Professor Neelu Seetaram

This insightful book explores the most important established and emerging qualitative and quantitative research methods in tourism. The authors provide a detailed overview of the nature of the research method, its use in tourism, the advantages and limitations, and future directions for research. © Larry Dwyer, Alison Gill and Neelu Seetaram 2012. All rights reserved.

Herding is a social phenomenon where individuals act collectively as part of a group and make decisions based on the behaviour and choices of others. In this study, we conceptualise herding behaviour on social media via a two-step flow communication model and measured through Google and YouTube search volume. The estimated herding behaviour is used to develop a novel index to measure the online consumption of Korean cultural products. Monthly data between 2013 and 2019 were used to analyse tourist arrivals from 10 countries. Findings confirm that Korean wave, captured by the index, is statistically significant in predicting tourist arrivals. The study provides a generalised proxy of cultural consumption, applicable to other destinations.

Few studies have investigated the effects of taxation on micro-level tourism demand or the composition of tourists’ budgets during a trip. This study examines the intersection of these two areas, and models the influence of the air passenger duty (APD) on the budget allocations of outbound UK tourists. The compositional data analysis (CODA) approach is used to transform trip budget shares into three log-ratios based on staged binary sequential partitions. The seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique is then used to analyze the effects of the APD, personal traits and trip characteristics on the log-ratios. The results demonstrate that the APD modifies the budget allocations of UK outbound tourists by increasing the relative share of transportation expenditure, while correspondingly decreasing the at-destination expenditures on items such as accommodation and food. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

The aim of this article is to propose a novel method for measuring the effect of cultural preference on bilateral tourism receipts. The method applied is inspired from Disdier et al. (2010). Using the UNESCO classification and data on bilateral trade in cultural product, a proxy for cultural preferences is constructed. The variable is used in a gravity model for tourism export, which is estimated using a two-step procedure to avoid issues related to endogeneity. The data set used is a panel of 12 OECD countries for a period of 11 years. The variable for cultural preferences eliminates the problems with traditional methods, which by using dummy variables to account for cultural preferences, assume that the latter are time-invariant and symmetrical. The cultural variable constructed is found to be significant in explaining bilateral tourism exports with an elasticity of 0.39. © The Author(s) 2018.

Compared to other OECD countries Australia depends heavily on immigration as a source of population growth. This can have implications for its tourism industry. This paper investigates whether immigration leads to an increase in inbound tourism to Australia. Tourism arrivals were regressed against, GDP per capita, real exchange rate, population of the origin country, and the number of Australian resident bom overseas, which was used as a proxy for immigration. A panel of dataset from 1992 to 2006 for nine of the main markets of Australia, namely New Zealand, UK, USA, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea was used. A log linear model was specified and estimated. The results strongly support the hypothesis that immigration is a major determinant of total inbound arrivals to Australia.

Migration induces inbound and outbound tourism flows for a country heavily reliant on migration, such as Australia. Previous research has provided estimates for Australia of the effects of changes in migration on the volume of inbound and outbound tourism. When supplemented with information about tourist spending, estimates can be made of any expenditure changes associated with migrationinduced tourism. Such migration-induced tourism expenditures will have economic impacts on the economy. This study estimates the economic impacts of migration-induced inbound and outbound tourism flows using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Australia projecting the effects on key economic variables such as real GDP, real value added, economic welfare, and employment. © 2012 Cognizant Comm. Corp.

