Search

Unregulated sewage discharge into the sea poses a considerable danger to marine ecosystems, with coastal regions being particularly vulnerable to this because of the impact of tourism. This issue is amplified during the summer season, as the Balearic Islands are a heavily frequented destination. This study aims to determine the water quality in five different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) representative on the islands. For this purpose, we analysed several parameters, including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), treated water flow, suspended solids (SS), nitrates (N) and phosphorus (P), at the inlet and outlet of the WWTPs for 5 years. We set particular thresholds for each parameter and documented any breach by comparing the findings with the existing regulations. The least favourable results indicate non-compliance regarding N and P levels throughout the entire study period, as well as a lack of reduction percentage. Furthermore, flow analysis reflects the significant influence of tourism on water quality, with notable increases in both population and treated water volume during the peak tourist season. Overall, the investigation offers a robust foundation for comprehending water quality in relation to coastal landscape in the Balearic Islands. It pinpoints significant worry spots and underscores tourism's immediate impact on this ecological feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass tourism puts enormous pressure on wastewater treatment plants due to its expansive growth during the summer months. To adapt to the fluctuations, the Ravda wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) uses innovative methods and technologies, allowing for "shrinking" and "expanding" of the facilities according to the season. This has been built in stages over the years, with two separate biological treatment lines adapting to different numbers of tourists and to the quantity of influent wastewater. The aim of this study is to make a comparative assessment of the work of WWTP Ravda in the summer and winter seasons and its effectiveness, as well as to compare them. In addition, it examines the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a much higher consumption of water per person was noted. Data were analyzed for the period of 2018–2022 inclusive, comparing influent and effluent BOD5 and COD in the summer and winter. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies were also tracked. The study shows that municipal wastewater treatment is effective, but much higher values, close to the maximum permissible discharge values, are observed during the tourist season. With the continued growth of the tourism sector, the Ravda wastewater treatment plant would not be able to cope with the discharge standards set by the Ministry of Environment and Water, so measures need to be taken promptly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the definition of the UNWTO, one of the pillars of smart tourism research is the context of seasonality. Based on this approach, the authors aimed to reveal the results of the extent to which field-specific literature addresses this issue. However, regarding the concept of smart tourism, the authors of this study have shown a lack of attention to the relationship between these two logically related areas of tourism research: seasonality and smart tourism. Thus, the study proposed a new approach and possible research directions in connection with seasonality research in the context of smart tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we propose an adaptive multiscale ensemble (AME) learning approach, which consists of variational mode decomposition (VMD) and least square support vector regression (LSSVR) for seasonal and trend forecasting of tourist arrivals. In the formulation of AME learning approach, the original tourist arrival series is decomposed into the trend, seasonal, and remaining volatility components. Then, ARIMA is used to forecast the trend component, SARIMA is used to forecast the seasonal component, and LSSVR is used to forecast the remaining volatility components. The empirical results demonstrate that our proposed AME learning approach can achieve higher forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Tribune / Lvyou Xuekan is the property of Tourism Institute of Beijing Union University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This contribution examines the passenger forecasting performance of the SARIMA method applied to cruise activities in the main Spanish ports. In this port system, the cruise activity market is characterized by different seasonal patterns (i.e., once‐ or twice‐yearly peaks, which means unimodal or bimodal behavior) due to repositioning strategy. The outcome of standard indicators for accuracy testing reveals inconsistent prediction performances among ports. These inconsistencies are analyzed using an index of bimodality and seasonal variability. The forecasted values for a high‐level of bimodality and seasonal variability show worse prediction performances than unimodal patterns and low seasonal variability. Ports with less passenger activity entail larger predictions errors. Exponential and linear models were adjusted between the error metrics and the mentioned indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the types of habitus possessed by wellness‐oriented seasonal tourism migrants in China and locates the capital they receive from this within the appropriate field relations. Bourdieu's field theory on habitus, capital, and relationships was applied in an ethnographic survey of Poyue village, Guangxi Autonomous Region, in China. The paper identifies the capitals related to the field relationships that determine and structure interaction in a destination community. This analysis reveals the relationships between wellness‐oriented seasonal tourism migrants and other stakeholders from micro, meso, and macro perspectives. Conclusions and suggestions are presented for policymakers and future researchers to utilize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism currently