Does tourism-led growth hypothesis exist in Mauritius? Evidence from disaggregated tourism markets

We use the data of total tourism market and 10 major tourism markets in Mauritius to test the validity of tourism-led growth hypothesis in the country for the period 1980–2011. Using causality techniques, we confirm the hypothesis for the total tourism market. However, tourism-led growth exists in only 6 of the 10 markets. We conclude that not all tourism markets are contributing substantially to Mauritius’ economy.     

Does tourism cause growth? Evidence from Turkey

This paper examines the impact of detailed tourism expenditure on the long-run economic growth by employing Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and causality test for data set of 2003:1 to 2012:4 in Turkey. The detailed tourism expenditure data are firstly employed for the causality of tourism expenditure on economic growth. The results of the bounds test show that there is a stable long-run relationship between accommodation expenses, transport expenditure, expenditure of sporting activities, sightseeing tour expenditure, clothing–footwear expenditure, gift expenditure and economic growth. The results of the causality test, on the other hand, show that there is a bidirectional causality between accommodation expenses, expenditure of sporting activities, gift expenditure and economic growth and a causal flow from transport expenditure to economic growth which is verified growth-led tourism hypothesis. Results reveal that sightseeing tour expenditure and expenditure of sporting activities are more successful on explaining the long-run growth in Turkey in terms of ARDL coefficients size. This result implies a policy that Turkey needs to invest tourism to gain more especially by focusing accommodation, sightseeing tours, sporting activities and transport infrastructure.     

Are tourist arrivals stationary? Evidence from BRIC countries

In this study, we attempted to analyse whether the shocks to tourist arrivals in BRIC countries are temporary or permanent, by analysing the stationary characteristics of the data in panel framework. We found that, for Brazil, Russia and India, tourist arrivals are stationary process, whereas for China it is non-stationary process. This implies that shocks to the tourism sector in Brazil, Russia and India have only temporary effect, whereas the shocks to China's tourism sector have permanent effects.     

Is the tourism‐led growth hypothesis valid for malaysia? a view from disaggregated tourism markets

This research note attempts to re‐investigate the validity of tourism‐led growth hypothesis for Malaysia based on the data set of 12 different tourism markets from January 1995 to February 2009. The error‐correction modelling‐based cointegration test shows that economic growth and international tourist arrivals are cointegrated for all tourism markets. Nevertheless, the Granger causality results demonstrate that not all international tourism markets Granger‐cause economic growth. Therefore, identification of potential tourism markets is vital for implementing effective tourism marketing policies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is there growth impact of tourism? Evidence from selected small island states

This study investigates the growth impact of international tourist arrivals on carbon emissions in selected small island states via Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The study employed a panel-based multivariate model for seven small islands between the periods of 1995 and 2013 to evaluate the long-run equilibrium relationships between international tourism and carbon emissions through the channels of energy consumption and economic growth. Findings from the panel cointegration results show the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the variables of interest. International tourist arrivals have a negatively significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions in the long run. Thus, we infer that the law of diminishing marginal returns with regard to tourism-induced EKC hypothesis holds in the case of small island states.     

Airline type and tourist expenditure: Are full service and low cost carriers converging or diverging?

Since some years ago low-cost carriers (LCCs) are becoming less and less low-cost-like, as well as full-service airlines are becoming less and less full-service-like, thus contributing to lessen the differences between users of one airline type and the other. LCCs have made air travel available to all budgets and enabled tourists to spend more at destination by reallocating their trip expenditure. The objective of this article is to observe if airline types have been converging regarding travellers’ expenditure allocation and total trip expenditure. We use repeated cross sections of the Spanish tourist expenditure survey between 2006 and 2014, and compositional data analysis with a total in order not to confound effects involving expenditure allocation with those involving expenditure volume. Results show that users of both airline types converge in their allocation of the trip budget (between transportation and at-destination expenses, and within at-destination expenses), but diverge with regard to total trip expenditure.     

Do gender and nationality affect attitudes towards tourism and the environment?

