Tourism Council Research Articles

Performance of the Global Lodging Industry: 2007

ABSTRACT According to World Travel and Tourism Council estimates, travel and tourism should account for approximately 10.4 percent of global gross domestic product and create nearly 231 million jobs worldwide during 2007. This paper presents an analysis of the performance of the global lodging industry during the year 2007. As such, important lodging industry trends worldwide, including those in North America, mainland Europe, United Kingdom the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions, are better understood.

Tourism Destination Competitiveness: From Definition to Explanation?

This article contributes to the recent literature on tourism destination competitiveness including the gargantuan compilations of competitiveness factors by Ritchie and Crouch (2003), or Dwyer and Kim (2003), and, particularly, the widely known prototype of a Competitiveness Monitor (CM) initiated by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The central question underlying this article is whether an arrangement of data such as the CM can be transformed from a purely definitional system into an explanatory model. A number of criticisms regarding the way of constructing the CM, its epistemological nature, and the absence of any accessibility factors lead to a moderately revised system that is explored by latent variable modeling. The empirical findings support this type of model, which tends to better explain the levels of tourism activity already achieved than sustained tourism growth. A discussion of the detailed results produces several recommendations on how to adjust the future strategy of research on destination competitiveness.

Stakeholder Involvement, Culture, and Accountability in the Blackstone Valley of New England, USA: A Work in Progress

Following its historical rise and fall, America's first industrialized polluted landscape garnered federal and local support to remedy its near destruction. Today, the Blackstone Valley is a pragmatic example of translating theory into practice. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, since its inception in 1985, has applied leadership, innovation, and commitment to its mission and innovative sustainable tourism place-making principles in its work. This dedication to its destination, aligned with principles from the World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environmental Programme & World Tourism Organization, and the Geotourism principles of the National Geographic Society, Center for Sustainable Destinations, has led the way for the Blackstone Valley to become a sustainable tourism destination. The Tourism Council has worked to preserve and enhance the Valley's environment, respect the sociocultural authenticity of the communities, and provide economic growth to all stakeholders. Social responsibility from all sectors of the community has led the Valley to find its direction, follow its vision, and share it with others along the way. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council continues to fulfill the vision of sustainable tourism through the Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development Laboratory. The Laboratory's purpose is to share the Tourism Council's experience in developing planned sustainable tourism with local, regional, state, provincial, and worldwide tourism leaders, and community stakeholders seeking to develop viable and successful destinations.

Necessity of Innovating Management Concept of Health Tourism Product Development in Montenegro

Health tourism product is one of the most competitive segments of the Montenegro’s total tourist product on the global tourist market. The stated fact is proved by the economic effects generated by health-related tourism organizations since 1949 and tendency to innovate and turn the offer of the majority hotel organizations into hotel products of wellness tourism. However, business outcomes achieved in the period of transition were and are still weaker than expected despite the fact that World Travel and Tourism Council has ranked Montenegro as the top destination up to 2015. In addition to falling apart of ex-Yugoslav federation, significant cause of such a situation is lack of strategic concept in development management, not only on the level of tourist politics providers but also on the level of management of the health-related tourism organization in Montenegro.

Value as a Measure of Tourism Performance in the Era of Globalization: Conceptual Considerations and Empirical Findings

In general, both the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) consider the trends of tourist arrivals and receipts as indicators in comparing the performance of destinations and regions. These considerations are based on the annual average percentage change in arrivals and receipts and a comparison that is made across time. This methodology is incomplete, however, particularly in light of the new exigencies of globalization. The study proposes an alternative approach based on the concept of value. Value is founded on the premises of microeconomics, and it provides more reliable and effective information to improve the quality of both policy formulation and business decisions. Using partial correlation analysis, the study introduced a time trend variable as a proxy of value. The study developed a panel of observations from 1986 to 2001 for 32 countries worldwide. In terms of performance, the results of the alternative approach differ dramatically from those obtained in conventional methodology.

The 1990 Solomon Islands tourism plan: a critical discourse analysis

The 1991–2001 Solomon island Tourist Development Plan was prepared by the Tourism Council of the South Pacific (TCSP), an inter-governmental organization responsible for developing and promoting tourism in the South Pacific region and funded by the Economic Union. In many ways it is a model of the master planning approach used by governments, aid agencies and consultants. The paper presents a narrative underpinned by critical discourse analysis to unpick the plan and present an alternative reading of the content. This thick description (Geertz, 1973), along with the benefit of hindsight, reveals that in some ways the plan was flawed in both its approach (which was deterministic and narrowly visioned) and its recommendations (that did little to take account of the complexities of the modalities between clans, landowners and central government).

