Abstract
Recent policy from the European Union has attempted to justify social tourism initiatives on the basis that they lead to a more sustainable tourism industry. However, the majority of latest research in the field has been focused on the benefits for participants, with the addition of some evidence on the economic impacts of such programmes on destinations, which have pointed towards sustainability outcomes including: a longer tourism season, more even spread of demand, and longer periods of employment for tourism workers. Yet there is a lack of direct evidence linking such programme to these outcomes. This paper aimed to explore this important disconnect between policy assumptions and evidence-based outcomes through an analysis of the deseasonalising effects of the Spanish social tourism programme for older people. The research found that this programme does have an effect on the seasonal nature of employment and economic activity in most regions studied, but that the huge volume of demand from international tourists in the high seasons masks the quantitative effects in the regions with the highest seasonal concentration of international tourists. Recommendations for policy and practice in sustainable tourism are made that are transferable to many countries and regions that adopt social tourism programmes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 85-107 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Sustainable Tourism |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors acknowledge the collaboration of the IMSERSO “Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales” in providing the raw data for this research. The authors also thank the “Ministerio de Educación” of the Spanish Government and the “Unversidad de Málaga“ for their financial support.
Funding Information:
Social tourism activity in Spain is based mainly on IMSERSO trips for older citizens. These trips are organised and partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality “Minis-terio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad” through the IMSERSO, which facilitates the human and technical resources for planning, monitoring and control of the programme (IMSERSO, 2014). The financing provided by the Spanish government in 2014 equated to 20.87% of the total cost of trip, the rest being paid by the beneficiaries themselves (IMSERSO, 2014). The IMSERSO budget amounted to a total of 66,322,423.45 € in the last season for which data are available (IMSERSO, 2015a).
Funding Information:
“Ministerio de Educación” of the Spanish Government through its program “Formación del Profesorado Universitario FPU” [grant number AP2010-0532]; “Universidad de Málaga” under grant [“I Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia”].
Funding Information:
?Ministerio de Educaci?n? of the Spanish Government through its program ?Formaci?n del Profesorado Universitario FPU? [grant number AP2010-0532]; ?Universidad de M?laga? under grant [?I Plan Propio de Investigaci?n y Transferencia?]. The authors acknowledge the collaboration of the IMSERSO ?Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales? in providing the raw data for this research. The authors also thank the ?Ministerio de Educaci?n? of the Spanish Government and the ?Unversidad de M?laga? for their financial support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords
- Gini index
- IMSERSO
- relative marginal effect
- seasonality
- Social tourism
- Spain
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
