Economic Benefits Of Tourism Research Articles

Is tourism specialisation a trap for economic growth? The case of the Italian regions

ABSTRACT Tourism activity is a pivotal driver of global economic growth in an era of globalisation. Yet, its ecological footprints call for urgent sustainable practices. This paper enriches intricate interconnections between tourism, economic growth, and sustainability. Novel insights bridge gaps in understanding the effects of domestic and international tourism, regional heterogeneities, and spill-over effects, focusing on Italian regions (2004–2019). Based on a new neoclassical model, this study integrates key indicators beyond Gross Domestic Product and physical capital, encompassing sustainability (renewable energy) and human capital within the KLEM (Capital, Labour, Energy, Materials) specification. These frameworks assess multifaceted dynamics and raise questions about whether high tourism specialisation can lead to a trap for economic growth, development and, ultimately, socio-economic inequalities. Significantly, the research uncovers notable regional heterogeneities, and spill-over effects, shedding light on distinct economic trajectories and challenges, triggering the pursuit of resilience strategies. By highlighting intricate tourism-economy-sustainability connections, this study advances sustainable tourism understanding, urging a delicate balance between tourism's economic benefits and ecosystem concerns. It emphasises the need for eco-conscious practices and economic diversification to ensure harmonious development, aligning with the SDG agenda (UN, 2024).

Assessing the tourism economic benefits for coastal households to the sustainability of marine tourism in Pesisir Barat Regency, Lampung Province, Indonesia

Assessing the tourism economic benefits for coastal households to the sustainability of marine tourism in Pesisir Barat Regency, Lampung Province, Indonesia

Ethnic community’s perception of benefit-sharing and participation intentions in national park tourism in China: An asymmetric modeling approach

While tourism brings employment opportunities to ethnic communities surrounding national parks, striking a balance between economic development and environmentalcultural preservation is paramount for ensuring long-term sustainability. In 2021, the first mountain cog rail transit project for poverty alleviation and tourism development started to be built in western China. It will pass through the pilot area of the Giant Panda National Park, bringing development opportunities and challenges for the localTibetan community. Based on a questionnaire survey of 395 Tibetan residents in the park vicinity, this study utilizes asymmetrical approach so as to explore the multifaceted elements shaping benefit-sharing, tourism support and community participation intentions. The findings reveal residents’ heightened emphasis on the economic benefits of tourism over environmental and cultural considerations. This inclination is rooted in the enduring impact of stringent ecological conservation measures over the past 50 years, significantly constraining regional economic development. Notably, young females who did not fully benefit from tourism express a high level of support for tourism, particularly when economic, cultural, and facility benefits align. Paradoxically, higher economic benefits are associated with lower community participation intentions in tourism decision-making, underscoring that only low economic benefits trigger such intentions. Active community participation predominantly manifests among young males, suggesting that residents express participation intentions when their benefit-sharing needs are not adequately met. This study provides valuable insights into the coordinated development of transportation, community benefit-sharing, and the preservation of national parks.

Tourism Impact on the Cultural Heritage of Countries in the Middle East

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to explore the tourism impact on cultural heritage of countries in the Middle East.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings revealed that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to the tourism impact on cultural heritage of countries in the Middle East. Preliminary empirical review revealed that tourism has both positive and negative effects on the region's cultural heritage. While it significantly contributes to the economy and fosters cultural exchange, it also poses challenges such as overcrowding and cultural commodification. The study emphasizes the importance of sustainable tourism practices and responsible heritage management. Cultural ecology, cultural conservation, and dependency theories provided valuable frameworks for understanding this complex relationship. The findings benefit policymakers, site managers, local communities, and the tourism industry by guiding the development of strategies that protect cultural heritage while harnessing tourism's economic potential, contributing to a more balanced approach to tourism development in the Middle East.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Cultural Ecology Theory, Cultural Conservation Theory and the Dependency Theory may be used to anchor future studies on cultural heritage. The study suggested a set of comprehensive recommendations. These recommendations emphasize the importance of heritage conservation and responsible tourism practices. They include the development of robust heritage management plans, enhanced visitor education, and community engagement. Encouraging tourism diversification, sustainable infrastructure development, and capacity building are also essential. Furthermore, the study highlights the significance of ongoing research, marketing strategies that promote cultural richness, and intergovernmental coordination. By implementing these measures, Middle Eastern countries can achieve a harmonious balance between cultural heritage preservation and the economic benefits of tourism, ensuring the long-term sustainability of both.

