Tourism Analysis

A Handbook

Stephen L J Smith, Stephen Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317890898
• Subtopic: Human Geography
• Index: Business

Provides practical advice on the use of quantitative techniques used in tourism. Thoroughly revised and updated, the new edition includes new guidelines for domestic and international statistics produced by the World Tourism Organization. The book provides practical tools for both market planning as well as for product assessment, especially regional and environmental planning.

Chapter 1
An overview of tourism research

Introduction

Tourism is a major force in global trade. It plays a vital role in the social, cultural and economic development of most nations, and has the potential both to preserve heritage and to destroy it. Despite the importance of the industry, reliable, verifiable and objective information can be frustratingly difficult to obtain.

Consider a simple question: how big is the global tourism industry? Is it, as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) asserts, the world’s largest industry? WTTC (1993), in co-operation with the Wharton Economic Forecasting Association (WEFA) Group, estimated that: (1) tourism provided direct and indirect employment for more than 200 million people (one in every nine workers globally); (2) the number of tourism-related jobs would rise to 350 million by 2005; (3) tourism generates 10.3 per cent of global wages (US$1.7 trillion); (4) tourism is responsible for 10.1 per cent of direct and indirect world GDP (US$3.4 trillion); and (5) tourism accounts for 11.0 per cent of all consumer spending.

These estimates have been questioned by a group of Canadian and American researchers on several grounds. For example, WTTC/WEFA’s estimates include capital expenditures, such as investment in highway construction, as part of tourism’s economic impact. It is unclear how one can reliably estimate what portion of such investments can be attributed to tourism. WTTC/WEFA’s estimates of tourism’s share of the GDP in most countries are based on matrices derived from a small number of highly developed countries. The Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand estimates are based on input-output matrices for the US economy, while estimates for the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Japan and France are based on a German matrix. WTTC/WEFA were also constrained by whatever definition their secondary data sources adopted. These definitions were not always consistent, as noted in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Varying trip definitions in secondary data sources used by WTTC

Data source	Definition of trip	Page^a
US Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Consumer Expenditures	75 miles or more	7
US Statistical Abstract	100 miles or more	18
US National Restaurant Association	‘non-local trips’	18
US Department of Transportation Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey	‘social and recreational trips’	22
Photo Marketing Association International Consumer Survey	‘trips to selected events’	25

^a Page in Measuring the Size of the Global Travel and Tourism Industry, by the WEFA Group, World Travel and Tourism Council (1993), on which the source is described.

The point here is not the actual magnitude of global tourism or the accuracy of the WTTC/WEFA estimates. Rather, it is that the industry lacks consistent, credible, and coherent data for many important decisions. The need for better data extends from the classroom to the boardroom, from local ‘mom-and-pop’ businesses to the United Nations. Entrepreneurs, business leaders, policy analysts, planners, elected officials, and voters need better information if they are to manage the forces that affect tourism and, in turn, affect them.

Tourism is, in the minds of many in the industry, merely a matter of marketing – in the sense of advertising and public relations. While marketing is undeniably important, the industry requires much more. Management, planning, development, and policy issues transcend the concerns of marketers. The future success of the industry requires better information and tools to assist with product development, regional planning, impact assessment and control, industry evaluation, and resource allocation as well as marketing. But the development of better information and tools requires, first, that we appreciate the various research perspectives, issues, challenges and strategies facing the industry. This introductory chapter explores these matters.

Let us begin with the following example. A couple about to be married is planning their honeymoon. A tourism researcher, depending on his or her perspective, may be inspired to ask one or more of the following questions. What type of product is the couple looking for? For how long will they go? Will they travel domestically or internationally? How do they collect information about their alternatives? Are they more influenced by advertisements, travel agents, or family and friends? How do they make the final decision? How will they book their trip? How will they travel to the destination? What activities do they wish to engage in? What levels of service are they expecting? How much will they spend? Is it possible to convince them to extend their honeymoon over a longer period of time? If the travel component of the trip is enjoyable, are they likely to return to the same destination in future years? Why are some destinations more popular with honeymooners than others? Is the honeymoon market, generally, worth pursuing by a particular destination?