This study examines whether gender and home economy influence attitudes towards tourism and the environment. Students enrolled in senior undergraduate and first‐year postgraduate tourism and hospitality subjects from eight economies are studied. Previous research on environmental attitudes has focused on either gender or home nationality, but has rarely examined the interrelationship between the two, and none has focused explicitly on attitudes to tourism and the environment. The study concluded that nationality mitigates attitudes among women much more than it does among men. The authors also conclude that general environmental attitudes are well formed, but tourism‐related environmental attitudes are often contradictory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Volunteer tourism: at the crossroads of commercialisation and service?

Volunteer tourism as a phenomenon and as a market has come a long way since its ideologically driven early days. It is now an established and ever commercialised market that meets the demand for a different travel experience for the more morally conscious traveller, while at the same time it provides opportunities for economic gain for the organisations that act as brokers of such experiences. This interaction raises several ethical issues in terms of serving a mission while making economic gains. In general, there is an acceptable relationship between monetary gain and altruistic service, within the context of enlightened self-interest provided that the beneficiary of economic gains diverts profits into serving their mission. This paper examines the supply for volunteer tourism for evidence of commercialisation and profit-driven behaviour and investigates a relationship between monetary gain and serving a mission by creating public goods.     

Does CSR contribute to the development of rural young people in cultural tourism of sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from the Niger Delta in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

We assess the impact of a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) model of multinational oil companies on the development of rural young people (RYP) in cultural tourism in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Six hundred RYP were sampled across the rural Niger Delta region. Using the logit model, results indicate that RYP have remained widely excluded from the General Memorandum of Understandings (GMoUs) interventions in cultural tourism projects due to the traditional beliefs that cultural affairs are prerogatives of elders, a caveat to the youths. This implies that if the traditions of the communities continue to hinder direct participation of the RYP from the GMoUs cultural tourism project interventions, achieving equality and cultural change would be limited in the region. The findings suggest that since handicrafts are key cultural products consumed in the tourism industry, GMoUs can play a role in helping to create an appropriate intervention structure that will be targeted towards youth empowerment in the area of traditional handicraft. This can be achieved if the Cluster Development Boards would focus on integrating rural young artisans into local tourism value chains, ensuring they benefit economically from the sector, and creating space for the views of RYP indigenous handicrafts knowledge.     

What the newcomers to transit-oriented development are confronted with? Evidence from Iranian policy and planning

Today, the American model of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gained widespread adoption around the world. Together with pioneer cities in the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and other European countries, there are newcomers to TOD, mainly from the cities located in the developing countries with rapid urbanization and motorization trends, with the purpose of benefiting from TOD advantages in response to the apparently unsustainable traffic-caused challenges. Opportunities, challenges and prerequisites needed for TOD planning seem to have been unclear so far for such nations. Hence, the present study, aims to fill this gap through examining an analytical framework for TOD planning in the case of Iran. The recent policies on TOD also have been initiated at both national and local levels in this country. Directed content analysis of 11 call interviews with Iranian urban professionals and government officials demonstrated that, as with global experiences, adversary physical characteristics and policy background of Iranian cities tremendously preclude joint transport land-use initiatives so that the nature of urban (transport) policies and planning as well as the resulting urban form are both car-oriented. As such, there is a great deal of fundamental works that should be accomplished by the newcomers. The results showed the extent to which the conditions for TOD newcomers are similar which could provide a common framework to the future customized analysis of the individual challenges and planning prerequisites.     

Small business— small minded? Training attitudes and needs of the tourism and hospitality industry

The Australian tourism and hospitality industry consists of at least 80% small business operators scattered over a wide range of urban and rural environments, consequently it has not been easy for training providers to assess accurately the needs of the industry as a whole and provide specialised programmes. During 1996, Tourism Training Victoria conducted a survey of training needs of tourism and hospitality operators. Results indicate that there is a shortage of skilled staff and owner‐managers with little management training or qualifications, who nonetheless recognise their shortcomings and needs for further education and training, particularly in the marketing and business areas. Barriers to further training include the cost of training and inflexibility of hours and place of delivery. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An overestimated relationship? Violent political unrest and tourism foreign direct investment in the Middle East

