to food and beverage service activities. The analysis is divided into 3 periods: before and after the VAT hike and during the financial crisis, with the total time period from 2003 to 2013. The sample is composed of 23,388 Portuguese unique firms with 5.1 year-observations per firm. The impact of the massive VAT change is assessed in comparison to the performance of 4,969 Greek and 59,841 Spanish (for robustness) unique firms for the exact time period. The results show that a dramatic VAT increase significantly affects firm profitability in the country of implementation, with the effect even more dramatic than the recent financial crisis. The equivalent to the proposed 10 percent VAT rise in Portugal has caused a significant decline in firm profitability (an average drop of 8.7% compared to 1.5% during the financial crisis), a massive increase in the number of inactive firms and amplified the likelihood of firms to become bankrupt by about three times. Such consequences inevitably affect unemployment and may cause a slump in tax revenue in the long run. Hence, this research has wide practical implications and should be considered by the Greek and Portuguese governments before taking a next step of intervening in the tourism sector.     

Does managerial ownership influence franchising in restaurant companies?

Although the link between managerial ownership and firm performance is often explained in relation to a firm’s risk-taking behavior, little is known about how managerial ownership affects corporate risk-taking in industries characterized by high financial and operational risks, like the restaurant industry. To understand this important and understudied link, our study draws upon agency theory to examine the relationship between managerial ownership and franchising, typically a risk-reduction strategy of restaurant firms. Our results from panel data analyses using a sample of 962 firm-year observations show that managerial ownership is negatively associated with degree of franchising. Further, we find that after considering the scope of managerial discretion, there is a U-shaped relationship between managerial ownership and degree of franchising such that the degree of franchising decreases as managerial ownership increases up to a certain level, but then increases in tandem as managerial ownership increases to higher levels. Our results indicate that there is an optimal level of franchising associated with managerial ownership, implying that owners can influence their firms’ risk-taking behavior by setting target managerial ownership goals and designing effective incentive contracts.     

How does smog influence domestic tourism in China? A case study of Beijing

ABSTRACT

This study took Beijing as a case to examine the potential impact of smog on the domestic demand of tourist destinations in China. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to explore and confirm the causal relationships between perception of travel risk, travel dissatisfaction, negative destination and avoidance tendency. It is found that the Mainland Chinese residents have a strong perception of the potential travel risk caused by smog in Beijing. Moreover, the impact of travel risk perception on avoidance tendency is indirect and works through the mediating variables such as travel dissatisfaction or negative destination image.     

Understanding the past,anticipating the future – a critical assessment of China outbound tourism research

This paper presents a critical assessment of the current state of China outbound tourism research. It draws upon an extensive review of peer-reviewed literature on China outbound tourism published between 2003 and 2015. In seeking an in-depth understanding of the current literature and its implications, the researchers propose five potential directions for future investigation. These include a call for researchers to embrace alternative research techniques that will contribute to theory building, as well as for an alignment of research activity that provides insights into both the evolution and the transformation of China outbound tourism.     

Four kinds of tourism?

To relate tourism to leisure theory, this paper first offers a potential conceptual framework to assist in placing leisure in the context of other human behavior. This is done by considering dimensions of both subjective experience and structural environment. The field structured by these two dimensions is then reviewed by examining four more or less extreme positions, although emphasizing that reality will rarely conform to an extreme. The two dimensional field of human behavior is, like all conceptual models, an attempt to understand the immense complexity of reality. Turning to tourism, this framework demonstrates that just as recreation often fails to result in leisure, so the tourism industry may well detract from the positive aspects of the tourism experience, and at the worst, may produce alienation.     

Does a low-cost carrier lead the domestic tourism demand and growth of New Zealand?

This study aims to provide a better understanding of the impact of New Zealand's low-cost carrier (LCC) on domestic tourism demand and growth. The panel data regression model and the two-stage least-square (2SLS) model (aims to control for the endogeneity effects) are used to empirically investigate the impact of LCC and the key determinants affecting New Zealand's domestic tourism using five regions (Auckland, Canterbury/Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, and Wellington) from June 2009 to July 2015. The findings suggested that the LCC's services, GDP per capita, the regional tourism indicators (accommodation, and food and beverage), and land transport costs affected New Zealand's domestic tourism. The policy implications of the key finding regarding the significance of the LCC's operations on New Zealand's domestic tourism (local/regional tourism authorities and tourism operators), airline competition between incumbent airline (Air New Zealand) and the LCC (Jetstar), and airport authorities are discussed.     

