ABSTRACT
The principal aims of this book have been to demonstrate the ways in which economic theories and methods can help to explain a wide range of issues in tourism, to provide a more explicit and advanced theoretical basis for the critical evaluation of tourism studies and to indicate the implications for their empirical investigation. Economic methodology has the ability to explain, predict and quantify tourism phenomena, as was illustrated in the previous chapters. The approach which has been used in the book to demonstrate the contribution which economic analysis can make in these areas was to start by considering tourism as though it were a simple, undifferentiated commodity supplied, without constraints or externalities, in an unspecified set of markets and then to introduce progressively further concepts into the analysis in order to provide a detailed explanation of the complex nature of tourism. Thus, initially tracing the literature on tourism demand, the discussion commenced by treating tourism as an aggregate product, considering the individual and then the social nature of tourism purchase decisionmaking. The subsequent examination of tourism supply first identified the different components of tourism products and the characteristics of the markets in which they are provided, before developing the analysis to examine the dynamic nature of markets and the strategic nature of the interrelationships of the firms operating within them. The advantages of examining tourism demand and supply within an international context were then demonstrated. Finally, the importance of the environment as an element of tourism supply, the issues of market failure and externalities and the possible case for related policy intervention were considered, reflecting current advances in environmental analysis. By proceeding in this way from the simple to the more complex, it was possible to introduce a large number of concepts and analytical approaches which can be used in tourism analysis. It is not possible for the coverage to be completely comprehensive and there are consequently some omissions, such as spatial theory and labour market theory. The lack of consideration of these areas in no way decries the important contributions to the study of tourism which have been based on them, for example by urban economists and geographers. Reinforcing the theme pursued throughout the book, the
aim of this concluding chapter is to identify the main contributions of economics to an improved understanding of tourism which have been made in the preceding chapters and to highlight some of the many issues requiring further research.
