ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF THEME PARK DEVELOPMENT ON THE HOST AREAS
CASE STUDY OF PORT AVENTURA AND THE REGION OF COSTA DAURADA, SPAIN
Jorge Arnanz Arroyo
MA EUROPEAN TOURISM MANAGEMENT
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY (United Kingdom)
UNIVERSITÉ DE SAVOIE (France)
2007
Declaration of authorship i
Declaration of authorship
“I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. I have not included any material or data from other authors or sources which are not acknowledged and identified in the prescribed manner.
I have read the section in the Student Handbook on Assessment Offences and understand that such offences may lead the Examinations Board to withhold or withdraw the award of Master of Arts.”
______Jorge Arnanz Arroyo
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Abstract ii
Abstract
The theme park industry has become one of the most important leisure activities worldwide in the last 50 years. The aim of this research is to prove the economic impacts generated by this industry on the host regions where the theme parks are developed. Port Aventura is used for investigation, as it is the most important theme park in Spain and, little by little, is becoming one of the biggest holiday resorts in Europe.
Literature about the tourism industry, tourism impacts, specially the economic dimension, and theme park was reviewed to provide useful information for the further primary research. In addition, more literature regarding tourism in Spain and information about Port Aventura and the region where it is located (Costa Daurada) was also reviewed to create a background for the reader. Questionnaires and an in-depth interview were used to collect primary data about the economic impacts of Port Aventura on the region.
The results showed that some of the positive economic impacts of tourism cited by researchers, such as benefits to the local economy from visitor’s expenditure and creation of employment, can be easily found within Costa Daurada since the opening of the park. However, some negative economic impacts, such as leakages from the local economy, have also been generated in the region. Moreover, further research investigating about other economic impacts, both positive and negative; undertaking a more complete visitor’s expenditure survey within the park; and using other methods for measuring these economic impacts, such as the input-output analysis, is recommended at the end of the dissertation
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Table of contents iii
Table of contents
Declaration of authorship i
Abstract ii
Table of contents iii
List of tables vii
List of figures viii
List of abbreviations x
List of appendices xi
Acknowledgements xii
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 Rationale of the study 2
1.3 Statement of aim and objectives 3
1.4 Dissertation structure 4
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 The tourism industry 6
2.2 The economic impacts of tourism 8
2.2.1 Tourism impacts 8
2.2.2 Economic tourism impacts 11
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Table of contents iv
2.2.2.1 Positive economic impacts 14
2.2.2.2 Negative economic impacts 15
2.2.3 Measurement of the economic impacts of tourism 17
2.2.3.1 The tourism multiplier 17
2.2.3.2 Input-output analysis 19
2.2.3.3 Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) 21
2.3 Theme parks 23
2.3.1 Theme parks: Definitions and characteristics 24
2.3.2 Theme parks: History and future 25
2.3.3 Case study: Economic impacts of theme park development 27
2.4 Conclusion 31
CHAPTER 3- COSTA DAURADA AND PORT AVENTURA 32
3.1 Tourism in Spain 32
3.2 Costa Daurada 36
3.2.1 Description of the region 36
3.2.2 Tourism in the region 38
3.2.3 Costa Daurada and its national competitors 40
3.3 Port Aventura 42
3.3.1 Description of the resort 42
3.3.2 History of the resort 44
3.3.3 Future plans and strategies 45
3.4 Conclusion 48
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Table of contents v
CHAPTER 4- METHODOLOGY 49
4.1 Aim and objectives 49
4.2 Secondary research 50
4.2.1 Sources 50
4.2.2 Timetable of secondary research 52
4.3 Primary research 52
4.3.1 Quantitative research 52
4.3.1.1 Questionnaire 53
4.3.1.1.1 Questionnaire design 54
4.3.1.1.2 Pilot test 56
4.3.2 Qualitative research 56
4.3.2.1 In-depth interview 57
4.3.2.1.1 The interview process 58
4.4 Analysis 59
4.5 Limitations of the research 60
4.6 Conclusion 61
CHAPTER 5- MAIN FINDINGS 62
5.1 Results of the survey 62
5.1.1 Sample and personal data 62
5.1.2 Travel characteristics 64
5.1.3 Activities undertaken and expenditures 68
5.1.4 Satisfaction of the respondents 75
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Table of contents vi
5.2 Results of the interview 76
5.3 Conclusion 78
CHAPTER 6- CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 79
6.1 Conclusion 79
6.1.1 Visitor’s expenditure 79
6.1.2 Positive economic impacts generated by the park 80
6.1.3 Negative economic impacts generated by the park 81
6.2 Recommendations for the tourism industry 83
6.3 Recommendations for future research 84
Bibliography and references 85
Appendices 95
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo List of tables vii
List of tables
Table 2.1 World Tourism in 2004 8
Table 2.2 World’s top Tourism earners 2004 11
Table 2.3 World’s top Tourism spenders 2004 12
Table 2.4 Incidental costs of tourism 16
Table 2.5 Impacts before opening and industry employment 28
Table 2.6 Impacts after opening and industry employment 29
Table 3.1 Phases of tourism planning in Spain 35
Table 3.2 Hotel places supplied 40
Table 3.3 Hotel places supplied (Catalonia) 41
Table 3.4 Structure Port Aventura resort (Year 2013) 47
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo List of figures viii
List of figures
Figure 2.1 Potter’s impact of tourism framework 10
Figure 2.2 Basic formulation of the tourism multiplier 18
Figure 2.3 Basic Input-output table 20
Figure 2.4 Structure of “Softnomics” in theme park development 30
Figure 3.1 Map of Catalonia 36
Figure 3.2 Plan of the resort 43
Figure 3.3 Port Aventura Master Plan 48
Figure 5.1 Nationality of the respondents 63
Figure 5.2 Gender 64
Figure 5.3 Age 64
Figure 5.4 Coming with children 64
Figure 5.5 Number of people 65
Figure 5.6 Other destinations 66
Figure 5.7 Means of transport 66
Figure 5.8 Length of stay 66
Figure 5.9 Type of accommodation 67
Figure 5.10 Location of the accommodation 68
Figure 5.11 Activities undertaken 70
Figure 5.12 Expenditures 70
Figure 5.13 Segmentation accommodation 71
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo List of figures ix
Figure 5.14 Segmentation food and beverages 72
Figure 5.15 Segmentation transport 73
Figure 5.16 Segmentation leisure 74
Figure 5.17 Segmentation stay 74
Figure 5.18 Segmentation type transport 74
Figure 5.19 Segmentation type accommodation 75
Figure 5.20 Satisfaction of the respondents 76
Figure 5.21 Go back to the region? 76
Figure 5.22 Recommend the region? 76
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo List of abbreviations x
List of abbreviations
ACTT Catalan Agency for Tourism Technology
CPI Consumer Price Index
Ed. Edited e.g. For example et al. And others
Etc . Et cetera
GDP Gross Domestic Product
IET Tourism Statistics Institute (Spain)
INE National Statistics Institute (Spain)
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NTO National Tourism Office
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OFETCD Observatory of the Tourism Statistics Organisation in Costa Daurada
TSA Tourism Satellite Account
UN United Nations
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
WTO World Tourism Organisation
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo List of appendices xi
List of appendices
Appendix 1- Questionnaire in English 95
Appendix 2- Results from the questionnaire 99
Appendix 3- Transcription of the interview 109
Appendix 4- CPI Increase 112
Appendix 5- Property prices increase 112
Appendix 6- Revenue at theme parks worldwide, by region, 2000-05 113
Appendix 7- Attendance at theme parks worldwide, by region, 2000-05 114
Appendix 8- Attendance at the top ten European theme parks, 2003-05 115
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo
Acknowledgements xii
Acknowledgements
The completion of a dissertation can sometimes be a lonely and difficult task, and I would like to thank every person helping and supporting me in making this duty easier.
First of all, I would like to thank my family for their continuous encouragement, support and understanding, not only during the completion of this paper, but through all my life. Secondly, thanks to my supervisor, Mike Morgan, for his availability, advices and support, during all the process of completing this work. Thirdly, I would like to thank Mr Octavi Bono and all the staff in the Costa Daurada Tourism Board, for their availability for both the collection of secondary data and the conduction of the interview. Finally, thanks to all the staff in Bournemouth University and L’Université de Savoie for their help during the year.
Special thanks to Sammy, who has been besides me during all the process, supporting and helping me with the research, and encouraging me in the difficult moments. Thank you for being always there and for understanding me.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 1- Introduction 1
Chapter 1- Introduction
1.1 Background to the study
Tourism is quite a recent industry that has become really popular during the last century. Before the 20 th century, tourism was an activity that could be only afforded by people from the aristocracy. As an example, British upper-class families in the 18 th century were used to send their young sons for a travel around Europe in order to improve their education. It was known as the “Grand Tour” and it is one of the terms that originated the word “tourism” (Black 1985). During the 20 th century, different factors such as the reduction in working hours, the concept of holidays or the development of transport infrastructures, have been really important to the industry of tourism (Sigaux 1966). Nowadays, tourism has incredibly grown all over the world. According to the WTO (2005), in the year 2004 there were 764 million of world tourist arrivals, and the international tourism receipt went up to 633 $ billion.
The incredible increase of this industry has caused different impacts on the regions where the tourist activity takes place. One of the first references to the concept of tourism impacts was made by Jafari (1981 in Mason 2003) when he described tourism as the study of both men and industry away from their habitat, and their impacts in the host environment. According to Mason (2003), the fact of being a type of human activity, make tourism having different impacts, mostly in the destination area where tourists interrelate with the local culture, environment, society or economy. He also comments that not only tourism impacts, but other tourism aspects usually have a mixture of economic, social and environmental dimensions. Cooper et al. (2005) proposed that tourism impacts, in their different dimensions could be both negative and positive for the destination region.
Tourism can be studied as a destination market (destinations are sold ), but a place needs to have some attractions in order to become a tourist destination. According to Middleton (1998 in Swarbrooke 2000) an attraction is a resource controlled and managed for the enjoyment, amusement and education of the visiting public. With the increase in leisure time and the raise of the income, leisure facilities and attractions are
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 1- Introduction 2 providing both relaxation and positive contribution to the quality and experience of life (Wylson and Wylson 1994). Swarbrooke (2000) added that attractions are a very complex sector of the tourism industry that can be divided in four main types: • Features in the natural environment. • Man-made structures, buildings and sites designed for a purpose different to attracting visitors. • Man-made structures, buildings and sites designed to attract visitors. • Special events.
According to Kemperman (2000) theme parks can be defined as a division of these visitor attractions. Merriam-Webster (2007) defined an amusement park as a commercially run park including different devices for entertainment (such as roller coasters) and usually stands for selling food and beverage. This author added that a theme park is an amusement park in which the structures, background and surroundings are focused on a central theme. Continuing with this topic, Pearce (1988 in Kemperman 2000) described theme parks as examples of tourist attractions, which are based on a high development, an intensive capital and a user-orientation of man-modified recreational environments. Mitrasinovic (2006) considered that the theme park industry is nowadays a global industry with over 250 million visitors annually, only at the 50 most visited theme parks and with total revenue of $19 billion.
This research will analyse the economic impacts of theme parks on the host regions, by studying a particular case of a theme park in Spain. Port Aventura is a theme park located in the region known as the Costa Daurada (Catalonia, Spain). It was opened in 1995 and nowadays it is the 10 th in the list of most popular amusement parks in the world, with an attendance of 3.4 million people in 2005 (Forbes 2007).
1.2 Rationale of the study
From a personal point of view, the researcher has always been interested in the theme park industry and mainly in the great amount of changes produced in a region when a theme park is opened in the surroundings. One of the aims of this research is to find out about all of this changes and how they affect to the local economy. This dissertation
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 1- Introduction 3 was planned to be done in the author’s home country, Spain, and Port Aventura is the most important theme park in the country in number of visitors and also in reputation.
For professional reasons, the researcher is interested in improving his knowledge about this topic as a possible work field for the future. This research would benefit both the theme park industry and the regional tourism boards. A survey studying the economic impacts of tourists visiting Port Aventura on the region will be included in this dissertation. This study will also show the opinion of the tourists about the region, their positive and negative characteristics and how could this destination improve its services, according to their point of view. Port Aventura and the Costa Daurada Tourism Board could use this information for their next strategies and campaigns. An interview with one of the managers of the Costa Daurada Tourist Board will examine the different economic impacts, both positive and negative, caused by Port Aventura since its opening in 1995. The revision of the findings analysed in this research could help future theme park investors or host regions governments in the decision making process.
For academic reasons, many studies can be found about tourism impacts and also studies related to the theme park industry, but the fact of getting these topics together has not been researched by many authors previously.
1.3 Statement of aim and objectives
The aim of this research will be to analyse the economic impacts of the theme park industry on the host regions, by studying the case of Port Aventura (Spain). In order to achieve this aim the objectives of this research will be:
• To review the main characteristics of the tourism industry nowadays in order to introduce a background reference for the study. • To examine the different levels of tourism impacts, focusing on the economic dimension. • To review the main characteristics of the theme park industry.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 1- Introduction 4
• To study the history and development of Port Aventura since its opening date, and the changes produced during the last decades in its host region (Costa Daurada). • To examine the economic impact of tourists visiting Port Aventura on this region.
To achieve these objectives, different types of research have been carried out by the author. As secondary research , an extensive literature review about tourism impacts, theme parks and, the region (Costa Daurada) and the park (Port Aventura) chosen, provides a background for the analysis. Besides, some statistics provided by the Costa Daurada Tourism Board give information about the economic aspects of the region.
The primary data collection consists in a survey with 80 questionnaires (in Spanish, English and French) to the visitors of Port Aventura on the 23 and 24 June 2007 and an interview with Mr Octavi Bono, manager of the Costa Daurada Tourism Board.
1.4 Dissertation Structure
Chapter One: Introduction This chapter attempts to provide a general overview about the topic of the dissertation. It presents the background of the research and it also includes the rationale of the research, the aim and objectives and the structure of the dissertation.
Chapter Two: Literature Review This chapter reviews the literature related to the topic, examining what has been written previously. This section focuses in different topics that are interesting for the research such as the tourism industry, economic impacts of tourism and theme parks.
Chapter Three: Case Study Port Aventura The research continues with the literature review in this chapter, and after reviewing topics related to the tourism industry, it will focus on the main aspects of the region (Costa Daurada) and the park (Port Aventura).
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 1- Introduction 5
Chapter Four: Methodology The different sources and methods used for the elaboration of this study in order to meet the objectives are explained in this chapter. It will also evaluate the different limitations found during the research.
Chapter Five: Main Findings and Analysis This chapter presents, reviews and analyses the results of the primary research conducted by the author in Port Aventura and the region of Costa Daurada.
Chapter Six: Conclusions and recommendations Conclusions about the research are given in this chapter, by reviewing the results against the hypothesis and answering the questions proposed. It also suggests some recommendations for future research and even for managers.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 6
Chapter 2 – Literature Review
This chapter undertakes a literature review of two main topics: economic impacts of tourism and theme parks. It starts providing a background about the tourism industry and then looks at the tourism impacts. The author identifies here the main characteristics of tourism impacts, focusing on its economic dimension. Finally, a review of the main features of the theme park industry is done in this chapter.
2.1 The Tourism Industry
According to Page (2003) tourism is nowadays recognised to be a social phenomenon, as seen in the changes of the nature of society in most of the developed countries, from one with an economy based on manufacturing and production to one with a dominant mean of employment based on services and consumer industries. Tourism is a significant industry in our time and international organisations support this activity for its contribution to world peace, poverty alleviation or the fact of “mixing” different people and cultures (Cooper et al. 2005). Williams (1998) mentioned that from the years after the Second World War, when few people travelled for the purposed by which we define tourism now, it has grown to the point of being commonly considered as the world’s largest industry. Furthermore, Cooper et al. (2005) added that tourism, both as an activity and as an economic sector, has had a sustained growth during the last thirty years, despite different shocks, such as the 9/11, the bombing of the tourist area in Bali or the Iraq war.
Page (2003) affirmed that many countries have observed an increase in the amount of leisure time and paid holiday entitlement for their workers in the Post War period, and these workers have now the opportunity of using new forms of consumption, such as
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 7 tourism. Lockwood and Medlik (2001) cited some different factors that have lead to the increase of the tourism industry, massive nowadays. These factors are:
• The growth in real incomes.
