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on Tourism Economics |
| By: | Daniela Glocker; Peter Haxton |
| Abstract: | South Africa has turned towards tourism development to jump-start its weak economy. As tourism is a labour intensive sector that can also bring foreign currency into the country, the sector was identified as priority area by the South African government. Indeed, a doubling in international tourist arrivals from 1995 to 2017 was accompanied by a tripling of employment directly related to tourism. Despite South Africa’s rich and diverse natural and cultural assets, tourism development has been challenged by the country’s geographic location and perceived safety and security issues. As the country is a long-haul destination for many large source markets, good accessibility and international openness is key to expand international tourism, but current visa regulations put an administrative burden on potential tourists. While increasing tourist arrivals are necessary for tourism development, tourism growth has to be well planned and managed to be sustainable. Although the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting containment measures have hit the economy and in particular tourism, the sector has good potential to support the South African economy and contribute to employment growth post-COVID-19. Tourism provides job opportunities for different skills and experience levels allowing for greater social integration. For tourism development to translate into inclusive growth, the tourism industry needs to be integrated into the local economy and the benefits of tourism must spread geographically to also create economic opportunities in less travelled and less prosperous regions. |
| Keywords: | Regional development, South Africa, Sustainable, Tourism Development, Tourism Economics, Tourism Policy |
| JEL: | L38 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 |
| Date: | 2020–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1621-en&r=all |
| By: | Nyasha, Sheilla; Odhiambo, Nicholas M; Asongu, Simplice A |
| Abstract: | This study examines the dynamic impact of tourism development on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using the Generalised Method of Moments and data covering the period from 2002 to 2018. The increasingly important role of tourism and the limelight the tourism sector has been enjoying of late, on the one hand, and the lack of sufficient coverage of tourism-growth nexus studies in Africa in general and in SSA in particular, motivated this study. Unlike most of the known panel data-based studies on tourism development and economic growth, this study has split the sub-Saharan African countries into low-income and middle-income sub-Saharan African countries. The results of the study show that tourism expenditure negatively affects economic growth while tourism receipts have the opposite effect in SSA. The findings are robust to the low-income sub-sample while only the effect of tourism expenditure is robust in the middle-income sub-sample. |
| Keywords: | Tourism Development; Economic Growth; Sub-Saharan Africa, SSA, Middle Income Countries, Low Income Countries, Generalised Method of Moments, GMM |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:26640&r=all |
| By: | Grancay, Martin |
| Abstract: | The paper provides an overview of the measures governments have taken to alleviate the negative economic impacts of the pandemic on the tourist guides as one of the hardest hit professions. Measures for entrepreneurs in general and specific measures for tourist guides are examined. Desirability of support measures is discussed and creative examples of best practice provided. |
| Keywords: | tourist guides; coronavirus; COVID-19; economic measures; economic help |
| JEL: | L83 |
| Date: | 2020–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102382&r=all |