1,423 research outputs found

    The value of traditional rural landscape and nature protected areas in tourism demand: A study on agritourists' preferences

    Get PDF
    This study focuses on how traditional rural landscape and proximity to a Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance (SCI) might influence consumers\u2019 choice of an agritourism farm for a weekend stay. Data were collected in Umbria region\u2019s (Italy) agritourism farms in 2014 by interviewing 160 tourists. Results from a discrete choice experiment reveal that the most important feature affecting the interviewees\u2019 propensity to pay a premium price to stay in an agritourism farm is the well-preserved traditional landscape (willingness to pay 32.32\u20ac/night for two people), followed by the availability of a swimming pool (willingness to pay 20.95\u20ac/night for two people), the proximity to a historical village (willingness to pay 18.37\u20ac/night for two people) and, the location in a Natura 2000 SCI (willingness to pay 13.57\u20ac/night for two people). Furthermore, the results underline how the preservation of the traditional landscape and protection of the surrounding environment play a strategic role in developing agritourism and provide economic benefits to local communities

    Segmenting and Profiling Visitors to the Ulaanbaatar Naadam Festival by Motivation

    Get PDF
    The analysis of visitor motivation for attending festivals, as a basis for segmentation, is an important prerequisite for targeting markets, planning festival programmes and product positioning. This study identified five motivation dimensions for visitors attending the 2005 Naadam cultural festival in Mongolia, using factor analysis. A cluster analysis on the five factors produced five stable motivation segments: multipurpose seekers; indifferent; culture and sport seekers; togetherness, socialisation and sports seekers; and socialisation and local event seekers. Significant associations between motivation clusters and visitor age and type were identified, although there was no significant interaction between the clusters and visitor type with respect to overall satisfaction. The results are generally consistent with the outcomes of previous research on festival and event motivation in Europe and North America, suggesting universality of core themes. However, unique combinations of motivation dimensions suggests that further research is required to develop understanding of variable interaction

    Analysis of Staying Time in Italian Agritourism Using a Quantitative Methodology: The Case of Latium Region

    Get PDF
    The aim of this article was to investigate and assess, using a quantitative empirical methodology, which variables influence the staying time at agritourism facilities in the Latium region of Italy. Using quantitative methodology derived from the chemical process of absorption, this case study explores the ability of a farm to absorb tourist flows. Findings point out the incidence of agritourists on the total tourism flow and the number of rooms are two variables directly correlated to the staying time. Simultaneously, the model estimated the level of “laziness” of tourists as a function of their staying time in agritourist facilities, which correlates directly with the distance to famous tourist resorts

    Benchmarking in Tourism Destination, Keeping in Mind the Sustainable Paradigm

    Get PDF
    Tourism destination benchmarking and the assessment of tourism management performances are a crucial and challenging task in the direction of evaluating tourism sustainability and reshaping tourism activities. However, assessing tourism management efficiency per se may not provide enough information concerning long-term performances, which is what sustainability is about. Natural resources management should therefore be included in the analysis to provide a more exhaustive picture of long-run sustainable efficiency and tourism performances. Indeed, while the environmental endowment of a site is a key feature in tourism destination comparison, what really matters is its effective management. Therefore, in this paper we assess and compare tourism destinations, not only in terms of tourism services supply, but also in terms of the performance of environmental management. The proposed efficiency assessment procedure is based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA is a methodology for evaluating the relative efficiency when facing multiple input and output. Although the methodology is extremely versatile, for the sake of exemplification, in this paper it is applied to the valuation of sustainable tourism management of the twenty Italian regions.Data envelopment analysis, Sustainable tourism indicators

    The Value of a Properly Maintained Hiking Trail Network and a Traditional Landscape for Mountain Recreation in the Dolomites