contributes significantly to the national economy. When investing in the accommodation facility on the real-estate market, the tourism sector also represents a certain risk due to a high level of seasonality. This paper investigates the risks related to prices, income and occupancy of accommodation facilities for selected regions in Slovakia. The value of accommodation facilities is estimated using discounted cash flow, probabilistic distribution of rental prices and occupancy of accommodation facilities in selected Slovak regions. The results provide information for potential and profitable investments in exposed regions in tourism. The information can be used in the field of risk management to avoid or reduce the risk of risk investments. Although the resulting values were calculated only for some selected regions, the proposed procedure can be used for any region and compared with the current values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though tourism in Latvia is considered as one of the priority industries and important source of export income, it is characterized by a strongly marked seasonality. The main tourist flow falls one summer months with a peak of visitation in July. To extend the tourist season those tourism types should be used, which are at least subject to seasonality. One of such tourism types is event tourism. The authors suggest event tourism as one of the possible solutions to minimize the phenomenon of seasonality in tourism in Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the role of Zen meditation in shaping seasonal tourists' spiritual experience using a focus group and interview approach. Three main themes emerged from the study: (a) the desire for seasonal tourism Zen meditation induced by local hosts and the environment was generally positive; (b) the attributes of these seasonal tourists reinforced a positive image of Zen meditation through experiences of both sacred Buddhist rituals and secular daily practices in the E'Mei Mountain destination; and (c) the positive spiritual experiences through seasonal Zen meditation gained in the tourism period had a strong impact on these participants' spiritual experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Norway, immigration and tourism have become important drivers of diversity in rural communities. While rural migration mostly has been studied from the migrants' perspective, this article examines how long‐term residents in a Norwegian rural mountain resort characterised by seasonal tourism and labour immigration experience the flux of diverse migrants and how this affects them and the local community. The article is based on 12 interviews with men and women who are long‐term community residents. A major narrative of the locals is that of the village and its inhabitants as accustomed to mobility, a local knowledge acquired through decades of tourism and in‐migration. But there are also narratives of ambivalence and contradictions and of the place as saturated by mobilities. The article explores how locals adjust to and avoid these mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Intercathedra is the property of Poznan University of Life Sciences Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Increased environmental stochasticity due to climate change will intensify temporal variance in the life‐history traits, and especially breeding probabilities, of long‐lived iteroparous species. These changes may decrease individual fitness and population viability and is therefore important to monitor. In wild animal populations with imperfect individual detection, breeding probabilities are best estimated using capture–recapture methods. However, in many vertebrate species (e.g., amphibians, turtles, seabirds), nonbreeders are unobservable because they are not tied to a territory or breeding location. Although unobservable states can be used to model temporary emigration of nonbreeders, there are disadvantages to having unobservable states in capture–recapture models. The best solution to deal with unobservable life‐history states is therefore to eliminate them altogether. Here, we achieve this objective by fitting novel multievent‐robust design models which utilize information obtained from multiple surveys conducted throughout the year. We use this approach to estimate annual breeding probabilities of capital breeding female elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Conceptually, our approach parallels a multistate version of the Barker/robust design in that it combines robust design capture data collected during discrete breeding seasons with observations made at other times of the year. A substantial advantage of our approach is that the nonbreeder state became "observable" when multiple data sources were analyzed together. This allowed us to test for the existence of state‐dependent survival (with some support found for lower survival in breeders compared to nonbreeders), and to estimate annual breeding transitions to and from the nonbreeder state with greater precision (where current breeders tended to have higher future breeding probabilities than nonbreeders). We used program E‐SURGE (2.1.2) to fit the multievent‐robust design models, with uncertainty in breeding state assignment (breeder, nonbreeder) being incorporated via a hidden Markov process. This flexible modeling approach can easily be adapted to suit sampling designs from numerous species which may be encountered during and outside of discrete breeding seasons. In life‐history analysis, the best solution to deal with unobservable states is to eliminate them altogether. Here, we achieve this objective by fitting novel multievent‐robust design models which combines robust design capture data collected during discrete breeding seasons with observations made at other times of the year. We use this approach to estimate breeding probabilities of female elephant seals. This flexible modeling approach can easily be adapted to suit sampling designs from numerous species which may be encountered during and outside of discrete breeding seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multivariate