Immigration can potentially influence tourism flows. However, in spite of the vast number of studies on tourism demand modelling, the immigration-tourism linkage has not received much attention in the empirical literature. This paper seeks to address this gap. A dynamic demand model is developed and estimated using data from 1980 to 2008 for the 15 main markets of Australia. The explanatory variables included are income, own price, price of a substitute destination, airfare and immigration. The estimation results empirically establish the connection between immigration and inbound tourism. The short run and long-run immigration elasticities generated are 0.028 and 0.09 respectively. Additionally this paper demonstrates that omission of prices of substitutes affects the value of the own price elasticity of demand. The results have implications for future research and for stakeholders who can improve the efficiency of their planning exercises by taking into account additional information on immigration trends. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Homestay tourism emerges as a powerful tool for sustainable development, offering numerous benefits to both travelers and host communities. By providing an alternative to traditional hotel accommodations, homestays enable tourists to immerse themselves in local cultures and lifestyles, fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. This form of tourism supports local economies by generating income and employment opportunities, particularly in rural and remote areas. Additionally, homestays often prioritize eco-friendly practices, such as using renewable energy and promoting local produce, which help minimize the environmental impact of tourism. As a result, homestay tourism is important for the preservation of cultural heritage and the conservation of natural resources, aligning with global sustainability goals. Global Practices and Innovations in Sustainable Homestay Tourism examines the role of homestay tourism in promoting sustainable travel and its impact on local communities worldwide. By highlighting innovative practices and successful models from various countries, it offers a comprehensive understanding of how homestays can provide authentic cultural experiences and contribute to a more sustainable tourism industry. Covering topics such as pro-environmental behavior, garden communities, and local produce, this book is an excellent resource for tourism professionals, homestay owners, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and more.

This paper is one of the first which provides an in-depth quantitative analysis of how the development of the tourism industry impacts on the size of the shadow economy of a specific destination. The paper employs time-series techniques and annual data from 1960 to 2018 from Turkey. First, the size of the shadow economy is estimated using the electricity consumption method. The estimates are then used to assess the effect of tourism development on the size of the shadow economy. The findings show that there is a negative relationship between the two. A 1% increase in international tourism arrivals leads to a 0.21% and 0.316% fall in the size of the shadow economy in the short-run and long-run respectively. It implies that as the tourism sector develops, it becomes instrumental in modernising the Turkish economy leading to the movement of resources from the shadow economy to the formal sector. In the long-run the effect of the tourism industry in reducing the size of the shadow economy surpasses that of the financial sector of Turkey.

The aim of this article is to investigate the claim that tourism development can be the engine for poverty reduction in Kenya using a dynamic, microsimulation computable general equilibrium model. The article improves on the common practice in the literature by using the more comprehensive Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index to measure poverty instead of headcount ratios only. Simulations results from previous studies confirm that expansion of the tourism industry will benefit different sectors unevenly and will only marginally improve poverty headcount. This is mainly due to the contraction of the agricultural sector caused the appreciation of the real exchange rates. This article demonstrates that the effect on poverty gap and poverty severity is, nevertheless, significant for both rural and urban areas with higher impact in the urban areas. Tourism expansion enables poorer households to move closer to the poverty line. It is concluded that the tourism industry is pro-poor. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.

Carbon taxation on air travellers is widely considered an effective way of offsetting environmental externalities and adjusting tourist flows. Despite the popularity of carbon taxation, research investigating travellers’ willingness to pay (WTP) such taxes remains scant. Using the air passenger duty (APD) levied by the UK government, this study estimates UK outbound travellers’ WTP and further derives the demand curves under six trip scenarios. The contingent valuation method is used to elicit the travellers’ WTP based on an online questionnaire survey. Comparative analysis and hierarchical linear modelling reveal that first, travellers are willing to pay more APD for business class and long-haul trips, and second, all of the demand curves are downward sloping with increasing elasticities. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

This paper aims to enrich social network and managerial powers theories by examining the effects of board-CEO friendship ties in tourism firms. Specifically, we focus on the association between the board-CEO social network ties (e.g. serving external boards together or sharing memberships at social organisations) and performance and risk-taking behaviour among tourism firms. The findings show that friendship ties between CEO and board members result in higher risk-taking, lower profitability and market values. In addition, professional ties (i.e. current and past employment) significantly impact tourism firms’ outcomes, whereas non-professional ties (i.e. education and other social organisations) do not. The findings prevail after controlling for the Covid-19 pandemic. However, friendship ties lead to better information sharing, resulting in more effective decision-making by board members.

