Exploring attitudes to edgy urban destinations: the case of Deptford,London

The role of tourists and tourism in urban development is not fully understood. Research has focused on tourism districts within city centres, but less is known about tourism in peripheral, less affluent urban districts. These areas can appeal to visitors as edgy alternatives to mainstream destinations. This study establishes who is interested in visiting and why, and it explores the underlying rationale for negative attitudes. The aims are addressed by an in-depth analysis of Deptford in South East London. This area is a relatively deprived part of a world city, albeit one that has long been earmarked as London's next cool district. The study uses a mix of different sources to analyse the case. Responses to a New York Times article on Deptford are analysed and the attitudes of actual visitors and key stakeholders are explored. The discussion includes an examination of different interpretations and attitudes towards the notion of edginess. Edginess is deemed attractive by certain audiences; something linked to a reverence for working-class life in the arts. The study concludes that, whilst edginess is a noted characteristic, what people appreciate about Deptford is its ‘distinctive ordinariness’ – its contrast with more polished and contrived urban districts.     

The housing bubble and a new approach to accounting for housing in a CPI

Over the course of the recent house price bubble in the United States, the price of homes rose rapidly from 1999 Q4 to 2005 Q4 (11.3% annually as measured by the Case-Shiller index, and 8.4% annually as measured by the Federal Housing Financing Agency) but slowly as measured by owner equivalent rents (3.4%), so measured core inflation remained relatively docile during this period, since only rents are used to measure inflation for housing services in the United States. Over the last several decades, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has experimented with both rental equivalence and user cost approaches for accounting for owner occupied housing (OOH) services in the CPI. We explain the basics of these approaches, and outline the BLS experiences with using them. This assessment leads us to conclude that the time has come to try a new approach: the opportunity cost approach. We argue this approach has advantages over both the conventional rental equivalence and user cost approaches, though it embeds components of the measures for both those approaches and builds solidly on the research of Verbrugge and others at the BLS. Also, we take up empirical issues that must be faced regardless of which of the approaches discussed is adopted. We explain how the repeat-sales and various hedonic regression methods can be placed in a common framework, thereby facilitating understanding of the properties of and the tradeoffs between the methods. We also consider measurement complications that arise because the land and structure components of properties depreciate at different rates.     

Conviviality and everyday life: the appeal of new areas of London for visitors

Literature on tourism development in converted cities or new districts of polycentric cities emphasises planned processes to create attractions, often resulting in standardised tourism zones. The demands and experience of tourists themselves have been neglected. Qualitative research with overseas visitors to new tourism areas suggests that character and sense of place that visitors enjoy derives from a combination of unlike elements, ‘lashed up’ to create a distinctive place, in which everyday life plays an important role. Rather than familiar stories of conflict between ‘hosts’ and ‘guests’, the emphasis in some areas is on conviviality among different groups of city users. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Commercial development and competitive environments: the museum sector in scotland

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) warn local authorities that fail to value the potential role of culture in socio‐economic development do so at their peril. The development of a destination's cultural credentials to facilitate economic progress is central to policy geared to regenerate communities in decline and to revitalise financially strapped museums. Within this argument more scrutiny is placed on the skills accountability of the museum profession and their ability to compete in the visitor attraction sector and generate their own sources of income. This paper considers the competitive position of museums as tourism visitor attractions within a framework of commercial development. The strengths of this paper lean towards qualitative primary sources gathered by the authors during a number of recent heritage development projects. This has influenced the analysis of statistical data gathered in 1999 by the Moffat Centre on behalf of the Scottish Tourist Board's Visitor Attraction Monitor. Concluding paragraphs stress the development of appropriate quality schemes that are flexible enough to accommodate the distinctive Scottish Museum experience as critical. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY PRICE INDEXES AND THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

This paper studies the problems associated with the construction of price indexes for commercial properties that could be used in the System of National Accounts (SNA). Property price indexes are required for the stocks of commercial properties in the Balance Sheets of the country. Related service price indexes for the land and structure input components of a commercial property are required in the Production Accounts of the country if the Multifactor Productivity of the Commercial Property Industry is calculated as part of the SNA. The paper reviews existing methods for constructing an overall Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) and concludes that most methods are biased (due to their neglect of depreciation) and more importantly, not able to provide separate land and structure subindexes. A class of hedonic regression models that is not subject to these problems is discussed.     