Conta Satélite de Turismo no Brasil: método de avaliação do impacto econômico do turismo

The concepts and the methods adopted in the elaboration of the Tourism Satellite Accounts - TSA in Brazil was development according to the proposed by WTC - World Tourism Council. The article is development in 7 (seven) sections, described as: problem approach; evolution of the evaluation instruments of tourism; basic concepts in the TSA; methods in the elaboration of TSA; sources and restrictions of data information; main reached results; and Conclusions. It supp1ies preliminary eva1uation aboutthe impact of tourism in the economy, particu1arly on its contribution in theGross Domestic Product on the country and on the emp10yment market.

The Natural State

ABSTRACT Australian nature-based tourism and ecotourism have become popular forms of recreational activity. Tasmania attracts twice the Australian national average number of nature-based tourists and ecotourists (thirty per cent). The growth of this tourism sector has prompted measures to ensure that experiences are of high quality, and that environmental impacts are adequately managed. ISO 14000 is an environmental management and certification system often utilised as an environmental management system standard within various industries, but has not been widely applied to the Australian tourism industry. The Nature and Ecotourism Accreditation Program (NEAP) represents the most significant accreditation measure within Australia at present. This paper assesses the relevance of NEAP in the Tasmanian nature-based tourism and ecotourism industry through in-depth interviews with a key informant group and a comparative analysis of interview data. The paper introduces nature-based tourism and ecotourism definitions and discusses the growing relevance of ecotourism accreditation. The paper argues that NEAP is relevant to the Tasmanian nature-based tourism and ecotourism industry, where the quality of the natural environment forms the central focus for such experiences. Furthermore, the paper argues that NEAP can assist in supporting the State's nature-based tourism and ecotourism industry through means such as branding and promotion. However, problems exist in relation to financial issues between NEAP and operators, and the perceived overlap of NEAP with the widely implemented Tourism Council Tasmania Accreditation Program. Thus, financial issues need to be addressed by the Ecotourism Association of Australia in association with Australian Commonwealth Government subsidisation. The degree of overlap between the two programs can be effectively addressed through industry cooperation. The paper also suggests that stronger branding and promotion of NEAP can be achieved through increased industry involvement by Tourism Tasmania.

In briefs November

Ecotourism is widely touted as the one example of an approach that most easily provides for sustainable economic development and the protection of biodiversity. The reality is often otherwise because the money rarely stays in the local community and the environmental impacts of tourism can be extremely damaging. To make the reality of ecotoursim complement conservation goals better, >100 organizations in Brazil are forming a Sustainable Tourism Council (http://www.ecoamericas.com/english/story.asp?storyid=390).

Building Cellar Door Business through Accreditation — Victoria's Perspective

Ensuring an excellent visitor experience and meeting customer expectations is a key goal for most tourism businesses and of primary concern to government industry organisations. The Better Business Tourism Accreditation Program, underpinning a broad tourism accreditation initiative, has been implemented in Victoria across a range of tourism sectors. The program provides business management and operational guidelines for tourism businesses. Winery tourism, the process of visiting a Winery and the associated cellar door experience, is now acknowledged as an important part of regional tourism in Victoria. To assist in establishing benchmarks for cellar door operations the Victorian Wineries Tourism Council, in consultation with the industry, has developed Cellar Door sector guidelines. The program assists winery operators to identify and document cellar door operational procedures that contribute to the visitor experience. This article discusses the development of the Better Business Tourism Accreditation Program and Cellar Door sector guidelines, and feedback gained from a series of industry workshops. These workshops addressed concerns raised by participants and provided them with support in completing the accreditation program. A self‐complete questionnaire was administered at the workshops that sought to identify participant views on cellar door activity, the importance of tourism and accreditation. The results suggest that accreditation can provide a useful means of identifying and implementing business and operational practices that will improve the cellar door experience for visitors.

Standardization of tourism education and training to address the increasing demand for tourism staff in the East Asia/pacific region

Major travel and tourism organizations, including the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), agree that tourism will continue to grow significantly throughout the next two decades, with the most prolific inbound and outbound growth occurring in that part of the world (Northeast and Southeast Asia) from which most East Asian Tourism Forum (EATOF) members are drawn. This paper argues that the limiting factor to successful growth is the availability of sufficient skilled staff, with appropriate technical and interpersonal skills, to enable tourism expansion to proceed without loss of service standards. Properly devised and adequately resourced education and training programmes are essential to provide such skilled staff. This paper will elaborate on some of the tourism growth statistics and related increases in staffing needs, and raise the idea of creating regional standards of education and training. Such regional standards could be used fundamentally to help destinations to ensure the quality of tourism staff. In addition, such regional schemes could be used for marketing purposes, to assure international visitors and travel organizers of the high standards available in those destinations.

