Seasonality research: the state of the art

Abstract

The paper reviews progress in the area of tourism seasonality research and is intended as a guide to the literature. The emphasis is on recent advances in this field. Amongst the various aspects considered are the definitions of seasonality, its causes and impacts, policy-related issues, studies into consumer behaviour and approaches to measuring seasonality. The paper concludes that considerable gaps still exist in published research in this area and it argues that the field lacks a sound theoretical framework. It also suggests that adopting a more exacting quantitative perspective might facilitate and accelerate progress.

Measuring Pattern, Amplitude and Timing Differences between Monetary and Non-Monetary Seasonal Factors of Tourism — The Case of Aruba

“…Most of the studies were geared towards analyzing differences in seasonal patterns, and in some instances (Koenig-Lewis & Bischoff, 2005;Croce & Wöber, 2010), both patterns and amplitude differences were analyzed. None of the studies have considered examining differences in timing between the seasonal factors, which is considered an omission in these studies.…”

“…It is one of the most problematic issues facing tourism, yet it is one of the least understood aspects of this business (Jang, 2004). Its importance crosses over from the academic literature to the domains of policy making and practical tourism management (Koenig-Lewis & Bischoff, 2005;. Butler (2001) defines seasonality as "…a temporal imbalance in the phenomenon of tourism, which may be expressed in terms of dimensions of such elements as numbers of visitors, expenditure of visitors, traffic in highways and other forms of transportation, employment and admissions to attractions."…”

“…Thirdly, when analyzing tourism seasonality using time series, the recurring periodic variations are best recognized and evaluated when eliminating other factors, such as trend and incidental elements. A number of authors have emphasized the available tools to quantify seasonality (e.g., Bender et al, 2005;Koenig-Lewis & Bischoff, 2005;, where popular methods such as the Gini coefficient, the coefficient of variation, and the seasonal index have been analyzed. However, the literature has spent little attention on the diagnostics of the calculated seasonal factors and whether these are immediately suitable for comparisson in analyses, with possible biased conclusions in tourism seasonality studies.…”

Cyprus as a Winter Destination: An Exploratory Study

“…the key determinants of seasonality are thought be natural and institutional (Koenig-lewis & Bischoff, 2005). natural causes refer to the weather conditions that make some destinations unappealing.…”

Tourist seasonality and the role of markets

“…In particular, an excellent survey by Koenig-Lewis and Bischoff (2005) establishes the main areas of research, which still leave large gaps that need to be filled. In this respect, six areas stand out: the definition itself, the measurement aspects, the analysis of the causes, the consequences and impacts, the implications for policy and the analysis of consumer behaviour.…”