The aim of this study is to analyse factors influencing the expenditure of British travellers on different items of consumption. Original data were collected using a questionnaire. The total sample size is 1361. Differences are observed on the relevance of the explanatory variables for each categories of expenditure and on the magnitude of their effects. Length of stay is the only driver which is significant across all categories. Its effect is negative. Income which has a positive effect, is the second most important determinant. Travellers who stay at hotels spend significantly more on each category. Those who travel to visit friends and relatives (VFR) spend significantly less. Travellers interested in gastronomy and natural attractions are amongst the higher spenders.

This paper investigates the role of policy uncertainty on indices of economic globalization from 1996 to 2016 in the panel dataset of 142 countries. For this purpose, we use the nine measures of the Revisited KOF Economic Globalization Indices and two new measures of uncertainty: The World Uncertainty Index (WUI) and the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index (TPUI). The findings indicate that both the WUI and the TPUI are negatively associated with the overall index of economic globalization. The benchmark results remain consistent under various model specifications, econometric estimation techniques, and countries at different income levels.

This study examines the impact of top-management compensation on the survival likelihood of US publicly listed firms in the tourism and leisure sector, and the mediating effect of profit distribution policy on that relationship. It uses a panel dataset of 55 US listed S&P1500 firms from 2006 to 2019. The analyses show that firms with higher top-management compensation packages exhibit a significantly lower risk of bankruptcy through higher levels of retained earnings. The findings support the agency and incentive alignment theories. They offer new and strong empirical evidence on the links between compensation, corporate governance and financial risks. The policies derived can be implemented to increase the probability of survival of tourism and leisure firms in the USA.

This paper investigates the effects of economic and political uncertainties on tourism demand using the ‘World Uncertainty Index’ (WUI). This index is more a sophisticated and reliable measure of global uncertainty than previous indices used by the literature. The findings show that uncertainty shocks affect travels for business, holidays, and visiting friends/relatives purposes negatively. It is statistically significant for duration of stay of 1 week to less than one month in Australia. This effect dissipates for longer stays. This study provides insightful information to destinations on how consumers adjust their behaviour during period of political and economic uncertainty.

This is followed by a number of chapters that consider government subsidies and state aid. The final chapters focus on other policy implications (tourism development, airport expansion, passenger taxation and noise control).

This book provides a platform for emerging systemic perspectives of the various aspects of island tourism, with the view that strategies for the management and development of tourism in island environments can be improved and will be of ...

COVID-19 disrupted international tourism worldwide, subsequently presenting forecasters with a challenging conundrum. In this competition, we predict international arrivals for 20 destinations in two phases: (i) Ex post forecasts pre-COVID; (ii) Ex ante forecasts during and after the pandemic up to end 2021. Our results show that univariate combined with cross-sectional hierarchical forecasting techniques (THieF-ETS) outperform multivariate models pre-COVID. Scenarios were developed based on judgemental adjustment of the THieF-ETS baseline forecasts. Analysts provided a regional view on the most likely path to normal, based on country-specific regulations, macroeconomic conditions, seasonal factors and vaccine development. Results show an average recovery of 58% compared to 2019 tourist arrivals in the 20 destinations under the medium scenario; severe, it is 34% and mild, 80%.

This paper contributes to the literature on the linkages between tourism and migration. Though it is widely recognised that the two phenomena are closely linked, and that migration may induce visiting friends and relatives) tourism (VFR), there has been little econometric evaluation of the relationship. The present analysis draws upon Australian data to identify a strong quantitative link between migration and VFR tourism. It also demonstrates a strong link between migration and other forms of tourism. Indeed the latter are almost equally as strong as the links between migration and VFR tourism. This unexpected finding has implications for policymakers and for conceptualising the migration-tourism relationship. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

This study investigates the intention of tourists to travel to the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in India, a conservation area of natural bio-diversity that was accorded World Heritage Site status in 2014. The main constructs that have been used in the study are an image of the destination, homestay preference, destination familiarity and intention to travel. The S-O-R framework has been further used to find the tourists’ intention to travel to GHNP. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to 1,020 respondents in India. The results show that path coefficients for all constructs are statistically significant. Tourists’ intention to travel is likely to be influenced by the destination image and the preference for a local homestay, which is mediated by destination familiarity. The study is not longitudinal and sheds light on respondents’ perceptions for a specific time period. Policymakers must design policies that focus on developing campaigns that promote lesser-known destinations, thus ensuring a positive destination image and enhancing destination familiarity by providing authentic information. Such a shift in tourism will foster employment in rural and less-known areas of natural beauty. Further, tourists’ preference to stay in homestay arrangements allows them to experience local hospitality.

