Eveline van Leeuwen

Spatial Consumer Behaviour in Small and Medium-sized Towns

Van Leeuwen E. S. and Rietveld P. Spatial consumer behaviour in small and medium-sized towns, Regional Studies. Small and medium-sized towns are often recognized as important components of the rural economy. This paper focuses on the current function of small and medium-sized towns in providing retail services to local households in five European countries. Furthermore, it analyses the spatial shopping behaviour of these households. It appears that towns are still important places for shopping: more than half of the purchases of households living in town or the direct hinterland are bought in town. Van Leeuwen E. S. et Rietveld P. Le comportement géographique du consommateur dans les villes petites et moyennes, Regional Studies. Les villes petites et moyennes sont souvent considérées comme d’importants rouages de l’économie rurale. Cet article porte sur la fonction actuelle des villes petites et moyennes comme pourvoyeuses du commerce de detail aux ménages locaux dans cinq pays européens. Qui plus est, on analyse le comportement commercial géographique de ces ménages. Il semble que les villes sont toujours d’importants endroits où on fait les courses: plus de la moitié des achats des ménages qui habitent les villes ou l’arrière-pays immédiat se font dans les villes. Comportement commercial Villes Analyse géographique Choix discret Faire les courses au dehors de la ville Van Leeuwen E. S. und Rietveld P. Räumliches Verbraucherverhalten in kleinen und mittelgroßen Städten, Regional Studies. Kleine und mittelgroße Städte werden oft als wichtige Komponenten der Wirtschaft im ländlichen Raum anerkannt. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die momentane Funktion von kleinen und mittelgroßen Städten hinsichtlich des Anbietens von Einzelhandelsdiensten für lokale Haushalte in fünf europäischen Ländern. Darüber hinaus wird das räumliche Einkaufsverhalten dieser Haushalte analysiert. Es hat den Anschein, dass es sich bei den Städten nach wie vor um wichtige Einkaufsorte handelt: Mehr als die Hälfte der Einkäufe von Haushalten, die in der Stadt oder im unmittelbaren Hinterland leben, werden in der Stadt getätigt. Einkaufsverhalten Städte Raumanalyse Discrete Choice Auswärts einkaufen Van Leeuwen E. S. y Rietveld P. Comportamiento espacial de compra en ciudades pequeñas y medianas, Regional Studies. Con frecuencia se reconoce que las ciudades pequeñas y medianas son componentes importantes en la economía rural. En este artículo analizamos la función actual de las ciudades pequeñas y medianas de cinco países europeos en cuanto a sus servicios minoristas a hogares locales. Asimismo analizamos el comportamiento espacial de compra en estos hogares. Parece ser que este tipo de ciudades todavía son centros importantes de compra: más de la mitad de las compras de personas que viven en ciudades o directamente en el interior se hacen en las ciudades. Comportamiento de compra Municipios Análisis espacial Elección discreta Compras fuera del centro

A Meta-analytic Comparison of Regional Output Multipliers at Different Spatial Levels: Economic Impacts of Tourism

On a local (town) scale, tourism is more and more being regarded as a possible instrument to change the future. With decreasing employment in agriculture, tourism is often seen as a new activity in the rural economy, generating employment and income and at the same time embracing local tradition and (landscape) qualities. Over the last decades, tourism has become a major activity in our society and an increasingly important sector in terms of economic development (Giaoutzi and Nijkamp 2006). Higher incomes and a greater amount of leisure time, together with improved transport systems have resulted in a growing flow of tourists, travelling more frequently and over longer distances. According to Pearce (1981), the socio-economic effects of tourism are very diverse. When focusing on small and medium-sized towns, important effects are regional development, diversification of the economy and employment opportunities. Because tourism also addresses more rural and peripheral areas, it allows the spread of economic activities more evenly over a region. In the peripheral areas, tourism can be helpful in improving the multifunctionality of the local area, leading to more robust economic development. Finally, as tourism is a rather labour-intensive sector, also requiring unskilled labour, it can be a good employment opportunity for small and mediumsized towns. This has recently prompted much policy and research interest in the benefits of tourism for regional income and employment. Policy makers in the government need to know the magnitude of the impact of international and domestic tourist expenditures on the economy in order to make decisions about budget allocations for the development of tourist facilities (Freeman and Sultan 1999). But there is a great deal of variation, and the question emerges whether such variations can be ascribed to systematic factors.

Tourist Loyalty and Urban E-Services: A Comparison of Behavioral Impacts in Leipzig and Amsterdam

Abstract E-services are increasingly important communication tools for tourism providers but not all tourists prefer the same type of services. This work compares the preferences for e-services according to the characteristics of tourists and the implications on their expenditures during travel to the cities of Amsterdam and Leipzig. In addition, the determinants of satisfaction and loyalty according to the characteristics and motivations of the visitors in these cities are analyzed. Despite some important common tendencies, most of the relations under analysis in both structural models did not provide identical results for these two cities, emphasizing the heterogeneity of tourism destinations.

Describing the Relationships between Tourist Satisfaction and Destination Loyalty in a Segmented and Digitalized Market

As a result of advances in ICT services, transportation and local development, among others, more destinations are competing to attract both national and international visitors. Globalization requires destinations to increase their competitiveness or risk losing out on tourist revenues. While the research into destination competitiveness and tourist loyalty is well founded, recent progress in e-services has opened up new opportunities for informing and attracting visitors. This paper examines the potential effects of e-services in an inclusive model of destination loyalty to the city of Leipzig in Germany. The results of the path analysis indicate possibilities for e-services to increase both satisfaction and loyalty, especially with regard to various tourist subgroups.

