Tourism as a driver of economic growth and development in the EU-­27 and ASEAN regions. EU Centre in Singapore Research Brief December 2013

Tourism is a significant driver of economic and social development.  It stimulates economic growth by generating income, employment, investment and exports. It also generates valuable spin-­off benefits, including preservation of cultural heritage, improved infrastructure and local community facilities (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2013).  But, tourism can have positive or negative impacts depending on planning, development and management.        The  purpose  of  this  research  brief  is  to  demonstrate  the  economic  importance  of  tourism,   its  challenges  and  plans  for  tourism  development  in  the  EU-­‐‑271  and  ASEAN2  regions.  It   brings  together  data  from  several  sources  including  the  United  Nations  World  Tourism   Organization  (UNWTO)  and  the  World  Travel  and  Tourism  Council  (WTTC).     This  brief  is  divided  into  three  parts:      Part One describes performance of tourism sector in the  EU-­27 and ASEAN regions in terms of international tourist arrivals and receipts, contribution of tourism to GDP, employment, exports and investment.         Part Two outlines the EU-­27 and ASEAN plans for supporting tourism development while highlighting relevant initiatives.         Part three discusses some of the key challenges that accompany tourism development. It also outlines goals that policy makers should follow in making tourism more sustainable.

Rural tourism as a development strategy : case studies from Chile : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Rural Development at Massey University

In the last ten years Chilean governments have implemented various polices aimed at rural poverty alleviation, focusing initially only on agricultural development and more recently also on non-agricultural development, promoting activities such as rural tourism. While rural tourism has been developed in Chile to some extent, there is still a lack of empirical research on its development and impacts. The aim in doing this study was to overcome this lack of research and guide strategies for rural tourism development initiatives in Chile. To achieve this, a multiple case study involving two communities was undertaken to identify ways in which smallholder farming households can be assisted in diversifying their livelihoods into rural tourism. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and participatory methods. These data were then analysed using qualitative methods. Households which have diversified into rural tourism are very positive about it. In economic terms rural tourism has allowed them to improve their housing conditions and increase spending on their children's education, and has provided work for women and young people. Rural tourism has also increased women's self-esteem and, importantly, has led people to place a higher value on their cultural traditions. It has also increased environmental awareness and fostered native tree planting at the household level. Rural tourism has also had some negative consequences, such as loss of family privacy, increased noise and increased solid waste problems. The main findings of this research suggest that there are key factors for successful rural tourism development. Therefore, for rural tourism to become a viable strategy for smallholder farming households assistance needs to take into account such things as provision of credit, technical assistance in setting up a rural tourism product to meet tourists' expectations, building stakeholders' capacity in rural tourism and business management, as well as assistance in establishing and managing an association of rural tourism providers. Changes to regulatory frameworks are also required to enable the setting up of rural tourism ventures. Effective cooperation and coordination between tourism operators and rural tourism providers, as well as cultural impact management and solid waste management, are also needed for successful rural tourism development. Key words: rural tourism, rural development, livelihood diversification, Chile

Development Strategies for Tourism Destinations: Tourism Sophistication vs. Resource Investments

This paper investigates the effectiveness of development strategies for tourism destinations. We show that resource investments unambiguously increase tourism revenues and that increasing the degree of tourism sophistication, that is increasing the variety of tourism related goods and services, increases tourism activity and decreases the perceived quality of the destination’s resource endowment, leading to an ambiguous effect on tourism revenues. We disentangle these two effects and characterize situations where increasing the degree of tourism sophistication is a viable development strategy and where it is impracticable without resource investment.Tourism destination; tourism sophistication; resource investments; tourism demand; development strategy

THE FUTURE OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM IN ROMANIA DEPENDS ON THE HUMAN RESOURCES

Hospitality and tourism represent a profession, and to understand hospitality and tourism means to have certain skills, requiring training and experience in the field. However, many people are involved in it directly or indirectly and must know the basic principles. Local planning authorities, regional and national planning authorities of almost all ministries and departments are in some way directly or indirectly involved in the organization and development of tourism. Some decisions of planning are in opposition with the objectives of tourism development; some development strategies affect the sustainable development of tourism. Tourism development is something very sensitive, because tourism is one of the most competitive business activities in the world. Tourism development is not automatic, because it is linked to the image and reputation. The sustainable and successful tourism requires cooperation between all the factors of responsibility and requires the formation of partnerships between the public sector, which should support tourism, and the private sector, which should provide facilities and services for different markets and market segments Without understanding the mutual objectives and issues, tourism will not develop satisfactorily and will not be beneficial.tourism, hospitality, tourist industry, human resources, sustainable