Which investment incentives for tourism?

Governments around the world offer a wide range of incentives to developers by acting to reduce capital costs and operating costs and to improve investment security. This analysis demonstrates that high operating leverage is a principal source of financial risk and that grants to reduce initial capital costs are more effective in reducing risk. Apart from guaranteed investment security most tourism incentives are unnecessary — the primary instrument should be the capital grant, or its equivalent in the provision of facilities.     

Does eco certification sell tourism services? Evidence from a quasi-experimental observation study in Iceland

Eco labelling of tourism services has been studied extensively in the past. Yet, there is no agreement on two key points: (1) whether or not eco certification increases tourist demand for a product among the general tourist population, and (2) whether or not there is a specific market segment whose purchase decisions are influenced by eco labels. Lack of agreement is partially due to the wide variety of different research approaches used. Most studies have in common, however, that they rely solely on tourist self reports of either behavioural intentions or past behaviour. The present study re-investigates these two questions using a quasi-experimental design based on actual observed behaviour and objective knowledge testing. Results indicate that (1) eco labelling does not have a big impact on general tourist demand, but (2) a niche market exists which is influenced by eco labelling when choosing among alternative tourist providers. The research design used in the present study offers a useful alternative for investigations of tourist purchase decisions. It leads to more reliable results because it is based on the observation of actual displayed behaviour, thus avoiding a range of answer biases. Other eco-certified products now need research on similar lines.     

Backpacker tourism: sustainable and purposeful? Investigating the overlap between backpacker tourism and volunteer tourism motivations

Alternative tourism, particularly backpacker and volunteer tourism, has developed significantly in recent times. This rapid development has contributed to criticism of potential negative effects, notably of the environmental, cultural, economic and social impacts associated with backpacker tourism. Volunteer tourism, by contrast, has been seen in positive terms as more sustainable, combining altruistic motivations with the travel concept. This paper explores backpacker interest in volunteer tourism and identifies overlaps in motivations between the two forms of tourism; 249 self-administered questionnaires were collected from backpackers within backpacker hostels in central Melbourne, Australia. The findings of this study suggest that a motivational overlap exists between backpacker and volunteer tourists, indicating potential for the creation of volunteer tourism products catering specifically for the backpacker market. This may encourage more sustainable tourism experiences within the burgeoning backpacker market, thus addressing some of the negative criticism of the latter. This paper also discusses the implications of these findings for the marketing and development of volunteer tourism products for both the backpacker and volunteer tourism markets.     

Does transformational leadership style influence employees’ attitudes toward food safety practices?

The objectives of this study were to examine whether transformational leadership style (TL) and organizational climate (OC) impact employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices. We also set out to investigate the moderating effect of food safety certification on the relationships among TL, OC, and employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow food safety practices in restaurants. Questionnaires were distributed to restaurants in one state. Structural equation modeling techniques and multiple group analysis were used. The results of this study indicate that TL did not impact employees’ attitudes and intentions. However, TL significantly impacted OC, and OC significantly impacted employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices; additionally, employees’ attitudes significantly impacted intentions to perform safe food handling practices. Furthermore, the moderating effect of food safety certification on the relationships among TL, OC, and employees’ attitudes and intentions was also significant. The results of this study not only provide a theoretical framework but also present more detailed diagnostic information regarding the impact of TL and OC on employees’ attitudes and intentions to follow safe food handling practices.     

Domestic tourism demand of urban and rural residents in China: Does relative income matter?

The aim of this research is to investigate the domestic tourism demand of urban and rural residents in China. Based on the data from the National Household Tourism Survey, we specify Chinese domestic tourism demand as a function of absolute income, relative income, domestic tourism price, and substitute price. As a major contribution of this study, relative income is measured using the distance between individual income and average income over a city/province. Based on the estimation results from multilevel models, this paper highlights the effect of relative income on domestic tourism demand in some sub-regions of China. Furthermore, regional differences between residents in different sub-regions and different patterns of determinants between urban and rural residents are identified and discussed.     

Transforming competitiveness into economic benefits: Does tourism stimulate economic growth in more competitive destinations?

This research note investigates the impact of a destination's competitiveness upon tourism's contribution to economic growth using a cross-section with 131 countries. Destination competitiveness is measured with the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, while tourism's contribution to economic growth is measured with the growth decomposition methodology. Results reveal that destination competitiveness has no statistically significant impact on tourism's contribution to economic growth. Tourism policy implications and directions for future research are also discussed.