WTO's Preliminary Data for 1999 and Revised Forecasts to 2020 by Region: South Asia by Country

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) reported revised data for 1998 totalling 637 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, 3.0% above 1997. Its preliminary estimates for 1999 indicate an increase of 4% to 663 million tourist arrivals worldwide. Receipts reported from international tourism totalled US$440 billion (milliard) in 1998, with preliminary estimates for 1999 indicating an increase of about 3% on 1998 (in current US$) to US$453 billion worldwide (including receipts from day-visitors, excluding international fares). WTO's revised forecasts for 2010 and 2020 are also presented for the six WTO regions, as are the global estimates of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Tourist arrivals, receipts, travel and tourism expenditures abroad and hotel capacity are presented for the nine countries of the South Asia region.

A conceptual analysis of tourism-supported employment which reduces the incidence of exaggerated, misleading statistics about jobs

People in many countries are encouraged to regard tourism as a very large industry with huge opportunities for jobs and careers. They have been misled to some extent. The mass media, feeding on flawed information distributed by tourism boosters, have created exaggerated images of job numbers. In Australia a mythical image has spread of tourism as a “million-jobs industry” where 694,000 persons are directly employed while another 334,000 jobs are fully supported indirectly by multiplier effects. Certainly many are employed but the number of real jobs in tourism industries is below the widely quoted statistics. In Australia it is probably around 200,000. Misinformation about jobs on the global scale, issued by the World Travel and Tourism Council, can be deflated too. This article explains how and why the exaggeration has occurred. It identifies problems created as a result: among the general public, in government, education and industry. Misinformation leads to inefficient use of resources and other problems. This article concludes in a positive way, by contributing a new conceptual model for analysing tourism-related employment, one that will present realistic information.

Europe

Europe continues to lead the world in international tourism. The World Tourism Organization reported 381 million tourist arrivals in 1998 (excluding day-visitors) in its European region, 2.5% above 1997, with receipts from international tourism totalling US$229 billion, 3.8% above 1997 (in current US$ and excluding International Fares, including receipts from day-visitors). Tourist arrivals and receipts are presented for the 45 countries and territories (by sub-regions), with revised 1998 totals for the other five WTO regions. The Word Travel and Tourism Council's estimates of the economic impact of the Travel and Tourism Economy in Europe and worldwide and projected growth to 2010 are also presented.

Is Sustainable Tourism Really Sustainable?

Is Sustainable Tourism Really Sustainable?

Europe

Europe leads the world in international tourism. In 1996 the World Tourism Organization reported 351 million tourist arrivals (excluding day-visitors) in this Region, 4.6% above 1995, with Receipts from international tourism totalling US$217 billion, also 4.6% above 1995 (in current US$ and excluding International Fares, including receipts from day-visitors). Tourist Arrivals are presented for the 47 countries (by Sub-Regions) and Receipts and Expenditures for the Top Ten European earners, with the World Travel and Tourism Council's estimates of the economic impact of travel and tourism and employment in this ‘industry’.

National Satellite Accounting for Travel and Tourism: A Cold Review of the WTTC/WEFA Group Research

On 10 October 1995, Dr Michael J. Boskin presented the results of his cold review of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and WEFA Group (formerly known as Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates) research. An edited version of his presentation is reproduced below. The article includes a list of recommendations and an edited summary of the question and answer session that followed Dr Boskin's presentation. The World Travel & Tourism Council is based at 181 Chausée de la Hulpe, 1170 Brussels, Belgium. The editor welcomes further contributions to the debate on travel and tourism satellite accounts.

Integrated tourism in Pacific island countries

A five-day workshop was held in Port Vila, Vanuatu in June 1995, the third of a series on key issues for Pacific island tourism staged by ESCAP. Held in conjunction with the Tourism Council of the South Pacific and financed by the Government of Japan, the workshop was aimed at strengthening the capacity of Pacific island countries to prepare and implement integrated tourism planning. Brian King reports on the issues that arose.

Travel and Tourism: Progress and Priorities 1995. World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), P.O. Box 6237, New York, NY 10128. 1995. 28p

Travel and Tourism: Progress and Priorities 1995. World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), P.O. Box 6237, New York, NY 10128. 1995. 28p

United States Travel and Tourism: A New Economic Perspective. World Travel and Tourism Council, P.O. Box 6237, New York, NY 10128. March 1995. 16p

United States Travel and Tourism: A New Economic Perspective. World Travel and Tourism Council, P.O. Box 6237, New York, NY 10128. March 1995. 16p