Although the tourism industry is increasingly globalising, empirical research on the accompanying foreign direct investment (FDI) is surprisingly lacking. Furthermore, the nexus of political risk, violent political unrest and tourism FDI has been relatively neglected. Using Egypt as a heuristic case study and adopting a qualitative methodology, this paper explores the question of how political risk and violent political unrest influence tourism FDI. Surprisingly, the results are not able to corroborate a clear relationship between the two. In contrast, these results indicate that the role of stability and security for tourism FDI in developing countries has largely been overestimated in the past. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence,bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry

The present work reviews the current knowledge about violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. It indicates the high prevalence of these aggressive behaviours, and identifies structural reasons, insufficient managerial skills and/or common beliefs as their causes. The negative impacts of bullying, violence and sexual harassment on employees include intentions to leave and psychological upset. These personal negative feelings and attitudes contribute to negative organizational performance indicators, such as high staff turnover rate and low profitability. In addition, the high prevalence of violence creates a negative image for the tourism and hospitality industry in general. The review shows that intervention plans are scattered in aims and time frames, focus mainly on managerial policies, and almost completely overlook immediate actions as well as guest violence. Given its importance, the low number of appropriate intervention tools, policies and agendas clearly suggests the urgent need for more research. The final section of the work provides an overview of three core themes that can potentially contribute to the development of an effective intervention agenda, namely, corporate social responsibility, social media and comparisons to other sectors.     

Whether low-cost-carrier passengers spend more on duty-free goods at the airport? Evidence from Incheon International Airport

With a dramatic growth in the low-cost carrier (LCC) traffic around the world, many airports have built budget terminals to accommodate the LCC flights with cheaper airport charge to the airlines but inferior shopping environment and service quality to the passengers. This study aims to answer the following research questions: i). Whether the LCC passengers have higher purchasing power than FSC (full-service carrier) passengers for the airport concessions, particularly the duty-free goods? ii). Would the budget terminal design contribute to or jeopardize the LCC passengers' airport concession expenditure? iii). How could the airport operator maximize its concession revenue by re-designing terminal or re-allocating flight slots? We collect the actual airport duty-free transaction data from Incheon International Airport (ICN) for an empirical investigation. Our empirical evidence first suggests that LCC passengers could have comparable or even higher purchasing power than FSC passengers in consuming duty-free goods at the airport. Among all the LCC passengers, Chinese have the highest purchasing power. Second, the inferior shopping environment and service quality of budget terminal seriously jeopardize the duty-free sales from the LCC passengers. Third, counterfactual analyses show that, if ICN could convert its budget terminal into a conventional terminal, 44 million USD more duty-free sales can be generated per year. Even keeping the current terminal design, re-allocating the LCC flights between the budget terminal and conventional terminal could bring approximately 4.9 million USD more duty-free sales per year. The findings provide managerial implications to ICN and other airports for effective airport revenue management. First, the budget terminal design may not be ideal to accommodate LCC traffic as it damages the concession revenue from particular LCC passengers with high purchasing power. Second, exploring the concession revenue from the growing LCC traffic could help maintain an airport's advantage in aeronautical charge under single-till regulation.     

Informality and accessibility to jobs by public transit: Evidence from the São Paulo Metropolitan Region

Access to opportunities through public transport can have different impacts on individual's life especially in developing countries where opportunities are limited, job informality rates are high, and socioeconomic characteristics gaps are big. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between job informality and accessibility to employment by public transport in São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR), Brazil. To do so, we calculate a cumulative-opportunity measure of accessibility to jobs for 633 areas within the SPMR. We use a multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression model to estimate the effect of job accessibility on the likelihood of being informally employed, controlling for individual and other area characteristics. To account for informal sector heterogeneity, two regression models are generated: one for the workers earning below minimum wage and one for the workers earning above minimum wage. The results show that accessibility to jobs is unevenly distributed across the region, largely concentrated in the core of the region, and especially in the high-income areas. The regression results show that for workers earning less than the minimum wage, a higher level of accessibility to jobs by public transport is associated with a lower likelihood of being a worker in the informal job sector. For informal workers earning more than the minimum wage, car ownership seem to be more relevant than transit accessibility in determining the likelihood of being part of the informal job sector. In light of these findings, increasing accessibility by public transport through either expanding transit services to areas with high informality rates to have a better access to formal jobs or supporting the decentralization of formal jobs may be a way to achieve reductions in informality rates, especially among those earning less than the minimum wage.     