    Get PDF
    Alpine mountains represent one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, constituting approximately 3.1% of the global tourism market when considering the tourist flows coming from abroad. While there may be numerous factors that motivate tourists to choose rural areas, an important role is played by the opportunity to visit well-conserved landscapes and uncontaminated natural areas. The purpose of this study was to make a monetary valuation of the social benefits generated by the adoption of three measures of the Rural Development Plan (RDP) of Veneto (Italy) aimed specifically at enhancing the recreational usability of the mountain territory. In this regard, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was applied for the economic valuation, and a qualitative survey was used to collect the opinion of respondents related to the measures to protect the meadows and mountain hiking trails. According to the DCE estimates, on average, the benefits due to the conservation of the existing meadows and pastures was equal to \u20ac851 per hectare, those due to the conservation and improvement of the trail network were \u20ac12,260 per km, and the benefits due to the recovery of the meadows and pastures of uncultivated and abandoned areas for naturalistic purposes amounted to \u20ac6,852 per hectare. Comparing the estimates obtained with the expenditure incurred by the RDP to finance the three actions considered in our DCE, it can be seen that the benefits are considerably higher than the costs, especially with regard to the conservation of paths and the recovery of abandoned areas for naturalistic purposes

    THE EFFECTS OF CAP REFORM ON THE PERIURBAN AGRICULTURAL AREA IN THE PLAIN OF THE CITY OF ASSISI (CENTRAL ITALY)

    Get PDF
    In periurban areas agriculture can assume a multifunctional role that includes landscape conservation, sustainable resource management, biodiversity conservation, leisure activities, and can also maintain adequate conditions in densely populated areas for a safe and habitable environment. This study investigates the effects of the introduction of single farm payment on the periurban agricultural area in the plain of the City of Assisi, an area with a strong landscape value. A survey was carried out to determine: changes in production, changes on farm incomes, structural adjustments, the level of multifunctionality of periurban agriculture. Moreover, a survey of 355 residents was made to assess their willingness to pay for some positive externalities of the agriculture in this area. The results suggest the low-impact of reform on farms and the existence of a significant demand for environmental and social functions of the periurban agriculture of this region.Periurban Agriculture, Cap Reform, Economic Valuation, Contingent Valuation, Assisi, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q10, Q18,

    Agroforestry and Ecosystem Services: Value Capture in Silvopastoral Food Production Systems in Italy

    Get PDF
    Since the second world war, agriculture in Europe has been subject to changing and increasingly conflicting pressures. Until the 1980s, European but also national agricultural policies followed a productivist approach focusing mainly on the increase of productivity. For the farming sector this has been a time of strong modernisation, which was especially characterised by intensification, specialisation and concentration within agriculture, food industries and retail. Farms were put under increasing pressures to adapt, and became more dependent on both suppliers (e.g. production inputs, capital) and buyers of the food industry and retail sectors. Since the 1980s, the negative consequences of intensive farming practices have been increasingly recognised, which led to reforms of the Common Agricultural policy of the EU. But even if it could be recognised that farms became more extensive and diverse in some regions, a complete reversal of productivist structures did not take place. The necessity to sustainably transform farming systems is a result of the many challenges still facing not only agriculture today, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity decline and environmental pollution. To motivate farmers to change towards environmentally friendly alternatives to the dominant farming regime, such as agroforestry, requires overcoming of ideological and practical challenges. Research on the attitudes of farmers and other interest groups shows a dichotomy between the perceptions of environmental benefits of agroforestry systems and economic concerns of increased management efforts. Better comprehension of marketing possibilities of products from agroforestry systems and related issues is considered one option for making a transition more attractive. For this reason, this dissertation explores the strategies of Italian farmers in silvopastoral agroforestry systems for marketing their products and related ecosystem services, firstly focusing on the creation, enhancement and capture of values. One difficulty with the analysis of ecological production systems lies in the immateriality of many benefits, which hinders economic valuation. At the same time, economically valuing ecosystem services can be considered an incentive for farmers to change to sustainable farming practices. In the light of increased consumer awareness and interest in regional and environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional food production, the second focus of this dissertation is on the marketing of products in alternative food systems and the benefits and challenges this entails. Furthermore, the role of agroforestry systems for a sustainable transition of the food system is analysed. This is a cumulative dissertation consisting of three research papers, which are grounded in qualitative data that was collected in the Italian regions Umbria and Lazio in 2018. The first paper “Capturing the value of ecosystem services: perceptions from selected Italian farms” deals with the formation and definition of value from silvopastoral systems by farmers of the studied cases. As a first step, this paper assesses whether farmers do perceive their systems to produce additional ecological values or ecosystem services. Grounded on the analytical categories of GPN theory, it is subsequently analysed how and under which circumstances these perceived values are captured by the studied farmers when selling their products. Results are further discussed with regard to different possibilities of valuing ecosystem services. Extending the scale of analysis from the first paper, the second paper “Silvopastoral production as part of alternative food networks: Agroforestry systems in Umbria and Lazio, Italy” focusses on the regional, national and international distribution of products from the studied systems. Embedded in the contexts of alternative food networks and a growing demand for environmentally produced food, this paper assesses how farmers of silvopastoral agroforestry systems distribute their products, whether they can be considered part of alternative food networks and which consequences this entails. The third paper “Niche formation in agroforestry: considerations from silvopastoral systems in central Italy” extends the analytical scope once more by exploring options for the studied systems to influence a wider food regime with regards to enhancing its overall sustainability. Based on the concepts of sustainability transitions and multi-level perspective, this paper assessed the positioning of the studied farmers with regards to niche formation and proliferation, identifying barriers and possible solutions. The results of this dissertation can be summarised as follows: (1) The perception of ecological benefits of agroforestry systems differed among the interviewed farmers and only a few seemed to recognise the positive effects of agroforestry practices. This indicates a so far untapped potential in relation to value enhancement through including ecosystem services into the value of products. (2) Nevertheless, the processes within the agroforestry systems have an impact on the value or the profitability of products, either by reducing the need for costly external inputs or, in some cases, improving product quality (e.g. better nutritional composition, environmentally friendly production). (3) Distribution channels are crucial for marketing of specific quality attributes. All farms sell some or all of their products through direct, alternative channels. Additionally, products are also sold in national or international contexts. (4) The lack of an agroforestry label was understood as a barrier for marketing the environmental benefits of products from these systems over larger distances. (5) The occurrence of mixed forms of conventional and alternative modes of supply and distribution indicates a limitation of regionalised food systems with regard to the number of consumers as well as the availability of suitable inputs. The alternative food system is still strongly impacted by the conventional food regime. (6) Even if farmers are practising a form of agriculture that diverges significantly from the industrial farming regime, this is not enough to talk about an established agroforestry niche. Instead these systems are rather positioned at the edge of the existing food and farming regime. The contribution to a sustainable transition of the farming regime is thus limited. Better cooperation between actors from the agroforestry sector could be a first step to focalise learning processes and raise awareness on a regime level