These are just a few of many questions that can be explored about a single type of travel. The diversity of questions that can be asked about a phenomenon as familiar as a honeymoon hints at the diversity of perspectives possible on tourism research. These perspectives include tourism as a: (1) human experience, (2) social behaviour, (3) geographic phenomenon, (4) resource, (5) business, (6) industry, and (7) intellectual debate.

Perspectives of tourism research

Tourism as a human experience

Tourism is an activity that individuals enjoy. To understand much of the tourism phenomenon, we thus must understand individual behaviour – the psychology of tourists and potential tourists. The development and testing of models that help explain the antecedents and consequences of human behaviour are an important research priority in tourism. Such information can be of particular value in designing new tourism products and marketing initiatives to promote these products. Knowledge of how individuals make decisions about alternative products, what sources of information they require at various stages of their decision-making, how they evaluate that information, and how they structure and interpret their experiences can offer important benefits to businesses as well as to our general understanding of the tourism experience.

When human beings travel, they use objects as part of their experience. Artefacts such as cameras, tour books, and casual clothing are part of the tourist stereotype. The role of these artefacts as mediators or filters between the tourist and the landscape or society being visited is poorly understood.

Travellers are motivated by a wide range of desires. Our hypothetical honeymoon couple seeks a destination that offers romance and escape. These are qualities that will be readily recognized when the couple is enjoying them, but they can be difficult for a resort operator to define operationally Is ‘romance’ a secluded bungalow on a tropical beach with swaying palm trees or a luxurious ski lodge with a crackling fireplace in private rooms? Is a hotel’s potential for ‘romance’ best advertised through images of a couple enjoying each other’s company, or through images of intimate decor and discrete service? The conditions that create a feeling of ‘romance’ – or of any other desired experience – are obviously of relevance to tourism operators who benefit from the artful creation of an environment that promotes the desired experience. Studying how environments are created and manipulated by operators is also of interest to scholars who seek a better theoretical understanding of human motivations and perceptions. The perspectives of psychology and social psychology have much to offer to tourism research. Tourism, in turn, offers these social sciences an opportunity to examine a form of behaviour that involves issues not often found in other realms of human activity.

Tourism as a social behaviour

While tourism is an individual experience, it is usually shared with other people. A honeymoon involves a couple travelling together; some honeymooners, such as many Japanese newly-weds, prefer also to tour with a group. Whether travelling alone, with one other person, or with a large group, tourists come into contact with other people and social institutions. Many of the decisions related to a tourism experience are influenced by both the individual’s psychology as well as his socialization experiences and self-perceived social role.

When a tourist comes into a new area, he or she meets local residents and other travellers. These meetings range from the briefest and most casual anonymous encounters to intense interpersonal interaction. Friendships may be formed or conflicts may occur. Tourists can unintentionally contribute to the deterioration of the social fabric if they come in large numbers, inject unprecedented wealth into an economy, or display forms of public behaviours radically different from local norms.

Tourists may be the victims of crime or may commit socially unacceptable acts themselves. Knowledge of the social interaction of tourists with each other and with residents and local institutions can contribute to ameliorating potential conflicts. This knowledge may also lead to better understanding of general social behaviour and of the structure and functioning of different societies.

Tourism also implies economic decisions. Individuals and families assess their desire for a vacation against their financial resources. Our honeymoon couple balances the allocation of their finances among various wedding expenditures, the honeymoon, and start-up costs of their new household. A city council weighs the merits of funding a new local facility that will draw tourists against other uses for public funds. A tourism operator considers the potential risks and profits from expanding his business.

As these questions suggest, the study of economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses. The actual allocations involve personal values, business goals, industrial strategies, or politics – but in all cases the allocations have social implications. The average allocation of personal resources for honeymoons tells us something of the social values of honeymoons in a culture. A city council’s decision about the level of support for tourism development can indicate how that community views economic development. The entrepreneur’s decision about expansion of his business reflects his perceptions of social trends that influence the demand for his product.