Effects of Payment for Ecosystem Services and Tourism on Conservation and Development: Trade-Off or Synergistic?

Abstract The effects of various strategies aimed at simultaneously promoting environmental conservation and human development are closely related to sustainable development regionally and globally. However, although the effects of many such strategies have been evaluated by ecologists and sociologists separately, their ability to simultaneously meet these two anticipated goals (i.e., environmental conservation and human development) at the fine spatial scale remains unclear. To answer this fundamental but crucial question, incorporating household and forest change data, we concurrently estimated the ecological and socioeconomic effects of two world-renowned Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs (i.e., the Nature Forest Conservation Program, the Grain to Green Program) and nature-based tourism in 30 protected areas across 8 provinces in China. Here we showed a trade-off between the ecological and economic effects of two PES programs, while synergistic effects exist in the ecological and economic benefits of tourism. Attributes of household and protected areas significantly influenced economic and environmental benefits as well. Our research provides new insights into the complex effects of PES programs and tourism, and crucial information to support their adequate and sustainable implementation in China and the rest of the world. Significance Statement This work answers a fundamental but crucial question, that is, whether the policies commonly advocated to incorporate environmental conservation and human development can yield positive effects both for conservation and economic development. Our evaluation is also timely to inform some shortness (i.e., negligible economic effects, or the lack of expected positive economic benefits) and provides new insights (e.g., the implication of households and protected-areas attributes in conservation and economic outcomes) of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs and the complex effects of instruments in the context of multiple policies, particularly given the upcoming 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development goals (SDGs). We expected that implications in this study can provide important lessons for these two instruments, other PES programs, and other conservation and development instruments to support their adequate and sustainable implementation in China and beyond and to contribute to the achievement of relevant SDGs in the remaining years.

Identification of the Level of Development and the Current State of the Tourism in Slovak Regions

Abstract Every region has its unique natural, cultural, and historical wealth, as well as infrastructure, a range of attractions, and business opportunities that can attract a large number of visitors. Developing the potential of tourism in regions is important for stimulating economic growth, job creation, and improving the quality of life for local residents. Its development in regions involves mapping and analyzing available resources, opportunities, and competitive environments. The purpose of this article is to quantify the level of regional tourism development, assess its potential in Slovak regions, and identify their current disparities. For the purposes of this study, we will evaluate the potential of Slovak tourism regions using commonly used indexes - indicators of tourism intensity. The results of the analyses have demonstrated significant disparities among the individual tourism regions. We see that the development in different tourism regions varies greatly, and in some cases, there are pronounced disparities in terms of their development, visitor interest intensity in each region, and the economic benefits of tourism in the regions. These findings have served as the basis for proposing solutions that address the development issues in regions through the impacts of tourism.

Maximizing ecological environment benefits from the perspective of agricultural water resource transformation

Abstract The economic benefits of tourism are an important indicator for evaluating the tourism economic activities and their impact. In order to maximize the tourism economic benefits, this article studied the economic benefits of tourism from the perspective of agricultural water resource transformation. This paper took the relevant data of Shandong Province from 2010 to 2022 as the object of study and established the evaluation index system of tourism economic benefits of Shandong Province. The coupling relationship between tourism economic benefits and ecological environment (EE) was studied, and the systemic evaluation index system of Shandong tourism economy and EE was constructed. The range method and entropy method were used to calculate indicator weights, thereby constructing a coupled collaborative model between the tourism economy and the EE. Based on the relationship between tourism economic benefits and EE, research has been conducted on the transformation methods of agricultural water resources in EE construction to improve tourism economic benefits. With the continuous improvement of the EE index, the coupling degree between the tourism economic index and the EE index in many cities in Shandong Province has improved, and the tourism economic benefits have greatly improved.

