Understanding tourists' economizing strategies during the global economic crisis

Abstract

This paper explores how tourists from 165 regions of EU-27 countries cut back their tourism expenditure during the global economic crisis in 2009. This study disentangles the cutback tourism expenditure in two mutually related decisions: First, it takes into account whether the tourist has had to cut back on tourism expenditure due to the crisis and second, how they decided to cut back according to six alternatives: "fewer holidays", "reduced length of stay", "cheaper means of transport", "cheaper accommodation", "travel closer to home" or "change the period of travel". The econometric model able to deal with such simultaneous decisions is an adaptation of the Heckman model in generalized structural equations modeling. This methodology permits to control by sample selection bias and correlations between equations. This paper highlights the existence of patterns in the cut back alternatives depending on the socioeconomic characteristics of the household and the climate conditions in origin.

Do economic crises lead tourists to closer destinations? Italy at the time of the Great Recession

“…We achieve this finding by estimating a gravity model on inter‐regional tourist arrivals in Italy over the 2000–2012 period. This is in line with similar conclusions, that is, economic crises lead tourists to closer destinations, obtained by means of survey analyses regarding international tourism during the years of the recent Great Recession (Bronner and De Hoog ; Eugenio‐Martin and Campos‐Soria ; Campos‐Soria et al ).…”

The impact of government failure on tourism in the Philippines

“…5. The negative impact of the FAA downgrade and EU ban on tourism receipts (refer to Table 1) and their positive impact on tourist arrivals (refer to Table 5) are consistent with the observation of Campos-Soria et al (2014) that in the short-term, tourists adjust quite readily by spending less during a financial crisis while tourist arrivals continue to increase.…”

“…A decrease in tourist arrivals may not necessarily result in a proportional decrease in tourist expenditures and tourist arrivals and receipts "may go in opposite direction[s]" (Campos-Soria et al, 2014). The day of the week (e.g., weekdays, weekends, and long weekends) as well as the time of the year (e.g., winter, spring, summer, autumn, and long holidays) significantly impact tourism expenditures and summer holidaymakers tend to spend more (Brida and Scuderi, 2012).…”

European outbound tourism in times of economic stagnation

“…They confirm that, as soon as the economic crisis persists, tourists opt to forego their vacation (pruning strategies) rather than slicing strategies. Campos‐Soria et al () analyze how tourists from 165 regions of the European Union (EU‐27 countries) cut back their tourism expenditure during the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. Their research focus is on whether or not tourists had decided to cutback and, if so, what cutback strategy they used: 46.3% of the interviewees decided to cut back their tourism expenditures; of these, 26.8% reduced the length of stay, 21.8% opted for cheaper accommodation, 18.9% traveled closer to home, 16.2% took fewer holidays, 8.9% changed the period of travel, and 7.5% booked cheaper transport.…”

“…Their research focus is on whether or not tourists had decided to cutback and, if so, what cutback strategy they used: 46.3% of the interviewees decided to cut back their tourism expenditures; of these, 26.8% reduced the length of stay, 21.8% opted for cheaper accommodation, 18.9% traveled closer to home, 16.2% took fewer holidays, 8.9% changed the period of travel, and 7.5% booked cheaper transport. Furthermore, it was interesting to note that households located in regions with a “good” climate were more likely to cutback than those located in regions with a less favorable climate (Campos‐Soria et al, ). Bronner and Hoog () also found that the main summer vacations are no longer a luxury good in times of economic crises.…”