Business Commons^™

Tourism Specialization And Economic Output In Small Islands, Robertico R. Croes

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose– This study aims to investigate growth differentials among small islands and the impact of tourism specialization on the growth and the economic performance of small islands.

Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on trade theory and uses data from a panel of small islands for 1995-2007. It applies panel regression and standard time series methods combined with a qualitative approach.

Findings– Small islands experienced stronger basic patterns of growth than many developed countries, especially where economies of scale are not an issue. The findings further suggest that tourism specialization is not harmful to growth, and, in lieu of technological gaps …

The Relevance Of Cultural Tourism As The Next Frontier For Small Island Destinations, Robertico R. Croes, Kelly J. Semrad

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this study is to apply the cultural tourism typology of McKercher and to estimate the economic relevance of cultural tourism to the context of a small island destination tourist market. Small island destinations may be confronted with environmental constraints that restrain the traditional small island tourism development model, which is based on sun, sand, and sea. The cultural tourism typology is used in order to determine whether the typology may be used to segment tourists thereby allowing researchers to determine the economic impact of different cultural tourist segments. This study draws attention to some of the foundational …

Authenticity In Tourism In Small Island Destinations: The Residents’ Perspective, Robertico Croes, Seung Hyun Lee, Eric D. Olson

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study explored the meaning of authenticity in the context of a small island destination from the residents' perspective, departing from the main stream literature which predominantly focuses on the demand side of the equation. Photo-elicitation was used to investigate the conception of authenticity. The finding from the focus group is that the notions of authenticity are unique, vast, and individualistic and that an encompassing definition of authenticity is difficult to concur. While the focus group provided clarity in terms of authenticity being embedded in the cultural lifestyle, an empirical study was conducted to further understand what cultural resources could …