CULTURAL TOURISM AND THE DIGITAL AGE

Culture has an invisible, but great influence on economic growth, intercultural dialogue, creative industries and tourism of an area. The relationship between culture, cultural heritage and tourism, with numerous engagements and activities based on the concept of sustainable cultural heritage, with the economic benefits of tourism, from the aspect of responsible and sustainable business, have been the subject of special types of interest and research for a long time. The connection between culture and tourism can be a powerful economic lever, but only in such a way that benefits for the area and the local community are achieved through responsible management. The aim of this paper is to present the synergy of culture, tourism and innovations of the 4.0 revolution, in the function of forming modern cultural tourist content that are continuous ambassadors of a space. By applying mapping, analyzing case studies and office research, this paper confirms the advantage of applying 4.0 information solutions and activities in culture, in the function of overcoming external factors, for example the COVID 19 pandemic, which can disrupt tourist movements and thus reduce the effectiveness of cultural tourism as ambassador of a space.

The moderating role of digitalisation in the tourism-growth nexus: evidence from small island economies

ABSTRACT An overwhelming amount of studies has investigated tourism as a driver of growth and there is a wide consensus on a positive relationship (tourism-led growth hypothesis). However, recent studies have also pointed out that the tourism-growth nexus may be conditional on certain elements like development level and infrastructure, education and human capital among others. Another factor which is believed to moderate the tourism-growth link is the level of digitalisation of the destination country and this research claims that countries with higher levels of digitalisation could benefit from increased tourism economic benefits. This study analyses the moderating role of such digitalisation in the tourism-growth link. The research uses annual panel data of 28 small island economies from 1990 to 2019 and applies panel autoregressive distributed lag (PARDL) methodology to analyse the long-run and short-run relationship among the variables. Results confirm the Tourism-led growth hypothesis in both the long run and short run, but more importantly point out that this relationship is moderated or is conditional by the level of digitalisation. In fact, the economic benefit of tourism is found to be higher with increased digitalisation level. Panel Granger Causality tests confirm the causal effect of digitalisation on tourism development as well as a bi-directional causality between tourism development and economic growth. The implications are clear that government and tourism businesses should accelerate the digitalisation process and concentrate on the concept of e-tourism to maximise its return.

Study on the impact of carbon emission pollution on urban tourism environment

AbstractThe tourism industry will continue to produce carbon emissions in the process of development, which will ultimately have an impact on the tourism environment. This article aims to study the effect of carbon emission pollution on the urban tourism environment. Taking Hebei Province from 2016 to 2020 as an example, the effect of carbon emission pollution on the local tourism environment was analyzed using the carbon emission model and tourism eco‐efficiency model. The local carbon emission increased in the process of developing the tourism industry; however, carbon emissions per unit in the accommodation, catering and shopping related to the tourism industry generated more tourism economic benefits. The authors suggest to strengthen the development of tourism transportation, increase local tourism promotion, enhance the diversity of tourism specialties, and improve the level of local catering and hotel services.

How Does Globalization Influence the Impact of Tourism on Carbon Emissions and Ecological Footprint? Evidence from African Countries

Tourism and globalization are considered as drivers of economic growth since they boost income, job opportunities, infrastructural development, international trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, and technological diffusion. However, the economic benefits of tourism and globalization could occur at the expense of increased energy consumption (from fossil fuels) and other pollution-intensive activities that worsen environmental degradation, especially in countries with lax institutions and environmental standards. The roles of tourism, globalization, and their interaction term on environmental degradation have not been thoroughly investigated. Hence, this study analyzes the moderating role of globalization on the impact of tourism on environmental degradation (carbon emissions and ecological footprint) in 31 African countries using different dimensions of tourism and globalization. It uncovers the marginal effect of tourism on environmental degradation at different levels of globalization. It utilizes strategies that account for cointegration, dynamism, endogeneity, heterogeneity, cross sectional dependency, and causality. Evidence from this study shows that globalization and its dimensions play favorable moderating roles on the impact of tourism on carbon emissions. The marginal effect of tourism on carbon emissions decreases as globalization increases, suggesting that a simultaneous increase in tourism and globalization can mitigate carbon emissions. However, no evidence to show that globalization can mitigate the environmental impact of tourism on ecological footprint. The findings differ probably because carbon emissions and ecological footprint measure different aspects of environmental degradation. This analysis emphasizes the need for countries to consider the interaction between tourism and globalization in their quest to ensure environmental sustainability. JEL Classification: F64, Q53, Z32

