B1746 - Tourism Economics

Learning outcomes

The course introduces the student to the specificities of the tourism sector, including the concept of tourism destination, and focuses on how tourism flows and their economic impact can be measured. Moreover, the course aims at investigating the literature on how tourism can trigger income, employment, and economic growth. More specifically, the student can critically evaluate the relationship between tourism specialization, development, and sustainability in an international context, to compare theoretical results with empirical evidence, this way developing autonomous ability in undertaking research in tourism economics.

Course contents

The course studies the impact of tourism on the economy, by highlighting the links with economic growth, development and the globalization. To reach this aim, the course is organised in two parts plus lab work, with a balance between theory and practice. The first part is an introduction to the issues of tourism organization and development, and its role within the economy; the second part analyses the relationship between tourism, growth and the environment, which pivots on the concept of sustainability. The laboratory tackles the research methoology and the analysis of data in the fields of tourism and economics.

 

First part - Tourism in the Economy

1. Monday September 18, 13-16: Tourism. Definitions and key concepts

2. Friday, September 22, 9.30-12.30: Tourism in the world.

3. Monday, September 25, 13-16: Tourism in national accounts

4. Friday, September 29, 9.30-12.30: The tourism destination (1)

5. Monday, October 2, 13-16: The tourism destination (2)

6. Monday, October 9, 13-16: The tourism destination (3)

7. Wednesday, October 11, 13-16:Tourism demand

8. Friday, October 13, 9.30-12.30: Tourism and the macroeconomy

9. Monday, October 16, 13-16: Tourism and development

10. Monday, October 23, 13-16: A final recap

 

Second part - Tourism, Growth and Sustainability

11. Wednesday, November 8, 9.30-12.30: Tourism and economic growth

12. Wednesday, November 15, 9.30-12-30: Tourism, growth, and social inclusion

13. Friday, November 17, 9.30-12.30: Public goods

14. Wednesday, November 29, 9.30-12-30: Externalities

15. Tuesday, December 5, 13-16: Taxation

16. Wednesday, December 6, 9.30-12.30: Sustainable tourism

17. Wednesday, Decmber 13, 9.30-12-30: Tourism and the global crises

 

Laboratory of tourism economics

The laboratory is scheduled extensively (one session every two weeks) in the whole first semester (I and II term).

Lab 1: Wednesday, September 27, 13-16: Research methods, bibliographic sources and economic databases;

Lab 2: Friday, October 6, 9.30-12.30: Select and download the data;

Lab 3: Friday, October 20, 9.30-12.30: Check and clean the data;

Lab 4: Friday, November 10, 9.30-12-30: An introduction to Stata;

Lab 5: Friday, December 1, 9.30-12.30: Statistical analysis with Stata;

Lab 6: Friday December 15, 9.30-12.30: Working with the data.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Guido Candela & Paolo Figini, The Economics of Tourism Destinations, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2012.

Lectures slides and other teaching material will be available in due time in the online repository

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, group discussions, and lab work.

Assessment methods

The exam is aimed at evaluating the skills and the critical abilities developed by the students as regards to: the analysis and interpretation of recent macroeconomic models and their application to tourism; the evaluation of the relationship between tourism specialisation and economic growth in an international context; the comparison of theoretical results with empirical evidence; the undertaking of empirical research in tourism macroeconomics, stemming from the collection of data, their interpretation and the ability to communicate the main results in a report.

The exam is composed of a written test (80% of the final mark), covering the topics of the two theoretical parts, and a practical test (20% of the final mark), covering the lab section. The exam has to be completed in the same date. It is not possible to bring books, personal notes or electronic devices in the exam.

The mark is out of 30 points, and the minimum required to pass the exam is 18 / 30. The grading scale for the exam is as follows:

18: pass (equivalent to E in the European scale)

19-21: sufficient (equivalent to D in the European scale)

22-24: fair (equivalent to C in the European scale)

25-27: good (equivalent to B in the European scale)

28-30: very good (equivalent to A in the European scale)

30 cum Laude (honors): excellent (equivalent to A+ in the European scale).

Registration for the exam is compulosry, and students have to register through AlmaEsami [https://almaesami.unibo.it/almaesami/welcome.htm] according to the general rules of the School of Economics and Management.

The exam will be offered through the online platform of the University (EOL - EsamiOnLine), accessible from one of the computer labs of the Rimini Campus.

For students attending lectures it is possibile to give the exam through three mid-term assessments:

The mid-term assessment for Part I (40% of the final mark) is scheduled at the end of the first term (first week of November 2023), it is one-hour long and is composed of a series of multiple choice tests and an open question.

The mid-term assessment for Part II (40% of the final mark) is scheduled at the end of the second term (January 2024), it is one-hour long and is composed of a series of multiple choice tests and an open question. Only students who pass the first mid-term assessment are admitted to the second mid-term assessment.

The test for the laboratory (20% of the final mark) is an on-going assessment with statistical / econometric analysis of some data and group discussion and presentation of the results.

For students failing the exam through mid-term assessments there will be two make-up exams throughout the year: one in February, one in September.

Teaching tools

Lectures are given in presence at Rimini Campus and students can attend in the classroom. Lectures will be streamed online, through Teams platform, ONLY in emergency circumstances.

The laboratory uses bibliographic sources, databases and statistical software (STATA) to analyse data.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Figini