International Handbook on the Economics of Tourism

Book excerpt: Tourism economics is a rapidly expanding field of research and interest in the subject has been growing steadily over the past decade. As a field of study it is one of the small band of areas, such as energy and transport economics, that draws on, and applies, developments in general economics. This highly accessible and comprehensive Handbook presents a cutting edge discussion of the state of tourism economics and its likely directions in future research. Leading researchers in the field explore a wide range of topics including: demand and forecasting, supply, transport, taxation and infrastructure, evaluation and application for policy-making. Each chapter includes a discussion of its relevance and importance to the tourism economics literature, an overview of its main contributions and themes, a critical evaluation of existing literature and an outline of issues for further conceptual and applied research. Larry Dwyer and Peter Forsyth have assembled a fascinating Handbook that will be an invaluable and much welcomed reference book for tourism economics scholars and researchers at all levels of academe. General economics scholars will also find much to engage them within the book.