Policy responses to an overheated housing market: Credit tightening versus transaction taxes

Among Asian economies, Hong Kong has experienced the highest real growth in house prices since the 2010s. Two macroprudential measures, namely credit tightening (loan-to-value ratio cap) and transaction taxes (stamp duty), were introduced to cool down the overheated housing market. This study examines and compares their effectiveness based on a set of constant-quality house price indices. Through an error correction model, we find that credit tightening was able to curb house price growth in the high-price segment, while transaction taxes could not. An explanation is that the exemptions from transaction taxes for those with genuine housing needs could be abused by other market participants. It is easier for buyers to exploit the exemptions to get around the stamp duty than to manipulate the property valuation for mortgage lending. The implication is that the effectiveness of macroprudential measures hinges on whether compliance or exemption can be easily monitored and enforced.     

Tourist Satisfaction and Destination Image of Vietnam's Ha Long Bay

Although considerable work has been done on destination image as a whole, far less research has investigated the differences in destination image assessments for domestic versus international visitors in developing countries. This study offers findings that illustrate the differences in perception of destination image, satisfaction attributes, and intention among domestic and international visitors to Ha Long Bay, a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in Vietnam. The results of a survey on 650 tourists suggest that international visitors to the Ha Long Bay region have higher standards and are more critical in their evaluation of services than domestic visitors when judging this destination. Destination image is a common factor determining the level of satisfaction of both groups. Basic and augmented services were found to influence international visitors’ future intention toward the destination. This finding implies that the destination managers of Ha Long Bay need to improve current standard of augmented services to yield higher visitors’ propensity to recommend and return to the destination.     

Drivers of customer decision to visit an environmentally responsible museum: merging the theory of planned behavior and norm activation theory

The main goal of this research was to merge the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation theory into one model and test its applicability in an environmentally responsible museum context. A filed survey was conducted at museums. Structural equation modeling was used to test research hypotheses. Results of the structural model comparisons revealed that the prediction power of our integrated model was superior to that of the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation theory. The proposed relationships among research constructs were generally supported. The mediating role of study variables was established. Additionally, the salient role of personal norm and attitude in generating museum travelers’ pro-environmental intention was identified. Overall, there was a strong support for the proposed theoretical model.     

我国国际展会专业观众满意度影响因素分析

基于国外顾客满意度研究理论和模型,结合会展行业特征,构建我国国际展会专业观众满意度影响因素模型.运用结构方程模型(SEM),利用SPSS和AMOS软件,定量分析其主要影响因素.研究表明:组展商营销服务水平对专业观众满意度影响最大,其次是展会现场管理水平和展会硬件设施条件;展会品牌、组展商品牌及接待服务水平影响较小.不过它们均通过影响专业观众的感知价值间接作用于满意度.最后,提出三点启示和建议.     

剖析内地旅客在澳门只作短暂停留的原因与对策

旅游(及博彩)业长期都是澳门经济的重要产业.在2003年内地"个人游"政策实施后,来澳者过半为内地旅客,可是他们平均在澳停留天数偏低.本文通过深度调查访问、问卷调查和统计分析探究及检验内地旅客决定在澳停留天数的因素.结果发现来澳目的、来澳次数、可支配收入、出入境交通工具、出入境便利性等都是重要因素.故本文提出以下对策:鼓励以商业为目的的旅客,举办季节性转变的主题活动,在内地高档场所加强宣传和推广,开拓更多的航班和航线,提高边检部门的效率等.     

The Importance of taste in experimental auctions: consumers’ valuation of calorie and sweetener labeling of soft drinks

A majority of purchases that consumers make are classified as repeat purchases. One of the main reasons why consumers make repeat food purchases is the food's taste. Therefore, we examined the importance of including taste testing in nonhypothetical experimental auctions. Specifically, we used two experiments to determine consumers’ willingness to pay for soft drinks labeled with different calorie and sweetener information. In Experiment 1, participants tasted the soft drinks prior to the bidding rounds. In Experiment 2, participants did not taste the soft drinks prior to the bidding rounds. Bidding behavior for the soft drinks was significantly different between Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Results suggest that including taste testing in the design of experimental auctions is important to accurately capture consumers’ willingness to pay for foods that are purchased repeatedly. Results also imply that policies aimed at combating obesity by making the calorie content of foods more visible may not produce desired outcomes.     

初游者与重游者差异的系统比较——以海南国际旅游岛为例

初游者与重游者的差异比较对旅游地经营实践具有重要的意义。通过对海南国际旅游岛游客的调查获得基础数据,运用卡方检验和独立样本T检验的方法,细致比较了初游者和重游者在人口学特征、旅游行为特征的差异情况,发现初游者与重游者人口学特征的年龄、职业、婚姻状况、月收入、家庭结构以及旅游行为特征（游前、游中、游后三阶段）的较多方面存在差异。     

A model of community-based festival image

This study initiates an original inquiry into the image of community-based festivals (CBFs). A CBF image model was proposed and empirically tested based on existing destination image models. Four image constructs were identified as Attributes, Family and Friendliness, Affective Association, and Overall Evaluation. The interrelationships among these constructs were tested by structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that Attributes affects Family and Friendliness and Affective Association, which in turn, affects Overall Evaluation. This study also included visitor loyalty in the understanding of CBF image. It was found that repeat visitors had more favorable perceptions of the CBF than did first-time visitors. Significant perceptual differences were found in Family and Friendliness, Affective Association, and Overall Evaluation between the two groups of festival goers. In addition, it was revealed that loyalty exerted significantly negative interaction effects on the relationship between Attributes and Family and Friendliness, as well as the linkage between Family and Friendliness and Overall Evaluation. In addition, this study illustrated the importance of the support of local residents for CBFs. CBF planners and local tourism organizations would benefit from this study in terms of cultivating visitor loyalty to these festivals and building the destination's brand.     

HEDONIC PRICE INDEXES FOR RESIDENTIAL HOUSING: A SURVEY,EVALUATION AND TAXONOMY

Every house is different. It is important that house price indexes take account of these quality differences. Hedonic methods which express house prices as a function of a vector of characteristics (such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, land area and location) are particularly useful for this purpose. I consider here some developments in the hedonic methodology, as it is applied in a housing context, that have occurred in the last three decades. A number of hedonic house price indexes are now available. However, it is often difficult to see how these indexes relate to each other. For this reason I attempt to impose some structure on the literature by developing a taxonomy of hedonic indexes, and then show how existing indexes fit into this taxonomy. Also discussed are some promising areas for future research in the hedonic field. In particular, greater use needs to be made of spatial econometric and nonparametric methods to exploit the increased availability of geospatial data. The main criticisms of the hedonic approach are evaluated and compared with those of the repeat‐sales and stratified median methods. The overall conclusion is that the advantages of the hedonic approach outweigh its disadvantages.     

Factors influencing repeat visits to a destination: The influence of group composition

This paper is an analysis of the likelihood for repeat visits to a sun and sand destination by tourists. For this purpose, an empirical study was conducted using tourists who had visited the destination. The analysis took into account the travelling group composition. The results showed that, for the total tourist sample, overall satisfaction had the biggest influence on the decision of whether to revisit a destination, while the least important influence was the tourist's perceived image. These influences varied, however, when different travelling group compositions were considered. The results are of vital importance in tourism management policies, because they can contribute to the better design and development of tourism promotion strategies.