Effects of integrated rural tourism planning on communities’ employment in Makueni County Kenya

One of the important tools for economic development in developing countries is rural tourism. In many developing nations, rural tourism is seen as a strategy for economic development. In Kenya, tourism is primarily practiced in established cities and towns, ignoring regional locations with the potential to develop tourist-related products. The economic benefits of tourism are hampered by a lack of sectoral cooperation and community involvement in rural places like Makueni. Adoption of an integrated rural tourism development plan can help the marginalized rural communities to benefit more from tourism industry. This research sought to ascertain how integrated rural tourist planning in Makueni County affected local employment. The target population of this study, which used a cross-sectional survey approach, was 182, 000 residents, and a sample size of 385 respondents was considered to be representative. While respondents were chosen using stratified random, the study sites were determined using purposeful sampling. Structured questionnaires that were sent to the local populations in the chosen sub-Counties were used to collect primary data. In order to establish the impact of integrated rural tourism on communities' employment, data were analyzed using SPSS software and significant levels were sought at p≤0.05. According to the findings, seasonal employment (p=0.01), contract employment (p=0.01), and permanent employment (p=0.05) were all statistically significant. The findings demonstrate that integrated rural tourist planning positively impacts local communities' ability to create jobs. The study came to the conclusion that community participation in planning for the growth of rural tourism in Makueni County has a significant impact on the generation of jobs for local residents.

Application of Knowledge Map Information Technology in Regional Tourism Innovation and Development

There is a huge gap between China’s tourism development model and the rapidly growing demand for social tourism services, the supply capacity of tourism resources and the demand for tourism development, the development of tourism industry and the requirements of regional socioeconomic development and structural adjustment, tourism development system and mechanism, and the existing tourism development and management model. Using the method of knowledge-based atlas analysis, this paper combs and analyzes the relevant literature on the high-quality development of tourism in China. From 2016 to 2017, the research on tourism economic benefits was relatively stable without large fluctuations, and the average number of documents issued reached 48%. From 2018 to 2019, the research heat remained stable, and the research results increased to a certain extent. At this time, the number of external documents reached the same level, with an average of 52%. After 2020, the upsurge of research on tourism economic benefits has emerged, and the number of documents issued has increased year by year, with an average of 62%. Compared with the curve in the figure, the growth and peak of the number of documents issued have a certain lag. The early research on the economic benefits of tourism at home and abroad mainly focuses on the economic benefits of regions and enterprises. With the coordinated development of tourism, society, ecology, and other related systems, it has become an inevitable requirement. Tourism economic benefit is an important concept to measure the comparative relationship between tourism economic input and output. It is also an important index to reflect the effect and level of tourism economic activities. The early research on the economic benefits of tourism at home and abroad mainly focuses on the economic benefits of regions and enterprises. With the coordinated development of tourism, society, ecology, and other related systems, it has become an inevitable requirement.

Does World Heritage inscription promote regional tourism? Evidence from China

Using the panel data from 2002 to 2018 of 287 prefecture-level cities in China and the propensity score matching–difference-in-differences method, our study sought to reexamine the effect of World Heritage inscription on regional tourism. The results show that World Heritage sites improve regional tourism significantly, further confirmed by a series of robustness tests. However, the arrival and revenue effects of World Heritage inscription on inbound tourism are not significant. Moreover, World Heritage sites generate significant tourism economic benefits for the eastern and western regions in China but not for the central region. Last, a mechanism analysis shows that tourism public services increase the arrival and revenue effects significantly. The conclusions provide important insights for governments and tourism operators regarding the sustainable development of World Heritage sites and regional tourism.

