Tourism Economics

Objectives

This course intends to apply the fundamental economic concepts to the analysis of tourism and it aims at providing knowledge to students, about the economic aspects that influence the tourism activity both at the microeconomic level, related to tourism activities, and at the macroeconomic level, related to tourism destinations.

Students can also improve and apply many concepts that they have learned in other courses, namely: “Introduction to Microeconomics”, “Introduction to Macroeconomics”, “Introduction to Management” and “Tourism Planning and Development”. Therefore there will be prepare to better understand the economic aspects of tourism, namely those related to tourism products and tourism markets or to tourism destinations. As a result, students will develop the proper skills to better understand the tourism system and to hold leadership roles in the tourism sector.

Program

First, International tourism market trends are presented. Then, the following microeconomic aspects of tourism are analyzed: tourism demand, its main determinants and its national and international distribution under an economic perspective; tourism supply and its determinants; pricing policy of the tourism services. The main tourism branches are analyzed, namely: the airlines, the accommodation and the food and beverage sectors, travel agents and tour operators. This analysis allows students to understand the value chain creation in each one of these activities.

Next, the macroeconomic aspects of tourism are presented and the following subjects are covered: The various models used to analyze the competition among tourism destinations and the government’s role in the development of tourism destinations including the public policies related to the tourism sector.

Teaching Methodologies

The teaching methodologies include:

a) Oral expositions about the theoretical contents of the program, including the presentation of examples, establishing in the beginning of the class a link with the previous class and at the end of the class with the next class.

Bibliography

Vanhove, N. (2005) “The Economics of Tourism Destinations”, Elsevier;

Reece, William S. (2010) “The Economics of Tourism”, Prentice Hall; e Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Gilbert D. e Wanhill S. (2008) “Tourism Principles and Practice” 4th edition.

Journal articles with applications related to the material covered in class.