How do passengers allocate and evaluate their travel time? Evidence from a survey on the Shanghai–Nanjing high speed rail corridor,China

Although previous studies have demonstrated that travel time is not wasted, only a limited number of studies have conducted an in-depth investigation of how passengers allocate their travel time and what factors will impact their subjective valuation of travel time (SVTT). Investigating such questions will uncover some of the possible economic, social, technological and behavioral reasons that influence SVTT. Using a survey of 822 passengers traveling along the Shanghai-Nanjing high speed rail (HSR) corridor in 2016, this study examines passengers' allocation of their travel time, and explores the determinants of SVTT for business and non-business travelers, respectively. Empirical results indicate that around half of the respondents spend the longest amount of travel time on ICT discretionary activities, but there are some differences across trip purpose. Ordered logit models suggest that SVTT is determined by a range of factors, which are classified into travel time allocation, HSR environment, travel attributes, and socio-demographic characteristics. However, the specific factors associated with SVTT are somewhat different between business and non-business trips. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the perceived value of travel time in a supportive travel environment and in a typical e-society of a developing country, and offer implications for more comprehensively exploring determinants of SVTT in the future.     

Are freight pipelines a pipe dream? A critical review of the UK and European perspective

Freight pipelines represent a novel way for the movement of freight transport and offer an alternative to conventional transport modes. The aim of this paper is to examine the potential for this transport mode within the UK and Europe. Firstly, the latest technological developments are identified, building on the last major review by Howgego and Roe (1998). There is then an analysis of the policy landscape towards freight pipelines, as successful implementation will require the support of policy makers. Finally, some of the major benefits and issues with freight pipelines are highlighted. We conclude that there are still opportunities for the use of freight pipelines, but that further research is yet required to fully understand the supply chain, logistics and other related activities that the introduction of this technology may influence. This is because systems which are presently in commercial operation have exhibited excellent characteristics, although they have not been more widely adopted.     

Framing scrappage in Germany and the UK: from climate discourse to recession talk?

This paper highlights the distinctive discursive framing of transport policy in Germany and the UK. Using an analysis of the introduction of the ‘scrappage bonus’ in both countries, against the background of the financial crisis, we show how distinct nationally specific discourses and political cultures are expressed within these. The German government was an early adopter of the policy, but the UK government was relatively late in introducing its own scheme. While the German scrappage scheme was introduced officially as an environmental bonus, the UK scheme did not make any reference to environmental concerns. We argue that these differences are important in the context of a wider research aim, to identify nationally specific mobility regimes and to develop an understanding of different possible pathways towards more environmentally friendly transport futures.     

Can stopovers be induced to revisit transit hubs as stayovers? A new perspective on the relationship between air transportation and tourism

This research examines the potential of transit hubs and affiliated airlines to stimulate future stayover visits by stopover passengers, thereby securing new market opportunities for the host destination and a new relationship between the transportation and tourism sectors. Data were obtained from 694 stopovers who transited with Singapore Airlines through Singapore Changi International Airport but had no prior stayover visit. ‘High influence’, ‘low influence’ and ‘selected influence’ clusters indicated how nine selected services and facilities differentially stimulated their interest to revisit Singapore. Especially influential are generic services such as the Singapore Girl service style, and specific facilities such as the airport Butterfly Garden. These therefore no longer situate as simple facilities that only provide utilitarian transport services for passengers; occupying the blurred boundaries between the transit and destination regions, they frame Singapore's hub airport and national carrier as a type of ‘quasi-destination’. Appropriate strategic considerations are recommended to maximise their conversion potential.