forecasting methods are intuitively appealing since they are able to capture the interseries dependencies, and therefore may forecast more accurately. This study proposes a multiseries structural time series method based on a novel data restacking technique as an alternative approach to seasonal tourism demand forecasting. The proposed approach is analogous to the multivariate method but only requires one variable. In this study, a quarterly tourism demand series is split into four component series, each component representing the demand in a particular quarter of each year; the component series are then restacked to build a multiseries structural time series model. Empirical evidence from Hong Kong inbound tourism demand forecasting shows that the newly proposed approach improves the forecast accuracy, compared with traditional univariate models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This research experiment is the first study to provide detailed insights into resource use by guests staying in self-contained B&B style accommodation. Self-contained accommodation is a neglected yet important sub-industry in the hospitality sector, as it represents the largest and fastest growing share of accommodation providers in many regions. The study provides valuable data from a smart metering system, collecting data every minute over four seasons and indicates sustainable consumption opportunities using renewable energy, guest behaviour change and eco-conservation. Our results reveal that guests, when exposed to sustainability advice and communication (i.e. Intervention Group), saved 27% electricity, 22% gas, 22% water and 10% firewood. Differences between Intervention and Control Groups were also observed in terms of daily peak consumption and seasonal patterns. There are further saving opportunities, but findings also highlight social practice complexities to navigate guests' individual thermal comfort knowledge and daily routines. Transitions can be achieved through advanced smart services for direct and indirect customer feedback and host training. This paper is the first to detail findings from smart meter monitoring using high resolution at tourist accommodation, providing new insights into social practices and analysis of water energy nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to explore the extraordinary experiences of food tourists and to develop a theory of surprise in relation to a typology of food cultural capital. We draw on phenomenological interviews with 16 food tourists. We found that food tourists experienced surprise in different ways, depending on their food cultural capital. Food tourists who possessed a high level of cultural capital were surprised by the simplicity or complexity of the experience while those possessing a low level of cultural capital were surprised by the genuinity of the experience. Thus, we make an important theoretical contribution here as we learn that the resources food tourists possessed in the form of cultural capital conditioned the ways in which they conceived an extraordinary experience. More so, using the cultural capital perspective, we have also demonstrated the role of social context in contributing to creating an extraordinary experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a relative climate index based on the push and pull theory to assess the effects of relative climate variability on seasonal tourism demand. The relative climate index measures the climatic comfort of a destination relative to that of the tourist origin. Using the proposed approach, the effects of the relative climate comfort on seasonal tourism demand are empirically tested based on a quarterly panel data set of visitor arrivals from Hong Kong to 13 major Chinese cities. The intra-annual seasonality and interannual variability are both tested in the model. The results indicate that the intra-annual relative climate positively influences tourism demand in Mainland regions, where the climate is significantly different from that of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new model that links climate and seasonal tourism demand is developed to study the effects of home climate, destination climate, and climate difference between destinations and source markets on seasonal tourism demand. Using the dynamic panel data technique, the study focuses on the demand of tourists from Hong Kong for 19 of the major tourism cities in Mainland China. The results show that the home climate, destination climate, and the difference in climate between home and destination cities all have significant influence on tourism demand. Furthermore, demand for Mainland Chinese tourism among Hong Kong residents is found to be driven by the climate at the place of origin, while the effects of destination climate and climate difference are weaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One main argument for modeling socio-ecological systems is to advance the understanding of dynamic correlations between various human and environmental factors, including impacts and responses to environmental change. We explore the shift in skier distribution among ski resorts taking into account the behavioral adaptation of individuals due to the impact of climate change on snow conditions. This analysis is performed at a regional scale by means of a coupled gravity and georeferenced agent-based model. Four different scenarios are considered. Two scenarios assume an increase of winter mean temperature of +2°C and +4°C, respectively, taking into account only natural snow conditions. Two additional scenarios add the effect of snowmaking to enhance the natural snow depth and extend the skiing season in the +2°C and +4°C base scenarios. Results show differing vulnerability levels, allowing the classification of ski resorts into three distinct groups: (1) highly vulnerable ski resorts with a strong reduction in visitors attendance for all climate change scenarios, characterized by unfavorable geographical and attractiveness conditions, making it difficult to ensure snow availability in the future; (2) low vulnerability ski resorts, with