• The ability of workers to generate resources beyond to those needed to pay for life’s basic needs.
• Increases in leisure time.
• Peace amongst nations.
• Administrative controls on international travel.
• International currency markets.
• Expansion of fast, efficient and affordable transport, both public and private.
Moreover, Page (2003) pointed out that the new wealth of the rising middle class has caused an increase in the spending on leisure items and tourism. In addition, this author stated (Page, 2003 p.6): “The international growth in taking holidays is directly related to this new and larger middle class”. In order to illustrate the relevance of the tourism industry in nowadays world, some statistics about international tourism arrivals and international tourism receipts are shown in the following table.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 8
Table 2.1 World Tourism in 2004
GEOGRAPHIC AREA International Tourism International Tourism Arrivals (million) Receipts (US $ Billion)
Europe 423 329
Asia/Pacific 146 128
Americas 126 132
Middle East 36 25
Africa 33 19
TOTAL 764 633
Source: Adapted from WTO, 2005
Faulkner et al. (2000) held that many authors agree that demand for tourism and travel will continue growing in the future. Additionally the WTO (1997 in Faulkner et al. 2000) predicted that in the year 2020 there will be 1.6 billion international tourism arrivals and the highest levels of growth will be in Asia (reducing the European supremacy).
2.2 The Economic Impacts of Tourism
2.2.1 Tourism Impacts
Most authors agree that the study of tourism covers people travelling (tourists), businesses and people providing them of goods and services and all the interactions and the consequences occurred throughout the whole travel experience (Wall and Mathieson, 2006). One of the first references to the concept of tourism impacts was made by Jafari (1981 in Mason 2003) when he described tourism as the study of both men and industry away from their habitat, and their impacts in the host environment.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 9
According to Mason (2003), the fact of being a type of human activity, make tourism having different impacts, mostly in the destination area where tourists interrelate with the local culture, environment, society or economy. Wall and Mathieson (2006) defined economic impacts of tourism as the benefits and costs resulted from the development and use of tourism resources and services. Beside, environmental impacts of tourism include changes to the natural environment (air, water, soils, fauna and flora) or the built environment (Wall and Wright, 1977 in Wall and Mathieson, 2006). Then, social impacts are the alterations in the lifestyle of locals of destination regions (Wall and Mathieson, 2006). Finally, Mason (2003) added that not only tourism impacts, but also other tourism aspects usually have a mixture of economic, social and environmental dimensions.
Cooper et al. (2005) proposed that tourism impacts, in their different dimensions could be both negative and positive for the destination region. Mason (2003) affirmed that the perception of impacts as positive or negative depends on the position and judgement of the viewer of the impacts. Wall and Mathieson (2006) proposed that tourism planners and authorities must develop and apply different measures in order to alleviate the negative impacts of tourism and increase its positive effects. Negative impacts can make an area suffer irreversible damages that could almost end with its tourism industry, being this region usurped by other destinations. In order to maintain a strong tourism activity, regions are developing integrated tourism planning and management systems to protect the destination from economic over-dependence on tourism (Cooper et al., 2005).
According to Wall and Mathieson (2006) there are three groups of factors that are likely to be connected with tourism impacts and are relevant across economic, environmental and social dimensions:
• Types of tourism: including items such as number of tourists, personal characteristics, length of stay or activities.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 10
• Community characteristics: some important factors in this group are resource base, level of development or alternative economic activities, apart from tourism.
• Nature of host-guest interactions: including features such as frequency, locations or seasonality of this interactions.
Moreover, Potter (1978 in Page, 2003) provided a general framework for tourism impacts evaluation (Figure 2.1)
Figure 2.1 Potter’s impact of tourism framework
Source: Potter, 1978 in Page, 2003
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 11
2.2.2 Economic Tourism Impacts
It is undeniable that the economic dimension of tourism impacts has always been the most researched and studied by experts (Pearce 1989 in Mason 2003) and it is a fact that economic impacts of tourism have a huge influence on worldwide economy (see Tables 2.2 and 2.3)
Table 2.2 World’s Top Tourism Earners 2004
COUNTRY US$ BILLION % OF TOTAL
UNITED STATES 74.5 11.8
SPAIN 45.2 7.1
FRANCE 40.8 6.5
ITALY 35.7 5.6
UNITED KINGDOM 28.2 4.5
GERMANY 27.7 4.4
CHINA 25.7 4.1
TURKEY 15.9 2.5
AUSTRIA 15.3 2.4
AUSTRALIA 13.6 2.2
Source: Adapted from WTO, 2005
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 12
Table 2.3 World’s Top Tourism Spenders 2004
COUNTRY US$ BILLION % OF TOTAL
GERMANY 71.0 11.2
UNITED STATES 65.6 10.4
UNITED KINGDOM 56.5 8.9
JAPAN 38.2 6.0
FRANCE 28.6 4.5
ITALY 20.5 3.2
CHINA 19.1 3.0
NETHERLANDS 16.4 2.6
CANADA 16.0 2.5
RUSSIAN FEDERATION 15.7 2.5
Source: Adapted from WTO, 2005
Tourist expenditure is a type of consumption that can be noticed as an invisible export from the host region (Cooper et al., 2005). According to Ryan (2003), authorities in both developed and developing countries have identified tourism as a way of creating employment and income. Many national and local governments use tourism as a mean to get the development and regeneration of economies, as politicians and decision- makers consider that it offers new opportunities of work and income (Page, 2003). The WTO (2001 in Ryan, 2003) outlined that amongst the 49 least-developed countries in the world, 7 of them had tourism as the main source of foreign exchange earnings and in other 10 tourism wages were one of the top 3 sources of foreign exchange income. Cooper et al. (2005) added that tourism, as the largest service-based industry, has been in part responsible for this sector growth, which represents around 40% of the GDP in developing countries and more than 65% in the industrialised economies. However, as Ryan (2003) argued, economic weight is not only numbers, but also terms about
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 13 employment, remuneration, etc. Furthermore, Mason (2003) found that countries usually notice positive economic consequences as the main type of tourism impacts and support tourism development, but they are likely to be less aware that it may also cause some negative economic effects. In addition, tourism is not always a constant source of income for host regions, as tourists are not renowned for being highly loyal to tourism destinations (Page, 2003).
Page (1995 in Page 2003) referred to different factors that influence the economic impacts of tourism:
• The nature of the destination region, its products, services and characteristics.
• The volume and range of tourist spending.
• The status of the economic development in the destination.
• The size and characteristics of the host region’s economy.
• The extension of tourist spending circulating around the local economy, not spent on imported products and services.
• The attitude of the local economy towards the problem of seasonality.
Ryan (2003) added some other macro-economic factors that by which economic tourism impacts are determined. Firstly, he highlighted the level of foreign ownership of hotels and tourism facilities, and the employment of non-native labour (both related to the tourist spending circulating around the local economy, mentioned before). Secondly, he mentioned the infrastructures provided by the government. Finally, he referred to the importance of the links of tourism with other industries and sectors of the economy.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 14
2.2.2.1 Positive Economic Impacts
Having talked about the importance and the factors determining economic tourism impacts, the next topic that must be reviewed is the economic benefits of tourism. According to Lickorish (1994 in Mason, 2003), the economic positive effects of tourism are the contribution to foreign exchange incomes, the contribution to government revenues, the creation of employment and the contribution to regional development. Wall and Mathieson (2006) added other economic benefits of tourism to that list, such as enhancement of economic structures, support of entrepreneurial activity and alleviation of regional economic disparities.
However, Ryan (2003) offered a more complete list with what he considered as the economic benefits of tourism:
• Earning of foreign exchange from expenditures of visitors and contributions to exports.
• Visitor expenditures signify a source of taxation (direct and indirect).
• Income to tourism businesses.
• Creation of employment.
• Externalities, which are defined by Dwyer and Forsyth (1998 in Ryan 2003) as above-normal wages generated by transport operations (airports, port expenditure) in short procedures that would not happen if it were not for tourism.
• Generation of economies of scales.
• Redistribution of income and labour to regions traditionally out of the conventional economic life.
Finally, Ryan (2003) added that all of these categories are not only a potential benefit, but also a potential cost as, tourism destinations are sometimes tourism-generating countries too and both positive and negative economic transactions can occur.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 15
2.2.2.2 Negative Economic Impacts
Even if they are not considered by many politicians and stakeholders, several economic costs of tourism are mentioned by different authors. Pearce (1989 in Mason, 2003) and Mason (1995 in Mason 2003) listed three negative economic consequences of tourism, which are inflation, opportunity costs and over-dependence on tourism. The list of economic costs of tourism was augmented by Page (2003), who outlined the following impacts:
• Possible economic over-dependence on the tourism activity.
• Inflation in the local economy and possible increases in land price.
• Potential dependence on imported products, services and workforce.
• Limited returns on investment caused by seasonality.
• Leakages of tourist spending from the host economy.
• Additional expenditures to local authorities.
Moreover, Frechtling (1994 in Wall and Mathieson, 2006) and Bull (1991 in Wall and Mathieson, 2006) added another factor to the list of negative economic impacts caused by tourism: the incidental costs, which are defined as the expenses related to inner diseconomies where residents or the local government pay for what tourists do not pay directly. These costs cause a lower quality of life and tax revenues must be used to improve local facilities. This will be explained in detail in the following table.
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Table 2.4 Incidental costs of tourism
Life-quality costs Fiscal costs
Traffic congestion Highway construction, police services, public transportation, parking facilities, etc.
Crime, vagrancy and homelessness Police services, justice system, public housing, food shelters
Emergencies Fire protection, Ambulance and Police services
Water pollution Water supply and sewage treatment
Air pollution Police services, public transportation
Waste/Litter Solid waste collection, disposal and treatment
Noise pollution Police services, zoning
Destruction of wildlife Park and recreation facilities development and maintenance, forestry protection, fish and hunt regulations, etc.
Destruction of scenic beauty Park and recreation facilities, police services
Destruction of social/cultural heritage Maintenance of museums and historic sites
Disease and health conditions Hospital facilities, sanitation facilities, food-service regulation
Vehicular accidents Police services, justice system
Source: Adapted from Frechtling (1996 in Wall and Mathieson, 2006)
As it can be seen in this table, the life-quality costs are generally related to environmental and social problems, but all of them generate economic costs to the local economy.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 17
2.2.3 Measurement of the Economic Impacts of Tourism
According to Tyrrel and Johnston (2006), economic impact analysis tries to assess changes in regional spending, output, income or employment related to tourist events, facilities, destinations, etc. Cooper et al. (2005) added that every year, the WTO publishes annual tourist statistics at a national level, including tourist expenditure, but these statistics do no consider the leakages from the local economy. The expenditures made by tourists in a destination create new incomes in the area, which produce additional spending and incomes (Wall and Mathieson, 2006). Finally, many authors, such as Page (2003) identified three different types of spending when measuring the impacts of tourism in economy:
• Direct spending: Expenditures made by tourists on goods and services.
• Indirect spending: Part of the total tourist expenditure that is used by the tourist companies to pay for products, taxes and labour within the local economy.
• Induced spending: Increase on local consumption by people employed in the tourism sector.
2.2.3.1 The tourism multiplier
Cooper et al. (2005) described the tourism multiplier as the ratio of two changes: the change in one of the key economic variables caused by the change in tourist expenditure. Wall and Mathieson (2006) pointed out that the value of this multiplier is affected by different issues such as the number of imported products consumed by tourists, the tendency of locals to use products and services from outside the area and their predisposition to save. Furthermore, Ryan (2003) suggested that the proportion of tourist expenditure that remains in the area and the inclination of residents to spend in the region are the main factors that determine leakages from the local economy. Wall and Mathieson (2006) stated that the concept of the multiplier is founded on the fact that the economic sectors of a region are interdependent and each sector purchase products to suppliers from the local economy. Finally, Cooper et al. (2005) referred to the idea
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 18 that companies purchase not only primary inputs, but also intermediate products and services to other local firms.
Tourism multiplier = A [1 / 1 – BC]
Where:
• A= The proportion of tourist expenditure remaining in the area after the first round of leakages.
• B= The proportion of income that local people spend on local goods and services.
• C= The proportion of expenditure of local people that accrues as local income .
Figure 2.2 Basic formulation of the tourism multiplier
Source: Ryan, 2003
Any alteration in tourist spending will cause a variation in the economic levels of production, domestic income, employment, foreign exchange flows, etc. (Cooper et al. , 2005). According to Ryan (2003), the tourism multiplier can be divided into three main categories: output, income and employment multipliers. Moreover, Fletcher and Archer (1991 in Wall and Mathieson, 2006) distinguished six different categories of multipliers:
1. Sales multiplier: assesses the impact of an additional unit of tourist spending on activity levels in the economy.
2. Output multiplier: measures the effect of an added unit of tourist spending on the level of output in the economy.
3. Income multiplier: calculates the additional income created by extra tourist expenditure.
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4. Employment multiplier: ratio of employment produced by added tourist spending.
5. Government revenue multiplier: measures the amount of government revenue generated by each extra unit of tourist expenditure.
6. Import multiplier: determines the value of imported products and services related to an additional unit of tourist spending.
2.2.3.2 Input-output analysis
The input-output analysis is a modification of the basic multiplier procedures, and it also tries to show the interdependence between different sectors within an economy (Ryan, 2003). Sasaki et al. (1997) mentioned that this model was created and applied by W. Leontief, who received the Nobel Prize for economy in 1972 for it. Ryan (2003) added that this technique shows the flow of the economic operations through the economy in a given period of time. In addition, Sasaki et al. (1997) outlined that input- output model explains the economic relationship between investment-induced production, expenditure, added value and labour. Furthermore, these authors added that this model supplies a powerful kit for estimation of economic value and market opportunity for a broad diversity of services.
According to Cooper et al. (2005), the input-output model starts with the design of a table showing the economy of the region in a matrix form. The columns of the table show the different sectors of the economy as purchasers of products and services from other sectors. The rows show them as sellers of output to the other sectors (see figure 2.3). As App (2006) described, the table explains what inputs from other sectors and primary inputs are necessary for each sector to generate a unit of output and which the sources of final demand are.
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SALES TO INTERMEDIATE FINAL DEMAND DEMAND Final demand sectors Productive Sectors PURCHASES TOTAL TOTAL FROM Industry OUTPUT
1 2 3 4 … m H I G E
Industry 1 X 11 X 12 X 13 X14 ... X 1m C 1 I 1 G 1 E 1 X1
Industry 2 X 21 X 22 X 23 X24 ... X 2m C 2 I 2 G 2 E 2 X2
Industry 3 X31 X 32 X 33 X34 ... X 3m C 3 I 3 G 3 E 3 X3
Industry 4 X41 X 42 X 43 X44 ... X 4m C 4 I 4 G 4 E 4 X4
… ... … … … … … … … … … … Productive sectors sectors Productive
Industry m X m1 X m2 X m3 Xm4 ... X mm C m I m G m E m Xm
Wages and salaries W1 W 2 W 3 W 4 … W m W C W I W G W E W
Profits/dividends P 1 P 2 P 3 P 4 … Pm P C P I P G P E P
Taxes T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 … Tm T C T I T G T E T
M 1 M 2 M 3 M 4 … M m M C M I M G M E M Primary inputsPrimary Imports
Total inputs X1 X 2 X 3 X 4 … X m C I G E X
Where: E = Exports Final demand sectors: X = Output M = Imports H = Household consumption sector
C = Consumption (households) W = Wages and salaries I = Investment expenditure sector
I = Investment (private) P = Profits and dividends G = Government expenditure sector
G = Government expenditure T = Taxes E = Exports sector
Figure 2.3 Basic input-output table
Source: Cooper et al. (2005)
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Cooper et al. (2005) explained that the table have to be divided in three main quadrants:
1. Inter-industry matrix: Economic transactions taking place between the different sectors of the economy.
2. Primary inputs matrix: Purchases of sectors in labour, profits, taxes and imports.
3. Final demand matrix: Sales from the sectors to each source of final demand.
The number of economic impact researches using input-output analysis in leisure management has increased noticeably in Europe and North America since the late 1980s (Sasaki et al. 1997). Even though, Ryan (2003) suggested that this method has two important weaknesses, because it presumes the inter-sector coefficients to be constant, without alterations in response to changing prices, and because it requires a large amount of data from different sources. Cooper et al. (2005) included other weaknesses of this model, such as:
• There are not supply constraints.
