Review of Regional Research - Call for Papers - Special Issue: Theoretical and empirical analysis of regional tourism flows and policy measures

Tourism flows have developed unevenly in the individual regions. Before the pandemic, urban tourism was booming. The deregulation of the aviation market, the rise of low-cost airlines and investments in infrastructure have made many new, remote destinations more accessible and increased the number of short-term trips. At the same time, Airbnb provides access to affordable accommodation. During the pandemic, remote and rural regions experienced a temporary increase. After the pandemic, leisure tourism and travelling to visit friends has fully recovered, while business travel is lagging behind. Meanwhile, many cities have introduced regulations on Airbnb and Uber and city taxes or entrance fees are increasing. Tourism contributes significantly to carbon emissions through air travel. At the same time, climate change will affect different tourist destinations differently. The availability of new and big data (Airdna data), regional data and classifications (Fadic et al., 2019) opens up new opportunities, especially in the field of quantitative regional tourism research, where for instance established regional theories can be tested on often more fine-tuned and less limited information.

Other methods that are suitable for regional analyses of tourism policy measures are spatial econometric models, GIS methods, as well as the evaluation of natural experiments or policy changes using the difference-in-differences approach or synthetic control function approach.

This call for papers in the Review of Regional Research focuses on the use of regional tourism data to test regional theories. Suggested topics include:

• Regional tourism and economic development; Tourism development in cities; Spatial econometric modelling of regional tourist flows; regional externalities and spillovers of tourism activities.
• Impacts of investments in infrastructure (including transportation) on tourism and travel.
• Sharing economy: Airbnb housing market in tourism destinations; Impact of local regulations on Airbnb; Impact of Airbnb on the hotel market.
• Policy, regional planning and governance; Smart and climate neutral cities and destinations and tourism.
• Impact of changing climate (heat waves, floods, sea level rise, fires, geological disasters etc.) and seasonal weather patterns on tourist destinations; impact of disasters, extreme weather events on tourism; Adaptation strategies of destinations and tourism businesses to mitigate climate change. 
• Behaviour and performance of tourism enterprises within their spatial context.
• Modelling the digital footprint of tourists at the site and destination level.

We welcome submissions that combine regional tourism data with tourism economics and management methods and theories. Examples of tourism sectors include accommodation, travel agencies, tour operators, transport, restaurants and cultural attractions in destinations, and the individual tourist. This list contains examples only. We also welcome topics in related areas. However, the relevance to regional science must be clear. Studies using qualitative research methods are also welcome, but a theoretical contribution to regional economics and regional management is expected.

Submission and review procedures

The following submission and review procedures apply to the special issue:

• Authors should submit an extended abstract (up to 2000 words excluding references) directly to the guest editors by email (martin.falk@usn.no (this opens in a new tab); oksana.tokarchuk@unitn.it (this opens in a new tab); luis.moreno@ua.es (this opens in a new tab)).
• Abstracts must include the following: Introduction including purpose and contribution to the field, theoretical background, methods and data used, and expected results and reference list with a minimum of five references.
• Authors of accepted abstracts are invited to submit full papers.
• For accepted abstracts, a presentation at the workshop “Tourists as Consumers, Visitors, Travelers” at the University of Alicante (2024, 6-8 November) is strongly recommended. This workshop is co-organised by the Economic Dynamics Research Group (GIDE) of the Universidad de la República.
• Full papers must be submitted online via the publication system: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jfre (this opens in a new tab)
• Make sure to select the Special Issue “Theoretical and empirical analysis of regional tourism flows and policy measures” for your submission.
• All submitted papers will undergo a double blind review process.
• Based on the reviewers' recommendations, the guest editors and the editor-in-chief decide whether a particular paper should be accepted, revised and resubmitted or not published.

Submission of the abstract implies that the work described has not yet been published, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, and by the relevant authorities - tacit or explicit - at the institute where the work was carried out.

Deadlines:

• Submission of abstracts: by 31 July 2024 (to the Guest Editors, see above)
• The decision on abstract submission will be announced on 31 August 2024.
• Presentation of accepted submissions at the CVTS workshop, 6-8 November 2024 in Alicante (if possible).
• Submission of full papers: by 30 November 2024 at the latest.First reviews: January 2025.

Guest Editors:

Martin Falk, University of South-Eastern Norway

Oksana Tokarchuk, University of Trento, Italy

Luis Moreno-Izquierdo, Universidad de Alicante, Spain

Relevant literature:

Bernardo, V., Fageda, X., & Teixidó, J. (2024). Flight ticket taxes in Europe: Environmental and economic impact. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 179, 103892.

Brandano, M. G., & Crociata, A. (2023). Cohesion Policy, tourism and culture in Italy: a regional policy evaluation. Regional Studies, 57(4), 763-779.

De Siano, R., & Canale, R. R. (2022). Controversial effects of tourism on economic growth: A spatial analysis on Italian provincial data. Land Use Policy, 117, 106081

Doerr, L., Dorn, F., Gaebler, S., & Potrafke, N. (2020). How new airport infrastructure promotes tourism: evidence from a synthetic control approach in German regions. Regional Studies, 54(10), 1402-1412.

Fadic, M., Garcilazo, J. E., Monroy, A. M., & Veneri, P. (2019). Classifying small (TL3) regions based on metropolitan population, low density and remoteness.

Kim, Y. R., Williams, A. M., Park, S., & Chen, J. L. (2021). Spatial spillovers of agglomeration economies and productivity in the tourism industry: The case of the UK. Tourism management, 82, 104201

Lenzen, M., Sun, Y. Y., Faturay, F., Ting, Y. P., Geschke, A., & Malik, A. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature climate change, 8(6), 522-528.

Neger, C., León-Cruz, J. F., & Gössling, S. (2024). The tourism fire exposure index for the European Union. Tourism Management, 103, 104901.

Panzera, E., de Graaff, T., & de Groot, H. L. (2021). European cultural heritage and tourism flows: The magnetic role of superstar World Heritage Sites. Papers in Regional Science, 100(1), 101-123.

Ren, X., Zeng, G., Dong, K., & Wang, K. (2023). How does high-speed rail affect tourism development? The case of the Sichuan-Chongqing Economic Circle. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 169, 103588.

Romão, J. (2020). Tourism, smart specialisation, growth, and resilience. Annals of Tourism Research, 84, 102995.

Vera Rebollo, J. F., & Ivars Baidal, J. A. (2009). Spread of low-cost carriers: tourism and regional policy effects in Spain. Regional Studies, 43(4), 559-570.

Wani, M. D., Dada, Z. A., & Shah, S. A. (2023). To utilize structural equation modelling to investigate the impact of cross-border tourism on regional cooperation: The mediating effect of community support. Review of Regional Studies, 53(1), 80-99.

Yang, Y., & Wong, K. K. (2012). A spatial econometric approach to model spillover effects in tourism flows. Journal of Travel Research, 51(6), 768-778.

Yang, Y., Xue, L., & Jones, T. E. (2019). Tourism-enhancing effect of World Heritage Sites: Panacea or placebo? A meta-analysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 29-41.

Zhang, J., Madsen, B., & Jensen-Butler, C. (2007). Regional economic impacts of tourism: The case of Denmark. Regional Studies, 41(6), 839-854.