Research note: Assessment index of international tourism hubs

Transcription

1 Tourism Economics, 2016, 22 (2), doi: /te Research note: Assessment index of international tourism hubs TONGQIAN ZOU School of Tourism Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China. FANG MENG School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. (Corresponding author.) HENGYUN LI School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. PEI ZHANG School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. YAQING REN School of Tourism Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China. An assessment index of international tourism hubs is developed based on a comprensive literature review. The index includes 49 indicators covering three primary functions: gathering and distributing; transferring; and management and service. The study surveyed a panel of 15 tourism experts and applied the analytical hierarchy process to determine the importance weight of each indicator in the assessment index. Data were transformed to have dimensionless quantities for assessment indicators. Strategic and managerial implications and suggestions are provided based on the results. Keywords: international tourism hub; assessment index; AHP analysis Given the importance of hubs, various international cities wish to establish themselves as international tourism hubs in addition to being tourism destinations so as to control regional tourism flows. However, an exact assessment index of This study was funded by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No: ).

2 Assessment index of international tourism hubs international tourism hubs has yet to be examined and evaluated. Three major functions of international tourism hubs are identified based on the extant literature on transportation hub functions and international tourism city characteristics: gathering and distributing; transferring; and management and service (Dennis, 1994; O Kelly and Miller, 1994; O Kelly, 1998; Lew and McKercher, 2002; Khadaroo and Seetanah, 2008; Lohmann et al, 2009). Transport infrastructure is a significant determinant of tourism inflows to a destination. Infrastructure improves the destination s accessibility and enhances the its strategic role within the broader region (Lew and McKercher, 2002; Khadaroo and Seetanah, 2008). Direct connection with spoke cities make hubs the ideal places to gather and distribute materials (O Kelly, 1998) and to receive, accommodate and process visitors (Lohmann et al, 2009). According to O Kelly and Miller (1994), a hub is located at the centre of a set of demand regions in order to minimize the sum of transport costs over a set of origin destination pairs. They (1994, p 32) define a hub as a major sorting or switching center in a many-to-many distribution system. The key idea is that the flow between a set of origin destination cities passes through one or more hubs en route to the final destination. Therefore, a hub has transfer functions within a wider network (Dennis, 1994; Lew and McKercher, 2002). Tourism hubs are rarely studied in comparison with transportation hubs. Singapore seeks to establish itself as an international tourism hub and uses its geographical advantage to try to become a primary transportation and tourism hub in Asia and the Pacific region. Lohmann et al (2009) find three reasons that mark Singapore and Dubai s success. First and geographically, both cities are centrally located, giving them the comparative advantage connecting the East and the West. Second, both governments have developed a coherent strategy through which the importance and role of the air transportation system have been clearly articulated via government investment and governance. Third, both cities have developed integrated and complex network systems through the complementary interaction of the attractions, transportation and accommodation sectors. Therefore, the management and service function is also a key component of establishing an international tourism hub. The aim of this paper is to establish an assessment index of international tourism hubs based on the three major functions of gathering and distributing, transferring, and management and service. In developing the assessment index, we hope to contribute to a broader understanding of international tourism hubs and destination competitiveness. 325 Methodology Assessment indicators for international tourism hubs The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the importance of each assessment indicator. The AHP, a structured technique for organizing and analysing complex decisions, is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods and has particular application in group decision making. Users of the AHP decompose their decision problem into a hierarchy of easily comprehended sub-problems. Once the hierarchy is built, the decision makers

3 326 TOURISM ECONOMICS systematically evaluate the various elements by comparison in the hierarchy. The AHP converts these evaluations to numerical values that can be processed and compared over the entire range of the problem, and finally a numerical weight is derived for each element in the hierarchy, allowing diverse elements to be compared to one another in a rational and consistent way. This study used YAAHP (Yet Another AHP) software and surveyed 15 tourism experts to determine the importance weight for each indicator. First, based on the extant literature, the assessment indicators for the international tourism hubs were developed. Second, to evaluate the validity and viability of the assessment index, a panel of 15 experts from tourism research institutes, a tourism administration (Beijing Tourism Development Committee) and an international tourism organization (World Tourism Cities Federation) were selected to answer the questionnaire, and multiple rounds of revisions and adjustments were made based on the experts feedback. The diversified organizations from which the experts were selected could influence or guide policy and planning development in city tourism in China and internationally. Third, the expert responses were input into the YAAHP software to determine the importance weight of each indicator in the international tourism hub assessment index. Finally, a three-level assessment index with a total of 49 indicators was developed to measure each function. Findings Gathering and distributing The gathering and distributing function refers to the tourism hub s capacity and ability to accommodate and distribute international tourists to other cities. Under the system of origin tourism hub destination, a large number of tourists gather at the tourism hub, and then move on to final destinations via the hub s transportation system. The gathering and distributing function was measured by two dimensions: passenger transport capacity between tourism hub and international cities and passenger transport capacity between tourism hub and domestic cities. The first employs indicators such as the passenger transport capacities of international aviation and international cruises and the second measures the passenger transport capacities of domestic aviation, railways, waterways and highways. The importance weight for each indicator on each level is presented in Table 1. Transferring The transferring function refers to the tourism hub s ability to move tourists/ passengers from one gathering and distributing platform to another within the same city for the next connecting journey. The internal transportation capacity of the tourism hub to transfer tourists to the next continuing journey is the key precondition for the success of tourists transferring activities. From the perspective of the travel route, the tourism hub is the must-pass in the transfer of tourists to a large number of tourism destinations, and therefore represents an advanced stage of the transferring function. As city transportation systems become more complicated, it is difficult to evaluate the transferring function

