Routledge Economics of Tourism and Hospitality: A Micro Approach

This book offers students an accessible and applied introduction to microeconomics in tourism and hospitality through a comprehensive analysis of the market mechanism, demand and supply, firm behavior and strategy, and transaction and institution. This book not only helps students to master core microeconomic theories that are essential for understanding the tourism and hospitality industry, but, more importantly, it guides students to analyze consumer behavior and firm strategy specific to the industry. Throughout the book, readers are guided to develop the economic analysis of tourism and hospitality that progresses from economic intuition to graphical representation and to mathematical quantification. Carefully corralled case studies showcase the applications of key microeconomic theories in solving a wide range of real-world problems, including Uber’s surge pricing, Airbnb’s supply adjustment, and McDonald’s and Burger King vying for prime locations. This book is written in an accessible style, illustrated with exquisite diagrams, and enriched with a range of other features, such as chapter summaries, review questions, and further readings to aid readers’ further understanding. By reading this book, students will be able to develop an economist’s way of thinking, which will enable them to analyze tourism and hospitality businesses in a rigorous and critical manner. This book is essential reading for all tourism and hospitality students and teachers. Review ‘This book represents a massive step forward in the understanding and teaching of tourism economics, being a pioneer in entirely focussing on the microeconomics behind tourism and hospitality. Students, teachers, and practitioners would appreciate the author’s ability in effectively explaining real-world phenomena with rigorous theoretical analysis. It is a fascinating narrative of tourism and hospitality through the austere language of economics.’ Paolo Figini, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy ‘This book is a timely addition to the existing economics texts. The author has taken a balanced approach in integrating economic theories with tourism and hospitality practices. The coverage of the book is comprehensive and the contents are easily accessible by both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying tourism and hospitality programs. The book is also a very useful reference for academics who have research interests in tourist and firm behaviors.’ Haiyan Song, Professor of Tourism, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China ‘Professor Chen presents an insightful integration of modern microeconomic theory and the competitive dynamics of the tourism and hospitality industry. His analysis of the prevailing models and explanations are expertly framed and explicated using examples from a wide-array of industry segments and settings, and he contextualizes the implications in a cogent, comprehensive, and accessible manner that will appeal to students, scholars, and practitioners alike.’ J. Bruce Tracey, Professor of Management, Cornell University, United States 'This book well introduces a theoretic overview of microeconomics and provides practical applications to the tourism and hospitality industries. This is a unique reference for students and industry practitioners in tourism and hospitality who are seeking an insight into rapidly changing global markets and customer behaviors. This book is clearly the top of my recommended reading list.' SooCheong (Shawn) Jang, Ph.D., Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, USA. About the Author Yong Chen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland, where he lectures on economics of tourism and hospitality. Prior to joining EHL in 2014, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he also obtained his