Tourism as a geographic phenomenon

Travel from an origin to a destination is an inherent characteristic of tourism. Our honeymoon couple are likely to want to get far away from their usual environment in order to enjoy their time together and to make special memories. Other tourists travel to see new places, experience new cultures, or just to enjoy the journey. Regardless of the actual motivation, tourism is geography in action.

The industry is often organized according to geographical divisions such as counties or provinces. These organizations range from local visitor and convention bureaux to multinational groupings such as the World Tourism Organization’s classification of world regions.

Tourism destinations often rely on conveying a sense of place in their advertising. Images of sunny beaches, the attractions of local cultural groups, the dynamism of an urban skyline, and the solitude of a mountain range are all geographic concepts used to promote destinations. Geographic research contributes to tourism knowledge in several other ways. It delineates tourism regions for the effective structuring of an industry association. It provides the basis for forecasting visitor volumes and expenditures. The analysis of the morphology of tourism destinations assists in planning and impact studies. Geography is fundamental to the selection of a development site for any tourism business. It may help explain why our honeymoon couple may choose destinations like Hawaii or the Poconos (USA) that are popular honeymoon destinations, while other locales are normally ignored as honeymoon venues. More generally, the geographic perspective reminds other social scientists studying tourism that space and the traveller’s response to space are a distinctive aspect of tourism research.

Tourism as a resource

Communities seek to develop a local tourism industry to diversify their economic base. Some will attempt to attract our honeymoon couple, because honeymooners tend to spend more than many other segments and offer potential for significant repeat business. Regardless of the market segment involved, tourism can be an important source of export income and an efficient creator of new jobs with fewer negative environmental impacts than from many other industries.

Tourism can also be a positive force for the preservation of local architecture, heritage and environmental resources. Income from tourists helps finance the maintenance and renovation of English cathedrals and pays for game wardens to protect wildlife from poachers in Kenya. Many small towns would be virtual ghost towns if it were not for the jobs that tourists support.

A town’s success in drawing tourists to enjoy local attractions can, ironically, carry the seed of its destruction. The daily arrival of tens of thousands of visitors in communities whose permanent population may be only a few thousand can overwhelm the qualities that originally drew tourists. The perspective of tourism as a community resource is one that requires a realistic assessment of both the benefits that tourism may produce and the costs it may impose. Planning and management strategies that combine business interests, environmental concerns, and social awareness can often optimize the returns from tourism to communities.

Tourism offers nations more than economic benefits. The Japanese Government has explicitly recognized the potential for international tourism into Japan to improve the understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture by foreigners. In fact, this ‘educational’ or public relations benefit is seen as outweighing the economic benefits of inbound tourism for Japan.

Tourism as a business

Tourism is a source of income to hundreds of millions of individuals world-wide. Workers and employers alike can benefit from research that: (1) improves the efficiency of business structures and administrative arrangements; (2) improves the strategies for coping with the risk and uncertainty inherent in the industry; (3) offers a firmer basis for profitable marketing; (4) offers improvements in the terms and conditions of employment; and (5) promotes pride, professional development and rewarding careers in the industry.

Consumer expectations and, in many nations, rights are changing rapidly. Travellers, including our hypothetical honeymooners, are becoming...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• CHAPTER 1 An overview of tourism research
• CHAPTER 2 Defining and describing tourism
• CHAPTER 3 Collecting data on tourism
• CHAPTER 4 Understanding the tourist
• CHAPTER 5 Segmenting the tourism market
• CHAPTER 6 Forecasting tourism demand and market trends
• CHAPTER 7 Selecting a site for business development
• CHAPTER 8 Defining the geographic structure of the industry
• CHAPTER 9 Describing tourism regions
• CHAPTER 10 Shadow prices and non-market valuation
• CHAPTER 11 Impact and evaluation methods
• Appendix
• References
• Name index
• Subject index