moderate reduction in season length during a high climate change scenario but no reduction (or even an increase) in a low one, characterized by ski resorts with a medium capacity and attractiveness to ensure enough snow conditions and capture skiers from other ski resorts; and (3) resilient ski resorts, with good conditions to ensure future snow-reliable seasons and outstanding attractiveness, allowing them to offer longer ski seasons than their competitors and potentially attracting skiers from other closed or marginal resorts. Ski resorts included in this last group increase their skier attendance in all climate change scenarios. Although similar studies in the literature foretell a significant reduction of the ski market in the near future, another probable effect outlined in this study is a redefinition of this market due to a redistribution of skiers, from vulnerable ski resorts to more resilient ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourist industry has a strong seasonal trend. Taking seasonal adjustment method for preprocessing of sample data to eliminate the seasonal influence can improve the accuracy of tourism flow prediction. At the same time, SVR is a good machine learning method, very suitable for predicting tourism flow, and supplement by the PSO algorithm to choose appropriate parameters, it can obtain more accurate predicting results. In view of this situation, it needed to build a tourism flow prediction method which considered seasonal influence and through SVR optimized by the PSO model with Beijing as an example for empirical research, and compared the goodness of fit of different prediction methods. The results indicate that the prediction accuracy of seasonally adjusted PSO-SVR model is significantly higher than the SVR model, seasonally adjusted SVR model, the PSO-SVR model. The seasonally adjusted PSO-SVR model is an effective tool of tourism flow prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a retrospective and a summary of the convergence of Romanian economy to the model of the European economy, from the transition to a stable market economy, through the pre-accession period, and also the post-accession to the European Union since 1 January 2007, with the declared intention of eventually joining the euro space or area. The retrospective is accompanied by an instrumental-statistical or reasoned introspection based on key indicators. Tourism, and especially its seasonality, is analyzed from the angle of their present and future impact on the national economy. The conclusions highlight the need for programs and policies meant to promote tourism development and diminish the seasonal character of tourist activities, with a higher contribution of mountain and rural tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo is the property of Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Turisticos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Culture clash, or intracommunity tensions related to rapid in-migration, between permanent and newcomer residents has been well studied in relation to environmental conservation in natural amenity communities; however, less is known about culture clash within communities characterized by high rates of second home ownership. We examine the causes of perceived culture clash in communities of the U. S. Northern Forest using mail survey data from four case studies within New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. In contrast to past culture clash research, we consider multiple dimensions of cultural capital that are independent of second home owners' rural or urban origins, and how key aspects of culture compare to economic standing and social interaction as drivers of perceived culture clash. Permanent residents perceive greater levels of culture clash than second home owners, net other measures, indicating that seasonal migration in and of itself encourages notions of otherness between residents. More frequent social interaction between resident groups helps to ameliorate intracommunity tensions. Cultural capital and social interaction measures were equally effective in explaining variation in perceived culture clash. Our findings indicate that the culture clash concept extends beyond scenarios of environmental conflict and applies to more general forms of intergroup tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of charter services on international tourism in Japan. Particularly, charter flows between Japan and China are analyzed to examine their role in Sino-Japanese tourism. The results show that charters have contributed to geographic spread of tourism destinations in China, and that they meet dispersed and seasonal travel demand from Japanese regions. Scheduled services have not been able to entirely replace charter services, but cause uneven patterns in charter services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since coastal tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of tourism industry, coastal areas have become increasingly vulnerable in the case of flooding. While in recent years a number of different methods have been put forward to map coastal flood risks, the implications of tourism dynamics for the assessment of human casualties has remained largely overlooked in these models. This chapter examines to what extent the ignorance of (residential) coastal tourism may bias the calculations of human casualties. To this end, a case study has been conducted on the Belgian coast. Both the dynamic nature of coastal tourism and the behaviour of residential tourists in storm surge scenarios are considered. The results of this study show that including tourism dynamics in flood risk management is justified and appropriate, depending on the tourist attractiveness of the flood-prone area and its temporal fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Downhill skiing, the machine-grading of slopes and the use of artificial snow induce major disturbances to the environment of alpine ski resorts. Our study aims to quantify the impacts of different ski piste management types (graded/ungraded; with/without artificial snow) on the environment and its development over time. 2. We re-sampled study plots established 8 years earlier and compared vegetation and soil characteristics on different types of ski pistes to adjacent off-piste control plots, and analysed vegetation changes over time. 3. Generally, machine-grading led to a decreased plant cover and plant productivity, and increased indicator values for nutrients, light and soil base content compared to control plots. Ungraded ski pistes and artificial snow led to increased vegetation indicator values for nutrients and soil humidity. 