{"id":12515,"date":"2023-11-15T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/?p=12515"},"modified":"2024-09-02T17:25:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T09:25:43","slug":"driving-tourism-demand-by-diversifying-the-sectors-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/driving-tourism-demand-by-diversifying-the-sectors-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving tourism demand by diversifying the sector\u2019s offer"},"content":{"rendered":"\u4e2d\u6587\u7248\u672c \/ Chinese version<\/span>\n\n\n\n
Tourism product diversification works as a way to increase visitor volume, and Macao is a good example, says fresh study involving IFTM scholar<\/em><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New research drawing on Macao\u2019s experience suggests offer diversification in the tourism sector can drive consumer demand and draw in visitors from further afield, including from source markets that have less familiarity with your core product. The research, involving a scholar from IFTM, used sectoral-level data on capital formation, employment, and value created, as indicators of diversification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work suggested a positive relationship in Macao between sectoral diversification and level of demand for tourism services. Such diversification \u201chas a measurable impact on tourism demand,\u201d wrote the authors. Diversifications to industry structure \u201ccontribute positively to tourism development,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was published in the May-June issue of the International Journal of Tourism Research. The paper was titled \u201cDoes diversification drive tourism demand? A structural change perspective: Evidence from a casino tourism destination\u201d. It was produced by IFTM scholar Dr. Joey Sou Pek U, in partnership with the University of Macau\u2019s Dr. Ricardo Siu Chi Sen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two scholars said that to ensure sustainable tourism development, policy should focus on market incentives able to promote industry participation in the diversification process. \u201cEspecially for tourism-dependent economies, policy intervention is critical in directing industry development with content tailored to the economies\u2019 specific contextual settings,\u201d they stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sou and Dr. Siu argued that a successful tourism diversification strategy required \u201ccoherent, multi-sectoral coordination\u201d involving industry operators, government, and the local community, to find the right product balance for the destination. \u201cPractical strategies for developing a competitive tourism destination should be integrated into a larger project aimed at improving the tourism product structure at both the macro and micro levels,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macao as an example<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For their study, Dr. Sou and Dr. Siu used official data on visitor arrivals to Macao from 23 Mainland China provinces and municipalities, as well as from Hong Kong, for a period covering 2011 to 2019. That information was cross-referenced against data on Macao\u2019s tourism price index, as well as on capital formation, employment, and value addition of tourism-related sectors, using a mathematical model tailored for the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results indicated that \u201ca more balanced capital structure in the tourism industry can improve tourism growth,\u201d wrote the scholars. \u201cThis finding, in particular, supports the Macao Government’s advocacy for shifting from the traditional VIP gaming sector toward mass-gaming and non-gaming tourism markets, where demand is more resilient and less susceptible to regulatory shocks, and thus more sustainable,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research findings highlighted that \u2018external shocks\u2019 could contribute to modifying the structure of the tourism industry in a given destination. A particular external shock alluded to in the work was an anti-corruption initiative of the Chinese Central Government. It had as a side-effect a \u201cnotable impact\u201d on Macao’s tourism demand, especially between the third quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the immediate adverse impact on tourism demand, the shock served as an indirect catalyst for a more balanced\u201d structure in the local tourism sector, boosting its long-term sustainability, suggested the authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sou and Dr. Siu pointed out in their research that, in Macao\u2019s case, the overall incentive of the market for the industry to engage in promotion of tourism diversification was \u201climited\u201d, due to the \u201clucrative returns\u201d generated by the dominant gaming sector. \u201cTherefore, radical government intervention is necessary to redirect development toward a more sustainable path,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of such action, according to the scholars, was the most recent revision of the city\u2019s gaming laws in 2022. The Macao Government put forward a \u201cnumber of radical measures to promote the healthy development of the industry\u201d, including mandating that operators increase investments in non-gaming sectors. The authorities also focused on \u201cstrengthening regulations on the governance structure of casinos\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper highlighted however that the efficacy of the diversification-demand dynamic was contingent on multiple factors. They included, for instance, place-of-origin of visitors and their familiarity with the tourism destination\u2019s products. Source markets \u201cless saturated\u201d, that included a bigger addressable number of potential first-time visitors, would be able to supply customers more \u201ceasily enticed by the novel experience offered in the destination,\u201d Dr. Sou and Dr. Siu wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

MORE INFO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>
The researchers<\/div>\n

Dr. Joey Sou Pek U is an Assistant Professor at IFTM. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Macau. Dr. Sou teaches courses related to tourism economics and financial management. Her research interests include tourism demand analysis, tourism economics, and development economics.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ricardo Siu Chi Sen is an Associate Professor in business economics at the University of Macau\u2019s Faculty of Business Administration. He has a PhD in Economics from Renmin University of China, in Beijing. His research interests include institutional economics, gaming and tourism, the Macao economy, and China\u2019s financial markets.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The paper<\/div>\n

Joey Pek-U Sou and Ricardo Chi Sen Siu: \u201cDoes diversification drive tourism demand? A structural change perspective: Evidence from a casino tourism destination\u201d, International Journal of Tourism Research, Volume 25, Issue 3, 2023, pages 293\u2013304.
https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/jtr.2566<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Editor: Research Corner | A partnership between Macau Business and IFTM<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tourism product diversification works as a way to increase visitor volume, and Macao is a good example, says fresh study involving IFTM scholar New research drawing on Macao\u2019s experience suggests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":12517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[185,2073,2991,413,3235,400,2727,560,2992,402,3234,3233],"class_list":["post-12515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge","tag-hospitality","tag-iftm","tag-joey-sou","tag-joey-sou-pek-u","tag-journal-of-tourism-research","tag-macao","tag-macao-institute-for-tourism-studies","tag-research","tag-sou-pek-u","tag-tourism","tag-tourism-demand","tag-tourism-product-diversification"],"views":347,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12515"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12523,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12515\/revisions\/12523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}