• The production and expenditure are linear.
• Negative economic impacts are not considered.
Finally, even if it is not the ideal method for estimating economic impacts caused by tourism, input-output model must be seen as the most wide-ranging method available for the study of this topic (Fletcher, 1989 in App, 2006).
2.2.3.3 Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA)
As Tribe (2005) said, it is not easy to isolate expenditures on tourism, leisure and recreation from other spending in national accounts. Traditional industries are classified according to the products they make, but a tourism product or service depends on the status of the costumer (Tribe, 2005). Wall and Mathieson (2006) stated that TSA
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 22 research represents a relevant advance for the translation of economic data into measures such as GDP and employment contributions that can be compared with other industries. TSAs were initially proposed by French authors and first applied in Canada, offering a way to describe and assess the size of tourism as an activity, in a consistent way and making it comparable to other industries (Smith, 2000). According to Tyrrel and Johnston (2006), in order to obtain a greater recognition of the tourism industry, the WTO, the OECD and the UN adopted and promoted, in 2000, the use of TSAs. The WTO (2001 in Ryan, 2003) described that the purposes of TSAs are to make tourism definitions and classifications compatible and comparable to other industries and to integrate tourism in the structure of the national accounts. Moreover, Cooper et al. (2005) added that TSAs can also be used to spot the opportunity costs by testing the effects in other industries.
TSAs divide industries into tourism and non-tourism activities, in order to measure the direct contribution of tourism to the economy (Tribe, 2005). Cooper et al. (2005) explained that TSAs must be designed around an input-output method and taking a demand-orientated approach rather than a supply-orientated one. Tribe (2005) pointed out that TSAs are prepared by combining visitors expenditure data from surveys and industry data from national economic accounts, estimating the direct impacts of tourism. Furthermore, Ryan (2003) affirmed that TSAs are obtaining more and more acceptance due to their relationships with the national accounts and their capacity to integrate generally recognized sources of statistics.
As it can be seen, all of these models of measuring economic tourism impacts are based on the estimation of the direct visitor expenditure. Afterwards, these models develop the assessment of other economic impacts in different ways, but the basis of all of them is direct spending. Depending on the resources (economic, time, access to the information, etc.) disposed by researchers one of this methods will be chosen to measure economic impacts of tourism, or even other less complex methods, such as visitor expenditure survey.
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2.3 Theme parks
The first thing that needs to be discussed in this section is the concept of visitor attractions because, as Kemperman (2000) stated, theme parks can be defined as a division of these visitor attractions. Page (2003) described attractions as one of the main components of tourism (together with transport and accommodation), offering an essential factor for the visitors pleasure and experience. According to Middleton (1998 in Swarbrooke 2000) an attraction is a resource controlled and managed for the enjoyment, amusement and education of the visiting public. Furthermore, Pearce (1991 in Page, 2003) defined tourist attraction is a place with a particular human or natural attribute being a focus of visitors attention.
Wylson and Wylson (1994) added that with the increase in leisure time and the raise of the income, leisure facilities and attractions are providing both relaxation and positive contribution to the quality and experience of life. Swarbrooke (2000) mentioned that attractions are a very complex sector of the tourism industry that can be divided in four main types:
• Features in the natural environment. • Man-made structures, buildings and sites designed for a purpose different to attracting visitors. • Man-made structures, buildings and sites designed to attract visitors. • Special events. Finally, Walsh-Heron and Stevens (1990 in Page, 2003) cited different characteristics of visitor attractions, such as: • They are set out in order to attract visitors. • They must offer a delightful experience and a pleasurable way for visitors to spend their spare time. • They must provide a proper rank of facilities, products and services in order to satisfy the demands of visitors.
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2.3.1 Theme parks: Definitions and characteristics Amusement parks, forerunners of theme parks, are defined in Merriam-Webster (2007) as commercially run park including different devices for entertainment (such as roller coasters) and usually stands for selling food and beverage. A theme park is described as an amusement park in which the structures, backgrounds and surroundings are focused on a central theme (Merriam-Webster, 2007). Pearce (1988 in Kemperman 2000) described theme parks as examples of tourist attractions, which are based on a high development, an intensive capital and a user-orientation of man-modified recreational environments. Moreover, Kemperman (2000) added that theme parks try to produce an atmosphere of another place and period, and is usually focused on a main theme around which its constructions, landscapes, rides, shows, etc. are arranged.
Nagle (1999) explained that the main characteristics of theme parks are that they are attractions using a special topic as a base, with mechanical rides and having the facility to entertain visitors for a whole day, for an inclusive entry price. In addition, Cluzeau (1998) offered a list with what he considered to be the main features of theme parks: 1. They are developed around a thematic environment. 2. There is a balance between passive activities (shows, expositions…), active leisure activities (roller coasters, other rides…) and other additional activities (food services, shops…). 3. They are closed spaces with a package entry price (generally). 4. Their main objective is to receive and entertain visitors for one day or longer stays. 5. They are mainly focused to the family market.
According to Williams (1998), theme parks symbolize the globalisation and standardisation of tourism societies, as they have highly increased, since their origins in North American amusement parks to their expansion to Europe and Asia. Nagle (1999) pointed out that theme park development is both capital and labour intensive. Large capital investments are required in rides, attractions and infrastructures and numerous workers are needed in jobs such as cleaners, rides supervisors or entertainers. Besides, Williams (1998) suggested that theme park development is a good example of the idea
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 25 of invented places, as many parks are based on fantastic characters and places and they also invent new tourism geographies by the way in which they are located. Kemperman (2000) cited some examples of the themes used in nowadays theme parks, such as historic periods, fairy tales, animal world, etc. Additionally, Cluzeau (1998) provided a list of the main themes on which theme parks are usually focused: • Cartoons and comics. • Future, science and technology. • History. • Fairy tales and science fiction. • Water. • Construction games. • Movies.
Williams (1998) outlined that theme parks are usually seen as family entertainment complexes. However, they are family attractions that can also be a focus for older tourists, particularly when the theme parks are based on historical, cultural or nature- based attractions, rather than cartoons and rides (Williams, 1998). Kemperman (2000) stated that most thee parks are developed and managed as private companies, and cited the example of the main theme park industry company: Disney. Finally, as Mitrasinovic (2006) mentioned, the theme park industry is nowadays a global industry with over 250 million visitors annually, only at the 50 most visited theme parks and with total revenue of $19 billion.
2.3.2 Theme parks: History and future
According to Cluzeau (1998), the oldest forerunners of both amusement and theme parks were the medieval parties where people from the aristocracy gathered in the park of the castles and enjoyed of different shows such as fireworks and water games. Later, in the beginning of the 20 th century, amusement parks consisting of a combination of rides, games, tests of skill at fairs, carnivals and circuses were developed in the United States (Pearce, 1988 in Kemperman, 2000). Cluzeau (1998) explained that those leisure parks were developed due to different advances, such as the urbanization processes, the
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 26 technologic progress and the increase in leisure time for workers during the weekends. Kemperman (2000) highlighted Coney Island (on the East Coast of the United States) as the largest amusement space during the first half of the 20 th century, with three amusement parks and dozens of smaller attractions. As an example of the popularity of this industry, Cluzeau (1998) mentioned that in 1919, 1,500 amusement parks were already working in the United States. The decline of the traditional amusement parks started before the Second World War, due to the economic depression and the rise of the movies (Kemperman, 2000). Besides, Cluzeau (1998) added that with the world economic crisis between the 1920s and the 1950s, the amusement park industry decreased noticeably and in the United States only 400 parks were still working.
As Kemperman (2000) stated, after the Second World War, several factors, such as the increase of car ownership (improvement of mobility) and the augmentation of paid holidays, allowed the rise of the amusement park visits. In 1955, Disney was the first to introduce the concept of theme park, with the opening of the first Disneyland in Anaheim, Los Angeles (Williams, 1998). Cluzeau (1998) described that after the opening of Disneyland, many companies tried to copy the concept, but all of them were unsuccessful until the opening of Six Flags Over Texas, in 1967. Besides, Pearce (1988 in Kemperman, 2000) indicated that many theme parks were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s and some old amusement parks upgraded their image in order to compete with this new successful model of parks. Williams (1998) added that after the success of Disney, other businesses such as entertainment corporations and film companies were attracted to this industry. The success obtained by theme parks in the United States continued with an expansion to Europe in the late 1970s and to Asia and Australia during the 1980s (Williams, 1998). In addition, Cluzeau (1998) explained that the globalization of theme parks took off definitely with the opening of Disneyland Tokyo in 1983.
In the last years, theme parks have become one of the favourite forms of mass entertainment (Milman, 2001). According to Cluzeau (1998), the theme park market is nowadays a global item and has already spread to Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Western and Central Europe. This expansion of theme parks is a
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 27 manifestation of the concept and its global appeal, which is reflected in their ability to draw huge amounts of visitors (Williams, 1998). A study by Milman (2001) predicted that in the future, the family market will be the core of the trade and the theme park industry will become more service oriented, providing more interactive activities and experiences. Moreover, Cluzeau (1998) added that the future of theme parks will be based on the integration of the parks in the surrounding tourism industry and the incorporation of new technologies in rides, shows and other activities. Finally, Milman (2001) commented that the popularity of theme parks will continue growing in the future, as they are associated with the new holiday experience, which integrates accommodation, food services, shopping centres and leisure activities located in a resort.
2.3.3 Case study: Economic impacts of theme park development (Space World, Japan) This section will present the layout, findings and conclusion of a case study called: “Economic Impacts of theme-park development by input-output: a process toward local industrialization of leisure services” by Sasaki et al. (1997). This case studied gathers the two main topics of this literature review, economic impacts and theme parks, and will be a valuable example of how the development of a theme park has different consequences on the economy of the host region.
The main objective of this study was to explain the economic impacts of extensive theme park development in Japan. The subject of the study was Space World, a theme park developed by Shin-nippon Steel with the help of the NASA, located Kitakyushu, city of about one million inhabitants. Unused factory land (33 hectares) was transformed in a theme park based on “the universe, entertainment and education”. Primary data on direct economic impacts was collected from the leisure developer and the City Department of Statistics. The indirect impacts were calculated by using the Lotus 1-2-3 programme. Finally, employment created in the different sectors was calculated by using employment multipliers. Later, all of these data was introduce in an input-output table, in which it was allocated to the different industry sectors.
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Table 2.5 Impacts before opening, in thousand £, and industry employment (in brackets)
Source: Sasaki et al., 1997
Table 2.5 shows the economic impacts caused in the region before the opening of the park, in 1990. As it can be seen, the initial investment of Space World was £177,360,000. After adding the indirect primary impacts and the indirect secondary impacts, the total economic impact of the investment was £314,214,000. The main input sectors of the industry were Construction, Light electricity, Land readjustment, Services and General machinery. The employment impacts of this initial investment was 2,746 people, with 1,711 in direct impacts, 573 in primary indirect impacts and 462 in secondary indirect impacts.
Table 2.6 shows the economic impacts caused in 1990, after the opening of the park, which involved a total of two million consumers inside and outside Space World. The direct impact was £95,220,000, and after the assessment of the primary and secondary indirect impacts, the total impact resulting from operation and consumption is
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£178,944,000. The main input sectors were this time, Services, Commerce and Transport. The total employment impact for operation and consumption was 7,207 people.
Table 2.6 Impacts after opening, in thousand £, and industry employment (in brackets)
Source: Sasaki et al., 1997
After observing the two tables, it can be said that the initial investment in construction and land is justified by the potential productivity of the place. The Japanese government has designed the area as a priority area for urban promotion and the Labour Ministry has given a grant of £6,000,000 a year during five years, for the creation of more than 200 jobs. These are some examples of the political support to the park.
Ouchi (1990 in Sasaki et al., 1997) described “Softnomics” as the field of economics studying the prosperity of the service industries. “Softnomics refer to an effective land use supported by governments and services providing high quality experience supported by local and international resources of leisure-related software” (Sasaki et al., 1997, p.37). It is better explained in Figure 2.4.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 2- Literature Review 30 Initialinvestment
consumption Operation and and Operation
Figure 2.4 Structure of “Softnomics” in theme park development
Source: Sasaki et al., 1997
Sasaki et al. (1997) offered, as well, some limitations of the theme park development in Japan. They mentioned the restrictions regarding to land prices, electricity charges, and other prices in Japan, as a result of a protectionist strategy. They also include the travel costs, comparing rail fares and taxi fees in Japan with the United States, the United Kingdom and France, being those in Japan noticeably higher.
Finally, the conclusions of this research were: 1. Relations between the tourism industries (transport, accommodation, etc.) and between other local industries generate incentives in the local economy (Pomeroy, 1988 in Sasaki et al., 1997). 2. The fact of having a fully operative leisure industry in a regional economy is an advantage for that region (Long, 1987 in Sasaki et al., 1997).
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3. The opening of Space World has caused the development of the environmental conservation industry, something rare in industrialised areas like Kitakyushu. 4. There was a plan to build a leisure related university in the region, in order to improve the workers training. 5. This study shows the impacts of market oriented leisure development in the industrial society.
2.4 Conclusion
This chapter has presented the literature review on the main theoretical topics of the research. First, it has offered a background of the tourism industry in the world. Second, it has considered the different types of economic impacts of tourism and the ways of measuring them. Finally, it has explained the characteristics and history of theme parks and reviewed a case study about economic impacts caused by theme park development. Next chapter will continue with the literature review, but, in this case, about the region and the park selected by the author as a case study.
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Chapter 3 - Costa Daurada and Port Aventura
This chapter includes a literature review about the region (Costa Daurada) and the theme park (Port Aventura) selected as a case study. The chapter starts reviewing the topic of tourism in Spain in order to create a background for the case study.
3.1 Tourism in Spain
A distinctive characteristic of Spain is its significance as a tourism destination as well as the importance of exchange income in its economy (Balaguer and Cantavella, 2002). It can be shown by studying the data of its relevance within world tourism. According to the WTO (2005) in the year 2004, Spain was the second country in international tourist arrivals, with 52.4 million of visitors, and the second country in tourism receipts, with 45.2 US $ billion. In the last two years these numbers have continued growing, as shown in the statistics by the IET (2007) where the number of international tourist arrivals reached 58.4 million with 66.6 US $ billion of tourism receipts.
After considering the weight of tourism in Spanish industry, it is necessary to review the different facts that lead Spain to be one of the most important tourism destinations in the world. According to Williams (1998), Spain is a great example of the impact of the growth in affordable international tourism, after the Second World War. Bayón (1999) affirmed that during the first years of the 20 th century, Spain was not considered as a receptive area of tourists due, mainly, to the inefficient communication and accommodation infrastructures. From the mid 19 th century, there was a tradition of local tourism by upper-class Spaniards to different Mediterranean resorts such as Málaga, Alicante and Palma de Mallorca, but not trace of international tourism (Williams, 1998). However, everything changed from the 1950s. As Such and Zamora (2006) described,
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 33 the last half of the 20 th century was a period of intense change in Spain, politically, economically and socially, with a considerable growth in both the national economy and the tourism industry.
The contemporary Spanish tourism industry is a noticeable result of the age of the aeroplane and the international package tour. Spain has taken advantage of being an early contestant into the field of mass international tourism and since 1960 it has observed a fast and sustained growth in the numbers of visitors (Williams 1998). Such and Zamora (2006) agreed that the entrance of Spain in the UN in 1955, and the following start of negotiations for its admittance in other international organisations, was an important step towards the international market. The 1960s are identified with the boom years: European countries were recovered from the effects of the Second World War and factors such as the generalisation of the paid holidays and retirement plans made it possible for families to travel to Spain that was considered as an exotic destination (Bayón, 1999). Such and Zamora (2006) added that different Spanish administrations and the population in general were aware of the need to generate income by benefiting of the natural, climatic, artistic and economic values of the country. Furthermore, as Page (2003) highlighted, the rise of the package holidays led to the expansion of Mediterranean resorts and, by 1965 Spain had become Europe’s principal tourism destination, with 14 million visitors a year.