4. Soil analyses conducted in 2008 generally confirmed the changes shown by the vegetation indicator values in 2000 and in 2008. Machine-grading had the greatest effects on soil characteristics by increasing soil density by more than 50%, by increasing pH and C/N ratio, and by decreasing total nitrogen concentrations. 5. The differences between piste and off-piste plots were similar to those found 8 years ago, but their proportions changed. The vegetation cover on machine-graded ski pistes decreased over the 8 years, showing no sign of recovery or succession. Ungraded ski pistes showed increased differences in indicator values for reactivity and humus between piste and control plots compared to the results obtained 8 years earlier. 6. Synthesis and applications. Machine-grading of ski runs and downhill skiing in general induced long-lasting impacts on vegetation and on both chemical and physical soil characteristics. Even though few impacts of artificial snow were significant, our results suggest that it may change moisture status of the vegetation, and thus caution is warranted when used in dry and nutrient-poor habitats. The vegetation cover on machine-graded pistes deteriorated over a period of 8 years, illustrating that natural recovery did not occur in these alpine habitats. Consequently, the construction of new pistes by machine-grading in alpine habitats should be avoided, and existing pistes should be managed to avert further disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study investigates the motivations, concerns and obstacles regarding the use of weather derivatives in the winter tourism industry. The findings from the interviews with 61 ski lift operators in Austria indicate that while the majority of operators are aware of weather risks and report substantial weather exposure, using weather derivatives as a means of offsetting potential loss is rarely considered. This is primarily due to a lack of awareness and knowledge, but on becoming aware of the availability of such instruments ski lift operators express interest in their possible use. The task is thus to increase awareness, knowledge and support for the ski lift operators with reference to the use of weather derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Montane and alpine habitats in Europe remained relatively undisturbed until the beginning of the last century. Today, outdoor recreation activities are a major economic factor in alpine regions. Many tourism areas coincide with winter habitats of shy and endangered species. The Western Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus has suffered from rapid population declines during recent decades over much of its range. In central Europe, many Capercaillie are exposed to intensive human recreation activities in their habitats, which may contribute to this decline. However, little is known about their susceptibility to human recreation activities. This study assessed whether human recreation in winter evokes physiological stress responses in several populations of Capercaillie. During two winters, we sampled 1130 Capercaillie droppings in Germany and Switzerland of populations at various distances from winter recreation activities and measured concentrations of faecal corticosterone metabolites. Capercaillie in relatively dense and homogeneous mountain forests dominated by Norway Spruce Picea abies showed markedly increased stress hormone levels closer to locations with winter recreation activity. However, this physiological response to human recreation was not detectable in forests dominated by various pine species and a heterogeneous structure. Capercaillie may be particularly sensitive to recreation because any factor affecting their fine-tuned physiological and behavioural adaptations to survive under harsh winter conditions may lead to harmful fitness costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to determine suitable SARIMA models to forecast the monthly outbound tourism departures of three major destinations from Taiwan to Hong Kong, Japan and the USA, respectively. The HEGY test is used to identify the deterministic seasonality in the data. The mean absolute per cent error (MAPE) is used to measure forecast accuracy. A low MAPE demonstrates the adequacy of the fitted SARIMA models. The results indicate that all series with first non-seasonal difference are needed to obtain the deterministic trend in outbound tourism series in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Croatia and Tunisia, located on the northern and the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, respectively, have hot and dry summers and rainy winters and, for these reasons, they are both referred to as coastal tourism destinations for European countries. A comparison of the monthly incoming tourism of these two countries during 2002 reveals that Croatia and Tunisia present two different models of coastal tourism. The Tunisian model presents continuity and stability in the amount of incoming tourists throughout the whole year, while the Croatian model is a seasonal one, with a very high peak during the summer and a minimum influx of tourists during the winter. The main reason for this difference is the Croatian colder winter; the result is high seasonal instability in the Croatian tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to compare salient approaches for identifying the patterns of college students' information search behaviours while preparing for their spring break trips. Comparing four different prominent constructs (i.e. past experience, prior