Orderliness in Tourism Enterprise Dynamics in United States Micropolitan Statistical Areas

Daan Toerien

doi:10.3390/su13116180

Abstract

Micropolitan statistical areas (micropolitans) are important elements in understanding the small-town economic forces operating in the United States. This study focuses on the tourism enterprise dynamics of micropolitans. These dynamics are an oft-neglected element in tourism analyses and reports. Power law (log-log) regression analyses are central to the examination of complex socio-economic systems, and have been used here. Micropolitan tourism enterprises are ubiquitous and there is much non-linear orderliness in the interplay between their demographic and entrepreneurial characteristics. The dynamics of the orderliness result in important differences. For instance, total micropolitan employment increases sub-linearly (more slowly) than increases in tourism enterprise numbers, while tourism employment increases super-linearly (more rapidly). This difference could be important in considerations of micropolitan employment. The relationship of tourism and poverty has often been debated. Here, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed between the number of tourism enterprises and a measure of community prosperity/wealth of the micropolitans. Expansion of the tourism sector apparently reduces community poverty in micropolitans. However, community poverty is also lower in larger micropolitans. Therefore, further analyses are needed to examine the potentially spurious correlation. Overall, future decision-making could be supported by the quantified information about the tourism dynamics of micropolitans.

Highlights

Small towns in rural settings are a central component of the understanding of the economic forces at work across the United States [1]
A micropolitan statistical area is a core-based geographic area of one or more counties with one city containing at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 in population [2]
A majority of the top 20 most dynamic micropolitans were driven by some combination of tourism, recreation and the attraction of lifestyle amenities [1]

Summary

Introduction

Small towns in rural settings are a central component of the understanding of the economic forces at work across the United States [1]. A micropolitan statistical area (the term micropolitan is used here to refer to these settlements) is a core-based geographic area of one or more counties with one city containing at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 in population [2]. Micropolitans provide a lens on small-town America [3]. In September 2018 there were 542 micropolitans encompassing 660 counties. A majority of the top 20 most dynamic micropolitans were driven by some combination of tourism, recreation and the attraction of lifestyle amenities [1]. Whether this is generally true for all micropolitans is at the heart of this contribution

Methods

Results

Conclusion