Tourism in the rural areas of developing countries is expanding at a rapid pace and is often a primary means of income in these areas

Tourism has been a popular development strategy based on its potential of economic impacts and job opportunities, but the quality of jobs created by tourism has received little empirical investigation. This article uses data from IMPLAN and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine the income distribution of jobs created by tourism and compares the income distribution from tourism expenditures to the income distribution in three different coastal regions with large tourism industries. To examine the distribution of income from tourism, an eight-step procedure was developed by modifying previous procedures for estimating income distribution. Study findings indicate that the jobs generated by tourism expenditures had a lower income distribution than the overall income distribution in the three regions, with the difference being most apparent in more urban areas. The various implications of the low-income distribution of the tourism industry are discussed.

Despite the shifting demands of coastal tourists, little information exists on the consumer demand for cultural or heritage elements in coastal destinations.This study examines tourists' demand for regional character when vacationing on the South Carolina coast. Preferences for authentic trip elements such as the destination's local character and the local ownership of restaurants were measured using stated preference choice modeling. This method forces individuals to make choices between hypothetical trips based on tradeoffs of attributes such as number of activities, amount of locally owned restaurants, degree of local character, and trip cost. The results of a survey with South Carolina Coastal Tourists (N = 697) indicate significant preferences for local character and local restaurant ownership, suggesting that tourists likely have a considerable desire for regional character in their vacations. However this desire was lower than the desire for other attributes that did not involve cultural or heritage elements. Keywords cultural tourism, coastal tourism, tourism demand, choice modelingLacher et al.

The prevalence of learning providers for third agers continues to expand alongside the growth of the older adult population, yet there remains little empirical evidence on what types of learning experiences are most desired by lifelong learners. This article examines the effects that different learning topics have on attendance at classes hosted by a university-based lifelong learning institute, asking, Which learning topics draw enrollment in a lifelong learning program? Registration data were collected from 7,332 attendees of 290 learning experiences held over four semesters; class topics were coded and analyzed using a multivariate regression procedure. Results indicate that lifelong learners are more interested in classes concerning global issues, religion/philosophy, and social issues focusing on particular groups and individuals. The results remain significant after accounting for structural arrangements such as class time, day of the week, number of sessions, and location. Implications for enhancing lifelong learning experiences and programs are discussed.