A systemic perspective on multi-stakeholder sustainable development strategies

This study attempts to formulate a conceptual and operational model that encapsulates the highlights of scientific sustainability research and that identifies the critical success factors of sustainable development from the perspective of different stakeholder groups. It seeks to identify viable consensus pathways in sustainable development strategies that are marked by conflicts among different stakeholders. To do so, this study focuses on three case studies that are part of the EU project SMILE, its way of sustainability thinking, and its stakeholders to encapsulate different sustainability approaches and different needs for sustainable development. To identify critical success/failure factors in the search for sustainable development at the interface of economic, environmental, and social factors, we use interview results, first, to compose case study–specific pentagon models. These models offer a systematic framework for sustainability and, in general, distinguish between five key forces, that is, software (e.g., knowledge), hardware (e.g., research facilities), finware (e.g., financial support), ecoware (e.g., environmental amenities), and orgware (e.g., institutional support systems). In a second step, we use both the questionnaire results and a multi-criteria spider approach to quantify the relative importance of the pentagon factors for each stakeholder group. This way we are able to develop stakeholder-specific pentagon models. Although there are many applications of the basic pentagon model in the sustainability literature, our attempt can be seen as the first one that combines cases at different time and spatial scales to generalize the interfaces between scientific research and policy arenas.

Evaluation of cyber-tools in cultural tourism

Nowadays, e-services technology has demonstrated a pervasive character in the modern tourism industry. E-services implemented by the tourism industry, e.g., e-tourism, appeared to produce significant cost reductions and market efficiencies. Since online services are continuously accessible, time and geographic differences do not hinder the interaction between tourism service providers and their customers anymore. By using ICTs, (small) tourism organisations can enlarge their markets or operate in niche markets by serving a specific group of customers. The increased use of ICTs has thus resulted in a significant change in the structure of the tourism industry. The present paper aims to provide an overview of experiences and findings that address the socioeconomic impacts of e-services for the (cultural) tourist industry, on the basis of a systematic impact analysis. We use a SWOT approach to organise a systematic evaluation of various e-services effects, which are specifically differentiated for e-services and e-tourism (including cultural heritage) of socioeconomic importance. The main sources to identify the strengths and weaknesses of e-services are the academic and management literature that describes the experience in practice of various stakeholders.

Microsimulation of Rural Households

Microsimulation (MSM) is a technique that aims at modelling the likely behaviour of individual persons, households, or individual firms. In these models, agents represent members of a population for the purpose of studying how individual (i.e. micro-) behaviour generates aggregate (i.e. macro-) regularities from the bottom-up (e.g. Epstein, Complexity 4: 41–60, 1999). This results in a natural instrument to anticipate trends in the environment by means of monitoring and early warning, as well as to predict and value the short-term and long-term consequences of implementing certain policy measures (Saarloos, A Framework for a Multi-Agent Planning Support System, PhD thesis, Eindhoven University Press Facilities, Eindhoven, 2006). The simulations can be helpful in showing (a bandwidth of) spatial dynamics, especially if linked to geographical information systems. In this chapter, the development of the spatial MSM model SIMtown will be described. This model simulates the total population of Nunspeet and Oudewater, including a large number of household characteristics, several of which are relevant to predict the shopping behaviour. In the second part of the chapter, the simulated micropopulation will be used to show household characteristics which were previously not available and which are useful for local policy makers.

Microsimulation and interregional input–output modelling as tools for multi-level policy analysis

This article addresses the differentiated impacts of various sectors and branches in a multi-layer spatial system. The key question is whether in an interdependent spatial system – comprising a local, regional and national component – one or more core industries or sectors can be identified that may act as strategic handles for long-range sustainable development of a local economy. As a case study, the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland is used. In this area, policy makers – at different administrative levels – strongly emphasize the need for new sustainable economic development. We use a novel combination of stakeholder analysis (with household questionnaires) and multi-level interregional input–output analysis to identify which critical local key sectors are acting as carriers for local sustainability. The methodological vehicle employed in our study is based on microsimulation, as a tool to cope with limited data availability. This paper demonstrates how, even for small areas such as the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, survey information combined with secondary data and existing input–output tables can be integrated into a useful policy toolbox for local sustainable development in a broader regional-national context.

Foresights, Scenarios, and Sustainable Development: A Pluriformity Perspective

‘If … then …’ is a conditional proposition that describes precisely a logical causal statement about possible future events. Obtaining due insight into an uncertain future has been a permanent source of rational speculation in the history of mankind. In the Hellenistic period, the foundation for systematic foresight analysis was already laid by the Oracle of Delphi which – in contrast to popular wisdom – was not based on the incoherent utterances of an ancient intoxicated goddess but on evidence-based information collected by her through listening to the subordinates of any political figure who wanted to pick up a useful hint on how to face the future. The medieval and premodern literature was also full of seemingly rational attempts to predict uncertain future events, such as catastrophes or wars. The aim to acquire political power was often an inspiration for obtaining strategic future information on unknown territories, as is clearly reflected in the support of leading dynasties in European countries for the great voyages of discovery from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.

Adapting Urban Land Use in a Time of Climate Change; Optimising Future Land-Use Patterns to Decrease Flood Risks

It is increasingly acknowledged that a careful planning of urban areas is needed to cope with the negative effects of future climate changes. The planning process calls for finding a balance between various ecosystem services, such as, water and air purification, the regulation of rainfall, the preservation of natural and cultural values, increased flood risk, while at the same time providing ample space for societal demands in relation to residences, employment and recreation. In this paper we focus on the possibilities of adapting land in urban areas in such a way that possible negative effects of climate change, in particular flooding, are reduced as much as possible. We will illustrate this with a case-study in the Netherlands, using a GIS-based land-use simulation model in combination with a flood damage assessment module. This combination of tools is applied in a regional planning context to optimise land-use patterns taking into account flood risk and other water management issues.