Antonio Fernández-Morales

DECOMPOSING SEASONAL CONCENTRATION

Abstract The main purpose of this article is to analyze seasonal concentration in tourism demand series in three Spanish Mediterranean destinations by means of the Gini index, decomposing it into inequality between and within seasons. This method is applied to the monthly series of hotel nights, covering the period 1980–2001. The results suggest that the “between” seasons component is the most significant one. In the most mature destination this component is stabilized around 90% of the annual Gini index. In contrast, in the destination with the smallest Gini index, which offers a more diversified tourism product, the between component only rises to the 70% and is still decreasing.

Cultural tourism as tourist segment for reducing seasonality in a coastal area: the case study of Andalusia

The present paper analyses the seasonal concentration on the Andalusian coastline, a Spanish Mediterranean coastal destination characterised by its high seasonality in the summer months. The analyses were conducted by separating tourists according to their main travel motivation, and distinguishing sun and sand tourists from cultural and other segments tourists, based on their place of origin and on the coast they visited. The quantitative tools applied included the additive decomposition of the Gini index and the calculation of the relative marginal effects. The proposed methodology serves as a useful tool for tourism managers and administrators interested in reducing seasonality, since it facilitates the identification of tourists segments that can effectively contribute to the reduction of seasonal concentration. Among the main results for the studied area, it was found that given the heterogeneity of the groups of tourists (both domestic and foreign), it was much more effective to separate tourist segments by their main travel motivation. The cultural segment was the most favourable for deseasonalisation, especially within domestic tourists, since with foreigners the same deseasonalising effect was not present in all the coasts analysed.

The contribution of social tourism to sustainable tourism: a case study of seasonally adjusted programmes in Spain

ABSTRACT Recent policy from the European Union has attempted to justify social tourism initiatives on the basis that they lead to a more sustainable tourism industry. However, the majority of latest research in the field has been focused on the benefits for participants, with the addition of some evidence on the economic impacts of such programmes on destinations, which have pointed towards sustainability outcomes including: a longer tourism season, more even spread of demand, and longer periods of employment for tourism workers. Yet there is a lack of direct evidence linking such programme to these outcomes. This paper aimed to explore this important disconnect between policy assumptions and evidence-based outcomes through an analysis of the deseasonalising effects of the Spanish social tourism programme for older people. The research found that this programme does have an effect on the seasonal nature of employment and economic activity in most regions studied, but that the huge volume of demand from international tourists in the high seasons masks the quantitative effects in the regions with the highest seasonal concentration of international tourists. Recommendations for policy and practice in sustainable tourism are made that are transferable to many countries and regions that adopt social tourism programmes.

Seasonal Concentration Decomposition of Cruise Tourism Demand in Southern Europe

This article analyzes cruise tourism seasonality in Southern Europe, assessing the seasonal concentration levels by means of the Gini index. The additive decomposition of this index is used to evaluate the contribution of each port to the global seasonal concentration in the regions where they are located. It also allows the estimation of marginal relative effects to identify the most propitious ports for reducing seasonality within the Mediterranean regions. The analysis is complemented by estimating the seasonal patterns of each port. Given the significant heterogeneity revealed in the regions analyzed, a bootstrapped bagged clustering is applied to classify the ports into homogeneous groups according to their seasonal patterns. The techniques used form a methodological framework that serves as a control and monitoring tool for measuring seasonal concentration levels in cruise tourism, allowing for policies against seasonality to be tailored for this segment.

New trends in sectoral employment in Spanish regions

This paper focuses on the description and analysis of the distribution of sectoral employment over regions in Spain from 1985 to 1989, using a combination of shift-share analysis and location elasticities. We find that new tendencies have appeared in the evolution of Spanish employment, which have been maintained for the whole period 1985–89. We also find that the growth in Spanish employment is located in the Mediterranean area, and is closely related to the Services sector (especially Tourism) and to a modern and productive Agriculture, which is very different from that of the rest of Spain.