Tyrrell discusses ‘value tourism’ for the public good

Dr. Timothy Tyrrell, director of the Megapolitan Tourism Research Center in Arizona State University's College of Public Programs, spoke about "value tourism" to 150 academics, civic leaders and tourism professionals from around the world at the Civic Tourism II conference on Oct. 16 in Pawtucket, R.I.

Tyrrell's presentation introduced the concept of "value tourism" as an approach to measuring the contribution of tourism for the public good. It is not currently used by the tourism industry to quantify economic impacts.

This approach, based on the concept of "value in use," offers an important alternative to the "value in exchange" approach that dominates the measurement of the economic impacts of tourism through such measures as tourism-generated wages, profits and tax revenues. These measures reflect only the aggregate income generated by tourism.

"The ‘value tourism' approach instead focuses on measuring how tourism and the tourism industry actually meet human needs," Tyrrell said. "It can quantify impacts on the quality of life for community residents, quality of travel experiences for tourists, and importance of return on investment for business owners. As such, this alternative approach is more relevant to assessing the components and distributional impacts of tourism on community development."

The basis of civic tourism is to "reframe" tourism's purpose from an end to a means; that is, from an economic goal to a tool that can help members of the public enhance what they love about their region. The conference addressed the integration of a community's culture, character, ecology, history and commerce into a "whole-place" strategy.

Dr. Tyrrell earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has been studying the economics of tourism for 30 years. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Travel and Tourism Research Association and the Leadership Council of International Association of Tourism Economists. He is a member of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism and recently was nominated to the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.

The Megapolitan Tourism Research Center is devoted to studying the role of tourism in community development in order to strengthen its contribution to viable economic, social and environmental systems, especially in megapolitan regions around the world. The center is part of the School of Community Resources & Development, located in the College of Public Programs at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus. For information, visit: http://mtrc.asu.edu/portal.

SOURCE:

Tim Tyrrell, timt@asu.edu
(602) 496-0156
Professor, School of Community Resources and Development
Director, Megapolitan Tourism Research Center