Residents' attitudes toward impacts of tourism: A case study of Langkawi, Malaysia

This paper presents findings from a study that was undertaken to investigate residents’ attitudes toward the impacts of tourism in Langkawi Island, Malaysia. In order to gain reliable results for the use of Langkawi policy makers and tourism planners, a standardized instrument for measuring residents’ attitude was developed and used in the study. The findings revealed that residents tend to perceive impacts that benefit them as positive impacts of tourism. The findings also indicated that residents tend to perceive impacts of tourism, either positively or negatively depending on how much they would affect their personal lives. The more dependent they were on the positive impacts of tourism, the more supportive they were toward tourism development. Thus, the findings do not support Doxey’s Irridex Model. Finally, the study suggested that for a long-term purpose of achieving sustainable tourism development, Langkawi tourism planners and policy makers should conduct several campaigns and tourism workshops for the residents. Accordingly, this would gain residents support for tourism development on the island

Wine tourism : a review of the Chilean case

Wine tourism has become a thriving niche in global tourism industry with successful cases like Napa Valley in the USA with 19 million visitors per year. However, there are important disparities among wine regions. The paper analyses the case of the Chilean wine tourism, which is one of the regions with less wine tourists although it is very important in global wine industry, and its reasons for its low level of development. Chilean wine industry has been developing its infrastructure in wine tourism but behavioural factors like low promotion intensity and local consumers' behaviour hinder the development of wine tourism

Approaches to Active Tourism in the Urals and in Perm Krai

Located in the south of Ural, Perm Krai, apart from mineral resources and well-developed industry, can boast vast areas that lend themselves to active and qualified tourism, with the quality of an amateur sport. The development of these forms of tourism often requires large expenditure needed for adjusting the space to various types of activity. It also requires a correlation between a given character of the space and the preferred form of tourism, which often leads to environmental conflicts between the development of tourism and nature protection. The article presents the most important elements of the tourism potential in Perm Krai, as well as the sports tourism development perspectives in the context of real and potential environmental conflicts

Gaming can be sustainable too! Using Social Representation Theory to examine the moderating effects of tourism diversification on residents' tax paying behavior

Tourism authorities in the Las Vegas region have suggested the diversification of the tourism industry as a strategy to improve the vitality of rural communities outside of the metropolitan area. The present study uses Social Representation Theory as the conceptual basis to test the moderating effects of the various types of proposed tourism development on residents' willingness to pay higher taxes to support such development. A survey of 301 residents in Las Vegas rural communities examined how the factors of economic dependence on tourism, community attachment, and ecocentric attitude towards tourism influence residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts. A higher economic dependence on tourism and higher levels of community attachment led to more favorable perceptions of tourism's economic and social impacts. The economic impacts, in turn, resulted in a willingness to pay higher taxes, irrespective of the type of tourism development proposed by the Las Vegas authorities. The results suggest that rural communities reinforce a hegemonic social representation of tourism in order to characterize the ethos of capitalist urbanism that pervades the economic development discourse. The residents' social construction of tourism has important implications for tourism planners in the region and suggests the adoption of an inclusive tourism diversification strategy that leverages both gaming and alternative tourism.This work was supported by the Southern Nevada Planning Coalition, Outside Las Vegas Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. (Southern Nevada Planning Coalition; Outside Las Vegas Foundation; Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Tourism for pro-poor and sustainable growth: economic analysis of tourism projects

Despite the increasing importance of tourism in economic development and the rise of “pro-poor” tourism development strategies, properly designing and implementing tourism projects remain generally a difficult process. There are both theoretical and practical challenges in justifying public sector investments in tourism and properly measuring the projects’ benefits and sustainability. There is a need to come up with an analytical framework that would address these challenges and help evaluate a tourism project’s economic viability. This technical note introduces a simple framework that could underpin the systematic economic analysis of tourism projects.tourism; economic development; pro-poor growth; economic analysis