Whither the Twain Shall Meet

Susan Strange, States and Markets: an Introduction to International Political Economy (London: Pinter, 1988) 263 pp., hardcover £22.00, paperback £8.95.     

A method for reducing information asymmetry in destination–airline relationships

We propose a measure of business risk in air travel demand at the route level that can reduce information asymmetry during route development negotiations between tourism destinations and airlines. Aviation-exposed risk (AER) conveys information about the level of uncertainty with regard to air travel demand from an airline’s perspective. Using AER, tourism destinations and air service development teams can evaluate their risks from the perspective of the airline and its network. From there, an assessment can be made as to the value of air services in certain circumstances, including whether a direct underwrite or risk share between airlines and destinations is viable and necessary. By applying a portfolio analysis to an airline’s network, we find evidence that AER does indeed mimic the actual capacity distribution of the network. This provides support for AER as a useful risk measure to be used in practice.     

Analysis of congress destinations' competitiveness using importance performance competitor analysis

To be competitive and successful in congress tourism, destinations must learn which congress tourism-related attributes are important and how they perform against their main competitors. This study identifies the importance and performance of destination attributes in Antalya, Turkey, and compares the position of these attributes to those of its main rival in congress tourism, ?stanbul. Importance performance competitor analysis results show that, according to domestic participants, Antalya has to focus on “sight-seeing and cultural attractions” and “outside entertainment.” For international participants, “climate,” “choice of meeting and housing properties,” and “suitability of conference facilities” exhibit higher performance in Antalya than ?stanbul.     

Blue Flag or Red Herring: Do beach awards encourage the public to visit beaches?

Surveys of beach visitor motivation in Ireland, Wales, Turkey and the USA indicate that beach awards play an insignificant role in motivation to visit beaches. However, a number of criteria closely identified with awards, notably cleanliness and water quality, are revealed to be very important. Aesthetic and emotional factors such as scenic setting and general ambience, and practical concerns such as proximity and range of activities available are much more important than beach awards in attracting visitors to beaches. The merits of beach awards are critically reviewed and it is concluded that any benefits that might accrue are in areas other than attracting visitors.     

Modeling international trade flows and market shares for agricultural commodities: a modified Armington procedure for rice

The Armington procedure (AP) has become increasingly popular in agricultural trade analyses. However, some arguments have arisen concerning the relevance of using the procedure for such analyses. This study examines the assumptions commonly made when using the Armington procedure and suggests modifications for agricultural trade analyses. Results from models utilizing rice-trade data suggest that the assumptions of the single constant elasticity, in particular, may not be appropriate for analyzing agricultural trade. These results also suggest that, with proper modifications, the AP can be applied to agricultural trade. Further, results of a modified Armington procedure indicate that trade in rice exports is highly competitive and that changes in market shares of individual exporters are not independent of changes in budget expenditure allocated to imports.     

GOAL PROGRAMMING AND MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION-MAKING IN FARM PLANNING: AN EXPOSITORY ANALYSIS

Several paradigms can be used to analyse multiple-criteria decision-making problems. Of these goal programming is probably the most widely used one, at least in management science. Goal programming seems to offer considerable potential for application to multiple-criteria problems in farm planning. However, its applications in agricultural economics have been few and far between. Even these attempts seem to suffer from some serious misconceptions. In this paper an effort is made to explain the structure of a goal programming model by deriving it from the familiar paradigm of linear programming. This is done to put the potential usefulness of goal programming and its relationship to linear programming in perspective, and to encourage further applications to multiple-criteria decision-making in farm planning.     

TOWARDS PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR MULTIPLE USE MANAGEMENT*

The general acceptance of multiple use as a desirable management goal has not been matched by practical guidelines to implement and achieve that goal. As Pearse [5] rightly noted, the most serious obstacles to applying multiple use principles are usually the lack of appropriate data and lack of established methodology. This study did not face prohibitive problems in valuing extra-market goods, but as with all multiple use studies, it did face the problem of applying the standard economic model of the multi-product firm. It is hoped this particular empirical application of the model contributes generally to the provision of guidelines for multiple use management.