4 Assessment index of international tourism hubs 327 Table 1. Indicators and importance weights of the gathering and distributing function. First-level indicator Second-level indicator Third-level indicator Code Passenger transport capacity Passenger capacity of Number of international cities connected via direct flights, E1 (to and from international international aviation, Number of international flights landing/taking off per year, E2 cities), Passenger arrivals of international flight (10,000 per year), E3 Passenger capacity of international Number of international cruises received per year, E4 navigation, Number of international cruise tourists received per year, E5 Passenger transport capacity Passenger capacity of domestic Number of cities connected via domestic flights, E6 (to and from domestic cities), aviation, Number of domestic flights landing/taking off per year, E Passenger arrivals on domestic flights (10,000 per year), E8 Passenger capacity of domestic Railway passenger traffic volume (10,000), E9 railway, Railway passenger turnover volume (million people km), E10 Passenger capacity of domestic Waterway passenger traffic volume (10,000), E11 navigation, Waterway passenger turnover volume (million people km), E12 Passenger capacity of domestic Highway passenger traffic volume (10,000), E13 highway, Highway passenger turnover volume (million people km), E14

5 328 TOURISM ECONOMICS Table 2. Indicators and importance weights of transferring function. First-level indicators Second-level indicators Third-level indicators Code Efficiency of transit, Hub airport second airport, Hub airport s connectivity to second airport, E15 Time needed for transit via public transportation (minutes), E16 Time needed for transit by taxi (minutes), E17 Hub airport railway station, Hub airport s connectivity to railway station, E18 Time needed for transit via public transportation (minutes), E19 Time needed for transit by taxi (minutes), E20 Hub airport cruise/ferry terminal, Hub airport s connectivity to cruise/ferry terminal, E21 Time needed for transit via public transportation (minutes), E22 Time needed for transit by taxi (minutes), E23 Hub airport coach station, Coach service at airport (yes/no), E24 Number of coach routes at airport, E25 Number of daily coach departures at airport, E26 Cost of transit, Hub airport second airport, Cost of taking taxi, E27 Cost of taking public transportation, E28 Hub airport railway station, Cost of taking taxi, E29 Cost of taking public transportation, E30 Hub airport cruise terminal, Cost of taking taxi, E31 Cost of taking public transportation, E32 Transit comfort, Transferring passage, Tourist satisfaction on airport facilities and services, E33 Transferring vehicle, Number of taxis per 10,000 people, E34 Number of buses per 10,000 people, E35 Length of operation rails per 10,000 people, E36

6 Assessment index of international tourism hubs by considering only the physical distance between two transportation hubs. In this study, three dimensions are used to measure the transferring function: transferring efficiency; transferring cost; and transferring comfort/quality. The importance weight for each indicator on each level is presented in Table 2. Management and service The management and service function refers to the ancillary services that accompany the entire process of tourists gathering, distributing and transferring, such as the visa service during the gathering stage, the luggage service during the transferring stage and the tourism attraction/itinerary service during the distributing process. Tourists usually choose to transfer in places that have favoured transferring policies and corresponding ancillary services. To be successful, tourism hubs need to provide preferential tourism policies and services beyond the advantageous location and transportation. In this study, two dimensions are used to measure the management and service function: government management and service function. The importance weight of each indicator on three levels of management and service function is presented in Table Conclusion This study is an initial attempt to define an international tourism hub and distinguish it from a transportation hub. The transportation hub function alone is not sufficient to develop a tourism hub; functions such as government policy and supportive tourism services should be developed. The formation of tourism hubs needs the complementary interaction of transportation and local government as well as the tourism and accommodation sectors. On this basis, three functions of the international tourism hub gathering and distributing, transferring, and management and service were identified. Most importantly, the study contributes to the literature by developing an assessment index of international tourism hubs. The limitation of this study is that the assessment index is based on a literature review and evaluated by a panel of 15 tourism experts. Future research should enhance the validity by including a more rigorous procedure with a larger number of panel experts and tourists. References Dennis, N. (1994), Airline hub operations in Europe, Journal of Transport Geography, Vol 2, No 4, pp Khadaroo, J., and Seetanah, B. (2008), The role of transport infrastructure in international tourism development: a gravity model approach, Tourism Management, Vol 29, No 5, pp Lew, A.A., and McKercher, B. (2002), Trip destinations, gateways and itineraries: the example of Hong Kong, Tourism Management, Vol 23, No 6, pp Lohmann, G., Albers, S., Koch, B., and Pavlovich, K. (2009), From hub to tourist destination an explorative study of Singapore and Dubai s aviation-based transformation, Journal of Air Transport Management, Vol 15, No 5, pp O Kelly, M.E. (1998), A geographer s analysis of hub-and-spoke networks, Journal of transport Geography, Vol 6, No 3, pp O Kelly, M.E., and Miller, H.J. (1994), The hub network design problem: a review and synthesis, Journal of Transport Geography, Vol 2, No 1, pp

7 330 TOURISM ECONOMICS Table 3. Indicators and importance weights of management/service function. First-level indicators Second-level indicators Third-level indicators Code Government management, Favoured policies, Favoured visa policies, E37 Supporting/ancillary services, Visitor information desks at airport (yes/no), E38 Tourism routes/packages provided by airport (yes/no), E39 Tourism service, Airport, Airport business development, E40 Airport ground services for irregular/delayed flights, E41 Accommodation, Number of star hotels, E42 Travel agency, Number of travel agencies, E43 Number of inbound tourist arrivals received by travel agency, E44 Tourism resource, Number of tourist attractions, E45 Number of world s natural and cultural heritage sites, E46 Regional tourist distribution centre, Number of travel bus departure stations, E Number of tourism routes across province and city, E48 Number of daily departure of travel buses on tourism routes across E49 province and city,