ECONOMICS OF TOURISM

ECONOMICS OF TOURISM
1. Introduction
Tourism has been a major growth industry globally for over five decades. Factors underpinning this growth include the growth of incomes and wealth, improvements in transport,
changing lifestyles and consumer values, increased leisure time, international openness and
globalization, immigration, special events, education, information and communication
technologies, destination marketing and promotion, improved general and tourism
infrastructure and so on (Matias et al 2007). Since there are economic consequences to all
of these factors it is not surprising that research in the area of tourism economics has
increased substantially during the same period. At the same time, the study of tourism
economics has attracted relatively few research economists compared to other topics, such
as energy and transport economists, within the mainstream discipline.
Although indirectly related to tourism economics, we may argue that the serious study of
the field began in the mid-1960s with the seminal book produced by Clawson and Knetsch
(1966) on the Economics of Outdoor Recreation. Rather prophetically, the book dealt in detail
with environmental issues, which are now considered of crucial importance in tourism
economics. Four years later, Gray (1970) published a very enlightening book on the
interrelation between international travel and trade. From then onwards, tourism gradually
gained momentum among economists; interestingly, however, it was not until 1995 that
Tourism Economics,
i.e. the first academic journal dedicated to the study of tourism economics, emerged. As a
complementary development it is also worth noting the establishment of the International
Association for Tourism Economics in 2007.
Four major observations can be made about the state of research in tourism economics.
⧫ First, there are ongoing areas of research very much within the single disciplinary
mainstream economic methodological framework. Obvious topics include demand
modelling, forecasting,economic impact and industry analysis (Stabler et al.,2010).
⧫ Second, several areas of research in economics have emerged that were either nonexistent two decades ago or were in their infancy.These include Game Theory,Chaos
Theory and climate change economics.These have been applied to tourism.
⧫ Third, there are several research areas relevant to the wider context of tourism studies,
that tourism economists have virtually ignored, or have relatively neglected.These
relate to themes and issues and methodologies of analysis that have been recognized in
other fields of the subject.These include ecological economics, poverty alleviation, and
sustainable development.
⧫ Fourth, tourism economics has become increasingly quantitative over time, paralleling
developments in the economics literature. 

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