Tourism and Growth in a Cross-Section of Countries

We provided an empirical assessment of the relationship between tourism specialisation and economic growth, by updating findings of previous papers written on this issue. We used data for more than 150 countries covering different time spans between 1980 and 2005. Contrary to previous findings (e.g., Brau et al., 2004 and 2007), tourism-based countries did not grow at a higher rate than non-tourism based countries, except for the 1980-1990 period for which, however, data on international tourism are not fully reliable.tourism specialisation, economic growth, developing countries

Off-Season Tourists and the Cultural Offer of a Mass-Tourism Destination: The Case of Rimini

This paper assesses the potential implications on off-season tourism of enhancing the cultural offer of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside holiday destination. Rimini, a city of about 130,000 people hosts a total of around 12 million overnight stays, 10 million of which are concentrated in the summer months. In the last twenty years or so, Rimini has been undergoing a policy of deseasoning, which mainly pivots around business tourism (a new fair quarter and important conference venues have been built) and cultural tourism (the city has been investing on both its cultural heritage and art exhibitions). This assessment is carried out through discrete choice experiments submitted to a sample of about 800 off-season tourists, that is, tourists who visited Rimini outside the summer months. Since tourism can be viewed as a composite good, which overall utility depends on the arrangement of the component characteristics, the choice experiments allow to disentangle the importance and the willingness to pay of tourists for different levels of the holiday's characteristics. The choice model incorporates as attributes a number of possible changes to actual tourism features (which are also the subject of public debate), including them in hypothetical alternative "holiday packages". The conditional logit analysis of the choice experiments can highlight the potential synergies and trade-offs between cultural and business tourism. Moreover, the methodology and the structure of the questionnaire allow a partial comparison of our findings with results stemming from two previous studies carried out in Rimini, respectively on summer tourists and on residents. Such comparison highlights synergies and trade-offs between off-season tourists, summer tourists, and residents.tourism demand; cultural tourism; business tourism, conditional logit; urban planning; choice experiments

Estimating Tourist Externalities on Residents: A Choice Modeling Approach to the Case of Rimini

During their holidays, tourists produce direct and indirect effects on local residents, which can either be positive or negative. In this paper we investigate how residents of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside resort hosting more than ten million national and foreign overnight stays every year, internalise such effects. We use a stated preference approach and, in particular, a discrete choice modelling technique; within this framework, we are able to test some conjectures about residents’ welfare, by measuring their willingness to pay for alternative scenarios regarding the use of the territory. Tourist policies and public investments in the destination affect residents’ welfare, and our results might suggest areas of potential synergies and trade-off, leading to important policy implications.Tourism, External Effects, Discrete Choice Modelling

Assessing visitor satisfaction with tourism rejuvenation policies: the case of Rimini, Italy.

In this paper we assess the appeal of potential interventions on the tourism offer of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside holiday destination, by means of a choice modelling analysis. Tourism can be viewed as a composite good, its overall utility depending on the arrangement of the component characteristics. Our discrete choice experiments incorporate as attributes a number of possible changes to current tourist activities (the subject of public debate), including them in hypothetical alternative holiday packages. The conditional logit analysis indicates that tourists show lesser preference for interventions aimed at protecting the environmental integrity of the beach and greater preference for those, such as the creation of a pedestrianised seafront with late-night opening of amenities and facilities, that are likely to diminish the role of the traditional sea, sun and sand component of the overall holiday experience.

Demand Distribution Dynamics in Creative Industries: the Market for Books in Italy

We studied the distribution dynamics of the demand for books in Italy. We found that for each of the three broad sub-markets into which the book publishing industry can be classified - Italian novels, foreign novels and non-fiction - sales over a three-year sample can be adequately fitted by a power law distribution. Our results can be plausibly interpreted in terms of a model of interactions among buyers exchanging information on the books they buy.Book publishing industry; Information transmission; Power law distribution

Demand Distribution Dynamics in Creative Industries: the Market for Books in Italy

We study the distribution dynamics of the demand for books in Italy. We find that for each of three broad sub-markets in which the book publishing industry can be classified Italian novels, foreign novels and essays sales over a three-year sample can be adequately fitted by a power law distribution. Our results can be plausibly interpreted in terms of a model of interactions among buyers exchanging information on the books they buy.Book publishing industry; Information transmission; Power law distribution.

Vertical integration, disintegration and ability to export

Recent literature on trade has emphasized the role of firms’ heterogeneities in export performance and trade specialization of countries (Melitz, 2003; Melitz and Ottaviano, 2005). Exporting seems to be a strategy available only to most efficient and productive firms even in a framework with transport costs and no reciprocal dumping. We do not know much about the internal organization of these smarter companies which are exporting part of their production. However, from related theoretical (Helpman, 2006) and empirical (Rossini and Ricciardi, 2005) literature we know that more efficient firms tend to be more vertically integrated than the average population on both a domestic and a crossborder basis. Themain purpose of this paper is to link the two streams of literature on firms heterogeneities and export, on one side, and vertical integration and export, on the other side. Then, we try to answer the question: is the exporting activity going to affect the degree of vertical integration making exporting firms more vertically integrated than non exporting firms? And, if so, why? We investigate these matters at a theoretical tier and through a set of econometric tests on firm level data for 25 EU countries. At the theoretical level we consider a model with two countries each possessing one or two firms: one in case of vertical integration and two in case of vertical disintegration. We compare large and small vertically disintegrated or integrated firms in an environment with transport costs and home bias. Larger firms tend to be more vertically integrated and to engage in export activity. The theoretical conclusions are consistent with the empirical analysis which says that for larger firms exporting activity tends to boost the degree of vertical integration. This provides some link between the two literatures, the first maintaining that only more productive firms export and the second stating that more productive firms are more vertically integrated. The emphasized link dictates that the more enterprises export the more vertically integrated they are. Why? It is mostly a matter of size and R&D commitment which enhances productivity

Meeting Thailand: Tourism, Scientific Research and Development

Every two years, The International Association for Tourism Economics (IATE) organizes a Conference on Tourism Economics. The first IATE conference was held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in 2007, whereas the second one took place on December 2009, 11-13th, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The choice to locate the second IATE conference in Thailand has been very meaningful, given that the recent rapid economic growth that this country experienced between 1985 and 1995 is due to a large extent to its well-known tourist destinations. The decision to locate an international conference on Tourism Economics in Thailand was strategical and significant, in order to incentivate the development of advanced research and collaboration among universities, banks, governments and industries. This Conference was therefore a way to contribute to the development of the country and to increase the productivity of its population and firms

Assessing visitor satisfaction with tourism rejuvenation policies: the case of Rimini, Italy

In this paper we assess the appeal of potential interventions on the tourism offer of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside holiday destination, by means of a choice modelling analysis. Tourism can be viewed as a composite good, its overall utility depending on the arrangement of the component characteristics. Our discrete choice experiments incorporate as attributes a number of possible changes to current tourist activities (the subject of public debate), including them in hypothetical alternative holiday packages. The conditional logit analysis indicates that tourists show lesser preference for interventions aimed at protecting the environmental integrity of the beach and greater preference for those, such as the creation of a pedestrianised seafront with late-night opening of amenities and facilities, that are likely to diminish the role of the traditional sea, sun and sand component of the overall holiday experience