Research on the Impact of Short Videos on Urban Tourism Economy—Taking Douyin as an Example

Under the background of global tourism, the pace of development of tourism is getting faster and faster. In some areas, tourism has become an indispensable element to promote regional economic development. With the continuous maturity of the new media environment, it has created a new way for urban tourism promotion and promoted urban tourism marketing to a certain extent. Douyin short video is the "outstanding" among the new media, with a large base of young users, and has gradually become an important position for urban tourism marketing. If the vibrato short video can be used reasonably and fully integrated with urban tourism marketing, greater tourism economic benefits can be obtained. Based on this, this article analyzes the role of Douyin short video in urban tourism marketing and puts forward relevant suggestions.

Lesotho Tourists’ Perspectives Towards the Delivery of Private Service Providers

Tourism is globally rated among the fastest-growing industries contributing considerably to the global Gross Domestic Product, job creation, investment, and export revenue. Meeting the demands of the tourism clientele is an essential component to yield these desired economic benefits. However, African countries such as Lesotho are missing out on the tourism economic benefits as evidenced by the rankings provided by the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index reports since 2007. This research therefore examines the perspectives of tourists towards the services offered by the private service providers in Lesotho with the aim of identifying weaknesses prohibiting Lesotho to be a competitive tourist destination. Qualitative research approach was adopted to guide this study where in-depth interviews were conducted with both international and domestic tourists. A constant comparative method of data analysis was utilised to analyse the collected primary data. The findings of the study indicated that tourists are dissatisfied with car/taxi hire, accommodation, restaurants, retail shops, and bus transport service quality. The study provided some strategies to improve service offered by the sectors under investigation.

Evaluation of the Virtual Economic Effect of Tourism Product Emotional Marketing Based on Virtual Reality.

Rapid development of Internet technology has led to great changes in all fields of life. Tourism industry has also gone to the Internet with the change of the times. Regarding the application of Internet technology in tourism, in fact, virtual tourism products are directly used to promote economic development. Online tourism stores have all kinds of tourism information in the database, realize network roaming, provide convenient information services for both the supply and demand of tourism, and can realize the rapid and stable sustainable development of tourism. This article mainly studies the evaluation of the virtual economic effect of emotional marketing of tourism products based on virtual reality (VR), the meaning algorithm of VR, etc., analyzes the virtual economy of tourism products based on VR, and helps tourism enterprises to grasp the needs of tourism consumers more accurately, so as to design products and services that are more in line with the demands of tourism consumers, the process of ultimately improving the user value. This study mainly uses the VR method, VR platform eye map processing, VR eye map regional detection and feature extraction method, and VR tourism product emotional marketing related experiments, to study the evaluation of the virtual economic effect of tourism product emotional marketing based on VR. The economic performance information of the virtual tourism industry is equivalent to the amount of these indicators, and the impact of the comprehensive evaluation on the economic performance of virtual tourism is quite equal. The results show that from 2017 to 2020, the virtual economic revenue of VR tourism product emotional marketing increased from 50 million to 1 billion. However, people give more importance to the tourism experience brought by virtual tourism products, and the reasonable consumption structure of virtual tourism hinders the improvement of tourism economic benefits. To promote the rationalization of the consumption structure of virtual tourism, the basic industry of tourism consumption is developed and the necessary design and processing is increased, in order to increase the supply of tourism products and to enrich tourism consumption.

Space-time evolution of the ecological security of regional urban tourism: the case of Hubei Province, China.