In the 1970s, the deregulation of air traffic by the United States in order to favour competition had very important outcomes for the industry and led to the consolidation of Spain as the favourite world destination for charter flights (Such and Zamora, 2006). In 1975, Madrid was chosen as the headquarters of the WTO. Bayón (1999) pointed out that in the mid 1970s, the objective of tourism authorities in Spain was not only to increase the number of visitors, but also to obtain more foreign exchange from an “upper level” tourism demand. With the publication of the Spanish Constitution in 1978, a new territorial organisation of the state was established, with a new political context mainly based in the idea of decentralisation (Ivars, 2004). According to Such
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 34 and Zamora (2006) during the 1980s, the sustained growth of tourism continued as Spain adhered important organisations such as the European Community and the NATO. These authors added that with the celebration of the Olympic Games in Barcelona and the Expo in Seville, both in 1992, Spain maintained its high figures. Between 1993 and 1996 the industry suffered due to the economic crisis, but Spain was not very much affected as a tourist destination (Such and Zamora, 2006).
The evolution of tourism in Spain during the last 30 years has been irregular, but it was mainly based on the quick growth during the 1960s, due to an attractive offer of warm and sunny beaches and low prices (Gonzalez and Moral, 1996). These authors also considered that international demand was one of the main aspects in this spectacular expansion that has been essential for the development of some Spanish regions. During this period different approaches to tourism planning have been undertook by the different Spanish authorities. Table 3.1 (next page) provides a briefing of these approaches.
Some authors named this incredible development as the “Spanish Miracle” but which are the main factors that caused this incredible growth of the tourism industry and, consequently, the economy in Spain? According to Williams (1998) the main aspects contributing to the increase of mass tourism in Spain are:
• The attractive climate
• The extensive coastline
• Its accessibility to major generating countries
• The competitive pricing of Spanish tourism products
• The distinctive Spanish culture
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Finally, Ivars (2004) proposed that the competitive advantages of Spain over its competitors were the climate, outstanding natural resources, proximity to important tourism generating countries (by plane), relatively low prices and exoticism.
Table 3.1 Phases of Tourism Planning in Spain
Integration of tourism into State indicative planning. Lack of regional and local scale planning. The growth of supply 1959-1974 is favoured despite serious infrastructure deficits and high environmental costs. Land use and town planning are subordinated to tourism growth.
Unsuccessful attempt to link land use and tourism planning. Guiding plans contained recommendations not 1975-1982 implemented. Provincial scale plans are prepared but without a real application.
Central Administration promoted plans are replaced with specific studies (statistics, marketing). Urban growth 1982-1989 under local control thanks to municipal autonomy laws.
Reactive plans in which the loss of competitiveness drives the strategic planning approach. Mediterranean regions 1989-1993 with a greater specialisation in tourism develop strategic plans with a sectored approach. Start of planning within the European regional policy.
Regional and sub regional planning instruments are regulated in tourism laws. Rise in value of the local scale From 1994 with inter-administrative cooperation (Excellence plans)
Source: Adapted from Ivars, 2004
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3.2 Costa Daurada
This section is a description of the region Costa Daurada. All the information has been provided by the Costa Daurada Tourism Board, in different brochures, newspapers, official publications and, mainly, on the organisation’s website.
3.2.1 Description of the region
Figure 3.1 Map of Catalonia
Source: Gomez-Martin, 2004
Costa Daurada is a coastal region located in the south of Catalonia (number 5 in Figure 3.1), on the north-west of Spain. The landscape of the region is full of contrasts. Unspoilt natural areas, such as Delta del Ebro, mountain ranges without vegetation and animal life, such as Serra del Montsant, agriculture lands, coastal towns based on tourism, small towns where the main source of income is the sea and long and wide fine sand beaches, can be found in this region (Costa Daurada, 2007). Costa Daurada enjoys
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 37 a moderate Mediterranean climate, with average temperatures around 7 to 10º C in winter and 20 to 26º C in summer. Most of the rainfall is concentrated in spring and autumn, and short and heavy showers are also common in summer. The region covers a surface of 6,283 square km divided in 10 counties and 183 municipalities. The population of Costa Daurada is 612,000 inhabitants and its capital is Tarragona (Costa Daurada, 2007). The main sources of economy of the region are:
• Agriculture: It was, traditionally, the main source of economy inland and along the riverbanks. Nowadays, the most important products are rice, olive oil, wine and citrus fruits.
• Fishing: Traditionally, the most important economic source in the coast. Nowadays, Cambrils, Calafell and the Port of Tarragona are the most important locations and specific products, such as eels (in Delta del Ebro) and prawns (in Sant Carles de la Rápita) are also renown.
• Handicrafts: Pottery and palm crafts are still produced in some towns on the region.
• Industry: Different types of industry, such as construction, textile, metal and olive oil can be found in the region. In the second half of last century, the petrochemical (Tarragona) and the nuclear industries (Ascó, Vandellós), became an important part of the regional economy.
• Tourism: It will be explained in detail in the next section.
The history of the region goes back to the Iberian period. The Iberian civilisation built settlements mainly along the banks of the river Ebro and on the coast. This civilisation developed an architecture learnt by the contact with other civilisations, such as the Greeks and the Phoenicians. Many examples of Iberian settlements can be found in the region, such as the ruins in Calafell (Costa Daurada, 2007). During the Roman period, Tarraco (Tarragona) became the capital of Hispania Citerior (Roman province). Many vestiges of the Roman period are still located in the capital and other towns and villages. Between the 9 th and the 13 th centuries, the Romanesque style spread to all
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Christian Europe. In Costa Daurada, there are still many examples of this style. As a transition between the Romanesque and the Gothic, the Cistercian style appeared in the 12 th century. The Monastery of Poblet, which was declared a World Heritage site by the UNESCO in 1992, is the most important building of the Cirtescian style and is located in Costa Daurada. The Gothic style arrived to the region in the later 14 th century and leaving many examples of its architecture, such as the Cathedral in Tarragona. Finally, vestiges from other historical styles such as the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Neoclassical are abundant all over the region, but it is necessary to underline the important contribution of the Modernism, in the beginning of the 20 th century, to the development of towns, such as Reus (Costa Daurada, 2007).
3.2.2 Tourism in the region
Catalonia is the first tourism destination in Spain, with more than 13 million of international tourists, around 5 million from the rest of Spain, and 15 million regional tourists (Gomez-Martin, 2004). Apart from Barcelona, Costa Daurada and Costa Brava are the most important destinations in Catalonia. Costa Daurada is, mainly a destination of coastal tourism, as most of the Spanish destinations located in the Mediterranean littoral. However, in order to stand out over other destinations, new types of tourism has been introduced during the last decades, taking advantage of the natural resources, the historic vestiges and the proximity to Barcelona and to other European countries. The region is easily accessible by road (motorways AP 2 from Madrid, AP 7 from the south of Spain to the border with France, C-32 from Barcelona), by airplane (Reus Airport) and by train. On December 2006, the AVE (Spanish high-speed train) service from Madrid to Tarragona was opened. Since this date, the Costa Daurada Tourism Board is promoting the region as “the closest beach to Madrid” in order to increase the tourism demand from the capital of Spain. Before, the closest beach to the capital was the Valencia’s littoral (350 km far, linked by highway), but the new AVE service connects Madrid and Tarragona in less than 3 hours (Costa Daurada, 2007).
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According to OFETCD (2004), Costa Daurada´s accommodation supply is the third biggest in Catalonia, after Barcelona and Costa Brava. In 2003, the supply of the region was enough to lodge 157,120 people from which 37% were hotels, 43% campsites, 19% tourism apartments and 1% rural tourism establishments. As it has been said, there are many types of tourism in Costa Daurada, and the most important of them are:
• Coastal Tourism: It is still the star tourist product in the region. The main coastal destinations of the region are Salou, Cambrils, La Pineda, Mont-roig and l’Hospitalet de l’Infant.
• Cultural Tourism: Due to its long history, the region provides a big offer of cultural tourism with destinations, such as Tarragona, with its Roman vestiges (walls, amphitheatre, circus, aqueduct…) and its Gothic Cathedral, Reus, with its modernist architecture, the Monastery of Poblet, the Archaeological Museum in El Vendrell, … In addition the rich gastronomy of the region, and its festivals and traditions, have to be mentioned.
• Rural Tourism: Even if it is still small, compared to other type of accommodation, the number of rural lodging is increasing during the last years in the region, mainly in the inland territories. This offer of rural accommodation is completed with inland campsites and “active tourism” activities, such as canoeing, mountain biking, etc.
• Nature-based Tourism: Based on the natural resources of the region, this type of tourism is mainly found in the three natural parks located in Costa Daurada (Montsant, Els Ports and Delta del Ebro). Sports, such as trekking, hiking and rock climbing are practised in these natural areas.
• Other types of tourism such as Health Tourism (mainly in Montbrió del Camp, La Pineda and Vandellós) and Nautical Tourism (in most of the ports in the coastal towns) are becoming more and more important in the region. The tourism offer created by Port Aventura theme park will be explained in section 3.3.
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3.2.3 Costa Daurada and its national competitors
As it as been already said, since the beginning of mass tourism in Spain, Costa Daurada, and Catalonia in general, have been one of the top beach resorts of the country, altogether with the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Region of Valencia and Andalusia. The next table will compare the tourism development produced in all these regions in different period, by the number of places in hotel supply.
Table 3.2 Hotel places supplied (number and percentage)
Year Costa Catalonia Balearic Canary Valencia Andalusia Spain Daurada Islands Islands
1978 19,716* 170,101 224,836 64,131 75,056 99,071 808,015
2.4% 21.0% 27.8% 7.9% 9.3% 12.3% 100%
1990 33,358 187,971 252,189 48,804 75,264 109,330 929,533
3.6% 20.2% 27.1% 5.3% 8.1% 11.8% 100%
2002 48,610 261,945 307,771 151,554 108,745 210,224 1,395,383
3.5% 18.8% 22.1% 10.9% 7.8% 15.0% 100%
% 146.6% 54.0% 36.9% 132.3% 44.9% 112.2% 72.8% Growth
*Data from Costa Daurada in 1981 (1978 not available)
Source: Adapted from IET, 2003; Generalitat de Catalunya, 2007
As it can be observed in the data above, the significance of the main destinations of the late 1970s (Balearic Islands and Catalonia) has decreased noticeably during the last decades. In all the destinations, there have been an increase in the number of hotel prices but only Canary Islands, Andalusia and Costa Daurada (this one very
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 41 significantly) have growth over the national average. It is necessary to remark the growth percentage of Costa Daurada between 1981 and 2002 (146%) compared to that of Catalonia in general (54%).
Next table shows the same data (hotel places and percentage), but this time in the previous and posterior years to the opening of Port Aventura (1995), and comparing Costa Daurada with the other important beach resort in Catalonia, Costa Brava. Even if the hotel places supply has been always bigger in Costa Brava than in Costa Daurada, it seems to be stuck in the last years, growing at a lower level than the rest of Catalonia or decreasing (as it happens since 1995). On the other hand, the number of hotel places in Costa Daurada has increased in higher levels than the rest of Catalonia, especially from 1995, which give an idea of the importance of Port Aventura. It is not possible to assure, but it seems that without the opening of the park, Costa Daurada would not have been able to achieve these levels of growth. The opening of Port Aventura has generated a noticeable difference between Costa Daurada and other similar regions (as the case of Port Aventura) allowing this region to have patterns of growth that these other areas have not been able to achieve.
Table 3.3 Hotel places supplied (Catalonia)
Year Costa Daurada Costa Brava Catalonia
1990 33,358 (17.7%) 77.278 (41.1%) 187,971 (100%)
1995 39,671 (17.3%) 84,222 (36.7%) 229,455 (100%)
2000 45,917 (19.8%) 82,369 (35.5%) 231,938 (100%)
2005 54,564 (21.5%) 80,081 (31.6%) 253,438 (100%)
% Growth 63.6% 3.6% 34.8%
Source: Adapted from Generalitat de Catalunya, 2007
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3.3 Port Aventura
3.3.1 Description of the resort
According to Port Aventura (2007a), the Port Aventura resort is the most complete holiday destination within the Mediterranean area. It is located in the middle of the Costa Daurada, between the towns of Salou and Vila-seca, and 100 km far from Barcelona. PA Fans (2007) described Port Aventura as the biggest holiday resort in the Mediterranean region, which has been already visited by more than 30 million people. In the year 2006, 3.9 million people visited the resort, which supposed an increase of more than 5% in one year. 35% of this total amount are international visitors, mainly from the United Kingdom and France and the average occupancy rate of the three hotels was 70% (Port Aventura, 2007a). With such numbers, José Blanco ( in Port Aventura, 2007a), Marketing Manager of Port Aventura stated that 2006 had been the best year in the park history.
The resort is composed by two theme parks (Port Aventura and Caribe Aquatic Park), three hotels (Port Aventura, El Paso and Caribe) and a beach club. Port Aventura (2007a) offered a description of the elements composing the resort:
• Port Aventura Park - It has a surface oh 117 hectares and is divided in five themed areas: Mediterranean, Polynesian, China, Mexico and Far West. The park offers more than 30 rides, 100 shows per day, 75 restaurants and food stalls, 28 shops and 10 game areas for family leisure.
• Caribe Aquatic Park - Theme water park based on the Caribbean. It has a surface of 34,000 square metres divided in two areas (indoor and open air).
• Hotel Port Aventura - Rated four stars and with 500 rooms, this theme hotel represents a romantic Mediterranean village.
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• Hotel El Paso - Specially designed for families; this hotel is based in the colonial Mexican style. It is also rated four stars and has 500 rooms.
• Hotel Caribe - The biggest white sand swimming pool in the world is the main attraction of this Caribbean type hotel. As the other two hotels, it has 500 room and is rated four stars.
• Beach Club - New area located next to the Playa Larga (Long Beach) in Salou. Designed for relax and sport activities.
Figure 3.2 Plan of the resort
Source: PA Fans, 2007
Moreover, PA Fans (2007) added that apart from the parks and hotels, the resort offers other infrastructures and services such as:
• Roads specially built for the resort with links to regional and national roads and the motorway A7
• Two parking areas with place enough for 6,000 cars and 250 coaches
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• Own train station, linked to regional and national lines
• Individual and group ticket offices
• Customer service office
• Left-luggage office
• Pet care centre
3.3.2 History of the resort
PA Fans (2007) referred at the decision of Disney to open a theme park in Europa as the beginning of the Port Aventura project. Spain was one of the candidates but Disney finally decided to build it in Marne-la-Vallée, 30 km far from Paris. Anyway, Spain and particularly the Catalonia regional government continued with the idea of having a big theme park (PA Fans, 2007). As mentioned in Port Aventura (2007a), in 1989, the regional government called for bids on building a leisure and tourist centre, which was finally approved to be built in Vila-seca- Salou, being favoured by:
• The high tourist demand of the Catalan coast
• The good accessibility from the rest of Europe
• The excellent weather
The initial investment for this 2project was 300 € million and its principal shareholders were: Pearson Group (owner of the Tussaud´s Group) with a 40%, La Caixa (Spanish savings bank) with a 33%, Anheuser Busch (owner of the parks Bush Gardens) with a 20% and FECSA with a 7% (PA Fans, 2007). At last, in 1992 the construction works started (Port Aventura, 2007a).
According to Port Aventura (2007a), the park opened the 1 May 1995 and closed its first season the 29 October, with a big success. PA Fans (2007) added that this first year ended with 2.7 million visitors. In 1996, another important fact for the park is the
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 45 opening of its own train station (PA Fans, 2007). One of the most important dates in the history of Port Aventura was the acquisition of the 37% of the park shares by Universal Studios in 1998. This important American entertainment company bought these shares to Pearson Group (Port Aventura, 2007a). In 1999, the name of the park changed to “Universal’s Port Aventura” and Woody and Winnie Woodpecker are introduced as mascots. In 2000, the name changed again to “Universal Studios Port Aventura”, giving the park a bigger dimension and in the same year they introduced “Sea Odyssey”, the most modern virtual ride in the world, and the first Halloween Party (Port Aventura, 2007a). In 2001, other Universal’s characters such as Popeye, Betty Boop and the Pink Panther landed in the park and the first Carnival and Christmas Party took place (PA Fans, 2007).