    Do Foreigners Replace Native Immigrants? Evidence from a Panel Cointegration Analysis

    Get PDF
    This paper examines the impact of the immigration of foreigners on domestic labour mobility. Since David Card's seminal study on the regional labour market impact of the Mariel Boatlift it is controversial whether domestic labour mobility equilibrates economic conditions across cities and regions. However, there is little or no evidence that natives leave destinations where migrants tend to cluster. In this paper we reconcile the existing evidence by taking another route. We analyze whether the immigration of foreigners replaces domestic mobility from poor to rich regions. We focus on Italy, which is characterized by market differences in earnings between the North and the South. Based on a panel cointegration approach we exploit the variance of international and internal migration over time for identifying potential displacement effects. The main finding is that, conditional on unemployment and wage differentials, the share of foreign workers in the labour force of the destination regions discourages internal labour mobility significantly. As a consequence, spatial correlation studies which use the variance of the foreigner share across region for identifying the wage and employment effects of immigration, tend to understate the actual immigration impact.international migration, domestic migration, labour markets, panel cointegration, Italy

    How to Measure the Unobservable: A Panel Technique for the Analysis of TFP Convergence

    Get PDF
    This paper proposes a fixed-effect panel methodology that enables us to simultaneously take into account both TFP convergence and the traditional neoclassical-type of convergence. We analyse a sample of Italian regions between 1963 and 1993 and find strong evidence that both mechanisms were at work during the process of aggregate regional convergence observed in Italy up to the mid-seventies. Finally, we find that our TFP estimates are highly positively correlated with standard human capital measures, where the latter is not statistically significant in growth regressions. This evidence confirms one of the hypotheses of the Nelson and Phelps approach, namely that human capital is the main determinant of technological catch-up. Our results are robust to the use of different estimation procedures such as simple LSDV, Kiviet-corrected LSDV, and GMM Ă  la Arellano and Bond.TFP, Panel data, Regional convergence
    • …
    corecore