knowledge, involvement and a concept of specialisation combining those three variables), the results of the study indicate that involvement and the specialisation concept have more distinctive results than the others in terms of measurement of travellers' perceived usefulness of information sources and the importance of information content. In addition, the different groups assigned different priorities for usage of main information sources. As a result, involvement and the specialisation concept appear to provide more distinctive clarification for identifying the information search behaviours of spring break travellers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the analysis of the number of tourists travelling to the Canary Islands by means of using different seasonal statistical models. Deterministic and stochastic seasonality is considered. For the latter case, we employ seasonal unit roots and seasonally fractionally integrated models. As a final approach, we also employ a model with possibly different orders of integration at zero and the seasonal frequencies. All these models are compared in terms of their forecasting ability in an out-of-sample experiment. The results in the paper show that a simple deterministic model with seasonal dummy variables and AR(1) disturbances produce better results than other approaches based on seasonal fractional and integer differentiation over short horizons. However, increasing the time horizon, the results cannot distinguish between the model based on seasonal dummies and another using fractional integration at zero and the seasonal frequencies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Costa del Sol is a mature Mediterranean destination in the South of Spain with a degree of seasonality that has shown little variation during the last 20 years. In this paper, we apply the decomposition of the Gini index of seasonal concentration by nationalities. The main outcome of this decomposition is the estimation of relative contributions to the overall seasonal concentration and marginal effects by nationalities. These measures can be of great help in the design of counter-seasonal policies. Our results suggest that planners interested in reducing seasonality may concentrate their efforts in consolidating markets with negative marginal effect over the index of concentration, like the British and Nordic ones. In addition, marketing targets may be focused primarily in the winter season for the markets with positive relative marginal effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose - Mallorca is a traditional mass tourism destination that promotes golf tourism development in order to fight tourism seasonality and increase the tourist's average expenditure. Through a longitudinal study, the paper aims to analyze golf demand and its evolution; to evaluate the seasonal and economic impact of this type of tourism and to elaborate a prospective estimation of future trends. Design/methodology/approach - The research was based on 1,271 personal interviews with golfers, 470 in 2005, 401 in 2001 and 400 in 1997, all conducted between March and September. 45 interviews with golf course managers were also conducted in order to obtain information related to future trends. Findings - Golf tourism demand remains stable with minor changes with respect to profile of the players and seasonality. However, some changes have been identified: demand has stopped its growth rates; the use of tourism packages as a way of traveling and in the hotel use as accommodation has declined; the importance of the internet as a marketing channel and of the availability of low cost flights to choose a tourism destination has increased; and finally, a stagnation of the economic impact of golf tourism has been revealed. Research limitations/implications - This work advances the knowledge of golf tourism evolution. However, it probably suffers from the fact that it has been conducted in a specific destination. Therefore it would be convenient to compare the results with other destinations to generalize patterns. Practical implications - The results emphasize the need for a multi-product destination development approach in order to fight seasonality and the limitations to rely exclusively in a single segment. Originality/value - This paper helps tourism destination managers review their destination marketing diversification strategies by taking into account the results obtained in Mallorca, one of the most important tourism resorts of the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism has become a major sector in Turkey. The key to continued attraction of visitors to the country in significant numbers is a careful coordination of marketing and planning of tourism supply resources. These supply resources of tourism certainly include favourable climate and climatic elements. The nature of spatial distribution of resources does affect the dispersion of demand in the country. This current study attempts to classify cities based on their supply indicators and establish the connection between supply resources and selected demand measures. It is hoped that the results of this study will have planning, marketing and resource allocation implications for Turkish tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each summer millions of northern Europeans have historically escaped the unfavorable weather conditions in their countries in search of the traditional "sun, sand, and sea" vacation in the Mediterranean region. Climate change may alter this longstanding tourism flow, however. Based on combination of a series of scientific climate change scenarios with the Tourism Climatic Index (TCI), a method of evaluating a location's climate for general tourism activity, this article examines projected changes in climatic suitability for tourism in northwestern Europe. Under all the scenarios considered, peak season conditions throughout northwestern Europe are projected to improve over the course of the coming century. In addition, the length of the peak season is also projected to increase in many regions, encompassing not only summer, but