In 2002, Port Aventura became a resort called Universal Mediterranea, with the opening of two hotels (Port Aventura and El Paso) and a second park (Costa Caribe), being the biggest leisure resort in South Europe (Port Aventura, 2007a). In 2004, La Caixa became the main shareholder of the park (80%) by buying the part from Universal Sudios. However, Universal continued with its link to Port Aventura in brand terms and merchandising. 2004 was also the year of the opening of the third hotel (Hotel Caribe). At the end of the tenth year since its opening, 3.5 million people visited the park (PA Fans, 2007). In 2005, the resort was changed its name again (for the last time) to Port Aventura) and there was an increase in the number of international visitors and company events. Finally, in 2006, the Beach Club was opened in Playa Larga (Salou) and the best Halloween Party in the park’s history took place with 405,105 visitors, 19% increase from the year before (Port Aventura, 2007a).
3.3.3 Future plans and strategies
As seen before, Port Aventura is the biggest theme resort in Southern Europe and by 2013, it will become a complete leisure and holidays centre (PA Community, 2007). The expansion project of Port Aventura as a resort started in 2002 with the opening of the two first hotels and the water park. By those years, the first master plan of the future
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 3- Costa Daurada and Port Aventura 46 expansion was done, but this project was in danger when Universal sold its shares in 2004 (PA Fans, 2007). Finally, La Caixa decided to continue with this project, after adapting it to the European market. According to PA Community (2007), the master plan is being developed in different stages:
• The first stage was developed from 1999 to 2004, with the opening of rides, such as Sea Odyssey, three hotels and a water park
• The second stage, from 2005 to 2013, includes new rides for the parks, a beach club (already opened), 3 golf courses, a convention centre, residential areas, sport areas, hotels and a third theme park. It will suppose an investment of 1,500 € million and will create 18,500 jobs.
Port Aventura S.A. owns nowadays 825.7 hectares in the region, and only 192 of them (23.25%) have already been used (PA Fans, 2007). Apart of the facilities mentioned, new infrastructures such as an Activity Corridor, a new train station and inter-resort transport will also be built (PA Community, 2007). PA Fans (2007) explained that the Activity Corridor (Boulevard) will be a big avenue based on the Hollywood style, with shops, restaurants, night clubs, go-kart, mini golf… going from the convention centre to the Beach Club. A tram and a chair lift will link all the facilities inside the resort, and the new train station will be opened in 2009, with a shuttle to the AVE (high-speed train) station. PA Community (2007) mentioned that 2,477 estate housings will be created. There will be 62 mansions, 212 houses, 385 terraced houses and 1,818 flats. Moreover, PA Fans (2007) added that 350 of these will be subsidized flats. By 2013, the final structure of the resort will be like shown in the following table and figure.
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Table 3.4 Structure of Port Aventura Resort (Year 2013)
Northern Area: “The paradise of leisure” Southern Area: “The paradise of relax”
1.- The Core: 1.- Lower Area:
- Port Aventura Park, with a new area between - It will be the part of the resort located next to Polynesia and China the beach.
- New theme park: in the north of the first park - Beach Club and with a similar size. - Hotel Beach Paradise: Luxury hotel including - New parking areas. a Spa centre.
- Expansion of Caribe Aquatic Park
2.- East Periphery: 2.- Central Area:
- Golf school - Residential areas
- Sport Club: including football pitches, tennis - In this area two of the golf courts will be courts, a stadium and an equestrian centre located: South Golf Court (2009) and Central Golf Court (9 holes, 2008)
3.- West Periphery: 3.- Upper Area:
- Convention centre: Mediterranean style, with - Residential areas capacity for 4,000 people. It is already in - North Golf Court: with 765,000 square metres, construction works and will be opened in it will be opened in 2008. 2009.
- Hotel Tahiti: Behind the Polynesian area.
- Activity Corridor.
- Hotel Louisiane: next to the future train station.
- Botanic gardens
- Ghost Town: Big town based on the “Gold fever” period, containing three hotels and a river.
Source: Adapted from PA Community, 2007
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Figure 3.3 Port Aventura Master Plan
Source: PA Community, 2007
3.4 Conclusion
This chapter has reviewed the main characteristics of tourism in Spain and the region of Costa Daurada. Once created the background, a detailed description of the main features, the history and the future plans and strategies of Port Aventura has been done. Next chapter will explain the methodology used by the author in order to accomplish the aim and objectives of the research.
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Chapter 4- Methodology
This chapter describes the methodology used by the author in order to complete the aim and objectives of this research. After reviewing the aim and objectives of the research, the secondary and primary research and the analysis of the data will be explained. Finally, the different limitations occurred during the research will also be mentioned at the end of this chapter.
4.1 Aim and Objectives
The aim of this research is to analyse the economic impacts of the theme park industry on the host regions, by studying the case of Port Aventura (Spain). In order to achieve this aim the objectives of this research will be:
• To review the main characteristics of the tourism industry nowadays in order to introduce a background reference for the study. • To examine the different levels of tourism impacts, focusing on the economic dimension. • To review the main characteristics of the theme park industry. • To study the history and development of Port Aventura since its opening date, and the changes produced during the last decades in its host region (Costa Daurada). • To examine the economic impact of tourists visiting Port Aventura on this region.
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4.2 Secondary research
As Brunt (1997) mentioned, practically no research can be accomplished without using references. According to Poynter (1993), secondary research implies the compilation of existing literature. Secondary data consists on the information that has been produced by someone else for primary usage and is afterwards used by another researcher not associated with the first project (Jennings, 2001). Blaxter et al. (2001) considered that the fact of being previously researched, make this information easier to collect than primary, and it saves time and money to the researcher. However, this secondary data will be useful as a support of information and interpretation for the later primary research (Blaxter et al. 2001). Furthermore, Finn et al. (2000) suggested that when collecting secondary data, researchers should focus on their own research aim and objectives and not only duplicate the information without analysing it. Clark et al. (1998) added that in student dissertations secondary data can be bigger to primary data, as previous authors might have had different conditions to work under such as less limitations of time and money. Finally, the analysis of secondary data could be useful to resolve unpredictable circumstances that might appear during the period of collecting primary data (Dale et al. , 1998 in Finn et al. , 2000).
4.2.1 Sources For this research, the author used different types of secondary data such as books, e- books, journals, statistics and official publications, professional data from companies and Internet. The research was directed to the following topics: the tourism industry, economic tourism impacts and theme parks. A second literature review has been done about Costa Daurada and Port Aventura, in order to introduce the region and the theme park as the case study.
Books and journals: Academic sources such as books, e-books, journals and e-journals in three different languages (English, Spanish and French) have been used for this research. General books about the selected topics have been provided by the libraries of three different universities: Bournemouth University, Université de Savoie and
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Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid. Other libraries used by the author for the collection of secondary data have been the Forum Library in Norwich and the Municipal Library of Collado Villalba (Spain). Data from journals and articles from journals, such as Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research, Leisure Science and Applied Economics, have been collected in order to get up-to-date information. According to Bell (1999) journals is a more updated source of data than books, due to the frequency of it publication.
Official publications and statistics: The author used for the research secondary data published by official organisations such as the Costa Daurada Tourism Board, the INE (Spanish Statistic Institution), the IET (Spanish Institution for Tourism Statistics), Turespaña (Spanish NTO), the Catalonia Regional Government and the WTO. This data was mainly based in economic information, brochures and statistics.
Professional publications: Some economic data reports and press dossiers from Port Aventura, have been an useful tool for the author in order to improve his knowledge about the company.
Internet: Documents and news from different websites including information and statistics were very practical for the author, as this data is renewed frequently and can be accessed worldwide. During the stay of the author in Bournemouth (England) and Chambéry (France), Internet is the only mean of getting information about the park or the region studied.
Dissertations and thesis: Previous research from university students has served to the author in order to define a structure in different parts of the work, and to find interesting bibliographic sources.
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4.2.2 Timetable of secondary research A wide amount of secondary data has been collected for this research. The author started gathering information from other researchers in January 2007 in Bournemouth University Library, in order to write the dissertation proposal. In the following months secondary research has been done in different places already mentioned, but this process was more intensely undertaken between April and June 2007. However, the research of secondary data has never finished until the accomplishment of the dissertation, being used not only for the literature review. In addition to the topics already mentioned, data about research methods, questionnaires, visitor’s expenditure surveys and interviews has been employed as a helpful tool for the completion of the primary research.
4.3 Primary research
According to Clark et al. (1998), primary research refers to the investigation involving the collection of original information by using an accepted methodology. Burns (2000) added that this type of research is done for the precise purpose in order to answer a specific research difficulty. The use of primary research is essential when the researcher requires information that does not exist elsewhere (Brunt, 1997). Finally, Silverman (2000) considered that primary research could be divided into two types: qualitative research and quantitative research that will be explained in detail in the following section. The author used both types of research, quantitative and qualitative, for the gathering of primary data. The whole process of primary research, including the design and piloting of the questionnaires and interview and their completion, took the author approximately one month to achieve.
4.3.1 Quantitative research Punch (1998) defined quantitative research as the method where the researched information is given in the form of numbers. Veal (2006) added that the quantitative approach is based on numerical data in order to draw conclusions or test hypotheses. By comparing the two types of research, it can be stated that quantitative is the rigorous scientific method, and qualitative, being less rigorous, uses more flexible tools of research (Finn et al. 2000). According to Clark et al. (1998), the quantitative method is
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 4- Methodology 53 more dependent on the research tools, such as questionnaires or experiments and the qualitative method is more reliant on the skills of the researcher while interviewing or observing. Moreover, Ritchie and Goeldner (1987) argued that the quantitative method is the most used within the tourism research areas, because of being less expensive than the qualitative.
Quantitative research has been used in this work in order to gather information related to visitor´s expenditure and visitor’s satisfaction in the studied theme park. For this topics, the researcher required numeric information and a large group of participants, characteristics that cannot be collected through the qualitative research. The quantitative research instrument chosen for this dissertation has been the questionnaire.
4.3.1.1 Questionnaire Brunt (1997) affirmed that questionnaires are the most frequently used research tools in the tourism industry. Malhotra (1996) defined questionnaire as a structured system for data compilation, where the respondents answer a series of verbal or written questions. Brunt (1997) added that this method is useful to get data from people who answer questions about themselves, their knowledge on a specific topic and their points of view. Besides, the WTO (2001) stated that in order to be successful, a questionnaire must have the following characteristics: • Objectivity (not to influence the answers) • Clarity (to avoid ambiguities and inaccuracies) • Precision (well constructed questions) • Courtesy (not to bother the respondents) • Short length (to prevent tiredness) Furthermore, Clark et al. (1998) considered that this method is sometimes synonymous with investigation for some researchers.
As said before, questionnaire has been chosen as a research instrument in order to get numeric data about visitor´s expenditure and satisfaction. The main topic of this dissertation is the economic impacts caused on the region by a theme park. To get primary data regarding to this topic, the author had to consider the limitations of the
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 4- Methodology 54 research, and decided that a visitor’s expenditure survey was the most adequate tool. As it has been seen in chapter two, the main ways of measuring economic impacts (multiplier, input-output, TSA) are based on the assessment of direct expenditure of tourists, even if they are afterwards more developed. Furthermore, this is the only primary research tool to get useful information about economic impacts that can be undertaken with the time, money and means available. Apart from visitor’s expenditure, the author considered that satisfaction towards the region might be also studied. If the satisfaction of visitors is high, it is more possible that they go back in the future or they may recommend the region to their family or friends, and it will cause future economic impacts for the region. This method was selected instead other possible instruments studied in the literature review (multiplier, input-output analysis), for reasons of lack of time, money and resources to undertake these other tools.
4.3.1.1.1 Questionnaire design The questionnaire was designed in May 2007, after reading several examples of visitor’s expenditure surveys by other researchers. It was written in three different languages (Spanish, English and French) in order to increase the response rate. The author aimed to apply the characteristics mentioned before by the WTO (2001); objectivity, clarity, precision, courtesy and short length, in the process of structuring the questionnaire. According to Clark et al. (1998), the respondents should not be guided towards specific answers that are considered socially correct. The author tried to accomplish this statement by giving a broad choice of answers to every question. This questionnaire was conducted by the completion of the answers by the researcher. Veal (2006) described interviewer completion surveys as the most appropriated method, because the researcher can explain questions to the respondents and get more accurate and complete responses.
Most of the questions of the questionnaire were designed as close questions, in order to facilitate the respondents’ task and the later analysis. The weakness of close questions is that the information is limited and the participants are sometimes forced into an answer that does not represent completely what they want to say (Veal, 2006). Conversely,
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 4- Methodology 55 some of the questions regarding to the main destination of the travel, the location of the lodge or the suggestions for improvement, were designed as open questions, and allow the respondents to answer freely. Besides, the close questions with the option “Other”, gave the respondents the choice of answering this question freely, as if it was an open question. The questionnaire consisted on 18 questions, covering the following topics:
• Questions 1 to 8: Characteristics of the trip (number of people, transport, accommodation, etc.)
• Question 9: Activities undertaken in the region
• Question 10: Expenditures during the stay (accommodation, transport, food and beverage, leisure and others)
• Questions 11 and 12: Satisfaction with the tourist services offered by the region and suggestions for improvement
• Questions 13 and 14: Consideration of going back in the future or recommend the region
• Questions 15 to 18: Personal information
The questionnaires were printed in A4 size paper and the survey took place in Port Aventura (Costa Daurada) on the 23 an 24 June 2007. Previously to this dates, the author contacted the press department of Port Aventura in order to get a permission to conduct the survey inside the park. They replied that only surveyors from Port Aventura are allowed to conduct surveys inside the park, but the researcher was given permission to do it in the entrance of the park, next to the ticket offices. The author approached the respondents identifying himself as a Master student from Bournemouth University and informing them about the purpose of the survey. As Clark et al. (1998) explained, the sample size must be limited to what is practical but still representative, when there exist some restraints, such as time and money. At the end of the survey, the number of questionnaires completed was 80, which was considered as appropriate by the author regarding the imitations of time, money and means existing. The sample of the survey
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 4- Methodology 56 was formed by visitors over 18 years old approached in the entrance to the park on the dates already mentioned. At first, the author considered to conduct the survey only to visitors staying in the region for 1 or more nights, but finally this option was rejected in order to get more realistic results. Even if visitors just go to the park in one-day excursion and then go back to their homes, without stopping in the region, economic impacts in terms of transports (public or motorway tolls) are always caused.
4.3.1.1.2 Pilot test
Clark et al. (1998) explained that in order to judge how the questionnaire works in practice and to recognize any possible trouble, pre-testing must be done in advance. After the questionnaire was designed, it was pre-tested previously to the conduction of the survey by a small group of people, in order to prove their understanding of the questions and provide useful suggestions for improvement of the survey. The pilot test was directed to people which mother language was Spanish, French and English, to check if the three versions could be understood despite the possible grammatical mistakes. Some of these mistakes were corrected and some suggestions were implemented in order to improve the understanding of the questionnaire, during the process of pilot testing.
4.3.2 Qualitative research According to Strauss and Corbin (1990), the qualitative methods are those where the findings are not arrived at by statistical procedures or other types of quantification. Blaxter et al. (2001) defined it as the research that is not based on numbers but in collecting data in detail and which main aim is to obtain in-depth information. Veal (2006) added that this qualitative research involves working with a big amount of information about a small group rather than a limited quantity of information about a large group. Qualitative researchers normally believe that the use of only quantitative methods might ignore the social and cultural dimension of the variables of which qualitative research tries to explain a relationship (Silverman, 2000). Furthermore,
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Denscombe (2003) mentioned that the procedure of collecting qualitative information is time consuming and it is difficult to gather data from many respondents.
A qualitative approach has been used in this research in order to get in-depth information about some topics such as the regional development, patterns, trends and future of Costa Daurada. For getting this information, it is impossible to use a quantitative approach, because it needs intensive answers and explanations, rather than numeric data. Some of this information could have been collected by using secondary research, but the author considered that using a qualitative method would be more useful to get the data needed. The qualitative method used for this research has been the in-depth interview.
4.3.2.1 In-depth interview Blaxter et al. (2001) pointed out that interviews are based on conversations including two participants. Kahn and Cannell (1957 in Saunders et al. 2003) added that an interview is a dialogue between two or more people, which has been determined in advance. Brenner et al. (1985 in Darlington and Scott, 2002) outlined that interview allows both the researcher and the respondent to examine the significance of the questions and answers concerned. As other types of qualitative methods, the interview is time consuming because it generally takes 20 or 30 minutes per interviewee and it can be only done once at a time (Denscombe, 2003). Besides, Darlington and Scott (2002) argued that an interviewer can get some data from the past and also obtain information about future projects, which make a distinction with other type of methods. In addition, Finn et al. (2000) proposed that differences in language between researcher and respondent due to gender, age, personal background, culture, etc. must be considered in order to avoid misinterpretation. Moreover, Saunders et al. (2003) affirmed that there are three different types of interview: structured interviews, semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews. These authors specified that only structured interviews can be considered as a standardise type of interview.
