Tourism Economics / Edition 1

The first and only comprehensive introduction to the economics oftourism... A knowledge of economic trends and conditions is fundamental tostrategic planning and project development in any business. Yet,despite the fact that tourism has become the world's largestindustry, until now, there were no textbooks devoted to theeconomics of tourism. A book whose time has finally come, TourismEconomics arms students and industry professionals with a solidworking knowledge of economic concepts and analytical techniques asthey apply to tourism. Written by three experts from the U.S.International University's prestigious Department of Hotel,Restaurant, and Tourism Management, Tourism Economics: * Explains all important economic principles and concepts,defines key terminology, and clearly describes a number ofanalytical models and forecasting techniques * Illustrates all points covered with numerous case studies fromaround the world and selected reading excerpts * Requires no prior familiarity with economics and features aclear, easy-to-read, nonmathematical style "Tourism can be viewed as an institution with millions ofinteractions taking place, an institution with a history, body ofknowledge, and a constituency of millions of people who feelthemselves a part of the institution. For purposes of this book,tourism is an economic activity involving billions of dollarsexchanged each month, a social science to be analyzed, trends to beidentified, and costs/benefits to be computed."—from TourismEconomics The past two decades have been a time of fast and furious growthfor world tourism, accounting for more than 6% of the world's grossnational product ($3.2 trillion in 1993) and employing 127 millionpeople worldwide, tourism is now, beyond a doubt, the world'slargest industry. And with an average of 20,000 new jobs createdper each additional $1 million spent on travel, tourism is also themost prolific generator of new jobs. As a consequence of tourism'sgrowing preeminence, a new field has emerged over the past fewyears to help the tourism industry and public policymakers betterunderstand the impact of tourism on other segments of the economyand to recognize and facilitate current and future economic trendsin tourism—tourism economics. This groundbreaking book was written by three experts from theU.S. International University's prestigious Department of Hotel,Restaurant, and Tourism Management. With the assistance of numerouscase studies from around the world and selected reading excerpts,they explain all relevant economic principles and concepts, definekey terminology, and clearly describe a number of useful analyticalmodels and forecasting techniques. Requiring no prior knowledge ofeconomics, Tourism Economics features a clear, easy-to-read,nonmathematical style. A book whose time has finally come, Tourism Economics isindispensable reading for students of tourism and hospitality aswell as industry professionals and researchers.