Economic crises and tourism competitiveness: A Markov swtiching regression approach

Authors discuss the effects that economic crises generate on the global market shares of tourism destinations, through a series of potential transmission mechanisms based on the main economic competitiveness determinants identified in the previous literature using a non-linear approach. Specifically a Markov Switching Regression approach is used to estimate the effect of two basic transmission mechanisms: reductions of internal and external tourism demands and falling investment

Innovative Tourism Clusters: Myth or Reality? Empirical Evidence from Benidorm

Paper submitted to TCVT3 Bozen/Bolzano, 10-12 April 2014, International workshop on Tourists as Consumers, Visitors, TravellersThis paper analyses the applicability of the cluster concept to tourist destinations, taking Benidorm as the reference for study: a destination on the Mediterranean coast of Spain which has attained a high degree of competitive success with the sun and sand product in which it has specialized. The main result obtained is that Benidorm's success is not derived from or favoured by the existence of a cluster in the destination, since important elements are present that prevent affirmation of its existence. This paper is the preliminary result of a research project that has been carried out within the framework of the project "Methodology, criteria and impementation of the cluster theory in consolidated tourism areas: innovation, competitiveness and territorial synergies" under the Spanish National R&D&I Plan 2008-2011 supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.This research has been carried out within the framework of the project “Methodology, criteria and implementation of the cluster theory in consolidated tourism areas: innovation, competitiveness and territorial synergies” under the Spanish National R&D&I Plan 2008-2011 supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation

La cuota de mercado como indicador de competitividad en los destinos turísticos: sentido y limitaciones

The market share is the most widely used indicator in the analysis of competitiveness in trade of goods and services. However, their use in tourism is subject to a widespread controversy, especially in those cases where goes together to the territorial analysis. This is because the goals of maximization of this variable by policy-makers, can lead to growth policies that jeopardize the economic and environmental sustainability of a resource-limited destinations. This paper discusses the use, validity and limitations of the market share as an indicator of competitiveness in tourism.La cuota de mercado es el indicador más difundido en el análisis de la competitividad empresarial para todo tipo de bienes y servicios. Sin embargo, su uso en turismo está sometido a una amplia controversia, especialmente cuando el objeto de estudio es la competitividad de los destinos turísticos. Ello es debido a que objetivos de maximización de esta variable en la planificación, pueden conllevar la implementación de políticas de crecimiento comprometedoras de la sostenibilidad económica y ambiental de los citados destinos. Teniendo en cuenta estas consideraciones, en el presente trabajo se discute el uso, validez y limitaciones de la cuota de mercado como indicador de la competitividad de los destinos turísticos

Second homes vs. residential tourism: A research gap

Residential tourism and second homes are two closely related phenomena that constitute a growing research field, but the different names given to the concepts by researchers have led to a fragmented and disconnected literature. These two categories are essentially the same - or share many elements – but the research seems to be disjointed, which, in our opinion, has created a gap in the existing literature on this subject. Specifically, the research on "residential tourism" has expanded to integrate not only second home ownership issues, but the rental of holiday homes to tourists. This commercial use of second homes has been only occasionally referred to by second home authors. Mainstream literature, mainly focused on North American-Canadian and Scandinavian destinations, uses the term "second homes". Conversely, researchers in Mediterranean countries – e.g. Spain or France – prefer the term "residential tourism". Both phenomena are also related with a third concept, to take into account in this context, the visiting friends and relatives tourism (VFR). This note advocates an unified approach to studying this kind of tourism that will extend knowledge in the field and optimise future research efforts

Physics in tourism: Modeling destination growth

Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the problem of tourist destination saturation or overtourism was a hot research topic among tourism researchers. The debate was focused on the definition and measurement of the phenomenon and on establishing the conceptual models that explain it. The objective of this note is to propose the use of Newton's Second Motion Law to model the growth of destinations and its derivation in potential issues of overtourism. This theory allows to incorporate more adequately relevant concepts in this context such as resistance to growth than other standard theories in the existing literature

Tourism Growth and Economic Development: Academic and Non-Academic Perspectives

This article explores the complex relationship between tourism growth and economic development from academic and non-academic perspectives. The former mainly highlights the positive influence of tourism while recognizing biases and limitations that may arise from using different methodologies, variables, or temporary scenarios in research. However, non-academic stakeholders, such as the media and politicians, offer unverified and biased opinions that can influence public perceptions and lead to failed investments. This article provides recommendations to foster a balanced conversation between the two perspectives, with a broader dissemination of academic results and a recognition of the difficulties in analyzing the relationship between tourism and economic development, such as the mobility of stakeholders.This study has been carried out within the framework of the following research projects: "Digital Transition and Innovation in the Labor Market and Mature Sectors. Taking Advantage of AI and Platform Economy (DILATO)", with reference TED2021-129600A-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by European Union Next GenerationEU/PRTR; and "Innovation and sustainability in tourism competitiveness after COVID-19" with reference TUR-RETOS2022-049 funded by MICT/SET and by European Union NextGenerationE