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4.3.2.1.1 The interview process The type of interview selected for this research has been the semi-structured interview. Finn et al. (2000) described semi-structure interviews those containing specific question but allowing the interviewer the possibility of researching further explanations and justifications. Semi-structured interview has been used in this investigation for different reasons. In this type of method, the interviewer does not have to follow a script all the time, which is helpful in order to make the interview flow naturally. Semi-structured interviews also provide more opportunities of understanding given that the interviewer can go beyond the specific questions that were designed previously, and ask something that could be interesting for the research and was not written in advance.
At first, the author considered conducting three interviews with managing staff of different business in the region in order to get information about the changes produced in the area since the opening of Port Aventura, in 1995. This option was rejected because of the lack of time and money, and the refusal from the different businesses when being contacted via e-mail and telephone. Finally, the qualitative research was undertaken by conducting one interview to the manager of the Costa Daurada Tourism Board, Mr Octavi Bono. The author contacted the tourism board via e-mail and received a prompt answer from them. Some days later, an appointment was done in order to conduct the interview, and to get some secondary data from the library, located in Tarragona. On 25 June 2007 the interview with Mr Octavi Bono took place. The duration of the interview was 15-20 minutes because of the lack of time of the interviewee, but all the objectives planned to be researched in advance, were successfully achieved. The topics areas asked during the interview were:
• Functions of the tourism board
• Importance of Port Aventura for the region
• Changes in the region from the opening of the park
• Future of the park and the region
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4.4 Analysis
According to Investorwords (2007), analysis can be defined as the examination and evaluation of the significant information to select the best way of action between various alternatives. Rubin and Rubin (1995) added that the analysis of the data collected is the final stage of the research. Besides, Robson (1993) described data analysis as the process of putting in order, structuring and giving meaning to the collected information. Finally, Veal (2006) pointed out that is important to provide a judgment to both the understanding of the data collected and how its interpretation answer to the research questions.
Two different computer programs, the Statistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel, were used in order to analyse the data collected by the means of the questionnaire undertaken in Port Aventura. All the questions from the survey were coded in SPSS before the questionnaires were conducted. After the survey process, all the data collected was typed in SPSS, and frequencies and graphics were created. Afterwards, the most important information was selected and more detailed graphics concerning this data were created using Microsoft Excel. As Clark et al. (1998) mentioned researchers must consider that computers are only a tool, which generate results from the data they have been “fed” previously. The important thing is the interpretation that the researcher does of these results.
For the interpretation of the interview, a qualitative analysis approach was used. Darlington and Scott (2002) affirmed that qualitative analysis is widely involved with the identification of patterns in the information, which rely on the focus of the research. The process of analysing qualitative data is divided in some steps. First, all the information must be transcribed, which takes a long time, especially for researchers without enough funds to pay transcribers (Darlington and Scott, 2002). Then, it is necessary to code and categorise data (Rubin and Rubin, 1995). Finally, the researcher
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 4- Methodology 60 must select the information that is interesting for the research topic, and add the main findings to his work. In this research, the author followed the steps mentioned above, and after transcribing and translating the interview to English, he proceeded to code it and select the information most relevant to the research.
4.5 Limitations of the research
During the process of the research, both secondary and primary, the author has found different limitations and difficulties. Some of them were known previously and other have appeared during the research process and even planning and structuring consciously the research, it is impossible to avoid the occurrence of some limitations.
First, it is important to list the limitations related to the language. In the secondary research, sources in different languages (Spanish, English and French) have been used, and a translation to English is necessary before the writing process. In the primary research, the questionnaires were also written and answered in those three languages, and the interview was conducted in Spanish and later translation was also needed in order to code the information. Besides, limitations related to participants’ refusal appeared in both the questionnaire and the interview. The questionnaire was conducted at the entrance of Port Aventura and people wanted to go inside as quick as possible, and did not have time for answering a questionnaire. The author approached people sitting in the square next to the ticket offices and generally, they accepted to answer, but most of them were people from groups who were waiting for the group leader to bring them the tickets. This fact caused that many of the questionnaires have similar answers, as they were responded by people from the same group. The interviews planned from the beginning to managing staff from business in the region had to be cancelled due to their refusal. However, the author was able to conduct an interview with the manager of the regional tourism board.
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Then, the researcher was affected by limitations of time and money. For the secondary research, time was a limitation because he had to combine the research for the dissertation with the research for the different assignments due during the course in Bournemouth and Chambéry. For the primary research, the survey had to be limited to two days because the park is located 600 Km. far from the author’s home. The undertaking of both the survey and the interview (also conducted in Tarragona), made the author spend money in petrol, lodging, food and beverage for three days. Finally, the author found different limitations common to every research such as, lack of sincerity of the respondents, difficulties of data analysis, researcher’s bias in the conducting of a semi-structured interview, etc. during the process.
4.6 Conclusion
This chapter has introduced an approach to the methodology used during the research process. Moreover, the reasons for choosing the different research methods, their explanation and the data analysis have also been described. Finally, the different limitations occurred during this research have also be named. Next chapter will show the main findings from the primary research.
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Chapter 5- Main findings
This chapter will present the main findings obtained by the author from the primary research. The most important results of the visitor expenditure survey conducted in Port Aventura will be reviewed in the first section. The second section will expose the most significant information found in the in-depth interview undertook with Mr Octavi Bono, manager of the Costa Daurada Tourism Board.
5.1 Results of the survey
As explained in Chapter 2, the best models to measure economic impacts of tourism are those based on the concept of the multiplier, specially the input-output analysis and the Tourism Satellite Accounts. In the case of assessing the impacts of a theme park development on the host area, it has also been seen in chapter two (research by Sasaki et al. 1997) that the input-output model is significantly useful. However, all of these models have a basis on the collection of tourist expenditure. Due to the lack of time, money and other resources (such of contacts and means to get the information required), it has been impossible to undertake any of these models based on the multiplier. Conversely, the author conducted a visitor expenditure survey in Port Aventura on the 23 and 24 June 2007. It is compulsory to say that the results of this research are not at all representative due to the small size of the sample, only 80 people, and the fact of having conducted it in only two days, a weekend of the summer season.
5.1.1 Sample and personal data
The final sample of this research is composed by 80 people over 18 years old, visiting the park on the 23 and 24 June 2007. These people were distributed with questionnaires in Spanish, English or French (depending on their mother language). At the end of the
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 5- Main findings 63 survey, a total of 47 questionnaires in Spanish, 18 questionnaires in English and 15 questionnaires in French were answered.
Figure 5.1 shows that most of the respondents (47 people, 58.8%) were Spanish. The second nationality of people answering the questionnaire was French (13 people, 16.2%), followed by British (9 people, 11.3%). People coming from Germany and the Netherlands represented a 2.5% of the sample each, with 2 German and 2 Dutch respondents. There was also 1 respondent natural from Portugal (1.2%). Finally, 6 respondents came from other countries (such as Ireland, Belgium and Thailand), representing 7.5% of the sample.
Figure 5.1 Nationality of the respondents
Source: author’s own
Figures 5.2 and 5.3 show the gender and age of the respondents. The sample was composed by 41 men (51.2%) and 39 women (48.8%) and most of the respondents were aged between 18 and 45 years old (67 people, 83.8%). The segment of people between 18 and 25 years old is the highest, with 31 people and 38.8%, which means that the park attracts young people. The segments of people between 26 to 35 and 36 to 45 years old are represented by 18 people and 22.5% each. These groups are, mainly, parents bringing their children to the park, what highlights the fact that Port Aventura is oriented to the family market. Regarding to the family market, Figure 5.4 shows that 56
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 5- Main findings 64 of the respondents (70%) came to the park with children, and only 24 of them (30%) did not came with children.
Figure 5.2 Gender Figure 5.3 Age
Source: Author’s own Source: Author’s own
Figure 5.4 Coming with children
Source: Author’s own
5.1.2 Travel characteristics
The first thing that needs to be commented is that within all the respondents, no one came to the region unaccompanied. Most of the respondents came in big groups (families and groups of friends). 40 respondents (50%) came in a group of more than 5
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 5- Main findings 65 people and 25 of them (31.3%) in groups of 3 to 5 people. The rest of the respondents (15 people, 18.7%) came in groups of 2 (mainly couples).
Figure 5.5 Number of people
Source: Author’s own
The next important result that needs to be highlighted is which the main destination of the respondents was. For 47 of the respondents (58.8%), their main destination was Port Aventura. The other 33 (41.2%) visited the park, but it was not the main purpose of their travel. The different main destinations chosen by the respondents of the questionnaire were:
1. Barcelona: 20 people (60.6%)
2. Catalonia, in general: 5 people (15.2%)
3. Tarragona: 3 people (9.1%)
4. Salou: 3 people (9.1%)
5. Costa Daurada: 1 person (3%)
6. L’Hospitalet del Llobregat: 1 person (3%).
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Figure 5.6 Other destinations
Source: Author’s own
Other important facts within the characteristics of the travel are the means of transport used the length of the stay. The first mean of transport used by the respondents was the coach (34 people, 42.5%), followed by the car (22 people, 27.5%) and the plane (20 people, 25%). Only 4 of the respondents (5%) accessed to the region by train. In the length of the stay, there can be appreciated some disparities. Most of the respondents (41 people, 51.2%) were going to stay from 4 to 7 nights, but there is also a wide amount of one-day visitors (22 people, 27.5%). Some of the other respondents (9 people, 11.3%) stayed between 1 to 3 nights and the rest (8 people, 10%) more than 8 nights.
Figure 5.7 Means of transport Figure 5.8 Length of stay
Source: Author’s own Source: Author’s own
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Finally, in order to complete the characteristics of the travel, the type of accommodation and its location must be presented. It is important to underline that all the results shown before has been collected from all the 80 respondents in the questionnaire, but from now on, there are some missing data, from respondents that did not fill any gap. The question about the type of accommodation was answered by 58 people. The other 22, correspond to those people that went to the park in one day visit (see figure 5.8). From the 58 people that answered to this question, 43 of them (74.2%) stayed in a hotel. Apartments and friends and relatives accommodation followed the hotels, with 6 people (10.3%) each of them. Finally the less used type is the campsite, with only 3 respondents (5.2%). The locations of the accommodation used by these 58 people were:
1. Salou: 21 people, 36.3%
2. Barcelona: 20 people, 34.5%
3. Tarragona: 9 people, 15.5%
4. Reus: 6 people, 10.3%
5. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (in the province of Barcelona): 1 person, 1.7%
6. Mont-roig: 1 person, 1.7%
Figure 5.9 Type of accommodation
Source: Author’s own
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Figure 5.10 Location of the accommodation
Souce: Author’s own
5.1.3 Activities undertaken and expenditures
This part of the survey is the most important, regarding its significance for the research topic. The first question, queried the respondents if they were going to undertake any of the proposed activities (visit other attractions, buy meals or drinks, shopping) within the region on the day they visited the park, or whether they were going to return straight to their accommodation. 76 respondents answered to this question, as there were 4 missing answers. Most of them were going to visit other attractions in the region (45 people, 59.2%) or buy meals and drinks (55 people, 72.4%) but only some of the respondents (36 people, 47.4%) were going to shopping in the area that day. Just a small part of the 76 respondents (23 of them, 30.3%) stated that they were going to return straight to their accommodation.
The following question was divided in five groups (accommodation, food and beverage, transport, leisure and others) and the respondents were asked about the approximate amount of money (in Euro) that they were going to spend in each of these groups, during their holidays:
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• Accommodation: This question stated that it should only be answered if the accommodation was not part of a package holidays. There were only 34 respondents to this question. The other 46 that did not answered correspond to the 22 people going to the park on one day visit, the 6 people staying at friends and relatives accommodation and people staying at an accommodation part of a package holidays. From those 34 who responded, 14 of them (41.2%) stated that they were going to spend more than 750 €, 11 of them (32.4%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 € and 7 of the respondents (20.6%) were going to spend between 100 and 300 €. Only 2 of the respondents (5.8%) answered that they were going to spend less than 100 €.
• Food and Beverage: A total of 71 people answered to this question. From these respondents, most of them answered that they were going to spend more than 300 € in food and beverage during their stay, as 26 respondents (36.6%) chose the option “between 300 and 750 €” and other 7 of them (9.9%) chose the option “more than 750 €”. However, there is another big group (25 people, 35.2%) that was going to spend less than 100 €, and the rest (13 respondents, 9.9%) between 100 and 300 €.
• Transport: 64 people answered to this question and the results are quite varied, as 29 respondents (45.3%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 € in transport, other 21 respondents (32.8%) less than 100 € and, finally, 14 respondents (21.9%) answered that they were going to spend between 100 and 300 €.
• Leisure: This question was answered by 65 people. Most of the respondents affirmed that they were going to spend les than 750€ in leisure, as 24 of them (36.9%) answered “300 to 750 €”, 20 of them (30.8) responded that less than 100 € and 18 respondents (27.7%) chose the option “100 to 300 €”. Only 3 respondents (4.6%) were going to spend more than 750 € in leisure.
• Others: Only 5 people answered to these question. 3 of them (60%) said that they were going to spend less than 100 € in this category and the other 2 respondents (40%) were going to spend between 100 and 300 €. All the 5 respondents said that this money was going to be spent mainly in shopping.
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Figure 5.11 Activities undertaken
Source: Author’s own
Figure 5.12 Expenditures
Source: Author’s own
As visitors’ expenditure is the main focus of this research, a segmentation between the results obtained from Spanish and foreign respondents will be done, in order to get more detailed information about this topic. The type of expenditures that are going to be studied, comparing these two type of respondents are accommodation, food and beverage, transport and leisure, as the results of “others” are not big enough to be segmented.
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Firstly, the results for accommodation are going to be segmented. The respondents were divided in 16 Spanish and 18 foreigners. Most of the Spanish respondents were going to spend between 100 and 750 € in accommodation, as 6 of them (37.5%) chose the option “300 to 750 €” and 5 of them (31.2%) chose “100 to 300”. 3 of the Spanish respondents (18.8%) were going to spend more than 750 € and the rest (2 people, 12.5%) less than 100 €. Within the foreign respondents (18 people), the results were completely different as most of them (11, 61.1%) were going to spend more than 750 € in accommodation. 5 of the foreigners (27.8%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 € and the other 2 (11.1%) between 100 and 300 €. None of the foreign respondents chose the option “0 to 100 €”. It can be clearly seen that the foreign spending in accommodation is noticeably higher than the national expenditure.
Figure 5.13 Segmentation accommodation
Source: Author’s own
Secondly, the segmentation between Spanish and foreigners in food and beverage expenditure needs to be presented. A total of 38 Spanish respondents answered to this question and most of them were going to spend less than 300 € in food and beverage, as 24 of them (63.2%) stated that they would spend less than 100 € and 10 people (26.3%) between 100 and 300 €. 3 of the Spanish respondents (7.9%) were going to spend from
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300 to 750 € in food and beverage, and only 1 of them (2.6%) was going to spend more than 750 €. The results of the foreign respondents (33 people) were, again, perceptibly different. Most of the foreigners were going to spend more than 300 €, as 23 of the respondents (69.7%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 € in food and beverage and 6 of them (18.2%) more than 750 €. 3 of the foreign respondents (9.1%) were going to spend from 100 to 300 € in food and beverage and only 1 of them (3%) less than 100 €. Also in food and beverage, a bigger expenditure from foreigners compared to Spanish can be noticed.
Figure 5.14 Segmentation food and beverage
Source: Author’s own
Thirdly, the same segmentation for the spending in transportation must be done. For this question, the number of Spanish and foreign respondents was the same, 32 people each. In the Spanish side, most of the respondents were going to spend less than 300 € in means of transport, with 18 people (56.2%) spending less than 100 € and 8 of the respondents (25%) between 100 and 300 €. Only 6 of the Spanish respondents (18.8%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 € in transportation. As it is being usual during this segmentation, the foreign expenditure in transport is clearly higher than the Spanish one, with most of the respondents (23 people, 71.9%) spending between 300 and 750 €.