Strategic foresight for (coastal) urban tourism market complexity: The case of Bournemouth

This paper discusses an approach to evaluate and analyse strategic planning in multi-functional complexities of coastal urban areas with conflicts regarding leisure space which restricts the diversity of tourism segments using an urban locale. The paper proposes a holistic and multi-faceted systems approach to analysing such multi-purpose use of urban spaces with a case study of Bournemouth where the needs of overseas language students and high spending tourists can present an interesting challenge to urban planners. The systems approach advocates integration and alliances in investment incentives to help identify alternative urban use strategies in tourism and leisure contexts which allows for re-branding of an urban area whilst extending the product offer.     

Motivations,experiences and perceived impacts of visitation at a Catholic monastery in New Zealand

This paper explores visitors' motivations and experiences for visiting the Tyburn monastery and retreat centre in the north island of New Zealand, and the perspectives of the nuns on the impacts of the visits. Using a qualitative research approach, the paper presents the findings of semi-structured interviews with 22 visitors and 3 nuns at the monastery; all Catholic in denomination. Findings of the research elicited three key experiential themes which were: “religious experience”, “personal experience” and “social experience”, although the overriding experience was religious. Findings also revealed that all visitors were welcome and were not treated as a burden by the nuns; in contrast to the more negative perspectives that are argued in some previous religious tourism studies. These findings thereby contribute potential knowledge of how a contemporary Catholic cloistered monastery is efficiently and uniquely managed through the Benedictine rule that is followed, which lays out principles of governing or administrating and hospitality, and which protects the devotional experience for its visitors.     

Was wine a premier cru investment?

We investigate the case for Bordeaux and Rhone wine as an investment. The raw data analysed comprises of approx. 335,000 observations of wine sales prices and is analysed using the repeat sales regression method. General Red Bordeaux and Rhone wine indices are constructed for the period January 1996–January 2007, which are compared with each other, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), and with a number of wine funds and finally with the Liv-Ex Fine Wine 100 (FW100) Index. The findings suggest that Rhone and Bordeaux wines can provide average returns in excess of risk-free investments with lower risk at index level. Individual wines and sub-regions carry higher risk than the general indices with varying return levels and so direct investment in such wine by inexperienced, low volume or individual investors carries a high level of risk. Returns on indirect investment via wine funds vary, however all average returns of funds analysed exceed the general Rhone and Bordeaux Index in this research. Volatility for some wine funds was particularly high and may not suit risk-averse investors. This is reinforced by inspection of the higher moments.     

Key factors maximizing art museum visitors’ satisfaction,commitment, and post-purchase intentions

As there is a lack of empirical research examining art museum visitors’ post-purchase behaviors, this study tested the theoretical associations among image congruence, quality, affective experiences, satisfaction, and commitment to build a sturdy model of behavioral intentions. The concept of involvement was also included as a moderator. A field survey at art museums was conducted. The level of construct validity and reliability for all variables were satisfactory. Results of the structural model revealed that the proposed theoretical framework sufficiently accounted for the variance in intentions. Satisfaction was of greatest importance in generating intentions. Commitment and satisfaction acted as important mediators. Among nine hypothesized direct linkages, eight hypotheses were supported. Findings from the invariance model assessment supported the moderating influence of involvement on the relationships among quality, satisfaction, commitment, and intentions. The strength of such relationships among these variables was greater when museum visitors’ involvement level was high.     

A comparative study of farmers' markets visitors' needs and wants: the case of Alabama

Many studies refer to the importance of farmers' markets for both food producers and for visitors. For producers, the ability to obtain higher returns and/or market part of their produce as value‐added products can be strong incentives, while for consumers benefits include having access to fresher, often tastier foods or simply visiting as a social activity. Relatively few studies, however, explore visitors' needs and wants with regards to their farmers' market experience, that is, from visitors' perspective. The present study explores this dimension, comparing visitors' views in two different farmers' markets, one recently developed (since 2009) in a rural area vs. one already established (since 2004) in a university town (urban area). A total of 356 farmers' market visitors participated in the study. Respondents' comments from the two different farmers' markets are very much in agreement in the context of their needs and wants. Primarily, visitors want more product variety, an extended season, that is, not only limited to the summer season, and more vendors. The fact that more than half of the respondents regularly visit farmers' markets demonstrates their need and interest in locally produced foods. Given such strong interest, the potential for beneficial producer–consumer interactions in the sites studied appears to be enormous. Furthermore, farmers and other food producers have an ideal opportunity to increase the interest of consumers, ‘convert’ them to their foods and realise important benefits in the process. The overall findings also suggest opportunities for the establishment of other farmers' markets in a state (Alabama) with a long agricultural tradition.