|
on Tourism Economics |
| By: | Chami, Maximilian; Kaminyoge, Gabriel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of the closed House of Wonders Museum in the tourism industry of Stone Town, Zanzibar. The paper aims to propose the best practices taken into account due to the impact raised by the closure of the Museum. There has been no clear information on the overall situation which faces the site since 2012 when the Museum closed. Data collected through mixed methods, including the sample size of 105 tourists who visited the House of Wonders Museum, 8 Government Official, 6 Tour Guides and 8 Tour Operators. The findings show that the closed museum has affected the level of tourists’ satisfaction, tour operators, community and tour guides economically. The paper recommends quick rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Museum to save the integrity and authenticity of this World Heritage Site. |
| Keywords: | House of Wonders; Tourism; Zanzibar Stone Town; Museum, Heritage |
| JEL: | G14 L83 M31 Z0 |
| Date: | 2019–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93887&r=all |
| By: | Xing, Shiqi; Batabyal, Amitrajeet |
| Abstract: | Despite repeated calls for a thorough cleanup of water pollution in the Ganges river, there are only two papers in the social sciences by Batabyal and Beladi (2017, 2019) that have shed theoretical light on this cleanup problem and its connection to the sustainability of tourism in Varanasi. Hence, we extend the above mentioned analyses and focus on two specific questions. First, we introduce the notion of a safe minimum standard (SMS) into the study and show how to analyze a probabilistic model of the Ganges cleanup problem when the SMS is accounted for. Second, for a representative citizen of Varanasi, we study how the magnitude of the elasticity of substitution between a composite consumption good and water quality in the Ganges---modeled by the SMS---affects the tradeoff between consumption and water quality maintenance. |
| Keywords: | Ganges river, Safe Minimum Standard, Tourism, Uncertainty, Water Pollution |
| JEL: | L83 Q53 |
| Date: | 2019–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93846&r=all |
| By: | Sofia F. Franco, Carlos Daniel Santos, Rafael Longo |
| Abstract: | Short-term rentals have facilitated the upraise trend in tourism growth in several cities around the world. However, concerns for the negative effects that such home-sharing platforms may have on the housing market and traditional markets have driven community groups and housing advocates to intensely react against them. Whether or not shortterm rentals increase housing prices and rents for local residents is an empirical question. We quantify the causal effects of Airbnb's short-term rentals on urban housing affordability in Portugal by estimating quarterly housing rents and prices as a function of Airbnb concentration. We take advantage of the 2014 regulatory reform and employ a difference-in-differences (DiD) empirical strategy. We estimate an overall increase in property values of 34% and 10.9% for rents due to the short-term lease regulatory reform. We also find that these effects are particularly localized to the historical centers and areas attractive to tourists in the cities of Lisbon and Porto. A better understanding of the effects of shortterm home rentals on housing markets and of the magnitude of its impact on residential property prices and rents are crucial information to determine whether it needs to be regulated and how proper regulation should be designed. JEL codes: R21, R31, Z32 |
| Keywords: | property values, Airbnb, short-term rentals, regulation |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp630&r=all |