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6 of the foreign respondents (18.8%) were going to spend between 100 and 300 € and the other 3 of them (9.3%) less than 100 €. As it can be observed, none of the respondents (neither Spanish nor foreigners) were going to spend more than 750 € in transport.
Figure 5.15 Segmentation transport
Source: Author’s own
Finally, the results of Spanish and foreign respondents within expenditures in leisure are going to be compared. A total of 34 Spanish respondents answered this question. Most of them were going to spend less than 300 €, as 18 people (52.9%) answered “less than 100 €” and 9 of the respondents (26.4%) chose the option “between 100 and 300 €”. The rest of the Spanish respondents (7 people, 20.7%) were going to spend between 300 and 750 €. The number of foreign respondents that answered this question was 31. Most of them were going to spend more than 300 € in leisure, with 17 respondents (54.8%) spending between 300 to 750 € and 3 people (9.7%) spending more than 750 €. The rest of the respondents were divided in 9 people (29%) spending between 100 and 300 € and only 2 of them (6.5%) spending less than 100 €.
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Figure 5.16 Segmentation leisure
Source: Author’s own
All of these differences between Spanish and foreign respondents are based mainly in three factors: the length of stay, the mean of transport and the type of accommodation. Firstly, foreigners stay longer than Spanish do, and none of the foreigner respondents went to the park in one-day visit (logically). Secondly, foreigners most used mean of transport is the plane (the most expensive), and Spanish use, mainly the coach and the car. Finally, both Spanish and foreigners prefer to use the hotel (normally the most expensive type) rather than other type of accommodation, but the percentage of foreigners using it is higher.
Figure 5.17 Segmentation stay Figure 5.18 Segmentation type transport
Source: Author’s own Source: Author’s own
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Figure 5.19 Segmentation type accommodation
Source: Author’s own
5.1.4 Satisfaction of the respondents
The final part of the survey consisted of questions about the satisfaction of the visitors to different characteristics of the region. Even if this survey was mainly based on the visitors expenditure, this part was useful to know the levels of satisfaction of the visitors and, more important, if they are planning to go back to the region or to recommend the region to their friends and acquaintances (which would cause future expenditures to the area). The results of the questionnaires were good, as most of the respondents qualified as fair, good or even excellent the different tourism services. The main suggestions for improvement were directed to the tourist information, especially to the information in other languages. Finally, the results of the most important questions of this part of the questionnaire (about possibility of going back to the region, and possibility of recommending it) were also positive. 65 of the respondents (81.3%) would go back to the region in the future, 14 of them (17.4%) are undecided about this aspect and only 1 of them (1.3%) would not go back in the future. 78 people responded to the last question, and 71 of them (91%) would recommend the region to their friends, 4 of them (5.2%) are undecided and 3 of the respondents (3.8%) would not recommend the region.
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Figure 5.20 Satisfaction of the respondents
Source: Author’s own
Figure 5.21 Go back to the region? Figure 5.22 Recommend the region?
Source: Author’s own Source: Author’s own
5.2 Results of the interview
The next thing that needs to be exposed is the main results obtained in the in-depth interview conducted with Mr Octavi Bono, Manager of the Costa Daurada Tourism Board, where he has been working since the year 1995 (same year as Port Aventura opening). The fact that he had been part of the Tourism Board since that year, made him
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 5- Main findings 77 a really useful source of information about the impacts of the park in the regional economy. The main findings obtained during this interview can be divided in 9 different topics:
1. Functions of the Tourism Board: Mr Bono defined the Costa Daurada Tourism Board as a self-governing body that promotes, coordinates and support tourism within the public and private agents of the region in order to help to its dynamism and its socioeconomic development.
2. Promotion tools: The Tourism Board uses numerous tools for the promotion of the region, such as: advertising in press and television, trade fairs, support to tourist operators, direct marketing, advertising on the Internet, customer management via a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program, etc.
3. Significance of Port Aventura: Mr Bono affirmed that the significance of Port Aventura within the region promotion is basic. The park is a product that makes the difference with other coastal regions and it reinforces the image of the region as a space for the families. The park also makes the region to diminish seasonality and has improved the acknowledgement of the brand “Costa Daurada”.
4. Changes in tourism supply: Mr Bono considered that there have been many changes in the regional tourism supply since the opening of Port Aventura, especially in the number of hotel places, which has increased from 40,400 to 60,900.
5. Changes in tourism demand: Mr Bono stated that the structure of the tourism demand in Costa Daurada has remained more or less stable since the opening of the park, as the weight of the Spanish market has been always important (between 49 and 51%). The main international markets (France, United Kingdom and the Benelux) have not changed with the opening of the park.
6. Tourist expenditure: Mr Bono underlines that the direct impact of tourism generated in Costa Daurada on the GDP represents the 18%. Most of the companies in the region are local, what makes that a big part of the tourism expenditure stays within the area.
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7. Comparison to the competitors: When asked about the growth of the region since the opening of the park, compared to the two other important destinations in Catalonia (Barcelona and Costa Brava), Mr Bono outlined that the evolution has been better than those in Costa Brava, even if this region has a bigger tourism supply than Costa Daurada. He also highlighted Barcelona as an special case, due to the big supply and fame generated by the Olympic Games.
8. Tourism jobs: Mr Bono mentioned that lately, tourist companies, and companies in general, within the region tend to hire more immigrant people, mainly in the low skilled positions.
9. Future: Finally, Mr Bono considered that the future expansion plans of Port Aventura (mentioned in Chapter 3) will be good for the tourism in the area, which will be able to supply new markets and create new purposes to visit the region all over the year.
5.3 Conclusion
This chapter has presented the main findings obtained with the primary research, by the means of a visitor’s expenditure survey and an in-depth interview. Next chapter will confront this results with the literature reviewed about the main topics of the dissertation. Recommendations for the tourism industry and for future research will also be exposed in there.
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Chapter 6- Conclusion and recommendations
This last chapter will expose the conclusions from the dissertation, by comparing the main results of the primary research, to the information obtained from the literature review. At the end, some recommendations to the tourism industry and for future research will be also given.
6.1 Conclusion
As it has been stated before, the aim of this dissertation was to analyse the economic impacts of the theme park industry on the host regions, by studying the case of Port Aventura. The main thing that needs to be studied is what economic impacts, positive and negative, have been crated in the region of Costa Daurada since the opening of the park in 1995.
6.1.1 Visitor’s expenditure
The first thing that needs to be presented is a value for the results from the visitor’s expenditure survey reviewed in the previous chapter. It is necessary to repeat, as it has been stated previously, that the results obtained with the survey are not representative at all, but even though they are going to be used in the research to give an approximate idea of the impact of the park visitor’s expenditure on the local economy. As it has been seen in that chapter, the responses regarding visitor’s expenditure comprised different values. The options were 0-100 €, 100-300 €, 300-750 € and more than 750 €. In order to get a figure representing the individual expenditure of people visiting the park, the author gave estimated values to each of the responses, being 50, 200, 525 and 1,000 € respectively. After summing up the total expenditures in accommodation, food and beverage, transport, leisure and others using the values mentioned, the total amount was divided by 80 (the total number of respondents). The final results showed that the
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 6- Conclusion and recommendations 80 average total expenditure from each visitor (older than 18) to the park was 1,069.99 €. It does not mean that all of this money is injected in the local economy by every adult visitor to the park, logically. From those visitors whose length of stay is 1 night or higher (72.5% of the visitors) 36.2% of them stayed outside the region of Costa Daurada, what indicates that a big part of their individual expenditure did not stay in this region. Another factor is that the amount chosen by respondents for transport expenditure was the total amount they spent from their origin place to their destination, and not only the money they spent in Costa Daurada. Even accounting these diminutions to the average individual impact on the local economy, it represents still an important economic injection to the region. Other important aspects affecting the regional economy are:
• The high percentage of people using road transport (coach and car), with the subsequent impact to local economy (tolls, services areas…) and the good percentage of people travelling by plane (usually to the Reus Airport).
• The big amount of people considering to go back to the region and to recommend Costa Daurada to their friends, representing more future visitor’s expenditures.
6.1.2 Positive economic impacts generated by the park
As it has been reviewed on Chapter 2, Ryan (2003) offered a list of positive economic impacts from tourism caused by visitor’s expenditure and some of them can be applied to the case of Port Aventura, such as:
1. Earning of foreign exchange from expenditures of visitors and contributions to exports (specially from British visitors, as the rest of visitors use the same currency, the Euro)
2. Visitor expenditures signify a source of taxation. All the expenditures going to the local economy have to be taxed according to the regional and national regulations.
3. Income to tourism businesses. Part of the visitor’s expenditure is used within the regional tourism business, but it is also spent in other industries.
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Apart from the positive impacts created by the visitor’s expenditures, Ryan (2003) highlighted other benefits that are valid for this case study:
1. Creation of employment. It can be proved to have happened in Costa Daurada, with the 2,500 people working in Port Aventura (Port Aventura, 2007a) and the jobs generated in the tourism industry since its opening, such as the increase in more than 20,000 hotel places (interview with Mr Bono) and it subsequent increase of hotel employment.
2. Externalities, which are defined by Dwyer and Forsyth (1998 in Ryan 2003) as above-normal wages generated by transport operations (airports, port expenditure) in short procedures that would not happen if it were not for tourism. Some examples of these externalities in the Costa Daurada are the percentage of visitors to Port Aventura travelling by plane (25%), which generates airport expenditures for the region and the percentage of people using the coach and car within the region (70%), which generates toll expenditures.
Finally, there are other economic benefits of tourism stated by Ryan (2003), such as the generation of economies of scale and the redistribution of income and labour to regions traditionally out of the conventional economic life, that can not be proved to have been generated by the development of Port Aventura, as before its opening tourism was already a leading industry within the region.
6.1.3 Negative economic impacts generated by the park
As it has been mentioned when studying the different methods to measure economic impacts of tourism, they do not usually give a lot of information regarding to the negative impacts. However, negative economic impacts are generally created by tourism development. In order to assess the negative impacts of Port Aventura in the local economy, the author used some existing data and some of the information obtained during the in-depth interview conducted with Mr Bono.
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Page (2003) affirmed that one of the negative economic effects of tourism is the inflation in the local economy and possible increases in land price. In order to see if it has happened in Costa Daurada since the opening of Port Aventura, the author reviewed data provided by the INE (see Appendices 4 and 5). This data showed that the CPI and property prices have increased in the Costa Daurada at the same or lower levels than the national economy, while in the other three regions of Catalonia this increase has been noticeably higher. It can be stated that the opening of Port Aventura have not generated inflation or land price increases in the region, for the moment.
Other of the negative economic impact outlined by Page (2003) is the limited returns on investment caused by seasonality. During the interview, Mr Bono affirmed that the opening of Port Aventura has helped to the reduction of the seasonality in the tourism demand of Costa Daurada, and the future plans and strategies will reduce that seasonality even more. The third negative effect of tourism to be tested within this case study is the existence of leakages of tourist spending from the host economy (Page, 2003). Mr Bono was asked during the interview about the relevance of the local tourism businesses in the region. He answered that most of the companies in the region are local, but it does not mean that the products they sell are not imported, which would create leakages anyway. Salary leakages are also generated, as local companies tend to hire people from outside the region, which could spend or send part of their salaries in their origin region. It can be definitively affirmed that there are some leakages of visitor’s expenditure from the local economy.
Finally, the other three negative factors affecting local economies, mentioned by Page (2003) are possible economic over-dependence on the tourism activity, potential dependence on imported products, services and workforce and additional expenditures to local authorities, but they have not been tested within this dissertation’s case study, mainly because of the lack of information and resources from the author.
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6.2 Recommendations for the tourism industry
• Firstly, as it can be observed in the results of the survey, there is an important percentage of people (27.5%) that go to the park in one-day visit, being its expenditure within the local economy minimal. Cooperation between Port Aventura, the Tourism Board and other private companies could reduce this percentage by offering lower entrance fees to the park, a low hotel rate and reductions in other regional products and services if the visitor stays one night ore more.
• Another aspect presented in the results of the survey is the higher expenditure by foreign visitors (longer stays, more percentage of people staying in hotels, etc.). The Tourism Board could focus more in the international market in order to increase the number of foreign visitors, which is already high. It does not mean that they should forget the national market, but the image of Costa Daurada and Port Aventura (as the best theme park in the country) is already strong in Spain and it needs less effort to be promoted there.
• In the questions about visitor’s satisfaction, the results of the tourist information services have not been as good as other tourism services. Furthermore, some of the respondents suggested that the information provided in other languages should be improved and apart from the park, it is not easy to get information in foreign languages in the region. This aspect is something relative to all the national territory and not only to this region, as in Spain, information in other languages is difficult to be found, apart from the main tourism attractions and transport infrastructures.
• Finally, leakages from the local economy will always exist in every tourist region, as an adequate infrastructure needs to be created to attract tourists. This tourist infrastructure generally needs of external factors to the local economy, such as capital investment, workforce, imported products, etc., to be built. Once the tourists are attracted to the area, an intensive promotion of local activities and products could be useful to reduce the leakages from the regional economy and to generate a better redistribution of income, within the area.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Chapter 6- Conclusion and recommendations 84
6.3 Recommendations for future research
• First of all, it is necessary to state that even though the theme park industry is an increasing global sector and the study of tourism impacts is a main focus for researchers nowadays, the author was not able to find many studies assessing tourism impacts generated by the theme park industry. Researches about theme parks have historically focused on strategies, management, visitor activities and behaviour. Studies relating theme park development to tourism impacts generated on the host regions could be useful for maximising the positive impacts of theme parks on the host areas and for reducing their negative effects.
• As it has been explained before, the lack of time, money and other resources by the author has been an important limitation for this research and the data obtained is not susceptible to be generalised. Future research conducting a complete visitor’s expenditure survey, with a much wider sample and undertook all over the year, will be useful for the region of Costa Daurada and even for the Port Aventura management.
• Finally, as it has been explained in Chapter 2, there are other better models rather than visitor’s expenditure surveys, of assessing economic impacts of tourism. Future researchers, with more time and resources could use some of these methods (as seen in the example of the study by Sasaki et al., where they used the input-output model) in order to get a better understanding of the economic impacts generated by the park on the region of Costa Daurada.
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Bibliography and References 85
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MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 95
Appendix 1- Questionnaire in English
1. Number of people travelling (including you)
1 __ 2 __ 3-5 __ + 5 __
2. Is it your first time visiting the region (Costa Daurada, Province of Tarragona)?
Yes __ No __
3. Is Port Aventura your main destination?
Yes __ No (Please write which is your main destination) ______
4. How did you arrive to the region?
Plane __ Car __ Train __ Coach __ Other ______
5. How long will you stay in the region?
0 nights (just a day) __ 1-3 nights __ 4-7 nights __ 8-15 nights __ + 15 nights __
6. What type of accommodation are you staying in?
Hotel __ Camp site __ Apartment __ Friends or relatives __ Other ______
7. Where is your accommodation located?
______
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 96
8. How have you travelled from your accommodation to Port Aventura?
Own Car __ Rental Car __ Coach __ Train __ Other ______
9. On the day of your visit to Port Aventura did you (or are you planning to):
- Visit other attractions nearby? Yes __ No __
- Stop for meals or drinks nearby? Yes __ No __
- Go shopping in nearby towns? Yes __ No __
- Return straight away to the place where you are staying? Yes __ No __
10. Expenditures during the stay (not including in the park)
EXPENDITURE 0- 100 € 100- 300 € 300- 750 € + 750 €
Accommodation (If it is not part of a package holidays)
Food & Beverage
Transport
Leisure
Others (Please specify)
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 97
11. Please indicate your degree of satisfaction with the tourist services provided in the region:
DEGREE OF SATISFACTION EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY POOR Accommodation
Transport Infrastructures
Food & Beverage
Tourist Information
Leisure
Things to do
Nightlife
12. Suggestions for improvement: ______.
13. Do you consider coming back to this region in the future?
Yes __ No __ Undecided __
14. Would you recommend this region to your friends?
Yes __ No __ Undecided __
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 98
15. Nationality:
Spanish __ British __ French __ German __ Italian __ Portuguese __ Dutch __ Other______
16. Gender:
Male __ Female __
17. Age:
18-25 __ 26-35 __ 36-45 __ 46-55 __ 56-65 __ + 65 __
18. Are you coming with children?
Yes __ No __
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 99
Appendix 2- Results from the questionnaire
TRAVEL DATA: Number of people
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 2 15 18,8 18,8 18,8 3-5 25 31,3 31,3 50,0 + 5 40 50,0 50,0 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
First time visiting?