UniMOOC: colaborative work, innovating in education

Desde que en 2007-2008 se pusiera en práctica por vez primera la metodología MOOC (Cursos Abierto Online y Masivo), el proceso de innovación educativa se ha acelerado gracias a iniciativas tan potentes como Udacity, Coursera o MITx. Su impacto potencial en el mundo universitario y de la enseñanza en general han llevado a replantear el futuro de la educación a gran escala. El éxito de los MOOCs ha sido exponencial, desde los 50 matriculados en el curso de David Wiley sobre Educación Abierta (año 2007) hasta los más de 2.5 millones de inscritos en Coursera en 2012. Hasta este punto, se ha vivido un proceso de reafirmación y apuesta por el modelo tanto por parte de la sociedad como de las instituciones educativas de mayor prestigio en el mundo. A pesar de encontrarnos aun en un marco metodológico claramente experimental, ya nadie puede negar el éxito cosechado por los MOOCs y el previsible futuro que parece aguardarles. En este documento se presenta el caso UniMOOC como el primer MOOC para emprendedores en español, un proyecto que comienza a definirse en la primavera de 2012, y que cuenta con una proyección orientada a alcanzar los 60.000 alumnos en su primera edición.In 2007-2008 appeared for the very first time the MOOC phenomenon (Massive Open Online Course). Since then educational innovation process has accelerated due to initiatives like Udacity, Coursera or MITx. The potential impact of MOOCs in every educational grade has forced to rethink the future of universities and schools. The success of MOOCs has been exponential: the 2007 David Wiley's Open Education MOOC involved 50 students; in 2012 were more than 2.5 millions of courserians inscribed in at least one of the thousands MOOCs offered in Coursera. To gain the current success it has been necessary the society recognition and the support from the main educational institutions of the world. Nowadays the educational community is still in the first stage of the MOOC methodology, but what it has achieved in a few years aim to a favourable future. In this paper we present UniMOOC Project, like the first Spanish MOOC for entrepreneurships. This Project started to define in Spring of 2012, and it is projected to reach more than 60.000 users in its first edition

Economic crises and market performance—A machine learning approach

This note analyzes the relationship between economic crises and tourism performance in Spain during the period 1970–2013 using machine learning techniques. Specifically, a regression tree is estimated to confirm that, although the dynamics of Spanish tourism performance is influenced by the general variables established by the literature, the crisis periods disrupt the natural functioning of these dynamics, provoking disturbances that affect the tourism market position of destinations to a greater extent than expected. Conversely, to other econometric techniques, machine learning approach allows us to achieve greater flexibility and enriches the information, estimating the interrelations and thresholds operating in this context

Calp, hacia la sostenibilidad a través de la inteligencia

En este artículo se analiza la aplicación del concepto de destino turístico inteligente en Calp, un caso representativo de los destinos turísticos del litoral Mediterráneo español. El análisis efectuado pone de manifiesto que el concepto de destino turístico inteligente puede suponer la primera oportunidad real de hacer operativo el concepto de sostenibilidad turística. También en los destinos de masas. Esta defensa se basa en el hecho que, por primera vez, el uso intensivo de la tecnología que conlleva la implantación de un destino turístico inteligente, va a permitir la medición continua de aspectos vinculados a la sostenibilidad que hasta el momento y en ausencia de dicha tecnología, eran difíciles o simplemente imposibles de medir, y por tanto, gestionar.This article describes the application of the concept of the intelligent tourist destination using Calp – a representative case of the tourist destinations of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline – as a case study. The analysis performed shows that the concept of intelligent tourist destination could be the first real opportunity to make operational the concept of tourism sustainability, also in mass tourism destinations. The rationale for this argument is based on the fact that, for the first time, the intensive use of the technology that entails the implementation of an intelligent tourist destination, will allow the continuous measurement of aspects related to sustainability that until now and in the absence of this technology, were difficult or simply impossible to measure, and therefore manage

Obliquity in Tourism Economics: Smart and Sustainable Tourist Destinations

Obliquity describes the process of achieving complex objectives indirectly. The recent emergence of the concept and paradigm of intelligent or smart tourist destinations has given rise to a proliferation of initiatives to convert many tourism destinations into smart tourism destinations. Such initiatives are often driven by publicly and privately financed technologically-based companies, In theory, the concept of the smart tourist destination includes different levels of action in the environmental, social and technological fields, directed at enhancing the satisfaction and experience of tourists. However, in many practical applications of the concept, only the latter level is addressed, and the other dimensions are neglected. This article argues that smart tourism destinations represent the first real opportunity to make the concept of sustainable tourism operational. This argument is based on the fact that, for the first time, the intensive use of technology involved in implementing a smart tourism destination will enable the continuous measurement of aspects related to sustainability which, until now, in the absence of this technology, were difficult or impossible to measure, and therefore, manage