Examining the link between meetings,incentive, exhibitions,and conventions (MICE) and tourism demand using generalized methods of moments (GMM): the case of Singapore

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of meetings, incentive, exhibitions, and conventions (MICE) on tourism demand in Singapore over a period of 10 years (2003–2012). Past studies have shown that MICE matters a great deal to host destinations but researchers have rarely conducted any empirical research to verify the significance of this sector to tourism demand. Our study intends to fill the gap by using Difference and System generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimators for dynamic panel models. Tourism demand is measured by tourist arrivals from the top 30 origins, and the influence of real income of the tourist generating country and real exchange rate is also examined. The GMM results show a significant positive relationship between tourism demand and MICE (with international meetings as proxies). Additionally, the findings reveal that tourism demand growth is significantly positive (negative) with respect to changes in income (relative prices). The coefficient of lagged tourist arrivals indicates a high level of habit persistence and revisiting.     

Barriers to the development of medical tourism in East Azerbaijan province,Iran: A qualitative study

The purpose of the present study was to determine factors impeding the development of medical tourism in East Azerbaijan province, Iran. The data were derived from interviews with 16 key informants. Data analysis of the study was conducted through employing the software MAXQDA-12. The results show that marketing, international issues, culture, transfer, brokerage, management, and policy problems are the main barriers to the development of medical tourism. It seems that East Azerbaijan province should provide necessary context for the participation and investment of private sector in the field of medical tourism. Further, it should design and implement long and short-term strategies in proportion to the problems raised.     

Assessing the impacts of aviation liberalisation on tourism: Some methodological considerations derived from the Moroccan and Tunisian cases

At a time when the liberalisation of air transport is increasingly being promoted as a means to induce the growth of the tourism business, it is striking that there is little evidence to suggest that such liberalisation has indeed led to a growth in tourism. Furthermore, the evidence is usually restricted to the impacts of sole low-cost airlines on tourist destinations newly served by such airlines. In contrast to various ideological or naïve statements, this paper shows that assessing the relationship between liberalised air markets and trends in tourism is challenging. On the transport side, aviation liberalisation is rarely considered as a dimension that can be measured accurately; similar protected markets are not considered for comparison; and trends in charter flights are neglected. On the tourist side, broad definitions of so-called tourists are usually considered and include immigrants visiting their home country; nights spent are neglected, despite a possible trend in declining length of stay; and substitution between places is usually disregarded, as are the long-term effects.     

Residents' perceptions of tourism development in Benalmádena (Spain)

This study examines the residents' perceptions of the impact of tourism in Benalmádena and the profiles of the residents according to socio-demographic characteristics. A questionnaire assessed how these characteristics influence the residents' perceptions towards the environment, economy, and socio-cultural aspects. The survey was administered to a stratified sample of 770 residents in Benalmádena. Results show a significant effect of socio-demographic variables on perception of tourism impact. The educational background, place of birth and how long respondents had been living in the community explain a significant amount of the variance in overall attitudes. Interaction analyses revealed that place of birth moderated the relationship between the tourism dimensions and the years of residence. For instance, the respondents with less than five years of residence showed more positive attitude towards the impact of tourism. We offer a profile of these residents according to their perceptions of the impact of tourism in their community.     

Towards a taxonomy of tourism products

This paper proposes a seven tiered taxonomy of tourism products in an effort to add some structure to the vast array of offerings available today. The paper adopts a phenetic method to group products hierarchically, using a modified version of the marketing-oriented product hierarchy system. Five broad Need Families are identified including: Pleasure, Personal Quest, Human Endeavour, Nature and Business. They incorporate 27 Product Families and 90 Product Classes.     

Using a Grey–Markov model optimized by Cuckoo search algorithm to forecast the annual foreign tourist arrivals to China

With the rapid development of the international tourism industry, it has been a challenge to forecast the variability in the international tourism market since the 2008 global financial crisis. In this paper, a novel CMCSGM(1, 1) forecasting model is proposed to address how forecasting precision is affected by the volatility of the tourism market. The Markov-chain grey model is adopted for its emphasis on the small-sample observations and exponential distribution samples. Additionally, the optimal input subset method and the Cuckoo search optimization algorithm are applied to improve the performance of the Markov-chain grey model. The experimental study of the forecasting of the annual foreign tourist arrivals to China indicates that the proposed CMCSGM(1, 1) model is considerably more efficient and accurate than the conventional MCGM(1, 1) models.     

Risk-tourism,risk-taking and subjective well-being: A review and synthesis

This paper seeks to conceptualize the potential relationship between subjective well-being and risk-taking within ‘risk-tourism’ i.e. specific activities that involve the potential for physical injury and death and require participants to develop competencies with which to overcome the risks associated with those activities. Literature is reviewed in three fields of inquiry: subjective well-being, with specific reference to the interactions between wellbeing and tourism behavior, risk-taking in tourism and risk-tourism. The areas of interaction between risk-tourism and subjective well-being, emerging critical questions and potential areas of future inquiry are subsequently examined.     

Performing colonisation: The manufacture of Black female bodies in tourism research

This paper is an Indigenous contribution to the epistemic decolonisation of tourism research. To understand how western privilege operates within research I highlight the rise of, what I term here, Establishment men and their use of performance theory and universalisms to both mask and enable harms against Black female bodies. I then introduce an innovative Indigenous methodology in storytelling to consider the depth and richness of contributions away from colonising and linear narratives and towards positive touristic encounters. Finally, I then give an overview of the types and use of ethics to prevent future harms to Black female bodies and establish a pathway towards equity in tourism research.     

Tourism and the refugee crisis in Greece: Perceptions and decision-making of accommodation providers

This paper focuses on the tourism impacts of the 2015–16 refugee crisis in Greece. It examines the implications of the related publicity for the perception of Greece and the expected reaction of inbound tourists; the way refugees are regarded from a security and cultural aspect; the interaction between refugees and host communities; and the decisions made by the Greek tourism accommodation sector to face the crisis. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis the paper employs a nationwide survey of 811 tourism accommodation managers. The results reveal three configurations explaining the decisions of respondents characterised by refugee-centric orientation; the emphasis on the visitors-locals nexus; and the host communities' behavioural impact on tourism. The paper also compares asymmetric with symmetric analysis highlighting the suitability of the former when dealing with complexity. The modelling exercise also steps forward from fit to predictive validity. The findings contribute to both managerial and methodological aspects of tourism.