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 55 68,8 68,8 68,8 No 25 31,3 31,3 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
main destination
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 47 58,8 58,8 58,8 no 33 41,3 41,3 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
transport
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Plane 20 25,0 25,0 25,0 Car 22 27,5 27,5 52,5 Train 4 5,0 5,0 57,5 Coach 34 42,5 42,5 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 100
length of stay
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0 nights (1 22 27,5 27,5 27,5 day) 1-3 nights 9 11,3 11,3 38,8 4-7 nights 41 51,3 51,3 90,0 8-15 nights 8 10,0 10,0 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
type of accommodation
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Hotel 43 53,8 74,1 74,1 Campsite 3 3,8 5,2 79,3 Apartment 6 7,5 10,3 89,7 Friends and 6 7,5 10,3 100,0 relatives Total 58 72,5 100,0 Missing -9 22 27,5 Total 80 100,0
transport from accommodation
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Own car 23 28,8 29,9 29,9 Rental car 9 11,3 11,7 41,6 Coach 42 52,5 54,5 96,1 Train 3 3,8 3,9 100,0 Total 77 96,3 100,0 Missing -9 3 3,8 Total 80 100,0
ACTIVITIES: Visit other attractions
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 45 56,3 59,2 59,2 No 31 38,8 40,8 100,0 Total 76 95,0 100,0 Missing -9 4 5,0 Total 80 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 101
meals/ drinks
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 55 68,8 72,4 72,4 No 21 26,3 27,6 100,0 Total 76 95,0 100,0 Missing -9 4 5,0 Total 80 100,0
shopping
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 36 45,0 47,4 47,4 No 40 50,0 52,6 100,0 Total 76 95,0 100,0 Missing -9 4 5,0 Total 80 100,0
return accommodation
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 23 28,8 30,3 30,3 No 53 66,3 69,7 100,0 Total 76 95,0 100,0 Missing -9 4 5,0 Total 80 100,0
EXPENDITURES: Accommodation
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0-100 € 2 2,5 5,9 5,9 100-300 € 7 8,8 20,6 26,5 300-750 € 11 13,8 32,4 58,8 + 750 € 14 17,5 41,2 100,0 Total 34 42,5 100,0 Missing -9 46 57,5 Total 80 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 102
Food & Beverage
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0-100 € 25 31,3 35,2 35,2 100-300 € 13 16,3 18,3 53,5 300-750 € 26 32,5 36,6 90,1 + 750 € 7 8,8 9,9 100,0 Total 71 88,8 100,0 Missing -9 9 11,3 Total 80 100,0
Transport
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0-100 € 21 26,3 32,8 32,8 100-300 € 14 17,5 21,9 54,7 300-750 € 29 36,3 45,3 100,0 Total 64 80,0 100,0 Missing -9 16 20,0 Total 80 100,0
Leisure
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0-100 € 20 25,0 30,8 30,8 100-300 € 18 22,5 27,7 58,5 300-750 € 24 30,0 36,9 95,4 + 750 € 3 3,8 4,6 100,0 Total 65 81,3 100,0 Missing -9 15 18,8 Total 80 100,0
Others
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 0-100 € 3 3,8 60,0 60,0 100-300 € 2 2,5 40,0 100,0 Total 5 6,3 100,0 Missing -9 75 93,8 Total 80 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 103
SATISFACTION: Accommodation
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 16 20,0 26,2 26,2 Good 34 42,5 55,7 82,0 Fair 10 12,5 16,4 98,4 Poor 1 1,3 1,6 100,0 Total 61 76,3 100,0 Missing -9 19 23,8 Total 80 100,0
Transport
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 4 5,0 5,6 5,6 Good 53 66,3 73,6 79,2 Fair 14 17,5 19,4 98,6 Poor 1 1,3 1,4 100,0 Total 72 90,0 100,0 Missing -9 8 10,0 Total 80 100,0
Food and beverages
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 20 25,0 28,6 28,6 Good 33 41,3 47,1 75,7 Fair 17 21,3 24,3 100,0 Total 70 87,5 100,0 Missing -9 10 12,5 Total 80 100,0
Information
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 6 7,5 8,6 8,6 Good 46 57,5 65,7 74,3 Fair 16 20,0 22,9 97,1 Poor 2 2,5 2,9 100,0 Total 70 87,5 100,0 Missing -9 10 12,5 Total 80 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 104
Leisure
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 28 35,0 40,6 40,6 Good 33 41,3 47,8 88,4 Fair 8 10,0 11,6 100,0 Total 69 86,3 100,0 Missing -9 11 13,8 Total 80 100,0
Things to do
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 16 20,0 25,8 25,8 Good 41 51,3 66,1 91,9 Fair 5 6,3 8,1 100,0 Total 62 77,5 100,0 Missing -9 18 22,5 Total 80 100,0
Nightlife
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Excellent 21 26,3 36,8 36,8 Good 31 38,8 54,4 91,2 Fair 4 5,0 7,0 98,2 Poor 1 1,3 1,8 100,0 Total 57 71,3 100,0 Missing -9 23 28,8 Total 80 100,0
coming back
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 65 81,3 81,3 81,3 No 1 1,3 1,3 82,5 Undecide 14 17,5 17,5 100,0 d Total 80 100,0 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 105
reccomend
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 71 88,8 91,0 91,0 No 3 3,8 3,8 94,9 Undecided 4 5,0 5,1 100,0 Total 78 97,5 100,0 Missing -9 2 2,5 Total 80 100,0
PERSONAL DATA: nationality
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Spanish 47 58,8 58,8 58,8 British 9 11,3 11,3 70,0 French 13 16,3 16,3 86,3 German 2 2,5 2,5 88,8 Portugues 1 1,3 1,3 90,0 e Dutch 2 2,5 2,5 92,5 Other 6 7,5 7,5 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
gender
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Male 41 51,3 51,3 51,3 Female 39 48,8 48,8 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
age
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid 18-25 31 38,8 38,8 38,8 26-35 18 22,5 22,5 61,3 36-45 18 22,5 22,5 83,8 46-55 10 12,5 12,5 96,3 56-65 2 2,5 2,5 98,8 + 65 1 1,3 1,3 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 106
children
Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent Valid Yes 56 70,0 70,0 70,0 No 24 30,0 30,0 100,0 Total 80 100,0 100,0
Crosstabulations nationality * Accommodation Crosstabulation
Count Accommodation 0-100 € 100-300 € 300-750 € + 750 € Total nationality Spanish 2 5 6 3 16 British 0 0 3 4 7 French 0 0 0 1 1 German 0 0 1 0 1 Portuguese 0 0 1 0 1 Dutch 0 1 0 1 2 Other 0 1 0 5 6 Total 2 7 11 14 34
nationality * Food & Beverage Crosstabulation
Count Food & Beverage 0-100 € 100-300 € 300-750 € + 750 € Total nationality Spanish 24 10 3 1 38 British 0 0 7 2 9 French 1 2 9 1 13 German 0 0 1 1 2 Portuguese 0 0 1 0 1 Dutch 0 0 2 0 2 Other 0 1 3 2 6 Total 25 13 26 7 71
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 107
nationality * Transport Crosstabulation
Count Transport 0-100 € 100-300 € 300-750 € Total nationality Spanish 18 8 6 32 British 0 3 6 9 French 3 0 10 13 German 0 1 1 2 Portuguese 0 1 0 1 Dutch 0 0 2 2 Other 0 1 4 5 Total 21 14 29 64
nationality * Leisure Crosstabulation
Count Leisure 0-100 € 100-300 € 300-750 € + 750 € Total nationality Spanish 18 9 7 0 34 British 0 5 4 0 9 French 1 2 9 1 13 German 0 1 1 0 2 Portuguese 0 1 0 0 1 Dutch 0 0 2 0 2 Other 1 0 1 2 4 Total 20 18 24 3 65
nationality * length of stay Crosstabulation
Count
length of stay 0 nights (1 day) 1-3 nights 4-7 nights 8-15 nights Total nationality Spanish 22 6 18 1 47 British 0 2 5 2 9 French 0 0 12 1 13 German 0 0 2 0 2 Portuguese 0 0 1 0 1 Dutch 0 0 1 1 2 Other 0 1 2 3 6 Total 22 9 41 8 80
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 108
nationality * transport Crosstabulation
Count transport Plane Car Train Coach Total nationality Spanish 4 17 3 23 47 British 9 0 0 0 9 French 1 0 1 11 13 German 2 0 0 0 2 Portuguese 1 0 0 0 1 Dutch 0 2 0 0 2 Other 3 3 0 0 6 Total 20 22 4 34 80
nationality * type of accommodation Crosstabulation
Count
type of accommodation Friends and Hotel Campsite Apartment relatives Total nationality Spanish 16 1 3 5 25 British 9 0 0 0 9 French 12 0 0 1 13 German 1 1 0 0 2 Portuguese 0 0 1 0 1 Dutch 1 1 0 0 2 Other 4 0 2 0 6 Total 43 3 6 6 58
MA European Tourism Management Jorge Arnanz Arroyo Appendices 109
Appendix 3- Transcription of the interview
Interviewer (I): Good morning Mr Bono and thank you for agreeing to answer some questions related to Costa Daurada and Port Aventura.
Respondent (R): You are welcome.
I: First of all, how long have you been working for this Tourism Board?
R: I started working in this organisation in October 1995.
I: What are the main functions of the Costa Daurada Tourism Board?
R: The Tourism Board has a clearly defined mission. It is a self-governing body promoting, coordinating and supporting tourism within the public and private regional companies in order to improve the dynamism of the area and the socio-economic development.
I: What are the main promotion tools used by the Tourism Board in both, the national and international markets?
R: Multiple tools are used, such as advertising campaigns in press and television, an intensive trade fair program, support to the commercialisation of tourist operators, direct marketing actions, advertising on the Internet and management of the customer relationships via a CRM program.
I: How relevant is Port Aventura for the promotion of Costa Daurada?
R: It is basic. Port Aventura is a product that makes the difference of this region with other coastal areas, reinforces the image of Costa Daurada as a space for families and increases the number of visits during the weak periods of the year.
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I: Do you consider that the fame of the brand “Costa Daurada” has increased since the opening of the park?
R: Port Aventura is a useful tool for every aspect, including this one.
I: From your personal point of view, do you consider that the prices have increased at a similar level that the rest of Spain or, conversely, they have suffered a higher inflation since the opening of the park?
R: I do not detect a cause-effect relationship in this aspect.
I: What changes have occurred in the tourism supply of Costa Daurada since (1995)?
R: We have appreciated a noticeably increase in the number of accommodation places, especially in hotels, which have increased from 40,400 to 60,900. The changes produced in campsites and tourist apartments are not relevant.
I: And what about the tourism demand?
R: The structure of our tourism demand is relatively stable: the weight of the national market has always been important (between 49 and 51%) and nowadays these percentages are similar. The distribution of the international markets is also quite stable and the main markets have always been France, United Kingdom and the Benelux, in this order.
I: Do you consider that the expenditures by tourists coming to Costa Daurada go generally to the regional economy (local companies) or to other economies?
R: The direct representation of tourism in the GDP generated in the region is 18%. Most of the companies in the area have a local capital and their effects stay mainly in the region.
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I: About the growth levels in Costa Daurada, have they been higher than Costa Brava and Barcelona (the other main tourist destinations in Catalonia) from 1995?
R: The evolution has been higher than Costa Brava (despite the volume of their supply is bigger). The case of Barcelona is special, given that after the Olympic Games there was a noticeably increase of the tourist supply.
I: Do you consider that tourism businesses have mainly employed people from the region?
R: The situation has changed all over the time. Last years, immigration is used as an important source of human resources in our companies, especially in the low-skilled positions. Generally, our entrepreneurs have problems in this topic and it is not easy to find well-trained staff. The incorporation of women, working part time, has also been one of the ways of solving this problem.
I: Finally, how do you think that the expansion plans of Port Aventura will affect tourism development in Costa Daurada?
R: They will help to the tourism development by facilitating the accessibility of new markets and new segments, and creating new arguments for the increase of visits all over the year.
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Appendix 4- CPI Increase
Year Costa Costa Barcelona Lleida Spain Daurada Brava 1990 6.9 7.3 8.3 7.0 6.7
1995 4.6 4.4 4.5 5.4 4.7
2000 3.6 4.1 3.8 3.9 3.4
2005 3.2 3.8 4.0 3.7 3.4
Source: Adapted from INE, 2007
Appendix 5- Property prices increase
Year Costa Costa Barcelona Lleida Spain Daurada Brava 1990 7.6 8.7 13.0 8.1 7.8
1995 5.7 5.2 4.8 5.4 5.7
2000 4.4 8.1 4.6 8.6 4.4
2005 5.0 6.8 5.8 6.7 5.3
Source: Adapted from INE, 2007
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Appendix 6- Revenue at theme parks worldwide, by region, 2000-05
% change 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2000- 05
US$m US$m US$m US$m US$m US$m
US 9,600 9,600 9,903 10,300 10,775 11,204 +16.7
% of total 52.0 50.2 49.3 50.0 50.2 49.9 -4.0 revenue
Asia- 5,006 5,530 5,943 5,976 6,143 6,493 +29.7 Pacific
% of total 27.1 28.9 29.6 29.0 28.6 28.9 +6.6 revenue
EMEA* 3,312 3,414 3,675 3,738 3,940 4,126 +24.6
% of total 17.9 17.9 18.3 18.2 18.3 18.4 +2.4 revenue
Canada 312 320 330 334 375 390 +25.0
% of total 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 +2.8 revenue
Latin 246 245 251 245 249 257 +4.5 America
% of total 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 -14.1 revenue
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Total 18,476 19,109 20,102 20,593 21,482 22,470 +21.6
Note: *Europe, Middle East and Africa
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2005-2009 in Mintel, 2007
Appendix 7- Attendance at theme parks worldwide, by region, 2000-05
% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 change 2000-05
M m m m M m
US 317.0 319.0 324.0 322.0 328.0 334.0 +5.4
Visitation per 100 112.3 111.9 112.6 110.9 111.9 112.9 +0.6 inhabitants (%)*
Asia-Pacific 210.0 223.0 235.0 232.0 236.0 243.0 +15.7
Visitation per 100 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 +4.6 inhabitants (%)
EMEA 121.0 123.0 129.0 128.0 131.0 134.0 +10.7
Visitation per 100 8.2 8.2 8.4 8.4 8.3 8.4 +2.6 inhabitants (%)
2
Latin 30.0 30.5 31.3 30.6 31.0 31.6 +5.3 America
Visitation per 100 8.6 8.6 8.7 8.4 8.5 8.5 -1.2 inhabitants (%)
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Canada 12.4 12.6 12.8 12.5 13.6 13.9 +12.1
Visitation per 100 39.6 39.9 40.1 38.8 41.8 42.4 +6.9 inhabitants (%)
Total 690.4 708.1 732.1 725.1 739.6 756.5 +9.6
Visitation per 11.4 11.5 11.8 11.5 11.6 11.7 +3.3 capita (%)
Note: *total attendance expressed of a ratio of population
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2005- 2009 , US Census Bureau, International database in Mintel, 2007
Appendix 8- Attendance at the top ten European theme parks, 2003-05
2003 2004 2005 % change
000s 000s 000s 2003-05
Disneyland Paris/Walt Disney 12,400 12,400 12,300 -0.8 Studio Park, France
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, 6,200 6,200 6,000 -3.2 UK
Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, 3,266 4,240 4,100 +25.5 Denmark
Europa Park, 3,300 3,300 3,950 +19.7 Rust, Germany
De Efteling, Kaatsheuval, 3,200 3,200 3,300 +3.1 Netherlands
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Port Aventura, 3,040 3,100 3,350 +10.2 Salou, Spain
Liesburg, 2,749 3,000 3,150 +14.6 Goteburg, Sweden
Gardaland, Castelnuvo del 2,950 3,100 3,100 +5.1 Garda, Italy
Bakken, Klampenborg, 2,700 2,500 2,600 -3.7 Denmark
Alton Towers, 2,500 2,400 2,400 -4.0 Staffordshire, UK
Source: Amusement Business in Mintel, 2007
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