This paper investigates the relationships between economic growth, energy consumption, exports, tourism, geopolitical risk, and carbon dioxide (hereafter cited as “CO2”) emissions in Group of Seven (hereafter cited as “G7”) countries from 1990 to 2021. Cross-sectional correlation tests, unit root tests, cointegration analysis, regression analysis, panel data estimation, and Granger causality tests are performed. The empirical results show that energy consumption and geopolitical risk negatively affect environmental quality. In addition, globalization exacerbates the problem of ecological degradation. At the same time, the increase in export levels and emerging tourism development are conducive to reducing CO2 emissions. It is recommended that policymakers pay attention to the role of the digital economy and technological innovation in shaping the energy consumption patterns, carbon emissions, and geopolitical risks in G7 countries, encourage digital transformation, use technological innovation in energy efficiency to drive economic growth, use the digital economy to promote sustainable tourism, decouple it from high carbon emissions, challenge the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve (hereafter cited as “EKC”) framework, and jointly promote dual sustainable development of the economy and environment.

On November 1, 1994 an Air Passenger Duty (APD) was introduced in the United Kingdom, and since, this tax continues to be controversial. This article examines the effect of the ADP on UK outbound tourism demand for 10 international destinations. An autoregressive distributed lag model is developed and income, price, and tax elasticities are estimated. The income and price elasticities obtained, ranged between 0.36 and 4.11 and -0.05 and -2.02, respectively. The estimated tax elasticities suggest that the implementation of APD had a negative effect on UK outbound travel for five destinations and the demand is inelastic to changes in taxes although the magnitudes vary across destinations. The general message is that although the stated objective of APD is to reduce travel and associated carbon emissions, the effectiveness of APD, however, has been marginal; travelers are prepared to pay more in the main to maintain their demand. © 2013 SAGE Publications.

For many years, until about 2000, Australia’s international aviation grew moderately and predictably. Inbound and outbound traffic were close to being balanced, though the former had exceeded the latter by the 1990s. Australian airlines (mainly Qantas) have had a slowly declining share of the traffic, though they have maintained their profitability. This was in spite of strong competition from, initially, the Asian airlines, most of which had the advantage of lower costs, and, later, the Gulf airlines.

The real exchange rate (REX) has long been used as the proxy for prices in tourism demand models. However it has limitations, particularly when it comes to models of outbound tourism. As an alternative, a price competitiveness index (PCI) is developed and used as a proxy for prices in a model of outbound tourism from Australia. Results obtained show that while REX is statistically insignificant and yields a price elasticity of -0.002, PCI is significant and generates a price elasticity of -1.07. The results obtained show that PCI outperforms REX as the preferred price variable in modelling outbound demand on both theoretic and empirical grounds. Furthermore, this index can be used to monitor the inter-temporal competitiveness of a destination. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

For many years, until about 2000, Australia’s international aviation grew moderately and predictably. Inbound and outbound traffic were close to being balanced, though the former had exceeded the latter by the 1990s. Australian airlines (mainly Qantas) have had a slowly declining share of the traffic, though they have maintained their profitability. This was in spite of strong competition from, initially, the Asian airlines, most of which had the advantage of lower costs, and, later, the Gulf airlines. © David Timothy Duval 2014.

This paper examines the effects of tax policies on international tourist arrivals to the Maldives using the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) panel data method. The Maldives is chosen as a case study because the nation is heavily dependent on tourism and earn up to 70% of total government revenue in tourism tax. As expected, the estimated tax elasticities show that tourism tax adversely influences inbound travel, but significant differences across source markets are observed. Specifically, a 10% increase in tourism tax reduces demand by 5.4%. The degree of responsiveness of tourism demand to changes in taxes is essential for tourism policy since a change in the cost of visiting a destination resulting from a change in tourism tax policies affects inbound tourism demand. Consequently, the effectiveness of current fiscal policies is a matter of concern for attracting international tourists to the Maldives.

