A note on the contribution of valuation economics in tourism

Abstract

Valuation economics is a field which promises a wide range of applications for tourism. However, the new born nature of tourism economics has not yet unveiled the vast opportunities for tourist policy information and the pricing information embedded therein. This paper aims to briefly conceptualize these opportunities with examples on the methods and relevant examples of literature and pave the way towards their accommodation in the emerging tourism economics field. Market failure occurrences in tourism drive the need for total economic value estimation for a wide array of tourist goods through the employment of stated preference techniques and revealed preference techniques. Tourism can also benefit from the benefit transfer approach initially conceptualized in environmental economics which have contributed to a great development and expansion of these methods.