extending also into spring and autumn. Our findings suggest that projected climate change could considerably enhance northwestern Europe's competitive advantage relative to the Mediterranean in the summer season. Such shifts in climatic suitability could potentially have substantial impacts on the volumes, spatial distributions, and timing of travel within and to Europe. Together, these alterations to tourism activity have profound implications for the operation of the European tourism industry, from the planning, location, and development of new accommodations, transportation routes, and attractions, to the staffing and operation of existing enterprises. As discussed further in the article, the ability of tourism businesses to successfully adapt to these new conditions is likely to depend heavily on their recognition of climate change as an issue (i.e., the adoption of a proactive rather than reactive stance); to their organizational flexibility; and to the mobility of their capital investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of performance. However, there is increasing evidence that good attribute performance and high overall satisfaction do not always automatically lead to higher loyalty. In this paper, we put forward a study on customer satisfaction and loyalty to Alpine ski resorts. We analyse the moderating effects of three important factors in the attribute performance–overall satisfaction–loyalty relationship: lifestyle, consumer spending and customers' skiing skills in a sample of 6172 skiers. The results show that all studied variables have a moderating effect. The findings have implications on both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analysed the seasonality of foreign tourists’ space consumption in Estonia using mobile positioning dataset with anonymous roaming data. The method which uses mobile phone positioning coordinates in space–time movement studies in Estonia is called the social positioning method. The dataset allowed analysis of the distribution of foreigners’ country of origin in Estonia with the precision of network cells of mobile operators. Privacy of mobile phone holders was guaranteed according to EU regulation. It was concluded that seasonality produces very different and sometimes even opposite tourists’ space consumption patterns in Estonia. Coastal areas are popular for summer tourism and not so popular in winter; continental inland areas were used more for winter tourism. The popular summer tourism areas along the Baltic Sea beaches are dominated by one nationality: the Finnish in western Estonia, and the Russians in eastern Estonia. Latvians made up a higher percentage in Saaremaa and Pärnu during summer and in Otepää and Lake Peipsi in winter. The mobile positioning data have great potential for tourism studies and monitoring, but is a sensitive issue due to the fear of surveillance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tourism analysts, attempting to stretch the tourism season, may benefit from a detailed characterization of the typical off-season tourist. This study investigates characteristics of foreign individual tourists (FITs) visiting New Zealand during the postpeak shoulder season. Methodologically. the study provides an example of a single sample seasonal variation investigation. Data collected in a well-targeted field survey reveal that a large proportion of the tourists tend to be free of commitments both to workplace or children and their length of stay is longer than average. Several statistically significant differences were found between those who deliberately chose to travel during the postpeak season and those who preferred to travel during the peak season but had to postpone their trip to the shoulder season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent research it has been shown that a large share of the tourism work force in the Swedish mountain municipalities have their permanent place of residence outside of daily commuting distance from the municipality where they work. In this study, tourism labour mobility and migration to two Swedish mountain municipalities, Åre and Malung, is examined. The principal question addressed is whether temporal tourism labour migration leads to permanent migration of tourism workers or not. The research is based on a longitudinal database material including individual observations between the years 1991–2001. It is shown that the case municipalities have a higher propensity than the rest to employ in‐migrants in tourism. Results also show that relatively few people involved in temporary labour migration to tourism employment in the case municipalities later will permanently migrate to the mountain municipalities but that tourism sector employment is important for the in‐migration of long distance commuters to the case municipalities. The reason for this it is argued is that the motive to seasonally migrate to tourism employment is lifestyle‐related and not meant to be permanent. The seasonality of tourism employment has implications for the local and regional development through tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is the analysis of the tourist events in a hotel at Varadero beach and its evolution in recent years. To focus on this topic,the concepts of some of the different meeting tourist segments have been taken as a starting point, such as: Congressess, Conventions and Incentives. The structure proposed through these lines responds to a logical concretion criterion. Secondly, we will discuss the congressional market dimension to an international level,where Cuba has started to take actions in order to become the tourism leader in Latin America. To carry out this research, statistical techniques and marketing tools have been used to make an evaluation and a later proposal of strategies for positioning the development of alternatives for sun and beach tourism in low seasons. Finally, we recommend, based on the outstanding results of this former study, its application in all entities due to its relevance and its vital importance for all tourist facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]