Airfare elasticities are crucial for policy instruments for the stakeholders of tourism industry. Modellers attempting to estimate these elasticities face several challenges in the absence of microeconomic data on consumer preferences. The aim of this paper is to offer a critical analysis of the practice of computing airfare elasticities from tourism demand studies. It identifies and discusses potential sources of measurement errors in the data and drawbacks that investigators face and assesses their implications for the estimated parameters in the respective models. The use of price of crude oil and distance between origin and destination as proxies for transportation costs are evaluated. It is recommended that authors be more systematic in reporting their results. They need to comment on the limitations of their elasticity estimates since these have repercussions on policy recommendations made based on their results. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The aim of this article is to use dynamic panel data cointegration technique to determine elasticities of tourist arrivals to Australia, using income, real exchange rates, and airfares as demand determinants. Annual data from 1991 to 2007 for arrivals from the 10 main markets are used. Previous studies that applied dynamic panel data sets in the tourism context have used the Arellano-Bond estimation technique. Because this technique produces biased and inconsistent estimates in samples with a small time span, this article uses the corrected least square dummy variable technique to generate unbiased and efficient parameter estimates. The results obtained show that demand is inelastic with respect to its determinants in the short run and elastic in the long run. The main implications of these results are that maintaining destination price competitiveness and consumer satisfaction should be rated very high in the priorities of the Australian tourism industry. © 2010 SAGE Publications.

In spite of the vast and growing literature on tourism demand, outbound tourism remains relatively under-researched. This paper highlights the usefulness of examining determinants of outbound tourism and develops a comprehensive dynamic demand model for international travel from Australia using the panel data cointegration technique. The data represent 47 destinations for the period 1991-2008. The aim is to compute robust demand elasticities. One of the contributions of the paper is that it demonstrates the role immigration plays in determining international tourist departures from Australia. The estimated short-run and long-run immigration elasticities are 0.2 and 0.6, respectively.

The aim of this paper is to analyse factors that affect expenditure patterns of British travellers. It is the first study which focuses solely on this market. Using an original questionnaire, data are collected and a sample of 1178 is retained. To obtain robust estimates, the data are analysed using quantile regression technique. The study shows that income length of stay, employment status and types of accommodation used are important factors affecting per diem expenditure. The study contributes to the literature by investigating an additional dimension of demand determinant by analysing the effect of variables related to the home country. Transfer cost in the UK is found to be significant in determining total tourism expenditure abroad. © 2020

Research on the relationship between crisis and the tourism industry has gained much momentum since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crises can be categorised into various types based on their nature and origin. They can take the form of natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis, health emergencies like pandemics and disease outbreaks. They can be socio-political crises such as terrorist attacks, civil unrests, and geopolitical tensions, or economic crises characterised by a sudden and severe decline in economic activities, high unemployment, and widespread distress among businesses and households.

According to Mannheim's generational theory, each generation exhibits unique attitudes that shape its behaviour. This paper suggests that a CEO's generational background can shape their environmental views, which, in turn, influence the company's business travel policies. Using econometric models and data from 347 firms in 31 countries, the study tests this idea. Results show that companies led by Millennials or Generation X CEOs tend to produce fewer emissions from business trips compared to those led by Baby Boomer CEOs. However, this effect is influenced by CEO tenure: Longer tenure is associated with lower travel emissions. Overall, the data indicate that a CEO's age is positively related to higher business travel emissions.

We examine the explanatory and forecasting power of economic growth, financial development, trade openness and FDI for CO2 emissions in major developed economies within the context of the debate on curbing CO2 emissions Post-Paris Agreement (COP21). Using data from G-6 countries from 1978 to 2014 and employing a set of empirical approaches, we find weak evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, while economic growth, capital market expansion, and trade openness are found to be major drivers of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions are also weakly and negatively affected by stock market capitalization and FDI. Moreover, the forecasting performance is quite good, particularly by augmenting the model with energy consumption and oil prices. With respect to climate commitments, our empirical findings reveal important policy implications.