While increased tourist demand has brought economic benefits to tourist destinations, it has also put tremendous pressure on tourism-related ecological environments. Therefore, the relationship between regional urban tourism’s economic benefits and tourism ecologies must be considered by increasing the ecological security levels of regional urban tourism and promoting sustainable tourism development. This paper defines the ecological security of regional urban tourism, constructs an indicator system of said ecological security based on a pressure-state-response social-economic-environment (PSR-SEE) model, uses the entropy method to objectively assign weights to the indicator system, constructs a dynamic multi-scenario simulation model to assess ecological security under continuous, economic priority and various ecological protection scenarios, employs ArcGIS software to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of the ecological security of regional urban tourism, and uses a standard deviation ellipse method to analyze the space–time evolutionary track of the ecological security of regional urban tourism. The index system is applied to 16 cities in Hubei Province to measure the ecological security levels and test the viability of the system. The present research focuses on the space–time evolution of the ecological security of regional urban tourism, addresses the contradictions between socioeconomic development and the ecological security of regional urban tourism, provides an important reference for tourism destination planning, and can assist in improving the levels of the ecological security of regional urban tourism to promote sustainable tourism development.

Coastal Scenic Beauty and Sensitivity at the Balearic Islands, Spain: Implication of Natural and Human Factors

Coastal areas globally are facing a significant range of environmental stresses, enhanced by climate change-related processes and a continuous increase of human activities. The economic benefits of tourism are well-known for coastal regions, but, very often, conflicts arise between short-term benefits and long-term conservation goals. Among beach user preferences, five parameters of greater importance stand out from the rest, i.e., safety, facilities, water quality, litter and scenery; the latter is the main concern of this study. A coastal scenic evaluation was carried out in the Balearic Islands and focused on two major issues: coastal scenic beauty together with sensitivity to natural processes and human pressure. The archipelago is renowned as a top international coastal tourist destination that receives more than 13.5 million visitors (2019). Impressive landscape diversity makes the Balearics Islands an ideal field for this research. In total, 52 sites, respectively located in Ibiza (11), Formentera (5), Mallorca (18) and Menorca (18), were field-tested. In a first step, coastal scenic beauty was quantified using the coastal scenic evaluation system (CSES) method, based on the evaluation of 26 physical and human parameters, and using weighting matrices parameters and fuzzy logic mathematics. An evaluation index (“D”) was obtained for each site, allowing one to classify them in one of the five scenic classes established by the method. Twenty-nine sites were included in class I, corresponding to extremely attractive sites (CSES), which were mainly observed in Menorca. Several sound measures were proposed to maintain and/or enhance sites’ scenic value. In a second step, scenic sensitivity was evaluated using a novel methodological approach that makes possible the assessment of three different coastal scenic sensitivity indexes (CSSI), i.e., the natural sensitivity index NSI, the human sensitivity index HSI and the total sensitivity index TSI. Future climate change trends and projection of tourism development, studied at municipality scale, were considered as correction factors. All the islands showed places highly sensitive to environmental processes, while sensitivity to human pressure was essentially observed at Ibiza and Mallorca. Thereafter, sites were categorized into one of three sensitive groups established by the methodology. Results obtained are useful in pointing out very sensitive sceneries as well as limiting, preventing and/or anticipating future scenic degradation linked to natural and human issues.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ON SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN TOURISM OF GEORGIA

Tourism has a range of impacts on mountain ecosystems, communities and economies. Many of these impacts are negative, but tourism may also generate positive impacts. They can become supportive force for maintaining peace, fostering pride and cultural traditions, creating local jobs, increasing visitor awareness of natural, cultural and historical values and assets. Local communities and businesses support the long-termsustainability of a tourism destination. A decrease in cultural diversity or authenticity and loss of local customs and traditions may bring the destination to the loss of the attractiveness to visitors seeking a unique cultural experience and attractiveness. In one of the mountain regions of Georgia – Svaneti - the economic benefits of tourism are channeled into the local economy of the region i.e. local community benefit from tourism activities and local businesses (accommodation, transport, food and beverages outlets, souvenirs and crafts etc.) contribute to the authentic nature of the particular mountain destination. Cross-cultural awareness, communication between visitors and local people raises the quality of visitor experience and the level of community understanding in support of tourism.