Tourism demand for Italy and the business cycle

This study provides a strategy for modelling the effect of the business cycle on tourism demand under the rationale that tourism cycles are heavily influenced by lagged effects of the overall business cycle. Using quarterly data on overnight stays in Italian hotels, both domestic and inbound between 1985 and 2004, we adopt a structural time series approach to evaluate two alternative models, the first with a latent cycle component (LCC) and the second based on specific economic explanatory variables (XCV). The two models are compared in terms of explanatory power, best-fit, residual diagnostics and forecasting ability. The results show similar performances. The policy implication is that the XCV model can be used for calibrating countercyclical interventions in tourism policy.     

Tourism in Iceland: Persistence and seasonality

This paper analyses tourism in Iceland using fractional integration and taking into account the seasonality and the degree of persistence in the data. Using annual data, the unit root hypothesis cannot be rejected, implying permanency of shocks. However using, monthly data, a break is found at 2009m7 and the orders of integration are in the interval (0, 0,5) suggesting mean reversion. The conclusion is that exogenous shocks impacting inbound tourism do not persist and tend to disappear relatively fast. The key policy implications thereof are reported at the end of the paper, critiquing the classical response to perceived slumps in inbound tourism that include marketing and promotion instead of developing infrastructure in anticipation of resumed growth in inbound tourism.     

中国旅游产业政策演变及其有效性研究

旅游产业政策旨在规范行业发展,引导产业上水平,优化产业结构,成为调控旅游产业发展的重要手段。1978年至今,我国旅游产业政策的变迁受多种因素影响。在探讨旅游产业演变的基础上,利用我国31省区市2001~2018年面板数据测度旅游产业政策的有效性。结果发现:旅游财政投入能极大地促进旅游产业发展;由中央政府和地方政府颁布的不同层级旅游产业政策具有时效性差异,中央政府旅游产业政策具有时滞性特征,滞后期为一年,而地方旅游产业政策具有即时有效性;旅游产业政策空间分布及有效性存在东中西区域性差异。     

中国森林公园与森林旅游发展轨迹研究

本文通过对森林公园数量、面积、游客量、旅游收入等指标变化的研究,以及对不同省(区、市)、规划分区、全国4大地区各指标的变化与所占份额等方面的分析,系统地展现了中国森林公园与森林旅游业发展的基本轨迹.结果表明,中国森林公园发展分为4个阶段,即起步阶段、急速发展阶段、平稳发展阶段和快速成长阶段,具有时间分布上的加速现象、空间分布上的位移现象、游客量与旅游收入上的耦合现象、在全国旅游业地位上的提升现象.预测分析表明,"十一五"期间中国森林公园事业还将处于快速成长阶段,到2010年,全国森林公园总数将由目前的1928处增加到2800处;西部地区森林公园比例有明显提高的趋势,其森林旅游收入份额将逐步提高;森林公园接待游客量和直接森林旅游收入将以20%左右的年增长率递增,到2010年,将分别超过4亿人次和200亿元;森林旅游业在全国旅游业发展中的比重将逐步提高,到2010年,年游客量和综合旅游产值占全国旅游业的比重将分别达到19%和13%左右.     

Forecasting in Short-Term Planning and Management for a Casino Buffet Restaurant

SUMMARY

Demand fluctuation accounts for an important consideration in a restaurant's daily operational decisions. Good short-term planning and management require accurate forecasts of daily demand. The objective of this study is three-fold: (1) to apply, evaluate, and compare different methods of forecasting customer counts for an on-premises buffet restaurant of a local casino in Las Vegas, (2) to describe and propose a combined forecasting approach for this casino buffet restaurant, and (3) to explore the concept of revenue and capacity management for this buffet restaurant. Eight forecasting models were tested and evaluated by two common error measures. The results suggest that a double moving average model was the most accurate model with the smallest MAPE and RMSPE. Extensive discussions on forecasting and planning/management in buffet operations are provided along with recommended future research.     

A Comprehensive Cost Analysis on New System Structure for Nature-Based Tourism Destination: Perspective of Front and Back Stage Decoupling

To cope with several common problems in nature-based tourism destinations, including resource inefficiency, environmental pollutions and poor service quality, the paper proposes a new structure of service system for tourism destination in which some of the back-stage functions can be decoupled from the service system of individual tourism organizations and integrated into shared service centers and thus the overall scale of the back-stage functions of the destination can be reduced and equivalence of the front–back structure of the destination can be achieved to facilitate the above problems solving. Based on this understanding, a comprehensive costs analysis is conducted to explain the advantages of the new structure over the traditional one by considering three important factors involved in the above problems: the environment, service quality and operation costs. Finally, a case study on rural tourism in China is undertaken to justify this analysis.